Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, APS 1780) was a philosopher, governor of Virginia, founder of the University of Virginia, author of the Declaration of Independence, and president of the United States. He served as vice-president of the American Philosophical Society from 1791 to 1794, and president from 1797 to 1814.

Jefferson was born in 1743 at Shadwell, in what became Albermarle County, Virginia. His father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor, and his mother was Jane Randolph. Upon his father's death in 1757 Jefferson inherited an estate of 5,000 acres and the slaves to work it. As a boy Jefferson received a classical education in local schools which were both run by two ministers, William Douglas and James Maury. In 1760 he enrolled at the College of William and Mary, where his studies included natural and moral philosophy. Jefferson recalled later that three men played particularly influential roles during this time. They included William Small (1734-1775), the college's professor of natural philosophy from whom Jefferson said, "I got my first views of the expansion of science & of the system of things in which we are placed." Another mentor was the lawyer George Wythe (1726?-1806), with whom Jefferson formed a life-long, close friendship. The third major influence on young Jefferson was the royal governor Francis Fauquier (1703?-1768). Fauquier regularly opened his official residence to gatherings of his circle of friends that included Small, Whyte and Jefferson. After two years of study at the college, Jefferson spent the next five years reading law under Whyte, whom he called his "earliest and best friend."

After his admittance to the bar in 1767, Jefferson entered upon a successful legal practice. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton; the couple eventually had six children, two of whom reached adulthood. The next year he doubled his property with the death of his father-in-law to include over 10,000 acres and about 180 slaves. He had also embarked on a project that would occupy him for the rest of his life, the construction of Monticello, a modified Palladian villa he was building on top a densely wooded mountain near Charlottesville, Virginia. This and his other architectural works, including the Virginia Capital, his home "Poplar Forest," and the University of Virginia, were built in the tradition of the Renaissance Italian Andrea Palladio. Jefferson acquired his understanding of architecture the way he acquired most of his knowledge, through books.

In the meantime, Jefferson had launched a political career that would make him one of the most prominent of the so-called Founding Fathers. It began with his election in 1768 to the House of Burgesses, where he soon became an outspoken critic of imperial policies in the colonies. In 1774 he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America in which he used legal arguments and the language of "natural rights" in his denial of the right of Parliament to legislate over the colonies. In 1775 he was elected to the Second Continental Congress at Philadelphia. In the early summer of 1776, he was appointed to lead a five-man committee to draft a declaration of independence. Even though two of the committee members, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, were more experienced and better known, the task of drafting the document fell to him for political reasons and because he possessed a "peculiar felicity of expression." Congress debated Jefferson's declaration for two and a half days in the beginning of July 1776 before approving a revised version.

In the fall of 1776 Jefferson returned to Virginia as a member of the newly constituted House of Delegates. Here he focused on revising the state constitution that had been adopted during his absence. Jefferson was particularly proud of the Statute of Religious Freedom that he drafted in 1777 and that was, after much delay, enacted in 1786. Based on the belief that religion was a matter of private conscience, the law offered neither protection nor support for religion by the state. Another one of his major reforms, however, ended in failure. His Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge (1778) was defeated in 1785. The plan called for a comprehensive system of public education designed to help create a citizenry that would be prepared to bear the rights and responsibilities that came with membership in a republic.

Another issue that Jefferson was deeply concerned with was slavery. He was a slaveholder all his adult life and, unlike some of his fellow Virginia planters who, like George Washington, publicly acted on their antislavery views by freeing their slaves, he freed only a handful during his life and in his will. Jefferson's views on slavery are complicated by his long-term relationship with his slave and deceased wife's half-sister Sally Hemings, with whom he fathered as many as six children. There is no doubt that Jefferson hated slavery; however, he hated it primarily for its effects on what it did to (white) republican society. While he often stated that slaves should be freed, he also argued that any plans for emancipation had to be followed by the removal of free African Americans from the United States. Ultimately, his economic dependence on the labor of slaves, fear of racial violence, and profound racism help explain why he never publicly advocated abolition. Slavery, he famously wrote, was like "holding the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let go."

