Information on these pages comes from the materials for teachers on the PBS website for this film.
Using the Student Study Sheets in the Classroom
The study sheets exploring political, religious, social, intellectual, and personal freedom can be printed
out and distributed to students. (Study sheets are provided on PBS ONLINE courtesy of General
Motors.)
When using the study sheets in conjunction with the series Thomas Jefferson (PBS airdate:
February 18-19, 1997), it is recommended that the sheets discussing political and religious freedom
be used to enhance your students' viewing of the first part of the series. The study sheets on social
and intellectual freedom are designed for use in conjunction with the second part of the series; and
the study sheet on personal freedom is suggested as a review.
An overview of each study sheet and suggested responses to the discussion questions posed in each
sheet are provided here: (each is now on a separate page along with study sheets)
Bibliography for the Student Study Sheets:
Thomas Jefferson, Writings, ed. Merrill D. Peterson, The Library of America 17 (1984).
Andrew Burstein, The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist (1995).
Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Times, 6 vols. (1948-81).
John C. Miller, The Wolf by the Ears (1980).
Merrill D. Peterson, Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation (1970).
Using the Supreme Court Cases in the Classroom
Since the founding documents of the United States were penned, there have been conflicts over how
these documents should be interpreted in everyday life. Three Supreme Court cases are presented
here to illustrate how judicial review serves to clarify issues in such disputes:
Engel v. Vitale - Prayer in the Public Schools
United States v. Eichman - Burning the American Flag
Brown v. Board of Education - Racial Segregation in Public Schools
The cases have been summarized to highlight key concepts, and links have been provided to relevant
Web sites for supporting material and transcripts of the court opinions. The material presented online
can serve as a reference for the educator or as an exploration activity for students. The cases can
also be used with discussions introduced in the Student Study Sheets. At the end of Engel V. Vitale
and United States v. Eichman, students can share their opinions online by indicating whether or not
they agree with the Supreme Court's ruling in each of these cases.
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Political Freedom: An Expression of the American Mind
This study sheet focuses on the pivotal event of Jefferson's early years in public life, his authorship of
The Declaration of Independence. The sheet calls attention to Jefferson's writing style as the most
distinctive feature of the Declaration, which for the most part, as Jefferson acknowledged, restated
ideas that were commonplace at the time.
A comparison between the most memorable passage of Jefferson's document and a parallel passage
from George Mason's nearly simultaneous "Declaration of Rights" should help students appreciate
that Jefferson was but one voice in a chorus reciting the reasons for self-government and, more
importantly, help them tune into the special music of his voice, which has made his words seem the
incantation that called our nation into being. A transcript of Jefferson's original draft for this passage is
provided to illustrate for students that Jefferson worked hard to achieve the "tone and spirit" that have
made his words immortal. You might underscore this point by having a member of the class read
Jefferson's first draft aloud.
Discussion
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
In comparing these different statements of a common set of ideas, students will
probably notice that Jefferson's final version is more concise, more direct and more
positive. The most revealing aspect of Jefferson's style is his dramatization of these
ideas. His "We" provides a speaker of the truths, almost a witness, and the introduction
of a "Creator" in his final version provides a kind of protagonist whose actions illustrate
the relationship among the ideas. Jefferson's "Creator" also imparts a sacred and
scriptural quality to his final statement. Through these devices, Jefferson makes the
abstract truths outlined by Mason seem concrete facts observed in nature and at the
same time makes them seem divine truths revealed by God.
Daniel Boorstin's comment may lead students to notice how Jefferson's phrase "life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness" opens out to embrace possibilities, particularly in
contrast to Mason's emphasis on holding tight to what one has
("acquire...possess...pursue and obtain"). Together with the dramatic turn Jefferson
has given to these ideas, which creates the impression of a dynamic process, this
closing phrase gives the passage a tone of promise and aspiration. For Americans, in
short, these words are inspirational, not a simple demonstration of self-evident facts.
They spur us to achieve political freedom rather than take it for granted.
