Declaration of IndependenceThomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence
31mentions
4recommended by
31HN commenters
2009–2022first – last mentioned
13% recommend84% neutral3% critical
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Thomas Jefferson drafted the US Declaration of Independence, and was a particularly violent "slave owner" [1]. While context is important, it doesn't mean that a document with an unsavory origin story should be ignored for that reason alone. [1] scare quotes…
on “Unlimited Information Is Transforming Society” ↗I do not have to think Thomas Jefferson was a saint to find value in the opening of the Declaration of Independence--when applied to all people. You understand that one can be very, very in favor of the stated aspirations of the American founding documents while understanding that the people saying them both did a…
on “Robert Mugabe, Strongman Who Cried, ‘Zimbabwe Is Mine,’ Dies at 95” ↗I guess it could be summarized as the feelings expressed by Thomas Jefferson et al in the US Declaration of Independence. Few people understand and value those feelings today, but I’m one of those few. I’m not naive enough to think that the US is full of people like me, but there are more of us over there, and it’s not…
on “Ask HN: Europe to East Coast, does it make sense to move at 50?” ↗Hey, I got an idea! You know, we could attack The Declaration Of Independence -- because we don't like any of its writers -- Thomas Jefferson? He owned slaves! John Adams? He was affiliated with that seditious Washington guy! Benjamin Franklin? He wore a stupid hat! <g> We…
on “The Ethical Principles of Public Health” ↗…them: thus paying off former crimes committed again the Liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." -Thomas Jefferson, clause from first draft of the Declaration of Independence, removed due to Southern opposition (note: Jefferson owned a lot of slaves, and kept them his whole life) Englithenment thinkers did not condone slavery, they were just willing to profit off it. Which…
on “Yacob and Amo: African precursors to Enlightenment thinkers” ↗…us. Many of us hold the Founding Fathers in deep contempt. There is now DNA evidence showing that Thomas Jefferson raped Sally Hemings. That means that all of Thomas Jefferson's writings, including the Declaration Of Independence, needs to be re-evaluated and perhaps put aside.
on “The 2016 Election” ↗…antitrust violations [2]. Matt Stoller has done some good writing on monopoly, so has Binyamin Appelbaum. Both of them have books worth reading. [1]: In 1816, Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, said he hoped to "crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." (https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Angela-Carell...)…
on “Designing the Facebook Company Brand” ↗- Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence - He drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom - He served as the third President of the United States - United States Military Academy was established during his presidency - Jefferson doubled…
on “Books found in dumpster belonged to Thomas Jefferson” ↗…"happiness" certainly refers to the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure. But it is instructive to consider how the term has evolved since the time Thomas Jefferson enshrined the "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence as being a fundamental human right. Jefferson most likely borrowed this idea from John Locke, one Jefferson's key intellectual influences. In his essay "Concerning Human Understanding", Locke stated that,…
on “There's More to Life Than Being Happy” ↗Just to stick up for my kind a little (lawyers that is), Thomas Jefferson was a 21 year old lawyer when he drafted the Declaration of Independence; good ol' Honest Abe was a lawyer and pushed for the Emancipation Proclamation; and one of my personal favorites is Gandhi. And to stick up for the profession not just a few individuals, when Clinton…
on “An Army Is Forming To Battle Patent Trolls” ↗Is this: "In fact that Thomas Jefferson was a touch pissed when he penned the Declaration of Independence because the Royal Mail printed advertisements on the letters that were returned to him undeliverable, and he thought that was a little shystery." true?
on “When ISPs hijack your rights to NXDOMAIN” ↗…right. Article I, Section 8, Clause 8: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_trans... James Madison, who wrote most of the Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson, who wrote most of the Declaration of Independence (and who were both later elected to the office of President), thought that IP had no basis in reality. http://classicliberal.tripod.com/madison/detached4.html and http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12....
on “BitTorrent Has More Users Than Netflix and Hulu Combined--and Doubled” ↗…First, that's not what I said, and second, it's false in each and every case. Try to argue that Thomas Jefferson's philosophical speculations put him in the history books, rather than his having penned the Declaration of Independence. The same for the others on your list -- each of them is remembered, not for having a philosophy, but for having acted on it.
on “Serial Entrepreneur Says “Quit Your Tech Job and Get a PhD in the Humanities”” ↗…to who? The founding mantra of the editorial board: "We are united by the mantra 'free markets and free people', the principles, if you will, marked in the watershed year of 1776 by Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. So over the past century and into the next, the Journal stands for free trade and sound money; against confiscatory taxation and the ukases of kings and other collectivists;…
on “Bitcoin vs. Ben Bernanke” ↗It could also be argued that they did good things in spite of being lawyers. Looked up the thing about Thomas Jefferson drafting the Declaration of Independence at 21 and this is what I found in wikipedia [1]: Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence…
on “An Army Is Forming To Battle Patent Trolls” ↗