A challenge to ignorance of history and modern narratives
At the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson as President of the United States in 1801 he bowed and kissed the Bible. This is a fact of history. At the recent coronation of King Charles in the UK, he did the same, to the surpise of many modernists. To kiss the Bible was a voluntary act by Jefferson that might shock some today. Why?
Often people today think America was a nation founded by Enlightenment Deists or Secularists. Many in modern academia and social media today portray any connection of religious devotion to politics or public policy is something dangerous and bordering on Christian Nationalism. They believe that the freedoms that our Founders established were because religion was kept separate from the State.
Indeed, institutional separation of church and state was a Biblical concept that was put in place by the First Amendment to the Constitution to prevent a national church. It did not originally restrict state or local governments from having their own religious establishments. Many state constitutions overtly cited belief in the Christian religion and the Bible or the Trinity for another 50 years as essential for their laws or qualifications for office holders. The Supreme Court, a century after the Constitution, looked at the preponderance of laws and policies and affirmed that America was a Christian nation.
Gradually over time the institutional separation of church and state became the norm on the state and local level. But the recognition of Christianity and the Bible as the source of law and liberty in America and the prime motivator of many in public life, remained widespread for most of the nation’s first two centuries.
Thomas Jefferson kissed the Bible because of this undeniable reality. Christianity and the Bible was the universally-recognized source of American law and liberty. Modern media would portray this as a dangerous thing if done today, and get away with it due to educational institutions ignoring or twisting historical evidence.
I co-authored a book Doubting Thomas: The Religious Life and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson that provided the most comprehensive analysis of Jefferson’s beliefs and actions related to religion. It called into question the accuracy of many modern interpretations of the author of the Declaration of Independence. This analysis was based on another volume I edited, The Selected Religious Letters and Papers of Thomas Jefferson. This reference work published the most comprehensive collection ever done on this topic. (You can buy these books from me direct here.)
Jefferson’s honor of the Christian roots of America is easily provable, and for most other Founders, even easier. Personal faith is more difficult to prove and not that important in my opinion. However, in my books I can prove church attendance throughout Jefferson’s life and voluntary tithing and donations churches and pastors. And I can document 262 expressions of prayer by Jefferson.
But the Christian faith and Biblical concepts of law and liberty are essential influences in public policies of nations. My most recent articles have explained the concepts of good government that were the original purpose of the Ten Commandments. Personal piety was not the main purpose. Jefferson and America’s founders kissed the Bible or swore oaths upon it because they understood its ideas for nations, unlike most secularists and (sadly) even most Evangelical Christians today.
The content below was originally paywalled.
262 Religious prayers of Thomas Jefferson
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Phase One: 1762-1787
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To John Page, December 25, 1762.
….I thank my God…my hearty prayers shall be that all the health and happiness which heaven can send may be [yours]….
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To John Page, July 15, 1763
….deliver up our trust into the hands of him who gave it….
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To John Page, May. 25, 1766.
….you have the prayers of your affectionate friend,
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[Note: Jefferson now in legislature]
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Resolutions for an Answer to Governor Botetourt’s Speech, May 8, 1769
….offering our Prayers, that Providence,…may long continue his Lordship the happy Ruler of a free and an happy People.
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To Robert Skipwith, August 3, 1771.
….Offer prayers for me….I pay continual devotions….
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Prayerbook:
Martha Jefferson was born Sept 27, 1772 at 8 o’clock
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Resolution of the House of Burgesses Designating a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, May 24, 1774
This House …deem it highly necessary that the said first Day of June be set apart by the Members of this House as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine Interposition ….that the Minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be inspired from above…. Ordered, therefore, that the Members of this House do attend …the Church in this City for the Purposes aforesaid; and that the Reverend Mr. Price be appointed to read Prayers, and the Reverend Mr. Gwatkin to preach a Sermon….george wythe [with Jefferson’s help]
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To the Parish of St. Anne in Albemarle, [Before July 23, 1774]
….that they set apart some convenient day for fasting, humiliation and prayer devoutly to implore the divine interposition….on which day will be prayers and a sermon suited to the occasion by the reverend Mr. Clay at the new church… John Walker Thomas Jefferson
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Draft of Summary View of the Rights of British America, July 1774
….harmony…, is the fervent prayer of all…
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Draft of the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, June 26–July 6, 1775
….With an humble Confidence in the Mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his Divine Goodness to protect us happily through this great Conflict, to dispose our Adversaries to reconciliation….
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“Original Rough draught” of the Declaration of Independence, [Before July 4, 1776]
We, therefore, …appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world….with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…
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To John Page, August 5, 1776.
….I inclose you…the prayer substituted…for the king by Mr. Duché chaplain to the Congress. I think…it might be used…
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To Benjamin Franklin, August 13, 1777
.…god will add length to a life for which all men pray and none more than [myself].
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To Lucy Chiswell Nelson, October 24, 1777.
….That heaven may…administer to you every comfort of this life is the prayer…
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[Note: Jefferson now Governor]
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Proclamation Appointing a Day of Publick and Solemn Thanksgiving and Prayer, November 11, 1779
….I do therefore by authority from the General Assembly issue this my proclamation, hereby appointing…a day of publick and solemn thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, earnestly recommending to all the good people of this commonwealth, to set apart the said day for those purposes, and to the several Ministers of religion to meet their respective societies thereon, to assist them in their prayers, edify them with their discourses…
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To Johann Ludwig de Unger, November 30, 1780.
