Latest Reading: Thomas Jefferson: Author of America

Last night I finished reading Christopher Hitchen’s biography of Thomas Jefferson: Author of America. I discovered publisher Harper Collins’s Eminent Lives Series. They chose interesting authors to write opinionated, concise biographies of historical figures. Hitchens was one of my favorite thinkers and authors and Thomas Jefferson is one of my heroes, so it was a perfect combination. I admire Thomas Jefferson for his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and his well-rounded life. He was a scientist, farmer, diplomat, and educator. I was inspired to keep a notebook journal and in part, this blog, based on his CommonPlace Book, Jefferson’s journal of his literary and philosophical reading. My big takeaway from Hitchen’s work is that being a politician or leader is a messy business and it was good for me as a mature adult to read about Jefferson’s life and challenges. He really did design America and the ideals of individual rights, secular humanist government, and the ultimate goal of “the pursuit of happiness” were absolutely brilliant and set America apart from other nations. He was a man of his time, and the fact that he was a slave owner does diminish his legacy. The controversy of his relationship with Sally Hemings is covered in the book. She was actually the half-sister of his wife, who tragically passed away.

Below are my highlights from the book.

Thomas Jefferson designed America or authored it through using ideas of the Enlightenment in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution and his numerous private letters and essays.
Jefferson was swept away by the French Revolution and the ideas behind it. He was the Secretary of State and Ambassador to France during that historical time. He was joined by John Adams and Ben Franklin in the summer of 1784 in France. What a diplomatic trio!
Jefferson was proud of founding the University of Virginia, a secular university that promoted independent thinking. It was student-centered long before this came into fashion in schools. He didn’t like the impact of organized religion on the lives of young people and was a proponent of a secular government, free of the establishment of any state religion (First Amendment).
He was the first President to use sanctions and other non-violent measures as an alternative to going to war. In his “Report on American Commerce” he put forward the idea of an America committed to international free trade.
One of his greatest accomplishments was the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the USA. I loved that he went on a “botanizing” trip on the frontier of America when it was expanding westward.
He designed a new kind of plow based on his observations in Europe. He sent horticultural clippings to the brilliant French Consul, Crèvecoeur in New York, comparing notes on everything from potatoes to cedars. He also designed water-cooled vials to transport vaccines.
He remained young and hale for his years and regularly took strenuous exercise on horseback.
In the Marine Corps song, the line “…to the shores of Tripoli” refers to the first time American forces raised the US flag in a foreign port. Jefferson ordered a raid in Libya to stop pirates from attacking American ships and taking sailors as slaves.
Jefferson struggled with the question of states’ rights versus the federal government, as did young America. I think it is a strength of the USA today that we have a good balance between the two and the Union stayed together. It is better to be together with conflicts rather than independent nations like South American (Grand Colombia) or the European Union.
The Logan Act prevents private American citizens from practicing diplomacy without accreditation.
He suffered from migraine attacks intermittently throughout his life.
“The pursuit of happiness” is one of the great phrases that made America distinct.
It was interesting that Jefferson and others always thought Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba would eventually become part of America.
It was not until after Gettysburg that Americans began to say ‘the United States is” rather than “the United States are”.