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 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



Jefferson's life was largely spent in the political service of 

 the Nation which he did so much to help create and whose future course 

 of development he did so much to chart. Often referred to as the 

 apostle of democracy, his political principles have become interwoven 

 with the consciousness of the American multitude. More clearly than 

 any of his contemporaries he comprehended the forces that were mould- 

 ing the American political and social structure. Consciously he as- 

 sumed the leadership of these forces, and as a result America became 

 a democracy. Furthermore, it has remained so. largely because of his 

 eminent leadership. Thus, his personality permeated that of his own 

 country and ultimately extended its influence to many other lands. 



Jefferson was born on the frontier of colonial Virginia, and 

 the democracy he enunciated v/as in essence the product of the type of 

 society that gave him life and nurtured him during his formative years. 

 It was on the frontier that age-old traditions, class distinctions, 

 and family prestige — the complexes that differentiate the tradi- 

 tional European civilization from the American — disintegrated and 

 disappeared, and it was to their uprooting and destruction that Jef- 

 ferson dedicated hjs life. The study and thinking of his mature years 

 merely resulted in a rationalization of the heritage from his frontier 

 past. The frontier was agricultural and therefore eminently prac- 

 tical. Likewise is Jefferson's philosophy practical, and its roots, 

 like his, were embedded in an agricultural background. 



Shortly before his death, Jefferson designated the Declaration 

 of Independence, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and the 

 founding of the University of Virginia as the chief contributions of 

 his life. In retrospect it is apparent that Jefferson's judgment of 

 his own services was as unerring as had been his vision of his coun- 

 try's life. The first had provided a creed for democracy. The second 

 was a milestone in the age-long struggle to separate civil governments 

 from religious domination or influence. In one succinct sentence, he 

 disposed of the divergent contentions of centuries. "The opinions 

 of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its juris- 

 diction." Thus, toleration for minority opinions, religious or other- 

 wise, gained a final triumph. Third, but not least, Jefferson realized 

 that if democracy was to survive it must be an intelligent democracy. 

 He therefore did all within his power to further the cause of general 

 education in America. His projected curriculum for education embraced 

 all branches of human knowledge. The sovereignty of human reason was 

 to be enthroned, and all things were to be subjected to investigation 

 and skeptical analysis before acceptance. 



