In 2000, the newly formed Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society asked a group of more than a dozen senior scholars from across the country to carefully examine all of the evidence for and against the allegations that Thomas Jefferson fathered one or more children by Sally Hemings, one of his slaves, and to issue a public report. In April 2001, after a year of study, the Scholars Commission issued the most detailed report to date on the issue. With but a single mild dissent, the views of the distinguished panel ranged from "serious skepticism" to a conviction that the allegation was "almost certainly false." This volume, edited by Scholars Commission Chairman Robert F. Turner, includes the "Final Report"—essentially a summary of arguments and conclusions—as it was released to the press on April 12, 2001. However, several of the statements of individual views—which collectively total several hundred carefully footnoted pages and constitute the bulk of the book—have been updated and expanded to reflect new insights or evidence since the report was initially released.
Through substantial selections from Jefferson's writings--including his earliest writings, Notes on Virginia, and key public papers and personal correspondence--this volume traces the development of his thinking on such fundamental issues as republicanism, constitutionalism, slavery, and the separation of religion from politics. Footnotes identify Jefferson's correspondents and provide useful context.
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 retirement at Monticello and Poplar Forest. He is not free from legal and political concerns, however, with the controversy over the 1807 federal seizure of the Batture Sainte Marie at New Orleans looming particularly large. Jefferson prepares for his defense against Edward Livingston's lawsuit by corresponding at length with his counsel and involved public officials, and seeking out documents and legal authorities to vindicate himself. He also seeks to end Philadelphia journalist William Duane's growing estrangement from mainstream Republican politics, lobbies for the appointment of a committed Republican to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and argues with the Rivanna Company over its proposed encroachments on his property. Other highlights are Jefferson's draft constitution for an agricultural society, his astronomical calculations, his notes on plantings at Poplar Forest, and his estimate of the cost of shipping flour. Documents on slaves and slavery include discussions of schemes for colonizing freed slaves in Africa, information on the medical condition of some of Jefferson's slaves, and an account of a visit to Monticello with a distinctly unflattering portrayal of the ex-president's standing in the community and his relations with his slaves.
Few men stand with as towering a stature in the annals of American legend as THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826). Author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, he ranks as one of the most significant of the United States' Founding Fathers, his political philosophies continuing to impact the nation to this day. In the late 19th century American biographer PAUL LEICESTER FORD (1865-1902) assembled this collection of Jefferson's most important, most influential, and most revealing writings. This replica of the 12-volume "Federal Edition" of 1904 is considered a masterpiece of historical scholarship, praised for its attention to detail as well as its objective dispassion toward its subject. Here, in Volume III, discover: [ correspondence and miscellaneous writings, 1779-1781 [ the first part of "Notes on Virginia," Jefferson's only book-length work.
The Retirement Series documents Jefferson's written legacy between his return to private life on 4 March 1809 and his death on 4 July 1826. During this period Jefferson founded the University of Virginia and sold his extraordinary library to the nation, but his greatest legacy from these years is the astonishing depth and breadth of his correspondence with statesmen, inventors, scientists, philosophers, and ordinary citizens on topics spanning virtually every field of human endeavor.--From publisher description.
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