Philanthropist and statesman, Peter G. Peterson will be the featured speaker at Monticello's commemoration of Jefferson's 268th birthday on April 13 at 10 a.m., on the West Lawn of Monticello. Peterson is the 5th recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Citizen Leadership. He is the...
On July 20, 2010, the New York Times published a thoughtful essay on Jefferson's lessons for relating to the Middle East Ted Widmer of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Says Widmer, "More than most founders, Thomas Jefferson has a way of returning to the news cycle." Read Widmer's...
Guesty commentary ...it is important to strengthen the State governments; and as this cannot be done by any change in the Federal Constitution (for the preservation of that is all we need contend for), it must be done by the States themselves... --Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, December 23,...
Guesty commentary the increase of [federal] revenue ... hastens the moment of liberating our revenue, and of permitting us to begin upon canals, roads, colleges, &c. -- Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, May 29, 1805 W ould Jefferson have supported the current health care reform? It’s hard to...
N ational Public Radio reported yesterday on the adoption of the yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flag by Tea Party activists. They spoke to historian (and former ICJS research fellow and advisory board member) Joseph Ellis about the history of that flag and its symbolism: Text of and audio link to the...
O n Friday, March 12, the Texas Board of Education approved a revised curriculum that cuts Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century. According to the New York Times, the decision may have influence beyond Texas because the...
I mmediately following President Obama’s State of the Union address, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the Republican response and quoted Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address in making the party’s case that “the federal government is simply trying to do too much.” Full text of Gov. McDonnell’s...
Peter Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia (and a great friend of Monticello) wrote a thought-provoking piece in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star about the nature of Americans' views of liberty from the earliest days of the republic: We...
Ben Gelber, meteorologist and author of The Pennsylvania Weather Book , wrote an op-ed piece in today's New York Times in which he examines how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other luminaries of 18th-century science debated issues of climate in their own day. Read the piece at The New York...
In an op-ed piece in today's Boston Globe, Lou Ureneck takes to task the sorry state of modern-day civic affairs. He begins by describing Jefferson, in France in 1787, writing to fellow Virginian Edward Carrington while pondering "the problems of government that guaranteed freedom and ensured the...
