| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood. By Peter S. Onuf. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000. xiv, 250 pp. $27.95, ISBN 0-8139-1930-4.)

Peter S. Onuf, in this stimulating book, explores Thomas Jefferson's image of a new imperial nation, one not built on "force or fear" but drawing its authority from the "consent of the governed" and that would be sustained in "an affectionate union" dedicated to the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. In five closely reasoned and clearly explicated chapters, some of which have appeared elsewhere, Onuf explains this vision and how well Jefferson understood what the new nation would become. 1

Jefferson's conception of American nationhood, Onuf argues, has been the "touchstone" for future generations of Americans. His republican empire had no metropolis, and it rejected the aristocratic, monarchical, corrupt old regime. His was an "empire for liberty" that emphasized equal rights and required that a "virtuous and vigilant citizenry" be able to defend its liberties against internal and external threats. . . .

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