Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3d PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES. As the author of the Declaration of Independence
and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, he is probably the most
conspicuous champion of political and spiritual freedom in his country's
history. He voiced the aspirations of the new nation in matchless phrase,
and one may doubt if any other American has been so often quoted. As a
public official--legislator, diplomat, and executive--he served the province
and commonwealth of Virginia and the young American republic almost 40
years.
While his services as a Revolutionary patriot have beenhonored by his
countrymen with only slight dissent, his later and more controversial
political activities have been variously interpreted. Believing that the
government was not being conducted in the spirit of 1776, he turned against
the administration in WASHINGTON's
second term and remained in opposition during the presidency of John ADAMS.
Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, was the acknowledged head of
his political party, and his election to the highest office has been
interpreted as a vindication of the right of political opposition. His ELECTION
checked in the United States the tide of political reaction that was
sweeping the Western world, and it furthered the development of political
democracy. Throughout his life he sought to do that, though the term he
generally used was republicanism.
Opinions differ about his conduct of foreign affairs as president. He
acquired the vast province of Louisiana and maintained neutrality in a world
of war, but his policies failed to safeguard neutral rights at sea and
imposed hardships at home. As a result, his administration reached its nadir
as it ended. Until his last year as president he exercised leadership over
his party that was to be matched by no other 19th century president, and he
enjoyed remarkable popularity. He was rightly hailed as the "Man of the
People," because he sought to conduct the government in the popular
interest, rather than in the interest of any privileged group, and, insofar
as possible, in accordance with the people's will.
He was a tall and vigorous man, not particularly impressive in person but
amiable, once his original stiffness wore off. He was habitually tactful and
notably respectful of the opinions and personalities of others, though he
had slight tolerance of those he believed unfaithful to republicanism. A
devoted family man who set great store by privacy, he built his house upon a
mountain, but he did not look down on people. A distinguished architect and
naturalist in his own right, a remarkable linguist, a noted bibliophile, and
the father of the University of Virginia, he was the chief patron of
learning and the arts in his country in his day. And, with the possible
exception of Benjamin Franklin, he was the closest American approximation of
the universal man.
Early Career
Jefferson was born at Shadwell, his father's home in Albemarle county,
Va., on April 13 (April 2, Old Style), 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson, a
man of legendary strength, was a successful planter and surveyor who gained
minor title to fame as an explorer and mapmaker. His prominence in his own
locality is attested by the fact that he served as a burgess and as county
lieutenant. Peter's son later held the same offices. Through his mother,
Jane Randolph, a member of one of the most famous Virginia families, Thomas
was related to many of the most prominent people in the province.
Besides being well born, Thomas Jefferson was well educated. In small
private schools, notably that of James Maury, he was thoroughly grounded in
the classics. He attended the College of William and Mary--completing the
course in 1762--where Dr. William Small taught him mathematics and
introduced him to science. He associated intimately with the liberal-minded
Lt. Gov. Francis Fauquier, and read law (1762-1767) with George Wythe, the
greatest law teacher of his generation in Virginia.
Jefferson became unusually learned in the law. He was admittedto the bar
in 1767 and practiced until 1774, when the courts were closed by the
American Revolution. He was a successful lawyer, though his professional
income was only a supplement. He had inherited a considerable landed estate
from his father, and doubled it by a happy marriage on Jan. 1, 1772, to
Martha Wayles Skelton. However, his father-in-law's estate imposed a
burdensome debt on Jefferson. He began building Monticello before his
marriage, but his mansion was not completed in its present form until a
generation later.
Jefferson's lifelong emphasis on local government grew directly from his
own experience. He served as magistrate and as county lieutenant of
Albemarle county. Elected to the House of Burgesses when he was 25, he
served there from 1769 to 1774, showing himself to be an effective
committeeman and skillful draftsman, though not an able speaker.
The Revolutionary Era
From the beginning of the struggle with the mother country, Jefferson
stood with the more advanced Patriots, grounding his position on a wide
knowledge of English history and political philosophy. His most notable
early contribution to the cause of the Patriots was his powerful pamphlet A
Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774), originally written
for presentation to the Virginia convention of that year. In this he
emphasized natural rights, including that of emigration, and denied
parliamentary authority over the colonies, recognizing no tie with the
mother country except the king.
