Born, on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia,...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

to the Jefferson family, a baby boy. They gave him the name Thomas. (April 13 is the date of birth using a Gregorian calendar. On a Julian calendar, in use at the time, his date of birth was April 2.)

He went to school at William & Mary and read for the law. You can still do that, in Virginia and in Tennessee.

He wrote of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and of a wall of separation between church and state.

He became the second governor of Virginia. Patrick Henry was the first. There was a tough act to follow.

Now the highest elected office in Virginia is filled with someone who has made it his goal to turn his personal religious outlook into state law. He made this plain twenty-two years ago. His attorney general is in lockstep.

Wow, have we ever fallen.

And now, for those who feel politics used to be more civil in the good old days, here's a reminder that not everyone liked Jefferson.

It's No Laughing Matter - Analyzing Political Cartoons

The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions

James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scrawny dog, is stung by a hornet with Napoleon's head into coughing up "Two Millions" in gold coins, (the secret appropriation Jefferson sought from Congress for the purchase). On the right dances a man (possibly a French diplomat) with orders from French minister Talleyrand in his pocket and maps of East Florida and West Florida in his hand. He says, "A gull for the People."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Indeed, we have fallen far from our historic ideals...

What would that Thomas Jefferson say if he could see where we are now?

Perhaps the cartoon would not be far from the truth?

Very sad.

K&R

[FightingBobsghost]

2. April 13, 1743

Happy birthday T.J.

[Blue_Tires]

3. ttt

[BrklynLiberal]

4. fallen? We have plummeted into a black hole...beyond belief...