Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (109 page)

THE
WEAPONS
OF
ECONOMIC
WAR
Burton Spivak,
Jefferson's English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution
(Charlottesville, Va., 1979), x.

“O
UR
PEOPLE
HAVE
”
Ibid., 8.

“C
ONFIDENC
E
NOW
SEEMS
”
Timothy Pickering to T. Williams, January 18, 1808, Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

“
IMPLIC
IT
,
BLIND
CONFIDENCE
”
Ibid.

“O
UR
EMBARGO
,
WHICH
H
AS
BEEN
”
TJ to the Marquis de Lafayette, February 24, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

WARNINGS
AN
D
PROTESTS
Bowers,
Jefferson in Power,
465–67.

ESSENT
IALLY
INVITED
SHIPS
Louis Martin Sears,
Jefferson and the Embargo
(Durham, N.C., 1927), 70.

S
MUGGLING
WAS
AN
ENORMOUS
PROBLEM
Wilentz,
Rise of American Democracy,
131–32.

THOSE
“
COMBINING
AND
CONFEDERATING
”
Proclamation on the Embargo, April 19, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

C
ONNECTICUT
BECAME
A
BASTION
Sears,
Jefferson and the Embargo,
185–86.

“A
NY
OTHE
R
MEASURE
”
Ibid., 142.

“T
HE
EMBAR
GO
IS
”
TJ to Benjamin Rush, January 3, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

H
ISTORY
HAS
N
OT
BEEN
KIND
See, for instance, Henry Adams,
History,
1160–252; Johnstone,
Jefferson and the Presidency,
254–306; William M. Goldsmith,
The Growth of Presidential Power: A Documented History,
I,
The Formative Years
(New York, 1974), 466–81.

“I
HAVE
BEEN
HAPPY
”
TJ to Thomas Leiper, May 25, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“Y
OU
INFERNAL
VILLAIN
”
John Lane Jones to TJ, August 8, 1808, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.

“Y
OU
ARE
THE
DAMDEST
”
Anonymous to TJ, August 25, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“TH
Y
DES
TRUCTION
IS
”
Anonymous to TJ, on or before June 10, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“
IN
AN
OPEN
,
FREE
-
HEARTE
D
”
Bowers,
Jefferson in Power,
432.

“
SHOULD
HAVE
HI
S
HEAD
”
Ibid.

VILLAGERS
BU
RNED
Ibid., 450.

“T
HE
ATTEMPT
IS
”
James Sullivan to TJ, April 2, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Three days later, reporting on Federalist maneuvering, Sullivan added: “The deep-laid plot of Pickering's letter, added to the embargo, gave them fresh confidence … and they have done the most wonderful things with them. They came out, however, openly, and avowedly upon the position of a dissolution of the national government, and a separation of the Northern from the Southern States. They expect this arrangement to be supported by the court of London, and however you may treat the idea with neglect, it is on the request of this party, in New England, that seven ships of the line, and ten thousand troops are on their way to Halifax.” (Ibid., April 5, 1808.)

M
ADISON
WAS
NOMINA
TED
FOR
PRESIDENT
APE,
I, 96. See also TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., January 26, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. In that letter, Jefferson wrote:

A caucus was held on Saturday by the members of Congress at which 89. attended. Mr. Madison had 83. votes, Clinton 3. Monroe 3. as president, and Clinton had 79. as V. President. But one member from N. York attended, and but 1. federalist, J.Q. Adams who voted for Mr. Madison. Of the Virginia members in town J. Randolph, Garnett, Gray, Trigg and Bassett declined attending, the last because disapproving the manner of calling the Caucus, but avowedly in favor of Mr. Madison. The vote for Clinton as V.P. was under a firm belief he had declared he would not accept it. It is now believed he will accept. The Eastern members especially will be much taken in, as he would not have had their votes but for the mistake. But his acceptance will in my opinion prevent all opposition to Mr. Madison, and whether he does or not it is believed that N.Y. will vote for Mr. Madison. His election is considered as out of all question. (Ibid.)

“I
SEE
WITH
INFINITE
GRIEF
”
TJ to James Monroe, February 18, 1808, James Monroe Papers, LOC.

T
HE
ELECTIO
N
OF
1808
APE,
I, 92–122.

ECHOES
OF
OLD
REFRAINS
Ibid., 93–94.