As a member of the Continental Congress (1775-1776), Jefferson was chosen
in 1776 to draft the Declaration of Independence. He summarized current
revolutionary philosophy in a brief paragraph that has been regarded ever
since as a charter of American and universal liberties. He presented to the
world the case of the Patriots in a series of burning charges against the
king. In the light of modern scholarship some of the charges require
modification. But there is a timeless quality in the philosophical section
of the Declaration, which proclaims that all men are equal in rights,
regardless of birth, wealth, or status, and that government is the servant,
not the master, of human beings. The Declaration alone would entitle
Jefferson to enduring fame.
Desiring to be closer to his family and also hoping to translate his
philosophy of human rights into legal institutions in his own state,
Jefferson left Congress in the autumn of 1776 and served in the Virginia
legislature until his election as governor in 1779. This was the most
creative period of his revolutionary statesmanship. His earlier proposals
for broadening the electorate and making the system of representation more
equitable had failed, and the times permitted no action against slavery
except that of shutting off the foreign slave trade. But he succeeded in
ridding the land system of feudal vestiges, such as entail and
primogeniture, and he was the moving spirit in the disestablishment of the
church. In 1779, with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, he drew a highly
significant report on the revising of the laws. His most famous single bills
are the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (adopted in 1786) and the
Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, which was never adopted as
he drew it. His fundamental purposes were to destroy artificial privilege of
every sort, to promote social mobility, and to make way for the natural
aristocracy of talent and virtue, which should provide leadership for a free
society.
As governor from 1779 to 1781, Jefferson had little power, and he
suffered inevitable discredit when the British invaders overran Virginia. An
inquiry into his conduct during his last year in office was voted by the
legislature after his retirement in June 1781. He was fully vindicated by
the next legislature, but these charges were afterward exaggerated by
political enemies, and he was hounded by them to some extent throughout his
national career. The most important immediate effect of his troubles was to
create in his own mind a distaste for public life that persisted in acute
form until the death of his wife on Sept. 6, 1782, which reconciled him to a
return to office. He also acquired an aversion to controversy and censure
from which he never wholly recovered.
During this brief private interval (1781-1783) he began to compile his Notes
on the State of Virginia, which was first published when he was in
France (1785). This work was described at the time by competent authority as
"a most excellent natural history not merely of Virginia but of North
America." Undertaken in response to a series of queries by the
secretary of the French legation, it was ostensibly an account of the
resources, productions, government, and society of a single state. But it
spanned a continent and contained reflections on religion, slavery, and the
Indians. It afterward appeared in many editions and was the literary
foundation of his deserved reputation as a scientist.
In the Continental Congress (1783-1784), Jefferson's most notable
services were connected with the adoption of the decimal system of coinage,
which later as secretary of state he tried vainly to extend to weights and
measures, and with the Ordinance of 1784. Though not adopted, the latter
foreshadowed many features of the famous Ordinance of 1787, which
established the Northwest Territory. Jefferson went so far as to advocate
the prohibition of slavery in all the territories.
Minister to France
Jefferson's stay in France (1784-1789), where he was first a commissioner
to negotiate commercial treaties and then Benjamin Franklin's successor as
minister, was in many ways the richest period of his life. He gained genuine
commercial concessions from the French, negotiated an important consular
convention in 1788, and served the interests of his own weak government with
diligence and skill. He was confirmed in his opinion that France was a
natural friend of the United States, and Britain at this stage a natural
rival, and thus his foreign policy assumed the orientation it was to
maintain until the eve of the Louisiana Purchase. The publication of his
book on Virginia symbolized his unofficial service of information to the
French. His services to his own countrymen were exemplified by the books,
the seeds and plants, the statues and architectural models, and the
scientific information that he sent home. His stay in Europe contributed
greatly to that universality of spirit and diversity of achievement in which
he was equaled by no other American statesman, except possibly Franklin.
Toward the end of his mission he reported with scrupulous care the
unfolding revolution in France. His personal part in it was slight, and such
advice as he gave was moderate. Doubting the readiness of the people for
self-government of the American type, he now favored a limited monarchy for
France, and he cautioned his liberal friends not to risk the loss of their
gains by going too fast. Though always aware of the importance of French
developments in the worldwide struggle for greater freedom and happiness, he
tended to stress this more after he returned home and perceived the dangers
of political reaction in his own country. Eventually he was repelled by the
excesses of the French Revolution, and he thoroughly disapproved of it when
it passed into an openly imperialistic phase under Napoleon. But insofar as
it represented a revolt against despotism, he continued to believe that its
spirit could never die.
Because of his absence in Europe, Jefferson had no direct part in the
framing or ratification of the CONSTITUTION
OF THE UNITED STATES, and at first the document aroused his fears. His
chief objections were that it did not expressly safeguard the rights of
individuals, and that the unlimited eligibility of the president for
reelection would make it possible for him to become a king. He became
sufficiently satisfied after he learned that a bill of rights would be
provided and after he reflected that there would be no danger of monarchy
under George Washington.
Secretary of State
Although his fears of monarchical tendencies remained and colored his
attitude in later partisan struggles, it was as a friend of the new
government that he accepted Washington's invitation to become secretary of
state.
During Jefferson's service in this post from 1790 to 1793, Alexander
Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, defeated the movement for commercial
discrimination against Britain, which Jefferson favored. Hamilton, also,
connived with the British minister George Hammond to nullify Jefferson's
efforts in 1792 to gain observance of the terms of peace from the British,
and especially to dislodge them from the northwest posts. Jefferson's policy
was not pro-French, but it seemed anti-British. Hamilton was distinctly
pro-British, largely for financial reasons, and he became more so when
general war broke out in Europe and ideology was clearly involved. In 1793,
Jefferson wanted the French Revolution to succeed against its external foes,
but he also recognized that the interests of his own country demanded a
policy of neutrality. Such a policy was adopted, to the dissatisfaction of
many strong friends of democracy in America, and was executed so fairly as
to win the reluctant praise of the British.
Jefferson was greatly embarrassed by the indiscretions of the fiery
French minister, Edmond Charles Genet, who arrived in Washington in the
spring of 1793, but he skillfully brought about Genet's recall and avoided a
breach with the revolutionary government of his country.
Jefferson helped Hamilton gain congressional consent to the assumption of
state debts, for which the location of the federal capital on the Potomac
was the political return. His growing objections to the Hamiltonian
financial system were partly owing to his belief that the treasury was
catering to commercial and financial groups, not agricultural, but he also
believed that Hamilton was building up his own political power by creating
ties of financial interest and was corrupting Congress. The issue between
the two secretaries was sharply joined by 1791, when the Bank of the United
States was established. They gave to the president their rival
interpretations of the Constitution in this connection. The victory at the
time and in the long run was with Hamilton's doctrine of liberal
construction, or interpretation, of the Constitution and his assertion of
broad national power. But Jefferson's general distrust of power and his
reliance on basic law as a safeguard have enduring value.
By late 1792 or 1793 the opponents of Hamiltonianism constituted a fairly
definite national party, calling itself Republican. Jefferson's recognized
leadership of this group can be more easily attributed to his official
standing and his political philosophy than to his partisan activities. In
the summer and autumn of 1792, by means of anonymous newspaper articles,
Hamilton sought to drive Jefferson from the government. The alleged
justification was the campaign being waged against Hamilton by the editor of
the National Gazette, Philip Freneau. Jefferson had given Freneau
minor employment as a translator for the State Department, but he claimed
that he never brought influence to bear on him, and there is no evidence
that he himself wrote anything for the paper. But he had told Washington
precisely what he thought of his colleague's policies, and had already said
that he himself wanted to get out of the government.
Early in 1793 the Virginians in CONGRESS
vainly sought to drive Hamilton from office or at least to rebuke him
sharply for alleged financial mismanagement. Jefferson undoubtedly
sympathized with this attack and probably drafted the resolutions that were
introduced by Rep. William Branch Giles (Va.) and soundly defeated. A degree
of unity was forced on the president's official family by the foreign crisis
of 1793, which also caused Jefferson to delay his retirement to the end of
the year.
Vice President
During a respite of three years from public duties, he began to remodel
his house at Monticello and interested himself greatly in agriculture,
claiming that he had wholly lost the "little spice of ambition" he
had once had. He was outraged by Washington's attack on the Democratic
societies, which were identified with his party, and by what he regarded as
the surrender to the British in Jay's Treaty, but at this stage he was
playing little part in politics. Nonetheless, he was supported by the
Republicans for president in 1796, and, running second to John Adams by
three ELECTORAL
VOTES, he became VICE
PRESIDENT. His Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801) was a
result of his experience as the presiding officer over the Senate. His
papers on the extinct megalonyx and on the moldboard of a plow invented by
him attested to his scientific interests and attainments. These papers were
presented to the American Philosophical Society, of which he became
president in 1797.
