Jefferson and the ordeal of liberty by Malone Dumas 1892-1986

Author:Malone, Dumas, 1892-1986
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
Publisher: Boston : Little, Brown
Published: 1962-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

This is an admirable description of liis position while Jefferson was in office with him, and it is a sufficient answer to the unwarranted claim, sometimes advanced by admirers of Hamilton, that the Secretary of the Treasury was then the master of the administration. But it did not allow for the changed situation, as the moving passage that followed it clearly showed. Not until the last year or two, he said — that is, not until the departure of Jefferson had upset the balance of the government — had he conceived to what lengths parties would go. And not until very lately — that is, until the fight over Jay's Treaty — could he have believed that he would be charged with being an enemy to one country (France) and under the influence of another (Great Britain), or that he would witness such gross misrepresentations of his administration. These were described, he said, "in such exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a notorious defaulter, or even to a common pickpocket."

Jefferson must have been touched by these words, for no one was more aware than he of Washington's extreme sensitiveness. He could appreciate it the more because he himself found personal differences almost intolerable and could hardly bear to be misunderstood. He was not above employing devious devices to avoid wounding one he had admired so much. Yet, his rather inept attempt to smooth things over, while asserting at the same time his right to voice private opinions which could be assumed to be critical of the administration, was an inevitable failure under the existing facts of political life, which Washington was still unable to understand.

Jefferson made very few references to the President in correspondence during the latter's remaining months in office. One of these was after his own election to high position justified him in discussing party policy. "Such is the popularity of the President," he said, "that the people will support him in whatever he will or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything but their feelings toward him. His mind has been so long used to unlimited applause that it could not brook contradiction, or even advice offered unasked. To advice, when asked, he is very open. I have long thought therefore it was best for the republican interest to soothe him by flattering where they could approve his measures, and to be silent where they disapprove, that they may not render him desperate as to their affections, and entirely indifferent to their wishes, in short to lie on their oars while he remains at the helm, and let the bark drift as his will and a

dined ro share that Gcnerars confidences. D. S. Freeman says that TJ seems always to have mistrusted him (R. E. Lee, I [1934], pp- 7-8).

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