Thomas Jefferson: VA Signer and Writer of the Declaration of Independence
- katellashisadventure
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Thomas Jefferson was born on April 2, 1743 (OS), but his birthday is now celebrated on April 13, due to a change in the calendar in the eighteenth century. He was born at Shadwell Plantation in Goochland, Albemarle County, Virginia, to Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson and was the oldest of eight children. Peter, his father, was a self-made man, and his mother was a member of the Randolph family, which was an old and distinguished line in Virginia. His family ancestry can be traced to Scotland.
After he was born at Shadwell, the family moved to Tuckahoe Plantation for a few years before returning to Shadwell Plantation in 1752. Jefferson’s earliest memory was being carried on a pillow by a slave when he was about two or three years old. They lived at Tuckahoe for a total of seven years to help take care of his maternal cousins. Once the oldest cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, came of age, they returned to their plantation.
Around the time they were moving back home, Jefferson began a course of study that included French, Latin, and Greek under a Scottish clergyman. He would continue to be privately tutored until he was sent to William and Mary in 1760. In the meantime, the family experiences a terrible loss when his father, Peter, passes away in 1757. He left Jefferson three thousand acres of land and many slaves. The land would eventually become Monticello, and he also inherited Shadwell Plantation. Unlike others, who had to become the head of the family, his mother, Jane, would ensure that Jefferson’s education continued. He would have an extremely close bond with his mother and, upon her death, would grieve deeply, but it is one of the rare occasions in which Jefferson does not leave any written documentation of the incident.
Soon after this incident, he meets Dabney Car, who would become his lifelong best friend. Together, they would go up to Monticello while it was still undeveloped land, and one time, they made a pact that whoever died first would be buried on the mountaintop. Dabney would pass before Jefferson and, as promised, Jefferson buried him on the mountaintop (Monticello). Dabney is the only non-Jefferson to be buried on Monticello. Then in 1759 he meets Patrick Henry and describes him this way, “His passion was fiddling, dancing, and pleasantry. He excelled in the last, and it attached everyone to him.”[1] He liked him for other reasons, especially his ability to speak to people and his devotion to freedom. They would form a strong friendship, but eventually political differences would come between them.
In 1759, he was sent to William and Mary, where he was more interested in his studies than in making friends. He would spend upwards of fifteen hours a day studying and was very good at mathematics and mechanics, which were his favorite subjects. He never limited himself to one subject and instead studied a variety of subjects, unlike today, when students are limited to a narrow focus in college. While at school, Jefferson develops a close bond with Dr. William Small, a professor of mathematics from Scotland. Though he spent more time studying, he found time to attend dances, horse races, and fox hunts. This would cause him to spend money excessively, a trait he carried for the rest of his life, but he readily acknowledges his inability to conserve money.
During his tenure at William and Mary, he was introduced to George Wythe and Francis Fauquier and invited to dinner meetings, where a variety of subjects were discussed. Fauquier was the Governor of Virginia at the time and a former protégé of Sir Isaac Newton. Jefferson graduated in two years and then began to study law under George Wythe in 1762. He would study law for five years before entering his own practice. He would often refer to Wythe as his second father.
In 1762, he was given a silhouette of Rebecca Burwell. The date of the start of this romance is unknown, but he had planned to ask her to marry him in January of 1762. It would not be until October of 1762 that he finally worked up the courage to ask for her hand in marriage. It is unknown if she reciprocated his feelings, and his attempt at proposing to her was a failure, as he barely was able to get a few sentences out. He would try again several months later, but it was fruitless, as she had decided to marry his friend, Jacquelin Ambler, who then asked Jefferson to be his best man.[2]
After five years of studying, Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1767 and opened his own law practice, which was very successful. He did not care for court proceedings, though, and closed his practice seven years later. Through the money he earned from his lands and his law practice, he was extremely well off. Estimates, in some books, of his yearly wealth are as high as £5000. Between 1767 and 1774, when he closed his practice, he handled about 1000 cases.[3] The exact number of cases is unknown, as not all the records have survived. Edmond Randolph, who was a distant cousin, was given his clients. Jefferson would receive one-third of the profits from their cases.
