The Jefferson Watch

On the Road with Thomas Jefferson

On the Road with Thomas Jefferson

"A traveler, sais I, retired at night to his chamber in an inn, all his effects contained in a single trunk, all his cares circumscribed by the walls of his apartment, unknown to all, unheeded, and undisturbed, writes, reads, thinks, sleeps, just in the moments when nature and the movements of his body and mind require."

The Ethics of Food

The Ethics of Food

In the end food is just fuel. It keeps the engine running, and for me the engine was designed to do the work of the soul—to read books and maybe write some too, to imagine the world you want to live in, to evaluate the events that take place in the public square, to lift oneself and those around you to a higher plane of enlightenment, to do what you can—in Jefferson’s words—to ameliorate the condition of mankind.

Not with a Bang, But a Whimper

Not with a Bang, But a Whimper

I’ve wanted to climb Mt. Whitney for twenty years or more, but it has never happened, because life kept getting in the way, and I didn’t ever want to do it alone, and not that many people are willing to entertain the thought of climbing straight up for eleven miles.

Thomas Jefferson: Weeping for America

Thomas Jefferson: Weeping for America

Jefferson wrote, "I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves, by the generation of 1776, to acquire self government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it."

A Word About Fathers and Daughters

A Word About Fathers and Daughters

If you ask me what the most successful relationship was in Jefferson’s 83-year life, I can answer unequivocally that it was with his elder daughter Martha, whom he called Patsy, at least when she was young. She adored her father, and was a fierce and lifelong protector of his privacies, his sensitive spirit, and his reputation.