Note 62 — Chapter IV · IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY RANKS 1845-1849 (continued 2)

There is a reference to Jefferson in a letter written ten years later, which is interesting as one of the rare apprizements by Lowell of American public men. “I have run through Randall’s Jefferson with the ends of my fingers—a perfect chaos of biography—but enough to confirm me in the belief that Jefferson was the first American man. I doubt if we have produced a better thinker or writer. His style is admirable in general, warmed with just enough enthusiasm for eloquence, not too much for conviction.”—J. R. L. to C. E. Norton, 11 October, 1858.