Thomas Jefferson: The Man. The Legend. The Debtor?
Fresh from our weekend getaway, I am still in shock that the father of our Declaration of Independence remained in debt his entire life!From the day his father passed away, to the day he passed away himself, Thomas Jefferson owed a lot of money to a lot of people.
This may or may not come as a surprise to many of you scholars out there, but it certainly did to me. Especially since in many of his writings he explains how important it is to NOT burden future generations with all your lingering debt! And TJ most certainly did, leaving behind around $107,000 worth of trouble to be cleaned up after he was gone (that's anywhere from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 in today's times!).
That's not to say it was entirely his fault - he inherited a chunk, co-signed notes for relatives who flaked, endured the Panic of 1819 - but he certainly didn't live below his means ;) After all, he built (and revised many a times) his dream home of Monticello on 1,000+ acres with a plantation and team of 150+ workers & slaves just to maintain it all! That takes one helluva line of credit, esp. if you're not bringing in enough to support it. Luckily for him, his public stature was all he needed to back it up - a perk of being a President and founding father.
When all is said and done though, this debt business fails in comparison to the brilliance and remarkable impact Thomas Jefferson had on this beautiful nation of ours. From drafting the Declaration of Independence, completing the Louisiana Purchase, and founding the University of Virginia, he has without a doubt left this country with an incredible legacy.
I leave you now with a piece of advice Jefferson would have certainly agreed with: immerse yourself in education. Whether in architecture, law, or personal finance, the more you learn the better you get at life. Just try not to live such a lavish lifestyle, okay ;) This concludes my book report.
Labels: debt, education, in the real world
posted by J. Money at
11:11 AM
6 Comments:
I enjoyed this little essay. I hope I don't break the mood by saying: Did anyone see the 30 Rock episode in which Tracy Morgan finds he is descended from T.J. and films a movie trailer of himself as T.J.?
http://blog.spout.com/2007/12/21/tracy-morgan-is-thomas-jefferson-clip-of-the-day/
I watched a PBS special recently that showed how Mark Twain went bankrupt and had to live off the generosity of friends for awhile - this was long after his books were popular. As they say, there ain't anything new in the world. From sex to debt, it has all been done before.
@444 - HAH! That is awesome, thanks for sending that over. it'll help feed my Thomas Jefferson addiction right now ;)
@Dawn - Nicely put ;) I'm gonna quote you on twitter later. that's a good one! (btw, you on twitter yet? you probably don't need any more time-sucks, but there's a lot of good stuff going around on there lately)
A+ on the book report! TJ is just another example of "Do as I say, not as I do."
I didn't know that he was in debt but it has been a very long time since I went to his home. That is ironic that he had his views about debt but owed people himself. Guess he was just another person with an opinion when dealing with money. Sometimes knowing what to do doesn't make actually doing it easy, but I believe example is the best form of leadership. Fortunately for us he was very good at so many other things! Nice write up J!
BTW, I am getting ready to go on that 4 mile hike I was telling you about when you were here. The one that leads to the parking area of the home of Thomas Jefferson. Glad you liked it here in Charlottesville, and I am glad we were able to grab a brew!
Yeah, it's hard to see exactly what the situation was w/ him & debt considering it happened so long ago, but he surely went far and beyond being brilliant in his lifetime :) There's actually a book I want to read called "Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt" so if I can muster up the courage to get through all 377 pages of it I'll let you know what I find out.
@Brad - Def. good times meeting up with you as well, I still can't BELIEVE you saw me standing there on the street like that!!! haha....crazy. Let me know how that hike goes, sounds pretty sweet.
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