After visiting Monticello, I came away with the conclusion that Jefferson was not so much an inventor and innovator as a tinkerer and dilettante. Start with the location itself. Jefferson loved the hilltop as a youth (Monticello = little mountain in Italian) and built in an impractical location for a plantation house. Picture someone with enough money to build the secret fort he imagined as a kid (except Jefferson didn’t have enough money). Then Monticello began crumbling even before he died. It was saved by retired admiral Uriah Levy, first Jewish flag officer in the U.S. Navy, who admired Jefferson for his stand on religious freedom. The grounds were overgrown and the house dilapidated when he bought it. The house went through several cycles of abuse and neglect (none the fault of the Levy family) before finally being acquired by the present trust.
I see John Adams is demonstrating his legendary empathy. Or, just maybe, he is being “obnoxious and disliked”…..As for Jefferson’s melodramatic suffering, can you picture him at Valley Forge? (Me, neither.)
If you’ve hours to spare, and wish to immerse yourself in many, many things Jeffersonian, including more information on the roofing of Monticello than I would have imagined existed (I just wanted to know if it leaked!)…
I think we can all agree that Thomas Jefferson brought quite a few Innovations to the US of A. Although I’ve never been a great admirer, he did have a way with words that could be the envy of any user of the American language. Once I learned about Sally, I was, shall we just say, extremely disappointed in a man, I had thought, counted Freedom above all else only to learn that he was just another one of those “I’ve got mine and I don’t care about anybody else” kind of guys. He may have been a thinker and an inventor, but he was also selfish.
Masterskrain Premium Member over 6 years ago
Well, Tom, currently EVERYONE in America is suffering EVEN MORE then you did!
danketaz Premium Member over 6 years ago
I’m having a moment of most enlightened clarity. His horse wrote the Declaration of Independence in order to get Jefferson off his back!
Durak Premium Member over 6 years ago
No one had as high an opinion of Jefferson as Jefferson himself?
dutchs over 6 years ago
After visiting Monticello, I came away with the conclusion that Jefferson was not so much an inventor and innovator as a tinkerer and dilettante. Start with the location itself. Jefferson loved the hilltop as a youth (Monticello = little mountain in Italian) and built in an impractical location for a plantation house. Picture someone with enough money to build the secret fort he imagined as a kid (except Jefferson didn’t have enough money). Then Monticello began crumbling even before he died. It was saved by retired admiral Uriah Levy, first Jewish flag officer in the U.S. Navy, who admired Jefferson for his stand on religious freedom. The grounds were overgrown and the house dilapidated when he bought it. The house went through several cycles of abuse and neglect (none the fault of the Levy family) before finally being acquired by the present trust.
Godfreydaniel over 6 years ago
I see John Adams is demonstrating his legendary empathy. Or, just maybe, he is being “obnoxious and disliked”…..As for Jefferson’s melodramatic suffering, can you picture him at Valley Forge? (Me, neither.)
Strawberry Hellcat: Gair I gall, ffon I’r anghall over 6 years ago
If you’ve hours to spare, and wish to immerse yourself in many, many things Jeffersonian, including more information on the roofing of Monticello than I would have imagined existed (I just wanted to know if it leaked!)…
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tje
Sadandconfused9 over 6 years ago
I think we can all agree that Thomas Jefferson brought quite a few Innovations to the US of A. Although I’ve never been a great admirer, he did have a way with words that could be the envy of any user of the American language. Once I learned about Sally, I was, shall we just say, extremely disappointed in a man, I had thought, counted Freedom above all else only to learn that he was just another one of those “I’ve got mine and I don’t care about anybody else” kind of guys. He may have been a thinker and an inventor, but he was also selfish.
Gary Williams Premium Member over 6 years ago
maybe he smoked too much hemp
Masterskrain Premium Member over 6 years ago
At least Virginia Voters got it right this time…