托马斯·杰斐逊与母亲的奇怪关系

托马斯·朱伊特著

托马斯·杰斐逊可能比其他任何总统写的信都多。他保存了从1783年到1826年写的18000多封私人信件。(他能够做到这一点，是通过使用压力机和测谎仪来复制他的信件。)杰斐逊热衷于用纸来保存自己的生命，他在58年的时间里记录了29种蔬菜和7种水果的季节的确切开始和结束。他保留了一份清单，列出了他成年后的几乎每一笔开支。52年来，他的农场的书以盎司为单位，告诉我们在他的种植园里使用了多少谷物、肉类或其他货物。杰斐逊的确是一位了不起的记录家。奇怪的是，他和他母亲之间没有通信往来。奇怪的是，他在给别人的大量信件中只提到了他的母亲一次。奇怪的是，她在他的账簿上只被列为支出。而且，奇怪的是，在他的自传中，只有一句话是关于他母亲的。杰斐逊和他母亲的关系有多奇怪?杰斐逊的母亲是简·伦道夫·杰斐逊。她来自伦道夫家族，这个家族被认为是弗吉尼亚殖民地最早的家族之一。伦道夫一家长期以来一直是英格兰和苏格兰的乡绅。 Family lore held that the Randolph's were descended from various European royalty ranging as far back as Charlemagne. Jefferson once stated that his maternal side could "trace their pedigree far back to England and Scotland..." He further added, sarcastically, "to which let everyone ascribe the faith and merit he chooses." Jane was the daughter of Isham Randolph. He was a planter, sea captain, and like his grandson Thomas, an amateur scientist. He was also a graduate of the College of William and Mary, a member of the House of Burgesses, and Adjutant General of Virginia. Isham spent several years in England as an agent for the Colony. While there, the widowed Isham met and married Jane Lilburne Rogers. According to the Jefferson family Bible, Jane Randolph was born on February 9, 1721 in Shadwell Parish, London. (Various sources give different dates.) The Randolph's left London shortly after Jane's birth and sailed to Virginia. Isham Randolph settled into life as a colonial planter with his new family at his plantation, Dungeness, on the James River, about forty miles above Richmond. Much has been made of the difference, economically and educationally between the aristocratic Randolphs, and the yeomen Jeffersons. The first Jefferson in Virginia emigrated from Wales in the late seventeenth century. The family established itself in Henrico County where they did quite well. Through the generations, the clan was respected and held such posts as "gentlemen justices" in the county courts. These facts suggest that the class distance between the Jeffersons and the Randolphs were not as great as often assumed. This is important to realize since some have theorized that a tension caused by this disparity could explain the dichotomies in Jefferson's character and his feelings toward his mother. Merrill Peterson in美国人心目中的杰弗逊形象声明:

有一种观点认为，由于出身和早期环境的影响，杰斐逊是在两大流派——贵族和平民——的汇合中形成的……简是詹姆斯河沿岸贵族伦道夫的女儿，彼得是弗吉尼亚边境的平民……随着这个想法的展开，杰斐逊可以被简化为一些对立面的混合体:父亲-母亲，权力-爱，前沿-文化，简单-优雅，功利-人文主义，世界主义-绅士。

