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= The Last Years of Thomas Jefferson 1820-1826 = Wisdom comes with age for most people, and Thomas Jefferson was no different. Some of Jefferson’s most profound statements were made in his later years of life.

When we are young, intentional or not, we tend to be hasty in our generalizations. In some cases, young people may jump the gun and speak before they have thought about the effects of their words. Jefferson was also susceptible to this. However, most often as people reach a certain age they become reserved and quiet, only speaking when necessary. This restraint allows them to think and meditate on their ideas and views.

Some ideas that they might have been strongly against in their youth, change as they gain more experiences in life. While a newly founded country needs those flamboyant and charismatic youths, an established country needs someone who is reserved and can take themselves away from the argument for a more objective view.

Jefferson, in the 1820s, was that man. He had lived a long life, traveled and experienced things most men have not even begun to imagine. He was the ambassador to France in the 1780s under the Articles of Confederation and was corresponded with those at this time back home who worked at delegates at the Constitutional Convention, especially his friend and fellow Virginian James Madison.

Jefferson fought hard for his beliefs as Secretary of State for Washington and cemented himself as a leading man among the Democratic - Republican Party. He led the nation as President and settled the West. His reputation and legacy was like that of no other.

By 1820, Jefferson could look back on his experiences and the moments in his life where he triumphed, failed, and learned from his victories and mistakes. He was an old wise man who did not have any political motives or voters to please. He only had himself and a country that he loved and wanted to see become a better nation.

Many events were happening during the early 1820's. The country was moving into becoming a world power. Old parties were dissolving and new ones rising from their ashes. The Missouri compromise has just been passed in congress in 1820 but with fierce opposition. There were many newly emerging powers in Washington DC. Men like Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay were beginning to make a name for themselves. Seeing what Jefferson thought about all these issues allowed us to have a founders view on the current events of the nation. Not just a founder’s view, but a wise man’s view who had been through the ringer a time or two.

Jefferson's wanting to leave the Political game
Near the end of his life, Jefferson said multiple times in letters to his friends and colleagues that he wanted to be out of the political game.

In his letter to Francis Eppes, Jefferson explained, “You have asked my opinion of these persons, and, to you, I have given it freely. But, remember, that I am old, that I wish not to make new enemies, nor to give offence to those who would consider a difference of opinion as sufficient ground for unfriendly dispositions.”[1] This showed Jefferson did not want to step on any toes or upset anyone by his views.

Another example that we can draw from was in his letter to Archibald Thweat. Jefferson said,” I am sensible of my incompetence. For first, I know little about them, having long with drawn my attention from public affairs, and resigned myself with folded arms to the care of those who are to care for us all.”[2] Here he explained that he was not following the current events of the day.

However, knowing Jefferson, we can rightly assume that this was false. Jefferson would not allow himself to be unaware of the effects that were happening to his beloved country.

Views on the Judiciary Branch
In Jefferson’s last years, the major problem he had with the government was the overarching power of the Judiciary Branch.

He explained, “The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary”[3]. During this time, the Judiciary Branch under John Marshall had immense power in the government and the desire to gain more was not going to end. Jefferson was extremely critical of the Judiciary. He revealed in his letter to Charles Hammond, “It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression, that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body, working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little to-day and a little to-morrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one.”[4]

Throughout the 1820’s, he repeatedly attacked the Judiciary Branch. Jefferson was afraid that the courts would gain too much power for the federal government and leave the States helpless in defense against them. The good thing about Jefferson was that he had seen this happen before in his lifetime and was able draw on that experience.

He disclosed, “I fear, dear Sir, we are now in such another crisis, with this difference only that the judiciary branch is alone and single-handed in the present assaults on the Constitution. But its assaults are more sure and deadly, as from an agent seemingly passive and unassuming. May you and your cotemporaries meet them with the same determination and effect, as your father and his did the alien and sedition laws, and preserve inviolate a Constitution, which, cherished in all its chastity and purity, will prove in the end a blessing to all the nations of the earth”[5].

Missouri Compromise of 1820
Jefferson, like many founding fathers, was a slave holder. Owing slaves was a major topic in the early 1820's. Just a couple decades later the debate morphed into a civil war.

One such cause of the civil war was the Missouri Crisis. Even Jefferson was afraid that this debate would be a major challenge for the country. He disclosed, “A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.”[6] Jefferson believed that a line drawn in the sand establishing what part of the country could own slaves would just create not only a physical divide but also a philosophical divide.