A private letter of his to his friend Philip Mazzei, published that year,
severely criticized Federalist leaders and was interpreted as an attack on
Washington. Jefferson's partisan activities increased during his vice
presidency. He deplored the FEDERALIST
exploitation of a dangerous quarrel with France, although Jefferson's own
sympathy with France had declined.
The notorious Alien and Sedition Acts were the principal cause of
Jefferson's disapproval of the Adams administration. Jefferson's grounds
were both philosophical and partisan. The historic Republican protest
against laws that attempted to suppress freedom of speech and destroy
political opposition was made in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions
(1798). Jefferson wrote the former, as James MADISON
did the latter. Jefferson's authorship was not known at the time. In the
Kentucky Resolutions he carried his states'-rights doctrines to their most
extreme point in his career. In invoking the authority of the states against
laws that he regarded as unconstitutional, his resolutions were in the
tradition that finally led to nullification and secession. But they were
also in the best tradition of civil liberties and human rights.
President: First Term
Jefferson's victory over John Adams in the presidential election of 1800
can be partially explained by the dissension among the Federalists, but the
policies of the government were unpopular, and as a party the Federalists
were now much less representative of the country than were the Republicans.
Jefferson's own title to the presidency was not established for some weeks,
because he was accidentally tied with his running mate, Aaron BURR,
under the workings of the original electoral system. The election was thrown
into the HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES, where the Federalists voted for Burr through many
indecisive ballots. Finally, enough of them abstained to permit the obvious
will of the majority to be carried out.
Jefferson later said that the ousting of the Federalists and the
accession of his own party constituted a "revolution," but that
statement was hyperbole. He was speaking of the principles of the government
rather than of its form, and his major concern was to restore the spirit of
1776. He regarded himself as more loyal to the U. S. Constitution than his
loose-constructionist foes were, though in fact he was less a strict
constructionist in practice than in theory. Although he had objected to
features of Hamilton's financial system, he had no intention of upsetting it
now that it was firmly established. Instead, the purpose he had in mind, and
was to be highly successful in carrying out, was to obviate some of the
grave dangers he saw in the system by reducing the national debt.
Jefferson's accession to the presidency is notable in American history
because it marked the first transfer of national authority from one
political group to another, and it is especially significant that, despite
Federalist obstructionism for a time, the transition was effected by
peaceful and strictly constitutional means. Jefferson himself emphasized
this in his conciliatory inaugural address. These events set a precedent of
acquiescence in the will of the majority. The new president described this
as a "sacred principle" that must prevail, but he added that, to
be rightful, it must be reasonable and that the rights of minorities must be
protected. His accession removed the threat of counterrevolution from his
country. The government he conducted, in its spirit of tolerance and
humanity, was without parallel in his world.
His first term, most of it in a period of relative international calm,
was distinctly successful. He was the undisputed leader of a party that had
acquired cohesion during its years in opposition. In James Madison as
secretary of state and Albert Gallatin as secretary of the treasury, he had
lieutenants of high competence whom he treated as peers but whose loyalty to
him bordered on reverence. By virtually ruling himself out of the party,
Vice President Aaron Burr relieved Jefferson of a potential rival. Working
through the Republican leaders in Congress, whom he treated with the utmost
respect, Jefferson exercised influence on that body that was unexampled in
previous presidential history and was to be rarely matched in later
administrations. Because of his own commitment, and that of most of his
countrymen, to the doctrine of division of powers between the executive and
legislative branches, his leadership, except in foreign affairs, was
indirect and generally unadmitted. He also shared with most of his fellows a
rather negative concept of the functions of the federal government in the
domestic sphere. The policy of economy and tax reduction that the favorable
world situation permitted him to follow served to reduce rather than
increase the burdens of his countrymen, and it contributed no little to his
popularity.
