The Falling Out and Reconciliation of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

Ashbrook Scholar ^ | 2025 | Cara Rogers Stevens

[CondoleezzaProtege]

The personal relationship between Jefferson and Adams had soured under the weight of political rivalry—exacerbated by the brutal campaign of 1800.

For years after the election, the two men remained estranged.

The physician and mutual friend Benjamin Rush played a pivotal role in bringing the two former friends back together. Encouraged by Rush, Jefferson and Adams began corresponding in 1812, initiating a remarkable exchange of letters that spanned 14 years and addressed topics ranging from politics and philosophy to their reflections on aging and legacy.

Through this correspondence, Jefferson and Adams confronted their differences—both political and personal—with candor and a shared commitment to understanding…Their dialogue not only healed their fractured friendship but also provided a powerful example of reconciliation for a divided nation.

[Gunslingr3]

Dollars redeemable upon demand in specie.

But that ran out, so they printed greenbacks and passed a law forcing people to accept them.

How many more years from 1862 to the end of the war?

[Reily]

Money is whatever people will accept to exchange “value\wealth”. Large stone wheels have been used in one culture.

[ek_hornbeck]

The foreign policy views of John Adams largely mirrored those of George Washington, who made very similar remarks in his farewell address.

[Carry_Okie]

It was a lot more gushing than development of details.
I had hoped for better.

[cowboyusa]

Jefferson liked Revolutionary France WAY too much. Not a great fan. He also hated my Political hero, Andrew Jackson . Jackson was the first frontier President.

[ek_hornbeck]

Jefferson liked Revolutionary France WAY too much

That's another reason why I hold Hamilton and Adams in higher regard than Jefferson. For some strange reason, a lot of people today like to pretend that Jefferson was a precursor to today's conservatives while Hamilton and Adams were the radicals of their day, when exactly the opposite was true. Jefferson supported the French Revolution while the Federalists despised Robespierre and Co, which makes Jefferson the political radical by the very definition of left vs. rightwing politics (i.e. the revolutionaries in the French assembly were the original left wing).

He also hated my Political hero, Andrew Jackson

I always found this very strange, since ideologically Jackson was the heir to Jefferson's Anti-Federalist position (i.e. anti-central bank, anti-tariff, etc). I haven't read Jefferson's statements about Jackson, but I would assume that his dislike was more about personality and temperament than about ideology, since on the latter the two were aligned.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Picked this up at a used bookstore. It’s very dense. They talked about EVERYTHING through their letters from very personal life/marriage stuff to unpacking theology. (Jefferson was more the skeptic.)

https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Jefferson-Letters-Complete-Correspondence-Jefferson/dp/0807842303

[TTFX]

Both Jefferson and Jackson closed central banks.

[awelliott]

Jefferson liked Revolutionary France WAY too much. Not a great fan. He also hated my Political hero, Andrew Jackson . Jackson was the first frontier President.

Bingo. Jefferson saw it as a close sister to the American Revolution. Adams saw it for what it was; godless class warfare that would end in terrible carnage and eventually consume itself.

[Ditto]

He also hated my Political hero, Andrew Jackson .

That, is a point I agree with Jefferson on. Jackson was an ego maniac who should have never been president. Just MHO.

[SunkenCiv]

• Audiobook: Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation | Joseph J Ellis | Part 1 | 6:24:31
• Audiobook: Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation | Joseph J Ellis | Part 2 | 5:52:29

[cowboyusa]

Jackson stood for the Union and killed the Bank, and he favored small government l. He was the ORGINIAL MAGA.

[cowboyusa]

Yes. Jackson took no position on the French- English issue, but he didn’t like the Jay Treaty, he thought it gave away too much. He almost went to war with France over non- payment of money. Jacksonianism also fully imbraced Industrilization. It was the MONEY POWER that he hated.

[ek_hornbeck]

Jay's Treaty was made with the hope of averting another war with the England, though come 1812 that didn't work out so well. Jefferson, being an Francophile and Anglophobe, of course opposed it. I would guess that Jackson's political career (as a delegate from Tennessee) would have started several years after the treaty was signed, as he would have only been in the mid to late 20s at the time?

Jackson was a mixed bag on a lot of issues. Secessionists like Calhoun thought he would sympathize with their cause on account of his opposition to central banks, tariffs, and abolitionism, but then Jackson turned around and said that he would personally shoot Calhoun or anyone else who tries to make a serious move to secede from the union (and as an accomplished duelist, it wasn't an empty threat)! So had Jackson been around in the 1860s, he would have been a pro-union Democrat, not a Confederate.

[cowboyusa]

Yes. THE INION was his bedrock

[Ditto]

If you liked “killing the bank” you would have loved the Panic of 1837, the 10 year depression that followed, and the thousands of people who were ruined by it. Ah, but ol Andy didn’t even have a clue that he caused it. He was too damn ignorant to understand that. When the old bastard was on his death bed, they asked him if he had any regrets. He said he regretted not shooting Henry Clay and not hanging John C. Calhoon. That’s how his twisted mind worked.

If you like mean, vindictive, ignorant nasty people, Andy Jackson is your man.