Joseph J. Ellis

by American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

  84. Peden, ed., Notes, 159; “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus, Compared with Those of Others,” which was enclosed with his letter to Rush, April 21, 1803, Ford, VIII, 223–28. The most recent and comprehensive discussion of Jefferson’s religious views is Edwin S. Gaustad, Sworn on the Altar of God: A Religious Biography of Thomas Jefferson (Grand Rapids, 1995).

  85. Jefferson to Tom Paine, March 18, 1801, Ford, VIII, 19.

  86. The flood of newspaper attacks on Paine and Jefferson is conveniently available in Keane, Tom Paine, 455–75; see also Malone, IV, 192–200. The Adams quotation is from History, II, 215–16. Jefferson’s loyalty to Paine is nicely on display in Jefferson to Tom Paine, January 13, 1803. John Adams, on permanent sentry duty in Quincy, was willing to forgive Paine his atheism, but not his politics. Adams described Paine as “a mongrel between Pig and Puppy, begotten by a wild Boar on A Bitch Wolf… .” John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, October 29, 1805, Worthington C. Ford, ed., Statesman and Friend: Correspondence of John Adams and Benjamin Waterhouse, 1784–1822 (Boston, 1927), 31.

  87. A good sampling of the newspaper coverage can be gleaned from three sources: Douglass Adair, “The Jefferson Scandals,” in Colbourn, ed. Fame and the Founding Fathers; Virginius Dabney, The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttal (New York, 1981) and Brodie, Intimate History, 339–75. A much more comprehensive sampling of the press reports deriving from Callender’s initial story was made available to me by Robert McDonald, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  88. The most psychologically perceptive and historically balanced treatment of the Sally Hemings charge remains Jordan, White over Black, 461–69. For the Adams reaction, see John Adams to Colonel Ward, January 8, 1810, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 118.

  89. For Callender’s career, see Michael Durey, With the Hammer of Truth: James Thomas Callender and America’s Early National Heroes (Charlottesville, 1990). Jefferson to James Monroe, May 26, 1801, and July 15, 1802, Ford, VIII, 57–58, 164–68, for Jefferson’s efforts to conceal his past dealings with Callender. Given Henry Adams’s highly nuanced understanding of Jefferson’s character, his conclusions about the Callender charges are worthy of special attention. See History, II, 219–23, where Adams finds Jefferson guilty of lying about his complicity with Callender but innocent of the sexual charges.

  90. John Quincy Adams to Rufus King, October 8, 1802, quoted in Malone, IV, 139.

  91. Jefferson to M. Pictet, February 5, 1803, L&B, X, 356–57. For the newspaper explosion during the first decade of the nineteenth century, see Fischer, Revolution of American Conservatism, appendix III.

  92. Jefferson to Thomas McKean, February 19, 1803, Ford, VIII, 216–19. Malone sees these prosecutions as “a temporary aberration.” See Malone, IV, 235. The strongest case on the other side, seeing these incidents as representative, is by Leonard Levy, Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side (Cambridge, 1963).

  93. Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, August 26, 1801, L&B, X, 276; Richard Branch Giles to Jefferson, June 1, 1801, LC. The authoritative scholarly work on the subject is Richard E. Ellis, The Jeffersonian Crisis: Courts and Politics in the Young Republic (New York, 1971).

  94. Jefferson to Abigail Adams, June 13, 1804, Cappon, I, 270. Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History (3 vols., Boston, 1923), I, 179–81, for the anecdote about Marshall. On the relationship between Jefferson and Marshall, see Julian Boyd, “The Chasm That Separated Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall,” in Gottfried Dietze, ed., Essays on American Constitutionalism (Englewood Cliffs, 1964), 3–20.

  95. Jefferson to Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819, L&B, XV, 135–36, where Jefferson recalls the advice from Madison and Gallatin in 1801.

  96. Ellis, Jeffersonian Crisis, 3–16, offers an elegant synthesis of the judicial ambiguities in the wake of the American Revolution. A more recent and exhaustive treatment of judicial review is J. M. Sosin, The Aristocracy of the Long Robe: The Origins of Judicial Review in America (New York, 1989).

  97. This interpretation of Jefferson’s attitude toward the federal judiciary reverses the conventional view, best presented by Richard Ellis in Jeffersonian Crisis, that sees Jefferson as a moderate Republican trying to keep radicals like Giles under control. Jefferson’s view of the federal courts, I am arguing, was much like Jackson’s view of the national bank, a deeply felt and vitriolic hatred that went beyond the personalities on the federal bench to the very character of the institution itself.

