by Jon Meacham
At 30 miles a day he will be at Cartersville on James River on Thursday the 26th. There is not therefore one moment to be lost in deciding and acting on these questions. 1. Must he not be ordered from Cartersville down to Richmond for trial? 2. Should not an express go off instantly to meet him at Cartersville? Will Mr. Rodney be so good as to call on me between 8. and 9. this morning to consult on the above? I ask him thus early, because between 9 and 10 my headache comes on which renders me incapable of business. (Ibid.)
“NO MAN’S HISTORY” TJ to Levi Lincoln, March 25, 1807, Massachusetts Historical Society.
“LEAVES ME BUT AN HOUR” Ibid.
IN THE EAGLE TAVERN Joseph Wheelan, Jefferson’s Vendetta: The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary (New York, 2006), 6–7.
FILIBUSTERS WERE NOT ILLEGAL Simon, What Kind of Nation, 232–33.
MESSENGER FROM RICHMOND JHT, V, 320–25.
SUBPOENAING THE PRESIDENT TJ to George Hay, June 20, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
MARSHALL’S DECISIONS AND DEMEANOR EOL, 439–40.
“THE NATION WILL JUDGE” TJ to William Branch Giles, April 20, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“I AM NOW IN THE 7TH DAY” TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, March 20, 1807, University of Virginia.
“I AM TIRED OF” TJ to John Dickinson, January 13, 1807, Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
“THE BRITISH COMMISSIONERS” TJ to James Monroe, March 21, 1807, James Monroe Papers, LOC.
JEFFERSON INVITED JOHN WAYLES EPPES TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., February 18, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“WHAT ACTS OF MINE” Ibid.
“YOUR RETURN TO THE HOUSE” Ibid.
“REALLY LOVING YOU” TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., February 19, 1807, University of Virginia.
DISPATCHED A RETAINER TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., February 28, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“I CERTAINLY WOULD NOT” Ibid.
JEFFERSON KEPT TRACK TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, March 12, 1807, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
THIRTY-EIGHT · THIS DAMNED EMBARGO
“NEVER SINCE” TJ to Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, July 14, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“SOMETHING NOW OCCURS” TJ to Albert Gallatin, July 10, 1807, Gallatin Papers, New-York Historical Society, New York City.
ATTACK ON THE USS CHESAPEAKE Bowers, Jefferson in Power, 427–28.
“AFTER I HAD READ” John Keehmle to TJ, June 29, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. The correspondent, John Keehmle, added: “This unexpected attack on one of our national vessels, has realized my anticipations and fears of the hostile disposition of the British Government toward us. They have now cast the die, and struck the blow; it rests with you as the head of our nation to resent the unexpected murder of our citizens, in a spirited and manly manner, and you may rely and depend on the hearty support and approbation of all true Americans.” (Ibid.)
“I AM SORRY TO BE” Bowers, Jefferson in Power, 428.
“I AM SO MUCH FATIGUED Ibid.
OF APPEARING AT JEFFERSON’S ANNUAL LEVEE Ibid., 431.
PATRIOTIC TOASTS Ibid.
BANNING ARMED BRITISH SHIPS Proclamation on British Armed Vessels, July 2, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. “At length a deed transcending all we have hitherto seen or suffered, brings the public sensibility to a serious crisis, and our forbearance to a necessary pause,” he said. (Ibid.)
HE DECIDED TO CALL Notes on Cabinet Meeting, July 5, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. He was receiving reassuring counsel from voices outside the administration. “The late outrage by the British on the Chesapeake, has produced everywhere, within our range of intelligence at this place, a degree of emotion bordering on rage,” wrote James Wilkinson from Richmond on June 29. And yet, Wilkinson wrote, “The present is no moment for precipitancy or a stretch of power. On the contrary the British being prepared for war and we not, a sudden appeal to hostilities will give them a great advantage.… The prevalent, I might say almost universal, sentiment here is embargo, and to you, Sir, every honest eye is directed in full confidence.” (James Wilkinson to TJ, June 29, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)
ORDERED THE PURCHASE PTJRS, III, 100. “After the affair of the Chesapeake, we thought war a very possible result,” he wrote afterward. “Our magazines were illy provided with some necessary articles, nor had any appropriations been made for their purchase. We ventured, however, to provide them, and to place our country in safety.” (Ibid.)
