He is as pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known,
and of that liberty which is to go to all,
and not to the few or the rich alone
– Thomas Jefferson[1]
Modern scholars consider the friendship expressed in the letters exchanged between Tadeusz Kościuszko and Thomas Jefferson as one of the main historical sources on the analysis of early relations between Poland and the United States. Kościuszko’s correspondence with Jefferson is interspersed with English and French.[2] These letters reflect the mutual respect of both gentlemen who fought for the common cause of freedom, and both had great respect and sympathy for each other. Jefferson understood the problem of Polish independence, and Kościuszko seemed to fully reciprocate this attitude by fighting in the American Revolutionary War. During their correspondence, they both shared their comments on various topics. At the end of the 18th century, both found themselves in a difficult situation for their countries. Kościuszko’s initial history on the American continent is difficult to reconstruct. We do not know when exactly Kościuszko came to America, but he is first mentioned in Congress on August 30, 1776 when he made a declaration offering help to the insurgent army of colonists.[3]
The most important issue in the relations between Kościuszko and Jefferson seems to be two things: the implementation of American affairs on the European continent (especially in France) and the problem of slavery. In the first case, Polish researchers connect Kościuszko’s visit to Paris with the mission entrusted to him by Jefferson. He allegedly delivered letters from Jefferson to members of the French government. This was part of Jefferson’s efforts to achieve peace with France. The French Directory, in fact, respected Kościuszko for his achievements, heroism and bravery, and for helping to organize Dąbrowski’s legions in Italy. Jefferson organized Kościuszko’s expedition to France, taking care of all the necessary administrative formalities.[4] There is no source confirmation that Kościuszko was actually handling American affairs at that time. However, some circumstantial evidence points to this. One of them may be a historical event, namely the Directorate stopped requisitioning American ships in the Caribbean Sea. Although Kościuszko did not share sympathy for Napoleon and refused to cooperate with him in 1806, he nevertheless remained in France. He died in Switzerland at Solothurn in 1817. Sources say that until the end of his days he lived from the money of the American fund, which he received from the United States Congress in 1798.
In the event of his death, Kościuszko wanted to make his friend Jefferson the executor of his last will. Kościuszko’s Last Will seems to be the most pressing issue among historians in assessing their friendship because it concerned slaves. In other words, Kościuszko postulated that the funds collected in his fund should be used to free as many slaves as possible and to educate them.
In the Testament, Kościuszko said directly: “I beg Mr Jefferson that in case I should die without will or will he should buy out of my money so many Negroes and free them, that the restart sum should be sufficient to give them education and provide for their maintenance.”[5]
Kościuszko’s Will was as follows:
„I Thaddeus Kosciuszko being just in my departure from America do hereby declare and direct that should I make no other testamentory disposition of my property in the United States I hereby authorise my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole thereof in purchasing Negroes from among his own or any others and giving them Liberty in my name, in giving them en education in trades or othervise and in having them instructed for their new condition in the duties of morality which may make them good neigh bours good fathers or moders, husbands or vives and in their duties as citisens teeching them to be defenders of their Liberty and Country and of the good order of Society and in whatsoever may Make them happy and useful, and I make the said Thomas Jefferson my executor of this.”[6]
The above issue seems to be one of the biggest misunderstandings about Thomas Jefferson and his attitude towards slavery. Progressive historians accuse Jefferson of opportunism, evading the implementation of his friend’s Will, ill will towards the liberation of slaves and even illegal use of Kościuszko’s funds. They follow the position of abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Thaddeus Stevens, who believed that Jefferson could have done more in this matter.[7] Garisson, probably not having all the information about the legal course of the Will, believed that Kościuszko’s Will, implemented by Jefferson, would have a “compelling influence” on America as an example. The truth seems to be decidedly different and more complicated than it is claimed by historians unsympathetic to Jefferson. Even a cursory analysis of Jefferson’s behavior and actions after Kościuszko’s death seem to contradict their theses. Jefferson’s struggles on this matter can be traced chronologically. By the time Jefferson learned of Koscuszko’s death, he was already incredibly in debt.[8] Jefferson attempted to introduce amendments limiting or even abolishing slavery.[9] Unfortunately his attempts were lost.
