Summer Getaway

"I will not sit here in summer, I would sooner resign my office." Words spoken by Vice President John Adams on being holed up in Philadelphia any longer. Over the past seven years, his time in office, Adams had greatly missed being at home and working in his fiends. His feelings on being stuck in Philadelphia were shared by many and in the summer of 1796, Washington, Adams, Madison, and Jefferson all returned to their farms and plantations. More specifically I want to talk about Jefferson and his farm back home.

Repeatedly throughout the chapter it is mentioned how Jefferson and Washington felt that widespread small-scare farming was the way to go in America because it created independent individuals. Wuff also discussed the importance Jefferson felt towards his own farm. However, earlier in the chapter Wuff describes the state of Jeffersons farm when he returns home that summer as "ravaged by overseers and suffering from a decade of neglect". Although I realize that during this time Jefferson had been in office, I find it interesting that he had not found a way to keep his property managed while he was out of time.

Fellow politicians Washington and Madison had been able to keep their properties properly managed during their time away. For Washington, this meant a weekly letter sent to the estate manager which included specific instructions as to what needed to be kept up and how to do so. Madison although not always physically away, was very wrapped up in politics at the time yet, he made sure to have a focus on the day-to-day operations of his farm to make sure things were being managed properly.

To me, if Jefferson found farming to be this important, he would how found some way to keep his property managed during his time in Philadelphia. I find letting his property become so run down almost hypocritical. For Jefferson to go out and speak of the importance of farming and how it makes a more independent individual, he too must be keeping his own farm.

Another aspect of Jefferson which I found to be odd was how he got involved with politics once again at the end of the chapter. Towards the beginning Wuff discusses Jefferson's distaste towards politics. This was brought up when Jefferson had received a book from Adams about the French Revolution. Jefferson responded that he could not make a promise that the book would be ready because it was "on politics, a subject [he] never loved, and now hate[d]."

After reading that in the beginning, I do not feel it was necessarily right for Jefferson to be involved in politics once again. Politics, is a career that one needs to have a passion about and not just something they do. Although I realize that same may not be true about today's politicians, I feel that at the time many were in it for the better of our country and Jefferson seemed to be so fed up with what was being accomplished and more intrigued in fixing his garden than helping our country move in a way he knew he would be unable to change.