Monticello or the White House?

• In Event: The Pursuit of Happiness

Abstract

Abstract: Thomas Jefferson outlined a philosophical account of happiness that drew influence from ancient, scholastic, and modern philosophical discussions of the nature of happiness and which he believed would endure. But just what precisely Jefferson believed about the nature of happiness is an interpretive puzzle in his life and thought. When Jefferson wrote to a friend about his plan to resign as Secretary of State in the Washington Administration, he explained: “My wishes led me always to be at home with my family, my farm and books.” His colleagues and rivals interpreted such comments as mere pretense or false modesty. John Adams thought that Jefferson was “eaten to an [sic] honeycomb with ambition." At the very least, there is a tension between Jefferson's professed desire to pursue domestic felicity and his admission to a "little spice of ambition" and his profession that "my country should be served is the first wish of my heart." This paper explores the question of how Jefferson conceived of the pursuit of happiness in light of his political ambition and desire for domestic and philosophical felicity. It argues that Jefferson was sincere in ranking domestic and intellectual life as higher pursuits. But even these can come in conflict, and require sorting. Moreover, he saw political service as a relatively lower good, albeit one which was a genuine good and which he believed he was duty bound out of love of country.

Author

• Kody Wayne Cooper, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga