Thomas Jefferson’s reaction to the violence of the French Revolution.

>When his former secretary, [William Short](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Portrait_of_William_Short.jpg), wrote him several letters from Paris describing the mass executions and severed heads being rolled down the streets, [Jefferson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Official_Presidential_portrait_of_Thomas_Jefferson_%28by_Rembrandt_Peale%2C_1800%29.jpg) told him he preferred not to hear such stories: “The tone of your letters had for some time given me pain,” he chided Short. “My own affections have been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but rather than it should have failed I would have seen half the earth desolated. Were there but an Adam and Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than it is now.” _______________________ **Source:** Ellis, Joseph J. “The Conspiracy.” *American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic*. Vintage Books, 2008. 189. Print. _______________________ **Further Reading:** [William Short](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Short_(American_ambassador/)) [Thomas Jefferson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson)