Thomas Jefferson Selected Writings

“Jefferson aspired beyond the ambition of a nationality, and embraced in his view the whole future of man.”—Henry Adams Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) left a vast literary legacy in the form of journal entries, notes, addresses, and seventy thousand letters. This extraordinary volume represents many of his most important contributions to American political thought. It features his Autobiography, which contains the original and revised versions of the Declaration of Independence; the Anas, or Notes (1791–1809); Biographical Sketches; selections from Notes on the State of Virginia, the Travel Journals, and Essay on Anglo-Saxon; a portion of his public papers, including his first and second inaugural addresses; and more than two hundred letters. Taken together, these writings offer indispensable insight into the mind of the man who was instrumental in formulating and guiding this nation’s principles. From the Preface: This selection from the writings of Thomas Jefferson is planned to be a comprehensive presentation of his thought. The greatest amount of space has been allotted to his letters, in the belief that they are of primary importance in revealing the man and his intellect. Jefferson’s two original full-length works, the Notes on Virginia and the Autobiography, are given virtually complete. Along with his best-known public papers, selections from his minor writings are also included. Together, all these serve to depict the man who more aptly than any of his countrymen might be called the American Leonardo.

The first book to include Thomas Jefferson?s writings and writings about him?from his era and ours. This Norton Critical Edition seeks to give readers a full understanding of Thomas Jefferson?s importance to the intellectual development of the United States, particularly in political theory and scientific learning; of Jefferson?s role in the expansion of the territory and sovereignty of the United States; and of Jefferson?s controversial relation to slavery and race as key issues in American history. The editor has selected Jefferson?s most important published texts?A Summary View of the Rights of British America, the Declaration of Independence, and Notes on the State of Virginia?along with An Appendix to the Notes on Virginia Relative to the Murder of Logan?s Family and his Message to Congress on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In addition, more than one hundred of Jefferson?s letters (1760?1826) have been judiciously selected from his rich body of correspondence, allowing readers to see Jefferson as a person as well as a public figure. All texts are accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. ?Contexts? reprints contemporary documents that place Jefferson and his writings within the early American Republic, including works by Thomas Paine, John Adams, François-Jean de Beauvoir, and Luther Martin. Also included are diverse and early responses to Jefferson and his writings by, among others, John Quincy Adams, William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. "Criticism" provides representative works of modern interpretation and analysis that confirm Jefferson's continuing relevance. Included are twelve thought-provoking assessments from several disciplinary perspectives by, among others, Annette Gordon Reed, Peter Onuf, and Douglas L. Wilson. A Selected Bibliography is also included.

The first-ever collection of Thomas Jefferson's entire body of travel writing showcases his wide-ranging interests and eloquent observations recorded on journeys throughout the eastern United States and Europe, spanning from 1765 to 1826.

Thomas Jefferson defined, at the moment of our nation’s birth, the issues that still direct our political life. Displaying his extraordinary variety of interests and powerful and precise style, Jefferson’s writings are an invaluable and incisive record of the landscape, inhabitants, life, and daily customs of America in the Revolutionary and early national eras, as well as a testimony to the brilliance of one of the most influential and controversial figures in our nation’s history.

This extraordinary primer offers a superb survey of Jeffersonian thought. It features writings on political and economic philosophy, morals and religion, intellectual freedom and progress, education, secession, slavery, and more.