Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson never joined a Unitarian church. He did attend Unitarian services while visiting with Joseph Priestley after his immigration to Pennsylvania and spoke highly of those services. He corresponded on religious matters with numerous Unitarians, among them Jared Sparks (Unitarian minister, historian and president of Harvard), Thomas Cooper, Benjamin Waterhouse and John Adams. He was perhaps most open concerning his own beliefs in his long exchange of letters with John Adams during their late years, 1812-26. Of immense appeal is the image of President Jefferson, up late at night in his study at the White House, using a razor to cut out large segments of the four Gospels and pasting the parts he decided to keep onto the pages of a blank book, purchased to receive them. This original project of 1804, which he titled "The Philosophy of Jesus," he refined and greatly expanded in his later years. The final product, completed in 1820, he called the "Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth," which was the version Congress published. Jefferson's "Life and Morals" argues no theology. It is simply his edited version of the Gospels. He literally cut out the virgin birth, miracle stories, claims to Jesus' divinity and the resurrection. Some scholars believe he first assembled his collage of Jesus' teachings for his own devotional use
Jefferson found the Unitarian understanding of Jesus compatible with his own. In 1822 he predicted that "there is not a young man now living in the US who will not die an Unitarian." Jefferson requested that a Unitarian minister be dispatched to his area of Virginia. "Missionaries from Cambridge [that is: Harvard Divinity School] would soon be greeted with more welcome, than from
University of Virginia Special Collections Library
Abagail Adams
I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of Government. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances. (letter, 1775)
John Adams
Adams was raised a Congregationalist, but ultimately rejected many fundamental doctrines of conventional Christianity, such as the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, becoming a Unitarian. In his youth, Adams' father urged him to become a minister, but Adams refused, considering the practice of law to be a more noble calling. Although he once referred to himself as a "church going animal," Adams' view of religion overall was rather ambivalent: He recognized the abuses, large and small, that religious belief lends itself to, but he also believed that religion could be a force for good in individual lives and in society at large. His extensive reading (especially in the classics), led him to believe that this view applied not only to Christianity, but to all religions.
Joseph Priestley, British, 1733-1804.
Scientist, discovered oxygen.
2. John Adams, U.S., 1735-1826.
Second president of the U.S, he was succeeded in office by four other Unitarians, Thomas Jefferson (a sometime Unitarian), John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.
3. William Ellery Channing, U.S., 1780-1842.
Lecturer, author, and ordained Unitarian minister, he popularized the religion in the U.S. and defined the faith as "the religion of Jesus . . . summed up in the love to God and love to man."
4. William Prescott, U.S., 1796-1859.
Historian, wrote The History of the Conquest of Mexico.
5. Samuel Gridley Howe, U.S., 1801-1876.
Successfully taught the first blind deafmute, Laura Bridgman.
6. Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S., 1803-1882.
Poet and essayist, leader of the Transcendentalist movement in American Unitarianism.
7. Nathaniel Hawthorne, U.S., 1804-1864.
Novelist.
8. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, U.S., 1807-1882.
Poet.
9. Margaret Fuller, U.S., 1810-1850.
Lecturer, writer, and ardent feminist.
10. Henry Bergh, U.S., 1811-1888.
Founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
11. Henry David Thoreau, U.S., 1817-1862.
Essayist, poet, naturalist, member of the Transcendentalist movement.
12. James Russell Lowell, U.S., 1819-1891.
Poet, critic, diplomat, social reformer, first editor of The Atlantic Monthly.
13. Julia Ward Howe, U.S., 1819-1910.
Reformer, songwriter, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
14. Clara Barton, U.S., 1821-1912.
Nurse, philanthropist, founder of the American Red Cross.
15. Edward Everett Hale, U.S., 1822-1909.
Unitarian clergyman, author of The Man without a Country.
16. Francis Parkman, U.S., 1823-1893.
Historian, founded the Archaeological Institute of America.
17. Louisa May Alcott, U.S., 1832-1888.
Novelist.
18. Charles Steinmetz, U.S. (German-born), 1865-1923.
Electrical engineer, formulated many improvements on generators and motors.
19. Frank Lloyd Wright, U.S., 1869-1959.
Architect.
20. Allan Nevins, U.S., 1890-1971.
Historian and journalist, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in biography.
21. Adlai Stevenson, U.S., 1900-1965.
Governor of Illinois, Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
22. Ashley Montagu, British, 1905-.
Anthropologist, social biologist, and popularizer of science.
23. Norman Cousins, U.S., 1912-.
Journalist, editor of The Saturday Review.
24. Rod Serling, U.S., 1924-1975.
Television writer, producer of The Twilight Zone, winner of eight Emmy Awards.
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John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Horatio Alger
Henry Whitney Bellows
Tim Berners-Lee
John Biddle
Chester Bowles
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Sill Clark
James Freeman Clarke
Morris Dees
Don Edwards
T. S. Eliot
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Millard Fillmore
Frank Gannett
Horace Greeley
Edward Everett Hale
Lucretia Peabody Hale
Betty Hill
Thomas Jefferson
Nancy Johnson
James Russell Lowell
Harriet Martineau
Bob Packwood
Joseph Priestley
George Pullman
Christopher Reeve
Leverett Saltonstall
Rod Serling
Pete Stark
Adlai Stevenson
William Howard Taft
Josiah Wedgwood
***From the religious affiliation of these notable fathers and mentors of our country came the blueprint for the the "Humanist Manifesto" of 1933.