Half a century ago, philosopher Leo Strauss remarked that the passage in which the Declaration of Independence proclaims its self-evident truths "has frequently been quoted, but, by its weight and its elevation, it is made immune to the degrading effects of the excessive familiarity which breeds contempt and of misuse which breeds disgust."
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Thomas Jefferson is the leading hypocrite of American history, whose noble words throughout his career are so different from his ignoble life- and death. An unapologetic owner of slaves, many of whom would be sold throughout his life and upon his death to pay his debts (often breaking up families), he preached a yeoman farmer philosophy that was dependent upon enjoying the fruits of another's involuntary labor. Jeffersons vision of the American Republic was possible only through slavery.
Without the white owners in the South being given extra voting power equal to three-fifths of the slaves they held, Jefferson would never have been President. His elevation affirmed the slaveholders grip on the federal government for sixty years- until the election of Abraham Lincoln. In modern parlance, he talked the talk, but he never walked the walk. His life is an indelible stain upon America.