Presidential Food

I was watching Food Network and saw an episode of Top 5, which covered their top 5 choices of presidential favorite foods. I thought I’d share the tidbits here for you all:

5.) BBQ

• This was LBJ’s favorite. In 1964, the Johnsons held a state dinner for the President-elect of Mexico, Diaz Ordaz. Check out LBJ’s toast if you like as well. LBJ held over 100 official BBQ as a president.

4.) French Fries

• Pommes Frites (what we know call French Fries – they were named by WWI soldiers) were discovered by Thomas Jefferson while he was Minister to France. In 1802 he included “potatoes fried in the French manner” at a White House dinner.

3.) Potato Chips

• Bill Clinton was a fan of Martin’s Potato Chips and had them stocked in Air Force One. Actually Martin’s still provides 30 cases a month to Air Force One even though Clinton is no longer in the White House. Clinton discovered these chips in 1991 while campaigning.

2.) French Cuisine

• The Kennedys love of French food brought the entire US into a love affair with French cuisine. The Kennedys’ favorite French restaurant was La Caravelle in New York City and Jackie called their head chef to find her a new White House chef. La Caravelle actually trained her chef, Rene Verdon, for two weeks before he started at the White House. [You can read about White House chefs and choosing a new one in this article.] There was one American dish that JFK insisted be prepared regularly though – New England Clam Chowder.

1.) Jelly Beans

• Ronald Reagan discovered jelly beans in 1967 while Governor of California. He used them to help him kick his pipe smoking habit. When the new Jelly Bellys came out in 1976, he was quick to make the switch. When he became president, the company made a new flavor – blueberry – so that red, white and blue jelly beans could be served as his inauguration. They provided 3.5 tons of jelly beans for the inauguration.

And a few more presidential food facts:

• Nixon enjoyed cottage cheese with ketchup on it.
• The Madisons introduced a novel new dish at their inauguration – ice cream

In the theme of presidential food, I enjoy mysteries as well as presidential non-fiction (yes, I do have normal interests). A few weeks ago I picked up a new book to try: The State of the Onion by July Hyzy. The main character is a White House assistant chef. It was actually a rather enjoyable read – nothing really historical, but it was quite amusing. Olivia Paras (Ollie) stumbles into the middle of the Secret Service chasing an intruder off and becomes involved in a hunt for an assassin.

Thomas Jefferson and Kościuszko

This is a really interesting article on HNN about Thomas Jefferson and Tadeuz Kościuszko. Kosciuszko wrote in his will that his estate was to be used to free all possible slaves (starting with Jefferson's) and that Jefferson was to carry it out for him. Kosciuszko wanted to give the slaves the opportunity to prosper. While Jefferson agreed to this will, once Kosciuszko died, he backed out:
Kosciuszko died on October 15, 1817. After several years of vacillation, Jefferson withdrew from his pact of honor with Kosciuszko by pleading in a Virginia court in Charlottesville that he could not serve as executor of his friend’s estate and would not use the money to free his slaves. As William Lloyd Garrison would say many years later, “What an all-conquering influence must have attended his illustrious example,” if he had taken the lead to abolish slavery.

And what happened to to the will and to Jefferson's slaves?
As Kosciuszko’s will, abandoned by Jefferson, made its way through the courts, many complications arose. The estate was finally awarded by the Supreme Court in 1852, 26 years after most of Jefferson’s slaves had been auctioned on the rolling lawn at Monticello to extinguish his debts, to Kosciuszko’s descendants. For years in Poland, Kosciuszko’s countrymen held the view that the American Civil War could have been averted if the Polish hero’s philanthropic, abolitionist plan had been implemented. When the slaves at Monticello mounted the auction block to be sold off after the Founding Father died—the slaves that could have been freed if Kosciuszko’s will had been honored—a small-town editor in a Susquehanna River town asked how Jefferson, “surely the champion of civil liberty to the American people,” left “so many human beings in fetters to be indiscriminately sold to the highest bidder."

Poll: Which President was responsible for the most controversial territorial expansion?

The poll has closed for the question, "Which President was responsible for the most controversial territorial expansion?" Thanks to all who participated by voting. This was the closest result the poll has seen so far.

President Polk was the top vote getter with Texas at 31%. President Andrew Johnson was a close second at 28% for Stewards Folly (Alaska). President Jefferson was a close third at 25% for the Louisiana Purchase.

Closing out the poll results, President Pierce got 8% for the Gadsden Purchase. President McKinley came in last with 6% for Hawaii. Having been to Hawaii, I have to agree with this last place vote. It was a great addition to the Union.

Wikipedia has two articles which detail why adding Texas to the Union was so controversial. See the Texas Annexation article. The strange Legal Status of Texas article also has details.

I do not have a new poll question yet. Give me a few days and I will post a new one. Feel free to leave a comment suggesting a new one.

Book Review: Jefferson's Children

Several years ago, my wife (Julie Lorenzen) wrote a book review for Jefferson's Children : The Story of One American Family by Shannon Lanier. That book was published in 2000. The site where the review resided is now defunct. With her permission, I am posting it here.

The review:

Shannon Lanier, author of Jefferson's Children: The Story of One American Family, has always wanted to tell people that he is the sixth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings. However, until recently, he has had trouble getting people to believe him. The idea that a descendant of a slave is related to our third U.S. President has been controversial. It also didn't help that Lanier's family didn't have any historical documents to back up their claim because records of slaves are rare.

For example when Lanier, who is black, stood up on President's Day and told his first-grade class he was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson, his teacher called him a liar. The history books did not recognize the relationship between Hemings and Jefferson and all Lanier had as proof was an Oral History passed down from generation to generation.

More solid proof arrived on October 31, 1998, when the Associated Press broke the news of the DNA findings linking Thomas Jefferson to Sally Hemings through the Eston Hemings line. On November 10, Oprah united members of the Jefferson family and the descendants of three lines of the Hemings family. During the show, writer Lucian K. Truscott IV, a Jefferson descendant, invited his Hemings cousins to a family reunion that May at Monticello. Eighteen-year-old Shannon, then a college freshman at Kent State University, saw the show and accepted the invitation.

