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Teaching Jefferson


Mark A. Smith
John Burroughs School

THOMAS JEFFERSON has long fascinated Americans.1 Even though Jefferson biographer Merrill Peterson once termed Jefferson "impenetrable," a host of recent scholars have tried to penetrate the "inner Jefferson" in an attempt to make him "more vital to us."2 Trying to understand Jefferson, one could argue, is akin to trying to understand America, for as James Parton wrote, "if Jefferson was wrong, America is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right."3 The role for teachers—to unravel Jefferson for emerging historians—can be a daunting task.4 By allowing Jefferson to speak for himself, and setting Jefferson's words in the context of the time, teachers force students to examine the period from 1763–1820 as a whole, as Jefferson did. With a solid grounding in Jeffersonian documents, students have a tremendous advantage as they study the rest of American history. 1
      The draft of the Declaration of Independence serves as an introduction to Jefferson for students in my discussion-oriented American history survey class. Their assignment is to write a 500-word essay on why Congress edited Jefferson's original document.5 While some students concentrate on the stylistic changes and comment on the ways in which groups edit documents, the conversation quickly turns to the substantial cuts that Congress made to the document. The deletions, of course, caused great consternation to Jefferson. He preferred his original, sending copies of his draft to his friends and placing it in his Autobiography.6 By concentrating on what Congress deleted, in addition to the text that remained, students gain a better understanding of the Imperial Crisis, emerging American nationalism, and, of course, Jefferson himself. 2
      Because most students have only encountered the final version of the Declaration of Independence, we start by briefly examining the nature of the committee Congress appointed to draft the nation's founding document.7 Next, we consider Jefferson's notion that the document should be presented orally.8 Students then translate Jefferson's first paragraph into modern verbiage (with "dude, we're leaving, here's why" being the most amusingly concise reconstruction of Jefferson's text). Finally, we examine Jefferson's interesting rhetorical decision in the first paragraph. Because students are quick to address the political philosophy expressed with the famous "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" section, asking them to consider the implications of his first paragraph forces them to explore further into the truly radical nature of the document. In positing that Americans are "one people" when plenty of evidence suggested otherwise, Jefferson staked a claim to American identity that was tenuous at best in the middle of 1776.9 3
      Moving to the second paragraph, students find much more familiar ground. Highlighting and explaining Jefferson's deist conception of god, his Enlightenment view of natural rights, and Lockean social contract theory, students who have carefully studied the Imperial Crisis begin to understand the intellectual context in which Jefferson crafted the document.10 They also gain a better understanding of Jefferson's self-effacing comment to Henry Lee that the document did not break new ground, but summarized the views of many founders.11 They also note Jefferson's desire to have these truths "admitted to the candid world" not only to justify the open act of rebellion, but also to seek allies in the ongoing struggle against the British.12 4
      Having studied the Imperial Crisis before this assignment, students then view the "He has" clauses of the Declaration as a review session. They grasp many of the references that Jefferson alludes to in his diatribe against the king. Temporarily setting aside events they recognize, students understand Jefferson's text as a typical history essay that they might have written—complete with a thesis (the declaration) some type of context (the relevant political philosophy), evidence (the "He has" clauses), and a conclusion (which restates the thesis that Congress has the right to declare America independent). When students consider how they edit their own papers, or how their teachers do, these young writers understand that evidence sometimes does not fit the thesis, that it might contradict the thesis, or that it is simply just plain inaccurate. Putting the Declaration in those terms, teachers allow students to understand that everyone needs an editor, that the "founding fathers" were not a unitary bunch, and that even Jefferson might stretch the truth to make a point. 5
      The first major deletion under review is Jefferson's discussion of slavery.13 While Jefferson's feelings on slavery are well elaborated upon by historians, Sally Hemings has not yet entered the minds of students reading the Declaration. Still, the imagery of a Virginia slaveholder critiquing slavery serves as a wonderful introduction to the issues that Jefferson would have with slavery through his life that we will examine later in the year. Student reactions range from "how could he say that?" to "why is he lying?" and "If he hated slavery that much, why did he keep slaves?" Putting those knotty and vexing questions aside is always difficult, but the delay is temporary and future assignments address those issues. Students approach Jefferson skeptically, and although he describes the king waging "cruel war against human nature," students see Jefferson butchering history, blaming the slave trade on the king, and painting the colonists as innocent bystanders. More accurately, slavery was of overwhelming importance in their societies, and South Carolina and Georgia refused to sign the document as written.14 Noting this, students discuss the efforts to construct American unity and understand the fragility of the tenuous bonds of union during the earliest days of the Revolution. We finish this section by connecting this conversation to previous ones about efforts at uncovering American identity and what it means to become American.15 6
