Jefferson’s Ten Rules

14 Monday Apr 2014

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Advice, American History, Counsel, Epictetus, grandfather, grandson, happiness, Jefferson's Ten Rules, John Spear Smith, Julian Boyd, letter, Monticello, Patience, Philosophy, Ten Commandments, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Smith, Thrift, Wisdom, Work

To Thomas Jefferson Smith.
Monticello, February 21, 1825.

This letter will, to you, be as one from the dead. The writer will be in the grave before you can weigh its counsels. Your affectionate and excellent father has requested that I would address to you something which might possibly have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run, and I too, as a namesake, feel an interest in that course. Few words will be necessary, with good dispositions on your part. Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered, be the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss. And if to the dead it is permitted to care for the things of this world, every action of your life will be under my regard. Farewell. […]

A Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life.

1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.

6. We never repent of having eaten too little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.

9. Take things always by their smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

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A Letter written by Thomas Jefferson to his friend John Spear Smith, on behalf of Smith’s son and namesake, Thomas Jefferson Smith. Jefferson, who was born 271 years ago yesterday, was 81 when he wrote this letter.

The Monticello website has an extended discussion of the meaning of rule #9, about which there has been considerable speculation. It ties into last week’s post concerning the Ayaan Hirsi Ali-Brandeis affair:

Jefferson’s intended meaning is the subject of some debate. Julian Boyd wrote an article on this in 1957, “The Smooth Handle: A Challenge to the Organization Man.” Boyd believed that this statement embodied how Jefferson thought citizens of a republic should behave, and was descended from a similar saying by Epictetus, “Everything has two handles, one by which it can be borne; another by which it cannot.” While debate was essential to a healthy republic, Boyd argued, Jefferson believed strongly that the exchange of ideas must always be civil, and he expressed this belief in his advice to “take things always by their smooth handle.”

This is only one interpretation, however, and without an explicit explanation from Jefferson himself, each reader is free to interpret it as they will.

More Jefferson:

Meet Thomas Jefferson
Meet Thomas Jefferson’s father
David Brooks and Jon Meacham have an entertaining discussion about Jefferson and his brilliant political rival Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson’s Advice to His Teenage Grandson

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by jrbenjamin in History

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Advice, America, American History, Buzzfeed, careers, family, First Things, founding fathers, grandfather, grandson, jobs, letter, reputation, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Writing

“When I recollect that at 14 years of age, the whole care and direction of my self was thrown on my self entirely, without a relation or friend qualified to advise or guide me, and recollect the various sorts of bad company with which I associated from time to time, I am astonished I did not turn off with some of them, and become as worthless to society as they were.

I had the good fortune to become acquainted very early with some characters of very high standing, and to feel the incessant wish that I could even become what they were…

From the circumstances of my position I was often thrown into the society of horseracers, cardplayers, Foxhunters, scientific and professional men, and of dignified men; and many a time have I asked myself, in the enthusiastic moment of the death of a fox, the victory of a favorite horse, the issue of a question eloquently argued at the bar or in the great Council of the nation, well, which of these kinds of reputation should I prefer? That of a horse jockey? A foxhunter? An Orator? Or the honest advocate of my country’s rights?

Be assured my dear Jefferson, that these little returns into ourselves, this self-cathechising habit, is not trifling, nor useless, but leads to the prudent selection and steady pursuits of what is right.”

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A section of a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in response to his oldest grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, on November 24th, 1808. You’ll get it in his compendious Thomas Jefferson: Letters and Personal Papers.

The portraits were painted of TJ and TJR at roughly the time of this correspondence. In November of 1808, Thomas Jefferson was 65-years-old, and Thomas Randolph was 16.

(On an unrelated note: in the past week my blog has been linked to by Robert P. George at First Things as well as on Buzzfeed.)

Read more from Jefferson – to John Adams, following the death of his wife Abigail. Jefferson writes a short but profound letter of condolence to his friend and political rival; it is supplemented with some commentary on grief, including a passage from Saul Bellow’s novel Ravelstein and a recent exchange on the subject which I had with Noam Chomsky:

The School of Affliction

Check out Jefferson’s biographer John Meacham discuss Jefferson’s passions and the roots of his relationship with Sally Hemings:

Thomas Jefferson, Man of Many Appetites

Or look at two more great letters from founding fathers. In the first, Alexander Hamilton is looking for a female companion. In the second, John Adams is venting to his.