In 1768, Jefferson contracted with Moore to level the mountain top, which would become Monticello.[4] The construction of this home would play a large role in his life for the next forty-plus years, as he would build, change, add to, and rebuild it. Most planters built near rivers, in those days, because of access to shipping, but Jefferson had loved the mountaintop as a boy and wanted his home to be where he could gaze upon the beautiful scenery.[5] Water would also be an issue up on the mountaintop, as it had to be hauled up from the river. Finally, in the 1800’s, Jefferson designed several large cisterns that were buried beneath the walkways leading from the main home to the secondary buildings. The walkway was then angled so that the water ran into a drainage pipe, which deposited it into the large cisterns. Once this was installed, there were no issues with water up on the mountaintop.[6]
By 1769, Jefferson had been elected to the House of Burgesses, and he would serve until 1775. He does not speak much as he does not have a strong speaking voice. It is weak, and he would quickly go hoarse. During his tenure, he furthered his study of government. Jefferson was in the House every time the Governor dissolved it, and they would move to Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg to continue their duties. He then wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which he addressed to the King. Lord Dunmore threatened to try him for high treason, but his associates, in Virginia, took up his cause, and the governor decided against proceeding with the charges. Jefferson then wrote draft instructions for the delegates, who would go to the Continental Congress. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, but did not take his seat right away.
In 1770, Shadwell burns down, and his books and papers are lost. Ironically, a slave would save his fiddle, which brought him much joy. Jefferson also played the violin and cello. That same year, he would meet Martha Wayles Skeleton while visiting her father. Then, on January 1, 1772, he married Martha Wayles Skeleton. She was a well-educated woman who loved music and played the pianoforte. She was described as very beautiful, above average in height, and charming. There are no known pictures of her. Martha was Jefferson’s second cousin. She inherited 40,000 acres of land and 135 slaves from her father’s estate, along with some debt. Thomas was her second husband, as she had been widowed at nineteen and inherited a large estate from her first husband. She was known for her neat handwriting and for keeping accurate records.
They would have six children, but only two would live to adulthood. Their first child, Martha, was born on September 25, 1772, and passed away on October 10, 1836. She married her third cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, in 1790. She would separate from him for a time until they reconciled in 1828, just before he passed. Her nickname when she was young was Patsy, and she would serve as first lady twice during her father’s administration. She had eleven children, all of whom she homeschooled. She lived with her father at Monticello with her children after he retired from the Presidency. When she sold Monticello, she would live with her children in Boston, Washington DC, and Virginia. She is buried in the family cemetery near her father and husband. Their next child, Jane Randolph, was born in 1774 and passed away in 1775. An unnamed son was born and died in 1777. Their fourth child, another daughter named Mary or Maria, was born in 1778 and passed away in 1804. She was the only other child of Jefferson’s to survive to adulthood. She took the name of Maria in 1789 and was nicknamed Polly as a child. Jefferson would refer to her as Polly or Maria after 1789. She married her cousin, John Wayles Eppes, and has two children. She dies after having her second child, as she tended to be delicate and in poor health like her mother. Jefferson would only note, “This morning between 8&9 aclock my dear daughter Maria Eppes died”[7] The next two children born were both named Lucy Elizabeth. The first Lucy was born in 1780 and passed away in 1781. The next Lucy was born on May 8, 1782, and passed away on October 13, 1784. She died while Jefferson was in France, and he did not receive the news of her death until May of 1785. She was buried at Eppington in a family cemetery, although there is some dispute, as her grave is unmarked. Some historians believe Jefferson moved her to Monticello. There is no evidence to back this up, but then again, Jefferson was notoriously private when it came to his feelings and actions after the death of a loved one. She passed away as a result of whooping cough, according to Francis Eppes.[8]
Jefferson was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775 and did not take his seat until June of that year. He does not speak but instead helps draft papers, as this has been his customary behavior during legislative sessions. He helped Dickinson, for example, when Dickinson was writing the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms. Jefferson would then ask to be relieved of his duties so he could participate in drafting the Virginia Constitution, but his request was denied. During the August recess of 1775, his daughter Jane Randolph died when she was one and a half years old. He would return to Philadelphia soon after and not go back to Monticello until the early winter months of 1776. Then, in March 1776, his mother passed away from a stroke, which was completely unexpected as she had been in good health. He returned to Congress in May of 1776.
