Notes on the State of Virginia - Hardcover

Thomas Jefferson; Edited By William Peden

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807806749 ISBN 13: 9780807806746

Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, 1955

Synopsis

A historic book, the only full-length book by Jefferson published in his lifetime. It collects the answers that Jefferson prepared for questions posed to Jefferson about Virginia by Fran?ºois Barb??-Marbois then Secretary of the French legation in Philadelphia. Hardcover. Blue cloth. Corners bumped. PO name on front end page. Good condition. Published by The University of North Carolina Press, 1955

About this title

From the Back Cover

A request in 1780 by the French legation to the United States to learn more about the newly formed thirteen states of America stimulated in Jefferson, as he later described it, a "mysterious obligation for making me much better acquainted with my own country than I ever was before". Written during his first term as governor of Virginia, Notes on the State of Virginia is at once a scientific discourse, an attempt to define America, and an examination of the idea of freedom. With the same genius and clear, flexible prose style that informs the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson chronicles Virginia's natural, social, and political history. In his introduction to this annotated edition, which discusses the work's origins and composition, Frank Shuffelton focuses particularly on Jefferson's response to contemporary scientific writings on "New World degeneracy", his differing treatment of blacks and Native Americans, and his influential role in creating a mythicized American self-image.

About the Author

David Waldstreicher is Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 1955
• ISBN 10: 0807806749
• ISBN 13: 9780807806746
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342