Dispute with the Judiciary
Jefferson restored the party balance in the civil service, but he was
relatively unsuccessful in his moves against the judiciary, which had been
reinforced by fresh Federalist appointees at the very end of the Adams
administration. In the eyes of Jefferson and the Republicans, the federal
judiciary constituted a branch of the opposing party and could be expected
to obstruct the administration in every possible way. He treated as null and
void late appointments by Adams that seemed of doubtful legality, and the
Republicans repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 with his full approval. But
he was rebuked by Chief Justice John Marshall in the famous case of Marbury
v. Madison (1803) for withholding the commission of a late-hour
appointee as justice of the peace. The effort to remove partisan judges by
impeachment was a virtual failure, and the Federalists remained entrenched
in the judiciary, though they became less actively partisan.
The Louisiana Purchase
These partial political failures were more than compensated by the
purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the most notable achievement of Jefferson's
presidency. His concern for the free navigation of the Mississippi River had
caused him, while secretary of state, to assume a more belligerent tone
toward Spain, which controlled the mouth of the river, than toward any other
nation. The retrocession of the province of Louisiana from Spain to France,
now powerful and aggressive under Napoleon, aroused his fears and, for the
first time in his career, caused his diplomatic friendship to veer toward
the British.
The acquisition of an imperial province, rather than the mouth of the
river, was a fortunate accident that added the West to the American Union.
The treaty that Robert R. Livingston and James MONROE
sent home aroused constitutional scruples in Jefferson's mind, which he
expressed privately. Because this vast acquisition of territory would
inevitably change the character of the Union, it seemed to him that it
should be authorized by a constitutional amendment. But the process of
amendment was painfully slow, and the treaty had to be ratified by a
specified date. Napoleon, who was thought by some to have already repented
this transaction, could not have been expected to tolerate any departure
from its terms. Recognizing that this was no time for constitutional purism,
the president yielded to his friends, while strict constructionist arguments
were taken up ineffectually by the New England Federalists. Nearly everybody
else enthusiastically approved of the acquisition.
In May 1801 the Pasha of the piratical state of Tripoli, dissatisfied
with his tribute, declared war on the United States. Jefferson ordered a
naval squadron to the Mediterranean Sea to blockade Tripoli. The bizarre
conflict that ensued served as a training school for the American Navy, and
the relatively favorable treaty of 1805 justified Jefferson's resort to
force.
Personal Attacks on Jefferson
During his first term Jefferson was subjected to attacks on his personal
character that have rarely, if ever, been matched in presidential history.
In 1802 sensational charges against him were publicized by James Thomson
Callender, a dissolute and unscrupulous journalist whom he had unwisely
befriended and who had turned on him when not given a lucrative federal
appointment. These charges were gleefully taken up by Jefferson's political
enemies, but he maintained his policy of making no public reply to personal
attacks. The abuse he suffered from newspapers weakened his confidence in a
free press. He believed that his triumphant reelection in 1804 justified his
toleration of his critics and reflected approval of his public conduct.
But the Federalists in their desperation continued to publicize the
stories Callender had told, and in 1805 in a private letter Jefferson
admitted that, while unmarried, he had made improper advances to the wife of
a friend. For this he had made honorable amends, and he denied all the other
charges. There appears to be no evidence that he ever again referred to
them, and he undoubtedly believed that the best answer to them was the whole
tenor of his life.
From an early stage in his public career, Jefferson had been subjected to
attacks on religious grounds. While he kept his opinions regarding religion
very much to himself, believing that they were a private concern, his
insistence on the complete separation of church and state was well known.
This gained him the support of "dissenting" groups, notably the
Baptists, but it aroused bitter opposition among Congregationalists in those
parts of New England where the clergy and magistrates still constituted a
virtual establishment. From the presidential campaign of 1796 at least, New
England clergymen denounced him from their pulpits as an atheist and as
anti-Christ.
Unlike Thomas Paine, who attacked all sects, Jefferson attacked none, and
he contributed to many churches, but he was distinctly anticlerical and was
as opposed to absolutism in priests and presbyters as in kings. In a private
letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1800, he said: "I have sworn upon the
altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind
of man." That assertion is properly recognized as one of his most
characteristic.
In another strictly private communication to Dr. Rush, made in his first
term as president, Jefferson revealed his own religious opinions. He
believed in God and immortality and was a Unitarian in theology, though he
rarely used the term. Comparing the ethical teachings of Jesus with those of
the ancient philosophers and the Jews, he expressed the highest appreciation
of the former. He began at this time, and finished in old age, a compilation
of extracts from the Gospels in English, Greek, Latin, and French. He
carefully excluded miracles from the compilation. Entitled The Life and
Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, it remained unpublished until the 20th
century. While opposed to what he regarded as the corruptions of
Christianity, he described himself as a Christian, and he undoubtedly sought
to follow the ethical precepts of Jesus.
