Thomas Jefferson -- Deist & Research Paper

The colonists were fortunate to have a brilliant patriot like Jefferson that could also express himself elegantly and with powerful intellectual foundations through the written word. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and could any man or woman alive at that time have put words on paper any more brilliantly than patriot Jefferson? That's a rhetorical question, but when he wrote: "…We hold these truths to be self-evident… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Behrman, 52). Indeed the Declaration of Independence "crisply set for the bill of particular grievances against the reigning sovereign and compressed a whole cosmology, a political philosophy, and a national creed in one paragraph" (Encyclopedia of World Biography).

Conclusion

How great a patriot was Jefferson? That is a question that is answered not in narrative necessarily, but by reading through his participation in the preparation for, and specific reasons for, the revolution that brought the young nation the freedom from England.And was Jefferson an atheist? The literature referenced in this essay points boldly to the fact that he was not an atheist, albeit he had serious reservations about organized religion, and about the miracles that the Bible depicts. Jefferson's belief in Deism -- which posits that the natural world is a more likely place to interact with God than a church sanctuary -- should be lauded, not condemned.

Works Cited

Barnett, S.J. The Enlightenment and Religion: The Myths of Modernity. Manchester, UK:

Manchester University Press, 2003.

Behrman, Carol H. Thomas Jefferson / Presidential Leaders. Breckenridge, CO: Twenty-First

Century Books, 2004.

Djupe, Paul A, and Olson, Laura R. Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2003.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. "Thomas Jefferson." Retrieved October 10, 2011, from GaleGroup.

Jefferson, Thomas. 3rd President (1801-1809). Thomas Jefferson. Retrieved October 10, 2011,

From http://www.usa-patriotism.com/quotes/jefferson.htm.

Jefferson, Thomas. Quotations.….....