….I shall urge sincere prayers for your obtaining every honor…
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To Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, ca. June 1, 1781.
….I hope it will please the Great Being above to continue you long in life, in health and in friendship to us….
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[Note: Jefferson no more Governor]
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To George Rogers Clark, November 26, 1782
….That you may long continue…to do good to your country and honour to yourself is the earnest prayer…
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To Edmund Randolph, February 15, 1783
….My ‘humble and earnest prayer to Almighty god’ will be that you may bring into fashion principles suited to the form of government we have adopted…
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[Note: Jefferson goes to France]
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To James Madison, December 8, 1784
….What we have to do I think is devoutly to pray for his death….
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To James Monroe, April 15, 1785.
….you know you have my sincere prayers for better health…
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To William Stephens Smith, May 4, 1786.
….I never offer prayers to heaven for myself without including them…
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To C. W. F. Dumas, May 6, 1786.
….That your present crisis may have a happy issue is the prayer…
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To Abigail Adams, August 9, 1786.
….No man upon earth has my prayers for his [i.e. king of England] continuance in life more sincerely than him. He is truly…The most precious life that ever god gave, and may god continue it….
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To C. W. F. Dumas, February 9, 1787.
….she has my sincere prayers to aid her, as I am persuaded she has yours….
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To Vergennes, February 11, 1787.
….With my sincere prayers for the speedy reestablishment of your health…
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To Richard Peters, February 26, 1787.
….aches and pains both of body and mind. That you and they may continue for ever clear of them is the sincere prayer…
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To Madame de Tott, February 28, 1787.
….is the sincere prayer…
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To Martha Jefferson, May 5, 1787
….And that you may be always doing good, my dear, is the ardent prayer…
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To John Banister, May 25, 1787
….prayers for the health and happiness…
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To C. W. F. Dumas, June 14, 1787.
….the patriotic party. My prayers for their prosperity are warm…
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To Mary Jefferson Bolling, July 23, 1787.
….My prayer….
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To Joseph Jones, August 14, 1787.
….From all these broils we are happily free, and that god may keep us long so, and yourself in health and happiness is the prayer…
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To David Humphreys, August 14, 1787.
….to besiege the throne of heaven with eternal prayers to extirpate from creation this class of…kings; from whom, let him perish, who does not say ‘good lord deliver us,’ and that…is the fervent prayer…
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To George Wythe, September 16, 1787.
….that you may long live to enjoy it and to bless your country and friends is the sincere prayer…
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To Abigail Adams, with Enclosure, February 2, 1788
….Heaven send you, madam, a pleasant and safe passage, and a happy meeting with all your friends….
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To Johann Ludwig de Unger, February 16, 1788.
….the blessings of heaven is the sincere prayer….
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To Brissot de Warville, May 27, 1788.
….accept my prayers for a safe, speedy and pleasant voyage…
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To William Carmichael, July 3, 1788.
….It [ratification of the Constitution] has therefore my hearty prayers….
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To Barziza, July 8, 1788.
….That this may long continue and increase is the sincere prayer of him…
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To Rev. Richard Price [Unitarian in England], July 11, 1788.
….That that hour [i.e. death] may be distant…and that the intermediate space may be filled with health and happiness is the sincere prayer…
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To Hastings Marks, July 12, 1788.
….I cannot but offer prayers to heaven for your prosperity and mutual satisfaction….
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To Edward Rutledge, July 18, 1788.
….that they may repent it is the hearty prayer of him…
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To Charles Bellini, July 25, 1788
….that it may be long enough to carry you through…is my sincere prayer…
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Phase Two: 1788-1802
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To John Mason, September 2, 1788.
….will be my sincere prayer…
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To Madame de Corny, October 26, 1788
…..health…for which I ever pray…that your fever and grip have yeilded to the medicine of your physician, and prayers of those who pray for you…
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To John Trumbull, June 18, 1789.
….to Mrs. Cosway…prayers for her happiness and a continuance of her friendship.
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[Note: Jefferson returns from France]
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To James Lackington, September 9, 1789
….Be pleased to pack….[a book of] Common Prayer with old version…
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To Maria Cosway, September 11, 1789
….protect me with your prayers…
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To the Mayor and Aldermen of Norfolk, November 25, 1789
….That your particular happiness, gentlemen, may be mingled in the general stream of it’s prosperity is my sincere prayer…
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To the Citizens of Albemarle, February 12, 1790,
….in the holy cause of freedom….That it may flow thro’ all times, gathering strength as it goes, and spreading the happy influence of reason and liberty over the face of the earth, is my fervent prayer to heaven.
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To William Hunter [& citizens of Alexandria], March 11, 1790
….my prayers and efforts shall be cordially contributed….Heaven help their struggles, and lead them, as it has done us, triumphantly….
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To Madame d’Houdetot, April 2, 1790.
….adding my sincere prayers that heaven may bless you with many years of life and health…
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To the Reverends Abbé Arnoux and Abbé Chalut [Catholics in France], April 5, 1790.
….That heaven may bless you with long years of life and health, is the fervent prayer…
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To Montmorin, April 6, 1790
….Accept my sincere Prayers that the King, with Life and Health, may be long blest with so faithful and able a Servant, and you with a Prince the Model of royal Excellence…
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To Rayneval, April 6, 1790
….Accept my sincere prayers that your country may long be availed of the eminent advantages of your service, that heaven may give you life and health long to render them…
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[Note: Jefferson in Philadelphia]
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To the President of the National Assembly [France], March 8, 1791.
