President George Washington

May 10, 1786

The favourable terms in which you [Lafayette] speak of Mr Jefferson gives me great pleasure: he is a man of whom I early imbibed the highest opinion—I am as much pleased therefore to meet confirmations of my discernment in these matters, as I am mortified when I find myself mistaken.

President John Adams

Auteuil August 27th 1784

He is an old Friend with whom I have often had Occasion to labour at many a knotty Problem, and in whose Abilities and Steadiness I always found great Cause to confide.

Quincy Summer 1811

I always loved Jefferson & still love him.

Quincy June 10, 1813

You may expect many more expostulations from one who has loved and esteemed you for Eight and thirty Years.

Quincy January 22, 1825

Our John [John Quincy Adams] has been too much worn to contend much longer with conflicting factions. I call him our John, because when you was at Cul de sac at Paris, he appeared to me to be almost as much your boy as mine, I have often speculated upon the consequences that would have ensued from my taking your advice, to send him to William and Mary College in Virginia for an Education.

Quincy April 19, 1825

I have lost your last letter to me, the most consolatory letter I ever received in my life, what would I not give for a copy of it—

Your friend to all eternity

John Adams

President John Quincy Adams

Executive Order [on the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams]

July 11, 1826

The General in Chief has received from the Department of War the following orders:

The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it has pleased the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are the issues of life, to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas Jefferson.

This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but the consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the present month--on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence the Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief which every heart must feel for so heavy and afflicting a public loss, and desirous to express his high sense of the vast debt of gratitude which is due to the virtues, talents, and ever-memorable services of the illustrious deceased, the President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at all the military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months.

Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for carrying into effect the foregoing directions.

J. BARBOUR.

It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to announce to the Army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John Adams departed this life on the 4th of this month. Like his compatriot Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impending difficulties of the Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and died, as did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee.

A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence.

The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be paid by the Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of the 7th (11th ?) instant were directed to be paid to Thomas Jefferson, and the same token of mourning be worn.

Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this order.

J. BARBOUR.

Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to an army such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and astonishment of this Republic; never since History first wrote the record of time has one day thus mingled every triumphant with every tender emotion, and consecrated a nation's joy by blending it with the most sacred of sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, almost in the same hour, have two of the Founders of the Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their services to social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest and most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, their honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified in death, they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the gratulations and thanksgivings of a people on all, on every individual, of whom they had conferred the best of all earthly benefits.

Such men need no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We are their monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her growing prosperity the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place over their dust. Well may the Genius of the Republic mourn. If she turns her eyes in one direction, she beholds the hall where Jefferson wrote the charter of her rights; if in another, she sees the city where Adams kindled the fires of the Revolution. To no period of our history, to no department of our affairs, can she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials of her loss and of their glory.

At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity blushes while she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy lament their enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, Philanthropy and Eloquence weep with no less reason in the retirement of Quincy. And when hereafter the stranger performing his pilgrimage to the land of freedom shall ask for the monument of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be directed to the dome of that temple of learning, the university of his native State--the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the favorite gift of a patriot to his country.

Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored country! Too happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears can thus soothe thy sorrow by a legacy of fame.

The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the country, and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the Cabinet or the field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy pride in obeying this order. Let the officers, then, wear the badge of mourning, the poor emblem of a sorrow which words can not express, but which freemen must ever feel while contemplating the graves of the venerated Fathers of the Republic.

Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military station shall be a day of rest.

The National flag shall wave at half-mast.

At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single cannon will be discharged, and at the close of the day twenty-four rounds.

President Andrew Jackson

Washington City March 6th. 1825

Yesterday Mr Adams was inaugurated amidst a vast assemblage of citizens, having been escorted to the capitol with a pomp and ceremony of guns & drums not very consistent, in my humble opinion, with the character of the occasion. Twenty four years ago when Mr [Thomas] Jefferson was inducted into office no such machinery was called in to give solemnity to the occasion-he rode his own horse and hitched him him self to the enclosure. But it seems that times are changed — I hope it is not so with the principles that are to Characterise the administration of Justice and constitutional law. These in my fervent prayers for the prosperity and good of our country will remain unaltered, based upon the sovereignty of the people and adorned with no forms or ceremonies save those which their happiness and freedom shall command.

Nashville, July 26, 1826.

I have been led here to make arrangements for paying the last respect due to the memory & manes of the sage of Monticello, the Father of Liberty, the patron of science, and the author of our declaration of Independence, who had the boldness by that instrument to declare to the despots of Europe in 1776, that we of right ought to be free, that all well organized governments are founded on the will of the people —established for their happiness and prosperity — This virtuous Patriot, Thos Jefferson is no more — he died on the 4th of July 10 minutes before one P.M. On yesterday when we met to make arrangements for this melancholy occasion the mail brought us the sad intelligence that another of the signers of the declaration of Independence was no more, that John Adams had departed this life also on the 4th of July at 6 o'clock P.M. Was well in the morning, heard the celebration, sickened at noon and died at 6 o'clock P.M. of the 4th inst. What a wonderful coincidence that the author and two signers of the declaration of Independence, two of the Ex-Presidents, should on the same day expire, a half a Century after that, that gave birth to a nation of freemen, and that Thos. Jefferson should have died the very hour of the day that the declaration of Independence was presented to and read in the Congress of 1776. Is this an omen that Divinity approbated the whole course of Mr. Jefferson and sent an angel down to take him from the earthly Tabernacle on this national Jubilee, at the same moment he had presented it to Congress and is the death of Mr. Adams a confirmation of the approbation of Divinity also, or is it an omen that his political example as President and adopted by his son, shall destroy this holy fabric created by the virtuous Jefferson.

President Martin Van Buren

Washington, May 29th, 1835.

Thoroughly convinced that the overthrow of our present constitution and the consequent destruction of the confederacy which it binds together, would be the greatest sacrifice of human happiness and hopes that has ever been made at the shrine of personal ambition, I do not, hesitate to promise you, that every effort in my power, whether in public or private life, shall be made for their preservation. The father of his country, foreseeing this danger, warned us to cherish the union as the palladium of our safety; and the great exemplar of our political faith, Thomas Jefferson, has taught us, that to preserve that common sympathy between the states, out of which the union sprang, and which constitutes its surest foundation, we should exercise the powers which of right belong to the general government, in a spirit of moderation and brotherly love, and religiously abstain from the assumption of such as have not been delegated by the Constitution.

President William Henry Harrison

March 4, 1841

I proceed to state in as summary a manner as I can my opinion of the sources of the evils which have been so extensively complained of and the correctives which may be applied. Some of the former are unquestionably to be found in the defects of the Constitution; others, in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of some of its provisions. Of the former is the eligibility of the same individual to a second term of the Presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and lamented this error, and attempts have been made, hitherto without success, to apply the amendatory power of the States to its correction…

The influence of the Executive in controlling the freedom of the elective franchise through the medium of the public officers can be effectually checked by renewing the prohibition published by Mr. Jefferson forbidding their interference in elections further than giving their own votes, and their own independence secured by an assurance of perfect immunity in exercising this sacred privilege of freemen under the dictates of their own unbiased judgments…

All the influence that I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal administration of their affairs."

