The Jefferson Lies

The
J
EFFERSON LIES

The
J
EFFERSON LIES

Exposing the Myths You've Always
Believed about Thomas Jefferson

DAVID BARTON

© 2012 by David Barton

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from
THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION
. © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Scripture quotations marked
NIV
are taken from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
^®
. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked
KJV
are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barton, David, 1954-

   The Jefferson lies : exposing the myths you've always believed about Thomas Jefferson / David Barton.

         p. cm.

   ISBN 978-1-59555-459-8 (hardback)

   ISBN: 9781595554604 (eBook)

   1. Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826. 2. Presidents--United States--Biography. I. Title.

   E332.B295 2012

   973.4'6092--dc23

   [B]

2011051543

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QGF 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Foreword
by Glenn Beck

Editors' Notes

Introduction:
Rediscovering Thomas Jefferson

Lie # 1:
Thomas Jefferson Fathered Sally Hemings' Children

Lie # 2:
Thomas Jefferson Founded a Secular University

Lie # 3:
Thomas Jefferson Wrote His Own Bible and Edited Out the Things He Didn't Agree With

Lie # 4:
Thomas Jefferson Was a Racist Who Opposed Equality for Black Americans

Lie # 5:
Thomas Jefferson Advocated a Secular Public Square through the Separation of Church and State

Lie # 6:
Thomas Jefferson Detested the Clergy

Lie # 7:
Thomas Jefferson Was an Atheist and Not a Christian

Conclusion:
Thomas Jefferson: An American Hero

Notes

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Foreword

vii

I
recently learned that the United States government was actually trying to strip God out of a private homeless shelter for previously incarcerated women struggling in Colorado. That's right, Marilyn Vyzourek, the woman who runs an organization called Gospel Shelters for Women, was told that she could no longer offer Bible studies at her shelter. Why did they have that ability? Because our government, which happily funds all kinds of programs championed by the secular left, decided that the shelter's acceptance of two $25,000 federal grants made them subservient to their will.

It's not surprising. In fact, it's just the latest in a decades-old attempt by progressive secularists to keep religion entirely separate from the government.
Everyone
knows that's just what Thomas Jefferson intended when he penned the words “separation of church and state,” right?

Well, not quite.

My friend, historian David Barton, takes on this long-held falsehood about the separation of church and state and proves once and for all that our Founding Father was no secularist. Not even close. Did you know, for instance, that when Jefferson was president in 1800 he helped start church services
inside
the US Capitol? Those services grew to include more than two thousand people attending each week, and it became one of the biggest churches in America at the time.

And that's just the beginning.

viii

Why does the Left continue to misquote Jefferson, accuse him of being anti-God, and attribute evil deeds to him? Because they know that if they are able to discredit and dismiss Jefferson and our other Founders, then we are that much closer to surrendering our birthright and our natural freedoms. These myths have flourished in our educational institutions in recent years and have become accepted as truth. It's a poison in our nation's system that can only be flushed out by light and truth.

There are three things I've learned from Thomas Jefferson and have tried hard to apply in my own life: (1) Question with boldness, (2) Hold to the truth, and (3) Speak without fear. In
The Jefferson Lies
, David Barton boldly questions the myths about Jefferson and arms you with the well-researched truth. I ask you to read it, learn from it, and then to go speak without fear.

Oh, by the way, Marilyn Vyzourek refused to back down from the government's demands. The government may have stripped her of federal money, but that would not be the end of Gospel Shelters for Women. When I heard about her story I decided to replace the money they'd lost with a personal contribution. After all, sometimes questioning with boldness involves more than just words; it requires action.

I like to think Thomas Jefferson would have smiled just a little if he were still around.

G
LENN
B
ECK

Editors' Notes

ix

M
any early American historical quotes have been used in this book—quotes made at a time when grammatical usage and spelling were quite different from what is practiced today. In an effort to improve readability and flow, we have modernized all spellings and puncuations in the historical quotes used throughout this work, leaving the historical content unimpaired.

As an example of the very different colonial spelling of words, consider the opening language of the Pilgrims' Mayflower Compact of 1620 (the words misspelled by today's standards are underlined):

We whose names are
underwriten
, the loyall subjects of our dread
soveraigne
Lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great
Britaine
,
Franc
, & Ireland king, defender of the faith, &c.,
haveing
undertaken, for the
glorie
of God, and
advancemente
of the Christian faith, and
honour
of our king &
countrie
, a voyage to plant the first
colonie
in the
Northerne
parts of Virginia,
doe
by these presents solemnly &
mutualy
in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine
our selves togeather
into a
civill
body
politick
.

The use of modern spellings will not change any meanings in the quotes. By referring to the sources in the footnotes, the reader will be able to examine the original spelling should he or she so desire.

x

Similarly distracting to today's readers is the early use of capitals and commas. For an example of the copious use of commas, refer to the previous example; to see the excessive use of capitals, notice this excerpt from a 1749 letter written by signer of the Declaration Robert Treat Paine (underlined words would not be capitalized today):

I
Believe
the Bible to be the written word of God & to
Contain
in it the whole
Rule
of
Faith
& manners; I consent to the Assemblys
Shorter
Chatachism as being
Agreable
to the
Reveal'd
 
Will
of God & to contain in it the
Doctrines
that are
According
to Godliness. I have for some time had a desire to attend upon the Lords Supper and to
Come
to that divine
Institution
of a
Dying
Redeemer, And I trust I'm now convinced that it is my
Duty Openly
to profess him least he be ashamed to own me
An Other
day; I humbly therefore desire that you would receive me into your
Communion
&
Fellowship
, & I beg your
Prayers
for me that
Grace
may be carried on in my soul to
Perfection
, & that I may live answerable to the
Profession
I now make which (God
Assisting
) I purpose to be the main
End
of all my
Actions
.

In a further effort to improve readability, the modern rules of capitalization and punctuation have also been followed in the quotes throughout this book. These changes will not affect or alter the meaning of the content in the quotes.

Finally, the author, a professing Christian, personally chooses to capitalize all nouns or pronouns referring to God, Biblical Deity, or the Bible as a sign of his personal respect for his Biblical faith.

I
NTRODUCTION
Rediscovering Thomas Jefferson

xi

W
hen I speak at universities and law schools across the nation, schools full of America's best and brightest students, I like to display a slide of the famous painting of the signers of the Declaration of Independence that hangs inside the Rotunda of the US Capitol. While displaying that slide, I often comment that it is unfortunate that the Founding Fathers were a collective group of racists, bigots, and slaveholders. Almost always I receive nods of sad affirmation from the students.

I then ask them to identify which signers in the painting owned slaves. Everyone immediately points to Thomas Jefferson, but to date no one has ever pointed out a second example. They have been taught that the Founding Fathers were racists. They know that Jefferson owned slaves; apparently that is all that is necessary to prove that the rest of the fifty-six also owned slaves. Yet a large majority of the Declaration signers were antislavery, introduced or passed antislavery legislation, or founded or led antislavery societies (including Jefferson—something students are never told).

Because of the many modern disparagements, these students have no idea that very few individuals in history have received as many titles of honor as Thomas Jefferson, including “Apostle of Liberty,”
¹
“Man of the People,”
²
“Pen of the Revolution,”
³
“father of the Declaration of Independence,”
⁴
“the defender of the rights of man and the rights of conscience,”
⁵
the “Sage of Monticello,”
⁶
and “the apostle of Democracy.”
⁷