The New York Times published a piece by a descendant of Thomas Jefferson’s who wants the Jefferson Memorial taken down. They probably missed thousands of other descendants who want it to stay up, but that’s the NY Times.
TEAR IT DOWN, SAYS THE FAR-LEFT DESCENDANT
Writing in the New York Times Monday morning, Lucian K. Truscott IV, a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson’s, which allegedly makes him more credible, says his ancestor’s former estate at Monticello is enough of a tribute. He wants his memorial in D.C. replaced with a statue of Harriet Tubman.
Why can’t we just add a statue of Harriet Tubman as President Trump called for on July 3rd, when he discussed his executive order to establish a park of American heroes? Harriet Tubman was on his list.
The sixth-generation great-grandson doesn’t seem to like his ancestor much.
“The memorial is a shrine to a man who during his lifetime owned more than 600 slaves and had at least six children with one of them, Sally Hemings,” Truscott writes. “It’s a shrine to a man who famously wrote that ‘all men are created equal’ in the Declaration of Independence that founded this nation — and yet never did much to make those words come true. Upon his death, he did not free the people he enslaved, other than those in the Hemings family, some of whom were his own children. He sold everyone else to pay off his debts.”
He writes in his piece that “In his opinion, Monticello notes Jefferson’s major contributions to the creation of the United States — including the Declaration of Independence — but also includes his history as a slave owner, or, as Truscott writes, “it reveals him with his moral failings in full, an imperfect man, a flawed founder.”
The memorial is more than a monument. It’s art and it’s history, but Truscott is angry that Jefferson appears to have had a 36-year relationship with his deceased wife’s half-sister, who was also his slave.
We don’t know that for certain. We know a male member of the Jefferson clan fathered at least one of Sally Hemings’ six children. There is historical evidence too, but no proof. We can’t know how Sally felt about it if it’s true. And whether there were different fathers for her six children is also unknown. We cannot go back in time and judge this relationship.
JEFFERSON, A MAN OF MANY CONTRADICTIONS
Jefferson was the writer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the greatest documents for the cause of freedom, individual rights, and self-government ever written. Its impact has been felt around the world in support of human rights for two hundred years.
Among his achievements were the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the famous attack on the Barbary pirates. He also founded the University of Virginia.
He was a scholar and one of the most learned lawyers in the colonies, and he was our first Secretary of State and the third President of the United States.
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States with the stroke of a pen.
In 1777, Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which established freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. He was most proud of that.
Jefferson appreciated much about European culture — its arts, architecture, literature, food, and wines — but he found the juxtaposition of the aristocracy’s grandeur and the masses’ poverty repellant. “I find the general fate of humanity here, most deplorable,” he wrote in one letter. At the same time, he lived above his means in the lap of luxury for the times.
The Democratic-Republican political party [not the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln], led by Jefferson, promoted the supremacy of state governments, a strict constructionist interpretation of the Constitution, and support for the French Revolution. When he was president, however, he was very liberal in his interpretation of the Constitution.
During his first term, in keeping with his Democratic-Republican values, Jefferson stripped the presidency of all the trappings of European royalty, reduced the size of the armed forces and government bureaucracy, and lowered the national debt from $80 million to $57 million in his first two years in office.
Yet he lived beyond his means. He wrote the Declaration of Independence but then owned slaves. He believed in limited government but greatly expanded governmental authority. He was a man of many contradictions, great and not always great. He was human.
Keep his memorial in the capital where he served our nation. To do otherwise is submitting to ISIS-like Democrats.
Truscott, by the way, is a novelist and columnist for Salon, which is as far left as any publication can be.
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