In 1779 Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia, a difficult post given its weak powers during particularly trying times. In 1781 the British invaded the state, forcing the government to abandon Richmond for Charlottesville. Early the next year, Jefferson, whose term had expired but whose successor had not yet been elected, was forced to flee from Monticello from the approaching British. The House of Delegates subsequently heaped more humiliation on Jefferson when it voted to inquire into his conduct. In the end, the legislature did not censure him and passed a customary resolution of thanks for his services.

Nevertheless, Jefferson was deeply stung by the criticism, and he decided to quit politics for good. He retired to Monticello where he focused on "domestic and literary objects." During this period Jefferson wrote his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia, which was published in 1785. The book, which grew out of a series of questions posed by the French legation to the United States, makes evident Jefferson's manifold interests in the natural sciences. His discussions included detailed descriptions of the American continent that were primarily designed to counter European claims of American biological inferiority and decay. Jefferson was especially eager to refute the theory of American degeneracy that had been proposed by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788, APS 1768). In his widely popular Histoire Naturelle, Buffon argued that the American climate produced an "animated Nature [that] is weaker, less active, and more circumscribed in the variety of her productions" than its European counterpart. In his book Jefferson included detailed discussions of American animals, complete with tables listing their average weights, in order to disprove the Comte's claims. He also included a discussion of Native Americans, who he believed had the same potential as Europeans.

In 1782 the death of his wife Martha plunged Jefferson into a state of depression. "A single event wiped away all my plans," he wrote in a letter to the Marquis de Chastellux, "and left me a blank which I had not the spirits to fill up." It ended only with his return to Congress in November 1783 and appointment to a commission to negotiate treaties of commerce with European states. Jefferson resided in France from 1784 to 1789, a five-year period he considered among the happiest of his life. His official duties did not hinder him from immersing himself in Parisian culture, including its art, music and theater. He traveled to Italy, France, the Netherlands, England, and the Rhineland not just on official business but also to acquire knowledge that might prove beneficial to his own nation, including ingenious inventions like phosphorous matches and a mold to make spaghetti. Despite the restraints of his official position, Jefferson was a great supporter of the French Revolution which he saw as an extension of the American. "Here," he declared, "is but the first chapter in the history of European liberty."

In 1789 Jefferson went home to the United States for what he anticipated to be a temporary stay. However, instead of returning to Paris, he accepted the appointment by President Washington as the nation's first Secretary of State. His main tasks were the settlement of Anglo-American issues left over from the Treaty of Paris and the further expansion of American commerce, which he associated with a strengthened French alliance. He was also concerned with pacification of the Native Americans, and with the manipulation of American neutrality in European wars to advance American national interests. His efforts to achieve commercial liberation, strengthen the alliance with France, and support revolution abroad were met with opposition by the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804, APS 1780), whose system relied on trade and friendship with Britain. Hamilton's financial plan, which included a national bank, funding of the debt, and subsidies for American manufactures, contributed to the emergence of a political opposition led by Jefferson and Madison. As the division between the so-called Federalists and Republicans deepened, Jefferson was attacked as an enemy of the administration. Jefferson, in turn, labeled Hamilton and his supporters as "Anglican" and "monarchical." The divisions between the two parties threatened American peace when war between England and France broke out in 1793. However, Washington issued a declaration of neutrality and Jefferson acquiesced, especially after the French minister Edmond Genet defied the American president's declaration by openly seeking American support for France.

Jefferson left office and returned to Monticello at the end of 1793. He focused on agricultural improvements and simple manufactures, such as a nailery, and also on improvements of Monticello. In 1796 he was once again called out of retirement when his party nominated him as their presidential candidate against John Adams. Jefferson lost to Adams, placing him in the awkward position of Vice President and political opponent to the president. The late 1790s marked a critical period in American history that not only brought the nation to the brink of war but also resulted in intensely partisan struggles that deepened the divisions in the American Congress and people. In 1798 Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts that were designed to silence and punish political opponents; Jefferson responded by secretly writing the Kentucky Resolutions, which pronounced these laws to be unconstitutional.

In 1800 Jefferson defeated Adams and Aaron Burr in the presidential election. Anxious to leave the partisan divisions behind and restore harmony he pronounced in his inaugural address "We are all republicans--we are all federalists." For Jefferson, his election marked a return to the ideals of the Revolution that had been abandoned during the previous decade. He called his election "the revolution of 1800;" it was a revolution in the principles of government as that of 1776 had been in form.

