Journal for Jefferson

Gregory Alcala
November 11th 2009
English 48A
Lankford
Journal for Jefferson

Quote:
“…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of the government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.” -The Autobiography, Thomas Jefferson
Summary:
I think it’s kind of funny that the founding fathers wrote about empowering the people. Which makes sense seeing how they felt so under the noose of Britain. I don’t really want to compare the America today with the America that Jefferson was fighting to free. Too many people compare to present with the past and I feel it traps or spoils the past. Like looking at a Norman Rockwell poster and thinking the past was pure and without any problems. Thomas Jefferson had a great idea of the form of government, and like most things it works perfectly on paper. Jefferson did want the government to completely have power over it’s people. He probably thought that government would become a absolute monarchy.

Quote:
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” -John F. Kennedy
Summary:
JFK did give many great speeches while he was president, and this single quote about Jefferson does speak volumes about him. However, it’s painting a picture of Jefferson that really only shows half the man. Jefferson wrote against slavery but owned slaves himself. So if judged by today’s morals he would be seen as a racist. However, the morals of America today could not have been placed on the people from the past. It was a different America, and a very new one during Jefferson’s time. For history to remember only the good about one of the founding father’s is so common. History is written by the winners and we idolize the people that won the freedom from Britain and signed the documents that gave this country it’s foundation.

Overall Summary:
Thomas Jefferson was a great man, but I doubt he was the perfect human that many Americans would remember from high school history class. I don’t think Norton did a good effort job to show me the entire man but the introduction was not very long. Jefferson wrote about slavery that “we have the wolf by the ears; we can neither hold him, or let him go.” He did not seem to think that African Americans were equal to whites. But that was not mentioned in the Norton Anthology. I don’t want just the squeaky clean polished version of history of one of the founding fathers of America. He was also a great writer and man of knowledge. So I feel this push to learn more about him, which I got a small dose of his life from his wiki page(which I know is about worth a grain of salt).