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Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 Dignified retirement: parody on the house that Jack built, -- fitted to the times

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02209 Author/Creator: Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 Place Written: s.l. Type: Broadside Date: circa 1809 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 45 cm, Width: 22.3 cm Order a Copy

A parody of the nursery rhyme styled upon eighteenth century children's chapbooks making fun of Jefferson's retirement at a time of national crisis. The figures are rough allegories of Jefferson (alternately a king then a priest, retiring to a "Mountain" [Monticello] to study philosophy), the American navy (de-commissioned by Jefferson), the Embargo, the British Fleet and the American volunteer army. The woodcut of the coach is printed upside down to represent how the Embargo "has turned all things up side down, and stopped the wheels of national prosperity." The title may come from Peter Pencil's 1809 caricature "Non Intercourse or Dignified Retirement" Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., The Image of Thomas Jefferson in the Public Eye, p. 121.

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

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