      The next Congressional deletion occurs regarding Jefferson's construction of a mythical colonial past by which he can define American identity. Because he has adopted the social contract as an integral part of his thesis declaring American independence, Jefferson must construct a past that justifies America's break with Britain—a theory that he would introduce in other documents as well.16 After rereading the deleted section in class, students often appear puzzled. They do not recall early English colonization efforts in the manner Jefferson describes—a scenario in which colonists who came "unassisted by the wealth of the strength of Great Britain" had "adopted one common king." While some students will ask why Jefferson seems to have misremembered history, a bold student will finally claim that Jefferson is lying intentionally to make his point. Congress had to cut that section, the students conclude, because everyone knew the claims Jefferson rested his argument upon were simply wrong. 7
      If Jefferson's historical revisionism caused Congress to edit the aforementioned two sections, Jefferson's emotionally charged prose caused Congress to make the final large omission. Denouncing the British as "unfeeling brethren" and urging Americans "to forget our former love for them," Jefferson's rash rantings appear unconcerned with the necessary postwar reconciliation.17 Jefferson allowed his anger and vehemence toward the father figure of the empire, King George III, to weaken his overall argument with a sentimentalized social contract rather than a rights-based conception of the social contract as Congress created with the change.18 Familiar with how emotions intrude on logic in heated arguments, students envision Jefferson as a teenager angrily accusing his father of withholding paternal affection. When they envision Jefferson's (occasionally misguided and irrational) argument as analogous to arguments that they might occasionally make, students gain a greater understanding of this document and why Congress had to edit it carefully. 8
      With a good sense of Jefferson's thought process and political philosophy as expressed in the Declaration, students next encounter Jefferson's "Summary View of the Rights of British North America."19 Without knowing who wrote it or when it was written, students read an edited version of the document. From the thesis and fragments, their task is to figure out who wrote the piece, when the author penned it, and why the document opposes independence. After students have time to brainstorm answers in small groups, they report on their list of likely suspects and dates. With their guesses recorded on the board, they then critique the list. Allowing them to proceed with minimal guidance fosters not only their sense of historical inquiry, but also their creativity. 9
      Students generally start their suspect lists with other founders and framers—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin—and then move onto the Adams family—John, Sam, and Abigail. Invariably, someone guesses Jefferson, a choice other students might find mock-worthy. Students then turn to nameless, faceless targets: a loyalist, a member of parliament, a literate slave, someone opposed to Jefferson professionally and personally. Next, they try to establish the date. Some students correctly guess 1774, while others place the document as early as 1765. Some offer 1776, before and/or after the Declaration. Eventually, many dates between 1765–1777 make the list. Back in their small groups, students confer about their final guess. When they have stated and defended their best choices, I begin removing dates and terms from the class lists one at a time, asking students to employ a process of elimination and explain why these answers could not be right. Building as much suspense as this exercise can hold, I finally reveal the correct answers. Surprised at the author's identity, students inquire, "How could Jefferson change his mind in just two years?" The resulting discussion focuses not only on Jefferson's changing attitudes, but uses his thought process to explore the nature of the Revolution and American identity. 10
      Knowing that Jefferson changed his mind, students compare lines from the "Summary View" and the Declaration discussing his approach to human rights. Astute students note the same tone and voice in the document, despite the "Summary View" thesis that "it is neither our wish nor our interest to separate from her [Britain]." Once they know the author, they see the similarities in the arguments Jefferson uses about America's colonial founding, its adoption of a common king, and the introduction of slavery by the crown. Jefferson even evokes similar phrasing to establish the causes of Revolution: "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." When students understand that even Jefferson was not a foaming-at-the-mouth Revolutionary from the outset, they have a far better understanding of not only the radical nature of the Revolution, but of the patriots' cautious and often contentious approach to constructing American independence. Armed with that idea—that just because the nation exists today does not mean that the founding generation knew it would, or that they would even recognize it as such—students are well prepared to encounter Jefferson in other arenas throughout the year. 11