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Political Freedom
Student Study Sheet "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."
Thomas Jefferson considered the Declaration of Independence his greatest achievement. It marked the
beginning of self-government in America, kindling a flame that he believed would eventually light the world. But
the Declaration was a personal achievement for Jefferson as well, a masterpiece of eloquence that still inspires
us today.
Near the end of his life, Jefferson explained his goal in writing the Declaration of Independence:
Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had
never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and
firm as to command their assent... Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any
particular or previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that
expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.
It is the "tone and spirit" of Jefferson's writing that make the Declaration of Independence something more than
a statement of political principles. To see this, compare Jefferson's words to those of another Virginian, George
Mason, whose "Declaration of Rights" was adopted by the Virginia assembly on June 12, 1776, while Jefferson
was still working on his first draft.
George Mason Declaration of Rights
All men are by nature equally free and independent, and have
certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of
society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their
posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means
of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining
happiness and safety.
Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence We
hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...
The ideas in the two passages are almost identical, and may even be more clearly explained by George Mason.
But in Jefferson's hands these ideas become charged with the "tone and spirit" of conviction. Instead of setting
down political facts, he affirms eternal truths about humanity. Instead of spelling things out, he makes us feel
that more remains to be said.
Jefferson's draft of the Declaration shows that he worked hard to give this passage its distinctive style. Mark the
changes he made on the transcript shown below, then compare Jefferson's draft with the passage by George
Mason and with his own final choice of words.
Thomas Jefferson Draft of the Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be sacred &
undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent; that from that equal creation they derive rights
inherent & inalienable; that among these are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness;

What differences do you notice among these nearly parallel expressions of our most basic political
beliefs? What do these differences reveal about Jefferson's mind and character?
In Thomas Jefferson, the historian Daniel Boorstin says that Jefferson was the apostle of a society that
constantly responds to changes in the world, a society open to new possibilities. Looking at the Declaration of
Independence from this point of view, to what extent does Jefferson tell us not what we are as Americans but
what we can be?
This study sheet provided on PBS ONLINE courtesy of General Motors
for Thomas Jefferson, "A General Motors Mark of Excellence Presentation."
Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress/Corbis.
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Religious Freedom: Almighty God Hath Created the Mind Free
This study sheet examines Jefferson's Statute of Religious Freedom, which finally gained passage
while he was serving as minister to France. Students are asked to consider why Jefferson had a
reputation as an enemy to religion depite his lifelong commitment to freedom of conscience. Because
Jefferson so frequently mentions God in his writings, students may find it hard to believe that his
contemporaries could call him an atheist or infidel. You might sharpen the situation with this anecdote
from John Adams: During the whole time I sat with him in [the Continental] Congress...the most of a
speech he ever made in my hearing was a gross insult on religion...for which I gave him immediately
the reprehension which he richly merited. What sort of "gross insult" could have come from this man
who seems so deeply conscious of God? An excerpt from Jefferson's statute and a series of guided
questions are provided to help students find an answer.
Students may also wish to consider the Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale in the course of the
discussion on religious freedom.
Discussion
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
The sections of Jefferson's statute eliminated by the Virginia assembly characterize the
mind as influenced only by reason and evidence. Not even willpower, Jefferson says,
can make us believe in something or keep us from believing what answers to reason;
certainly the government cannot. If we accept this view, however, there is little point in
having religious traditions or religious teachings. Every individual must discover a basis
for belief on his own, or as Thomas Paine would later phrase it in The Age of Reason
(1794), "My own mind is my own church." This is not just freedom of religion but
freedom from religion.
Religious officials would feel threatened by Jefferson's overwhelmingly negative
attitude toward the church and church doctrine. He portrays organized religion here as
destructive of human potential, an opponent to the divine order and in almost every
case an enemy to truth. From the point of view of those who administer religious
institutions and believe themselves sanctified by God, this is not only offensive but
blasphemous. It is the kind of talk John Adams probably took as a "gross insult," the
kind of logic defenders of the faith would call diabolical. Without actually saying so,
Jefferson seems to see no need for ministers and churches in an individual's religious
life; to the contrary, such outside influences are most likely to undermine one's religious
freedom and lead one astray.
