A History of the American People

His workmen, Messrs Neilson, Stewart, Chisholm, Oldham, and Dinsmore, required infinite
patience as Jefferson changed his mind repeatedly. Often a finished bit had to be redone to
accommodate a new gimmick Jefferson had just invented-a concealed miniature lift to haul wine
up from the cellars into the dining-room, for example, or a mysterious pulley-system which, in
theory, made the tea-room doors open of their own accord. On the other hand, Jefferson
conveyed his ever changing instructions to them in copious letters, written on terms of complete
equality. And many of the workmen were incompetent anyway. Richard Richardson, his
carpenter-columnist, could not get the columns of the swagger-portico straight, despite many
tries. Jefferson was very forgiving. He was also good-natured. When he was president, he was
expected by Oldham to look after his petty financial affairs in Washington, and Jefferson
cheerfully obliged.
The total cost of the house over more than half a century must have been enormous but it is
impossible to compute the exact or even an approximate sum. All his life, Jefferson kept
accounts, lists, and records in overwhelming quantity, covering all his activities in minute detail.
His financial records are particularly copious. Yet, as they do not epitomize or balance, they
convey little useful information. With a bit of research, Jefferson could have discovered, down to
the last cent, what he had spent on any day of his life. But he never knew what he was worth or
how much he was in debt. As he told his secretary, William Short, his true financial position
remained a mystery to him. It was in fact deplorable and grew steadily worse from the 1770s
onwards. As the editors of his memorandum books put it, The daily ritual of recording pecuniary events gave Jefferson an artificial sense of order in his financial world.’ In this respect Jefferson's accounts were a microcosm of the present-day federal budget, listing every detail of expenditure in tens of thousands of pages and millions of words, which obscures the fact that the government is adding to the national debt at the rate of $10,000 a second. The story of Jefferson's financial downfall is a melancholy one. He should have saved money when he was president, living free and earning $25,000 annually for eight years. But he left office more in debt than when he entered it, and over $10,000 more than he thought. He assigned $2,500 a year, the income from his Bedford estates-half his landed profits-to pay the debts off; but they mysteriously rose. In 1815 he negotiated with Congress to sell them his library for $24,000, to form the basis of the Library of Congress. But this cleared less than half his borrowings, which then began to rise again. It was not all his fault. In 1819 William Carey Nicholas, the rascally father-in-law of Jefferson's grandson, Jefferson Randolph, pressured him into endorsing notes for $20,000. The next year Nicholas defaulted and Jefferson became liable for the lot. This coincided with the financial collapse of 1819 which made it impossible for Jefferson to sell lands and slaves, now his only option. In his last years visitors noticed that Monticello wasold and going to decay,' the gardens `slovenly.' His attempt to sell it in a lottery
failed and when he died his debts were over $100,000. Jefferson's original plan had been to give
all his slaves manumission at his death. That had to be scrapped. Jefferson Randolph, as heir, felt
he had no alternative but to sell his grandfather's 130 slaves in 1827, splitting up families and
separating mothers and children in the process, to achieve the maximum cash total. The next year
he tried to sell Monticello itself, but there were no bidders and the house was vandalized. It is a
miracle that it survived at all. Happily in 1834 it came into the hands of the Levy family, who
maintained it for ninety years until, in the fullness of time (1923), it was bought by the Jefferson
Memorial Foundation for $500,000. Now it is restored and glorious and a Historic Home-and a
remarkable monument to the divided nature and peculiarities of its illustrious begetter.