The New World Vision 4 by Rev. Teresa Stuefloten M.Div. 6/22/2025

My talk this week is a continuation with part IV of the series based on Corinne Heline’s work “America’s Invisible Guidance.”  This work shares the spiritual foundation which this country was founded upon. 

Our next Founding Father of interest is Thomas Jefferson fittingly designated the “Father of Democracy” and known as “a man of the people.”  Born April 13, 1743, into the aristocratic planter class of Virginia, and all of its privileges. Jefferson studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law.

Jefferson’s earliest battle as a young lawyer, took place in the Virginia Assembly between the interests of the aristocratic planters and the “settlers.”  Equal rights for the classes and the masses was ever the paramount interest of his life.  The aim and ambition of his entire life was to make personal freedom secure for all peoples.  He not only advocated freedom from English rule, but also the abolition of slavery, free lands for free peoples, freedom in religion and the largest possible freedom in the exercise of local self-government.

At the age of 33, Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. The following is an original excerpt of his famous document: “We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.”

It later was revised to: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among them these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

He lost out to the southern states, in the abolition of slavery, for the sake of union.  As was mentioned last week, not all were in agreement as to the amount of freedom for the people.  Some were Royalists, meaning that they still wanted their privileges and position as wealthy statesmen.  They liked Monarchy. While the Founding Fathers were key figures in bringing forth the “Great experiment in government Freedom.”

When Jefferson had seen the Colonies well launched on the road to liberty, he sought with equal eagerness to serve the same cause of freedom for France.  This he did first as an aid to Benjamin Franklin, who was American Minister to France, and later became his successor.  In a letter written to Washington during his Ministry to France, he wrote “Keep the keynote of our unique experiment in government, Freedom.  The slightest deviation toward anything monarchial would eventually and surely prove the downfall of free American Government.”

The Constitution of the United States proved to be more conservative than that in the Declaration, and having read it, Jefferson left France and made the journey home in order that he might introduce a supplement to it in the form of what became known as the Bill of Rights.

Jefferson was both hated and feared by his opponents.  Aristocrats had learned nothing from the Revolution, and merchants could see nothing but their ledgers.  Before Washington retired from public life, petty politics and intrigue had begun to creep into high places.  In an effort to remedy the situation, Jefferson, upon the insistence of Washington, served as Vice-President with John Adams, the second President. 

From this office Jefferson was elevated to President.  Here he spent eight years, practically excluded from the society of the “upper set” whose special class privileges were contrary to the democratic and equalitarian political philosophy of which he was the foremost exponent.  Jefferson was part of the making of the two party system. His was Democratic-Republican party, and the other was the Federalist Party of the conservatives.

The keynote of his Administration was, “Liberalism without party lines.”  Its policies, as expressed in his inaugural address, were “to effect a wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from inuring one another, leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and not take from the mouth of labor the bread which it has earned. No nation can be happy except as the individuals composing it are happy.”

The following are a few quotes:

“It is the great parent of science & of virtue: and that a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free.”  To Joseph Willard, March 24, 1789.

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”  To Dr. James Currie, Jan. 28, 1786.

 “The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded, are justice & fear, after the injuries we have done them, they cannot love us...” to Benjamin Hawkins, Aug. 13, 1786.

“What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man!  Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment ... inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.” to Jean Nicholas Demeunier Jan. 24, 1786.

Jefferson was a practical religionist.  His doctrines revolved around the Brotherhood of man.  Because he held no recognized church connections, he was considered by many as an unbeliever.  This became a major issue during his public office.  Christianity to him meant living the religion – not merely professing it.  He sought to make its principles workable in the market place and not just proclaimed from the pulpit.  Misunderstood and maligned, and even looked upon as an unbelieving pagan and an atheist, Jefferson once wrote to John Adams: “An atheist I can never be. I am a Christian in the sense in which Christ wished man to be.”

Jefferson made a prolonged and serious study of the social teachings of Christ Jesus and made a selection of His sayings relative to poverty, war, ignorance and freedom from tyranny.  These precepts he compiled into his own Jeffersonian Bible of 46 pages.  Jefferson states that his work was founded upon the Sermon on the Mount, the most sublime and perfect code of morals which has ever been offered to man. In 1904 a new edition of nine thousand copies was published as a government document for use in Congress.

Just previous to his passing, he wrote: “May the Declaration of Independence be to the world what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition have persuaded them to bind themselves and assume the blessings and security of self-government.”

 Jefferson was a Mason, although there was not much written about his activities.  He also was President of the American Philosophical Society and foreign associate of the Institute of France.  He invented a number of labor-saving devices, among them being the wheel-barrow and the swivel chair.  He also invented the decimal money system, established the first mint in the United States and was the first planter to use the threshing machine and chicken incubator. 

He also, designed the State Capitol at Richmond and founded a School for Architects and Builders in Virginia.  Along musical lines, he was a gifted violinist.  He listed gardening as the seventh art and introduced botany as a science in the University of Virginia, which he had founded.  He made his transition on July 4,1826 at the age of 83, in his home at his beloved Monticello.

