The Most Virtuous

The summer of 1796 was a peculiar one; it was the last summer that Washington would be President, and he was announcing his resignation at the end of the summer. With his resignation would come the debate over who would succeed Washington. Adams wrote in August of that final peaceful summer, “Of all the summers in my life, this has been the freest from Care, Anxiety, and Vexation to me.” 

 

Chapter 5 details the gardening lives of Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Madison, and some of Franklin that peaceful summer. Each of the men took great care of his gardens, and the time spent away from them in Philadelphia was more than made up that summer. For some, like Jefferson, his garden was in a rough state from neglect and lack of planning. But for others like Washington, the gardens were in pristine condition. His careful planning through letters to his estate manager paid off when he came home to beautiful Mount Vernon that summer. Every detail was accounted for, and no bush was out of place. 

Despite the variance in care for the gardens, the men all went to work that summer improving and maintaining their garden masterpieces. As Jefferson wrote, “Cultivators of the earth are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous.”The Founding Fathers believed that those who possessed these qualities (ie: farmers), had the best chance at holding the young nation together. They were “pillars of American society.” 

At this time, farmers were an elevated class of people in society. Seen as hardworking, industries, and innovative, farmers were believed to be the crowning jewel of American society, a quality that set us apart from Europe. Jefferson and many of the Founders even believed that agriculture was the key to American exceptionalism—that which would maintain and grow our economy so that we could be the best the world had seen. 

Jefferson described farmers as being the only people fit for congress because they were “true representatives of the great American interest.” Madison agreed, publishing an article that insisted that the more agricultural men, “the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be the society itself.” “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom,” wrote Franklin, and since farmers were believed to be the most virtuous people, the Founders wholeheartedly promoted the concept of agriculture, farming, and gardening to ensure freedom for the next generation. 

As the men tended to their gardens all summer, they cultivated a life dominated by the land surrounding them. For in this way, they were believed they were best able to live the life of freedom they had worked so hard for during the Revolution.