Some Background

James C. Thompson

o Alumnus of Mr. Jefferson’s University

o Degrees: Philosophy - Ideas in History

o Four years living on Martha Jefferson Randolph’s farm

As a Philosopher I see

HISTORY:As

Ideas Moving From Place To Place

What Happened As They Did?

Where History, Philosophy, and Art Meet

I am not reporting events from the past! 

I am creating

3-DIMENIONAL IMPRESSIONS 

of them: 

My aim is to bring past events to life AGAIN!

This Evening:

I am going to reconstruct Jefferson’s transformation:

A POLITICAL LONER

HIS WIFE DIED

AN OPPORTUNITY TO START A NEW LIFE

A PLAN

A HELPING HAND

THE IDEA OF PROGRESS

In France Thomas Jefferson became

A PROGRESSIVE INSIDER

Home again, this new man led a movement

to save the American republic

Thomas Jefferson Writing the Declaration of Independence

by Howard Pyle (1901) Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

Thomas Jefferson in

1776:

APolitical

Loner

After meeting the Chevalier de Chastellux,Jefferson saw himself as

“A Savage from

the Mountains of America”

Francois Jean De Beauvoir, Marquis De Chastellux

by Charles Willson Peale, from life (c. 1782)

Independence National Historical Park,

Philadelphia

Martha Jefferson died

on 6 September

1782

“Nay if even in the house of Hades

The dead forget their dead,

Yet will I even there be mindful

Of my dear comrade.”

Ellen Randolph Coolidge (Martha Wayles Jefferson’s

granddaughter)by Frances Alexander (c. 1800)

Courtesy, Thomas Jefferson Foundation

Jefferson may have decided to use his

Notes on the State of Virginia

to establish himself as a man of culture and letters while visiting

with Charles Thomson, fellow member of the

American Philosophical Society, in the late-

spring 1784.Charles Thompson Esqr. Secretary to Congress

By Pierre Eugène du Simitiére (1783). In Portraits of the Generals, Ministers, Magistrates,

Members of Congress & Others.Courtesy, Library of Congress

Jefferson was offended by French Naturalist comte de Buffon’s baseless claim that

“ . . . the animals

common to both the old and the new worlds . . .

have degenerated in America.”

Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, Lithography by Francois Seraphin Delpech

(undated)Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library

Detail: Panoramic View of Paris Towards the Northby Louis Nicolas Lespinasse (c. 1786)

Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris

Jefferson arrives in Paris in August 1784

A few days after arriving in Paris,

Jefferson calls on Benjamin Franklin in Passy

The Potager of the Hôtel de Valentinois in Passy, c. 1780

Alexis Nicolas Pergnon (c. 1780)National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Benjamin FranklinJoseph Siffred Duplessis (1785) 

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Benjamin Franklin:

A Man for all Seasons o Promoter of the American

Cause o A new world Republican

o A Scientist - Inventory  o A Sage & Homespun

Philosopher o A Freemason

Turgot said of Franklin:  

“He seized the lightning from the sky, and the scepter from tyrants”

Festival in honor King Gustav III of Sweden - Given at the Petit Trianon Monday on 21 June 1784 

by Niklas Lafrensen the Younger (1784)

Formerly in King Gustav’s Private Collection

Franklin describes pre-revolutionary Paris as

A SOCIETAL GALAXY FILLED WITH SOLAR SYSTEMS

Franklin orbits in five Parisian solar systems:

The Salon of Duchess d’Enville

The Salon of Madame

d’Houdetot

The Salon ofMadame

Helvetius

The Court ofKing Louis

XVI

FRANKLIN

115. Souper chez le prince Conti by Michel Barthelemy Ollivier (1766)

Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France

[1] [2]

[4]

[3]

Franklin’s 5th Circle:

The Lodge of the Nine Sisters

This celebrated lodge was founded the year

Franklin arrived in France (1776) with the

help of Madame Helvetius, to honor the memory of her

husband.