  98. Kathryn Turner, “Federalist Policy and the Judiciary Act of 1801,” WMQ, XXII (1965), 9–14; Ellis, Jeffersonian Crisis, 36–52; First Annual Message, December 8, 1801, Ford, VIII, 123. The report Jefferson prepared for the Congress, allegedly showing that circuit courts were unnecessary because the number of cases was small, proved an embarrassment when Federalists demonstrated that the report was riddled with errors.

  99. Hobson, ed., Marshall Papers, VI, 160–83, provides the opinion itself along with an excellent editorial note that conveniently summarizes the massive scholarship on the landmark decision. The discussion in Malone, IV, 135–56, is also excellent in rescuing the historical context of Marshall’s opinion from the constitutional lawyers, who are invariably more disposed to view the matter in the context of judicial review. See also Ellis, Jeffersonian Crisis, 53–68. The most recent historical assessment is Robert L. Clinton, Marbury v. Madison and Judicial Review (Lawrence, 1989).

  100. Jefferson to J. H. Nicholson, May 13, 1803, L&B, X, 390. Ellis, Jeffersonian Crisis, 76–82, and Malone, IV, 464–80, for the story of Chase’s impeachment.

  101. See Jefferson Papers, February 1805, LC, for Jefferson’s longhand record of the votes on the five separate charges against Chase and the senators who voted each way. The most telling criticism of the Republican campaign against Chase came from John Quincy Adams, who argued that the prosecution was a political affair devoid of any pretense of principle. See Charles Francis Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams (12 vols., Philadelphia, 1874), I, 318–23.

  102. Jefferson to Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820, Ford, X, 170–71.

  103. Jefferson to Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819, L&B, XV, 135–36; History, I, 188.

  104. Services of Jefferson, [1800?], Ford, VII, 475–77. Lucia Stanton has called my attention to the term “Memorandum of Services” in the manuscript version of the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress. The title “Services of Jefferson” in Ford is obviously a silent revision.

  105. Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, March 3, 1804, Ford, VIII, 297–98.

  106. Jefferson to John Page, June 25, 1804, Domestic Life, 302–04. See also Jefferson to James Madison, April 23, 1804, Smith, II, 1323, for an equally poignant reflection on Maria’s death and what it meant to him. In the election of 1804 Jefferson and George Clinton received 162 electoral votes to 14 for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King. Jefferson swept every state except Connecticut and Delaware, plus two electors in Maryland.

  5. MONTICELLO: 1816–26

  1. Domestic Life, 381–83, for the Old Eagle story and the various injuries suffered in falls. Malone, VI, is the final volume in the authoritative biography covering these years, but the affection for Jefferson, the endearing hallmark of Malone’s approach throughout his six-volume masterpiece, becomes a problem in these latter years of the story. I have found Peterson, New Nation, 922–1099, more reliable for this period. On the problem of Jefferson’s latter-day sense of despondency, see Gordon Wood, “The Trials and Tribulations of Thomas Jefferson,” Onuf, ed., Jeffersonian Legacies, 410–15.

  2. Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, January 8, 1825, Ford, X, 335–36, for Jefferson’s own summary of his physical condition. Domestic Life, 394–95, for his remark on physicians. Jefferson to John Adams, July 5, 1814, Cappon, II, 430.

  3. Domestic Life, 331, 337; for a running account of his physical appearance and condition, see the multiple letters to James Madison in Smith, III, 1795, 1807, 1815,
1822, 1824, 1841, 1852; see also Jefferson to Frances Wright, August 7, 1825, Jefferson to William Gordon, January 1, 1826, Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, February 8, 1826, Ford, X, 344, 358, 374–75.

  4. Peterson, ed., Visitors to Monticello, 95–99, 104–06.

  5. Jefferson to Dr. Vine Utley, March 21, 1819, Domestic Life, 370–72, for his diet, regimen, eyesight; see also Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, February 28, 1803, Ford, VIII, 220, for the lengthiest description of matters intestinal.

  6. Domestic Life, 341–43, 346, 361; Peterson, ed., Visitors to Monticello, 53–54, for Margaret Bayard Smith’s reminiscence of his grandfatherly games.

  7. Peterson, ed., Visitors to Monticello, 73, for George Ticknor’s remark about Monticello as “Mecca”; Domestic Life, 401–02, for the number of visitors and guests.

  8. Jefferson to John Adams, June 27, 1822, John Adams to Jefferson, July 12, 1822, Cappon, II, 581–82.

  9. Jefferson to James Madison, May 3, 1826, James Madison to Jefferson, May 6, 1826, Smith, III, 1970–71.

  10. Jefferson to John Adams, June 1, 1822, John Adams to Jefferson, June 11, 1822, Cappon, II, 578–79; Jefferson to Maria Cosway, December 27, 1820, Domestic Life, 374; Jefferson to Francis Vanderkemp, January 11, 1825, Ford, X, 336–38.