122
ELECTORA
L
VOTES
TO
P
INCKNEY
'
S
47
Ibid., 92.

“
THE
MONARCHISTS
O
F
THE
N
ORTH
”
TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., January 2, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Jefferson watched Massachusetts closely. “Their Republican members think that if we will fix by law a day when the embargo shall cease (as some day in June), that this will satisfy so great a portion of their people as to remove the danger of a convention,” he told Randolph. “This will probably be consented to with an addition that letters of marque and reprisal shall issue the same day.… For if war takes place with England, we have no security that she will not offer neutrality and commerce to N. England and that the latter will not accept it,” Jefferson said. To Charles Bankhead, Jefferson wrote: “In the mean time the disquietude in the North is extreme, and we are uncertain what extent of conflagration a spark might occasion.” (TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, January 19, 1809, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.)

“A
LINE
SE
EMS
NOW
TO
BE
”
TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, January 19, 1809, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.

THIRTY
-
NINE
·
A FAREWELL TO ULTIMATE POWER

“C
ONSIDERING
THE
EXTRAORDINARY
CHARACTE
R
”
Annual Message to Congress
,
November 8, 1808, President's Messages, Records of the United States Senate, National Archives.

“T
HE
DISEASED
JA
W
BONE
”
TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, January 10, 1809, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.

“I
AM
ALREADY
SENSIBLE
”
TJ to Charles Thomson, December 25, 1808, Charles Thomson Papers, LOC.

INVENTORIE
D
THE
FURNITURE
TJ to Thomas Claxton, February 19, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

HOW
TO
PAY
HIS
BILLS
JHT,
VI, 3.

A
RGONAUTS
OF
OLD
TJ to John Adams, March 25, 1826. Cappon,
Adams-Jefferson Letters,
614.

“N
ATURE
INTENDED
ME
”
TJ to Pierre-Samuel du Pont de Nemours, March 2, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

H
E
INSPIRE
D
AS
MUCH
DIVISION
Positive verdicts, of course, pleased Jefferson. “It is a common observation that the present is a time of political phenomena,” wrote William Jarvis from Lisbon on February 18, 1809. “The extraordinary events which have occurred within the last thirty years, on both sides of the Atlantic, will without doubt amply justify the assertion: but the United States has been the only country during this period and unhappily for mankind almost any other where the good of the people has been the sole seed of government. In the attainment of this philanthropic object, your administration will perhaps stand unrivalled in the history of the world.” (William Jarvis to TJ, February 18, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.)

“A
FEW
FLEETING
”
Allegany County, Maryland, Citizens to TJ, February 20, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“T
HOU
STRANGE
INCONSISTENT
MAN
!”
William Penn to TJ, February 24, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“Y
OU
HAVE
BROUG
HT
”
“Cassandra” to TJ, February 28, 1809, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“I
SUPPOSE
INDEED
”
TJ to Richard M. Johnson, March 10, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC. Jefferson's recommended books:

Volney's Lessons of history.

Millot's antient history.

Anacharsis

Middleton's life of Cicero.

Gibbon's decline of the Roman empire.

Millot's Modern history.

Russel's history of Modern Europe.

Millot's history of France.

Davila's history of the civil wars of France.

Sully's Memoirs.

The French revolution by Rabaut and La Cretelle.

The Revolution of France by Desodards.

Voltaire's historical works.

Robertson's Charles V.

Historical works of Frederic king of Prussia.

Segur's history of Frederic William II.

Ruthere's History of Poland.

Tooke's life of Catharine II.

Memoires Secrets de la Russie.

Baxter's history of England (this is Hume's text republicanised.)

Ld. Orrery's history of England.

Ld. Bacon's history of Henry VIII.

Macaulay's history.

Ludlow's memoirs.

Anecdotes of the life of Chatham.

Belsham's history and Memoirs.

Robertson's history of Scotland.

Mosheim's Ecclesiastical history

Priestley's corruptions of Christianity. (Ibid.)

“I
BECAME
OF
COURSE
”
Ibid.

“I
N
THE
CHARACTER
OF
M
A
RCUS
A
URELIUS
”
David Bailie Warden to TJ, December 4, 1807, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“W
E
ARE
ALL
POLITICS
”
TJ to Charles L. Bankhead, November 26, 1808, Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society.

“T
HE
C
O
NGRESSIONAL
CAMPAIGN
”
TJ to Levi Lincoln, November 13, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“H
ERE
,
EVERYTHING
IS
”
TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., December 13, 1808, Thomas Jefferson Papers, LOC.

“N
EVER
WILL
IT
BE
”
JHT,
V, 666.

LEFT
THE
P
RESIDENT
'
S
H
OUSE
Ibid.

DEPARTED
THE
MANSION
QUICKLY
Ibid.

THO
UGHT
THE
SETTING
Bowers,
Jefferson in Power,
504–5.

M
RS
. M
ADISON
LOOKED
Margaret Bayard Smith,
First Forty Years,
58.