The Stoicism of Thomas Jefferson
Ten Rules to Follow in Daily Life
Epictetus and Epicurus give laws for governing ourselves… — Jefferson
I’m staying near Washington DC at the moment and took the opportunity to visit the Thomas Jefferson’s Library exhibit at the Library of Congress. I’m the author of several books on Stoicism, including How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. I know that Jefferson, like some of the other Founding Fathers, was well-read in classical philosophy, so I naturally wondered what he thought of Stoicism, the philosophy that most influences me.
However, it’s generally assumed that Jefferson was a follower of Epicurus’ philosophy because he owned several texts on the subject and, in 1819, wrote a letter to William Short stating: “I too am an Epicurean”. In the same letter, although he praises Seneca as a “fine moralist”, he also criticizes certain aspects of Stoicism. Nevertheless, there are obvious Stoic influences in Jefferson’s writings. Indeed, in the same letter he praises the Stoic Epictetus, stressing that he has “given us what is good of the Stoics”, and that he even wished to create a new translation of Epictetus’ works.