“THE MOMENT OUR PEACE” Annual Message to Congress, October 27, 1807, President’s Messages, Records of the United States Senate, National Archives. See also Sofaer, War, Foreign Affairs and Constitutional Power, 172.
THE PRESIDENCY WAS THUS FURTHER STRENGTHENED Sofaer, War, Foreign Affairs and Constitutional Power, 172–73.
“A STRICT OBSERVANCE” PTJRS, III, 99.
A SHIP—THE USS REVENGE—WAS DISPATCHED Jon Latimer, 1812 (Cambridge, Mass., 2007), 21.
“TO THE TORIES” George Clinton to TJ, July 9, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“THE SPIRIT AND ENTERPRISE” William Duane to TJ, July 8, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Still, Jefferson was determined to maintain his perspective amid the storm. He described his plan to John Page in July 1807:
1.The usage of civilized nations requires that an opportunity of reparation shall always be given. If a word and a blow were the practice there would never be peace.
2.We should procrastinate 3 or 4 months, were it only to give time to our merchants to get in their vessels, property and seamen, which are the identical materials with which the war is to be carried on.
3.It is our duty to do no act which may com[mit] the legislature to war, rather than non-intercourse or any other measure they may prefer. They will probably be called in time to receive the answer of England. Before that they would be acting in the dark. (TJ to John Page, July 9, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)
“REASON AND THE USAGE” TJ to John Wayles Eppes, July 12, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. A correspondent signing himself “An Indignant American” wrote: “The time will come, if it has not already, when the American people will feel indignant at the pusillanimity of their chief Magistrate. Remember Carters Mountain, and now that you have an opportunity, convince the world that you are not what you have been always supposed to be a coward.” (“An Indignant American” to TJ, July 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)
“ ‘REPARATION FOR’ ” TJ to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, July 14, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
CALLED FOR THE OCTOBER SPECIAL SESSION JHT, V, 435.
INCREASED THE MAIL SERVICE Thomas Jefferson to Egbert Benson, July 31, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. At Monticello he surveyed a world scene that seemed more and more complex and demanding. “I never expected to be under the necessity of wishing success to Bonaparte. But the English being equally tyrannical at sea as he is on land, and that tyranny bearing on us in every point of either honor or interest, I say, ‘down with England,’ and as for what Bonaparte is then to do to us, let us trust to the chapter of accidents. I cannot, with the Anglomen, prefer a certain present evil to a future hypothetical one,” he wrote Thomas Leiper on August 21. (TJ to Thomas Leiper, August 21, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)
His trip back to Washington was something of a disaster. He nearly lost his horse crossing the Rapidan River. Then, two days after reaching the President’s House, he came down with the flu. It was going to be that kind of season. (TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, October 12, 1807, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.)
JEFFERSON HAD GUESSED TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., July 5, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. “The power of declaring war being in Congress,” Jefferson had written, “the Executive should do no act committing them
to war, when it is very probable they may prefer a non-intercourse to war.” (Ibid.)
AT DINNER ONE DAY Diary of John Quincy Adams, 48.
“I SUPPOSE [THIS] WILL TAKE” Ibid.
“IF THERE WAS ANY SINCERITY” Ibid.
QUESTION OF THE MOMENT TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., November 30, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“THE MEMBERS, AS FAR AS” TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., October 26, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
NEWS FROM PARIS AND LONDON JHT, V, 481.
JEFFERSON PROPOSED Message to Congress, December 17, 1807. See also JHT, V, 482.
“MAKING EVERY PREPARATION” Ibid.
“THE WAR FEVER IS PAST” TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, November 23, 1807, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
“IN EVERY POINT OF VIEW” Albert Gallatin to TJ, December 18, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“WHAT IS GOOD” JHT, V, 476.
