Thread by @IAmSophiaNelson

A thread on our great Republic: I spent yesterday @TJMonticello the author of the #DeclarationOfIndependence our 3rd president #ThomasJefferson and standing in his study, his bedroom, reading his words, touching his papers, I found myself reflecting on the state of our nation. 1/

Jefferson was no doubt a complicated, conflicted man. He wrote "all men are created equal" and yet, he owned African slaves. He fathered 4 living children with his 15 year old slave #SallyHemings and kept her as his concubine until his death. A period of over 35 years. 2/

The Jefferson I admire, Is the one who believes passionately in #ReligiousFreedom and who wrote it into Virginia's fabric as a commonwealth. He understood that every generation must renew its founding ideals & documents. He believed it should happen every 19 years. 3/

Jefferson and the founders believed that every successive generation would bring to fruition a better, more perfect Union. There vision has largely come true. We eradicated slavery. We created the 14th amendment. Women got the right to vote as did the former slaves. 4/

Jefferson believed in unfettered freedom and liberty of the individual. Freedom that can only be derived from God himself~the Creator. Meaning-man cannot and should not tell other men how to live, think, worship or love. 5/

Jefferson, and his generation risked their lives, fortunes to build this Republic. They believed it could only endure if citizens were engaged, informed and self-governing. I think we've lost that vision, and I agree with Rep. #LizCheney that America is in danger right now. 6/

America has endured and survived; thrived, because she has held to the rule of law; she had held to our institutions and founding ideals. And #WeThePeople have respected the outcomes of or free and fair elections. We respected our leaders regardless of party. 7/

Those long held principles, practices and norms have been shattered in the past four to five years. We are at each other's throats. We are divided. Angry. Tribal. We are moving away from liberty and towards tyranny. /8

In the final analysis, the time has come for a brave, bold, new generation of Americans to harken back to our beginnings in order to move us forward into our future. Count me in on that fight. America is worth fighting for. Jefferson's "declaration" still lives! (End thread)