Excerpts
A Wound on His Spirit: Thomas Jefferson's Disastrous Two Years as Governor of Virginia
Excerpts from "A Wound on His Spirit" by George
T. Morrow II
That Jefferson was an unsuccessful, if not disastrously inept
governor is not at issue. Even Dumas Malone, author of the
definitive six-volume biography of Jefferson, had to concede
that "there were other tasks which he liked to do, and did, a
great deal better," seeking less to rebut criticism than to stifle
it as beneath contempt. The point seemed to be that just as
Monticello was above the clouds, so was Jefferson above censure;
that leadership and executive ability were not worth
having, even in a state under threat of invasion; and that if
Jefferson was a disaster as a governor it was simply because he
was too good for the job.
• • •
His dislike for the job ran deep. Just fifteen days later, he
told Richard Henry Lee that he had accepted the governorship
solely out of a sense of duty: "In a virtuous government, and
more especially in times like these, public offices are what
they should be, burdens to those appointed to them, which it
would be wrong to decline, though foreseen to bring with them
intense labor, and great private loss."18 He was certainly right
to expect hard work. Nor was it likely that his salary would
ever cover his expenses as governor. But in fact his inordinate sense of loss had less to do with expense and hard work than
his estrangement from Monticello, with its gardens, walks and
sweeping views of the valley below. As he wrote on June 18,
"The hour of private retirement to which I am drawn by my
nature with a propensity almost irresistible . . . will be the most
welcome of my life." He had been Governor for only 21 days.
Yet he was already convinced that executive office was contrary
to his nature. This was not affectation. It was a feeling of real
despair, driven by the "irresistible propensities" of his introverted
nature.
• • •
Henry Hamilton's long fight for justice from the man [Jefferson] said to
have crafted "the best known fifty-eight words in American
history," the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, in
which all men are said to be endowed with "certain inalienable
rights," including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,"
would continue until the last day of Jefferson's term as governor.
29 With help from his friend Gen. Phillips, Hamilton would
eventually secure his release. But by then he would have given
the lie to the fine-sounding words of Jefferson's Preamble, at least
insofar as it was related to Lt. Gov. Hamilton's right to a fair trial...Hamilton's list of injustices reads like one of the Sage of Monticello's
own meditations on due process: "we have not been
informed of the cause of this treatment – we do not hear of our
being . . . confronted by our accusers, we hear no mention of any
public inquiry, we suffer without any trial . . . We understand
that these proceedings are not agreeable to the Laws of this
Province, or to any known rule of equity, that it is inconsistent
with the tenor of [your] Governor's Oath, and breathes the genuine spirit of lettres de cachet* in the most arbitrary government."
Nothing escaped Hamilton wrath, including Jefferson's
monthly trips to Monticello for rest and relaxation...
• • •
On October 25, the Gazette printed an account of the first
wave of the British invasion.75 Led by Gen. Alexander Leslie,
it was said to involve a "fleet of 54 ships, 25 of which are large,
. . . 1,000 infantry [of an expected 5,000] and 100 horse." "The
people in the neighborhood of the invasion," the writer of the
information added encouragingly, "turn out with great alacrity
and spirit."
Had he known that Leslie was coming to Virginia to secure
a port for the army of Gen. Cornwallis, one of Great Britain's
most gifted generals, and that he intended to lay waste to the
country and seize the leaders of Virginia's government,
Jefferson might have been more alarmed – but not necessarily
any better prepared. In the event, he did what a man of his
temperament and limited experience could do: he deployed
his pen like a brass three-pounder, sending off salvo after salvo
of elegant missives in search of men, guns and – of course –
advice. Meanwhile, Leslie was marching into Hampton unopposed,
declaring it too devastated to be worth the trouble of
occupation, and marching back out (again unopposed).
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