….that the Union of Sentiment,…cement the Friendship and the Interests of our two Nations, is our constant Prayer. With no one is it more sincere…
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Official Instructions for Thomas Barclay, May 13, 1791 includes a letter: To the Emperor of Morocco
….May that God, whom we both adore, bless your Imperial Majesty with long life, health and success, and have you always,…under his holy keeping….from…George Washington by the [Senate] President Thomas Jefferson…
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To George Washington, May 8, 1791.
….to add but constant prayers for your health & welfare…
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To Mary Jefferson, May 30, 1791.
….your progress in these things are objects of constant prayer…
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To Marquis de Lafayette, November 21, 1791.
….God bless you my dear friend, and prosper those endeavors…and for your own happiness no body prays more sincerely…
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To Jean Baptiste Ternant, August 27, 1792.
….the French nation,…are now to encounter the evils of war. We offer our prayers to heaven that it’s duration may be short, and…with as few as may be of those calamities…of war so afflicting to humanity….
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To Charles Bellini, December 16, 1792.
….renewing my prayers for your health and happiness…
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To Henry Knox, March 26, 1793.
….meeting…That it may be soon is the sincere prayer…
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Memorandum to George Washington, September 22, 1793.
….we may innocently and justly pray to heaven that such may be the result of these afflicting contests….
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To George Washington, December 31, 1793.
….With very sincere prayers for your life, health and tranquility…
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To Thomas Mann Randolph, July 26, 1795.
….God bless you both…
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To Mann Page, August 30, 1795.
….That you may be among the longest of these is my sincere prayer…
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To Madame de Tesse, September 6, 1795.
….my fervent prayers for your happiness…
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To Jean Antoine Gautier, September 7, 1795.
….That France may be free and happy is my sincere prayer, as also that you may participate your full share of it…
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To Thomas Mann Randolph, August 12, 1796.
….the…object of all our prayers is the reestablishment of your health…
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To William Cocke, October 21, 1796.
….successfully employed and thankfully acknoleged is the sincere prayer…
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To John Adams, December 28, 1796.
….that your administration may be filled with glory and happiness to yourself and advantage to us, is the sincere prayer of one…
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To Edmund Pendleton, January 14, 1798
….that it may continue thro all the years you wish is the prayer…
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To Edmund Pendleton, April 2, 1798
….accept the friendly salutations & prayers for your health & happiness…
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To Tadeusz Kosciuszko, June 18, 1798.
….my sincere prayers for your health & life attend you…
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To Edmund Pendleton, January 29, 1799.
…. accept my sincere prayers for long & happy years…
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To Tadeusz Kosciuszko, February 21, 1799.
….with sincere prayers for your health happiness & success…
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To Louis of Parma, February 25, 1799.
….with many prayers that your philosophic tranquility may not be disturbed by these convulsions which seem to be shaking the fabric of society…
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To Harry Innes, June 20, 1799.
….that man may at length find favor with heaven and…recovery & establishment of his moral & political rights will be the prayer of my latest breath…
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To Thomas McKean, January 9, 1800.
….and constant prayers…
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To Rev. Joseph Priestley [Unitarian], January 27, 1800.
….I thank on my knees him who directed my early education….
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To Samuel Adams, February 26, 1800
….may that kind & overruling providence which has so long spared you to our wishes, still foster your remaining years with whatever may make them comfortable….
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To George Wythe, February 28, 1800
….many prayers for your health and happiness…
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To Philip Mazzei, April 29, 1800
….prayers for your continuance in health & happiness.
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To Tadeusz Kosciuszko, May 7, 1800
….prayers, as ardent as my affections, for those events which you wish for…
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[Note: Jefferson now living in D.C.]
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[Note: Jefferson now President]
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First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
….acknowledging and adoring an overruling providence,.…And may that infinite power, which rules the destinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
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To Rev. John Hargrove and the New Jerusalem Church, March 11, 1801
….Commending your endeavours to the Being, in whose hands we are…
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To Thomas Paine, March 18, 1801.
….that you may long live to continue your useful labours & to [reap the] rewards in the thankfulness of nations is my sincere prayer…
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To Warren County Inhabitants, March 20, 1801
….To your kind applications on my behalf to the almighty ruler of worlds, permit me to add mine for your future welfare, & for the future and prosperity of our country to the latest ages….
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To Benjamin Waring and Columbia, South Carolina, Citizens, March 23, 1801.
….I offer my sincere prayers to the supreme ruler of the universe, that he may long preserve our country in freedom & prosperity…
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To Yusuf Qaramanli, Pasha and Bey of Tripoli, May 21, 1801
….I pray God…that he may have you always in his holy keeping.
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To the Delaware Baptist Association [Revd. Joseph Flood, John Boggs], July 2, 1801
I join you, fellow citizens, in rendering the tribute of thankfulness to the Almighty ruler who, in the order of his providence, hath willed that the human mind shall be free in this portion of the globe:….I thank you,…for your affectionate supplications on my behalf to that Being, who(se) counsels are the best guide, & his favor the best protection under all difficulties, and in whose holy keeping may our country ever remain…
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To Hammuda Pasha, Bey of Tunis, September 9, 1801
….we…pray to God that he may long preserve your life, and have you under the safeguard of his holy keeping.
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To Joao Prince Regent of Portugal, October 12, 1801.
….May the Lord have you….in his most holy keeping…
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To Joao Prince Regent of Portugal, November 10, 1801.
