Why the Jefferson Memorial Should Remain

  "Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more clearly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free."

  This is a quote from President Thomas Jefferson. 

  It is significant because there are many people in the United States who want the Jefferson Memorial removed. 



Statue of Thomas Jefferson and the second paragraph
of the Declaration of Independence.

  These people claim that the memorial

should be taken down because Jefferson was a slave owner.

  It seems like these people don't realize that not only did most of the founding fathers, including George Washington, own slaves, but Jefferson believed that the institution of slavery would die out.

  Many people are unaware that until the invention of the cotton gin, slavery was declining. 

   The founding fathers, particularly Jefferson, realized that. That is one of the reasons they did not outlaw slavery when they wrote the constitution. That, and there was no way the southern colonies would join if slavery was outlawed.

   The fact that there are people in the United States who want to disregard history should frighten and enrage other Americans. 

    If the Jefferson Memorial is removed, how will people learn about the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the man who pushed Enlightenment ideals, and the man who led a prospering and growing country. 

  Thomas Jefferson is arguably one of the most wise and intelligent persons who has ever lived. 

  The rights that he included in his writing, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are the basis of what the United States stands for.

  To erase this great leader from history would be to forget the man who shaped the country into what it is today. 

    

The Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin - Washington D.C.