Even though I am not an American, what I've read of the remarkable Thomas Jefferson has inspired awe. Imagine, at 26 years old, crafting your nation's founding document, a document enshrined in history for two-and-a-half centuries and counting... Impressive falls miserably short of describing the man and his many feats. But all men, no matter how great, have flaws, both in themselves and in their politics. Friends Of Liberty exposes the ugliest of these, that Thomas Jefferson was not only a hypocrite on the question of slavery, he betrayed one of America's revolutionary generals to protect his precious reputation.
Frustrated by the tyranny of monarchical rule in his native Poland, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, an engineer and general, journeyed to America to fight for the idea of a republic. He fought alongside American revolutionaries in the Continental Army, successfully leading them in numerous battles against British imperialists. In doing so, he met and befriended Agrippa Hull, a free African from Massachusetts whose skill and composure convinced Kosciuszko of the sin of slavery. After a long and venerated career, the Polish general died unhappy, having succeeded in helping to found America but having failed to liberate the land of his birth. His will instructed Thomas Jefferson, a close friend and ally, to devote the general's American funds and property to the buying, freeing and educating of as many American slaves as possible. Jefferson agreed to this plan, but then, after the General's death, he broke his word to Kosciuszko after realizing how much crusading for slaves' rights would ruin him socially with his fellow Virginians.
Misters Nash and Russell have premised their book on the interconnected lives of three American patriots, Jefferson, the founding father;Kosciuszko, the heroic general; and Hull, the free black man who inspired them to change their opinions on slavery. Nonetheless, it is Kosciuszko, his earnest service, his inspiring idealism, and his shameful betrayal, that dominates here. In depicting the extent to which Jefferson undermined Kosciuszko's memory, the authors successfully connect the reader to a more human failing, a dismaying absence of courage to adhere to ones principles in the face of condemnation from ones social peers. But if this is the book's strength, Hull is its glaring weakness. Despite being the supposed inspiration for Kosciuszko's moral evolution, he is barely in this chronicle, an after thought in the wider friendship between general and founding father. A fascinating piece of micro history, one that Jefferson commemorators should read closely. (3/5 Stars)
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