Jefferson Nickels
Samablog points to the new nickel design which will have either a buffalo or a depiction of the pacific coast on the back. The buffalo refers to the Louisiana Purchase, while the pacific coast refers to Lewis and Clark’s expedition .
Despite his careers as a lawyer, diplomat, Secretary of State, and President of the United States, Jefferson considered three achievements to be his enduring legacy:
- The Declaration of Independence,
- The Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, and
- The University of Virginia
That’s what he asked be engraved on his tombstone. The ideas in each of those are in many ways, still revolutionary. In a much more religious age, Jefferson wrote “we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…” (emphasis added). He wrote “their creator,” rather than “God,” in a document where every phrase was argued over. What would he have thought about gazing at the words “In God we Trust?” on the currency of a country he did so much to shape?
I blame the Hamiltonians.