      Having seen the Revolution through Jefferson's own writing, students next encounter his attempt to define the west. His 1784 draft of the Northwest Ordinance, although never passed by Congress, presents students a chance to study how politics under the Articles of Confederation functioned, as well as how important the west was to Jefferson.20 As they scan the map that Jefferson drew, students observe how Jefferson named the places, blending past and present republican landmarks. Jefferson's conditions for acceptance in the union show students his thoughts for the nation in the 1780s as well as his conception of its future. This document also allows students to see how betrayed Jefferson felt with John Jay's 1786 treaty with Spain that was ultimately rejected by Congress because it would have harmed western expansion to the advantage of New England merchants who could trade in new Spanish ports.21 Students must grasp Jefferson's visions of the west to understand his concern with securing these principles won the Revolution. 12
      Students then discuss Jefferson's thoughts on the Constitution. Despite the fact that he was not at the Constitutional Convention, something students routinely do not know, Jefferson's letters written from France to James Madison are quite instructive as to the problems with the Constitution.22 Concerned with a Constitution that was lacking a Bill of Rights, Jefferson urged Madison to add protections "to guard the people against the federal government,"23 and extracted a promise from Madison that "it is probable they will be added."24 Using Jefferson in this context allows students to see events of the 1770s and 1780s the way that Jefferson encountered them: as an ongoing struggle between the center and peripheries over the way to organize the new nation and to safeguard rights for the American people.25 When students take a test on the Imperial Crisis and the Revolution, they might think that the material they have just covered will have little bearing on what is to come. But clearly, to Jefferson, the Revolution was the defining moment, the lens through which he would see all other political events in his lifetime. Students always need to be reminded that for Jefferson and his generation, the concerns of the Revolution endured. 13
      Nowhere is this feeling more intensified than the 1790s, with Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton ensconced in Washington's cabinet. From Hamilton's financial plans, to the Whiskey Rebellion and the French Revolution, Jefferson provides students fascinating insights, not only from cabinet reports, but also from his "Anas"—his collection of public and private papers that often revealed the inner workings of politics in the 1790s through what one historian called "the art of political gossip."26 Jefferson's commentary in the "Anas" shows the origins of the Federalist-Republican split, while his cabinet reports to Washington demonstrate his and Hamilton's diverging opinions on the methods to preserve the Revolution's legacy.27 Students of the early republic are well served reading commentary by Jefferson on the machinations of political culture in the early 1790s. 14
      Even Jefferson's commentaries after leaving office allow students to explore the development of political parties through the deepening ideological split with the nascent Federalists. While these disagreements were present in the debates over the Jay Treaty, attitudes again shift with the Kentucky Resolution of 1798, the Jeffersonian document students next encounter. Introducing the concept (although not the word) "nullification," Jefferson argued that states could prevent Congress from enacting unconstitutional laws. Though the idea ultimately failed to sway the remainder of the states, the document ties together strands of Jeffersonian thought that stem from the Imperial Crisis, connecting the periods for students. Echoing his sentiments in the Declaration, Jefferson writes that the states did not exist "on the principle of unlimited submission to their government."28 The Presidential election of 1800, then, gave Jefferson the chance to further his political goals and gives students another chance to glimpse into Jefferson's political thought. 15
      Jefferson's presidency commencing in 1801 expands the choices for student examination of documents. Taking care to note what he would later term "the revolution of 1800,"29 students read Jefferson's first inaugural address. Again, Jefferson the historian is rewriting the history of the 1790s to his advantage. Stating the disagreements of the 1790s were not of "principle" but of "opinion," Jefferson declares that "we are all republicans, we are all federalists."30 That line provides a wonderful opportunity to examine Jefferson's developing political thought. Students examine if he is (again) falsely claiming a unity that is not present, if he is goading the Federalists into a false sense of security, or even if he meant the capitalized version of the words, instead of the lowercase.31 The growing partisanship of the early republic also allows students an opportunity to explore the meaning of the Declaration in its time period, as many came to see Jefferson's long train of evidence against the king as too closely allied with the cause of the radical Jacobins of the French Revolution. Not until after the War of 1812 did the document, especially Jefferson's second paragraph, become celebrated by all parties across the political spectrum.32 Jefferson's presidency affords other opportunities to cover disparate subject matters. 16
      The Lewis and Clark exploration provides students the chance to see how much the west meant to Jefferson. Because they have already read his 1784 attempt to define the west, students have a better understanding of Jefferson's deep desire to secure the western lands for America. The ability to purchase land to ensure that virtuous, republican yeoman and Jeffersonian farmers might endure was a key to Jefferson's conception of the growing nation. Jefferson's authorization of the Lewis and Clark expedition was accompanied with detailed instructions.33 Perusing those, students come to see Jefferson not just as a politician, but as a natural scientist. 17
