The Jefferson Lies
Page 6
In Europe, the Enlightenment centered around the salons of Paris and was famous for the “philosophes”—popular philosophers—such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau. . . . American political leaders like Jefferson . . . were heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinking.11
The European Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that subjected theological, philosophical, scientific and political dogma to critical analysis. . . . Deism was popular among many Enlightenment thinkers, including Thomas Jefferson.12
[T]he Declaration of Independence . . . remains the best example of Enlightenment thought.13
Far too many of today’s writers, consumed by the spirit of Academic Collectivism, regularly regurgitate each other’s claims that Jefferson’s philosophy and the Declaration were products of the secular European Enlightenment. Yet Jefferson himself forcefully disagreed, and when some in his day had suggested that he based the Declaration on the writings of other philosophers, he responded, “[W]hether I had gathered my ideas from reading or reflection I do not know. I know only that I turned to neither book nor pamphlet while writing it.”14
In fact, he specifically asserted that the Declaration of Independence was “an expression of the American mind”15 (emphasis added) rather than a lexicon of European ideas. He even proclaimed that “the comparisons of our governments with those of Europe are like a comparison of heaven and hell.”16
This is not to say that the Enlightenment had no influence in the American Founding; it certainly did. However, the crucial distinction regularly overlooked (or ignored) by many of today’s writers and academics is the fact that Enlightenment writers can be divided into two distinct groups: those with an overtly Christian viewpoint (such as Baron Puffendorf, Hugo Grotius, Richard Hooker, and William Blackstone), and those with an overtly secular viewpoint (such as Voltaire, Denis Diderot, David Hume, Claude Adrien Helvetius, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Sir Nicholas Malby, and Guillaume Thomas François Raynal).
It was primarily the Christian writers, not the secular ones, upon which Jefferson and the other Founders relied. In fact, political researchers have conclusively documented that the four Enlightenment writers cited most frequently during the Founding Era were Charles Montesquieu, William Blackstone, John Locke, and David Hume.17 Of the four, only Hume is from the secular group.
But if the Founders relied primarily on Christian thinkers rather than secular thinkers, then why was Hume the fourth most cited? After all, unlike the other three, he openly declared, “I expected in entering on my literary course that all the Christians . . . should be my enemies.”18
So why Hume? Because the Founders regularly cited him in order to refute his political theories rather than endorse them. John Adams described him as an atheist, deist, and libertine,19 James Madison placed him among “bungling lawgivers,”20 and John Quincy Adams denounced Hume as “the Atheist Jacobite.”21 Hume and his writings were also roundly criticized by other Founders, including John Witherspoon,22 Benjamin Rush,23 and Patrick Henry.24
But what about Jefferson? If Jefferson was indeed antireligious, then perhaps he would be drawn toward Hume as a kindred spirit. Such was definitely not the case. To the contrary, Jefferson found Hume “endeavoring to mislead, by either the suppression of a truth or by giving it a false coloring.”25 He even regretted the early influence that Hume had once had upon him, candidly lamenting:
I remember well the enthusiasm with which I devoured it [Hume’s work] when young, and the length of time, the research, and reflection which were necessary to eradicate the poison it had instilled into my mind.26
Jefferson was similarly forthright in his criticism of other secular Enlightenment writers, including Guillaume Thomas François Raynal (known as Abbé Raynal). Jefferson described his works as “a mass of errors and misconceptions from beginning to end,” containing “a great deal of falsehood”27 and being “wrong exactly in the same proportion.”28 He even described Raynal as “a mere shrimp.”29 Such vehement denunciations of leading secular Enlightenment writers are certainly not consistent with a Jefferson who was supposedly greatly influenced by them.
So if secular Enlightenment writers were not a primary force in shaping Jefferson’s thinking, then who was? Jefferson himself answered that question, declaring that “Bacon, Newton and Locke . . . [are] my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced.”30
Francis Bacon, a British philosopher, attorney, and statesman, called the“Father of Modern Science,”31 is known for developing the process of inductive thinking and creating the scientific method. Historians have declared that “[T]he intellect of Bacon was one of the most powerful and searching ever possessed by man.”32 Bacon was by no means secular; rather, he was quite the opposite. In his noted work De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium (1603), he declared that his threefold goal was to discover truth, serve his country, and serve the church. He asserted that the vigorous pursuit of truth would always lead one directly to God:
[A] little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.33
Bacon was famous for penning many religious works, including Essays, Ten in Number, Combined with Sacred Meditations and the Colors of Good and Evil (1597); The Proficiencies and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human (1605); On the Unity in Religion (1612); On Atheism (1612); Of Praise (1612); as well as a translation of some of the psalms (1625). This outspoken and famous Christian writer and philosopher who never separated God or religion from science or government was the first of Jefferson’s triumvirate of the world’s greatest individuals.
