Memories of a Hundred Years Author:Edward Everett Hale Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV THE VIRGINIAN DYNASTY THOMAS JEFFERSON I HAVE already quoted from my grandfather's diary the words which seemed to him big with fate, " T. Jeff... more »er- son chosen Presi- dent U. S.," and big with fate they were. My grand- father, a fine leader of the people in the fashion of his time, thought that dangers untold be- gan for the United States in that moment. He was Thomas Jefferson. right enough in After a painting by Bouch. thinking so. But he did not understand, and it seems to me that for five and twenty years nobody understood, that this country governsitself, and that the backward and forward moves of Cabinets and Congresses have not, in general, a critical importance in the history of the country. They are by no means of that critical importance which the liveried servants of the country think they are. I have said this already, but I shall often say it again, whenever any one gives me a chance. The men who made the Constitution builded better than they knew, perhaps. Whether they knew it or not, they made such arrangements that the American People governs America. True, there are people in America who are constantly harking back to the supposed analogy between their President and the sovereign King, between their Cabinet and an English Cabinet. Now, it is hopeless to undeceive Europe on this subject. Every writer on the Continent of Europe supposes that Mr. McKiuley was a king, or that Martin Van Buren was a king. But on this side of the ocean we ought to know that every one of the Presidents has been the servant of the American people. Undoubtedly Thomas Jefferson, without meaning to inflict a serious injury on the fortunes of the young Nation, really thought he was to be a sort of king. But the young Nation was somuch stronger than he was that,...« less