      Students revisit Jefferson's conception of himself as a scientist when discussing Jefferson and slavery.34 While some students are disappointed in Jefferson's advice to Edward Coles,35 many are shocked and saddened when reading selections from his "Notes on the State of Virginia." For some students, Jefferson's comments on "the preference of the Oranootan for the black woman over those of his own species" and his remark that blacks have a "very strong and disagreeable odor" finish him as a role model and a person worthy of study.36 Because they have encountered so much Jefferson to date, however, most students are intrigued to determine how Jefferson could wax eloquently about equality and concurrently hold slaves.37 Students struggle with their feelings toward Jefferson and with the knowledge that we all have difficulties matching our more formal writings with our thoughts. However, asking students to share their e-mails, text messages, and instant messages to see if they have likewise said and done anything inconsistent teaches them that, while Jefferson may seem inconsistent to us, we often seem just as inconsistent to each other. 18
      Once they learn about Jefferson's relationship with slave Sally Hemings, many students are full of questions about their relationship and its meaning for Jefferson. Students consider the writings he never composed (about Sally Hemings) and the writings he destroyed (letters to and from his wife) to see another side of Jefferson.38 Trying to teach about Jefferson and his relationship with these two women without the voluminous correspondence available as historical evidence is difficult, but nonetheless allows students an oblique glimpse into Jefferson's private life—apparently a part of his life that he did not consider fodder for future study, as he certainly understood that the rest of his life would be examined closely.39 19
      Continuing with subjects following Jefferson's retirement, students examine one final document: his 1820 letter to John Holmes in the midst of the Missouri Compromise. Noting that the demarcation of "a geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle," scared him "like a fire-bell in the night" and signaled the "knell of union," Jefferson evokes the wonderful imagery of holding a "wolf by the ears."40 He is clearly frightened for the future of his country, a theme which is the perfect introduction to antebellum American society for a survey class. Jefferson's words show students that, while the Civil War may not have been immediately on the horizon or even as predictable to the founding generation as it seems inevitable to modern students, some of the founders understood the implications of what future generations might do when the great republican experiment was fully in their hands after the revolutionary generation passed. As Jefferson himself had noted years earlier, "the earth belongs in usufruct to the living."41 We say good-bye to Jefferson with this letter, but his ghost continues to haunt our class for the months ahead. 20
      Just because Jefferson eventually no longer produced documents for students to examine does not mean we stop talking about him. Students notice Jeffersonian thought creeping into other documents. John Calhoun's appropriation of Jefferson's concept of nullification shows students that the past is prologue.42 The Seneca Falls Convention's rewriting of the Declaration of Independence for their purposes shows Jefferson's words could inspire others to stretch their meaning.43 Abraham Lincoln's skillful reinvention of the document—his blending of Jefferson's Declaration with Madison's Constitution at Gettysburg—allows students to revisit the hopes that Jefferson had for the nation and to see the ways in which Lincoln altered our modern understanding of the document.44 Deep Jeffersonian undercurrents also exist in the battles to reconstruct the nation after the Civil War.45 Examining the Populist desires to use seemingly Hamiltonian means to accomplish Jeffersonian ends in the 1890s and Franklin D. Roosevelt's identification with Jefferson while enacting Hamiltonian policies for Jeffersonian peoples allows students to see Jeffersonian thought linger well into the 20th century.46 Similarly, the growing importance of the Declaration in the context of world history gives teachers and students the chance to examine its influence on international independence movements since 1776.47 Given a solid Jeffersonian background, students often come up with their own connections and insights. While studying Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's later revelations about his disagreements with President Lyndon Johnson over American policy in Vietnam, one student suggested that if McNamara had felt that strongly that Vietnam was a mistake in 1965, he should have "pulled a Jefferson" and quit Johnson's cabinet. 21
      Armed with multiple Jeffersonian documents, students not only come to understand Jefferson in his time more effectively, but they also learn how other generations used Jefferson to their ends and how Jeffersonianism still shapes our discourse today. By introducing students to Jefferson's draft Declaration of Independence and his "Summary View," teachers can establish themes that their classes can return to throughout their study of the early republic and the remainder of the course. Voluminous scholarship and numerous primary source documents exist that enliven discussions and foster critical thinking about American history. Teaching Jefferson, then, shows students exactly what a survey course in American history ought to show them: how this nation and its people developed. 22


