The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

The letters and the arguments of the most eloquent contradiction in the founding. Here is the wall of separation between church and state, the tree of liberty refreshed by the blood of patriots, the case for public education and for revolution in each generation. Here too is a man who wrote that all men are created equal and held human beings in bondage all his life. Read Jefferson whole and you hold the American promise and the American betrayal in one hand. That is the honest way to read him.

The author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President, and the most eloquent contradiction in the American founding: a man who wrote that all men are created equal and held human beings in bondage his whole life. His letters and arguments gave the republic some of its most enduring phrases, the wall of separation between church and state among them. To read Jefferson honestly is to hold the promise and the betrayal in the same hand, which is the American task.