Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society presents: "The Character and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson and its Meaning for Americans Today”
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society will host a panel of distinguished authors, researchers and nationally acclaimed scholars to explore topics which provide greater illumination of the moral, spiritual and political character, ideals and essential truths of Thomas Jefferson. The seminar will examine "The Character and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson and its Meaning for Americans Today," and promises to provide participants with a deeper understanding and insight into the immense character and legacy of this extraordinary Virginian, American Founder, Author of the Declaration of Independence, Author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and third U.S. President. The seminar will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2013, in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of Virginia Jefferson Scholars Foundation, located at 112 Clarke Court, Charlottesville, Virginia, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Admission to this special event is free and open to the public.
The program will begin at 8:30 a.m., with morning welcome, conviviality and refreshments for all participants; and will include periodic breaks with a 12:00 Noon lunch hour for fellowship and dining at several popular local restaurants within a few minutes’ walk of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation facility. A public question-and-answer, panel discussion will be held following the afternoon lecture sessions. The day will conclude with refreshments and author book signings of The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission; In Defense of Thomas Jefferson; Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone; Jefferson Vindicated; and Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century.
The Morning Session will be moderated by Dr. White M. Wallenborn, M.D., Past-President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society and former Monticello Guide:
9:00 a.m. - Dr. Donald W. Livingston, “Jefferson, Republicanism and the Problem of Size and Scale”
The republican tradition for two thousand years taught that the liberty and virtue of republics could not exist unless the republic was small. It also taught that large territory and great populations inevitably lead to centralized monarchy. These two propositions posed a problem for Americans. How could such a vast territory with an expanding population ever be "republicanized?" Jefferson presented the best solution to this problem. And America followed that pattern until the Civil War. Since then America has become the centralized "monarchy" Jefferson feared it would be. The way back to republican government is to rediscover Jefferson's solution and ask how it can be appropriated today.
Donald W. Livingston, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Emory University and a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. He has written numerous articles and books on political philosophy, the most recent being Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century. He founded the Hume Society, and co-founded the Adam Smith Society, the Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society, and the Ciceronian Society. He has published two books on the British philosopher David Hume and has been described as "the greatest Hume scholar of the twentieth century." He is president of the Abbeville Institute, an association of scholars in higher education devoted to a critical study of what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society.
10:00 a.m. - Dr. William M. Wilson, “Jefferson the Theist”
In recent decades, many misconceptions abound throughout academia and the literature with regard to the spiritual dimensions and beliefs of Thomas Jefferson. Dr. William Wilson of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, will illuminate the life-long spiritual journey of Thomas Jefferson, providing not only a window into his soul, but also revealing the moral compass for all of his labors as the “Inventor of America” and author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.
William M. Wilson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, and currently serves as the Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. He served as Dean of the Echols Scholars Program from 2005-2012, and is the recipient of one of the University's highest distinctions, the Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award for teaching and selfless service. Professor Wilson is the author of many articles pertaining to religion, literature, philosophical theology and three volumes of Lectura Dantes Virginiana, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Abbeville Institute for the Study of Southern Culture and the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society.
11:00 a.m. – Dr. Clyde N. Wilson, “Looking for Mr. Jefferson”
Generation after generation, misinterpretations of Thomas Jefferson, both positive and negative, have been piled up by people wishing to use his name for their own agendas. When traced to their sources, such ideas reveal more about their perpetrators than they do about Jefferson. For the real Thomas Jefferson, Virginian and American statesman, to be seen many distortions must be exposed.
Clyde N. Wilson, Ph.D., is Historian Emeritus of the University of South Carolina. He is a recipient of the Bostick Prize for Contributions to South Carolina Letters, and the first annual Randolph Society Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also the M.E. Bradford distinguished chair of the Abbeville Institute and founder of the Stephen D. Lee Institute. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute; and a long-time contributing editor for Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, and Southern Partisan magazine. Professor Wilson is best known for his expertise on the life and writings of John C. Calhoun, and is the editor of Volumes 10 through 28 of The Papers of John C. Calhoun. Professor Wilson is also the author of hundreds of articles, and the author or editor of over 30 books including, The Essential Calhoun; From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition; Chronicles of the South; Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture; and Forgotten Conservatives in American History.