托马斯的父亲彼得·杰斐逊在身材、修养和个性方面都很高大。传说他能同时抓住两大桶烟草，每桶重近1000磅，并把它们竖起来。虽然彼得没有受过什么正规教育，但他很重视知识，他的藏书比他同时代的大多数人都要大得多。他的邻居们都认为他很有能力，所以他被选为民兵的上校，后来又被选为下议院议员。他也是一位探险家、测量员、土地投机商和种植园主。他勘测了弗吉尼亚和北卡罗来纳之间的边界，绘制了殖民地最早也是最好的地图之一。彼得·杰斐逊利用他通过勘探和测量获得的对弗吉尼亚的深入了解，在边境购买了农田。他要求在里瓦纳河上拥有1000英亩肥沃的土地，这是种植烟草的主要土地。他利用自己的机智和个性获得了更多的土地。他最好的朋友威廉·伦道夫在河对岸拥有200英亩土地。 Peter convinced him to deed the tract to him for "Henry Wedderburn's biggest bowl of arrack punch" at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. It is not known with Isham Randolph met Peter Jefferson. But it may be assumed the younger Jefferson had probably been introduced to Isham by his nephew William Randolph, Peter's aforementioned friend. We do know that the two men admired and respected each other. Isham posted a 1,000 pound bond for Peter when he ran for sheriff in 1738. Also in 1738, Isham allowed the older Peter to court his teenage daughter. Peter was among many suitors for Jane's hand, but the 30 year old charismatic Jefferson won out. They were wed in 1739. Little is known of Jane's attributes except for family lore and suppositions. (This was due to a fire at the family plantation in 1770 and Jefferson's apparent destruction all her correspondence after her death. As an aside, Jefferson supposedly inquired about his books before his mother's health after being informed of the fire.) It is supposed that she was of smaller stature than her husband. Jefferson is said to have had a strong physical resemblance to her. Ellen Randolph Coolidge, Jane's great granddaughter, who never knew her, wrote that family tradition stated she was "mild and peaceful by nature, a person of sweet temper and gentle manners." She was a woman of "clear and strong understanding." She possessed a most amiable and affectionate disposition, a lively cheerful temper, and a great fund of humor, and that she was fond of letter writing. Jefferson is said to have inherited his reticence and refinement from her and this tasted for reading, music and dancing. And, that it was from his mother that he was endowed with "his cheerful and hopeful temper and disposition." It may also be assumed that she was intelligent, capable and strong-willed. She suffered hardships during her marriage to Peter; moving several times, bearing ten children, raising eight, and burying her husband of seventeen years. She was 37 at the time of Peter's death and would live nineteen more years. During this time was in charge of running a plantation, Shadwell. If Jane Jefferson had so many positive attributes, why is it that there is not an affectionate word written about her by her son? He never seemed to have spoken fondly of her even to his own children. This lack of communication about his mother seems to indicate feelings of deep hostility. A survey of this teenage writings in his文学常用书找到了许多对他母亲深深的怨恨的片段。这些情感的来源可以从杰斐逊童年和青春期的经历中找到结论。杰斐逊14岁时父亲去世。这个时期男孩通常会与父母的控制，尤其是母亲的控制作斗争，并开始坚持自己的个性。但是，根据彼得的遗嘱，杰斐逊完全由他的母亲控制。遗嘱违背了传统，没有把一切都留给托马斯。在弗吉尼亚，长子继承权是指长子继承全部财产的法律。在遗嘱中，彼得写道:“我将我亲爱的妻子简·杰斐逊的房子和种植园的使用权和收益交给她，在她的自然生活或守寡期间。”托马斯在21岁之前不会得到任何东西，并且要接受遗嘱执行人和他母亲的审查。因此，在年轻的时候，他现在是一家之主，承担着所有的责任，但他没有权力。 His mother was the master of Shadwell, a fact that young Jefferson acknowledged by always referring to the plantation “as my mother's house." It can be supposed that this aroused feelings of resentment and guilt in the adolescent. The troubled teen had no masculine companionship within the family after the death of his father. He had his mother, six sisters and an infant brother. He had not known his father well, since Peter was away surveying much of the time and young Jefferson had been sent to boarding schools for his education. From his writings, Jefferson felt he had been deserted at the age of fourteen and that he could not rely on his mother. In his公共场所书籍他反对母亲的权威，为父亲的死而沉思。他抄写那些说自己孤苦伶仃、孤身一人、受女人摆布的词句。他后来写道:

但是，你被抛在一个广阔的世界里，置身于完全陌生的人群中，没有一个朋友或监护人给你忠告，又那么年轻，对人类生活又没什么经验，你的危险很大，但你的安全必须靠你自己……当我回忆起在14岁的时候，我的全部照顾和方向都落在了我自己身上，没有亲戚或朋友有资格给我提供建议或指导……

