Learning from the Darker Side of Thomas Jefferson

• Author: Arthur Rizer
• Profession: Director of Justice Policy and a senior fellow at the R Street Institute
• Pages: 93-121

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LEARNING FROM

THE DARKER SIDE

OF THOMAS

JEFFERSON

In many cases, it can be said that omas Jeerson was a man who learned

from his mistakes, correcting his course according to a moral, ethical, and

philosophical compass. In other cases, however, it may be said that omas

Jeerson simply changed his course to make the best use of the prevailing

political winds. ere is ample support for both positions.

It often took time, but Jeerson did eventually learn from some of his

mistakes and political defeats.213 He made use of the Hamilton banking

system that he had earlier railed against. He made use of a Navy that he had

earlier argued violated the Constitution. He found use for laws making cer-

tain statements against various ocials illegal, though he had vehemently

opposed the Sedition Acts those laws so closely resembled. 214

Some of Jeerson’s contemporaries, and many historians over the years,

accused Jeerson of being an opportunist because of these major reversals.

Others defend his actions as Jeerson having learned from his past mistakes.

ere is no doubt that Jeerson did learn from mistakes and could adapt

when that would be useful, but he was also quite capable of holding a contrar-

ian position in the hopes that he would eventually be vindicated.215

94 JEFFER SON’S PEN: THE ART OF PE RSUASION

Jeerson was also at times contradictory, even hypocritical, beyond those

stances he based in principle. He was known for his grand rhetoric about

freedom and liberty. But his policies toward women, Native Americans, and

slaves denitely did not match up to that rhetoric. And some of his actions

lead us to question his ethics and character, even toward some of his close

friends. Jeerson also struggled with narcissism and pettiness, as is often the

case with brilliant and powerful men. is chapter examines some of these

aws. e goal is not to defame a man with great gifts and accomplishments,

but to learn from some of these “great mistakes” that great men too often

make. By analyzing Jeerson’s blind spots, perhaps we can prevent ourselves

from making similar mistakes in the future.

A SEA OF CONTRADICTIONS

A lazy way to analyze Jeerson would be to say merely that he was lled with

paradoxes, struggled with theories of right and wrong, and often made deci-

sions based on greed or false logic. I say lazy because that describes every

human to some extent; Jeerson is in the spotlight, here, so those aws are

brought into starker relief. Jeerson was not simply a man who held beliefs

that battled for logical harmony. No, Jeerson was, himself, a contradiction.

WOMEN

Jeerson enjoyed the company of intelligent women and ensured that his

daughters had a superior education. But he taught them that they were cre-

ated purely for the “pleasure of men.” While in France, he was critical of

what he perceived as Frenchwomen’s independence, stating that women in

the United States knew their place, which was in the nursery, and not

“ gadding frivolously about town as Frenchwomen did, chasing fashion or

meddling in politics.”216 To Jeerson, American women were “‘tender and

tranquil amusements of domestic life’ and never troubled their pretty heads

about politics.”217

Jeerson even went as far as blaming the French Revolution on Marie

Antoinette, describing her as “haughty,” and later, “proud, disdainful of re-

strain, indignant at all obstacles to her will, eager in the pursuit of pleasure,

and rm enough to hold her desires, or perish in their wreck.” In his opinion,

the Queen had “an absolute ascendency over” King Louis XVI, resulting in