The major accomplishment during Jefferson's first term was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling the size of the United States. Even before the purchase Jefferson had been planning a voyage of discovery across the continent to the Pacific. At the time, Jefferson was six years into what would be a seventeen year term as president of the American Philosophical Society, and he took full advantage of the expertise of its members to help in the preparations of the expedition. Jefferson had been elected to the APS in 1780, and he had long been a supporter of scientific inquiry and exploration. From 1781 to 1786 he served as a councilor of the Society, and even though his official duties prevented him from taking an active part in the organization's affairs, he convinced the Society in 1783 that David Rittenhouse (1732-1796, APS 1768) should make an orrery to be presented to the King of France. Jefferson regarded himself as a champion and representative of American science, and he wanted to bring with him to Europe a very tangible piece of evidence for the scientific genius of America.

In 1791 Jefferson was elected vice president of the Society, a position he held until 1794. During this period he once again took advantage of his connection to the Society to promote an enterprise that he considered to be of great public service but that the government would not sponsor. In 1793 he enlisted the members to support the French botanist André Michaux (1749–1802) in his quest to "find the shortest & most convenient route of communication between the U.S. & the Pacific Ocean." Jefferson was forced to withdraw support before the expedition got underway when he learned that Michaux intended to aid the French Minister Genet in his efforts to arouse support for France. Still, Jefferson shared with the Society a commitment to the promotion of science, and in 1797, he was elected president of the Society. That the membership held Jefferson in high esteem is reflected in their rejection of his two offers of resignation, the first after the relocation of the seat of government to Washington, and the second in 1808, shortly before his retirement to Monticello.

In 1803 Jefferson did not hesitate to turn once again to its members in his quest to launch a scientific expedition. He chose his personal secretary Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809, APS 1803) as the leader of what he called the "exploring party," and sent him to Philadelphia to consult with five members of the APS to acquire the necessary skills for making scientific observations. After spending several weeks at the Lancaster home of Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820, APS 1785), Lewis received instruction from Robert Patterson (1743-1824, APS 1783), Wistar, Benjamin Rush (1745-1813, APS 1768), and Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815, APS 1789). In the meantime, the Society's secretary John Vaughan worked to obtain the necessary instruments to make scientific recordings. "The object of your mission," Jefferson wrote in his detailed instructions to Lewis, "is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course & communication with the water of the Pacific ocean may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce." He asked him to record observations "with great pains & accuracy to be entered distinctly, & intelligibly for others as well as yourself." Lewis selected William Clark to be co-captain of the so-called Corps of Discovery, and in July 1803 he set out from Washington, D.C. to meet Clark in what was then the Indiana Territory. For the next three years, the Corps gathered extensive information about the geography, natural resources, and inhabitants on their journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The APS was rewarded for its support of the successful expedition when it became a major repository for many of the collected specimens and the original journals. Indeed, over the years Jefferson gave many objects to the Society; in 1819 the members thanked him for the "many important MSS. Documents, calculated to throw light on the history of our country, on the customs, manners, and languages of the Indian nations, and various other interesting national subjects." The Society was especially grateful for his donation of "several as yet unedited MSS. volumes of scientific notes and observations by Messrs. Lewis and Clark." Jefferson resigned as president of the Society in 1817; the next year the members honored him with election as one of the councilors, an office he retained until his death in 1826.

Jefferson was easily reelected as president of the United States in 1804; however, his second term turned out to be less triumphant. The outbreak of renewed warfare in Europe once again threatened American peace. As a neutral nation, the United States insisted on free trade with the belligerent nations, including Britain and France. However, each of these two powers demanded that the United States cease trade with its enemy. Britain in particular violated American neutrality by impressing American seamen, sending British ships into American waters, and seizing American vessels. Jefferson ultimately decided to attain concessions through economic sanctions. The embargo of American commerce and navigations was enacted by Congress in December 1807. This experiment in "peaceable coercion," which lasted for almost a year, failed to reach its objectives. In fact, rather then leading to improvements in foreign relations, the economic effects of the trade restrictions as well as the efforts by the administration to enforce them produced primarily domestic discontentment. The embargo was repealed toward the end of his administration; three years later the United States went to war with Britain.

