The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
UNITY / SPIRIT OF '76
The
summum bonum with me is now truly epicurian, ease of body and
tranquillity of mind; and to these I wish to consign my remaining
days. Men have differed in opinion, and been divided into parties by
these opinions, from the first origin of societies, and in all
governments where they have been permitted freely to think and to
speak. The same political parties which now agitate the United States,
have existed through all time. Whether the power of the people or that
of the [unreadable] should prevail, were questions which kept the
States of Greece and Rome in eternal convulsions, as they now
schismatize every people whose minds and mouths are not shut up by the
gag of a despot. And in fact, the terms of whig and tory belong to
natural as well as to civil history. They denote the temper and
constitution of mind of different individuals. To come to our own
country, and to the times when you and I became first acquainted, we
well remember the violent parties which agitated the old Congress, and
their bitter contests. There you and I were together, and the Jays,
and the Dickinsons, and other anti-independents, were arrayed against
us. They cherished the monarchy of England, and we the rights of our
countrymen. When our present government was in the mew, passing from
Confederation to Union, how bitter was the schism between the Feds and
Antis! Here you and I were together again. For although, for a moment,
separated by the Atlantic from the scene of action, I favored the
opinion that nine States should confirm the constitution, in order to
secure it, and the others hold off until certain amendments, deemed
favorable to freedom, should be made. I rallied in the first instant
to the wiser proposition of Massachusetts, that all should confirm,
and then all instruct their delegates to urge those amendments. The
amendments were made, and all were reconciled to the government. But
as soon as it was put into motion, the line of division was again
drawn. We broke into two parties, each wishing to give the government
a different direction; the one to strengthen the most popular branch,
the other the more permanent branches, and to extend their permanence.
Here you and I separated for the first time, and as we had been longer
than most others on the public theatre, and our names therefore were
more familiar to our countrymen, the party which considered you as
thinking with them, placed your name at their head; the other, for the
same reason, selected mine. But neither decency nor inclination
permitted us to become the advocates of ourselves, or to take part
personally m the violent contests which followed. We suffered
ourselves, as you so well expressed it, to be passive subjects of
public discussion. And these discussions, whether relating to men,
measures or opinions, were conducted by the parties with an animosity,
a bitterness and an indecency which had never been exceeded. All the
resources of reason and of wrath were exhausted by each party in
support of its own, and to prostrate the adversary opinions; one was
upbraided with receiving the anti-federalists, the other the old
tories and refugees, into their bosom. Of this acrimony, the public
papers of the day exhibit ample testimony, in the debates of Congress,
of State Legislatures, of stump-orators, in addresses, answers, and
newspaper essays; and to these, without question, may be added the
private correspondences of individuals; and the less guarded in these,
because not meant for the public eye, not restrained by the respect
due to that, but poured forth from the overflowings of the heart into
the bosom of a friend, as a momentary easement of our feelings. In
this way, and in answers to addresses, you and I could indulge
ourselves. We have probably done it, sometimes with warmth, often with
prejudice, but always, as we believed, adhering to truth.
to John Adams, 27 June 1813
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