Thomas Jefferson

While Jefferson is responsible for a voluminous body of literature, this is the first time an editor has focused principally on his comments regarding war and revolution. The format of the selected letters, as Jefferson wrote them, is preserved whenever possible, and they are presented for the interest of a general readership as well as for students of military, diplomatic, or political history. The addressees are identified, particularly those who have been lost to history, and, where indicated, explanatory notes are provided to assist the reader in placing the correspondence in its particular historical, political, or conceptual context; readers are encouraged to arrive at their own conclusions as to the intention of a particular piece of correspondence.