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Vexing the Ghost of Thomas Jefferson By Daniel Hannan

British journalist and member Daniel Hannan delivered the following remarks to TFAS supporters and alumni attending the 46th Anniversary Annual Conference in Charlottesville, Va. Following an afternoon visit to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Hannan spoke to conference attendees of his admiration for Jeffersonian principles and what he calls a shared inheritance.

Hannan rose to international acclaim in 2009 when he delivered a speech Daniel Hannan is a writer and in the European Parliament criticizing Prime Minister ’s blogger, and has been a conservative response to the global financial crisis. The speech titled, “The devalued Member of European Parliament for South East England since 1999. Prime Minister of a devalued Government,” has close to 3 million views on YouTube. He is secretary-general of the Alliance of European Conservatives No man is an island the poet tells us, tradition, and with that heritage comes and Reformists, the league of anti- and as no man, so no generation exists the duty to keep fast the freedoms that you federalist Centre-Right parties in sundered from its past for its posterity. A inherited from your parents and pass them Europe. He attended Marlborough nation is much more than an aggregation on intact to your children. and Oriel College, Oxford where he studied modern history. of individuals who happen to live under the same jurisdiction. What is that American heritage? This is He speaks French and Spanish and after all The Fund for American Studies, loves Europe, but believes the EU Over dinner last night, TFAS President not the Armenian or Angolan or Albanian is making its constituent nations Roger Ream made a remark that was of studies. Well, it was the creation of poorer, less democratic and less the kind that often goes in one ear and out some far sighted and patriotic men in free. the other. He said, “It’s the duty of every Philadelphia who saw ancient roots for it, generation to prepare the next one for roots that stretched deep into the soggy, Hannan has written eight books, leadership.” It’s one of those things that cold earth of medieval England. including “The New Road to because we’ve heard it before, because it’s Serfdom,” which was a New true to the point of almost being a truism, They traced them. Jefferson traced the York Times best seller. His most we don’t stop and think about what it roots of American liberty back a very long recent publication is “A Doomed Marriage: Britain and the EU.” He is means. way, back through the glorious revolution, currently writing a book about the back even before the great charter to the . Ponder what’s behind Roger’s sentiment. folk right of Anglo-Saxon freedoms that What is a nation? Americans are not a had existed medievally. If you were looking His at www.hannan.co.uk random set of individuals who happen to be intently in Jefferson’s book room today typically attracts 200,000 hits a born to another random set of individuals. behind his bedroom, you will have seen week from 80,000 unique users. You are inheritors of a unique and sublime some of the histories that told the same

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minded to endure the degradations of the others. Possessing a chosen country with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation. Entertaining a sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry to honor, and confidence from our fellow citizens resulting not from birth but from our actions and their sense of them.”

“Enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man. Hannan takes questions and meets with TFAS supporters after delivering his remarks. Acknowledging and adoring an overruling providence which by all its dispensations proves that it delights Americans are not a random set of individuals in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter.” who happen to be born to another random set of “With all these blessings, what more individuals. You are inheritors of a unique and is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing sublime tradition, and with that heritage comes more, fellow citizens. A wise and frugal government which shall restrain the duty to keep fast the freedoms men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate that you inherited from your parents and pass their own pursuits of industry and “ improvement, and shall not take them on intact to your children.” from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good story of how a free people in England the third president’s words tonight. I government.” had lost their liberties at the time of the could fill the whole speech, actually. Norman conquest. He’s one of those figures whose words If only every one of your successors in apply with uncanny aptness to our the White House had kept faith with He saw himself very much as not a present discontents and our precise those principles. If only they had had revolutionary but a conservative in the circumstances. the modesty to recognize that they were sense that he wanted to restore the passing through institutions bigger than rights he believed he had been born with But I’m going to give you one longish they were. as a freeborn Englishman. Or rather, quote. Bear with me. This is from his he was using the word revolution in its first inauguration address in 1801. Here’s a little paradox. This idea of one literal sense, to mean a complete turn But again, as with Roger’s eloquent generation holding in trust freedoms of the wheel, a turning upright of that summary of what it is that TFAS does, for the next, is one which your third which had been set on its head. think about what he’s saying. This is president had very little time for. You how he describes America’s dream and won’t find a bigger Jeffersonian than Thomas Jefferson distilled those ideas America’s task. this one on either side of the Atlantic, in the old courthouse in Philadelphia but he wasn’t perfect. to that purest and most potent form. “Kindly separated by nature and a wide What is your birthright as Americans? ocean from the exterminating havoc Man has fallen. Perfection is not for Well, look, we’ve heard an awful lot of of one quarter of the globe. Too high- this life, and Thomas Jefferson had