….our prayers that the Lord may keep you…under his most holy protection.
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To Amos Marsh and the State of Vermont, November 20, 1801
….I join in addressing him, whose kingdom ruleth over all, to direct the administration of their affairs to their own greatest good….
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First Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1801
….whilst we devoutly return thanks to the beneficent being who has been pleased to breathe into them the spirit of conciliation and forgiveness, we are bound, with peculiar gratitude, to be thankful to him that our own peace has been preserved through so perilous a season….
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To Benjamin Rush, December 20, 1801
….my most anxious prayers will have been fulfilled by heaven…
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To [Revd. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, Stephen Nelson of] the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, January 1, 1802
….I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man…
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To Brothers & Friends of the Miamis, Powtewatamies & Weeauks, January 7, 1802
….I thank the great spirit who has conducted you to us in health and safety….
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To the Brothers of the Delaware and Shawanee Nations, February 10, 1802
I thank the great Spirit that he has conducted you hither in health & safety….
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Sample Encipherment: The Lord’s Prayer
April 18, 1802
ourfatherwhichartin
heavenhallowedbethy
namethykingdomcomet
hywillbedoneinearth
asitisinheavengiveu
sthisdayourdailybre
adandforgiveusourtr
espassesasweforgive
themthattrespassaga
instusandleadusnoti
ntotemptationbutdel
iverusfromevilforth
ineisthekingdomandt
hepowerandthegloryf
oreverandeveramen.
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To Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, April 25, 1802
….my constant affection, and my prayers…
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To Rev. Mawlay Sulayman, Sultan of Morocco, August 5, 1802
….I pray god to have you,…in his holy keeping…
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To Rev. Joseph Priestley, November 29, 1802
….praying for you many days of life & health…
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To Rev. John Steele [Presbyterian], December 10, 1802
….you have my prayers for your happiness and prosperity…
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Second Annual Message to Congress, December 15, 1802.
….circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favor they flow and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for His bounty…..
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[Note: revivals in Central Virginia; non-creedal Restorationist Christians, Republican Methodists, etc]
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Phase Three: 1803-1812
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To Levi Lincoln, March 23. 1803.
….god bless you & make you happy.
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To Hammuda Pasha, Bey of Tunis, April 14, 1803.
….I pray God,…to have you always in his safe and holy keeping.
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To George III, King of Great Britain, April 18, 1803.
….I pray God to have your Majesty in his safe and holy keeping.
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To Napoleon Bonaparte, April 18, 1803.
….We pray God to keep you…under his safe and holy protection.
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To Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain, April 20, 1803.
….that God may always have you,….in his holy keeping.
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To Rev. Joseph Priestley [Unitarian], April 24, 1803
…Accept my sincere prayers for your health and life…
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To Christian VII, King of Denmark, June 6, 1803
….I pray God to have you…in his holy keeping.
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To Mustafa Baba, Dey of Algiers, July 16, 1803
…I pray God,….to have you always in his holy keeping.
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To John Breckinridge, August 12, 1803
….god bless them…
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Third Annual Message to Congress, October 17, 1803.
….let us bow with gratitude to that kind Providence which, inspiring with wisdom and moderation our late legislative councils…guarded us from [war]….
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To Madame de Corny, November 1, 1803
….my prayers for your health and happiness…
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To the Brothers of the Choctaw Nation [Homastubbee & Puckshunubbee], December 17, 1803.
….we thank the great spirit who took care of you…and we hope his care will accompany & protect you on your journey & return home; and that he will preserve & prosper your nation in all it’s just pursuits.
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To Mawlay Sulayman, Sultan of Morocco, December 20, 1803
….I pray god to have you,….in his safe & holy keeping.
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To Hammuda Pasha, Bey of Tunis, January 27, 1804
….I pray God,….that he may have you under his holy keeping.
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To Mary Jefferson Eppes, March 3, 1804.
….god bless you my ever dear daughter and preserve you safe….
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To Gideon Granger, April 16, 1804
….I offer my sincere prayers, as well as those for your health & happiness.
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To Mustafa Baba, Dey of Algiers, June 9, 1804
….I pray God,….to have you in his holy keeping.
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To Abigail Adams, June 13, 1804
….that you may…be favored with health, tranquility and long life, is the prayer….
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To Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, June 15, 1804
….I pray to God….that he may always have you in his safe and holy keeping…
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To Napoleon, Emperor of the French, June 29, 1804
….We pray God to keep you….under his holy protection.
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To Robert Smith, July 13, 1804
…. Accept affectionate salutations and prayers for the health of your family.
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To Martha Jefferson Randolph, July 17. 1804.
….God bless you my ever dear child….
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To Napoleon, Emperor of the French, August 24, 1804.
…I pray God to have [you in His Holy protection]….
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To Abigail Adams, September 11, 1804.
…sincere prayers for your health & happiness that yourself & mr Adams may long enjoy the tranquility you desire and merit….
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To Thomas Mann Randolph, October 9, 1804.
…God bless you all.
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To Carlos IV, King of Spain, October 12, 1804.
…We pray God to keep you….under his holy protection.
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To Carlos IV, King of Spain, October 14, 1804.
…I pray God to have you,….in his safe and holy keeping.
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To John Langdon, Washington, January 9, 1805.
…. god bless you & your family & give you long, healthy & happy life.
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To Ellen Wayles Randolph, March 4, 1805
….god bless you…
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Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805.
….In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies….I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.
