[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 15 (Monday, April 16, 2001)]
[Pages 608-610]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing a Proclamation Commemorating the Birth of Thomas 
Jefferson

April 12, 2001

    Good afternoon. Welcome. Welcome back, Thomas. [Laughter] Senator 
Warner and Senator Allen, it's good to see both. Congressman Goode, 
welcome. The first lady of the Commonwealth of Virginia, it's good to 
see you again. And I want to thank all the descendants of Thomas 
Jefferson who are here. I want to thank the Jefferson scholars who are 
here. I want to thank my fellow Americans who are here. Welcome to the 
White House.
    As the White House's latest tenant, it is my pleasure to say, 
welcome back, Thomas Jefferson. Most people don't realize this, but 
Thomas Jefferson and I share a hobby: we

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both like to make up words. [Laughter] According to the Oxford English 
Dictionary, Mr. Jefferson contributed more new words to the language 
than any other U.S. President. I especially like his term for barbaric 
pirates: barbaresques. [Laughter] I'm also impressed by his words: 
debarrass and graffage.
    The other day I tried a new word for our press corps: 
misunderestimate. [Laughter] It's not quite in Jefferson's league, but I 
am giving it my best shot. [Laughter]
    As you know, I've been trying to reduce taxes. Thomas Jefferson and 
I agree here, as well. He warned that government must expend the public 
money with the same care and economy we would practice with our own and 
impose on our own citizens no unnecessary burdens. That's something for 
all of us to think about, especially Members of the House and the 
Senate. [Laughter]
    Jefferson can be quoted by the hour. He lived a long time ago, yet 
he still speaks directly to the present. Few former Presidents survive 
more vividly in our memories. And we feel his presence especially 
strongly in this place.
    This is the room where Jefferson's Secretary, as Mr. Jefferson 
accurately pointed out, Meriwether Lewis, had his office in his bedroom, 
right here in this room. And it was here he embarked on his great 
expedition to the Pacific.
    In this house, Jefferson famously wore his carpet slippers to 
receive the British King's Ambassador. In the Green Room, he delighted 
his guests with his insights into science and philosophy and law--any 
subject, except what Jefferson called the hated occupation of politics.
    Jefferson holds the American imagination because he articulated the 
American creed. We declared our independence with his words that all men 
are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with 
unalienable rights. Jefferson is the poet laureate of American freedom.
    Our world echoes with Jefferson's ideals, even though Jefferson did 
not always act as if they were true. The same Thomas Jefferson who wrote 
the original ordinance banning slavery in the Northwest Territories 
lived on the labor of slaves. The same Jefferson who denied racial 
equality spoke ringing words of equal rights. He doubted the existence 
of the Christian God, but he trembled for his country when he remembered 
that the God he doubted was just.
    No wonder America sees itself in Thomas Jefferson. He was what we 
are: marked with faults, inspired by strong ideals. Thomas Jefferson 
still inspires us. He believed that education was the key to human 
potential. We must be committed to educating every single child in 
America.
    His Louisiana Purchase threw open the opportunities of this vast 
country, and we must dedicate ourselves to extending opportunity wider 
and wider. Above all, Jefferson believed in liberty, in the ability of 
citizens to govern their own country and govern their own lives. We must 
always affirm this democratic faith.
    Like many great men, Thomas Jefferson leaves behind a complex 
legacy. Tomorrow would have been his 258th birthday. On his 358th 
birthday, Americans will still be debating his achievements and his 
faults, his words and his deeds.
    Perhaps the best verdict came from one of Jefferson's keenest 
admirers and sharpest critics, the first Republican President, Abraham 
Lincoln.
    Lincoln was invited in 1859 to come to Boston to speak at a 
Jefferson birthday event in that city. He was unable to attend and so he 
put his thoughts in a letter. At that time, Jefferson was a contentious 
name in American politics. His memory had been hijacked by slaveholders 
who distorted many of his deeds and most of his words. But Lincoln saw 
further and deeper.
    When the view beyond the south window was swamp and the stump of the 
Washington Monument, when there were no cherry blossoms, no Jefferson 
Memorial, no Monticello on the nickel, and no Jefferson Building for the 
Library of Congress, Lincoln could still see the enduring meaning of 
Thomas Jefferson in American and world history. Here is what he wrote:
     All honor to Jefferson, to the man who in the concrete pressure of 
      a struggle for

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      national independence by a single people had the coolness, 
      forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary 
      document an abstract truth, applicable to all men and at all 
      times. And so, to embalm it there, that today and in all coming 
      days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling block to the very 
      harbingers of a reappearing tyranny and oppression.
    Happy birthday, Mr. Jefferson.
    And now I am honored to sign a proclamation celebrating Thomas 
Jefferson's birth and his continuing influence on our great land.

Note: The President spoke at 2:30 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Roxane Gilmore, wife of Gov. James 
S. Gilmore III of Virginia.