Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson (Pt. 2 – Life Accomplishments)

Introduction

Last week, we discussed the lies and myths often told about Thomas Jefferson. We went over the evidence from the primary sources that demonstrated why these were lies and myths, and we discussed where these ideas have come from. This week, we will turn our attention to some of the major accomplishments of Jefferson’s. Many of his accomplishments are never even told in the history books because they fly in the face of the narrative that Jefferson was a racist hypocrite who only wanted to preserve his own power as a land owner in the new power structure. However, his lifetime boasts many accomplishments that did much to shape our country to allow for freedom for all when the civil rights movement got underway.

One last, very important note I need to make: the language used in some of the sources to describe slaves. These words were not, at the time, considered offensive in the same way as they now are. I reproduce the exact quotes from the sources as they are without removing these words for the point of historical accuracy, though I know some historians do choose to remove them to avoid offense. It is not my intent to offend anyone with this choice, nor do I myself approve of using the words in polite society, but I believe that it is, for the purpose of education, acceptable to quote them where they are present, understanding that their context was a time and place when no particular distasteful meaning or slur was attached to the word or when the meaning was not so distasteful or rude as it would now be if used today. With that, let’s dive into the material.

Accomplishment #1: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence

Ask any American, and they can tell you that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It is perhaps his best-known accomplishment. What most Americans do not know is that the draft Jefferson wrote originally is not the same as the draft that ended up being sent to the king of Britain. Knowing what was in that first draft makes his writing of it a much more startling accomplishment than most realize.

So what was in that first draft? Jefferson includes it for us in his autobiography. There were a few key changes made that involved removing some interesting sections.

The first section was Jefferson’s section on slavery. Jefferson wrote the following:

“He [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want to fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson in The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, pp. 25-26).

Jefferson tells us this was left out “in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished it to continue. Our northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures; for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson in The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 21).

The other sections, Jefferson states, were struck out for a much different reason. He says, “The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offence” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson in The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 21).

So the passages, which heaped censure on the citizens of Britain for allowing the king’s abuses of power and turning a blind eye on his tyranny over the colonies as well as his illegal actions, were removed.

Accomplishment #2: Jefferson’s Bill to Stop Importation of Slaves in Virginia

A little-known accomplishment of Jefferson’s was his bill to stop the importation of slaves in Virginia. My readings have not indicated whether the bill was revoked, though based on where things were at by the time of the Civil War, it seems as though it may have been. That said, for a time at least, Jefferson’s proposed bill, which passed unanimously, was able to stem the importation of slaves for at least the state of Virginia.

Regarding this accomplishment, he states in his autobiography, “The first establishment in Virginia which became permanent, was made in 1607. I have found no mention of negroes in the colony until about 1650. The first brought here as slaves were by a Dutch ship; after which the English commenced the trade, and continued it until the revolutionary war. That suspended, ipso facto, their further importation for the present, and the business of the war pressing constantly on the legislature, this subject was not acted on finally until the year ’78, when I brought in a bill to prevent their further importation. This passed without opposition, and stopped the increase of the evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, pg. 40).

Given the insanity of the laws regarding slaves in Virginia, this was certainly quite the accomplishment, particularly as Jefferson was able to propose it and get it passed unanimously!

Accomplishment #3: Rousing the People Against the Boston Port Bill

His next accomplishment centers around the Boston Port bill, a bit of nasty legislature that was to prove one of the last straws in the oppression from the British king. When the Boston Port bill was introduced, Jefferson and others from the Virginia state legislature gathered to decide how to handle it. The governor responded to their choice to stand with Massachusetts against the bill by dissolving them, which was against the laws laid out in the colonies’ charters.

The men continued to meet, as did other legislatures that governors across the colonies had shut down, in the meeting rooms of taverns and other locations. At the meetings, they debated the best way to rouse the people to action. Jefferson and the other men agreed the best method was to issue a call to prayer for God’s intervention. Jefferson says, “We [himself and the other three or four members who had the task of consulting on proper measures to oppose the bill] were under conviction of the necessity of arousing our people from the lethargy into which they had fallen, as to passing events; and thought that the appointment of a day of general fasting and prayer would be most likely to call up and alarm their attention. No example of such a solemnity had existed since the days of our distresses in the war of ’55, since which a new generation had grown up. With the help, therefore, of Rushworth, whom we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing their phrases, for appointing the 1st day of June, on which the portbill was to commence, for a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore Heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the King and Parliament to moderation and justice” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, pp. 8-9).

The move worked marvelously, and was in fact echoed across the country, making this a lesser known but remarkably important accomplishment of Jefferson’s.

