be remembered by his countrymen-freedom in government, freedom in creed, freedom in intellect. And so he wrote the epitaph which is inscribed upon the shaft that stands above his grave: HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Thomas Jefferson was not perfect. Who of mortals is? We can find flaws in his nature and faults in his character, errors of judgment and inconsistencies of behavior. He was not endowed with a sense of humor, which would have saved him in many a humiliating situation. His passion for humanitarian philosophy and radical democracy blinded him sometimes to the honesty of purpose and character of excellent men who differed from him. He had a congenital and unconquerable aversion to combativeness which his unfavorable critics have usually called "weakness" or "cowardice." At the same time his conviction of the necessity of having the political battles fought kept him urging others to the fray-a policy of indirection which has brought on him the charge of hypocrisy and finesse, of shielding himself behind his agents, and employing his friends as catspaws to pull his hot political chestnuts from the fire. The man of speech who stands up in the battle of debate, giving and taking hard blows, looks a little askance on the man of the pen who carries on his campaign by private letters and quiet interviews, as if he must be engaged in "shady" dealings. And yet a private letter may be as honest as a harangue on the floor of Congress, and an after-dinner conversation as guileless as a campaign speech. The voluminous correspondence of Jefferson is naturally not free from the regrettable expressions in which a man, whose political creed is as sacred to him as a religious faith, pours out his soul to a friend against the wickedness of his adversaries. The Mazzei letter and the Anas would better not have been written. And yet these instances are few. The sixteen thousand letters of Jefferson that have been preserved to us are a precious heritage. They give us the portrait of a man of just mind and spotless honor, a kindly, generous, sagacious, patient man, marvellously gifted, tirelessly active, holding the faith in democracy through good and evil days, persevering and noble in his aims, and all his ends his country's and mankind's. Shortly after noon on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson died peacefully at Monticello, surrounded by an adoring family. Far away to the north, in the little town of Quincy, Massachusetts, another great American patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence lay on his death-bed that same day. John Adams lingered till sunset. The last whispered words of his failing breath were: "Thomas Jefferson still lives." Thomas Jefferson had already passed away from earth, but John Adams's words were true, and will be true so long as men shall strive for peace, fraternity, and freedom. INDEX Adams, Henry, 214, 218, 224, 260, 272 Adams, Herbert B., 307, 309 Adams, Samuel, 13, 44 Albemarle County, 3, 10, 13, 24, Alexander I, 269 Alien Acts, 200 f., 214, 218, 250 Amiens, Treaty of, 229, 263, 272 Articles of Confederation, 98 Bainbridge, Captain, 220 Bank, National, 161 ƒ. Barbary States, 118 f., 273 Bayard, James A., 210 n., 219 Bernard, Governor of Massachu- Blennerhassett, 259 Bonaparte (see Napoleon) Botetourt, Governor of Virginia, Braddock's Defeat, 3 Brissot de Warville, 139 Burgesses, House of, 2 f., 12, 20, Burgoyne, General, 76 Burke, Edmund, 18, 22, 187, 251 Burr, Theodosia, 259 Cabell, J. C., 305 f. Canning, George, 269 ƒ., 275, 288 Committees of Public Safety, 27 n. Concord Bridge, 11, 31 Congress, of the Confederation, 103, Constitution, of the United States, Continental Congress, 22, 26 f., 36 f. Craig, Governor of Canada, 277 "Family Compact," 146 192 f., 198 f., 206, 210, 215 ƒ., Florida (see West Florida) France, aids America, 48 f., 77, 97; Freneau, Philip, 162 f., 211 151 f., 169, 173, 175, 181, 189, Harrison, Benjamin, 34, 43 Harvey, John, 4 Hastings, Warren, 6, 251 Hay, George, 262 Heath, General, 246 Henry, John, 277 Henry, Patrick, 8, 12 f., 15, 17, 21 ƒ., 27, 34, 62 n., 75, 91, 133 Jackson, Andrew, 214, 239, 259, Jay, John, 30, 37, 40, 99, 101, 104, Jefferson, Martha Skelton, 16, 100 Jefferson, Thomas, birth, 2; edu- |