“It was very much a southern town, with ten thousand white citizens, seven hundred free blacks, and three thousand The situation was tailor-made for Jefferson, who specialized in subtle, roundabout action. He denied stoutly that he had compromised to break the deadlock and told James Monroe, “I have declared to [the Federalists] unequivocally that I would not receive the government on capitulation, that I would not go into it with my hands tied.”32 That Jefferson believed his own version is certain. He did not lie to others so much as to himself. John Quincy Adams later observed of Jefferson that he had “a memory so pandering to the will that in deceiving others he seems to have begun by deceiving himself.” Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 638). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton (p. 638). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ”