12: 00 Noon - Lunch Break
The Afternoon Session will be moderated by Mr. Richard E. Dixon, President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society:
1:00 p.m. - Ms. Cynthia H. Burton, “Myths and Scholarship”
Serious flaws have been documented in the scholarship of certain Jefferson scholars. Evidence has been overlooked, ignored, and/or distorted. Enormous gaps have been filled with imagination. However, speculation is not evidence. Has poor scholarship by leading scholars perpetuated myths affecting the character and legacy of Jefferson? Cynthia Burton is interviewed by Patricia Early. New evidence is introduced, myths are debunked, and poor scholarship is revealed.
Cynthia H. Burton is a professional researcher, veteran genealogist, and she is an authority on Jefferson's private life, his brother Randolph Jefferson, and the enslaved community at Monticello. She has more than 35 years’ experience studying the historic neighborhood and its inhabitants, and she has worked closely with several authors writing about the Hemings controversy. Mrs. Burton is also the author of Jefferson Vindicated - Fallacies, Omissions, and Contradictions in the Hemings Genealogical Search.
2:00 p.m. - Mr. William G. Hyland, Esq., "Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone"
The magisterial “collaboration” over half a lifetime between historian Dumas Malone and his subject, Thomas Jefferson, is the basis for William G. Hyland Jr.’s compelling biography Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson. Malone, the courtly and genteel historian from Mississippi, spent thirty-eight years researching and writing the definitive biography of the man who “invented the United States of America.”
William G. Hyland, Esq., Professor of Law, Stetson College of Law and attorney, is the author of In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal (St. Martins) and the biography Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone (Potomac Books).
3:00 p.m. - Dr. Robert F. Turner, "Parsing the Paradox: Understanding Thomas Jefferson and Slavery"
Modern scholars struggle in vain to reconcile Jefferson's enlightened rhetoric that "all men are created equal" and his early efforts in opposition to slavery with his lifelong ownership of other human beings and refusal, even in his will, to grant freedom to more than a small number of his servants. Words like "sphinx," "hypocrite," and even "monster" have been employed in describing perceived contradictions between Jefferson's beliefs and behavior. This presentation will argue that Jefferson's behavior is less enigmatic than most modern scholars perceive. He was morally opposed to slavery throughout his life, and what set him apart from most of his Virginia contemporaries was his willingness to speak and act publicly against slavery.
Robert F. Turner, SJD, is a cofounder of the Center for National Security Law (1981) at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Turner holds both professional and academic doctorates from the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a former Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College and a Distinguished Lecturer at West Point. He has taught both in Virginia's Department of Government and Foreign Affairs and the Law School, and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. Dr. Turner served as Chairman of the independent Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission, and he is editor of The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission.
4:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion, Farewell and Book Signings
About the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society:
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society ( http://www.tjheritage.org ) is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which has a four-fold purpose: to further the honor and integrity of Thomas Jefferson, and to promote his vision and ideas, and their application in our times and in the future; to pursue truth in all matters that touch upon the legacy of Thomas Jefferson; to promote the principles of freedom, patriotism and truth, which were hallmarks of Thomas Jefferson's life; and to sponsor and perform research in matters pertaining to the private and public life of Thomas Jefferson. Additional detailed facts documenting the work of the independent Scholars Commission and other distinguished scholars can be referenced at the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society web site.
Directions to the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, 112 Clarke Court, Charlottesville, VA 22903
From Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport:
• Exit the airport and proceed approximately ¾ mile on Airport Road towards US Route 29.
• Turn right onto US Route 29 towards Charlottesville.
• Proceed 6.0 miles. At the intersection with the US 29/250 Bypass, go straight, following the signs for Emmet Street.
• Proceed another 1.9 miles on Emmet Street.
• When the road splits, bear right onto Stadium Road, passing Scott Stadium.
• Turn left at the stop sign onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first left onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
• Total distance from Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport to the Jefferson Fellows Center is approximately 9.8 miles.
From points east and west via I-64:
• From I-64, take Exit 118-B (US Route 29 North).
• Proceed north on US Route 29. Take the first exit and turn right at the bottom of the ramp onto Fontaine Avenue.
• Make a left turn at the first light onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first right onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
From Washington, D.C. and points north:
• Take US Route 29 to Charlottesville. At the intersection with the US 29/250 Bypass, go straight, following the signs for Emmet Street. Proceed another 1.9 miles on Emmet Street.
• When the road splits, bear right onto Stadium Road, passing Scott Stadium.
