Have you noticed when playing the Alphabe-Thursday Meme how fast the weeks fly? We are already on the letter J. Thank you to our hostess Jenny for a good reason to remember our ABC’s. J is for Jenny and for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Thomas Jefferson
In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father, a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.
Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the “silent member” of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.
My Dear, who takes the time to read things when we visit monuments or museums.
Hope your first week of summer is starting off well. June will be over before we know it! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Our youngest loves to read EVERYTHING in a museum. Our oldest daughter was a little scared to travel to D.C. with her…but she managed to keep moving. I don’t know if they were teasing but our oldest said that Jefferson wanted his statue to face a certain direction so he could keep his eye on them….don’t remember if it was the Capitol or the White House. Surely he didn’t. 😉
Beautiful photos ellen, and a great history lesson! I enjoyed my visit. laurie
I like to read things in museums too. 🙂 Thank you for the tour of the Jefferson Memorial.
Thank you so much for sharing your lovely photos, I have never been to D.C. but will go someday! I too am a teacher and I so agree with you about rude children. I teach pre-kindergarten and so many times when we go on field trips my class behaves better than the “big kids”. I teach my students respect for people and places! I also demand this respect from the parents that go with us on these trips. I work with low-income families and sometimes I teach the parents just like I teach the children, but you know, someone has to do it! Thanks so much for visiting my post, I am signing up for your e-mail notification.
I have a nephew who can teach history better than most of his teachers. He reads everything he can, but not in museums. He was just in Istanbul and was irritated by all the people reading everything because he already knew who the people were.
I know I’ve seen the Jefferson Memorial as a child…also Monticello. It’s too bad that as a child you don’t appreciate things as much as do as an adult.
And to think that Texas wants to take him out of their history books!!
Stirring momument.
And yes, June is nearly spent!
Great pictures of a beautiful memorial! Love the tag folk art in the previous post.. .what a creative idea!
This a a wonderful monument to visit in person too.
Wow. I love this memorial. It’s one of my favorite things about Washington DC!
Thanks for letting me tag along without even putting any shoes on!
And thanks for linking up!
A+
Wow ..I love the writing on the wall. I am looking foward to peeking at a few of your amazing sites myself.
I like that he “took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.” – sort of makes it sound like he’s a romantic.
great J alphabe-thursday. have a lovely day.
Good morning, Ellen! The TJ Memorial is probably my favorite monument! The rounded dome reminds me of Monticello. By the way, I used Groupon this morning to purchase tickets to Hillwood. 🙂
Thanks for sharing all these great pictures from DC. We are located in Charlottesville, VA and I guess because we are so close, we rarely visit!
I so want to take a trip back east and see things like this. My hubby also reads everything. Love it.
Reading the “writing on the wall”, I can’ help but wish our present day politicians and law makers would reflect more on the beliefs and values our countries were built on. If they would only realize that it is those basic Christian principles that have made both Canada and the United States the examples of freedom, democracy and tolerance that they are.
I loved this! I am a big Jefferson fan and love to read about him.
I haven’t been to the Memorial in years and years….
Your photos are really marvelous, and thank you for the little history lesson on Thomas Jefferson. I suppose I knew some of that once, but it’s nice to refresh my memory.
Those photos are really stunning Ellen! And a good history lesson on one of your famous countrymen too!
Jefferson was an extremely fascinating man! His monument is gorgeous during cherry-blossom time!
I appreciated the quotations on the walls.