Thomas Jefferson occasionally clashed with George Washington, particularly as a member of the first Cabinet. But Jefferson always respected his fellow Virginian and recognized Washington’s value as a military and revolutionary leader — an inspirational figure who achieved near-mythical status in his own lifetime.
In 1781, Jefferson was a desperate war-time governor, with Virginia under siege and in extreme danger. Governor Jefferson wrote to General Washington, referring to the patriot troops which were vastly outnumbered by the British and who were pleading for their “beloved Countryman” to return to Virginia:
“That your appearance among them I say would restore full confidence of salvation, and would render them equal to whatever is not impossible.”
The following year, in his book, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” Jefferson held up Washington as proof of America’s ability to produce individuals as accomplished as any in the Old World:
“In war we have produced a Washington whose memory will be adored while liberty shall have votaries, whose name shall triumph over time, and will in future ages assume its just station among the most celebrated worthies of the world.”
In a letter written late in life, Jefferson revealed a more nuanced and comprehensive view of Washington. Asserting that he “knew General Washington intimately and thoroughly,” Jefferson portrayed him as the right person for this unique time and place:
“His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order … the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.
… [I]t may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train …”