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Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power
In “Negro President” the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Garry Wills explores a pivotal moment in American history through the lens of Thomas Jefferson and the now largely forgotten Timothy Pickering, and “prods readers to appreciate essential aspects of our distressed but well-intentioned representative democracy” (Chicago Tribune).
In 1800 Jefferson won the presidential election with Electoral College votes derived from the three-fifths representation of slaves — slaves who could not vote but were still partially counted as citizens. Moving beyond the recent revisionist debate over Jefferson’s own slaves and his relationship with Sally Hemings, Wills instead probes the heart of Jefferson’s presidency and political life, revealing how the might of the slave states remained a concern behind his most important policies and decisions.
In an eye-opening, ingeniously argued exposé, Wills restores Timothy Pickering and the Federalists’ dramatic struggle to our understanding of Jefferson, the creation of the new nation, and the evolution of our representative democracy.
“Garry Wills is a thinker of first rate. He combines the vigor of the social critic with the depth of the historian, and to these he adds the even rarer gifts of the philosopher.” — New Republic
“A thorough political analysis of another founding father’s involvement in slavery.” — San Francisco Chronicle
Garry Wills, a distinguished historian and critic, is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine, the best-selling Why I Am a Catholic, and Henry Adams and the Making of America.
In 1800 Jefferson won the presidential election with Electoral College votes derived from the three-fifths representation of slaves — slaves who could not vote but were still partially counted as citizens. Moving beyond the recent revisionist debate over Jefferson’s own slaves and his relationship with Sally Hemings, Wills instead probes the heart of Jefferson’s presidency and political life, revealing how the might of the slave states remained a concern behind his most important policies and decisions.
In an eye-opening, ingeniously argued exposé, Wills restores Timothy Pickering and the Federalists’ dramatic struggle to our understanding of Jefferson, the creation of the new nation, and the evolution of our representative democracy.
“Garry Wills is a thinker of first rate. He combines the vigor of the social critic with the depth of the historian, and to these he adds the even rarer gifts of the philosopher.” — New Republic
“A thorough political analysis of another founding father’s involvement in slavery.” — San Francisco Chronicle
Garry Wills, a distinguished historian and critic, is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine, the best-selling Why I Am a Catholic, and Henry Adams and the Making of America.
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Garry Wills
99 books254 followersGarry Wills is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 28, 2009
Garry Wills is one of the few people I'd really like to meet and have over for dinner, although his intelligence would make me shrivel. His writing is so thoughtful and erudite. He never ceases to astonish me with his insights.
The Negro President exams the election of 1800 through the biographies of Thomas Pickering, the anti-slavery arch Federalist and opponent of Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and the impact the 3/5ths rule in the Constitution had on the outcome of the election. The 3/5ths rule, that counted slaves as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of representation, virtually guaranteed that the president would come from a slave-holding state especially, as in 1800, when a tie in the Electoral College forced the election into the House of Representatives. It meant that slave-holders got essentially more than one vote, i.e. 1 and 3/5th votes.
I had no idea that people like Pickering and Adams had proposed secession long before the Civil War but for reasons opposed to those that finally resulted in secession.
The implications were substantial. The extra representation gave Jefferson the election in 1800 [see my review of Bernard Weisberger's excellent book, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37...] when the tied Electoral college was thrown into the House of Representatives for decision. The difference was eight votes, precisely the advantage gained the south from the three-fifths clause. That's why Jefferson was called the “Negro” president. In his book by the same title, Garry Wills discusses the enormous impact slavery had on the mindset of our early presidents, twelve of whom owned slaves at one time or another.
In fact, a major reason for locating the new capitol in Washington, D.C., was because slave owners (all the early presidents owned slaves) would have been forced to manumit them had they remained in Philadelphia, the original capitol and a hotbed of Quaker abolitionism, for more than six months.
The Negro President exams the election of 1800 through the biographies of Thomas Pickering, the anti-slavery arch Federalist and opponent of Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and the impact the 3/5ths rule in the Constitution had on the outcome of the election. The 3/5ths rule, that counted slaves as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of representation, virtually guaranteed that the president would come from a slave-holding state especially, as in 1800, when a tie in the Electoral College forced the election into the House of Representatives. It meant that slave-holders got essentially more than one vote, i.e. 1 and 3/5th votes.
I had no idea that people like Pickering and Adams had proposed secession long before the Civil War but for reasons opposed to those that finally resulted in secession.
The implications were substantial. The extra representation gave Jefferson the election in 1800 [see my review of Bernard Weisberger's excellent book, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37...] when the tied Electoral college was thrown into the House of Representatives for decision. The difference was eight votes, precisely the advantage gained the south from the three-fifths clause. That's why Jefferson was called the “Negro” president. In his book by the same title, Garry Wills discusses the enormous impact slavery had on the mindset of our early presidents, twelve of whom owned slaves at one time or another.
In fact, a major reason for locating the new capitol in Washington, D.C., was because slave owners (all the early presidents owned slaves) would have been forced to manumit them had they remained in Philadelphia, the original capitol and a hotbed of Quaker abolitionism, for more than six months.
March 15, 2020
Gary Willis historical analysis knocks my pretty little historical framework socks off. (as he has before in Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, a rhetorical-historical analysis)
We have heard of the Washington and Alexander Hamilton & Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Yet Willis combos John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, amd Timothy Pickering. Timothy Pickering who we mostly know as a historical footnote. Wills says that while Adam's and Jefferson have weighty importance American history, no one has begun done to do justice to the role Pickering played as a Federalist working to hold back slave power. Oh may I read that historical analysis when it comes into being.
I read Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power as part of a reading survey of Thomas Jefferson with GR group Nonfiction Side Reads. I have left many comments and quotes there. As that group is a private group, that information can be accessed only by those friends. I will, as I often do, record some quotes in the next couple of days will be able to be seen by all interested.
We have heard of the Washington and Alexander Hamilton & Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Yet Willis combos John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, amd Timothy Pickering. Timothy Pickering who we mostly know as a historical footnote. Wills says that while Adam's and Jefferson have weighty importance American history, no one has begun done to do justice to the role Pickering played as a Federalist working to hold back slave power. Oh may I read that historical analysis when it comes into being.
I read Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power as part of a reading survey of Thomas Jefferson with GR group Nonfiction Side Reads. I have left many comments and quotes there. As that group is a private group, that information can be accessed only by those friends. I will, as I often do, record some quotes in the next couple of days will be able to be seen by all interested.
February 5, 2018
Brilliant insight from Wills on the role the 3/5's clause had on presidential politics well into the 19th Century. The centerpiece is the fact that Jefferson's election would not have happened without the additional dozen or so votes generated for a southerner by the 3/5's clause, which gave electoral clout to southern slave-owners to vote against those whose numbers inflated their vote (i.e. slaves). Also, full of insight about Jefferson, Timothy Pickering and Aaron Burr, who was instrumental in getting the NY vote for Jefferson, without which he would not have won the election. Jefferson's ability to play pure power politics is shown in detail. Almost as good as his Pulitzer-winning "Lincoln at Gettysburg".
August 6, 2021
Review title: American slavery
Garry Wills is a well known historian of the American experience, including a book about Jefferson in his role as an inventor of the American idea and ideal. But this is not that book. In fact, much like in Chernow's Hamilton, Jefferson does not fare well here. But the central theme of the book isn't Jefferson, it is the power of the southern states due to the "slave power" of three-fifths representation, and Jefferson shares center stage with John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Timothy Pickering (a mostly ignored and unloved founder).
Pickering was responsible for the phrase Wills uses to title this book, as a reference to the fact that in the very closely contest election of 1800 Jefferson prevailed over John Adams only by the extra votes in the Electoral College that the counting of slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation gave to the Southern states. Jefferson won by eight votes, the slave population gave the Southern states between 12 and 16 extra votes (see footnote 2 on p. 234 for the various sources of the count). It was literally systemic racism that made Jefferson president. Wills, quoting a northern source:
This slave power was not a charge of conspiracy then or a piece of revisionist history now, but a simple political fact. It gave the slave states one-third more seats in Congress than warranted by their free population--and note that the three-fifths count in no way implied that slave owners considered their human property partially human; under the Articles of Confederation, when the count was proposed for apportioning taxation, they vociferously argued against counting slaves at all (p. 53-54). John Quincy Adams referred to the slave power as "the cement of common interest produced by slavery", and Wills defines it as "the political efforts exerted to protect and expand slavery." (p. 11).
The ratio was introduced in Philadelphia as an absolute non negotiable by the Southern states, to ensure equity of representation (which became a majority after the first census numbers came in) in the new government and win ratification of the Constitution. Southerners and northerners alike were agreed that no agreement would have been possible without it (p. 56-57). If the moral and ethical depravity of the ownership of human beings based on the color of the skin was not demeaning enough, the exact ratio was arrived at by an estimate that a black worker performed only three-fifth of a white worker (p. 53). Lawrence Goldstone's Dark Bargain: Slavery, profits, and the struggle for the Constitution provides more coverage of the convention debates and compromises on slavery for those who want to go deeper.
In documenting the continued impact of the slave power beyond Jefferson's election, Wills veers off into his fascination with Pickering, who despite his strong moral stance against slavery was apparently such a prickly and unlikable character that even those who agreed with him didn't often like him. Wills loses momentum and probably a fair number of users in this middle section while making the point that as president, Jefferson always defended the roots of slave power even when it contradicted his more celebrated beliefs. Pickering at least could point to the hobgoblin of consistency even though it never endeared him to posterity while Jefferson's more private waffling has served him well (although DNA testing and Hamilton have dealt his reputation a blow in recent decades). The terms of Presidents Jefferson and John Adams were years of bitter infighting between Federalists symbolized by Hamilton’s national bank and republicans represented by Jefferson's agrarian farmer, although in truth Jefferson would consistently side with slave owners to defend slavery and with foreign policies defending the dictatorial Napoleon even when those policies harmed his true agrarian constituents and supporters.
