To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson: Letters to a President

Letters written to Thomas Jefferson while he was president, as well as his replies, offer insight into life in early nineteenth-century America

Editor McLaughlin has collected and briefly comments upon unsolicited letters from the American public to Jefferson during his presidency (1801-09). Uncovering this material while researching his recent Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder ( LJ 4/15/88; an LJ "Best Book of 1988"), McLaughlin contends that these previously unpublished letters reflect the social history of the laboring class. He divides the book into sections about politics, patronage, literature, debt and justice, inventions, health, and letters from youth, women, lunatics, and lovers. Though he has unearthed some fascinating letters, McLaughlin provides little historical context and uncritically equates the unkown letter writers with the laboring class, which he never defines. Recommended for scholars in the field.
- David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.