The Real Faith of Thomas Jefferson

V&V: Why did you write this book?

Dr. Warren Throckmorton: While researching and writing about the First Amendment last year, I saw some of David Barton’s statements about Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that didn’t seem right. When I investigated the primary sources, I found that the claims were quite misleading or completely false. Some of those initial investigations ended up as posts on my personal blog and as articles at Crosswalk.com. When I heard that Barton was putting his claims in a book about Jefferson, I thought it would be timely to collect and expand those posts in a book. In the process, I approached a colleague, Michael Coulter, about collaborating on the project.

In addition, American history is inherently interesting to me, so it has not been difficult to dig deeply into these claims. While it may seem odd for a psychology professor like me to write a book like this, it wasn’t as much of a stretch as one might think. My dissertation included a review of the history of mental health financing, and teaching classes at Grove City College, I review material about the historical context of the various theorists we cover. I don’t think you can fully comprehend the tenets of psychological theorists unless you understand the social and cultural conditions of their era. After writing awhile, I approached Michael to join me. One of his many interests is the history of political ideas which is an appropriate fit for this book.

One benefit, I believe, of my training as a psychologist is that I accept the proposition that all people are subject to various biases (e.g., group-serving bias, confirmation bias) which renders them vulnerable to distorting events in the service of the bias.