Excerpt from The True Thomas Jefferson In a personal letter to the author of this volume, who had requested of the Democratic editor some prefatory words, Henry Watterson says: I do not like to see two names upon a title page. But I will say this: Though not a hero worshipper, I am too good a partisan to question my principal; and Jefferson has been not alone my file-leader, but a guiding star in my political firmament. I am used to measure all systems, to try all causes, to deter mine all policies, by the rules laid down in his philosophy. To me he stands out, after Washing ton and Franklin, the one clear figure in our early history, a perfect Doric column: wanting the bril liant levity of Hamilton; the sturdy, but narrow, spirit of Adams; sure-footed and far-seeing; not merely a statesman of the first order, but a very principal in the domain of original thinking and moral forces. The minor circumstances of his private life may interest me, but could in no wise change my perspective, because I am fixed in the belief that he was an upright and disinterested man, who considered his dutv to his country before all else. Such inconsistencies as appear in his career are but proofs of this, Since he never can wholly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.