Voltaire Quotes
The staid clergyman who headed Yale solemnly predicted that if Thomas Jefferson were to win the election for President of the United States:
Dwight and many other leading clergy and intellectuals of the day were horrified by the French Revolution, enlightenment liberalism and were paranoid about the "Illumnati" a secret society who were–according to the conspiracy theory–responsible for most wars and depressions in the world who would debauch American daughters. The Illuminati were secretly trying to take over the world's economic and political power structure. To this day, there are some who believe that the Illumnati today control the UN and major multinational corporations and are the New World Order. He believed that Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans were already instruments of the Illumnati. He repeated this theme in his election sermon 2 years later in 1798. See {18125}.
Jefferson had what was probably the largest library in America and as usual was in need of money. He offered to sell the library to Congress and this purchase was the beginning of the Library of Congress—now the greatest library of the world. Congress purchased 6,487 volumes for $23,950. There were a few members of the House who objected to the purchase. The first government financed library was also the first attempt at censorship. Voltaire was too liberal for the minority and Callendar was a Jefferson partisan. The “otherwise objectionable” referred to books where religion was questioned and sexual mores discussed—not terribly different from modern reasons for attempted censorship. The minority objections were noted and the overwhelming majority voted to begin the Library of Congress.
