Oh Jefferson, Jefferson, Jefferson. What am I going to write about you? I know that I will probably be struck by lightning for this but I have to admit that I am not a fan of Jefferson. I know that he was a genius and that he doubled the size of the United States and that his home is a model of architectural splendor and that his face adorns Mount Rushmore in all its glory, but I have never liked him. In fact, I disliked him even before I read Washington’s and Adams’ biographies and was given all that great ammunition. Jefferson has always seemed rather weak to me. Even though he is a quiet gentleman I never took his silence as strong but more cunning and hypocritical, like a spider spinning a web from the shadows.
That being said, I do have to admit that Jefferson continues to possess a universality that simply will not die away. Presidential candidates, in the last century especially, were always quick to throw down the Jeffersonian gauntlet for their cause, proving the extreme adroitness of Jefferson’s legacy. Jefferson, like the Bible, can be used, apparently, to uphold just about any argument or ideology. This contradiction, which is exactly what Jefferson was himself, is such an unusual phenomenon in American politics that Joseph Ellis concentrated his entire lengthy prologue on it. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1997) was the biography that I chose to represent our third President based mainly on my impressions of Ellis’ handling of Washington and the relative size of the book, which I must confess, is always a factor to me.
Jefferson’s youth is completely shrouded in mystery due to the Shadwell fire of 1770 which entirely consumed all evidence of Jefferson’s childhood. We do know that he was born in Shadwell, VA in 1743 and that he was one in a long line of successful Virginia planters. Other than that however, there is barely any good information about him as a child, nor really anything up until he went to college. I gathered that he was a rather serious, shy young man, tall with red hair and freckles. He would remain a great reader his entire life. He went to college at William and Mary and upon graduation, decided to study law in Williamsburg (then the capital of Virginia) under the renowned lawyer, George Wythe. It was around this time that he decided, not only to build Monticello, but in a contrary maneuver, to stand for the House of Burgesses. Here we see the contradictions inherent in Jefferson’s own soul: on the one hand his desire to get away from the world, to have his escape from reality and on the other, his desire to be included in society through politics. His entire life seemed to be a battle between the need for retirement from public life and the urge for greater involvement in the political arena.
His nature, so quiet and unassuming (which would be mistaken for arrogance on occasion), was initially a detriment to his political career. So self-effacing was he at the time that when the First Continental Congress called for men from each state, Jefferson was voted as a substitute for the real political big-wigs from Virginia. “It would be fair to say that Jefferson made the list of acknowledged political leaders in the Old Dominion, but just barely, and largely because of his ties by blood and patronage with the Randolph [his mother’s] circle” (p. 29). While biding his time in Williamsburg, Jefferson published a pamphlet called A Summary View of the Rights of British America which espoused his views, at the time, of really radical concepts on tyranny and revolution.
He was voted onto the Virginia delegation to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, leading him to Philadelphia and ultimately to his destiny. While attending the Congress, Jefferson, as the junior member on a distinguished delegation, continued his habitual policy of observation and silence. Not fond of public speaking, he did not debate nor deliver any sort of speech. He typified the “refined and disciplined scholar” (p. 38) instead but due to his publication of Summary View, no one doubted that he had the heart of a Patriot. And, of course, this brings us to The Declaration of Independence!
I love the Declaration of Independence as much as the next person but you have to admit that there is a sort of “hallowed” air swirling around it that is rather uncanny. Ellis gives us some good insight on this phenomenon.
“During the next six weeks, from mid-May to early July 1776, Jefferson wrote the words that made him famous and that, over the course of the next two centuries, associated him with the most visionary version of the American dream. As a result, this historical ground has been trampled over by hordes of historians, and the air surrounding it is perpetually full of an incandescent mixture of incense and smoke. His authorship of the Declaration of Independence is regarded as one of those few quasi-religious episodes in American history, that moment when, at least according to the most romantic explanations, a solitary Jefferson was allowed a glimpse of the eternal truths and then offered the literary inspiration to inscribe them on the American soul” (p. 46).
