Our First Great Democratic President
OTTO, M. C.
Our First Great Democratic President Jefferson Fought the Economic Royalists Review by M. C. OTTO THE YOUNG JEFFERSON. 1748-178». By Claude G. Bowert. Houghton Mifflin Company. XXX 644 page*.....
...The fight for complete separation of church and state, which is generally admitted to have been the bitterest of those which he carried to victory, refuses to stay won...
...And not even * War Labor Board to help them...
...260 paget...
...their treatment of the Indians was atrocious...
...This judgment makes no claim to be absolute...
...Some are wittily amusing, and a few even startling...
...With independence the charter would go...
...Th* book i* well indexed and might prove useful for those who wish to enliven meatless dinners with gems of conversational anecdote...
...and the white settlers, who fell victims to the red man's natural resentment in the consequence, were left with scant protection . . . "As so often is the case with wealth and power, the family easily surrounded itself with many of the ablest men in the colony for the protection of its greed...
...What waa it that caused him to do this 7 Why did he turn from the blandishments of respectibality and aristocracy and give his heart and mind to the democratic up-surgings of his day...
...Tedious and Reactionary ffeWew hy GUIDO CHOCfTTI OUR JUNGLE DIPLOMACY...
...His startling book,"* the same source modestly continues, "traces the roots of Pearl Harbor to their source...
...for it is just these attitudes and responses which constitute the puzzle...
...Are there not some defects to be pointed out in the biographer's workmanship and in the subject of the study...
...History never repeats itself, but if there were no similarity whatever between historical events the study of the past would not be enlightening...
...BoWERS makes it clear that from early youth Jefferson's interest in the democracy was spontaneous and intense, whatever the explanation may be, and that it was carried over into practice with remarkable ingenuity and consistency...
...for the reforms that undermined the deep foundations of an incipient aristo racy of privileges snd laid the foundation of democratic institutions...
...For instance, imagine the august United States Government engaged, through it* Canal Zon* authorities, in settling a strike of Martinique prostitutea hired and imported to the, Canal Zone in order to keep "labor" happy...
...The two earlier onea were better than good and the latest is the best of the three...
...but this does not answer the question, it merely restates it in other terms...
...The vast majority of Americans, reading this book, would grow in appreciation of Jefferson's greatness by having the substance of factual information put underneath their wish to believe...
...But in a world where perfection is unattainable, perfection in a life or in · biography, the approximations attsined In the present instance would seem to make the notice of imperfections a gratuitous, if not arrogant, display of a reviewer's critical prerogative...
...The more we learn-, about him the clearer it becomes that he must be ranked among the world's greatest...
...William franklin bands, the publishers' blurb states, "has enjoyed a long career in the diplomatic service...
...But the auspicious age and the marvelous physical resources of America would have coma to little had there not been on hand then and there an unusual number of extraordinarily gifted human beings...
...By W?-liam Franklin Sand* in collaboration with Joteph M. Lallty...
...Sanda may or may not have "enjoyed" his long career In what is euphemistically termed "the diplomatic service," but his book no more "traces the roots of Pearl Harbor" than Hart, Schaffner and Marx sponsor nudist colonies...
...For there are ominous signs that it is again becoming just that...
...Contemporary readers of these stirring chapters devoted to this theme will constantly be reminded of our own times and our own democratically-destructive lobbies...
...Aside from that, however, the chief use of this opui was to furnish the following prominently quoted statement from the Hearst-MeCormickrPatteraon ails: ". . . ( hav* never known a Roosevelt in office who was capable of understanding what constitutional government means...
...The present study shows his genius in exuberant flower...
...and thus It was, that during the First Congress it was subtly influenced 'and guided by the drawing-rooms and the counting-rooms of the friends, employees, and beneficiaries of the proprietary interests...
...His work demonstrates that sympathy with a point of view may be a positive factor of insight...
...State legislatures are backing down before pressure groups which demand the spending of tax noney for the transportation of children to parochial schools, thus1 striking a blow at church-state separation and at another Jeffersonlan ideal —universal public education...
...Mr...
...Is there nothing to be said in qualification of such praise...
...He must be an optimist...
...And if they are young, it may be that they will feel an inner urgency to take part in the old battle as it is reshaping itself anew...
...We'd enjoy knowing, for example, why it was that this youth, who might have had almost all the things ambitious men want by merely reaching out his hand for them, wealth, social position, professional distinction, and the rest, chose to risk his career in a hard life-long struggle to win a more rewarding existence for men in general...
...And some of us would get a lot of satisfaction out of a good explanation for a single item of the general mystery...
...He was however, strongly opposed to fastening upon the American people anything resembling the military system of Europe...
...They made them-aelves immune from taxation on their millions of rich acres...