Notes

1.  The comments by the editors and the anonymous reviewers surely made this work stronger, and for that, I am grateful. I would also like to thank the helpful librarians and my stimulating colleagues at Burroughs. Finally, I am indebted to two of the best mentors anyone could wish for—Peter Onuf and John Snodgrass—for their contributions to this essay and beyond.

2.  Merrill Peterson, Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), viii. For other comments on the difficulty analyzing Jefferson, see Merrill Peterson, The Jefferson Image in the American Mind (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962); Andrew Burstein, The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995); Peter Onuf, The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007), 14.

3.  James Parton, Life of Thomas Jefferson (1874) as quoted in Peterson, Jefferson Image, 234.

4.  On teaching Jefferson, see Gordon Taylor, "Teaching History Students to Read: The Jefferson Scandal," The History Teacher 22 (August 1989): 357–374 and Harvard McLean and Michael Fuller, "A Man of His Times: An Inquiry Lesson," The History Teacher 20 (May 1987): 395–401.

5.  For the draft version, see Merrill Peterson, ed., The Portable Thomas Jefferson (New York: Penguin, 1975), 235–241. All Declaration quotes hereafter from Peterson.

6.  See Peterson, New Nation, 92, and Gary Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence (New York: Vintage, 1979), especially 307–309.

7.  On Jefferson's draft of the Declaration, see Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1948), 220–226 and Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York: Knopf, 1997), 97–143.

8.  Jay Fliegelman, Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language, and the Culture of Performance (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1993), 4–27.

9.  On Jefferson's conception of unity and identity, see Onuf, Mind of Thomas Jefferson, especially chapter three; Peter Onuf, Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000); and Peter and Nicholas Onuf, Federal Union, Modern World: The Law of Nations in an Age of Revolutions, 1776–1814 (Madison: Madison House, 1993).

10.  On the intellectual background of Jefferson's Declaration, see Carl Becker, The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1922), especially chapter two. See also Malone, Jefferson the Virginian, 220–226 and Peterson, New Nation, 79–96. On Jefferson and religion, see Paul Conkin, "The Religious Pilgrimage of Thomas Jefferson," in Jeffersonian Legacies, ed. Peter Onuf (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), 19–49.

11.  For the letter and a good example of Jefferson's handwriting, see Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825, <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc213p1.jpg>.