President: Second Term
On both the domestic and foreign fronts Jefferson encountered greater
difficulties in his second term than in his first. But he was relatively
successful at home during most of it. Factionalism increased among
Republicans. But the revolt of John Randolph, an uncompromising strict
constructionist and formerly the Republican leader in the House of
Representatives, was contained. Until the last session of Congress in his
presidency, Jefferson maintained his influence over that body and his
undisputed leadership of his party.
The Burr Conspiracy
Meanwhile, the conspiracy of former Vice President Aaron Burr was foiled.
It is still uncertain whether that adventurer proposed to separate the
western states from the Union or to invade Mexico, but his expedition down
the Mississippi River was unquestionably a threat to national unity and
domestic security. Heeding the warning of Gen. James Wilkinson, the governor
of the Louisiana Territory, Jefferson took steps in the fall of 1806 that
led to the seizure of most of Burr's boats on the Ohio River and his later
apprehension on the Mississippi. Burr's trial for treason and afterward for
a misdemeanor, in the federal circuit court presided over by John Marshall,
became a fiasco when Marshall's rulings made conviction impossible.
Jefferson erred gravely in saying in advance that Burr's guilt was beyond
dispute, but his conduct in connection with the trial did not support the
charge of persecution made by Burr's lawyers and the Federalists. Jefferson
was more justly criticized for his support of Wilkinson, to whom he was
grateful for the exposure of the conspiracy, but whose actions against
alleged supporters of Burr in New Orleans was high-handed.
Jefferson's persistent efforts to acquire West Florida, which he
continued to claim as part of the Louisiana Purchase, may be regarded as an
exercise in futility. But he was properly concerned to round out the
territory of the United States, and he contributed significantly to its
exploration. In his first term he projected the expedition to the Pacific
that was concluded by Lewis and Clark during his second term. Other
expeditions that he sent out failed or had slight geographical and
scientific significance, but his title as the chief presidential patron of
exploration remains unchallenged.
The Embargo
The situation of the United States as a neutral nation became
increasingly hazardous as the conflict between Britain and France, which
embraced the whole Western world, increased in ruthlessness and desperation.
Both powers trampled on neutral rights, but Britain, because it commanded
the sea, was the greater offender. Despite reiterated protests by the U.S.
government, the British policy of impressing American seamen was pursued
with increased vigor. The attack of the British man-of-war Leopard on
the American frigate Chesapeake in 1807 could have been regarded as
an act of war. It was the subject of negotiations, but proper atonement for
it was not made in Jefferson's administration.
American commerce was caught in the crossfire between British Orders in
Council and Napoleonic decrees. Recognizing the impossibility of coping with
both blockades, but undisposed to take sides in this conflict and convinced
that peace was in the best interest of his young country, Jefferson and his
government sought to safeguard American life and shipping and to bring
pressure on the rival powers by suspending commerce. The embargo, adopted in
December 1807 and strengthened by later legislation, was regarded by
Jefferson as the only alternative to war and submission. The act barred all
exports to Britain and France. But it had less effect abroad than had been
expected and caused economic difficulty at home. This was especially true in
New England, heavily reliant on commerce, where it was strongly opposed from
the outset by pro-British Federalists and was resisted more extensively and
more successfully than elsewhere.
In the effort to enforce the embargo, the government was drawn step by
step into infringements on the liberties of individuals that were
inconsistent with Jefferson's most cherished principles. He exercised no
authority that was not vested in him by law, and, distrustful of power as he
was, he did not seize it for its own sake. He believed that individuals
should accept financial sacrifice on patriotic grounds. Many did so, but
there was little glamor in this commercial warfare and the negative heroism
it required. Toward the end of his administration, he assented to the
embargo's repeal, to save the Union, he said. A more moderate measure was
adopted, but it did not avert war with Britain in 1812.
Retirement
Jefferson, meanwhile, was succeeded as president in 1809 by his loyal
lieutenant, James Madison. During the last 17 years of his life, Jefferson
remained in Virginia. His failures tended to be forgotten, and as the
"Sage of Monticello" he engaged in a vast and rich correspondence
with John Adams and others. He abandoned newspapers for Tacitus and
Thucydides, he said, and until his dying day he feasted on classical
writings. He read them in the original, as he did authors in French,
Spanish, and Italian. Toward the end of the War of 1812, he sold his
magnificent collection of books to the government for the Library of
Congress, of which he has been regarded ever since as the virtual founder.
