Benjamin franklin, george washington, thomas jefferson and chinese civilization

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, GEORGE WASHINGTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION
DAVE WANG

ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY
Abstract:
American civilization is not a simple extension of European civilization. In the historic process of the formation of American civilization, it drew positive elements from Chinese civilization. The founding fathers with a great vision for this nation worked hard to draw positive elements from Chinese civilization during the formative age of the United States. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson made their efforts to use the positive elements from Chinese civilization to build a new nation in North America. Benjamin Franklin promoted Confucian moral philosophy to North America in his effort to enhance his own and others’ virtue in North America. George Washington tried to grow Chinese flowers in his garden. Thomas Jefferson attempted to combine Chinese architectural style with the European style. The founding fathers’ efforts have produced great influence on the United States and become a valuable legacy.
Key words: American Civilization, Chinese Civilization, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
It is well-known that "for much of their history, Americans defined their society in opposition to Europe."¹ "America, it was argued, was a distinct civilization."² George Washington had believed that “the new nation would develop a unique American character.”³ Thomas Jefferson alleged American civilization “was the part of a form of civilization higher than the polished societies of Europe.”⁴ US cultures have evolved and absorbed elements from other cultures in the historic process of the formation of American civilization. American civilization drew positive elements from other major civilizations of the world, including Chinese civilization. In contemporary society, American political leaders have also clearly realized the influence of Chinese civilization on the development of American civilization. Bill Clinton pointed out that China as “a stronghold of creativity, knowledge and wealth” had an impact on American life long before the United States was even born. He told Americans that “From the printing China invented to the poetry it produced, from medicine and mathematics to the magnetic compass and humanistic philosophies, many of China’s earliest gifts still enrich our lives today.”⁵

The founding fathers of the United States were among the main weavers of the fiber of American civilization. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had positive attitudes towards Chinese civilization and worked hard to borrow from it in their efforts to make a new and flourishing society in North America.⁶ Benjamin Franklin studied and promoted Confucian Moral philosophy in his effort to cultivate his own morals as well as to encourage Americans to do the same. George Washington personally conducted an experiment to grow Chinese flowers in his garden. Thomas Jefferson incorporated Chinese architectural elements into his own buildings in Monticello.

Chinese Civilization in North America during the Formative Age of the United States
Before the founding of the United States, colonialists had been well aware of China and its products. During the early colonial period Chinese cultural influence in North America was characterized as “novelty".⁷ Chinese products enriched "American life in many, many ways."⁸ For those Americans who lived a Puritan life, China, the remote empire, was a source of tea and silk.⁹ During the mid-eighteenth century, the colonists bought a huge amount of "Chinese Chippendale" furniture, Chinese wallpaper, silk and porcelain. Some Chinese products, such as chinaware and less expensive handicrafts, "spread among less affluent sectors of American society."¹⁰

Confucius “dominated early American perspectives Chinese worship."¹¹ In colonial bibliophile James Logan's collection works of Confucius were found.¹² In 1733, Logan "acquired for his personal library a copy of the first European printing of Confucius philosophy.¹³ In May 1788, an article carried in the Columbia Magazine introduced its readers to Confucius’s filial piety.¹⁴ John Bartram, the well-known American scientist, showed his interest in the personality of Confucius."¹⁵ Another influential magazine in New England, the New Hampshire Magazine in its September 1793 issue published "an outstanding tribute to Confucius and Chinese religion." A writer using Confucius Disciple as a pen name wrote "a concise History of Confucius, a famous Chinese philosopher," in which he demonstrated his belief that Confucius was "a Character so truly virtuous."¹⁶ In 1796 Jedidiah Morse, the author of American Universal Geography cited Daxue (Great Learning), the new French translation, and Zhongyong (the Doctrine of the Mean) two of the four classics of Confucius philosophy. Morse praised the two works as "the most excellent precepts of wisdom and virtue, expressed with the greatest eloquence, elegance and precision."¹⁷ In his word, Confucius "is very striking, and which far exceeds, in clearness, the prophecy of Socrates."¹⁸

The influx of Chinese goods widely influenced the American way of life. During the early 1700's tea had been used as a social beverage. Judge Samuel Sewall had a good record of Boston life in the turn of the 17th century. The large amount of Chinese nankeens (a kind of cloth) into the United States "opened a new epoch in the history of American clothing." ¹⁹ In the streets of Salem, New England women wore "the most fashionable jackets and trousers" made of nankeens. A more elegant material, the crepe de chine made of soft "Oriental silk" which was exceedingly smooth, and gauzy to transparency, "took the women by storm."²⁰ By the end of the eighteenth century, in states like New Hampshire, the manufacture of gingham had become "one of the common industries."²¹

Benjamin Franklin and Confucian Moral Philosophy

Franklin’s first contact with Confucius’ works was not in America but in Europe. In 1724, Franklin borrowed money and traveled to London to buy a printing press and other equipment. When he stayed in London, Franklin was passionate about reading various works. Except for working, he committed his time “in books.”²² It was in this period that Franklin contacted the Confucius moral work. Evidence shows that Franklin read The Morals of Confucius, published in London in 1691.²³ The following paragraph from the Morals of Confucius left a deep impression on Franklin:

