# Jefferson writes William Short that he too is an Epicurean

Date: 1819

## The fact

On 31 October 1819 [Thomas Jefferson](/people/thomas-jefferson) wrote William Short a letter, now in Founders Online, calling himself an Epicurean and attaching a syllabus of the doctrine. [Epicurus](/people/epicurus) did not draft a U.S. statute.

## Context

A former president citing Garden ethics as a private creed is a reception fact in a republic. It does not make the Garden a constitution. It does show a public man treating ataraxia as compatible with later office already left.

Epicurus is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

## Evidence and sources

Official edition, museum, archive, or agency page and an independent publisher independently describe this instrument.

Official or archival record: Jefferson to William Short, 31 October 1819 (https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-15-02-0141-0001; National Archives Founders Online).

## Significance

A Founders letter is a democratic-speech path, not a proof that quietism staffs elections.

A Founders letter is a democratic-speech path, not a proof that quietism staffs elections.

## What is established and what is not

Established as a dated public record of this instrument.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

## People

- Epicurus: https://factrail.ai/people/epicurus

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience

## Sources

- https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-15-02-0141-0001
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ep-jefferson-1819-letter