Thomas Jefferson and James Madison met in 1776. Could it have been any other year? They worked toget
her starting then to further American Revolution and later to shape the new scheme of government. Fr
om the work sprang a friendship perhaps incomparable in intimacy1 and the trustfulness of collaborat
ion2 and induration. It lasted 50 years. It included pleasure and utility but over and above them, t
here were shared purpose, a common end and an enduring goodness on both sides. Four and a half month
s before he died, when he was ailing3, debt-ridden, and worried about his impoverished4 family, Jeff
erson 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 th
e friendship itself, for has there ever been a friendship of greater public consequence than this on
e?
"The friendship which has subsisted5 between us now half a century, the harmony of our po1itical pri
nciples and pursuits have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long period. If ever
the earth has beheld6 a system of administration conducted with a single and steadfast7 eye to the
general interest and happiness of those committed to it, one which, protected by truth, can never kn
own reproach, it is that to which our lives have been devoted8. To myself you have been a pillar of
support throughout life. Take care of me when dead and be assured that I should leave with you my la
st affections."
A week later Madison replied-
"You cannot look back to the long period of our private friendship and political harmony with more a
ffecting recollections than I do. If they are a source of pleasure to you, what aren’t they not to b
e to me? We cannot be deprived of the happy consciousness of the pure devotion to the public good wi
th Which we discharge the trust committed to us and I indulge a confidence that sufficient evidence
will find in its way to another generation to ensure, after we are gone, whatever of justice may be
withheld9 whilst we are here. "