by Jon Meacham.
Although I did not reside or go to school in the United States until I began my PhD studies in 1963 at the age of 23, I probably had encountered more Thomas Jefferson memorabilia than most natural born Americans. In the summer of 1966, while working as a summer student in the office of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which at that time was located on the edge of the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, I lived in a dorm room at the University. The University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819. In the spring of 1969, I interviewed at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia, where Jefferson obtained his BA degree. William and Mary offered me a faculty position in its Department of Physics. Unaware of the historical reputation of William and Mary, I declined the offer. (Had I accepted, my life’s trajectory would undoubtedly be totally different). In the period 1967-1972, when I worked in Washington, D. C., I visited Jefferson Memorial by the Tidal Basin/Potomac River several times. Other than the name being famous, I did not know much about the life and work of Jefferson. However, in my mind, to be worthy of such a serene memorial in a fabulous spot along the Potomac, Jefferson must not only be a great man but also a saint. (After reading Jon Meacham’s book, I am afraid the sainthood part can no longer be retained.) Before the content page in Jon Meacham’s book entitled “Thomas Jefferson The Art of Power”, there is this quote of President John F. Kennedy given at a dinner in honor of all living recipients of the Nobel Prize, 1962: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” This extravagant praise of President Kennedy was followed by the author’s appraisal in “Prologue”, which includes fabulous praises of his own: “Broadly put, philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.” “A philosopher and a scientist, a naturalist and a historian, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment, always looking forward, consumed by the quest for knowledge.” In the Prologue, the reader is confronted with a historical fact contrary to present-day experience: the spectacle that, in the 1800 election, the candidate for President (Jefferson) and the candidate for Vice President (Burr), although both of the same party, were voted separately and each received the same number of electoral votes. The election had to be decided by the House of Representatives. It was not until p. 299 of the book that the author explained that the election rule as we know it today was not in effect until the 12th amendment was enacted in 1804. A clear and upfront explanation given in the Prologue would go a long way to alleviate the reader’s confusion. Following the Prologue are 43 chapters and an epilogue detailing all aspects of Jefferson’s life. His major achievements are relatively well known, including the draft of the Declaration of Independence, participant in Revolutionary War, Secretary of State under Washington, Vice President under John Adams, Third US President during whose Presidency the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition occurred. Below I list some items learned from the book which are interesting but less well known: - Jefferson was not an orator like Lincoln or Patrick Henry. His communication strength was in the written word. He recognized the power of language in the art of leadership. - While he stood in owe of Patrick Henry’s oratory (“Give me liberty, or give me death”), he had this interesting comment: “Although it was difficult, when he (Patrick Henry) had spoken, to tell what he had said, yet while he was speaking, it always seemed directly to the point.” - In the wake of the British army’s burning of the roughly 3,000 books belonging to Congress at Washington in 1814, Jefferson offered to sell the nation his own collection. There were 6,487 volumes in Jefferson’s hands. They formed the core of the new Library of Congress. - While he advocated religious freedom, Jefferson believed in the existence of a creator God and in an afterlife. Most significantly, he defended the moral lessons of the life and teachings of Jesus, whose divinity he rejected but whose words and example he embraced. “My fundamental principle would be…that we are to be saved by our good works which are within our power, and not by our faith which is not within our power.” - While it is well known that Jefferson owned slaves, it is less well known that he had words attacking the slave trade in the draft of the Declaration of Independence, but these words were cut out by the delegates to the Continental Congress. Indeed, earlier, while a Legislator and later Governor of Virginia, he and his allies prepared an amendment stipulating “the freedom of all [slaves] born after a certain day, and deportation at a proper age” – deportation because it was inconceivable to Jefferson that free whites and free blacks could live together peaceably. The amendment failed. Jon Meacham stated that "Jefferson was never able to move public opinion on slavery. His powers failed him - and they failed America." - Alexander Hamilton did not appear well in the book. He and John Adams were of the view that the British system of government was the most perfect constitution of government ever devised by man. - When Jefferson told Hamilton that his trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced were Bacon, Locke and Newton, Hamilton disagreed, and responded by saying that the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. - In Spring 1800, Hamilton and his father-in-law, appealed to John Jay, governor of New York, to change the state’s election laws before the new Republican majority took office, effectively overturning the verdict of the vote. - Despite the above negative comments, it was sad to read that, on July 12, 1804, Hamilton died in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. - Jefferson pursued Betsy Walker, his friend’s wife, in 1768. He did something similar again with Maria Cosway. He fathered 6 children, out of wedlock, with Sally Hemings. In the Epilogue, the author concluded: “With his brilliance and his accomplishment and his fame he is immortal. Yet because of his flaws and his failures he strikes us as mortal too – a man of achievement who was nonetheless susceptible to the temptations and compromises that ensnare all of us. He was not all he could be. But no politician – no human being – ever is.” This reader concurs and no longer considers Jefferson a saint. As in other books, there are quotes worthy of our reflection. Here are a couple from this book. “It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind.” In 1824 Thomas Jefferson deemed coffee "the favorite drink of the civilized world."
Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D. C.
University of Virginia (Source: Wikipedia)
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