Series known as the peters rushton seminars, a series that i am john obrien from the department of english and im happy to kick things off. Todays lecture is part of an English Department lecture series known as the peters rushton seminars, series that goes back to 1950. It is a series that is including speakers, such as brooks, randall jerrell, wh and shamus heaney. Today, we are happy to help fred kaplan over the return to speak on his designer Thomas Jefferson. Fred kaplan is a distinguished professor of Queens College and the Graduate Center of the city of university of new york. A scholar in 19th century literature has become best nose is one of the most distinguished biographers of our era. He has published biographies of thomas carlyle, mark twain, henry james, charles dickens, john quincy adams, abraham lincoln, gore vidal and Thomas Jefferson. In his masterly pen, offers a biography of Thomas Jefferson by giving an english professors kind of attention to jeffersons written words. Jefferson only published one book in his lifetime, notes on the state of virginia. Of course, he wrote constantly. Treat this as a view of british america, legal briefs, memoranda , declaration of independence and above all, letters. Thousands of them. He calls among his most part all and revealing writings. Throughout it, he brings a skilled biographers attention to how jefferson reveals himself through his writing often without intending to. On the state of virginia, it is a book about jefferson partly because jefferson did not want to be a book about himself. The jefferson we meet here is, and not surprisingly, precise and forceful. He also shows as a writer who is evasive withholding, anxious, self protective and inconsistent. Eager to shield himself from responsibility. His biography is a great read. Jefferson is not the only one with a masterly pen around here. Please join me in welcoming fred kaplan. [ applause ] thank you, john. Thank you for being such an attentive and kind host and arranging my opportunity to be here and to talk about jefferson. I also want to thank the English Department and History Department for being cohost of this event. I had an extraordinarily warming welcome to virginia yesterday when i stepped off the plane and discovered that i was in a different country from where i had departed in the morning. I had departed from maine and the temperature was considerably different. Jefferson did notice typically had something very interesting to say about the difference between the climate of Northern New York and the climate of new england on one hand and the climate of virginia on the other hand. With the exception of harris, no matter where jefferson travels every virginia and everything about it was always better. In 1791, jefferson with his friend and colleague James Madison went on a combined travel adventure, but mostly political drift to Northern New York and Lake Champlain in particular and into new england. When he arrived in the Lake Champlain area, he made comparative notes about the difference in the climate between Lake Champlain, Northern New York, new england and virginia. He made it much to virginias advantage, even at that time of the year. He arrived in Northern New York, new england and late may early june. He wrote that the summer in Northern New York state and new england was not only to hot, but as hot as could be found in carolina or georgia. I suspect that the heaps of northern climates may be more power than those of southern one and proportion as they are shorter. There is as much fever and other complaints on Lake Champlain as on the swamps of carolina. Find nothing anywhere else in the climate, which virginia made in the two part of the world. I didnt quite feel that yesterday when i got off the plane. What was going on . We know what was going on in jeffersons. I do have to remark that i have some similar neighbors in maine who live a good part of the year and not too far from here, but they always come to maine for the summer even though jefferson thinks or thought that the weather obviously in virginia was always superior. It is just an example of jeffersons wonderful ability to evade or to make a point that is really about his own emotional and ideological self interest and even about the superiority of virginia whether to new england weather without a single qualification. I am happy to be here even in this mild weather and to see the lovely foliage bloom where i live. The grass is just about to turn green, but not quite yet. As we all know, jefferson is our most controversial president. I take that back. Not our most controversial president , but are most controversial founding. Mostly because of his relationship with slavery. He inherited slaves, bought and sold slaves after the death of his wife and he had six children by Sally Hemmings who was a slave woman, three quarters wife and the halfsister of his own wife. There is a part of his life that a lot of attention has been focused on recently, which is certainly part of his life that we now condemn or at least wish had been different. I condemn slavery and so did jefferson. I dont condemn jefferson. I dont know that i would have done any better if i had been in jeffersons position, born into his virginia and family. I dont find it easy to put myself into the shoes of someone from the past and to be judgmental, because i know we are all a product of circumstances considerably beyond our control. Jefferson was hated in his own time to some extent. He is hated now and being revolutionary, atheist, agnostic , popular demagogue and also a president who preached against strong executive power and exercised strong executive power when he felt that it was in his ideological and view of the nations self interest to do so, for example, the louisiana purchase. He was a man who preached against and tested he detested a lot of things we take for granted as desirable, like banks and banking, wall street, industry and he certainly detested organization , foul pet of an equity and disease and that came to mind immediately about baltimore or philadelphia. We were walking early as we were talking. The one city that never had anything harsh was paris. That is where he spent five years and was in fact expecting to go back to when she returns to the u. S. On the mission to bring his two daughters back, so he brought up not his french women, but proper virginia ladies and planning to return to paris unfortunately or fortunately. President washington, newly elected, decided that he would enlist jefferson who had mixed feelings about it and probably regret his agreement to become the first u. S. Secretary of state. The controversial president and attitudes will be divided about him and contested about him for as long as we read about him and study history. Jefferson, as john eloquently remarked, gave eloquent articulation to the founding ideas of the u. S. Many of which are still the values of the country. He helped channel be said to over 1 billion into declaration first paragraph became a worldwide affirmation of personal liberty and republican government. The country would eventually embrace his proposals on religious liberty, inheritance reform and confederation of congress. He did a herculean job and his writing talent went to great effect and was used to great effect. After he became the first secretary of state and skipping his unhappy vice presidency, he became twoterm president. Washington was our first two term president. One term as president and off he went. In came jefferson with the notion, as many historians credit him for of introducing the revolution of 1801, jeffersonian revolution. I dont see it that way, but there is lots of room for looking at things differently. As john remarked his greatest strength was his path. He was reluctant and poor public speaker and he spent more time writing and putting aside things like sleeping and eating. In his active life, he spent more time writing than any other activity. The relationship between his writing, personal life and public life would have been inseparable. He was constantly in the act of defying himself by literary acts. 10,001 letters that you refer to, there is an actual count. I dont remember what it is, but it is huge. In a summary view of british america or notes of the state of virginia is an extra ordinary book in which i considered talking about today, but decided that i would probably talk about the declaration of independence, because i could count on some familiarity with the most important phrases in the declaration of independence were asked to talk about notes on the state of virginia would take me longer, because i would have in a sense more to say, but i would also have to prepare the ground a little more than i would have to in talking about the declaration of independence. To approach jefferson through his writing helps us get into his mind and feeling that contributes to understanding of his strengths and limitations. It fosters an appreciation of his role as propaganda of the revolution. That is how he made and recorded crucial aspects of the first years of our republic. It shows how jefferson wrote in different voices to different constituencies. It also helps to enable us to see how he was a revision as to himself and attempting to do his best to both select the select and selectively rewrite the history of the world that he had played such an Important Role in. This is important to me. It helps us read and appreciate prose of the highest literary and intellectual quality. It bookmarks jefferson with lincoln as a master of the english language. The jefferson we all know best is the author of the declaration of independence. To me, there are other writings of equal power and literary finesse. Some which have been mentioned and on the state of virginia, which has been mentioned. His first inaugural address, which isnt addressed enough, but deserves considerable attention. It led us to his paris lover, maria causeway. We dont know exactly the intimacy of that relationship, but it was not a love relationship. It was certainly a love relation of the heart and in his letters to maria causeway, famous and longest of them. It is called a dialogue between the head and heart. There are other wonderful and relatively writings of jefferson selectively from the letters and particularly his letters to his grandchildren, because he was a doting grandfather and had a wonderful grandfatherly voice with a few selections that i will regale you with. Im going to focus today on the declaration of independence. Of course, best known contribution to the american historical consciousness and its something that we are a millionaire with. It is something that still intrigues those of us who rated not only the preamble, but the entirety of the declaration of independence. As you know, he wrote it in philadelphia via in 1776 and he was a reluctant attendee at the Confederation Congress in june and july of 1776 and he heard to be in williamsburg where the house out of being the house of burgesses into readiness case legislature and so one in the transitional period was writing a constitution for the state of virginia and he really wanted to be there. He wanted to participate in the writing of that constitution. He dealt himself to be a constitution maker and a constitutional writer. That was something he felt destined to do and he already has significant experience rerunning the laws for the state of virginia, which had been in progress and continues to be in progress for some time. He listens to debates and hardly said a word. He much preferred to be in williamsburg and he wrote to williamsburg suggesting to one of the movers and shakers that wanted to be a good idea for some of the virginia delegation to the confederation of congress and be called back and work on the Virginia State constitution. By that, he meant himself and he was told, no. We have this under control and so on. You stay there for a while longer and we will get you