This is what Confucius proposed to the princes, to instruct them how to rectify and polish first their own reason, and afterwards the reason and person of all their subjects. But to make the greater impression, after having gradually descended from the wise conduct of the whole empire, to the perfection of the understanding, he re-ascends, by the same degrees from the illuminated understanding to the happy state of the whole empire. If Said he, the understanding of a prince is well enlightened, his will incline only to good: his will inclining only to good, his soul will be entirely rectified, there will be not any passion that can make him destroy his rectitude, he will be composed in his exterior, nothing will be observed in his person that can offend complaisance. His person being thus perfected, his family forming itself according to this model, will be reformed and amended. His family being arrived at this perfection, it will serve as an example to all the subjects of the particular kingdom, and the members of the particular kingdom to all those that compose the body of the empire. Thus the whole empire will be well governed; order and justice will reign there; we shall there enjoy a profound peace; it will be an [sic] happy and flourishing empire.²⁴
After Franklin “finally settled on what he believed, he did not talk much about it, but that belief gave direction to everything he did and to what he thought to ought to do.”²⁵ He worked tirelessly to use Confucian moral philosophy to advance his own and others’ virtue.²⁶ By devising “a systematic approach to virtue that emphasized a gradual, bit-by-bit approach toward perfection” Franklin worked hard to advance his virtue throughout his life.²⁷ Franklin exactly followed the above Confucian procedure of moral cultivation. He cultivated his own moral first, then promoted the youth in North America to advance their virtue, and finally encouraged all youth in the world to improve their virtues. The process of Franklin’s efforts are divided into four periods, in each period we could find its characteristics.²⁸

In 1726 Franklin started to cultivate his virtue, and strove to be a perfect person. He stated that in the past he had “never fixed a regular design in life.” However, things were going to change, for he was determined to to cultivate his virtue. He made the following solemn statement. “I am now entering upon a new one: let me, therefore, make some resolutions, and form some scheme of action, that, henceforth, I may live in all respects like a rational creature.²⁹ Franklin then gave out several morals that he needed to exert extra hard work to cultivate, including frugality, honesty and industry.³⁰ All those are important elements of Confucius moral philosophy that Confucius requested his students and other followers to cultivate.

Two years later, Franklin, at the age of 22, compiled a list of thirteen virtues he thought to be the most important elements that would contribute to the development of his virtue.³¹ The thirteen virtues constitute the main content in Franklin’s drive for moral faultlessness. According to Franklin himself, this system of behavior made Franklin “not only successful but a better person.”³² Franklin’s “personal code of behavior” was clearly inspired by The Morals of Confucius. For a comparative purpose, I have made the following table with two columns. In the left column I list Franklin’s thirteen virtues and in the right I give the quotations from The Morals of Confucius. Comparing each of Franklin’s thirteen virtues with Confucius sayings, we find there exists between the two “significant parallels.”³³

The thirteen virtues	The Sources of the Thirteen Virtues
01) Temperance—Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.	Eat not for the pleasure thou mayest find therein. Eat to increase thy strength; eat to preserve the life which thou hast received from heaven.# The Morals of Confucius, p.153.#
02) Silence—Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.	Silence is absolutely necessary to the wise man. Great discourse, elaborate discourse, pieces of eloquence, ought to be a language unknown to him, his actions should be his language. As for me, I would never speak more.# Ibid., p.176.#
03) Order—let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.	Franklin’s own
04) Resolution—Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.	We must reduce to action, sincerely and constantly perform and execute, to the utmost of our power, the good resolution which we have taken.# Ibid., p.120# He says that after we know the end to which we must attain, it is necessary to make toward this end, by walking in the ways which lead thereunto; by daily confirming in his mind the resolution fixed on for the attaining it, and by establishing it so well, that nothing may in the least shake it. # Ibid. p.50, see also Pennsylvania Gazette, from February 28 to March 7, 1737, p.74.#
05) Frugality—Make no expenses but to do good to others or yourself, i.e., waste nothing.	He that seeks pride in his habits and loves not frugality, is not disposed for the study of wisdom; thou oughtest not even to hold correspondence with him.# The Morals of Confucius, p.158.#
06) Industry—Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.	He would have us avoid idleness.# Ibid., p.147# Combat night and day against vices.# Ibid. p.174.# When he undertakes any affair, he ought to be diligent and exact, prudent and considerate in his words.# Ibid., p.125.#
07) Sincerity—Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.	To be serious, and not precipitate in our answers # Ibid., p.147.# He is moderate and reserved in his discourses; he speaks with circumspection; if to him occurs a great affluence of words, he presumes not expose it, he restrains himself.# Ibid., p,103.#
08) Justice—Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.	The first regards the justice that ought to be practiced between a king and his subjects. # Ibid., p.111.#
09) Moderation—Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.	If we abandon ourselves to an immoderate joy, or to an excessive sorrow, it cannon be said that our mind is in the state wherein it ought to be, that it has its rectitude and uprightnest.# Ibid., p.76.# He says it is not only necessary to observe moderation in general, as oft our passions are stirred, but that also in respect of those which are the most lawful, innocent and laudable, we ought not blindly to yield up ourselves thereunto, and always to follow their motions; it is necessary to consult reason. # Ibid. # Acknowledge the benefits by the return of other benefits, but never revenge injuries.# Ibid., p.172.#
10) Cleanliness—Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.	Be always cleanly.# The School of Manners or Rules for Children Behaviour: At Church, at Home, at Table, in Company, in Discourse, at School, Abroad, and among Boys. With Some Other Short and Mixt Precepts. By the author of the English Exercises. (The fourth Edition) London: Printed for the Cockerill, at the Three Legs and Bible against Grocers-Hall in the Povltrey, 1701, p.9.#
11) Tranquility—Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.	Franklin’s own
12) Chastity—Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.	The third recommends conjugal fidelity to husbands and wives.# The Morals of Confucius, p.112#
13) Humility—Imitate Jesus and Socrates# Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004, pp.67-68.#	Endeavor to imitate the wise and never discourage thyself.# The Morals of Confucius, p.151.#

