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Jefferson’s Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus

Jefferson’s Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus

Thomas Jefferson May 21, 1803 Before he wrote the Jefferson Bible, Jefferson had tried to get others to create a more honest depiction of the true merits of Jesus. He crafted this syllabus ostensibly as a guide for someone else who might tackle the project. In the end, he did the Philosophy of Jesus and, later, the Life and Morals of Jesus, himelf. Here is the cover note he sent to Benjamin Rush and and an earlier note on the…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Short, October 31, 1819

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Short, October 31, 1819

Thomas Jefferson October 31, 1819 Monticello Oct. 31. 19 Dear Sir Your favor of the 21st is recieved. My late illness, in which you are so kind as to feel an interest was produced by a spasmodic stricture of the ilium, which came upon me on the 7th inst. The crisis was passed over favorably on the 4th day, and I should soon have been well but that a dose of calomel & Jalap, in which were only 8 or…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Canby (on Jesus), September 18, 1813

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Canby (on Jesus), September 18, 1813

Thomas Jefferson September 18, 1813 Jefferson praises Jesus but says those who believe in the “those moral precepts in which all religions concur” will go to heaven. MONTICELLO, September 18, 1813 SIR, — I have duly received your favor of August 27th, am sensible of the kind intentions from which it flows, and truly thankful for them. The more so as they could only be the result of a favorable estimate of my public course. During a long life, as…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley

Thomas Jefferson April 9, 1803 In 1803, Jefferson had hoped that someone other than he would write a book on the true merits of Christianity. He eventually wrote a “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus.” Here is a letter he sent to Joseph Priestley, the scientist who discovered Oxygen and had written extensively on Christianity, explaining his project. He later would return to the project and create what came to be known as the…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1823

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1823

Thomas Jefferson April 11, 1823 Jefferson attacks Calvin, predestination, the immaculate conception and other facets of Christianity. DEAR SIR, — The wishes expressed, in your last favor, that I may continue in life and health until I become a Calvinist, at least in his exclamation of `mon Dieu! jusque à quand’! would make me immortal. I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Daemonism….

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to F. A. Van Der Kemp, May 25, 1816

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to F. A. Van Der Kemp, May 25, 1816

Thomas Jefferson May 25, 1816 Jefferson explains that his various efforts to highlight what he sees as the uncorrupted portions of Jesus’s teachings. He makes reference to the project he undertook while President, which he says was hasty, and to his forthcoming efforts to create a new Bible using just the valuable parts of scripture. This project resulted in the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, better known as The Jefferson Bible. SIR,-Your favor of March 24th was handed…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June 26, 1822

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June 26, 1822

Thomas Jefferson June 26, 1822 Jefferson believed that Christianity no longer reflected the true teachings of Jesus. DEAR SIR, — I have received and read with thankfulness and pleasure your denunciation of the abuses of tobacco and wine. Yet, however sound in its principles, I expect it will be but a sermon to the wind. You will find it as difficult to inculcate these sanative precepts on the sensualities of the present day, as to convince an Athanasian that there…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush

Thomas Jefferson May 21, 1803 In 1803, Jefferson had hoped that someone other than himself write a book on the merits of Christianity. He wrote a “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus” and sent it to Benjamin Rush, the prominent doctor and Patriot. The syllabus can be found here. The cover letter to Rush is interesting in itself, reflecting as it does Jefferson’s bitterness about how his own religious views had been mischaracterized. Dear…

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Diary of John Adams, February 13, 1756

Diary of John Adams, February 13, 1756

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John Adams February 13, 1756 Adams doesn’t think much of the idea that Christ wiped away the sins of others. pleasant morning. Saw my classmates Gardner, and Wheeler. Wheeler dined, spent the afternoon, and drank Tea with me. Supped at Major Gardiners, and ingag’d to keep School at Bristol, provided Worcester People, at their insuing March meeting, should change this into a moving School, not otherwise. Major Greene this Evening fell into some conversation with me about the Divinity and…

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Delaware Constitution of 1776

Delaware Constitution of 1776

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Delaware 1776 Article 22 of the Constitution required officeholders to swear belief in the Trinity and the “divine inspiration” of the Bible. Art. 22. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit: “I, A B, will bear true allegiance to…

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