It sounds so melodramatic but I love it.
Jefferson was delegated the task of writing a declaration announcing the United States’ independence from England not only because he was handy with a pen, but he possessed a decided flair for writing. And the result was more than anyone could have wished. True, there were some changes made to the original document but the bulk of it was straight from Jefferson’s brain (there were charges made at the time that he plagiarized some of it.) Jefferson stayed only long enough to hear the debate and to sign it before he left once more for Monticello.
During the war years, Jefferson faced two defining moments at home. The first was a brief two-year stint as governor of Virginia. As a self-proclaimed scholar, Jefferson was quite unfit for this task. “It was the worst possible time for a man who preferred the rarified atmosphere of scholarship and the study to assume the duties of governor, since wartime exigencies generated massive economic, logistical and political problems that even the most adroit executive would have found daunting” (p. 65). His tenure as governor was disastrous—Virginia’s economy was in shambles, the British, under, Benedict Arnold, burned the capital city of Richmond to the ground, and Jefferson himself was almost captured by the British. In fact, the Virginia Assembly called for an investigation into Jefferson’s seeming cowardice when he fled from the British. Although the charges were all dropped, Jefferson never got over those accusations and the rumors would be reused during his presidential elections. The second defining moment was the death of his wife, Martha, during this time. She was never robust and the constant pregnancies kept her weak. It was after the birth of a daughter that Martha never recovered and after a summer of lingering, finally succumbed. Jefferson never remarried.
Jefferson always professed that he only wanted to be a farmer at Monticello but after the war, he jumped at the chance to assume a diplomatic post to France. The Treaty of Paris had been signed the year before so Jefferson was to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in securing much-needed European loans to finance the fledgling United States. Apparently the three Americans were a sight to behold. “We know that when he [Jefferson] made his first official appearance with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin at the French court at Versailles, the physical contrast struck several observers as almost comical, like watching a cannonball, a teapot, and a candlestick announce themselves as the American trinity” (p. 65).
During his time in France, Jefferson would begin a very close and personal relationship with the Adams family. Off and on this friendship would span close to fifty years and be a constant source of information and enjoyment for succeeding generations. He also had to deal with several issues, including French loans to the US and the Barbary pirates preying on American merchants in the Mediterranean, all of which would be hampered by the ineffectual government at home under the Articles of Confederation. He was also able to be present at another national upheaval culminating in the French Revolution. Although it must be noted that though on the scene, Jefferson was remarkably dense concerning the motives and reasoning behind the revolution and the effect that it would have on history. “Therefore it is worth noting that, though, shocked at first by the random and savage character of the mob violence, he never questioned his belief in the essential rightness of the cause of the ultimate triumph of its progressive principles” (p. 110). Jefferson believed that revolutions required blood of some kind and that revolutions, in principle, were good things. Ultimately, though, he was quite unprepared for the course that the French Revolution was soon to take.
In 1788, George Washington became the first President of the United States under the brand new US Constitution and so chose Thomas Jefferson as his first Secretary of State. “Jefferson’s tenure as secretary of state coincided with the most uncharted era in American political history. Precisely because the new national government was new, every major decision set a precedent and initiative in domestic or foreign policy threatened to establish a landmark principle” (p. 121). I am fascinated by this idea: a totally new government with no precedents. This political tabula rosa is so rare that the inception of the United States is truly mindboggling and, I think, cool as hell. Ok, back to Jefferson. As secretary of state, his main job function was to keep the United States out of war so that we could grow into our new nationhood. “This meant steering clear of European conflicts at almost any cost and providing time and space for the emergent American national economy to develop its still-nascent potential” (p. 124). It was clear in his dealings that Jefferson had pro-French tendencies which on several occasions nearly caused a breakdown in relations with England.