Soon after his return to Congress, Richard Henry Lee introduced his now-famous resolution, and Jefferson was chosen as a replacement for Lee on the Declaration Committee and as the writer of the document. Lee was replaced due to political considerations. Years after the fact, John Adams would say that Jefferson suggested he write the Declaration, but Adams declined, saying Jefferson should write it. Jefferson questioned why, and Adams said, “Reason first – you are a Virginian, and a Virginian out to appear at the head of this business. Reason second – I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third – you can write ten times better than I can.”[9] Jefferson would dispute this version in later years.
When writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was careful to pay attention to its cadence so that it flowed smoothly when being read aloud. He had included an eloquent section on the evils of slavery, but it was removed because other members of the committee feared the southern states might not join if this clause was included. Jefferson would call these deletions from the original document depredations and believed that the document was an expression of the American mind. Jefferson wrote the Declaration on a writing desk that he had designed in the Graff House, where he rented rooms. The Graff house was torn down, but a faithful reconstruction was built on its original site in 1975, two hundred years after it was originally built. Today, the house is in the Philadelphia area known as the Old City, but in 1776, it was on the outskirts of town. Jefferson would complain about the horseflies, which came from a nearby stable.
After the vote was taken on July 2, the document was presented to the delegates for debate and potential revision. It was a hot and humid day, and the State House was incredibly uncomfortable, especially with fifty men in there working hard. Jefferson remained quiet throughout the debate, during which 86 changes were made to the Declaration, including the deletion of 500 words. It was accepted by the delegates on July 4th, with President Hancock and Secretary Thomson signing it and then sending it to the printers. Jefferson would sign the document on August 2 and then resign his seat in September of 1776, as he wanted to serve his state and was concerned over the health of his wife, Martha, which had not been good.
Upon his return to Virginia, he was elected to the Virginia Assembly, where he served on a commission that revised the Virginia Code. He worked on this project with his mentor, George Wythe. He then introduced a bill to abolish entails and primogeniture laws; both bills passed the House, but they faced opposition. Unlike Richard Henry Lee, it does not appear that he was looked at as a traitor to his own kind for introducing these bills. He also introduces a public education scheme divided into three parts. The first part was an elementary education for all, but it was not public education, as we think of it today. Parents still had to pay some tuition. He was not in favor of a centralized government program. His idea, later proposed in the Notes on the State of Virginia, included dividing the counties into six districts and establishing elementary schools in each to teach the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic).[10] The second part of his plan was to establish colleges for students who showed the most promise. By this point, those who are not college material, have been taken out of continued education and presumably have found other means, in which, to make a living. Finally, teaching education would be akin to professorships. The idea, according to Jefferson, was, “The general object of this law are to provide the education adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every one, and directed to their freedom and happiness.”[11] Unfortunately, his educational plan was not approved.
1779 proved to be a busy year, as he introduced his bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, a bill for the emancipation of slaves, and was elected Governor of Virginia. His bill for Establishing Religious Freedom would not be enacted until 1786, when he was no longer a member of the legislature and was instead the Minister to France. He then introduces a bill to make it legal to emancipate one’s slaves, but the bill is rejected. Slavery would be a lifelong concern of his, even though he owned slaves. In Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, he speaks of slavery and the effect on the master as well as the slave, saying:
“The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and the degrading submission on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal…The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances…no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him…And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are f the gift of God?[12]
His views on how to deal with slavery would change slightly over time, and the slave revolts in Haiti made him nervous; it was with these that he would utter the wolf at the door analogy. He always believed that the slaves needed to be free to show that they were as smart as any white person, but how to free them became a complex situation he feared would ultimately harm the country. He would propose colonization in his later years, but nothing would come of it. In 1791, he wrote to Benjamin Banneker after receiving an almanac that Banneker, a black man, had compiled, saying:
“Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you have exhibited, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the appearance of want of them owning merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America…I have taken the liberty of sending your Almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris…because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which had been entertained of them.”[13]
Like other Founding Fathers, the issue of slavery was a complex one for him, and he never could come up with a satisfactory plan to free slaves. Others who followed tried to devise plans, but they failed as well, ultimately leading to the Civil War.
