Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

Jon Meacham’s 2012 biography of United States President Thomas Jefferson shows the complex nature of a historical figure who was both a leader in the political arena and a philosophical thinker who strove to understand the workings of his fellow man. In Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, considers the life of the man in the context of his times. Jefferson is seen as a man who, given the opportunity, would avoid confrontation, but whose profound understanding of the machinations of power and human nature made him a natural leader of men. He was able to motivate them to action, create ideas, correct mistakes and learn from them. Thomas Jefferson is presented as a multifaceted man with interests not limited to home and family, but encompassing literature, the sciences, and architecture. Jefferson’s strongest passion was for his country. His goal was to support the development and expansion of a successful governing institution in America. Meacham attempts to present a vision of the world the way Jefferson himself might have, and shows how he persevered though political conflicts, fluctuating economic situations, and threats from outside. The author draws on an extensive body of reference materials archived in three nations (The United States, France, and England), along with items from Jefferson’s collection of presidential documents that have never been published.

Jefferson is painted as one of--if not the--most significant figures in the fledgling republic and, in fact, in all of his nation’s history. Thomas Jefferson's visionary nature is illuminated through attention to a catalogue of historically significant ideas and events, including the importance of individual liberty, the Louisiana Purchase, and the journey of Lewis and Clark. The settling of the American West itself, Meacham argues, was a sign of Jefferson’s recognition of the significant roles that progress, and learning about the unknown, play in helping humanity reach its fullest potential. Jefferson is shown to be equally savvy in a variety of settings, including political backrooms and public halls in New York and Philadelphia, his Virginia plantation, and among the elite in Paris.

Part of what makes the Thomas Jefferson of Jon Meacham’s biography unique, is the leadership and devotion Jefferson shows to his country in the face of external threats and cultural changes. Jefferson’s public life covered roughly fifty years beginning in 1776. Meacham covers the details of those years as an independent America began to develop and garner the respect of other nations worldwide. Meacham does not ignore, nor does he embellish, the less noble aspects of his subject’s life, such as his position as a slave owner and the widely held belief that he fathered children with one of his slaves. He presents some details that, if not proof of paternity, lend credence to those suggestions. Beyond his personal life, Meacham's focus is on trying to discover the roots of Jefferson’s faith in the common man. The scope of Jefferson's interests and abilities is covered in great detail and presents a picture of a multitalented figure. The initial plans for the thirty-three room mansion that became Jefferson’s Monticello were drafted by the future president when he was in his mid-twenties. He studied at the College of William and Mary and served in the Continental Congress and, in what was perhaps his crowning achievement, was selected to write the Declaration of Independence over others who had much more experience than he did at that point. Upon assuming the presidency in 1801, Jefferson was the leader who oversaw, for the first time in the nation’s history, the transfer of power from one party to another.

In reviewing Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, the New York Times said, “Meacham doesn’t simply dispense soothing history lessons. He argues persuasively that for Jefferson the ideal of liberty was not incompatible with a strong federal government, and also that Jefferson’s service in the Congress in 1776 left him thoroughly versed in the ways and means of politics. ‘He had defined an ideal in the Declaration, using words to transform principle into policy, and he had lived with the reality of managing both a war and a fledgling government,’ Meacham writes. ‘A politician’s task was to bring reality and policy into the greatest possible accord with the ideal and the principled.’” In reference to the many other Jefferson biographies that preceded Meacham’s text, the Times continued, “Where other historians have found hypocrisy in Jefferson’s use of executive power to complete the Louisiana Purchase, Meacham is nuanced and persuasive. His solid argument is that in order to transform the United States into a continental power, Jefferson sensibly drew on all of his political skills to secure the vast territory from France, but did so without abandoning his distrust of strong, centralized power.”