History promote such a polarization of Public Opinion. Well he has supporters that organize festivals in his honor, they praised him in speeches and song. His detractors portrayed him as a dilettante and a demagogue. Doublefaced and dangerously radical. An atheist, hostile to christianity. Characterizing his believes as unamerican, they target with the extremism of the french revolution. His allies call him the formerly anonymous author of the declaration of independence. His bifurcated image took shape because of his own creation. And because of factors out of his control. America positives about jefferson reflected their views of america. Robert s mcdonald is a professor of history at the United States military academy where he has taught since 1998. He is a graduate of the university of virginia and the university of North Carolina at chapel hill where he earned his phd. A special on Thomas Jefferson and the early republic, he has published several journals and other essays. The aut