President John Tyler

July 11, 1826

Why this numerous assemblage; this solemn and melancholy procession; these habiliments of woe? Do they betoken the fall of some mighty autocrat, of some imperial master who hath “bestrid the earth like a Colossus” and whose remains are followed to the grave by the tools and minions of his power? Are they the tokens of a ceremonious woe, a mere mockery of feeling? Or are they the spontaneous offerings of gratitude and love? What mighty man has fallen in Israel, and why has Virginia clothed herself in mourning? The tolling of yon dismal bell, and the loud but solemn discharge of artillery, hath announced to the nation the melancholy tidings — THOMAS JEFFERSON no longer lives! That glorious orb which has for so many years given light to our footsteps has set in death. The patriot, the statesman, the philosopher, the philanthropist, has sunk into the grave. Virginia mourns over his remains, and her harp is hung upon the willows.

Why need I say more? There is a language in this spectacle which speaks more eloquence than tongue can utter. This is the testimony of a well-spent life; the tribute of a nation's gratitude. Look on this sight, ye rulers of the earth, and learn from it lessons of wisdom. Ye ambitious and untamed spirits, who seek the attainment of glory by a scaffolding formed of human suffering, behold a people in tears over the funeral, bier of their benefactor; and if true glory be your object, profit by this example. In pronouncing the eulogy of the dead, my countrymen, I have no blood stained banners to present; no battles to recount; no sword or helmet to deposit on his hearse. I have to entwine a civic wreath which philosophy has woven and patriotism hallowed. The achievements of the warrior in the field attract the attention of mankind, and fasten on the memory, while the labors of the civilian too often pass unnoted and unknown. But not so with that man whose death we this day mourn. The results of his policy are exhibited in all around. Although his sun has sunk below the horizon of this world, yet hath it left a train of light, which shall never be extinguished.

At the commencement of his successful career, he manifested the same devotion to the rights of man which he evinced in all his after life. At an early day he so distinguished himself as the firm and fearless asserter of the rights of colonial America, as to draw upon him the frown of the royal governor, and had already anticipated the occurrence of the period when the colonies should be elevated to the condition of free, sovereign, and independent States. Having drawn his principles from the fountains of a pure philosophy, he was prepared to assail the slavish doctrine that man was incapable of self-government, and to aid in building up on its overthrow that happy system under which it is our destiny to live.

On the coming of that tremendous storm, which for eight years desolated our country, Mr. Jefferson hesitated not, halted not. Born to rich inheritance, destined to the attainment of high distinction under the regal government, courted by the aristocracy of the land, he adventured, with the single motive of advancing the cause of his country and of human freedom, into that perilous contest, throwing into the scale his life and fortune, as if of no value. The devoted friend of man, he had studied his rights in the great volume of nature, and saw with rapture the era at hand when those rights should be proclaimed, and the world aroused from the slumber of centuries. The season was approaching for the extension of the empire of reason and philosophy, and the disciple of Locke and Sidney rejoiced at its approach. Among his fellow-laborers, — those devoted champions of liberty, — those brilliant lights which shall forever burn, he stood conspicuous.

But how transcendently bright was that halo of glory by which he was surrounded on the fourth of July, 1776! Oh, day ever precious in the recollections of freemen! now rendered doubly so by the recollection that it was the birthday of a nation, and the last of him who had conferred on it immortality. Yes, illustrious man, it was given thee to live until the advent of a nation's jubilee. Thy disembodied spirit was then upborne by the blessings of ten millions of freemen, and the day and hour of thy renown was the day and hour of thy dissolution. How inseparable is now the connection between that glorious epoch and this distinguished citizen!

Does there not seem to have been an especial providence in his death? The sun of that day rose upon him, and the roar of artillery and the hosannas of a nation sounded into his ears the assurances of his immortality. So precious a life required a death so glorious. Who now shall set limits to his fame? On the annual recurrence of that glorious day, when with pious ardor millions yet unborn shall breathe the sentiments contained in the celebrated Declaration of Independence, — when the fires of liberty shall be kindled on every hill and shall blaze in every vale, shall not the name of Jefferson be pronounced by every lip and written on every heart? Shall not the rejoicing of that day, and the recollection of his death, cause the smile to chase away the tear, and the tear to becloud the smile?

But not to the future millions of these happy States shall his fame be confined. That celebrated state paper will be found wherever is found the abode of civilized man. Sounded in the ears of tyrants, they shall tremble on their thrones, while man, so long the victim of oppression, awakes from the sleep of ages and bursts his chains. The day is rapidly approaching, a prophetic tongue has pronounced it "to some nations sooner, to others later, but finally to all," when it will be made manifest "that the mass of mankind have 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." Already has this truth aroused the one-half of this continent from the lethargy in which it has so long reposed. Already are the pagans of liberty chanted from the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio de la Plata, and its altars are erecting on the ruins of a superstitious idolatry.

A mighty spirit walks abroad upon the earth, which shall, in its onward march, over turn principalities and powers, and trample thrones in the dust. And when the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it will be by the example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration of our Independence as the charter of their rights, and will not its author be hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed? But, my countrymen, this state paper is not the only lasting testimonial which he has left us of his devotion to the rights of man.

Where should I stop were I to recount the multiplied and various acts of his life, all directed to the security of those rights? The statute-book of this State, almost all that is wise in policy or sanctified by justice, bears the impress of his genius, and furnishes evidence of that devotion.

But I choose to present him as a mighty reformer. He was born to overturn systems and to pull down establishments. He had a more difficult task to accomplish than the warrior in the embattled field. He had to conquer man, and bring him to a true sense of his own dignity. He had to encounter prejudices become venerable by ager to assail error in its strong places, and to expel it even from its fastnesses. He advanced to the charge with a bold and reckless intrepidity, but with a calculating coolness.

The Declaration, of which I have just spoken, had announced the great truth that man was capable of self-government, but it still remained for him to achieve a conquest over an error which was sanctified by age and fortified by the prejudices of mankind. He dared to proclaim the important truths, — "that Almighty God hath created the mind free; 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; 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 in fallible, and, as such, endeavoring to impose them on others, have established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time;" — “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."

This is the language of the bill establishing religious freedom, and is to be found on our statute-book. How solemn and sublime, and how transcendently important are the truths which it announces to the world. What but his great and powerful genius could have contemplated the breaking asunder those bonds in which the conscience had been bound for centuries? Who but the ardent and devoted friend of man would have exposed himself to the thunders and denunciations of the church throughout all Christendom, by breaking into its very sanctuary, and dissolving its connection with government? If he consulted the page of history, he found that the church establishment, exercising unlimited control over the conscience, and unlocking at its pleasure the very gates of heaven to the faithful devotee, had, in all ages, governed the world; that kings had been made by its thunders to tremble on their thrones, and that thrones had been shivered by the lightnings of its wrath. In casting his eyes over the face of the globe, he beheld, it is true, the mighty spirit of Protestantism walking on the waters, but confined and limited in its empire, and even its garments dyed in the blood of the martyr. Over the rest of the world he beheld the religion of the blessed Redeemer converted into a superstitious rite, and locked up in a gloomy and ferocious mystery. The sentence of the terrible inquisitor sounded in his ears, followed by the clank of chains and the groans of the victim. If he looked in the direction from whence the sound proceeded, he saw the fires of the auto de fe consuming the agonized body of the offender, and thus finishing the last act of this horrible tragedy. He felt the full force of this picture, and, regardless of all personal danger, set about the accomplishment of the noble purpose of setting free the mind.

He, who had so much contributed to the unbinding of the hands of his countrymen, would have left his work unfinished if he had not also unfettered their consciences. True, he had in all this great work able coadjutors, who, like himself, had adventured all for their country; but he was the great captain who arrayed the forces and directed the assault. Let it, then, be henceforth proclaimed to the world, that man's conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow-man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefor only to his God; that it is impious in mortal man, whether clothed in purple or in lawn, to assume the judgment-seat; and that the connection between church and state is an unholy alliance, and the fruitful source of slavery and oppression; and let it be dissolved.