...The future would take on new promise if we could count on the appearance of another like him...
...His leaning is obviously toward democracy and he greatly admires Jefferson...
...It is evident that he was sharply conscious of living in an age of profound historical transformation, when radical , political and social changes were bound to occur, and that his abhorance of every kind of injustice was so poignant that he could not ignore its existence...
...Of course a great many people already know this in a way, but the knowledge, if it is worthy to be called knowledge, remains decidedly vague...
...to make for the other half, the best preparations we can...
...Tht Univer-tity of North Carolina Prttt...
...the domination of the Penns would end...
...A prominent spokesman for this organization contends that in separating church and state, Jefferson end his compatriots did not intend to separate religion and the state...
...In ways open and above board and in insidious ways, a politically influential church organization is attempting to recapture secular authority...
...8o far is this question from being finally settled that a year hence tha voters of at least one of our states will be entering upon an emotional charged campaign, at the end of which they will decide whether separation of church and state is to continue as a guaranteed principle of their constitution...
...and because they represented prestige and fortune, the society of the community was subservient to its will...
...At any rate, the social philosophy behind the present conscription proposal, and the economic and political projects in support of which peacetime military conscription is deer necessary, are radically subversive of the essentially democratic attitudes and practices If this departure is taken from long established national policy, then not only will this or that feature of Jefferson's great democratic concept be altered, but the whole scoial political actuality which has since developed along democratic lines in this country, will gradually be exchanged for some anti-democratic scheme...
...Wars," he said, "must sometimes be our lot, and all the wise can do will be to avoid that half of them which would be produced by our own follies and our own acta of injustice...
...It is Instructive and stimulating to learn how he stood up to and circumvented them...
...The young Jefferson portrayed in this biography was not a pacifist...
...What a country and what a time it was in which Jefferson happened to be young) The sunny landscape on the wrapper of the book is singulaly appropriate, and is much to be preferred to the nauseating blurbs which publishers too frequently go in for...
...the mass of its people would have a voice in the determination of their destiny...
...Claude Bowers makes no prete> of pure objectivity in discussing these and other far-reaching social and political accomplishments of the young man he writes about...
...To defest this influential social lobby Jefferson, in his early thirties, engaged in the most arduous labors he ever undertook and earned for himself "the malice that was to pursue him for more than a century...
...3.76...
...The other day an American historian declared that "the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom symbolizes no modern burning issue...
...It is idle to speculate what position he'd take on the advocated peacetime military conscription, were he slive today...
...Probably there are...
...It will do no harm and much good if readers accept The Young Jtftrton, the book ss well as the man, at face value...
...In any case, the Jefferson that takes shape as one reads these pages not only belongs In the highest category of American statesmen, but among the men of supreme genius who have emerged in ths course of human history from the beginning to the present...
...It does not imply that the books were placed on infallible scales of biographical and historical value and that the one called The Young Jefferson weighed most...
...2.60...
...and of course religion is inseparable from his church...
...Actually, th* work is a collection of autibiographical anecdotes, connected by tedious' pages of reactionary props ganda, snobbishness and ego justification...
...Says Bowers: "The Penn family, In possession of •6,252 square miles of land, or S6,301,-300 acres, took free advantage of the charter to serve their most sordid selfish interests...
...There are philosophers who aim at the "contemplation of all time and all existence...
...Of these human beings Thomas Jefferson was easily the most leyist.lv endowed...
...And who knows, it may be that we can...
...At tha same time they would improve their understanding of the American wry of life through acquaintance with the intelligent strategy and bold persistence required for its development...
...This is a strong statement...
...Take as an instance the Influence exerted by organised wealth in Pennsylvania...
...If they cure for the perpetuity of democracy they should find the story encour-?ging, even inspiring...
...Possibly all it means, though i hope it means something more, is that a reader who Is not entirely ignorant of the subject had the beam of his mind tipped to that side...
...CLAUDE BOWERS haa now added a third volume to his biography of Thomaa Jefferson...
...but it is not speculation to see in this proposal the present-day counterpart of the militarism from which he hoped America could be kept free...
...An ardent and charming youth, keenly and creatively intelligent, abounding in social faith, and guided by an unfailing realism, he moved magnificently from achievement to achievement developing the American experiment...
...And "never in his long career," Bowers believes, "was he to render more vital service to democracy than during the three years he proposed, championed, and sacrifice...
...Most men would settle for much less...
...Most of the anecdotes, however, are Interesting...
...His appreciation, however, is a long distance from prejudice and his approval shows no affinity with sentiment?liem...
...This biography shows Jefferson contending with Insidous enemies of democracy which sie powerfully at work among us today...
Vol. 28 • September 1945 • No. 36