Perhaps most damning of all is his abandonment of free speech when that speech attempted to raise petitions in Congress to curtail slavery in the District of Columbia or any new states carved out of the western territories he bought in the Louisiana Purchase--itself a violation of his principles of small government and decentralized authority exercised by the legislative branch, undertaken with the intent of extending slavery westward to sustain its power. Wills devotes several chapters to the fights by Pickering and John Quincy Adams to get petitions onto the floor of Congress; while important, these chapters are often convoluted and seldom very interesting. Suffice to say in proof of systemic racism and the slave power that in these decades leading toward Lincoln and the war to purge slavery from the American system with blood, their opponents from the south included future presidents Van Buren, Polk, and Buchanan (p. 216). For the final word on the topic, we need only to read Wills quoting southern congressman Henry Wise's attack on Adams in 1836:
Wills has given us a very important view into the awkward sausage of American political history, one that we wish had not happened, that we might hope to overcome, and that some would today like to steer us away from learning because of its harsh reminder of who we are as a nation. For this reason alone it is all the more important to learn it, even if the subject, the central characters, and the writing isn't as likable or as readable as we'd like.
Garry Wills is a well known historian of the American experience, including a book about Jefferson in his role as an inventor of the American idea and ideal. But this is not that book. In fact, much like in Chernow's Hamilton, Jefferson does not fare well here. But the central theme of the book isn't Jefferson, it is the power of the southern states due to the "slave power" of three-fifths representation, and Jefferson shares center stage with John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Timothy Pickering (a mostly ignored and unloved founder).
Pickering was responsible for the phrase Wills uses to title this book, as a reference to the fact that in the very closely contest election of 1800 Jefferson prevailed over John Adams only by the extra votes in the Electoral College that the counting of slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation gave to the Southern states. Jefferson won by eight votes, the slave population gave the Southern states between 12 and 16 extra votes (see footnote 2 on p. 234 for the various sources of the count). It was literally systemic racism that made Jefferson president. Wills, quoting a northern source:
Every five of the Negro slaves are accounted equal to three of you... Those slaves have no voice in the elections; they are mere property; yet a planter possessing a hundred of them may be considered as having sixty votes, while one of you who has equal or greater property is confined to a single vote. (p. 3)
This slave power was not a charge of conspiracy then or a piece of revisionist history now, but a simple political fact. It gave the slave states one-third more seats in Congress than warranted by their free population--and note that the three-fifths count in no way implied that slave owners considered their human property partially human; under the Articles of Confederation, when the count was proposed for apportioning taxation, they vociferously argued against counting slaves at all (p. 53-54). John Quincy Adams referred to the slave power as "the cement of common interest produced by slavery", and Wills defines it as "the political efforts exerted to protect and expand slavery." (p. 11).
The ratio was introduced in Philadelphia as an absolute non negotiable by the Southern states, to ensure equity of representation (which became a majority after the first census numbers came in) in the new government and win ratification of the Constitution. Southerners and northerners alike were agreed that no agreement would have been possible without it (p. 56-57). If the moral and ethical depravity of the ownership of human beings based on the color of the skin was not demeaning enough, the exact ratio was arrived at by an estimate that a black worker performed only three-fifth of a white worker (p. 53). Lawrence Goldstone's Dark Bargain: Slavery, profits, and the struggle for the Constitution provides more coverage of the convention debates and compromises on slavery for those who want to go deeper.
In documenting the continued impact of the slave power beyond Jefferson's election, Wills veers off into his fascination with Pickering, who despite his strong moral stance against slavery was apparently such a prickly and unlikable character that even those who agreed with him didn't often like him. Wills loses momentum and probably a fair number of users in this middle section while making the point that as president, Jefferson always defended the roots of slave power even when it contradicted his more celebrated beliefs. Pickering at least could point to the hobgoblin of consistency even though it never endeared him to posterity while Jefferson's more private waffling has served him well (although DNA testing and Hamilton have dealt his reputation a blow in recent decades). The terms of Presidents Jefferson and John Adams were years of bitter infighting between Federalists symbolized by Hamilton’s national bank and republicans represented by Jefferson's agrarian farmer, although in truth Jefferson would consistently side with slave owners to defend slavery and with foreign policies defending the dictatorial Napoleon even when those policies harmed his true agrarian constituents and supporters.
Perhaps most damning of all is his abandonment of free speech when that speech attempted to raise petitions in Congress to curtail slavery in the District of Columbia or any new states carved out of the western territories he bought in the Louisiana Purchase--itself a violation of his principles of small government and decentralized authority exercised by the legislative branch, undertaken with the intent of extending slavery westward to sustain its power. Wills devotes several chapters to the fights by Pickering and John Quincy Adams to get petitions onto the floor of Congress; while important, these chapters are often convoluted and seldom very interesting. Suffice to say in proof of systemic racism and the slave power that in these decades leading toward Lincoln and the war to purge slavery from the American system with blood, their opponents from the south included future presidents Van Buren, Polk, and Buchanan (p. 216). For the final word on the topic, we need only to read Wills quoting southern congressman Henry Wise's attack on Adams in 1836:
Sir, slavery is interwoven with our very political existence, is guaranteed by our Constitution, and its consequences must be borne by our northern brethren as resulting from our system of government, and they cannot attack the system of slavery without attacking the institutions of our country, our safety, and our welfare. (p. 215)
Wills has given us a very important view into the awkward sausage of American political history, one that we wish had not happened, that we might hope to overcome, and that some would today like to steer us away from learning because of its harsh reminder of who we are as a nation. For this reason alone it is all the more important to learn it, even if the subject, the central characters, and the writing isn't as likable or as readable as we'd like.
