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As this volume opens, partisan politics in the United States are building to a crescendo with the approach of the presidential election. Working for a Republican victory, Jefferson consults frequently with Madison, Monroe, and others to achieve favorable results in state elections. He corresponds with controversial journalist James T. Callender. Sifting information from published rumors and private letters, he follows events in Europe, including Bonaparte's unexpected rise to power in France, and sees the value of his tobacco crop plummet as U.S. legislation cuts off the French market. Jefferson grows concerned at Federalist promotion of English common law in American jurisprudence and at proceedings in the Senate against William Duane, printer of the Philadelphia Aurora. Drawing heavily on British legislative practice, however, as well as advice from Virginia, he begins in earnest to compile a manual of parliamentary procedures for the Senate. As president of the American Philosophical Society, Jefferson calls for reform of the United States census. He publishes an appendix to Notes on the State of Virginia defending his account of the Mingo Indian Logan's legendary 1774 speech. And Jefferson consults Joseph Priestley and Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours about the curriculum for a projected new university in Virginia. While continuing the reconstruction of Monticello, he mourns the death of the infant girl of his younger daughter, Mary Jefferson Eppes.
"The Papers of Thomas Jefferson is a projected 60-volume series containing not only the 18,000 letters written by Jefferson but also, in full or in summary, the more than 25,000 letters written to him. Including documents of historical significance as well as private notes not closely examined until their publication in the Papers, this series is an unmatched source of scholarship on the nation's third president"--Publisher's description.
During the thirteen months covered by this volume, Thomas Jefferson spent more than half of his time in Philadelphia serving as vice president under President John Adams and presiding over a Senate that was dominated by his political opponents, the Federalists. Debates in Congress took place against a backdrop of bitter partisan rivalry, characterized most famously by the near-brawl on the floor of the House between Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold. Congress and the nation waited, in a "state of extraordinary suspense," for dispatches from the American envoys in France. When the accounts of the XYZ Affair became public, the nation prepared for war. Two days after the Alien Friends Act was signed into law Jefferson left for Monticello, stopping at Montpelier to convey the latest news to James Madison. Disheartened and frustrated by the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson penned the famous resolutions adopted in November by the Kentucky legislature. He kept his authorship a secret, however, seeking to avoid any appearance of "rashness" by Republicans. This endeavor reflected his struggle to make sense of the political direction of the nation in times he could neither comprehend nor accept. Jefferson continued to engage in scientific pursuits and fulfill his role as a promoter of American science and learning. He was reelected to the presidency of the American Philosophical Society, to which he presented his paper on the moldboard plow. He corresponded on American Indian languages, astronomy, and the Anglo-Saxon language. He longed for Monticello, and, as Jefferson had learned before, his property fell into neglect when he was away on public business. Renovations to the house slowed, supplies for the nailery were disrupted, and he had to arrange for the sale of his crops through intermediaries. With the prices of wheat low, he was drawn back into financial dependence on tobacco.
"I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all?" Jefferson muses in this volume. His answer: "I do not know that it is." Required by custom to be "entirely passive" during the presidential campaign, Jefferson, at Monticello during the summer of 1800, refrains from answering attacks on his character, responds privately to Benjamin Rush's queries about religion, and learns of rumors of his own death. Yet he is in good health, harvests a bountiful wheat crop, and maintains his belief that the American people will shake off the Federalist thrall. He counsels James Monroe, the governor of Virginia, on the mixture of leniency and firmness to be shown in the wake of the aborted revolt of slaves led by the blacksmith Gabriel. Arriving in Washington in November, Jefferson reports that the election "is the only thing of which any thing is said here." He is aware of Alexander Hamilton's efforts to undermine John Adams, and of desires by some Federalists to give interim executive powers to a president pro tem of the Senate. But the Republicans have made no provision to prevent the tie of electoral votes between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Jefferson calls Burr's conduct "honorable & decisive" before prospects of intrigue arise as the nation awaits the decision of the House of Representatives. As the volume closes, the election is still unresolved after six long days of balloting by the House.
"The Papers of Thomas Jefferson is a projected 60-volume series containing not only the 18,000 letters written by Jefferson but also, in full or in summary, the more than 25,000 letters written to him. Including documents of historical significance as well as private notes not closely examined until their publication in the Papers, this series is an unmatched source of scholarship on the nation's third president"--