The only "truth" Jefferson seems to accept is the fact that God exists and has empowered the mind
with freedom. Armed with freedom, the mind can guard itself against error and gain knowledge, which
is (we might assume) the first step toward happiness for individuals and society. This radical faith in
freedom would probably set Jefferson apart from most religious people today, though it is debatable
whether he would be considered an enemy of religion.
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Religious Freedom Student Study Sheet
"Almighty God hath created the mind free..."
Next to the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson took greatest pride in his authorship of the Virginia
Statute of Religious Freedom, which, as his friend James Madison said, "extinguished forever the ambitious
hope of making laws for the human mind."
Jefferson wrote this statute in 1777, when he had returned from the Continental Congress to begin a wholesale
revision of Virginia's laws that would eradicate every trace of aristocratic privilege hidden in them. At the time,
"the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience" was an established right in Virginia. Yet
Jefferson's statute was bitterly opposed and led to what he later called "the severest contest in which I have
ever been engaged."
The statute finally passed in 1786, thanks to the political skills of James Madison and only after the assembly
had deleted significant portions of Jefferson's original law. Partly as a result of this victory, however, Jefferson
gained a reputation as an enemy of religion. Thirty years later he wrote that "the priests indeed have...thought it
proper to ascribe to me...anti-religious sentiments...They wished him to be thought atheist deist, or devil, who
could advocate freedom from their religious dictations."
Why did Jefferson's defense of religious freedom backfire in this way? Read this excerpt from Jefferson's
statute, which shows the main sections crossed out by the Virginia assembly in parentheses. Then try to answer
the questions below.
Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom
(Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the
evidence proposed to their minds; that) Almighty God hath created the mind free, (and manifested his supreme
will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;) that all attempts to influence it by
temporal punishments...tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan
of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by
coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, (but to extend it by its influence on reason alone;) that
the impious presumption of legislators...[who] have assumed dominion over the faith of others...hath established
and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world;...(that the opinions of men are not the object
of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;)...and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that
she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human
interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when
it is permitted freely to contradict them.


How did the assembly's deletions limit Jefferson's conception of religious freedom? How did their
changes limit his conception of the mind's freedom?
Why would religious officials feel threatened by Jefferson's statute? What attitude does he express
toward churches and church doctrine? What role does he provide for ministers and churches in an
individual's religious life?
What is the "truth" Jefferson believes will prevail when left to itself? What truth does Jefferson himself believe
in? Would he be considered an enemy of religion today?
This study sheet provided on PBS ONLINE courtesy of General Motors
for Thomas Jefferson, "A General Motors Mark of Excellence Presentation.""
Photograph courtesy of the Library of Virginia.
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Social Freedom: The Age of Experiments in Government
This study sheet highlights Jefferson's struggle against the advocates of a strong centralized federal
government in the 1790s and his success in establishing a more democratic and limited form of
government through his organization of the Republican party.
The underlying principle here is social freedom, the liberty which we exercise as self-governing
members of a local community and which safeguards our pursuit of economic opportunity. In this
context, students might see the Federalist philosophy of Alexander Hamilton as based on social
control while Jefferson's Republican philosophy was based on social change (though this is only one
of many important points of contrast). These two tendencies revealed their self-destructive potential in
1798, when the Federalists exerted control by imprisoning their opponents and Jefferson, in his
Kentucky Resolutions, encouraged change almost to the point of dissolving the Union itself. The study
sheet presents an excerpt from this legislation showing Jefferson's reaction to the governmental crisis
of 1798, and a contrasting excerpt from his first inaugural address in 1800, showing his view when the
crisis had passed.
Students may also wish to consider the Supreme Court case United States v. Eichman in the course
of the discussion on social freedom.
