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Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy

Online ISBN:
9780748670697
Print ISBN:
9780748624997
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Book

Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy

Published online:
20 September 2012
Published in print:
14 September 2006
Online ISBN:
9780748670697
Print ISBN:
9780748624997
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy is the first major study of Jefferson's reputation in half a century. It is concerned with Jefferson-both as something Jefferson made and something he sought to shape. Jefferson was acutely aware that he would be judged by posterity and he sought to influence how he would be viewed. Jefferson believed that the political struggles of his lifetime would continue after his death, and he sought to influence them from the grave in order to safeguard his vision of a republican future for the United States. This book begins with an assessment of Jefferson's understanding of history before tracing the ebb and flow of Jefferson's reputation since his death. It pays particular attention to the period since the Second World War when historians adopted a more critical view of Jefferson, especially with regard to the question of race and slavery. It considers the political and historiographical controversy over Jefferson's relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings.

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