Thomas Jefferson : Reputation and Legacy

This work is a sophisticated new study of Jefferson's life and legacy.

This book is concerned with Thomas Jefferson and history - both as something that Jefferson made or was subjected to, and as something he made considerable efforts to influence in terms of its judgement of him: he was acutely aware that he would be judged by posterity.

It begins by situating Jefferson's ideas about history within the context of eighteenth-century historical thought, and then considers the efforts Jefferson made to shape the way the history of his life and times would be written: through the careful preservation of most of his personal and public papers, and through the institutions he left behind: his home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia.

The second half of the book considers the results of Jefferson's efforts to shape historical writing, which have continued to be produced ever since his death.

Earlier political questions have been replaced by arguments over race, class and gender, and recent scholarship has examined Jefferson's attitudes and actions with regard to Native Americans, African slaves, women and civil liberties, and found him wanting.Jefferson has continued to be a controversial figure: DNA testing proving that he fathered children by his slave Sally Hemings perhaps encapsulating this best of all.