Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History

829 Pages·2010·99.884 MB·English

by  Fawn M. Brodie, Annette Gordon–reed

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STORYDI'THliYIvAR
THOMAS
JEFFERSON
PAWNM.BRODIE
"UNIVERSALOPTICALisproudtointroduce
aframenamedinhonorofoneofthecountry's
foremostintellectualandpoHticalgiants.The
choiceofthisgreatstatesmanwasnoaccident
ThomasJeffersonaccuratelyreflectstheinteg-
ritythat'sbuiltintoeverypairofUniversal
frames.Forover65years,UniversalOpticalhas
notyieldedinitsquestforperfection.Itcan
trulybesaid,"We'vebuiltareputationonthe
waywebuildopticalframes."Mr.Jefferson
wouldprobablyconcur.Wehopeyouenjoy
bothoftheseUniversalbestsellers."
WallaceJ.Murray,Jr,VicePresident
UniveisalOpticalCompany
"THOROUGHLY FASCINATING, opening vis-
tas into Jefferson's life and thought that were
A
fresh and exciting. superbly written book, spar-
kling with new information and interpretations."
—
Ray A. Billington, noted historian
"AN EXCEPTIONALLY RICH ACCOUNT OF
JEFFERSON'S LIFEANDWORK altogether
. . .
an enjoyable study and a commend—able one."
Kirkus Reviews
"A FULL-LENGTH PORTRAIT which credits
our most intellectual President with heart as well
as head . . . Mrs. Brodie sees him steadily and
sees him whole . . . Hersisthe best-rounded single-
volume biography I have ye—t read."
John Barkham Reviews
"PROF. BRODIE'S BOOK treats us to many
hours in the company of this exceptionally win-
ning, multi-faceted man. She evokes artfully the
sense of his presence and a wealth of personal
particulars, while taking reasonably satisfactory
note of the great pubUc issues of policy, principle
and philosophy. Her book earns its place in the
huge, ever-growing body ofJeff—erson studies."
Wall Street Journal
"THIS ENGROSSING STUDY OF ONE OF
THE MOST COMPLEX MEN
in American his-
tory reveals his inner hfe and the connections
between character and action in a convincing way
... He is made accessible and dimensional, hu-
manized and etched with the strains and tension
of real life . . . [Mrs.] Brodie, a noted biographer,
professor of history at UCLA ... is a skilled
literary detective, using materials overlooked by
other scholars, delving into deeper, more reveal-
ing levels to be found in expression and in action
. . . From this study emerges a complicated and
intriguing man, whose versatility and intelligence
shaped the nation, but whose emotions helped
shape him." —
Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times
"THE SENSUAL, PASSIONATE SIDE OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON FASCINATING."
. . . —
Chicago Sun-Times
"A SYMPATHETIC, EXHAUSTIVELY RE-
SEARCHED BIOGRAPHY
... AllofJefferson's
roles as a private man are carefully examined in
terms of their effect on his public life . . . Grand
reading." —
Cosmopolitan
"A SENSITIVE, ELOQUENT AND FAR-
SIGHTED BIOGRAPHY OF A GREAT MAN
. . .muc—hofit devotedtohis secretemotionallife."
Gilbert Highet, Book-oj-the-Month Club News
Digitized by tine Internet Archive
in 2009
http://www.archive.org/details/tliomasjeffersoniOObrod
This low-priced Bantam Book
has been completely reset in a type face
designedfor easy reading, and was printed
from new plates. It contains the complete
text of the original hard-cover edition.
NOT ONEWORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.
THOMAS JEFFERSON: AN mTIMATE HISTORY
ABantaWm.BoWo.kNo/rptuobnli&sheCdombpyaanryr,anIgnecm.ent with
PRINTING HISTORY
Norton edition published January 1974
8 printings through November 1974
Book-Of-The-Month Club edition published March 1974
6 printings through November 1974
Macmillan Book Club edition published December 1974
Serializations appeared in the New York Post and
The Washington Post
AnAecxocnedrepntsaatpipoenarweadsifneatthuerepdotionmBaOcOKmaDgIaGzEiSTne
Bantam edition / April 1975
12 printings through July 1985
Cover art is an artist's rendition from
Nina Leen's photograph of a sculpture.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1974 by Fawn M. Brodie.
This hook may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by
mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
Forinformation address: W. W. Norton & Company, InCt
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ISBN 0-553-25443-X
Publishedsimultaneously in the United States and Canada
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
H 21 20 19 18 17 16 15

Contents
X
ForeAvord
Lionel Trilling, in giving the first annual Jefferson lec-
ture in 1972, chose to speak on Jefferson and the life
of the mind. He thus carried forward a tradition set in
1826 by William Wirt, who when delivering in Congress
the funeral eulogy on Jefferson concentrated on his
vision of liberating "the imprisoned iateUect" of man
throughout the world. Almost every scholar wh^ has
since written about this philosopher-statesman has cen-
tered upon his luminous mind and its impact on society.
This is a book about Jefferson and the life of the heart.
Before his death Jefferson tried to discourage those
contemporaries who wished to be his biographers. "I
do not think a biography should be written, or at least
not pubHshed, during the life of the person the subject
of it," he wrote to Robert Walsh on AprU 5, 1823. "It
is impossible that the writer's delicacy should permit
him to speak as freely of the faults or errors of a living,
as of adead character. There is still a better reason. The
letters of a person, especially one whose business has
been chiefly transactedby letters, form the only full and
genume journal of his life; and few can let them go out
of their own hands while they live. A life written after
these hoards become opened to investigation must
supersede any previous one."
The "hoards" of Jefferson letters and his meticulous
plantation records are now available as never before.
The magic of microfilm brings them to the desk of any
serious student, and the scholarship of Julian Boyd has
provided, with masterly notes, printed volimies of letters
written to Jefferson as weU as those written by him, up
to 1791. It is now possible to discover with some exact-
ness which Jefferson letters havebeen lost or destroyed,
xi