Talk:Thomas Jefferson

Protect

Does anybody thinks as i there should be a full lock on the article? NO!!! --Mus640 (talk) 01:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

I disagree, this article is lacking. MissMeticulous (talk) 01:26, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I disagree as well -- the article reminds me of a book my parents got me at a souvenir shop in Washington, D.C. about the Presidents of the U.S. ... it needs a more neutral, honest point of view. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrtayloriv (talk • contribs) 04:48, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

I disagree as well, but state that an "honest, neutral point of view" in Wikipedia typically means stripping it of all material that's worth anything and adding a bunch of poorly sourced material to present it as neutral. Not ALL things in the world are neutral, and in fact very few are. (71.215.201.143 (talk) 08:04, 10 February 2009 (UTC))

Jefferson's Children?

The names of Jefferson's legitimate children are clearly listed, perhaps his assumed illegitimate children should at least be mentioned by name in the section about them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.194.196.246 (talk) 03:04, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Jefferson's Children? II

It seemed that the author was more interested in denying or throwing doubt on the validity that Jefferson did father children with his slave -

This is the story of so many people of African descent from all over the Western world - it's a story which has been largely ignored - and left out. Usually put down to rape - or other molestations - ignore the fact that these were relationships - perhaps not of the kind we see today - in that one was slave and the other slave master - but more likely loving and respectful - if six children were born out of it - a most obvious sign that a relationship was indeed taking place.

Given that these things are not politically correct to talk about - on either side - the reality that these relationships did take place as is in evidence - by the variety of skin colors within Black communities (and even within individual families) - versus the more homogeneous skin color found from region to region in Africa. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Egyptoo (talk • contribs) 22:58, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I agree that there was a relationship of more depth than people sometimes act as if there were, and others like it. Before the Civil War, the 200 students at Wilberforce University in Ohio were mostly mixed-race children of wealthy planters, who sent them there for education so they could get ahead in life. In the Deep South, such fathers often passed on social capital to their children of loveing relationships through education, skills training and sometimes property settlements. Robert Purvis and his brother, who became abolitionists in Philadelphia, went to school in the North, were children of a British man and a free woman of color, and they inherited all their father's money - he ensured that.--Parkwells (talk) 00:48, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Quote

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

--Ivail (talk) 00:01, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

the bank quote is a modern forgery. Jefferson never said it, so we can't use it. (the word "deflation" for example was coined after he died)Rjensen (talk) 02:57, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

It appears this letter is legit, however the above quote is not.

"I sincerely believe … that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

ATTRIBUTION: Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), U.S. president. Letter, May 28, 1816, to political philosopher and senator John Taylor, whose book An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1814) had argued against the harmful effects of finance capitalism. --172.129.166.2 (talk) 11:08, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

separate article(s)

I would suggest making the religious views, Jefferson slavery, and/or political positions(or philosophy) of Jefferson into seperate articles to alleviate space.--Levineps (talk) 16:33, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

spelling of Frank Shuffelton

The last name of Frank Shuffelton (editor of the Penguin edition of Notes on the State of Virginia, in the bibliography) is misspelled. It should be Shuffelton, not Shuffleton. I know. I'm his daughter, and it's my name too! I'd appreciate it if someone would fix that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.146.120.175 (talk • contribs) 19:16, 2 December 2008

Done. Thanks for pointing that out. - auburnpilot talk 19:24, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Worst Presidents?

"Jefferson has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the worst U.S. Presidents." and yet if you go to the link to the page of the ranking Jefferson is consistently in the top ten and never in the bottom ten. Why is this obviously false statement here? If it is going to be here, how about supporting references? The only link on this page concerning this shows contrary information.

it was vandalism and I fixed it. Rjensen (talk) 19:39, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Religious Beliefs

Thomas Jefferson, third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, said:"I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac" and wrote: The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. 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."

From: Thomas Jefferson, an Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, p. 453 (1974, W.W) Norton and Co. Inc. New York, NY) Quoting a letter by TJ to Alexander Smyth Jan 17, 1825, and Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 246 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to John Adams, July 5, 1814. --Yancy Fry (talk) 00:40, 5 January 2009 (UTC) not only was he the worst president he didn't deserve to be president as governor of virginia virginia got raided twice as secretary of state hamilton overshadowed him as vice president he did crap and he didn't even want to become pres —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.155.128.186 (talk) 17:28, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Support of James Callender and scandal involving Betsey Walker

Two things missing here, both involving stories published by James Callender, other than the Sally Hemmings controversy. First, previous to that report, but after Jefferson's election to president, Callender published that Jefferson had supported him during his prior publications against Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. This included some letters. Second, report after the Sally Hemmings controversy, was the publication of Jefferson's attempts to commit adulter with Betsey Walker. Jefferson actually admitted to some truth as to this last, at least to some extent. IMHO (talk) 03:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Embargo Act?

Where was the infamous embargo act in this article? It's pretty important, considering that Jefferson's views on the Presidency were soured by the criticism from the "Ograbme" MissMeticulous (talk) 01:23, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Native American genocide?

I believe that Jefferson's deep involvement of the genocide of Native Americans should be mentioned in the first paragraph of the article, as a "significant event" which took place during his presidency. He directly ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands of people, had a fervent hatred for "red people", and if this article was about anyone other than a "national icon" I'm sure that such a large scale mass murder would be mentioned in their article ... so it's only fair that we be honest about Thomas Jefferson here, and put the bad stuff in along with all the nationalistic hogwash ...

Sure he wrote a few things about how much he admired them -- like saying that they "died with more deliberation" than any other people he had encountered. And to his credit he did try to give them a chance to abandon their way of life and live like the European invaders. He only ordered his military commanders to kill them and force them west of the Mississipi river if they didn't start wearing suits and working like good white men. So I guess you could say it was the Natives' fault since they didn't do what Thomas Jefferson told them to. He tried, and they just didn't listen ... poor savages.

Anyhow, Jefferson was definitely more compassionate and fair than, say, Andrew Jackson ... but he was still a cold blooded murderer ... I mean, Ted Bundy only killed a few dozen innocent people and the whole article about him talks about him being a killer. How come Jefferson, who killed thousands of people doesn't even have a sentence talking about it?

EDIT: So somebody wants sources.... a great starting point is Drinnon's "Facing West" (ISBN: 978-0806129280), Miller's "Native America, Discovered and Conquered" (ISBN: 978-0803215986), or just about any book on the history of the American "Indian Removal" campaigns for that matter.

Also the google query "Thomas Jefferson native american policy" will turn up thousands of results with extensive bibliographical resources. This is a well-known historical fact and it's silly to try to avoid discussing my questions above by claiming that they are "unsourced" ...

Cloaked in his rheotoric about how much he "commiserated" with their plight, is a policy of forcing them to choosing between assimilation or extermination.

"The Indians can be kept in order only by commerce or war. The former is the cheapest. Unless we can induce individuals to employ their capital in that trade, it will require an enormous sum of capital from the public treasury, and it will be badly managed. A drawback for four or five years is the cheapest way of getting that business off our hands." --Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1808.

"If they wish to remain on the land which covers the bones of their fathers, [we adjure them] to keep the peace with a people who ask their friendship without needing it, who wish to avoid war without fearing it. In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them." --Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 1807.

"We must make ever memorable examples of the tribe or tribes which shall have taken up the hatchet." --Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 1807.

"In truth, the ultimate point of rest and happiness for [the Indians] is to let our settlements and theirs meet and blend together, to intermix and become one people, incorporating themselves with us as citizens of the U.S. This is what the natural progress of things will of course bring on, and it will be better to promote than retard it. Surely it will be better for them to be identified with us and preserved in the occupation of their lands, than be exposed to the many casualties which may endanger them while a separate people." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Hawkins, 1803.

"[To] incorporate with us as citizens of the United States... is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves; but in the whole course of this it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, and that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only." --Thomas Jefferson William Henry Harrison, 1803. (*)

"The interested and unprincipled policy of England [in the War of 1812] has defeated all our labors for the salvation of these unfortunate people. They have seduced the greater part of the tribes within our neighborhood, to take up the hatchet against us, and the cruel massacres they have committed on the women and children of our frontiers taken by surprise, will oblige us now to pursue them to extermination, or drive them to new seats beyond our reach." --Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1813.

(NOTE: These people who "took up the hatchet" were doing so, by the way, in retaliation for having their homes razed, being pushed hundreds of miles from their lands to make room for settlers, and being raped enslaved and murdered ...)

