Philadelphia's Jeffersonian summer

Jefferson is the focus of three exhibits planned by the American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum between now and 2016. Jefferson is a natural subject for the APS Museum: Though he never visited Philadelphia after 1800, when he presided over the establishment of a new capital in Washington, Jefferson maintained an intellectual residency and lively correspondence with colleagues here — particularly those at the APS, which he joined in 1780, serving as president from 1797 to 1814. For instance, while in the White House, Jefferson obtained a mastodon bone and immediately forwarded it to the APS for safekeeping, and when Meriwether Lewis was preparing to explore the Louisiana Purchase territories, Jefferson sent him to Philadelphia to study with five APS colleagues.

The first of the APS exhibits — Jefferson, Philadelphia, and the Founding of a Nation — covers his work here between 1775 and 1800. From a draft of the declaration in his own hand to missives he sent to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, the exhibit is rich in authentic documents that can be read fairly easily. Not only are the pages in good repair, but the cursive is remarkably clear and uniformly beautiful. The lines are even, the letters exquisitely formed — from the handwriting, you would never guess that these people had revolution on their minds.

An eloquent advocate of liberty

Arriving in Philadelphia in 1775 at age 32, Jefferson was one of the youngest delegates to the Second Continental Congress and a gifted writer. Assigned to the committee tasked with articulating the reasons for independence, Jefferson was soon chosen to write the Declaration of Independence, which he did between June 11 and June 21, 1776, in rooms he had let on the second floor of the Jacob Graff House.

He sat in a Windsor swivel chair he had purchased here and worked on a laptop desk of his own design. Both the chair and a replica of the desk are on view. But the don’t-miss items on display are the documents. The first thing visitors see is Jefferson’s handwritten draft of the Declaration, two pages of tablet-sized paper, covered on both sides with tiny, careful writing, with edits jotted in the narrow borders. As a member of a five-man declaration committee, Jefferson sent drafts to his colleagues for comment, and he received their responses. Many of those letters are also on display.

To Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson wrote: "The enclosed paper has been read with some small alterations approved by the committee. Will Doct. Franklyn be so good as to peruse it & suggest such alterations as his more enlarged view of the subject will dictate? The paper having been returned to me to change a particular sentiment or two, I propose laying it again before the committee tomorrow morning, if Doct. Franklyn can think of it before that time." Franklin suggested changing “sacred and undeniable” to “self-evident,” as in: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

After the document was submitted to the full congress, Richard Henry Lee consoled Jefferson about the numerous revisions being made. He wrote: "The Thing in its nature is so good, that no Cookery can spoil the Dish for the palates of Freemen.”

After losing the acrimonious presidential election of 1796 to him, Jefferson wrote to John Adams: “Tho in the course of our voyage, various little incidents have happened or been contrived to separate us, yet retain for you the solid esteem of the times when we were working for our independence and sentiments of sincere respect and attachment.”

Around every corner in the APS exhibit, there are documents that were conceived, touched, and prepared by someone who resides in history books.

Slavery: The founding contradiction

At the same time that Jefferson was eloquently declaring independence for white males, he was enmeshed in Southern slave-owning culture. Jefferson owned slaves from the age of 14, when his father, Peter, died and he received in trust 20 slaves and Shadwell Farm. Besides acquiring slaves from his father and father-in-law, John Wayles, Jefferson bought and sold slaves himself to maintain Monticello, which eventually grew to 5,000 acres. It is generally accepted that he also fathered children with his slaves, in particular Sally Hemings, whose family is among those featured at the Constitution Center.

Jefferson was well aware of the contradiction between his words and actions. Writing the Declaration, he inserted a passage abolishing slavery. It was one of five sections that were scrapped by Congress; too many of the delegates depended on the institution to abolish it. In the draft, the notation “out” appears in the margin. Not until 30 years later was Jefferson able to take a small step: In 1807, as President, he signed a law prohibiting the importation of slaves.

Jefferson never stopped looking for ways to solve what he called “this deplorable entanglement.” He suggested freeing slaves and sending them beyond the nation’s borders; allowing them to establish colonies in other countries; diffusing the slave population into the west to improve their living conditions and move the country toward emancipation. While to 21st-century eyes these responses are inadequate, they indicate that Jefferson recognized the moral dilemma and the need for change.

Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello, on view at the National Constitution Center (NCC), is presented by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. At the Constitution Center, Jefferson’s relationship to slavery is depicted frankly: a statue of the man who so eloquently made the case for freedom is literally set against a backdrop bearing the names of slaves who cared for him from birth to death.

Slavery was the problem Jefferson wrestled with throughout his life and the Achilles heel of the new nation he helped found. The exhibit places Jefferson in context, looking beyond the patriotic image to find a southern landowner whose ideals were influenced by the Enlightenment but whose lifestyle and finances relied on the 600 human beings he owned over his lifetime. In the NCC exhibit, Jefferson shares the spotlight with six enslaved families who worked at Monticello, tilling the land, tending the house and people, and performing skilled work on Mulberry Row. Genealogical charts trace each family with impressive detail, and the final segment of the exhibit brings their stories into the present.

Through slaves’ eyes

The NCC exhibit explains that Jefferson ordered better treatment for his slaves and, at least while he was in residence at Monticello, conditions were more humane than elsewhere. Couples and families often remained together, and slaves were taught to read and write. Those who were skilled in trades were rewarded. George Granger, foreman and then overseer, for example, received an annual wage. His son George, who ran the blacksmith shop and nailery, received a portion of the profits from nails.

Though conditions were better at Monticello, the fact remains that Jefferson granted the liberty he so cherished to just a few of his slaves. When he died in 1826, just seven were freed. One of those, Joseph Fossett, was released without his family and worked for years as a blacksmith to purchase freedom for his wife and seven of their children.

All of the slaves freed at Jefferson’s death were connected to the Hemings family, whose original members came to Monticello from Jefferson’s father-in-law. In all, 70 Hemingses over five generations lived and worked at Monticello, the most notable of whom, Sally, is thought to have been the daughter of her previous owner, John Wayles, and the mother of four of Jefferson’s children.

At his death, the rest of Jefferson’s 130 slaves were sold, along with his land and possessions, to satisfy a debt of $107,000. Among them was David Hern and 34 of his children and grandchildren. Hern, a woodworker and wheelwright, had spent half a century laboring at Monticello.

It is the experience of the Grangers, Fossetts, Hemingses, Herns, and Gillettes pieced together from documents, tools, household items, and other artifacts, as well as interviews with descendents, that makes the NCC exhibit remarkable. It provides visitors with a ground-level view of how slaves worked on Jefferson’s “little mountain.” Surprisingly detailed genealogical charts and ongoing research carry the families’ stories into the present.

Above right: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin, asking for comments on a draft of the Declaration of Independence. (APS Museum exhibit)