Culminating a fabulous month of programs on U.S.Presidents Dr. Larry Pack brought WKU professor Andrew McMichael today. Andy spent two years in the National Archives pursuing original material on Thomas Jefferson. He had free reign of the place and opened many "Miscellaneous" boxes. He said his most revealing find were documents that revealed incidents where T.J. borrowed money from his slaves. T.J. lived in an era where he inherited the debt of his in-laws and it took him 30 years to pay that off. Later he used his own money to help furnish the White House. All in all he died heavy in debt and his assets were sold to satisfy his creditors including Monticello.
Dr. Andy talked about T.J. being enigmatic and contradictory. He told us that T.J. was a consummate politician who could embrace both sides of an issue at the same time. He was opposed to slavery but owned slaves for example. Then Andy examined Thomas Jefferson's views on religion. According to Andy, Jefferson's thinking reflected the Enlightenment philosophy of the day. Jefferson thought Christianity was an acceptable form of moral governance but he rejected all the basic tenets of Christianity. T.J. published after his presidency his version of the N.T. which ends with Christ in the tomb. The rest T.J. held as superstition.
Thank you Dr. McMichael for a very interesting and enlightening program.
