provided a link to www.JeffersonLeadership.com is included.
Category Archives: Protecting ourselves
Thomas Jefferson on capital punishment
… capital punishments, which exterminate instead of reforming … should be the last melancholy resource against those whose existence is become inconsistent with the safety of their fellow citizens … cruel and sanguinary [bloodthirsty] laws defeat their own purpose …no crime shall be henceforth punished by deprivation of life or limb except …
If a man do levy war against the Commonwealth or be adherent to the enemies of the commonwealth giving to them aid or comfort … the person so convicted shall suffer death by hanging, and shall forfeit his lands and goods to the Commonwealth.
If any person commit Petty treason, or a husband murder his wife, a parent his child, or a child his parent, he shall suffer death by hanging, and his body be delivered to Anatomists to be dissected.
Whosoever committeth murder by poisoning shall suffer death by poison.
Whosoever committeth murder by way of duel, shall suffer death by hanging; and if he were the challenger, his body, after death, shall be gibbeted [displayed publicly] …Whosoever shall commit murder in any other way shall suffer death by hanging.… Whenever sentence of death shall have been pronounced against any person for treason or murder, execution shall be done on the next day …
You can read the full Bill here.
A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments, 1779
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson spent the Revolutionary War years helping revise Virginia’s colonial statutes into ones more suited for a modern, free and independent state. These excerpts come from his “A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments.”
Though I can’t find the documentation now, I have read that Virginia had many capital offenses, perhaps two dozen for which a man could be put to death. Jefferson’s proposal restricted that harshest punishment for just two crimes, treason and murder.
The remainder of the bill outlined lesser offenses and their penalties. As the title of the bill described, the purpose was to make the punishment fit the crime.
Traitors would forfeit all their estate to the government. A murderer’s estate was to divided, half the the victim’s family, half to his heirs.
Jefferson’s bill was considered too lenient and not adopted. Nearly 20 years later, the Virginia legislature did restrict capital punishment to these two offenses.
Learn more about justice & Thomas Jefferson.
(Or almost anything else & Thomas Jefferson!)
Invite him to speak to your audience.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on national and state governments
The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign affairs. Let the General [national or federal] Government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.
To Gideon Granger, 1800, 1707
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Thomas Jefferson’s view of the Constitutional division of powers:
The federal government was responsible for:
- Foreign affairs only while keeping out of foreign entanglements
- Promoting commerce but leaving its control in merchants’ hands
Each state government was responsible for:
- All matters within its state and affecting itself only
- Being united with all other states, supporting the federal government in everything
related to foreign affairs.
This would allow the federal government to:
- Be very simple
- Be very inexpensive
- Have a few simple duties
- Have few employees
I chose this passage for today, March 12, because according to this source, on this day in 1789, U.S. Postal Service was established. The recipient of this letter, Gideon Granger, was Jefferson’s Postmaster General for all eight years of his Presidency. Granger made the postal service an efficient, profit-making operation. That profit was used to reduce the national debt.
Your audience will be inspired, taught and entertained by Mr. Jefferson.
Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 563-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on separation from Europe
Nothing is so important as that America shall separate herself from the systems of Europe, and establish one of her own. Our circumstances, our pursuits, our interests, are distinct, the principles of our policy should be so also. All entanglements with that quarter of the globe should be avoided if we mean that peace and justice shall be the polar stars of the American societies … [This] would be a leading principle with me, had I longer to live.
To J. Correa de Serra, 1820, 5665
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson had little admiration for the governments of Europe, which he saw in varying degrees as being in opposition to the “self-evident” republican principles of America. He believed the Atlantic separated us from Europe for the purpose of modeling peace and justice as our national anchors. That purpose would be undermined by European alliances.
America was 44 years old, and Jefferson was 77 when he wrote this.
Today, he might extend that warning against “entanglements” to include the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and perhaps, South America.
Thomas Jefferson on “bubbles”
The American mind is now in that state of fever which the world has so often seen in the history of other nations. We are under the bank bubble [of financial speculation], as England was under the South Sea bubble, France under the Mississippi bubble, and as every nation is liable to be, under whatever bubble, design, or delusion may puff up in moments when off their guard.
Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816, 965
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
No shimmering, soapy spheres here. These bubbles describe the unwarranted financial excitement nations get caught up in, usually to their hurt. The bubble affecting America in 1816 was a financial one. Within several years, that bubble would burst, leading to what was called the “Panic of 1819.”
Read about England’s South Sea bubble here, France’s Mississippi bubble here, and America’s Panic of 1819 here.
All three of these “bubbles” share a common thread of monopolistic control over certain portions of the economy.
Like those shimmering, soapy spheres, economic bubbles are entrancing to behold and lack any realistic foundation. Unlike soap bubbles, whose bursting causes no harm, financial bubbles usually take many innocent people down with them.
Being constantly on guard, whether as an individual or a nation, is a strong defense against bubbles.
What other warnings might Thomas Jefferson have for your audience?
Find out! Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on standing armies, 1806
Does an army prevent war? Or provoke it?
Our duty, therefore, is to act upon things as they are, and to make reasonable provision for whatever they may be. Were armies to be raised whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we never should have been without them. Our resources would have been exhausted on dangers which have never happened, instead of being reserved for what is really to take place.
