7 Thomas Jefferson 7of the Embargo Act required the exercise of precisely
those coercive powers by the federal government that
Jefferson had previously opposed. By the time he left
office in March 1809, Jefferson was weary and eager to
return to private life.
Retirement
During the last 17 years of his life, Jefferson maintained a
crowded and active schedule. He continued to serve as
president of the American Philosophical Society (1797–
1815), and in 1819 he founded and designed the University
of Virginia. In 1812 he began to correspond with his for-
mer friend and more recent rival John Adams. Their
genuine differences of opinion made Adams and Jefferson
the odd couple of the American Revolution and were the
primary reasons why they had drifted to different sides of
the divide during the party wars of the 1790s. The exchange
of 158 letters between 1812 and 1826 created what is argu-
ably the most intellectually impressive correspondence
between statesmen in all of American history.
One issue that even Adams and Jefferson could not
discuss candidly was slavery. Jefferson’s mature position
on that subject represented a further retreat from any
leadership role in ending the “peculiar institution.” In
1819, during the debate in Congress over the Missouri
Compromise, he endorsed the expansion of slavery into
all the western territories, precisely the opposite of his
position in the 1780s. Although he continued to insist that
slavery was a massive anomaly, he insisted even more
strongly that it was wrong for the federal government to
attempt any effort at emancipation. His letters to fellow
Virginians during his last years reflect a conspiratorial
mentality toward the national government and a clear