Vacation – Part 2 – Mr. Jefferson

While vacationing in Virginia, we traveled 2 ½ hours to Monticello and the 5,000 acre home of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. Yet Jefferson touts three other things on his tombstone: Governor of Virginia, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the founder of the University of Virginia.

Jefferson took forty years to build the home and other buildings—much of his life--from land he inherited from his father. Along with that came slaves, of which more than 100 lived on the plantation at a time. Of particular interest to the visitor is the slave Sally Hemmings. She apparently had as many as six children by Jefferson, which tour guides spoke of matter-of-factly, perhaps as an attempt to ward off cover-up accusations by visitors.
It is interesting to note that only members of the Hemmings family were released from slavery following Mr. Jefferson’s death. What also strikes me is the contrast between what Jefferson wrote, and how he conducted this part of his life. In the declaration of Independence he wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Owning slaves and writing these words are quite a contradiction, don’t you think? Yet our words very often are compromised by our actions. Marriage vows are broken, promises we make to God and His Church are not kept, and solemn promises we make to friends, we cannot, or won’t keep.

There’s lots of room for repentance, and correction, in all of those things, don’t you think? As for Mr. Jefferson, he wrote down the baseline by which our country, with its freedoms, was build. As Christians, our baseline is the Bible. I hope you are reading it regularly.