Jeffersonian Diplomacy in D.C.

Jefferson had been told of what had taken place, and he quickly divined the object of this visit. Pulling on one boot, he took the other in his hand, and, in his velvet dressing-gown, proceeded to the drawing mom, and having half-opened the door, he turned to a servant behind him, and gave directions, in an easy manner, for the making ready of his horse. Then he entered the room, boot in hand, and smiled blandly upon his august visitors. “Really, my friends, this is an unexpected pleasure. Be seated, be seated, I beg. No ceremony here. I heard of your arrival and would not keep you waiting.” And then, with a gleesome laugh, he sat down, and pulled on his remaining boot, having done which he plunged offhand into a spirited conversation upon the pleasant relations then existing between their respective countries.

Another Anecdote of Thomas Jefferson’s Style

The story I am about to tell was first I told by an English woman. Mrs. Wright, who was cognizant of the circumstances. Those who know anything of Thomas Jefferson’s character know that he had a deep disrelish of all hollow forms and etiquette. When Jefferson came to the Presidential chair, he found considerable of these at the capital, and he at once determined, so far as lay in his power, to preserve that sterling, easy graceful, whole-hearted simplicity, which he deemed the appropriate characteristic of a republic. 

One of the most annoying things that met him in the outset of his exalted career was the extreme, punctilious etiquette which the foreign ambassadors, and more especially their wives, introduced and sought to establish in its own drawing-rooms. Those who would not, or could not, copy them they treated with chilling hauteur. This evil he was resolved to nip in the bud, and deeming an example better than precept, he ordered his own carriage and conversed after a manner that must have been refreshing to the shade of Ben Franklin. When he rode, it was without servants or outriders, and when he visited tie announced his own name at the door. 

At the Presidential mansion the utmost simplicity of manners prevailed. In his drawing-rooms he sought to make true and hearty sociality the rule, and at his tables, he made as little distinction of persons as possible. Of course, there had to be exceptions, but as a rule he placed those near him whom he deemed most worthy. The President was so pleasant, so cheerful, so kind, and so attentive to the wants and comforts of all who came near him, that no one could find a peg upon which to hang direct accusation. At length, however, the opportunity was offered, and was seized. 

On a certain occasion, when the chief dignitaries of America and of all represented nations, were assembled at the Presidential mansion, the Ambassadors from abroad, seeming to feel that the  dignity of their respective courts rested upon them, Jefferson received them all as nearly upon a social level us he could. The Spanish Minister was there blazing in gold and jewels, and his wife bore him company in a perfect bespanglement of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. 

Jefferson did not stop to consider —perhaps he did not know—the exact relative positions which court etiquette would have given to his foreign guests, and innocently enough he placed at the dinner-table the wife of the English Secretary of Legation above the wife of the Spanish Ambassador. The kind host had only thought of seating two dear friends together— the two wives of the British Minister and his secretary. But the wife of the Spanish Minister, as was natural, was deeply offended, and laid the case before the diplomatic corps. She was indignant, and eloquent, and she wielded an influence; and dually it was decided that on the morrow, the ministers of France and Spain should wait upon President Jefferson together, and demand of him that in future, proper respect should he paid to the rank of the Europeau potentates. 

So, at a proper hour on the following day, the two ambassadors, in full court costume, with jeweled swords at their sides, culled at the President's mansion, and requested to see His Excellency, the President. They were shown into one of the drawing-rooms, and word was conveyed to Mr. Jefferson, who was engaged in the library. Now, Jefferson had been told of what had taken place, and he quickly divined the object of this visit. Pulling on one boot, he took the other in his hand, and, in his velvet dressing-gown, proceeded to the drawing mom, and having half-opened the door, he turned to a servant behind him, and gave directions, in an easy manner, for the making ready of his horse. Then he entered the room, boot in hand, and smiled blandly upon his august visitors. 

