Be Who You Are

In Emerson’s famous essay, Self-Reliance, Emerson talks a lot about the importance of self worth, and the importance of being comfortable in your own skin. In his essay, Emerson says “That imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.” This is saying that you need to be comfortable being who you are, because it’s the hand that you were dealt, and it does not get any better than what you have. I also think that Emerson is saying that without hard work you are not going to go very far in life. To me this means that no matter where you are in life there is always room for improvement, but the only way you can improve is by hard work.

Jefferson: The All American Hypocrite

Throughout Thomas Jefferson’s life, he advocated that freedom was a natural given right of mankind, but yet he was one of the largest slave owners in Virginia. In many aspects of Jefferson’s life he did do things to help the overall bettering of our great nation, slavery was not one of those things. Through the eyes of Thomas Jefferson emancipating slavery was not something to be done in his lifetime, but for that of someone else’s.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “No defender of slavery, I concede that it has its benevolent aspects in lifting the Negro from savagery and helping prepare him for that eventual freedom which is surely written in the Book of Fate”. Not condoning the acts of slavery, but also not belittling it. Most people would say that in the way of slavery, Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite, and those people would be correct. Thomas Jefferson preached for freedom, even stating in the United States Constitution that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Which is one of the most well known quotes from the constitution, and the constitution is the foundation on which our country was founded on. So how could the author of those lines have been such a hypocrite? One of the largest slave holders in Virginia, Jefferson took full advantage of slavery, the exact opposite of what he preached. In 1784 Jefferson said this about slavery, “That after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states”, explaining that slavery would be an issue for someone else to fix, not him.

Jefferson may have defended the fact that he owned slaves by the fact that he treated his slaves better than most other slave owners did, considering the time period and where he lived. Though that still is not an excuse, owning slaves, no matter how they are treated is still taking all freedom away from that person. Although Jefferson may have treated his slaves “nicely” for the time, allowing some to live in dwellings, and giving them slight amounts of freedom during times when he was away, like letting them work for profit. He also would have considered the fact that he allowed certain slaves to master different skills, including cooking, nail making, blacksmithing, and sewing. No matter which way you look at how Jefferson interacted with his slaves, it doesn’t change the fact hat he still was a slave owner, and no matter how many mediocre “freedoms” they were given will change that. Jefferson also claimed that slaves would not know what to do with freedom if they were given it, and in 1789 he said this about it, “As far as I can judge from the experiments which have been made, to give liberty to, or rather, to abandon persons whose habits have been formed in slavery is like abandoning children.”

In 1770 Jefferson said "Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance." The statement Jefferson gave is a complete contradiction to what the basis of slavery is. Jefferson may have said that “all men were born free” but what he believed is that all white men were born free. In his life time, he made few, if any attempts to stop slavery. No one knows if Thomas Jefferson endorsing the emancipation of slavery would have done anything, but we do know that it wouldn’t have hurt the cause. I think he just did not want slavery to be abolished, not blaming it on his time period he lived in. He and everyone around him used slavery too much.  

Overall Jefferson’s statements about the freedom of mankind, and “all men are created equal” don’t match up to the actions that Jefferson did. He claimed that he didn’t support slavery, but was one of the biggest slave owners in Virginia. Even when Jefferson died he did not free all of his slaves, proving once and for all that did in fact actually support slavery, not oppose it.

Works Cited:
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/slavery/4.html
http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/quotations-slavery-and-emancipation

A Tatted Up TJ

People, in general, get tattoos to show something that they are passionate about, something they are proud of, or in memory of something important. When most people think of Thomas Jefferson, one of the first things that come to mind is that he was president and that he wrote the Declaration of Independence and that he was president of the United States. For those reasons, I think that Thomas Jefferson would get an American flag or something along those lines as part of his tattoo. Also Thomas Jefferson is so passionate about his architecture and Monticello, and how he designed the house. In honor of that I put two common architecture details on his tattoo, two columns with the triangle at the top. These features are very prominent in both the design of his house and the design of the University of Virginia. So by including a structure and feature common in architecture and the design of buildings, one can understand that Jefferson was very much into, and very passionate about architecture. The final aspect I put on Jefferson’s tattoo was a music note. Although music notes are very typical tattoos for people to get, mixing the aspect of the architecture and the music note it almost resembles a quote Jefferson had, comparing architecture to music. Thomas Jefferson was also very passionate about music, playing the violin quite greatly. This tattoo for the most part sums up the three, possibly four things that Thomas Jefferson loved more than any other things. These being his country, his architecture and Monticello, and his music.