“THE EMBARGO KEEPING” TJ to John Taylor, January 6, 1808, Washburn Collection, Massachusetts Historical Society.
LEGISLATION HAD PASSED QUICKLY Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty (New York, 1992), 204.
STRUCK BY “A TOOTH-ACHE” TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, December 29, 1807, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
THE WEAPONS OF ECONOMIC WAR Burton Spivak, Jefferson’s English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution (Charlottesville, Va., 1979), x.
“OUR PEOPLE HAVE” Ibid., 8.
“CONFIDENCE NOW SEEMS” Timothy Pickering to T. Williams, January 18, 1808, Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
“IMPLICIT, BLIND CONFIDENCE” Ibid.
“OUR EMBARGO, WHICH HAS BEEN” TJ to the Marquis de Lafayette, February 24, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
WARNINGS AND PROTESTS Bowers, Jefferson in Power, 465–67.
ESSENTIALLY INVITED SHIPS Louis Martin Sears, Jefferson and the Embargo (Durham, N.C., 1927), 70.
SMUGGLING WAS AN ENORMOUS PROBLEM Wilentz, Rise of American Democracy, 131–32.
THOSE “COMBINING AND CONFEDERATING” Proclamation on the Embargo, April 19, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
CONNECTICUT BECAME A BASTION Sears, Jefferson and the Embargo, 185–86.
“ANY OTHER MEASURE” Ibid., 142.
“THE EMBARGO IS” TJ to Benjamin Rush, January 3, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
HISTORY HAS NOT BEEN KIND See, for instance, Henry Adams, History, 1160–252; Johnstone, Jefferson and the Presidency, 254–306; William M. Goldsmith, The Growth of Presidential Power: A Documented History, I, The Formative Years (New York, 1974), 466–81.
“I HAVE BEEN HAPPY” TJ to Thomas Leiper, May 25, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“YOU INFERNAL VILLAIN” John Lane Jones to TJ, August 8, 1808, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
“YOU ARE THE DAMDEST” Anonymous to TJ, August 25, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“THY DESTRUCTION IS” Anonymous to TJ, on or before June 10, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“IN AN OPEN, FREE-HEARTED” Bowers, Jefferson in Power, 432.
“SHOULD HAVE HIS HEAD” Ibid.
VILLAGERS BURNED Ibid., 450.
“THE ATTEMPT IS” James Sullivan to TJ, April 2, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Three days later, reporting on Federalist maneuvering, Sullivan added: “The deep-laid plot of Pickering’s letter, added to the embargo, gave them fresh confidence … and they have done the most wonderful things with them. They came out, however, openly, and avowedly upon the position of a dissolution of the national government, and a separation of the Northern from the Southern States. They expect this arrangement to be supported by the court of London, and however you may treat the idea with neglect, it is on the request of this party, in New England, that seven ships of the line, and ten thousand troops are on their way to Halifax.” (Ibid., April 5, 1808.)
MADISON WAS NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT APE, I, 96. See also TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., January 26, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. In that letter, Jefferson wrote:
A caucus was held on Saturday by the members of Congress at which 89. attended. Mr. Madison had 83. votes, Clinton 3. Monroe 3. as president, and Clinton had 79. as V. President. But one member from N. York attended, and but 1. federalist, J.Q. Adams who voted for Mr. Madison. Of the Virginia members in town J. Randolph, Garnett, Gray, Trigg and Bassett declined attending, the last because disapproving the manner of calling the Caucus, but avowedly in favor of Mr. Madison. The vote for Clinton as V.P. was under a firm belief he had declared he would not accept it. It is now believed he will accept. The Eastern members especially will be much taken in, as he would not have had their votes but for the mistake. But his acceptance will in my opinion prevent all opposition to Mr. Madison, and whether he does or not it is believed that N.Y. will vote for Mr. Madison. His election is considered as out of all question. (Ibid.)
“I SEE WITH INFINITE GRIEF” TJ to James Monroe, February 18, 1808, James Monroe Papers, LOC.
THE ELECTION OF 1808 APE, I, 92–122.