父亲去世后不久，杰斐逊被送到离沙德威尔14英里远的莫里牧师寄宿学校，这种疏远进一步加剧。他母亲坚持要他无论天气好坏，每个周末都回家帮她忙。他每周有两天是名义上的继承人，但其余的时间都在毛利的严格控制之下。这一趋势一直持续到他21岁，那时他立即宣布经济独立，成为一家之主。在此期间，他不断地在学校、大学或在威廉斯堡学习法律。直到27岁，他仍然把沙德维尔作为自己的官邸。他曾写信给约翰·亚当斯(John Adams)，将自己的青春岁月描述为“ - œthe殖民地奴性的单调乏味”，并告诉亚当斯，如果他可以选择重新开始他的生活，他不会在25岁之前回到过去。一些历史学家推测，杰斐逊对母亲的感情是他对女性的一般感情的一种表现。他对女人的感情是否因为他的母亲，也有待猜测。杰斐逊喜欢女性化的非犹太女性。 He wrote:

“没有什么比当一个男人或妻子公开发表不同意见时更能有效地在世人的眼中吸取教训了……谦虚和羞怯是已婚女人最大的装饰。愤怒、暴力和愤怒会使女性形象变形，而一个动荡不安的女人会使女性的优雅蒙羞。”

杰斐逊不能容忍妇女干涉政治。有迹象表明他的母亲不赞成他的革命活动。他对母亲的冷漠可能因为母亲对他们的堂兄约翰·伦道夫的保皇派观点的同情而加剧。在他对母亲和女人的感情中，杰斐逊并不孤单。几位革命的奠基人在很小的时候就失去了父亲，与母亲的关系也很紧张。Kenneth Lynn写道:

母亲和儿子之间存在着一种相当紧张的关系，这种关系使后者把母亲看作是要尽量避免的尖酸刻薄的人，或者是无可救药的无知之徒，尽管他能聪明地谈论任何事情，聪明地谈论任何重要的事情。我们根本没有证据表明大多数爱国者都是母亲，这一事实也可能告诉我们革命一代的母子关系的质量。

1776年3月31日，杰斐逊在他的袖珍帐簿上简洁地写道:“我的母亲于今天早上8点去世，享年57岁。”直到她去世三个月后，他才终于与在英国布里斯托尔的哥哥威廉·伦道夫通了信。在询问了叔叔的健康状况后，他写道:“我母亲的去世，你可能没有听说过。这件事发生在3月的最后一天，病了不到一个小时。我们猜想那是一场中风。”杰斐逊对她的死的反应似乎冷淡，没有悲伤。作为一名启蒙运动的学生，他认为对死亡的生物过程做出情绪化的反应是不理智的。他看不出悲伤的痛苦有什么价值。他母亲的去世对他的影响的唯一线索是他在3月底写的“自己生病了”。他的头痛持续了六个星期。 Headaches struck Jefferson several times in his life. They were usually correlated with personal loss, personal conflict or deeply buried rage and guilt. Fawn Broke in《托马斯·杰斐逊:亲密史写道:

这种综合症通常发生在那些焦虑、努力、完美主义者、爱秩序、死板的人身上，他们在受到威胁或冲突时变得越来越紧张、怨恨和疲劳。为了应对不安全感，僵化和完美主义模式的形成始于童年早期。

长时间的头痛是杰斐逊对母亲感情的唯一表现。在他的自传中，他只在简短的一句话中提到了她。这对杰斐逊来说并不罕见。总的来说，他不愿透露自己的个人生活，尤其是他家里的女性。杰斐逊对他的母亲如此冷漠吗?还是他和他那个家长式时代的其他人一样?他对她怀有深深的心理厌恶吗?还是他太自私，太理性了，以致于没有悲伤的余地?不管原因是什么，以今天的标准来看，他和母亲的关系似乎很奇怪。