Americans in Paris and French in Monticello

It is perfect fitting for the visiting French President Francois Hollande to visit Thomas Jefferson’s estate, Monticello, before going to the White House.  A noted Francophile, Jefferson was thinking about returning to France when he, after spending 5 years as the second Minister to France, returned to the States In September 1789.  It is difficult to characterize his relationship with the French lady, Maria Cosway, who wrote a letter to Jefferson on 6/11/1790, “I fear my Dear friend have forgot me: Not one line ever since your Departure from this part of the world!”  Jefferson was also a good friend of Lafayette’s aunt in his Paris years.

The French president must be proud of the French’s influence on our third president and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

John Adam’s house was Jefferson’s second home when he first arrived at Paris on 8/6/1784; his wife, Martha, died of child birth in 1782. When the Adams left for London in 1785, the lonely Jefferson missed them terribly, we read his letter, “The departure of your family has left me in the dumps, my afternoons hang heavily on me.” (John Quincy Adams, the 6^th president, left Paris for Boston, so he could enroll into Harvard).

Jefferson’s autobiography was only up to his 5-year stay in Paris.  Sally Hemings accompanied Jefferson’s daughter Mary (Polly) to Paris in 1787.  It was said that Sally wished to stay in Paris when Jefferson returned to the States in 1789 for she would be a free woman in Paris and a slave in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Jefferson had to persuade her to return with him, promising her that her children would be free once they reached adulthood.

The First Lady, Michelle, didn’t accompany president to Monticello for obvious reason, as the French president came alone, after the recent split with his longtime partner (the official French First Lady), Valerie Trierweiler.  The president was caught slipping out of the Palace in the deep (and heat) of the night to meet with the glamorous French actress Julie Gayet.  Our First Lady must be disappointed for not being able to visit her beloved Monticello.  She might take comfort in knowing that this is not the garden season and at least she didn’t miss Jefferson’s garden.

{it should be ‘in the deep and hot of the night’ grammar wise, but I still like ‘heat’ to go along with the ‘deep’}