The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-28
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL

onies had he been in this country while it's
adoption was pending. He was a man OF
many inconsistencies but these he ac-
knowledged by saying that ga man must
sometimes be inconsistent if he is sincere"
Before he was President and while he
was building up his party, he was an ultra
States rights man. going so far in that di-
rection as to write the notification resolu-
tons adopted by the Kentucky Legislature
in 1898, and the seeds Of the notification
movement in South Carolina years after.
When he became President he confessed
that he went outside the Constitution in
the negotiation of the Louisiana purchase.
Protesting an ardent attachment to Wash
ington, while he was Washington's secre-
tary Of state. he employed a scurrilous
writer as a clerk to assail Hamilton, the
administration and even Washington him
self.
Jefferson's was a most remarkable intel
lect; it never rested, but worked inces-
sanity, and the result is treatises on poll
tics, morals, agriculture. architecture and
whatever attracted his attention for the
hour. Always with pen in hand. he wrote
the impressions of the hour regardless of
what he had previously put on record, pro-
ceeding on the maxim that "a wise man
often changes his mind-a fool never" The
result is that in many controversies Jeffer-
son is now quoted to sustain both sides.
Mr.. Curtis gives some interesting state
ments concerning the contest in the House
when there was a tie between him and
Burr for the presidency. In his journal he
states that Federalists came to him with
tenders of votes TO secure his election If
he would intimate that he would not de-
pose the Federalists holding office. He also
notes rumors that Burr's friends attempted
to secure Federalist support by promises
of official favors, thus showing that in
'the earlier and better lays of the Re-
public" patronage was as precious in the
eyes of political men as now. 1t will do no
good. but Mr.. Curtis explodes the popular
story. so often told to sustain Democratic
simplicity, that Jefferson, when first in
augurated, rode to the capital unattended,
hitched his horse to the fence and went in
to take the oath Of office. This story was
told to a credulous Englishman as a joke,
but he took it as the truth and sent 1t to
an English paper. He offended foreign min
listers by receiving them in slippers and
dressing gown. and made no provision for
the seating of guests, according to rank, at
his state dinners. but permitted those in
vited to find seats if they could.
Beyond the Louisiana purchase, Jeffer-
son did nothing to make his administration
remarkable. He feared war and a public
debt. He would not build up a navy or per-
nit Americans to defend themselves on the
sea. To avert war, he enforced his en-
barge act and ruined the merchant marine.
When he was confronted with war with
France and Spain, he decided upon two
policies, one public, to satisfy the warlike
spirit Of the people, and the other secret,
by which be expected to reconcile his foes.
Therefore, he wrote two messages to Con-
gress and framed two replies. which he
wished Congress to return to him. One
pledged the lives and fortunes of the Amer
lean people TO protect their rights; the 9TH
er authorized the President to purchase
peace at any price. The insults of England
and France were ignored, and he left to his
successor conditions which led 20 war. He
retired from office feeling that the people
had not appreciated him. His estate was
bankrupt, and to raise the mortgages he
asked the Virginia Legislature to authorize
him to establish a lottery. Refusing this,
he asked it to give him $4,000, basing the
claim on his public service. which it also
declined to do.
Jefferson, like most genuises, was a
character OF contradictions. He proclaimed
the wisest theories and the noblest senti-
ments; on the other hand he was an in
triguer. His public works viii always be
read will profit because of their wisdom
and exalted sentiments; yet his official
diary, called "Anas,' is a monument Of
human malice, doing more to harm his rep
utation than all the assaults of his foes.
There can be no difference of opinion as to
the honest purpose and patriotism Of
Washington, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln
and Grant, but so crowded with contradict
tons was the life and the writings of JEFF
ferson that to this day friends praise and
foes assail, and the reader is in grave doubt
at times, even if he comes to the conclu-
sion finally that if often inconsistent, he
was sincere and honest in his purpose TO
establish a government of the people in the
United States.