Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison in the Eyes of TheirContemporaries

• Main Author: Kaminski, John P
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: University of Virginia Press 01.03.2010

As the largest, oldest, and wealthiest of the original thirteen colonies, Virginiaplayed a central role in the fight for independence and as a state in the new republic. Thisimportance is reflected in the number of Virginians who filled key national leadership positions. Three remarkable Virginians stand out in their service to the new nation: George Washington ascommander in chief during the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson as the philosophic voice of thecountry, and James Madison as the chief architect of the nation's new constitutional system. In The Great Virginia Triumvirate, John Kaminski presents a series of biographical portraits thatbring these three men remarkably to life for the modern reader.Thepassage of time, coupled with the veneration so often surrounding historical figures, has obscuredthe subtleties and complexities of the founding fathers' characters. To cut through this fogof myth, Kaminski relies on the words of the three Virginians themselves, sharing with us a trio ofeloquent, and often candid, voices. (Jefferson once told John Adams that he had not written ahistory of his times because that history was to be found in his correspondence, where he could beespecially direct and honest.) Kaminski also turns to the people who personally knew the three greatVirginians-their friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies. Through their public and privatewritings, as well as the observations of their contemporaries, the subjects' distinctivequalities as individuals can be glimpsed with depth and immediacy.Takenfrom letters, speeches, diaries, and memoirs, the quotations and vignettes included here shed lighton the actual person behind each public image. George Washington offering a bowl of hot tea at nightto a guest at Mount Vernon who has a cold; Thomas Jefferson extending condolences to John Adams onthe death of his wife, Abigail; and James Madison bequeathing the silver-hilted walking cane,left him by Jefferson, in turn to the third president's grandson, Thomas JeffersonRandolph-such moments reveal personality and character in a way that no official act evercould."Much is known to one which is not known to the other," Jefferson wrote,"and no one knows everything." The cumulative effect of many voices, however, can create aportrait of invaluable insight.