Thomas Jefferson

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Diplomatic Representative to France

In May 1784 Congress again appointed Jefferson a diplomat. His duties were to take him to France. There he was to help the other ministers, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in arranging commercial treaties with various European countries. When Franklin retired in 1785, Jefferson replaced him as the U.S. diplomatic representative to France.

One of Jefferson's most important functions in France was to report home how “the vaunted scene of Europe ... struck a savage of the mountains of America.” He was not well impressed. He urged his friend, Congressman James Monroe, to come and see for himself what France was like. “It will make you adore your own country,” he said. “How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people enjoy.”

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1

French Revolution

The France to which Jefferson referred was on the threshold of revolution. Jefferson hailed the idea of revolution in France but hoped it would be peaceful and orderly. When King Louis XVI agreed to convene a national representative body, the Estates-General, Jefferson thought the revolution had accomplished its end. From the opening of the Estates-General on May 5, 1789, he attended every day to observe its deliberations. He suggested to the Marquis de Lafayette, French military leader who fought in the American Revolution, that the king should give the people a charter of rights, and he even drafted a sample ten-point charter. The violence and cruelty of later developments in France distressed him greatly, but he never lost faith in the principles of the French Revolution.

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2

Bill of Rights

During Jefferson's stay abroad he was frequently consulted on significant developments at home. The most important of these was the Constitution of the United States, drawn up in 1787. To James Madison, who sent him a copy of the proposed Constitution, Jefferson wrote, “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.” Such a bill would clearly state the right of the people to “freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trial by jury ....” Based on Jefferson's suggestions, Madison proposed a Bill of Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments, which was added to the Constitution in 1791.

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While abroad, Jefferson toured much of Europe, taking note of its architecture and studying its scientific achievements. However, he longed to return to the United States, and permission finally came in September 1789.

G

Secretary of State

When Jefferson returned to the United States, President Washington asked him to become secretary of state. Although Jefferson was anxious to return to private life, he accepted at the president's urging.

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1

Quarrels with Hamilton

What was to be Jefferson's chief problem for many years soon became apparent. He and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton were completely at odds in their thinking. Jefferson, with his faith in the rational mind and his optimistic view of popular government, placed his trust in the land and the people who farmed it. He believed that the purpose of government was to assure the freedom of its individual citizens. With his fear of tyranny, he distrusted centralization of power and favored instead the spread of power among the federal, state, and local levels of government.

Hamilton, on the other hand, distrusted popular rule. “The people!” he once exclaimed, “the people is a great beast!” Whereas Jefferson favored an economy based on agriculture that stressed individual freedom, Hamilton worked to promote commerce, industry, and a strong central government, under which, he believed, the economy would flourish. He believed that to preserve order and the alliance between business and government, the moneyed class and the wealthy aristocracy should hold all political power. Jefferson retorted, “I have never observed men's honesty to increase with their riches.” The conflict between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian thought has continued down to the present day. Generally, the American capitalist economy has grown along Hamiltonian lines, while American political institutions and social aims are Jeffersonian in nature.

Soon after Jefferson became secretary of state, he and Hamilton had a disagreement over the debts incurred by the states during the revolution. Hamilton, a New Yorker, wanted the federal government to pay these debts. He believed that this would greatly strengthen the central government. Jefferson objected. Virginia and most of the Southern states had already paid a considerable portion of their war debts and had no wish to pay those of the North. A political compromise resolved the issue. To satisfy Southerners, it was agreed to move the future national capital from Philadelphia to a Southern location on the Potomac River at what is now Washington, D.C. In exchange, Jefferson influenced Southern legislators to vote in favor of Hamilton's proposal that the federal government assume the war debts of the states.

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