February 12, 2008
It is ironic how many of the freedoms that Americans hold dear were established by slave holders. Negro President shines a light behind this irony and shows us the grim skeleton beneath, the political hack-work that was the three-fifths clause, and how power was vested in the republicans by virtue of those who not only had no political representation, they didn't even own their own bodies. But Wills is a solid historian, and provides the counterbalancing details, the chief of which is the story of Timothy Pickering and his attempt to wrestle the "slave power" away from the south. I learned a lot from this book, but at times felt bogged down with quotation and detail -- I know, this is Wills doing his job, but it made for some slogging at times.
February 17, 2019
Two stars is not really fair. When it comes to non-fiction, I'm a bit of a tough critic. There were some interesting points in this book, but really, I could have summed it all up in two chapters, and since the writing didn't sweep me along as it did in other non-fiction books that I have recently read (Matterhorn, Band of Brothers) I was bored. It boiled down to some interesting points, and a whole lot of political positioning. Zzzz
June 22, 2023
I'm fairly sure I learned about the three-fifths Compromise during high school but I had forgotten about it. This is how it worked: if you were a slave owner with 30 slaves, then your slaves represented -- (3/5 * 30 = 18) -- 18 additional humans in the census, thereby giving these owners more representation in Congress and in the Electoral College. The southern states then used this advantage to maintain slavery until the Civil War. Wills relates how that compromise allowed Jefferson to beat John Adams in the election of 1800. In other words, the slave states used there slave population to support a fellow slave owner, Jefferson. Ergo the title of this book: he was elected because the slave owners wanted him in and they had a disproportionate number of representatives and electoral votes due to this obscenity. Wills spends a good portion of the book following the machinations of Timothy Pickering, a Federalist who opposed slavery and supported Adams because he was also an abolitionist. Of the first twelve Presidents, only Adams and his son were not slave owners. The next time I hear someone praise the 'Founding Fathers' I think I will mention that fact. I also learned that the location of the White House was predicated on the fact that it was in slave territory so all of these presidents would not be forced to sell their slaves before taking office. I did not care for how Wills organized this book; it appears to be in simple chronological order with chapters that include a period to be covered. And I'm still not sure why Pickering plays such a large part except that prior historians gave him short shrift and Wills hoped to somewhat ameliorate that. I read his 'Nixon Agonistes' in 1979 when I was 23 years old. It was a book built on a solid foundation with a thesis that blew me away. Nothing I have read by Wills since has had the same effect.
December 14, 2024
Many authors have taken their crack at the Founding Generation and this period over the years. New revelations and fresh analysis of the period are scant. Let us then, as readers, be glad that Garry Wills found himself so incensed by America's pop history and those writers who continued to canonize the Founders in the late '90s & early 2000s as to merit writing this short book.
Wills here offers a brief overview of the public careers of, principally, two men - Thomas Jefferson & Timothy Pickering. The path of Jefferson's life is well-tred ground for writers and readers alike; Pickering far less so. But what gives this book its fresh and engaging feel is Wills' commitment to telling their story and analyzing their careers as they related to Slavery and the distortions wrought upon the federal union because of its compact with Southern Slavers.
He does not spare his storied subjects in his analysis, nor does the alien character of the Early Republic for modern readers stay Wills' characteristically witty criticisms. This book gets to the heart of several questions about America that I (and I suspect others) have asked over the years: Why did Slavers and Southerners so dominate the politics of the nation's first decades? Why are men like Jefferson and Washington remembered as moral heroes in their calls for equality while using every mechanism at their disposal to deny it to hundreds of thousands of people? Were there no dissenting peers of these American aristocrats who saw their self-serving hypocrisy for what it was?
As a final note, I also quite enjoyed Wills' conversation with his contemporaries throughout the book. It seems to me there can be no revising faulty conclusions if one does not engage with their authors as he does here throughout.
A brisk, entertaining read for anyone hoping to find a new perspective on the Early Republic.
Wills here offers a brief overview of the public careers of, principally, two men - Thomas Jefferson & Timothy Pickering. The path of Jefferson's life is well-tred ground for writers and readers alike; Pickering far less so. But what gives this book its fresh and engaging feel is Wills' commitment to telling their story and analyzing their careers as they related to Slavery and the distortions wrought upon the federal union because of its compact with Southern Slavers.
He does not spare his storied subjects in his analysis, nor does the alien character of the Early Republic for modern readers stay Wills' characteristically witty criticisms. This book gets to the heart of several questions about America that I (and I suspect others) have asked over the years: Why did Slavers and Southerners so dominate the politics of the nation's first decades? Why are men like Jefferson and Washington remembered as moral heroes in their calls for equality while using every mechanism at their disposal to deny it to hundreds of thousands of people? Were there no dissenting peers of these American aristocrats who saw their self-serving hypocrisy for what it was?
