Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743-July 4, 1826) was the 3rd President of the United States, 1801-09; approved the Louisiana Purchase and commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1803; Vice- President under John Adams, 1797-1801; Rector of the University of Virginia, 1819; Secretary of State under George Washington, 1789-93; U.S. Minister to France, 1785-89; delegate to the Continental Congress, 1783-85; drafted the Virginia Constitution, 1783; Governor of Virginia, 1779-81; drafted the Declaration of Independence, 1776; alternate delegate to the Second Continental Congress, 1775-76; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1768-79; married Martha Wayles Skelton, 1772; admitted to bar, 1767; graduated from the College of William and Mary, 1762; in addition to being an author, architect, educator and scientist.
On May 24, 1774, Thomas Jefferson drafted a Resolution calling for a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer for their sister colony of Massachusetts.
Robert Carter Nicholas introduced Jefferson's Prayer Resolution on the floor of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and, with support of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and George Mason, the Resolution passed unanimously:
<This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension of the great dangers, to be derived to British America, from the hostile invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the first Day of June next, to be stopped by an Armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the Members of this house, as a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition, for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens destruction to our Civil Rights, and the Evils of civil War; to give us one heart and one Mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty and his Parliament, may be inspired from above with Wisdom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America all cause of danger, from a continued pursuit of Measures, pregnant with their ruin.> 1743TJ001
Jefferson's Day of Fasting for Virginia was scheduled to begin at the exact time the Port of Boston was to be closed.
On May 26, 1774, the Royal appointed Governor, Lord Dunmore, interpreted the Prayer Resolution as a public protest against the King. Dunmore commanded the members of the House of Burgesses to meet him in the Council Chamber where he ordered the House of Burgesses to be dissolved and its members dispersed.
On July 26, 1774, Thomas Jefferson drafted the "Resolutions of Freeholders of Albemarle County Virginia" which was accepted by the Virginia House of Burgesses:
<And that we will ever be ready to join with our fellow-subjects in every part of the same, in executing all those rightful powers which God has given us, for the re-establishment and guaranteeing such their constitutional rights, when, where, and by whomever invaded.> 1743TJ002
In 1774, Thomas Jefferson wrote a pamphlet titled "A Summary View of the Rights of British Americans," and sent it to the Virginia House of Burgesses as a proposed basis for the colony's delegates to the First Continental Congress:
<The God who gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.> 1743TJ003
Thomas Jefferson wrote in an Address from the Virginia House of Burgesses to Lord Dunmore, June of 1775:
<We commit our injuries to the even-handed justice of that Being, Who doth no wrong, earnestly beseeching Him to illuminate the councils, and prosper the endeavors of those to whom America hath confided her hopes, that through their wise direction we may again see reunited the blessings of liberty, property, and harmony with Great Britain.> 1743TJ203
On July 6, 1775, the Continental Congress passed The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, composed by Thomas Jefferson, to explain to the British the presence of militiamen from several colonies gathering near Boston:
<But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end....
Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great, and if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable....
We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that His Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves.
With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves....
With a humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and impartial God and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore His divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, and to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war.> 1743TJ004
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of the "Lee Resolution" that declared independence for the colonies from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was written by the "Committee of Five" that consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, with Thomas Jefferson being the primary author and John Adams being its most vocal proponent. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (Vol. 1, 1760-1776, Ed. Julian P. Boyd, Princeton University Press, 1950, pp 243-247) contain Thomas Jefferson's "original rough draft" of the Declaration of Independence before it was revised by the other members of the Committee of Five and by Congress.
<A Declaration By the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled.
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, and to assume among powers of the earth the equal and independent station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the change.
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles and organizing it's power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for future security.
Such has been the patient sufferings of the colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to expunge their former systems of government.
The history of his present majesty is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which no one fact stands single or solitary to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good:
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has neglected utterly to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only:
He has dissolved Representatives houses repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people: He has refused for a long space of time to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within:
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization for foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither; and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands:
He has suffered the administration of justice totally to cease in some of these colonies, refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers:
He has made our judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and amount of their salaries:
He has erected a multitude of new offices by a self-assumed power, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance:
He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies and ships of war:
He has affected to render the military, independent of and superior to the civil power:
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them by a mock-trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses;
For taking away our charters, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;
For suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever:
He has abdicated government here, withdrawing his governors, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection:
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people:
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a civilize nation:
He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence:
He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation of our property:
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.
This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidels powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. He has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered by repeated injury.
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free.
Future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of one man, adventured within the short compass of twelve years only, on so many acts of tyranny without a mask, over a people fostered and fixed in principles of liberty.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend a jurisdiction over these our states.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here, no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our own blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league and amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and we appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, as well as to the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which were likely to interrupt our correspondence and connection.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election re-established them in power.
At this very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade and deluge us in blood.
These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We might have been a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur and of freedom it seems is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it; the road to happiness and to glory is open to all of us too; we will climb it apart from them, and acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal separation!
We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled do, in the name and by authority of the good people of these states, reject and renounce all allegiance and subjection to the kings of Great Britain and all others who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve and break off all political connection which may have heretofore subsisted between us and the people or parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independent states they shall hereafter have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.
And for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.> 1743TJ005
Thomas Jefferson's handwritten Declaration of Independence uses the wording “inalienable rights” as seen in the copies at The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the New York Public Library, and the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.
John Adams hand copied Jefferson's original rough draft changing the spelling to “unalienable.” John Adams oversaw the printing of the Declaration on the Dunlap broadside which also used the spelling “unalienable,” as does the parchment copy of the Declaration kept in the Department of State and the Declaration as written out in the corrected Journal.
According to The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style (Houghton Mifflin Company), “unalienable” and “inalienable” both mean “that which cannot be given away or taken away.” Spelling of words in America did not begin to be standardized until Noah Webster published his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.
In Carl Lotus Becker's "The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas" (1922), a footnote stated:
<The Rough Draft reads 'inherent & inalienable.' There is no indication that Congress changed 'inalienable' to 'unalienable'; but the latter form appears in the text in the rough Journal, in the corrected Journal, and in the parchment copy. John Adams, in making his copy of the Rough Draft, wrote 'unalienable.' Adams was one of the committee which supervised the printing of the text adopted by Congress, and it may have been at his suggestion that the change was made in printing. 'Unalienable' may have been the more customary form in the eighteenth century.> 1743TJ205
Shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a committee was appointed to draft a seal for the newly united states which would express the spirit of this new nation. Thomas Jefferson proposed:
<The children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.> 1743TJ006
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a proposed Virginia Constitution, June of 1776:
<No person shall be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.> 1743TJ206
During the period between 1779-81, Thomas Jefferson served as the Governor of Virginia. On November 11, 1779, Governor Thomas Jefferson issued a Proclamation Appointing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer:
<Whereas the Honourable the General Congress, impressed with a grateful sense of the goodness of Almighty God, in blessing the greater part of this extensive continent with plentiful harvests, crowning our arms with repeated successes, conducting us hitherto safely through the perils with which we have been encompassed and manifesting in multiplied instances his divine care of these infant states, hath thought proper by their act of the 20th day of October last, to recommend to the several states that Thursday the 9th of December next be appointed a day of publick and solemn thanksgiving and prayer, which act is in these words, to wit -
Whereas it becomes us humbly to approach the throne of Almighty God, with gratitude and praise, for the wonders which his goodness has wrought in conducting our forefathers to this western world; for his protection to them and to their posterity, amidst difficulties and dangers; for raising us their children from deep distress, to be numbered among the nations of the earth; and for arming the hands of just and mighty Princes in our deliverance; and especially for
that he hath been pleased to grant us the enjoyment of health and so to order the revolving seasons,
that the earth hath produced her increase in abundance, blessing the labours of the husbandman, and spreading plenty through the land;
that he hath prospered our arms and those of our ally, been a shield to our troops in the hour of danger, pointed their swords to victory, and led them in triumph over the bulwarks of the foe;
that he hath gone with those who went out into the wilderness against the savage tribes;
that he hath stayed the hand of the spoiler, and turned back his meditated destruction;
that he hath prospered our commerce, and given success to those who sought the enemy on the face of the deep; and above all, that he hath diffused the glorious light of the Gospel, whereby, through the merits of our gracious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of his eternal glory.
Therefore, Resolved, that it be recommended to the several states to appoint THURSDAY the 9th of December next, to be a day of publick and solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of PRAYER, for the continuance of his favour and protection to these United States; to beseech him
that he would be graciously pleased to influence our publick Councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness and success;
that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory; that he would grant to his church, the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out his holy spirit on all Ministers of the gospel;
that he would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth;
that he would smile upon the labours of his people, and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits in abundance, that we may with gratitude and gladness enjoy them;
that he would take into his holy protection, our illustrious ally, give him victory over his enemies, and render him finally great, as the father of his people, and the protector of the rights of mankind;
that he would graciously be pleased to turn the hearts of our enemies, and to dispence the blessings of peace to contending nations;
that he would in mercy look down upon us, pardon all our sins, and receive us into his favour; and finally,
that he would establish the independence of these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue, and support and protect them in the enjoyment of peace, liberty and safety.
I do therefore by authority from the General Assembly issue this my proclamation, hereby appointing Thursday the 9th day of December next, a day of publick and solemn thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, earnestly recommending to all the good people of this commonwealth, to set apart the said day for those purposes, and to the several Ministers of religion to meet their respective societies thereon, to assist them in their prayers, edify them with their discourses, and generally to perform the sacred duties of their function, proper for the occasion.
Given under my hand and the seal of the commonwealth, at Williamsburg, this 11th day of November, in the year of our Lord, 1779, and in the fourth of the commonwealth.
THOMAS JEFFERSON> 1743TJ007
In Query XVII of Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson wrote:
<The different religions received into that state? Religion - The first settlers in this country were emigrants from England, of the English church, just at a point of time when it was flushed with complete victory over the religious of all other persuasions. Possessed, as they became, of the powers of making, administering, and executing the laws, they shewed equal intolerance in this country with their Presbyterian brethren, who had emigrated to the northern government. The poor Quakers were flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom; but they found them free only for the reigning sect. Several acts of the Virginia assembly of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made it penal in parents to refuse to have their children baptized; had prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; had made it penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the state; had ordered those already here, and such as should come thereafter, to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country; provided a milder punishment for their first and second return, but death for their third; had inhibited all persons from suffering their meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them individually, or disposing of books which supported their tenets. If no capital execution took place here, as did in New-England, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or spirit of the legislature, as may be inferred from the law itself; but to historical circumstances which have not been handed down to us. The Anglicans retained full possession of the country about a century. Other opinions began then to creep in, and the great care of the government to support their own church, having begotten an equal degree of indolence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people had become dissenters at the commencement of the present revolution. The laws indeed were still oppressive on them, but the spirit of the one party had subsided into moderation, and of the other had risen to a degree of determination which commanded respect. The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is this. The convention of May 1776, in their declaration of rights, declared it to be a truth, and a natural right, that the exercise of religion should be free; but when they proceeded to form on that declaration the ordinance of government, instead of taking up every principle declared in the bill of rights, and guarding it by legislative sanction, they passed over that which asserted our religious rights, leaving them as they found them. The same convention, however, when they met as a member of the general assembly in October 1776, repealed all _acts of parliament_ which had rendered criminal the maintaining any opinions in matters of religion, the forbearing to repair to church, and the exercising any mode of worship; and suspended the laws giving salaries to the clergy, which suspension was made perpetual in October 1779.
Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away, we remain at present under those only imposed by the common law, or by our own acts of assembly. At the common law, 'heresy' was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its definition was left to the ecclesiastical judges, before whom the conviction was, till the statute of the 1 El. c. 1. circumscribed it, by declaring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but what had been so determined by authority of the canonical scriptures, or by one of the four first general councils, or by some other council having for the grounds of their declaration the express and plain words of the scriptures. Heresy, thus circumscribed, being an offence at the common law, our act of assembly of October 1777, c. 17. gives cognizance of it to the general court, by declaring, that the jurisdiction of that court shall be general in all matters at the common law. The execution is by the writ 'De haeretico comburendo'. By our own act of assembly of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more Gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offence by incapacity to hold any office or employment ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three years imprisonment, without bail. A father's right to the custody of his own children being founded in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken away, they may of course be severed from him, and put, by the authority of a court, into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of that religious slavery, under which a people have been willing to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment of their civil freedom. The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free enquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free enquiry been indulged, at the aera of the reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potatoe as an article of food. Government is just as infallible too when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent to the inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere: the government had declared it to be as flat as a trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This error however at length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and Descartes declared it was whirled round its axis by a vortex. The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand.
That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves. But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?
Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and order: or if a sect arises, whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons and laughs it out of doors, without suffering the state to be troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactors than we do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions. On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there is no other circumstance in which they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happy discovery, that the way to silence religious disputes, is to take no notice of them. Let us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may, of those tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet secured against them by the spirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of this country would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three years imprisonment for not comprehending the mysteries of the Trinity. But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support.
They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.> 1743TJ011
Jefferson wrote in Query XVIII of Notes on the State of Virginia. (Excerpts are engraved on the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.):
<God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever;
That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.> 1743TJ008
Jefferson wrote in Query XIX of Notes on the State of Virginia:
<Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God...whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue.> 1743TJ009
Jefferson wrote 'scraps early in the revolution,' possibly October of 1776, containing notes for his speeches in Virginia's House of Delegates for the disestablishment of the Episcopal church. Referred to as Notes on Religion, they are contained in The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, editor (New York and London, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1904-5, Vol. 2):
<J. MSS.
Sabellians. Xn. (Christian) heretics. That there is but one person in the Godhead. That the 'Word' & holy spirit are only virtues, emanations or functions of the deity.
Sorcinians. Xn. (Christian) heretics. That the Father is the one only god. That the Word is no more than an expression of ye. godhead & had not existed from all eternity; that Jes. Christ was god no otherwise than by his superiority above all creatures who were put in subjection to him by the father. That he was not a mediator, but sent to be a pattern of conduct to men. That the punishments of hell are nt. Eternal.
Arminians. They think with the Romish church (agt. the Calvinists) that there is an universal grace given to all men, & that man is always free & at liberty to receive or reject grace. That God creates men free, that his justice would not permit him to punish men for crimes they are predestinated to commit. They admit the presence of god, but distinguish between fore-knowing & predestinating. All the fathers before St. Austin were of this opinion. The church of Engld founded her article of predestination on his authority.
Arians. Xn. (Christian) heretics. They avow there was a time when the Son was not, that he was created in time mutable in nature, & like the angels liable to sin; they deny the three persons in the trinity to be of the same essence. Erasmus and Grotius were Arians.
Apollinarians. Xn. (Christian) heretics. They affirm there was but one nature in Christ, that his body as well as soul was impassive & immortal, & that his birth, death, & resurrection was only in appearance.
Macedonians. Xn. (Christian) heretics. They teach that the Holy ghost was a meer creature, but superior in excellence to the Angels. See Broughton, verbo 'Heretics,' an enumeration of 48. sects of Christians pronounced Heretics.
Locke's system of Christianity is this: Adam was created happy & immortal; but his happiness was to have been Earthly & Earthly immortality. By sin he lost this - so that he became subject to total death (like that of brutes) to the crosses & unhappiness of this life. At the intercession however of the son of god this sentence was in part remitted. A life conformable to the law was to restore them again to immortality. And moreover to them who believed their faith was to be counted for righteousness. Not that faith without works was to save them; St. James. c. 2. sais expressly the contrary; & all make the fundamental pillars of Xty (Christianity) to be faith & repentance. So that a reformation of life (included under repentance) was essential, & defects in this would be made up by their faith; i. e. their faith should be counted for righteousness. As to that part of mankind who never had the gospel preached to them, they are 1. Jews. 2. Pagans, or Gentiles. The Jews had the law of works revealed to them. By this therefore they were to be saved: & a lively faith in god's promises to send the Messiah would supply small defects. 2. The Gentiles. St. Pa. Sais - Rom. 2. 13. the Gentiles have the law written in their hearts, i. e. the law of nature: to which adding a faith in God's & his attributes that on their repentance he would pardon them, they also would be justified. This then explains the text 'there is no other name under heaven by which a man may be saved,' i. e. the defects in good works shall not be supplied by a faith in Mahomet Foe, or any other except Christ.
The fundamentals of Xty (Christianity) as found in the gospels are 1. Faith, 2. Repentance. That faith is every [where] explained to be a belief that Jesus was the Messiah who had been promised. Repentance was to be proved sincerely by good works. The advantages accruing to mankind from our Saviour's mission are these.
1. The knolege of one god only.
2. A clear knolege of their duty, or system of morality, delivered on such authority as to give it sanction.
3. The outward forms of religious worship wanted to be purged of that farcical pomp & nonsense with which they were loaded.
4. An inducement to a pious life, by revealing clearly a future existence in bliss, & that it was to be the reward of the virtuous.
The Epistles were written to persons already Christians. A person might be a Xn (Christian) then before they were written. Consequently the fundamentals of Xty (Christianity) were to be found in the preaching of our Saviour, which is related in the gospels. These fundamentals are to be found in the epistles dropped here & there, & promiscuously mixed with other truths. But these other truths are not to be made fundamentals. They serve for edification indeed & explaining to us matters in worship & morality, but being written occasionally it will readily be seen that their explanations are adpated to the notions & customs of the people they were written to. But yet every sentence in them (tho the writers were inspired) must not be taken up & made a fundamental, without assent to which a man is not to be admitted a member of the Xn (Christian) church here, or to his kingdom hereafter. The Apostles creed was by them taken to contain all things necessary to salvation, & consequently to a communion.
Shaftesbury Charact. As the Antients tolerated visionaries & enthusiasts of all kinds so they permitted a free scope to philosophy as a balance. As the Pythagoreans & latter Platonists joined with the superstition of their times the Epicureans & Academicks were allowed all the use of wit & railery against it.
Thus matters were balanced; reason had play & science flourished. These contrarieties produced harmony. Superstition & enthusiasm thus let alone never raged to bloodshed, persecution &c. But now a new sort of policy, which considers the future lives & happiness of men rather than the present, has taught to distress one another, & raised an antipathy which if temporal interests could ever do now uniformity of opn, a hopeful project! is looked on as the only remedy agt. this evil & is made the very object of govm't itself. If magistracy had vouchsafed to interpose thus in other sciences, we should have as bad logic, mathematics & philosophy as we have divinity in countries where the law settles orthodoxy.
Suppose the state should take into head that there should be an uniformity of countenance. Men would be obliged to put an artificial bump or swelling here, a patch there &c. but this would be merely hypocritical, or if the alternative was given of wearing a mask, 99/100ths must immediately mask. Would this add to the beauty of nature? Why otherwise in opinions? In the middle ages of Xty (Christianity) opposition to the State opins was hushed. The consequence was, Xty (Christianity) became loaded with all the Romish follies. Nothing but free argument, raillery & even ridicule will preserve the purity of religion. 2 Cor. 1. 24. the apostles declare they had no dominion over the faith.
A heretic is an impugner of fundamentals. What are fundamentals? The protestants will say those doctrines which are clearly & precisely delivered in the holy Scriptures. Dr. Vaterland would say the Trinity. But how far this character of being clearly delivered will suit the doctrine of the trinity I leave others to determine. It is nowhere expressly declared by any of the earliest fathers, & was never affirmed or taught by the Church before the Council of Nice (Chillingas Pref. § 18. 33.) Iranæus sais 'who are the clean' those who go on firmly, believing in the Father & in the Son. The fundamental doctrine or the firmness of the Xn (Christian) faith in this early age then was to believe in the Father & Son. Constantine wrote to Arius & Alexr treating the question 'as vain foolish & impertinent as a dispute of words without sense which none could explain nor any comprehend &c.' This line is commended by Eusebius (Vit.
Constant 1. r. c. 64 &c.) and Socrates (Hist. Eccles. 1. i. c. 7) as excellent admirable & full of wisdom. 2 Middleton. 115. remarks on the story of St. John & [[Editor: illegible word 'Le saint concil (de Nièce anno 630) ayant defini que le fils de dieu est de meme substance que son pere & qu'il est eternel comme lui, composa une Simbole (the Nicene creed) ou il explique la divinite du pere et du fils et qu'il finit par ces paroles 'dont le regne n'aura point de fin.' car la doctrine que regarde le Saint Esprit ne fut ajoutée que dans la seconde concile tenu contre les erreurs de Macedoniens, ou ces questions furent agitées.' Zonaras par Coussin. Ann. 330. The second council meant by Zonoras was that of Constantinople ann. 381. D'hist. Prim. Xty. pref. XXXVIII. 2d app. to pref. 49. The Council of Antioch ann expressly affirms of our Saviour - that he was not consubstantial to the father. The Council of Nice affirmed the direct contrary.