At the reunion, Lanier met Hemingses who looked as white as Jeffersons, Jeffersons who refused to acknowledge the scientific evidence, and Hemingses who were angry at having to prove their lineage. Friendly and outgoing, the author was embraced in hugs by some family members, but snubbed by others. A positive outcome was that Lanier met photographer Jane Feldman. The two promptly decided to write this book with the hopes of providing more evidence of the Jefferson-Hemings relationship, giving family members of both sides a chance to speak, and emphasizing the importance of family .

The result: a stylish family album of one of America's most known families. The bulk of this book is an assortment of essays by historians and family members which are accompanied by Lanier's brief introductions. Artfully taken photos by Jane Feldman, provide the faces behind the essays. In conclusion, this book has information about the Jefferson and Hemings families and messages of racial acceptance and the importance of family from which most people can benefit.

About the Reviewer - Julie Lorenzen is a writer who lives in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. She has published in a variety of periodicals including News-Photographer Magazine and Ohioana Quarterly. She is also the author of the Autism Blog.

Jefferson's Tombstone

Yesterday, Jennie noted the Obituary of James Monroe. It did not even note that Monroe had been President of the United States!

Another well known omission is the at the grave of Thomas Jefferson. His tombstone notes, "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia."

The part about being President is notably missing...

Poll: Which president was least loyal to his party or campaign promises after being elected?

The poll has closed for the question, "Which president was least loyal to his party or campaign promises after being elected?" Thanks to all who participated by voting.

The current President Bush was the winner with 39%. Bill Clinton was a close second with 30%. President Wilson was third with 14%. Thomas Jefferson and FDR were fourth and fifth with 8% and 7%. Thanks to Inner Prop for the poll suggestion.

These polls are a popular feature at this blog. However, it is also a pain to think up a new question every week. Starting with the new poll, I am going to let each one run fourteen days instead of seven. As always, feel free to post a comment if you have a suggestion for a poll.

Jefferson Lived Here and Here and Here...

I usually have to make a trade off each year in order to claim the privilege of teaching history. The trade off is teaching Language Arts as well to one or two groups of students. One of the writing assignments I provide students with each year is an essay regarding the different places they have lived, or if they haven’t moved around a bit they can write about their present home.

I might as well be telling my fourth graders we are going to move a pile of bricks from one location to another over and over for the entire day when I introduce a new writing assignment. The minute I even announce a writing assignment a wide assortment of groans and moans escape the mouths of my students. I can’t really blame them because in my own writing life I don’t want to be given a topic and then told to perform right then and there. Writing is personal. You have to want to do it. You must be connected to your topic in some way, and sometimes it just takes time.

Therefore I often try to get students motivated with some sort of connection-building exercise. I tell them some sort quirky detail from my own life (I have several), I read a short story aloud to them, or I have also shown a video clip. I follow this with a discussion where as a whole group we brainstorm various points they could include in their writing.

In order to motivate students to write about their homes I like to use Thomas Jefferson as my bridge.

There are so many things to think about when you bring up the name Thomas Jefferson. His role as an American Patriot, writing the Declaration of Independence, his love of great food, wine, and conversation, the Louisiana Purchase, or even the election of 1800 are just a few of the things that come to mind.

However, when posed with the question regarding Jefferson’s residence it is so very predictable the answer will always be Monticello. From the first moment we see a nickel Jefferson’s beloved Monticello becomes ingrained in our memories. Even when students don’t know the name Monticello they always tell me his house is on the nickel and many want to prove it by pulling a nickel out of their pocket.

Monticello, however, isn’t the only spot Jefferson described as home.

Thomas Jefferson’s father, Peter Jefferson, owned many different plots of land in Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell situated near Charlottesville. The land was named after the area where Jane Randolph Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s mother, had been born in London. Historian Willard Sterne Randall in Thomas Jefferson: A Life describes the Jefferson ancestral home as a simple farmhouse in the middle of a horseshoe of outbuildings in a clearing at the edge of the Virginia wilderness overlooking the Rivanna River. Our third president was born there on April 13, 1743.

Jefferson left Shadwell at the age of two to move with his family to Tuckahoe Plantation (seen at left) in Goochland County, Virginia. Architecture historian Jack McLaughlin states in his book Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder the Jefferson family moved to Tuckahoe due to a promise Peter Jefferson had made to his friend William Randolph before Randolph’s death. Randolph would be leaving behind two underage children and he wanted Jefferson to mange Tuckahoe until his son, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., was able to manage the plantation .

Seven years of Thomas Jefferson’s childhood was spent at Tuckahoe Plantation. Today Tuckahoe is listed on the National Historic Register. It is a private residence, but it is open for tours and events as well. It is thought to be one of the finest early 18th century plantations in America. The home’s “H” shape is unusual and the property contains many of the original out buildings including a schoolhouse where it is said Thomas Jefferson attended for awhile. In his autobiography Thomas Jefferson remembered his years at Tuckahoe fondly especially the spaciousness of the home as compared to Shadwell.

Once Peter Jefferson’s promise to William Randolph was completed the Jefferson family moved back to their farmhouse at Shadwell. Randall advises in his book that once Peter Jefferson returned to Shadwell he set about expanding the home to fit his growing family. The nine year old Thomas Jefferson began to think it was natural to live in a continuous construction zone….something he carried over into his adult life. Later after Peter’s death and Thomas Jefferson’s classical education began he would return to Shadwell during interterm breaks where he spent much of his time studying and walking up the mountain where he would one day build Monticello.

Unfortunately all that exists of Shadwell today is a historical marker (see first picture) and a foundation that has been excavated. Some years after Peter Jefferson’s death on February 1, 1770 the home was destroyed by fire and the family had to find a new home. Thomas Jefferson’s mother and sisters took up residence in the overseer’s home while Jefferson was boarding in Charlottesville. Is is said the fire sped up the construction at Monticello.

We are familiar with the vast library of books Thomas Jefferson donated to the Library of Congress, however, it was Jefferson’s second library. His first one was destroyed unfortunately in the Shadwell fire. McLaughlin advises it contained law papers, personal correspondence, records, accounts, and the books of a man whose writings and books were the nature of his exsistence. This was not only a personal loss for Jefferson, but a heavy blow to Jefferson scholarship since all the records of his formative years were destroyed.