Jefferson was then elected Governor of Virginia, but the 1776 Virginia Constitution limited his powers. By 1781, his tenure had become very tumultuous as Richmond was destroyed by Benedict Arnold, and Governor Jefferson and his cabinet were on the run. The Legislature would meet in Charlottesville, and Governor Jefferson recommended combining military and civilian departments and having General Thomas Nelson run them as Governor. He would resign in 1781, just after escaping General Tarleton, who was trying to capture him and the legislature at Charlottesville. He sent his family off first and then mounted a horse and rode into the mountains and woods. His servants were hiding his valuables underneath the porch and had just dropped the plank covering the hiding place as General Tarleton was coming up. A slave was caught down there and stayed in the hiding place for 18 hours. Interestingly, General Tarleton did not destroy anything at Monticello, but another of Jefferson’s plantations was not so lucky. Elk Hill was destroyed by Lord Cornwallis, and 30 slaves were taken by the British. Twenty-seven of those slaves would die from smallpox or fever, which was prevalent in Lord Cornwallis’s camps. An investigation would be ordered into his conduct as Governor due to a lack of preparation for an invasion, but the House of Delegates later cleared him.
Jefferson’s difficulties would not decrease the following year, in 1782, as his wife’s health began to decline, following the birth of their sixth child. Lucy Elizabeth. Jefferson returns home to care for her and his daughter Martha wrote, “As a nurse no female ever had more tenderness or anxiety. He nursed my poor mother…sitting up with her and administering her medicines and drink to the last. For four months she lingered, he was never out of calling; when not at her bedside, he was writing in a small room which immediately opened at the head of her bed.”[14] In May of 1782, he declined re-election to the House of Burgesses because of his wife’s health. He was criticized for this, but those who did so were unaware of the situation.
Martha Jefferson passed away on September 6, 1782, at 11:45 am, and Jefferson left no writings to describe his grief, which was not unusual, as he did not do this with any other death of a beloved relative. According to people present at her death, Thomas Jefferson had to be pulled off his wife’s body, as he was consumed with grief. He would grieve over the next several months, wandering around Monticello on horseback. It would take the combined efforts of several friends to lure him back into public service. His daughter, Martha, disputes the account of him being pulled off of her, as she had died, by noting he was led out of the room before her death by his sister, and promptly fainted from grief, but she notes that the effort to remove him from the room was done with much difficulty. Martha would also note in her writings that she was by his side as much as she could be over the following weeks and months. On her deathbed, Martha made Jefferson promise never to marry again, and he kept that promise. He would say many years later that he had “lost the cherished companion of my life, in who affections…I had lived the last ten years in uncheckered happiness.”[15]
In 1784, Jefferson was appointed to negotiate treaties of commerce with foreign nations and went to France with his daughter Martha. While there, he wrote an essay on money, and through it, we use the dollar denomination and the decimal system. He was then appointed Minister to the French Court and served until 1789. During this time, he sees the beginnings of the French Revolution and is initially for it, but then it turns violent and ugly with the use of the guillotine. He was opposed to those actions.
During his tenure as Minister of France, the Constitutional Convention was taking place in 1787. Because he was overseas, he was not at the convention, but James Madison was his good friend, and he sent him a plethora of books on government. Madison would send him a draft of the Constitution, most likely the Virginia Plan, and Jefferson would advise him to include a term limit for the President and a Bill of Rights. Madison would object to a Bill of Rights, but Jefferson would argue that it was the right of the people to be protected from the government.[16] Several of his letters arguing against the Constitution, due to the lack of a Bill of Rights, would be circulated, and Madison would be upset over this, but their strong friendship never came between them. Madison could not stay mad at Jefferson because he was such a charming and good friend, which shows the great respect and affection each man had for the other.[17]
In the same year the Constitutional Convention was underway, Jefferson published Notes on the State of Virginia. It is the only full-length book he will write and publish in his lifetime. It was begun in 1778, printed in 1785, and then published in 1787. Another book that he put together and had bound is now known as the Jefferson Bible, but Jefferson called it The Life and Morals of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This book, which turned out to be the most-read book in his library, was found in a drawer next to his bed and would be published by others after his death. He would also write an autobiography, but it was not published during his lifetime.