Jefferson and Religion

Throughout Jefferson’s life he never actually categorized himself completely under one religion. He could have fallen under a number of religions, from a Deist, to a Unitarian, to a Christian. Although in a few instances Jefferson did call himself a Christian, I do not believe that he actually was a Christian. To be a Christian you actually have to believe in the miracles that are in the Bible and Jefferson did not. I believe that Jefferson was more of a Deist. Jefferson believed in philosophers and in reason more than he believed in the Virgin Mary, and that Jesus was the son of God. Deism fits Jefferson quite well, the fact that he believes in a greater power, and that there is a God, but that reason and philosophers are also correct. Jefferson believed that there was something greater than we could explain out there, that there was in fact a God, but he denied the belief in miracles or that Jesus was truly Gods son, so with that small fact there was no possible way that Jefferson could be a Christian. He also was heavily influenced by philosophers, which the Deist religion is too. Deists do not believe in miracles or in the inerrancies of the bible, while Jefferson only used the bible as a historical source. Knowing that Jefferson did not believe in miracles, but believed in reason instead lead to the conclusion of believing that Jefferson’s best fit for religion was Deism.  

The Mind of Thomas Jefferson

Throughout the article, The Mind of Thomas Jefferson, by Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson’s beliefs were questioned and analyzed. In the first paragraph Onuf describes how Jefferson believed in moral philosophers and reason. He states that Jefferson said that science rejected the virgin birth, he doesn’t believe in miracles, and that questioning is good. Onuf then goes on to say that Jefferson believes that one must have mature reasoning abilities before one decides on what they are going to believe in. Jefferson is made out to seem that he only takes the Bible as a source of history, and that he has the opinion that people were made to think of Jesus as divine because of just how benevolent he was.

In the fourth paragraph, Onuf says that Jefferson was content with the separation of government and religion, and that it was not right for a government to make a decision, such as religion, for their people, and vice-versa. While talking to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson claims that faith should be determined by ones self, and that he could never just completely follow a priest. Thomas Jefferson says “Ignorance is preferable to error” in his notes. Thomas Jefferson also claimed that Jesus was not God sent, but that he was only a reformer, like the founding fathers were. “Jefferson’s identification with Jesus, as a reformer who dared to challenge priestly power” Onuf claimed that this is what Jefferson believed Jesus to be.

Onuf also stated that Jefferson believed that people should keep their religious views private, which was why Jefferson never actually came out fully on what religion he was. Onuf said “he believed a progressively enlightened public opinion would loosen the “shackles” of priestly influence and so rise above the bigotry an ignorance that sustained the clergy’s power”. That statement is what Onuf described Jefferson’s image of what the nation would look like without people following priests so closely. He also stated that Thomas Jefferson believed that the church just took peoples money. Onuf believes that Jefferson thought the Farmer was the best citizen because he actually had common sense and a mind of his own. Also he said that Jefferson believed that when people are able to choose they feel better about the decision that they make.

In the last few paragraphs of the article Onuf again makes a great emphasis on how Jefferson was very passionate about how he did not want government to be mixed in with religion. He goes on to say that Jefferson believes that people are not governed by one, and that he believes in separation of the powers. He also says that Jefferson will not say what religion he is until people started using their brains. In the final paragraph of the article Onuf says that Jefferson believed that Jesus was simply not afraid to challenge the word of priests.

Dear Mr. Jefferson

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

           

            I am so very impressed with the enormity of your collection of books; I also have a great interest in books as you do. I know that you have said that you cannot live without books and I agree with this immensely. I was also very impressed with the great variety of books that you have in your collection. From books about gardening, to books about mathematics, I only dream of one day having a collection as great as yours. I also saw that you have a section of books that I am very interested in, books about the land and the ocean. There is one book in particular that caught my eye, this book being Journal of a cruise made to the Pacific Ocean by David Porter.

            The reason that this specific book caught my attention is because I have always had a great love and respect for the ocean. Ever since the time I was a young child, and the Pacific Ocean in particular. I can remember being a little girl running on the beaches edge, watching the ebb and flow of the water, wondering why it moved like that. I myself was born in California, which is where my love for the ocean came from. Every chance that became available to me I would be at the waters edge looking for answers about the mystical thing that was staring me in the eyes. I could not get enough of the freezing cold water against my warm skin, and the crisp ocean breeze that came with the experience. I consider myself to be, in a way, raised by the ocean, it can teach you lessons that other things do not have the ability to. I would love to gain a greater amount of knowledge about this thing that has shaped my life so. With that I ask a favor, that I might borrow the book mentioned earlier, to better myself with education. I will take very good care of it, in the hopes that you allow me the honor of borrowing it. I give all my best to you and your family.

Sincerely,

               Camille