Beyond the Veil of Reason

Author James Thompson demonstrates that Jefferson became more interested in and spent substantially more time advancing the second of his two early initiatives, which was his effort to dismantle the hierarchy that had dominated life in colonial Virginia. While pursuing this mission, Mr. Thompson explains, Jefferson largely abandoned his first and better-known political initiative after drafting the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. Jefferson spent most of the next three...
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Author James Thompson demonstrates that Jefferson became more interested in and spent substantially more time advancing the second of his two early initiatives, which was his effort to dismantle the hierarchy that had dominated life in colonial Virginia. While pursuing this mission, Mr. Thompson explains, Jefferson largely abandoned his first and better-known political initiative after drafting the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. Jefferson spent most of the next three years at Monticello revising Virginia's colonial code. He meant to retire when he finished this project in mid-1779, but his peers in the Assembly forced him to stand for election He was then elected Virginia's s second Governor. This author provides unprecedented detail concerning Jefferson's plan to dismantle Virginia's aristocracy. Not surprisingly, he kept it to himself sine it would strip his friends of their social and political privileges. As the elements of Jefferson's scheme become clear, it becomes increasingly difficult to argue, as historians began doing after the New Deal, that Jefferson's ultimate concerns were protecting inherent human rights and establishing government by the will of the people. Contrary to our current understanding of the man who was expert in the Common Law, Jefferson neither appreciated the concept of Natural Right nor endorsed Sam Adams's Natural Law logic. Provisions Jefferson incorporated into his new "institute" show that he had no expectation that the people could govern themselves. Jefferson became the embodiment of "republicanism" in the ideologically charged 1960s. Few if any of his progressive advocates cared particularly what he had hidden beyond his veil. This book represents a significant and long overdue first step in bringing it into public view.