What an imperishable monument has Mr. Jefferson thus reared to his memory, and how strong are its claims to our gratitude! When from every part of this extended Republic the prayers and thanksgiving of countless thousands shall ascend to the throne of grace, each bending at his own altar, and worshiping his Creator after his own way, shall not every lip 'breathe a blessing on his name, and every tongue speak forth his praise? Yes, he was born a blessing to his country, and in the fulness of time shall become a blessing to mankind. He was, indeed, a precious gift — a most beloved reformer. Shall we not, then, while weeping over his loss, offer thanks to the Giver of every perfect gift for having permitted him to live?

But, my countrymen, we have still further reason for the deepest gratitude. He had not yet finished his memorable efforts in the cause of human liberty. The temple had been reared, but it was exposed to violent assaults from without. Those principles which in former ages had defeated the hopes of man, and had overthrown republics, remained to be hunted out, exposed, and guarded against. The most powerful of these was the concentration and perpetuation of wealth in the hands of particular families, and the creation thereby of an overweening aristocracy. The fatal influence of this principle had been felt in all ages and in all countries. The feeling of pride and haughtiness which wealth is so well calculated to engender, and the homage which mankind are unhappily so much disposed to render it, cause the perpetuation of large fortunes in the hands of families, the most fearful antagonist to human liberty. Marcus Crassus has said, that the man who aspires to rule a republic should not be content until he has mastered wealth sufficient to maintain an army; and Julius Caesar paved the way to the overthrow of Roman liberty by the unsparing distribution, from his inexhaustible stores, of largesses to the people.

Mr. Jefferson saw, therefore, the great necessity for reformation in our municipal code, and the act abolishing entails, and that regulating descents, are, in all their essential features, the offsprings of his well-constituted intellect. He has acted throughout on the great principle of the equality of mankind, and his every effort has been directed to the preservation of that equality among his countrymen. How powerful in its operation is our descent law in producing this effect! Founded on the everlasting principles of justice, it distributes among all his children the fruits of the parent's labor. The first-born is no longer considered the chosen of the Lord;. but nature asserts her rights, and raises the last to an equality with the first. Thus it is that the spirit of a proud independence, so auspicious to the durability of our institutions, is engendered in the bosom of our citizens; thus it is that we are under the influence of an agrarian law in effect, while nature, instead of being suppressed, is excited by new stimuli. The great law-giver of Sparta in vain sought to perpetuate the great principle of equality among the then renowned republic by various measures, all of which ultimately failed; but there is a measure which cannot fail — a measure which depends, not upon the veneration of the character of any one man, but lays hold of the affections, and records its own perpetuity in the great volume of nature — one without which the blood shed in the Revolution would have been shed in vain — without which the glories of that struggle would fade away, or exist but as another proof of man's incapacity for self-government.

What more shall I say of it? May I not call it that great measure which, to our political, like the sun to our planetary, system, imparts light and heat, unveils all its beauties, and manifests its strength? Tell me, then, ye destinies that control the future, say, is not this man's fame inscribed in adamant? Say, men of the present age, ye lovers of liberty, ye shining lights from amid the gloom of the world, say, does Virginia claim too much when she pronounces her Jefferson wiser than the law-givers of antiquity? Tell me, then, men of America, have ye not lost your father, your benefactor, your best friend? And you, the men of other countries, where the light of his example is now dimly seen — you who constitute the salt of the earth, will you not kindle your lamps in the mighty blaze of his flame, and distribute the blessings of his existence around you? Here, then, I might stop. The cause of this mournful procession is explained; his claim to the gratitude of mankind is made manifest, and his title to immortality is established. But his labors did not here cease; I have still to exhibit him to you in other lights than those in which we have already regarded him — to present other claims to your veneration and gratitude. Passing over those incidents which history has already recorded, let us regard him while in that station which I now fill, more by the kindness of the public than from any merit of my own.

We here recognize in him the able vindicator of insulted America against the sarcasms of European philosophy. Indulging in the visions of fallacious theory, it was attempted to be proved that the flush and glow which nature assumed on the other side of the Atlantic was converted on this continent into the cadaverous aspect of disease and degeneracy; that while she walked abroad over the face of Europe in all her beautiful proportions, here she hobbled on crutches and degenerated into a dwarf. How successfully he threw back this slander upon our calumniators, let the world decide.

His Notes on Virginia will ever bear him faithful witness. Slanders upon nations make the deepest and most lasting impressions. They fall not on one man, but on a whole people, and if not refuted, tend to sink them in the scale of existence. If under any circumstances they are to be deprecated, how much more are they to be so when published against a nation not even in the gristle of manhood, unknown to the mass of mankind, and struggling to be free? Such was the condition of America at that day. Shut out from free intercourse with Europe by the monopolizing spirit of the parent state, she had remained unknown to the world, and was regarded as an ex tensive wild, within whose bosom the fires of genius and intellect had not as yet been kindled. Mr. Jefferson saw then the injury she would sustain, if these slanders remained unrefuted. Vigilant at his post, and guardful of the interests of the States, he encountered the most distinguished of the philosophers of Europe, and his victory was complete.

It was answer enough for him to have said, what in substance he did say, that in war we had produced a Washington, in physics a Franklin, and in astronomy a Rittenhouse; and if his triumph had not been esteemed complete, might we not add, with the certainty of success, that in philosophy and politics she had produced a Jefferson? In all the several stations which he afterward filled, we find him laboring unceasingly for the good of his country.

Having won by his virtues and talents the confidence of Washington, he was called to preside over the Department of State. In this station he vindicated the rights of America against the sophistry of European cabinets, and gave proof of that skill in diplomacy for which he will be distinguished through all future ages. When the future statesman shall look for a model from which to form his style of diplomatic writing, will he not cease his search and seize with avidity on that, the offspring of the secretary's pen, in his correspondence with Hamilton and Genet?

Called, at length, by the voice of the people, to the presidency of these United States, he furnished the model of an administration conducted on the purest -principles of republicanism. He sought not to enlarge his powers by construction, but, referring everything to his conscience, made that the standard of the constitutional interpretation. Regarding the government in its true -and beautiful light of a confederation of States, he could not be drawn from his course by any of those splendid conceptions which shine but to mislead. He extinguished $33,000,000 of the national debt; enlarged the boundaries of our territorial jurisdiction, by the addition of regions more extensive than our original possessions; overawed the Barbary powers; and preserved the peace of the nation amid the tremendous convulsions which then agitated the world.

I will dwell no longer on this fruitful topic, nor indulge my feelings. Party spirit is buried in his grave, and I will not disinter it. The American people will, as one man, look with admiration on his character, and dwell with affectionate delight over those bright incidents in his life to which I have already alluded. Thus, then, my countrymen, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, he terminated his political career, and went into the shades of retirement at Monticello. But, unlike the politicians of other days, who had fled from the cares and anxieties of public life, that retirement was not inglorious. He still lived for his country and the world. Let that beautiful building devoted to the sciences, the last of his labors, reared under his auspices, and cherished by his care, testify to this. How choice and how delightful this, the last fruit of his bearing! How lasting a monument will it be to his memory! It will be, we may fondly hope, the perpetual nursery of those great principles which it was the business of his life to inculcate. The youth of Virginia, and the youth of our sister States, to use his own beautiful language, “will bring hither their genius to be kindled at our fire." "The good Old Dominion, the blessed mother of us all, will then raise her head with pride among the nations."

