The memorial is open & under maintenance with climate driven flooding at the Tidal Basin. Tom’s face has some cobwebs, and his reputation is also ebbing, as the stain of his slave exploitation will never wash. So, let’s clear up why he has a monument. Among other things, Jefferson was Governor of Virginia, Ambassador to France, codifier of religious freedom, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, proposer of the Bill of Rights, Washington’s Secretary of State, John Adams’ Vice President, 3rd President, purchaser of the Louisiana Territory, appointer of Lewis & Clark, President of the American Philosophical Society, founder of the University of Virginia, and classical architect whose memorial resembles his own work, Monticello.

Jefferson was also a racist who owned hundreds of slaves in his lifetime, fathered children with one beginning when Sally Hemmings was a teenager, and sold over 100 slaves at auction through his will. He opposed slavery in theory and condemned it in his original draft of the Declaration (edited out to placate Georgia and South Carolina). But despite his ideals, Jefferson feared a Haitian-style rebellion and believed there was too much animosity between people of different races to reconcile and live together in peace. As President, Jefferson began removing Native Americans from the southeast in return for “new” land around Oklahoma (which was already populated with Native Americans).

Recognizing what he did that was wrong, we need to imagine what he could have done better, beyond freeing all his slaves, and not just Sally and her children. Nationally he should done more to end slavery, As a slave-owning President who added the Louisiana Territory to our country, Jefferson was uniquely suited to end slavery and offer reparations to slaves by setting aside a significant portion of that territory for ex-slaves to homestead. Similarly, instead of removing Native Americans from their sacred homelands, Jefferson should have honored and signed more treaties protecting their land and culture, especially in the “new” territory.

I view Jefferson as having missed his opportunity to solve those great moral challenges. But I have little patience for people who criticize Jefferson for his moral failings, without considering whether they themselves are doing enough about the greatest moral challenge of our time. Jefferson hated the idea that people would live “under the barbarism of their ancestors”. Jefferson was a student of science who loved nature, so he would be appalled by our lack of action in stopping the climate crisis.

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

Thomas Jefferson