The second in his list was Isaac Newton, an English statesman, mathematician, and scientist, credited with birthing modern calculus and discovering the laws of universal gravitation. Newton did extensive work in physics, astronomy, and optics and was the first scientist to be knighted for his work. Strikingly, however:
He spent more time on theology than on science; indeed, he wrote about 1.3 million words on Biblical subjects. . . . Newton’s understanding of God came primarily from the Bible, which he studied for days and weeks at a time. . . . Newton’s theology profoundly influenced his scientific method. . . . His God was not merely a philosopher’s impersonal First Cause; He was the God in the Bible Who freely creates and rules the world, Who speaks and acts in history.34
Among Newton’s many theological works were his Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733) and Notes on Early Church History (c. 1680) among many others. And throughout his scientific works, Newton also maintained a distinctly Biblical Creationist view—such as in his 1687 Principia (considered “the greatest scientific book ever written”35) in which he stated:
This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. And if the fixed stars are the centres of other like systems, these, being formed by the like wise counsel, must be all subject to the dominion of One.36
This Christian theologian and philosopher was the second of Jefferson’s trinity of personal heroes.
The third was English philosopher and political theorist John Locke. Locke was intimately involved with politics in England and also played a large role in shaping America, including writing the 1669 constitution for the Carolina Colony.37 He also penned numerous works on education, philosophy, government, empiricism, and religion.
Today’s writers frequently describe Locke as a deist (or at least a follower of an early form of deism),38 but historians of earlier generations described him as a Christian theologian.39 After all, Locke wrote a verse-by-verse commentary on Paul’s Epistles40 and also compiled a topical Bible, called a Common Place-Book to the Holy Bible,41 that listed verses by subject for easy study reference. And when antireligionists attacked Christianity, Locke defended it in his book The Reasonableness of Christianity as Delivered in the Scriptures (1695).42 When attacks continued, Locke responded with A Vindication
of the Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)43 and then with A Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity (1697).44 Furthermore, in his Two Treatises of Government (1689)—the work specifically relied upon by Jefferson and the other Founders as they drafted the Declaration45—Locke invoked the Bible over 1,500 times.46
Jefferson studied not only Locke’s governmental and legal writings but also his theological texts. His own personal summation of Locke’s view of Christianity clearly shows that he definitely did not consider Locke to be a deist. According to Jefferson:
Locke’s system of Christianity is this: Adam was created happy & immortal. . . . By sin he lost this so that he became subject to total death (like that of brutes [animals]) to the crosses & unhappiness of this life. At the intercession however of the Son of God this sentence was in part remitted. . . . And moreover to them who believed their faith was to be counted for righteousness [Romans 4:3, 5]. Not that faith without works was to save them; St. James, chapter 2 says expressly the contrary [v. 14–26]. . . . So that a reformation of life (included under repentance) was essential, & defects in this would be made up by their faith; i.e. their faith should be counted for righteousness [Romans 4:3, 5]. . . . [A]dding a faith in God & His attributes that on their repentance He would pardon them [1 John 1:9]; they also would be justified [Romans 3:24]. This then explains the text “there is no other name under heaven by which a man may be saved” [Acts 4:12], i.e., the defects in good works shall not be supplied by a faith in Mahomet, Fo [i.e., Buddha], or any other except Christ.47
Francis Bacon, Issac Newton, and John Locke—each an outspoken Christian thinker and philosopher—were described by Jefferson as “the three greatest men the world has ever produced.”48
So, to the question of whether Jefferson rejected his own personal educational experience because it had been so thoroughly infused with religion, the answer is a clear “No!” Jefferson was involved with many educational endeavors throughout his life, and he consistently took deliberate actions to include religious instruction in each.
For example, when a grammar school was being established in Jefferson’s area in 1783, he wrote to the Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon, the head of Princeton (a university that trained Presbyterians for Gospel ministry), to request one of Witherspoon’s students as an instructor for the school.49 In 1792 Jefferson again wrote the Reverend Witherspoon about another local school “in hopes that your seminary . . . may furnish some person whom you could recommend” to be the assistant to “the head of a school of considerable reputation in Virginia.”50
What would Jefferson expect from students trained by the Reverend Dr. Witherspoon? Certainly not a secular approach to education. On the contrary, not only did Witherspoon teach the Scottish Common Sense philosophy, but he also specifically instructed his students:
That he is the best friend to American liberty who is the most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country.51
When Jefferson needed teachers for schools in his area, he called on a leading religious educator to send him religiously trained instructors.
In 1794, after Jefferson had returned home from serving as secretary of state for President George Washington, he contacted a member of the Virginia legislature about bringing the Geneva Academy from Europe to Virginia. The Geneva Academy was established in 1559 by Reformation theologian John Calvin.52 In this school, the Bible was an indispensable textbook and students from the school became missionaries all over Europe;53 and Jefferson wanted to bring this famous religious school to his state.
