A Sensitive Study of Thomas Jefferson, a President Who Never Apologized or Admitted Wrongdoing

‘Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History By Andrew Burstein Bloomsbury Publishing, 480 pagesThe subtitle of Andrew Burstein’s consummate biography is a tribute to Fawn Brodie’s “Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History” (1974), which outraged historians and reviewers for its depiction of a passionate man in love with his slave, Sally Hemings. Not until DNA evidence persuaded most historians that Jefferson had fathered children by Hemings did Brodie’s biography seem feasible.Mr. Burstein notes, however, that the nature of Jefferson’s passion remains occluded. Was it romantic? Could Jefferson genuinely love a woman he owned? Given the power dynamics, could she return that love, or simply submit to his desires?Mr. Burstein enlarges the range of possibilities, observing that the silent Sally retained Jefferson “keepsakes which she passed on to her son Madison. These included an inkwell along with a pair of spectacles Jefferson wore. The inkwell presumably symbolized the writing he did in the privacy of his bedchamber, and the spectacles sat upon the eyes that had looked upon her own face. It is hard to dismiss her retention of such items as meaningless and emotionless.”Read to the very end of Mr. Burstein’s learned work to see how he situates himself among Jefferson biographers. He reports that he sought out Brodie’s son for discussion of her biography’s impact on her family, learning that her son thought her work overly Freudian and that Brodie herself considered her biography an alternative but not the alternative, to predecessors who had dismissed the very idea of a Sally Hemings-Thomas Jefferson liaison.Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson and Greta Scacchi as Maria Cosway in ‘Jefferson in Paris,’ 1995. Merchant Ivory ProductionsIn short, Mr. Burstein brings a lifetime of reading and research to a sensitive revaluation of Jefferson, along the way doing much to rehabilitate the reputation of Aaron Burr, who takes his place as one of many Jefferson rivals, including Patrick Henry, that Jefferson unfairly maligned, The evidence of Burr plotting against Jefferson or against the American government is quite flimsy, Mr. Burstein convincingly demonstrates, and Jefferson’s dismissal of Henry as an inconsequential figure, is shown as downright despicable.Jefferson may remind you of another president who never apologized, never admitted he was in the wrong. Jefferson’s penchant for rationalizing his hates puts him among the world class grudge bearers. He tried to influence Burr’s treason trial, accepting the obviously tainted testimony of a malefactor, James Wilkinson, while the presiding judge, John Marshall, staunchly defended the court’s prerogatives that resulted in Burr’s acquittal.Mr. Burstein, however, has not written a debunking biography, and Jefferson, especially in his first term as president, is shown doing much to ameliorate the partisan division of the 1790s between his party of Republicans and the Federalists, headed by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. Hamilton comes off poorly compared to Jefferson If these two rivals did much to foster partisan conflict in the first place, Hamilton, much more than Jefferson, continued to be much more schismatic than his nemesis.As befits an “intimate history,” Mr. Burstein does full justice to the virtually bewitching impact Jefferson had on women and men. Soft spoken and of a tender temperament he also had a remarkable impact on his grandchildren, attending not only to their welfare and the enjoyment of their company, but instilling in them an affection and attachment to his legacy that lasted for many generations ensuring, as well, the good will of most of his biographers.Slavery, of course is an important subject, and Jefferson does not come off well. His professions against the peculiar institution, as it was often called, seem tepid and out of line with his philosopher friends like Condorcet, a champion not only of abolition but of women’s rights, a subject that even in his time made Jefferson seem retrograde to his Enlightenment contemporaries, if still in the good company of his fellow patriarchs.Mr. Burstein’s fresh treatment of other principals in Jefferson’s life is especially welcome. I don’t think I’ve ever read a better short description of the second president: “One thing to be said about John Adams is that he did not disguise who he was at any point in his public career. He did not even try.”Mr. Burstein has produced an indispensable biography: noteworthy not only for what he has to say about Jefferson, but also about how others have said it and contributed to the biographer’s own mastery of the subject.Mr. Rollyson’s book, “Making the American Presidency: How Biographers Shape History” will be published on Presidents’ Day 2027.

A Sensitive Study of Thomas Jefferson, a President Who Never Apologized or Admitted Wrongdoing

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