The Sixth Annual Message, 1806, 549
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
This message, delivered in writing rather than in person, is what we now call the annual “State of the Union Address.” The Constitution requires it.
Jefferson reported, among other things:
a. Negotiations with England over their harassment of American shipping;
b. Continued Spanish occupation of American land west of the Mississippi;
c. Private military efforts against Spanish territory (Aaron Burr was not named, but he was the target.);
d. The need to fortify the area around New Orleans.
Against these threats, Jefferson preferred to rely on either volunteer soldiers or the militia. Standing armies had their place but only in dire crises and only temporarily. Potential crises were not enough to justify having an army always at the ready.
Standing armies were expensive to maintain. Their presence could provoke confrontation rather than prevent it. Their existence could put unnecessary power into the hands of the President who commanded them.
Jefferson was not opposed to the use of force. He was opposed to having force available when it was not needed.
Thomas Jefferson stands ready to inspire, instruct & entertain your audience!
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on financial speculation
What’s the real “value” of your money?
Prudent men must be on their guard in this game [financial speculation in paper money] of Robin’s alive, and take care that the spark does not extinguish in their hands. I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but coin. But our whole country is so fascinated by this Jack-lantern wealth, that they will not stop short of its total and fatal explosion.
To Dr. Thomas Cooper, 1814, 682
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson strongly preferred an economy based on assets of fixed or known value. Gold and silver coins fit that bill. So did wheat or tobacco, which could be traded for other goods.
He hated the speculation that went on with paper money, because it had no intrinsic value. Some might make money on speculation, but many others might be damaged. His warning was that wise men should be cautious.
This link describes the children’s game “Robin’s alive.” Another explanation compares it to “hot potato,” with a burning stick tossed from player to player, the object being not to get burned. Jefferson’s reference seems to favor the first version, though the danger involved in speculation might be more accurately compared to the second game.
Jack-lantern may arise from an Irish myth described here. It is a dark story about a man named “Stingy Jack” who made deals with the devil. Jack was not a man to be trusted.
No “Robin’s alive” or Jack-lanterns
if you invite Thomas Jefferson to speak to your audience!
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on the value of history
I want to make history interesting and relevant to you. Am I succeeding?
History, by apprising the people of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.
Notes on Virginia, 1782, 3736
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
These words are part of the closing challenge in every presentation I make as Thomas Jefferson. He recognized that human nature does not change. Lessons learned from the past can not only guide the present, they can protect the future.
He was particularly averse to human ambition, the desire of a few to gain authority over the many. He hated the idea that the few … the wealthy, well-born, or those already entrenched in power … were somehow superior to the masses. Reading history would help one recognize ambition, no matter how it presented itself. Once recognized, it could be defeated.
As part of that closing challenge, I pair this thought with another written decades later in 1816 to Charles Yancey, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
Thomas Jefferson on governing principles
How should the United States act toward other nations?
I think, with others, that nations are to be governed according to their own interest, but I am convinced that it is their interest, in the long run to be grateful, faithful to their engagements, even in the worst of circumstances, and honorable and generous always.
To M. de Lafayette, 1790, 5639
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Consider the four principles Jefferson said will benefit a nation, being:
1. Grateful
2. Trustworthy in all situations
3. Honorable
4. Always generous
It is natural for self-interest to direct a nation’s government, but nations don’t exist in a vacuum. They must relate to other nations. Self-interest alone might preclude all four of these qualities, but all four are necessary if a nation is to prosper over the long run. Indeed, it is in a nation’s self-interest to be grateful, trustworthy, honorable and generous.
Jefferson would apply the same measures to an individual, self-interest tempered by these qualities.
Learn more about Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on getting along with others.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on acts of tyranny
Are terrorism and slavery connected?
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.
Rights of British America, 1774, 8642
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
The full title of this document, published as a brochure, was Summary View of the Rights of British America. It is more commonly called Summary View.
Summary View is much longer than the Declaration of Independence which followed two years later but laid the groundwork for it. It outlined the rights and privileges of loyal British citizens, which most Americans considered themselves to be in 1774. Summary View also brought to public awareness the young lawyer from Virginia and his skill with the written word.
Although written for the delegates to the First Continental Congress about England, its king and their offenses toward the American colonies, it has relevance today. Just yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the Al-Qaeda attacks on America. September 11 wasn’t a single offense, and it wasn’t their first one, but it certainly was the most noticeable act, a watershed in its an ongoing campaign “of reducing us to slavery.”
Thomas Jefferson’s lessons in fighting terrorists will benefit your audiences today!
Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
Thomas Jefferson on monarchies
Is one king just as bad as another?
I was much an enemy to monarchies before I came to Europe. I am ten thousand times more so, since I have seen what they are.
Thomas Jefferson to General Washington, 1788, 5350
Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Not much explanation needed. Jefferson had been minister to France since 1784 when he wrote this. Before, he had known monarchies only from a distance. Now, he had seen them up close and personal for four years. To Jefferson, monarchies were the antithesis of republican government.
America still doesn’t have a king, and Thomas Jefferson is one of the reasons.
Learn why. He’ll be happy to tell you. Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739
