in henry adams's history of the united states in the administrations of thomas jefferson, jefferson is portrayed as a charming, good-hearted, and principled man. generous stuff from an adams. now there were many compromises of principle, but these had to do either with the fact that jefferson wanted everyone to like him (and so was always trying to find grounds to cooperate), or (in the humongous case of the louisiana purchase) just faced temptations that were too strong. he himself was trying to persuade his secretary of state madison, or the leaders of his party in congress (randolph, e.g.), that they needed to amend the constitution to make the buy. they were all like "shhhhhh!"
[really his positions were more or less what ron paul was saying today in various news outlets, announcing his candidacy for the presidency: neutrality in foreign conflicts, low taxes, individual liberty, states' rights, small government: we're too broke to go to war. "Peace was his passion," says Adams several times.]
he was always making grand democratic gestures, like riding horseback to his inauguration (rather than in a carriage). one episode. in 1803, he welcomed the brand-new british ambassador anthony merry to the white house, an occasion of solemn protocol and punctilious etiquette, even more because the french charge pichon was there and england and france were at war. yet jefferson's seating pattern was what he himself called "pell-mell; you sat wherever you wanted or wherever there a free seat, first come etc. and jefferson's appearance was described by a recently-elected senator as follows:
"A tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed, or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old corduroy small-clothes much soiled, woolen hose, and slippers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the President."
nor did jeff bother to shave for the occasion. it was extreme anti-pomp, a pointed lesson for the old monarchy and the new empire (under the screeching anti-republican, napoleon) in democracy. jefferson wrote that after everything, merry 'perservered in a pretension to take precedence at dinner, etc. We have told him that the principle of society as well as of government with us is the equality of individuals composing it; that no man here would come to a dinner where he was to be marked by inferiority to any other."
and though the president was notably disarming on this as on so many occasions, merry was offended to the tune of writing an outraged letter to his boss, the foreign minister, regretting that he had ever been appointed: "In short [we] are now placed here in a situation so degrading to the countries [we] represent, and so personally disagreeable,...as to have become almost intolerable."
