The English Jefferson

It is hard to think of Thomas Jefferson as English. Jefferson is one of America’s most famous founders, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, a noted Anglophobe, an opponent of the Anglophile Federalists, a persistent critic of King George III, and a renowned Francophile. It is easy to think that the Englishness of the Anglo-Virginian Jefferson was incidental or erased rapidly after the American Revolution. However, did Jefferson’s Englishness matter more than has been acknowledged?  

Thomas Jefferson was a loyal British subject for the first three decades of his life. In many ways, Jefferson was an extraordinarily provincial English Virginian. He was brought up with English ideas about education, manners, religion, culture, and aspirations central to living in one of the most English colonies in British North America. Was Jefferson’s Englishness instrumental or incidental? Instrumental for sure, to who he was, how he thought and acted. Divorce from Britain was painful, combining anger, regret, resentment and affection in various measures over his life. England mattered to Jefferson, a lot. It was personal.  

My book project, provisionally titled, Thomas Jefferson: the Englishman who made America, is the product of a decade of research and study. It is a biographical account of the English Jefferson, from adolescence to his retirement years. My book explores Jefferson’s English foundations and how they shaped him throughout his life, adding nuance to our understanding of Jefferson as an individual, rather than the legend he has become over time. This “recovery” of Jefferson challenges the one-dimensional notions of Jefferson the Anglophobe or Francophile along the way.  

Examining Thomas Jefferson’s early life helps us understand how English tradition was imbued into his identity. Jefferson was raised at the family house called Shadwell, named after his mother’s birthplace, about a mile from the Tower of London. In the house at Shadwell, in the main fireplace was a fireback with the coat of arms of King George II on it. It was a symbol of the family’s English heritage, ancestry and loyalty out in the woods of provincial Virginia. This connection to England extended beyond his earliest years at Shadwell and into his time as a young man living in Virginia’s colonial capital of Williamsburg. While a student at William & Mary, Jefferson further became educated and enculturated into English language, literature, law, history, manners, politics, social structures, religion, and taste. These are what Jefferson described as his “deeply laid English foundations” as a politician and statesman.  

Thomas Jefferson’s connections to English ideas remained consistent throughout his life. Replying to an invitation to the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1826, Jefferson chose to quote English seventeenth-century political theorist Algernon Sidney at length, celebrating the triumph of English liberty in America. A few years earlier, Jefferson insisted that the curriculum at his University of Virginia should have in its founding statement the words of both John Locke and Sidney. Jefferson fundamentally believed that studying these English authors was foundational to understanding American liberty. Evidently, the UVA College Board agreed with him, stating that these authors embodied “the general principles of liberty and the rights of man.” Anglo-Saxon was proposed for the modern language curriculum, reflecting Jefferson’s life-long belief in the high value of Anglo-Saxon language, history, and “ancient,” pre-Norman Conquest, constitution. Jefferson retained his English Whig republican belief in enlightened progress, limited executive power, representative legislatures, the rule of law, and individual liberties, first for Virginia, and then for America. Without England, there could be no Jefferson. Englishness was not just a thread to him but the very fabric of the man. The man who made America was, in fact, an extraordinary provincial English Virginian.  

Monticello has been an invaluable help for someone exploring Jefferson history from the other side of the Atlantic. Although my research and writing are ongoing, the fellowship program is helping to shape the final stages of my book research.  As a Fellow, I have been able to easily connect with other scholars and experts to bring new discoveries and ideas to enrich my work. My thanks go to the amazing staff at the International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS), the Jefferson Library at Monticello, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for all their support.