What should be the legacy for Thomas Jefferson?

What should be the legacy for Thomas Jefferson? Picture of the sculpture of Thomas Jefferson hit by a speeding cannonball. “We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” —Thomas Jefferson, 1820 In recent years our founding father Thomas Jefferson has become the focal point for a considerable amount of discussion concerning his personal life and the impact of his political views. At the beginning of chapter nine,e our textbook poses a very interesting question: “Jefferson’s attempts to create an idealized agrarian republic proved disastrous.” If follows with a scale asking if you strongly disagree or strongly agree. What did Jefferson do that was so disastrous? Additionally, a learning outcome listed at the beginning of chapter nine states: “Define Jeffersonian Democracy, and explain how Jefferson’s presidency both defined and contradicted that political philosophy.” What were the contradictions? I was always told that Jefferson was one of our greatest presidents?? Both of these two questions suggest that there were, evidently, some issues with his administration (i.e., concerning his foreign policy and his domestic policy). Also, not mentioned in this chapter was the tremendous controversy (a controversy that existed even during his lifetime) regarding his personal relationship to his own slaves and particularly to an alleged relationship with a favored female slave Sally Hemings. Anatomy of a Mystery The Jefferson-Hemings controversy in the post-DNA era.pdfPreview the documentView in a new window Given that Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence where it states that a government exists for the benefit of the people and that “all men are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” one has to carefully reflect upon the fact that he owned slaves when he authored this famous document. Given all of these issues, the topic for discussion is, “What truly should be the legacy of our founding father Thomas Jefferson?” This is a very complex issue. Feel free to discuss any of the above issues. Link to article https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByfhRySXFnsFUWdhNm1tVmhsY2s300 words