Thomas Jefferson - Letters: "To Maria Cosway"

Humans, as a species, have always marveled at our abilities that separate us from the likes of animals, especially our ability to logically reason. Up unto this point I think that Jefferson, in our readings and my minimal knowledge of him prior to the class, was very much enamored of and respected for his handle on said ability. In all of his writings there breathes an inherent air of incredible intelligence and understanding, and while at times it can come across harsh and blunt it was always so beyond his years that those small faults typically, in my opinion, overlooked. After reading this letter, and his other pieces on morality, however I find that he had an advanced understanding not just of what being a human-or an American-is, but more importantly and to his credit, what being a human, or American, means, and that if he lacked this keen, albeit sometimes hidden, ability, he wouldn't be respected today for the intellectual that he was. This however may be typically overlooked because he has a tendency to be contradictory in his writings. For example, Jefferson revels in the value of a good set of books to read as they provide much more frequent reminders than does history of the good, and occasionally the bad, in us all, and then later turns around and from the perspective of his "Head", says that, "Put into one scale the pleasures which any object may offer; but put fairly into the other the pains which are to follow, and see which preponderates." From an intellectual perspective this makes sense, why revel in the past if once we have done so we realize that it is just that, past, and may not currently be the present time we live in? However his "Heart" counters this logically sound argument by saying that, "Morals were too essential to the happiness of man to be risked on the incertain combinations of the head," and, "Had [a man] ever had...one generous spasm of the heart [he] would exchange it for all the frigid speculations of [his life]." Overall, I found this all too brief glimpse into the mind and heart of Thomas Jefferson to be very enlightening and a humanizing and humbling moment in my perception of one of our countries most profound leaders.