The FUND for AMERICAN STUDIES / www.TFAS.org / 202-986-0384 3 his flaws. There was one thing that Jeffersonian vision. It’s human nature In a letter he wrote in 1800 to Gideon he was wrong about, and that was the to take things for granted. I often find Granger of Connecticut, “Our country French Revolution and the ideology talking to American friends that people is too large to have all its affairs directed that it inspired. And he particularly don’t appreciate how unusual the by a single government. Public servants believed that there was no obligation defining characteristics and attributes at such a distance and from under the laid on one generation by the hand of its of American democracy are - from term eye of their constituents must be invited predecessors. limits and balanced budget amendments to corruption, plunder and waste.” through to the direct election of In a letter to Madison at the time, he everyone from the school board to An incredibly good description of the talked about it. He said, “It is self- the sheriff, the dispersal of power, European Union, and by the way, what evident to me that this generation state’s rights, ballot and an incredibly good description of the holds the earth in usufruct that one mechanisms. direction in which your present leaders generation has the right to do as it seem bent on taking you. pleases.” That sentiment horrified his contemporary, perhaps the greatest of Your Constitution I said before that Jefferson was not all conservative philosophers, Edmond perfect. His actions didn’t always match Burke. Burke famously put forward the didn’t only serve its his words. I suppose that’s another way idea that there is a partnership between of saying he was a human being. He the generations. There is a partnership purpose in the sense occasionally comported himself in a between the dead, the living and those rancorous and fractional way. He was yet to come. of keeping you free unsupportive, to put it neutrally, first to George Washington and then to Adams. I’m delighted that in this regard, at and prosperous, it also least The Fund for American Studies is So, there was a mismatch between Burkean rather than Jeffersonian. It’s an drove your fathers these sublime ideals and the way he extraordinary thing that you get to pass “to carry the promise sometimes behaved in office. Let’s be on. It’s a unique, sublime privilege that honest about that. Now, I’m guessing I you’ve had from the past. It’s a lot more don’t completely understand your party fun than being The Fund for Albanian or of freedom to other system, but I’m guessing that it’s for Armenian Studies. that reason that the Democrats have continents. That’s our always claimed him as one of theirs. This is something that has enlightened shared inheritance.” the world. And what’s the basis of it? Nonetheless, to see the uniqueness of How did it work out? Well, if I had to his achievement, compare your system try and draw together the threads of All of these are, if you like, the to virtually anyone else’s, even in the Jeffersonian thought into the main phenotype of the original Jeffersonian Western democracies. Compare the political principles on which basis the genotype. His was the DNA. That’s the Constitution here, both in the way it was republic developed, I would say there are working up all of them have in common, adumbrated and the way in which it’s three. the desire to elevate the citizen over the worked since, with the constitution that state rather than the other way around. was recently adopted in the European First, that the individual should be as We know there is a whole wealth of Union. free as possible from state coercion. evidence from political scientists and Second, that decisions makers economists that when government is You might think that I’m making a wherever possible should be elected and dispersed and democratized and local, it ridiculous and bizarre comparison. accountable. Third, that power should becomes more efficient. How can I possibly compare that tawdry be dispersed, that decisions should be process on the other side of the Atlantic taken as closely as possible to the people There is less duplication. There is less to what happened in Philadelphia. You that they affect. to waste. You have happier and more know what, it’s not I who am making engaged citizens. We have a wealth this comparison. It was first made by the Now, when it’s stated like that, it sounds of knowledge from the 20th century author of the European Constitution. almost banal. It sounds obvious, but that teaches us that. Thomas Jefferson It was a former French president called all of the unique features of American intuited what we now see inherently. He Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. democracy have their origin in that felt it in his bones.