Franklins steers Jefferson to

Pierre Cabanis(1757 – 1808)

The best-informed man in France is:o A Scientist

Medicine – Physiology (Materialism)

o A PhilosopheTurgot – Condorcet –

Helvetius(Supremacy

of Reason over Faith)o A Freemason

Member of Ben Franklin’s lodge

(Social Virtue – Benevolence)o A Salonnier

Companion to Madame Helvetius

(with Social Connections)

Pierre-Jean-Georges Cabanis(After an engraving by Ambroise Tardieu (c. 1820))

Courtesy, The National Library of Medicine / NIH

Jefferson spends from mid-August 1784 until mid-April 1785:

oWeathering in to his new environment

oMastering his responsibilities as a minister in the American embassy

oRevising his “Notes on the State of Virginia”

In the spring of 1785:

o Jefferson publishes his Notes

o He begins his Salon Campaign to attract the attention the French cognoscenti

o Cabanis offers to take him through the city and acquaint him with France

“While the great mass of the people are thus suffering under physical and moral oppression, I have endeavored to examine more nearly the condition of the great, to appreciate the true value of the circumstances in their situation . . .”

To Charles Bellini – 30 September 1785

Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown (1788)

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

When it was over, Jefferson summarized the objective of his salon campaign with uncharacteristic candor in a letter to Charles Bellini:

Hotel Landron

Hotel Langeac

Excursion [1]

The Tuileries Gardens

62. View of the Gardens and Palace of the Tuileries from the Quai d'Orsay by Etienne Bouhot (1813)

Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris,

Cabanis explainsFrench Society:

Three Estates

I. Clergy (125,000)

II. Aristocracy(200,000)

III. CommonsBourgeoisie/Peasants(500,000/23,150,000)

o The monarchy is on the verge of bankruptcy

o The economy is stagnant andcorruption is rampant

o There is no advancement for France’saspiring petit bourgeoisie

o Peasants in the countryside live on the edge of starvation

Supporters of the Ancient Regime

MonarchistsThe Cognoscenti

Progressives

The Petit BourgeoisieProfessionals/Working People

The French PeopleAn Illiterate Mass

Turgot

Robespierre

Louis

Nobody

Jefferson discovers that

Everyone wantS reform!

66. Le Palais Royal Gardens viewed from the Palace by Louis Nicolas Lespinasse (1791)

Courtesy, Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris, France

Excursion [2]Le Palais Royal

The Palais Royal is owned by the duc

d’Orleans, who finishes it the year Jefferson

arrives.

It is a foreshadowing of another revolution: a place to gather, a place to shop, a place to be entertained, place to debate.

It soon becomes a seedbed for sedition.

The French Revolution will begin here on 14 July 1789!

Louis Philippe Joseph, 6th duc d’Orleans, later Philippe Egalitaire, lives in the palace.

It is no coincidence that the Palais is thecenter of LA MAÇONNERIE FRANÇAISEand the seedbed for political intrigue.

The duc became Grand Master of la Grande Loge de France in 1773. He holds this post until he is beheaded in 1793. 

Louis Philippe Joseph, 6th duc d’Orleans

Grand Master, la Grande Orient de France

by Michael Garnier (1777)

Detail: Philippe’s masonic Square and Compass

The Lesson Jefferson Learns:

France is ripe for a significant change

 70. View of le Theatre de l'Odeon

by Victor Jean Nicolle (c. 1780)Courtesy, Musee Nationale du Chateau de

Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France

Excursion [3]le Theatre de l'Odeon

Cabanis takes Jefferson to see a comedy

In Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro, commoners are wise and aristocrats are foolish.

The audience is filled with educated commoners who have come to Beaumarchais’ controversial play not just to be entertained—France’s petit bourgeoisie is eager to improve itself.

Even the common people are hungry for CULTURE!

After the theatre, the prim republican comes face toface with the world’s most libidinous society:“

“We are on pins,” the younger Mademoiselle Saint-Val implores, laying a soft hand on Jefferson’s, “tell us what you thought of our play!”

All eyes fix on Jefferson, who waits a long moment before answering. “I was enchanted!” he replies, smiling awkwardly. The actress beams across the table at her co-star. “I warn you though,” he adds, “French is not my native tongue.”78. Mademoiselle Saint-Val as Bacchante

by Antoine Vestier (c. 1785) Courtesy, Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris,

Jefferson receives his first lesson in Oeconomics:

The future of France will be decided by

commoners striving to improve themselves

84. Salon Scene by Michel François Andre-Bardon (c.

1755)Courtesy Louvre (Cabinet de dessins),

Paris, France

Excursion [4]Madame d’Houdetot’s Paris Hotel

In Adam Smith’s

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Jefferson is pleased to find that the influential economist shares his views on Primogeniture and Entailment.

Jefferson discusses these things with the admirers of American Liberty and Constitutional Government who fill Madame’s Salon.

113. Portrait from a medallion of Adam Smith

Engraving by William Holl the Younger(Undated)

Courtesy, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

Jefferson Learns from the Best People that:

Liberty is essential for Economic Growth

~Both are necessary for

PROGRESS!

99. le Hotel des Monnaiesby Pierre-Antoine Demachy (1777)

Courtesy, Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris, France

[5]

91. Marquis de Condorcet engraving by François-Seraphin Delpech

(1832)Iconographie des contemporains depuis

1789 jusqu'à 1829.Delpech, Editor and Lithography. Paris.

1832.

Condorcet embraces his mentor’s revolutionary

idea. 

Condorcet believes that in the ever-expanding library of

human knowledge are remedies for every ill that

afflicts mankind. As they are solved, man will progress

toward a state of perfection. This is the 

Doctrine of ProgressSomething new is coming in France, he tells Jefferson. It is the law of Progress. Your are the authority, he says, You must tell us how to male

government-by-the-people work

HERE!

The Lesson Jefferson Learns:

France’s leading reformers consider Jefferson an expert on republican government

and want his advice on how to create one in France!

108. Interior of Halle aux Bles by Jean-Demosthene Dugourc

(undated)Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of

Art

The End of Jefferson’s Salon Campaign:

Franklin returns home in June 1785.

Jefferson replaces him as American Ambassador to the

Court of Louis XVI

Madame Geoffrin`s salon in 1755, by Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier (1812)

Chateau de Malmasion, Rueil - Malmaison, France

Jefferson now mingleswith France’s Great

DaubentonBuffonMarmontelRousseauMadame Lespinasse

Voltaire

SoufflotQuesnayDiderotTurgotDuchesse D’AnvillePrince ContiMalesherbesMadame GeoffrinFontenelleMade d’HoudetotMontesquieu

D’AlembertSaint-LambertHelvetiusBoucharadon

With Cabanis’ careful preparation,

Jefferson is welcomed into three enlightened

circles

Madame Helvetius

Madame d’Houdetot

Duchesse d’Enville

Maria Cosway

Each Circle has its own focus

o Progress through Advancement of Scientific Knowledge

o Progress through Social Reform and Public Education

o Progress through Economic Reform and Agricultural Modernization

o Not A Progressive

The Port au Ble and the Pont Notre-Dameby Louis-Nicolas Lespinasse (c. 1780)

Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris, France

Madame Helvetius’s Salon

Madame d’Houdetot’s Salon

Duchess d’Enville’s Circle

Maria Cosway’s Circle

Louis Alexandre, duc de la

Rochefoucald(1743 – 1792)

39. Vue du Chateau du la Roche-Guyon

by Hubert Robert (undated)Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France

The estate of duc de la Rochefaucauld and a center in the movement to reform France.

As is the case with Jefferson’s other relationships with women, his association with Maria Cosway is shrouded in mist and uncertainty.

I reconstruct the fleeting affair with Mrs. Cosway in the book.

Maria Cosway

View of the Corn, Flour, and Seed Market, and the astronomical

column in Paris by Victor Jean Nicolle (c. 1810)

Musee Nat. du Chateau de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison

156. Mirabeau confronts the Marquis de Dreux-Breze after the Seance Royale (23 June 1789)by Joseph Desire Court (Undated)Courtesy, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France

A few moments after this famous confrontation, the Estates General dissolved, the old orders in French society disappeared, and government by the people came into existence.

165. Washington's Inauguration at Philadelphia

by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (c. 1925) Private Collection

Jefferson returned to America as a progressiveinsider in November 1789 and immediately joined President Washington first Cabinet as Secretary of State

6. Edgehill Portrait by Gilbert Stuart (1800-1806)

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the Thomas

Jefferson Memorial Foundation, and the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation.

Owned jointly with Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

When George Washington retired from public office, Jefferson led the Republican Party in two campaigns for the highest office of the land. He won the “Second American Revolution” in the Presidential election of 1800.  I believe his experience in France prepared him both to wage these campaigns and to lead America’s “government by the people”.  In France, he embraced the idea that it was his duty to improve the conditions of man in society. As a member of la Rochefoucauld’s small circle of reformers, he gained the conviction he needed to broadcast his views to his countrymen.

~ ƑINI ~