Every summer, my family and I packed up our belongings and trekked to Rapid City, South Dakota.

We would stop at Wall Drug on the way, check out all of the standard tourist traps and spend a week camping in the beautiful Black Hills.

These excursions inevitably included a visit to Mount Rushmore. No matter how many times we had seen the colossal monument, it was always on the docket.

I was thrilled to see those immense figures — Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt — but especially Jefferson. I like Thomas Jefferson.

He was always one of my favorite presidents. (Yes, I do have a favorite president.) I loved studying and reading about him because he was such an interesting person. He was an incredibly important figure in creating the democracy we have today.

Jefferson’s list of accomplishments is amazing. First and foremost, he authored the Declaration of Independence, considered to be one of the greatest and most significant writings in history.

He also had considerable influence in the writing of the Constitution and was instrumental in guaranteeing the Bill of Rights, which protects our inherent privileges as American citizens.

Jefferson’s positions in our early government also were impressive.

He was the secretary of state under George Washington and vice president under John Adams before being elected president in 1801. While president, Jefferson had many prominant accomplishments, including improved foreign relations and the Louisiana Purchase.

Oh, and Jefferson also owned slaves.

Whoa, hold on a minute.

One of the greatest figures in American history owned slaves? How could this possibly be?

It’s hard to believe the powers that be decided to overlook this glaring flaw by immortalizing Jefferson for the world. After all, Jefferson is revered. In fact, his name is inscribed on countless schools, memorials and monuments.

But why? Why wasn’t there a public outcry against him for his slaveholding lifestyle?

Was it because Jefferson’s attitude about slaves was a product of his times? Probably not, because many of his contemporaries were vehemently anti-slavery. In fact, many northern congressman at the Constitutional convention tried to abolish slavery then and there.

Could it have been because people weren’t convinced of his faults?

I don’t think so, because it always has been common knowledge that Jefferson utilized slaves at Monticello, his Virginia plantation, and that his slaves weren’t released until after his death.

So why haven’t outraged masses marched on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in protest of the Jefferson Memorial?

Why haven’t people draped Jefferson’s image on Mount Rushmore with black cloth?

I think there has been no outcry against Jefferson because his achievements overwhelmingly outshine his faults.

We accept Jefferson as the human he was. We must somehow realize that putting a person’s name on a building is not equivalent with exulting them to god-like status.

Our cultural heroes and icons all are human, and therefore are flawed. Thomas Jefferson was human, as was Carrie Chapman Catt.

Catt made politically racist remarks to advance her cause. She used dubious methods to obtain her goal and allowed her ends to justify her means.

But without Catt, women might still be without the right to vote, just as without Jefferson, the United States might still be just a British colony.

Catt’s statements concerning white supremacy were wrong. But these comments do not negate the work she did for women — all women.

If we insisted on disregarding all achievements by anyone who led a less than perfect life, America’s history wouldn’t exist.

No American has ever been infallible. (I’m sorry to all of you who think you are perfect, but you’re wrong.)

One of Jefferson’s attributes which distinguished him was his penchant for obscurity. He never wanted to be a public figure. He never wanted to be “great.”

He was essentially an ordinary person who was in a position to do tremendous good for our country. He was a flawed human who did something extraordinary.

Carrie Chapman Catt also was an ordinary person who lived in a time and place where she was in a position to change things.

She forever altered the place of women in our country. To name a building after her is to exult her accomplishments, not flaunt her faults.

---

Sara Ziegler is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.