“Really, my friends, this is an unexpected pleasure. Be seated, be seated, I beg. No ceremony here. I heard of your arrival and would not keep you waiting.” And then, with a gleesome laugh, he sat down, and pulled on his remaining boot, having done which he plunged offhand into a spirited conversation upon the pleasant relations then existing between their respective countries. No man living could talk more sensibly, more comprehensively, or more eloquently. By a graceful and adroit management of language he elevated the gentleman above the minister, and gave eminence to the Christian philosopher and humane heart above the frozen diplomatist. 

The ambassadors were at first amazed and confounded, and then interested; and very quickly the combat between republican simplicity and truth, and autocrat pomp and hollowness, was decided. The representatives of Kings got away as soon as they could, and when they met their diplomatic companions and their wives, they reported : “It is of no use to contend. We might do it with some rulers, but not with this one. When we visit the President of the United Slates, we may as well make up our minds to leave the royal dignity of our masters behind us.”— S. C., Jr.,in the New York Ledger, 1878

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Jeffersonian Etiquette and Style

 The new British diplomatic representative to the United States, Anthony Merry, and his wife were shocked and insulted when the president received them in worn clothing and slippers. In December 1803 at a formal dinner in the White House, no one offered to escort Mrs. Merry to dinner. In the dining room, Merry and his wife had to scramble for places at the table in competition with the other guests. Others had the same experience. Read more on Jefferson’s “Pell-Mell Etiquette” on Etiquipedia©

The habits of the last century in respect to decorum were just receding ; men were — for better or worse — ceasing to occupy themselves about peronal externals, and the customary suit of solemn black was only just coming into vogue. The old regime was dying, and its disappearance was as conspicuous in England as in France, in America' as in England. This is easily illustrated. If we were to read in some old collection of faded letters a woman's animated description of a country visit paid to one who seemed the counterpart of Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley, we should naturally assume that the date and address of the letter must be very far away in space and time. 

Suppose that the narrator should tell us of a fine country house, surrounded by lofty elms forming two avenues, the one leading to the high road, the other to the village church. There are family portraits in the hall, a book-case containing the first edition of the Spectator, and a buffet of old plate and rare china. The guest remains over Sunday, and her host, wearing wig and cocked hat and red cloak, escorts her down the avenue of elms through the rural churchyard to the village church. At every step they pass villagers,who make profound obeisance, and at the conclusion of the service the whole congregation remains standing until this ancient gentleman and his friends have passed down the broad aisle. Who would not fancy this a scene from some English hamlet in the days of Queen Anne? Yet it all look place in the present century, and in the quiet village of Harvard, Massachusetts, little more than thirty miles from Boston, and now only noted as the abode of a little Shaker community and the scene of Howell's "Undiscovered Country." 

The narrator was the late Mrs. Josiah Quincy, and her host was Harry Bromfield, elder brother of the well known benefactor of the Boston Athenaeum. He was simply a "survival "of the old way of living. He spoke of State Street as King Street, and Summer Street as Seven-Star Lane, and his dress and manners were like his phrases. Such survivals were still to be found, here and there all over the country, at the precise time when Jefferson became President, and shocked Mr. Merry with his morning slippers, and Mr. Sullivan by opening his doors to the world. 

Thomas Jefferson's way of living in Washington exhitbited a profuse and rather slovenly hospitality, which at last left him deeply in debt. He kept open house, had eleven servants (slaves) from his plantation, beside a French Cook and Steward and an Irish Coachman. His long dining-room was crowded every day, according to one witness, who tested its hospitality for sixteen days in succession ; it was essentially a bachelor establishment, he being then a widower, and we hear little of ladies among its visitors. There was no etiquette at these great dinners ; they sat down at four and talked till midnight. 

The city of Washington was still a frontier settlement, in that phase of those outposts when they consist of many small cabins and one hotel, at which everybody meets. The White House was the hotel ; there was no "society" anywhere else, because nobody else had a drawing-room large enough to receive it. Pennsylvania Avenue was still an abyss of yellow mud, on which nobody could walk, and where carriages were bemired. Governor Morris, of New York, described Washington as the best city in the world for a future residence. " We want nothing here," be said, "but houses, cellars, kitchens, well-informed men, amiable women, and other little trifles of this kind, to make our city perfect." -T. W. Higginson, in Harper’s Magazine, 1884

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia