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Aug. 17, 2019

3.01 – Jefferson Pre-Presidency Part One

3.01 – Jefferson Pre-Presidency Part One

Year(s) Discussed: 1612-1774

From his birth in Albemarle County, VA, Thomas Jefferson’s personality and public career began to take shape through his education at William and Mary, and his introduction to the world of politics in colonial Virginia. Along the way, he would be influenced by family members and mentors and would in turn start to impact his own young family, his neighbors, those individuals he enslaved, and the course of events in British North America.

Special thanks to Chris Flynn of the Number 10 Podcast for providing the intro quote for this episode!

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  • Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988 [1987].
  • Gordon-Reed, Annette, and Peter Onuf. “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination. New York and London: Liveright Publishing, 2016.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To John Harvie, 14 January 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0001. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, 1760–1776, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, p. 3.] [Last Accessed: 2 Jul 2019]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 24 November 1808,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-9151. [Last Accessed: 24 Jun 2019]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To William W. Hening, 25 July 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0305. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004, pp. 369–370.] [Last Accessed: 3 Jul 2019]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 6 Jan.-29 July 1821, 6 January 1821,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-1756. [Last Accessed: 24 Jun 2019]
  • Kierner, Cynthia A. Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello: Her Life and Times. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2018-2019. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian: Jefferson and His Time, Volume One. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1948.
  • Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. New York: Random House, 2012.
  • Peterson, Merrill D, ed. The Portable Thomas Jefferson. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.


Featured Image: “Rebuilt Wren building with Italianate towers c. 1859” [1875], courtesy of Wikipedia