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Thomas Jefferson: Writings

Autobiography | Notes on the State of Virginia | Public and Private Papers | Addresses | Letters More

Edited by Merrill Peterson

“[T]he lucid and elegantly phrased prose in these pages is the reflection of a sophisticated and well-read man. The energy of his convictions enlivens for contemporary readers many of the debates central to the founding of the United States… Dipping into this collection of public and private writings, the reader derives an extraordinary intimacy with Jefferson. You cannot fail to admire him.” — Los Angeles Herald Examiner

Overview
News & Views
Table of Contents

Overview

News Thomas E. Ricks: My immersion in Library of America’s editions
November 11, 2020

Interviews Thomas Jefferson’s Education: Alan Taylor on the troubled origins of “Mr. Jefferson’s University”
November 6, 2019

Interviews Jefferson’s Daughters: Catherine Kerrison measures the chasm between the rhetoric and reality of revolution
February 1, 2018

Now fully represented in this Library of America volume is the most comprehensive testimony of the writings of our third president and foremost spokesperson for democracy. Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant political thinker, is perhaps best known for the Declaration of Independence, but he was a man of extraordinarily wide interests.

He was exceptionally controversial in his own time, and many of his ideas remain the subject of national debate. In his arguments for a system of general education, for local rather than central authority, for caution in international affairs, for religious and intellectual freedom, and for economic and social justice, Jefferson defined the issues that still direct our national political life centuries after the nation’s formation. This volume will give readers the opportunity to reassess one of our most influential presidents.

Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address is a resounding statement of faith in a democracy of enlightened people. His Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) is an invaluable record of the landscape, inhabitants, life, and daily customs of America in the Revolutionary and early national eras. His letters, more than two hundred and fifty of which are gathered here, are brilliant urbane missives to such men as Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Lafayette, John Adams and James Madison. His slim Autobiography (1821), written “for my own more ready reference, and for the information of my family,” hardly hints at the influence and impact he had as Secretary of State under George Washington, Minister to France, opposition-party Vice President to John Adams, and, after leaving the presidency, founder of the University of Virginia.

His public papers and addresses fully demonstrate both the breadth of his interests and the power of his expressive mind. Extensively read (his personal library of ten thousand volumes became the foundation of the Library of Congress) and widely traveled, Jefferson wrote with ease and spontaneity about science, archaeology, botany and gardening, religion, literature, architecture, education, the habits of his fellow citizens, and, of course, his beloved home, Monticello.

Jefferson’s prose has an energy, clarity, and charming off-handedness, consistent with his conviction that style in writing should impose no barrier between the most educated and the most common reader. For those who want a renewed sense of the opportunity for human freedom that the United States represented to its founders, this is an indispensable book.

Merrill D. Peterson (1921–2009), volume editor, was professor of history at the University of Virginia. His books include Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography, Lincoln in American Memory, and Starving Armenians: America and the Armenian Genocide, 1915–1930 and After.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

Thomas Jefferson: Writings is kept in print by a gift from Martin E. Segal to the Guardians of American Letters Fund.
News & Views

News Thomas E. Ricks: My immersion in Library of America’s editions
November 11, 2020

Interviews Thomas Jefferson’s Education: Alan Taylor on the troubled origins of “Mr. Jefferson’s University”
November 6, 2019

Interviews Jefferson’s Daughters: Catherine Kerrison measures the chasm between the rhetoric and reality of revolution
February 1, 2018

Interviews Friends Divided: Gordon S. Wood on the complicated relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
October 26, 2017

News Updating a life: The case of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
August 17, 2017
Table of Contents

Autobiography
A Summary View of the Rights of British America
Notes on the State of Virginia

Public Papers
Resolutions of Congress on Lord North’s Conciliatory Proposal (1775)
Draft Constitution for Virginia (1776)

Revisal of the Laws: Drafts of Legislation
A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1777, 1779)
A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments (1778, 1779)
A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge (1778)
A Bill Declaring Who Shall Be Deemed Citizens of this Commonwealth (1779)

Report on Government for Western Territory (1784)
Observations on the Whale-Fishery (1788)
Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures (1790)
Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank (1791)
Opinion on the French Treaties (1793)
Report on the Privileges and Restrictions on the Commerce of the United States in Foreign Countries (1793)
Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions (1798)
Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia (1818)
Memorial on the Book Duty (1821)
From the Minutes of the Board of Visitors, University of Virginia (1822-1825)
Draft Declaration and Protest of the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the Principles of the Constitution of the United States of America, and on the Violations of them (1825)