When history shall, at some future day, come to draw his character, to what department shall she assign him? Shall she encircle his brow with the wreath of civic worth? Or shall philosophy weave a garland of her own? He is equally dear to all the sciences. In mournful procession they have re paired to the tomb where his mortal remains are inurned, and hallowed the :spot. Yes, hallowed be the spot where he rests from his labors. Wave after wave may roll by, sweeping in its resistless course countless generations from the earth; yet shall the resting-place of Jefferson be hallowed. Like Mount Vernon, Monticello shall catch the eye of the wayfarer and arrest his course. 'There shall he draw the inspiration of liberty, and learn those great truths which nature destined him to know.

Is not, then, this man's life most beautifully consistent? Trace him from the period of his earliest manhood to the hour of his final dissolution, and does not his ardor in the prosecution of the great work of human rights excite your admiration and enlist your gratitude? May it not be said that he has lived only for the good of others? Look upon him in the last stages of his existence. But a few days before his death he exults in the happiness of his country and the full confirmation of his labors. With the prospect of death before him, suffering under a cruel disease, he offers up an impressive prayer for the good of mankind. When speaking of the then approaching jubilee, in writing to the Mayor of Washington, he says: “May it be to the world — what I believe it will be — the signal for arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition have persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings of free government." And it shall be that signal. A flood of light has burst upon the world, and the juggernauts of superstition and the gloom of ignorance shall melt before its brightness.

Will you look upon him, my countrymen, in the latest moment of his existence? Shall I make known to you his fond concern for you and your posterity, when the hand of death pressed heavily upon him? Learn, then, that he dwelt on the subject of the University — portrayed the blessings which it was destined to diffuse, and, forgetful of his valuable services, often urged his physician to leave his bedside, lest his class might suffer in his absence. One other theme dwelt on his lips until they were motionless. It was the fourth of July. On the fourth, so says my correspondent, he raised his languid head and said, “This is the fourth of July," and the smile of contentment played upon his lips. Heaven heard his prayers, and crowned his wishes. Oh, precious life! Oh, glorious death! He has left us, my countrymen, a previous legacy. His last words were, “I resign myself to my God, and my child to my country." And shall not that child of his old age — that only surviving daughter, the solace of his dying hour — be fostered and cherished by a grateful country? Thus has terminated, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, the life of one of the greatest and best of men. His “weary sun hath made a golden set."

Let the rulers of the nations profit by his example — an example which points the way to the temple of true glory, and proclaims to the statesman of every age and of every tongue, —

“Be just, and fear not;
“Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country's;
“Thy God's, and Truth;
“Then shall thy lifeless body sleep in blessings, and the tears of a nation water thy grave.
“Let his life be an instructive lesson to us, my countrymen. Let us teach our children to reverence his name, and even in infancy to lisp his principles. As one great means of perpetuating freedom, let the recurrence of the day of our nation's birth be ever hailed with rapture. Is it not stamped with the seal of divinity? How wonderful are the means by which He rules the world! Scarcely has the funeral knell of our Jefferson been sounded in our ears, when we are startled by the death-bell of another patriot, his zealous co adjutor in the holy cause of the Revolution — one among the foremost of those who sought his country's disenthralment — of Adams, the compeer of his early fame, the opposing orb of his meridian, the friend of his old age, and his companion to the realms of bliss. They have sunk together in death, and have fallen on the same glorious day into that sleep which knows no waking. Let not party spirit break the rest of their slumbers, but let us hallow their memory for the good deeds they have done, and implore that God who rules the universe to smile on our country.”

President James Polk

December 15, 1847

President Jefferson, in his message to Congress in [December 2,]1806 [Sixth Annual Message], recommended an amendment of the Constitution, with a view to apply an anticipated surplus in the Treasury "to the great purposes of the public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of Federal powers." And he adds:

“I suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent of the States, necessary, because the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in the Constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be applied.”

In 1825 he repeated, in his published letters, the opinion that no such power has been conferred upon Congress.

President Abraham Lincoln

Springfield, Ills, April 6, 1859

Messrs. Henry L. Pierce, & others.

Gentlemen

Your kind note inviting me to attend a Festival in Boston, on the 13th. Inst. in honor of the birth-day of Thomas Jefferson, was duly received. My engagements are such that I can not attend.

Bearing in mind that about seventy years ago, two great political parties were first formed in this country, that Thomas Jefferson was the head of one of them, and Boston the head-quarters of the other, it is both curious and interesting that those supposed to descend politically from the party opposed to Jefferson should now be celebrating his birthday in their own original seat of empire, while those claiming political descent from him have nearly ceased to breathe his name everywhere.

Remembering too, that the Jefferson party were formed upon its supposed superior devotion to the personal rights of men, holding the rights of property to be secondary only, and greatly inferior, and then assuming that the so-called democracy of to-day, are the Jefferson, and their opponents, the anti-Jefferson parties, it will be equally interesting to note how completely the two have changed hands as to the principle upon which they were originally supposed to be divided.

The democracy of to-day hold the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing, when in conflict with another man's right of property. Republicans, on the contrary, are for both the man and the dollar; but in cases of conflict, the man before the dollar.

I remember once being much amused at seeing two partially intoxicated men engage in a fight with their great-coats on, which fight, after a long, and rather harmless contest, ended in each having fought himself out of his own coat, and into that of the other. If the two leading parties of this day are really identical with the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams, they have perfomed the same feat as the two drunken men.

But soberly, it is now no child's play to save the principles of Jefferson from total overthrow in this nation.

One would start with great confidence that he could convince any sane child that the simpler propositions of Euclid are true; but, nevertheless, he would fail, utterly, with one who should deny the definitions and axioms. The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society.

And yet they are denied and evaded, with no small show of success.

One dashingly calls them "glittering generalities"; another bluntly calls them "self evident lies"; and still others insidiously argue that they apply only to "superior races."

These expressions, differing in form, are identical in object and effect--the supplanting the principles of free government, and restoring those of classification, caste, and legitimacy. They would delight a convocation of crowned heads, plotting against the people. They are the van-guard--the miners, and sappers--of returning despotism.

We must repulse them, or they will subjugate us.

This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.

All honor to Jefferson--to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it there, that to-day, and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression.

Your obedient Servant
A. Lincoln

President Ulysses S. Grant

June 13, 1870

From 1789 to 1815 the dominant thought of our statesmen was to keep the United States out of the wars which were devastating Europe. The discussion of measures of neutrality begins with the State papers of Mr. Jefferson when Secretary of State. He shows that they are measures of national right as well as of national duty; that misguided individual citizens can not be tolerated in making war according to their own caprice, passions, interests, or foreign sympathies; that the agents of foreign governments, recognized or unrecognized, can not be permitted to abuse our hospitality by usurping the functions of enlisting or equipping military or naval forces within our territory.

President Rutherford B. Hayes

December 15. Monday. [1890] —

Democracy and Republicanism in their best partisan utterances alike declare for human rights. Jefferson, the father of Democracy, Lincoln, the embodiment of Republicanism, and the Divine author of the religion on which true civilization rests, all proclaim the equal rights of all men.

President Theodore Roosevelt

Oyster Bay, N.Y.,
July 5, 1904.

My dear Mr. Page:

I have received your letter about the movement to raise a Thomas Jefferson memorial fund as an endowment for the University of Virginia. I most earnestly wish you success, and I feel that the moment you have chosen is most opportune, owing to the reawakened interest in Jefferson's great work caused by the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase. Your work should commend itself not only to those who are especially interested in the cause of higher education in the South, but to all who are interested in the cause of higher education throughout our country. You need a large sum for such a memorial, and I can not help feeling that you will get it if the most eminent men of the country, irrespective of section or party, can have the matter laid before then and are satisfied, as they should be satisfied, as to the great merit of the movement.

