The Legend of the Founding Generation

Americans involved in politics always claim the mantle of the Founding generation for themselves. Even today the writings and ideas of the Founding Fathers hold great authority with the American public, even if those ideas are widely misunderstood and would be rejected if advanced without the sanction of the likes of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Thus, the Founding Fathers and their generation have something of a legendary status in American social and political life.

The historical soundness of the Adams-Jefferson letters, however, both supports and undermines the legend of the Founding generation. It undermines the legend by showing Jefferson and Adams, warts and all, in their correspondences. Of course, they certainly hid many of their vices and sins from one another, but they knew each other and their mutual circumstances well. They not only worked together but were political allies and political...