Democrats
have long heralded Thomas Jefferson (along with Andrew Jackson) as the founder
of their Party. i They traditionally hold annual
Jefferson-Jackson Day fundraising dinners, and President Obama is one of their
most sought after speakers. But this past year, Democrats began to remove any
mention of Jefferson’s name from their functions. ii They
claim that this is because Jefferson was a bigoted racist, iii but
this excuse is historically inaccurate, based on an errant modern portrayal. iv
If
you doubt this, ask yourself why black civil rights leaders over the past two
centuries (such as Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Benjamin
Banneker, Francis Grimke, Henry Highland Garnett, and so many others) openly
praised Jefferson as a racial civil rights pioneer and champion, v as
did abolitionists such as John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and others. viThey
recognized that Jefferson led a vocal lifelong campaign to emancipate all
slaves in the United States, but that the laws of Virginia prevented him from
freeing his own slaves. (All of this is covered in my new book, “The Jefferson Lies.”)
The
real reason that Democrats should discard Jefferson is that he held nearly no
policy position similar to those Democrats hold today. Consider fifteen major
categories where the policies of Presidents Jefferson and Obama are opposite.
1. RADICAL ISLAM AND THE WAR ON TERROR. President Obama’s approach to the War on Terror throughout his two terms has been non-engagement. As described by one national political observer, he “feels the U.S. should do as little as is politically feasible in battling these groups overseas. Bump off some of their bigwigs by drones, bomb them from time to time with air strikes and provide a bit of training and military assistance to their foes.” vii In attempting to negotiate and pacify rather than annihilate and defeat, he has spent $779 billion on the War on Terror, viii making it a big-ticket item in his administration.
1. RADICAL ISLAM AND THE WAR ON TERROR. President Obama’s approach to the War on Terror throughout his two terms has been non-engagement. As described by one national political observer, he “feels the U.S. should do as little as is politically feasible in battling these groups overseas. Bump off some of their bigwigs by drones, bomb them from time to time with air strikes and provide a bit of training and military assistance to their foes.” vii In attempting to negotiate and pacify rather than annihilate and defeat, he has spent $779 billion on the War on Terror, viii making it a big-ticket item in his administration.
When
President Jefferson took office in 1801, he had been personally dealing with
Muslim nations for almost two decades, and the terrorism issue was also a
big-ticket item for him as well: twenty percent of the federal budget was being
spent to mollify radical Islamicists. ix
By
way of background, in 1784 shortly after the close of the American Revolution,
Congress dispatched Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin as
diplomats x to negotiate with five Muslim nations
attacking American ships and citizens in the Mediterranean area xi (the
same general region where conflict is still occurring today). At that time,
America had no military capable of traveling overseas to destroy the seedbed of
the war-mongering Islamicists plaguing Americans, so America resorted to large
payments of money and goods in attempts to purchase peace and end the attacks.
This unhappy policy, adopted under the Confederation Congress, continued under
President George Washington.
Washington
expressed his open frustration with this approach, declaring:
Would
to Heaven we had a navy able to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them
into non-existence. xii
As
he neared the close of his presidency, he requested that Congress appropriate
money to build a navy capable of traveling to the Mediterranean to smash the
Islamicists. xiii Congress did, and the navy was
constructed under President John Adams, xiv who became
known as “The Father of the Navy.” xv But Adams refused to
use the new navy, continuing the payments instead.
When
Jefferson became president, his long experience with Muslim leaders and nations
taught him there were three possible solutions: (1) continue to rely on
negotiations and diplomacy, which also required large concessions of rights and
payments of monies in hopes of placating the terrorists, (2) limit American
lifestyles and activities by keeping American business interests and shipping
out of that predominately Muslim part of the world (which would destroy American
commerce), or (3) use decisive military force to put an end to the attacks. xvi Jefferson
discarded the first option out of hand:
I
was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the . . . humiliation of paying
a tribute to those lawless pirates. xvii
Jefferson
had earlier concluded that the second option was bad policy, explaining:
The
persons and property of our citizens are entitled to the protection of our
government in all places where they may lawfully go. xviii
He
favored the third option:
I
very early thought it would be best to effect a peace through the medium of
war. xix The power of making war often prevents it, and in
our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace. xx
There
were several reasons Jefferson believed this option was the best policy:
Justice
is in favor of this opinion; honor favors it; it will procure us respect in
Europe (and respect is a safeguard to interest) . . . [and] I think it least
expensive [and] equally effectual. xxi
Understanding
that it was time to end terrorist attacks against American persons and
interests, he deployed an expeditionary force under General William Eaton and
Commodore Edward Preble to exterminate the radical Islamicists. xxii The
terrorists, after five years of being pounded by American military superiority,
decided the price they were paying was too high and thus signed a treaty of
peace. xxiii
Interestingly, Jefferson understood that in dealing with Islamicists, a drawdown of American forces was bad policy – that an insufficient application of American strength would cause the enemy to escalate their attacks. He therefore initiated a military surge, explaining to Congress:
Interestingly, Jefferson understood that in dealing with Islamicists, a drawdown of American forces was bad policy – that an insufficient application of American strength would cause the enemy to escalate their attacks. He therefore initiated a military surge, explaining to Congress:
There
was reason . . . to apprehend that the warfare in which we were engaged with
Tripoli [Libya] might be taken up by some others of the Barbary Powers
[Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, Turkey, et. al]. A reinforcement therefore was
immediately ordered. xxiv
He
also related to Congress an account of how an Islamic warship had attacked a
much smaller American vessel and the result was “a heavy slaughter of her
[Islamicist] men, without the loss of a single one on our part.” xxv He
observed:
The
bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony
to the world that it is not the want of that virtue which makes us seek their
peace but a conscientious desire to direct the energies of our nation to the
multiplication of the human race and not to its destruction. xxvi
We
sought peace not because we were weak (as had been the American situation for
the previous two decades) but rather because our use of superior military force
drove the Islamicists to peace, thus ending further human devastation at their
hands. We were willing to take lawless lives in order to save countless times
more innocent ones. Waging war in this situation was thus humanitarian.