Discussion

Jefferson's contrasting descriptions of American government, one founded in
"jealousy," the other in "affection," are the two sides of a single coin. The former
expresses Jefferson's innate distrust of political authority, his unshakable suspicion that
all rulers are incipient tyrants. The latter expresses Jefferson's similarly innate faith in
the American people, his conviction that beneath their differences and despite their
disputes they share a common purpose and even a common destiny. In 1798,
Jefferson speaks for the people, defending them against the threat of tyranny. In 1800,
he speaks to the people, inviting them to reconstitute the union which is the true source
of their strength. In both cases, he speaks as a champion of freedom, on the one hand
asserting its power to restrain despotism, on the other invoking its power to restore
fellow-feelings among those whom opinion had divided. Students might note, too, that
Jefferson speaks on both occasions for a government based in human emotions - at
the moment of crisis, jealousy, and in his moment of triumph, jealousy's counterpart,
love.
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Social Freedom Student Study Sheet
"Free government is founded in jealousy..."
Thomas Jefferson returned from his post as minister to France in 1789, expecting to resume his private life at
Monticello. Instead, he learned that he had been appointed the nation's first Secretary of State by President
George Washington. For the next twenty years, with little break, he would play a leading role in the "experiment"
of creating a national government.
From Jefferson's point of view, the experiment began badly. Most policies were set by the Treasury Secretary,
Alexander Hamilton, who believed that "stability and order in Government...are essential to public strength and
private security and happiness." Jefferson believed just the opposite: that private happiness is the source, not
the result, of stable government. He saw Hamilton's approach as a form of monarchy and a betrayal of
democratic principles.
Those who shared Jefferson's fears soon formed the Republican party, while Hamilton's supporters became
known as the Federalists. In 1798, while Jefferson was Vice President, attacks in the press led the Federalists
to pass the Sedition Act, which outlawed all opposition to the government, whether by protest or in print.
Jefferson responded by secretly drafting a resolution for the Kentucky legislature (see below) that claimed states
have the right to overrule any federal law they believe to be unconstitutional. For Jefferson, government had
become a struggle for power.
Two years later, Jefferson was himself President, brought to power by what he would call the Revolution of
1800, which swept Federalists out of office. Delivering his first inaugural address, Jefferson now saw the
workings of American government in an entirely different light.
Compare Jefferson's two descriptions of the American system of government, the one founded in "jealousy," the
other in generosity of spirit.
The Kentucky Resolutions
Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism - free
government is founded in jealousy...; it is jealousy and not
confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind
down those whom we are obliged to trust with power:...let
the honest advocate of confidence read the alien and
sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise
in fixing limits to the government it created, and whether
we should be wise in destroying those limits. Let him say
what the government is, if it be not a tyranny, which the
men of our choice have conferred on our President, and the
President of our choice has assented to...In questions of
power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but
bind him down from mischief by the chains of the
Constitution.


Jefferson's First Inaugural Address
Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one
mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and
affection without which liberty and even life itself are but
dreary things....every difference of opinion is not a
difference of principle. We have called by different names
brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we
are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish
to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let
them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with
which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left
free to combat it....This is the sum of good government, and
this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
To what degree are they contradictory? To what degree are they counterparts to one another?
What common principles or beliefs unite them as expressions of Jefferson's political philosophy?
How can both be attributed to Jefferson's unshakable faith in freedom as the binding force of human society?
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Intellectual Freedom: The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind
This study sheet focuses on Jefferson's final great accomplishment, founding the University of Virginia
in the decades after he left the Presidency, the culmination of his forty-year-long effort to establish
public education in his home state.
The sheet provides an excerpt from Jefferson's 1818 report on plans for the University of Virginia, in
which he stresses the role education plays in moral and social improvement. Finally, the sheet
introduces students to some of the innovative features Jefferson incorporated in his university, and
draws attention to some of the ways his thoughts on the purpose and nature of higher education are
reflected in his design for the Charlottesville campus. By all these avenues, students are led to
recognize the central importance of intellectual freedom in Jefferson's philosophy, its vital function as
the enabling force behind the exercise of freedom in politics, religion and society.
