1. Thomas Jefferson: An American Philosopher

2. The American Soul What does it mean to be American? What makes us unique? Is there an American soul?

3. Monticello

4. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

5. In addition to his political accomplishments Jefferson was the father of the University of Virginia, an architect, archaeologist, craftsman, scientific gardener and farmer, inventor, and mathematician.

6. The Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

7. What is the difference between what we are and what we can become? Is there a capacity in humans to know and live by the truth that goes untapped?

8. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness If the uniqueness of human life is the ability to discern the truth then freedom, for Jefferson, means the freedom to follow one’s own conscience.

9. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness A philosophical approach to politics asks us to slow down long enough to ask ourselves what the values are that we hold and then to go deeper and ask what assumptions underlie these values?

10. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness We can only truly appreciate the documents that founded our country when we understand the ideas about human nature that guide them.

11. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Human happiness, according to Jefferson, seems to be the capacity to bring one’s life into harmony with the laws of reason, on the inside, and the laws of nature, on the outside.

12. Summary For Jefferson, life is the ability to discern the truth, liberty is the ability to live according to conscience, and the pursuit of happiness is the ability to bring the inner and outer into harmony.