Thomas Jefferson was a man of many talents. From authoring the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States to designing the Monticello and inventing the cipher wheel. Jefferson was a "Renaissance man" who made important contributions to America in many areas. On of those legacies he left was his garden at Monticello. Jefferson's Monticello garden was a Revolutionary American garden assembling unique vegetables selected from virtually every western culture known at that time. Jefferson's garden featured a 1,000 foot long terraced vegetable garden and contained 330 varieties of 89 species of vegetables and herbs, along with 179 varieties of fruit. The vegetable and fruit gardens were surrounded by a 10-foot high paling fence to keep out deer and other foragers. The wooden boards of the paling fence were placed "so near as not to let even a young hare in". The fence was very ambitions and extended almost three quarters of a mile around the entire complex and had paling gates secured with a lock and key. Work on building the fence did not begin until 1808, but Jefferson had the idea to build a fence for some time. Jefferson experimented with different types of wooden fencing including both the post-and-rail fence and the paling fence, and in 1805 he first introduced the idea of "live" fences. Jefferson found that the Washington Thorn, to be the best ever at creating a hedge. As any who has tried gardening, building a fence around your garden is always on your mind, starting with the first seed you sow.
But a fence does more than just keep foragers out, it marks a boundary. It restricts the the area to which the Gardner plants and tends to. Anything outside of the fence is left untended and free. Jefferson many times viewed the Constitution as a paling fence, defining the legislative boundaries of Congress. Congress is responsible only for those ares defined by the constitution; anything not defined within the constitution is left to the states and to the people as explicitly laid out in the tenth amendment. In 1802, Jefferson defined the role of government as one that "keep all things within the pale of our constitutional powers". Now in 1804, Jefferson concluded his fourth annual address to Congress, by returning again to the Paling fence.
"Whether the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, or navigation can within the pale of your constitutional powers be aided in any of their relations; whether laws are provided in all cases where they are wanting; whether those provided are exactly what they should be whether any abuses take place in their administration, or in that of the public revenues; whether the organization of the public agents or of the public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything can be done to advance the general good, are questions within the limits of your functions which will necessarily occupy your attention. In these and all other matters which you in your wisdom may propose for the good of our country you may count with assurance on my hearty cooperation and faithful execution."Jefferson was urging Congress to look after the great interests of the four pillars of American economy (agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and navigation). He urged Congress to pass laws that would advance the cause of the people and the economy while rooting out any corruption in government or business. But in all these powers, he reminded them of the "Paling fence" that limited the areas where they should sow their seeds and dig their hoes.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29446
https://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/thomas-jeffersons-legacy-gardening-and-food
https://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/fences
https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/fences
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