Thomas Jefferson opens history series in Thebes

THEBES, Ill. -- After describing the hardships faced by Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery, a French riverman Monday night suggested that President Thomas Jefferson must not be very clever to have believed that the Missouri River would lead them to the Pacific Ocean.

The audience of more than 80 packed into the Thebes Courthouse erupted in laughter. Jefferson was unperturbed.

Shawnee Community College professor Tony Gerard as the French voyager and Patrick Lee portraying Jefferson presented the first of a series of Southern Illinois historical programs depicting life in the region during the period of the Lewis and Clark exploration. This year begins the commemoration of the journey's bicentennial.

The Thebes Courthouse was built only about 40 years after Lewis and Clark came up the Mississippi on their way to open the West.

Whether or not Jefferson was clever, Lee certainly is. His 40-minute retelling of the events that led up to the Louisiana Purchase and the commissioning of the Corps of Discovery could substitute for a weeklong unit in a history book. His knowledge of Jefferson is encyclopedic, from his distaste for Aaron Burr to the reason so many of Jefferson's letters still exist.

He gave evidence that exploring the West via the Missouri River was a vision Jefferson had held onto since he was a young man but only accomplished when he was 60.

Afterward, the audience peppered him with questions, some of them sticky. He was asked how he could write that all men were created equal yet own slaves. He explained that the list of grievances against King George that became the Declaration of Independence originally included an anti-slavery statement that had to be deleted before the Southern states would declare their independence. Jefferson likened slavery to having a wolf by the ears.

He defended the assumption that the Missouri River reached the Pacific, saying that people in the East presumed the continent was symmetrical. No one imagined the towering ranges of the Rockies existed.

Another questioner asked about current events: Jefferson's opinion on removing the Ten Commandments from a government building. He said he has always regarded religion as a private matter and had written a law ending Virginia's practice of requiring its citizens to contribute to the Anglican Church.

Gerard displayed a thorough knowledge of the French voyager Jean Baptiste Lajeunesse as well, sprinkled with a good dose of humor. Dressed in leggings and carrying a muzzleloader, he talked about the Indian tribes they encountered and shivered at the thought of sleeping in a Sioux tent made only of skins.

"Maybe that's why they're so ill-tempered," he said.

The Mandan Indians loved York, the only black man on the expedition.

"They had never seen a black white man before," he said.

Lajeunesse doubted that any of the Corps would return from the West, with the possible exception of hunter-interpreter George Drouillard, nephew of Cape Girardeau founder Don Louis Lorimier.

"He's one of the finest hunters I ever seen," he said.

Lee, a former real estate agent and business writer who lives near Columbia, Mo., has been portraying Jefferson for more than 13 years. Now that he has added Daniel Boone and William Clark to his repertoire, he is portraying historical figures as a full-time job.

Because of an erroneous news release, the Southeast Missourian had reported that Lee would be appearing as explorer William Clark Monday night instead. Lee will portray Clark in a program to begin at 6:30 p.m. today at Shawnee Community College in Ullin, Ill.

The programs are being sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182