Review of "PBS Thomas Jefferson, a Film by Ken Burns," DVD

 Review of

PBS Thomas Jefferson, a Film by Ken Burns, DVD

Five out of five stars

Captures the enigmatic genius

 The sheer intellect of Thomas Jefferson is enough to humble the smartest of people. As a writer, statesman, scientist, academic and inventor among other major achievements, he was also a man of contradictions. He was a foremost champion of the basic rights of man, but when he used the term, he generally meant “white men.” In many ways, he was held back from including other genders and races in his call for the assignment of “inalienable rights.”

 Jefferson was a slaveowner that did little to emancipate those he owned. Yet, there is no evidence that he was cruel to his slaves in any way. Although he did occasionally speak against the institution of slavery and seemed to realize that it would eventually tear the country apart, Jefferson took almost no action against that dark feature of American society.

 Among all his achievements, there are three that must be mentioned. The first is that Jefferson was the strongest proponent of making his country a secular one. It cannot be overstated how radical this notion was in the later part of the eighteenth century. The second was his establishment of the first institution of higher learning that was not affiliated with a religious order. This was also a very radical idea for his time. The third was his doubling of the size of the country by purchasing the Louisiana territory from France. There was nothing in the constitution that gave him the power to do so, but when he needed to do so the champion of small central government extended the reach of the federal government.

 As is clear from this video, no matter how much he may have wanted to, there was only so much he could do that was radical in the times he lived. While necessarily limited due to the breadth of Jefferson’s achievements, there is enough to leave the viewer in awe of all Jefferson accomplished. This video should be required viewing in the American history curriculum in both the K-12 and college levels.