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This is where current printed volumes end
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To Baptist Churches of Chowan Association in North Carolina [Rev. George Outlaw, Rev. Lemuel Burkitt, et al], June 24. 1806
….Be so kind as to present my thanks to the churches of your association, & to assure them of my prayers for the continuance of every blessing to them now & hereafter….
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To Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, June 24, 1806.
….God bless you all, and have you and your precious Mama in his holy keeping….
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To Bey of Tunis Hammuda Pasha, June 28, 1806
….my prayers that God will have you,…in his holy keeping…
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To [Rev. John Bacon and] the Massachusetts Legislature, February 14, 1807.
[Address to the Legislature:]
….I pray that that Providence, in whose hand are the nations of the earth, may continue towards ours his fostering care, & bestow on yourselves the blessings of his protection and favour.
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To Martha Jefferson Randolph, Monday Mar. 9. 1807.
….God bless you my ever dear daughter & all our young ones.
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To Martha Jefferson Randolph, Mar. 16. 1807.
….God bless you and all our dear young ones.
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To the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in Baltimore [Quaker leaders Gerard Hopkins, Evan Thomas, George Ellicott, et al], November 13, 1807
….I sincerely pray with you, my friends, that all the members of the human family [including slaves] may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness….
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To Charles Thomson, January 11, 1808
I see by the newspapers your translation of the Septuagint [Greek Old Testament] is now to be printed, and I write this to pray to be admitted as a subscriber. ….God bless you and give you years and health….
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To Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808
….it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting & prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from….Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, & the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it….what might be a right in a state government, was a violation of that right when assumed by another. Be this as it may, every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, & mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U S. and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents….
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To Joao Maria Jose Luis, May 5, 1808
….I pray to God,…that…you may enjoy health, happiness and the Affections of your People, and that he will have you always in his safe and holy keeping.
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To the Delegates of the Democratic Republicans of Philadelphia, May 25, 1808
….I supplicate the care of Providence over the well-being of yourselves & our beloved country.
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To Orleans Territory Legislature, June 18, 1808
….I invoke the favor of heaven fellow citizens towards yourselves & our beloved country.
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To the Baltimore Baptist Association [Revd. Obadiah Brown, John Welch, et al], October 17, 1808
….I return your kind prayers with supplications to the same Almighty Being for your future welfare and that of our beloved country.
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To Ketocton Baptist Association meeting in Loudoun, Virginia [Rev. William Tristoe, Thomas Buck, Jeremiah Moore, et al], October 18, 1808
….I return your kind prayers by supplications to the same Almighty Being for your future welfare, and that of our beloved country.
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To six Baptist Associations in Virginia meeting at Chesterfield [Rev. Robert Semple, et al], November 21, 1808
….I thank you sincerely for your kind wishes for my welfare, and with equal sincerity implore the favor of a protecting Providence for yourselves.
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To the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pittsburg [Rev. John Wrenshall, Robert McElhinny, Thomas Cooper, et al], December 9, 1808
….I offer my sincere prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country from the difficulties impending over it.
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To Charles Thomson, December 25, 1808
I thank you, my dear & antient friend, for the two volumes of your [Bible] translation….That you may be continued among us to the period of your own wishes, & that it may be filled with continued health & happiness, is the sincere prayer of your affectionate friend.
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To Thomas Leiper, January 21, 1809
…..That this [i.e. war] may be avoided, if it can be done without a surrender of rights, is my sincere prayer….
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To William Jones and the citizens of the city & county of Philadelphia, February 3, 1809
….to the all-protecting favor of heaven I commit yourselves & our common country.
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To the Legislature of the State of Georgia, February 3, 1809
….I supplicate the favor of heaven towards them & our beloved country….
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To the Methodist Episcopal Church in New London, Connecticut [Rev. Richard Douglas, Isaiah Bolles, et al], February 4, 1809
….I offer sincere prayers to Heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves, our country and all its sons….
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To John Tyler and the General Assembly of Virginia, February 16, 1809
….that the supreme ruler of the Universe may have our country under his special care, will be among the latest of my prayers….
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To James Tilton and the Citizens of Wilmington [Delaware], February 16, 1809
….altho’ I withdraw from public functions, I shall…offer to heaven my constant prayers for the preservation of our republic and especially of those it’s best principles which secure to all it’s Citizens a perfect equality of rights.
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To Benjamin Hempstead and the Republican young men of the city of New London [CT], February 24, 1809
….I thank you fellow Citizens for your kind expressions of regard for myself, & prayers for my future happiness, and I join in supplications to that Almighty Being who has heretofore guarded our councils, still to continue his gracious benedictions towards our country & that yourselves may be under the protection of his divine favor….
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To the Tammany Society of Washington, March 2, 1809
….I am happy, in my retirement, to carry with me your esteem & your prayers for my health, peace, & happiness: & I sincerely supplicate Heaven that your own personal welfare may long make a part of the general prosperity of a great, a free & a happy people….
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[Note: Jefferson retires to Monticello]
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To Stephen Cross and the Republicans of Essex County, Massachusetts, March 28, 1809
….I sincerely supplicate that overruling Providence which governs the destinies of men & nations to dispense his choicest blessings on yourselves, & our beloved country.
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To the Convention of Bristol County, Rhode Island, March 29, 1809
….I pray heaven to keep you under it’s holy favor.
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To the Democratic Republican Delegates of Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1809.
….my prayers will ever be offered for your welfare & happiness.