"We have cut off all possibility of intercourse and of mutual aid, and may pursue at our leisure whatever plan we find necessary to secure ourselves against the future effects of their savage and ruthless warfare. The confirmed brutalization, if not the extermination of this race in our America, is therefore to form an additional chapter in the English history of the same colored man in Asia, and of the brethren of their own color in Ireland, and wherever else Anglo-mercantile cupidity can find a two-penny interest in deluging the earth with human blood." --Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1813.

(Quotes are from "Writings of Thomas Jefferson")

How's that for sources? Need more? --- he wrote thousands of "caring" "respectful" comments such as those ...

Let's be realistic here. The man envisioned and implemented a systematic genocide program and was so PROUD of it that he wrote about it hundreds of times in his journals and letters ...kind of like how the Nazis were proud of exterminating Jews and wrote about it openly and proudly ... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrtayloriv (talk • contribs) 04:37, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Most of these questions completely contradict what you claim. One wonders whether you have actually read his words at all. Paul B (talk) 22:47, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Looks like original research to me. Chronodm (talk) 10:03, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

It is one thing to put up a magnificent statue. It is quite another to keep the pigeons off it.
The way to get past our past and to avoid eternal war is to admit that we have the opportunity to do better. Twang (talk) 18:04, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Sadly Jefferson attitude and policies towards native American peoples created a legacy that lasted until well after the West was closed. His rejection of their cultures, rights and histories created the foundations for the racist rallying call of manifest destiny. Native people who had lived in areas since 'time immemorial' were forced, often at gunpoint, on to lands designated as uninhabitable for Whites. Where native Americans remain today.

Yet I can understand why the Jefferson apologists say that claims he was responsible for genocide are laudable. It's only if you appreciate his legacy and not his direct action (he is regularly ranked as one of the all-time great Presidents) that makes you realise that he had power, and people listened. Jefferson left future politicians with a clear picture of what to do with the 'indian problem'. Sic Reinhard Heydrich planned the Final Solution but was killed before it was barely started. Yet history has decided to name him as one of its masterminds. So although Jefferson had died long before much of the major butchery, isn't he arguably complicit by tacitly endorsing the plan? It's quite clear from some of his surviving letters:

[In a letter to] General Henry Dearborn, he states "if we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down until that tribe is exterminated." Later in the letter to Dearborn, Jefferson adds that "[I]n war, they will kill some of us; we will destroy all of them." Anthropology, Native Americans and Jefferson: A Troubling Analysis

Likewise, just compare the number of conflicts that occurred between indigenous people and Whites in United States and Canada up until the 1900s. The difference is staggering, about 20:1; USA:Canada.

The United States took a very hard line towards the 'indians'. The European who settled on their lands and the future generations that they raised live a lie that goes right back to Jefferson.

Much has been said about Obama becoming the first black president. The real moment in history will be when the United States gets it first native American president who's lineage goes back before the first Europeans arrived. Only then will you truly have 'the land of the free'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.155.56.26 (talk) 13:48, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

So I've got dozens of bibliographical sources -- can I write up a (completely sourced and unbiased) section on his "Indian Removal" policies, or will I just be wasting my time? His policies of extermination and removal affected millions of people's lives in a very serious way ... I think it's quite biased and disrespectful to all of the people whose lives he destroyed to pretend like it didn't happen. And after all, this is supposed to be an objective encyclopedia, not a nationalistic historical monument ... Jrtayloriv (talk) 14:27, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

well I went ahead and wrote it up in a new section titled "Native American policy", and am currently working on gathering more references to further support the ones that I've already got in the new section. comments? suggestions? Jrtayloriv (talk) 22:58, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Did Thomas Jefferson shoot a man on the Whote House lawn for treason?

In the motion picture "Swordfish", John Travolta says:

"Thomas Jefferson shot a man on the White House lawn for treason".

Is this true, and if so, who did he shoot?