  11. Domestic Life, 390–91; J. Bennett Nolan, ed., Lafayette in America: Day by Day (Baltimore, 1934), 257. See the account of the visit, with Madison’s remarks on Lafayette, in Smith, III, 1889.

  12. Jefferson to James Madison, October 18, 1825, Smith, III, 1942. See also Alfred L. Bush, The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville, 1987), 95.

  13. Peterson, ed., Visitors to Monticello, 109, for Henry Lee’s observations of the dying Jefferson. Domestic Life, 422–32.

  14. John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1813, Cappon, II, 358; John Adams to Benjamin Rush, April 18, 1808, John A. Schutz and Douglass Adair, eds., The Spur of Fame: Dialogues of John Adams and Benjamin Rush, 1805–1813 (San Marino, 1966), 107–08.

  15. Jefferson to Abigail Adams, June 13 and July 22, 1804, Abigail Adams to Jefferson, July 1 and August 18, 1804, Cappon, I, 268–74. The appended note by John Adams, dated November 19, 1804, is in ibid., 282.

  16. This very succinct summary is based on a score of specialized studies, but two accounts of Jefferson’s second term stand out: Henry Adams, History, I, 603–1232; Malone, V, entitled Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805–1809.

  17. The standard account of the embargo and the Anglo-American diplomacy of the era is Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States (Berkeley, 1961). My interpretation tends to follow the line best traced by Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty. For a succinct summary of the way Jefferson thought about the choices of war and peace in 1807, see Reginald C. Stuart, “Thomas Jefferson and the Function of War: Policy or Principle,” Canadian Journal of History, XI (1976), 160–71. The most recent scholarly appraisal is Walter La Feber, “Jefferson and an American Foreign Policy,” Onuf, ed., Jeffersonian Legacies, 382–86. When all is said, however, and a great deal has been said, the account by Henry Adams, History, I, 1031–48, has never been surpassed.

  18. History, I, 1239–52, for the political mood surrounding Jefferson’s retirement; an elegant summary is also available in Smith, III, 1551–54; Jefferson to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, March 2, 1809, L&B, XII, 259–60.

  19. John Adams to Benjamin Rush, March 4, 1809, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 118.

  20. Benjamin Rush to John Adams, February 17, 1812, Schutz and Adair, eds., Spur of Fame, 211; John Adams to Benjamin Rush, August 31, 1809, and July 12, 1812, in Alexander Biddle, ed., Old Family Letters… (Philadelphia, 1892), 246, 297–98. See also Lyman H. Butterfield, “The Dream of Benjamin Rush: The Reconciliation of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,” Yale Review, 40 (1950–51), 297–319.

  21. John Adams to Benjamin Rush, August 31 and December 21, 1809, July 3 and February 10, 1812, Biddle, ed., Old Family Letters, 246, 249, 297, 313.

  22. John Adams to Jefferson, January 1, 1812, Cappon, II, 290. Donald Stewart and George Clark, “Misanthrope or Humanitarian? John Adams in Retirement,” New England Quarterly, XXVIII (1955), 216–36, for the “brother sailor” reference. I have also devoted a chapter to the Adams-Jefferson correspondence in Passionate Sage, 113–42.

  23. Jefferson to John Adams, January 21, 1812, John Adams to Jefferson, February 3, 1812, Jefferson to John Adams, April 8, 1816, John Adams to Jefferson, May 3, 1816, Cappon, II, 291–92, 295, 467, 471.

  24. John Adams to Benjamin Rush, February 10, 1812, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 118; Jefferson to John Adams, August 15, 1820, and September 12, 1821, John Adams to Jefferson, September 24, 1821, Cappon, II, 566–67, 574, 576.

  25. The troublesome letter that Adams worried about referred to Jefferson as a congenital liar whose presidency was likely to produce “only calamities.” See John Adams to William Cunningham, January 16, 1804, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 118. Jefferson to John Adams, October 12, 1823, John Adams to Jefferson, November 10, 1823, Cappon, II, 599–601, 601–02.

  26. Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, December 5, 1811, Ford, IX, 300; for Jefferson’s “Adams Problem,” see Ellis, Passionate Sage, 143–45.

  27. Philip F. Detweiler, “The Changing Reputation of the Declaration of Independence: The First Fifty Years,” WMQ, XIX (1962), 551–73. I am also indebted to Robert S. McDonald, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who shared a draft chapter from his dissertation on Jefferson’s early anonymity as author of the Declaration. On Madison’s conference with John Trumbull about the Rotunda paintings, see Smith, III, 1774–75.

