Thomas Jefferson, American Icon Preface

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來自 University of Virginia 的課程

杰斐逊时代

257 個評分

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University of Virginia

杰斐逊时代

257 個評分

This course provides an overview of Thomas Jefferson's work and perspectives presented by the University of Virginia in partnership with Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Together, UVA and Monticello are recognized internationally as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

從本節課中

Thomas Jefferson, American Icon

Thomas Jefferson is an American icon. He has also been one of the most polarizing and controversial figures in American history. In this introductory module, we’ll explore how Jefferson’s reputation has changed and evolved over the last two centuries. We’ll discover what Jefferson considered to be his most important contribution to the “Age of Enlightenment” in which he was living. We’ll discuss why some people in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have viewed Jefferson and his ideas with skepticism or worse while others have embraced Jefferson. Overall, learning about how people from many different backgrounds and perspectives have interpreted Jefferson throughout history will help us understand why it’s so important to think critically and honestly about Jefferson’s life and legacy today.

Tour of Rotunda2:39

Thomas Jefferson, American Icon Preface3:37

Jefferson’s Great Contribution8:26

Doubting Thomas: Negative Responses to Jefferson and his Ideas8:58

與講師見面

Professor Peter S. Onuf
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor, Emeritus
Corcoran Department of History

[BLANK_AUDIO]

Hello and welcome to this first lecture

in our series of lectures on Thomas Jefferson.

This lecture's entitled Thomas Jefferson, American Icon.

Where to begin with a topic as rich and multifaceted as Jefferson and his world.

In this introductory lecture, Mr. Onuf has two basic goals.

First, he wants to convey at the outset some sense of why Jefferson remains

one of the most important, complex, and

controversial figures in all of American history.

After all, why should you bother taking an entire course

dedicated to studying the life and times of this one person?

You deserve an answer to those questions and Mr. Onuf makes the case brilliantly.

Second, the lecture aims to provide a brief

overview of how Jefferson's reputation has been in flux,

rising and falling numerous times from his own

time until the present day, some two centuries later.

You may be surprised to learn how Americans

in different eras have interpreted Jefferson and his

legacy, but simply they haven't always been enamored with the man

who wrote the Declaration of Independence and served as the third president.

The lecture can be divided into four parts.

Mr. Onuf begins in part one by situating

Jefferson in the context of The Enlightenment, an

18th century intellectual movement whose ultimate objective was

nothing less than the improvement of all mankind.

Jefferson saw himself as a leading proponent

of this Age of Reason as he sought

to overturn traditional conceptions of politics and government.

In the place of conventional understandings

of society and order, Jefferson offered a

stunning vision of the equality of all

men, but not everyone accepted Jefferson's views.

In part two, Mr. Onuf presents some of the

critiques that have been leveled at Jefferson and his ideas.

Today, we might be inclined to conclude

that inequality rather than equality characterizes our society.

In the early 19th century, the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham

dismissed the Jeffersonian view of natural rights as utter nonsense, while

others observing the violent and radical revolutions occurring in places, such

as France and Haiti, decided that democracy was dangerous and unrealistic.

In part three, we learned how, in the midst

of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln revived Jefferson's reputation.

Yeah, we also learned the Jefferson's status

as a great American founder continued to oscillate throughout the later 19th

and into the 20th century, in response to developments at home and abroad.

By the late 20th century, it was possible to

see Jefferson as both a hypocrite and a visionary.

We'll ask why that's so.

Mr. Onuf concludes his lecture in part four by offering a couple key points

to keep in mind as we begin our attempt to understand Jefferson and his world.

After reminding us that we need to acknowledge

the many differences between Jefferson's world and our

own, Mr. Onuf introduces an important theme, a

paradox that we will trace throughout the course.

Jefferson's invention of a new world in America that he believed

simultaneous repudiates and revives the civilization of the old world of Europe.

It's this tension between value in the past and looking toward

the future that lies at the heart of the two concepts

of exceptionalism that can be found in Jefferson's thought.

By the end of this lecture then you should be able to do a couple things.

First, you should be able to explain when and why Jefferson's

reputation was generally held in relatively high or relatively low regard.

Second, you should be able to offer a few reasons

why studying Jefferson is a worthwhile enterprise for us today.

Imagine you have a skeptical friend who doesn't

understand why you're taking a course about Jefferson.

What would you tell her?

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