Monday, April 26, 2010

Thomas Jefferson's Private Letters

There was much made of President Thomas Jefferson's private letter to a church group, this letter being frequently quoted as to building an artificially high wall between churches and the public forums and sectors (eg "Prayer Days", school graduation ceremonies, Christmas decorations and use of Christian songs in schools and other public places).

Perhaps, we (Especially our judges and politicians) should pay more attention to such of that man's private letters as:
"On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 1823.

All might consider the words of President Jefferson as to watering the tree-of-liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants AND as to the fact that an unarmed man is NOT a free man.

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