The “ring of freedom”

Lucian K. Truscott IV writes “ I’m a Direct Descendant of Thomas Jefferson. Take Down His Memorial….Monticello is shrine enough for a man who wrote that “all men are created equal” and yet never did much to make those words come true.” What Mr. Truscott fails to acknowledge is that it is indeed Jefferson’s words not his deeds that came true.

Thomas Jefferson along with the other Founders of America lived over two centuries ago and while that is not to say their acceptance of a slave/plantation system should be defended it should be considered among other political/social issues of the time. In Jefferson’s case the most pressing issue was freedom for the American people from the British Monarchy along with the creation of a new form of government established with the “consent of the governed” even if at the the time the “consent” of people of color was not considered.

Thomas Jefferson and his contemporaries should not be memorialized because of any acts they did or did not perform but rather because of the myths they created for us to live by. Those myths have allowed most Americans to behave as Abraham Lincoln hoped they would in his first inaugural speech, which took place one hundred years after Jefferson.

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic…