Thomas Jefferson

More than any other Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson made his reputation on the brilliance of his writing. John Adams chose the 33-year-old Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence largely because of his "masterly Pen." The...

A definitive new volume of the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive scholarly edition of the correspondence and papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive new volume of the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive scholarly edition of the correspondence and papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive new volume of the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive scholarly edition of the correspondence and papers of Thomas Jefferson

A new definitive volume of the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive scholarly edition of the correspondence and papers of Thomas Jefferson

A definitive scholarly edition of the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson

As a law student and young lawyer in the 1760s, Thomas Jefferson began writing abstracts of English common law reports. Even after abandoning his law practice, he continued to rely on his legal commonplace book to document the legal...

The 637 documents in this volume span 1 February to 31 August 1819. As a founding member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, Jefferson helps to obtain builders for the infant institution, responds to those seeking...

After the congressional session ends, Jefferson leaves Washington and goes home to Monticello, where his ailing daughter Mary dies on 17 April. Among the letters of condolence he receives is one from Abigail Adams that initiates a brief...

Among the Second Series of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, this volume has the most detailed coverage of his day-to-day life. These disciplined records of personal expenditures, and of various other daily observations, furnish valuable...

This volume's 598 documents span 22 April 1818 to 31 January 1819. Jefferson spends months preparing for a meeting to choose the site of the state university. He drafts the Rockfish Gap Report recommending the location of the University...

Confessing that he may be acting "with more boldness than wisdom," Jefferson in November 1803 drafts a bill to create Orleans Territory, which he entrusts to John Breckinridge for introduction in the Senate. The administration sends...

The 580 documents in this volume cover a wide range of fascinating topics. Jefferson receives impressions of a mammoth's tooth, altitude and meteorological observations, a call for a national pharmacopoeia, a discussion of primeval...

The Louisiana Purchase dominates the months covered in this volume. Jefferson departs for Monticello to enjoy a needed respite after the busy three and a half months he has just spent in the nation's capital. Shortly before leaving...

The 584 documents in this volume cover the period from 19 January to 31 August 1817, during which Jefferson devotes much time and energy to founding Central College, the predecessor of the University of Virginia. In May 1817, at its...

The 558 documents in this volume cover the period from 1 May 1816 to 18 January 1817. During this time, Jefferson expects political upheaval in Great Britain, welcomes the imminent presidential transition from James Madison to James...

This volume opens on 4 March 1803, the first day of Jefferson's third year as president. Still shaken by the closing of the right of deposit at New Orleans, he confronts the potential political consequences of a cession of Louisiana to...

This volume opens on 13 November 1802, when Jefferson is in Washington, and closes on 3 March 1803, the final day of his second year as president. The central issue of these months is the closing of the right of deposit at New Orleans...

Volume Eight of the project documenting Thomas Jefferson's last years presents 591 documents dated from 1 October 1814 to 31 August 1815. Jefferson is overjoyed by American victories late in the War of 1812 and highly interested in the...

Volume 38 opens on 1 July 1802, when Jefferson is in Washington, and closes on 12 November, when he is again there. For the last week of July and all of August and September, he resides at Monticello. Frequent correspondence with his...

This volume opens on 4 March 1802, the first anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's inauguration as the nation's third president, and closes on 30 June. In March, a delegation of Seneca Indians comes to Washington to discuss their tribe's...

The 526 documents printed in this volume run from 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. During this period Jefferson reviews the extant sources on the 1765 Stamp Act crisis to aid William Wirt, a Patrick Henry scholar; records his...

Volume Six of the definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death presents 516 documents from 11 March to 27 November 1813. Although free from the cares of government, Jefferson cannot...

The period covered by this volume brings to a conclusion Thomas Jefferson's first year as president. On 8 December he communicates his first annual message to Congress: peace between France and England is restored; a rise in population...

For the first two months covered by this volume, Thomas Jefferson is residing at Monticello, avoiding the "rather sickly" season in the nation's capital. His mountaintop house finally has a roof and both daughters and their families...

Volume Five of the definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death includes 592 documents from 1 May 1812 to 10 March 1813. America declares war on Great Britain on 18 June 1812. Jefferson...

Volume Four of this definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death includes 581 documents from 18 June 1811 to 30 April 1812. Between these two dates, Jefferson famously declares that...

In Volume 34, covering May through July 1801, the story of Thomas Jefferson's first presidential administration continues to unfold. He quickly begins to implement his objectives of economy and efficiency in government. Requesting the...

