Having just attained his thirteenth (or eleventh) birthday, he found himself confined to a bed on the second floor of a small two-story house on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, gripped by a violent fever now in its second week.[1] Next to him was his mother, who had been the first to come down […]
This month, we asked our contributors to consider the many changes of fortune that occurred over the tumultuous four decades that transformed thirteen British colonies into the nascent United States: What was the best strategic defeat, whether political or military, of the American Revolution and the founding era (roughly 1765 thru 1805)? That is, what […]
The charge was leveled often in his own time, as it has been ever since: James Madison is and was a hypocrite—a man inconstant in principles; “a mind mired in confusion and inconsistency, or perhaps even one suffering from schizophrenia or tainted by dishonesty.”[1] This judgment is only a recitation of the verdict first rendered […]
Thomas Jefferson, that American Sphinx,[1] is perhaps Alexander Hamilton’s only rival within the high pantheon of the founding generation for enigma. Hamilton’s character recalls Giambologna’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, a spiraling marble Renaissance masterpiece resident in Florence’s Piazza Signoria, featuring three intertwined figures that can only be captured conclusively from a host of vantage […]
The characters and contributions of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton are collectively sketched by historian Richard B. Morris in, Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries. Amid descriptions of Hamilton’s grandiose ambitions, Washington’s sullen stiffness, Adams’s humble origins, and Franklin’s protean diplomacy, […]
As Tidewater lands played out, exhausted from repeated tobacco plantings, or were encumbered by inheritance, the established church moved with young planters like Peter Jefferson into the Piedmont. One hundred thirty miles from the colonial capital Williamsburg and “planted close under the southwest mountains,” James Maury preached the gospel of the Church of England in […]
It was a mountaintop idyll; a luxuriant bath in the affirming glow of acclaim; a sunset valediction. Or so it was to Saul K. Padover, who described the retired Thomas Jefferson as “that most rare of human species, a balanced and harmonious man capable of viewing the world with detached compassion and serene wisdom.” Cushioned […]
Book review: Thomas Jefferson—Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America by Kevin R. C. Gutzman (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Few of the nation’s founding figures are as debated and controversial as Thomas Jefferson, the early American political figure chiefly remembered for penning the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase. In Thomas […]
Upon the announcement of the convening of the Estates-General in 1789, Thomas Jefferson, then the Minister to France, wrote to James Madison with optimism for the proceedings. In an observation that proved far from prescient, he told his friend on the eve of the country’s impending revolution, “France will be quiet this year.”[1] The subsequent […]
Book review: “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs:” Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of Imagination by Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016). [BUY NOW ON AMAZON] Since the death of one of the Revolution’s foremost patriots and author of the Declaration of Independence, Americans have grappled with Thomas Jefferson’s legacy. Undoubtedly one […]
For a high ranking British official about to be captured by Rebel forces, it was an ominous portent of future treatment. Surrounded at the frontier outpost of Fort Sackville on the Wabash River, Detroit Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton received a less than cordial demand for surrender on the morning of February 24, 1779. In an […]
Thomas Jefferson is said to have quipped that, “Good wine is a necessity of life for me.”[1] It was more than his beverage of choice though. Based on a foundation of love and a refined expertise, wine consciously assumed other diverse functions for him. Among these, it was an inviting target for scientific inquiry and […]
As a young man studying law in Williamsburg, Thomas Jefferson was admittedly shy and tongue tied around members of the opposite sex. One of his first serious girlfriends as a college kid was a Yorktown heiress named Rebecca Lewis Burwell (Tom called her “Belinda” for some reason). Jefferson spent most of 1763 swept off his […]
When people think about Thomas Jefferson, they think of a founding father, an advocate of liberty, and an American Patriot. But what people don’t normally think about is Thomas Jefferson’s scientific mind. Jefferson was a man who explored anything and everything that attracted his interest. He took it upon himself to value knowledge above almost […]
Most of us learned the song “Yankee Doodle Dandy” as schoolchildren, and many of us puzzled over the reference to macaroni in its lyrics. How could one confuse a feather for pasta, and did they even have macaroni back then? The short answer is, “yes,” but short answers are rarely as interesting as long ones. […]
In traveling upriver on his raid to Richmond in early January 1781, General Benedict Arnold disembarked his army at Westover on the James River where they confiscated enough horses for the advance party and set up camp. Westover was actually a large plantation owned by Mary Willing Byrd. She was the widow of William Byrd […]
One of the best ways to get a visceral sense of what life in the Revolutionary Era was like is to eat the foods that they ate. Of course, there are challenges in this endeavor, not the least of which are changes in ingredient availability, cooking technology, labor availability and the overall culture of food. […]
Myth: Thomas Jefferson found the ideas for the Declaration of Independence “from deep within himself.” (Joseph Ellis, American Sphinx.) Busted: Not according to Jefferson. The “the object of the Declaration of Independence,” he wrote, was “not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had […]
Because the heat was oppressive, and perhaps because the dinner and drink sat heavy in his gut, John Jouett Jr. curled up beneath the great elm in the yard at Cuckoo Tavern to catch a few winks.[1] Despite the revelry droning on in the background, “Jack,” as his friends called him, was soon fast asleep. […]
Colonial Americans loved their rum – and their port, and their Madeira, and their beer. Many of them were confident that alcohol could cure the sick and make life ever more cheerful, being used as both a beverage and, in moderation, a medicine. Even the father of our country, George Washington, owned a distillery at […]