  28. John Adams to Jefferson, June 22, 1819, Jefferson to John Adams, July 9, 1819, John Adams to Jefferson, July 21, 1819, Cappon, II, 542–46. John Adams to Francis Vanderkemp, August 21, 1819, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 124.

  29. For the account in Adams’s autobiography, see L. Butterfield, ed., Diary and Autobiography, III, 335–38. For Jefferson’s account in his autobiography, see Ford, I, 30–38. Jefferson to James Madison, August 30, 1823, Smith, III, 1875–76; James Madison to Jefferson, September 6, 1823, ibid., 1877–78.

  30. John Adams to Benjamin Rush, September 30, 1805, and June 21, 1811, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 118; John Adams to Jefferson, November 12, 1813, Cappon, II, 392–93.

  31. John Adams to Jefferson, July 30, 1815, Jefferson to John Adams, August 10–11, 1815, Cappon, II, 451–53.

  32. Butterfield, ed., Diary and Autobiography, III, 335–36.

  33. John Adams to Jefferson, July 13, 1813, and December 16, 1816, Cappon, II, 355–56, 500–01.

  34. John Adams to Jefferson, May 6, 1816, ibid., 472.

  35. Jefferson to John Adams, August 1, 1816, and October 14, 1816, ibid., 483, 490; John Adams to Jefferson, February 2, 1816, ibid., 461.

  36. Jefferson to John Adams, June 27, 1813, ibid., 335.

  37. John Adams to Jefferson, July 9, 1813, and November 13, 1813, ibid., 351, 456.

  38. John Adams to Jefferson, July 9, 1813, August [14], 1813, December 19, 1813, ibid., 351, 365, 409.

  39. Jefferson to John Adams, October 28, 1813, ibid., 387–92.

  40. John Adams to Jefferson, September 2, 1813, September 15, 1813, November 15, 1813, ibid., 371, 376, 400.

  41. Jefferson to John Adams, March 25, 1826, ibid., 613–14.

  42. The Whitehead reference and the larger point about the influence that posterity’s judgment had on the revolutionary generation are elegantly suggested in Adair, “Fame and the Founding Fathers,” Colbourn, ed., Fame and the Founding Fathers, 3–26.

  43. Jefferson to William Wirt, September 4, 1816, Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, March 3, 1818, Ford, X, 59–60, 102–04.

  44. Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, January 31, 1819, Jefferson to Samuel Adams Wells, May 12, 1819, ibid., 124, 129.

  45. Jefferson to James Madison, June 22, 1817, Smith, III, 1786. When Marshal
l’s biography first appeared, Jefferson tried to get Joel Barlow to write a rebuttal. See Jefferson to Joel Barlow, May 3, 1802, Ford, VIII, 148–51.

  46. Jefferson to William Johnson, March 4, 1823, Ford, X, 246–49.

  47. John Adams to Jefferson, July [3], 1813, Cappon, II, 349; John Marshall, The Life of George Washington (5 vols., Philadelphia, 1804–07), V, 33; Franklin B. Sawvel, ed., The Complete Anas of Thomas Jefferson (New York, 1903), 43.

  48. Boyd, XXV, 33–38, for the editorial note on the rather odd history of these materials, whatever we wish to call them. The note is by Charles Cullen and includes Jefferson’s comment quoted here.

  49. The most accessible version of the “Anas” is in Ford, I, 154–339. As we now know, Jefferson did not intend to include material after 1792, and most of the earlier editions of his papers violated that intention by adding material up to and through his presidency. Keeping that editorial fact in mind, I have chosen to quote from the Ford edition of the “Anas” for reasons of convenience. Ibid., 156, 165, 166–67.

  50. The appraisal of Washington is in Jefferson to Dr. Walter Jones, January 2, 1814, Domestic Life, 356–57. The many conversations between Jefferson and Washington constitute the largest section of the “Anas” and are reproduced in Ford, I, 168–278. Jefferson also repeated these stories in several letters in the years after compiling the material. See especially Jefferson to Martin Van Buren, June 29, 1824, and Jefferson to William Short, January 8, 1825, Ford, X, 305–16, 328–35.

  51. Joanne B. Freeman, “Slander, Poison, Whispers, and Fame: Jefferson’s ‘Anas’ and Political Gossip in the Early Republic,” JER, XV (1995), 25–59.

  52. Ford, I, 20–47, for the autobiographical version of the drafting of the Declaration and the debate in the Continental Congress.

  53. Ibid., 118–47, for the story of the coming of the French Revolution; ibid., 140, for the quotation on the culpability of the queen.

  54. Jefferson to Benjamin Austin, January 9, 1816, and February 9, 1816, Ford, X, 7–11.