John Jay / Thomas Jefferson

 

John Jay

At a chance meeting during the twilight years of their lives, two men exchange views on their past efforts within the new government of the United States. One proves to be belligerent and tries to intimidate the other. Both had proved themselves to be great statesmen and leaders of their time.

Thomas Jefferson: Jay, how was it that you always seemed to be the preferred choice of Washington for any position that was vacant?

John Jay: That question, Jefferson, is not asked out of curiosity but out of the meanness that you barely manage to hide.

Jefferson: No, in truth I had no such great mentor and I’d be curious to know how many of Washington’s ideas had their first stirrings in your brain.

Jay: You belittle a great man who excelled in his lifetime as a leader in the field of battle and as the first president of this republic. Surely, it cannot be jealousy of George Washington. You have reached the presidency as well. But you were not the first or the second. Does that make your success less noteworthy?

Jefferson: Certainly not. You and I are old men now and it should not make a difference to me, but it does. In this year of Our Lord 1825, I have the yearning for answers to questions of which have long bewildered me. I know that Washington offered you the cabinet position of secretary of state before he offered it to me. Why is that? Did he consider you more capable that I?

Jay: I’ll respect your age which remains only two years senior to mine and therefore moderate my response accordingly. At heart you were never a federalist. Have I hurt your feelings? George Washington wanted to have those of similar political philosophies closest to him. John Adams, his vice-president, was a federalist and so was Alexander Hamilton.

Jefferson: And why did you turn down the most important position in government?

Jay: I am a jurist, not a man of politics.

Jefferson: Were you forewarned that the lofty position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would be reserved for you?

Jay: Ancient as you may be, you have not lost your deadly grip on the paranoia you first showed as a young man.

Jefferson: You say you were never a man of politics; yet you gleefully went off to Spain and took on the almost impossible task of having that country recognize the independence of our United States.

Jay: Is there a question in there?

Jefferson: If you were not a politician, how is it that you singlehandedly wrote and marshaled to completion The Treaty of Paris?

Jay: In America I did my best to represent the conservative faction that was interested in protecting property rights and in preserving the rule of law, while resisting what was regarded as British violations of American rights.

Jefferson: Once on your exalted throne of the Supreme Court, you were ready to make your great contribution to the lives of the American people. Americans who suffered from having their precious savings disappear in exorbitant taxes; American seamen stopped at sea and put into chains to become sailors in the British navy. All this you said you would put an end to with your Jay Treaty. The Treaty was a failure. You returned from England empty-handed. The provisions that we all wanted from the treaty were rejected by the British.  

Jay: Granted the treaty proved unpopular with the American public but did accomplish the goal of maintaining peace between the two nations and preserving U.S. neutrality.

Jefferson: Tensions with Britain remained high. British exports flooded American ports, but American exports were systematically blocked by trade restrictions. The impressments of American sailors and seizure of naval and military supplies bound to enemy ports on neutral ships brought our two nations to the brink of war. The honor of America was left unattended on the docks of Britain.

Jay: Mr. Jefferson, I do hope you will be able to come to terms with past decisions of our nation and that your emotions do not lead you to an early grave.

One year later, on July 4^th 1826, the third president of the United States died peaceably in his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. By coincidence, Jefferson’s predecessor as president, John Adams died the very same day at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts  —Adams was 90 years old and Jefferson was 82.  

Regarding John Jay's Treaty (1794–95), on November 19, 1794 representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed Jay's Treaty, which sought to settle outstanding issues between the two countries that had been left unresolved since American independence.

Thomas Jefferson

James Monroe

13 Daniel D. Tompkins died in 1825. It was the same year that James Monroe completed his eighth year as President of the United States. The following conversation took place in August 1831 a month after the death of President Monroe. Any notes taken by Tompkins ceased six years before 1831. Dominant by nature, Eliza Monroe Hay’s social edicts shaped the very nature of her father’s Administration.

Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay: Please come in and take your ease, Sir

Mangle Minthorne Tompkins: Thank you for seeing me so soon after the death of your father.

Monroe Hay: You mentioned in your note that you wished to write about the presidency of my father.

Tompkins: My father, Daniel Tompkins, as you may know, was vice-president under James Monroe and was a great admirer of his presidency. He left a box of notes he had gathered over the years. I would like to ask your permission to bring his observations to light.

Eliza Kortright Monroe Hay

Monroe Hay: Surely you don’t need my permission to write about James Monroe. However, if you would like my approval, I would have to see the finished product of your research before giving my views.

Tompkins: I assure you my motives are all above board and honorable. Would you permit me a brief discussion now?

Monroe Hay: Please.

Tompkins: I believe it was while Jefferson was still in office and Madison served as Secretary of State that your father was selected for unusual diplomatic assignments. Why was he sent to France in 1803?

Monroe Hay: Father went to France to assist our minister Mr. Livingston with an assignment - très epineux.

Tompkins: Sorry. I don’t understand.

Monroe Hay: 'Twas a very thorny matter. It was to help secure navigation rights on the Mississippi River. Somewhat later, Napoleon Bonaparte needed hard money, so he decided to rid himself of some land France owned, that previously belonged to Spain. Madison, Livingston and my father negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.

Tompkins: (Consulting his notes) Yes I have that in my notes. Much earlier, before the beginning of the Revolutionary War, I see that your father was admitted to the College of William and Mary. I don’t see a date of completion of his studies.

Monroe Hay: That’s true. In 1774, his uncle paid for the admission to college but in 1776, my father decided to leave and join the battle against the British. He served as lieutenant in a Virginia regiment.

Tompkins: My notes show he only served in the Battle of Trenton. Is this significant?

Monroe Hay: It is significant if you think a war hero who received a serious wound in combat while attacking an enemy position of cannon in order to protect Washington’s troops is important. My father was promoted to captain for his act of bravery.

Tompkins: Please forgive my awkwardness. How was it that Monroe came to the attention of Thomas Jefferson?

Monroe Hay: It was fortuitous that Monroe read law under the tutelage of Jefferson. But knowing my father, he probably did his best to get the attention of Jefferson by constantly being willing to do the older man’s bidding as an eager disciple. It was Jefferson who introduced my father to James Madison.

Tompkins: Was James Madison to become the new mentor to James Monroe?

Monroe Hay: Madison was older than my father by seven years but it was a relationship of friendship and political companionship. They were both ambitious men who believed in republican values. They sometimes had opposing positions but they mostly agreed on the important issues.

Tompkins: Were there any serious matters that separated the two men?

Monroe Hay: The one thing that comes immediately to mind was my father’s concern that Madison had not nominated him to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Madison assumed that my father would support the constitution without conditions. Father favored the ratification of the constitution only with amendments. I can say without a single doubt that the two men admired each other and helped each other in many ways. In 1799, Madison nominated my father for governor of Virginia.

Tompkins: So they were professional associates who often agreed in matters of policy?

Monroe Hay: Oh, they were much more than professional associates. They were friends. They enjoyed speculating in land values, got interested in purchasing wine together. My father, while in France, even purchased household furniture, carpet and crystal for Madison who had recently married.

Tompkins: How was James Monroe viewed as a chief executive of the country?

Monroe Hay: Not since George Washington had a president used the valuable method of learning about the American people by traveling throughout the country. These tours earned him respect and support. He would never enrich himself in office but paid the expenses of his tours himself. I’m sure your notes outline the list of his accomplishments. He was a very effective president and was greatly loved by the American people.

 James Monroe died on July 4, 1831. On hearing of his death, Madison said: “How highly I rated the comprehensiveness & character of his mind; the purity & nobleness of his principles; the importance of his patriotic services; and the many private virtues of which his whole life was a study.”