Accomplishment #5: The Bill of Rights

While Jefferson was not the only one to propose a bill of rights, he was one of the more outspoken ones. So, in this case, it was not his accomplishment alone, but he was a part of the movement pushing for it.

He was in France when the Constitution was written and sent out for review by various individuals and the States, but on receiving and reading it, he wrote to Madison and Washington both, urging them that a bill of rights was imperative.

What did he want in this bill of rights or set of amendments? Among the ones he lists as needed was protection of religious freedom, freedom of press and speech, and habeas corpus. These had already been passed by some legislation under the old system, it appears, based on Jefferson’s conversation of what went on and the reform of the code of laws he and two others had gone through. He had been the one to write up the bill on religious freedom and says of the original bill, “The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations to the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word ‘Jesus Christ’, so that it should read, ‘a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;’ the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, p. 47).

So when the new Constitution did not protect these rights, he urged that a bill of rights or amendments protecting them clearly be written up. With the memories of a State church and its oppressions freshly in their memories, it is little surprise that Jefferson thought it wise to expressly protect the rights that church and its king had refused so many, both within its numbers and without.

Jefferson and the others who proposed a bill of rights did not get every amendment they hoped for, but they achieve the most important accomplishment in this arena: they got their Bill of Rights and the most important rights were protected. They also were able to gain a codified process to add further amendments as the need arose through a specific, careful process, which was designed to keep hasty amendments from destroying the rights already protected or the system of balances the Constitution itself presented.

Accomplishment #6: Property Fees and Aristocracy of Wealth Curbed

This one was another key accomplishment, though perhaps not quite as impactful on the nation’s future as the Bill of Rights would be. While working on his portion of reworking the cumbersome laws previous to the Confederation and the Constitution, Jefferson addressed the issue of property fees on tenants. At the time, the fees on tenants of property encouraged the growth of an upper class with no scruples or virtue. Jefferson writes that, “On the 12th, I obtained leave to bring in a bill declaring tenants in tail to hold their lands in fee simple. In the earlier times of the colony, when lands were to be obtained for little or nothing, some provident individuals procured large grants; and desirous of founding great families for themselves, settled them on their descendants in fee tail. The transmission of this property from generation to generation, in the same name, raised up a distinct set of families, who, being privileged by law in the perpetuation of their wealth, were thus formed into a Patrician order, distinguished by the splendor and luxury of their establishments. From this order, too, the king habitually selected his counsellors of State; the hope of which distinction devoted the whole corps to the interests and will of the crown. To annul this privilege, and instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of the interests of society, and scattered with equal hand through all its conditions, was deemed essential to a well-ordered republic” (Autobiography of Thomas Jeffersion, pp. 38-39).

The effect of the new law, at least for Virginia, was that it aided in ensuring that the passing down of wealth, while still allowed, was done in such a way that it allowed more opportunities to every man under the law. His hope was that this would create a class of the wealthy made up of those with virtue and talent with a nature inclined toward their country and the good of both it and their fellow country men, not just the perpetuation of further wealth at the expense of every morality, virtue, and man around them. Changing laws that protected those without scruples so that these individuals had fewer protections was a step in the right direction to achieving that end.

Accomplishment #7: Building the Capitol Building

Looking at Jefferson’s unique set of talents, we see that time and again, his country asked him to use them on her behalf, and he did so gladly. The original Capitol building in Richmond is one example. It was Jefferson the country’s leadership looked to for help. Jefferson acted as the superintendent on the project and helped to draft the design for the building. With the help of other individuals, who provided models of the buildings he wanted to draw from, Jefferson drafted a plan for the interior to allow for an adaptation of the original building to the needs of the government that would soon take up working and even living there.

Accomplishment #8: Ambassador to France

Most of us know vaguely of Jefferson’s duties as an ambassador to France, usually because we’ve heard the lie about Sally Hemming discussed in my earlier article on Jefferson. This circulated rumor had to do with her presence in France with Jefferson’s daughter as a lady’s maid. But did you know that he served as ambassador there during the opening upheavals that would herald in the French Revolution? A large portion of his autobiography actually focuses on his time in France and the inside look he had into the ongoings in the French government as they tried to reform without the need for civil war or Revolution. He observed that “A wise constitution would have been formed, hereditary in his line, himself placed at its head, with powers so large as to enable him to do all the good of his station, and so limited, as to restrain him from its abuse. This he would have faithfully administered, and more than this, I do not believe, he ever wished. But he had a Queen of absolute sway over his weak mind and timid virtue, and of a character the reverse of his in all points. This angel, as gaudily painted in the rhapsodies of Burke, with some smartness of fancy, but no sound sense, was proud, disdainful of restraint, indignant at all obstacles to her will, eager in the pursuit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her desires, or perish in their wreck. Her inordinate gambling and dissipations, with those of the Count d’Artois, and others of her clique, had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury, which called into action the reforming hand of the nation; and her opposition to it, her inflexible perverseness, and dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guillotine, drew the King on with her, and plunged the world into crimes and calamities which will forever stain the pages of modern history. I have ever believed, that had there been no Queen, there would have been no revolution” (Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, pp 104-105).