Confucius maintained, “It is not enough to know virtue, it is necessary to love it; but it is not sufficient to love it, it is necessary to possess it.”³⁴ After more than ten years of cultivating his own virtue, Franklin accumulated certain experience in how to advance other people’s virtue. He felt that it was time for him to introduce the moral philosophy of Confucius to his readers. In 1737, Franklin started to promote moral cultivation in North America systematically.

Believing that his “newspaper, also, as another means of communicating instructions,”³⁵ Franklin made good use of all his publications to encourage the colonists to cultivate their virtues, including the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard Almanack. In 1737, Franklin carried some chapters from the Morals of Confucius in Pennsylvania Gazette.³⁶

A very important principle of Confucian moral philosophy is to educate the leaders to rule according to the belief--governing according to morality and promotion according to talents. In 1778, two years after the colonists declared their independence; Franklin addressed the significance of the morality’s role. He pointed out the necessity of introducing the notion of governing with morals, especially for the leaders of the United States. He told his fellow Americans, laws were not enough for the new nation;

What the political struggle I have been engag’d in for the good of my compatriots, inhabitants of this bush; or my philosophical studies for the benefits of our race in general! For in politics, what can laws do without morals? Our present race of ephemeras will in a course of minutes become corrupt like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched.³⁷
1784 was the year when Franklin was seen to first start his effort to advocate the use of Confucian moral philosophy to cultivate individual virtue. It was in this year that he revealed his readers of his personal experience in cultivating his own virtue. He wrote in 1784 a pamphlet of advice, entitled “To Those Who Would Remove to America.”³⁸ He advised to Europeans who wanted to move to America that one could obtain success in the United States, if one had good virtue. He said to them that “the only encouragements we hold out to strangers are a good climate, fertile soil, good pay for labour, kind neighbors, good laws, liberty and a hearty welcome. The rest depends on a man’s own industry and virtue.”³⁹

The message Franklin conveyed is very clear. If you wanted to be a successful person, you must possess good virtue. With it you would achieve success anywhere in the world. If you don’t have good virtue you wouldn’t be a successful person even in a place as plentiful as the United States-- the recently independent country, full of opportunities and good conditions.

In 1790, largely confined to bed, Franklin, who had finished his last will, struggled to add to his autobiography another seven and half pages. In these last pages Franklin still encouraged people to cultivate their virtues.
George Washington and Chinese Flower

Americans have a long history of transplanting plants from other parts of the world. As early as 1699, on the banks of the Ashley River in South Carolina, an experimental farm was established by colonists interested in transplanting plants to North American colonies. In the spring of 1733, General James Ogelethorpe set up an experimental garden for botanical purposes and for testing agricultural plants. The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London also made many contributions in transplanting plants to North America.⁴⁰

During the colonial period China was considered a rich source of new plants and was viewed as "a botanical and zoological wonderland."⁴¹ Some colonists had realized that "many valuable trees, unknown in Europe, grow in the northern provinces of China” could thrive well” in the colonies,"⁴² and therefore made efforts to introduce China's plants into North America.⁴³ Numerous Chinese plants were brought in North American colonies. For example, paper mulberry was brought into North America in 1754.⁴⁴

From the beginning of the American introduction to Chinese plants, ornamental plants such as the gardenia, the camellia, and the Cherokee rose were brought from China and grew well in the Southern states. A few handsome trees were also introduced such as the ginkgo and the camphor.⁴⁵

George Washington showed great enthusiasm in the agricultural development of the United States. Born and raised in the country, Washington had a special bond with the soil. In his annual message to Congress in 1796, he urged "a federal appropriation to stimulate enterprise and experiment in agriculture." At the same time he tried to "draw to the national center the results of individual skill and observation, and to spread the collected information far and wide throughout the nation."⁴⁶

Led by his interest in agriculture, Washington had turned his attention to agricultural developments in the wake of the victory of the American Revolution. In 1783 Washington returned to Mount Vernon “with every hope and intention of spending the rest of his days there.”⁴⁷ He told his fellow Americans that the advancement of agriculture in the United States “by all proper means, will not I trust need recommendation.”⁴⁸ Believing that “with reference either to individual, or National Welfare, Agriculture is of primary importance,”⁴⁹ Washington had made agriculture his "favorite subject” by the late 1790s.⁵⁰ In Mount Vernon Washington indulged himself in agricultural experiments and “entirely devoted [himself] to the care of his farm."⁵¹

