Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

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."

THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ART OF POWER, by Jon Meacham is a great read, I enjoyed it Prologue through Epilogue. It is lively, interesting and insightful. I have read quite a lot on the Revolutionary Era, including several other biographies of Thomas Jefferson, and even so I learned a lot about Jefferson in the reading of this book. However, there are elements of the book with which I take exception.Mr. Meacham states in the Author's Notes that this biography is, in part, a reaction to recent biographies of both George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton which have revised opinions of these three men, especially Hamilton. He writes, "Then came nearly two decades of highly acclaimed biographies of John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington that understandably emphasized the virtues of their protagonist, often at Jefferson's expense"(pg. 507). He cites specifically Joseph J. Ellis's  Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams , but I imagine he would also include in that list  John Adams , by David McCullough and Ron Chernow's two most recents works:  Washington: A Life  and  Alexander Hamilton  (all of them highly readable, excellent biographies).Mr. Meacham does a good job--better than most--helping his reader understand that there was during the post-revolutionary period a real fear in certain quarters that the United States could revert to a monarchy. Not so well done in this book is separating over-heated political rhetoric from what Jefferson actually believed. The fact is, a man as unquestionably intelligent and savvy as Jefferson would have known the difference between hyperbolic political rhetoric-even his own-and reality.It is clear that by the end of Washington's second term Jefferson and the Republicans (largely whipped up by Jefferson and Madison) were frustrated and chaffing at the bit. Even then, I cannot accept, as Mr. Meacham seems to imply, that Jefferson put much store in all the monarchical conspiracy theories that had political currency at that time.On balance most historians seem to believe that it was Jefferson's actions and political maneuverings during the Washington administration which help ignite and escalate the overwrought, highly negative atmosphere that convulsed politics during Washington's second administration and beyond. However, Mr. Meacham does not see it that way. Rather he explains Jefferson's third-party maneuverings and obfuscations as a natural reaction to the situation in which he found himself and what, at his time, would have been expected of a man in his station. I did not completely accept this. Jefferson's relationship with Philip Ferneau and the National Gazette is not fully explored in this book and leaves the reader with the impression that Jefferson was only tangentially involved with the newspaper that regularly ravaged Washington and his administration. But at least Mr. Meacham does allude to the conection. What is a more egregious omission is any exploration of how duplicitous Jefferson (and especially Madison) became in dealing with Washington in his second administration.Although Washington knew and understood that he had political differences with the two men, he still considered them trustworthy confidants. He had no idea the degree to which, through indirect means, the two men were so actively working against him. Jefferson and Madison continued to allow themselves to be taken into Washington's confidence never once indicating that they were anything other that loyal friends. This I think is an essential part of Jefferson's character and should not be excluded from a biography of his life especially one whose stated thesis is to show how artful, skillful and subtle was his accumulation and use of power.The final difference I have with THOMAS JEFFERSON: THE ART OF POWER is the thesis that Mr. Meacham proposes at the beginning of the book and attempts to support throughout: that Jefferson's vision for American, which contrasted with Washington's and Hamilton's allowed him and his proteges to control the Presidency for 40 years with only one four year interruption by John Quincy Adams. It is, of course true enough that Madison, Monroe, Jackson and Van Buren were disciples of Jefferson. But Mr. Meacham's argument that Jefferson accomplished this feat by opposing and triumphing over the policies of Washington and Hamilton is not accurate. In fact, Mr. Meacham seems to believe that Jefferson was able to win the Presidency because, "He understood the country was open to--even eager for-- a government that seemed less intrusive and overbearing than the one Washington and Adams had created" (pg. 352).While it is true that Jefferson and his proteges could not wait for Washington to exit the stage, the country itself never gave that indication, not in the slightest degree. Had he run, Washington would have easily won a third term. Adams, of course, was defeated for reelection, but that was not a rejection by the voters of Washington. Adam's defeat was due more to yawning cleavage in the Federalist Party and the electoral advantage created by the 3/5 clause of the constitution giving a significant Electoral College advantage to states with large slave populations, than to any rejection of Washington, his policies or his style of governing.Moreover, what Jefferson did to consolidate his hold on power was adopted in deed, if not in word, the Hamiltonian idea that the country needed a stronger central government governed by a stronger executive. For all of Jefferson's concern over what he characterized as monarchical power grabs by Washington, Jefferson did more to increase the power of the President with the Louisiana Purchase than Washington did in his entire presidency. And that by no means was the only time Jefferson broadened and consolidated powers of the presidency. Where Washington had used restraint, Jefferson often resorted to expediency. Many such incidences are skillfully explored in this book. The inconstancy they pose to Jefferson's rhetoric are attributed by Mr. Meacham to "pragmatism." In reality, they were actions which if Washington or any other Federalist had engaged in would been haled as auguries of monarchism by the Jeffersonians.The part of this book I found most insightful and interesting is Mr. Meacham's discussion of the debt assumption crisis. I had always believed that Hamilton got the better of Jefferson in this bargain which both resolved the crisis created the debt incurred by the state during the Revolutionary War and sited the nation's capitol on the Potomac. However, Mr. Meacham does an excellent job of explaining all of the many and complicated subtleties, which seemed to be overlooked by other historians, which came in to play here. He argues persuasively how, even though Hamilton got what he wanted in the bargain, Jefferson also negotiated some meaningful concessions. The bargain struck between these two antagonists was actually much more balanced than I originally believed.Having pointed to a few differences with Mr. Meacham and his view of Thomas Jefferson, I very thoroughly enjoyed this book and will most likely read it again. It is beautifully written, meticulously researched and goes a long way to re-balance the modern image of Jefferson, reminding its readers the debt that is owed to the drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the Sage of Monticello.

Jon Meacham's "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" is an eminently interesting, exciting read. Meacham boils down Jefferson's life into nine individual sections, the longest naturally being "The President of the United States, 1801-1809." It's a neat - almost too neat - way of dividing the book into easily digestible sections. I take issue with just two aspects of the book: (a) Meacham's writing style is journalistic, not surprisingly given his past career, but at times journalistic to the point of informality; and (b) Meacham, in my opinion, whilst not blind to Jefferson's faults, could have done with writing more extensively on Jefferson's weaknesses. Overall, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to other interested in finding out more about Jefferson, a great man whose failings were equally as great as his successes.

I was very pleased when the book arrived as I was so looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately large chunks of the pages were detached from the spine and if that was how "very good and like new" if used as a selling description somebody needs to have their eyes tested!!. I spent a lot of time using glue to put the book back into a readable state. I will think twice about using that seller again - that is for sure.

Well and exhaustively researched biography, mainly detailing Jefferson's political career. Author writes in loooooong sentences, and you need the OED at hand for some of the words. He never uses a three syllable word if he can find a five syllable one, however obscure.Would have liked more of an insight into his highlights as an inventor, scientist, horticulturist and architect of Monticello and other fine buildings

Thomas Jefferson was undoubtedly a great man, but the author reminds us of how wonderful he was almost on every page!

This is an intimate and well-crafted portrait of the emergence of a state through the life of one of its key founders. I found some of the more psychological interpretations of Jefferson's motivations, while thoroughly justified with historical sources, unnecessarily novelistic. That, however, is one of the features that make this a fascinating and enjoyable account of the conjoined development of state and person.