Chapter 10 Summary and Analysis

The letters of chapter ten range from June 1813 to December 1813. In 1813, Jefferson told Adams that he had given up newspapers for the classics, science writings, and so on. Adams was more interested in theological and religious matters. Their wide-ranging minds were products of the Enlightenment. In 1813, however, important political events would draw the men's interest to political events. The War of 1812 was raging.

Adams still wrote on a number of political subjects. One of his constant concerns was how to control aristocracy. He recognized that aristocracies arose in all times and all places and thought they could not be eliminated and replaced by an aristocracy and Genius and Virtue. These concerns produced some of Jefferson's most important letters on aristocracy; he was optimistic about the ability of the electorate to choose the good and wise. He had high hopes for a...