THOMAS JEFFERSON

 Writing just a century ago, and a few years after Jefferson’s death, one of his earliest biographers said that it had been that statesman’s fate “to be at once loved and praised by his friends, and more hated and reviled¹ by his adversaries² than any of his compatriots.” The fact that much the same could be said of the writing about him today merely shows that the man is still alive in so far as his influence is both felt and feared. So is his great antagonist⁴ Hamilton. These two exponents⁶ of contrasted philosophies of government, though dead, yet live and are in the thick of the fight today. The issues for which they fought with all their strength are not yet settled. Indeed these issues have broadened and deepened until one in especial has become perhaps the most burning of all in a bewildered and angry world, the question whether the people can govern themselves or must be governed.

 

Although a political philosopher, Jefferson never set forth⁷ his views in any formal treatise⁸, as did John Adams in his voluminous works or Hamilton in The Federalist. Probably the most widely read man of his time in America, Jefferson had a broader range of interests—political, religious, economic, agricultural, aesthetic⁹ and scientific—than did any other of the leaders. His curiosity was insatiable, but in spite of what has so frequently been asserted, usually by his enemies, although sometimes by his friends, he was not a mere³ theorist. He kept his feet on the ground. It was the practical application of ideas and their practical effects which appealed most to him and not the ideas in themselves as viewed by a philosopher. Even when he could not use the touchstone of experiment in such matters as his belief in the common man or religious freedom, he was never a doctrinaire¹⁰. He not only believed but said over and over that government and institutions had to be suited to a people of any given time and place and could not be true or good everywhere and always.

 

We do not look to Jefferson for a theory of government or of the state. To a great extent the things he had to say about government, and the things for which he strove in his active political life, were based on the America of his day and the slowly developing agricultural one which he envisaged¹¹ in the future, writing as he did, before the machine age. What gave Jefferson his profound importance in his own day, as it does now, was his view of human life. He was, and still is, the greatest and most influential¹² American exponent⁵ of both Liberalism and Americanism.

 

Liberalism is rather an attitude than a program. It is less a solution of governmental problems than it is a way of looking at them. It is based on the doctrine¹³ of live and let live. The Liberal is willing to take risks feared by both Conservatives and Socialists¹⁴. Not being a fool, he realizes, as do the others, that society must have a structure; but he is more concerned with the freedom and fullness of the life of the citizen within that structure than with the structure itself.

 

It may also be noted¹⁵ that even in his native Virginia, Jefferson antagonized many of the most important interests and families by what was considered his undermining of a social order. His struggle to break down entail¹⁶ and primogeniture, to free religion from the fetters¹⁷ of a State church, and his well-known opposition¹⁸ to slavery, have not even yet been forgiven by many Virginians who feel that the downfall of the, in many ways, charming and delightful¹⁹ society of the eighteenth century was due to one whom they consider a renegade from his own order. As we shall see later, when Jefferson was involved in financial difficulties in his old age, the citizens of his own State, unlike many elsewhere, did not offer him the slightest aid.

 

Europe, in the early days of our country, was filled with restraints and barriers. Jefferson felt that the America of his day offered a unique opportunity in the annals of mankind to try out the great experiment of self-government on an unprecedented²⁰ scale. His Americanism, written in part into the Declaration of Independence, which he preached throughout life by word and act, grew out of his personal experience of America itself. In so far as those qualities of the American people which we group under the word “Americanism” have been fostered by any one man, in addition to the natural forces of the American environment, Jefferson is beyond question that man.

 

The struggle going on almost everywhere today, in our own country no less than in some of those others which have already lost their liberties, is the struggle between the conception of a strong centralized state controlling the lives of the citizens for the sake of economics and national power, and the conception of personal liberty affording the greatest possible scope for the individual to live his life as he wills. The old questions which Jefferson and Hamilton fought over were who is to rule, why are they to rule, what is the object of their rule? These are now being fought out again, as they always have been, but with increasing bitterness among vast masses of populations. That is why both men are living today and why it is worth while to consider again the life particularly of the one who laid more stress upon freedom and toleration for the individual than on the strength of national power.

 

JAMES TRUSLOW ADAMS

from “The Living Jefferson,” 1936

 

1 reviled   

v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The tramp reviled the man who drove him off. 流浪汉辱骂那位赶他走开的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The old man reviled against corruption. 那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

4 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

5 exponent   

n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂

参考例句：

• She is an exponent of vegetarianism.她是一个素食主义的倡导者。
• He had been the principal exponent of the Gallipoli campaign.他曾为加里波利战役的主要代表人物。

6 exponents   

n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手

参考例句：

• Its tendency to archaic language was tempered by the indolence of its exponents. 它的应用古语的趋势却被用语者的懒散所冲淡。 来自辞典例句
• The exponents of this trend are trying to lead us towards capitalism. 这股思潮的代表人物是要把我们引导到资本主义方向上去。 来自互联网

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 treatise   

n.专著；(专题)论文

参考例句：

• The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
• This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。

9 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

10 doctrinaire   

adj.空论的

参考例句：

• The continuing debate between government and the press has not been much advanced by doctrinaire arguments.政府和新闻界之间不停的辩论，并没有因一些空洞的观点而有所进展。
• He is firm but not doctrinaire.他很坚定但并不教条。

11 envisaged   

想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He envisaged an old age of loneliness and poverty. 他面对着一个孤独而贫困的晚年。
• Henry Ford envisaged an important future for the motor car. 亨利·福特为汽车设想了一个远大前程。

12 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

13 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

14 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

16 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

17 fetters   

n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They were at last freed from the fetters of ignorance. 他们终于从愚昧无知的束缚中解脱出来。
• They will run wild freed from the fetters of control. 他们一旦摆脱了束缚，就会变得无法无天。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

19 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

20 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。