I finally decided to write about my reading of the third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson.
Biases revealed.
I have to say, his story really caught me off guard. I had been primed with the perspectives of George Washington and John Adams from not only their biographies but also from the HBO mini series of John Adams, where they were on the opposite side of the political party system as Jefferson. I came into reading his biography with the impression that he was a French-loving, silent manipulator, what I found was reflection of my own personality.
Thomas Jefferson was a strong advocate of the people, he thought the people should have supreme power and government needed to be as far as possible from resembling British monarchy, otherwise, it leaves the door open for greedy individuals inch closer to consuming more and more power until the entire experiment of democracy collapses. This extreme stance contrasted with Washington and Adams in that they put their faith in the invention of the constitution to hold the balance of power.
Where the biases came from was from reading about Jefferson from Washington and Adams, who opposed his political stance, and what I discovered about the perspective of a silent manipulator was that was the an exposed section of a contradiction in his personality where he desired to make change, but could not get himself to clash with people if they directly opposed it.
Consistency within inconsistency.
In my post on George Washington (https://grantxstorer.com/2014/04/washington-a-life/) I talked about the duality of motives held in the hand of George Washington, where he balanced vanity with humility; here, I found how Thomas Jefferson balanced philosophy with politics.
Thomas Jefferson seems like a walking contradiction: He wanted to be great, but took criticism straight to his heart. He was a towering leader, but resisted standing up to make a proclamation. He was meticulous about measuring his every action, but yet always overspent his budget. He was a powerful communicator, but wrote instead of spoke whenever possible. He was a philospher, but also a politician.
While this does sound like a person who has no foundation, I think the last contradiction explains all the others. Thomas Jefferson was equally powerful in his ability to think, as well as his ability to take action. His ability to think gave him the foundation to build a strategy in life, while his ability to take action made him not remain solely in his own head. The contradictions are something I think we all have; our personalities aren’t static. But since he relied so much on thinking, he was very aware of these contradictions, and he manuvered a balance between them to keep him moving forward despite these inner obstacles. He knew he didn’t speak as well as he wrote, so he put himself in positions where his writing would shine. He knew that while his pain from criticism made him contemplate leaving, he would then rely on his desire for greatness to shut out the pain. He lived with these contradictions, rather than ignored them.
I personally find this very comforting, because when I look at my own life and can relate to these contrasting emotions within myself and I thought that was a sign of weakness and that I was alone with them. But if one of the founding fathers of America can be paralyzing insecure while also being unrelentingly ambitious, and another can cover his own vanity with sincere humility, then I can probably live with my own contradictions and turn it into a wonderful blend for my own personal success.
We view people from a two-dimensional perspective, and we can’t see what people think and say behind closed doors. But we live in a three-dimensional world and we can be both confident and insecure; we can be caring and cold. In some way, we are all hypocrates (sorry). The key is knowing where the fine line that is in within all of us and leverage those contradictions so that they are used appropriately.
Favorite Quote: “He was not intellectually consistent, but a consistent theme did run through his politics and statecraft: He would do what it took, within reason, to arrange the world as he wanted it to be.”
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Other quotes:
“America has always been torn between the ideal and the real, between noble goals and inevitable compromises.”
“He won’t throw away anything he learns worth knowing.”
“More than any of the other early presidents– more than Washington, more than Adams– Jefferson believed in the possibilities of humanity. He dreamed big but understood that dreams become reality only when their champions are strong enough and wily enough to bend history to their purposes. Broadly put, philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.”
“‘It is a charming thing to be loved by everybody,’ he(Jefferson) told his grandchildren, ‘and the way to obtain it is, never to quarrel or be angry with anybody.’ He hated arguing face-to-face, preferring to smooth out the rough edges of conversation, leading some people to believe Jefferson agreed with them when, in fact, he was seeking to avoid conflict. He paid a price for this obsession with congeniality among those who mistook his reticence for duplicity.”
“For Jefferson laziness was a sin. ‘Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes it with so silent, yet so baneful, a tooth, as indolence,’ he told one of his daughters. Time spent at study was never wasted.’knowledge,’ Jefferson said, ‘indeed is a desirable, a lovely possession.'”
“Jefferson believed history was ‘philosophy teaching by examples.’ History, then, mattered enormously, for it could repeat itself at any time in any generation. And if that history brought tyranny, it was to be fought at all costs.”
“As much as Jefferson loved France, residence abroad gave him a greater appreciation for his own nation. ‘My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessing they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy,’ Jefferson wrote Monroe. ‘I confess I had no idea of it myself.'”
“Tension he found between the virtues and vices of European culture and politics. He was a tireless advocate for things American while abroad, and a promoter of things European while at home. Moving between the two worlds, translating the best of the old to the new and explaining the benefits of the new to the old, he created a role for himself as both intermediary and arbiter.”
“He was trapped in a familiar paradox. Devoted to the stage and anxious for applause, Jefferson feared failure and disapproval. In times of trial and hours of public attack, he could eloquently articulate his longing for retirement from politics. Yet what repelled him about public life was of a piece with what drew him to it. He longed to be great, and felt greatly. His will to serve and sacrifice was as ferocious as the anguish he experienced when those whom he was sacrificing found him wanting. One might think that a man who so hated criticism and censures would indeed withdraw from the scene of affairs and live out his days relatively safe from conversational and political condemnation. Such a withdrawal, however,would have been unnatural for Jefferson. A denial of his essential character, a character at once human and heroic. He was both an unflinching political warrior and an easily wounded soul. He would always be.”
“Things were neat only in theory. And despite his love of ideas and image of himself, Thomas Jefferson was as much a man of action as was a of theory.”
“It was easy to speak theoretically and idealistically about politics when seeking power. The demands of exercising it once it is won, however, are so complex and fluid that ideological certitude is often among the first casualties of actual governing.”
“A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life:
1. Never put off till tomorrow what you could do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.
4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.
6. We never repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain have costs us the evils which have never happened.
9. Take things always by their smooth handle.
10. When angry, count to ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.”
“When people carelessly or snobbishly deride political parties, they overlook the fact that the party system of Government is one of the greatest methods of unification and of teaching people to think in common terms of our civilization.”
—Grant X.
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Currently reading:
“Thinking For a Change” -John C. Maxwell
“Wild At Heart” – John Eldredge
Life verse: “But a generous man devises generous things and by his generosity he will stand.” -Isaiah 32:8
Life Mission Statement: To be intentionally focused on providing opportunity and adding value to others.