12.  On the Diplomacy of the Declaration, see Onuf, Mind of Thomas Jefferson, especially chapter three.

13.  On Congressional edits to Jefferson's work in general, see Wills, Inventing America. On the slavery edits in particular, see Wills, 66–68, 310–312.

14.  Peterson, New Nation, 91–92.

15.  On American identity, see Jon Butler, Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000).

16.  Wills, Inventing America, especially chapter six.

17.  Maier, American Scripture, 148–149.

18.  Wills, Inventing America, 303–304 and 310–314.

19.  The text of the "Summary View" can be found in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 3–21. All "Summary View" quotes hereafter are from Peterson. See also Stephen Conrad, "Putting Rights Talk in its Place: The Summary View Revisited," in Jeffersonian Legacies, ed. Peter Onuf (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), 254–280.

20.  For Jefferson's draft of the Northwest Ordinance, see Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 254–258. For a discussion of how this document displays Jefferson's vision of the west, see Peter Onuf, Statehood and Union: A History of the Northwest Ordinance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), especially chapters one and two.

21.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 415–418.

22.  Lance Banning, Jefferson and Madison: Three Conversations from the Founding (Madison: Madison House, 1995), chapter one.

23.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, July 31, 1788 in Ibid., 149.

24.  James Madison, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 17, 1788, in Ibid., 150.

25.  Jack Greene, Peripheries and Center: Constitutional Development in the Extended Polities of the British Empire and the United States, 1607–1788 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986), especially chapters eight and nine.

26.  Joanne Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), chapter two.

27.  For examples of Jefferson's cabinet report writing, see Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 261–280. On the debates of the early republic, see Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, Age of Federalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

28.  Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 281. On the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, see Dumas Malone, Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1962), chapter twenty-five.

29.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 562.

30.  Thomas Jefferson, "Inaugural Address," March 4, 1801, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 291–292.

31.  On the difference between the capitalized and lowercase versions of that line, see Peterson, New Nation, 656–657.

32.  On the impact of the Declaration in American and world history, see David Armitage, The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), especially 87–93.

33.  Thomas Jefferson, "Instructions to Captain Lewis," June 20, 1803, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 308–315.

34.  On Jefferson and slavery, see Paul Finkelman, "Jefferson and Slavery: 'Treason Against the Hopes of the World,'" in Jeffersonian Legacies, ed. Peter Onuf (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), 181–221 and John C. Miller, The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery (New York: Free Press, 1977).

35.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Coles, August 25, 1814, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 544–547.

36.  Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia," in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 189. Students read 184–193 in the "Laws" chapter and 214–215 in "Manners."

37.  By considering Jefferson's thoughts on nationhood, Peter Onuf argues that Jefferson's positions on slavery and freedom become more understandable. See Onuf, Jefferson's Empire, chapter five.

38.  On Jefferson and Hemings, see Annette Gordon-Reed, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997) and the essays in Jan Lewis and Peter Onuf, eds., Sally Hemings & Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1999).

39.  On Jefferson and writing, see Burstein, Inner Jefferson, chapters one and four.

40.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Holmes, April 22, 1820, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 568.

41.  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, September 6, 1789, in Peterson, Portable Jefferson, 445. For an examination of this letter, see Herbert Sloan, "'The Earth Belongs in Usufruct to the Living,'" in Jeffersonian Legacies, ed. Peter Onuf (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), 281–315.

42.  William Freehling, The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776–1854 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), chapters fourteen and fifteen; William Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816–1836 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 207–210; and Peterson, Jefferson Image, 52–63.

43.  Michael Goldberg, "Breaking New Ground: 1800–1848," in No Small Courage: A History of Women in the United States, ed. Nancy Cott (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 234–236.

44.  Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), especially 37–38, 85–89; and Wills, Inventing America, xiv–xvi.

45.  Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 109–115, 317–318.

46.  On the Populists and Jefferson, see Peterson, Jefferson Image, 257–258. On Roosevelt and Jefferson, see Peterson, Jefferson Image, 355–363.

47.  Armitage, in Declaration of Independence, provides a lengthy list of nations whose declarations of independence were influenced by the American one. See pp.145–155 for the list, and the pages that follow for representative examples.

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