• Turn left at the stop sign onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first left onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
From Lynchburg and points south:
• Take US Route 29 to Charlottesville. After crossing under I-64, take the first exit and turn right at the bottom of the ramp onto Fontaine Avenue
• Make a left turn at the first light onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first right onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
The program will begin at 8:30 a.m., with morning welcome, conviviality and refreshments for all participants; and will include periodic breaks with a 12:00 Noon lunch hour for fellowship and dining at several popular local restaurants within a few minutes’ walk of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation facility. A public question-and-answer, panel discussion will be held following the afternoon lecture sessions. The day will conclude with refreshments and author book signings of The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission; In Defense of Thomas Jefferson; Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone; Jefferson Vindicated; and Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century.
The Morning Session will be moderated by Dr. White M. Wallenborn, M.D., Past-President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society and former Monticello Guide:
9:00 a.m. - Dr. Donald W. Livingston, “Jefferson, Republicanism and the Problem of Size and Scale”
The republican tradition for two thousand years taught that the liberty and virtue of republics could not exist unless the republic was small. It also taught that large territory and great populations inevitably lead to centralized monarchy. These two propositions posed a problem for Americans. How could such a vast territory with an expanding population ever be "republicanized?" Jefferson presented the best solution to this problem. And America followed that pattern until the Civil War. Since then America has become the centralized "monarchy" Jefferson feared it would be. The way back to republican government is to rediscover Jefferson's solution and ask how it can be appropriated today.
Donald W. Livingston, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Emory University and a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. He has written numerous articles and books on political philosophy, the most recent being Rethinking the American Union for the 21st Century. He founded the Hume Society, and co-founded the Adam Smith Society, the Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society, and the Ciceronian Society. He has published two books on the British philosopher David Hume and has been described as "the greatest Hume scholar of the twentieth century." He is president of the Abbeville Institute, an association of scholars in higher education devoted to a critical study of what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society.
10:00 a.m. - Dr. William M. Wilson, “Jefferson the Theist”
In recent decades, many misconceptions abound throughout academia and the literature with regard to the spiritual dimensions and beliefs of Thomas Jefferson. Dr. William Wilson of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, will illuminate the life-long spiritual journey of Thomas Jefferson, providing not only a window into his soul, but also revealing the moral compass for all of his labors as the “Inventor of America” and author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.
William M. Wilson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, and currently serves as the Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. He served as Dean of the Echols Scholars Program from 2005-2012, and is the recipient of one of the University's highest distinctions, the Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award for teaching and selfless service. Professor Wilson is the author of many articles pertaining to religion, literature, philosophical theology and three volumes of Lectura Dantes Virginiana, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Abbeville Institute for the Study of Southern Culture and the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society.
11:00 a.m. – Dr. Clyde N. Wilson, “Looking for Mr. Jefferson”
Generation after generation, misinterpretations of Thomas Jefferson, both positive and negative, have been piled up by people wishing to use his name for their own agendas. When traced to their sources, such ideas reveal more about their perpetrators than they do about Jefferson. For the real Thomas Jefferson, Virginian and American statesman, to be seen many distortions must be exposed.
Clyde N. Wilson, Ph.D., is Historian Emeritus of the University of South Carolina. He is a recipient of the Bostick Prize for Contributions to South Carolina Letters, and the first annual Randolph Society Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also the M.E. Bradford distinguished chair of the Abbeville Institute and founder of the Stephen D. Lee Institute. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute; and a long-time contributing editor for Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, and Southern Partisan magazine. Professor Wilson is best known for his expertise on the life and writings of John C. Calhoun, and is the editor of Volumes 10 through 28 of The Papers of John C. Calhoun. Professor Wilson is also the author of hundreds of articles, and the author or editor of over 30 books including, The Essential Calhoun; From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition; Chronicles of the South; Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture; and Forgotten Conservatives in American History.
12: 00 Noon - Lunch Break
The Afternoon Session will be moderated by Mr. Richard E. Dixon, President of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society:
1:00 p.m. - Ms. Cynthia H. Burton, “Myths and Scholarship”
Serious flaws have been documented in the scholarship of certain Jefferson scholars. Evidence has been overlooked, ignored, and/or distorted. Enormous gaps have been filled with imagination. However, speculation is not evidence. Has poor scholarship by leading scholars perpetuated myths affecting the character and legacy of Jefferson? Cynthia Burton is interviewed by Patricia Early. New evidence is introduced, myths are debunked, and poor scholarship is revealed.
