Disciplining Jefferson: The Man within the Breast and the Rhetorical Norms of Producing Order

This essay analyzes Thomas Jefferson's letter to Maria Cosway of October 12, 1786, remembered today as the dialogue between Jefferson's head and heart. By offering a close reading of the rhetorical styles of the players in Jefferson's letter, and by reading the dialogue alongside Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments, this essay argues that Jefferson's goal was to discipline his irrational, misbehaving heart. Jefferson's letter is interesting as a rhetorical artifact in itself, and deserves a close reading; yet this essay also argues that Jefferson's letter warrants consideration because it offers a detailed discussion of his political psychology and also, I argue, a window into his fantasies about how public affairs would be managed in the United States.