In 1809 Jefferson, who did not seek reelection for a third term, retired to Monticello. There he was surrounded by his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, known as Patsy, her husband Thomas Mann Randolph (1768-1828, APS 1794), and their children. In 1810 he described a typical day to a friend, "From breakfast to dinner [midafternoon], I am in my shops, my garden, or on horseback among my farms; from dinner to dark, I give to society and recreation with neighbors and friends; and from candle light to early bed-time, I read." In 1815 his library numbered around 6,000 volumes. He carried on an extensive correspondence with many individuals, writing about a wide variety of subjects, from political topics to scientific questions, from Indian languages to agriculture. He also drafted a memoir of his life to 1790, wrote a number of essays, and translated two works from the French. He completed what became known as the Jefferson Bible in which he tried to identify the real Jesus amid the corruptions introduced by theologians and ministers. Jefferson was a deist who regarded Jesus as a great moral leader rather then a divine figure.

In the mid-1810s Jefferson once again turned to one of his most important causes, public education. Even though a comprehensive plan was again rejected by the Virginia state legislature, Jefferson succeeded in gaining approval for a state university. The University of Virginia was chartered in 1819. Jefferson designed the buildings, including the "academical village," helped recruit a faculty, drafted the curriculum, and acquired a library. In his epitaph, which he wrote himself, he chose to be remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and as the Father of the University of Virginia.

Jefferson's final years were beset by financial problems that ultimately resulted in his bankruptcy. He was also troubled by the course of national politics, warning that the Missouri Compromise was a "fire bell in the night." He died at Monticello at the fiftieth anniversary of independence, on July 4, 1826.

The collection represents a variety of letters written to, from and about Thomas Jefferson. Originally bound together as a volume, the correspondence was unbound in 1977. The page numbers are maintained in the call number suffixes found for each item.

This collection consists almost entirely of letters, mostly written by Jefferson, to various people. The largest portion of the letters are from Jefferson to Louis Hue Girardin concerning the latter's work in completing The history of Virginia: from its first settlement to the present day, Volume 4 . Of particular interest is Jefferson's notes on his colleges' role in that history, including the plot to establish a dictator of Virginia. The letters to Girardin also include discussions of plants, the building of the University of Virginia, and books.

The letters as a whole cover a large number of topics including the study of various Native American tribes, the American Philosophical Society, the transfer of Jefferson's personal library to Washington to form the Library of Congress, and current political affairs. In a letter from 1814, Jefferson writes: "Of the stories flying abroad of the burning of Washington, I believe nothing. They may be true, but are not the more likely for being reported. When Washing is in danger we shall see Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, like the doves from the ark, first messenger of the news... P.S. Since writing this I receive information undoubted that Washing is burnt."

Other, non correspondence include an abstract of the travels of Alexander von Humboldt and an obituary notice for Jefferson from the Richmond newspaper.

Originally bound in a volume, the correspondence have since been unbound, and the page numbers have been retained as unique call number suffixes for each of the 65 items.

Physical description

63 Items.

Early American History Note

This is a particularly rich collection of Thomas Jefferson's letters from his retirement years. The letters primarily cover the years 1813-1820s, although there are some from earlier. Most of the letters are outgoing, and L. H. Girardin is the primary recipient. The letters to Girardin often discuss Virginia's history and sometimes Jefferson's own recollections of events, including letters on Virginia during the American Revolution and a supposed attempt to create a dictatorship in Virginia in 1776. Some letters also convey information on contemporary events and offer a window into Jefferson's personal and family life. A few letters from 1791 discuss Jefferson's memory of Benjamin Franklin, including anecdotes of Franklin in France. One document is a draft of a profile of Baron Humboldt. A series of letters to Peter Du Ponceau discuss Thomas Jefferson's attempt to acquire a copy of William Byrd's "A Secret History of the Line" and, once acquired, his interpretation of it. Another portion discusses the journals of Lewis and Clark.

• General Correspondence
• Political Correspondence

• Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen, 1760-1844
• Girardin, Louis Hue, 1771-1825
• Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
• Vaughan, John, 1756-1841
• Wistar, Caspar, 1761-1818

• American Revolution
• Colony and State Specific History
• Exploration.
• Native America
• War of 1812