A History of the American People

In the light of this saga of debt, it is amazing that Jefferson was as good a president as he
contrived to be. In fact he managed to reduce the national debt by 30 percent. This was no doubt
mainly due to the continuing effects of Hamilton's refunding measures, but Jefferson's minimalist
ideas of central government had something to do with it too. Once Jefferson took up office, all
the ceremonial grandeur of the Washington presidency, kept up by Adams, was scrapped. We
hear no more of the white coach. Dress swords were discarded. Jefferson traveled on horseback
and his clothes were plain, not to say slovenly at times. Not only was he unguarded, his house in
Washington was open to all-comers. One visitor reported that he arrived at eight o'clock in the
morning, without any letters of introduction, and was immediately shown into the President's
study, where he was received with courtesy and left highly pleased with the affability, intelligence and good sense of the President of America. What is perhaps even more remarkable is that Jefferson let it be known that anyone could write to him with their suggestions, observations, or complaints, and that their letters would receive his individual attention. All they had to pay was the cost of the paper and the ink, as Jefferson agreed to pay the postage on receipt. This was an astonishing concession, for depending on the distance, postage then cost from 8 to 35 cents for each sheet of paper, at a time when laborers worked for a dollar a day. The President's generosity encouraged prolixity, many correspondents writing him letters of a dozen sheets or more. Though Jefferson had a secretary, he insisted on opening, reading, answering, and filing all these letters himself. As he never in his life threw anything away, they are all still in existence and many of them have recently been edited. Jefferson's replies, registered on a smudged copier or traced by a more efficient polygraph of his own devising, have also survived. The letters the President received were political ('Thomas Jefferson, you infernal villun'), supplication for office ('Could it be possible to Give a Youth of my Age the Appointment of a Midshipman in the Navy?'-this purporting to come from four-year-old Thomas Jefferson Gassaway), pleas from widows ('You will no Doubt think Me posest of a Deal of asureance for adressing you, but Neacesary has no Law'), requests for money ('The hope which is kindled from the very ashes of despair alone emboldens me to address you'), appeals from imprisoned debtors and victims of miscarriages of justice ('I Rote to you for assistance not for Relesement'), death threats which read as though they had been written by the young Tom Sawyer ('The retributive SWORD is suspended over your Head by a slender Thread-BEWARE!') and pure abuse ('Thomas Jefferson you are the damnedest fool that God put life into, God dam you'). Taken together, these letters give an extraordinarily vivid glimpse into American lives in the first decade of the 19th century. All except the merely abusive got a reply in Jefferson's hand, even anonymous writers receiving this courtesy provided they gave some sort of address. Some of the replies were long and detailed, some contained money, others embodied careful inquiry into a particular grievance or request. Jefferson was not the only great man to take trouble with correspondents. His contemporary the Duke of Wellington also replied to thousands of letters, most of them from strangers, in his own hand, often by return of post. But Jefferson's conscientious care is without parallel-he was a man of truly heroic civility. Just occasionally the attention the President paid to his correspondence proved invaluable. He wrote:I consider anonymous letters as sufficient foundation for inquiry into the facts they
communicate.’ On December 11, 1805 he received one such, signed Your Friend,' seekingto
give you a warning about Burr's intrigues ... be thoroughly persuaded B. is a new Catilina.' Burr,
as Jefferson had long known, was an unscrupulous adventurer and he was most embarrassed to
have such a rogue as his vice-president during his first term. He forced Burr to keep his distance