At the age of 14 Thomas Jefferson received his inheritance of approximately 5,000 acres of land and many slaves. Before he began managing the land he was sent to the home and school of Minister James Maury from 1758 to 1760. Rev. Maury lived near Gordonsville, Virginia and his school was known for heavy classical studies including manners and morals, math, literature, history, geography, Latin, and Greek. James Madison and James Monroe also went to the school. In his autobiography Thomas Jefferson referred to Rev. Maury as a “correct and classical scholar”.

Following his stint at Maury’s school Jefferson’s next residence was the Sir Christopher Wren Building at William and Mary. Constructed between 1695 and 1699 the building was considered old when Thomas Jefferson lived there though the building had been gutted in a fire in 1705. Today the building serves as faculty offices and classrooms.

In 1768 work finally began on Monticello. Jefferson moved into the South Pavilion (an outbuilding) in 1770. Historians often refer to this Monticello as Monticello I which refers to the home he built to raise a family while he served in Virginia’s House of Burgesses, the Second Continental Congress, and as governor of Virginia. If we could travel back in time we would be surprised at Monticello I. The Thomas Jefferson Wiki states the first version was less ambitious and more modest in size. By 1782 the home had been enclosed but in a letter written twelve years after his return from France Jefferson stated he was “living in a brick kiln” which could mean the interior was not complete. Monticello II incorporated many of the ideas Jefferson brought back from his stay in France, and is the home that can be toured today.

During Jefferson’s years in Paris he first resided with the American painter John Trumbull, but eventually moved to the Hotel de Langeac, located on the Champs-Elysees at the corner of Rue de Berry. Unfortunately the building was torn down in 1840. A wonderful article from American Heritage magazine provides a great look at Jefferson in Paris. The image seen to the left looks down the Champs-Elysees through the Grille de Chaillot. Jefferson’s Paris home is seen on the left near corner. It is said he began remodeling the property as soon as he moved in. Langeac taught him a number of architectural lessons, which he would incorporate into Monticello, among them the use of skylights to adequately illuminate interior windowless rooms and the realization that the skylights could be made weather tight.

Poplar Forest (below) became the site where the Jefferson family went after the British invaded Monticello in 1781. The property had come Jefferson’s way following the death of his father-in-law, James Wayles. At the time there wasn’t much there but fields and an overseer’s house. When attempting to compute the national debt the then President Jefferson was caught up in a rainstorm while visiting Poplar Forest. The president had to take refuge in the cramped overseer’s home, and realized the advantages of having a quiet place even though he was elbow-to-elbow with the overseer’s wife, children, and pets.

By 1801 Thomas Jefferson was very public person. He was known very well and people clamored for his attention. It isn’t surprising that Jefferson would have looked for a quiet place to simply be the private Jefferson. Construction began at the Poplar Forest retreat in 1806.

The website for Poplar Forest quotes historian David McCullough:

“More and more it is becoming clear how very important Poplar Forest is to our enlarged understanding of Thomas Jefferson and the reach of his imagination. That Jefferson was, along with so many other things, one of the premier American architects, has been long appreciated, but the originality and ingenuity of Poplar Forest—especially now that it is being so superbly restored—raise his standing still higher. This is an American masterpiece by a great American artist who also happened to be President of the United States .”

A letter written by one of Jefferson's granddaughters explains what Poplar Forest meant to him.

Many of my students move and move often. By discussing Jefferson and his many different residences students can connect to an important historical figure and can compare and contrast the reasons for moving as well. The process begins to get children to focus on what different residences can provide as well as honing in on how a residence can shape a person regarding their outlook on life’s pursuits.

Research note: A few web sources indicate the Jefferson family moved to Edge Hill. While it is a farm that scholarly sources state belonged to Peter Jefferson I could find no sources that confirmed Thomas Jefferson lived there. At one point the property at Edge Hill transferred to Jefferson’s sister and her husband (a member of the Randolph family) which could add to the confusion.

Will Mount Rushmore Last Forever?

Mt. Rushmore is a famous landmark in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The faces of four American Presidents are carved into the mountain. According to a new book, this faces may last 7.2 million years (not forever but still a long time.)

The book is The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. A review in the New Yorker noted, "Teasing out the consequences of a simple thought experiment—what would happen if the human species were suddenly extinguished—Weisman has written a sort of pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house. Among the highlights: with pumps not working, the New York City subways would fill with water within days, while weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs. Texas’s unattended petrochemical complexes might ignite, scattering hydrogen cyanide to the winds—a mini chemical nuclear winter. After thousands of years, the Chunnel, rubber tires, and more than a billion tons of plastic might remain, but eventually a polymer-eating microbe could evolve, and, with the spectacular return of fish and bird populations, the earth might revert to Eden."

While most signs of humanity vanish fairly quickly, not so the Presidents on Mt. Rushmore. Weisman wrote, "According to geologists, Mount Rushmore's granite erodes only one inch every 10,000 years. At that rate, barring asteroid collision or a particularly violent earthquake in this seismically stable center of the continent, at least vestiges of Roosevelt's 60 foot likeness, memorializing his canal, will be around for the next 7.2 million years" (p. 182).

If society collapses, and then comes back some distant time in the future, I wonder what they will make of Mount Rushmore? I am guessing they will think the Black Hills were sacred and that these men are the representation of gods. Or maybe they will just think that whatever society built the monument had an overdeveloped ego.

LibraryThing: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson has a profile up at LibraryThing! This website description notes, "Enter what you're reading or your whole library—it's an easy, library-quality catalog. LibraryThing also connects you with people who read the same things."

Jefferson's profile gives and annotated and completely searchable version of the 4,889 books he donated to the Library of Congress. Do you and President Jefferson have any book in common?

From the site:

My library has been cataloged by helpful Thingamabrarii from the "I See Dead People['s Books]" group. The 6,487 volumes (c. 4,889 titles) included here are those I sold to the Library of Congress in 1815 for $23,950.

A fully annotated version of my library is available here. This is the digital version of The Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, a five-volume scholarly bibliography compiled by E. Millicent Sowerby and published by the Library of Congress, 1952-1959.

One of Sowerby's major sources was my own handwritten library catalogue, begun in 1783 and continuously amended through 1814. Now at the Massachusetts Historical Society, that catalogue is available online, here.