Jefferson’s prosaic execution of Kościuszko’s Will, i.e. freeing his slaves, would involve a financial disaster from which Jefferson would never recover. Of course, this is not an argument for Jefferson maintaining slavery, but it was only an excuse to follow his friend’s Will through other paths, thus avoiding bankruptcy. Jefferson also avoided an adventurous solution to the issue. Due to his caution and prudence, he advised not to come into conflict with his friends. Above all, he valued peace, because he was a practitioner of the law and a tactician who knew his capabilities. Jefferson sought legal advice from William Crawford and William Wirt. While Jefferson was waiting for a legal opinion on which court would decide the case, he learned that there was a second Will of Kościuszko, which was opened only after his death. In this situation, when it turned out that there was an heir, Jefferson began to feel relieved of the obligation to be the executor of the Will of the “Polish peasant prince”. The case began to become more complicated, not only legally, but also due to his advanced age, Jefferson was losing strength for this battle. He was then seventy-four years old and already ill.
Already in Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson expressed his dislike and disgust towards the institution of slavery. He offered the prospect of freeing them, educating them and trying to become independent.[10] Both Kościuszko and Jefferson were therefore aware of the moral problem posed by the institution of slavery. Kościuszko, called the prince of peasants, had a black military orderly, Agrippa Hull. He was very close to the “common people”, both in Poland and in America. Jefferson, as an idealist who outlined the framework of America in the Declaration of Independence, seemed to be the perfect narrator for the process of gradual emancipation. The legal battle was becoming too complex to resolve in a relatively short time. It is also worth mentioning that Jefferson, unlike George Washington, John Taylor or John Randolph, could not afford such an imprudent move for financial reasons. Although Taylor appealed to people like Jefferson not to consider correcting this crime, but to help abolish it.[11] As a result, Jefferson handed over the matter of Kościuszko’s Will to the new executor, John H. Cocke. Jefferson’s last efforts, therefore, rested on trying to prepare slaves for freedom. When he came up with the idea of establishing a university, he believed that slaves needed to be prepared for life in freedom.
One of the leading mentors of African Americans, Booker T. Washington, would later argue in a similar way.[12] However, Cocke resigned from the idea of being the executor of Kościuszko’s Will, citing legal difficulties in Virginia. This impasse lasted for several more years. Jefferson became increasingly discouraged and depressed by the problems of implementing Kościuszko’s Will. Mounting issues such as building a university, fighting creditors, and defending states’ rights pushed the abolition plan into the background. Jefferson’s legal battles over his Will continued until his death in 1826. Jefferson’s death did not end the Will matter at all. Interestingly, even historian Annette Gordon-Reed defends Jefferson. She believes that Kościuszko made a mistake that should in no way be blamed on Jefferson. Kościuszko, by creating several Wills, complicated their enforceability.[13] In fact, it was only in 1852 that the Supreme Court of the United States invalidated the first Will, finding the second one valid.[14] Some researchers noticed that there were four Kościuszko Wills: the Philadelphia one from 1798, the one for his son J. Armstrong from 1806, the Paris one from 1816 and the Swiss one from 1817.
Therefore, none of Jefferson’s actions indicate that he wanted to evade his promise. All the statements of those historians who question Jefferson’s actions are based only on the failure to achieve a result, and that is not enough. They are simply an over-interpretation, unsupported by any evidence. The case of Kościuszko’s Will was heard in many courts and dragged on for years until the inheritance was finally granted to Kościuszko’s relatives. The body of the hero of two continents returned to Poland embalmed only in 1818 and was buried in the Wawel Cathedral, the place where Polish kings are buried.
In recent years, attacks on Jefferson have intensified. His friendship with Kościuszko should be weapon against these slanders. To sum up, it should be said that Jefferson and Kościuszko made the first real attempts to fight slavery on legal grounds. There were many ideas for carrying out the last Will. None of them was confirmed in actions, because it was not a simple matter under the law. Northern abolitionists would have failed as well. Jefferson’s actions alone, however, are insufficient evidence for today’s far-left oriented revisionists. They even believe that Jefferson had the opportunity to prevent a later American Civil War. This is not the first time when progressives and extremists have shown contempt for the rule of law and peaceful, legal solutions. They favor troublemakers and violent activists, overlooking the peaceful, lawful actions being taken at the time by Jefferson’s long-term perspective. For progressives, and this is to be regretted, a bloody revolutionary is therefore more noble than a law-abiding citizen. Hence, as one might assume, Jefferson’s unfavorable assessment of the implementation of Kościuszko’s Will.