Maybe this article should reference to this anecdote. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.218.221.187 (talk) 10:14, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

It's made up. Paul B (talk) 12:15, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Section "Life as a Lawyer"

This section appears to have become jumbled. The first paragraph has nothing to do with Jefferson's life as a lawyer and the second paragraph seems to jump into the middle of his "Life as a lawyer' without introduction. SnPanAle (talk) 03:44, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. I changed the sub-head to "After college" unless anyone has a better idea. Station1 (talk) 04:52, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Typo: "Jefferson was fon of the violin"

Missing "d". Should be: "Jefferson was fond of the violin"

TJ and the french revolution - influence

TJs influence on the french revolution (and later european democraties) is understated in this article about TJ. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.149.242.42 (talk) 17:15, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Extra:

The Louisiana Purchase was bought from Napoleon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.178.41.189 (talk) 20:51, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Shorten religion section

There is now an article Thomas Jefferson and religion which contains just about everything in this article's religion section -- and more. I think the lede of this newer article (along with a see: could replace this entire section and make the main article more compact. --JimWae (talk) 00:51, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

No comments after about 6 days - if there are no objections, I will proceed after 10 days have elapsed --JimWae (talk) 07:57, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

This is from the article Thomas Jefferson, it pertains to a major error in the first sentence, much like if someone neo-nazi edited the section on Nazis in wikipedia, saying the Nazis were kind when they exterminated 6 million Jews-that they didn't exterminate 10 million. The fact that they exterminated 6 million Jews renders the rest of the sentence mute, because how can one be kind if he kills, because a kind person would not do that. So it is with statement here "Jefferson was an outspoken abolitionist":

On slavery

Jefferson was an outspoken abolitionist, but he owned many slaves over his lifetime. Although these facts seem baffling, biographers point out that Jefferson was deeply in debt and had encumbered his slaves by notes and mortgages; he could not free them until he was free of debt, which never happened.[86] As a result, Jefferson seems to have suffered pangs and trials of conscience. His ambivalence was also reflected in his treatment of those slaves who worked most closely with him and his family at Monticello and in other locations. He invested in having them trained and schooled in high quality skills.[87] He wrote about slavery, "We have the wolf by the ears; and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."[88]

During his long career in public office, Jefferson tried many times to abolish or limit the advance of slavery. He sponsored and encouraged Free-State advocates like James Lemen.[89] According to a biographer, Jefferson "believed that it was the responsibility of the state and society to free all slaves."[90] In 1769, as a member of the House of Burgesses, Jefferson proposed for that body to emancipate slaves in Virginia, but he was unsuccessful.[91] In his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson condemned the British crown for sponsoring the importation of slavery to the colonies, charging that the crown "has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere." However, this language was dropped from the Declaration at the request of delegates from South Carolina and Georgia.

In 1778, the legislature passed a bill he proposed to ban further importation of slaves into Virginia; although this did not bring complete emancipation, in his words, it "stopped the increase of the evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication." In 1784, his draft of what became the Northwest Ordinance stipulated that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude" in any of the new states admitted to the Union from the Northwest Territory.[92] In 1807, as President, he signed a bill abolishing the slave trade.

Jefferson attacked the institution of slavery in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1784): “ There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.[93] ”

In this same work, Jefferson advanced his suspicion that black people were inferior to white people "in the endowments both of body and mind."[94] However, he also wrote in the same work that black people could have the right to live free in any country where people judge them by their nature, and not as just being good for labor.[95] He also wrote, "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. [But] the two races...cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them."[35] According to historian Stephen Ambrose: "Jefferson, like all slaveholders and many other white members of American society, regarded Negroes as inferior, childlike, untrustworthy and, of course, as property. Jefferson, the genius of politics, could see no way for African Americans to live in society as free people." At the same time, he trusted them with his children, with preparation of his food and entertainment of high-ranking guests. So clearly he believed that some were trustworthy.[96] For a long-term solution, Jefferson believed that slaves should be freed then deported peacefully to African colonies. Otherwise, he feared war and that, in his words, "human nature must shudder at the prospect held up. We should in vain look for an example in the Spanish deportation or deletion of the Moors. This precedent would fall far short of our case."[97]

But on February 25, 1809, Jefferson repudiated his earlier view, writing in a letter to Abbé Grégoire: “ Sir,—I have received the favor of your letter of August 17th, and with it the volume you were so kind to send me on the "Literature of Negroes." Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportunity for the development of their genius were not favorable and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making toward their re-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the many instances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence in that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the day of their relief; and to be assured of the sentiments of high and just esteem and consideration which I tender to yourself with all sincerity.[98] ”