ECHOES OF OLD REFRAINS Ibid., 93–94.
122 ELECTORAL VOTES TO PINCKNEY’S 47 Ibid., 92.
“THE MONARCHISTS OF THE NORTH” TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., January 2, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Jefferson watched Massachusetts closely. “Their Republican members think that if we will fix by law a day when the embargo shall cease (as some day in June), that this will satisfy so great a portion of their people as to remove the danger of a convention,” he told Randolph. “This will probably be consented to with an addition that letters of marque and reprisal shall issue the same day.… For if war takes place with England, we have no security that she will not offer neutrality and commerce to N. England and that the latter will not accept it,” Jefferson said. To Charles Bankhead, Jefferson wrote: “In the mean time the disquietude in the North is extreme, and we are uncertain what extent of conflagration a spark might occasion.” (TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, January 19, 1809, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.)
“A LINE SEEMS NOW TO BE” TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, January 19, 1809, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.
THIRTY-NINE · A FAREWELL TO ULTIMATE POWER
“CONSIDERING THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER” Annual Message to Congress, November 8, 1808, President’s Messages, Records of the United States Senate, National Archives.
“THE DISEASED JAW BONE” TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, January 10, 1809, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
“I AM ALREADY SENSIBLE” TJ to Charles Thomson, December 25, 1808, Charles Thomson Papers, LOC.
INVENTORIED THE FURNITURE TJ to Thomas Claxton, February 19, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
HOW TO PAY HIS BILLS JHT, VI, 3.
ARGONAUTS OF OLD TJ to John Adams, March 25, 1826. Cappon, Adams-Jefferson Letters, 614.
“NATURE INTENDED ME” TJ to Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, March 2, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
HE INSPIRED AS MUCH DIVISION Positive verdicts, of course, pleased Jefferson. “It is a common observation that the present is a time of political phenomena,” wrote William Jarvis from Lisbon on February 18, 1809. “The extraordinary events which have occurred within the last thirty years, on both sides of the Atlantic, will without doubt amply justify the assertion: but the United States has been the only country during this period and unhappily for mankind almost any other where the good of the people has been the sole seed of government. In the attainment of this philanthropic object, your administration will perhaps stand unrivalled in the history of the world.” (William Jarvis to TJ, February 18, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)
“A FEW FLEETING” Allegany County, Maryland, Citizens to TJ, February 20, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LO
C.
“THOU STRANGE INCONSISTENT MAN!” William Penn to TJ, February 24, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“YOU HAVE BROUGHT” “Cassandra” to TJ, February 28, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“I SUPPOSE INDEED” TJ to Richard M. Johnson, March 10, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Jefferson’s recommended books:
Volney’s Lessons of history.
Millot’s antient history.
Anacharsis
Middleton’s life of Cicero.
Gibbon’s decline of the Roman empire.
Millot’s Modern history.
Russel’s history of Modern Europe.
Millot’s history of France.
Davila’s history of the civil wars of France.
Sully’s Memoirs.
The French revolution by Rabaut and La Cretelle.
The Revolution of France by Desodards.
Voltaire’s historical works.
Robertson’s Charles V.
Historical works of Frederic king of Prussia.
Segur’s history of Frederic William II.
Ruthere’s History of Poland.
Tooke’s life of Catharine II.
Memoires Secrets de la Russie.
Baxter’s history of England (this is Hume’s text republicanised.)
Ld. Orrery’s history of England.
Ld. Bacon’s history of Henry VIII.
Macaulay’s history.
Ludlow’s memoirs.
Anecdotes of the life of Chatham.
Belsham’s history and Memoirs.
Robertson’s history of Scotland.
Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical history
Priestley’s corruptions of Christianity. (Ibid.)
“I BECAME OF COURSE” Ibid.
“IN THE CHARACTER OF MARCUS AURELIUS” David Bailie Warden to TJ, December 4, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
“WE ARE ALL POLITICS” TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, November 26, 1808, Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society.
“THE CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN” TJ to Levi Lincoln, November 13, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.