Jefferson was himself close friends with several members of the French government, including La Fayette, who was a leader of the French Patriot Party. He even opened his home to a group of influential leaders in the Patriot Party at La Fayette’s request for dinner, which was to be the scene of their discussions over what their united front against the aristocratic party would look like, with Jefferson himself listening as a neutral party. He refused to get involved actively or to give advice or help in drafting their own Constitution as he maintained it would violate the sphere of authority and the number of his duties in his position as ambassador, but he followed the developments of the nation closely.

Accomplishment #9: Saving the Nation’s Currency from Devaluation

Early in America’s history, after the War of independence, the debts racked up with other nations started to come due all at once. Beyond that, the new country was unable to borrow any further and was in dire straits. With no way to pay the debts when they came due, the US currency was at risk of becoming worthless, which left the country with serious concerns about the future of trade and economy. The government was in the process of preparing for the incoming administration under John Adams and was not dealing with the issue. When Jefferson was told by one of the bankers in Amsterdam that failing to pay the interest on their general debt would be deemed an act of bankruptcy, which would’ve destroyed the credit of the new nation utterly, he realized the situation had to be addressed immediately and travelled to meet Adams, who was finishing out his duties and resignation as ambassador to Britain at the time.

The two of them determined that they could not wait for the new government to get into order, which might take considerable time to do, and had better risk doing something without instructions. Jefferson drew up an estimate of what they would need to cover the debt, and Adams executed a thousand bonds in the order of a thousand flourins each to hand over to the bankers, asking them not to issue the bonds until Congress ratified their actions. This bought them time of two years to work out how to pay the debts they owed. Thus, their actions helped to rescue the new nation from an immediate blow to their credit due to bankruptcy and a complete devaluation of their currency.

Conclusion

Jefferson’s life was filled with accomplishments and intriguing experiences. He was, though one of the less overtly religious Founders, still a self-professed Christian who highly valued religious freedom and his faith. This showed in the things that he did and the way that he strove to act with honor and virtue in all that he did. With all the lies and misinformation taught about Jefferson, most only hear the lies and never learn the truth of all the good Jefferson did for the nation. His actions paved the way for a Constitutional argument to be made for the rights of the many, many enslaved blacks from Africa, and decades after his death, Frederick Douglass would refer back to him as a personal hero and as just one very clear example of the wishes of the Founders to abolish the horrific act of slavery and grant equal rights to all.

It is true that, in reading his autobiography, one finds him to be one of the less religious Founders. His faith was still out in the public arena, but he was quieter, and a further examination of his latter years reveals that he was not traditional in some of his doctrine. Nevertheless, he still staunchly defended religious freedoms and declared boldly that freedom and man’s natural rights (which they are guaranteed in a free nation) proceeded from God, the Creator, not from human government or man. He stood firm on this his entire life.

He contributed so much to the protection of the freedoms of everyone in the United States, not just those who agreed with the prominent religion or church at the time, and to guarantee that those protections would remain equally for all under the law. His efforts to fight slavery would not produce the freedom and emancipation of the slaves that he so desperately wished to see by the end of his lifetime, but they paved the way for the Civil Rights movement and the work that continued up through and beyond that movement in order to free the slaves and then rectify the wrongs done them as possible. Without his work and that of other Founders who were just as zealous for the cause of equal freedom for every man, not just those who looked like them, the basis for the Civil Rights movement within the very documents of our Founding would not have existed. We owe Jefferson and the other Founders a great deal for the work they did. He should be hailed as a hero, despite what flaws he had, not dragged through the mud for faults that were not even truly imputed to his character. My hope is that through reading this article, you will realize that Jefferson was a greater man than he is allowed to be recognized for in most educational and academic circles today.

I know it is unpopular to state this, but an honest study of his life, his correspondence with other Founders and friends, and the statements made of him by reliable sources reveals a man who, most certainly, had flaws but was on the whole a good man whose service to his country (often at his own expense) ought to be cherished and venerated, not ignored, forgotten, and mocked.

Sources

Thomas Jefferson. “Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson.” in The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson. A. Koch (ed.) and W. Peden (ed.). (1972), Random House, New York.