Who Was Thomas Jefferson? (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Who Was Thomas Jefferson? "If Jefferson was wrong, America is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right."-Parton. One hundred and sixty-six years ago there was born at the foot of Monticello Mountain in Virginia the great apostle of American Democracy, Thomas Jefferson. Eighty-three years later he died on the submit of that mountain after a life crowded with unselfish labors for his fellow-countrymen, crowned with achievements unparalleled for number and for weight, and consecrated through all its busy years to the noblest ideals of public service. Eighty-three years again have passed, and we may well gather here to review those labors, to evaluate those achievements, to renew our devotion to those ideals in virtue of which "Thomas Jefferson still survives." He who ventures on such an essay may well stand abashed before his task. The theme is too vast, too extended. The fourscore and three years of Thomas Jefferson's life were, it is true, bound together into one splendid concord of high endeavour. Yet he touched our national life to nobler issues at so many points, that in the brief compass of such an address as this the mere enumeration of his services to his country would be impracticable. Let us rather strive to discover the man in his works, to reveal the wellspring of his moral energy, to disclose the method of his strangely varied activities. Who then was Thomas Jefferson? Of whom was he born and what was his descent? Into what sort of a community did he come? What influences moulded that penetrating genius, that capacious brain, that ardent soul, during the plastic years of childhood and youth? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.