John Adams and Thomas Jefferson shared a strong friendship and a significant list of accomplishments that included the Declaration of Independence and diplomatic stints in Europe that helped raise loans and support for what was to become the new, independent, American republic.

Thomas Jefferson image by Wikipedia

John Adams image by Wikipedia

They were very different people, but shared common goals that overcame their cultural differences.  Their respect and affection for each other was undeniable.

Adams was from New England; Jefferson, an aristocrat, from the South.  Both were farmers; Adams from very humble beginnings; Jefferson, the graceful horseman and land baron – much of his wealth acquired through inheritance.  Both were college educated.  Adams never owned a slave and abhorred slavery; Jefferson owned slaves until he died.

Contrary to any criticism leveled against either of them throughout history, it is highly unlikely that America would have won its independence from Great Britain by 1783 without them.

The Jefferson-Adams split begun in 1789 when Jefferson believed the United States should offer significant support to French revolutionists who were overthrowing the French monarchy as France was fighting a series of wars against Great Britain.

Jefferson believed that the spirit of the French revolution was very much like that of the American revolution.  And, it was America’s responsibility to extend its new found freedom and guiding principles to people everywhere that were willing to stand up to, and overthrow tyrannical monarchies.  (Ironically, if it wasn’t for the French monarchy that was being overthrown, and the military assistance it provided to the American colonies in rebellion, America would probably have not gained its independence from Great Britain by 1783.)  To Thomas Jefferson, a monarchy was a monarchy, and they all needed to go.

President George Washington and Vice President Adams did not want to not get involved with France’s problems and did not equate the raging bloodbath that was occurring in France as an identical twin of the American Revolution.  Washington and Adams believed America’s long-term survivability necessitated that the young government should do all possible to remain neutral and, to establish some sort of peace with its former enemy, Great Britain.

Although Adams had a deep-seeded resentment toward Britain, he was a realist and believed that America had gone through a costly war with Britain and was in need of time to recover economically to grow up as a nation.  As Adams predicted, history would show that Britain would remain the global power of the 19th century, not France.  And, it was clear to Adams that America should remain at peace with Britain.

Adams also knew that that post-Britain America did not have many close friends in Europe.  America’s new government throughout Europe was viewed as an experiment that could easily fail.

None of this sat well with Jefferson or his growing group of followers, a new coalition of government leaders that formed a political party that the press deemed the Democratic-Republicans.  They labeled Adams a monarchist and plotted to unseat him in the next election for his behavior toward France and Britain.

It seems very apparent that Vice President Thomas Jefferson was undermining and attempting to disrupt President Adams’ political agenda.  In doing so, he went so far as to hire a Philadelphia muckraker reporter, James Callender (who previously exposed Alexander Hamilton’s extramarital affair to the public) to try to convince the public, through a series of political pamphlets, that Adams was a closet monarchist, a person with an explosive temper that made him an insane leader.

In the election of 1800, Jefferson barely managed to defeat both Adams and the first runner up for President, Aaron Burr – an intriguing figure who became most famous in 1804 for shooting and killing Alexander Hamilton, in an arranged pistol duel.   

James Callender, would surface again later, asking President Jefferson for a payback by appointing him to Postmaster of Richmond, Virginia.  Jefferson now viewed Callender as too radical and would not approve his appointment.

Callender responded by unleashing a barrage of scandalous information about Jefferson; revealing that Jefferson had funded his pamphleteering against President Adams and, as proof, Callender published Jefferson’s letters to him decribing those events!  But, that wasn’t enough – Callender went even further by publishing a series of articles stating that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by his slave, Sally Hemmings.  And, Jefferson had attempted to seduce a married neighbor decades earlier, to which Jefferson later admitted.

Most of us in America know that Thomas Jefferson became the most famous of the two patriots.  He went on to a second term as President, with significant accomplishments.  His name and accomplishments are recognized and acknowledged to this very day. 

In fact, Jefferson’s image is carved into Mount Rushmore, along with an elite group including George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

But, you may ask, whatever happened to James Callender?

After his serious fallout with Jefferson, Callender was scheduled to provide testimony for a New York trial that involved libel charges against a publisher, Harry Croswell, who had reprinted claims that Thomas Jefferson paid Callender to defame George Washington.

President Jefferson responded by beginning a selective campaign against individual newspaper critics.

However, on July 17, 1803, during Jefferson’s first term as President, Callender drowned in two feet of water in the James River, reportedly too drunk to save himself.