One of Washington's great preoccupations, during his whole career in agriculture, was finding the right crops for the soil, climate, and practical needs of his Mount Vernon establishment.⁵² In December 1788, he told Arthur Young, the most scientific farmer of his day and the editor of the Annuals of Agriculture, that "The more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better I am pleased with them; inasmuch that I can nowhere find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits."⁵³
Experimentation with all these many crops was one of Washington's chief delights as a farmer. He worked hard to transplant Chinese flowers to North America. He tried drill culture instead of broadcasting the seed; he varied the distance between rows. He tried different rates of seeding.⁵⁴ He recorded his experiments in his diary, suggesting that how much he valued this kind of transplanting research. He wrote of the procedure in great detail by which he sowed the flowers as well as information on the kinds of flowers he sowed.
According to his diary, on Friday 8th, July 1785, Washington chose a good place next to the garden wall in his "well cultivated and neatly kept" botanical garden⁵⁵ and sowed "one half the Chinese Seed given by Mr. Porter and Doctr. Craik.( James Craik, a physician in Mount Vernon)" . Washington took a very detailed record of the procedure he used to plant the seeds. He sowed them in three rows. The following record from his diary shows that Washington sowed the flowers in three rows.
First Row
Between the 1st. & 2d. pegs 1 I Muc qua fa;

betwn. the 2d. & 3d. Do. 1 Pungton leea fa; 6 & 7 2 In che fa

3 & 4th I Ting litt fa 7 & 8 Cum hung fa. 4 Seeds

4 & 5 I Iso pung fa 8 & 9 2 Hung co fa

5 & 6 I Ci chou la fa 9 & 10 5 Be yack fa

10 & 11 7 Hou sun fa 18 & 19 Pain ba fa

11& 12 Sung sang fa yung 19 & 20 Cu si fa

12 & 13 Pu yung fa 20 & 21 Tu me fa

13 & 14 Mon Tan fa 21 & 22 All san fa

14 & 15 Cum Coak fa 22 & 23 Yong san con fa

15 & 16 Pung ke Cuun 23 & 24 Hou Con fa

16 & 17 Cin yet cou 24 & 25 Hoak sing fa

17 & 18 Se me fa 25 & 26 I sit Ye muy fa
Second Row
1st & 2nd Tits swe fa 10 & 11 Ling si qui

2 & 3 An lee pung fa 11 & 12 Yuck soy hung seen fa

3 & 4 Se lou fa 12 & 13 Yuck sou cou fa

4 & 5 Lung Ci fa 13 & 14 Sing si qui fa

5 & 6 Tiahung seen fa 14 & 15 Bea an Cou

6 & 7 Lam Coax fa 15 & 16 Brey hung fa

7 & 8 Iny hung fa 16 & 17 Si fu he Tons

8 & 9 Jien pien cou fa 17 & 18 No name

9 & 10 Pung qui fa

Third Row

1st & 2 Cum Seen fa

2 & 3 Top pu young

3 & 4 No name--like a 2d. bla. Bead.

4& 5 Ditto--like but large. than Cabbage seed

5 & 6 larger and redder than Clover Seed.⁵⁶
Washington planted the seeds of the Chinese flowers according to the above pattern at his River Plantation on July 13. Ten days later, he noticed the seeds had germinated and happily found a few Plants of the Pride of China "to be coming up." He also found that the Jien pien Cou fa and the other kind of Chinese flower he sowed according to "Chinese sowing” had “been up several days."⁵⁷

After that, Washington left home. Twenty days later, on the 13th of August, when he returned home he found that two kinds of Chinese flowers which had sprouted had disappeared. He thought they might have been "destroyed either by the drought or insects." Washington was very sad and upset when he saw some flowers were "eradicated" while others were broken "near the ground.” He was worried about whether they could “recover." Washington tried to figure out what had happened to the seeds. He thought that bugs might have eaten them, upon remembering that, at the time he left home, "some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to prey upon the leaves."⁵⁸ By April 6, 1786, Washington had recognized that his experiment had failed. He did not see any flowers sowed with the seeds from China coming up, even though some of them had come up the previous year. He could not figure out the reason why these seeds did not grow up in his garden. He pondered over their disappearance in his diary, "Whether these plants are unfit for this climate, or whether covering and thereby hiding them entirely from the Sun the whole winter occasioned them to rot, I know not."⁵⁹

The year of 1785 was not a good year for Washington to experiment in terms of weather conditions. The rain seemed to forget how to fall in the summer. The crops suffered, the wheat yield was poor and chinch bugs attacked the corns in the degree that "hundreds of them & their young [were found] under the blades and at the lower joints of the Stock."⁶⁰

Due to the severe weather that year, Washington's experiment was not very cheerful. However, his experiment gives a strong evidence of Washington’s efforts in transplanting Chinese flowers in North America. As Paul Leland Haworth pointed out, the record of Washington's failures was "much greater than of successes.” It is the experience of “every scientific farmer of horticulture who ventures out of the beaten path."⁶¹ Most importantly, this experiment revealed George Washington’s efforts to introduce Chinese flowers to the newly independent United States that he fought for.

