Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles (review)

When reading a new book about Thomas Jefferson one has to ask, what is new here? Upon completing John B. Boles's Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty, I can only answer that I am not sure that anything is new. Yet that conclusion is hardly a condemnation. Each generation must rewrite history to make sense of it, and few historical figures are as worthy of our constant attention, reappraisal, and understanding as Thomas Jefferson. Boles'slatest work is among the very best single-volume biographies of Jefferson in recent years, and it deserves a place among works by leading authorities in Jeffersonian scholarship.

Boles accomplishes his stated goal of writing "a full-scale biography," depicting Jefferson as a philosopher, politician, farmer, musician, architect, inventor, family man, historian, connoisseur of fine wine, and botanist (p. 5). Jefferson's brilliance, cosmopolitan liberalism, and optimism are on vivid display in his struggles with personal tragedies, public setbacks, and cultural frustrations, succeeding in creating not only a wonderful life for himself but also a home for his countrymen that embodied the ideas of liberal self-government that he held so dear. To the extent that Boles provides an interpretive thesis to understanding Jefferson, it is that despite a range of interests, talents, and accomplishments that might render him unapproachable, Jefferson remained a very human individual, motivated by his loves, hurt by his losses, and always struggling to reconcile his own ideals with the realities of human life.

The book is longer than many recent biographies of Jefferson, and its length allows for full descriptions and developments too easily glossed over in other texts. Boles provides wonderful insights into Jefferson's personal life: his sentimentality, his love for Martha Jefferson and his children, his devotion to his friends, and even his prioritization of his grandchildren. Sensitive to criticisms of Jefferson, both during his life and more recently, Boles confronts each attack with credible evidence and reasoned arguments. He rebuts accusations that Jefferson was a dreamy philosopher by showing that he was a dedicated and able administrator. Boles challenges those who criticize Jefferson for his supposed affair with slave Sally Hemings, either because of a critic's belief that sex with a slave must necessarily be rape or because of a critic's own disgust with miscegenation, by arguing that a loving relationship may have existed between the man and the biracial half-sister of his deceased wife. Recognizing the prominence of Alexander Hamilton in contemporary American culture, Boles provides a full explanation of the roots, meanings, and significance of the Jefferson-Hamilton divide, noting their differences in ideology, politics, and style. Admirers of Hamilton are advised to read this text before forming harsh opinions of their own hero's antagonist. Meanwhile, devotees of Jefferson will be heartened and reinforced by this work, which reestablishes Jefferson as the idealistic conscience of the new nation, able to exercise skillful diplomacy to pursue his agenda and the nation's interests through negotiation, camaraderie, and hard dealing.

If present generations are indeed more spiritual and family-oriented than the several that preceded them, this biography should find many receptive readers. Boles stresses the importance of family to Jefferson, not an easy task for a subject who frequently spent time away from those he loved. Yet the author offers insights into Jefferson's love for Martha Jefferson, their children, and their grandchildren at crucial points in the text. The result is a depiction of Jefferson as a sentimental family man, too often burdened by affairs of state that forced painful time away from his true interests. An earlier biographer, Joseph J. Ellis, has characterized his subject as an "American Sphinx" whose passions were expressed largely for ideas and intellectual pursuits (American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson [New York, 1998]). Similarly, Jan Lewis has argued that Jefferson measured "his worth in ideas and institutions, not human relationships," a viewpoint shared by Merrill D. Peterson (Lewis, "'The Blessings of Domestic...