Jefferson, Real and Imagined (Summary)

In the essay “Jefferson, Real and Imagined” the author Pauline Maier uses quotation marks to refer to “Thomas Jefferson.” When she refers to “Thomas Jefferson;” she is trying to explain to us that Jefferson is a champion of American Liberty in all imaginable forms. However, at the same time he is hypocrite because he is the father of freedom and has slaves. Also, Ms. Maier points out that Thomas Jefferson has the fault of his own actions and what we are studying today about him. According to Ms. Maier, the Continental Congress were people who accepted the words of the Declaration of Independence and they inserted them. The author says that they are the work of “Thomas Jefferson.” In addition, Ms. Maier claims that “Our Declaration is not Jefferson’s, but Lincoln’s.” It means that Lincoln should receive more credit than Jefferson for the Declaration’s importance. Also, it is because of “The truncated assertion of equality and rights on the Jefferson memorial, which says nothing about the right of revolution.” Finally, Ms. Maier claims that we have to understand others’ ideas and accept them if those ideas are necessary. Also, people of this country have to study the past, especially so their today leaders do not commit the same mistakes of the past.

Reaction

            This essay is very interesting once you have read it. The point that caught my attention was that the author Pauline Maier put the name of Thomas Jefferson into quotation marks. I agree with her because I could not understand Jefferson at all. I say it because he said that all men are crated equal, but he had slaves. However, I saw Thomas Jefferson as a leader of America and like us because he always tried to reach something even though it was impossible to reach. Another important point that we have to accept was that Ms. Maier claimed that Lincoln should receive more credits than Jefferson for the Declaration. In conclusion, the most interesting point that Pauline Maier mentioned was that people of this country have to study the past not to make the same mistakes like they did and we have to accept others’ ideas if they are good.