When my library was sold to Congress, I sent along a manuscript catalogue presenting the books in a particular order, which I described to the Librarian of Congress as "sometimes analytical, sometimes chronological, & sometimes a combination of both." Unfortunately, that catalogue was retained by Mr. George Watterston when his tenure as Librarian ended in 1829, and has not been found.In the 1980s, librarians James Gilreath (Library of Congress) and Douglas Wilson (Knox College) discovered a manuscript catalogue of the collection - with the books in the order I preferred - created for me by a young gentleman named Nicholas Trist in 1823. This list, published by the Library of Congress in 1989 as Thomas Jefferson’s Library: A Catalog With the Entries in His Own Order is available in digital form, here. The notation for each title from this list can be found in the Comments section.

Poll: Which President has the most impressive memorial in Washington, DC?

The poll has closed for "Which President has the most impressive memorial in Washington, DC?" Thanks to all who voted.

There was a clear winner. Abraham Lincoln received 50% of the vote. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson each got 17%. FDR and JFK each got 7%.

Thanks to the Tour Marm for the question.

Poll: Who was the most effective early President?

The poll has closed for the question, "Who was the most effective early President?" Thanks to those who participated by voting.

George Washington won handily with 60%. Thomas Jefferson came in a distant second with 18%. James Monroe received 11% and John Adams got 5%. James Madison came in last with 3%.

Poll: Which American President had or has the most productive/interesting retirement?

The poll has closed for the question, "Which American President had or has the most productive/interesting retirement?" Thanks to all who participated by voting. The options were Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and Other.

Jimmy Carter won easily with 47%. Other came in a distant second with 17%. Jefferson pulled in 15% while Grant had 10%. Hoover came in last with 8%.

Life after the White House

In honor of this week's opinion poll, I found a series of articles on Presidents after the White House (as a note, there are six parts to this series..I linked to the first one and you can access the rest from the sidebar menu).

For the sake of fairness, I decided to pull what this series had to say on each of our choices for this week and then one "extra" of my choosing. I linked each excerpt the part it came from.

Thomas Jefferson (Part I)
Thomas Jefferson accomplished more after retiring than most people do in their entire career. In addition to his renewed correspondence with John Adams and many others, he founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and served as its first rector, or president. Jefferson wanted to create a university “ based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind to explore and to expose every subject susceptible of its contemplation.” He designed the building, supervised the construction, hired the faculty and determined the curriculum. He also instituted the system of academic electives. The University of Virginia, called Mr. Jefferson’s University by the students and faculty, continues today as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the country.

Ulysses Grant (Part III)
Ulysses S. Grant, hero of the Civil War, was elected President in the first post-war election. After serving two terms, he retired and spent two years touring the world, being received by enthusiastic crowds and heads of state all over the world. He settled in New York City and invested all his savings in the firm of Grant & Ward, in which his son was a partner. Ward proved to be a crook, and Grant lost all his money, leaving him almost penniless. To make a living, he wrote magazine articles that were so well received that he decided to write his memoirs. With the help of his publisher, Mark Twain, his memoirs were published and brought his wife a fortune. Unfortunately, Grant did not live to see his final success. He knew he was dying of throat cancer as he wrote the book, and finished just days before he died.

Herbert Hoover (Part V)
Herbert Hoover was elected by a landslide in 1928, and defeated for re-election by a landslide in 1932, due to the Great Depression, which began shortly after he took office. After attending the inauguration of his successor, he retired to his home in Palo Alto, California. Hoover was an “ex-President” longer than any other person in our history. In his later years, he lived mostly at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He was a vocal critic of the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, calling most of its programs “fascistic.” He was especially critical of Roosevelt’s decisions to go off the gold standard, recognize the Soviet Union, and his attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court. He campaigned for Alf Landon, the Republican candidate opposing Roosevelt in 1936. In 1938, Hoover toured Europe and met with Adolf Hitler. He found Hitler “partly insane” but intelligent and well informed. Hoover opposed U.S. entry into World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served as chairman of the relief organizations for Poland, Finland, and Belgium, and opposed dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. After the war ended, President Truman appointed Hoover coordinator of the Food Supply for World Famine, a position he filled in 1946-1947. His most prominent service during his retirement was as chairman of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, popularly called the Hoover Commission, in 1947-1949, and of the Commission on Government Operations, called the second Hoover Commission, 1953-1955. The first commission made 273 recommendations for streamlining the government, roughly three-fourths of which were adopted. The second commission made 314 recommendations, about three-fourths of which were adopted. The most significant of these recommendations resulted in the combination of functions into new cabinet level Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Hoover opposed U.S. participation in the Korean War. Shortly before his death on October 20, 1964, he endorsed Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican candidate for President. Among the books Hoover wrote during his retirement years were “The Challenge to Liberty” in 1934, “The Problems of Lasting Peace” in 1943, his “Memoirs” in 1952, “The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson” in 1958, and the three-volume “An American Epic” in 1961.

Jimmy Carter (Part VI)
Jimmy Carter is considered by many to be the best ex-President we have ever had. Jimmy Carter became President after narrowly defeating Gerald Ford in the election of 1976. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was soundly defeated for re-election by Ronald Reagan. Carter retired to his home in Plains, Georgia, to find the family peanut farm deep in debt as a result of its handling in a blind trust during his Presidency. He put the family business back in order and taught political science at Emory University, founding the Carter Center of Emory University in 1982. In 1986, The Carter Presidential Center was completed in Atlanta. It included the Carter Center of Emory University and the Jimmy Carter Library.

Carter is best known for his humanitarian work with Habitat for Humanity. Carter personally helped to build houses in New York City and around the country. The sight of Carter in work clothes and tool belt became a familiar one to many Americans. Carter engaged in many other humanitarian efforts. In 1991, he founded the Atlanta Project to coordinate government and private efforts to solve social problems that affect poor families.

Carter also participated actively in international affairs. Since the 1980’s, he has helped monitor elections in a number of nations. In 1991, Carter created the International Negotiation Network Council. The council is made up of former heads of state and other prominent people willing to conduct peace negotiations or monitor elections. In 1991, the military leaders of Haiti overthrew the elected President of Haiti and seized control of the government. In 1994, Carter went to Haiti and led the negotiations that convinced the military leaders to allow the elected President to return to the country and finish his term in office. Also in 1994, Carter traveled to North Korea on a trip that reduced tensions between that country and the United States over North Korea’s suspected nuclear arms program.

