6/11/2023 0 Comments Jon meacham the art of powerIn the half century between the Ford and Boyd volumes, Jefferson's reputation had recovered much of its former luster. With former Princeton librarian Julian Boyd at the helm, this edition set the standard for all subsequent editions of presidential papers. Jefferson's luck turned when the publishing family of the New York Times and Princeton University underwrote an edition of his voluminous collections of letters, reports, speeches and legislative notes. Ford struggled to account for Jefferson's success, finally conceding that the people in some subtle way had understood him and realized that his controlling aim was neither national independence nor state sovereignty, but rather to secure for them "the ever enduring privilege of personal freedom." Forty years later Paul Leicester Ford brought out a fuller, more professional edition, but Ford, a crusty Northern conservative, lacked the political imagination to grasp that Jefferson's presidency might actually have had merit.
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