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In the passing decades, I have seen bit by bit my country lose its freedom ... And I used to say, ‘At least there is one place where the traditional concept of English liberty is secure.’ So, you can imagine how I feel now when I stand before you, and I see you repeating all the mistakes that have TFAS Board of Regent member, Ambassador “ Julia Chang Bloch, listens to Hannan’s been made elsewhere.” remarks.

In the year 2001, when the of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, elected representative from the United constitutional convention met at guarantees our right to strike action, Kingdom coming and hymning the Laeken, he said, “This is our affordable housing and free healthcare. praises of the author of the Declaration Philadelphia moment,” and he went on You can, I think, intuit where I’m going of Independence. to liken himself to Thomas Jefferson. with this, what the difference is. Well, I’m not sure that things were quite Well, where does one begin with that? How about this as the real difference? that simple. Go back to his writings Actually, here’s a place to begin – Your Constitution was ratified by and his speeches. Thomas Jefferson saw Jefferson wasn’t there at the time that separately convened bodies in each of himself very strongly as part of an old the Constitution was being drawn the thirteen members. I think to be English Whig tradition. He called it in up. He was ambassador to Paris. exactly precise about this, it came into one letter, “The tradition of the Whigs But we can extrapolate a good deal effect when eleven had ratified it. before the revolution,” meaning before from a comparison between the two Rhode Island and North Carolina the Glorious Revolution of 1688. experiments. came into line a little bit later. One of the loveliest and most wistful Your Constitution with all of its The European Constitution was lines in the first draft of the Declaration amendments is 7,200 words long. The repeatedly rejected in in of Independence, Jefferson was made to European Constitution is 78,000 words country after country. By 53 percent of take it out by his colleagues, but it’s a long. Yours concerns itself with the big French voters, by 54 percent of Irish beautiful line. He said, “We might have broad-brush issues, the relationship voters, by 62 percent of Dutch voters, been a great and free people together.” between state and federal authorities. and was then imposed anyway. So, don’t take for granted the extraordinary He was standing up for an ancient The European Constitution, now political inheritance that began with the tradition of people being bigger than renamed the Lisbon Treaty, busies inhabitants of this famous house. It’s up their bosses. This sublime, almost itself with every imaginable detail of to all of you to keep it secure. miraculous idea that the government policy; the rights of asylum state doesn’t get to set the rules, that seekers, the status of disabled people, Jefferson observed in a letter, “It cannot the law was somehow already there, space policy. Such is the presumption be to our interests that all Europe luminously, before the government was of one generation that they assume to should be under a single monarchy.” ever dreamed of, binding the king just as lay down with constitutional force these knows better. He’s surely as it bound his meanest subject. things for all time. strongly in favor of all Europe being under a single monarchy and keeps on To say that now sounds almost banal, The Declaration of Independence, nagging my country to join it. But I’m but that it should sound banal is tribute Thomas Jefferson’s greatest going to come back to that. to the achievement of Jefferson and the achievement, promised life, liberty and other revolutionaries that they took this the pursuit of happiness. The European Why am I here? Some of you might be idea and they made it into the nation Union’s equivalent, called the Charter thinking this is a bit funny, having an that we see around us.

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No English speaker can be indifferent sake. What would have Thomas Jefferson supervision. When we see a country now to the fortunes of this republic. We’re made of calling your official a czar? Even largely run by executive decree too closely bound together. We’ve been in his worst nightmares, he would have with parliamentary supervision through too much down the ages. never thought of such an authoritarian sidelined. You can imagine how that Your Constitution didn’t only serve its title. makes me feel. purpose in the sense of keeping you free and prosperous, it also drove your When we see the most important feature I was talking on the bus on the way over fathers to carry the promise of freedom of the revolution, the thing that they to Art Kalotkin, who was telling me that to other continents. That’s our shared had grown up fighting against and he’d had a cousin who was so pleased to inheritance. were determined to prevent, which is be here that he’d called his child Paul the executive outgrowing legislative Revere. The Paul Revere story is telling. In the three great ideological conflicts of the 20th century, in the First and Second World Wars, and in the Cold War, how many countries were consistently on the right side? How many were solidly for the side that wanted to elevate the citizen over the government rather than the other way around?

It’s a pretty short list, but it includes all the main English-speaking democracies. What happened at the time of the revolution is that a tradition that was our joint inheritance was elevated here even as it was being lost in the country where it was first adumbrated.

In the passing decades, I have seen bit by bit my country lose its freedom. We’ve lost our sovereignty to Brussels. We’ve lost our independence as people. We’ve seen power shift from elected representatives to the standing bureaucracy of the state. We’ve seen government grow. We’ve seen taxes and spending grow to a degree that would have prompted revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic at the time of the unrest.

And I used to say, “At least there is one place where the traditional concept of English liberty is secure.” So, you can imagine how I feel now when I stand before you, and I see you repeating Following these remarks, Hannan continued his conversation with TFAS alumni and supporters all the mistakes that have been made while attending day three of the 46th Anniversary Annual Conference at James Madison’s Mont- elsewhere. pelier. Hannan wrote a 4th of July commentary on his participation in the TFAS conference. To read his piece visit, www.TFAS.org/46th/Hannan.

When I see power here shifting from the Top: Hannan enjoys a tour of Madison’s home with TFAS alumni (l.-r.) Betsy Bryant (IBGA 05), Cec- fifty states to the federal government, ily Hastings (ICPES 05), Courtney Rohrbach (IPVS 05) and Lindsey Parke (IBGA 05).

shifting from the elected representative Bottom: Conference attendees Eugenia Hawrylko, her husband Raymond Aab and President to the unelected, to the czar for heaven’s Roger Ream speak with Hannan while walking the grounds of Montpelier.

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Who can tell me what Paul Revere was of the Atlantic were at the time, that His name was Joseph Warren. He was a shouting on his famous ride through it was the democratic rather than the doctor in Massachusetts, and he said to Eastern Massachusetts? The British are monarchical cause that prevailed. The his countrymen, “You are to decide the coming, right? Who can tell me what’s consequences in all parts of the English- question upon which rests the happiness wrong with that story? speaking world were extremely happy for and freedom of millions yet unborn. Act all of us. worthy of yourselves.” You only have to think about this for a couple of seconds, right? The entire Let me close by quoting somebody My friends, you are the inheritors of population of Massachusetts was British. other than Thomas Jefferson. In 1775, a sublime tradition. Act worthy of It would have been an extraordinary Jefferson was returning to Monticello yourselves. Honor the vision of your thing to shout, “The British are after the Virginia Congress to prepare founders. Venerate the shade of Thomas coming.” What he actually said was, for his role with the Virginia militia. Jefferson and what he stood for. Never “The regulars are out,” or according to At the time that was happening, the be afraid to speak to and for the soul of one quote, “The red coats are out.” man who had sent Paul Revere on his this nation of which by good fortune and But the point is, at that stage, this was famous ride said something, which bears God’s grace you are privileged to be part. a civil war within a single polity. I am repeating. very happy, as most people on both sides

Teaching Freedom is a series of remarks published by The Fund for American Studies, a nonprofit educational organization in Washington, D.C. The speakers featured in each issue delivered their remarks at a TFAS institute or conference or serve as faculty members of an institute.

The speakers who participate in the educational programs contribute greatly to the purpose and mission of TFAS programs. The speeches are published in an effort to share the words and lessons of the speakers with friends, alumni, supporters and others who are unable to attend the events. To read past issues of Teaching Freedom, visit: www.TFAS.org/TeachingFreedom.

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