Inheriting Jefferson[1]

   

Thank you all for your work and insight.  Reading your comments I agree with Hans Eicholz that examining Thomas Jefferson can be difficult as it quintessentially brings forth the controversial nature of a historian: “Is it our objective to judge the past, or to understand it?”  When Cara Rogers Stevens asks, “Could Jefferson have done more?”  there is judgement, but also understanding. What he did was remarkable “within the boundaries acceptable at the time.”  Ultimately, Jefferson left these issues incomplete and for future generations to inherit.

A prime example is slavery.  In 1820 when Jefferson wrote to John Holms on the Missouri Question that it was a “fire bell in the night” and that he considered it a “the knell of the Union.” He recognized that his role was over.  “I regret that I am now to die in the belief, that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the generation of 1776, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be, that I live not to weep over it.”[2]  Jefferson died six years later.

Todd Estes asked if I had looked at other historians who have looked at Jefferson and religion.  Yes, I have. With my essay, however, I tried to draw from untraditional sources with his family’s letters of his life and what they inherited when Jefferson died, his legacy.  It is a different perspective from relying on Jefferson’s writings.   Reading the accounts of his family and friends I saw him with a new perspective, and I questioned my own interpretation of Jefferson’s faith as I sought to understand it.  For instance, I initially thought that perhaps Jefferson Randolph may have presumed he understood his grandfather’s faith, or transferred his own faith or lack thereof, upon his grandfather when he removed religious references from news releases regarding Jefferson’s death.  In short, I suspected that Jefferson Randolph was an atheist. I initially felt confident of this belief especially when I read the account of his youngest brother George’s death.

Jefferson’s youngest grandson, George Wythe Randolph was also present when his grandfather passed away in 1826.  A little more than forty years later he passed away and his niece Sarah N. Randolph, author of Domestic Life at Monticello, was present and recorded the scene. Recognizing the hour of his death was fast approaching he said that he looked with peace at the idea of being “carried to Monticello when the birds are singing and the leaves are budding out.”  His brother Jeff was there, too. To Jeff he pleaded, “Trust in Jesus, and you will die as happily as I do: See how a Christian can die could there be a happier death?” Later that evening, George stirred with anxiety regarding the previous conversation.  “I hope my dear good brother Jeff did not take amiss what I said to him this morning…. His reason must be convinced, mine had to be too.”  His faith was firm, but that of his brother was unknown and presumed absent. As he died, he said to his wife Mary, “I see Jesus.”  She asked him if he was quoting a hymn. “No” he said distinctly “It was Him Himself.”[3]

Perhaps George’s death impacted Jeff’s faith but perhaps it was always there, and, in his grandfather’s fashion, he kept his faith between him and his “Maker.”  When facing death, having been told by his son that “he must die” in 1875 after contracting gangrene, he requested that “the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper be administered to him according to the rites of the Episcopal Church” and gave “open testimony to his belief in the religion of Christ.” He reassured his family attending him, “Don’t weep for me, my hopes for the future rest on the same foundation as yours.  I do not fear to die” and passed away on October 7, 1875, at his home Edge Hill in the shadow of Monticello where he is buried.   At his funeral his former slaves requesting to pay tribute swelled up “an [sic] hundred… voices” in hymn “Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb?” until “the last notes died away amid the oaks of Monticello…”.[4]

Years ago, when I had the honor to meet David McCullough, I asked him why he changed the title of his book from Jefferson & Adams to John Adams.  He told me it was easier, and he felt Adams was more interesting and sympathetic.  Jefferson shared nothing whereas Adams McCullough said, “wore his heart on his sleeve.”  I agree (in part) and quite possibly that is why we continue 199 years after his death to have quite differing views as historians. As with all our essays I am left asking more questions than unearthed answers.

[1] “Inheriting Jefferson” is the title of my larger work on Jefferson and the Randolph Family of Monticello, however I thought it would work well here as a title of the summary of my thoughts.

[2] Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, 22 May 1820 see: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/159.html

[3] See Published in “Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters,” Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., http///tjrs.monticello.org, 2025.  Jefferson’s Family and the Civil War Family Letters, Sarah N. Randolph Last Words of Gen. G. W. R. by S. N. R. April 4, 1867.

[4] Death of Thomas J. Randolph Alexandria Gazette, November 4, 1875 (pg 2); Death of Col. Thomas J. Randolph, Alexandria Gazette October 11, 1875 (pg. 2) and Thomas Jefferson Randolph Obituary, Alexandria Gazette, October 11, 1875 (pg 3) reported by the Richmond Enquirer copy found at https://genalogyneard1.com., 2025.