As a final note, I also quite enjoyed Wills' conversation with his contemporaries throughout the book. It seems to me there can be no revising faulty conclusions if one does not engage with their authors as he does here throughout.
A brisk, entertaining read for anyone hoping to find a new perspective on the Early Republic.
October 10, 2021
This book was good, but it didn't quite deliver on the parameters set by the author. This is the first book by Wills I've read, but I don't get the impression that he is as much a "critic" as he is a historian. He is never far from the page, and eager to jump into his story. This book is also very populated with Henry Adams, who Wills would publish a book on in 2005. These aren't knocks on the book, per se, just an important caveat, that you are coming to this for a very personal, verging on pedantic at times take on history.
Jefferson gets a beating here, and deservedly so, that's what I wanted out of the book, but he is so often absent from the page. I also wanted to know more about him and his policies, rather than just about his enemies. I think that employing Timothy Pickering (a figure I had never heard of) as the mouth piece for the anti-Jefferson arguments of the books works pretty well, but by the end of the book there is nearly 50 pages chronically John Quincy Adams career in the House, because he had been Pickering's rival 25 years earlier, I guess. It isn't completely misplaced in the book, but seems to suddenly be much less about Jefferson, and about the "slave power" in a very different way than the first 2/3 of the book.
If you are familiar with and enjoy Wills history writing, this is a good one I think. If you don't know much about Jefferson and want to know more, this isn't a good starting point, but it is on the shelf or the list and is an important entry.
Jefferson gets a beating here, and deservedly so, that's what I wanted out of the book, but he is so often absent from the page. I also wanted to know more about him and his policies, rather than just about his enemies. I think that employing Timothy Pickering (a figure I had never heard of) as the mouth piece for the anti-Jefferson arguments of the books works pretty well, but by the end of the book there is nearly 50 pages chronically John Quincy Adams career in the House, because he had been Pickering's rival 25 years earlier, I guess. It isn't completely misplaced in the book, but seems to suddenly be much less about Jefferson, and about the "slave power" in a very different way than the first 2/3 of the book.
If you are familiar with and enjoy Wills history writing, this is a good one I think. If you don't know much about Jefferson and want to know more, this isn't a good starting point, but it is on the shelf or the list and is an important entry.
December 30, 2024
Interesting. The book explores the 3/5 clause in Constitution and the consequent power of slave holders to elect Presidents and block bills in the House. The Washington approved map of DC including Arlington is tagged as being firmly in slave country.
The book puts a Jefferson’s actions as president in the sectional light, purchasing the Louisiana territory as a means to,expand the power, and similar motives in regards to Navy and in the Embargo, to weaken New England.
Can be a dry read. Its protagonist is Tim Pickering, a Massachusetts Senator and then Representative who,opposed various actions which would expand slave power, but he never comes to life the way John Quincy Adams does.
Neither Pickering nor 3/5 clause feature much in conventional narratives, and the “revolution” of 1801 which overturned Federalist office holders is cast as “democratic.” The 3/5 rule though is oligarchic, not democratic in the sense of one man one vote or majority rule.
Elsewhere such as Paul Finkelman and Leonard Levy revision has been made of both John Marshall and Jefferson and actions favoring slaveholders, or that were to the detriment of some civil liberties, and the Indians.
The book puts a Jefferson’s actions as president in the sectional light, purchasing the Louisiana territory as a means to,expand the power, and similar motives in regards to Navy and in the Embargo, to weaken New England.
Can be a dry read. Its protagonist is Tim Pickering, a Massachusetts Senator and then Representative who,opposed various actions which would expand slave power, but he never comes to life the way John Quincy Adams does.
Neither Pickering nor 3/5 clause feature much in conventional narratives, and the “revolution” of 1801 which overturned Federalist office holders is cast as “democratic.” The 3/5 rule though is oligarchic, not democratic in the sense of one man one vote or majority rule.
Elsewhere such as Paul Finkelman and Leonard Levy revision has been made of both John Marshall and Jefferson and actions favoring slaveholders, or that were to the detriment of some civil liberties, and the Indians.
September 19, 2022
Voter fraud, free speech constitutionality, political steps, insurrection, impeachment, political parties, contested elections, quick appointments of judges, campaign promises, spoils system, violence, embargo -- these may all seem like terms right out of today's newspapers, but in actuality they were all a part of the election of 1800. Information that was missing in my history classes include the 3/5 clause, slave states vs free states, and the distinct possibility of the northern states seceding from the union, are all written about in this book. Timothy Pickering, a person I knew nothing about, figures prominently in this book and his opposition to Jefferson and the owning of slaves. There is so much information in this book I feel like I should turn back to the prologue and read it again. I recommend this nonfiction book to anyone who wants to delve into the beginnings of our country and the challenges faced by the people involved.
April 30, 2023
Mostly about Thomas Pickering, not Thomas Jefferson. But then Jefferson sells books and Pickering doesn't. An odd hodge-podge. Last 35 pages are about JQ Adams fight against "slave power". First part has chapters on the 1800 election, why the 3/5 clause was adopted. THe rest is about Pickering and his fight against Jefferson, 3/5 clause and slavery.