The University of Virginia occupies a unique position among our educational institutions. On the first board of visitors to the institution were Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. The university was one of Jefferson's cherished ideas - a project which occupied his whole time and attention during the latter years of his life. It has never had an endowment requisite to its barest needs.

Now in the great exposition at St. Louis the country is proclaiming the centennial of the achievement in which Jefferson took the leading part; the achievement which, in the purchase of the then territory of Louisiana, definitely established this country as the greatest nation of the Western Hemisphere. Surely this celebration should not be brought to a close without leaving on the nation some other mark than the memory of its grandeur. The movement to this end can most properly take the form of a monument forever to Jefferson's genius; a moment far more enduring than bronze, and which will fully realize one of his greatest ideals.

It would be a good thing if the people of this country, North and South, East and West, should come forward and establish a Jefferson Fund for the university as a fit culmination for the great celebration of the present year. Jefferson wrote his own epitaph to be inscribed on the granite shaft that marks his grave at Monticello. In this epitaph he did not recite the offices he had held, but the three deeds he had done which he esteemed of most worth to his fellow men, and the epitaph runs as follows:

“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence, the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

The American people can surely be, appealed to with confidence to carry out Jefferson's work in the way which he would himself have regarded as most gratifying, by endowing, as it should be endowed, the noble institution of learning which he founded. I earnestly hope for the success of your movement.

Sincerely yours,

Theodore Roosevelt

President Woodrow Wilson

April 13, 1916

The immortality of Thomas Jefferson does not lie in any one of his achievements, or in the series of his achievements, but in his attitude towards mankind and the conception which he sought to realize in action of the service owed by America to the rest of the world ... one of the things which has immortalized the influence of Thomas Jefferson has been that his was the spirit of humanity exemplified upon the field of America. Thomas Jefferson was a great leader of men because he understood and interpreted the spirits of men ... It is not a circumstance without significance that Jefferson felt, perhaps more than any other American of his time, except Benjamin Franklin, his close kinship with like thinking spirits everywhere else in the civilized world. His comradeship was as intimate with the thinkers of France as with the frontiersmen of America, and this rather awkward, rather diffident man carried about with him a sort of type of what all men should wish to be who love liberty and seek to lead their fellow men along those difficult paths of achievement.

The only way we can honor Thomas Jefferson is by illumining his spirit and following his example. His example was an example of organization and concerted action for the rights of men, first in America and, then, by America’s example, everywhere in the world. And the thing that interested Jefferson is the only thing that ought to interest us ... God forbid that we should ever become directly or indirectly embroiled in quarrels not of our own choosing ... but if we should ever be drawn in, are you ready to go in only where the interests of America are coincident with the interests of mankind ... If you are ready, you have inherited the spirit of Jefferson, who recognized the men in France and the men in Germany who were doing the liberal thinking of their day as just as much citizens of the great world of liberty as he was himself, and who was ready in every conception he had to join hands across the water or across any other barrier with those who held those high conceptions of liberty which had brought the United States into existence.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

April 13, 1943

Today, in the midst of a great war for freedom, we dedicate a shrine to freedom.

To Thomas Jefferson, Apostle of Freedom, we are paying a debt long overdue.

Yet, there are reasons for gratitude that this occasion falls within our time; for our generation of Americans can understand much in Jefferson's life which intervening generations could not see as well as we.

He faced the fact that men who will not fight for liberty can lose it. We, too, have faced that fact.

He lived in a world in which freedom of conscience and freedom of mind were battles still to be fought through—not principles already accepted of all men. We, too, have lived in such a world.

He loved peace and loved liberty—yet on more than one occasion he was forced to choose between them. We, too, have been compelled to make that choice.

Generations which understand each other across the distances of history are the generations united by a common experience and a common cause. Jefferson, across a hundred and fifty years of time, is closer by much to living men than many of our leaders of the years between. His cause was a cause to which we also are committed, not by our words alone but by our sacrifice.

For faith and ideals imply renunciations. Spiritual advancement throughout all our history has called for temporal sacrifices.

The Declaration of Independence and the very purposes of the American Revolution itself, while seeking freedoms, called for the abandonment of privileges.

Jefferson was no dreamer-for half a century he led his State and his Nation in fact and in deed. I like to think that this was so because he thought in terms of the morrow as well as the day—and this was why he was hated or feared by those who thought in terms of the day and the yesterday.

We judge him by the application of his philosophy to the circumstances of his life. But in such applying we come to understand that his life was given for those deeper values that persist throughout all time.

Leader in the philosophy of government, in education, in the arts, in efforts to lighten the toil of mankind—exponent of planning for the future, he led the steps of America into the path of the permanent integrity of the Republic.

Thomas Jefferson believed, as we believe, in Man. He believed, as we believe, that men are capable of their own government, and that no king, no tyrant, no dictator can govern for them as well as they can govern for themselves.

He believed, as we believe, in certain inalienable rights. He, as we, saw those principles and freedoms challenged. He fought for them, as we fight for them.

He proved that the seeming eclipse of liberty can well become the dawn of more liberty. Those who fight the tyranny of our own time will come to learn that old lesson. Among all the peoples of the earth, the cruelties and the oppressions of its would-be masters have taught this generation what its liberties can mean. This lesson, so bitterly learned, will never be forgotten while this generation is still alive.

The words which we have chosen for this Memorial speak Jefferson's noblest and most urgent meaning; and we are proud indeed to understand it and share it:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

President Harry S. Truman

May 17, 1950

I accept with great pleasure the first copy of Volume One of "The Papers of Thomas Jefferson." On behalf of the people of the United States, I congratulate Princeton University and the Princeton University Press on undertaking to edit and publish the great series which this volume begins.

I should like to add a personal word of appreciation and encouragement to the editors for the years of hard work that are still ahead of them. I am very well acquainted with what many people call "paper work," and I appreciate the immense amount of painstaking effort which each of these volumes requires.

We should also be grateful to the New York Times for the financial assistance which that newspaper has given to help compile this complete edition of the writings of one of the greatest Americans. This edition will be of lasting value to our Nation for generations to come.

As many of you know, I returned to Washington yesterday from a visit to the Pacific Northwest. Traveling at what is today a very leisurely rate, in 9 days I went nearly 7,000 miles through 16 States. In 1803 President Jefferson sent out two young pioneers to explore the same area I have just been through. Jefferson wanted to find out what was in the great new territory he had just bought from Napoleon.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took 28 months to make the round trip from the banks of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific coast. Where they found only Indian villages, herds of buffalo, and trackless wilderness and sagebrush, I saw great cities, immense structures like Grand Coulee Dam, and rich farmland. These sharp contrasts are only a few of many that point up the dramatic changes that have occurred in our country since Jefferson's day. Since the United States today scarcely resembles the United States when Jefferson knew it, why should the publication of his letters be so important to us?

The answer should be obvious, as we turn the pages of this first volume. Throughout his life, Jefferson waged an uncompromising fight against tyranny. The search for human liberty was a goal which he pursued with burning zeal. The spirit of democracy shines through everything he ever wrote.

Today, when democracy is facing the greatest challenge in its history, the spirit which Jefferson expressed in his battle against tyranny, and in his search for human liberty, stands out as a beacon of inspiration for free peoples throughout the world.

Jefferson lived in a time of great struggle, when this Nation was trying to establish itself as a democracy of free men. We today, in a different time and under different conditions, are in a great struggle to preserve and expand human freedom.

