Thomas Jefferson: A Widower & Father

Jefferson's wife died in 1782 after she gave birth to their sixth child.  Jefferson, like many of the Founding Fathers, worked away from home for months and years at a time.  In this primary source, Jefferson is giving instructions to his daughter Patsy about how to spend her time while he's away.

Read the letters from the link above and consider the notion of a single working dad.  Not only a single working dad, but a single working dad who is Thomas Jefferson.  Do you think he was justified in leaving his kids with other people while he attended the Continental Congress?  Could he have brought some/all of his kids with him to Philadelphia and still been as successful?  Would he still have written the Declaration of Independence?

In your comments, reflect on these questions and your initial reaction from the letters he wrote to Patsy.

John Adams: The Anti-Washington

John Adams could never have replaced Washington in the hearts and minds of the American public.  All he wanted was a little respect.  Unfortunately for him, his overall disposition was anything but gracious and usually just rubbed people the wrong way.  Jefferson said of Adams, "He is distrustful, obstinate, excessively vain, and takes no counsel from anyone."  He was a man who knew he was right, all the time, and knew you were wrong, all the time.  It is no wonder he was so maligned as president and was not be re-elected in 1800.


As historians have looked back on his presidency, however, Adams has begun to gain the respect he so doggedly pursued.  The Alien & Sedition Acts will forever mar his legacy, but his work on avoiding war with France has become more notable.  Adams was so proud of his neutrality stance that he wanted his epitaph to only mention that accomplishment.  His suggestion: "Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800."


What do you think of Adams?  Should his annoying personality be the measuring stick for which he is judged by history?  In your post this week reflect on the personality of Adams as compared to his lifetime of accomplishments (Declaration signer, 1st VP/2nd P, Ambassador to Britain, Accomplished Lawyer etc.).  Conclude your post by writing your own epitaph for Adams' life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Life of an Activist/The Death of a Martyr

This is our country's national monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  This site was unveiled recently and today is the first time it has been open to the public on Dr. King's National Holiday.   This man was, as you well know, one of the nation's leaders in equal civil rights for African Americans during the 1960s.  He was assasinated in Memphis, TN in 1968 on the balcony of his hotel room.  His nonviolent movement to gain equal political and civil liberties for his people cost him his life but improved the lives of millions.  He was not perfect, but he was courageous.

I wonder, though, what his life would have been like if he'd been born in the late 18th Century?  What would his cause have been?  Could he have been as successful?  Certainly not every black person in America back then was a slave (of course most were).  It is possible King could have been a free and educated black in the North.  If so, would he have had the following he obtained in the mid 20th Century?

 

Shed A Little Light

Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

(chorus)
Shed a little light, oh lord
So that we can see
Just a little light, oh lord
Wanna stand it on up
Stand it on up, oh lord
Wanna walk it on down
Shed a little light, oh lord

Can't get no light from the dollar bill
Don't give me no light from a tv screen
When I open my eyes
I wanna drink my fill
From the well on the hill

(do you know what I mean? )
- chorus -

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood

-James Taylor

Reflect on the monument.  Watch the video and read the lyrics.  Does this man's life speak to you at all?  Does what he and those around him accomplished mean anything to us today?  How do you think our country would have been different if Dr. King had lived in the 18th Century instead of the 20th?

George Washington: America's First Sweetheart

It is as obvious today as it was in the late 18th Century that George Washington would be our first elected president under the Constitution.  Any time our country needed a leader, he was called.  He came out of retirement to chair the Constitutional Convention.  He did the same when his country needed her first president.  Washington was the only president ever to be unanimously elected.

Imagine having a unanimously elected president today!  There would be no need for debates, caucuses, primaries, commercials or campaigns.  Think back to 2008.  Then Senator Obama was incredibly popular in many parts of the country...and his victory over McCain was nowhere near unanimous.  It is almost too difficult to imagine ever having another man (or woman) collect every single electoral vote.

Examine these two images.  One depicts the day Washington was inaugurated on March 4, 1789.  The other is of his death.  What do these two pictures tell you about the relationship Washington had with his country?  Do you think we'll ever have another "Washington" in America?

Preamble To The Constitution: America's Opening Statement

In light of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, some of America's most influential men and greatest minds gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1787 to hammer out a new form of government.  The document that emerged from this convention has lasted over 200 years and is still the framework for our political structure today.

The opening paragraph of the Constitution is commonly referred to as the Preamble.  These fifty-two words serve as America's promise to itself.  I have posted the Preamble below.  What does it mean to you?  In light of the changes our country has experienced since the 18th Century, should the Preamble be rewritten to be more relevant today?  Defend your answer.
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We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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