Thomas Jefferson and Chinese Architecture

As early as the colonial period Chinese models influenced architectural designs in North America. Some residents built their houses with "Chinese trim," others incorporated the style known as Chinese Chippendale, and still others followed the designs of British builders, known as Chinoiserie-a style of ornamentation that "represented an Occidental interpretation of China."⁶²

At Woodside House, Berkshire, in 1752-5, Hugh Hamersley gothicised the house by laying out a rococo wildness with an elegant Chinese kiosk, seemingly inspired by the House of Confucius at Kew, designed by Chambers and decorated by the fan-painter Joseph Goupy. Numerous pattern books on how to build Chinese gardens were produced at this time; among them were William Halfpenny's New Designs for Chinese Temples &c (1750) and Chinese and Gothic Architecture properly ornamented (1752).⁶³ After 1756, railings of "Chinese lattice"----slender bars forming patterns in the panels--made their appearance at the Woodford, Schuyler, Timothy Orne, and Roger Morris houses. They continued to be used after the Revolution.⁶⁴ Stair rails with Chinese lattice instead of balusters existed in America, for example, at Bachelor's Hall in Maryland and the rails at Brandon.⁶⁵

In the 1760s, the influence of Chippendale's "Chinese" manner was apparent in the roof balustrades. An advertisement in the South Carolina Gazette, dated April 1, 1757, shows that at that time some Americans had used Chinese style design as a great attraction to potential buyers. The advertisement describes the James Reid house offered for sale as the "new-built, strong and modish" house designed "after the Chinese taste" and "remarkably commodious in many respects; it is both warm in winter and deemed the most airy in summer of any house in the province."⁶⁶ The decoration of the Miles Brewton house, completed 1769, is full of various Chippendale motifs, in which rococo, "Gothic," and "Chinese" are mingled. Some researchers show that Jefferson preferred such forms of construction in 1782.⁶⁷

The Chinese influence on architecture remained conspicuous after the founding of the United States. In the 1790s a member of the American Philosophical Society, Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest built a home near Philadelphia known as China's Retreat. The building adopted a Chinese-style cupola on the roof. The windows, similar to screens in Chinese homes, were double leaves that slid into pockets in the walls. The buildings that used Chinese "touches" added “decorative embellishments to an otherwise Occidental plan and structure." ⁶⁸ Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, a Polish visitor, wrote a vivid description of the house and its contents. The house was "immense, surmounted with a cupola and decorated with golden serpents in the Chinese manner. Six tabourets of porcelain were arranged in a circle in the peristyle." ⁶⁹
Jefferson showed interest in Chinese garden styles while designing a garden on his property. For Jefferson, gardening was "the complement to building, in the activity of a country gentleman." In his eyes, gardens were "peculiarly worth the attention of an American, because it is the country of all others where the noblest gardens may be made without expense."⁷⁰ He used his free time to draw up plans for his garden,⁷¹ and finally decided to ornament his garden with a Chinese style.⁷²

Library of Congress

Jefferson regarded Monticello as a building, in which he could test his “architectural ideas and experiments.”⁷³ In his own construction, Jefferson adopted a Chinese style, making drawings of Chinese lattice around 1771.⁷⁴ In the Swan house in Dorchester, the open panels contained Chinese lattice, which Jefferson continued to use in balcony railings until his death in 1826.⁷⁵ Before 1798, he designed the Chinese lattice for the house at Edgehill, Virginia. Around 1802, Jefferson planned the lattice for the house at Farmington and also later designed the Chinese lattice for his dwelling at Barboursville.

In addition to the lattice, Jefferson considered building one of his rooms with a Chinese roof.⁷⁶ In his notebook entry dates 1771, Jefferson recorded his plans to build "a square Chinese Temple." It would be two stories high with four columns on a side in the lower story. He also decided to “set back behind a balustrade also of Chinese form." Later Jefferson wrote, "I think I shall prefer to these Chinese temples to regular Tuscan ones." ⁷⁷ According to his plan, these temples “were to be of two stories, standing at the angles of the terraces." In another page one finds Jefferson's "studies for two towers, doubtless for the higher neighboring Monticello, now known as Carter's Mountain." ⁷⁸

Jefferson's fondness for Chinese building styles made him plan to build a Chinese pavilion while working to remodel Monticello in the last decade of the eighteenth century and building the University of Virginia in the second decade of the nineteenth century.⁷⁹ His vast numbers of memos dealing with temples indicate Jefferson's deep interest in and aesthetic appreciation of this Chinese style.
Concluding Notes:
Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s proclivities to borrow from Chinese civilization were made with a very clear purpose. These men, being concerned with the search for individual and societal happiness, thought Chinese cultural influence would quicken the development of North America morally, economically and socially. “Chinese science and technology have a long and distinguished history and led the world until some time in the eighteenth century.”⁸⁰ The founding fathers were looking to China to provide the people in North America with the resources that they could use to build their new nation into a better place.
The founding fathers’ efforts of drawing positive elements from Chinese civilization have produced an important and lasting impact on the development of American civilization. The virtues Franklin promoted have become part of American civilization. The plants transplanted from China have contributed greatly to American agricultural and social development; Jefferson’s incorporation of Chinese styles into his own designs stimulated the American tradition of adopting foreign ideas in their own buildings. Most importantly, the founding fathers’ open attitude towards Chinese civilization has been expanded into Americans’ open attitudes towards foreign cultures.