back to virginia as soon as we can. On june 6, 1776, a member of the virginia delegation was acting on instructions from the Virginia Legislature itself and stood up and seek confederation of congress and proposed that the resolution declaring independence and congress immediately appointed a committee of five and most members of the congress are not eager, some were eager, less eager or reconciled to hearing that. The committee that was nominated was lee himself, of course. Benjamin franklin, john j adams , livingston and jefferson. He was busy with work on the articles of confederation. The elderly franklin was the committees most famous writer and personality. He recently returned from london where they represent pennsylvania. Smart, crafty and he wasnt interested in a writing assignment. John adams was a passionate participant and a talented writer. He however felt overburdened with Important Committee work. The other two appointments, livingston from new york and sherman from connecticut had no special interest in or talent as writers. All five are at the same and so is congress. He wanted another summary document. This one is a conclusive statement of almost every delegate and the declaration of the colonies one out. It was to be a document justifying to the world and extraordinary exertion was to be a collective state meant. Some review of british america. One of the two tales with the colonies and every member of Congress Said that he would have a chance at a later stage in the process to participate in revising the committees document. At a later date, he wrote that he and jefferson had a conversation about which one of them should write the draft. They each deferred to the other. Adams felt that he had more important work to do. Jefferson had no competition and no one else wanted him. Jefferson immediately agreed to take it on, the conversation that may or may not have happened, or at least the way that adam reported that some years later. He viewed it as one of the greatest mistakes of his life. He would have decided differently if he anticipated that the statement of First Principles would become with the preamble to the constitution and say what the gettysburg address, one of the three most widely quoted statements by any american writer. Of course, adams couldnt have anticipated that at a much later date it would become one of the most controversial in its claim that all men are created equal. Adams never got over it. He never got over it. Why didnt i do it . Jefferson was pressured to get it written quickly. There wasnt much time. We dont know much about it or what days he wrote or how much in each sitting or how many days he spent revising and what papers or books he had with him is partly known. He had a copy of course of henry lees june 6 declaration and resolution of defendants. He had a copy of the draft constitution he had written before leaving williamsburg to come to philadelphia in june, which with that draft he hopes to get back as quickly as possible and his draft would become the dominant draft. He had that with him and that contained forensic indictment of georgia. An amplified list of grievances and clearly jefferson drew extensively on his draft for the constitution. He drew on his own sub review of british america and he also drew on his virginia colleague george masons declaration of rights, which the Virginia Legislature had passed in june and jefferson had a copy of it. George nations declaration of rights had a phrase in it that is almost familiar, but not in totality, because masons draft and emphasized life, liberty and pursuit of property. That is an interesting change that is of great interest, of course. Jefferson and his colleagues changed pursuit of property to pursuit of happiness. Jefferson and his Confederation Congress colleagues were on the home. Not all of them, but they were wealthy landowners and slaveowners. Rich people on the whole. Why the change from property to happiness . My speculation, not a must, but they may. It is that they wanted the emphasis to transcend the limitations of class and social status, wealth and so on. They wanted it to be a document that didnt express selfserving , but still consuming, but not explicitly selfserving of ownership of property of which they were the leading citizens of the country. Now, jeffersons declaration of course has a strong emphasis on the separation from the British Empire being forced on the colonies. Not a choice that the colonies voluntarily let alone initially with any enthusiasm made. Of course, the words are as the committee and Congress Went through it sentence by sentence and with some alterations went into the course and it becomes necessary for people to dissolve the political bands, which connected them with another. This dissolution of separation of jeffersons claims have been forced on the colonies. They hadnt sought an accessory that forced it on them. It foisted on them to assume among the powers of the earth that are separate and equal to which the laws of nature and of natures god entitle them. The phrase is that the laws of nature and natures god to a particular residence for jeffersons contemporaries. They included natural rights. It wasnt a residence that they could attach to any specific theology or body of philosophy. It was a broad raise that had a kind of tentative association with dsm, but not with any religious act and not specifically with a protestant view of the world or a catholic view of the world. They have a history and that history mainly came out of english history and the glorious resolution revolution of 1688 and the attempt of the aristocracy of Great Britain to free itself. It is considerably dependent on the royal. In jeffersons declaration, whoever and whatever that god is has nothing to do, as i said, with any religion or theology. To me, it seems likely that jefferson, as colleagues, wanted this to be a secular document. Most europeans and Anglo American would have been at a loss to define na