"
Nobody would claim today that Thomas Jefferson's statement of the
sentiments and reasons for the independence of the thirteen
British colonies in 1776 was an adequate handbook of political
wisdom, fit for all the exigencies of contemporary American
democracy. It is not that. It is simply, in Lincoln's phrase, one
of "the standard maxims of free society" which no democracy can
safely disregard.
Jefferson's long life, so varied, so flexible, so responsive to
the touch of popular forces, illustrates the process by which the
Virginia mind of 1743 became the nationalized, unionized mind of
1826. It is needless here to dwell upon the traits of his
personal character: his sweetness of spirit, his
stout-heartedness in disaster, his scorn of money, his love for
the intellectual life. "I have no ambition to govern men," he
wrote to Edward Rutledge. He was far happier talking about Greek
and Anglo-Saxon with Daniel Webster before the fire-place of
Monticello than he ever was in the presidential chair. His
correspondence was enormous.
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