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encompasses religious freedom, and a representative government. I think—in fact I have no doubt—that we believed also that we had been selected by Proyidence to do great deeds.
So, when it came time for our forebears to establish in a national framework of law what they had believed in for so long, it was logical that Virginia’s Constitution would be an excellent reference point. It also was logical that Thomas Jefferson, who had written the nation’s Declaration of Independence at the age of 33, would be a major influence on the Constitution that would eventually be adopted by the Constitutional Convention. Like the fine wines which he so loved, Jefferson’s ideas of what our country should be have aged well.
But he will be remembered principally for three things; indeed, they are inscribed on his tombstone; And those three achievements are writing the Dedar' ration of Independence, founding the University of Virginia and writing the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
Of course, without freedom, we have nothing, Thomas Jefferson understood the value of freedom and the importance of preserving it.
In this age in which we live, when the civil liber» ties and political rights of 42 percent of the world’s population are either limited or completely repressed, the significance of what Jefferson achieved by writing the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom should be, obvious. Indeed, some historians argue that this statute is without parallel — and I tend’ to agree.
Where freedom of relierion is allowed to flourish
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