His very name evokes thoughts of Renaissance grandeur, Enlightenment ingenuity, and revolutionary ardor. He's a hallmark of American history, praised and memorialized alongside George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and others by all American schoolkids. His epitaph said it all, and yet left a lot unstated: "HERE WAS BURIEDTHOMAS JEFFERSONAUTHOR OF THEDECLARATIONOF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCEOF THESTATUTE OF VIRGINIAFORRELIGIOUS FREEDOMAND FATHER OF THEUNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIABORN APRIL 2, 1743 O.S.DIED JULY 4. 1826"
Real patriot to die on July 4. No, seriously, Jefferson can safely be credited with establishing much of the vital groundwork that would become the United States we all live in today. Having just read Revolutionary Spirits by Gary Kowalski (detailing Jefferson's, among others, religious beliefs) and being in the middle of Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose (about the Lewis and Clark expedition that Jefferson organized), I am even more enamored of this man and all that he accomplished than ever before.
So imagine my consternation when, at a dinner party recently, a guest of a friend, during a discussion about Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists (I know, very elite dinner parties), loudly declared that Thomas Jefferson was "a lecherous bad man" and a few other such insults. Now, being a history buff, I was no stranger to allegations of sexual promiscuity and moral hypocrisy (i.e. slavery), both of which are true, but I was sure that any American could still acknowledge the brilliant contributions Jefferson made to us as a people; whatever his faults, and there were many, he more than qualifies as a national hero. If it wasn't for him, religious 
liberty would be the butt of jokes at mainstream American dinner tables where prayer to a higher power would be a necessary ritual, the Union would never have expanded much past the original thirteen colonies, and the revolution for independence may well have taken a different turn. Of course, the aforementioned guest was an almost radically conservative Catholic (self-proclaimed; she considered her conservative boyfriend "liberal", which may be justified given his support for Obama), so religious freedom cannot have been a terribly big concern for her, and, in her view, manifest destiny would have carried the day (she had also called native Americans "savages" who deserved what they got at the hands of the US government). She, of course, conveniently forgot that Jefferson was a major proponent of expanding the American empire, backing the Louisiana Purchase against overwhelming domestic opposition and dispatching Meriwether Lewis to explore the new lands.
liberty would be the butt of jokes at mainstream American dinner tables where prayer to a higher power would be a necessary ritual, the Union would never have expanded much past the original thirteen colonies, and the revolution for independence may well have taken a different turn. Of course, the aforementioned guest was an almost radically conservative Catholic (self-proclaimed; she considered her conservative boyfriend "liberal", which may be justified given his support for Obama), so religious freedom cannot have been a terribly big concern for her, and, in her view, manifest destiny would have carried the day (she had also called native Americans "savages" who deserved what they got at the hands of the US government). She, of course, conveniently forgot that Jefferson was a major proponent of expanding the American empire, backing the Louisiana Purchase against overwhelming domestic opposition and dispatching Meriwether Lewis to explore the new lands. So, of course, a rousing debate followed; she aired all of Jefferson's dirty laundry, and I conceded that his hypocrisy was morally wrong (at this, she gave a massive sigh, as if to say that if I could justify that, I could justify anything), but I also rolled out Jefferson's endeavors as naturalist, scientist, politician, inventor, etc. and concluded by asking if she thought any of us were better qualified to write a formal letter declaring independence, or formulate a brand-new national constitution, or while we're at it running the country in an age of sail and horses!
For better or for worse, dessert arrived at that point, and the debate ended. I personally thought I'd held my end up, but I was still shocked, saddened, and a little vindicated that I had to rise to the defense of a personage like Jefferson; however villifiable, he helped create a nation where people could hold such insulting opinions freely, and that, I believe, is where his greatness lies.
End tirade.
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