While Pickering is Wills' hero, he struck me as a New England crank, and given Pickering's dislike of the South, you wonder why he ever supported the Union and the Constituion in the first place. It would've been best for everyone if New England had left the Union in 1812. amd gone off on their own.
This is my last Wills book. I'm not a fan.
While Pickering is Wills' hero, he struck me as a New England crank, and given Pickering's dislike of the South, you wonder why he ever supported the Union and the Constituion in the first place. It would've been best for everyone if New England had left the Union in 1812. amd gone off on their own.
This is my last Wills book. I'm not a fan.
October 14, 2024
This is an interesting and enjoyable book.
Interesting in how it shows the influence and impact slavery and the importance of that system to the Southern States determined much of the Union’s development in its first four score and seven years. Jefferson is the focus of the book but the same is true of Washington, Madison, Monroe, Jackson,Clay, Tyler, Polk and others. Lesser known Timothy Pickering is a convenient foil that serves to illuminate this dynamic through his attempts to battle it.
Enjoyable because the writing is clear and balanced. Willis also explains more fully the context around much early American history of which I was already aware.
A valuable addition to my reading on the early years of our nation.
Interesting in how it shows the influence and impact slavery and the importance of that system to the Southern States determined much of the Union’s development in its first four score and seven years. Jefferson is the focus of the book but the same is true of Washington, Madison, Monroe, Jackson,Clay, Tyler, Polk and others. Lesser known Timothy Pickering is a convenient foil that serves to illuminate this dynamic through his attempts to battle it.
Enjoyable because the writing is clear and balanced. Willis also explains more fully the context around much early American history of which I was already aware.
A valuable addition to my reading on the early years of our nation.
May 26, 2025
Wills is exacting in historic journalistic detail and theatrical when analyzing political speeches. The result is a very dense recounting of events in which every page leaves a striking impression. The quality of his writing to hold tensions intact paves the way to talk about the Colonial Founding Fathers with sympathy towards their construction of democracy while also being frank about the institution of chattel slavery they sought to preserve.
This was not an entertaining read, I found it laborious. But I would like to leave a reflection along the lines of “we don’t need to retrospectively vilify/heroicise the Founding Fathers, their own words and actions reveal enough of the truth of our country.”
This was not an entertaining read, I found it laborious. But I would like to leave a reflection along the lines of “we don’t need to retrospectively vilify/heroicise the Founding Fathers, their own words and actions reveal enough of the truth of our country.”
June 9, 2022
Interesting and thought provoking. I kept thinking about the rancor we are currently hearing out of politicians and pundits….”the more things change the more they stay the same”…..I relearned some of the history I had in school and I learned new tidbits about Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, the uprisings in Haiti and Santa Domingo, the acquisition of Florida, the 3/5 compromise, and the grip slavery had on the political make up of our country. I knew virtually nothing about Timothy Pickering and it seems he was a huge voice against slavery. I had no clue that Aaron Burr also was quite outspoken against slavery.
Well written and researched and a pretty quick read.
Well written and researched and a pretty quick read.
January 7, 2025
A worthwhile read on the political effects of the overlooked Federal Ratio which counted each slave as 3/5 of a person when calculating the number of House Representatives for a State. One glaring effect is that without these extra Representatives (Ranging from 13 to 19) Jefferson would have lost to Adams in the election of 1800. Hence the term 'Negro President'. The book is framed by the conflict between the Federalist Timothy Pickering(Later John Quincy Adams) who championed the repeal of the ratio and the champions of the 'Slave Power' States. Recommended.
October 25, 2020
Unusual and excellent book about Thomas Pickering, John Quincy Adams, and how the three fifths clause shaped early American politics. The book lacks focus, but that’s part of why I enjoyed it so much.
July 8, 2018
Excellent discussion of how Jefferson and other founders protected and sought to extend slavery through constitution's voting provisions.
January 18, 2025
slave power - 3/5's giving the slavery power over the nation until Lincoln's election
marvelous
marvelous
March 25, 2016
This book existed in the gray line of history/review of previous biographies of Pickering. Accordingly while Thomas Pickering seems to be a man worthy of a new and better balanced biography the other half of the book: Thomas Jefferson gets off easy by Wills' text- too easy in my opinion. Truly Jefferson was a dual kind of figure. At once he's one of the greatest revolutionaries of all time so influential that he literally created the category and yet he dealt with race and gender rather despicably even by the standards of his own era. Wills unfairly calls modern reappraisals of the man "Jefferson bashing," though he himself does a fair amount of critique of the man. I do think that such reappraisals are necessary and illuminating primarily because as Wills would agree we have yet to come to terms with slavery in a meaningful way. To do so in my opinion means a confrontation with Thomas Jefferson. I feel that's inevitable. Wills seems to anticipate that kind of thinking and yet doesn't follow through very well. We still see a lot of Jefferson that's family friendly, he's given his due as a party leader making decisions to secure Democratic-Republican leadership and yet a simple political explanation for his Presidency and slavery is not enough and this is where Wills' critique stops. Jefferson was anti-slavery for his early life and he grappled with the questions that it raised and the future it promised.... until his slaves at Monticello began turning a real profit for him. At that point Jefferson became ardently pro-slavery. Granted this is from The Master of the Mountain published long after this book, but even still there had been plenty of information available for many years that would make Wills' political explanation untenable. Jefferson's own Notes on the State of Virginia contains a lot of personal opinions that indicate Jefferson's views were not solely political. So, while Wills certainly writes well I thought this book was not very convincing in its portrayal of the Slave Power.