1 Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of World Order, Simon & Schuster, Rockfeller Center, New York, 1996, P.46.

2 Ibid.

3 A. J. Langguth, Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2006, p.4.

4 Robert W. Tuck and David C. Hendrickson, “Thomas Jefferson and American Foreign Policy,” in Foreign Affairs, Spring 1990, Vol. 69, Issue 2, p.135.

5 Bill Clinton, Remarks at a state dinner Honoring President Jiang, October 29, 1997, Executive Office of the President, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Weekly Ending Friday, October 21, 1997 (Washington, D.C: US. Government Printing Office, 1997), 33: 1685-1686.

6 As for more information on the founding fathers’ connection with Chinese civilization, see Dave Wang, “The Founding Fathers of the United States and Chinese Porcelain Ware,” in Huaren-E Magazine, January 2008; Benjamin Franklin and Chinese Civilization, U.S –China Relation Series, No. 2, New York, Outer Sky Press, August 2006; Benjamin Franklin’s Attitude toward Chinese Civilization, Social Science Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology, Issue 4, 2006; Benjamin Franklin and China: A Survey of Benjamin Franklin’s Efforts at Drawing Positive Elements from Chinese Civilization during the Formative Age of the United States, published since 2005 by the Official Website of the Tercentenary Commission. The paper is available at http://www.benfranklin300.org/etc_essays.htm

7 William J. Brinker, Commerce, Culture, and Horticulture: The Beginnings of Sino-American Cultural Relations,” in Thomas H. Etzold, ed., Aspects of Sino-American Relations Since 1784, New York and London: New Viewpoints, A Division of Franklin Watt, 1978, p.11.

8 C. Martin Wilbur, "Modern America's Cultural Debts to China," in Issues & Studies: A Journal of China Studies and International Affairs, vol. 22, No.1, January 1986, p.127.

9 As for tea and silk in the United States, see Dave Wang, “Tea: The Leaves that Triggered the American War for Independence,” in Huaren E-Magazine and “Benjamin Franklin’s Efforts to Promote Sericulture in North America,” in Huaren E-Magazine, January 2008.

10 Warren I. Cohen, America's Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations, New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, p.2.

11 Ibid.

12 Frederick B Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House, New York: 1963, pp. 147, 174-175 n.38.

13 A. Owen Aldridge, The Dragon and Eagle: The Presence of China in the American Enlightenment, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1993, p.23

14 The Columbia Magazine, May 1788, 2, pp.257-263.

15 The Morgan Library in New York City possesses a manuscript in Bartram's hand titled "Life and Character of the Chinese Philosopher Confucius."

16 The New Hampshire Magazine, September 1793.

17 Jediadiah Morse, The American universal Geography; or a View of the Present Situation of the United States and of All the Kingdoms States, and Republics in the Known World. 2vols. Part II. Second edition of his volume. Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews, p.499.

18 Ibid.

19 Ping Chia Kuo, "Canton and Salem: The Impact of Chinese Culture Upon New England Life During the Post-Revolutionary Era," in The New England Quarterly, vol. III, 1930. p.426

20 ibid., p.427.

21 ibid., p.428.

22 Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Introduction by Lewis Leary, New York and London: A Touchstone Book, 2004, p.40.

23 The Morals of Confucius is the first English book, which introduced Confucian moral philosophy to the English readers. Its whole title is The Morals of Confucius: A Chinese Philosopher, Who flourished above Five hundred years before the Coming of Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. The following information is from the cover: Being one of the Choicest Pieces of Learning Remaining of the Nation. The Second Edition. London: Printed for T. Horne, at the South Entrance into the Royal Exchange, Cornbil, 1706.

24 The Morals of Confucius, pp.55-56. Franklin loved this paragraph so much that later he published it in his very popular weekly newspaper Pennsylvania Gazette; see the Gazette, from February 28 to March 7, 1737.

25 Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2002, p.15.

26 Dave Wang, “Exploring Benjamin Franklin’s Moral Life,” Franklin Gazette, Spring 2007.

27 J.A. Leo Lemay, The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume Two, Printer and Publisher, 1730-1747, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006, p.207.

