THOMAS JEFFERSON THE ART OF POWER by JON MEACHAM (2012)

This is the second Jefferson biography I have read (American Sphinx, reviewed 9/17), along with several other accounts of the fathers of our nation. Contrary to the other authors, Jon Meacham paints a largely favorable portrait of our third president. For instance, he calls it "pragmatic" that Jefferson accused his predecessors of aspiring to be monarchs, yet behaved more like a monarch himself, wielding unprecedented executive power while president, in addition to indulging himself in a lavish lifestyle. He includes the smallest details of Jefferson's daily life, yet leaves out the instances when Jefferson secretly used others to defame his opponents and then lied about it if he got found out, or when he expressed conflicting opinions to different people at the same time. He does comment on Jefferson's lifetime avoidance of conflict with others, but presents it as an admirable trait rather than mentioning that it often meant that Jefferson shook someone's hand while stabbing him in the back.

Meacham also admits that Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves and fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemmings. (How could he not, with the current DNA evidence as proof.) However, he somewhat excuses this as being typical of the times in Virginia. He does not comment on the ironic fact that this same man proclaimed that "all men are created equal."

The sub-title of this book accurately reflects Jefferson's greatest talent -- he knew how to gain power. While Washington and Adams were our first leaders, Jefferson was our first politician, not above lying to achieve his desired ends. Meacham skirts around this issue, but even his favorable account reveals that Jefferson's public words did not always match his actions.

I am even more confirmed in my opinion that Jefferson is undeserving of the adulation accorded to him today. I believe that he was a champion of states rights mainly because he wanted his elitist, slave-holding lifestyle to continue, and that his first allegiance was always to Virginia rather than to the United States.