Obama
holds the opposite view. His refusal to use military force has led to an
increasingly strong Iran xxvii(the chief global sponsor of
terrorism xxviii) as well as the explosive growth of ISIS, xxix which
has been responsible for thousands of civilian murders. xxx ISIS
acknowledges that the only army it fears is that of Israel, xxxiand
consequently it has largely refrained from martyring Jews (although it loudly
blusters about doing so xxxii) But fearing nothing from
America, it openly martyrs Christians. (It is a lesson of note that when ISIS
murdered Egyptian Coptic Christians, Egypt responded promptly and with decisive
military force xxxiii and further martyrdoms halted.)
Jefferson’s
use of unequivocal military force against terrorists brought America its first
respite in the decades old Islamic attacks but Obama’s refusal to do so has
caused the numbers of murders committed by Islamicists to soar. President Obama
would have done well to have heeded Jefferson’s observation that:
[H]istory
bears witness to the fact that a just nation is taken on its word when recourse
is had to armaments and wars to bridle others. xxxiv
2.
THE “RELIGION OF PEACE.” President Obama (and other Democratic leaders)
often repeat the platitude that Islam is a “religion of peace.” xxxv They
therefore place its adherents into positions of influence within the Obama
administration, xxxviincluding even those from the Muslim
Brotherhood, xxxvii which is recognized as the radical
wing of Islam that fuels many of its most violent adherents. xxxviii
President Jefferson did not believe that Islam was a religion of peace. He personally learned this from the mouth of its own leaders, and from Islam’s own writings. In 1786 (two years after Congress dispatched him to negotiate with leaders of the terrorists), he and John Adams approached the Muslim Ambassador, inquiring as to the reason behind the unprovoked attacks against America. According to Jefferson:
President Jefferson did not believe that Islam was a religion of peace. He personally learned this from the mouth of its own leaders, and from Islam’s own writings. In 1786 (two years after Congress dispatched him to negotiate with leaders of the terrorists), he and John Adams approached the Muslim Ambassador, inquiring as to the reason behind the unprovoked attacks against America. According to Jefferson:
We
took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the grounds of their
pretentions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed
that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had
given us any provocation. xxxix
So
why were the Islamicists so fixated on attacking Americans even though America
had done nothing against them?
The
Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of their prophet
[Mohammed], that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not
have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and
duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of
all they could take as prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should
be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise. xl
It
was Muslim leaders who told Jefferson that Islam was not intrinsically a
religion of peace. Certainly, not all of its adherents were as warlike as the
religion itself had historically tended to be (after all, there had been
individual Muslims living in America since 1619 xli ), but
wherever Islam was dominant in a nation or a region, lasting peace seldom
accompanied it. As the Ambassador affirmed, war was the one sure guarantee of
spiritual salvation for Muslims, so they had a compelling spiritual motivation
to engage in perpetual violence.
One
way for Americans in Jefferson’s day (and today also) to determine for
themselves whether the Ambassador’s claim was true was by reading the Quran for
themselves, so the first American edition of the Quran was published during the
Jefferson administration. xlii The editor’s preface promised
that once Americans had read it for themselves, “Thou wilt wonder that such
absurdities have infected the better part of the world and wilt avouch that the
knowledge of what is contained in this book [the Koran] will render that
[Islamic] law contemptible.” xliii
Jefferson
believed what Islamicists said about their religion and acted accordingly.