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To Albemarle Buckmountain Baptist Church in Virginia, April 13, 1809
….That our social intercourse may, to the evening of our days, be cheered & cemented…will be my constant prayer….
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To the Baltimore Tammany Society, May 25, 1809.
….that yourselves may experience the favors of the great dispenser of all good…
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To Benjamin Rush, September 22, 1809
….that nations will return to the reestablishment of moral law….god bless you.
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To Caesar A. Rodney, February 10, 1810.
….I offer daily prayers that ye love one another, as I love you. God bless you.
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To Rev. Abbe Salemankis, March 14, 1810.
….our prayers….for the re-establishment of peace in Europe….To these prayers, in which you will not fail to join….
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To Isaac Hillard, October 9, 1810.
….that you may long continue to enjoy health, happiness and a sound mind is my sincere prayer.
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To Marquis de Lafayette, January 20, 1811
….God bless you & send you many & happy days…
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To John Melish, March 10, 1811
….our ship is sound….she will make a safe port I have no doubt; and that she may, I offer to heaven my daily prayers, the proper function of age….
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To Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, April 15, 1811.
….to preserve your health & that you may long continue to do so in happiness is the prayer of yours affectionately
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To Rev. Pierre Paganel, April 15, 1811.
….liberty, and…it’s final triumph over all imposture, civil & religious….with my prayers for the hastening of that auspicious day, & for the due effect of the lessons of your work…
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To General Thaddeus Kosciuszko, April 16, 1811.
….Spanish America is all in revolt. the insurgents are triumphant in many of the states,….God send them a safe deliverance….God bless you, & give you many years of health & happiness, & that you may live to see more of the liberty you love than present appearances promise.
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To James Madison, April 24, 1811
….for all this, & for your health & happiness I pray to god fervently.
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To John Barnes, June 29, 1811
….providence is kindly withdrawing by degrees the enjoiments of life that we may leave it without reluctance….accept in the mean time my prayers for a longer continuance of the blessings of strength, health & happiness…
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To Rev. John Bracken, August 2, 1811
….my prayers for your aid to the interests of these poor & distressed old women…
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To Henry Dearborn, August 14, 1811
….God send you a safe deliverance, a happy issue out of all afflictions, personal & public, with long life, long health, & friends….
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To Benjamin Rush, August 17, 1811,
….god bless you & preserve you through a long & healthy old age.
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To Rev. Charles Wingfield, September 8, 1811
The death of mrs Carr, my sister….induce me to trouble you with a request that you would be so kind as to come and officiate…with prayers Etc….
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To Rev. Thomas Erskine Birch, March 21, 1812.
….prayers to heaven that it’s favors to both parties may be proportioned to the justice of their respective causes…
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To Benjamin Rush, March 6, 1813.
….God send us these good things, and to you health and life here…
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To Madame de Stael Holstein, May 28, 1813.
….Bonaparte will die, and his tyrannies with him. but a Nation never dies.….my prayers that you may be restored to…liberty which does not infer either anarchy or licentiousness….and that you may long live in health and happiness…is the ardent prayer….
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[Note: Restorationists form the national “Christian Connection”]
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Phase Four: 1813-1820
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To Abigail Adams, August 22, 1813.
….my prayers that the hand of time and of providence may press lightly on you….
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To Thomas Leiper, January 1, 1814.
….I pray god to bless you here and hereafter.
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To John Adams, January 24, 1814.
….God send us all a safe deliverance, and to yourself every other species and degree of happiness…
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To Edward Coles, August 25, 1814.
….emancipation….shall have all my prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man. ….you will come forward in the public councils, become the Missionary of this doctrine truly Christian,….that your success may be as speedy and compleat, as it will be of honorable & immortal consolation to yourself I shall as fervently & sincerely pray….
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To Rev. David Barrow, May 1, 1815
….We are not in a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a superior agent….That it [i.e. abolition of slavery] may finally be effected, and its progress hastened, will be the last and fondest prayer of him who now salutes you….
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To Thomas Leiper, June 12, 1815.
….I pray therefore for peace,….with health and prosperity thro’ as long a life as you desire, is the prayer of yours affectionately
P.S. ….he shall have all my prayers for success, and that he may dethrone every man of them.
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To Samuel Berrian, July 23. 1815.
…offering our prayers to heaven for the maintenance of independance to the friendly nation which aided us in the establishment of our own….
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To Philip Mazzei, August 9, 1815.
….no man more severely condemned Bonaparte than myself during his former career…[but]….he has now my prayers as sincerely for success as he had before for his overthrow….that they may be years of health and happiness is the sincere prayer….
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To George Logan, October 15, 1815.
….offering prayers to heaven the only contribution of old age, for the safety of our country….
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To Albert Gallatin, October 16, 1815.
….we may ourselves fervently pray, with the liturgy a little parodied, ‘give peace till that time, oh lord, because there is none other that will fight for us’ ….[my] prayers….
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To Rev. William Bentley, December 28, 1815
….French and British atrocities….will be consummated. and that it may be, will be the theme of my constant prayers….
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To Joseph C. Cabell, February 2, 1816.
….God bless you, and all our rulers, and give them the wisdom, as I am sure they have the will, to fortify us against the degeneracy of our government, and the concentration of all it’s powers in the hands of the one, the few, the well-born or but the many.
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To Mary B. Briggs, April 17, 1816.
….if the prayers of an old man can be of any avail, you shall ever have mine most ardently….
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To Marquis de Lafayette, May 17, 1816
….the battle of Waterloo was the salvation of France….my prayers for the event….