Addresses, Messages, and Replies
Response to the Citizens of Albemarble, February 12, 1790
First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
To Elias Shipman and Others, a Committee of the Merchants of New Haven, July 12, 1801
First Annual Message, December 8, 1801
To Messrs. Nehemiah Dodge and Others, a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, in the State of Connecticut, January 1, 1802
Third Inaugural Address, October 17, 1803
Second Inaugural Address, March 1805
Sixth Annual Message, December 2, 1806
Special Message on the Burr Conspiracy, January 22, 1807
Special Message on Gun-Boats, February 10, 1807
Eigth Annual Message, November 8, 1808
To the Inhabitants of Albemarle County, in Virginia, April 3, 1809

Indian Addresses
To Brother John Baptist de Coigne, June 1781
To Brother Handsome Lake, November 3, 1802
To the Brothers of the Choctaw Nation, December 17, 1803
To the Cheifs of the Cherokee Nation, January 10, 1806
To the Wolf and People of the Mandan Nation, December 30, 1806

Miscellany
Reply to the Representations of Affairs in America by British Newpapers (1784)

Answers and Observations for Démeunier’s article on the United States in the Encyclopédie Methodique
1.From Answers to Démeunier’s First Queries, January 24, 1786
The Confederation
Broils among the states
2. From Observations on Démeuniert’s Manuscript, June 22, 1786
Indented servants
Crimes and punishments
The Society of Cincinnati
Populations the continent
3. To Jean Nicolas Démeunier, June 26, 1786
Thoughts on English Prosody (1786)
Travel Journals

A Tour to some of the Gardens of England (1786)
Memorandums on a Tour from Paris to Amsterdam, Strasburg, and back to Paris, (1788)
Travelling notes for Mr Rutledge and Mr Shippen (1788)

The Anas (1791-1806)—Selections
The Explanations, February 4, 1818
Conversations with the President, 1792-1793
“Liberty warring on herself,” August 20, 1793
Conversations with Aaron Burr, 1804-1806
Notes on Professor Ebeling’s Letter of July 30, 1795
A Memorandum (Service to my Country) c. 1800
A Memorandum (Rules of Etiquette) c. November, 1803
Epitaph (1826)

Letters
John Harvie, January 14, 1760: A youth of sixteen
John Page, December 25, 1762: Old Coke and young ladies
John Page, May 25, 1766: A visit to Annapolis
Thomas Turpin, February 5, 1769: The study of law
Robert Skipwith, with a List of Books, August 3, 1771: A gentleman’s library
Charles McPherson, February 25, 1773: The sublime Ossian
William Small, May 7, 1775: News from Boston
John Randolph, August 25, 1775: Reconciliation or independence
Edmund Pendleton, August 13, 1776: Saxons, Normans, and land tenure
Edmund Pendleton, August 26, 1776: The Virginia Constitution
John Adams, May 16, 1777: First letter to Adams
Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778: “the favorite passion of my soul”
David Rittenhouse, July 19, 1778: “a true whig in science”
Patrick Henry, March 27, 1779: War and humanity
J. P. G. Muhlenberg, January 31, 1781: The traitor Arnold
Lafayette, March 10, 1781: Welcome to the Marquis
George Washington, May 28, 1781: Appeal to the Commander in Chief
James Monroe, May 20, 1782: Limits of public duty
Chastellux, November 26, 1782: “A single event …”
Martha Jefferson, November 28, 1783: Advice to a young daughter
George Rogers Clark, December 4, 1783: The Mammoth and Western exploration
Martha Jefferson, December 11, 1783: More advice
Chastellux, January 16, 1784: American “politics & poverty”
George Washington, March 15, 1784: Western commerce
George Washington, April 16, 1784: The Society of the Cincinnati
Dr. Philip Turpin, April 28, 1784: Hot-air balloons
Richard Price, February 1, 1785: “nil desperandum”
Chastellux, June 7, 1785: On American degeneracy
James Monroe, June 17, 1785: Some thoughts on treaties
Abigail Adams, June 21, 1785: Royal scandal and third-rank birds
Virginia Delegates in Congress, July 12, 1785: A statue of Washington
Peter Carr, August 19, 1785: “An honest heart…a knowing head”
John Jay, August 23, 1785: Commerce and sea power
James Madison, with a List of Books, September 1, 1785: Books for a statesman
Chastellux, September 2, 1785: Climate and American character
James Madison, September 20, 1785: “this beautiful art”
Abigail Adams, September 25, 1785: Mars and Minerva
Charles Bellini, September 30, 1785: The vaunted scene
G. K. van Hogendorp, October 13, 1785: British hostility, American commerce
John Banister, Jr., October 15, 1785: On European education
James Madison, October 28, 1785: Property and natural right
Archibald Stuart, January 25, 1786: “Our confederacy … the nest”
William Buchanan and James Hay, January 26, 1786: A Roman temple for Virginia
James Madison, February 8, 1786: The Notes, Houdon, and the Encyclopédie
John Page, May 4, 1786: British arts and British hatred
John Adams, July 11, 1786: War on Barbary
George Wythe, August 13, 1786: “a crusade against ignorance”
Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., August 27, 1786: Education of a future son-in-law
Ezra Stiles, September 1, 1786: Archaeology, Ledyard, a new invention
Maria Cosway, October 12, 1786: “Dialogue between my Head & my Heart”
St. John de Crèvecoeur, January 15, 1787: Homer, New Jersey farmers, and the wheel
Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787: “The people are the only censors …”
James Madison, January 30, 1787: Rebellion, secession, and diplomacy
Anne Willing Bingham, February 7, 1787: “the empty bustle of Paris”
Abigail Adams, February 22, 1787: “a little rebellion now and then”
Madame de Tessé, March 20, 1787: The Maison Carrée
Lafayette, April 11, 1787: The rewards of travel
Martha Jefferson, May 21, 1787: “the grand recipe for felicity”
John Adams, July 1, 1787: Affairs of diplomacy
Maria Cosway, July 1, 1787: “a peep…into Elysium”
Peter Carr, with Enclosure, August 10, 1787: “the homage of reason”
John Adams, August 30, 1787: Revolt of the Nobles
Buffon, October 1, 1787: A moose from New Hampshire
William S. Smith, November 13, 1787: The new Constitution
John Adams, November 13, 1787: More on the Constitution
James Madison, December 20, 1787: Objections to the Constitution
Alexander Donald, February 7, 1788: A strategy on ratification
Maria Cosway, April 24, 1788: “a son of nature”
Anne Willing Bingham, May 11, 1788: “Amazons and Angels”
The Rev. James Madison, July 19, 1788: “the crumbs of science”
St. John de Crèvecoeur, August 9, 1788: “a monopoly of despotism”
George Washington, December 4, 1788: Commerce, war, and revolution
Richard Price, January 8, 1789: Convening the Estates General
John Trumbull, February 15, 1789: Bacon, Locke, and Newton
Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789: “neither federalist nor antifederalist”
James Madison, March 15, 1789: A bill of rights
Joseph Willard, March 24, 1789: Science and liberty
John Jay, May 9, 1789: A report from Versailles
Rabout de St. Etienne, with Draft of a Charter of Rights, June 3, 1789: A charter for France
Diodati, August 3, 1789: “the first chapter…of European liberty”
James Madison, September 6, 1789: “the earth belongs to the living”
Madame d’Enville, April 2, 1790: Adieu to France
John Garland Jefferson, June 11, 1790: Reading the law
Mary Jefferson, June 13, 1790: Whippoorwills and strawberries
Samuel Vaughan, Jr., November 27, 1790: Rice from Timor and Africa
Martha Jefferson Randolph, December 23, 1790: “a scolding letter”
George Mason, February 4, 1791: A heretical sect
Ebenezer Hazard, February 18, 1791: Monuments of the past
The Rev. William Smith, February 19, 1791: Memories of Franklin
Major L’Enfant, April 10, 1791: Capitol on the Potomac
Charles Carroll, April 15, 1791: A note on Indian policy
The President of the United States (George Washington), May 8, 1791: Burke, Paine, and Mr. Adams
Thomas Mann Randolph, June 5, 1791: A northern tour
John Adams, July 17, 1791: Breach of a friendship
Benjamin Banneker, August 30, 1791: Hope for “our black brethren”
Archibald Stuart, December 23, 1791: Strengthening the state governments
The President of the United States (George Washington), May 23, 1792: “a stepping stone to monarchy”
Lafayette, June 16, 1792: “the monster aristocracy”
Thomas Paine, June 19, 1792: The Rights of Man
The President of the United States (George Washington), September 9, 1792: The conflict with Hamilton
The [CF1]U.S. Minister to France (Gouverneur Morris), December 30, 1792: “The will of the nation”
William Short, January 3, 1793: Paean to the French Revolution
James Madison, March 24, 1793: Peaceable coercion
James Madison, May 19, 1793: The gallant Genet
James Madison, June 9, 1793: The debt of service
Mrs. Church, November 27, 1793: “my family, my farm, and my books”
Tench Coxe, May 1, 1794: “lucerne and potatoes”
James Madison, December 28, 1794: Whiskey rebels and democratic societies
John Taylor, December 29, 1794: Farming
François D’Ivernois, February 6, 1795: The Geneva Academy
James Madison, April 27, 1795: Abjuring the presidency
Jean Nicolas Démeunier, April 29, 1795: A nail-maker
Mann Page, August 30, 1795: Rogues and a treaty
George Wythe, January 16, 1796: The laws of Virginia
John Adams, February 28, 1796: “an age of experiments”
Philip Mazzei, April 24, 1796: “the boisterous sea of liberty”
James Madison, with Enclosure to John Adams, January 1, 1797: An entente with Adams
Elbridge Gerry, May 13, 1797: “perfectly neutral and independent”
Thomas Pinckney, May 29, 1797: Peace and commerce
Martha Jefferson Randolph, June 8, 1797: Domestic affections
John Taylor, June 4, 1798: Patience and the reign of witches
Philip Nolan, June 24, 1798: Wild horses
Samuel Smith, August 22, 1798: Sufferance of calumny
Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799: A profession of political faith
Thomas Lomax, March 12, 1799: “The spirit of 1776”
William Green Munford, June 18, 1799: Freedom of mind
Edmund Randolph, August 18, 1799: Common law and the will of the nation
Dr. Joseph Priestley, January 18, 1800: Ideas for a university
Dr. Joseph Priestley, January 27, 1800: “a sublime luxury”
John Breckinridge, January 29, 1800: The 18th Brumaire
Bishop James Madison, January 31, 1800: Illuminatism
Gideon Granger, August 13, 1800: “a few plain duties”
Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800: “I have sworn upon the altar of God”
William Dunbar, January 12, 1801: “Philosophical vedette” at a distance
John Dickinson, March 6, 1801: The revolution of 1800
Dr. Joseph Priestley, March 21, 1801: Something new under the sun
Moses Robinson, March 23, 1801: Wisdom and patriotism
Elbridge Gerry, March 29, 1801: Reconciliation and reform
The U.S. Minister to France (Robert R. Livingston), September 9, 1801: “free ships make free goods”
James Monroe, November 14, 1801: Interchangeable parts
The Governor of Virginia (James Monroe),[epNovember 24, 1801: African colonization
P. S. Dupont de Nemours, January 18, 1802: Limits of the practicable
Anne Cary, Thomas Jefferson, and Ellen Wayles Randolph, March 2, 1802: “to be loved by every body”
General Thaddeus Kosciusko, April 2, 1802: The progress of reform
The U.S. Minister to France (Robert R. Livingston), April 18, 1802: The affair of Louisiana
