see it at amazon.com

Thomas Jefferson: Writings

This important volume from the Library of America is worth having. It includes Jeffersons's autobiography, A Summary View of the rights of British America, Notes on the State of Virginia, all his versions of the Declaration of Independence, public papers, addresses, messages and replies, letters, etc.

Besides Jefferson's comments on a myriad of topics in the letters, it includes a veritable potpourri of writings. I didn't read even a tenth of it, but the ones that I read were always interesting. There is a wonderful understanding apparent in his writings - he seems to understand that he is at the start of the great American adventure. A letter in which he discusses standardization of weights and measures exemplifies this. He seems to quietly relish the fact that the free citizens of this new nation can choose these systems for themselves, and that he is a such a citizen in the process of doing this very thing.

I have found the book invaluable for putting quotations into their appropriate context, although I wish I had an electronic version, so that I could search it.


Last modified 1998-11-07

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