AmericanSphinx

For Edmund S. Morgan CONTENTS Title Page Dedication Preface and Acknowledgments Prologue. Jeffersonian Surge: America, 1992–93 1. Philadelphia: 1775–76 2. Paris: 1784–89 3. Monticello: 1794–97 4. Washington, D.C.: 1801–04 5. Monticello: 1816–26 Epilogue. The Future of an Illusion Appendix. A Note on the Sally Hemings Scandals Notes Copyright PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ANY ASPIRING BIOGRAPHER of Jefferson, recognizing the ink already spilled and the libraries already filled, might do well to recall the young Virginian’s famous words of 1776. Which is to say that no one should undertake yet another book on Thomas Jefferson for “light and transient causes.” In fact “prudence dictates” and “a decent respect of the opinions of mankind requires” that the publication of all new books about that man from Monticello be accompanied by a formal declaration of the causes that have impelled the author to undertake the effort. My own defense would begin over thirty years ago, when I entered graduate school at Yale to study early American history. It is impossible to avoid Jefferson while attempting to master the story of the American Rev......