Benjamin H. Latrobe, November 2, 1802: Dry-docking the navy
Thomas Cooper, November 29, 1802: “a noiseless course”
The Special Envoy to France (James Monroe), January 13, 1803: Crisis on the Mississippi
Benjamin Hawkins, February 18, 1803: Civilization of the Indians
Governor William H. Harrison, February 27, 1803: Machiavellian benevolence and the Indians
Dr. Joseph Priestley, April 9, 1803: Jesus, Socrates, and others
Dr. Benjamin Rush, with a Syllabus, April 21, 1803: The morals of Jesus
Instructions to Captain Lewis, June 20, 1803: Expedition to the Pacific
Sir John Sinclair, June 30, 1803: A national agricultural society
The Earl of Buchan, July 10, 1803: Peace founded on interest
Pierre J. G. Cabanis, July 12, 1803: Philosophy and blasted hopes
John C. Breckinridge, August 12, 1803: The Louisiana Purchase
Wilson Cary Nicholas, September 7, 1803: A constitutional amendment
Dr. Joseph Priestley, January 29, 1804: Jesus, Louisiana, and Malthus
Jean Baptiste Say, February 1, 1804: Malthus and the New World
Abigail Adams, June 13, 1804: Grief and grievances
Judge John Tyler, June 28, 1804: Freedom of the press
Larkin Smith, November 26, 1804: “the office of hangman”
Littleton Waller Tazewell, January 5, 1805: Blueprint of the University
John Taylor, January 6, 1805: The two-term precedent
C. F. de C. Volney, February 8, 1805: Climate, fevers, and the polygraph
C. F. de C. Volney, February 11, 1806: News of Captain Lewis
Joel Barlow, February 24, 1806: A National Academy
The Emperor Alexander, April 19, 1806: Courting Alexander
Dr. Edward Jenner, May 14, 1806: A tribute of gratitude
Barnabas Bidwell, July 5, 1806: Schism and the majority leadership
William Hamilton, July, 1806: Gardens for Monticello
John Dickinson, January 13, 1807: Discontents in the West
William Waller Hening, January 14, 1807: Laws of Virginia
Governor William C. C. Claiborne, February 3, 1807: Lessons of the Burr Conspiracy
William Branch Giles, April 20, 1807: The Burr trial
John Norvell, June 14, 1807: History, Hume, and the press
George Hay, June 20, 1807: A subpœna for the President
Dr. Caspar Wistar, June 21, 1807: “unlearned views of medicine”
Robert Fulton, August 16, 1807: Torpedoes and submarines
Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808: Religious freedom
Dr. Thomas Leib, June 23, 1808: “subjects for a mad-house”
Lacépède, with a Catalogue, July 14, 1808: Bones for the National Institute
Monsieur Sylvestre, July 15, 1808: Ploughs
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, November 24, 1808: Education of a grandson
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, December 1, 1808: Sowing the upland rice
James Monroe, January 28, 1809: “last trial for peace”
John Hollins, February 19, 1809: The republic of science
Henri Gregoire, February 25, 1809: The Negro race
P. S. Dupont de Nemours, March 2, 1809: “a prisoner, released from his chains”
Mrs. Samuel H. Smith, March 6, 1809: A parting blessing
Horatio G. Spafford, May 14, 1809: The potato and Harper’s Ferry
John Wyche, May 19, 1809: Circulating libraries
P. S. Dupont de Nemours, June 28, 1809: “the spirit of manufacture”
John W. Campbell, September 3, 1809: An edition of writings
Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, September 21, 1809: Indian vocabularies
Samuel Kercheval, January 19, 1810: American Quakerism
John Garland Jefferson, January 25, 1810: Nepotism and the republic
CÆsar A. Rodney, February 10, 1810: Prostration of reason
Governor John Langdon, March 5, 1810: “the book of Kings”
Messrs. Hugh L. White and Others, May 6, 1810: “an academical village”
The President of the United States (James Madison), May 13, 1810: A plan for the Merinos
John Tyler, May 26, 1810: Schools and “little republics”
William Duane, August 12, 1810: Hume and Montesquieu
John B. Colvin, September 20, 1810: A law beyond the Constitution
Dr. Benjamin Rush, January 16, 1811: Relations with Adams
John Lynch, January 21, 1811: “the seeds of civilization”
A. L. C. Destutt de Tracy, January 26, 1811: The executive office
Alexander von Humboldt, April 14, 1811: The Latin American revolutions
Charles Willson Peale, August 20, 1811: “a young gardener”
Dr. Robert Patterson, November 10, 1811: Reprise: weights, measures, and coins
John Adams, January 21, 1812: Reconciliation
John Adams, June 11, 1812: Concerning the Indians
General Thaddeus Kosciusko, June 28, 1812: War with England
John Melish, January 13, 1813: “a radical difference of political principle”