In August 1814 Edward Coles and Jefferson corresponded about Coles' ideas on emancipation: “ Your solitary but welcome voice is the first which has brought this to my ear, and I have considered the general silence which prevails on this subject as indicating an apathy unfavorable to every hope[99] ”

The downturn in land prices after 1819 pushed Jefferson further into debt. Jefferson finally emancipated his five most trusted slaves (two his mixed-race sons) and petitioned the legislature to allow them to stay in Virginia. After his death, his family sold the remainder of the slaves to settle his high debts.[100]

MY CRITICISM

is that in one of the links, Notes On the State of Virginia, a researcher google the book and slavery, and obtain passages like this one that contradicts wikipedia's own section, "To emancipate all slaves born after passing the act. The bill reported by the revisors does not itself contain this proposition; but an amendment containing it was prepared, to be offered to the legislature whenever the bill should be taken up, and further directing, that they should continue with their parents to a certain age, then be brought up, at the public expence, to tillage, arts or sciences, according to their geniusses, till the females should be eighteen, and the males twenty-one years of age, when they should be colonized to such place as the circumstances of the time should render most proper, sending them out with arms, implements of houshold and of the handicraft arts, seeds, pairs of the useful domestic animals, &c. to declare them a free and independant people, and extend to them our alliance and protection, till they shall have acquired strength; and to send vessels at the same time to other parts of the world for an equal number of white inhabitants; to induce whom to migrate hither, proper encouragements were to be proposed." I would request that his section on "On Slavery" be revised to muted wording, as to reflect this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bflahet (talk • contribs) 05:25, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Edit to Thomas Jefferson's proposal for the United States seal

{{editsemiprotected}} In this article it is said of Thomas Jefferson,

"In 1776 Jefferson also proposed a motto for the United States Seal. His proposal was, "Rebellion to tyrants is Obedience to God." He suggested that the seal should feature an image of the Biblical Hebrews being rescued by God via the Red Sea."

However, this is not the case. This was actually Benjamin Franklin's proposition as is evidenced by this site:

http://www.greatseal.com/committees/firstcomm/index.html

In accordance to this reference, please change the original text to:

"In 1776 Jefferson also proposed a motto for the United States Seal, suggesting allegorical scenes. For the front of the seal: children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. For the reverse: Hengist and Horsa, the two brothers who were the legendary leaders of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain."

 Done fahadsadah (talk,contribs) 08:57, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Sally Hemings section

I moved Malone's opinion closer to the top where biographers are mentioned, and removed the final comments regarding Samuel Francis for the following reasons:

Note what the articles does, neatly enough; it starts by introducing the allegations regarding Jefferson's possible fatherhood, and discusses some positions historically (intro), then talks about the children in question (biographical info) and finally mentions the DNA-related findings (scientific investigation) which seems to say it's plausible the Jefferson family is involved but that it doesn't prove Thomas himself was the father.

At the end, though, someone added the "contending" stance of a biographer that died just before the first DNA tests were made available as well as the opinion of a paleoconservative journalist that accuses some of being biased, as he believes there is some sort of conspiracy from the federal government which uses the race issue politically. Placing Francis' opinion, especially there, at the end, after the DNA topic, is not NPOV because it's using the journalist's political ideology as a closing statement. If placed anywhere at all, it should be in a section pointing out various groups accusing each other of bias one way or the other, which might be better off in articles dealing with American perspectives on the race issue. Who is like God? (talk) 17:57, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Gravestone

I think that there should be something under the Death section regarding the location of his original gravestone. It was given to the University of Missouri in 1883 by Jefferson's heirs, and now stands on the east side of the David R. Francis Quadrangle. It has a plaque on it that reads "This original marker, placed at the grave of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, Virginiain 1826, constructed from his own design, was presented July 4, 1883, by the Jefferson heirs to the University of Missouri. First �state university to be founded in the Louisiana Territory purchased from France during President Jefferson's administration.�The obelisk, dedicated on this campus at commencement June 4, 1885, commemorates Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, whose faith in the future of western America and whose confidence in the people has shaped our national ideals; commemorates the author of the Declaration of �Independence and of the Virginia statute for religious freedom, founder of the University of Virginia, fosterer of public education in the United States.�" And under these words it reads "�Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom and FATHER of the University of Virginia"