28 Chronology of Franklin’s moral life from 1722 to 17901. Franklin Searched for a solution to the Moral Issues which existed in New England, 1722-17241722 Franklin published his series of articles, in which he expressed his desire to find solutions for the moral issues which existed in New England.2. Franklin’s Contact with Confucius Moral philosophy, 1725 1725 Franklin contacted Confucius Moral Philosophy in London through reading “The Morals of Confucius’ published in London in 1691.Franklin expressed the notion that human beings need to cultivate their virtue in A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, published in 1725. 3. Franklin’s Efforts to Cultivate His Own Virtue according to Confucius Moral Philosophy, 1726-17361726 Franklin expressed the notion that the rulers should show love to their subjects in Journal of occurrences in My Voyage to Philadelphia from London, July 1726. 1727 Franklin expressed the notion that he had focused on moral cultivation in his Letter to His Sister Jane Mecom in January 1727.He put moral issues in the discussing agenda of JUNTO.1728 He started his virtual cultivation campaign and listed thirteen virtues he would cultivate.He stated that there was never yet a truly Great Man that was not at the same time truly Virtuous.4. Franklin’s Efforts to Promote the Youth in North America to Cultivate Their Virtue, 1737-17831737 Franklin published his essay “From Morals of Confucius” in his weekly newspaper Philadelphia Gazette. 1738 Franklin promoted virtual cultivation in his widely read Poor Richard Almanack. 1743 Franklin expressed the notion that all knowledge should be usable in A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantations in America.1748 Franklin told the young trademen that industry and frugality were the two most important virtue in his The Advice to a Trademan.1749 Franklin expressed that Confucius was his example in his Letter to George Whitefield.Franklin told the youth in Pennsylvania to be men of good morals in his Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania.1753 Franklin told the North American people that “Virtue and Trade are a Child’s best Portion in Poor Richard Almanck. 1757 Franklin told the youth that industry and frugality were the means of procuring wealth in The Way to Wealth.1758 Franklin emphasized frugality’s importance.1760 In his Letter to Load Kamas, Franklin explained the Art of Virtue and told the youth how to cultivate their virtue.1775 Franklin expressed his happiness seeing that frugality had become the fashion of the American people. Frugality would make sure that Americans were able to pay off the war expenditure.1778 Franklin addressed moral’s important role in the new nation. He raised the question, “what can laws do without morals?”1780 In his Letter to His Grandson Franklin told him that a person with virtue would live a happy life.1783 America’s new leaders should lead by example and be role models. He showed his desire that there would be no war in the world.5. Franklin’s Efforts to Encourage Humankind to Cultivate their Morals, 1784-17901784 Franklin wrote the virtual cultivation section of his autobiography.In To Those Who Would Remove to America, Franklin told the people who planned to move to the United States that success in the New Nation rested in if one had a good virtue. 1790 Franklin extolled industry and diligence above all virtues. He also expressed his happy life because he cultivated his virtue.

29 Benjamin Franklin, Plan of Conduct, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin from Philadelphia to London, 1722-1726, it available on line http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf1/m8.htm

30 Ibid.

31 Stephan A. Schwartz, Dr. Franklin’s Plan, in Smithsonian, June 2001, Vol. 33, Issue 3, p.114.

32 Jay Tolson, The Many Faces of Benjamin Franklin, in U.S. News & World Reports, 6/23/2003, Vol. 134, Issue 22, p.24.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid., p.166.

35 Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Introduction by Lewis Leary, New York and London: A Touchstone Book, 2004, p.78.

36 Pennsylvania Gazette, from February 28 to March 7, 1737 and from March 14 to March 21 1737.

37 Benjamin Franklin, To Madame Brillon: “The Ephemera” AL (draft): Cornell University Library; French translations: American Philosophical Society (three), Bibliothèque de la Société Eduenne, Autun, Institut de France; copy or transcript: Yale University Library; incomplete copy: Huntington Library. It is available on line at http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp

38 Edmund S. Morgan, Poor Richard’s New Year, in New York Times, December 31, 2002, p. A19.

39 Benjamin Franklin, To the Earl of Buchan (unpublished), Passy, March 17, 1783. It is available at http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp

40 Nelson Klose, America's Crop Heritage: The History of Foreign Plant Introduction by the Federal Government, Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State College Press, 1950, p.11.

41 Thomas H. Etzold, ed., Aspects of Sino-American Relations Since 1784, New York and London: New Viewpoints, A Division of Franklin Watt, 1978, p. 5.

42 John Ellis (1784) "Directions for Bringing over Seeds and Plants, From the East Indies and Other Distant Countries, in A State of Vegetation: Together with a Catalogue of Such Foreign Plants as Are Worthy of Being Encouraged in Our American Colonies, For the Purposes of Medicine, Agriculture, and Commerce." in E. Charles Nelson ed., Aphrodite's Mousetrap: A Biography of Venus's Flytrap with Facsimiles of an Original Pamphlet and the Manuscripts of John Ellis, F.R.S., published by Boethius Press, Aberystwyth. Wales in association with Bentham-Moxon Trust and the Linnean Society, 1990, p.(2).

43 Following is a list of Chinese plants which should be brought in the North America recommended by John Ellis. Chinese NamesLatin NamesEnglish NamesObservations Yeqi ShuCroton SebiferumTallow-tree of ChinaThis plant grows in moist places in China, and is of great use in the country.Zhuteng Arundo BamboThe true Bamboo caneOf great use in China, and might be also in our American islands. ChashuTheaTeaFrom China and Japan EzihuaGardenia FloridaUmky of the ChineseUsed in dyeing in China. The pulp that surrounds the seeds, gives in warm water a most excellent yellow color, inclining to orange. SangshuMorus papyriferaPaper Mulberry treeUsed for making paper in China and Japan. This has been some time in English gardens. BoqigenSimilax ChinaChina RootIn China and in New Spain. LeecheeLeechee of ChinaThis fruit is highly commended by all persons who have been to China. See John Ellis (1784) pp.(22)-(33).