Dhist. Prim. Xty. Pref. CXXV. Episcopy. Gr. - Lat. Episcopus. Ital. Vescovo. Fr. Evesque. Saxon, Byscop. Bishop (overseer). The epistles of Paul to Timothy & Titus are relied on (together with Tradition) for the Apostolic institution of bishops.
As to tradition, if we are Protestants we reject all tradition, & rely on the scripture alone, for that is the essence & common principle of all the protestant churches. As to Scripture 1. Tim. 3. 2. 'a bishop must be blameless &c.' - v. 8.; 'likewise must the deacons be grave &c.' - (ministers). C. 5. v. 6, he calls Timothy a 'minister,' -; C. 4. v. 14. 'neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on the hands of the presbytery,'; C. 5. 'rebuke not an elder' 5:17; 'let the elders that rule well, &c.' 5.19; 'against an elder ( - ) receive nt an accusn.' 5.22. 'lay hands suddenly on no man,' 6.11. He calls Timothy man of God -, 2. Tim. 1. 6. 'stir up the gift of god, which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands' but ante c. 4. v. 14, he said it was by the hands of the presbytery. This imposition of hands then was some ceremony or custom frequently repeated, & certainly is a good proof that Timothy was ordained by the elders (& consequently that they might ordain) as that it was by Paul. 1. 11. Paul calls himself 'a preacher,' 'an apostle,' 'a teacher.' Here he designates himself by several synonims as he had before done Timothy. Does this prove that every synonim authorizes a different order of ecclesiastics. 4. 5. 'do the work of an Evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry' - Timothy then is called 4.11. He tells Tim. to bring Mark with him, for 'he is profitable to me for the ministry.' - . Epist. to Titus. 1. 1, he calls himself 'a servant of god' - 1.5. 'for this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain ( - ) elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.' If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of god &c. Here then it appears that as the elders appointed the bishops, so the bishops appointed the elders, i. e., they are synonims. Again when telling Titus to appoint elders in every city he tells him what kind of men they must be, for said he a bishop must be &c., so that in the same sentence he calls elders bishops. 3.10 'a man that is an heretic after the first & second admonition, reject,' - James 5. 14. 'is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders ( - ) of the church, & let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the lord.'
Another plea for Episcopal government in Religion in England is it's similarity to the political governmt by a king. No bishop, no king. This then with us is a plea for government by a presbytery which resembles republican government.
The clergy have ever seen this. The bishops were alwais mere tools of the crown.
The Presbyterian spirit is known to be so congenial with friendly liberty, that the patriots after the restoration finding that the humour of people was running too strongly to exalt the prerogative of the crown promoted the dissenting interest as a check a and balance, & thus was produced the Toleration Act.
St. Peter gave the title of clergy to all god’s people till Pope Higinus & ye. succeeding prelates took it from them & appropriated it to priests only. 1 Milt. 230.
Origen, being yet a layman, expounded the scripchures publickly & was therein defended by Alexander of Jerusalem & Theodotn of Cæsarea producing in his behalf divers examples that the privilege of teaching was antiently permitted to laymen. The first Nicene council called in the assistance of many learned lay brethren. ib. 230.
Bishops were elected by the hands of the whole church. Ignatius (the most ant. of the extant fathers) writing to the Philadelphians sais 'that it belongs to them as to the church of god to chuse a bishop.' Camden in his description of Scotld sais 'that over all the world bps had no certain dioces till pope Dionysius about the year 268 did cut them out, & that the bps of Scotld extd their function in what place soever they came, indifferently till temp Malcolm 3. 1070.'
Cyprian, epist. 68. sais 'the people chiefly hath power either of chusing worthy or refusing unworthy bps the council of Nice contrary to the African churches exorts them to chuse orthodox bps in the place of the dead.' 1 Milt. 254.
Nicephorus Phocas the Greek emperor Ann. 1000 first enacted that no bps shd be chozen without his will. Ignatius in his epistle to those of Tra [mutilated] confesseth that the presbyters are his fellowsellers & fellow henchers & Cyprian in the 6. 4. 52. epst. calls the presbyters, 'his com-presbyters' yet he was a bps. 'A modern bps to be moulded into a primitive one must be elected by the people, undiocest, unrevenued, unlorded.' 1 Milt. 255. From the dissensions among sects themselves arises necessarily a right of chusing & necessity of deliberating to which we will conform, but if we chuse for ourselves, we must allow others to chuse also, & to reciprocally. This establishes religious liberty.
Why require those things in order to eccliastical communion which Christ does not require in order to life eternal? How can that be the church of Christ which excludes such persons from its communion as he will one day receive into the kingdom of heaven.
The arms of a religious society or church are exhortations, admonitions & advice, & ultimately expulsion or excommunication. This last is the utmost limit of power.
How far does the duty of toleration extend?
1. No church is bound by the duty of toleration to retain within her bosom obstinate offenders against her laws.
2. We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoiments because he is of another church. If any man err from the right way, it is his own misfortune, no injury to thee; nor therefore art thou to punish him in the things of this life because thou supposeth he will be miserable in that which is to come
- on the contrary accdg to the spirit of the gospel, charity, bounty, liberality is due to him.
Each church being free, no one can have jurisdn over another one, not even when the civil magistrate joins it. It neither acquires the right of the sword by the magistrate's coming to it, nor does it lose the rights of instruction or excommunicn by his going from it. It cannot by the accession of any new member acquire jurisdn over those who do not accede. He brings only himself, having no power to bring others. Suppose for instance two churches, one of Arminians another of Calvinists in Constantinople, has either any right over the other? Will it be said the orthodox one has? Every church is to itself orthodox; to others erroneous or heretical.
No man complains of his neighbor for ill management of his affairs, for an error in sowing his land, or marrying his daughter, for consuming his substance in taverns, pulling down building &c. in all these he has his liberty: but if he do not frequent the church or there conform to ceremonies, there is an immediate uproar.
The care of every man’s soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or estate, which more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he shall not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.
If I be marching on with my utmost vigour in that way which according to the sacred geography leads to Jerusalem straight, why am I beaten & ill used by others because my hair is not of the right cut; because I have not been dresst right, bec. I eat flesh on the road, bec. I avoid certain by-ways which seem to lead into briars, bec. among several paths I take that which seems shortest & cleanest, bec. I avoid travellers less grave & keep company with others who are more sour & austere, or bec. I follow a guide crowned with a mitre & cloathed in white, yet these are the frivolous things which keep Xns at war.
If the magistrate command me to bring my commodity to a publick store house I bring it because he can indemnify me if he erred & I thereby lose it; but what indemnification can he give one for the kdom of heaven?
I cannot give up my guidance to the magistrates, bec. he knows no more of the way to heaven than I do, & is less concerned to direct me right than I am to go right. If the Jews had followed their Kings, among so many, what number would have led them to idolatry? Consider the vicissitudes among the Emperors, Arians, Athana &c. or among our princes. H. 8. E. 6. Mary.
Elizabeth. Locke's Works 2d vol.
Why persecute for diffce in religs opinion?
1. For love to the person.
2. Because of tendency of these opns to dis...
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1. When I see them persecute their nearest connection & acquaintance for gross vices, I shall believe it may proceed from love. Till they do this I appeal to their own conscences if they will examine, wh. ye do nt find some other principle.
2. Because of tendency. Why not then level persecution at the crimes you fear will be introduced? Burn or hang the adulterer, cheat &c. Or exclude them from offices. Strange should be so zealous against things which tend to produce immorality & yet so indulgent to the immorality when produced. These moral vices all men acknowledge to be diametrically against X. & obstructive of salvation of souls, but the fantastical points for which we generally persecute are often very questionable; as we may be assured by the very different conclusions of people. Our Savior chose not to propagate his religion by temporal punmts or civil incapacitation, if he had, it was in his almighty power. But he chose to extend it by its influence on reason, there by shewing to others how they should proceed.
The commonwealth is 'a Society of men constituted for protecting their civil interests.'
Civil interests are 'life, health, indolency of body, liberty and property.' That the magistrate's jurisdn extends only to civil rights appears from these considns.
1. The magistrate has no power but wt ye people gave.
The people hve nt givn hm the care of souls bec. ye cd not, ye cd not, because no man hsright to abandon ye care of his salvation to another.
No man has power to let another prescribe his faith. Faith is not faith witht believing. No man can conform his faith to the dictates of another. The life & essence of religion consists in the internal persuasion or belief of the mind.
External forms of worship, when against our belief are hypocrisy & impiety. Rom. 14. 23. 'he that doubteth is damned, if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin?'
2. If it be said the magistrate may make use of arguments & so draw the heterodox to truth, I answer, every man has a commission to admonish, exhort, convince another of error ...
12. A church is 'a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord, in order to the public worshipping of god in such a manner as they judge acceptable to him & effectual to the salvation of their souls.' It is voluntary bec. no man is by nature bound to any church. The hope of salvation is the cause of his entering into it. If he find anything wrong in it, he should be as free to go out as he was to come in.
13. What is the power of that church. As it is a society it must have some laws for its regulation. Time & place of meeting. Admitting & excluding members &c. Must be regulatn but as it was a spontaneous joining of members, it follows that it's laws extend to it's own members only, not to those of any other voluntary society, for then by the same rule some other voluntary society might usurp power over them.
Christ has said 'wheresoever 2 or 3 are gatherd. togeth in his name he will be in the midst of them.' This is his definition of a society. He does not make it essential that a bishop or presbyter govern them. Without them it suffices for the salvation of souls.
Compulsion in religion is distinguished peculiarly from compulsion in every other thing. I may grow rich by art I am compelled to follow, I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take agt. my own judgment, but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve & abhor.
Whatsoever is lawful in the Commonwealth, or permitted to the subject in the ordinary way, cannot be forbidden to him for religious uses: & whatsoever is prejudicial to the Commonwealth in their ordinary uses & therefore prohibited by the laws, ought not to be permitted to churches in their sacred rites. For instance it is unlawful in the ordinary course of things or in a private house to murder a child. It should not be permitted any sect then to sacrifice children: it is ordinarily lawful (or temporarily lawful) to kill calves or lambs. They may therefore be religiously sacrificed, but if the good of the state required a temporary suspension of killing lambs, as during a siege, sacrifices of them may then be rightfully suspended also. This is the true extent of toleration.
Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known & seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper & sufficient antagonist to error. If anything pass in a religious meeting seditiously and contrary to the public peace, let it be punished in the same manner & no otherwise than as if it had happened in a fair or market.
These meetings ought not to be sanctuaries for faction & flagitiousness.
Locke denies toleration to those who entertain opns contrary to those moral rules necessary for the preservation of society; as for instance, that faith is not to be kept with those of another persuasion, that Kings excommunicated forfeit their crowns, that dominion is founded in grace, or that obedience is due to some foreign prince, or who will not own & teach the duty of tolerating all men in matters of religion, or who deny the existence of a god (it was a great thing to go so far as he himself sais of the parl. who framed the act of tolern but where he stopped short we may go on.)
He sais 'neither Pagan nor Mahomedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.' Shall we suffer a Pagan to deal with us and not suffer him to pray to his god? Why have Xns. (Christians) been distinguished above all people who have ever lived, for persecutions? Is it because it is the genius of their religion? No, it's genius is the reverse. It is the refusing toleration to those of a different opn which has produced all the bustles and wars on account of religion. It was the misfortune of mankind that during the darker centuries the Xn. (Christian) priests following their ambition and avarice combining with the magistrate to divide the spoils of the people, could establish the notion that schismatics might be ousted of their possessions & destroyed. This notion we have not yet cleared ourselves from. In this case no wonder the oppressed should rebel, & they will continue to rebel & raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them & all partial distinctions, exclusions & incapacitations removed.> 1743TJ421
Selected quotes from Jefferson's Notes on Religion are:
<As to tradition, if we are Protestants we reject all tradition, and rely on the Scripture alone, for that is the essence and common principle of all the Protestant churches.> 1743TJ212
<A church is "a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord, in order to the public worshiping of God in such a manner as they judge acceptable to Him and effectual to the salvation of their souls." It is voluntary, because no man is by nature bound to any church. The hope of salvation is the cause of his entering into it. If he find anything wrong in it. he should be as free to go out as he was to come in.> 1743TJ213
<Each church being free, no one can have jurisdiction over another one. not even when the civil magistrate joins it. It neither acquires the right of the sword by the magistrate's coming to it, nor does it lose the rights of instruction or excommunication by his going from it. It cannot by the accession of any new member acquire jurisdiction over those who do not accede. He brings only himself, having no power to bring others. Suppose, for instance, two churches, one of Arminians, another of Calvinists in Constantinople, has either any right over the other? Will it be said the orthodox one has? Every church is to itself orthodox; to others erroneous or heretical.> 1743TJ214
<What is the power of that church? As it is a society, it must have some laws for its regulation. Time and place of meeting; admitting and excluding members, &c, must be regulated. But as it was a spontaneous joining of members, it follows that its laws extend to its own members only, not to those of any other voluntary society; for then, by the same rule, some other voluntary society might usurp power over them.> 1743TJ215
<If anything pass in a religious meeting seditiously and contrary to the public peace, let it be punished in the same manner and no otherwise than as if it had happened in a fair or market. These meetings ought not to be sanctuaries for faction and flagitiousness (flagrant wickedness).> 1743TJ216
<If the magistracy had vouchsafed to interpose in other sciences, we should have as bad logic, mathematics, and philosophy as we have divinity in countries where the law settles orthodoxy.> 1743TJ217
<I cannot give up my guidance to the magistrate, because he knows no more of the way to heaven than I do, and is less concerned to direct me right than I am to go right.> 1743TJ218
<If it be said the magistrate may make use of arguments and so draw the heterodox to truth, I answer, every man has a commission to admonish, exhort, convince another of error.> 1743TJ219
<If the magistrate command me to bring my commodity to a public store-house, I bring it because he can indemnify me if he erred, and I thereby lose it; but what indemnification can he give one for the kingdom of heaven?> 1743TJ220
<The people have not given the magistrate the care of souls because they could not. They could not, because no man has the right to abandon the care of his salvation to another.> 1743TJ221
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a proposed Virginia Constitution, 1783:
<The General Assembly shall not have power...to abridge the civil rights of any person on account of his religious belief; to restrain him from professing and supporting that belief, or compel him to contributions, other than those he shall have personally stipulated for the support of that or any other.> 1743TJ209
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a proposed Virginia Constitution, 1783:
<It hath pleased the Sovereign Disposer of all human events to give to this [Revolution] appeal an issue favorable to the rights of the States.> 1743TJ210
On August 19, 1785, in a letter to Peter Carr, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.> 1743TJ010
In 1777, Jefferson drafted a Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which he introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1779 as Bill No. 82. It was enacted into State Law on January 16, 1786, as the "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom":
<Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone;
that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time:
That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical;
that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness; and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind;
that our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry;
that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right;
that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it;
that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous falacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own;
that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order;
and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.
We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.> 1743TJ222
James Parton wrote in his work, Life of Jefferson (1874, p. 211):
<This vigorous utterance of Thomas Jefferson was the arsenal from which the opponents of the forced support of religion drew their weapons, during the whole period of about fifty years that elapsed between its publication and the repeal of the last State law which taxed a community for the support of the clergy; nor will it cease to have a certain value as long as any man, in any land, is distrusted, or undervalued, or abridged of his natural rights, on account of any opinion whatever.> 1743TJ224
Thomas Jefferson drafted the reply of Congress to General Washington upon his surrendering of his commission, December of 1783:
<We join you (General Washington) in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God. beseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you we address to Him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all His care; that your days may be happy as they have been illustrious; and that He will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give.> 1743TJ229
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Jean Nicolas Demeunier, June 26, 1786, providing an entry for the French Encyclopedia:
<Of the two commissioners who had concerted the amendatory clause for the gradual emancipation of slaves Mr. Wythe could not be present as being a member of the judiciary department, and Mr. Jefferson was absent on the legation to France. But there wanted not in that assembly men of virtue enough to propose, & talents to vindicate this clause. But they saw that the moment of doing it with success was not yet arrived, and that an unsuccessful effort, as too often happens, would only rivet still closer the chains of bondage, and retard the moment of delivery to this oppressed description of men.
What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him thro' his trial, and inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.
But we must await with patience the workings of an overruling providence, & hope that that is preparing the deliverance of these, our suffering brethren. When the measure of their tears shall be full, when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless a god of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light & liberality among their oppressors, or at length by his exterminating thunder, manifest his attention to the things of this world, and that they are not left to the guidance of a blind fatality.> 1743TJ230
Jefferson had experiences with Islam. For centuries, Muslim Ottoman pirates of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco and Algiers-countries along the North African Barbary Coast, attacked and enslaved thousands of Europeans captured at sea.
Catholic Orders existed, such as the Trinitarians (Mathurins), whose entire mission was to collect alms from across Europe and ransom captives from the Muslim dungeons.
European countries, such as England and France, eventually arranged to pay the Muslim Barbary Pirates an annual tribute, equivalent to millions of dollars, to bribe Muslims to leave their countries' ships alone. American vessels were considered protected by British tribute until the conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1783. For a few years, American ships were protected under France's tribute.
Finally, the Muslim Barbary Pirates insisted the United States pay its own tribute. In 1784, Jefferson and Adams, serving as U.S. ministers in France, were directed by Congress to negotiate a tribute of $80,000, borrowed from Dutch bankers.
In 1785, Muslims of Algiers captured two American ships and held their crews as prisoners, demanding $60,000 in ransom. Muslims ransoms varied from $300 for a seaman to $1,000 for a captain. Jefferson began working with the Catholic Order of the Mathurins to ransom the American sailors, as the Order existed for centuries for this purpose. During the French Revolution the anti-clerical government in France disbanded the Mathurin Order.
In AMERICAN SPHINX-The Character of Thomas Jefferson (Vintage, 1998), Joseph J. Ellis wrote of an incident when Jefferson was ambassador to France, 1784-1789:
<Several muslim countries along the North African coast had established the tradition of plundering the ships of European and American merchants in the western Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, capturing the crews and then demanding ransom from the respective governments for their release. In a joint message to their superiors in Congress, Adams and Jefferson described the audacity of these terrorist attacks, pirates leaping onto defenseless ships with daggers clenched in their teeth. They had asked the ambassador from Tripoli, Adams and Jefferson explained, on what grounds these outrageous acts of unbridled savagery could be justified (American Peace Commissioners to John Jay," March 28, 1786:
"The ambassador answered us that it was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."> 1743TJ015
In 1788, Jefferson arranged for John Paul Jones (1747-1792), the "Father of the American Navy," to fight for Russia's Catherine the Great against the Muslim Ottoman navy. In his Narrative of the Campaign of the Liman, John Paul Jones writes of victoriously sailing his flagship Vladimir against the Turks by the Black Sea's Dnieper River. Later, in 1792, Jones was appointed as a U.S. Consul in Paris to negotiate the release of captured U.S. Navy officers held in the dungeons of Algiers.
On September 11, 1790, just prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI sent a note to President Washington and the U.S. Congress expressing his gratitude for the service Thomas Jefferson had preformed as the U.S. Minister to France:
<To our very dear friends and allies, the President and Members of the General Congress of the United States of North America.
Very Dear Great Friends and Allies: We have received the letter by which you inform us of the new mark of confidence that you have shown to Mr. Jefferson, and which puts a period to his appointment of minister plenipotentiary at our Court.
The manner in which he conducted during his residence with us has merited our esteem and entire approbation, and it is with pleasure that we now give him this testimony of it.
It is with the most sincere pleasure that we embrace this opportunity of renewing these assurances of regard and friendship which we feel for the United States in general and for each of them in particular. Under their influence we pray God that He will keep you, very dear friends and allies, under His holy and beneficent protection.
Done at Paris this 11th September, 1790. Your friend and ally, LOUIS. Montmorin. [seal].> 1743TJ016
On May 23, 1797, Vice-President Thomas Jefferson, as President of the Senate, addressed President John Adams:
<And the Senate can not suffer the present occasion to pass without thus publicly and solemnly expressing their attachment to the Constitution and Government of their country; and as they hold themselves responsible to their constituents, their consciences, and their God, it is their determination by all their exertions to repel every attempt to alienate the affections of the people from the Government, so highly injurious to the honor, safety, and independence of the United States.> 1743TJ017
On November 16, 1798, Thomas Jefferson stated in the Kentucky Resolution:
<Article III. Resolved, that it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people";
And that no power over the freedom of religion...[has been] delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States....
That thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated rather than the use be destroyed;
And thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this State, by a law passed in the general demand of its citizens, had already protected them..."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch, that whatever violates either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the other, and that libels, falsehoods, defamation equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of Federal tribunals...> 1743TJ018
On September 23, 1800, in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.> 1743TJ019
On February 20, 1801, President-elect Thomas Jefferson responded to the notification of his election:
<I know the difficulties of the station to which I am called, and feel and acknowledge my incompetence. But whatsoever of understanding, whatsoever of diligence, whatsoever of justice or of affectionate concern for the happiness of man, it has pleased Providence to place within the compass of my faculties shall be called forth for the discharge of the duties confided to me, and for procuring to my fellow-citizens all the benefits which our Constitution has placed under the guardianship of the General Government.> 1743TJ020
On Wednesday, March 4, 1801, in his First Inaugural Address, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<And let us reflect that having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions....
Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own federal and republican principles....
Enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter. With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens - a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned....
You should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government....Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political...arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus and trial by jury impartially selected....
And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.> 1743TJ021
In 1793, Muslim Barbary pirates captured the U.S. cargo ship Polly. The ship was plundered and the crew was imprisoned. The Muslim captain justified their brutal treatment: "for your history and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews and disregarding the true doctrine of God's last and greatest prophet, Mohammed."
In 1795, Muslim Barbary Pirates of Algiers captured 115 American sailors. The United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in ransom.
A 1798 Treaty of Tripoli, lines of which are often quoted out of context, failed. In 1801, the year Jefferson became President, Muslim Barbary Pirates demanded $225,000, plus an annual tribute of $25,000.
When Jefferson refused, the Pasha (Lord) of Tripoli declared war. This was the first war the U.S. was in after becoming a nation. Jefferson sent U.S. frigates to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping.
In his First Annual Message, December 8, 1801, Thomas Jefferson stated:
<Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to (announce) war on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer.
I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack.
The measure was seasonable and salutary. The Bey (lord) had already declared war. His cruisers were out. Two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded and that of the Atlantic in peril. The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger.
One of the Tripolitan cruisers having fallen in with and engaged the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret, which had gone as a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part. The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony to the world.> 1743TJ023
On October 31, 1803, the new 36-gun USS Philadelphia ran aground. Muslims pirates captured and imprisoned Captain William Bainbridge and his 307 man crew for 18 months.
To prevent this powerful ship from being used by Muslim pirates, Lieut. Stephen Decatur, in what has been described as the "most bold and daring act of the age," on the night of February 16, 1804, sailed his ship, Intrepid, into the Muslim harbor and set the USS Philadelphia ablaze.
After negotiations, the surviving 296 crewmen of the USS Philadelphia were released in exchanged for $60,000 and 89 Muslim prisoners taken in skirmishes.
The 11 missing U.S. sailors of the original 307 crewmen included 6 who had died in captivity and 5 who converted to Islam, much to the annoyance of the rest of the crew.
When the Bashaw of Tripoli offered the 5 converts the choice of staying in Tripoli as Muslims or returning to America, 4 decided to renounce Islam and return home.
The insulted Bashaw ordered them taken away. Horror covered their faces as guards removed them and they were never seen again.
In Hadith al-Bukhari "Mohammed said, 'Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.'"
Jefferson owned a Qur'an to understand the enemy. He sent Marines to capture Tripoli, led by Commodores Edward Preble, John Rogers and Captain William Eaton.
The Muslim's terrorist attacks were stopped, giving rise to the Marine Anthem: "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..."
The curved Marine sword is from the many confiscated Muslim scimitars, called "mamluke" swords. Marines were called "leathernecks" for the wide leather straps worn around their necks to prevent being beheaded, as Sura 47:4, states: "When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads."
In 2006, Rep. Keith Ellison sought to borrow credibility by swearing into Congress on a Qur'an borrowed from the Library of Congress that once was in Jefferson's personel library. Ironically, Jefferson owned the Qur'an to understand his military enemy, the Muslim Barbary Pirates of Tripoli during the First Barbary War, as many suras (chapters) in the Qur'an reveal their motivation:
<Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Qur'an, Sura 9:29)
Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. (Qur'an, Sura 5:51)
Infidels are those who declare: "God is the Christ, the son of Mary." (Qur'an, Sura 5:17)
Infidels are those that say 'God is one of three in a Trinity." (Qur'an, Sura 5:73)
Make war on the infidels who dwell around you. (Qur'an, Sura 9:123) The infidels are your sworn enemies. (Qur'an, Sura 4:101)
When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads. (Qur'an, Sura 47:4)
Mohammed is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the infidels. (Qur'an, Sura 48:29)
Prophet, make war on the infidels. (Qur'an, Sura 66:9)
Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them. (Qur'an, Sura 2:191)
The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger... will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. (Qur'an, Sura 5:33)
Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom. (Qur'an, Sura 47:4)
Believers, do not make friends with those who have incurred the wrath of Allah. (Qur'an, Sura 60:13)
Never be a helper to the disbelievers. (Qur'an, Sura 28:86)
Those who do not rule in accordance with Allah's revelations are the wicked. (Qur'an, Sura 5:47)
Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war). (Qur'an, Sura 9:5 Yusufali Translation)
Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against. (Qur'an, Sura 22:39-40)
O Prophet! urge the believers to war. (Qur'an, Sura 8:65 Shakir Translation)
Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame. (Qur'an, Sura 9:14 Yusufali Translation)
Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness. (Qur'an, Sura 9:123 Shakir Translation)
When ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks...Allah lets you fight in order to test you. (Qur'an, Sura 47:4 Yusufali Translation)
Certainly Allah helped you in many battlefields. (Qur'an, Sura 9:25 Shakir Translation)
Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard (Takeyya) yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security. Allah biddeth you beware (only) of Himself. Unto Allah is the journeying. (Qur'an, Sura 3:28, Pickthal Translation)
Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution, that ye mayGuard ourselves from them. But Allah cautions you (To remember) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah. (Qur'an, Sura 3:28, Yusufali Trans.)
Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming. (Qur'an, Sura 3:28 Shakir Translation)
Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief-except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith-but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty. (Qur'an, Sura 16:106, Yusufali Translation)
Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief- save him who is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with the Faith-but whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs will be an awful doom. (Qur'an, Sura 16:106, Pickthal Translation)
He who disbelieves in Allah after his having believed, not he who is compelled while his heart is at rest on account of faith, but he who opens (his) breast to disbelief- on these is the wrath of Allah, and they shall have a grievous chastisement. (Qur'an, Sura 16:106, Shakir Translation)
O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and hypocrites and be harsh with them. (Qur'an, Sura 9:73)
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. (Qur'an, Sura 9:5)
They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper. (Qur'an, Sura 4:89)
O Prophet, make war upon infidels and unbelievers, and treat them with severity. (Qur'an, Sura 66:9)
Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are male or female, as punishment for what they have done-a deterrent from Allah. (Qur'an, Sura 5:38)
The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication (rape),- flog each of them with a hundred stripes. (Qur'an, Sura 24:2)> 1743TJ024
When Mohammed first fled as an immigrant to Medina, his followers were few. He needed to make a treaty with the pagans and the three Jewish tribes living there: Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza.
As his followers grew in number, Mohammed transitioned into political leader. When the city of Mecca drove out Muslim converts and confiscated their property, Mohammed allowed Muslims to retaliate by robbing caravans headed to Mecca: "Permission is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged." (Qur'an, Sura 22:39)
Mohammed transitioned into a military leader and in 624, with only 300 men, he defeated 1,000 Meccans guarding their caravan at Badr. He then found reason to void his treaty with Medina's first Jewish tribe, Banu Qaynuqa, and drove them out confiscating their property. This gave rise to the concept in Islam that when you are weak you make treaties until you are strong enough to disregard them.
Mecca was feeling the pain of their caravans being robbed, so in 625 they sent an army of 3,000 and defeated Mohammed at the Battle of Uhud, though they mistakenly failed to pursue Mohammed. Medina's second Jewish tribe, Banu Nadir, sent a leader to Mecca begging for help, but he was assassinated. Mohammed then expelled that tribe and confiscated their property.
In 627, Mecca sent a coalition 10,000 to stop Mohammed in Medina, but Mohammed dug trenches around the city, rendering the Meccan cavalry useless. Anas Ibn Malik reported:
<Abu Talhah was a good marksman with arrows. When he threw his arrows at the unbelievers, the Prophet would look up to see what they hit. (Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari) When the Meccans withdrew, Mohammed attacked the neighborhood of Medina's third Jewish tribe, Banu Qurayza. After 25 days they surrendered.> 1743TJ025
Ibn Ishaq described what followed:
<They surrendered, and the apostle confined them in Medina in the quarter of the d. al- Harith...The apostle went out to the market of Medina (which is still its market today) and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for them and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches... There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900. As they were being taken out in batches to the apostle they asked Ka'b what he thought would be done with them. He replied, "Will you never understand? Don't you see that the summoner never stops and those who are taken away do not return? By Allah it is death!" This went on until the apostle made an end of them.> 1743TJ026
Ibn Hisham recorded:
<Zoheir, an aged Jew, who had saved some of Mohammed's allies of the Bani Aws in the Battle of Boath, Thabit interceded and procured a pardon, including the restoration of his family and his property. "But what hath become of all our chiefs,-of Kab, of Huwey, of Ozzal Ibn Samuel?" asked the old man. As one after another he named the leading chiefs of his tribe, he received to each inquiry the same reply;-they had all been slain already. -"Then of what use is life to me any longer? Slay me also, that I may go and join those that have preceded me." When this was told to Mohammed, he said, "Yea, he shall join them, in the fire of Hell," and he too was beheaded." (Ibn Hisham p. 301)> 1743TJ027
Jewish women and children were divided among his warriors, and Mohammed reserved a fifth for himself. Hadith Sahih Bukhari, narrated Abdullah bin Masud, stated:
<I asked Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times."
I asked, "What is next in goodness?"
He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, what is next in goodness?"
He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause."
I did not ask Allah's Apostle anymore and if I had asked him more, he would have told me more. (Vol. 4, Bk 52, No. 41)> 1743TJ028
Hadith Malik's Muwatta (Bk. 21, No. 3, 11) reads:
<It has been passed down to us that when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent out a raiding party, he would say to them, "Make your raids in the name of Allah in the way of Allah. Fight whoever denies Allah. Do not steal from the booty, and do not act treacherously. Do not mutilate and do not kill children." Say the same to your armies and raiding parties, Allah willing. Peace be upon you.> 1743TJ029
To overcome conscience, the innate feeling that killing someone is wrong is:
<Fighting is obligatory for you, as much as you dislike it. (Qur'an, Sura 2:216)> 1743TJ030
The Yusufali Translation of that verse states:
<Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not. (Qur'an, Sura 2:216)> 1743TJ031
The Pickthal Translation states:
<Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. (Qur'an, Sura 2:216)> 1743TJ032
The Shakir Translation states:
<Fighting is enjoined on you, and it is an object of dislike to you; and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know. (Qur'an, Sura 2:216)> 1743TJ033
Mohammed fought 26 battles and 86 raids, including:
<624 AD Battle of Badr
- AD Battle of Uhud & the Expulsion of Banu Nadir
- AD Attack on Banu Mustaliq
- AD Battle of the Trench & Killing/Enslaving Banu Quraiza
- AD Battle of Khaybar
- AD Battle of Mu'tah
- AD Conquest of Mecca, Battle of Hunayn, Battle of Auras & Siege of al-Ta'if (where Mohammed used a catapult)
- AD Battle of Tabouk, Subjugation of Banu Thaqif (Yemen) & Subjugation of Ghassanids (Arab Christians)> 1743TJ034
It is difficult to separate the militant political aspect of Islam from the religious aspect, as Mohammed was a religious leader, a political leader and a military leader. "Ghazi" is defined:
<Ghazi...an Arabic term initially referring to the battles in which the Muslim prophet Mohammed personally participated...The term ghazi or Warrior for the faith came to represent participants in later battles.
Ghazi is an originally Arabic word, from ghaz (contracted from ghazawa) "he raided" or "he made war," and was also adopted by such languages as Turkish for Muslims vowed to combat non-believers.> 1743TJ035
As such it is essentially equivalent to Mujahideen: waging jihad bin- saif, i.e. holy war. The Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P. M. Holt, Ann
K. S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 1977, page 283) stated:
<For the ghazis in the marches, it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection.> 1743TJ036
Rudolph Peters, in Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader (Princeton Series on the Middle East, 1996, page 3) explained:
<After the conquests had come to an end, the legal specialists laid down that the Caliph had to raid enemy territory at least once a year in order to keep the idea of jihad alive.> 1743TJ037
A definition of “Ghazi” included:
<Ghazi warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to brigandage [highway robbery from caravans] and sedition in times of peace...In the west, Turkic ghazis made continual incursions along the Byzantine frontier zone... After the Battle of Manzikert these incursions intensified, and the region's people would see the ghazi corporations coalesce into semichivalric fraternities, with the white cap and the club as their emblems. The height of the organizations would come during the Mongol conquest when many of them fled from Persia and Turkistan into Anatolia.> 1743TJ038
Bernard Lewis, in The Political Language of Islam, (Exxon Lecture Series, 1991, pp. 147-148) wrote:
<The Ottoman poet Ahmedi, writing ca. 1402, defines a ghazi as "the instruments of God's religion, a servant of God who cleanses the earth from the filth of polytheism...the sword of God."> 1743TJ039
Muslim rulers vied amongst themselves for preeminence in the ghazi, with Ottoman Sultans acknowledged as excelling all others in this feat. The Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 1977, page 290) stated:
<For political reasons the Ottoman Sultans -also being the last dynasty of Caliphs- attached the greatest importance to safeguarding and strengthening the reputation which they enjoyed as ghazis in the Muslim world.
When they won victories in the Balkans, the ghazi used to send accounts of them as well as slaves and booty to eastern Muslim potentates. Christian knights captured by Bayezid I at his victory over the Crusaders at Nicopolis in 1396, and sent to Cairo, Baghdad and Tabriz were paraded through the streets, and occasioned great demonstrations in favor of the Ottomans.
The Muslim concept for treaty is "Hudna" or "cease-fire." Mohammed set the example that when Muslim armies are weak, they should seek truces and when they are strong, they should fight without mercy. Kaab Ibn al-Ashrf was a member of the Jewish tribe, Banu al-Nudair. It was reported that Kaab had supported the Quraishites in their battle against Mohammed. Mohammed was also infuriated because he heard Kaab had recited amorous poetry to Muslim women. Mohammed asked for volunteers to rid him of Kaab Ibn al-Ashraf, saying Kaab had "harmed Allah and His Apostle."
At that time Kaab Ibn al-Ashraf and his tribe were strong, so it was not easy for a stranger to gain access to him. A Muslim by the name of Ibn Muslima volunteered to infiltrate Kaab's camp and murder him, if Mohammed would allow him to lie.
Mohammed granted permission and Ibn Muslima went to Kaab, saying he disliked Mohammed, thus gaining Kaab's trust. Ibn Muslima then lured Kaab away from his house one night and murdered him under cover of darkness.
Another story is of Shaaban Ibn Khalid al-Hazly, who was rumored to be gathering an army to stop Mohammed. Mohammed retaliated by ordering Abdullah Ibn Anis to murder Shaaban by telling a lie, saying he was a member of the Khazaa clan.
When Shaaban saw Abdullah coming, he asked him, "From what tribe are you?" Abdullah answered, "From Khazaa...I have heard that you are gathering an army to fight Mohammed and I came to join you." Abdullah started walking with Shaaban telling him how Mohammed was a heretic of Islam and complained how Mohammed badmouthed the Arab patriarchs.
They continued talking until they reached Shaaban's tent. Shaaban's companions departed and Shaaban invited Abdullah into his tent to rest.
Abdullah stayed there until everyone was asleep. Abdullah then severed Shaaban's head and carried it to Mohammed. Mohammed was jubilant at the sight, and shouted, "Your face has been triumphant (Aflaha alwajho)."
Abdullah responded, "It is your face, Apostle of Allah, who has been triumphant. (Aflaha wajhoka, ye rasoul Allah)."> 1743TJ040
Winston Churchill described Islam as:
<A system of ethics, which regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices.> 1743TJ041
The comprehensive annotated John Quincy Adams-A Bibliography, compiled by Lynn H. Parsons (Westport, CT, 1993, p. 41, entry#194), contains "Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War and on Greece," published in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29 (NY: 1830, ch. 10- 14, p. 267-402), the period between his term as President and his election to Congress:
<[...in Islam] treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion.> 1743TJ042
Author Frederick C. Leiner described Muslim Barbary Pirates as "masters of duplicity" in his book The End of the Barbary Terror-America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa (Oxford University Press):
<Commodore Stephen Decatur and diplomat William Shaler withdrew to consult in private...The Algerians were believed to be masters of duplicity, willing to make agreements and break them as they found convenient...Commodore Stephen Decatur and Captain William Bainbridge both recognized that the peace could only be kept by force or the threat of force.> 1743TJ043
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
<I was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation of paying a tribute to those...(Barbary) pirates, and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation.> 1743TJ243
Thomas Jefferson composed Confederation Articles for countries being raided by Muslim Barbary pirates, as recorded in his Autobiography, 1821:
<Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with the piratical States of Barbary:
1. It is proposed, that the several powers at war with the piratical States of Barbary, or any two or more of them who shall be willing, shall enter into a convention to carry on their operations against those States, in concert, beginning with the Algerines.
2. This convention shall remain open to any other power who shall at any future time wish to accede to it: the parties reserving the right to prescribe the conditions of such accession, according to the circumstances existing at the time it shall be proposed.
3. The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace, without price, and to guarantee that peace to each other.
4. The operations for obtaining this peace shall be constant cruisers on their coast, with a naval force now to be agreed on. It is not proposed that this force shall be so considerable as to be inconvenient to any party. It is believed that half a dozen frigates, with as many tenders or Xebecs, one half of which shall be in cruise, while the other half is at rest, will suffice.
5. The force agreed to be necessary shall be furnished by the parties in certain quotas now to be fixed; it being expected that each will be willing to contribute in such proportion as circumstances may render reasonable.
6. The miscarriages often proceed from the want of harmony among officers of different nations, the parties shall now consider and decide whether it will not be better to contribute their quotas in money to be employed in fitting out, and keeping on duty, a single fleet of the force agreed on.
7. The difficulties and delays too which will attend the management of these operations, if conducted by the parties themselves separately, distant as their Courts may be from one another, and incapable of meeting in consultation, suggest a question whether it will not be better for them to give full powers for that purpose to their Ambassadors or other Ministers Resident at some one Court of Europe, who shall form a Committee or Council for carrying this convention into effect; wherein the vote of each member shall be computed in proportion to the quota of his sovereign, and the majority so computed shall prevail in all questions within the view of this convention. The Court of Versailles is proposed, on account of its neighborhood to the Mediterranean, and because all those powers are represented there, who are likely to become parties to this convention.
8. To save to that council the embarrassment of personal solicitations for office, and to assure the parties that their contributions will be applied solely to the object for which they are destined, there shall be no establishment of officers for the said Council, such as Commissioners, Secretaries, or any other kind, with either salaries or perquisites, nor any other lucrative appointments but such whose functions are to be exercised on board the said vessels.
9. Should war arise between any two of the parties to this convention it shall not extend to this enterprise, nor interrupt it; but as to this they shall be reputed at peace.
10. When Algiers shall be reduced to peace, the other piratical States, if they refuse to discontinue their piracies, shall become the objects of this convention, either successively or together, as shall seem best. 11. Where this convention would interfere with treaties actually existing between any two of the parties and the said States of Barbary, the treaty shall prevail, and such party shall be allowed to withdraw from the operations against that State.> 1743TJ244
Thomas Jefferson recorded in his Autobiography, 1821:
<Nothing was now wanting to bring it into direct and formal consideration but the assent of our government, and their authority to make the formal proposition. I communicated to them the favorable prospect of protecting our commerce from the Barbary depredations, and for such a continuance of time as, by an exclusion of them from the sea, to change their habits and characters from a predatory to an agricultural people: towards which however it was expected they would contribute a frigate, and its expenses to be in constant cruise. But they were in no condition to make any such engagement. Their recommendatory powers for obtaining contributions were so openly neglected by the several States that they declined an engagement which they were conscious they could not fulfill with punctuality; and so it fell through.> 1743TJ245
Thomas Jefferson recorded in his Autobiography, 1821:
<Spain had just concluded a treaty with Algiers, at the expense of three millions of dollars, and did not like to relinquish the benefit of that until the other party should fail in their observance of it. Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Denmark and Sweden were favorably disposed to such an association; but their representatives at Paris expressed apprehensions that France would interfere, and, either openly or secretly support the Barbary powers; and they required that I should ascertain the dispositions of the Count de Vergennes on the subject.
