The rating is for the historical relevance and prose quality. If I were to evaluate all of the ideas, I'd have to give it four stars. Jefferson's thought is both better and worse than I remembered. It is worse because he was not as consistent an advocate of freedom as I remembered; he used "democracy" in an honorific context and endorsed the will of the majority (with no further context or elaboration). It is better because he explicitly advocated the Enlightenment advocacy of reason that, consistently practiced, leads to individual liberty (and not the majority rule of a democracy). (Metaphysically, he was less consistent and more Deist than I thought.) Adrienne Koch and William Peden's notes are instructive, highlighting passages struck from the Declaration of Independence and elaborating on Jefferson's correspondents.

Jefferson is one of my heroes. I've become an expert of sorts having 10 volumes on this great American. The only thing this Renaissance man seemed to lack was humor. This book has a selection of letters and writings that are quintessential to understanding the man rather than the myth.

Provides a greater insight into his views, in the form of letters to a wide variety of persons, including John Adams.

His views on blacks expressed in letters on p.544 and p.586 contradict the opinions of negativists who superficially view Jefferson and jump to conclusions.

The Notes on Virginia is a geographical treatise on the state, p.177 on.

Even his autobiography is included in this book.

It should be required reading for all college students, to gain insight and background into a founder.

I bought this book in Monticello. Its a great book

Excellent. Oh, the beauty of the prose! Includes the "Summary View of the Rights of British America", "Notes on Virginia", his letters, and others.

Like Monticello, many of these writings are unfinished rough drafts for a larger autobiography that was never finished. As such, the prose stylings are more like notations and detailing of proper nouns and events than an attempt at narration. Nonetheless, it is an important collection of personal and journalistic accounts of events in Jefferson's life.

I enjoyed reading this text. Jefferson was without doubt the most eloquent and literate founding father, and the best writer among them.

"Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong."

- Notes on Virginia 1782

"Few châteaux; no farm-houses, all the people being gathered in villages. Are they thus collected by that dogma of their religion, which makes them believe, that to keep the Creator in good humor with His own works, they must mumble a mass every day?"

- Travel Journals 1787

"On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example."

- The Character of George Washington 1814

The 1944 edition is a relic all on its own, and worth the five stars from the stellar introduction by Koch and Peden. If you're trying to figure out what kind of man Jefferson was, the introduction, the autobiography, and the letters really give a three-dimensional look.

If, because Jefferson was flawed, you discredit his accomplishments or if, because he was an intellectual giant, you pretend that he had no mistaken ideas, this is the book for you. I learned so much about botany, the English language, the French Revolution, the true character of other prominent Americans, and even the origins of the song "Mac the Knife" from this book that reading it enriched my life.

The more I read about Jefferson, the more I got to like him. His story and writing style are both quite interesting, but as it got on I found my interest waning once past the autobiography and into the various short documents of the public papers and letters.

While challenging to read in the writing style of the 1700-1800's, it would have been a disservice to paraphrase as the text gives insight into the thinking of this man beyond the words. It amazed me at how many of his observations on government during the formative years are spot-on in many of today's current issues.

Some of his letters expressed his fear and forboding of the development of a governmental aristocratic class, and it seems in some ways we have that today.

This is an excellent exploration into the mind of one or our most influential Framers.