In case you missed it, Mike Johnson was re-elected Speaker of the House today. Watch his speech here: At the fourteen minute mark, Johnson said: …I was asked to provide a prayer for the nation. I offered one that is […]
Thomas Jefferson
Among the Jeffersonians
The chapter on Thomas Jefferson in my book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction is titled “Thomas Jefferson: Follower of Jesus.” In that chapter I discuss Jefferson’s attempt to model his life after the teachings of […]
The Author’s Corner with Cara Rogers Stevens
Cara Rogers Stevens is Associate Professor of History at Ashland University. This interview is based on her new book, Thomas Jefferson and the Fight against Slavery (University Press of Kansas, 2024). JF: What led you to write Thomas Jefferson and the […]
What is going on at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello?
In January, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed resigned from the board of Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson. Here is a taste of Jason Armesto’s January 2, 2024 piece at The Daily Progress: It is not clear why Gordon-Reed, […]
The Author’s Corner with Frank Cogliano
Frank Cogliano is Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh. This interview is based on his new book, A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic (Harvard University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write A Revolutionary Friendship? […]
More cherry-picking from the Bartons
Watch the clip below. Tim Barton, the president of Wallbuilders, is speaking at an evangelical congregation: So what is Tim Barton doing here? He wants his audience to believe that the founders sought national unity at the time the Revolution […]
Jane Kamensky, the new president of Monticello, prepares for the 250th commemoration of the nation’s founding
Last October, we noted that historian Jane Kamensky will be the new president of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. In a recent interview with the American Historical Association, Kamensky reflects on her role at Monticello in light of the 250th commemoration of […]
Thomas Jefferson said our rights come from the “Creator.” Was he right?
Christian nationalism was in the news again this weekend. As we noted in today’s Roundup, a lot of evangelicals (and others) are upset about Politico journalist Heidi Przybyla’s claim that anyone who believes that their rights come from God is […]
What did the founding fathers mean by “happiness”?
Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and professor of law at the George Washington University. His new book is titled The Pursuits of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders […]
Warren Throckmorton is now fact-checking David Barton on a podcast
The new edition of Warren Throckmorton’s Getting Jefferson Right is here! Current managing editor Jay Green offers a blurb: In Getting Jefferson Right, Throckmorton and Coulter provide a valuable public service to readers in at least two important respects. First, they expose some […]
Historian Jane Kamensky is the new president at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
Kamensky comes to Charlottesville from Harvard University’s history department. Here is the press release: CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private nonprofit that owns and operates Monticello, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jane Kamensky, Ph.D., as […]
The Author’s Corner with Peter Thompson
Peter Thompson is Sydney L Mayer Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Heir through Hope: Thomas Jefferson’s Lifelong Investment in William Short (Oxford University Press, 2023). JF: What […]
Trump prophet reads a fake Jefferson quote and then says “take that and choke”
Hank Kunneman is a New Apostolic Reformation preacher and Seven Mountain Dominionist. He is part of the Dutch Sheets and Lance Wallnau crowd of “prophets” that we covered here. In this video Kunneman expounds on the history of church and […]
The Author’s Corner with Travis McDonald
Travis McDonald is Director of Architectural Restoration at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. This interview is based on his new book, Poplar Forest: Thomas Jefferson’s Villa Retreat (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Poplar Forest? TM: […]
James Madison: “A tax on newspapers” would be “an insidious forerunner to something worse”
About a year ago, Current published Steven Waldman‘s piece “The Return of Local News.” Waldman is the president and cofounder of Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. He also serves as chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition. […]
“His rotundity” versus a supposed atheist and anarchist
Over at his Substack, historian William Hogeland is telling “lurid tales” of American elections. He begins his series with the presidential election of 1796. Here is a taste of his post: Jefferson supporters, labeling Adams “His Rotundity,” claimed that the […]
On the slaveholder Jonathan Edwards and the Christians who read him
This past weekend a couple of folks called my attention to tweets from Joash Thomas. According to his Twitter bio, he is the National Director of Mobilization & Advocacy for the International Justice Mission (IJM) of Canada. I have great […]
More from the “Evangelical Fearmongering 101” syllabus
When Thomas Jefferson was running for president in 1800, Federalist evangelicals claimed that if the Virginian won the election he and his henchman would try to close their churches and confiscate Bibles from their homes. When Irish Catholics started arriving […]
For MAGA Christians, it doesn’t matter if the founding fathers’ quote they use is true, as long as it rallies the base
Dutch Sheets is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a brand of charismatic evangelicalism that powers the Christian MAGA movement. Sheets leads pro-Trump prayer tours around the country, travels around with Lance Wallnau, Charlie Kirk and others where he […]
Thomas Jefferson: hero or villain?
The title of this post is not, primarily, a historical question. It is primarily a moral question. We should keep the complexity of the past in mind as we celebrate Independence Day. Check out early American historian’s Jack Rakove‘s recent […]