Jefferson resigned the presidency of the American Philosophical Society,
which he had held for many years, but maintained his interest in all
branches of human learning. He kept charts of the temperature. He personally
directed the operations of his mills and farms into his 70s. He never ceased
his efforts to advance agriculture. Jefferson's last great public service
was the founding of the University of Virginia, which was chartered in 1819.
He inspired the legislative campaign for a university, got it located in his
own county, planned the buildings, and served as the first rector.
He gave much attention to the education of his grandchildren, chiefly the
offspring of his daughter Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph. His daughter
Maria, who married John W. Eppes, died during his first term as president.
For her son Francis, he built a gem of a house at Poplar Forest in Bedford
county. This served him as a retreat from the host of visitors at
Monticello.
Jefferson had long been troubled by debt, and the failure of a friend
whose note he had endorsed brought him to virtual bankruptcy. But he was
rich in honor, friendship, and domestic happiness when he died at Monticello
on July 4, 1826 just hours before John Adams, on the 50th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence.
Dumas Malone
University of Virginia, Author of Jefferson and His Time
For Further Reading
Jefferson's writings are treated most thoroughly in The Papers
of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Julian P. Boyd (Princeton Univ. Press
1950- ), being published in more than 60 volumes. The edition will supersede
all other collections. Of previous collections the best edited is that of
Paul L. Ford, 10 vols. (Putnam 1892-1899), and the most extensive is that of
Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert E. Bergh, 20 vols. (Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association 1903). Distinctive among separate publications are: Thomas
Jefferson's Farm Book, ed. by Edwin M. Betts (Princeton Univ. Press
1953); Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book, ed. by Edwin M. Betts (Am.
Philosophical Soc. 1944); The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, ed.
by Edwin M. Betts and James A. Bear, Jr. (Univ. of Mo. Press 1966); The
Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text, by Julian P.
Boyd (Princeton Univ. Press 1945); The Adams-Jefferson Letters, ed.
by Lester J. Cappon (Univ. of N.C. Press 1959); Public and Private
Papers, ed. by Merrill D. Peterson (Vintage Bks. 1990); and Catalogue
of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, ed. by E. Millicent Sowerby, 5 vols.
(1952-1959; reprint, Univ. Press of Va. 1983). Important secondary sources
include the following:
Bear, James A., Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson's
Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767-1826 (Princeton
Univ. Press 1990).
Boorstin, Daniel J., The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948;
reprint, Univ. of Chicago Press 1981).
Commager, Henry Steele, Jefferson, Nationalism, and the
Enlightenment (Braziller 1975).
Cripe, Helen, Thomas Jefferson and Music (Univ. Press of Va.
1974).
Dabney, Virginius, The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttal (1981;
reprint, Madison Bks. 1990).
Honeywell, Roy J., The Educational Work of Thomas Jefferson (Harvard
Univ. Press 1931).
Kimball, Fiske, Thomas Jefferson, Architect(1916; reprinted
with a new introduction by Frederick D. Nichols, Da Capo 1968).
Lehmann, Karl, Thomas Jefferson: American Humanist (1947;
reprint, Univ. Press of Va. 1985).
Malone, Dumas, Jefferson and His Time (Little 1948-1981):
vol. 1, Jefferson the Virginian (1948);
vol. 2, Jefferson and the Rights of Man (1951);
vol. 3, Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty (1962);
vol. 4, Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801-1805 (1970);
vol. 5, Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805-1809 (1974);
vol. 6, The Sage of Monticello (1981).
Matthews, Richard K., The Radical Politics of Thomas Jefferson: A
Revisionist View (Univ. Press of Kans. 1984).
McLaughlin, Jack, To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson: Letters to a
President (Norton 1991).
Peterson, Merrill D., Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A
Biography (Oxford 1970).
Randall, Henry S., Life of Thomas Jefferson, 3 vols. (1858;
reprint, Da Capo 1972).
Sanford, Charles B., The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (Univ.
Press of Va. 1984).
Tucker, Robert W., and David C. Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty:
The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson (Oxford 1990).
