I can see right where you're coming from on pretty much every point, Darren.
I certainly respect your point of view, as well.
Pretty much everything can be seen in more than one light.
Take Jefferson's debt, for instance.
He was deep in debt nearly his entire life.
He was a lousy farmer. Or had lousy Virginia farmer luck, as can be seen regularly to this day. Virginia can be hell to farm. That's why Monticello was so diverse.
He had many debtors, many in the same boat as he, and most of their debt ultimately went bad.
I can think of one story where he wrote a $20,000 note and the guy died before he could make a payment. Jefferson ate it. The way the economy worked at that time, that was at the very LEAST worth $500,000 in today's dollars, and worth as much as almost 500 MILLION.
He took on a huge amount of debt from his father-in-law.
His debt multiplied exponentially during the Panic of 1819.
When he died, he was maybe 2 million in debt. Or, more aptly, Monticello was.
His part in that was that he spent lavishly, liked to play the big shot, and mostly took advantage of his reputation so he could swing in style.
In my estimation, under the much greater umbrella of the times, he was about average in his typical politician tripe.
I probably give him a lot more stroke for the regular guy he was, and the flowery sentiment he spilled. He was fantastic at inciting a nation to do good, even if he was what he was.
I think if you and I had cigars with him, we'd find him a very likable guy, whereas, for instance, we'd find John Adams something of a dick.
Anyways, thanks for the discussion, brother!!!
Add some more awesome quotes, will ya?