However I got sidetracked by my antipathy for Thomas Jefferson. I tried three different biographies of Jefferson, and I watched the first episodes of Ken Burns’ documentary of Jefferson, but I never could make myself want to spend that much time with Mr. Jefferson. I know he has redeeming qualities; he wrote the Declaration of Independence, for Pete’s sake, a literary and governmental masterpiece if ever there was one. And he didn’t do such a bad job as president.
But I just don’t trust the guy. With John Adams, and even with the reserved Mr. Washington, you knew where you stood. Jefferson comes across as a back-stabber and a hypocrite. I’m glad he and John Adams mended their friendship at the end of their lives, but I never felt Jefferson’s heart was in the relationship.
SO, I’m going to skip Jefferson and read this book that I found at the library: A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor. I know that Madison was Jefferson’s protege, but somehow I think I’ll like Mr. Madison better. Or maybe at least I’ll enjoy getting to know Mrs. Madison.
4 thoughts on “U.S. Presidents Reading Project: Derailed by Jefferson”
Huh! That’s interesting. I’ve not read anything about Jefferson but now you have me really curious!
His weaknesses aside, I’ve always liked Jefferson. He was a visionary, and he wasn’t afraid to try anything that tickled his fancy. But he could be extremely inconsistent, and I think part of the reason for this is that there was so much going on in his head he would make a theory public before it was fully developed in his mind (and then have to go back and sort it out later on, once he had already shared it). Madison, he was not. But Jefferson was definitely dynamic and fascinating.
I can’t say I know a great deal about Jefferson, but I always liked Adams and sided with him in their disagreement.
But I must say he had a swell house down there in Monticello. Very cool….
I can understand your issues with Jefferson. I have plenty of them myself. I don’t think he was much of a bakcstabber so much as he keep his cards very close to his chest and he was wild in some of his ideas. Madison was a voice of reason that brought common sense into Jefferson’s philosophy. In fact, I would make the point that there is nothing that Madison learned from Jefferson that would make him a protege of the third president. So much of the philosophy they shared they shared before their relationship became close. I would say that George Mason was a better protege of Madison.
But I just don’t trust the guy. With John Adams, and even with the reserved Mr. Washington, you knew where you stood. Jefferson comes across as a back-stabber and a hypocrite. I’m glad he and John Adams mended their friendship at the end of their lives, but I never felt Jefferson’s heart was in the relationship.
Huh! That’s interesting. I’ve not read anything about Jefferson but now you have me really curious!
His weaknesses aside, I’ve always liked Jefferson. He was a visionary, and he wasn’t afraid to try anything that tickled his fancy. But he could be extremely inconsistent, and I think part of the reason for this is that there was so much going on in his head he would make a theory public before it was fully developed in his mind (and then have to go back and sort it out later on, once he had already shared it). Madison, he was not. But Jefferson was definitely dynamic and fascinating.
I can’t say I know a great deal about Jefferson, but I always liked Adams and sided with him in their disagreement.
But I must say he had a swell house down there in Monticello. Very cool….
I can understand your issues with Jefferson. I have plenty of them myself. I don’t think he was much of a bakcstabber so much as he keep his cards very close to his chest and he was wild in some of his ideas. Madison was a voice of reason that brought common sense into Jefferson’s philosophy. In fact, I would make the point that there is nothing that Madison learned from Jefferson that would make him a protege of the third president. So much of the philosophy they shared they shared before their relationship became close. I would say that George Mason was a better protege of Madison.