Students may also wish to consider the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in the
course of the discussion on intellectual freedom.
Discussion


It is of course possible to read too much into the physical features of the university
Jefferson designed. Some of its seemingly most symbolic features were motivated in
part by plain pragmatism: the preference for an "academical village" rather than a
house, for example, was justified as a precaution against the spread of infectious
disease. Yet with Jefferson there can often be a streak of idealism even in his most
pragmatic decisions. Thus, in placing his university on Virginia's western frontier,
Jefferson aimed first, obviously, to keep it in view of his mountaintop home and under
his strict supervision. The setting was appropriate, however, for an institution intended
to send out scouting parties across intellectual frontiers and eventually lead American
civilization into new territories of useful knowledge.
Jefferson took the idea for the lawn at the center of his university from the traditional
New England town green, transposing it from common property into a common
meeting place, a non-urban town square designed to encourage community and the
free exchange of ideas outside the boundaries of school and subject. And while
Jefferson's desire to provide examples of various architectural styles may have been a
prime consideration in his domed design for the university library, we can also see in
the building an echo of the hills surrounding it and can at least suspect that Jefferson
wished to position his university students symbolically between the complementary
sources of all knowledge, books written by human industry and the infinite book of
nature.
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Intellectual Freedom Student Study Sheet
"Educating the common people" is the only "sure
foundation...for the preservation of freedom and happiness."
Thomas Jefferson considered the founding of the University of Virginia the last great accomplishment of his life.
He had first proposed the idea in 1779, as part of a public education system that would give all Virginians the
opportunity to advance from grade school through college. Over the decades, Jefferson encouraged others to
have his plan implemented, for he believed that "educating the common people" is the only "sure foundation...for
the preservation of freedom and happiness."
Finally, when he retired from the Presidency in 1810, Jefferson was able to champion the cause of education
himself and eventually found support for a new state university - really a new kind of university, one that would
teach students to search out new knowledge rather than instruct them in the lessons of the past.
His university, Jefferson wrote, would be "based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind to explore and to
expose every subject susceptible of its contemplation." And it would be open to all with a mind to begin that
exploration, regardless of rank or religion.
To house this new kind of university, Jefferson invented the first college campus, believing, as he said, that "a
University should not be a house but a village." For nearly eight years Jefferson directed construction of this
academic community, designing individual homes where the college professors would both live and teach, and
linking these with dormitories for the students along the sides of a great lawn, with a massive domed library at
one end and an open view of the Blue Ridge Mountains at the other.
Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia, 1818
Education...engrafts a new man on the native stock, and improves what in his nature was vicious and perverse
into qualities of virtue and social worth. And...each generation, succeeding to the knowledge acquired by all
those who preceded it...must advance the knowledge and well-being of mankind, not infinitely, as some have
said, but indefinitely, and to a term which no one can fix and foresee....How much more encouraging to the
achievements of science and improvement is this, than the desponding view that the condition of man cannot be
ameliorated, that what has been must ever be, and that to secure ourselves where we are, we must tread with
awful reverence in the footsteps of our fathers.




How does the University of Virginia reflect Jefferson's ideas about the nature and purpose of a
university?
Why would he think a university belongs in the foothills of Virginia's western frontier?
Why would he center university life around a lawn?
Why would he place the university's students between a library and a view of unspoiled nature?
How do Jefferson's ideas about the intellectual freedom fostered by a university connect with his beliefs about
freedom in government, religion and society?
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Personal Freedom: The Pursuit of Happiness
This study sheet provides an opportunity to review Jefferson's character and career by highlighting the
most constant preoccupation of his life, his mountaintop home, Monticello.
The sheet presents Monticello as the meeting place for two tragically intertwined aspects of
Jefferson's existence, his exuberant pursuit of happiness through intellectual exploration and social
exchange, and his appalling acceptance of slavery as the foundation of his domestic economy.
