Conditions
NOT the 30 degrees everyone dressed for and the weather apps all called for.  It was 46 degrees and got WARM quick

So some of our FiA sisters have gotten into rucking.  Smart women, them.  And they signed up for the MB GORUCK event in May.  No one can resist a good sale.  So they wanna train.  With us for some reason.  Probably thought Flash would be there, shirtless.  He wasn’t.  So back in December, Bling Q’d a great intro to rucking #Waverucker.  Now we all coordinated for today.   9 PAX and 4 FiA.  13 total.  Great times ahead!!!

As we have detailed, we like the historical event Q’s.  I tried to find some military-inspired stuff for January 16, and nothing really stuck out to me.  But I did find the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786, and written by Thomas Jefferson!  Since this statute was the forerunner of the first amendment protections for religious freedom, YHC thought it was a great theme for us!  I will detail some data* in the BB, and for those avid readers, quite a bit more at the end.  Also, Google.

*All information was obtained from the internet, so it must be true.   Sure trust me and the data, but VERIFY!

3 minute warning to get people ready and rucked up
1 minute warning
Disclaimer; Welcome to FiA.  F3 – eyes up!

Today’s theme – Thomas Jefferson
What is he known for?  [anyone besides trivia king Hoser who knows all this stuff]
Took a while, but we got there – the Declaration of Independence!!!
Pretty important document
How long did it take to draft?
17 days – 17 SSH IC

What else was he known for?
Hoser – founding the University of Virginia
Nice!
Anything else?  No…well, let’s get educated while we ruck

There were 3 things on Jefferson’s tombstone.  The inscription, as he stipulated, reads Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia

There were 13 of us.  We had 7 coupons: 2 x 40lb sandbags, 55 lb sandbag, 3 x 60 lb sandbags, 55 lb log
Grab em.  Switch when I tell you, OR more frequently if needed.  We are a team.

He authored The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia
17-43
Ruck 1.7 miles in under 30 minutes to Warbird Park
DONE in 27:14.  Nice nice work; no penalties
43 reps – 22 merkins, 21 squats – keep ruck on if you can
While I do appreciate the calculation compliment from Valvano, as I admitted, I used a calculator.  #LawyersDontDoMath

Once we got to the planes:  Thomas Jefferson was not only a draftsman of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and other things detailed before, but he was the nation’s first Secretary of State (1789-94); second Vice President (1797-1801); and, as the third President (1801-09), the statesman responsible for the Louisiana Purchase.

Well that plays out nicely with the 1^st 2^nd 3^rd

So Dora 1-2-3; Pair up

FIRST Secretary of State
1789-1794 – 5 years – 1825 days
We had 13 people so some #math to divide and get 140 merkins per pair – cumulative reps, run around the planes; use rucks for all exercises if you could please

SECOND Vice President
1797-1801 – 4 years – 1460 days
112 Squats

THIRD President
1801-1809 – 8 years – 2920 days
225 LBCs

Strong work here by everyone!!!

Time to head back, with some stuff thrown in
Jefferson died in bed at Monticello (located near Charlottesville, Virginia) on July 4, 1826
18-26
1.8 miles
26 IC Flutters – with ruck presses

He died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

BEAR CRAWL 50 yards

Back to start

TIME!

COT
Count-O-Rama – 13 – 9 F3; 4 FiA
Name-O-Rama
Prayer requests unspoken
BOM by YHC

 

OTHER INFORMATION FOR THOSE SO INCLINED – again, Disclaimer – this was copied from various internet sources; YHC takes no credit, or responsibility, for this information

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a statement about both freedom of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state. Written by Thomas Jefferson and passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786, it is the forerunner of the first amendment protections for religious freedom.

Jefferson was perhaps the best spokesman we have had for the American ideals of liberty, equality, faith in education, and in the wisdom of the common man. But what Jefferson wanted to be remembered for, besides writing the Declaration of Independence, was writing the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and founding the University of Virginia

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was divided into three parts, and the statute is rooted in Jefferson’s philosophy. It could be passed in Virginia because Dissenting sects there (particularly Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists) had petitioned strongly during the preceding decade for religious liberty, including the separation of church and state.

Jefferson had argued in the Declaration of Independence that “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle [man]….”

The first part of the religious statute proclaims one of those entitlements, freedom of thought. To Jefferson, “Nature’s God,” who is undeniably visible in the workings of the universe, gives man the freedom to choose his religious beliefs. This is the divinity whom deists of the time accepted—a God who created the world and is the final judge of man, but who does not intervene in the affairs of man. This God who gives man the freedom to believe or not to believe is also the God of the Christian sects.