I had before taken occasion to inform him of what we were proposing, and therefore did not think it proper to insinuate any doubt of the fair conduct of his government; but stating our propositions, I mentioned the apprehensions entertained by us that England would interfere in behalf of those piratical governments. "She dares not do it,' said he. I pressed it no further. The other Agents were satisfied with this indication of his sentiments.> 1743TJ246
Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding Treaty Instructions of Congress, May 7, 1784:
<Whereas, instructions bearing date the 29th day of October 1783, were sent to the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Conn of Versailles, empowered to negotiate a peace, or to any one or more of them, for concerting drafts or propositions for treaties of amity and commerce with the commercial powers of Europe: Resolved. That it will be advantageous to these United States to conclude seen treaties with Russia, the Court of Vienna Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, Hamburg. Great Britain. Spain, Portugal, Genoa. Tuscany.
Rome. Naples. Venice, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Porte. Resolved, That in the formation of these treaties the following points be carefully stipulated:
1. That each party shall have a right to carry their own produce, manufactures, and merchandise in their own bottoms to the ports of the other, and thence the produce and merchandise of the other, paying, in both cases, such duties only as are paid by the most favored nation freely, where it is freely granted to such nation or paying the compensation where such nation does the same.
2. That with the nations boding territorial possessions in America, a direct and similar intercourse be admitted between the United States and such possessions: or if this cannot be obtained, then a direct and similar intercourse between the United States and certain free ports within such possessions: that if this neither can be obtained, permission be stipulated to bring from such possessions, in their own bottoms, the produce and merchandise thereof to their States directly: and for these States to carry in their own bottoms the produce and merchandise to such possessions directly.
3. That these United States be considered in all such treaties, and in every case arising under them, as one nation, upon the principles of the Federal constitution.
4. That it be proposed, though not indispensably required, that if war should hereafter arise between the two contracting parties, the merchants of either country, then residing in the other, shall be allowed to remain nine months to collect their debts and settle their affairs, and may depart freely, carrying off all their effects, without molestation or hindrance, and all fishermen, all cultivators of the earth, and all artisans or manufacturers, unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages or places, who labor for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, and peaceably following their respective employments, shall be allowed to continue the same, and shall not be molested by the armed force of the enemy, in whose power, by the events of war, they may happen to fall; but if anything is necessary to be taken from them, for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price; and all merchants and traders, exchanging the products of different places, and thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy to obtain and more general, shall be allowed to pass free and unmolested; and neither of the contracting powers shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships, or interrupt such commerce.
5. And in case either of the contracting parties shall happen to be engaged in war with any other nation, it be further agreed. in order to prevent all the difficulties and misunderstandings that usually arise respecting the merchandise heretofore called contraband, such as arms, ammunition and military stores of all kinds, that no such articles, carrying by the ships or subjects of one of the parties to the enemies of the other, shall, on any account, be deemed contraband, so as to induce confiscation, and a loss of property to individuals. Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such ships and detain them for such length of time as the captors may think necessary, to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue, from their proceeding on their voyage, paying, however, a reasonable compensation for the loss such arms shall occasion to the proprietors; and it shall be further allowed to use in the service of the captors, the whole or any part of the military stores so detained, paying the owners the full value of the same, to be ascertained by the current price at the place of its destination. But if the other contracting party will not consent to discontinue the confiscation of contraband goods, then that it be stipulated, that if the master of the vessel stopped, will deliver out the goods charged to be contraband, he shall be admitted to do it. and the vessel shall not in that case be carried into any port; but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage.
6. That in the same case, when either of the contracting parties shall happen to be engaged in war with any other power, all goods, not contraband, belonging to the subjects of that other power, and shipped in the bottoms of the party hereto, who is not engaged in the war. shall be entirely free. And that to ascertain what shall constitute the blockade of any place or port, it shall lie understood to be in such predicament, when the assailing power shall have taken such a station as to expose to imminent danger any ship or ships, that would attempt to sail in or out of the said port; and that no vessel of the party, who is not engaged in the said war, shall be stopped without a material and well grounded cause; and in such cases justice shall be done, and an indemnification given, without loss of time to the persons aggrieved, and thus stopped without sufficient cause.
7. That no right be stipulated for aliens to hold real property within these States, this being utterly inadmissible by their several laws and policy; but when on the death of any person holding real estate within the territories of one of the contracting parties, such real estate would by their laws descend on a subject or citizen of the other, were he not disqualified by alienage, then he shall be allowed reasonable time to dispose of the same, and withdraw the proceeds without molestation.
8. That such treaties be made for a term not exceeding ten years from the exchange of ratification.
9. That these instructions be considered as supplementary to those of October 29th, 1783; and not as revoking, except when they contradict them. That where in treaty with a particular nation they can procure particular advantages, to the specification of which we have been unable to descend, our object in these instructions having been to form outlines only and general principles of treaty with many nations, it is our expectation they will procure them, though not pointed out in these instructions; and where they may be able to form treaties on principles which, in their judgment, will be more beneficial to the United States than those herein directed to be made their basis, they are permitted to adopt such principles. That as to the duration of treaties, though we have proposed to restrain them to the term of ten years, yet they are at liberty to extend the same as far as fifteen years with any nation which may pertinaciously insist thereon. And that it will be agreeable to us to have supplementary treaties with France, the United Netherlands and Sweden, which may bring the treaties we have entered into with them as nearly as may be to the principles of those now directed; but that this be not pressed, if the proposal should be found disagreeable.
Resolved, That treaties of amity, or of amity and commerce, be entered into with Morocco, and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, to continue for the same term of ten years, or for a term as much longer as can be procured. That our Ministers, to be commissioned for treating with foreign nations, make known to the Emperor of Morocco the great satisfaction which Congress feel from the amicable disposition he has shown towards these States, and his readiness to enter into alliance with them. That the occupations of the war, and distance of our situation have prevented our meeting his friendship so early as we wished. But the powers are now delegated to them for entering into treaty with him, in the execution of which they are ready to proceed, and that as to the expenses of his Minister, they do therein what is for the honor and interest of the United States. Resolved, That a commission be issued to Mr. J. Adams, Mr. B. Franklin, and Mr. T. Jefferson, giving powers to them, or the greater part of them, to make and receive propositions for such treaties of amity and commerce, and to negotiate and sign the same. transmitting them to Congress for their final ratification; and that such commission be in force for a term not exceeding two years.> 1743TJ247
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785:
<The attempts heretofore made to suppress the (Barbary) powers have been to exterminate them at one blow. They are too numerous and powerful by land for that. A small effort, but long continued, seems to be the only method. By suppressing their marine and trade totally, and continuing this till the present race of seamen should be pretty well out of the way. and the younger people betake themselves to husbandry for which their soil and climate are well fitted, these nests of banditti might be reformed.> 1743TJ248
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785:
<It is impossible I fear to find out what (tribute) is given by other countries (to the piratical States). Either shame or jealousy makes them wish to keep it secret.> 1743TJ249
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Nathaniel Greene in the 1780s:
<The Algerines, I fear, will ask such a tribute for the forbearance of their piracies as the United States would be unwilling to pay. When this idea comes across my mind my faculties are absolutely suspended between indignation and impotence. I think whatever sums we are obliged to pay for freedom of navigation in the European seas, should be levied on European commerce with us by a separate impost; that these powers may see that they protect these enormities for their own loss.> 1743TJ250
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785:
<Such (European) powers as should refuse (to join a confederation to suppress the Barbary piracies) would give us a just right to turn pirates also on their West India trade, and to require an annual tribute which might reimburse what we may be obliged to pay to obtain a safe navigation in their seas.> 1743TJ251
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785:
<The motives pleading for war rather than tribute (to the piratical States) are numerous and honorable; those opposing them are mean and short- sighted.> 1743TJ252
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785:
<These pirates are contemptibly weak. Morocco, who has just dared to commit an outrage on us, owns only four or five frigates of 18 or 20 guns. There is not a port in their country which has more than 13 feet of water.
Tunis is not quite so strong (having three or four frigates only, small and worthless); is more mercantile than predatory, and would easily be led to treat either by money or fear.
Tripoli has one frigate only.
Algiers alone possesses any power, and they are brave. As far as I have been able to discover, she possesses about sixteen vessels, from 22 up to 52 guns; but the vessels of all these powers are wretched in the last degree, being mostly built of the discordant pieces of other vessels which they take and pull asunder; their cordage and sails are of the same kind, taken from vessels of different sizes and powers, seldom any two guns of the same bore and all of them light.> 1743TJ253
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Page, 1785:
<The Emperor of Morocco...is ready to receive us into the number of his tributaries. What will be the amount of tribute remains yet to be known...but it will surely be more than a free people ought to pay to a power owning only four or five frigates, under twenty-two guns. He has not a port into which a larger vessel can enter. The Algerines possess fifteen or twenty frigates, from that size up to fifty guns. Disinclination on their part has lately broken off a treaty between Spain and them, whereon they were to have received a million of dollars, besides great presents in naval stores. What sum they intend we shall pay, I cannot say. Then follow Tunis and Tripoli. You will probably find the tribute to all these powers make such a proportion of the Federal taxes, as that every man will feel them sensibly when he pays those taxes. The question is whether their peace or war will be cheaper? But it is a question which should be addressed to our honor, as well as our avarice. Nor does it respect us as to these pirates only, but as to the nations of Europe. If we wish our commerce to be free and uninsulted, we must let these nations see that we have an energy which at present they disbelieve. The low opinion they entertain of our powers cannot fail to involve us soon in a naval war.> 1743TJ254
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1785:
<It may happen...that the interests of Spain and America may call for a concert of proceedings against that State (Algiers)...May not the affairs of the Mosquito coast, and our western posts, produce another instance of a common interest? Indeed, I meet this correspondence of interest in so many quarters, that 1 look with anxiety to the issue of Mr. Gardoqui's mission, hoping it will be a removal of the only difficulty at present subsisting between the two nations, or which is likely to arise.> 1743TJ255
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Dr. Ezra Stiles, 1785:
<It has been thought that the two imperial courts (Austria and Russia) have a plan of expelling the Turks from Europe. It is really a pity so charming a country should remain in the hands of a people, whose religion forbids the admission of science and the arts among them. We should wish success to the object of the two empires, if they meant to leave the country in possession of the Greek inhabitants. We might then expect, once more, to see the language of Homer and Demosthenes a living language. For I am persuaded the modern Greek would easily get back to its classical models. But this is not intended.
They only propose to put the Greeks under other masters: to substitute one set of barbarians for another.> 1743TJ256
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Richard Henry Lee, 1785:
<A lover of humanity would wish to see that charming country from which the Turks exclude science and freedom, in any hands rather than theirs, and in those of the native Greeks rather than any others. The recovery of their ancient language would not be desperate, could they recover their ancient liberty. But those who wish to remove the Turks, wish to put themselves in their places. This would be exchanging one set of barbarians for another only.> 1743TJ257
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Page, 1785:
<It is believed that the Emperor [of Austria] and the Empress [of Russia] have schemes in contemplation for driving the Turks out of Europe. Were this with a view to reestablish the native Greeks in the sovereignty of their own country. I could wish them success, and to see driven from that delightful country a set of barbarians with whom an opposition to all science is an article of religion...But these powers have in object to divide the country between themselves. This is only to substitute one set of barbarians for another, breaking, at the same time, the balance among the European powers.> 1743TJ258
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1786:
<I hinted to the Count de Vergennes that I thought the English capable of administering aid to the Algerines. He seemed to think it impossible on account of the scandal it would bring on them.> 1743TJ259
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, July of 1786:
<Our instructions relative to the Barbary States having required us to proceed by way of negotiation to obtain their peace, it became our duty to do this to the best of our power. Whatever might be our private opinions, they were to be suppressed, and the line marked out to us was to be followed. It has been so, honestly and zealously.
It was, therefore, never material for us to consult together, on the best plan of conduct toward these States. I acknowledge, I very early thought it would be best to effect a peace through the medium of war. Though it is a question with which we have nothing to do, yet as you propose some discussion of it. I shall trouble you with my reasons.
Of the four positions laid down by you, I agree to the three first, which are, in substance, that the good offices of our friends cannot procure us a peace without paying its price; that they cannot materially lessen that price; and that paying it, we can have the peace in spite of the intrigues of our enemies.
As to the fourth, that the longer the negotiation is delayed, the larger will be the demand; this will depend on the intermediate captures: if they are many and rich, the price may be raised; if few and poor, it will be lessened.
However, if it is decided that we shall buy a peace, I know no reason for delaying the operation, but should rather think it ought to be hastened; but I should prefer the obtaining it by war.
1. Justice is in favor of this opinion.
2. Honor favors it.
3. It will procure us respect in Europe; and respect is a safeguard to interest.
4. It will arm the Federal head with the safest of all the instruments of coercion over its delinquent members, and prevent it from using what would be less safe. I think that so far, you go with me. But in the next steps, we shall differ.
5. I think it least expensive. I ask a fleet of one hundred and fifty guns, the one-half of which shall be in constant cruise. This fleet, built, manned and victualled for six months will cost four hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. Its annual expense will be three hundred pounds sterling a gun, including everything; this will be forty-five thousand pounds sterling a year.
I take the British experience for the basis of my calculation; though we know, from our own experience, that we can do it in this way, for pounds lawful, what costs them pounds sterling. Were we to charge all this to the Algerine war, it would amount to little more than we must pay, it we buy peace.
But as it is proper and necessary that we should establish a small marine force (even were we to buy a peace from the Algerines), and as that force, laid up in our dockyards, would cost us half as much annually, as if kept in order for service, we have a right to say that only twenty-two thousand and five hundred pounds sterling, per annum, should be charged to the Algerine war.
6. It will be as effectual. To all the mismanagements of Spain and Portugal, urged to show that war against these people is ineffectual, I urge a single fact to prove the contrary, where there is any management. About forty years ago, the Algerines having broken their treaty with France, that court sent Monsieur de Massiac, with one large and two small frigates; he blockaded the harbor of Algiers three months, and they subscribed to the terms he proposed. If it be admitted, however, that war, on the fairest prospects, is still exposed to uncertainties, I weigh against this the greater uncertainty of the duration of a peace bought with money, from such a people, from a Dey eighty years old, and by a nation who, on the hypothesis of buying peace, is to have no power on the sea to enforce an observance of it.
So far, I have gone on the supposition that the whole weight of this war would rest on us. But:
1. Naples will join us. The character of their naval minister (Acton), his known sentiments with respect to the peace Spain is officiously trying to make for them, and his dispositions against the Algerines, give the best grounds to believe it.
2. Every principle of reason assures us that Portugal will join us. I state this as taking for granted, what all seem to believe, that they will not be at peace with Algiers. I suppose, then, that a convention might be formed between Portugal, Naples and the United States, by which the burden of the war might be quoted on them, according to their respective wealth; and the term of it should be, when Algiers should subscribe to a peace with all three, on equal terms.
This might be left open for other nations to accede to. and many, if not most, of the powers of Europe (except France. England, Holland, and Spain, if her peace be made}, would sooner or later enter into the confederacy, for the sake of having their peace with the piratical States guaranteed by the whole. I suppose, that, in this case, our proportion of force would not be the half of what I first calculated on.> 1743TJ260
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786:
<Were the honor and advantage of establishing such a confederacy (against the Barbary piratical powers) out of the question, yet the necessity that the United States should have some marine force, and the happiness of this, as the ostensible cause for beginning it, would decide on its propriety.
It will be said, there is no money in the treasury. There never will be money in the treasury, till the confederacy shows its teeth. The States must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some' one of them. I am persuaded, all of them would rejoice to see every one obliged to furnish its contributions.
It is not the difficulty of furnishing them, which beggars the treasury, but the fear that others will not furnish as much. Every rational citizen must wish to see an effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other element than the water.> 1743TJ261
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Governor Henry, 1786:
<Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, remaining hostile, will shut up the Mediterranean to us.> 1743TJ262
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Elbridge Gerry, 1786:
<What will you do with the piratical States? Buy a peace at their enormous price; force one; or abandon the carriage into the Mediterranean to other powers? All these measures are disagreeable.> 1743TJ263
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Patrick Henry, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates:
<The States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli hold their peace at a price which would be felt by every man in his settlement with the taxgatherer.> 1743TJ264
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates:
<It is not in the choice of the States, whether they will pay money to cover their trade against the Algerines. If they obtain a peace by negotiation, they must pay a great sum of money for it; if they do nothing, they must pay a great sum of money in the form of insurance; and in either way as great a one as in the way of force, and probably less effectual.> 1743TJ265
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates:
<Congress must begin by getting money. When they have this, it is a matter of calculation whether they will buy a peace, or force one, or do nothing.> 1743TJ266
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786:
<The continuance of (a purchased) peace with the Barbary States will depend on their idea of our power to enforce it. and on the life of the particular Dey, or other head of the government, with whom it is contracted. Congress will, no doubt, weigh these circumstances against the expense and probable success of compelling a peace by arms.> 1743TJ267
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1786:
<In London, Mr. Adams and I had conferences with a Tripoline ambassador, named Abdrahaman. He asked us thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his court, and as much for Tunis, for which he said he could answer. What we were authorized to offer, being to this but as a drop to a bucket, our conferences were repeated only for the purpose of obtaining information. If the demands of Algiers and Morocco should be in proportion to this, according to their superior power, it is easy to foresee that the United States will not buy a peace with money.> 1743TJ268
Thomas Jefferson wrote to David Humphreys, 1786:
<The Tripoline ambassador offered peace for 30,000 guineas for Tripoli, and as many for Tunis. Calculating on this scale, Morocco should ask 60,000, and Algiers 120,000.> 1743TJ269
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Ezra Stiles, 1786:
<From what I learn from the temper of my countrymen and their tenaciousness of money, it will be more easy to raise ships to fight these pirates into reason than money to bribe them.> 1743TJ270
Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Greene, 1786:
<The Algerines have taken two of our vessels, and I fear they will ask such a tribute for a forbearance of their piracies as the United States would be unwilling to pay. When this idea comes across my mind, my faculties are absolutely suspended between indignation and impatience.> 1743TJ271
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1786:
<The demands of Algiers for the ransom of our prisoners, and also for peace, are so infinitely beyond our instructions that we must refer the matter back to Congress.> 1743TJ272
Thomas Jefferson wrote to U.S. Consul-General at Paris, Thomas Barclay, 1787, whom Jefferson and Adams had appointed to negotiate a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco:
<You have my full and hearty approbation of the treaty you obtained from Morocco, which is better and on better terms than I expected.> 1743TJ273
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1787:
<If Congress decide to redeem our captives...it is of great importance that the first redemption be made at as low a price as possible, because it will form the future tariff. If these pirates find that they can have a very great price for Americans, they will abandon proportionally their pursuits against other nations to direct them towards ours.> 1743TJ274
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1787:
<That the choice of Congress may be enlarged as to the instruments they may use for effecting the redemption [of our captives], I think it my duty to inform them that there is an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is to beg alms for the redemption of captives. They keep members always in Barbary, searching out the captives of their country, and redeem, I believe, on better terms than any other body, public or private. It occurred to me, that their agency might be obtained for the redemption of our prisoners at Algiers. I obtained conference with the General, and with some members of the order. The General, with all the benevolence and cordiality possible undertook to act for us, if we should desire it. He told me that their last considerable redemption was of about three hundred prisoners who cost them somewhat upwards of fifteen hundred livres apiece; but that they should not be able to redeem ours as cheap as they do their own and that it must be absolutely unknown that the public concern themselves in the operation or the price would be greatly enhanced. The difference of religion was not once mentioned nor did it appear to me to be thought of. It was a silent reclamation and acknowledgment of fraternity between two religions of the same family which historical events of ancient date had rendered more hostile to one another than to their common adversaries.> 1743TJ275
Congress sent a Mr. Lambe in Europe with instructions respecting Algiers. Jefferson and Adams made him their agent to visit Algiers, but his mission resulted in failure. Referring to it, Jefferson wrote to Monroe, 1786:
<An angel sent on this business, and so much limited in his terms, could have done nothing.> 1743TJ276
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Brown, 1788:
<I cannot think but that it would be desirable to all commercial nations to have Turkey and all its dependencies driven from the seacoast into the interior parts of Asia and Africa. What a field would thus be restored to commerce! The finest parts of the old world are now dead n a great degree to commerce, to arts, to sciences, and to society. Greece, Syria, Egypt, and the northern coast of Africa, constituted the whole world almost for the Romans, and to us they are scarcely known, scarcely accessible at all.> 1743TJ277
Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Washington, 1788:
<The war between the Russians and the Turks has made an opening for our Commodore Paul Jones. The Empress has invited him into her service. She insures to him the rank of rear admiral; will give him a separate command, and, it is understood, that he is never to be commanded. I think she means to oppose him to the Captain Pacha, on the Black Sea...He has made it a condition, that he shall be free at all times to return to the orders of Congress...and also, that he shall not in any case be expected to bear arms against France. I believe Congress had it in contemplation to give him the grade of admiral, from the date of his taking the Serapis. Such a measure would now greatly gratify him, second the efforts of fortune in his favor, and better the opportunity of improving him for our service, whenever the moment may come in which we shall want him.> 1743TJ278
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Carrington, 1788:
<Paul Jones is invited into the service of the Empress [of Russia], with the rank of rear admiral, and to have a separate command. I wish it corresponded with the views of Congress to give him that rank from the taking of the Serapis. I look to this officer as our great future dependence on the sea, where alone we should think of ever having a force. He is young enough to see the day when we shall be more populous than the whole British dominions, and able to fight them ship to ship. We should procure him, then, every possible opportunity of acquiring experience.> 1743TJ279
Thomas Jefferson wrote to M. Limozin, 1788:
<You have heard of the great victory (in the Black Sea) obtained by the Russians under command of Admiral Paul Jones, over the Turks commanded by the Captain Pacha.> 1743TJ280
Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1788:
<I am pleased with the promotion of our countryman, Paul Jones. He commanded the right wing, in the first engagement between the Russian and Turkish galleys; his absence from the second proves his superiority over the Captain Pacha, as he did not choose to bring his ships into the shoals in which the Pacha ventured, and lost those entrusted to him. I consider this officer as the principal hope of our future efforts on the ocean.> 1743TJ281
Thomas Jefferson wrote to E. Rutledge, 1789:
<The Algerines form an obstacle; but the object of our commerce in the Mediterranean is so immense that we ought to surmount that obstacle, and I believe it can be done by means in our power, and which instead of fouling us with the dishonorable and criminal baseness of France and England, will place us in the road to respect with all the world.> 1743TJ282
Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison, 1789:
<I understand, in a general way, that some persecution on the part of his officers occasioned his being recalled to St. Petersburg, and that though protected against them by the Empress, he is not yet restored to his station.> 1743TJ283
Thomas Jefferson stated in his Report on Mediterranean Trade, 1790:
<A second plan might be to obtain peace by purchasing it. For this we have the example of rich and powerful nations, in this instance counting their interest more than their honor.> 1743TJ284
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas Barclay in 1791:
<You are appointed by the President...to go to the court of Morocco, for the purpose of obtaining from the new Emperor, a recognition of our treaty with his father. As it is thought best that you should go in some definite character, that of consul has been adopted.> 1743TJ285
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Admiral John Paul Jones, 1791, regarding his being given the St. Anne Decoration by the Empress of Russia for his services fighting the Muslims on the Black Sea:
<In answer to your request to obtain and transmit the proper authority of the United States for your retaining the Order of St. Anne, conferred on you by the Empress [of Russia]. The Executive are not authorized either to grant or refuse the permission you ask, and consequently cannot take on themselves to do it. Whether the Legislature would undertake to do it or not. I cannot say. In general, there is an aversion to meddle with anything of that kind here. And the event would be so doubtful that the Executive would not commit themselves by making the proposition to the Legislature.> 1743TJ286
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas Barclay, 1791:
<We prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever.> 1743TJ287
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Paul Jones, June of 1792:
<The President having thought proper to appoint you commissioner for treating with the Dey and government of Algiers, on the subjects of peace and ransom of our captives, I have the honor to enclose you the commission, of which Mr. Thomas Pinckney, now on his way to London as our Minister Plenipotentiary there, will be the bearer. Supposing that there exists a disposition to thwart our negotiations with the Algerines. and that this would be very practicable, we have thought it advisable that the knowledge of this appointment should rest with the President, Mr. Pinckney and myself; for which reason you will perceive that the commissions are all in my own handwriting. For the same reason, entire secrecy is recommended to you, and that you so cover from the public your departure and destination, as that they may not be conjectured or noticed.> 1743TJ288
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Paul Jones, 1792:
<As the duration of this peace cannot be counted on with certainty, and we look forward to the necessity of coercion by cruises on their coast, to be kept up during the whole of their cruising season, you will be pleased to inform yourself...of every circumstance which may influence or guide us in undertaking and conducting such an operation.> 1743TJ289
Thomas Jefferson wrote in April of 1792, regarding the transaction of making a treaty with the Algerines, and providing for the redemption of the Algerine prisoners, which involved the raising of a loan:
<President Washington wished to redeem our captives at Algiers and to make peace with them on paying an annual tribute. The Senate were willing to approve this, but unwilling to have the lower house applied to previously to furnish the money; they wished the President to take the money from the treasury, or open a loan for it.
They thought that to consult the Representatives on one occasion would give them a handle always to claim it, and would let them into a participation of the power of making treaties, which the Constitution had given exclusively to the President and Senate.
They said, too, that if the particular sum was voted by the Representatives, it would not be a secret. The President had no confidence in the secrecy of the Senate, and did not choose to take money from the treasury or to borrow. But he agreed he would enter into the provisional treaties with the Algerines, not to be binding on us till ratified here.
I prepared questions for consultation with the Senate, and added, that the Senate were to be apprised, that on the return of the provisional treaty, and after they should advise the ratification, he would not have the seal put to it till the two Houses should vote the money.
He asked me, if the treaty stipulating a sum and ratified by him. with the advice of the Senate, would not be good under the Constitution, and obligatory on the Representatives to furnish the money?
I answered it certainly would, and that it would be the duty of the Representatives to raise the money; but that they might decline to do what was their duty, and I thought it might be incautious to commit himself by a ratification with a foreign nation, where he might be left in the lurch in the execution; it was possible, too, to conceive a treaty, which it would not be their duty to provide for. He said he did not like throwing too much into democratic hands, that if they would not do what the Constitution called them to do, the government world be at an end, and must then assume another form.> 1743TJ290
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Colonel David, 1793:
<I do not wonder that Captain O'Bryan has lost patience under his long continued captivity, and that he may suppose some of the public servants have neglected him and his brethren. He may possibly have imputed neglect to me, because a forbearance to correspond with him would have that appearance, though it was dictated by the single apprehension, that if he received letters from me as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, or as Secretary of State, it would increase the expectations of his captors, and raise the ransom beyond what his countrymen would be disposed to give and so end in their perpetual captivity.
But, in truth, I have labored for them constantly and zealously in every situation in which I have been placed. In the first moment of their captivity, I first proposed to Mr. Adams to take upon ourselves their ransom, though unauthorized by Congress. I proposed to Congress and obtained their permission to employ the Order of Mercy in France for their ransom, but never could obtain orders for the money till just as I was leaving France, and was obliged to turn the matter over to Mr. Short.
As soon as I came here, I laid the matter before the President and Congress in two long reports, but Congress could not decide until the beginning of 1792, and then clogged their ransom by a previous requisition of peace. The unfortunate death of two successive commissioners [John Paul Jones and Mr. Barclay] have still retarded their relief, and even should they be now relieved will probably deprive me of the gratification of seeing my endeavors for them crowned at length with success by their arrival when I am here.
It would, indeed, be grating to me if, after all, I should be supposed by them to have been indifferent to their situation. I will ask of your friendship to do me justice in their eyes, that to the pain I have already felt for them, may not be added that of their dissatisfaction.> 1743TJ291
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his First Annual Message, December of 1801:
<Tripoli...had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack.
The measure was seasonable and salutary. The Bey had already declared war in form. His cruisers were out. Two had arrayed at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded, and that of the Atlantic in peril.
The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger. One of the Tripolitan cruisers...engaged the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret...was captured after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part...
Unauthorized by the Constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense, the vessel being disabled from committing further hostilities, was liberated with its crew.> 1743TJ292
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Special Message regarding Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean, December 1803:
<The promptitude and energy of Commodore Edward Preble, the efficacious cooperation of Captains Rodgers and Campbell of the returning squadron, the proper decision of Captain William Bainbridge that a vessel which had committed an open hostility was of right to be detained for inquiry and consideration, and the general zeal of the other officers and men. are honorable facts which I make known with pleasure. And to these I add what was indeed transacted in another quarter - the gallant enterprise of Captain Rodgers in destroying, on the coast of Tripoli, a corvette of that power, of twenty-two guns.> 1743TJ293
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Robert Smith, April 1804, regarding the Muslim Barbary pirates capture of the USS Philadelphia:
<I have never been so mortified as at the conduct of our foreign functionaries on the loss of the Philadelphia. They appear to have supposed that we were all lost now, and without resource; and they have hawked us in forma pauperis begging alms at every court in Europe.
This self-degradation is the more unpardonable as, uninstructed and unauthorized, they have taken measures which commit us by moral obligations which cannot be disavowed. The most serious of these is with the First Consul of France, the Emperor of Russia and Grand Seigneur. The interposition of the two first has been so prompt, so cordial, so energetic, that it is impossible for us to decline the good offices they have done us.
From the virtuous and warm-hearted character of the Emperor, and the energy he is using with the Ottoman Porte, I am really apprehensive that our squadron will, on its arrival, find our prisoners all restored.
If this should be the case, it would be ungrateful and insulting to these three great powers, to chastise the friend (Tripoli) whom they had induced to do us voluntary justice. Our expedition will in that case be disarmed, and our just desires of vengeance disappointed, and our honor prostrated. To anticipate these measures, and to strike our blow before them shall have had their effect, are additional and cogent motives for getting off our squadron without a moment's avoidable delay.> 1743TJ294
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Philip Mazzei, July of 1804:
<Five fine frigates have left the Chesapeake...for Tripoli, which, in addition to the force now there, will, I trust recover the credit which Commodore Morris' two years' sleep lost us, and for which he has been broke. I think they will make Tripoli sensible, that they mistake their interest in choosing war with us; and Tunis also, should she have declared war as we expect, and almost wish.> 1743TJ295
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Judge John Tyler, March 1805:
<There is reason to believe the example we have set, begins already to work on the dispositions of the powers of Europe to emancipate themselves from that degrading yoke. Should we produce such a revolution there, we shall be amply rewarded for all that we have done.> 1743TJ296
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Judge John Tyler, March of 1805:
<The war with Tripoli stands on two grounds of fact.
1st. It is made known to us by our agents with the three other Barbary States, that they only wait to see the event of this, to shape their conduct accordingly. If the war is ended by additional tribute, they mean to offer us the same alternative.
2dly. If peace was made, we should still, and shall ever, be obliged to keep a frigate in the Mediterranean to overawe rupture, or we must abandon that market. Our intention in sending Morris with a respectable force, was to try whether peace could be forced by a coercive enterprise on their town. His inexecution of orders baffled that effort. Having broke him, we try the same experiment under a better commander. If, in the course of the summer, they cannot produce peace, we shall recall our force, except one frigate and two small vessels, which will keep up a perpetual blockade. Such a blockade will cost us no more than a state of peace, and will save us from increased tributes, and the disgrace attached to them.> 1743TJ297
Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Special Message, February in 1807:
<The efficacy of gunboats for the defense of harbors, and of other smooth and enclosed waters, may be estimated in part from that of galleys, formerly much used, but less powerful, more costly in their construction and maintenance, and requiring more men. But the gunboat itself is believed to be in use with every modern maritime nation for the purpose of defense. In the Mediterranean, on which are several small powers, whose system like ours is peace and defense, few harbors are without this article of protection. Our own experience there of the effect of gunboats for harbor service is recent.
Algiers is particularly known to have owed to a great provision of these vessels the safety of its city, since the epoch of their construction. Before that it had been repeatedly insulted and injured. The effect of gunboats at present in the neighborhood of Gibraltar, is well known, and how much they were used both in the attack and defense of that place during a former war.
The extensive resort to them by the two greatest naval powers in the world, on an enterprise of invasion not long since in prospect, shows their confidence in their efficacy for the purpose for which they are suited. By the northern power of Europe, whose seas are particularly adapted to them, they are still more used. The remarkable action between the Russian flotilla of gunboats and galleys, and a Turkish fleet of ships-of-the-line and frigates in the Liman Sea, 1788, will be readily recollected. The latter, commanded by their most celebrated admiral, were completely defeated, and several of their ships of-the- line destroyed.> 1743TJ298
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, 1822:
<I have racked my memory and ransacked my papers. to enable myself to answer the inquiries of your favor of Oct. the 15th; but to little purpose. My papers furnish me nothing, my memory, generalities only. I know that while I was in Europe, and anxious about the fate of our sea-faring men, for some of whom, then in captivity in Algiers, we were treating, and all were in like danger, I formed, undoubtingly, the opinion that our government, as soon as practicable, should provide a naval force sufficient to keep the Barbary States in order; and on this subject we communicated together, as you observe.
When I returned to the United States and took part in the administration under General Washington, I constantly maintained that opinion; and in December, 1790, took advantage of a reference to me from the first Congress which met after I was in office, to report in favor of a force sufficient for the protection of our Mediterranean commerce; and I laid before them an accurate statement of the whole Barbary force, public and private.
I think General Washington approved of building vessels of war to that extent. General Knox, I know, did. But what was Colonel Hamilton's opinion, I do not in the least remember. Your recollections on that subject are certainly corroborated by his known anxieties for a close connection with Great Britain, to which he might apprehend danger from collisions between their vessels and ours. Randolph was then Attorney-General; but his opinion on the question I also entirely forget.
Some vessels of war were accordingly built and sent into the Mediterranean. The additions to these in your time, I need not note to you, who are well known to have ever been an advocate for the wooden walls of Themistocles. Some of those you added, were sold under an act of Congress passed while you were in office. I thought, afterwards, that the public safety might require some additional vessels of strength, to be prepared and in readiness for the first moment of a war, provided they could be preserved against the decay which is unavoidable if kept in the water, and clear of the expense of officers and men.
With this view I proposed that they should be built in dry docks, above the level of the tide waters, and covered with roofs. I further advised that places for these docks should be selected where there was a command of water on a high level, as that of the Tiber at Washington, by which the vessels might be floated out, on the principle of a lock. But the majority of the Legislature was against any addition to the Navy, and the minority, although for it in judgment, voted against it on a principle of opposition. We are now, I understand, building vessels to remain on the stocks, under shelter, until wanted, when they will be launched and finished.
On my plan they could be in service at an hour's notice. On this, the finishing, after launching, will be a work of time. This is all I recollect about the origin and progress of our navy. That of the late war, certainly raised our rank and character among nations. Yet a navy is a very expensive engine. It is admitted, that in ten or twelve years a vessel goes to entire decay: or. it kept in repair, costs as much as would build a new one: and that a nation who could count on twelve or fifteen years of peace, would gain by burning its navy and building a new one in time.
Its extent, therefore, must be governed by circumstances. Since my proposition for a force adequate to the piracies of the Mediterranean, a similar necessity has arisen in our own seas for considerable addition to that force.
Indeed, I wish we could have a convention with the naval powers of Europe, for them to keep down the pirates of the Mediterranean, and the slave ships on the coast of Africa, and for us to perform the same duties for the society of nations in our seas. In this way, those collisions would be avoided between the vessels of war of different nations, which beget wars and constitute the weightiest objection to navies.> 1743TJ299
On December 8, 1801, in his First Annual Message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<The wars and troubles which have for so many years afflicted our sister nations have at length come to an end, and that the communications of peace and commerce are once more opening among them.
Whilst we devoutly return our thanks to the beneficent Being who has been pleased to breathe into them the spirit of consolation and forgiveness, we are bound with peculiar gratitude to be thankful to Him that our own peace has been preserved through a perilous season....
I can not omit recommending a revisal of the laws on the subject of naturalization. Considering the ordinary chances of human life, a denial of citizenship under a residence of fourteen years is a denial to a great proportion of those who ask it, and controls a policy pursued from their first settlement by many of these States, and still believed of consequence to their prosperity; and shall we refuse to the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality which the savages of the wilderness extended to our fathers arriving in this land? Shall the oppressed humanity find no asylum of this globe?> 1743TJ022
Thomas Jefferson, while serving as the 3rd U.S. President (1801-09), chaired the school board for the District of Columbia. He authored the first plan of education adopted by the city of Washington, which used the Bible and Isaac Watts' Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, as the principal textbooks for teaching reading to students.
Thomas Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Waring, March of 1801:
<I offer my sincere prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that He may long preserve our country in freedom and prosperity.> 1743TJ300
Thomas Jefferson replied to a Vermont Address, 1801:
<I join in addressing Him whose Kingdom ruleth over all, to direct the administration of their affairs to their own greatest good.> 1743TJ301
On March 23, 1801, President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Moses Robinson:
<The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.> 1743TJ044
The Baptist denomination was one of the sects which had received severe persecution under the state Anglican Church in several colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. Whereas Jefferson helped disestablish the Anglican Church in Virginia in 1786, the State of Connecticut had the Congregational Church established until 1818.
Though Connecticut had made provision for dissenters and non- conformists to register and have their taxes collected for church support forwarded to their denominations, the Baptists still felt they were being treated as second-class citizens.
There was also concern that the newly formed Federal Government may choose a national denomination, similar to the Anglican Church in England and Virginia, the Lutheran Church in Germany, the Calvinist Church in Switzerland, or the Catholic Church in Italy and Spain, etc.
The Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, wrote a letter to the newly elected President Thomas Jefferson, expressing their concern.
In preparing his reply, Jefferson borrowed phraseology from the Baptist minister, Roger Williams, founder of the First Baptist Church in America.
Roger Williams had written to Massachusetts Puritan leader John Cotton in 1644:
<The church of the Jews under the Old Testament in the type and the church of the Christians under the New Testament in the antitype, were both separate from the world; and that when they have opened a gap in the hedge, or wall of separation, between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broken down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, &c. and made his garden a wilderness, as at this day.
And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world, and that all that shall be saved out of the world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the world and added unto his church or garden...A separation of holy from unholy, penitent from impenitent, godly from ungodly.> 1743TJ045
Rev. Roger Williams was alluding to the Bible passages:
<Isaiah 5:1-7, My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down...
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but found oppression.
Mark 12:1, A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine vat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
Proverbs 24:30-31 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Revelation 2:1-5, Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write...thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent...or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick.> 1743TJ046
Jefferson had previously helped the Baptist Denomination in Virginia by working to disestablish the Anglican Denomination there in 1786. On October 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut sent a letter to President Thomas Jefferson, regarding the State of Connecticut's establishment of the Congregational Denomination from its founding till disestablishment in 1818:
<The address of the Danbury Baptist Association, in the State of Connecticut; assembled October 7th 1801. To Thomas Jefferson Esq., the President of the united States of America.
Sir, Among the many millions in America and Europe who rejoice in your Election to office, we embrace the first opportunity which we have enjoyed in our collective capacity, since your Inauguration, to express our great satisfaction, in your appointment to the chief Magistracy in the United States:
And though our mode of expression may be less courtly and pompous than what many others clothe their addresses with, we beg you, Sir to believe, that none are more sincere.
Our Sentiments are uniformly on the side of Religious Liberty-That Religion is at all times and places a Matter between God and Individuals-That no man ought to suffer in Name, person or effects on account of his religious Opinions-That the legitimate Power of civil Government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor:
But Sir our constitution of government is not specific. Our ancient charter, together with the Laws made coincident therewith, were adopted as the Basis of our government at the time of our revolution; and such had been our laws & usages, & such still are; that Religion is considered as the first object of Legislation; & therefore what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the State) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights: and these favors we receive at the expense of such degrading acknowledgments, as are inconsistent with the rights of freemen.
It is not to be wondered at therefore; if those who seek after power & gain under the pretense of government & Religion should reproach their fellow men-should reproach their chief Magistrate, as an enemy of religion, Law & good order because he will not, dares not assume the prerogative of Jehovah and make Laws to govern the Kingdom of Christ.
Sir, we are sensible that the President of the united States is not the national Legislator & also sensible that the national government cannot destroy the Laws of each State; but our hopes are strong that the sentiments of our beloved President, which have had such genial Effect already, like the radiant beams of the Sun, will shine & prevail through all these States and all the world till Hierarchy and Tyranny be destroyed from the Earth.
Sir, when we reflect on your past services and see a glow of philanthropy and good will shining forth in a course of more than thirty years we have reason to believe that America's God has raised you up to fill the chair of State out of that good will which he bears to the Millions which you preside over.
May God strengthen you for the arduous task which Providence & the voice of the people have called you to sustain and support you in your Administration against all the predetermined opposition of those who wish to rise to wealth & importance on the poverty and subjection of the people.
And may the Lord preserve you safe from every evil and bring you at last to his Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Glorious Mediator.
Signed in behalf of the Association,
Signed -The Committee, Neh'h Dodge, Eph'm Robbins, Stephen S. Nelson> 1743TJ047
On January 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson replied to their concerns by sending a personal letter to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and Stephen Nelson of the Danbury Baptist Association, Danbury, Connecticut:
<The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptists Association, give me the highest satisfaction.
My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.
Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore man to all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem. Thomas Jefferson.> 1743TJ048
Thomas Jefferson wrote of the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in his Autobiography, 1821:
<The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their king and church, and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws "should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England." As soon as the state of the colony admitted, it was divided into parishes, in each of which was established a minister of the Anglican church, endowed with a fixed salary, in tobacco, a glebe house and land with the other necessary appendages.
To meet these expenses, all the inhabitants of the parishes were assessed, whether they were or not, members of the established church. Towards Quakers who came here, they were most cruelly intolerant, driving them from the colony by the severest penalties.
In process of time, however, other sectarisms were introduced, chiefly of the Presbyterian family; and the established clergy, secure for life in their glebes and salaries, adding to these, generally, the emoluments of a classical school, found employment enough, in their farms and school-rooms, for the rest of the week, and devoted Sunday only to the edification of their flock, by service, and a sermon at their parish church.
Their other pastoral functions were little attended to. Against this inactivity, the zeal and industry of sectarian preachers had an open and undisputed field; and by the time of the Revolution, a majority of the inhabitants had become dissenters from the established church, but were still obliged to pay contributions to support the pastors of the minority.
This unrighteous compulsion, to maintain teachers of what they deemed religious errors, was grievously felt during the regal government, and without a hope of relief. But the first republican legislature, which met in '76, was crowded with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyranny. These brought on the severest contests in which I have ever been engaged.
Our great opponents were Mr. Pendleton and Robert Carter Nicholas; honest men, but zealous churchmen. The petitions were referred to the "committee of the Whole House on the State of the Country"; and, after desperate contests in that committee, almost daily from the 11th of October to the 5th of December, we prevailed so far only, as to repeal the laws which rendered criminal the maintenance of any religious opinions, the forbearance of repairing to church, or the exercise of any mode of worship; and further, to exempt dissenters from contributions to the support of the established church; and to suspend, only until the next session, levies on the members of that church for the salaries of their own incumbents.
For although the majority of our citizens were dissenters, as has been observed, a majority of the legislature were churchmen. Among these, however, were some reasonable and liberal men, who enabled us, on some points, to obtain feeble majorities. But our opponents carried, in the general resolutions of the committee of Nov. 19, a declaration that religious assemblies ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made for continuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending their conduct.
And, in the bill, now passed, it was inserted an express reservation of the question, whether a general assessment should not be established by law, on every one, to the support of the pastor of his choice; or whether all should be left to voluntary contributions; and on this question, debated at every session, from '76 to '79 (some of our dissenting allies, haying now secured their particular object, going over to the advocates of a general assessment), we could only obtain a suspension from session to session until '79. when the question against a general assessment was finally carried, and the establishment of the Anglican church entirely put down. In justice to the two honest but zealous opponents, who have been named, I must add, that although, from their natural temperaments, they were more disposed generally to acquiesce in things as they are, than to risk innovations, yet whenever the public will had once decided, none were more faithful or exact in their obedience to it.> 1743TJ302
An Act for exempting the different societies of dissenters from contributing to the support and maintenance of the church as by law established, and its ministers, and for other "purposes therein mentioned" was passed by the House of Delegates, December 5, concurred in by the Senate, December 6, re- enacted January 1, 1778, and is printed in A Collection of Public Acts of Virginia, Richmond, 1785, p. 39, (Paul Leicester Ford, ed.)
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
<The restoration of the rights of conscience relieved the people from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs; for the [Church of England] Establishment was truly of the religion of the rich, the dissenting sects being entirely composed of the less wealthy people.> 1743TJ303
Although Thomas Jefferson did sign the Declaration of Independence, he did not sign the United States Constitution. He was not present at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, nor was he there when the First Amendment was debated in the first session of Congress in 1789, as he was in France, serving as the U.S. Minister.
Due to his not being present to hear "first hand" the debates of the Founding Fathers regarding the First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson had to rely on second-hand information to learn of what transpired, rendering his letter to the Danbury Baptists, which was written thirteen years after the First Amendment, as a "third-hand" opinion, and ineligible to be considered a first- hand reflection of the intent of the Framers of the First Amendment.
Dr. Joseph Priestly wrote an article giving much credit for the Constitution to Jefferson. On June 19, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson replied, correcting him:
<One passage in the paper you enclosed me must be corrected. It is the following, "And all say it was yourself more than any other individual, that planned and established it," i.e., the Constitution. I was in Europe when the Constitution was planned, and never saw it till after it was established.> 1743TJ049
On April 30, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed the enabling act for Ohio to become a state. It stated that the government in this new state "not be repugnant to the [Northwest] Ordinance":
<The Northwest Ordinance-Article III. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.> 1743TJ050
On Wednesday, December 15, 1802, in his Second Annual Message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<When we assemble together, fellow-citizens, to consider the state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favor they flow and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for His bounty.
Another year has come around, and finds us still blessed with peace and friendship abroad; law, order, and religion at home; good affection and harmony with our Indian neighbors; our burdens lightened, yet our income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of the year great beyond example. These, fellow-citizens, are the circumstances under which we meet, and we remark with special satisfaction those which under the smiles of Providence result from the skill, industry, and order of our citizens....
When merely by avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a direct tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing to make large and effectual payments toward the discharge of our public debt and the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an encouragement, fellow-citizens, of the highest order to proceed as we have begun in substituting economy for taxation.> 1743TJ051
On April 9, 1803, in a letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly, President Thomas Jefferson wrote concerning Jesus:
<His system of morality was the most benevolent and sublime probably that has been ever taught, and consequently more perfect than those of any of the ancient philosophers.> 1743TJ052
On April 21, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence:
<My views...are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others.> 1743TJ053
Continuing in his letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wrote of Jesus:
<His system of morals...if filled up in the style and spirit of the rich fragments He left us, would be the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man...He corrected the deism of the Jews, confirming them in their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions of His attributes and government...
His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were more pure & perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews; and they went far beyond both inculcating universal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one family, under the bond of love, charity, peace, common wants and common aids. A development of this head will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others.
The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the hearts of man, erected his tribunal in the region of thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountainhead.> 1743TJ054
On October 17, 1803, in his Third Annual Message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<We have seen with sincere concern the flames of war lighted up again in Europe, and nations with which we have the most friendly and useful relations engaged in mutual destruction. While we regret the miseries in which we see others involved, let us bow with gratitude to that kind Providence which, inspiring with wisdom and moderation our late legislative councils while placed under the urgency of the greatest wrongs, guarded us from hastily entering into the sanguinary contest and left us only to look on and to pity its ravages.> 1743TJ055
On December 3, 1803, it was recommended by President Thomas Jefferson that the Congress of the United States pass a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians. Included in this treaty was the annual support to a Catholic missionary priest of $100, to be paid out of the Federal treasury. Later in 1806 and 1807, two similar treaties were made with the Wyandotte and Cherokee tribes. The treaty provided:
<And whereas the greater part of the said tribe have been baptized and received into the Catholic Church, to which they are much attached, the United States will give annually, for seven years, one hundred dollars toward the support of a priest of that religion, who will engage to perform for said tribe the duties of his office, and also to instruct as many of their children as possible, in the rudiments of literature, and the United States will further give the sum of three hundred dollars, to assist the said tribe in the erection of a church.> 1743TJ056
President Thomas Jefferson also extended, three times, a 1787 act of Congress in which special lands were designated:
<For the sole use of Christian Indians and the Moravian Brethren missionaries for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity.> 1743TJ057
On June 17, 1804, President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Henry Fry:
<I consider the doctrines of Jesus as delivered by himself to contain the outlines of the sublimest system of morality that has ever been taught but I hold in the most profound detestation and execration the corruptions of it which have been invented.> 1743TJ058
On September 11, 1804, in a letter to Abigail Adams, President Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<Nothing in the Constitution has given them [federal judges] a right to decide for the Executive, more than to the Executive to decide for them....But the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional, and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the legislature and executive also, in their spheres, would make the judiciary a despotic branch.> 1743TJ059
In 1804, in a letter to John Page, President Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<Whatever is to be our destiny, wisdom as well as duty dictates that we should acquiesce to the will of Him whose it is to give and take away, and be contented in the enjoyment of those (loved ones) who are still permitted to be with us.> 1743TJ060
On Monday, March 4, 1805, in his Second Inaugural Address, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger the union, but who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively?...
In matters of religion I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General Government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercise suited to it; but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state and church authorities by the several religious societies....
I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which they have approved....I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence I have heretofore experienced from my constituents; the want of it will certainly not lessen with increasing year.
I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessities and comforts of life, who has covered our infancy with His Providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils and prosper their measures, that whatever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship and approbation of all nations.> 1743TJ061
On December 3, 1805, in his Fifth Annual Message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<In taking a view of the state of our country we in the first place notice the late affliction of two of our cities under the fatal fever which in latter times has occasionally visited our shores. Providence in His goodness gave it an early termination on this occasion and lessened the number of victims which have usually fallen before it.> 1743TJ062
On February 19, 1806, in a message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<In pursuance of a measure proposed to Congress by a message of January 18, 1803, and sanctioned by their approbation for carrying it into execution, Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the First Regiment of infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to explore the river Missouri from its mouth to its source, and, crossing the highlands by the shortest portage, to seek the best water communication thence to the Pacific Ocean; and Lieutenant Clarke was appointed second in command.> 1743TJ063
As President, Thomas Jefferson not only signed bills which appropriated financial support for chaplains in Congress and in the armed services, but he also signed the Articles of War, April 10, 1806, in which he:
<Earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers, diligently to attend divine services.> 1743TJ064
On January 23, 1808, in a letter to Samuel Miller, President Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises.
This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States [10th Amendment].
Certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the General government.
It must then rest with the States as far as it can be in any human authority....
I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines....
Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets.> 1743TJ065
On November 8, 1808, in his Eighth Annual Message to Congress, President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<Looking forward with anxiety to their future destinies, I trust that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public authorities I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic; and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness.> 1743TJ066
In 1808, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Charles Thomson, who that same year published a 4-volume "Thomson's Bible":
<I propose (after retirement), among my first employments, to give to the Septuagint an attentive perusal.> 1743TJ304
Thomas Jefferson wrote to the North Carolina Legislature, 1808:
<I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow on yourselves the blessings of His favor.> 1743TJ305
Thomas Jefferson replied to the Association of Baltimore Baptists, 1808:
<I return your kind prayers with supplications to the same Almighty Being for your future welfare and that of our beloved country.> 1743TJ306
Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Virginia Assembly, 1809:
<That the Supreme Ruler of the universe may have our country under His special care, will be among the latest of my prayers.> 1743TJ307
Thomas Jefferson wrote to the New London Republicans, 1809:
<I join in supplications to that Almighty Being, Who has heretofore guarded our councils, still to continue His gracious benedictions towards our country.> 1743TJ308
President Thomas Jefferson stated:
<No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example.> 1743TJ067
In 1813, in a letter to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<In extracting the pure principles which Jesus taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled...there will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.> 1743TJ068
On September 18, 1813, Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Canby:
<An eloquent preacher of your religious society, Richard Mote, in a discourse of much emotion and pathos, is said to have exclaimed aloud to his congregation that he did not believe there was a Quaker, Presbyterian, Methodist, or Baptist in heaven, having paused to give his hearers time to stare and to wonder. He added, that in Heaven, God knew no distinctions, but considered all good men as his children, and as brethren of the same family. I believe, with the Quaker preacher, that he who steadily observes those moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven, as to the dogmas in which they all differ. That on entering there, all these are left behind us, and the Aristides and Catos, the Penns and Tillotsons, Presbyterians and Baptists, will find themselves united in all principles which are in concert with the reason of the Supreme Mind...
Of all the systems of morality, ancient and modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.> 1743TJ069
On March 17, 1814, in a letter to Horatio G. Spafford, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.> 1743TJ070
On June 13, 1814, in a letter to Thomas Law, Jefferson acknowledged:
<It shows how necessary was the care of the Creator in making the moral principle so much a part of our constitution as that no errors of reasoning or of speculation might lead us astray from its observance in practice.> 1743TJ071
On September 26, 1814, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Miles King:
<...Nay, we have heard it said that there is not a Quaker or a Baptist, a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian, a Catholic or a Protestant in heaven; that on entering that gate, we leave those badges of schism behind...Let us not be uneasy about the different roads we may pursue, as believing them the shortest, to that our last abode; but following the guidance of a good conscience, let us be happy in the hope that by these different paths we shall all meet in the end. And that you and I may meet and embrace, is my earnest prayer. And with this assurance I salute you with brotherly esteem and respect.> 1743TJ072
Jefferson wrote to Samuel Greenhow, treasurer of the Bible Society of Virginia, January 31, 1814:
<I presume the views of the society are confined to our own country, for with the religion of other countries, my own forbids inter-meddling. I had not supposed there was a family in this state not possessing a bible and without having the means to procure one. when, in earlier life I was intimate with every class, I think I never was in a house where that was the case. however, circumstances may have changed, and the society I presume have evidence of the fact. I therefore inclose you cheerfully an order on Messrs Gibson and Jefferson for 50.D. for the purposes of the society, sincerely agreeing with you that there never was a more pure & sublime system of morality delivered to man than is to be found in the four evangelists.> 1743TJ309
Thomas Jefferson wrote to David Barrow, 1815:
<We are not in a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a Superior Agent. Our efforts are in His hand, and directed by it; and He will give them their effect in His own time.> 1743TJ073
In 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French and English-"A Table of the Texts from the Evangelists employed in this Narrative and the order of their arrangement."> 1743TJ074
In 1904, the 57th Congress, in order to restrain unethical behavior, voted:
<That there be printed and bound, by photolithographic process, with an introduction of not to exceed twenty-five pages, to be prepared by Dr. Cyrus Adler, Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, for the use of Congress, 9,000 copies of Thomas Jefferson's Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, as the same appears in the National Museum; 3,000 copies for the use of the Senate and 6,000 copies for the use of the House.> 1743TJ075
On January 9, 1816, in a letter to Charles Thomson, who had published the "Thomson's Bible" (1808), Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding his book, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which he had recently translated into other languages:
<I have made this wee-little book...which I call the Philosophy of Jesus.
It is a paradigm of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time and subject.
A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me an infidel, and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its Author never said nor saw.> 1743TJ075
On August 6, 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Mrs. Harrison Smith regarding his letter to Charles Thomson, January 9, 1816:
<I recognize the same motives of goodness in the solicitude you express on the rumor supposed to proceed from a letter of mine to Charles Thomson, on the subject of the Christian religion. It is true that, in writing to the translator of the Bible and Testament, that subject was mentioned; but equally so that no adherence to any particular mode of Christianity was there expressed, nor any change of opinions suggested.
A change from what? That priests indeed have heretofore thought proper to ascribe to me religious, or rather anti-religious sentiments, of their own fabric, but such as soothed their resentments against the Act of Virginia for establishing religious freedom.
They wished him to be thought atheist, deist or devil, who could advocate freedom from their religious dictations. But I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences, for which we were accountable to Him, and not to the priests....
I have ever judged of the religion of others by their lives and by this test my dear Madam, I have been satisfied yours must be an excellent one to have produced a life of such exemplary virtue and correctness. For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read....> 1743TJ076
On September 6, 1819, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.> 1743TJ077
On September 28, 1820, in a letter to William Jarvis, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<You seem...to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so....and their power [is] the more dangerous, as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control.
The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots.> 1743TJ078
On November 4, 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Jared Sparks:
<I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man.> 1743TJ079
In 1821, in a letter to Mr. Hammond, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in...the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow) working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little to- morrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States.> 1743TJ080
On October 7, 1822, in a memorandum clarifying the regulations of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<The relations which exist between man and his Maker, and the duties resulting from those relations, are the most interesting and important to every human being, and most incumbent on his study and investigation.> 1743TJ081
Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, April 11, 1823:
<I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to atheism by their general dogma, that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a God. Now, one-sixth of mankind only are supposed to be Christians; the other five-sixths, then, who do not believe in the Jewish and Christian revelation, are without a knowledge of the existence of a God!
This gives completely a gain de cause to the disciples of Ocellus, Timceus, Spinosa, Diderot and D'Holbach. The argument which they rest on as triumphant and unanswerable is, that in every hypothesis of cosmogony, you must admit an eternal preexistence of something; and according to the rule of sound philosophy, you are never to employ two principles to solve a difficulty when one will suffice. They say, then, that it is more simple to believe at once in the eternal pre-existence of the world, as it is now going on, and may forever go on by the principle of reproduction which we see and witness, than to believe in the eternal pre-existence of an ulterior cause, or Creator of the world, a Being whom we see not and know not, of whose form, substance, and mode, or place of existence; or of action, no sense informs us, no power of the mind enables us to delineate or comprehend.
On the contrary, I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the universe, in all its parts, general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition.
The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces; the structure of our earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere; animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organized as man or mammoth; the mineral substances, their generation and uses;
it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe, that there is in all this, design, cause, and effect, up to an Ultimate Cause, a Fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regeneration into new and other forms.
We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power, to maintain the universe in its course and order. Stars, well known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view; comets in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and planets, and require renovation under other laws: certain races of animals are become extinct; and were there no restoring power, all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos.
So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed through all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to a unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a Creator, rather than in that of a self-existent universe. Surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more probable, than that of the few in the other hypothesis.> 1743TJ082
On June 12, 1823, in a letter to Supreme Court Justice William Johnson (December 27, 1771-August 4, 1834), regarding the meaning to the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.> 1743TJ083
On August 30, 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote James Madison regarding the Declaration of Independence:
<I know that I turned to neither book nor pamphlet while writing it. I did not consider it as any part of my charge to invent new ideas altogether, and to offer no sentiments which had never been expressed before...I pray God that these principles may be eternal, and close the prayer with my affectionate wishes for yourself of long life, health and happiness.> 1743TJ084
In 1824, establishing the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson not only encouraged the teaching of religion by recommending the establishment of a school of "Theology and Ecclesiastical History," but he also set aside a place inside the Rotunda for chapel services:
<It is supposed probable, that a building of somewhat more size in the middle of the grounds may be called for in time, in which may be rooms for religious worship.> 1743TJ085
In 1813, Thomas Jefferson wrote concerning the curriculum of the University of Virginia:
<The want of instruction in the various creeds of religious faith existing among our citizens presents...a chasm in general instruction of the useful sciences....
A remedy, however, has been suggested of promising aspect, which, while it excludes the public authorities from the domain of public religious freedom, will give to the sectarian schools of divinity the full benefit of public provisions made for instruction in the other branches of science....
It has, therefore, been in contemplation, and suggested by some pious individuals, who perceive the advantages of associating other studies with those of religion, to establish their religious schools on the confines of the University, so as to give to their students ready and convenient access and attendance on the scientific lectures of the University; and to maintain, by that means, those destined for religious professions on as high a standing of science, and of personal weight and respectability, as may be obtained by others from the benefits of the University.
Such establishments would offer the further and greater advantage of enabling the students of the University to attend religious exercise[s] with the professor of their particular sect, whether in rooms of the building still to be erected, and destined to that purpose under impartial regulations, as proposed in the same report of the commission, or in the lecturing room of such professor....
Such an arrangement would complete the circle of the useful sciences embraced by this institution, and would fill the chasm now existing, in principles which would leave inviolate the constitutional freedom of religion.> 1743TJ086
On April 7, 1824, the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, of which James Madison was a member, approved the regulations prepared by Thomas Jefferson, Rector of the University, which stated:
<Should the religious sects of this State, or any of them, according to the invitation held out to them, establish within or adjacent to, the precincts of the University, schools for instruction in the religion of their sect, the students of the University will be free, and expected to attend religious worship at the establishment of their respective sects, in the morning, and in time to meet their school in the University at its stated hour....