Our stage is larger--our struggle must be waged over the whole world, not merely in our own country. But the essential nature of the struggle is the same; to prove, by hard work and practical demonstration, that free men can create for themselves a good society, in which they live together at peace, and advance their common welfare.

When freedom is at stake, we need to draw upon every source of strength we can. Jefferson thought deeply about how to make liberty a living part of our society, and he proved the rightness of his thinking by practical demonstration. That is why I think it is particularly important that we are reasserting Jefferson's ideals by publishing these volumes.

History can be fairly written only when all the facts are on record. Jefferson has suffered at the hands of unscrupulous biographers and biased partisans ever since his death. The publication of his papers should correct the mistakes that have been made about him and should help prevent misinterpretations in the future.

There are others like Jefferson whose lives have enriched our history, but about whom we know too little. Many of them have been victims of unfair treatment at the hands of historians; others have been neglected because the record of their work is scattered about in remote places.

I hope that this edition of the writings of Thomas Jefferson will inspire educational institutions, learned societies, and civic-minded groups to plan the publication of the works of other great national figures. In far too many cases, there are incomplete and inaccurate editions of the writings of the great men and women of our country. In some distressing instances, we have only fragmentary records of men whose ideas and actions have helped shape our history.

I am convinced that we need to collect and publish the writings of the men and women who have made major contributions to the development of our democracy.

I am, therefore, requesting the National Historical Publications Commission, under the chairmanship of the Archivist of the United States, to look into this matter and to report to me. I am sure this Commission will wish to consult with scholars in all fields of American history, and to report what can be done--and should be done--to make available to our people the public and private writings of men whose contributions to our history are now inadequately represented by published works.

I am interested not just in political figures, but in the writings of industrialists and labor leaders, chemists and engineers, painters and lawyers, of great figures of all the arts and sciences who have made major contributions to our democracy.

Obviously, we cannot hope to collect, edit, and publish all the writings of all such leaders, but we can and should select the works of those who have been too long neglected and who need to be better known if we are to understand our heritage. This is a big undertaking. If will take a long time. It should be done as far as possible by private groups and not by the Federal Government, although the Federal Government can and will be of assistance whenever possible. The editions should be in every instance completely objective and should maintain the same high editorial standards that are evident in this first volume of "The Papers of Thomas Jefferson." They should aim to place the facts beyond debate and distortion.

At a time when democracy is meeting the greatest challenge in its history, we need to turn to the sources of our own democratic faith for new inspiration and new strength. These volumes of Thomas Jefferson will be a great reservoir of hope and faith during the critical years ahead. I sincerely hope that similar editions of the writings of other great men and women who have made our Nation what it is today can be placed with them.

President John F. Kennedy

April 29, 1962

Ladies and gentlemen:

I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet. Whatever he may have lacked, if he could have had his former colleague, Mr. Franklin, here we all would have been impressed.

President Lyndon B. Johnson

March 15, 1965

The essence of our American tradition of State and local governments is the belief expressed by Thomas Jefferson that Government is best which is closest to the people. Yet that belief is betrayed by those State and local officials who engage in denying the right of citizens to vote. Their actions serve only to assure that their State governments and local governments shall be remote from the people, least representative of the people's will and least responsive to the people's wishes.

If there were no other reasons, the strengthening and protection of the vital role of State and local governments would be reasons enough to act against the denial of the right to vote for any of our citizens.

July 23, 1966

I think if Thomas Jefferson, for whom I assume your community was named, could be here tonight he would like what I see.

You know Thomas Jefferson was the father of the Democratic Party. Thomas Jefferson felt that the judgment of the many was much to be preferred to the decision of the few.

I am so happy that we can come in here this late in the evening--it is 9 o'clock by a watch that was set in some State that we appeared in today; I don't know what time it is here--to see hundreds or thousands of people who think enough of their community, their State, and their country to come here and give us this welcome, and to participate in this civic affair.

Thomas Jefferson said that the care of human life and happiness is the first and only legitimate object of government. And that is what we have been doing today. We have been trying to show our concern for the care of human life and happiness. We have been trying to make it evident that it was the first and legitimate objective of this administration and of this Government.

We believe that we must be strong in order to protect the things that we have that other people would like to take away from us. And after seeing the headquarters of the 101st Airborne Division this afternoon, we have no doubt about our strength.

But we do not want to be strong in order to be able to wage or win wars. We want to be strong so we can prevent war and bring peace.

President Gerald Ford

April 13, 1976

Thank you very, very much, Secretary Kleppe. Captain Barnes, distinguished guests--including the fine choir from the College of William and Mary, Thomas Jefferson's alma mater--ladies and gentlemen:

Today we pay tribute to Thomas Jefferson. Two hundred years of American history have produced no man whose achievements are better known. In his own epitaph he cited just three--author of the Declaration of American Independence, author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia.

Had those been only his basic accomplishments, he would have earned his place in history and our unyielding gratitude. But we know Jefferson in other ways as well. We know the character of the man who embodied our national heritage by encompassing the spirit of pioneer and aristocrat, American and world citizen, the values of nature and the values of civilization.

In politics, we know him as a lawyer and as a legislator, as a member of the Continental Congress, Ambassador to France, our Nation's third President, and its first Secretary of State. In our national life, we know him as a scientist and agronomist, as an artist, architect, and inventor.

Thomas Jefferson's achievements range from our decimal system of coinage to the great area of our Nation itself, which he doubled through the Louisiana Purchase. But Thomas Jefferson's contribution to our Nation's history is far, far more than the sum of these diverse accomplishments. The very range of his interests has heightened his impact on later generations.

It is a quirk of history that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both signers of the Declaration of Independence, died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day of its adoption. John Adams' last words were, "Jefferson still lives." History shows Adams was wrong, because Jefferson had died a mere 5 hours earlier. But history also has confirmed Adams' words, because Thomas Jefferson lives in each of us.

We are all his successors, and it is up to us, not history, to see that Jefferson's faith survives. Great citizens and their great thoughts are not just for their own time but forever. And Jefferson's true importance lies in the fact that he continues to speak of the American experience.

In every generation, Americans have turned to Jefferson for comfort and inspiration. They have found new meanings, often conflicting meanings, in his words. In their search for Jefferson's spirit, Americans have sought themselves. To Abraham Lincoln, the principles of Jefferson were the definitions and axioms of free society, a society he was struggling to preserve. And Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, gave those principles new significance.

Three generations later, another great American leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, locked in another war for freedom, dedicated this memorial as a shrine to freedom. On the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth, he called for a commitment to Jefferson's cause not by words alone, but by sacrifice.

In this 200th year of the Nation Jefferson helped to found, it seems our America has changed so much that when we compare it with Jefferson's America, the differences are more striking than the similarities. We are no longer a young, isolated, agricultural nation, but an industrial giant in a nuclear age.

Thomas Jefferson would have been the first to recognize that different times demand different policies. He stressed that the Earth belongs always to the living generation. In our Bicentennial Year, we turn once again to Jefferson's words and find them surprisingly modern. Jefferson's principle of limited government, his concern about excessive centralization of governmental power at the expense of State and local responsibility and individual freedom are as much a part of the debate of 1976 as they were in 1776.

I believe that in this debate, the wisdom and the philosophy of Jefferson will prevail. We find he believed that not every difference of opinion is a difference of principle and that he tolerated error in the confidence that truth would triumph.

Jefferson was a fervent believer in freedom of the press. Although harshly attacked and often vilified, he maintained an unfettered press was essential to American freedom. We find the meaning of democracy in his immortal words, that "though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect."

We find he put his trust in the people whom he believed to be basically moderate, patriotic, and freedom-loving. And we find above all else his love for freedom and independence. Today, we recognize this in two symbolic gestures.