Cynthia H. Burton is a professional researcher, veteran genealogist, and she is an authority on Jefferson's private life, his brother Randolph Jefferson, and the enslaved community at Monticello. She has more than 35 years’ experience studying the historic neighborhood and its inhabitants, and she has worked closely with several authors writing about the Hemings controversy. Mrs. Burton is also the author of Jefferson Vindicated - Fallacies, Omissions, and Contradictions in the Hemings Genealogical Search.
2:00 p.m. - Mr. William G. Hyland, Esq., "Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone"
The magisterial “collaboration” over half a lifetime between historian Dumas Malone and his subject, Thomas Jefferson, is the basis for William G. Hyland Jr.’s compelling biography Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson. Malone, the courtly and genteel historian from Mississippi, spent thirty-eight years researching and writing the definitive biography of the man who “invented the United States of America.”
William G. Hyland, Esq., Professor of Law, Stetson College of Law and attorney, is the author of In Defense of Thomas Jefferson: The Sally Hemings Sex Scandal (St. Martins) and the biography Long Journey with Mr. Jefferson: The Life of Dumas Malone (Potomac Books).
3:00 p.m. - Dr. Robert F. Turner, "Parsing the Paradox: Understanding Thomas Jefferson and Slavery"
Modern scholars struggle in vain to reconcile Jefferson's enlightened rhetoric that "all men are created equal" and his early efforts in opposition to slavery with his lifelong ownership of other human beings and refusal, even in his will, to grant freedom to more than a small number of his servants. Words like "sphinx," "hypocrite," and even "monster" have been employed in describing perceived contradictions between Jefferson's beliefs and behavior. This presentation will argue that Jefferson's behavior is less enigmatic than most modern scholars perceive. He was morally opposed to slavery throughout his life, and what set him apart from most of his Virginia contemporaries was his willingness to speak and act publicly against slavery.
Robert F. Turner, SJD, is a cofounder of the Center for National Security Law (1981) at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Turner holds both professional and academic doctorates from the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a former Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College and a Distinguished Lecturer at West Point. He has taught both in Virginia's Department of Government and Foreign Affairs and the Law School, and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. Dr. Turner served as Chairman of the independent Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission, and he is editor of The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission.
4:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion, Farewell and Book Signings
About the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society:
The Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society ( http://www.tjheritage.org ) is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which has a four-fold purpose: to further the honor and integrity of Thomas Jefferson, and to promote his vision and ideas, and their application in our times and in the future; to pursue truth in all matters that touch upon the legacy of Thomas Jefferson; to promote the principles of freedom, patriotism and truth, which were hallmarks of Thomas Jefferson's life; and to sponsor and perform research in matters pertaining to the private and public life of Thomas Jefferson. Additional detailed facts documenting the work of the independent Scholars Commission and other distinguished scholars can be referenced at the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society web site.
Directions to the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, 112 Clarke Court, Charlottesville, VA 22903
From Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport:
• Exit the airport and proceed approximately ¾ mile on Airport Road towards US Route 29.
• Turn right onto US Route 29 towards Charlottesville.
• Proceed 6.0 miles. At the intersection with the US 29/250 Bypass, go straight, following the signs for Emmet Street.
• Proceed another 1.9 miles on Emmet Street.
• When the road splits, bear right onto Stadium Road, passing Scott Stadium.
• Turn left at the stop sign onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first left onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
• Total distance from Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport to the Jefferson Fellows Center is approximately 9.8 miles.
From points east and west via I-64:
• From I-64, take Exit 118-B (US Route 29 North).
• Proceed north on US Route 29. Take the first exit and turn right at the bottom of the ramp onto Fontaine Avenue.
• Make a left turn at the first light onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first right onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
From Washington, D.C. and points north:
• Take US Route 29 to Charlottesville. At the intersection with the US 29/250 Bypass, go straight, following the signs for Emmet Street. Proceed another 1.9 miles on Emmet Street.
• When the road splits, bear right onto Stadium Road, passing Scott Stadium.
• Turn left at the stop sign onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first left onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
From Lynchburg and points south:
• Take US Route 29 to Charlottesville. After crossing under I-64, take the first exit and turn right at the bottom of the ramp onto Fontaine Avenue
• Make a left turn at the first light onto Maury Avenue.
• Take the first right onto Clarke Court. Destination will be on the left. Visitor parking is provided in the main lot, and passes can be obtained at the front desk.
posted by Chuck Demastus at 8:42 AM
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