Thomas Jefferson

Of Statues and Symbolic Murder

Iconoclasts seek to assault the sensibilities of those they oppose, and utterly destroy all physical evidence that such views ever existed. Continue Reading »

26 Jun 2020

Can Nationalism Unite Us?

by Bradford Littlejohn

In The Case for Nationalism, Rich Lowry argues that America’s strong nationalist tradition should be preserved. Continue Reading »

6 Dec 2019

The tension between American democracy, capitalism, and culture is acute—more acute, perhaps, than at any time in our history. Even the best human fruits of this nation’s founding principles are in peril. I mean the principles of natural rights and the internal constitution of checks and . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2013

Thanking the Puritans on Thanksgiving

by Peter Lawler

There’s little less fashionable today than praising the Puritans, especially for their egalitarian political idealism, their promotion of genuinely humane and liberating learning, and their capacity for enjoyment and human happiness. Praising the Puritans is especially difficult for us because . . . . Continue Reading »

24 Nov 2010

The Pious Infidel

by Steven Waldman

Though the most Deistic of the Founding Fathers, even Jefferson was not a full-fledged Deist if we accept that philosophy as having had two fundamental tenets: a rejection of biblical revelation and a conviction that God, having created the laws of the universe, had receded from day-to-day control . . . . Continue Reading »

19 Mar 2008

The Deist Minimum

by Avery Cardinal Dulles

As Christianity spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, it became apparent that the biblical doctrines concerning God, morality, and future retribution had similarities with the philosophical speculations of the Platonists, Aristotelians, and Stoics. The Fathers and medieval theologians had no . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2005

Publick Religion: Adams v. Jefferson

by John Witte Jr.

The civic catechisms of our day still celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s experiment in religious liberty. To end a millennium of repressive religious establishments, we are taught, Jefferson sought liberty in the twin formulas of privatizing religion and secularizing politics. Religion must be “a . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2004

Jefferson, Adams, and the Natural Aristocracy

by Philip J. Costopoulos

Starting from a common premise and a shared commitment to republicanism, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams arrived at widely divergent conclusions about the problem of aristocracy. As good republicans, both men despised hereditary nobility. But both also affirmed that there exist always and . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 1990