Another person who played a major role in our freedom fight was from France, Marquis De Lafayette.  He was called out to become the supreme “destiny son” of France during the time of her grave crisis which culminated in the Revolution of 1789. 

The Marquis de Lafayette was born into one of the oldest and most aristocratic French families of the pre-Revolutionary era.  Of Lafayette it can truly be said that he was in the world but not of it.  A spiritual distinction set him apart from all others and literally surrounded him with a glory-light that was sensed by many and seen by a few.  Utterly selfless, and without any worldly ambitions, he was an ideal emissary for the Invisible Brotherhood, and as such he was prepared and used from his early youth.

On a momentous night in 1778, the Commander forces gave a dinner for the Duke of Gloucester.  The Duke was in sympathy with the leaders of the American Revolution, and concluded by stating the great need which the Colonies had for more recruits to their cause of freedom.   Lafayette was one of the French officers who had heard the Duke, and it transformed him at 19 years of age. He said: “I will go at once to help the Americans win their struggle for freedom; only tell me how to ago about getting there.”

His decision was not welcomed by his family, wife, their unborn child, and her family as well.  But, he was determined to find his way to America.  Benjamin Franklin was in France at the time, recognized Lafayette at his true worth and gave him a letter of introduction to General Washington. 

In a letter to his wife he described the journey he took with Washington to Annapolis. He said they immediately met as old friends and that it seemed as though they had always known each other. General Washington, in reviewing some of his troops in company with Lafayette, apologized for their condition and lack of proper training. To this the Marquis, replied, “I came here to learn, not to teach.”

The young French volunteer was made a Major in the Colonial Army and distinguished himself throughout the whole of his service.  His military skill had much to do with winning the final victory over Cornwallis. 

In 1779, a serious attack of fever, caused by exposure, made it advisable for Lafayette to return home for rest and recuperation.  Upon arrival his arrival, all France set out to do him honor.  Although his government had him arrested and confined in his wife’s palace, he was shortly released.  Even the King received him and congratulated him.

When, in 1780, he was ready to return to America, he said, “American independence sets an ideal for the entire world.”  When he was commissioned Major-General in the Colonial Army, he said, “After the sacrifices which have been mine I have a right to exact two favors of Congress, first, that I may serve at my own expense, and second, that I serve as a volunteer.”  Truly a very developed spiritual soul.

At the conclusion of the American Revolution Lafayette returned to France, and immediately became the nation’s hero.  It was now his turn to help bring freedom to France to establish a republic dedicated to the Rights of Man.  Power and position were given to Lafayette, and to Napoleon who also served the ideal of freedom for France.

Both Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson came to Paris to assist Lafayette in formulating the Constitution for the French Republic.  Freedom and equality were its keynotes.  Governor Morris, the American Minister, after reading it, declared that “if Lafayette’s Constitution was accepted, God would have to create a new race of people to live under it.”

Following the Revolution, France chose to follow the leadership of Napoleon instead of Lafayette. Unfortunately, Napoleon had given up his ideals of freedom for personal gratification.

With Napoleon’s rise to power, Lafayette retired to the privacy of his country estate. Here his life was one of service.  Each week he divided his income with the peasants and extended to them the privilege of gathering wood on his estate.  His park was always kept open for the public.  At a time when an adjacent village was stricken with an epidemic of small-pox, he and his wife nursed the afflicted through their misfortune.

Lafayette was a student of Mesmer and practiced the new method of spiritual healing for the betterment of mankind.  He was also, an active Mason. During his visit to America in 1824, General Lafayette was chosen to preside at the Masonic dedication of laying the cornerstone for the Masonic Monument in the Capital City.  On this occasion he wore the Apron which had been his gift to George Washington.

Returning to France, he again found his country in revolt.  Lafayette was petitioned to accept command of the National Guard.  Under Lafayette’s direction a popular monarchy was instituted, based on the principle of American Independence.  Order was restored and the government was placed in the hands of the people. 

In May 1834, he passed from this mortal plane.  A ton of soil from Bunker Hill was sent to be placed upon the casket.  His epitaph bears these fitting words, “A larger life is the life everlasting and the immortality of the noble beings upon the earth.”

There was another, that I will briefly mention.   His name was Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the Polish patriot, born Feb. 12, 1746, whose gallant services helped the American Colonies to their independence.  He was prominent in the hard won battles of the Carolinas, designing and supervising the building of flat bottom boats to carry the troops through the treacherous waters and rescue them from Cornwallis. After the war, “At the recommendation of Washington, he was made a Brigadier General by Congress in acknowledgment of the high sense of his long, faithful and meritorious service.” He came to fight in our Revolution, so that he could learn and help his own country to become free.  An enlightened Constitution was adopted in Poland in May 3, 1791, but Poland was unable to stay free.

It is impressive that what was happening in America, as our country sought freedom, was touching those across the seas, in such a way, that they were inspired to assist in our cause, so that they may also bring it to their homeland - for the higher good of all.  This concludes this series.