Obama dismisses the same claims as mere hyperbole and tries to explain why
Islamicists do not really mean what they say and why we should ignore what they
do.
iOriginally listed at
Democratic National Committee, “Brief History of the Democratic Party”
(at http://www.democrats.org/about/history.html). That page has now been
pulled from the national Democrat website but has been preserved in published
books showing that webpage. See, for example, David Barton, Setting the
Record Straight: American History in Black and White (Aledo:
WallBuilders Press, 2004), p. 14.
iiSee, for example, “Connecticut Dems strip
Jefferson, Jackson names from fundraising dinner,” FoxNews, July
23, 2015, and many others
iiiSee, for example, “Connecticut Dems remove
Thomas Jefferson from dinner name over slavery,” The Hill, July
23, 2015, and many others.
ivSee David Barton, The
Jefferson Lies (WND Books, 2016), pp. 119-120.
vSee The Jefferson
Lies, pp. 119-150.
viSee, for example, John
Quincy Adams, An Oration Delivered
Before the Inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport, at Their Request, on The
Sixty-First Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1837 (Newburyport:
Charles Whipple, 1837), p. 50; The Collected Works of
Abraham Lincoln,
Roy P. Basler, editor (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol.
3, p. 124, “Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois,”
September 15, 1858 (quoting a Congressional resolution); Abraham Lincoln, “Special Session Message,” The American
Presidency Project, July 4, 1861; Abraham Lincoln: Complete
Works,
John G. Nicolay & John Hay, editors (New York: The Century Co., 1894), Vol.
1, pp. 532-533, to H. L. Pierce and Others, April 6, 1859; Vol. 1, pp. 608-609, “Address at Cooper
Institute,” February 27, 1860.
ixIn 1795, entering the
final year of George Washington’s presidency, the total had reached sixteen
percent of the federal budget (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, “Historical Statistics of the United States” (New York: Kraus
International Publications, 1989), Part 2, p. 1104). It had climbed to twenty
percent by the time Jefferson took office six years later (“First Barbary War,” Wikipedia (accessed
on January 15, 2016)).
xThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. V, p. 195, to William Carmichael on November 4, 1785.
See also Garner W. Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary
Corsairs (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1905) p. 28.
xiThose five nations were
Tunis, Morocco, Algiers, Turkey, and Tripoli – North African and Mediterranean
nations. Naval Documents Related to
the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, Claude A. Swanson,
editor (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1939), Vol. 1,
pp. 1-6, to Thomas Jefferson from Richard O’Brien, June 8, 1786. See
also, A General View of the
Rise, Progress, and Brilliant Achievements of the American Navy Down to the
Present Time,
(Brooklyn, 1828) pp. 70-71; “Barbary Pirates,” The Encyclopedia
Britannica,
Hugh Chisholm, editor (New York: The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, 1910), p.
383.
xiiGeorge Washington, The Writings of George
Washington,
Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Metcalf, 1835), Vol. IX, p.
194, to Marquis de Lafayette, August 15, 1786.
xiiiJ. Fenimore Cooper, The History of the Navy of
the United States of America (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait &
Co., 1847), pp. 123-124. See alsoA Compilation of the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents: 1789-1897, James D. Richardson,
editor (Washington, D. C.: Published by Authority of Congress, 1897), Vol. I,
p. 193, from Washington’s “Eighth Annual Address,” December 7, 1796.
xivDictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships (1968),
Vol. III, pp. 521-523, “John Adams,” Hazegrey.org, (accessed
on January 15, 2016).
xvDictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships (1968),
Vol. III, pp. 521-523, “John Adams,” Hazegrey.org, (accessed
on January 15, 2016).
xviThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. V, p. 327, to Colonel Monroe, May 10, 1786.
xviiThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. I, p. 97, from Jefferson’s Autobiography.
xviiiThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
H.A. Washington, editor (Washington, D. C.: Taylor & Maury, 1854), Vol.
VII, p. 624, “Opinion Relative to Granting of Passports to American Vessels,”
May 3, 1793.
xixThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. V, p. 364, to John Adams, July 11, 1786.
xxThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. VII, p. 224, to General Washington, December 4, 1788.
xxiThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association, 1903), Vol. V, p. 365, to John Adams, July 11, 1786.
xxiiSee, for example, “The First Barbary War,” Monticello (accessed
on January 15, 2016); “The Barbary Wars,
1801-1805,” The
Mariners’ Museum, 2000; Charles Prentiss, The Life of the Late Gen.