The students of such religious school, if they attend any school of the University, shall be considered as students of the University, subject to the same regulations, and entitled to the same privileges....
The upper circular room of the rotunda shall be reserved for a library. One of its larger elliptical rooms on its middle floor shall be used for annual examinations, or lectures to such schools as are too numerous for their ordinary school room, and for religious worship, under the regulations to be prescribed by law.> 1743TJ087
In his plan for the University of Virginia, 1824, Thomas Jefferson outlined the responsibilities of the professor of ethics:
<The proof of the being of a God, the Creator, Preserver, and Supreme Ruler of the Universe, the author of all the relations of morality, and the laws and oblations which these infer, will be in the province of the professor of ethics.> 1743TJ088
On February 21, 1825, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, the son of a friend, Thomas Jefferson gave the admonition:
<Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered be the Portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss.> 1743TJ089
At the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was invited to a celebration in Washington, D.C. by Mayor Roger Chew Weightman. Jefferson was 83 and in failing health, and declined the invitation. He responded to the invitation with a letter to Mayor Weightman on June 24, 1826:
<I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made.
May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.
That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.
These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.> 1743TJ090
Thomas Jefferson spoke highly using the local courthouse for religious services. When in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson attended Christ Church, along with George Washington, Robert Morris, Francis Hopkins, Alexander Hamilton, Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin.
In Virginia, Jefferson attended Bruton Parish Church (Episcopalian) in Williamsburg, along with George and Martha Washington. In the catalog listing the books in his library, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
<I am for freedom of Religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.> 1743TJ091
Jefferson wrote to John Adams, 1817:
<The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained.> 1743TJ092
Jefferson wrote from Monticello to to Timothy Pickering, Esq., February 27, 1821:
<No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its advances towards rational Christianity...When, in short, we shall...got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples; and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from His lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian....Had there never been a commentator there never would have been an infidel. I have little doubt that the whole of our country will soon be rallied to the unity of the Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also.> 1743TJ097
Jefferson wrote from Monticello to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June 26, 1822:
<Dear Sir, I have received and read with thankfulness and pleasure your denunciation of the abuses of tobacco and wine. Yet, however sound in its principles, I expect it will be but a sermon to the wind. You will find it as difficult to inculcate these sanative precepts on the sensualities of the present day, as to convince an Athanasian that there is but one God. I wish success to both attempts, and am happy to learn from you that the latter, at least, is making progress, and the more rapidly in proportion as our Platonizing Christians make more stir and noise about it. The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man. 1. That there is one only God, and he all perfect. 2. That there is a future state of rewards and punishments. 3. That to love God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself, is the sum of religion. These are the great points on which he endeavored to reform the religion of the Jews...Now, which of these is the true and charitable Christian? He who believes and acts on the simple doctrines of Jesus? Or the impious dogmatists...They are mere usurpers of the Christian name...as foreign from Christianity as is that of Mahomet...Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from his lips, the whole civilized world would now have been Christian.> 1743TJ093
Jefferson replied to Captain John Thomas and members of the Newhope Baptist Church, November 18, 1807:
<Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable in His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.> 1743TJ099
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were on the opposite sides of several major political issues, many times resulting in heated debates. John Adams, the 2nd President, was succeeded in office by Thomas Jefferson. So strong were John Adam's feelings against Jefferson at the time, that Adams even left Washington, D.C., to avoid being at Jefferson's Inauguration.
Later in life, however, the two became the best of friends. Their correspondence reveals, not only their faith, but their friendship. In a providential coincidence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on the same day, July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they both had signed the Declaration of Independence. Once hardened political opponents, John Adams' last words were:
<Thank God, Jefferson lives!> 1743TJ100
Inscribed on his grave is the epitaph Jefferson composed:
<Here lies buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, author of the Statutes for Religious Freedom in Virginia, and father of the University of Virginia.> 1743TJ101
The Jefferson Memorial, on the south banks of Washington D.C.'s Tidal Basin, has inscribed in marble Thomas Jefferson's own words:
<Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion.> 1743TJ102
<No men shall...suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.> 1743TJ103
<Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Life than that these people are to be free.> 1743TJ104
On June 15, 1852, Daniel Webster wrote to Professor Pease of a conversation he had with Thomas Jefferson:
<Many years ago I spent a Sabbath with Thomas Jefferson at his residence in Virginia. It was in the month of June, and the weather was delightful. While engaged in discussing the beauties of the Bible, the sound of the bell broke upon our ears, when, turning to the sage of Monticello, I remarked, "How sweetly - how very sweetly sounds that Sabbath bell!"
The distinguished statesman for a moment seemed lost in thought, and then replied: "Yes, my dear Webster; yes, it melts the heart, it calms the passions, and makes us boys again"..."Edmund Burke," said he, "never uttered a more important truth than when he exclaimed that a 'religious education was the cheap defense of nations.'"
"Raikes [England's Sunday School movement founder]," said Mr. Jefferson, "has done more for our country than the present generation will acknowledge. Perhaps when I am cold, he will obtain his reward. I hope so - earnestly hope so. I am considered by many, Mr. Webster, to have little religion; but now is not the time to correct errors of this sort. I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.""> 1743TJ105
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1743TJ001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1774, in a Resolution he introduced in the Virginia Assembly calling for a Day of Fasting and Prayer. Resolution for a Day of Fasting and Prayer made in the Virginia General Assembly. Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988, 1994), p. 131.
1743TJ002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. July 26, 1774, in the "Resolutions of Freeholders of Albemarle County Virginia." Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 10 vols. (NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892-1899), Vol. I, p. 418 ff. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), Vol. I p. 78.
1743TJ003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1774, in "Summary View of the Rights of British America." Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 10 vols. (NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892- 1899), p. 447. Julian P. Boyd, et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Princeton, 1950. Charles Fadiman, ed., The American Treasury (NY: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1955), p. 145. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 265. Frank Donovan, Mr. Jefferson's Declaration (New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1968), p. 38. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 523. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution- The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 227.
1743TJ203. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, June of 1775, in an Address from the Virginia House of Burgesses to Lord Dunmore. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2143; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i. 459. 1743TJ004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. July 6, 1775, in the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, passed in the Continental Congress. Journals of the American Congress- From 1774 to 1788, Vol. I, Thursday, July 6, 1775. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), Vol. I, p. 95. Richard L. Perry, ed., Sources of Our Liberties: Documentary Origins of Individual Liberties in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1978; New York: 1952). Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 165. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, pp. 337-341. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 403. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 33. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 227. Peter Marshall & David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, 1991), 7.6. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2144; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i. 476. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2152); Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 476.
1743TJ005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1776, Original Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, (Vol. 1, 1760-1776, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton University Press, 1950, pp 243-247).
1743TJ205. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Carl Lotus Becker, "The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas" (1922), footnote. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/unalienable.htm
1743TJ006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. July 3, 1776, in a proposition for a national seal. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1776, Vol. V, p. 530. Charles Francis Adams (son of John Quincy Adams and grandson of John Adams), ed., Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), Vol. I, p. 152. United States Supreme Court, Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 U.S. 457, 469 (1892). "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 6. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 6. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 2.
1743TJ206. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, June of 1776, in a proposed Virginia Constitution. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1255; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 27.
1743TJ007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. November 11, 1779, as Governor of the State of Virginia, in a Proclamation Appointing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer: The Need for Restraint (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 63. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 116. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 6.
1743TJ008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1781, in his Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781, 1782, p. 237. Paul Leicester Ford, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, 1894), 3:267. A.A. Lipscomb and Albert Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 20 vols. (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903-1904). Vol. IX, Vol. II, p. 227. Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Jefferson (New York: Tudor Publishing, 1943), p. 677. Robert Byrd, United States Senator from West Virginia, July 27, 1962, in a message delivered in Congress two days after the Supreme Court declared prayer in schools unconstitutional. Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984) p. 289. Robert Flood, The Rebirth of America (Philadelphia: Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), pp. 66-69. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 192-193. George Grant, Third Time Around (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Inc., 1991), p. 103. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 10. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 56. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 5.
1743TJ009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1781-1785, in Query XIX of his Notes on the State of Virginia. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 388. United States Department of the Interior pamphlet, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, document number 0-407791, 2d Reprinting, 1956.
1743TJ209. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1783, in a proposed Virginia Constitution. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1256, viii, 445; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iii, 325.
1743TJ210. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1783, in a Proposed Constitution For Virginia. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2145, viii, 441; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iii, 321.
1743TJ010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. August 19, 1785, in a letter to Peter Carr. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 388.
1743TJ011. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1781, Query XVII of Notes on the State of Virginia. Republican Notes on Religion and an Act Establishing Religious Freedom, Passed in the Assembly of Virginia, in the Year 1786 H.A. Washington, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson-Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, 9 vols. (NY: Derby & Jackson, 1859, Washington, 1853-54. Vol. 8, Philadelphia, 1871), complete text, Vol. III, pp. 358-406. Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Jefferson, Containing His Major Writings, Published and Unpublished, Except His Letters (NY: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943), p. 675. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 123. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 571. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987; 6th printing, 1993), p. 239. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1264, viii, 402; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iii, 265.
1743TJ212. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 808; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 96.
1743TJ213. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1249; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 101.
1743TJ214. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1250; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 99.
1743TJ215. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1251; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 101.
1743TJ216. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1252; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 102.
1743TJ217. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1258; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 95.
1743TJ218. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1261; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 100.
1743TJ219. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1262; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 101.
1743TJ220. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1263; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 100.
1743TJ221. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1265; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 101.
1743TJ421. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Religion. American Studies and the University of Virginia. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/jefferson/ch17.html The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 808; No. 1249; No. 1250; No. 1251; No. 1252; No. 1258; No. 1261; No. 1262; No. 1263; No. 1265. Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 96; ii, 101; ii, 99; ii, 101; ii, 102; ii, 95; ii, 100; ii, 101; ii, 100; ii, 101.
1743TJ222. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777; introduced in the Virginia General Assembly as Bill No. 82 in 1779; enacted into State Law on January 16, 1786, as the "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom." PTJ, 2:545-7. Text as adopted is in William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large (Richmond, Va.: Pleasants, 1810-1823), XII:84-6. An extensive editorial note in PTJ explains some slight differences in their transcription and the text as adopted, and discusses the process of adoption and various printings of the text. http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/virginia-statute- religious-freedom Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Monticello Podcasts. "Jefferson's Words: On Religion." Merrill D. Peterson and Robert C. Vaughan, The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: Its Evolution and Consequences in American History (Cambridge University Press, 1988). University of Virginia. Religious Freedom Page. "The Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom". Transcription of the act as adopted. H.A. Washington, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson-Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, 9 vols. (NY: Derby & Jackson, 1859, Washington, 1853-54. Vol. 8, Philadelphia, 1871), Vol. III, p. 358-406; (NY: Derby), Vol. VIII, p. 454-56. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia, PA: L. Johnson & Co., 1863; George W. Childs, 1864), p. 232. William Taylor Thom, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Virginia-The Baptists, Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science, Herbert B. Adams, ed., (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1900), p. 79. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 571; Vol. 3, p. 53. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1257, viii, 455; No. 1259, viii, 455; No. 1260, viii, 454; No. 1266; No. 1267, viii, 454; No. 1268, viii, 454. Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 38, 238-239. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Peden, ed., pp. 158-59. Inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 123-4. Pat Robertson, America's Dates with Destiny (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), p. 83. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 2. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 192-193. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 4.
1743TJ224. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Parton, in his work, Life of Jefferson, 1874, p. 211. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1266; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 238.
1743TJ229. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson drafted the reply of Congress to General Washington upon his surrendering of his commission, December of 1783. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2158, Rayner's Life Of Jefferson, 226.
1743TJ230. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson to Jean Nicolas Demeunier, June 26, 1786, providing an entry for the French Encyclopedia. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2146, ix. 279; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 185.
1743TJ015. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, ambassador to France, 1784-1789, with John Adams. AMERICAN SPHINX- The Character of Thomas Jefferson (Vintage, 1998), Joseph J. Ellis. "American Peace Commissioners to John Jay," March 28, 1786, "Thomas Jefferson Papers," Series 1. General Correspondence. 1651-1827, Library of Congress. LoC: March 28, 1786 (handwritten). Making of America Project; Philip Gengembre Hubert (1872). The Atlantic monthly. Atlantic Monthly Co.. p. 413 (typeset) (some sources confirm this wording, other sources report this quotation with slight differences in wording.)
1743TJ016. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 11, 1790, in a note King Louis XVI of France had sent to President Washington and the U.S. Congress, expressing his gratitude for the service Thomas Jefferson had preformed as the U.S. Minister to their country. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 89.
1743TJ017. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. May 23, 1797, in an address to President John Adams, while serving as Vice- President and President of the United States Senate. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 241.
1743TJ018. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. November 16, 1798, in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, Article III. Jonathan Elliot, ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 5 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Jonathan Elliot, 1836, and reprinted Philadelphia, 1861), Vol. IV, p. 540-44. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), Vol. I, p. 179. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 4, p. 63. N.S. Shaler, Kentucky, Vol. IV, p. 409 ff.
1743TJ019. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 23, 1800, in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush. Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels, p. 320. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 388. Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 28. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987; 6th printing, 1993), pp. 235, 238. 1743TJ020. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. February 20, 1801, in response, as President-elect, to the notification of his election. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 320.
1743TJ021. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. March 4, 1801, Wednesday, in his First Inaugural Address. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 322-324. Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States-From George Washington 1789 to Richard Milhous Nixon 1969 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office; 91st Congress, 1st Session, House Document 91-142, 1969), pp. 13-16. H.A. Washington, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson-Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, 9 vols. (NY: Derby & Jackson, 1859; Washington, 1853-54; Philadelphia, 1871), Vol. VIII, p. 6. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), Vol. I, pp. 187-189. Frederick C. Packard, Jr., ed., Are You an American?-Great Americans Speak (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), p. 21-24. Paul M. Angle, ed., By These Words (NY: Rand McNally & Company, 1954), pp. 157-159. Charles Hurd, ed., A Treasury of Great American Speeches (NY: Hawthorne Books, 1959), p. 50. Richard D. Heffner, A Documentary History of the United States (New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 1961), pp. 71-74. Davis Newton Lott, The Inaugural Addresses of the American Presidents (NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), p. 16-17. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 179. William Safire, ed., Lend Me Your Ears-Great Speeches in History (NY: W.W. Norton & Company 1992), pp. 727-729. J. Michael Sharman, J.D., Faith of the Fathers (Culpeper, Virginia: Victory Publishing, 1995), p. 24. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2148, viii, 5; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 6.
1743TJ022. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 8, 1801, in his First Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 326. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 404. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 228. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2150, viii, 6; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 109.
1743TJ023. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 8, 1801, in his First Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 326.
1743TJ024. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Qur'an Surahs. 1743TJ025. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Hadith Sahih al- Bukhari, Anas Ibn Malik reported. Surrender of Jewish Tribe, Banu Qurayza in Medina.
1743TJ026. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Ibn Ishaq, transcribed by Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah, (The Lief of the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad.
1743TJ027. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Ibn Ishaq, transcribed by Ibn Hisham, Sirat Rasul Allah, (The Lief of the Prophet of Allah, Muhammad.
1743TJ028. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Hadith Sahih Bukhari, narrated Abdullah bin Masud.
1743TJ029. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Hadith Malik's Muwatta, Book 21, No. 3, 11.
1743TJ030. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Qur'an, Sura 2:216.
1743TJ031. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Qur'an, Sura 2:216, Yusufali Translation.
1743TJ032. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Qur'an, Sura 2:216, Pickthal Translation.
1743TJ033. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Qur'an, Sura 2:216, Shakir Translation.
1743TJ034 William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014).. What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur'an-A History of Islam & the United States (St. Louis, MO: Amerisearch, Inc., 2009).
1743TJ035. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wikipedia.com online encyclopedia definition of Arabic work "ghazi".
1743TJ036. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). The Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 1977, page 283), definition of Mujahideen: waging jihad bin-saif, i.e. holy war.
1743TJ037. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader (Princeton Series on the Middle East, 1996, p. 3).
1743TJ038. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Wikipedia.com online encyclopedia definition of Arabic work "ghazi".
1743TJ039. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam, (Exxon Lecture Series, 1991, pp. 147-148). 1743TJ040. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). The Cambridge History of Islam, edited by P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 1977, p. 290).
1743TJ041. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Winston Churchill, statement. Stanely Kurtzusse, "Tribes of Terror," Claremont Review of Books, Winter 2007/2008, p. 39, reviewing Akbar S. Ahmed's Resistance and Control in Pakistan, Routledge, 2004).
1743TJ042. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Quincy Adams. The comprehensive annotated John Quincy Adams-A Bibliography, compiled by Lynn H. Parsons (Westport, CT, 1993, p. 41, entry#194), contains "Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War and on Greece," published in The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29 (NY: 1830, ch. 10- 14, p. 267-402), the period between his term as President and his election to Congress. Andrew G. Bostom, John Quincy Adams Knew Jihad, FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, September 29, 2004.
1743TJ043. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Frederick C. Leiner, The End of the Barbary Terror-America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa (Oxford University Press).
1743TJ243. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 747, i, 65; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 91.
1743TJ244. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson composed Confederation Articles for countries being raided by Muslim Barbary pirates, as recorded in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 748, i, 65; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., I.
1743TJ245. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson recorded in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 749, i, 67; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 93.
1743TJ246. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson recorded in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 750, i, 67; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 93.
1743TJ247. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding Treaty Instructions of Congress, May 7, 1784. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8576, ix, 226; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iii, 489.
1743TJ248. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 765; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 33.
1743TJ249. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 766; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 31.
1743TJ250. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Nathaniel Greene in the 1780s. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 767; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 35.
1743TJ251. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 768; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 33.
1743TJ252. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 770; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 32.
1743TJ253. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 771; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 31.
1743TJ254. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Page, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 5556, i, 401.
1743TJ255. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8027, i, 393. 1743TJ256. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Dr. Ezra Stiles, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8623, i 165.
1743TJ257. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Richard Henry Lee, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8624; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 72.
1743TJ258. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Page, 1785. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8625, i, 400.
1743TJ259. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 751, i, 575; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 228.
1743TJ260. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, July of 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 752, I, 591.
1743TJ261. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 753, i, 60b; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 264.
1743TJ262. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Governor Henry, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 754, i, 601.
1743TJ263. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Elbridge Gerry, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 756, i, 557.
1743TJ264. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Patrick Henry, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 757, i, 601.
1743TJ265. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 758, i, 607; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 265.
1743TJ266. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, 1786, regarding appeasing Muslim Barbary pirates. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 759, i, 585.
1743TJ267. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 760, i, 565; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 221.
1743TJ268. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 761, i, 551. 1743TJ269. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to David Humphreys, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 762, i, 559.
1743TJ270. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Ezra Stiles, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 769; ii, 78.
1743TJ271. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Greene, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1136, i, 509.
1743TJ272. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1786. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1138, i, 580. 1743TJ273. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to U.S. Consul-General at Paris, Thomas Barclay, 1787, whom Jefferson and Adams had appointed to negotiate a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 774, ii, 125.
1743TJ274. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1787. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1137, ii, 113.
1743TJ275. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Jay, 1787. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1139, ii, 113.
1743TJ276. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Jefferson wrote to Monroe, 1786, regarding Mr. Lambe's failed mission to Algiers. Paul Leicester Ford, ed., iv, 264, i, 606. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1139.
1743TJ277. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Brown, 1788. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8626, ii, 396; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., v, 18.
1743TJ278. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Washington, 1788. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4139, ii, 372. 1743TJ279. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Carrington, 1788. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4140, ii, 405; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., v, 22.
1743TJ280. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to M. Limozin, 1788. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4141, ii, 443.
1743TJ281. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, 1788. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4142, ii, 466. 1743TJ282. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to E. Rutledge, 1789. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 755, iii.
1743TJ283. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison, 1789. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4143, iii, 101; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., v, 113.
1743TJ284. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson stated in his Report on Mediterranean Trade, 1790. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 763, vii, 522.
1743TJ285. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas Barclay in 1791. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 775, iii, 261.
1743TJ286. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Admiral John Paul Jones, 1791, regarding his being given the St. Anne Decoration by the Empress of Russia for his services fighting the Muslims on the Black Sea. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4144, iii, 294.