He believed that the Federalist Party was trying to create that divide to grow supports for themselves. Jefferson noted, “The Federalists completely put down, and despairing of ever rising again under the old division of Whig and tory, devised a new one, of slave-holding, & non-slave-holding states, which, while it had a semblance of being Moral, was at the same time Geographical, and calculated to give them ascendancy by debauching their old opponents to a coalition with them.”[7]

However, Jefferson did believe Slavery expanding across the country would improve the likelihood of emancipation. He said, “Of one thing I am certain, that as the passage of slaves from one State to another, would not make a slave of a single human being who would not be so without it, so their diffusion over a greater surface would make them individually happier, and proportionally facilitate the accomplishment of their emancipation, by dividing the burthen on a greater number of coadjutors.”[8]

Jefferson even predicted the Southern states to succeed and noted “Should the Representative propose force, 1. the Senate will not concur. 2. were they to concur, there would be a secession of the members South of the line, & probably of the three North Western states, who, however inclined to the other side, would scarcely separate from those who would hold the Misisipi from it's mouth to it's source”[9]. This again showed the wisdom of Jefferson.

Jefferson's view of Andrew Jackson
During this time period, many new faces made an appearance in the political game. One such person was Andrew Jackson.

Jackson had been a general during the War of 1812 and fought the Indians. He also served in the Senate while Jefferson was president. Jackson was a very controversial figure in American history. Either you liked him or hated him. Jackson was very important during this time period. Just a few short years after Jefferson’s death, Jackson would become President in 1826.

Jefferson allowed us to have a founder’s view of this controversial figure. He revealed in an interview with Daniel Webster, “I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson President. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for such a place. He has had very little respect for laws and constitutions, and is, in fact, an able military chief. His passions are terrible. When I was President of the Senate, he was Senator; and he could never speak on account of the rashness of his feelings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, and as often choke with rage. His passions are, no doubt, cooler now; he has been much tried since I knew him, but he is a dangerous man”[10].

A man that had lived and experienced things such as Jefferson would have gained the ability to read and judge a man. So calling Jackson a “dangerous man” was not far from the truth. Jefferson did allow the complement that Jackson was a brilliant military leader and strategist, but not all military minds can lead a country. Alan Crawford wrote, “However engaging Jackson may have been, this upstart also represented much that Jefferson distrusted in American political life and opposed: the consolidation of authority in the executive branch of government and a visceral desire for power itself, unrestrained by reason or by law. Jefferson had been committed to fighting against such despotism all his public life”[11]. This revealed the fundamental difference between Jefferson and Jackson, something Jefferson would never look past.

Views on the Federal Government
In the last decade, Jefferson was alive. He became a very serious critic of the federal government.

He felt the government was going further and further away from a republic and more to a democracy. He saw the power of the people diminishing and the power of the government growing with nothing to stop it. Crawford disclosed, “Jefferson had come to agree with Benjamin Rush’s view that America was fast becoming a republic in name only, where power may have been derived from the people, but where they possessed it only on the days of their elections. After that it is the property of their rulers”[12].

However, wise ole’ Jefferson had a plan to remedy this. “He wished to restructure American government so that all powers, except those that could be exercised only at the higher levels, were to remain at the Fundamental unit called “wards” or “ward republics”[13] noted Crawford. There would be thousands of these wards throughout the country. Locally governed and operated, “the wards would become the most important units in the entire federal system”[14]. Also in line with the existing constitution, “the wards, the counties, the states, and the union of states would from a “gradation of authorities,” establishing a “system of fundamental balances and checks,” preventing power from being consolidated at ever higher levels”[15]. This was Jefferson last major idea of how to fix the government.

One more idea he had, “the wards would be entrusted with what was ultimately most vital to the survival of the republic itself: the education of children”[16]. Jefferson was a major supporter of teaching the virtues of becoming a good citizen in the republic. He believed that in order to establish a strong and prosperous country its leaders had to be virtuous. He saw his idea as the last hope for the republic. However, many scholars today are at odds with Jefferson’s idea. No one really knows whether it would have amended the nation because it was never implemented. One thing is for certain, even in those last years, Jefferson worked until his last breath to help our nation.

[1] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson to Francis Epps 1821

[2] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Thweat 1821

[3] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Judge Spencer Roane 1821

[4] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Charles Hammond 1821

[5] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Joseph Cabell Breckinridge 1821

[6] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to John Holmes 1820

[7] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Albert Gallatin 1820

[8] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to John Holmes 1820

[9] The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, to Albert Gallatin 1820

[10]The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, 1900

[11] Twilight at Monticello, 2008

[12] Twilight at Monticello, 2008

[13] Twilight at Monticello, 2008

[14] Twilight at Monticello, 2008

[15] Twilight at Monticello, 2008

[16] Twilight at Monticello, 2008