Students are provided with an excerpt from Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia where he
unflinchingly examines the moral destructiveness of slavery on both sides of the master/slave
relationship. And they are asked to ponder how this peerless advocate of human freedom in all its
forms could so deeply violate his most cherished principle.
Students may also wish to consider the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in the
course of the discussion on personal freedom.
Discussion

The questions posed on this study sheet have baffled every Jefferson scholar, but they
are questions which anyone who hopes to understand Jefferson must struggle to
answer. As the sheet suggests, one might use these questions to probe one's own
commitment to the principles Jefferson articulated, for although none of us faces so
stark a dilemma as Jefferson, we all to some degree accept social inequality, economic
exploitation and political powerlessness as unfortunate but ineradicable facts of life as
we pursue our personal happiness. It is in this context that the quotation Ken Burns
has chosen as a kind of motto for his film biography of Jefferson becomes especially
revealing, and the questions it raises may offer students the most promising avenue for
coming to terms with the Thomas Jefferson's paradoxical nature.
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Personal Freedom
Student Study Sheet "There must doubtless be an unhappy influence
on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us."
Thomas Jefferson began building his mountaintop home, Monticello, at the start of his public career, and began
rebuilding it in 1796, when he felt driven from public life by the Federalists. He added rooms for his near-dozen
grandchildren and completely remodeled the appearance of the place to reflect his more refined architectural
tastes. Construction continued to the end of his life, with many of his plans still unrealized. Yet Monticello has
been called the most perfect work of American architecture and the most perfect reflection of the man who
made it.
"The art of life," Jefferson once wrote, "is the art of avoiding pain. [And] the most effectual means of being
secure against pain is to retire within ourselves, and to suffice for our own happiness. Those, which depend on
ourselves, are the only pleasures a wise man will count on: for nothing is ours which another may deprive us of.
Hence the inestimable value of intellectual pleasures."
At Monticello, Jefferson could live this philosophy to the fullest, pursuing happiness in his books, in his building
schemes, in his gardening and farming experiments, in his collection of natural curiosities and fine art objects,
and in devising clever inventions (like a swivel chair and a set of self-opening doors) that made everyday life
more convenient. Here, too, he could pursue the pleasures of society, gathering his family around him,
entertaining his wide circle of friends and writing letters for hours each day to men and women throughout the
United States and Europe.
Yet all Jefferson's happiness at Monticello, his whole "art of avoiding pain," came at the cost of inflicting pain on
others - the pain of slavery. Slaves built Jefferson's home and rebuilt it. Slaves cultivated his gardens and fields.
Slaves cared for his grandchildren and served his friends. Jefferson owned slaves throughout his life, kept a
slave beside him as he wrote the Declaration of Independence, brought slaves to Washington as he restored
democracy to American government. While other Virginians freed their slaves, Jefferson remained a slaveholder
to his death. Slaves even dug his grave.
Jefferson spoke out against slavery in his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia.
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
unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other...The man must be a prodigy
who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances. And with what execration should
the statesman be loaded, who [permits] one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other....Can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of
the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever...
He saw the evil in slavery, sought to prevent its spread into the western territories, and even offered legislation
for emancipation. But by the end of his life, he could only hope that "time, which outlives all things, will outlive
this evil also."


How can one reconcile Jefferson's acceptance of slavery with his lifelong devotion to freedom? In his
film biography, Ken Burns frames this question as both the central paradox of Jefferson's personality
and the most troubling part of his legacy to our nation. How would you answer the question?
How might your answer to the question above reflect on your own treatment of others as you engage in
"the pursuit of happiness" and enjoy the blessings of liberty?
Near the beginning of Thomas Jefferson, Ken Burns quotes a letter Jefferson wrote to his daughter Patsy:
"Every human being must be viewed according to what it is good for; for none of us, no, not one, is perfect; and
were we to love none who had imperfections, this world would be a desert for our love."
How might Jefferson's words apply to Jefferson himself? What has history shown he was "good for" despite his
"imperfections?"
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