Carter has written several books since leaving the White House, including “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982) and “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life” (1987) which he wrote with his wife, Rosalynn. He regularly makes speaking appearances on behalf of humanitarian issues.

John Quincy Adams (my "extra" choice - Part I)
Probably the greatest ex-President of all times was John Quincy Adams. After his resounding defeat for re-election to the White House, he returned to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. The next year, the people of Quincy asked him to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Adams agreed to run on two conditions: 1) that he never be expected to promote himself as a candidate and ask for votes and 2) that it be understood he would pursue a course in Congress independent of any party and the people who elected him. Under those terms, he was elected and held his seat in the House until he died in 1848, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. After his first election to the House, he wrote in his diary, “I am a member-elect of the Twenty-Second Congress. No election or appointment conferred upon me ever gave me so much pleasure. My election as President of the United States was not half so gratifying to my inmost soul.” Having been during his long career a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican and National Republican parties, he was elected to the House as an Anti-Mason and later as a Whig.

As a member of the House of Representatives, John Quincy Adams often found himself in the minority on major issues. He supported the continuation of the Bank of the United States, opposed the annexation of Texas, and voted against the declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. His greatest victory was his successful struggle against the Gag Rule. In 1836, the House had voted to automatically table without debate any petition critical of slavery. Adams felt this violated the constitutional right of petition and fought against the rule for eight years. Finally, in 1844, the House voted to repeal the Gag Rule. During his long tenure in the House, Adams earned the nickname of Old Man Eloquent. He suffered a serious stroke in 1848, and was carried to the Speakers chambers, where he died several days later. John Quincy Adams remains the only President to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after his term in the White House.

American History Rap

Now for something completely different...

My thanks to Lisa Liese at History is Funny for posting this YouTube clip of some rappers explaining American history. Several American Presidents are featured including Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR. My favorite line from the lyrics, "And thanks to Al Gore for e-mail and free porn!" That is the kind of respect you get when you invent the Internet...

A New Election Method?

As the 2008 Presidential election heats up, we have been seeing all kinds of proposals – from the previously mentioned change to allow foreign-born citizens to run to changes to the electoral college system. The 2000 election especially brought the workings of the electoral college to our collective attention. A question I ask my modern history students is should this system be changed? I usually get a mixed response – some for it and others who think it should stay. I think those opinions could be generalized to the entire US population (for those who actually know how it works!).

A recent HNN article by Alexander Keyssar talks not about tossing the system, but of modifying it (although at the end, he makes it clear he wouldn’t mind completely tossing it either). Keyssar starts with the recent efforts of California Republicans to modify their system from the current “winner-take-all” system to a by district apportionment. Currently, whichever candidate wins the overall popular vote in California gets all their electoral votes. Democrats, who expect to win California in 2008, are violently opposing the movement. This is the way almost all states work their votes. The new method would distribute votes by which districts the candidate won (the number of districts is equal to the number of votes, if you weren’t aware – it goes with how many Congressmen you get). So if Candidate A won 10 districts, Candidate B won 40 districts and Candidate C won 5 districts (and yes, California really has 55 electoral votes), they’d each get that many electoral votes rather than Candidate B getting all 55. As a note, there are only two states currently using this method (Nebraska and Maine) while the rest use the “winner-take-all” system most of us are familiar with. You’ll note that I included three parties in my hypothetical situation. A major hurdle for any third-party candidate has always been the “winner-take-all” system, which makes it very difficult for a third-party candidate to get enough votes to get any electoral votes, if they manage to garner a portion of the popular vote.

Where did the “winner-take-all” method come from? Because it isn’t in the Constitution (you can check if you don’t believe me or Keyssar). It was actually a partisan decision according to Keyssar. At first, all the states used different methods:
In some, the legislatures appointed electors by themselves (without holding any popular election); others developed a winner-take-all system in which they held "general ticket" elections, granting the winning candidate all of the state's electoral votes; still others allocated the electors by district. Numerous states changed systems from one election to the next.

Keyssar reports that the most progressive thinkers favored the district plan (so pretty much that same one now being discussed in California), including Thomas Jefferson. But alas enter partisan politics:
Jefferson proved more than willing to let partisan advantage trump what "would be best." As the 1800 election approached, his Republican supporters in Virginia, mindful that their opponents in the Federalist Party had won five of the state's electoral votes in 1796, replaced the district system with "winner take all" -- thereby guaranteeing Jefferson all of Virginia's electoral votes. (Massachusetts, the home of Jefferson's rival, John Adams, retaliated by entrusting the selection of electors to the Federalist-dominated legislature.) A few years later, Jefferson, as president, backed away from supporting a constitutional amendment mandating a district system throughout the nation -- a strategy that would have eliminated the potential unfairness of having a district approach in some states and the winner-take-all system in others -- because "winner take all" appeared to be benefiting his party.

Indeed, "winner take all" became, and endured as, the primary method of choosing electors precisely because of partisan dynamics. Regardless of the broader democratic principles at stake, dominant parties in nearly all individual states had embraced the short-run advantages of "winner take all" by 1830; since then, few states have had an appetite for dividing up their electoral votes while everyone else was using "winner take all" -- in part because doing so would appear to lessen the state's clout in national politics.

There have been national movements to go to a district plan, but opponents of the plan have managed to keep it from getting the necessary 2/3 majority in both houses to make amendment status.

So what does this mean for us – the electorate? According to Keyssar, it means we have a system we never voted on and as we’ve seen recently (we all remember 2000) has some serious flaws. Since there is no constitutional framework, any state can change their election method and, of course, the largest states (like California) are tempting targets. The issue, he says, shouldn’t be what one party wants in one state, but a national commitment to make a change to fix the system:
If the Republicans truly believe that it would be fairer and more democratic to choose electors by district, then instead of introducing such plans piecemeal in states where they would benefit, they should introduce a constitutional amendment to create a national district system -- one that would apply to Texas and South Carolina as well as California. And if the Democrats truly want to prevent procedural "power grabs," they should sign on to such a proposal -- or offer a "proportional plan" or (better yet) actively back a national popular election that would eliminate the electoral college altogether.