Jefferson's belief in the freedom and independence of the human mind we honor today by an act of Congress, which names one building of the Library of Congress after him. And Jefferson's belief in the freedom and independence of the American people we honor today by an act of Congress, which designates today as Thomas Jefferson Day.

I believe as we move into our third century of independence, there will be an even greater emphasis by our people to find ways and means to meet our needs, while limiting the role of government in the classical Jeffersonian sense. I see the third century of American independence as a century of individualism. I see it as a century of personal achievement and fulfillment for all Americans.

Let us honor Thomas Jefferson this year and throughout the next century of our independence by weaving into our national life the qualities, the talents, and the ideals which were the warp and woof of his.

Let us practice the responsible individualism, and thereby pay tribute to the man we commemorate here. Let us dedicate ourselves to achievement, so that we may make this country what it has the potential to be. Let us maintain for America its rightful place of leadership in the councils of nations of the world. Let us extend the boundaries of human freedom here at home and beyond our shores. Let us accept and discharge the responsibility as a people upon whom providence has bestowed so much. Let us be enlightened as a nation with appreciation for learning, for reason, and for justice for all our people.

In this way, my fellow Americans, we shall pay honor to the man from Monticello. It is now my honor to sign two pieces of legislation relating to Thomas Jefferson. I would like to ask the Members of Congress present to join me at the signing table.

It is now my pleasure to sign House Joint Resolution 670, designating April 13 as Thomas Jefferson Day. Representative Bob McClory was the principal sponsor, and so as I sign this, I will give him this pen and we will distribute the others.

Now, it is my honor to sign S. 2920, the legislation which officially designates the Library of Congress Annex as the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. And I think on this occasion, it would be appropriate to give this pen to the senior Senator from Virginia, the Honorable Harry Byrd.

Thank you.

President Jimmy Carter

October 3, 1980

One of Virginia's greatest sons, about whom I think frequently, living in the White House, Thomas Jefferson, set forth the dream of a system of general education which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest. Making Jefferson's dream live and come true has been the business of our Nation under Presidents and Congresses of both parties…

We Americans do not fear competition in the marketplace of ideas. We do not repress those who have a different ideology from us. We do not stifle competing thoughts. Instead we followed Jefferson's advice, "Enlighten the people generally," he said, "and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits in the dawn of a new day."

We often bear the argument that education deserves our support because it contributes to the economic strength of our Nation. That's certainly true. But the real meaning of education goes far beyond that, much deeper. In its broadest sense, education, the question of understanding and knowledge of ourselves, our fellow human beings and God's universe, is not a means to some end, but rather an end in itself.

Education and liberty are part of the same search for truth, and education and liberty are unthinkable without each other. Let me quote Jefferson once more. "The education of the people," he wrote, "can alone make them the safe, as they are the sole repository of our political and religious freedom." So, political and religious freedom depend upon education.

President Ronald Reagan

April 13, 1982

Thomas Jefferson remains one of the towering figures in American history 239 years after his birth. Statesman, scholar, inventor, farmer, and philosopher, he was, first and foremost, a champion of individual liberty. Throughout his life he was a tireless advocate of free expression and the sanctity of property, for he knew that, to be whole, freedom must be economic as well as political.

Thomas Jefferson also knew that too much government threatened human rights. ``What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government that has ever existed under the Sun?'' he asked. And he answered, ``The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body.'' Limited government, in a sound Federal system with essential powers properly distributed among local, State, and national bodies was his goal. For all governments his admonition was straightforward: ``A wise and frugal government,'' he declared in his first Inaugural Address, ``. . . 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.''

Much has changed in the last two centuries, but the principles Thomas Jefferson espoused still lie at the heart of our democratic society. May his 239th birthday be a time of national renewal when we commit ourselves anew to the proud, free heritage Jefferson bequeathed us.

President Bill Clinton

April 13, 1993

Today we observe the birthday of perhaps the most brilliant of our Founding Fathers in a setting Thomas Jefferson would have very much approved: one that joins the beauty of human architecture with the rapturous side of nature, with the cherry blossoms bursting all around us in a wreath.

Mr. Jefferson used to say with some pride that the Sun never found him in bed, that he always rose early, and he was very proud of the fact that well into his seventies, he could ride a horse several miles a day without tiring. Well, in honor of his birthday, I rose early this morning and finding no horses around The White House, I ran over here and jogged around this magnificent Tidal Basin, seeing many of my fellow citizens who were here even before me, at the dawn, to see this magnificent sight.

Today we have come to lay our wreaths in honor of Thomas Jefferson, as his likeness towers behind us. And yet, no amount of bronze can capture the measure of the man who helped to cut a path for our Nation, who personally forged the principles that continue to guide us as Americans and as lovers of freedom.

As has already been said, this monument was dedicated a half a century ago, on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday by President Franklin Roosevelt, a worthy heir to the spirit of Jefferson. Were Jefferson here today, I think he would not want very much to talk about the America of his time; instead, he would be talking about the America of our time. He would certainly not be at a loss for ideas about what we ought to be doing, for he was a man blessed with an eye for invention, an ear for music, the hands of a farmer, the mind of a philosopher, the voice of a statesman, and the soul of a searcher for truth.

The genius of Thomas Jefferson was his ability to get the most out of today while never taking his eye off tomorrow, to think big while enjoying the little things of daily life. Perhaps most important, he understood that in order for us to preserve our timeless values, people have to change. And free people need to devise means by which they can change profoundly and still peacefully. If you go back to this monument after the ceremony, you will see on the wall in part the following quotation: "Laws and institutions must go hand-in-hand with the progress of the human mind as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made and new truths discovered, and manners and opinions change. With the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times."

A very modern statement from our third President. In his own time, the pace of change was enormous. just think back, during Jefferson's Presidency the steamboat made its debut, revolutionizing travel. The importing of slaves was banned, paving the way toward emancipation and the realignment of society. And he acquired the Louisiana Purchase for the then massive sum of $15 million. Turns out it was an awfully sound investment. It doubled the size of our Nation, it opened up a new frontier, and it enabled me to be born in the United States of America, and many of you as well, I suspect.

But believe it or not, every step along the way, Thomas Jefferson was opposed. There were people who opposed the Louisiana Purchase, people who opposed his then radical conception of human liberty, and both the power of individuals and the limitations of the Government. He fought, and he prevailed.

I wonder what he would say about our time, in which the pace of change is even greater. I think he would take great pride in the fact that we have now found ways to literally double the volume of knowledge every few years. But I think he would be terribly disappointed that our understanding in this country of the science and mathematics that he loved so much is still so limited and so inadequate when compared to that of many other nations.

I think he would be delighted that the principles of freedom for which he stood all his life finally resulted in the end of the cold war and the demise of communism. But I think he would be deeply disappointed that ethnic and racial and other hatreds had kept this world such a dangerous and unstable place, in ways that are blatantly unreasonable, as he defined reason.

I think he would be proud of the technological and economic advances of this time, of the increasing interconnection of peoples across national borders in a global economy. But I think he would be profoundly disturbed that even the richest countries are now having enormous difficulty in finding enough jobs for their people, including his own beloved United States, and that so much technological advance seems to bring the destruction of much of the environment, about which he cared so deeply.

I think Jefferson would be impressed at the enormous advances in health care. He cared a lot about his health, and he lived to be 83 largely by taking good care of himself. And I think he would be a little disappointed that more of us don't take better care of ourselves and appalled to think that the United States is the only advanced country where every person doesn't have access to affordable health care, something I hope we can change before long.

