Page 14 - Stuart Exposure - October '20

Page 14, Stuart Exposure

Book revieW

Friends Divided: John Adams on our 25-cent coin and $2 bill, and no like honor for Adams. state, John Marshall, as chief

The greatest, most meaningful difference between these two
And Thomas Jefferson great men is one that was new to me until I read it here: their justice of the United States.
Because Adams signed the
surprisingly opposing views about the form of government that commissions of many of these
A Book So Brilliant, So Revealing, So should be established for the new United States of America – a appointments shortly before
Shockingly Relevant To Our Nation’s disagreement so profound that it would ultimately shake a deeply Jefferson’s inauguration,
Current State Of Affairs. held friendship to the point where neither spoke nor corresponded the infuriated Republicans
with the other for a period of 11 years! exaggeratedly labeled them
By Nils A. Shapiro Because Adams had been through “the school of hard knocks” ‘midnight appointments’
They could not have been on his way to a successful career, to him it was “‘the few, the rich, and vowed to repudiate the
more unalike. the well-born, and the able,’ who, with their heightened sense of Judiciary Act as soon as
Thomas Jefferson, who avarice and ambition, were the social order most dangerous to possible.”
had been born in 1743, was liberty and the stability of the society.” He felt that if there was After more than a decade
handsome, gentle in demeanor, only one House of Congress in the new federal government, this of cold silence between
soft-spoken, courtly of manner, class of men would dominate the people’s other representatives Jefferson and Adams, at the urging of their mutual friend, Dr.
born to wealth – an aristocrat made up of the common men. Therefore, he was convinced that Benjamin Rush, finally, after the two former presidents had retired
by nature who, already a the former be separated into a second House called the Senate... from public life they began a long series of correspondence,
Virginia slave-owner, married and, just as a scale needs a hand to hold the two ends in balance, though they never again met in person.
into one of its largest slave- a third branch of government – who would later be named a Other histories have made clear the important role that Abigail
holding families – yet to his president – would be elected as an objective, honest representative Adams played in her husband’s life. The author here underscores
core believed in the basic goodness and equality of all men, of the people to mediate between the two Houses. Finally, a that, pointing out many hundreds of letters that she and John
and treated his own slaves well as measured by the standards judiciary branch would be assigned to interpret the laws wisely Adams wrote to each other during the many years they were
of the time. He became an attorney, wrote the Virginia State and fairly. apart while he served in the Continental Congress, and again,
Constitution and had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge: “He As it later developed, Adams so feared the natural ambitious before the French Revolution, when he was assigned to France
was interested in more things and knew more about more things inclinations of the aristocratic Senate members to seek glory, and England to arrange treaties, before he was finally able to send
than any other American ... He amassed nearly seven thousand fame and wealth, that he began to lean toward a stronger, almost for her. Abigail completely captivated Jefferson, who adored
books and consulted them constantly; he wanted both his library monarchial presidency when it came time to elect a successor to her and found her to be wise, charming, a wonderful manager
and his mind to embrace virtually all of human knowledge, and he George Washington. For Jefferson, who believed in the inherent of her household, and a perfect wife and mother. It was she who
came as close to that embrace as an eighteenth-century American goodness of the common man – and who had lived too long under convinced Jefferson – when he was assigned to join them in
could. Every aspect of natural history and science fascinated him. a monarch, from whom his new nation had recently declared its France – to send for his young daughter, Polly, so she could be
“He knew about flowers, plants, birds, and animals, and independence – the idea of such a presidency was heresy ... and close to her father. She arrived with her maid, the slave Sally
had a passion for all facets of agriculture. He had a fascination the first step towards the breakup of their longstanding friendship. Hemings.
for meteorology, archaeology, and the origins of the American But there is so much more, including the enormous influence One day, at the Adamses’ home in France, Jefferson remarked
Indians. He loved mathematics and sought to apply mathematical of the French Revolution on the political scene in the young that he had seen a small statue of Venus while shopping and
principles to almost everything ... He was an inveterate tinkerer America. Adams was so committed to the other side, and Jefferson had thought of purchasing it for Abigail, but decided against it
and inventor and was constantly thinking of newer and better and his new Republicans so supportive of the revolutionaries, that because “it would be inappropriate to have two Venuses at the
