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Founders Quotes - Jefferson's Recommendations on Reading
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School ^ | 8/19/1785 | Thomas Jefferson

Posted on 11/27/2007 7:16:16 AM PST by Loud Mime

In reading the original content surrounding one of yesterday's quotes, I was struck by Jefferson's recommendations for reading and his advice to aquaint oneself with firearms rather than sports that use a ball.

The following is an excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's Letter to Peter Carr (August 1778). I have broken the letter's lines to make reading easier.

This is just a segment of the letter. The original, in its entirety, is at the source link.

"An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second. It is time for you now to begin to be choice in your reading; to begin to pursue a regular course in it; and not to suffer yourself to be turned to the right or left by reading any thing out of that course.

I have long ago digested a plan for you, suited to the circumstances in which you will be placed. This I will detail to you, from time to time, as you advance. For the present, I advise you to begin a course of antient history, reading every thing in the original and not in translations.

First read Goldsmith's history of Greece. This will give you a digested view of that field. Then take up antient history in the detail, reading the following books, in the following order: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Hellenica, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin.

This shall form the first stage of your historical reading, and is all I need mention to you now. The next, will be of Roman history (*). From that, we will come down to modern history.

In Greek and Latin poetry, you have read or will read at school, Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides, Sophocles. Read also Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakspeare, Ossian, Pope's and Swift's works, in order to form your style in your own language. In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophontis Memorabilia, Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies, Antoninus, and Seneca.

In order to assure a certain progress in this reading, consider what hours you have free from the school and the exercises of the school. Give about two of them, every day, to exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning.

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: education; foundingfathers; quotes; thomasjefferson
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Notice that Jefferson does not advise Carr to join a militia, but to carry his own firearm. The Supreme Court should know of this advice as they debate the DC gun law.
1 posted on 11/27/2007 7:16:19 AM PST by Loud Mime
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To: Loud Mime
Epictetus

This guy changed my life. And he was recommended to me by none other than John Adams, our second president. Ok, not to me directly, but that's how I heard of him. I read McCullough's biography of Adams; Adams spoke highly of Epictetus, I got curious. Next thing you know, I'm a better man for it.

2 posted on 11/27/2007 7:21:03 AM PST by Huck (Soylent Green is People.)
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To: Vision; sauropod; gondramB; Loud Mime; sneakers; toomanygrasshoppers; jasoncann; gr8eman; ...

PING


3 posted on 11/27/2007 7:25:02 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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To: Huck

reading every thing in the original and not in translations.


good advice


4 posted on 11/27/2007 7:25:18 AM PST by PeterPrinciple ( Seeking the truth here folks.)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: JackRyanCIA

Meaning the Second Amendment case?


6 posted on 11/27/2007 7:36:53 AM PST by wastedyears (One Marine vs. 550 consultants. Sounds like good odds to me.)
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To: Loud Mime

A very loud AMEN!

Every child should be allowed to learn the principals of protection. You notice, I said allowed, not taught. For it is a choice for all to make, not a requirement. Just another freedom to be enjoyed.

Thank you for this enlightenment.


7 posted on 11/27/2007 7:38:39 AM PST by wizr ("Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, Hope Rides Alone." Sgt. E Jeffer)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Loud Mime
The next, will be of Roman history (*). From that, we will come down to modern history.

Interesting to me that the tendency is to skip from millenia old history to the modern era, leaving out the period from 300 A.D. to the Renaissance . . . or whatever they regarded as modern then. I think we have lost a lot of lessons from that gap in historical focus. One of the lessons is the danger of Islam.

9 posted on 11/27/2007 7:39:15 AM PST by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: DogByte6RER; ansel12; Shooter 2.5; 2nd amendment mama; george76; South40; RKV; Dead Corpse; ...

ping for the firearms reference


10 posted on 11/27/2007 7:42:14 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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To: Loud Mime
In order to assure a certain progress in this reading, consider what hours you have free from the school and the exercises of the school. Give about two of them, every day, to exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning.

Wow! Makes your average gym rat today look like a piker! And this advice from a man that wrote, politicked, farmed, invented, read, and wrote letters in great volume.

11 posted on 11/27/2007 7:44:03 AM PST by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: Greg F

(you can always tell a man who isn’t married with children by how much other stuff he can do . . .)


12 posted on 11/27/2007 7:44:45 AM PST by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: PeterPrinciple
And now we're translating within English.

With Spanish increasing its presence in our legal system, it is important that we enact laws that make English the official language of the US government and all court systems inside our borders.

13 posted on 11/27/2007 7:46:59 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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To: Publius

I am interested in your thoughts of Jefferson’s reading list.


14 posted on 11/27/2007 7:53:47 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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To: Greg F
Interesting to me that the tendency is to skip from millenia old history to the modern era, leaving out the period from 300 A.D. to the Renaissance . . . or whatever they regarded as modern then. I think we have lost a lot of lessons from that gap in historical focus. One of the lessons is the danger of Islam.

You have to understand that the 18th century took a more systematic view of education, at least at this aristocratic level, so that one learns the foundations - and for the Anglo-American philosophes that was primarily the ancient classics before tackling the practical and the modern at university and beyond. A gentleman's education did not end with university, but rather continued with private reading. Much of modern history, Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume, etc. (recall they were all best known first as historians) was being published and was the sort of thing that gentlemen read in their leisure, rather than what students learned in school.

15 posted on 11/27/2007 7:58:28 AM PST by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: Loud Mime
I have something in common with George Washington. He and I both have bemoaned our lack of a classical education. George's older brother got it, but George didn't get the chance. A good percentage of our founding fathers could read Greek and Latin fluently and used that foundation to learn other languages and firmly ground themselves in the lessons of history.

My 14 year old son is receiving a classical Christian education now. I watched him last night as he translated an inscription he saw under a painting. The inscription was in French, but he was able to translate it using his knowledge of Latin roots.

16 posted on 11/27/2007 8:01:32 AM PST by Drawsing (The fool shows his annoyance at once. The prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16))
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To: Loud Mime
This shall form the first stage of your historical reading, and is all I need mention to you now. The next, will be of Roman history (*). From that, we will come down to modern history.

Why does TJ skip an entire millennium of philosophy and history? Even if he wasn't particularly clerical, there's a whole bundle of republican history from Holland, Novgorod, Switzerland, and northern Italy to be learned, plus everything from Ockham and Bacon to Aquinas and Boethius.

17 posted on 11/27/2007 8:06:09 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (Conservatives - Freedom WITH responsibility; Libertarians - Freedom FROM responsibility)
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To: Drawsing

We’re in concert.

I was a terrible student. But when I was stationed in Germany I became fluent in their language and needed only one more tournament to become a rated chess player. It was during those times that I realized how stupid and uneducated I was. My classical education is close to nil.

May God bless you for giving your son such good guidance. The results of the education have their own rewards, but your guidance has given your son a wonderful path, an uphill one at that.

Who was it that said “Learning is a pain?” It’s a wonderful pain, one that allows a person to grow.


18 posted on 11/27/2007 8:10:55 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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To: Greg F

Oh well back in the day the wimmin and nursemaids took care of the kids!


19 posted on 11/27/2007 8:11:50 AM PST by cyborg (Long Island Half Marathon finisher!)
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To: Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

I have no answer for your question. Perhaps somebody on this forum may present their knowledge on the matter.

Northern Italy - Are you referring to the history that surrounds Machiavelli’s writings? Some of his cited political acts amazed me.


20 posted on 11/27/2007 8:15:52 AM PST by Loud Mime (The Democrats made people believe that govt. lawyers are victims, whatta country!)
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