Jefferson returned to America in 1789 and was appointed Secretary of State under President George Washington. During the Washington Administration, a feud developed between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Each had different views on government, and Jefferson believed that Hamilton wanted an all-encompassing government, similar to that of Great Britain. In 1791, he would write a detailed analysis of his objections to Hamilton’s bank bill. He takes the position of a moderate Federalist, saying it was not within Congress’s purview to do so under the Constitution, and specifically cites Article I, Section 8. He also believes it does not fall under the Necessary and Proper Clause, but President Washington rejects his advice.
The feud would greatly pain President Washington, who tried to defuse it but was unsuccessful. He thought highly of both men, but was closer to Hamilton because of the years they served in the Revolution and their shared political views. This resulted in President Washington generally taking Hamilton’s side in the disputes, which only added to the frustration that Jefferson felt in the administration. Unfortunately, Jefferson, due to his anger at President Washington for taking Hamilton’s side, would write some letters critical of President Washington, then deny having written them. It was obvious he was the author of these letters, and it would sever the relationship between President Washington and himself. The falling out was so bad that when he attempted to call upon Mrs. Washington after the death of her husband, she would refuse to receive him.
The Hamilton/Jefferson feud would last until the 1800 election, when Hamilton urged members of Congress to choose Jefferson over Aaron Burr, whom he felt was unsuitable for the job. [18] Jefferson wins the 1800 election, and Burr takes Hamilton’s actions as an affront to his dignity. In 1804, Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel and kills him. This kills the Federalist Party and ruins any chance of a political career Burr may have had, as well as ending Hamilton’s life and future prospects. Ironically, the duel happened about one year after Hamilton’s son was killed in a duel. With his son gone, there was no one to defend his legacy. Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans would elevate their own view of government while downgrading Hamilton’s accomplishments and contributions to the country. Had both of them actually been able to come to an amicable agreement through proper negotiation, this country could have been even greater than it became. Unfortunately, Jefferson looked down on Hamilton because Hamilton was an immigrant, and he appears to have been jealous of Hamilton’s close relationship with President Washington.
Jefferson would join with James Madison and Governor Clinton of New York to create the Democratic-Republican Party in 1792. They wanted a domestic platform of limited government rather than the expansive government that was rapidly being created in the first years of the republic. Then, in 1797, he was elected Vice President under John Adams, a Federalist, which further strained his relationship with Adams. As a result of this election, a constitutional amendment will be proposed and passed, with the President and Vice President being elected on the same ticket.
In 1798, Madison and Jefferson began drafting the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Jefferson wrote the set for Kentucky, in which he argues that the Federal Government was a creation of the states, and that the states did not give up their sovereignty or powers in creating the Federal Government. He does believe that states must abide by legitimate federal policies and laws, but not to the point where state government is rendered useless. In his Kentucky Resolution, he had specifically written about nullification, but that passage was cut. Even though the nullification passage was cut, enough remained to convey the idea that states had the right to decide on certain national legislative matters and whether to enforce them in their states or outright ignore them. Madison would take a different approach by arguing that states could “interpose when the federal government asserted powers not granted to it, a word general enough to cover the appeal made at the end of the resolutions for other states to join...”[19] The papers were done in direct response to the Adam’s administration passing the Alien and Sedition Acts and had to be ghostwritten by Jefferson because he was part of the administration and could not be seen as going against it.
In addition to writing the Kentucky Resolutions, he begins a series of conversations with Dr. Rush, during which he promises to write down his views on religion. It would take him many years to complete the project. In 1803, he wrote that Jesus’s teachings as a “system of morality was the most benevolent and sublime…ever taught, and consequently more perfect than those of any ancient philosophers.”[20] In other words, when you take out the miracles and the mistaken edits of previous theological writers, it is a simple system that all men can live by. Jefferson does not believe in the mystical or magical happenings, such as the miracles or the virgin birth, because there is no foundational proof that they happened, other than what people wrote many years after Jesus had been crucified. By 1807, he had finished an early copy and sent it to Dr. Rush in fulfillment of his promise, but this would not be the last work on Jesus’s words that Jefferson would undertake. He would eventually create what is now known as the Jefferson bible. He accomplished this by using two copies of three different Bibles written in French, English, and Greek. He obtained these Bibles around 1805, but did not utilize them for many years. His final work would be called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. The book traces Jesus’s life and words from beginning to end, omitting the miracles and any superfluous material that overshadowed what Jesus said or taught. After his death, this creation was found on a table near his bed. It was determined to be the most read book in his library, and the man who during the 1800 election had been referred to as being godless was, in fact, as he put it, a practitioner of his own brand of Christianity.