He ends with the thought that if the parties committed to “fixing” the system, “they might even succeed in dissipating a bit of the cynicism that the electorate so frequently expresses about political parties that seem far more interested in their own welfare than the fate of the nation.”

Should Thomas Jefferson be the Democrat’s Hero?

Susan Dunn asks the question of whether the Democratic Party should still be using Thomas Jefferson as their mascot. FDR brought Jefferson to his high point in the 1930s by choosing him as his personal mascot.

Dunn illustrates that while FDR used one Jefferson, his opponents used another. FDR’s Jefferson was:
an Enlightenment thinker who believed that the young republic offered limitless possibilities for liberty, equality, and happiness. His imagination was ignited by the idea of perpetual change and renewal -- especially in laws and constitutions. "The earth always belongs to the living generation," he jubilantly wrote to Madison. Optimistic, forward-looking, he embraced the unknown. "I steer my bark with hope in the Head, leaving Fear astern," he wrote in 1816.

His opponents saw a different Jefferson:
During the Depression, Jefferson was also the hero of FDR's most virulent opponents, especially the two conservative Democratic senators from Virginia -- Carter Glass and Harry Byrd -- who loathed the New Deal. Believers in pay-as-you-go, simple Jefferson-style government, Glass and Byrd voted against farm bills, labor bills, unemployment bills, minimum wage bills, and public works programs -- virtually all the legislation that comprised the New Deal. "I am seventy-six years old in genuine Jefferson Democracy," Glass declared in 1934, "and I do not care to mar the record before I die by embracing brutal and despicable bureaucracy."

Glass and Byrd were hardly the first southern leaders to put a conservative spin on Jefferson. They were merely following in the footsteps of Virginians of the early 19th century -- men like U.S. Representative John Randolph of Roanoke and Virginia Judge Spencer Roane -- who took inspiration from Jefferson as they struggled to keep the industrializing and urbanizing modern world at bay.

Dunn ends by saying that while we can ignore the flaws of Jefferson as so many have done, we would be better to accept them as part of who he was:
Or, more courageously, we can embrace the duality of Jefferson -- hailing the idealist and the democrat, the icon of Roosevelt's New Deal whose soaring words about equality and unalienable rights still inspire us to greater moral heights, while also accepting and seeking to understand the conservative Virginia planter who was so different from us and who saw, through the windows of Monticello, a very different world. Instead of denying those differences, Democrats might instead study and learn from them -- to gain more insight into Jefferson's belief in the land, the South, and the states and his faith in liberty, equality, and happiness. And in so doing, we might also gain a deeper understanding of the long, complex history of the Democratic Party.

Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

There is also an interesting article about Jefferson and Louisiana. Jefferson wanted to explore Louisiana before the US owned it, but as this was claimed by several powers, he needed his explorations to be kept secret:
The President planned to ask Congress for the $2,500 in his budget message in early 1803, but his treasury secretary, Albert Gallatin, cautioned against it, recommending instead a confidential message, since the expedition would enter lands claimed by other countries and it would be unwise to needlessly antagonize foreign powers. In this case, that meant the British, who claimed land in what is now the Pacific Northwest, and the Spanish, who still controlled the Louisiana Territory since the French had not yet arrived to take possession.

You can see part of Jefferson’s confidential message to Congress here, but you can access the entire piece through NARA.

Jefferson’s message first talks about contact and trade with the Native Americans and the importance of mapping the area, but then outlines his real reason:
Jefferson then raised the real reason for his "confidential" message: "The appropriation of two thousand five hundred dollars 'for the purpose of extending the external commerce of the US,' while understood and considered by the Executive as giving the legislative sanction, would cover the undertaking from notice and prevent the obstructions which interested individuals might otherwise previously prepare in its way."

Now Jefferson didn’t know it at the time, but by the time that Lewis and Clark left for Louisiana, the US would already own it.

Another article in Prologue that looks at the collection of documents from this historic purchase.
Jefferson’s original purpose in approaching France was the purchase of New Orleans:
Jefferson's men were in Paris because he wanted to buy the port of New Orleans. To him, New Orleans was key: Whoever owned it would be America's natural enemy because that nation would control the channel through which produce from more than a third of the United States had to pass.

New Orleans had been back and forth between France and Spain. Jefferson wanted to get control of New Orleans. He sent James Monroe to New Orleans to join the Ambassador already in Paris (Robert Livingston) to negotiate this delicate deal.

But a surprise change came up – the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, offered the more than New Orleans – the entire Louisiana Territory. Monroe and Livingston signed the deal on April 30. Jefferson didn’t even know about it until July 3rd and didn’t see the paperwork until July 14th. Now we get the to crunch time - Jefferson was worried about the constitutionality of purchasing that much land and spending that much money (15 million remember was the purchase price of Louisiana) and thought he might need a constitutional amendment saying the President could buy land. BUT Napoleon was getting antsy and threathening to void the deal if the US didn’t make a move quickly. So Jefferson ignored the tinge about constitutionality and pushed for a quick ratification of the treaty to make Napoleon’s deadline. The Senate ratified the treaty 24 to 7 on October 20th and the next day the American and French envoys signed the treaty.

Now comes the hard part – the financing. French banks wouldn’t deal with the American stock (for fear of English retribution), so two private firms were approached to conduct the sale. The story of this is complex and interesting:
Now the real work of implementing the treaty and the two conventions began. Because of a possible war with England, French banks would neither buy nor market the American stock. So Livingston and Monroe suggested that two firms, Baring and Company of London and Hope and Company of Amsterdam, conduct the sale of the stock.

Hoping the suggestion would be viewed favorably, between May 3 and May 5, 1803, Alexander Baring of Baring and Company was given powers of attorney by both companies for entering into negotiations with France and the United States. On May 28, Barbé-Marbois and the American ministers exchanged correspondence relating to what was now called the American Fund. France approved the suggestion and signed a contract with Baring and Company and Hope and Company for the negotiation of the American Fund, witnessed by Livingston and Monroe, on June 6. On the same day, Barbé-Marbois wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin that Baring would be arriving in America to begin the transfer of stock.

