American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis

Author:Joseph J. Ellis [Ellis, Joseph J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Politics and Government, Biographies and Autobiographies, 32historyepubs, Historical, Biography & Autobiography, Subject.Revolution, History
ISBN: 9780679764410
Google: VHV_ozRD6ycC
Amazon: 0679764410
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1997-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Or if one were searching for a classic rendering of the principle of free speech, no American statesman had ever put it so succinctly: “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Or to take a final illustration out of several equally eloquent entries, there is this concise formulation of America’s domestic and foreign policy goals: “Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nations—entangling alliances with none.” It was Jefferson, not Washington, who coined the term “entangling alliances.” 22

But the most oft-quoted words, which can also reach across time as a lyrical expression of transcendent truth, are in fact fully comprehensible only when seen within the context of American politics in 1801. Apart from the natural rights section of the Declaration of Independence, this is probably the most famous political statement that Jefferson ever made: “But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans—we are all federalists.” This was also the passage that virtually all the reporters and interested observers fastened upon at the time because it seemed to represent Jefferson’s clear, indeed grand, statement of conciliation and moderation. It signaled that the bitter party battles of the 1790s would not continue in the Jefferson presidency, that the incoming Republicans would not seek revenge for past Federalist atrocities like the Alien and Sedition Acts and, most significant, that Jefferson’s understanding of “pure republicanism” did not mean a radical break with Federalist policies or a dramatic repudiation of the governmental framework established in the Constitution. Hamilton spoke for the relieved Federalists who viewed the address as “a candid retraction of past misapprehensions, and a pledge to the community that the new President will not lend himself to dangerous innovations, but in essential points will tread in the steps of his predecessors.” 23

But Jefferson did not really mean what Hamilton and all the other commentators thought they heard him say. Part of the problem was actually a matter of translation. In the version of his address printed in the National Intelligencer and then released to the newspapers throughout the country, the key passage read: “We are all Republicans—we are all Federalists.” By capitalizing the operative terms, the printed version had Jefferson making a gracious statement about the overlapping goals of the two political parties. But in the handwritten version of the speech that Jefferson delivered, the key words were not capitalized. Jefferson was therefore referring not to the common ground shared by the two parties but to the common belief, shared by all American citizens, that a republican form of government and a federal bond among the states were most preferable. Since one would have been

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