A Great Friendship

—Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison met in 1776. Could it have been any other year? They worked together starting then to further the American Revolution and later to shape the new scheme of government. From that work sprang a friendship perhaps incomparablein intimacy and the trustfulness of collaboration and indurations. It lasted 50 years. It included pleasure and utility but over and above them, there were shared purpose, a common end and an enduring goodness on both sides. Four and a half months before he died, when he was ailing, debt-ridden, and worried about his impoverishedfamily, Jefferson wrote to his longtime friend. His words and Madison's reply remind us that friends are friends until death. They also remind us that sometimes a friendship has a bearing on things larger than the friendship itself, for has there ever been a friendship of greater public consequence than this one?

"The friendship which has subsisted between us now half a century, the harmony of our political principles and pursuits have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long period. It's also been a great solace to me to believe that you're engagedin vindicating to posterity the course that we've pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, their blessings of self-government, which we had assisted in acquiring for them. If ever the earth has beheld a system of administration conducted with a single and steadfast eye to the general interest and happiness of those committed to it, one which, protected by truth, can never know reproach, it is that to which our lives have been devoted. Myself, you have been a pillar of support throughout life. Take care of me when dead and be assured that I shall leave with you my last affections." (Feb 17, 1826)