In the United States, Baring was granted more detailed powers of attorney by Hope and Company on July 20 and Baring and Company on August 12 as to the American Fund. He was now able to negotiate the number and amounts of certificates to be transferred, to whom the certificates would be made, and the place at which interest would be paid, among other points. The actual fiscal details fell into place, and the $11,250,000 became more than a figure.

The challenge, then, was getting the stock to Europe.

On December 1, Baring asked Gallatin for the stock to be issued, with receipts ($3,750,000 for Baring and $7,500,000 for Midshipman John B. Nicholson to be delivered to Lt. James Leonard for delivery to Livingston in Paris; Livingston would give a receipt to Leonard upon receiving the stock).

Gallatin wrote a note to Jefferson asking for the date possession was taken of New Orleans so that the register of the Treasury, Joseph Nourse, could fill in the date on the stocks from which interest was to be calculated. Jefferson replied on the bottom of the note that the date was December 20 and sent it back to Gallatin. Gallatin and Baring agreed that the funds would be paid yearly in four installments, and Jefferson approved. A warrant for the preparation of stock certificates for $11,250,000 at 6-percent interest was sent by Gallatin to Nourse, stating that the certificates were not to be issued without further orders from Gallatin.

On January 16, 1804, Jefferson sent a warrant to Gallatin to issue the certificates, and the same day Gallatin sent a warrant to Nourse to deliver certificates for $3,750,000 to Baring and another $7,500,000 in certificates to be delivered to Livingston in Paris. Also on the same day, Baring requested Nourse to transmit two-thirds of the stock (the $7,500,000) to Livingston. Somewhere along the line, plans changed as Gallatin then instructed Nourse to deliver the stock to be sent to Livingston into the hands of Jefferson's private secretary, Lewis Harvie, who would act as messenger and sail from Norfolk. Nourse drafted a letter to the French chargé d'affaires, L. A. Pichon, and Baring, requesting instructions as to the delivery of the stock to Livingston. Pichon wrote to Gallatin the same day agreeing to the transmission arrangements.

On February 7, however, Gallatin informed Nourse that they were back to the original plan: The stock was now to be delivered to Midshipman Nicholson to deliver to Lieutenant Leonard, who would sail from New York. The delivery was made and documented on February 13 by a receipt from Leonard to Nicholson. Livingston acknowledged the delivery of the stock to him in Paris by issuing a receipt to Leonard. On April 28, Barbé-Marbois issued a quitclaim to Hope and Company, relinquishing France's claim to the territory.

To complete the transaction, in a letter to Gallatin from Bordeaux, France, Leonard enclosed a duplicate original receipt from Livingston for the stock Leonard delivered to him. Nourse received a letter from Edward Jones, clerk for Gallatin, in which was enclosed the original receipt from Livingston for the stock delivered by Leonard to him in Paris.

The article also contains an interesting history of the documents themselves – their journey to the National Archives as well as their preservation story.

At His Father's Knee

Many schoolchildren across our fair country learn about the Louisiana Purchase followed by the Lewis and Clark expedition. I agree with that sequence of study. Those two events did follow each other chronologically, however, our collective interest in the west began much earlier, and Thomas Jefferson’s interest in exploring the west began much earlier than 1801. I contend that Jefferson’s love of the west….an area he never visited…began at his father’s knee.

We learn many things at our father’s knee---how to ride a bike, how to shoot a basket, and in my case I learned how to drive a tractor and plow a straight line. Thomas Jefferson was no different and it was from his father and father-type figures in his early life that he became facinated with the western frontier.

Peter Jefferson along with Thomas Meriweather, grandfather of Meriweather Lewis, as well as many other men of note in Virginia were members of the Loyal Company, a land development and land acquisition scheme. Their main purpose was to obtain lands west of the Allegheny Mountains, and they certainly met their goal. The first grant was for 800,000 acres in what is today Kentucky. Interestingly the grant did not require that any families had to settle on the land. In 1751 Peter Jefferson and Joshua Fry completed a map called “A Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia Containing the Whole Province of Maryland” which was the first map of the area compiled from survey information. The map is pictured here with this article.

Dr. Thomas Walker was a member of the Loyal Company, served as Peter Jefferson’s physician, and stepped in as Thomas Jefferson’s guardian when Peter Jefferson passed away in 1757. Thomas Jefferson was then fourteen years old.

While Daniel Boone generally gets all the credit for the Cumberland Gap and for opening up the Tennessee and Kentucky areas for settlement it should not be forgotten that Walker first explored this area in 1743 reaching Kingsport, Tennessee. He kept journals of his journey to the Cumberland Gap in 1750 where he spent four months exploring. It would be a long seventeen years before Daniel Boone made this same area famous.

During the French and Indian War the patent for the land grants was not renewed since the Proclamation of 1763 outlawed white settlement or exploration in lands set aside for Native American use. A planned expedition was halted at the outbreak of the war, however, by 1766 many of the Loyal Company members were active in the area again, but illegally. It couldn’t have hurt that the two men chosen to act as Indian agents both happened to be involved with land schemes in the area including Dr. Thomas Walker, the president of the Loyal Company.

Jefferson’s tutor was Rev. James Maury. This made perfect sense since Rev. Maury’s father-in-law was Dr. Walker. Rev. Maury was very interested in geography and he considered geographic knowledge to be just one of the main ingredients for a well-rounded gentleman. Jefferson did not disappoint Maury as a student.

Jefferson’s only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia in 1781, make it clear that
Jefferson believed the Missouri River along with other geographical points of interest in the west were part of Virginia even though the Treaty of Paris clearly did not list them as such.

In 1783 Jefferson approached George Rogers Clark, the Revolutionary War hero, to explore the west. He politely refused the offer, but suggested his younger brother, William Clark for the expedition. The Monticello website discusses Jefferson's letter to George Rogers Clark as follows:

[Jefferson] begins his 1783 letter to Clark with the two topics which pulled his thoughts westward: science and politics. He thanks Clark for sending him shells and seeds and assures him that he would be pleased to have as many bones, teeth and tusks of the mammoth as Clark might be able to find. Then within the same paragraph Jefferson reveals his apprehension at the rumor that money was being raised in England for exploration between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and even though it was professed as only for knowledge, he feared colonization. Jefferson then wonders, if money could be raised in this country for western exploration, "How would you like to lead such a party?" Clark declines Jefferson's request for financial reasons, but as a hero of the western theatre of the Revolution, he was quite knowledgeable of the Indians of the northwest territory and offered advice on how to best proceed among the Indian peoples, advice which Jefferson stored away for future use. In later correspondence Clark would recommend his youngest brother, William, as also knowledgeable of the Indian territory and, "well qualified almost for any business."