In 1803, while serving as president, Jefferson met with Presbyterian minister Gideon Blackburn at the White House about opening a missionary school for Cherokees near Knoxville, Tennessee. The school was to include religious instruction as a primary part of its studies, and President Jefferson directed Secretary of War Henry Dearborn to give federal money to help the school achieve its objectives.54
In 1804 President Jefferson negotiated the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. With authority over that region transferring from the French to the Americans, those living there were uncertain as to what changes might result. Sister Therese Farjon, Mother Superior of a Catholic school and convent in New Orleans, therefore wrote President Jefferson asking what the status of their religious school would now be under American government. Jefferson responded:
Your institution . . . by training up its young members in the way they should go [Proverbs 22:6], cannot fail to ensure it the patronage [support] of the government it is under. Be assured that it will meet with all the protection my office can give it.55 (emphasis added)
In 1805 President Jefferson was elected head of the board of trustees for the brand new Washington, DC, public schools.56 He told the city council that he would “willingly undertake the duties proposed to me—so far as others of paramount obligation will permit my attention to them”;57 that is, he would do what he could for the city schools with the caveat that his presidential duties came first. Robert Brent, therefore, served as head of the trustees, instead of Jefferson, but as trustee, Jefferson did contribute much to the new school system and is credited with being “the chief author of the first plan of public education adopted for the city of Washington.”58 When the first report of the Washington public schools was released to demonstrate the progress of the students in the new schools, it noted:
Fifty-five have learned to read in the Old and New Testaments and are all able to spell words of three, four, and five syllables; twenty-six are now learning to read Dr. Watts’ Hymns and spell words of two syllables; ten are learning words of four and five letters. Of fifty-nine out of the whole number admitted [enrolled] that did not know a single letter, twenty can now read the Bible and spell words of three, four, and five syllables; twenty-nine read Dr. Watts’ Hymns and spell words of two syllables; and ten, words of four and five letters.59
Additionally, during the same time that Jefferson was working with the DC public school system, the board on which he served approved two of the schools being run by ministers, the Reverend Robert Elliott and the Reverend Richard White.60 The Reverend Elliott was also allowed to use the school building concurrently as a meeting place for his church.61
In short, Jefferson was involved with many educational endeavors prior to establishing the University of Virginia in 1819, and in none of them was there any attempt to exclude religious instruction. To the contrary—in each case he took intentional steps to include or preserve it. So with this background, what about the four oft-repeated claims about Jefferson excluding religion from the university he founded?
1. Was the University of Virginia Founded as a Secular University?
Three distinctive features characterized universities founded in America prior to Jefferson’s University of Virginia. Those universities (1) were founded and controlled by one particular denomination, (2) housed theological seminaries for training ministers for that specific denomination, and (3) had prominent ministers from that denomination serving as president of the university.
Reflective of this pattern, in 1636 Harvard was founded by and for Congregationalists to train Congregationalist ministers (so, too, with Yale in 1701 and Dartmouth in 1769). In 1692 the College of William and Mary was founded by and for the Anglicans to train Anglican ministers (as was the University of Pennsylvania in 1740, Kings College in 1754, and the College of Charleston in 1770). In 1746 Princeton was founded by and for Presbyterians (as was Dickinson in 1773 and Hampden-Sydney in 1775). In 1764 the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University) was founded by and for the Baptists. In 1766 Queens College (now Rutgers) was founded by and for the Dutch Reformed. In 1780 Transylvania University was founded by and for the Disciples of Christ, and so on.
Departing from this pattern, Jefferson and his Board of Visitors (or regents) specifically founded
the University of Virginia to be America’s first transdenominational school—a school not affiliated with one specific denomination but rather one that would train students from all denominations. By so doing, Jefferson was actually implementing the plan advocated by evangelical Presbyterian clergyman Samuel Knox of Baltimore.
In 1799 the Reverend Knox penned a policy paper proposing the formation of a state university that would invite many denominations to establish multiple theological schools rather than just one, so they would work together in mutual Christian cooperation rather than competition.62 Jefferson agreed with Knox’s philosophy, and it was this model that he employed at his University of Virginia. (In fact, Jefferson invited the Reverend Knox to be the very first professor at the university,63 but because of a miscommunication, Knox did not respond to the offer in a timely fashion, so his teaching slot was finally offered to someone else.64)
With its transdenominational model, the University of Virginia did not incorporate the three features so commonly associated with other universities at that time. This has caused modern critics to claim that it was founded as a secular university—a claim that will be shown to be completely false. Nearly forty years earlier in 1779, Jefferson had already demonstrated his affinity for this type of interdenominational cooperation and Christian nonpreferentialism in his famous Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, which disestablished the Anglican Church as the official denomination of Virginia and instead welcomed all denominations with equal legal standing.
The charter for the new university had been issued by the state legislature, so the school was required to conform to the denominational nonpreferentialism set forth not only in the Virginia Statute but also in the Virginia Constitution—another document that Jefferson had helped author. But many today wrongly misinterpret Jefferson’s denominational nonpreferentialism to be secularism, and they also erroneously point to what Jefferson did with his own alma mater’s Professor of Divinity as another alleged “proof” of his commitment to religion-free education.