Jefferson was much more pragmatic, especially as president, than politicans would lead us to believe.
In many respects, Meacham's THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ART OF POWER is a revisionist work. In the twenty-first century conservatives have latched onto Jefferson as a defender of states rights and small government; there was also the embarrassing DNA test which seemed to settle the matter of whether Jefferson had a sexual relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings.
Meacham must also deal with Jefferson's bare-knuckle method of politics.
Meacham handles this in two ways. Jefferson was worried the country was moving towards a monarchy. He cites 16th century England as an example. The Puritans executed Charles I, Cromwell became a military dictator and when his son proved to be an incompetent, the country recalled Charles II. Jefferson referred to the Federalists as "monarchists"; unfortunately Alexander Hamilton and several other Federalists' statements claimed the British government was the best possible. Hamilton also was a behind the scenes manipulator of the pro Federalist GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES. Jefferson hired Philip Freneau as editor of the anti-federalist paper, THE NATIONAL GAZETTE, and paid him with state department funds. A young Jefferson also saw dirty politics first hand when he first became a member of the House of Burgesses and the pro-British polls reversed Patrick Henry's resolution claiming the colony of Virginia had the "sole exclusive right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony . . ." Thinking he had won, Henry had left the capital the day before.
We also hear a lot about conservative principles these days. Like most presidents Jefferson was more of a pragmatist when he actually took office. When offered the chance to purchase Louisiana for fifteen million dollars, he jumped at the chance, whether he had constitutional authority of not. Jefferson did the right thing for the country. If France controlled Louisiana, England and France would have the new country boxed in.
Meacham makes the somewhat curious statement that Jefferson had more of an impact on the country than Washington. Jefferson was president for eight years and two of his closest allies were president for the next sixteen; he also includes Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren as Jefferson adherents. Rather than an aristocracy of sorts the common man and democracy took ascendance under Jefferson ideas.
Meacham knew he had to address the Sally Hemings issue and his conclusion seems to be: Yes, Jefferson did take Hemings as a concubine and had several children with her. She came to France with Jefferson's younger daughter Polly at the age of 14. According to Madison Hemings a great grandson of the sea captain who fathered a daughter with an African woman, Elizabeth, Sally Hemings' mother, she was almost white and reminded him of his dead wife Martha, who was Sally's half sister. Meacham cites several strange occurrences regarding their progeny. Many of them served as house slaves for Jefferson and they were dead ringers, but Jefferson never seemed to notice. At first Sally refused to return to America with Jefferson. She could declare herself free in France. When he agreed to free her children at age 21, she agreed to return. It's unclear whether this was a master imposing his will on a slave or whether he really had feelings for her. It seems the latter.
We also get a good look at Jefferson after he left the presidency. He was much happier as a plain old "farmer" than he was as a politician and lost the terrible migraines that had plagued him as president.
He also seemed to refute the strict adherence to the constitution some modern politicians claim. "Some men look at Constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them, like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched," he wrote in 1816. "They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well: I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present: and 40 years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading: and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions . . . But I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind . . . We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Dave Schwinghammer's unconventional mystery novel, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available on Amazon.com, new and used. Thank you. Click here to post or read comments.
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