The Two Big Questions
Feb 23, 2016
The Two Big Questions
• The life of Thomas Jefferson poses two key philosophical questions…– What does the most important phrase in our
Declaration of Independence actually mean?– Does it matter if a person with significant historical
importance has terrible aspects to their character?• This is the question we will be focusing on!!!
Thomas Jefferson
The Good • Founding Father• Wrote the Declaration
of Independence• Considered a Top 5
President by may historians
• Founded the University of Virginia
The Bad• Owned slaves• Had children out of
wedlock with slaves• Called for extremely
bloody violence in French Revolution
Andrew Jackson
The Good• One of most democratic
Presidents• American people had some
of the most liberty in history
• Encouraged continued expansion of the United States
The Bad• Indian Removal Act of 1830
– Led to the Trail of Tears- 16,000 Cherokees forcefully removed from Southeast to present-day OK
• Leader during the deaths of thousands of Native Americans
John F. Kennedy
The Good• War hero• Strong leadership during
Cuban Missile Crisis• Created the Peace Corps• Advocate of civil rights-
helped MLK• NASA grew• Made Presidency and White
House a more personable thing
The Bad• Allegedly had weekly (near
daily) affairs• Support various overthrows
of elected foreign governments
Robert Oppenheimer, President Harry Truman, Crew Members of the Enola Gay
The Good• Demonstrated the
advancement of American technology
• Protected the United States• Essentially ended World
War II• Helped establish the U.S. as
a superpower
• Affected and killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians (men, women, and children)
• http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp10.shtml
• Changed the landscape of future conflicts
• Key part of fear in the Cold War
Phil Knight
The Good• Provides high quality shoes
to people around the world• http://
nikeinc.com/pages/the-nike-foundation
• Charity for multiple poverty organizations
• Donates millions to various causes annually
The Bad• 43 factories and 160,000
workers in Indonesia alone. • Make a mere $1.25 a day• http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uYCWVfuPQ
Steve Jobs
The Good• Donated tens of millions to
charity- $50 million to hospitals in CA
• Donated millions more to HIV research
• Brought amazing technology to the world
• Changed the way we live our lives
The Bad• Known to be a strict authoritarian
leader- Apple private security known to search people’s homes
• Self-document awful sweatshops in Asia- “Despite summer temperatures hitting 35 degrees, with 90 per cent humidity, there is no air-conditioning. Workers say some dormitories house more than 40 people and are infested with ants and cockroaches, with the noise and stench making it difficult to sleep.”