Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'll admit to being a Jefferson fan. His vision is what led me to UVa, and his depth and breadth of knowledge and experience still astounds me. Truly a renaissance man who seemed to master most of what he attempted - languages, science, music, politics, and a man of stark contradictions. A man who owned slaves and yet campaigned to free them. A man who enjoyed political power but despised face to face confrontations. This book captures this man, and I think does an excellent job developing a focal point to use to understand Jefferson, his contributions and his flaws. Meacham uses one "prism" to evaluate Jefferson's life - the acquisition and use of power to achieve Jefferson's vision and aims. While this is nominally a biography, the depth of the book lies in examining how and when Jefferson acquired and used power to achieve his aims. While I had hoped to read more about the University of Virginia, I knew the book wouldn't spend much time on it, and it didn't. The vast majority of the book is spent examining the unfolding disagreement between the Federalists, primarily in New England, who sought closer relationship with England and rule by the privileged and the few, and the Democrats, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and South, who worked for individual democracy. It came as a surprise to me to learn that several times the Northeastern states contemplated secession over the style of government. This is little reported in US history. Jefferson felt that the Revolution was fought to free the Americans to pursue individual freedoms, individual liberty which could only result from participative democracy. Many of the Federalists believed that the average citizen could not participate in government effectively and wanted a privileged ruling class. The battles fought during the end of Washington's presidency and John Adam's presidency were over this issue. When Jefferson won the presidency he used "Hamiltonian means to Jeffersonian ends" to quote the author. Jefferson actually strengthened the office of the presidency through the acquisition of Louisiana and many other actions that true "democrats" of his time felt left more power in the state than necessary. But, of the two visions - Federalist or Democratic - Jefferson clearly won and influenced the politics of the country for another half century. Many of his counterparts or followers became president (Madison, Monroe, Jackson) and this democratic vision defined the country at least until the Civil War. Other reviewers have written about the gaps in the biography - not enough about Jefferson's slave holdings, not enough about his education and early childhood, not enough about his development of UVa. But those are incidental to the book Meacham set out to write. While they are part of Jefferson's life, they are not necessarily about his acquisition and use of political power to achieve his vision. When looked at in this context, the book is well-researched and very complete. The one item that's missing for me is the "why" - why Jefferson, a relatively wealthy man, a slave holder, an admirer of French and the aristocracy over the English - would come to champion individual liberty and democracy. Yes, he was influenced by Hume, Locke and others, but that still doesn't explain the flash of insight that became such a compelling cause. Jefferson was surrounded by people who constantly failed - several sons and sons-in-law who were drunkards, bankrupts. He himself was a terrible manager of money. Yet he felt certain that the best government was the one that allows everyone, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, to participate in and to choose their leaders. What did he see, what did he believe about individual rights, freedom and the common good that led him to believe this English "rabble" could form a better government? Where those beliefs come from is still a bit of a mystery. Just as well, because he's been called a Sphinx, and often held contradictory beliefs. Perhaps we'll never really know what drove him, but The Art of Power goes a long way to explaining what he did and why he did what he did in the interest of his vision and the use of power.