I have seen the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC many times from a distance but have never actually visited it. Although all of our Founding Fathers were human and endowed with the unalienable right to flaws, the more I learn about the third President of the United States, the more I question what kind of man he really was at his core.
But I also, right or wrong, hold those recognized with memorials and monuments in DC in high regard. I have read many books and been educated via other sources about the Revolutionary War as well as its participants, I know it was not a romantic time. Yet I still fully admit to romanticizing the Men of Liberty. I can’t help it. As I approached the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, I was swept up in its location in the Tidal Basin and its grandeur. You had me at “Memorial.”
Created by John Russell Pope, a circular colonnade of 26 columns, inscriptions of Jefferson’s writings and a low dome, inspired by Jefferson’s own designs, surround a 19-foot bronze statue of Jefferson. It was dedicated in 1943.
I left the Jefferson Memorial with the same feelings about him that I had going in, but while there, it all went away. I do not condone his alleged abhorrent behaviors, but I do recognize, appreciate and honor his contribution to the birth of our nation.
There is an popular phrase these days that two things can be true. This is nothing new, it is a fact as old as time. It is not in the Declaration of Independence, but it should be.
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