Under normal circumstances, Thomas Jefferson would have had more than two months to prepare for his presidency. However, since the House of Representatives finally settled a tied electoral vote only on 17 February 1801, he had two...

Volume Three of the definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death presents 567 documents covering the period from 12 August 1810 to 17 June 1811. Jefferson is now firmly ensconced in...

"I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all?" Jefferson muses in this volume. His answer: "I do not know that it is." Required by custom to be "entirely passive" during the presidential...

This volume inaugurates the definitive edition of papers from Thomas Jefferson's retirement. As the volume opens, a new president is installed and Jefferson is anticipating his return to Virginia, where he will pursue a fascinating...

As this volume opens, partisan politics in the United States are building to a crescendo with the approach of the presidential election. Working for a Republican victory, Jefferson consults frequently with Madison, Monroe, and others to...

During the thirteen months covered by this volume, Thomas Jefferson spent more than half of his time in Philadelphia serving as vice president under President John Adams and presiding over a Senate that was dominated by his political...

In the twenty-two months covered by this volume, Jefferson spent most of his time at Monticello, where in his short-lived retirement from office he turned in earnest to the renovation of his residence and described himself as a...

This volume brings Jefferson into retirement after his tenure as Secretary of State and returns him to private life at Monticello. He professes his desire to be free of public responsibilities and live the life of a farmer, spending his...

This volume brings to a close Jefferson's increasingly stormy tenure as Secretary of State, documenting, among many things, his epochal duel with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton over the conduct of American foreign policy. Against...

This volume documents exhaustively for the first time Edmond Charles Genet's dramatic challenges to American neutrality and Jefferson's diplomatic and political responses. After welcoming Genet's arrival as the harbinger of closer...

The dramatic escalation in the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to determine the future course of the new American nation is the main theme of this volume. Under pressure from other Republicans, Jefferson decides...

This volume finds Thomas Jefferson grappling with problems arising from the radicalization of the French Revolution in Europe and the polarization of domestic politics in the United States. The overthrow of the French monarchy leads the...

This volume deals with an unusually active, dramatic period during Thomas Jefferson's tenure as Secretary of State.

The months covered by this volume illustrate the variety of topics characteristic of the Jefferson Papers. Subjects range from Jefferson's continued overseeing of the planning of the Federal District that became Washington, D.C., to his...

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 21: Index, Vols. 1-20, will be forthcoming.

This volume documents exhaustively for the first time Edmond Charles Genet's dramatic challenges to American neutrality and Jefferson's diplomatic and political responses. After welcoming Genet's arrival as the harbinger of closer...

Volume 19, covering the final critical weeks of the First Congress, reveals Washington and Jefferson in the closest and most confidential relationship that existed at any time during their official careers. It opens with the...

Volume 18, covering part of the final session of the First Congress, shows Jefferson as Secretary of State continuing his effective collaboration with James Madison in seeking commercial reciprocity with Great Britain by...

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 17: July 1790 to November 1790, will be forthcoming.

This volume brings Jefferson back to the U.S. from France, to become the first American Secretary of State, and marks the beginning of Jefferson's work in the Cabinet with Alexander Hamilton.

In Volume 15 Jefferson, a veteran of the councils of his own country's revolution, becomes an eyewitness of the opening events of the great upheaval in France in 1789.

Volume 14, from October 1788 through April 1789, continues and almost completes Jefferson's stay in France as American minister.

From 1784 to 1789 Jefferson was in France, first as commissioner to negotiate peace treaties and then as American minister. Volume 13 continues the account of these years (which are covered in Volumes 7 to 14) and includes material on...

Volumes 11 and 12 cover the period from January 1787 through March 1788 and deal with Jefferson's stay in France, as American Minister there.

Volumes 11 and 12, cover the period from January 1787 through March 1788 and deal with Jefferson's stay in France, as American Minister there.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 10: June 1786 to December 1786, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 9: November 1785 to June 1786, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 8: February 1785 to October 1785, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 7: March 1784 to February 1785, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 5: February 1781 to May 1781, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 6: May 1781 to March 1784, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4: October 1780 to February 1781, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 3: June 1779 to September 1780, will be forthcoming.

The second volume in this series, dealing with 1777-1779.

includes the almost incredible volume of Jefferson's writings on practically every aspect of human life-from politics and diplomacy to architecture, philosophy, agriculture, and music. The series includes 18,000 letters written by...