The Daily Progress reported:
Monticello plans its 52nd annual naturalization ceremony Friday. David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address and patriotic music is to be performed by the Charlottesville Municipal Band.
Monticello's Thomas Jefferson levered his slaves, making him a PEU forefather:
It had long been accepted that slaves could be seized for debt, but Jefferson turned this around when he used slaves as collateral for a very large loan taken out in 1796 from a Dutch banking house in order to rebuild Monticello. He pioneered the monetizing of slaves, just as he pioneered the industrialization and diversification of slavery.
Jefferson declined proceeds from his friend's estate that would've provided funds to free his slaves. Instead he used them as collateral on a very large loan.
It;s fitting the purveyor of the Great Eskimo Tax Scam speak at Monticello on July 4th. One man's opportunity is another man's boot on the neck.
Update 7-5-14: The Daily Progress reported on the event:
All of the speakers referenced the significance of Thomas Jefferson's contributions to the foundation of America, and what he may have meant when he said "all men are created equal" in his preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
"As we move even closer to this goal, and ultimately achieve it, we owe a great deal to Thomas Jefferson for first stating so memorably what this country was intended to be," Rubenstein said in his address.
Jefferson showed us the country was for the landed gentry, which Rubenstein represents today.
