The thing that I find the most troublesome (tedious?) about an article like this is the over-simplifications required to either deify or demonize.
Thomas Jefferson was a complicated but dynamic human being. He’s never been one of my favorites because I’ve long thought him two-faced, but he made many significant contributions to our nation.
>> Thomas Jefferson was a complicated but dynamic human being <<
Absolutely correct. Spot on!
Let’s consider some of his actions/positions:
1. Supported slavery and never freed his own slaves, except for the Hemmings clan.
2. Wrote the Declaration of Independence, the very words of which were totally in contradiction to slavery.
3. Rejected the divinity of Jesus.
4. Thought manufacturing and banking basically were tools of the Devil.
5. Believed true wealth derived only from agriculture.
6. Opposed federal construction of roads and canals.
7. Supported free trade, as long as it benefited the southern planter and farmer.
8. Approved of some of the bloodiest excesses of the French Revolution.
9. Schemed and played really dirty against Pres. George Washington, while simultaneously serving as Washington’s Secretary of State.
10. Consummated the Louisiana Purchase, even though in his heart of hearts he thought it was unconstitutional.
The critical point is, TJ was not only a man of great accomplishment but also a man of immense contradictions — meaning that it’s genuinely a fools errand to try classifying him in today’s terms as a conservative, libertarian, progressive or whatever.