44 John Ellis (1784) p.(13).

45 Walter T. Swingle, "Our Agricultural Debt to Asia," in Arthur E.Christry ed., The Asian Legacy and American Life, New York: The John Day Company, p.1945, p.85.

46 Charles A. Beard & Marry R. Beard, The Rise of American Civilization, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927, vol. II, p.282.

47 Ralph K. Andrist, The Founding Fathers: George Washington: A Biography in His Own Words, Newsweek Book Division, New York, 1972, p.289

48 George Washington, First Annual Address to Congress, January 8, 1790, Writings Vol.30, p.493

49 George Washington, Eighth Annual Address to Congress, December 7, 1796, Writings Vol.35, p.315

50 Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Vine and Fig Tree: Travels Through America 1797-1799, 1805 with some Further Account of Life in New Jersey, translated and edited with an introduction and Notes by Metchie J. E. Budka, Elizabeth, New Jersey: The Grassmann Publishing Company, Inc, 1965, p.102.

51 Brissot de Warville, Jean-Pierre. New Travels in the United States of America edited by Durand Echeverria. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964. Reprint of 1972 ed., 342-343.

52 Introduction to the Diary of George Washington. It is available online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/4gwintro.html

53 Paul Leland Haworth, George Washington: Being An Account of His Life and Agricultural Activities, Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, 1925, pp.2-3.

54 Introduction to the Diary of George Washington. It is available online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/4gwintro.html

55 Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, p.97. His Botanical Garden is a plot of ground lying between the flower garden and the spinners’ house, where he made many experiments. According to Paul Leland Haworth, most of Washington's experiments did not succeed. However, Washington's experiment was "the experience of every scientific farmer of horicultures who ventures out of the beaten path." See Paul Leland Haworth, pp. 106-107.

56 The above are the Chinese names which were accompanied by characters or hieroglyphics------a concise description of the Seeds are annexed to their names on the Paper that enrolls them. See John C. Fitzpatrick, A.M., The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799, vol. IV (1789-1799), Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, pp.388-389.

57 John C. Fitzpatrick, A.M., The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799, vol. IV (1789-1799), Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, pp.392-393.

58 ibid., pp.404-405.

59 ibid., pp.37-38.

60 Paul Leland Haworth, p.104.

61 Ibid. p.107.

62 William J. Brinker, Commerce, Culture, and Horticulture: The Beginnings of Sino-American Cultural Relations,” in Thomas H. Etzold, ed., Aspects of Sino-American Relations since 1784, New York and London: New Viewpoints, A Division of Franklin Watt, 1978, p. 5.

63 David Watkin, The English Vision --The Picturesque in Architecture, Landscape and Garden Design, London: Breslich & Foss, 1982, pp.31-33.

64 Fiske Kimball, Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic, (illustrated), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927, p.110.

65 ibid. p.131.

66 Alice R. Huger Smith and D.E. Huger Smith, The Dwelling Houses of Charleston, South Carolina, Philadelphia and London: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1917, pp.357-358.

67 Fiske Kimball, Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic, (illustrated), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927, p.138. ["Notes on Virginia," see Kimball, "Thomas Jefferson, Architect," p.35

68 William J. Brinker, Commerce, Culture, and Horticulture: The Beginnings of Sino-American Cultural Relations," in Thomas H. Etzold, ed., Aspects of Sino-American Relations Since 1784, New York and London: New Viewpoints, A Division of Franklin Watt, 1978, pp.11-12.

69 Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, pp.62-63.

70 A. E. Lipscomb and A.E. Bergh, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol.17, p.292.) Marie Kimball, Jefferson: The Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776, Coward - McCann, Inc., New York, 1943, p.160

71 Douglass Lea, “Thomas Jefferson: Master Gardener,” in Mother Earth News, Feb/Mar 1999, Issue 172, p.104.

72 Marie Kimball, Jefferson: The Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776, Coward - McCann, Inc., New York, 1943, p.148.

73 Whately, Observations on Modern Gardening, pp.120 and 127-28.

74 Fiske Kimball, "Thomas Jefferson, Architecture," p.130.

75 Fiske Kimball, Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic, (illustrated), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927, p.234.

76 Marie Kimball, Jefferson: The Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776, Coward - McCann, Inc., New York, 1943, p.162.

77 Fiske Kimball, Thomas Jefferson: Architect, Original Designs in the Coolidge Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society with an Essay and Notes, New York: Da Capo Press, 1968, p.126.

78 Marie Kimball, Jefferson: The Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776, Coward - McCann, Inc., New York, 1943, p.164.

79 Karl Lehmann, Thomas Jefferson: American Humanist, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947, p.170.

80 Rhoads Murphey East Asia: A New History, Longman, New York, 1996, p.12.