One of the most contentious, if not the most contentious and dirty, elections the United States has ever been engaged in occurred during the 1800 Presidential race between Jefferson and John Adams. It was here that the accusations of being godless were hurled at Jefferson, along with Jefferson’s side engaging in tactics that made President Adams look like a fool. This election would sever the Adams/Jefferson friendship for twelve years before Dr. Rush finally convinced them to speak again. It would be Adams who would write the first letter, even though he had been so angry at the outcome of the election; he left under the cover of night so as not to attend inauguration ceremonies.
This election would not only damage the relationship between Adams and Jefferson, but it also produced the impression, among many who had not met Jefferson, that he was a coarse and vulgar man who had no manners. Of these individuals, there was a Mrs. Margaret Bayard Smith, who wrote that her initial opinion of Jefferson was based on what many other people had said. However, her opinion would change upon meeting Jefferson, whom she did not recognize at first when he came to call upon her husband. She wrote about a gentleman, introduced by one of her servants, who wanted to see her husband. Interestingly, the gentleman did not indicate who he was – this seems to have been a common occurrence with Jefferson, as another story recounts him withholding his identity to see what the person had to say. According to Mrs. Smith, the gentleman sat down, and they had a very pleasant conversation until her husband came in and introduced him as Jefferson. She states
“I felt my cheeks burn and my heart throb, and not a word more could I speak while he remained. Nay, such was my embarrassment I could scarcely listen to the conversation carried on between him and my husband…my previous conceived ideas of his coarseness and vulgarity of his appearance and manners…surprised on the discovering the stranger whose deportment was so dignified and gentlemanly, whose language was so refined, whose voice was so gentle, whose countenance was so benignant, to be no other than Thomas Jefferson.”
She would go on to write that all her preconceived notions were discarded right then and there.[21]
In 1803, an opportunity presented itself to the President and the country, and what an event it would be. Napoleon, desperate for money to continue his wars across Europe, agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million. Congress authorized Jefferson to spend only 12 million dollars, but the French were hard negotiators, and though Napoleon needed the money, he was not going to sell the territory for 12 million. President Jefferson made a unilateral decision while Congress was in recess and authorized an additional three million dollars to purchase the land. Unlike today’s politicians, President Jefferson readily acknowledged that he could be acting outside his presidential powers and was willing to suffer the consequences of his actions. He then authorized Merriweather Lewis and William Clark to begin their expedition into the newly purchased lands. Two years later, upon their return, they would bring gifts to the President, along with a wealth of information about the new lands. Some of those gifts would hang in the foyer of Monticello during the President’s retirement years.
President Jefferson had a fairly calm and economically prosperous 8 years in office, in which he drastically reduced the size of government and let capitalism run its course. That, of course, would end in 1807, when he imposed a disastrous embargo that ended his presidency in an economic recession. In 1808, he declined to run for President again, but not before signing the law which banned the importation of slaves, as directed by the Constitution. He would leave office in 1809 and happily return to Monticello after James Madison won the presidency, ensuring that the Democratic-Republican Party would remain in power for several more years.
In the years between leaving office and his final major public project, he devoted himself to his family and Monticello. The lands surrounding Monticello were neglected after all his years of public service. In addition, he made a series of bad investments and was burdened by debt that affected his outlook in later years. There was a land bust in the 1810s, and he co-signed a loan for his friend, Wilson Carey Nichols, who did not repay it before his own death. Nichols’ estate was insolvent, and Jefferson had to sell his prized library to Congress after the War of 1812 to help cover some of those debts. This library, known as the Jefferson Library #2, has 7,000 volumes. It would become what is now known as the Library of Congress.
However, it was not all gloom for Jefferson, as he was surrounded by family, something he very much wanted after so many years away. His daughter, Martha, and her children lived at Monticello, and later, one of his granddaughters would note that they knew when it was time to be quiet and leave their grandfather alone with his reading and letter writing, but he was warm and fun to be around. He would invite them to tend gardens with him, play games, and never lose an opportunity to instill manners and appropriate behavior in them.[22] Martha homeschooled all of his grandchildren, but at times, he would come in and give a lesson. The grandchildren knew at that time they must be as attentive as possible because he was always serious about learning.[23]
His final public project would occur in 1819, when he founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. He designed all the buildings and served as rector until he died in 1826. The very next year, the Missouri Compromise was passed by Congress, and Jefferson was extremely troubled by this legislation. He believed that the slavery issue could not be solved properly and feared what it would do to the country. It was in 1820, in a letter to John Holmes, that he first used the wolf by the ear analogy[24] and then again used it in a letter to Lydia Huntley Sigourney in 1824. It comes from the biographer of Emperor Tiberius, a man named Suetonius, of whose works Jefferson owned a copy. It comes as no surprise that Jefferson, as a slave owner, would still be haunted by the idea of slavery and its continuation in a country that was supposed to be based on individualism and personal liberty. But it was an issue that perplexed the founders, and one they constantly set aside to form the union and ultimately preserve it. It would have to be solved in another era.
On July 4, 1826, at 12:50 pm, Thomas Jefferson passed away. John Adams would die later that day, and his last words are reported to be “Jefferson Lives.” Unbeknownst to Adams, Jefferson had already passed. Jefferson’s last words are unknown, but the commonly accepted narrative is that he kept asking “Is this the fourth?” or some variation of that.[25] Jefferson would be buried next to his beloved Martha in the family cemetery at Monticello.
Monticello was sold to James Barkley in November of 1831 to cover debts, and he did not care about the property’s historical value. In 1834, Commodore Uriah Phillip Levy visited Monticello and saw the disrepair it was falling into, realizing its historical value offered to buy the place from Barkley. The Levy family lost the home during the Civil War, but Jefferson Levy repurchased it in 1875. It was because of the Levy family that most of Monticello’s lands and the home are intact. About 95% of the home is original from the time of Thomas Jefferson. In 1923, the Levy family agreed to sell it to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. The Jefferson family, through the Monticello Association, still owns a part of Monticello, the family graveyard.
Tidbits Started a biography on George Wythe but never finished it, and invented the portable writing desk and the swivel chair. He was 6’2” tall, thin, and athletic with red hair, freckles, and hazel gray eyes and was very shy. He had a poor speaking voice and used his pen to get his positions across. He would have 3 large libraries in his lifetime. One was burned when Shadwell caught on fire. The other was sold to Congress, and the third was scattered after his death through an auction of his estate. Designed the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. Sent in a design for the White House but did so using a pseudonym not to have an unfair advantage. not to have an unfair advantage, but did so using a pseudonym, |
[1] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). (Washington, DC: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1984) 27-28
[2] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). 23-24
[3] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). 25
[4] In Italian, Monticello means little mountain.
[5] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings. (Washington, DC, National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1984) 39
[6] Guide at Monticello during a tour in 2013
[10] Jefferson, Thomas, and William Peden. Notes on the State of Virginia. (Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Virginia, University of North Carolina Press, 1995) 146
[11] Jefferson, Thomas, and William Peden. Notes on the State of Virginia. 147
[12] Jefferson, Thomas, and William Peden. Notes on the State of Virginia. 162-163
[13] Jefferson, Thomas, and William Peden. Notes on the State of Virginia. 287
[14] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). (Washington, DC: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1984) 107
[15] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings. 107-109
[16] Gutzman, Kevin R. C. “Thomas Jefferson’s Federalism, 1774‑1825” Modern Age 53, no. 3 (2012): 77
[17] Cheney, Lynne V. James Madison: A Life Reconsidered. (New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 2014)
[18] By no means did the feud end in 1800. It continued even after Hamilton’s death, when Jefferson and his cronies worked to establish that Hamilton was a monarchist. This characterization has persisted to the present and is grossly unfair. Jefferson also looked down upon Hamilton due to his illegitimate birth.
[19]Cheney, Lynne V. James Madison: A Life Reconsidered. (New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 2014) 276-77.
[20] Jefferson, Thomas. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989) 5
[21] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). (Washington, DC: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1984) 7
[22] Allison, Andrew M. The Real Thomas Jefferson: Part I: Thomas Jefferson: Champion of Liberty (a History of His Life); Part II: Timeless Treasures from Thomas Jefferson (selections from His Writings). 278-79
[23] Tour Guide at Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, May 2013
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