1743TJ287. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas Barclay, 1791. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8588, iii, 262.
1743TJ288. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Paul Jones, June of 1792. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 4135, iii, 431.
1743TJ289. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Paul Jones, 1792. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 764, iii, 438.
1743TJ290. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote in April of 1792. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8545, The Anas, ix, 114; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 190.
1743TJ291. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Colonel David, 1793. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1140, iii, 531.
1743TJ292. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote in his First Annual Message, December of 1801. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8593, viii, 7; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 116.
1743TJ293. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Special Message regarding Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean, December 1803. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 5775, viii, 32.
1743TJ294. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Robert Smith, April 1804, regarding the Muslim Barbary pirates capture of the USS Philadelphia. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8590; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 301.
1743TJ295. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Philip Mazzei, July of 1804. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8591, iv, 553.
1743TJ296. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Judge John Tyler, March 1805. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8589, iv, 574.
1743TJ297. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Judge John Tyler, March of 1805. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 8592, iv, 574.
1743TJ298. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote in a Special Message, February in 1807. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 5767, viii, 80; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ix, 24.
1743TJ299. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, 1822. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 5762, vii, 264; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., x, 238.
1743TJ300. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Waring, March of 1801. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2155, iv, 379.
1743TJ301. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson replied to a Vermont Address, 1801. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2156, iv, 419.
1743TJ044. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1801-1809, proposed plan for school board for the District of Columbia during his Presidential term, John W. Whitehead, The Second American Revolution (Elgin, IL: David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1982), p. 100. Quoting from J.O. Wilson, Public School of Washington (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society, 1897), Vol. 1, p. 5. Thomas Jefferson, March 23, 1801, in a letter from Washington, D.C. to Moses Robinson. Barnes Mayo, ed., Jefferson Himself-The Personal Narrative of a many-sided American (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942), p. 231.
1743TJ045. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Roger Williams, in 1644, "The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for Conscience Sake" and "Mr. Cotton's Letters, Lately Printed, Examined and Answered," published in London.
1743TJ046. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Bible verses referenced by Baptist Founder of Rhode Island. Isaiah 5:1-7, Mark 12:1, Proverbs 24:30-31, Revelation 2:1-5.
1743TJ047. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Danbury Baptist Association, Connecticut, October 7, 1801, Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins and Stephen Nelson, writing a letter to President Thomas Jefferson.
1743TJ048. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1802, letter responding to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and Stephen Nelson of the Danbury Baptist Association, Danbury, Connecticut. Lynn R. Buzzard and Samuel Ericsson, The Battle for Religious Liberty (Elgin, IL: David C. Cook, 1982), p. 51. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987, 6th printing 1993), pp. 215, 242-243. Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 164 (1878). A.A. Lipscomb and Albert Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 20 vols. (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903-1904). Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 135. Arthur Frommer, The Bible in the Public Schools (New York, NY: Liberal Press, 1963), p. 19. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer: The Need for Restraint (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 63. Merrill D. Peterson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 510. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Freedom of Religion & Separation of Church and State (Mount Vernon, New York: A. Colish, Inc., 1985), pp. 28-29. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987, 6th printing 1993), pp. 215, 242. Gary Wills, Under God (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990), p. 350. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 115-116. Letter transcribed in its entirety from the courthouse in Danbury, Connecticut, by William Vigue, 18 Clapboard Ridge Rd., Danbury, CT, 06811. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2159, viii, 114.
1743TJ302. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote of the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1253, i, 38. Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 52.
1743TJ303. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1254, i, 49; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., i, 69.
1743TJ049. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. June 19, 1802, in a letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly. David Barton, "The Truth About Thomas Jefferson And The First Amendment" (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1992), pp. 2-3. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 1269, viii, 113. Before sending this reply to the Danbury Baptists, President Jefferson enclosed a copy of it to Levi Lincoln, his Attorney General, with a note (Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 129) in which he said: "The Baptist address admits of a condemnation of the alliance between Church and State, under the authority of the Constitution. It furnishes an occasion, too, which I have long wished to find, of saying why I do not proclaim fastings and thanksgivings, as my predecessors did...I know it will give great offense to the New England clergy; but the advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from them. Will you be so good as to examine the answer, and suggest any alterations which might prevent an ill effect, or promote a good one among the people? You understand the temper of those in the North, and can weaken it, therefore, to their stomachs; it is at present seasoned to the Southern taste only."
1743TJ050. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, April 30, 1802, signing the Enabling Act for Ohio, c.40, 2 Stat. 173 at 174, which was not repugnant to the Northwest Ordinance. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), p. 131. William Benton, The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol.III, pp. 194-195. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 91. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 3. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 4.
1743TJ051. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 15, 1802, in his Second Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, pp. 342-345. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2149, viii, 15; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 181.
1743TJ052. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. April 9, 1803, in a letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 160. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 229. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 495.
1743TJ053. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. April 21, 1803, in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. X, p. 379. Albert Ellery Bergh, editor, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. X, p. 380. Barnes Mayo, ed., Jefferson Himself-The Personal Narrative of a many-sided American (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942), pp. 231, 235. Thomas Jefferson, The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Adrienne Koch and William Paden, eds. (NY: Random House, 1944), p. 567. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 119. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations-Classical & Modern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), pp. 265-266. Library of American Literature, Vol. III, p. 277. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 252.
1743TJ054. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. April 21, 1803, in a letter to Benjamin Rush. William Linn, The Life of Thomas Jefferson (Ithaca, NY: Mack & Andrus, 1834), p. 265. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 170-171. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), pp. 495- 496. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 230. Albert Ellery Bergh, editor, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. X, pp. 380. Compiled for Senator A. Willis Robertson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson on Religion (Williamsburg, VA: The Williamsburg Foundation, April 27, 1960). Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations-Classical & Modern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), p. 266.
1743TJ055. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. October 17, 1803, in his Third Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 361.
1743TJ056. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 3, 1803, Treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, 1806 with the Wyandotte Indians, and 1807 Cherokee Indians. Costanzo, Federal Aid to Education and Religious Liberty, 36 U. of Det. L.J., 1, 15 (1958). Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 64. Daniel L. Driesbach, Real Threat and Mere Shadow: Religious Liberty and the First Amendment (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), p. 127. Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846), A Treaty Between the United States and the Kaskaskia Tribe of Indians, 23 December 1803, Art. III, Vol. VII, pp. 78-79., Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., 1805, Vol. VII, Art. IV, p. 88, Treaty with the Cherokees, 1806, vol.VII, Art. II, p. 102. Robert L. Cord, Separation of Church and State (NY: Lambeta Press, 1982), p. 39. "A Treaty Between the United States of America and the Kaskaskian Tribe of Indians." 7 Stat. 78-9 (1846). Daniel L. Driesbach, Real Threat and Mere Shadow-Religious Liberty and the First Amendment (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), p. 127.
1743TJ057. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 3, 1803, treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, 1806 with the Wyandotte Indians, and 1807 Cherokee Indians. Daniel L. Driesbach, Real Threat and Mere Shadow: Religious Liberty and the First Amendment (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), p. 127. Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846), A Treaty Between the United States and the Kaskaskia Tribe of Indians, 23 December 1803, Art. III, Vol. VII, pp. 78-79., Treaty with the Wyandotte, etc., 1805, Vol. VII, Art. IV, p. 88, Treaty with the Cherokees, 1806, Vol. VII, Art. II, p. 102. Robert L. Cord, Separation of Church and State (NY: Lambeta Press, 1982), p. 39.
1743TJ058. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. June 17, 1804, in a letter to Henry Fry. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Writings, Monticello, ed., 1905, Vol. IX, pp. 428-430. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. II. Rare Book Collection (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1953). John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 244.
1743TJ059. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 11, 1804, in a letter to Abigail Adams. Thomas Jefferson, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed., (Washington, D.C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. X, pp. 50-51.
1743TJ060. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1804, in a letter to John Page. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 404. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 228. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2160, iv, 547.
1743TJ061. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. March 4, 1805, Monday, in his Second Inaugural Address. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 378-382. Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States-From George Washington 1789 to Richard Milhous Nixon 1969 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office; 91st Congress, 1st Session, House Document 91-142, 1969), pp. 17-21. Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Jefferson, Containing His Major Writings, Published and Unpublished, Except His Letters (NY: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943), p. 412. Adrienne Koch and William Paden, eds., The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson (NY: Random House, 1944), p. 341. Davis Newton Lott, The Inaugural Addresses of the American Presidents (NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), p. 22. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 179. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., ed., The Chief Executive (NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1965), p. 20. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), pp. 403-440. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), p. 166. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), pp. 227-228, 243. John Whitehead, The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, Good News Publishers, 1991), p. 45. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 116. J. Michael Sharman, J.D., Faith of the Fathers (Culpeper, Virginia: Victory Publishing, 1995), pp. 25-26. Adrienne Koch and William Paden, eds. The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson (NY: Random House, 1944), p. 341. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 5. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2161, viii. 45; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., viii, 347.
1743TJ062. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. December 3, 1805, in his Fifth Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 383.
1743TJ063. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. February 19, 1806, in a message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 398.
1743TJ064. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. April 10, 1806, Articles of War, cited as Act of April 10, 1806, C. 20, 2 Stat. 359, 360. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer: The Need for Restraint (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 63-64. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 116.
1743TJ065. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. January 23, 1808, in a letter to Samuel Miller. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 1186-1187. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor, Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 4 vols. (London and Charlottesville, VA: 1829), Vol. IV, p. 106. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Thomas Jefferson Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, pp. 103-104. Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 10 vols. (NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892-1899), Vol. IX, pp. 174-175. A.A. Lipscomb and Albert Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 20 vols. (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903-1904), Vol. XI, p. 428. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Writings, Monticello, ed., (1905), Vol. IX, p. 428-30. Writings (Bergh, ed., 1903), Vol. XI, pp. 428-429. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 63. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 4, p. 234. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Freedom of Religion & Separation of Church and State (Mount Vernon, New York: A. Colish, Inc., 1985), p. 29. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 136-1 37. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 244. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), p. 173.
1743TJ066. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. November 8, 1808, in his Eighth Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. I, p. 456.
1743TJ304. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to Charles Thomson, 1808. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 809, v, 403; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ii, 234.
1743TJ305. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to the North Carolina Legislature, 1808. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2163, viii, 126.
1743TJ306. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson replied to the Association of Baltimore Baptists, 1808. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2162, viii, 138.
1743TJ307. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Virginia Assembly, 1809. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2157, viii, 149.
1743TJ308. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to the New London Republicans, 1809. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2164, viii, 152.
1743TJ067. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Statement made while President. From Rev. Ethan Allen's handwritten history "Washington Parish, Washington City" in the Library of Congress MMC Collection, 1167, as quoted in James H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1998), 96. Gary DeMar, "Putting History on Trial" (Biblical Worldview, P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 770-222-7266, April 18, 2002), Volume 18, Number 4, p. 3.
1743TJ068. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1813, in a letter to John Adams. Thomas Jefferson, Writings, Vol. XIII, p. 389. Douglas Lurton, "Foreword," The Jefferson Bible (Cleveland, OH: The Word Publishing Company, 1942), p. ix. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations-Classical & Modern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), p. 266. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 91. A. Douglas Lurton, The Jefferson Bible (Cleveland, OH:, The Word Publishing, Co., 1942), (Forward). 1743TJ069. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 18, 1813, in a letter to William Canby. Albert Ellery Bergh, editor, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XIII, pp. 377-378. Compiled for Senator A. Willis Robertson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson on Religion (Williamsburg, VA: The Williamsburg Foundation, April 27, 1960). Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations-Classical & Modern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), p. 266.
1743TJ070. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. March 17, 1814, in a letter to Horatio G. Spafford. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 389.
1743TJ071. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. June 13, 1814, in a letter to Thomas Law. Dickenson Adams, ed., Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton University Press, 1983), p. 355. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 234.
1743TJ072. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 26, 1814, in a letter to Miles King. Compiled for Senator A. Willis Robertson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson on Religion (Williamsburg, VA: The Williamsburg Foundation, April 27, 1960).
1743TJ309. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, January 31, 1814, wrote to Samuel Greenhow of Virginia, treasurer of the Bible Society of Virginia. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 806, vi, 308. Address of the Managers of the Bible Society of Virginia to the Public (Richmond: Printed by Samuel Pleasants, 1814), 1. Greenhow to Jefferson, November 11, 1813, in PTJ:RS, 6:607-8; 7:178. Thomas Jefferson wrote to Samuel Greenhow of Virginia, 1814. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 807, vi, 309.
1743TJ073. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson wrote to David Barrow, 1815. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2154, vi, 456; Paul Leicester Ford, ed., ix, 516. Richard Maxfield, K. De Lynn Cook, and W. Cleon Skousen, The Real Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 2nd edition, 1981, 1983), p. 404. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 227.
1743TJ074. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1816. The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French and English. Library of the Smithsonian Institute National Museum. Thomas Jefferson, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904), House of Representatives, Document No. 755, 58th Congress, 2d Session.
1743TJ075. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. January 9, 1816, in a letter to Charles Thomson. Henry S. Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson (NY: Derby and Jackson, 1958), Vol. 3, p. 451. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 146. Edmund Fuller and David E. Green, God in the White House-The Faiths of American Presidents (NY: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1968), p. 35. Dickenson Adams, ed., Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton University Press, 1983), p. 395. Pat Robertson, America's Dates with Destiny (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), p. 65.
1743TJ076. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. August 6, 1816, in a letter to Mrs. Harrison Smith. Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson on Religion, Compiled for Senator A. Willis Robertson, April 27, 1960 (Williamsburg: VA, The Williamsburg Foundation, 1960). Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 146-147.
1743TJ077. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 6, 1819. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 1426.
1743TJ078. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. September 28, 1820, in a letter to William Jarvis. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Letters, Wilson Whitman, ed., (Eau Claire, WI: E.M. Hale & Co., 1900), p. 338. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1982), p. 166.
1743TJ079. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. November 4, 1820, in a letter to Jared Sparks. Compiled for Senator A. Willis Robertson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson (Williamsburg, VA: The Williamsburg Foundation, April 27, 1960). Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 156.
1743TJ080. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. 1821, in a letter to Mr. Hammond. Thomas Thomas Jefferson Jefferson on Democracy, Saul K. Padover, ed., (NY: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1939), p. 64. 1743TJ081. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. October 7, 1822, in a memorandum regarding the regulations of the University of Virginia. Benjamin Hart, Faith & Freedom-The Christian Roots of American Liberty (Dallas, TX: Lewis and Stanley, 1988), p. 352.
1743TJ082. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. April 11, 1823, in a letter to John Adams. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust- The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 290. Dickenson Adams, ed., Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 410-411. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 223-234. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, John P. Foley, ed., New York & London, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1900, No. 2147, vii, 281.
1743TJ083. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. June 12, 1823, in a letter to Justice William Johnson. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Thomas Jefferson Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, p. 373. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 1475.
1743TJ084. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. August 30, 1823, in a letter to James Madison regarding his authorship of the Declaration of Independence. Old South Leaflets (Boston: Directors of the Old South Meeting House, 1902).
1743TJ085. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1824, University of Virginia, rotunda. Honeywell, The Educational Work of Thomas Jefferson (1931), pp. 249, 274-275. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 65. Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 152. Benjamin Hart, Faith & Freedom-The Christian Roots of American Liberty (Dallas, TX: Lewis and Stanley, 1988), p. 352.
1743TJ086. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1813, University of Virginia, curriculum. A.A. Lipscomb and Albert Bergh, eds., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson 20 vols. (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903-1904). p. 36. John Whitehead, The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, Good News Publishers, 1991), p. 236.
1743TJ087. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, April 7, 1824, Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia approved the regulations. Honeywell, The Educational Work of Thomas Jefferson (1931), pp. 249, 274-275. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court and Public Prayer (New York: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 66. Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Jefferson, Containing His Major Writings, Published and Unpublished, Except His Letters (NY: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943), p. 111. John Whitehead, The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, Good News Publishers, 1991), p. 47. Philip Alexander Bruce, The History of the University of Virginia 1819-1919 (NY: The Macmillan Co., 1920), Vol. II, p.367-69. Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1950, revised one-volume edition, 1964), p. 54.
1743TJ088. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, 1824, University of Virginia, outline of responsibilities of the professor of ethics. Philip Alexander Bruce, The History of the University of Virginia 1819- 1919 (NY: The Macmillan Co., 1920), Vol. II, p. 365. Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1950, revised one-volume edition, 1964), p. 54.
1743TJ089. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. February 21, 1825, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith. Dickenson Adams, ed., Jefferson's Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 40-41. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and The Constitution-The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 236. Robert Flood, The Rebirth of America (The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), p. 181.
1743TJ090. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, June 24, 1826, writing to Washington, D.C. Mayor Roger Chew Weightman on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
1743TJ091. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Catalog of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, (Washington, D.C.: Rare Book Collection, Library of Congress, 1953), Vol. II. Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 152.
1743TJ092. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Writings, Vol. XIV, p. 149. Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), p. 266. Jefferson, Thomas (1829). Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. H. Colburn and R. Bentley. p. 242. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
1743TJ093. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Tryon Edwards, D.D., The New Dictionary of Thoughts-A Cyclopedia of Quotations (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1852; revised and enlarged by C.H. Catrevas, Ralph Emerson Browns and Jonathan Edwards [descendent, along with Tryon, of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), president of Princeton], 1891; The Standard Book Company, 1955, 1963), p. 91. Shmucher, Life of Jefferson. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 252-253.
1743TJ094. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Walker Whitman, A Christian History of the American Republic (1939). Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 6.
1743TJ095. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Attributed. Tryon Edwards, D.D., The New Dictionary of Thoughts-A Cyclopedia of Quotations (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1852; revised and enlarged by C.H. Catrevas, Ralph Emerson Browns and Jonathan Edwards [descendent, along with Tryon, of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), president of Princeton], 1891; The Standard Book Company, 1955, 1963), p. 46. Herbert Lockyer, Last Words of Saints and Sinners (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1969), p. 98. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 10. Stephen McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 148.
1743TJ097. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson, February 27, 1821, wrote from Monticello to Timothy Pickering, Esq. Library of American Literature, Vol. III, pp. 283-284. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, Oregon: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), p. 253.
1743TJ098. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 3.
1743TJ099. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. November 18, 1807, to Captain John Thomas and members of the Newhope Baptist Church. The writings of Thomas Jefferson; Richard Holland Johnston, Albert Ellery Bergh, editor (Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States, 1905, 1907, vol. 15, p. 290-291. Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 148. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 7. Thomas Jefferson replied to a Baptist Address, 1807:
1743TJ100. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. July 4, 1826, last words of John Adams. James H. Huston, "John Adams." The World Book Encyclopedia 22 vols. (Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc., 1989; W.F. Quarrie and Company, 8 vols., 1917), Vol. 1, p. 39. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 7.12.
1743TJ101. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. July 4, 1826, epitaph inscribed on his tombstone, which he authored himself.
1743TJ102. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C. January 16, 1786, in a bill written by the Committee on Religion, Virginia Assembly. H.A. Washington, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson-Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, 9 vols. (Jackson: 1859); (Washington: 1853-54); (Philadelphia: 1871), Vol. 8; (NY: Derby), Vol. VIII, p. 454-56. William Taylor Thom, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Virginia: The Baptists, Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science, Herbert B. Adams, ed., (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1900), p. 79. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 3, p. 53. Norman Cousins, In God We Trust-The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 124. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 192-193.
1743TJ103. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 192- 193.
1743TJ104. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. Robert Byrd, United States Senator from West Virginia, July 27, 1962. in a message delivered in Congress two days after the Supreme Court declared prayer in schools unconstitutional. Robert Flood, The Rebirth of America (Philadelphia: Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), pp. 66-69. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 192-193.
1743TJ105. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Thomas Jefferson. June 15, 1852, Daniel Webster wrote to Professor Pease of a conversation he had with Thomas Jefferson (The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion. July to December, 1858, James Floy, editor, NY: Carolton & Porter, 1858, Vol. XIII, August, 1858, pp. 178-179); Daniel Webster, The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster Hitherto Uncollected (Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1903), Vol. IV, pp. 656-657. Homage of Eminent Persons to The Book, Samuel W. Bailey, editor (New York: Rand, Avery, & Frye, 1869), p. 67. Joseph Banvard, Daniel Webster: His Life and Public Services (Chicago: The Werner Co, 1895), pp. 131-132. Stephen McDowell, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Foundation, 1989), p. 178; John Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1991; originally printed in 1975), no page number; Dag Heward-Mills, BASIC Theology (Florida: Xulon Press, 2011), p. 29.