In the Ordinance of 1784, introduced by Jefferson to the Continental Congress under the authority of the Articles of Confederation, he suggested new states could be formed from western territories. In fact Jefferson suggested a total of seventeen states from the region referred to as the Ohio River Valley and suggested names like Chersonesus, Sylvania, Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Polypotamia, Pelisipia, Saratoga, Washington, Michigania, and Illinoia. Jefferson’s particular proposal was not adopted by Congress, however, his ideas would become the basis for the Northwest Ordinance which was finally adopted in 1787 and is the one good thing that is commonly taught to schoolchildren about the Articles of Confederation.

John Ledyard, an explorer who had sailed with Captain James Cook, was given much support by Jefferson in 1786 while he was serving as Minister to France. Backed financially by people like the Marquis de Lafayette and John Adam’s son-in-law, William Smith, Ledyard attempted to explore the west by approaching it from the Russian side. The Monticello website advises “Jefferson supported the venture but noted that despite Ledyard's ingenuity and information, 'Unfortunately he has too much imagination.' Ledyard was arrested within 200 miles of Kamschatka, escorted to the Polish border and charged not to set foot within Russian territory again.”

In 1793, the American Philosophical Society, of which Jefferson was a member, fully supported Andre Michaux, a French botanist, in his efforts to locate the shortest and most convenient route between the United States and the Pacific Ocean. The Monticello website advises Jefferson organized the subscription to finance the expedition, and even though the undertaking was not under government sponsorship, he appraised President Washington, who offered to 'readily add my mite' to the project. Jefferson's instructions to Michaux on behalf of the Society reiterated the objective of finding the shortest route to the Pacific with equal importance given to the gathering of geographic and scientific data. But the expedition began to unravel before reaching the Mississippi river, as it became apparent that Michaux was involved in a French plot to gather support against the Spanish settlements west of the Mississippi. An important remnant of this truncated expedition was Jefferson's written set of instructions to Michaux, which would reappear in a more detailed form when delivered later to Meriwether Lewis.

Jefferson maintained many volumes in his personal library dedicated to the west. The PBS website, Lewis and Clark, advises some of Jefferson’s books described a landmass of erupting volcanoes and mountains of undissolved salt. Other readings led him to believe that Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains might be the continent’s highest. (The Blue Ridge Mountains peak at around 6,500 feet, while the Rocky Mountains in Colorado top out at over 14,400 feet.)
Depictions of land and creatures in the west often came from the imaginations of men who had never been there. Many reports told of western terrain spotted with wondrous creatures: unicorns, gargantuan woolly mastodons, seven-foot-tall beavers, and friendly, slim-waisted buffalo. Maps of the west proved equally fictitious. European geographers, for example, drew maps depicting California as an island. Other maps showed the Rocky Mountains to be narrow and undaunting.

Follow this link to a list of 180 titles belonging to Jefferson that concerned the west.

Finally, from the Monticello website:

These failed attempts [detailed above] undoubtedly added to Jefferson's store of information on western exploration, and when circumstances placed him in a key position to act, he was prepared to do so quickly and decisively. In his first inaugural address in 1801 Jefferson envisioned, 'A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye.' Less than two years later, on January 18, 1803, he would deliver a confidential message to Congress outlining a plan for exploring to the 'Western Ocean,' and requesting an appropriation of $2,500 for what would become the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In May 1804, as Lewis and Clark were poised to begin pushing westward along the Missouri river, Jefferson must have felt more confidence in seeing his western desideratum fulfilled, writing: 'We shall delineate with correctness the great arteries of this great country: those who come after us will fill up the canvas we begin.'"

The entire message to Congress can be seen here.

Americans should find it very interesting, amazing even, that the one man who had been involved or around various events involving exploration of the west was finally in the right place at the right time to allow events to finally move forward. Fortified with the knowledge that the French had taken over the Louisiana Territory and understanding the use of the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans was in jeopordy Jefferson's time to act finally came to fruition.

There are many interesting details about Thomas Jefferson and his contributions to our nation’s history. Many websites and biographies mention the exploration of the west but few really go into the background of how it can be argued the exploration of the west was Jefferson’s destiny and it all began at his father’s knee.

Did Jefferson Abuse His Authority to Count Himself into the Presidency?

This article by Bruce Ackerman at HNN is very interesting! It asks the question if Jefferson abused his power by counting the votes in the Senate to decide the Election of 1800 - an election which ultimately made him President!

The article mainly discusses the question of Georgia's electoral votes:
Although the Constitution is a famously short document, it devotes an entire sentence to defining a legally valid presidential ballot, requiring electors to “make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government.” Although the Georgians prepared a “list,” nothing identifies Jefferson and Burr as “the Persons voted for.” Indeed, it isn’t even clear that the Georgia document is an electoral vote at all, let alone one that has been “signed” and “certified” as such.
Nevertheless, Jefferson counted it, without giving Congress a chance to consider or overrule his decision. Before condemning him, consider the consequences if he had allowed Congress to intervene. Since there were Federalist majorities in both Houses, Congress would probably have overruled him, opening the door for one of their own candidates to gain the presidency in the House run-off. This result would have been even more shocking, since the Georgia mistake was merely technical, and the state had indeed given their votes to Jefferson and Burr.

The article ends with the thought that this action could provide a dangerous precedent in future elections:
But there is more than history at stake. The Constitution continues to assign the vote-counting job to the sitting vice-president. In 2000, for example, it was Al Gore’s job to preside over the electoral vote count in his hotly-disputed presidential contest with George W. Bush. By the time Gore’s chance came on January 6, 2001, the Supreme Court’s decision in December had reduced the vote-count to an empty ritual. But when the next Electoral College crisis strikes, the Court may not be so interventionist, and it may be up to the President of the Senate, in collaboration with the Congress, to make a final decision on a disputed election. At that point, Thomas Jefferson’s actions of 1801 will serve as a crucial preced