Convictions: Slate's blog on legal issues

And Jefferson, too.

If we're going to be admiring the Framers for their many diverse talents, as Adam White ably does below in his post on John Adams, then don't forget ol' Tommy Jefferson.   Sure, he was a political philosopher, principle author of the Declaration of Independence, State Governor, and the third President  But he was also a world class architect, scientist, cryptographer, and inventor.  President Kennedy put it well in 1962 when he introduced a roomful of Nobel Prize winners at the White House by saying, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

He was hardly a perfect man, of course, but his range of talents was truly astonishing.