Relevant parts

First part

Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was his Almighty power to do . . .

The second part is the act itself, which states that no person can be compelled to attend any church or support it with his taxes. It says that an individual is free to worship as he pleases with no discrimination.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

The third part reflects Jefferson’s belief in the people’s right, through their elected assemblies, to change any law. Here, Jefferson states that this statute is not irrevocable because no law is (not even the Constitution). Future assemblies that choose to repeal or circumscribe the act do so at their own peril, because this is “an infringement of natural right.” Thus, Jefferson articulates his philosophy of both natural right and the sovereignty of the people.

And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the act of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such as would be an infringement of natural right.

Jefferson as Vice President

In 1797, despite Jefferson’s public ambivalence and previous claims that he was through with politics, the Republicans selected Jefferson as their candidate to succeed Washington as president. In those days, candidates did not campaign for office openly, so Jefferson did little more than remain at home on the way to finishing a close second to then-Vice President John Adams in the electoral college, which, by the rules of the time, made Jefferson the new vice president. Besides presiding over the Senate, the vice president had essentially no substantive role in government. The long friendship between Adams and Jefferson had cooled due to political differences (Adams was a Federalist), and Adams did not consult his vice president on any important decisions. To occupy his time during his four years as vice president, Jefferson authored “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice,” one of the most useful guides to legislative proceedings ever written, and served as the president of the American Philosophical Society.

Presidency

John Adams’ presidency revealed deep fissures in the Federalist Party between moderates such as Adams and Washington and more extreme Federalists like Hamilton. In the presidential election of 1800, Hamiltonian Federalists refused to back Adams, clearing the way for the Republican candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr to tie for first place with 73 electoral votes each. After a long and contentious debate, the House of Representatives selected Jefferson to serve as the third U.S. president, with Burr as his vice president. The election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800 was a landmark of world history, the first peacetime transfer of power from one party to another in a modern republic. Delivering his inaugural address on March 4, 1801, Jefferson spoke to the fundamental commonalities uniting all Americans despite their partisan differences. “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle,” he stated. “We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

Accomplishments in His First Term

President Jefferson’s first term in office was remarkably successful and productive. In keeping with his Republican values, Jefferson stripped the presidency of all the trappings of European royalty, reduced the size of the armed forces and government bureaucracy and lowered the national debt from $80 million to $57 million in his first two years in office. Nevertheless, Jefferson’s most important achievements as president all involved bold assertions of national government power and surprisingly liberal readings of the constitution.

Jefferson’s most significant accomplishment as president was the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, he acquired land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from cash-strapped Napoleonic France for the bargain price of $15 million, thereby doubling the size of the nation in a single stroke. He then devised the wonderfully informative Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore, map out and report back on the new American territories. Jefferson also put an end to the centuries-old problem of Barbary pirates disrupting American shipping in the Mediterranean by forcing the pirates to capitulate by deploying new American warships. Notably, both the Louisiana Purchase and the undeclared war against the Barbary pirates conflicted with Jefferson’s much-avowed Republican values. Both actions represented unprecedented expansions of national government power, and neither was explicitly sanctioned by the Constitution.

Although Jefferson easily won re-election in 1804, his second term in office proved much more difficult and less productive than his first. He largely failed in his efforts to impeach the many Federalist judges swept into government by the Judiciary Act of 1801. However, the greatest challenges of Jefferson’s second term were posed by the war between Napoleonic France and Great Britain. Both Britain and France attempted to prevent American commerce with the other power by harassing American shipping, and Britain in particular sought to impress American sailors into the British Navy. In response, Jefferson passed the Embargo Act of 1807, suspending all trade with Europe. The move wrecked the American economy as exports crashed from $108 million to $22 million by the time he left office in 1809. The embargo also led to the War of 1812 with Great Britain after Jefferson left office.

Student at the College of William and Mary

Becoming a Lawyer

After three years at William and Mary, Jefferson decided to read law under Wythe, one of the preeminent lawyers of the American colonies. There were no law schools at this time; instead aspiring attorneys “read law” under the supervision of an established lawyer before being examined by the bar. Wythe guided Jefferson through an extraordinarily rigorous five-year course of study (more than double the typical duration); by the time Jefferson won admission to the Virginia bar in 1767, he was already one of the most learned lawyers in America.