Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Thanks a lot, Jefferson!
Forbes Magazine has called Thomas Jefferson "Perhaps our most financially challenged founding father." It wasn't the worst of his sins, of course. We should remember that his vocation was running a slave plantation, and that he had sex with slaves who could not deny consent (so let's call what it is, "rape").
But even with the advantage of relying on unpaid labor, Jefferson was a financial disaster. He lived a luxurious life he couldn't afford, and at the end of his life his finances went from bad to worse. He bought luxury goods like cases of wine even when he was deep in debt, compounding his problems. While some of his difficulties were the product of trying to help others (taking on his father-in-law's debts, for example), others were the result of poor decision making.
We share an alma mater, William and Mary. In fact, I was in society (the FHC) that he founded at the college. But he was a pretty rotten alum. In 1823, he staved off personal insolvency by borrowing $24,000 from the College's endowment-- which was a fifth of the total endowment.
Worse, he never paid it back! Only in 1879 did his heirs pay back part of it, and then they only put it about half what was borrowed, $11,550.
There are things to admire about Jefferson, and I do. But he did things that he knew were wrong, consistently. One of his "rules for life" was not to spend money before you have it, but he did just that. He also knew that slavery was wrong-- if you doubt it, check out the "deleted passage" of the Declaration of Independence-- and yet his job was basically slaveholder, right to the end of his life.
I love history. And one reason I love it is for its complications.
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As a kid, I was a huge fan. We share the same first name, for goodness' sake! And Monticello is WAY COOL. Much more interesting than Mount Vernon or other colonial homes. He was a thinker AND a doer.
But, the more I learn about him, the less I admire him.
Completely unpractical in his desire for an agrarian society. He attacked Adams for being a strong executive... and then grabbed even more power himself.
Fascinating... but deeply flawed.
But, the more I learn about him, the less I admire him.
Completely unpractical in his desire for an agrarian society. He attacked Adams for being a strong executive... and then grabbed even more power himself.
Fascinating... but deeply flawed.
Exactly! I am still able to appreciate his moments of brilliance... and maybe that is the best than any of us can hope for.
I have visited Monticello mutliple times as it can be a nice day trip from Durham. I love the gardens during all seasons and although I took the house tour once I have taken it again as You learn different things from different docents.
The slave server of his dinners was a mute. So he couldn't share the conversations he overheard. I appreciate his inventive and observational nature. A task master yet an absent minded professor.
I am curious whether he or his eldest daughter, in his frequent absence, was a brutal owner to his slaves or viewed them more as a necessity of owning property. I have not encountered the type of stories one hears about the plantations of the deep south.
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The slave server of his dinners was a mute. So he couldn't share the conversations he overheard. I appreciate his inventive and observational nature. A task master yet an absent minded professor.
I am curious whether he or his eldest daughter, in his frequent absence, was a brutal owner to his slaves or viewed them more as a necessity of owning property. I have not encountered the type of stories one hears about the plantations of the deep south.
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