Let us also note that when in 2020, during the protests following the death of George Floyd, the Kościuszko monument in LaFayette Park in Washington DC was vandalized, none of the progressive historians bothered to explain in the public debate that Kościuszko, together with Jefferson was one of the first to really consider the issue of slavery and try to take up the issue of emancipation and help for slaves on the basis of law. The activists themselves who demolished or protested in the face of the tragedy that occurred in connection with the death of George Floyd showed a complete ignorance of history and seemed to have no idea what they were doing. Polish journalist Marek Wałkuski from „Polskie Radio” (Polish Radio) tried to explain to the demonstrators this issue. No one from the officials apologized for the devastation of the Kościuszko monument. It was therefore thoughtlessly assumed, just as before, that the blind fury of an angry crowd was a thing that had moral justification. When we study and examining history, we should be free from any emotion. Emotions are a disastrous source of historical nonsense. And an emotional or personal attitude towards some historical issue distorts history as a field of science and discredits historians. We must also believe that the truth will defend itself, history is not simple but people of good will cannot be forgotten. Both Kościuszko and Jefferson, as Edward P. Alexander rightly concludes, “Each in his own way, (…) promoted the cause of freedom and forwarded the ideals of the integrity of the individual as promulgated by the Enlightement”.[15] This is what emerges from the correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Tadeusz Kościuszko. And this is the true legacy of their friendship.
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[1] From Thomas Jefferson to Horatio Gates, 21 February 1798, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0083 [accessed: 09/08/2024].
[2] Due to the lack of reissues of the letters, only one study is available in Polish. Its author is the Polish historian Izabella Rusinowa. See: I. Rusinowa (ed.), Tadeusz Kościuszko – Thomas Jefferson, Korespondencja 1798-1817, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1976; And one study in English by Bogdan Grzelonski in 1978.
[3] B. Grzeloński, I. Rusinowa, Polacy w wojnach amerykańskich: 1775-1783 i 1861-1865, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warszawa 1973, s. 32.
[4] See: T. Korzon, Kościuszko. Biografia z dokumentów wysnuta, Kraków-Warszawa 1900.
[5] See: I. Rusinowa, Polacy… op.cit., s. 147.
[6] See: Will of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 5 May 1798, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0230
[7] One historian who believed that Jefferson had defeated the purpose of the will was Merrill Peterson. Information from: G. Nash, G. R. Gao Hodges, Friends of Liberty. A Tale of Three Patriots, Two Revolutions, and a Tragic Betrayal of Freedom in the New Nation: Thomas Jefferson, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Agrippa Hull, Basic Books 2008.
[8] A work that well documents Jefferson’s financial problems, see: H.E. Sloan, Principle and Interes: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt, New York 1995.
[9] For example see: W.G. Merkel, Jefferson’s Failed Anti-Slavery Proviso of 1784 and the Nascence of Free Soil Constitutionalism, Setton Hall Law Review vol. 38:555 (2008), pp. 555-603; C.R. Stevens, Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against Slavery, University Press of Kansas 2024.
[10] See: T. Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Richmond VA 1853, p. 95-96, https://archive.org/details/notesonstateofvi01jeff [accessed: 09/08/2024].
[11] See: J. Taylor, Arator: Being a Series of Agricultural Essays, Practical and Political in Sixty-Four Numbers, Petersburg, Virginia 1818.
[12] See: B.T. Washington, Up From Slavery, Dover Publications, Mineola New York 1995, s. 98.
[13] See: https://slate.com/culture/2012/10/henry-wienceks-the-master-of-the-mountain-thomas-jefferson-biography-debunked.html [accessed: 09/08/2024].
[14] See: E.P. Alexander, Jefferson and Kosciuszko.: Friends of Liberty and of Man, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography vol. 92, No. 1 January 1968, p. 101.
[15] E.P. Alexander, op.cit., p. 102-103.
Karol:
Thank you. Very well written and you get neatly at the complexities of execution of the will, as there was more than one. Most historians conveniently pass over that or do not know about that. I hope to see further contributions by you to Abbeville. Would you like to do my YouTube show, The Real Thomas Jefferson, and discuss further your findings?