If you go up there and read what's on those walls, there is an incredibly moving statement where Jefferson said, he trembles to think that God is just when he considers the real meaning of the institution of slavery. So I think he would be delighted at the progress we have made in human rights and living together across racial lines. Because he had such a passionate belief in individual liberty, I think he would be delighted by the range of personal choices and freedom of speech that the American people enjoy today, even to say things that he would find offensive, for he understood the clear meaning of the First Amendment.

But I think he would be appalled at the lack of self-respect and self-control and respect for others which manifests itself in the kind of mindless violence to which this city and others have been subject for the last several years, and appalled at the millions of young people who will never know the full measure of their freedom because they have been raised without order, without love, without family, without even the basic safety which people need to be able almost to take for granted in order to be citizens of a real democracy. In short, I think Thomas Jefferson would tell us that this is one of those times when we need to change.

Clearly, the call for change that Jefferson made, he intended to be echoed generation after generation after generation. He believed if we set up the Constitution in the way that it was set up, that Americans of courage and good sense would always, always find themselves in the majority for change when they needed to be there. He believed in Government constantly being reformed by reason and popular will.

That is what this administration is trying to do now. We know that we have an economy that, even in growth, does not produce new jobs. We know that we have increased by 4 times the debt of this Nation over the last 12 years, and we don't have much to show for it. We know that the people have now courageously asked us to take on the problems of jobs and the deficit, the environment and education and health care, to try to put our people first again and make Government work for them.

The American people, deep in their bones, without even thinking about it, are the agents of change that Thomas Jefferson sought to write in perpetuity into our Constitution. For in the end, Thomas Jefferson understood that no politician, no government, no piece of paper could do for the American people what they would have to do for themselves. He understood better perhaps than any of his colleagues that the people of this country would always have to be not only the protectors of their own liberty but the agents of their own transformation and change. But he also knew that Government must be willing to supply the tools of that change. And that, very simply, is our task today. After all, what is a good education but a tool to a better life. What is a job but a tool to build self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and dignity for a worker and a family.

As I look around this Nation, I know that Thomas Jefferson would be very proud and pleased by much of what has happened here. I suspect it would amuse and surprise him and make him very proud to think that for most Americans, on most days, people from 150 and more racial and ethnic groups live together in not only peace and law abidingness but also mutual respect and reinforcing strength. I think that would make him proud. I think he would be proud of the generosity of spirit that characterizes our people and manifests itself most clearly at a time of national crisis and national tragedy. After all, in Jefferson's time people gave food and shelter to travelers who came to their doors at night, even when they were total strangers. Jefferson himself, at Monticello, often offered his home over the years to bone-weary travelers.

Today many of our people would do the same thing. But together, together, we have not faced the problems of the bone-weary travelers in our own land, nor have we faced the problems that we all share in common. We cannot turn the problems away. It is time for reasonable change. It is time for the Americans in our time to live up to the principles etched in stone in this magnificent memorial.

Just look at the beauty around us today. Do you know that in Mr. Jefferson's time almost all of this was a swamp? People avoided this place like the plague, because they were afraid of the plague. But with a plan, with investment, with effort, with vision, Americans transformed it. And from this inhospitable terrain rose the city before us, one of the most magnificent capitals in the history of the world. But the structures around us are simply buildings. They come to life only when they shake from the will of the people. That is what Thomas Jefferson knew.

We are the inheritors of Jefferson's rich legacy. On this the 250th anniversary of his birth, we can honor him best by remembering our own role in governing ourselves and our Nation: to speak, to move, to change, for it is only in change that we preserve the timeless values for which Thomas Jefferson gave his life, over two centuries ago.

President George W. Bush

April 14, 2008

We're here tonight to commemorate the 265th birthday of Thomas Jefferson, here in a room where he once walked and in a home where he once lived. In this house, President Jefferson spread the word that liberty was the right of every individual. In this house, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark off on the mission that helped make America a continental nation. And in this house, Jefferson was known to receive guests in his bathrobe and slippers. (Laughter.) Laura said no. (Laughter.) I don't have a bathrobe. (Laughter.)

With a single sentence, Thomas Jefferson changed the history of the world. After countless centuries when the powerful and the privileged governed as they pleased, Jefferson proclaimed as a self-evident truth that liberty was a right given to all people by an Almighty.

Here in America, that truth was not fully realized in Jefferson's own lifetime. As he observed the condition of slaves in America, Jefferson said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just" and "that his justice cannot sleep forever." Less than 40 years after his death, justice was awakened in America and a new era of freedom dawned.

Today, on the banks of the Tidal Basin, a statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in a rotunda that is a memorial to both the man and the ideas that built this nation. There, on any day of the week, you will find men and women of all creeds, colors, races and religions. You will find scholars, schoolchildren and visitors from every part of our country. And you will find each of them looking upward in quiet reflection on the liturgy of freedom -- the words of Thomas Jefferson inscribed on the memorial's walls.

The power of Jefferson's words do not stop at water's edge. They beckon the friends of liberty on even the most distant shores. They're a source of inspiration for people in young democracies like Afghanistan and Lebanon and Iraq. And they are a source of hope for people in nations like Belarus and Burma, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Zimbabwe, where the struggle for freedom continues.

Thomas Jefferson left us on July 4, 1826 -- fifty years to the day after our Declaration of Independence was adopted. In one of the great harmonies of history, his friend and rival John Adams died on the very same day. Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives." And he still does today. And he will live on forever, because the desire to live in freedom is the eternal hope of mankind.

President Barack Obama

February 10, 2014

As one of our Founding Fathers, the person who drafted our Declaration of Independence, somebody who not only was an extraordinary political leader but also one of our great scientific and cultural leaders, Thomas Jefferson represents what’s best in America.  But as we see as we travel through his home, what he also represents is the incredible bond and the incredible gifts that France gave to the United States, because he was a Francophile through and through.

He drew inspiration from the Enlightenment ideas that had been developed in France and throughout Europe, but he also drew from the arts, from the architecture, from the writings, from the culture and from the cuisine of France.  And so, in this sense, this home represents the bonds that helped lead to the American Revolution, helped to influence the French Revolution, figures like Lafayette, who played such a central role in our own independence -- all this is signified here at Monticello. 

And our hope in starting our visit this way is that, just as we can extend back through generations to see the links between the United States and France, tomorrow we'll have an opportunity to talk about not only our current bonds and alliance but also ways that we can strengthen our cooperation in the future.

President Joe Biden

April 26, 2024

Howard Stern:

Who do you think was the greatest president of all time? I have an answer for this, but I want to hear yours.

President Joe Biden:

Well, I think Jefferson was one of my favorite presidents of all time. But also there were people who came along in periods. I think the fact that Roosevelt came when he did and the way he did and the way he stood up.

President Donald Trump

July 4, 2020

Thomas Jefferson — the great Thomas Jefferson — was 33 years old when he traveled north to Pennsylvania and brilliantly authored one of the greatest treasures of human history, the Declaration of Independence.  He also drafted Virginia’s constitution, and conceived and wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a model for our cherished First Amendment.

After serving as the first Secretary of State, and then Vice President, he was elected to the Presidency.  He ordered American warriors to crush the Barbary pirates, he doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase, and he sent the famous explorers Lewis and Clark into the west on a daring expedition to the Pacific Ocean.

He was an architect, an inventor, a diplomat, a scholar, the founder of one of the world’s great universities, and an ardent defender of liberty.  Americans will forever admire the author of American freedom, Thomas Jefferson.  (Applause.)  And he, too, will never, ever be abandoned by us.  (Applause.)