Thomas Jefferson and the Science of Republican Government
A Political Biography of Notes on the State of Virginia

This analysis of Thomas Jefferson's only published work demonstrates the political aspirations behind its composition, publication and dissemination.

Dustin Gish (Author), Daniel Klinghard (Author)

9781107157361, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 April 2017

348 pages, 1 table
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

'Gish and Klinghard make their case thoroughly, drawing on in-depth knowledge of the scholarship on Notes, Enlightenment science and scientific polemics, and the political history of the United States in the years they say constitute the book's political biography. The benefit of their serious, thoughtful, imaginative scholarship becomes evident in the culminating section on Jefferson and Madison, perhaps the most thought provoking and thus rewarding section of the book.' David Tucker, The Review of Politics

This biography of Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, his only published book, challenges conventional wisdom by demonstrating its core political thought as well as the political aspirations behind its composition, publication and initial dissemination. Building upon a close reading of the book's contents, Jefferson's correspondence and the first comprehensive examination of both its composition and publication history, the authors argue that Jefferson intended his Notes to be read by a wide audience, especially in America, in order to help shape constitutional debates in the critical period of the 1780s. Jefferson, through his determined publication and distribution of his Notes even while serving as American ambassador in Paris, thus brought his own constitutional and political thought into the public sphere - and at times into conflict with the writings of John Adams and James Madison, stimulating a debate over the proper form of Republican constitutionalism that still reverberates in American political thought.

Introduction
Part I. Origins and Influences: 1. The composition history of Jefferson's Notes
2. The formal structure of Jefferson's Notes
Part II. Interpretation: 3. Reading the Notes, part I nature
4. Reading the Notes, part II cautious philosophy
5. Reading the Notes, part III peoples and constitutions
6. Reading the Notes, part IV Republican reforms
Part III. Publication and Reception: 7. The publication history of Jefferson's Notes
8. Jefferson, Adams, and the view of rebellion from abroad
9. Jefferson, Madison, and Republican constitutionalism
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Political ideologies [JPF], Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP], American War of Independence [HBWF], History of the Americas [HBJK]