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A review by kevin_shepherd
Thomas Jefferson: Author of America by Christopher Hitchens
5.0
“Jefferson did not embody contradiction. Jefferson was a contradiction, and this will be found at every step of the narrative that goes to make up his life.” (pg 5)
Hitchens refers to Thomas Jefferson as the “Author of America.” Author apparently won out over other descriptors such as inventor, designer, or engineer. Jefferson was indeed a better writer than he was an orator, and it was chiefly his authorship that set the foundation for American independence and self governance. He took cues from the likes of Thomas Paine and John Locke, fusing the former’s straightforward style with the latter’s elevated prose. Where Locke wrote “life, liberty, and property” Jefferson penned “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“. . . “the pursuit of happiness” belongs to that limited group of lapidary phrases that has changed history . . .” (pg 26)
On Slavery
On the one hand Jefferson himself was a slave owner, on the other hand he attempted on multiple occasions to introduce legislation that would curtail and/or abolish the institution. Frequently referring to slavery as a “great evil,” his personal correspondence with friends and associates expressed both guilt and fear; guilt that he was party to a crime, and fear of what freed slaves might do in reprisal.
“Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free; nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government.” -Thomas Jefferson, 1821
On paper, Jefferson’s plan was to free the slaves—and then deport them (for safety’s sake?). This plan never really got off the drawing board. In fact, even when it became easier for slave holders to emancipate their captives, the only slaves Jefferson ever freed were the children he himself fathered with Sally Hemings.
On Religion
As a self professed deist, Jefferson did not believe that God intervened in human affairs. This put him at appreciable odds with many of his contemporaries (e.g. Patrick Henry) and helped set him against archaic colonial and state jurisprudence. For instance, during his political tenure South Carolina adopted Protestantism as its only “official faith,” Delaware required its political candidates to swear faith in the Trinity, Maryland denied rights to Deists, Jews, and atheists, New York denied rights to Catholics, Massachusetts declared that only Christians who denounced the pope could hold public office, and Jefferson’s home state of Virginia had a death penalty for heresy. Is it any wonder that Jefferson was such a proponent for the separation of church and state?
The Eloquence of Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens goes on to detail what he refers to as the “three particular and nation-building chapters” of Jefferson’s life: the Barbary Wars (1801 - 1815), the Louisiana Purchase (1803 - 1804), and the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804 - 1806). I’m not sure anyone else could have squeezed 83 years of a person’s life, including philosophical works, military service, political elections, political appointments, political delegations, foreign assignments, two revolutions, multiple wars, one wife, one mistress, and (at least) twelve children, all within 188 pages—and all without a single boring sentence or frivolous paragraph. There never seem to be enough stars to rate Hitch’s books, this one gets five.
Hitchens refers to Thomas Jefferson as the “Author of America.” Author apparently won out over other descriptors such as inventor, designer, or engineer. Jefferson was indeed a better writer than he was an orator, and it was chiefly his authorship that set the foundation for American independence and self governance. He took cues from the likes of Thomas Paine and John Locke, fusing the former’s straightforward style with the latter’s elevated prose. Where Locke wrote “life, liberty, and property” Jefferson penned “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“. . . “the pursuit of happiness” belongs to that limited group of lapidary phrases that has changed history . . .” (pg 26)
On Slavery
On the one hand Jefferson himself was a slave owner, on the other hand he attempted on multiple occasions to introduce legislation that would curtail and/or abolish the institution. Frequently referring to slavery as a “great evil,” his personal correspondence with friends and associates expressed both guilt and fear; guilt that he was party to a crime, and fear of what freed slaves might do in reprisal.
“Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free; nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government.” -Thomas Jefferson, 1821
On paper, Jefferson’s plan was to free the slaves—and then deport them (for safety’s sake?). This plan never really got off the drawing board. In fact, even when it became easier for slave holders to emancipate their captives, the only slaves Jefferson ever freed were the children he himself fathered with Sally Hemings.
On Religion
As a self professed deist, Jefferson did not believe that God intervened in human affairs. This put him at appreciable odds with many of his contemporaries (e.g. Patrick Henry) and helped set him against archaic colonial and state jurisprudence. For instance, during his political tenure South Carolina adopted Protestantism as its only “official faith,” Delaware required its political candidates to swear faith in the Trinity, Maryland denied rights to Deists, Jews, and atheists, New York denied rights to Catholics, Massachusetts declared that only Christians who denounced the pope could hold public office, and Jefferson’s home state of Virginia had a death penalty for heresy. Is it any wonder that Jefferson was such a proponent for the separation of church and state?
The Eloquence of Christopher Hitchens
Hitchens goes on to detail what he refers to as the “three particular and nation-building chapters” of Jefferson’s life: the Barbary Wars (1801 - 1815), the Louisiana Purchase (1803 - 1804), and the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804 - 1806). I’m not sure anyone else could have squeezed 83 years of a person’s life, including philosophical works, military service, political elections, political appointments, political delegations, foreign assignments, two revolutions, multiple wars, one wife, one mistress, and (at least) twelve children, all within 188 pages—and all without a single boring sentence or frivolous paragraph. There never seem to be enough stars to rate Hitch’s books, this one gets five.