February 1, 2010
Just started and already a fascinating premise,
This was one of the more interesting books I've read about this period.
Several Jefferson books I've read have the authors puzzling over the apparent contradiction between Jefferson's beautiful high-minded words and his many lowly actions, particularly as President.
Wills puts those questions to rest. It's easy to understand, he writes, once you put them all in the category of before the Constitution was adopted, and after.
Before it was adopted, Jefferson could say what he wanted about freedom with impunity. But once the Constitution enshrined the 3/5 Rule as the law of the land, protecting the South's artificial majority through the counting of slaves who could not vote, preserving it at all costs became every southern politician's number one priority.
Wills uses a forgotten founder named Timothy Pickering as a foil for Jefferson's hypocrisy. A die-hard abolitionist and New Englander, Pickering railed against "the slave power" nearly all of his political life.
Also of interest in this piece is the role played by John Quincy Adams who, when he had soemthing to lose, opposed some of Pickerings admittedly hare-brained schemes, but who becaue a thorn in the side of the slave power after his presidency, when he returned to the House of Representatives.
The book raises some interesting questions about the price the country has paid, and continues to pay, for the compromise that allowed slavery to continue in a nation devoted to the principles of freedom.
But it does not preach. After all, would those slaves have been better off if the South had refused to join the union? Would it have ever been abolished? Who knows what the course of history might have been.
Politics can be a dirty business and the founding of this nation was no different.
All in all, an excellent read which I highly recommend.
This was one of the more interesting books I've read about this period.
Several Jefferson books I've read have the authors puzzling over the apparent contradiction between Jefferson's beautiful high-minded words and his many lowly actions, particularly as President.
Wills puts those questions to rest. It's easy to understand, he writes, once you put them all in the category of before the Constitution was adopted, and after.
Before it was adopted, Jefferson could say what he wanted about freedom with impunity. But once the Constitution enshrined the 3/5 Rule as the law of the land, protecting the South's artificial majority through the counting of slaves who could not vote, preserving it at all costs became every southern politician's number one priority.
Wills uses a forgotten founder named Timothy Pickering as a foil for Jefferson's hypocrisy. A die-hard abolitionist and New Englander, Pickering railed against "the slave power" nearly all of his political life.
Also of interest in this piece is the role played by John Quincy Adams who, when he had soemthing to lose, opposed some of Pickerings admittedly hare-brained schemes, but who becaue a thorn in the side of the slave power after his presidency, when he returned to the House of Representatives.
The book raises some interesting questions about the price the country has paid, and continues to pay, for the compromise that allowed slavery to continue in a nation devoted to the principles of freedom.
But it does not preach. After all, would those slaves have been better off if the South had refused to join the union? Would it have ever been abolished? Who knows what the course of history might have been.
Politics can be a dirty business and the founding of this nation was no different.
All in all, an excellent read which I highly recommend.
August 29, 2013
An excellent tome that illustrates with precision all the various baleful consequences that were the direct product of the United States' very own "mark of Cain": the compromise over the institution of slavery that was essential to the ratification of the new Constitution.
This should be a work that is read by a wide audience, preferably at a young age; more likely, it will be read by a small niche of upper-middle class liberals, preaching to the choir as it were.
The only defect of the book is Wills' rather lenient treatment of Jefferson, all things considered. While he spends much of the book demonstrating instance upon instance of Jefferson's duplicity, hypocrisy, and his willingness to fatally compromise the political integrity of the Republic, Wills feels compelled to reiterate that Jefferson is a big hero of his, that his reputation should not be defined by his book, and so on, and so forth.
Realistically, though, how much slack does Jefferson deserve for [partially] composing the Declaration of Independence? His reputation in posterity has largely traded on that document, as well as some scribblings on religious freedom; that he completely failed nearly every test of character with which he was confronted when he was the Republic's steward is conveniently forgotten. Wills' insistence on remaining a devoted worshiper at the Cult of Jefferson only helps perpetuate his rather distasteful godhead, and for that good sir, I deduct a star from this rating!
This should be a work that is read by a wide audience, preferably at a young age; more likely, it will be read by a small niche of upper-middle class liberals, preaching to the choir as it were.
The only defect of the book is Wills' rather lenient treatment of Jefferson, all things considered. While he spends much of the book demonstrating instance upon instance of Jefferson's duplicity, hypocrisy, and his willingness to fatally compromise the political integrity of the Republic, Wills feels compelled to reiterate that Jefferson is a big hero of his, that his reputation should not be defined by his book, and so on, and so forth.