Madame de Stae[zs=Ul, May 24, 1813: Tyrants of land and sea
John Adams, June 15, 1813: Light and liberty and the parties
John Wayles Eppes, June 24, 1813: Debt, taxes, banks, and paper
Isaac McPherson, August 13, 1813: No patents on ideas
John Waldo, August 16, 1813: A “ductile and copious” language
[el11][j747]John Adams, October 12, 1813: The code of Jesus
John Adams, October 28, 1813: The natural aristocracy
Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813: “a hemisphere to itself”
Madame de Tessé, December 8, 1813: War and botanical exchanges
Dr. Walter Jones, January 2, 1814: The character of Washington
Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814: Christianity and the common law
Dr. John Manners, February 22, 1814: Classification in natural history
N. G. Dufief, April 19, 1814: The censorship of books
Thomas Law, June 13, 1814: The moral sense
John Adams, July 5, 1814: Bonaparte and Plato
Edward Coles, August 25, 1814: Emancipation and the younger generation
Peter Carr, September 7, 1814: A system of education
Samuel H. Smith, September 21, 1814: A library for Congress
William Short, November 28, 1814: A just but sad war
Lafayette, February 14, 1815: War, revolution, and restoration
George Watterston, May 7, 1815: Library classification
Benjamin Austin, January 9, 1816: Manufactures
Charles Thomson, January 9, 1816: “a real Christian”
John Adams, January 11, 1816: Your prophecy and mine
Joseph C. Cabell, February 2, 1816: The ward system
John Adams, April 8, 1816: “Hope in the head … Fear astern”
P. S. Dupont de Nemours, April 24, 1816: “constitutionally and conscientiously democrats”
Corrèa da Serra, April 26, 1816: Captain Lewis’s papers
John Taylor, May 28, 1816: The test of republicanism
Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816: Reform of the Virginia constitution
Mrs. Samuel H. Smith, August 6, 1816: “never an infidel, if never a priest”
Tristam Dalton, May 2, 1817: Horizontal ploughing
Lafayette, May 14, 1817: Era of good feelings
François de Marbois, June 14, 1817: “the flatteries of hope”
Nathaniel Burwell, March 14, 1818: Female education
Wells and Lilly, April 1, 1818: The classical press
Nathaniel Macon, January 12, 1819: Inflation and demoralization
Dr. Vine Utley, March 21, 1819: Habits of “a hard student”
Samuel Adams Wells, May 12, 1819: Setting the record straight
John Brazier, August 24, 1819: The value of classical learning
Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819: Limits to judicial review
Nathaniel F. Moore, September 22, 1819: Greek pronunciation
William Short, with a Syllabus, October 31, 1819: “I too am an Epicurean”
John Holmes, April 22, 1820: “a fire bell in the night”
William Short, August 4, 1820: Jesus and the Jews
John Adams, August 15, 1820: The University, neology, and materialism
Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820: Judicial subversion
Albert Gallatin, December 26, 1820: The Missouri question
Francis Eppes, January 19, 1821: Bolingbroke and Paine
General James Breckinridge, February 15, 1821: The University and the schools
Jedidiah Morse, March 6, 1822: A dangerous example
Justice William Johnson, October 27, 1822: Seriatim opinions and the history of parties
Dr. Thomas Cooper, November 2, 1822: Religion and the University
John Adams, April 11, 1823: Calvin and cosmology
Justice William Johnson, June 12, 1823: The Supreme Court and the Constitution
John Adams, September 4, 1823: “rivers of blood must yet flow”
John Adams, October 12, 1823: “The best letter that ever was written …”
The President of the United States (James Monroe), October 24, 1823: The Monroe Doctrine
Jared Sparks, February 4, 1824: A plan of emancipation
Dugald Stewart, April 26, 1824: Professors from abroad
Major John Cartwright, June 5, 1824: Saxons, constitutions, and a case of pious fraud
William Ludlow, September 6, 1824: The progress of society
Lafayette, October 9, 1824: Return of the hero
Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825: Counsel to a namesake
Henry Lee, May 8, 1825: The object of the Declaration of Independence
The Honorable J. Evelyn Denison, M.P.,November 9, 1825: The Anglo-Saxon language
Ellen Randolph Coolidge, November 14, 1825: A gift to a granddaughter
William Branch Giles, December 26, 1825: Consolidation!
James Madison, February 17, 1826: “Take care of me when dead”
James Heaton, May 20, 1826: Nunc dimittis on slavery
Roger C. Weightman, June 24, Last letter: Apotheosis of liberty

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