William Eaton; Several Years an Officer in the United States’ Army, Consul at
the Regency of Tunis on the Coast of Barbary, and Commander of the Christian
and Other Forces That Marched from Egypt Through the Desert of Barca, in 1805,
and Conquered the City of Derne, Which Led to the Treaty of Peace Between the
United States and the Regency of Tripoli; Principally Collected from His
Correspondence and Other Manuscripts (Brookfield: E. Merriam & Co., 1813).
xxiiiYale Law School, “Treaty of Peace and
Amity, Signed at Tripoli June 4, 1805,” The Avalon Project.
xxivThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
H. A. Washington, editor (Washington, D. C.: Taylor & Maury, 1854), Vol. VIII,
p. 17, “Second Annual Message,” December 15, 1802.
xxvThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
H. A. Washington, editor (Washington, D. C.: Taylor & Maury, 1854), Vol.
VIII, p. 8, “First Annual Message,” December 8, 1801.
xxviThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
H. A. Washington, editor (Washington, D. C.: Taylor & Maury, 1854), Vol.
VIII, p. 8, “First Annual Message,” December 8, 1801.
xxviiSee, for example, Charles
Krauthammer, “Defy America, Pay No
Price,” National
Review, January 7, 2016.
xxviiiMelanie Batley, “Intel Chief Agrees With
GOP: Iran ‘Foremost Sponsor’ of Terrorism,” Newsmax, June 12, 2015.
xxixMario Loyola, “NYT: How Obama Contributed to
the Rise of ISIS,” National
Review, August 12, 2014.
xxxNick Wing & Carina
Kolony, “15 Shocking Numbers That
Will Make You Pay Attention To What ISIS Is Doing in Iraq,” Huffington Post, December
14, 2015; Abdelhalk Mamoun, “30,000-50,000 number of
ISIS elements in Mosul,” Iraqi News, January 7, 2015; Samuel
Smith, “UN Report on ISIS: 24,000
Killed, Injured by Islamic State; Children Used as Soldiers, Woman Sold as Sex
Slaves,” The
Christian Post, January 15, 2016.
xxxi“Israel
is the only country ISIS fears,” IBC World News, January
4, 2016.
xxxiiSee, for example, Lev
Selmon, “Islamic State vows to reach ‘Palestine’ and ‘kill the barbaric
Jews’,” The Jerusalem Post, August 30, 2015 (at: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Islamic-State-vows-to-reach-Palestine-and-kill-the-barbaric-Jews-372796); Mary Chastain, “Islamic
State to Join Palestine to Fight the ‘Barbaric Jews’,” Breitbart, August
1, 2014 (at: http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2014/08/01/islamic-state-to-join-palestine-to-fight-the-barbaric-jews/); “ISIS directly
threatens Jews as Israel remains vigilant and watchful of the terrorist threat
at its borders,” United With Israel, January 4, 2015
(at: http://unitedwithisrael.org/isis-tweets-death-to-jews/); and so forth.
xxxiiiDavid K. Li, “Egypt attacks ISIS hours
after release of beheading video,” New York Post, February 16,
2015.
xxxivThomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson,
H. A. Washington, editor (New York: H. W. Derby, 1861), Vol. VIII, p. 40,
“Second Inaugural Address,” March 4, 1805.
xxxvChris Perez, “Obama Defends the ‘True
Peaceful Nature of Islam’,” New York Post, February 18, 2015.
xxxvi“Muslim
Brotherhood Infiltrates Obama Administration,” Investor’s Business
Daily, December 5, 2013; Anthony Martin, “Report – Obama Quietly
Appoints Muslim Brotherhood to Key Posts,” Examiner, February
15, 2011.
xxxvii“U.K.
Condemns Muslim Brotherhood, While White House Hosts It,” Investor’s
Business Daily, December 29, 2015; Bob Unruh, “General: Muslim
Brotherhood Inside Obama Administration,” World Net Daily, January
9, 2014.
xxxviiiTodd Beamon, “UK Declares Muslim
Brotherhood Terrorist Group, Breaks With Obama,” Newsmax, December
22, 2015; “FBI Chief: Muslim Brotherhood
Supports Terrorism,” IPT
News, February 11, 2011.
xxxixThomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas
Jefferson,
Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton University Press, 1954), Vol. 9, p. 357,
letter from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, American Commissioners, to John
Jay on March 28, 1786.
xlThomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas
Jefferson,
Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton University Press, 1954), Vol. 9, p. 357,
letter from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, American Commissioners, to John
Jay on March 28, 1786.
xliIt is reported that
Muslims were among the first slaves arriving in America, and that up to ten
percent of slaves were Muslim. Thomas A. Tweed, “Islam in America: From
African Slaves to Malcolm X,” National Humanities Center (Accessed on
January 15, 2016).
xliiThe Koran,
Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mahomet. Translated from the Original Arabick
into French, By the Sieur De Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident of the French
at Alexandria. The Whole Now Faithfully Translated Into English (Springfield:
Henry Brewer, 1806).
xliiiThe Koran,
Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mahomet. Translated from the Original Arabick
into French, By the Sieur De Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident of the French
at Alexandria. The Whole Now Faithfully Translated Into English (Springfield:
Henry Brewer, 1806), p. iv, “To the Reader.”
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