Thomas Jefferson, the Hypocrite?

Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

While this year's America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Breakpoint will examine aspects

of the American story through the lens of a Christian worldview.

Today, why was slavery established in a country built on such a strong Christian consensus?

Thomas Jefferson is rightly called a hypocrite.

In the Declaration of Independence, of course, he wrote these famous lines.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they're

endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit

of happiness.

And yet Jefferson was among America's founders who owned slaves, from thousands of his

writings on the establishment of the United States, it's clear that Jefferson understood

his moral breach.

He held aspirations that slavery would end, but maintained a different reality.

Slavery, he once wrote, is like holding a woof by the ear.

We can neither hold him nor safely let him go.

According to the Jefferson Monticello project, and I quote, he thought that his cherished

federal union, the world's first democratic experiment, would be destroyed by slavery.

To emancipate slaves on American soil, Jefferson thought, would result in a large-scale race

war that would be as brutal and deadly as the slave revolt in Haiti in 1791.

But he also believed that the keepslaves in bondage, with part of America and favor of

abolition and part of America and favor of perpetuating slavery, could only result in

a civil war that would destroy the union.

Now a helpful framework to understand the gulf that often exists between ideals and

practices for a civilization, and certainly in America's founding, comes from the imminent

sociologist, Patirum Sirokin.

Sirokin described three types of cultures, ideational cultures, he thought, see reality

in terms of eternal and transcendental ideals, with knowledge coming from revelation or mystical

experience and values as absolute and eternal.

Sensei cultures, on the other hand, focus on the material world, the here and now they

emphasize values that are situational and relative.

Idealistic cultures somewhat combine the two, seeing life as both physical and spiritual,

bouncing reason within tuition and with values blending ideals and practical concerns.

Jefferson's famous line in the Declaration is certainly ideational, it's an aspiration,

it was not yet a reality on the ground in the colonies.

On the contrary, the arguments made by pro-slavery factions were most often Sensei, what mattered

most to them, was the protection of immediate economic interest.

Not to mention those who justified slave holding by appealing to the New Testament argued

contrary to over 1,500 years of the Christian doctrine of the image of God.

Now for his part, Jefferson just did not see a way to maintain his home at Monticello

without slavery, he was $100,000 in debt when he died.

As such, Jefferson falls into Sirokin's idealistic category, consisting of the ideal that all

people deserve liberty, but also unable to see how to make the ideal a reality in the

here and now.

The gradual elimination of slavery was most often offered as the common solution, such

as what would happen in the northern states.

That view is reflected in his words that are described on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington

DC.

Quote, God who gave us life gave us liberty.

Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties

are a gift of God?

Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that his justice cannot

sleep forever.

The commerce between master and slave is despotism.

Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free

and quote.

In a moving film called Amistad, John Quincy Adams character reflected on his nation's

struggle with the ideal of freedom.

His words in the film were taken from real historical speeches given by this son of John

Adams, including this plea to the founding fathers, quote, we desperately need your

strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, ourselves.

Give us the courage to do what is right and if that means civil war, then let it come.

And when it does, may it be finally the last battle of the American Revolution.

In fact, the civil war was fought in defense of the ideals articulated in the Declaration

of Independence.

However, hypocritical its author was still is in a culture that has in its creeds the

idea that all men are created equal better than a culture that does not have it in its

creeds or anywhere else.

Of course, no culture has ever lived up to that ideal, but most throughout history never

imagined it as an ideal.

Jefferson's words in the Declaration of Independence were aspirational was an ideal for a nation

to work toward.

Though the country certainly had a lot to work out, it aimed it beyond the moment to

a better future.

All ideals do that and the very best ideals are those that are anchored in the truth, especially

the truth that human beings are created in the image of God.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint.

Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine.

If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast.

And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to Breakpoint.org.

Hi there.

I'm Michael Craven, Vice President and Dean of the Colson Fellowship.

Does this sound familiar?

You're a Christian who wants your faith to inform every part of your life, but you're

not sure how to make that connection, especially in the chaotic culture we find ourselves living

in.

That's where the Colson Fellows program can help.

Colson Fellows invest time over 10 months to study how Christianity is so much more than

a private God and me only faith.

It is, as Colson Fellows discovered, the only way of seeing and comprehending reality as

it actually is.

In other words, it is the truth of reality.

The result is a much more confident, courageous faith that's equipped for this in every other

cultural moment.

And this could be you.

Application for next year's class are now open and you can learn more at colsonfellows.org.

That's colsonfellows.org.

I hope to see you in the next class.