Thomas Jefferson - Historical Reputation

Historical Reputation

Jefferson has often been seen as a major American icon of liberty, democracy and republicanism. Some have hailed him as one of the most articulate spokesmen of the American Revolution, and as a renaissance man who promoted science and scholarship. Abraham Lincoln called Jefferson "the most distinguished politician in our history." Recent historians, including his biographer Dumas Malone of the mid-twentieth century and the historian Ron Chernow, have seen a more mixed picture. They have noted his views on race and slavery, his controversial tenure as governor of Virginia, his disloyalty under Washington and Adams, his sometimes extreme political writings, his advocacy of nullification and secession, his personal spending excesses, and his troubled second term as president. Other historians, such as Richard Drinnon and David Stannard, have criticized other aspects of his presidency, such as the harsh treatment of Native Americans under Jefferson.

Jefferson's legacy as a champion of Enlightenment ideals has been challenged by various modern historians, who find his continued ownership of hundreds of slaves at Monticello to be in conflict with his stated views on freedom and the equality of men. Cogliano says, "No single issue has contributed as much to the decline of Jefferson's reputation since World War II as the slavery question." Clarence E. Walker said that Jefferson rationalized being a slave owner and defended slavery since he believed the inferiority of Africans were "fixed in nature" and they needed supervision. The historian Gordon S. Wood has noted that during the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th century, when scholars saw revolutionary America as a struggle between "haves" and "have nots", Jefferson's reputation reached new heights as his presidency was seen as the final defeat of the moneyed classes. Wood argues that this predominated until the 1940s, when the progressive era view fell from favor, and Jefferson's reputation declined from its prior heights. As modern historians have seen slavery as a greater evil than the mercantilism that Jefferson's adversaries championed, Wood argues, Jefferson's legacy in recent decades has come under further scrutiny and criticism.