The Relevance of Thomas Jefferson for the Twentieth Century

title of my remarks, I must confess, embarrasses me by its use of the word relevance. Today the scholar engaged in humane studies is called upon to justify his researches by relating their meaning to some continuing problem or issue of the present. Otherwise, as he is told in unequivocal terms, his work becomes mere antiquarianism or pedantry. He is invited to flee from the ivory tower and to take his place on the curbstone of busy streets, where all can see that he is engaged in work whose relevance to the affairs of men is immediate, tangible and to use a good Jeffersonian phrase self-evident. Only there, it would appear, can he be sure of basking in the sunshine that radiates from above in the form of research grants from foundations, promotions within the academic hierarchy, and recognition from society at large. This tendency has several unhappy results. The least obnoxious is that humanists, who after all are human, sometimes attempt to demonstrate the relevance of their endeavors with logic more spectacular than convincing. It is this that produces my embarrassment, for I am aware that in the context of the learned world today my choice of title looks suspiciously like a humanistic research project dressed up to attract the eye of a foundation officer. But my choice of subject was in fact no choice at all. I happen to be fortunate enough to spend most of my professional life in