ways of doing things, whether … plowing, the copying of when Adams became president to succeed Washington, and same table.”
handwriting, or measuring distances. rumors persisted that the new successful French Republic had I mentioned at the beginning of this review how impressive
“Jefferson also called himself ‘an enthusiast on the subject designs on our continent, there were many Americans who were this book is. I refer to the incredible amount of research – surely,
of the arts.’... he became quite proficient playing the violin ... and so angry about foreign meddling and interference in our political years – that have made it possible for Gordon S. Wood to include
apparently had a fine clear voice. He was also passionate about life that they began threatening Jefferson and his Republicans as on virtually every page so many quotes from letters, diaries, etc.,
architecture and became, according to one historian, ‘America’s traitors who were going to turn sides. in these and other of their contemporaries’ own words, that we
first great native-born architect.’” You will also learn much more about Alexander Hamilton, feel we are truly living these experiences with them.
John Adams, eight years older than Jefferson, was a very James Madison, Thomas Paine and others than you knew before. There are more than 1,000 footnoted reference sources listed
different kind of man in many ways. Small pursed lips formed Importantly, you will also recognize that as much as times change, at the end of the book, which attests to the extensive degree of
a constant scowl-like expression, which, together with a sharp there are some things that never do: such research! Every bit of it shows in the final work. There is
tongue, matched his clever ability to speak whatever was on his “Since the inauguration of the new president was not until also a section of portraits and illustrations.
mind bluntly – often with great wit, teasing and sarcasm – but March 4, 1801, Adams had several months remaining in his But the author has saved the very best part of his book for
without care as to its effect on the listener. Later in Adams’s term. The lame-duck Federalist Congress passed a Judiciary the last chapter, in which he explains the reasons for his final
life, when he served in France and England as the new nation’s Act and other legislation that created six new circuit courts sentence, which I have noted above—and to think about whom
commissioner to arrange treaties, he was considered a most un- with sixteen new judges along with many marshals and district it is that future generations will honor. I leave those reasons for
diplomatic of diplomats. attorneys and justices of the peace. Before surrendering the you to discover, and to relate to the present state of our nation
And yet, as Jefferson was always ready to reassure others, presidency to Jefferson, Adams appointed Federalists to these today. It is very much worth your while to do so, recognizing
he considered Adams as honest and true a politician, patriot and new offices, at the same time selecting his new secretary of how our time will be judged in tomorrow’s history books.
friend as any man.
Adams had known a very different experience by the time he
became one of the most successful attorneys in the Massachusetts
colony. His father was a farmer and shoemaker, what one would
call “the middling sort.” His mother, however, was from a finer
family, which gave him the opportunity to enroll in Harvard, and
through the kind of hard work, honesty, natural intelligence, and
determination inherited from his Puritan ancestors that would
guide him throughout his life, he would earn the reputation that
his fellow Massachusetts colonists saw as deserving to represent
them in the Continental Congress when it was formed in 1774.
At those sessions of Congress in Philadelphia, Adams
was one of the most forceful voices in favor of independence
that ultimately led to the assignment of a committee to draft a
Declaration of Independence, which assigned Jefferson to write
the document, and which – with only minor changes by Adams
and one other member – was dated July 4th, 1776 and signed by
the Founding Fathers.
But that is only the barest beginning of the story—the part
that many of us know from our basic high school and college
history classes. Some of us even recall the remarkable fact that
these two giants of our nation’s founding both died on the same
day – Jefferson at his Monticello home in Virginia, and Adams
several hours later at home in Quincy, Massachusetts – on July
4th, 1826 ... as America celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence! Unaware of what
had taken place hundreds of miles south of him, Adams’s last
words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives!”
But what makes this book so extraordinarily fascinating, and
one of the most impressive works of history I have ever read, is
the way in which its Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Gordon S.
Wood leads us, through 433 pages, to understand the significance
of its final sentence, and the reason why it is so:
“That’s why we honor Jefferson and not Adams.”
There is bitter irony in John Adams’s final words on his
deathbed when we realize that, for example, there is a magnificent
Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Jefferson’s portrait