It was also during this time that Jefferson, along with Madison, began the rudiments of political parties. In reaction to Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists, Jefferson, who espoused a weaker central government, became a member of the Republican or Anti-Federalist party (absolutely not the Republican party that we know today.) Not only was there personal animosity between Jefferson and Hamilton, their political ideologies were wildly different on almost every subject. The problem was, however, that Jefferson’s stance on government was opposite of the government that he was currently a member of. Thus, he was publicly working against Washington and the form of government that he personified. “This helps explain the vituperation and highly personal attacks on his [Jefferson’s] character in the public press during those years: there was as yet no available language or mentality for a more detached interpretation of his behavior” (p. 122). Shortly into Washington’s second term, Jefferson asked to resign from his position as secretary of state. The situation with Hamilton, who was also a member of Washington’s cabinet as secretary of the treasury, became increasingly strained and as did the attacks on Jefferson in the media. The Sally Hemings scandal hit papers around this time and the accusations would forever be linked to Jefferson’s name, although nothing has been proven. Also people speculated on the authenticity of his Christianity.
Upon retirement, Jefferson returned immediately to his beloved Monticello to become a farmer. He began massive renovations to Monticello though he was already so deeply in debt that it seems inconceivable that he would do any such thing. Jefferson had already wracked up a huge debt to the English from his pre-war ties, not to mention his extravagant living abroad. “His financial predicament was serious. Comparisons in modern-day terms are notoriously tricky to calculate, but can conservatively be estimated in the range of several hundred thousand dollars” (p. 137). The worry that this would cause Jefferson would remain with him until the end of his life. Being at home also meant that he was constantly aware of slavery around him. Indeed, his life and livelihood depended on it though he would say that he was against the institution itself.
The voters called him out of retirement. Washington had retired after two terms, leaving the United States in need of its second president. After an extremely close race, John Adams became the newest President, with Jefferson, who came in second, the Vice President. During the next four years, Jefferson did not do much (the Vice Presidential position had basically no job description) but continued to work behind the scenes with Madison and Monroe for a more republican government. Jefferson would get his chance though; in 1800, Thomas Jefferson was voted in as the 3rd President of the United States.
His Presidency was, in itself, an immense upheaval for the nascent US due to the fact that Jefferson idealized very different concepts from the previous two governmental leaders. Jefferson would call this the Revolution of 1800 but as Hamilton sagely predicted, it was easier talking than getting things done once in the White House (it wasn’t called that yet, btw). Jefferson’s first term was characterized by a masterful, yet laissez faire-ish, success. In fact, he was nearly invisible. America, at the time, was enjoying a moment of peace both at home and abroad and thus it allowed Jefferson to slowly ease away from the helm and allow the country to chug along nicely. Because he had such time and resources on his side, he was able to concentrate most of his attention to the national debt and to its reduction thereby. He so assiduously worked on this that national taxes were ended during his presidency and the national debt halved. Add to that the freaking huge land acquisition called the Louisiana Purchase and there is no need to mention it—he was pretty popular.
His second term was not nearly so pleasant and was characterized by an economic flop. The British was beginning to act up again, impressing American sailors onto their boats, so Jefferson, in all his idealism, decided to retaliate through an Embargo Act. Instead of affecting the British, however, this Act dearly hurt the American economy by sending it into a tailspin of extreme proportions. It was a relief to Jefferson when he was finally able to step down as President of the United States and resume his much-cherished mantle of gentleman farmer.
As always he was soon heading back to Monticello, where spend considerable energy on making the place livable and economically viable. He began new industries on this land and even began planning a vast new university that would be located near him at Charlottesville (which became the University of Virginia). His main occupation during his retirement was a back-breaking amount of correspondence. He answered most of the letters that he received which was over one thousand a year and kept detailed accounts of all his daily work. John Adams would become a dear friend again during this time and their letters in total range upwards of a 150. He died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 83.
No comments:
Post a Comment