Blab Politics
Founding Fathers Growing Disillusionment: Jefferson, Adams, and the Legacy of 18th-Century Politics
The founders who laid the country’s foundations later voiced a quiet but unmistakable discontent with the nation’s political trajectory. In 1824, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to Daniel Webster in which he branded Andrew Jackson “unfit” for office and warned that the growing factionalism threatened the republic’s integrity. Two years earlier, John Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush, lamenting what he saw as American vices and a loss of republican virtue. Both men died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—a striking irony that underscored their disillusionment.
Jefferson’s criticism of Jackson reflected a broader unease about the rise of partisan politics. The former president wrote that Jackson showed “little respect for laws and constitutions,” and feared that the new political climate would erode the ideals he had helped create. The letter, preserved in Jefferson’s papers, shows a man who, after serving two terms, could not reconcile the nation’s democratic evolution with the principles of republicanism.
Adams’s discontent surfaced in an 1806 missive to Rush, in which he lamented American “follies and vices” and described the society as “ignorant & free.” The tone of the letter reveals a man who, despite a shared history with Jefferson, viewed the Revolution’s ideals as being squandered by a people he saw as increasingly unruly.
Scholars such as Gordon Wood and Dennis C. Rasmussen have noted that many founding figures—Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay, and others—shared a similar unease. Wood describes the founders as “bewildered, uneasy, and in many cases deeply disillusioned” by the early decades of the republic.
Washington’s own Farewell Address, issued in 1796, warned that “the alternate domination of one faction over another…is a frightful despotism.” Although he had played a role in the early party system, Washington’s later private letters referred to the Jeffersonian Republicans as “the French Party” and “the curse of this country,” illustrating his growing frustration with the divisions he had helped to create.
Jefferson’s experience with the University of Virginia further underscores his disillusionment. In 1825, a riot by students—who threw “bottles of urine” and beat a professor with a cane—prompted Jefferson to weep in front of the university’s rotunda. The incident, documented in Jefferson’s papers and the university’s archives, shows how the founder’s vision of enlightened education was undermined by the very society he had helped to build.
The founders’ failure to confront slavery remains a pivotal point of contention. Jefferson’s original Declaration contained an anti‑slavery clause that Congress later excised. In his 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just,” yet he opposed emancipation, fearing that freed slaves could not live peacefully among whites. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which divided the nation on slavery, was a source of deep disappointment for Jefferson, who had advocated for slavery’s expansion westward.
Adams, by contrast, opposed slavery and warned that the issue could “rend this mighty fabric in twain.” Both men’s positions illustrate the founders’ inability to reconcile their revolutionary ideals with the realities of a slave‑holding nation.
Today, the founders’ disillusionment continues to shape debates over the Revolution’s legacy. Historians and scholars cite their letters and public statements to argue that the founders were not merely idealists but also pragmatic leaders who recognized the limits of their vision. The unresolved tension between the founders’ ideals and the nation’s political evolution remains a central theme in contemporary discussions about American identity and governance.
Jefferson’s criticism of Jackson reflected a broader unease about the rise of partisan politics. The former president wrote that Jackson showed “little respect for laws and constitutions,” and feared that the new political climate would erode the ideals he had helped create. The letter, preserved in Jefferson’s papers, shows a man who, after serving two terms, could not reconcile the nation’s democratic evolution with the principles of republicanism.
Adams’s discontent surfaced in an 1806 missive to Rush, in which he lamented American “follies and vices” and described the society as “ignorant & free.” The tone of the letter reveals a man who, despite a shared history with Jefferson, viewed the Revolution’s ideals as being squandered by a people he saw as increasingly unruly.
Scholars such as Gordon Wood and Dennis C. Rasmussen have noted that many founding figures—Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay, and others—shared a similar unease. Wood describes the founders as “bewildered, uneasy, and in many cases deeply disillusioned” by the early decades of the republic.
Washington’s own Farewell Address, issued in 1796, warned that “the alternate domination of one faction over another…is a frightful despotism.” Although he had played a role in the early party system, Washington’s later private letters referred to the Jeffersonian Republicans as “the French Party” and “the curse of this country,” illustrating his growing frustration with the divisions he had helped to create.
Jefferson’s experience with the University of Virginia further underscores his disillusionment. In 1825, a riot by students—who threw “bottles of urine” and beat a professor with a cane—prompted Jefferson to weep in front of the university’s rotunda. The incident, documented in Jefferson’s papers and the university’s archives, shows how the founder’s vision of enlightened education was undermined by the very society he had helped to build.
The founders’ failure to confront slavery remains a pivotal point of contention. Jefferson’s original Declaration contained an anti‑slavery clause that Congress later excised. In his 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just,” yet he opposed emancipation, fearing that freed slaves could not live peacefully among whites. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which divided the nation on slavery, was a source of deep disappointment for Jefferson, who had advocated for slavery’s expansion westward.
Adams, by contrast, opposed slavery and warned that the issue could “rend this mighty fabric in twain.” Both men’s positions illustrate the founders’ inability to reconcile their revolutionary ideals with the realities of a slave‑holding nation.
Today, the founders’ disillusionment continues to shape debates over the Revolution’s legacy. Historians and scholars cite their letters and public statements to argue that the founders were not merely idealists but also pragmatic leaders who recognized the limits of their vision. The unresolved tension between the founders’ ideals and the nation’s political evolution remains a central theme in contemporary discussions about American identity and governance.
