Getting Jefferson Right — Fact Checking Claims About Our Third President

Virginia Slave Law: 1782 Act to Authorize the Manumission of Slaves.

ShareThis law (scroll to page 39) allowed the emancipation of slaves by an owner either at death through a will or while an owner was alive via a deed of manumission. Many slaves were freed by their owners as the result of this law. Legal adults of sound mind and body did not need support from [...]

The Emancipation of James Armistead Lafayette

ShareIn his World rebuttal to us, David Barton claims that the case of James Armistead Lafayette proves that we did not take into account slave laws other than the 1782 law allowing owners to emancipate their slaves. The situation of this slave who became a double agent during the Revolutionary War is an interesting story [...]

Jefferson and Slavery: A Response to David Barton on the Glenn Beck Show, Part Three

ShareUPDATE: David Barton made many of the same defenses in his World Magazine article dated January 22, 2013. Barton concluded: Simply put, Jefferson did not have the financial resources necessary to free his 260 slaves. In these three articles about Jefferson and slavery we anticipate and address the rebuttal Barton offered in his World article. Barton [...]

Praise for Getting Jefferson Right

Getting Jefferson Right by Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter stands up for truth in scholarship against the scholarly problems found in David Barton’s ‘The Jefferson’s Lies.’ Because of the courage of Throckmorton and Coulter, Barton has regrettably fallen from his pedestal of preeminence as a scholar of the early American era. Throckmorton and Coulter deserve the ‘Medal of Honor’ for courage and probity.

-Chuck Dunn, Distinguished Professor of Government. Regent University. Author and/or Editor of 20 books on American politics, including The Seven Laws of Presidential Leadership and American Culture in Peril.

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In GETTING JEFFERSON RIGHT, Coulter and Throckmorton prove beyond doubt that Barton is no more scrupulous about the facts of American history than the “revisionists” whose work he pretends to correct. The authors have performed a valuable service.

–Alan Pell Crawford, Author of Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson

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Getting Jefferson Right is an intellectual and historical take down of David Barton’s pseudo-history of Thomas Jefferson by two Christian professors who teach at a conservative Christian college. Michael Coulter and Warren Throckmorton have done their homework. Anyone who reads this book must come to grips with the untruths and suspect historical interpretations that Barton regularly peddles in his books, speaking engagements, and on his radio program. I have yet to read a more thorough refutation of Barton’s claims.

–John Fea, Chair of the History Department, Messiah College and author of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction

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I cannot overemphasize the importance of reading Getting Jefferson Right, by Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter. It is a point-counterpoint to David Barton's, aptly titled, The Jefferson Lies; and, it corrects every myth that Barton presents. Every evangelical pastor in America, especially African-American pastors, needs to not only read, but also study the facts in Getting Jefferson Right. For too many years, David Barton has misled pastors across America and this book is the perfect tool to help bring us back to the true, undiluted life of Thomas Jefferson.

-Ray McMillian, President, Race to Unity

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Christians are rightly distressed when American history is purged of its religious elements. But that's no excuse for us to reconstruct the views of Founders such as Thomas Jefferson according to our likeness. In Getting Jefferson Right, Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter have done all of us a great service by exposing, carefully and dispassionately, so many of the popular distortions and half-truths about Jefferson. In the process, they have modeled how to deal with historical texts honestly. If you are interested in learning about the real Jefferson, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

--Jay W. Richards, Ph.D. Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute, Co-author of The New York Times bestselling Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It's Too Late

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Getting Jefferson Right is an excellent example of the art of historical contextualization, of trying to tell the whole story, not just part of it. For those reasons, the work should become a standard reference.

--Paul Harvey, Religion Dispatches, teaches history at the University of Colorado

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Thomas Jefferson is one of the most revered Presidents in U.S. history. And also one of the most misunderstood. In Getting Jefferson Right, Throckmorton and Coulter confront some of the biggest myths with objective facts. The result is a provocative and informative book that has something to teach everyone.

- Jonathan Merritt, author of A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars