The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
PRESIDENCY / ELECTION OF 1789
Though we have not heard of the actual opening of the new Congress,
and consequently, have not official information of your election as
President of the United States, yet, as there never could be a doubt
entertained of it, permit me to express here my felicitations, not to
yourself, but to my country. Nobody who has tried both public and
private life, can doubt but that you were much happier on the banks of
the Potomac than you will be at New York. But there was nobody so well
qualified as yourself, to put our new machine into a regular course of
action; nobody, the authority of whose name could have so effectually
crushed opposition at home, and produced respect abroad. I am sensible
of the immensity of the sacrifice on your part. Your measure of fame
was full to the brim; and, therefore, you have nothing to gain. But
there are cases wherein it is a duty to risk all against nothing, and
I believe this was exactly the case. We may presume, too, according to
every rule of probability, that after doing a great deal of good, you
will be found to have lost nothing but private repose.
to George Washington, 10 May 1789
|