Thursday, April 19, 2012
The Imaginative Conservative: Thomas Jefferson, Conservative
The Imaginative Conservative: Thomas Jefferson, Conservative: by Clyde Wilson A Review of The Sage of Monticello , by Dumas Malone, Volume Six of Jefferson and His Time , Boston: Little, Brown and Com...
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splendid book review of Malone's classic work. I admire Jefferson LESS than I did as a young man (today I find Lincoln and TR more interesting)but hr still remains one of the most interesting American presidents to study. However, I have discovered curious, even strange things about Mr. Jefferson. For one, he read almost no fiction whatsoever. To some extent I understand this because aside from song and poetry which I love greatly I read more history and non-fiction than fiction. But I like good fiction -especially the classics-. Also I realize that Jefferson was a hypocrite on race, slavery and economics. He was, economically, a disaster. In a way he was a precursor to Mr. Obama except for the fact the was NOT a spendthrift as a public official only as a private individual. Today I think Mr. Jefferson would be a public intellectual living off a government pension. I also think much of our absolutism vis-à-vis the division of "Church and State" has it origins in Jefferson. I also believe that Jefferson was not as religiously tolerant as Washington or James Monroe. Jefferson displayed a deep distrust and hostility towards Catholicism in some of his writings that is, frankly, disturbing. For example, Washington attended Catholic Masses and Jewish services as Commander in Chief but it does not seem Jefferson was so inclined. Mr and Mrs. James Monroe had many Catholic friends and acquaintances -including priests like Father Dubois who lived with them in Richmond and at Highlands-and they allowed their daughter Eliza to be educated in a Catholic school and choose Catholicism as her faith (she had been raised an Episcopalian). Monroe allowed Eliza and his nephews James (Col Jimmy as he became known) and Andrew to hear Mass in his house. Both men were adult converts to Catholicism (after attending West Point and the Naval Academy respectively). Andrew went so far as to become a Catholic priest. But he was not the first religious in the family. His aunt Eliza, the daughter of the president, after she was widowed , joined a convent and died in Italy. As far as I know she is the only daughter of an American president to become a nun. Jefferson by contrast pulled his daughter from Catholic school because he feared she would convert to Catholicism or -God forbid- become a nun. Jefferson is a very contradictory individual. As time goes by I see that his contemporaries, Adams and Hamilton were worthy rivals of Jefferson. And I would definitely rank Washington as a man, as businessman and as a president much higher than Jefferson though I would rank Jefferson number two of the Virginia dynasty. But there is no question that Dumas Malone's biography is a masterpiece of literature and scholarship. I believe Malone is mistaken about Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings and I believe he portrays Jefferson as more tolerant and enlightened than he really was. And the sad truth is that if Jefferson had REALLY been a good and noble person he would have not sired (as he probably did) so many slaves and he certainly would have freed his slaves. But then he would never have become president and would never have had Monticello. Jefferson was too vain and ambitious to be a really great American
splendid book review of Malone's classic work. I admire Jefferson LESS than I did as a young man (today I find Lincoln and TR more interesting)but hr still remains one of the most interesting American presidents to study. However, I have discovered curious, even strange things about Mr. Jefferson. For one, he read almost no fiction whatsoever. To some extent I understand this because aside from song and poetry which I love greatly I read more history and non-fiction than fiction. But I like good fiction -especially the classics-. Also I realize that Jefferson was a hypocrite on race, slavery and economics. He was, economically, a disaster. In a way he was a precursor to Mr. Obama except for the fact the was NOT a spendthrift as a public official only as a private individual. Today I think Mr. Jefferson would be a public intellectual living off a government pension. I also think much of our absolutism vis-à-vis the division of "Church and State" has it origins in Jefferson. I also believe that Jefferson was not as religiously tolerant as Washington or James Monroe. Jefferson displayed a deep distrust and hostility towards Catholicism in some of his writings that is, frankly, disturbing. For example, Washington attended Catholic Masses and Jewish services as Commander in Chief but it does not seem Jefferson was so inclined. Mr and Mrs. James Monroe had many Catholic friends and acquaintances -including priests like Father Dubois who lived with them in Richmond and at Highlands-and they allowed their daughter Eliza to be educated in a Catholic school and choose Catholicism as her faith (she had been raised an Episcopalian). Monroe allowed Eliza and his nephews James (Col Jimmy as he became known) and Andrew to hear Mass in his house. Both men were adult converts to Catholicism (after attending West Point and the Naval Academy respectively). Andrew went so far as to become a Catholic priest. But he was not the first religious in the family. His aunt Eliza, the daughter of the president, after she was widowed , joined a convent and died in Italy. As far as I know she is the only daughter of an American president to become a nun. Jefferson by contrast pulled his daughter from Catholic school because he feared she would convert to Catholicism or -God forbid- become a nun. Jefferson is a very contradictory individual. As time goes by I see that his contemporaries, Adams and Hamilton were worthy rivals of Jefferson. And I would definitely rank Washington as a man, as businessman and as a president much higher than Jefferson though I would rank Jefferson number two of the Virginia dynasty. But there is no question that Dumas Malone's biography is a masterpiece of literature and scholarship. I believe Malone is mistaken about Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings and I believe he portrays Jefferson as more tolerant and enlightened than he really was. And the sad truth is that if Jefferson had REALLY been a good and noble person he would have not sired (as he probably did) so many slaves and he certainly would have freed his slaves. But then he would never have become president and would never have had Monticello. Jefferson was too vain and ambitious to be a really great American
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