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To Albert Gallatin, May 18, 1816.
….[my] sincere prayers for your safe and pleasant passage, and a happy return in the fulness of time…
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To William Crawford, June 20, 1816.
….a government regulating itself by what is wise and just for the many…. exist here in a greater degree than any where else; and for it’s growth and continuance, as well as for your personal health and happiness, I offer sincere prayers….
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To John Wayles Eppes, June 24, 1816.
….Accept my prayers for your better health….
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To Madame de Stael Holstein, September 6, 1816.
….the whole Southern continent is sunk in the deepest ignorance and bigotry….in the meantime we must pray to god as most heartily we do for your country, that ‘he will be pleased to give them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions.’ [quote from Book of Common Prayer]….
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To James Monroe, October 9, 1816.
….God bless and preserve you for the eight years to come especially.
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To Martha Jefferson Randolph, Tuesday December 3, 1816.
….god bless you all.
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To Abigail Adams, January 11, 1817.
….that life and health may be continued to you as many years as yourself shall wish is the sincere prayer….
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To Charles Thomson, January 29, 1817
….God bless you and preserve you long in life & health.
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To Elkanah Watson, May 8, 1817
….I know, with the Preacher, that there is a time for all things [Eccl 3:1ff], a time to labor, as well as to cease from labor,….& have therefore to offer only my prayers for success to the efforts of others….
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To Marquis de Lafayette, May 14, 1817
….that these years may indeed be many and happy is the sincere prayer….
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[Note: Jefferson leadership in university]
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Outline of Cornerstone Ceremonies approved by Board of Visitors of Central College, October 6, 1817
….G Ma[ster], May allmighty God, without invocation to whom, no work of importance should be begun, bless this undertaking and enable us to carry it on with success — protect this College….
G Master May the all bounteous Authour of nature bless the Inhabitants of Virginia and particularly the Guardians of this our infant institution….
Chaplain [Episcopal Rev. William King of Staunton, Virginia] ….bless Ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord lift up you hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord; the Lord that made heaven & earth bless the out of Zion
Chaplain A Prayer.
….abreast with the Bible
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To George Ticknor, November 25, 1817.
….the penance he [i.e. Napoleon Bonaparte] is now doing for all his atrocities must be soothing to every virtuous heart. it proves that we have a god in heaven, that he is just, and not careless of what passes in this world…..God bless you, and give to…you, all the success your high qualifications ought to ensure.
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To Rev. Antonio Dugnani, February 14, 1818
….thanks be to God the tiger who revelled so long in the blood and spoils of Europe is at length, like another Prometheus, chained to his rock….
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To John Adams, March 21, 1819.
….May God preserve you for many years.
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To Fernagus de Gelone
Monticello
June 20, 1820
…. I can only therefore pray for it’s success and your prosperity….
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To Patrick Gibson
Monticello
June 22, 1820
…. I sincerely…pray for it’s relief….
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To John Holmes
Monticello
July 8, 1820
….my prayers to heaven for your health & happiness….
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To Rev. Francis Adrian Van Der Kemp, July 9, 192O.
….I trust with you that the genuine and simple religion of Jesus will one day be restored: such as it was preached and practiced by himself,….I hope that day of restoration is to come, altho’ I shall not live to see it, and to my prayers that it may come soon, I add those for your health and happiness.
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From Thomas Cooper, July 12, 1820
….May God bless you & preserve you while you remain with us, in peace and in health.
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To Thomas Cooper, August 14, 1820.
…..God bless you and preserve you…
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To John Adams, August 15, 1820.
.…pray for the continuance of your life until you shall be tired of it yourself.
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To Henry Orne
Monticello
Aug 25, 1820
….continuance in union and love of one another I do sincerely pray….
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To Thomas B. Ewell, September 28, 1820.
….my sincere prayers for your success in this career…
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To Charles Pinckney
Monticello
September 30, 1820.
….God grant it.
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To Caesar A. Rodney
Monticello
October 9, 1820.
….God bless you and preserve you many years.
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To Isaiah Thomas
Monticello
October 14, 1820.
….prays for their success….
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To Bernard Peyton
Monticello
October 23, 1820.
….God bless you.
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To Rev. Jose Correa Da Serra
Monticello
October 24, 1820.
….I pray for your success, and that heaven may long preserve you in health and prosperity to do all the good to mankind to which your enlightened and benevolent mind disposes you.
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To John Brown
Monticello
November 3, 1820.
….health, happiness & long life are the prayers of your affectionate friend…
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To Constantine S. Rafinesque
Monticello
November 6, 1820.
….sincere prayers for the progress of science in every part of our country…
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To Francis W. Gilmer
Poplar Forest
November 29, 1820.
….our prayers for their favorable effects on his fortunes…
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To Destutt de Tracy
Monticello
December 26, 1820.
….my prayers for the perfect restoration of your health, & it’s continuance thro’ a life as long as you shall wish it.
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To Albert Gallatin
Monticello
December 26, 1820.
….God bless you and preserve you many years.
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To Marc Auguste Pictet, December 26, 1820.
….your Geneva….[draws] all mankind in prayers for the continuance of it’s freedom and felicity. it has mine most sincerely….God preserve you from it’s [i.e. Europe’s] evils, whatever are portended, and grant you as many years of life, health and happiness….
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To Marc Antoine Jullien, December 26, 1820.