Realistically, though, how much slack does Jefferson deserve for [partially] composing the Declaration of Independence? His reputation in posterity has largely traded on that document, as well as some scribblings on religious freedom; that he completely failed nearly every test of character with which he was confronted when he was the Republic's steward is conveniently forgotten. Wills' insistence on remaining a devoted worshiper at the Cult of Jefferson only helps perpetuate his rather distasteful godhead, and for that good sir, I deduct a star from this rating!
June 15, 2013
I understand why some people are put off this book. The title, subtitle, and introduction create an expectation that Thomas Jefferson will be at the center of the stories told, indeed, dripping off every page. Wills, however, is able to plead innocence of creating false expectations because it does write, just barely, that he will explore the ways that the three-fifths clause of the Constitution impacted American law, history, and culture during Jefferson's time and Jefferson's complicity in it, and the book does exactly that.
If the book spends much of its space of Timothy Pickering and John Quincy Adams, it is to tell of Pickering's opposition to the clause and those parts of policy that the clause enabled. If it spends much of its space on Adams, it is because he became such a stalwart opponent of the clause. Some people commenting on this book who are not very smart complain that the book strays from Jefferson to other people. Those complaints are partially Wills's fault for creating false expectation with his title and introduction, but such complaints fail to grasp what the book does accomplish, and accomplished quite well, and fail to grasp that Wills does indeed say, briefly, that this is his goal in the book.
Be careful about what you believe when you read goodreads reviews.
If the book spends much of its space of Timothy Pickering and John Quincy Adams, it is to tell of Pickering's opposition to the clause and those parts of policy that the clause enabled. If it spends much of its space on Adams, it is because he became such a stalwart opponent of the clause. Some people commenting on this book who are not very smart complain that the book strays from Jefferson to other people. Those complaints are partially Wills's fault for creating false expectation with his title and introduction, but such complaints fail to grasp what the book does accomplish, and accomplished quite well, and fail to grasp that Wills does indeed say, briefly, that this is his goal in the book.
Be careful about what you believe when you read goodreads reviews.
December 21, 2015
This is a great book to read just after finishing Dumas Malone's six-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson. The latter is pure cheerleading in almost every way, so "Negro President" is a great look at some of the things Dumas Malone wouldn't touch in his efforts to show us the best side of his hero (TJ). It is instructive also to learn just how much the power of the vote given southerners via the Federal Allottment (the apportioning of districts based on 100% of all white men and 3/5 of all slaves (who obviously got no vote) changed our country, insuring that slavery spread as far as wide as possible, to insure that our capitol (DC) would be friendly to slave-holders, and to result in 12 presidents who also owned enslaved humans. Amazing! I also find my admiration for JQ Adams and, of course, Timothy Pickering, growing.
August 19, 2015
Surprisingly good. Wills is much more careful than, say, Joseph Ellis in His Excellency about sticking to facts and avoiding unwarranted speculation as to motives (particularly when it comes to chronology, and not retroactively ascribing later motives to earlier actions), though he does lapse a little in this regard toward the end. He clearly demonstrates that not only does private slave ownership tend to corrupt a man's moral character (as Jefferson himself noted), but political support of slavery corrupts a man's political character; and that the 3/5 compromise (unavoidable as it may have been) ultimately made the Civil War inevitable.
December 8, 2013
Very interesting. filled with facts and tidbits not taught in American history. As you might have deduced by the title this covers slaves, the owners, and the politics regarding them.
A few interesting points:
~~Slave statistics not only here but abroud at the time the book takes place.
~~3/5 law
~~Disparity between individual people ie John Adams an Thomas Jefferson and more
~~Debates and standoff in in all branches of government
Add this to your base of Civil War history, Civil Rights history, political history, founding father history, human rights history.
A few interesting points:
~~Slave statistics not only here but abroud at the time the book takes place.
~~3/5 law
~~Disparity between individual people ie John Adams an Thomas Jefferson and more
~~Debates and standoff in in all branches of government
Add this to your base of Civil War history, Civil Rights history, political history, founding father history, human rights history.
February 20, 2012
A very dense and in-depth study of Thomas Jefferson, Timothy Pickering, and how the slave vote shaped America. Wills has a fairly negative view of the oft revered Jefferson, but provides ample evidence for his argument. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in how our nation and its values were actually formed. It is a good reminder that the "good ol' days" weren't all that good. Politics have always been politics.
July 6, 2023
I started off binging this book and then hit a slump where i didn’t even want to pick up up and then at the end was excited about it again. I ended up with an extra copy by mistake and luckily had someone to give it to. I really enjoyed it overall. there was a ton of information that i discovered amid its pages, but i did come away with a question since one part of the Hemings story conflicted with information i learned in another book.
October 30, 2008
This book should have been titled "Timothy Pickering and the Federalists". If you are looking for more information about Thomas Jefferson this is the wrong book to read. Garry Wills wanted to sell more books. It was educational to learn more about this minor politician. The book is well written but not any more information about Jefferson except for the "Pickering" thorn in backside.
January 28, 2013
This book is about Thomas Jefferson.... and takes him down quite a few notches in my previous admiration. Concurrently reading the David McCullough bio of John Adams...and Adams and his son John Quincy really don't get the attention they deserve for fighting against what Wills calls the Southern "Slave Power".
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