While Jefferson had a nasty habit of saying one thing and then doing another, I believe that he would have done the right thing and held our nation together.
How?
I'm asking because Jefferson did indeed face secessionist threats during his presidency. The North threatened secession over the Louisiana Purchase and again over his ill-conceived embargo. He made some concession and held the country together with statesmanship. Lincoln wasn't a statesman. He was an ambitions railroad lawyer with an economic agenda he intended to implement ho matter what.