….[I] pass the few days remaining to me in prayers for it’s [i.e. freedom’s] speedy consummation, to which I add those for the continuance of your useful labors thro long years of health & happiness.
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Notes on Early Career [i.e. Autobiography]
January 6-July 29, 1821,
….we…[proposed] a resolution,….for a day of fasting, humiliation & prayer, to implore heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the king & parliament to moderation & justice. ….we returned home, and in our several counties invited the clergy to meet assemblies of the people on the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of the day, & to address to them discourses suited to the occasion. the people met generally, with anxiety & alarm in their countenances, and the effect of the day thro’ the whole colony was like a shock of electricity, arrousing every man…..
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To Francis Eppes, January 19, 1821.
….God bless you….
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To John Adams, January 22, 1821.
….we must leave both, I believe, to heaven….
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To John W. Taylor
Monticello
February 13, 1821
….to cure, and carry liberty to the North instead of suppressing it in the South. to my prayers for the attainment of that blessing there, & it’s preservation here…
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To John Taylor
Monticello
February 14, 1821
….God send to our country a happy deliverance, and to your self health and as long a life as yourself shall wish.
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To James Breckinridge
Monticello
February 15, 1821
….for yourself, for our colleagues, and for all in charge of our country’s future fame and fortune, I offer up sincere prayers.
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To John F. Oliveira Fernandes
Monticello
May 28, 1821
….with these my prayers….
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To Bernard Peyton
Monticello
July 10, 1821
…. God bless you & send you a safe deliverance….
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To Thomas Sumter
Monticello
July 23, 1821
….and my prayers that his life may be prolonged in health to as late a term as he shall wish….
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To Nathaniel Macon
Monticello
August 19, 1821
….God bless you & long continue your wholesome influence in the public councils….
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To John Wayles Eppes
October 23, 1821
…I tender sincere prayers for your health & happiness.
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To John D. Wolf, October 30, 1821
…Th:J. is one of those who fondly believes in the improvability of the condition of man, and anxiously prays for it….
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To Thomas Leiper
November 3, 1821
…that so it may continue to the end of as long a chapter of life as you wish is the prayer I offer…
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To Francis Eppes
November 17, 1821
…my prayers that your life may be distinguished by it’s worth…
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To William Short
November 24, 1821.
…that it may continue so thro’ as long a life as yourself shall wish is the prayer….
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This is where current printed volumes end
Phase Five: 1821-1826
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To Thomas Cooper
Monticello
November 2, 1822
….In our Richmond there is much fanaticism, but chiefly among the women. They have their night meetings and praying parties, where, attended by their priests, and sometimes by a hen-pecked husband, they pour forth the effusions of their love to Jesus, in terms as amatory and carnal, as their modesty would permit them to use to a mere earthly lover. In our village of Charlottesville, there is a good degree of religion, with a small spice only of fanaticism. We have four sects, but without either church or meeting-house. The court-house is the common temple, one Sunday in the month to each. Here, Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, meet together, join in hymning their Maker, listen with attention and devotion to each others’ preachers, and all mix in society with perfect harmony….
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To John Winn, Rives. D. & J. Railey, Ormond, Branham & Nicholas
June 25, 1823
Monticello.
….the approaching Anniversary of the birth-day of our nation….my prayers ever offered to heaven…that the spirit of the day which gave them birth, may continue pure, strong and imperishable….
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To Pannill, McRae and Pollard
June 25, 1823.
….Anniversary of our National independance….the faithful preservation, pure and unchanged, of the spirit of that great day which gave them birth, will be themes of unceasing prayer with me….
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To Adamantios Coray
Monticello
October 31, 1823
….none offer more sincere and ardent prayers to heaven for their success: ….we offer to heaven the warmest supplications for the restoration of your countrymen to the freedom and science of their ancestors….
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To Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy
November 5, 1823
….oh France! how shall we weep over thy history….thou art still sinning on as if there were no god above, arrest it heaven!….
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To Ira Taylor, Benjamin Nourse, & John Tidball of Franklin Literary Society, Jefferson College
Monto
March 8, 1824.
….the rising instns of my country,…prayers for their success….
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To James Monroe
Monticello
July 18, 1824.
….with my prayers that the last may be favorably relieved….
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To the Franklin Society
Monticello
September 6, 1824.
….prayers for it’s success can be my only contribution. these will be sincerely offered…
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Address at University of Virginia
November 5, 1824
….I add for our nation at large the aspirations of a heart warm with the love of country, whose invocations to heaven for it’s indissoluble union will be fervent and unremitting while the pulse of life continues to beat, and when that ceases, it will expire in prayers for the eternal duration of it’s freedom and prosperity.
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To Rev. Francis Van der Kemp
Monticello
January 11, 1825.
….I pray for the continuance of your health, contentment and comfort.
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To Arthur Spicer Brockenbrough
Monticello
April 21, 1825.
In answer to your letter proposing to permit the lecturing room of the Pavilion No. 1. to be used regularly for prayers and preachings on Sundays, I have to observe that….in the Report of Oct 1822. the board suggested, as a substitute, that the different religious sects should be invited to establish their separate theological schools in the vicinity of the University, in which the Students might attend religious worship, each in the form of his respective sect, and thus avoid all jealousy of attempts on his religious tenets….I state these things as manifesting the caution which the board of Visitors thinks it a duty to observe on this delicate and jealous subject. your proposition therefore leading to an application of the University buildings to other than University purposes, and to a partial regulation in favor of two particular sects, would be a deviation from the course which they think it their duty to observe….
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