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Jack Brewer is an Orono High School alumni and political science major at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At Macalester, he plays on the varsity football team and serves on the leadership council for the school’s Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society.
America can’t decide whether to celebrate or cancel Thomas Jefferson. It seems almost a perfect reflection of where America is this Fourth of July.
Many believe our country is the most polarized it has been since the Civil War. Accordingly, the deeply polarized debate surrounding Jefferson comes as no surprise. Critics on the left tend to paint Jefferson as an evil slaveowner, with this fact negating his accomplishments. Defenders on the right often focus solely on his contributions to the American project, portraying Jefferson as a spotless hero.
The partisan debate reduces Jefferson to two diametrically opposed realities. Neither is completely true.
Understanding history requires confronting it fully, not selectively. Thomas Jefferson made immense contributions to our nation, while simultaneously owning slaves and participating in an act of evil against humanity. Leaning into this tension provides both a deeper understanding of history itself and the lessons it offers us.
Jefferson idolizers typically claim that we incorrectly judge him based on 21st-century standards instead of the standards of his time, where slavery was widely accepted. This defense collapses under even modest scrutiny, as abolitionist movements had been present in the colonies since the late 1600s.
Jefferson himself recognized the evil of slavery in his draft of the Declaration of Independence, calling slavery an “assemblage of horrors,” which violated the “most sacred rights of life & liberty.” Jefferson’s clear awareness of the immorality of slavery complicates any attempt to excuse him.
Critics of Jefferson either argue that he: Understood slavery and its contradictions with his writings, but continued to possess slaves out of self-interest; or that his understanding of “all men are created equal” excluded Black people. Both viewpoints typically arrive at the same conclusion: We should have a more limited appreciation of revolutionary works, and more importantly, figures such as Jefferson should be consigned to the dustbin of history.
This mindset creates an incomplete history. Thomas Jefferson is essential to the American story. His ideas on liberty and freedom shaped our nation’s foundations. His contributions are continually relevant. We cannot erase the existence of Jefferson, and attempting to do so discounts his valuable input to our nation’s founding.
We are left with contradictions. Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal,” while owning over 600 slaves in his lifetime. He recognized the evil of slavery, yet never freed his own slaves. These facts are not mutually exclusive; they exist as part of a singular narrative.
This hypocrisy cannot be reconciled. We must confront this complexity, accepting Jefferson as neither a hero nor a villain. Leaning into this tension presents insights into the complexities of human nature. Throughout history, figures have made immense ideological contributions while possessing personal moral failings. Jefferson’s case shines light on this paradox.
Although correctly understanding history is important, the case of Jefferson has a deeper meaning at this current moment. America was founded on beautiful ideals like liberty, natural rights and freedom; we have never truly lived up to them. As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, these failures weigh heavily on many. By arguing over our founders’ legacies, we become distracted from this fact. Polarized politics and culture wars have replaced proper progress and quality governance.
Despite this, we cannot lose hope. Abraham Lincoln referred to the Declaration as an “apple of gold,” a foundational promise that we must fulfill as a nation, an affirmation for how a nation should be. Martin Luther King Jr., too, saw the Declaration as a “promissory note,” drawing on it throughout his struggle for civil rights.
As citizens of the U.S. in 2026, we must confront our history in all of its aspects. By doing this, we get not only a better understanding of our history but a reminder of the promise we still must fulfill.
The question shouldn’t be whether Thomas Jefferson lived up to American ideals, but rather, will we?
