Jefferson Abroad

by Thomas Jefferson

In July 1784, Thomas Jefferson, recently appointed to represent the American Congress in Paris, sailed from Boston with his daughter Martha, bound for France. Jefferson was eventually installed in a house on the Champs-Elysées, where he set about enjoying the special attractions of Paris. He went to galleries and concerts and entertained widely; he made note of the urban engineering and the beauty of Parisian architecture; and he browsed assiduously in local bookstores. Jefferson also made trips around the country and across western Europe, all the while taking notes on what he saw: the soil, crops, livestock, buildings, wine,
and local politics and customs.
        Fortunately, Jefferson, who was to become
the third president of the United States in 1801, recorded his impressions in his voluminous correspondence and journals. He wrote to Abigail and John Adams, James Madison, George Washington, and also to a number of women friends and his children, so a variety of styles and levels of intimacy adds to the fascination of these accounts.
        This volume has been selected from Jeffer-
son's letters by Douglas L. Wilson and Lucia Stanton, scholars of the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, who have provided a Preface and Notes. In the opinion of the editors, the five years that Jefferson spent in France were arguably the most memorable of his life. "By the time he returned to America in 1789," they write, "Paris--with its music, its architecture, its savants and salons, its leanings and enlightenments, not to mention its elegant social life and distinctive sexual mores--had worked its enchantments on this rigidly self-controlled Virginia gentleman, and had stimulated him to say and do and write remarkable things."

338 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Following the American Revolutionary War and prior to becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, and produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. His writings and advocacy for human rights, including freedom of thought, speech, and religion, served as substantial inspirations to the American Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War in which the Thirteen Colonies succeeded in breaking from British America and establishing the United States as a sovereign nation.
During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia at the Second Continental Congress and served as the second governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. In 1785, Congress appointed Jefferson U.S. minister to France, where he served from 1785 to 1789. President Washington then appointed Jefferson the nation's first secretary of state, where he served from 1790 to 1793. During this time, in the early 1790s, Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the nation's First Party System. Jefferson and Federalist John Adams became both friends and political rivals. In the 1796 U.S. presidential election between the two, Jefferson came in second, which made him Adams' vice president under the electoral laws of the time. Four years later, in the 1800 presidential election, Jefferson again challenged Adams, and won the presidency. In 1804, Jefferson was reelected overwhelmingly to a second term.
As president, Jefferson assertively defended the nation's shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies, promoted a western expansionist policy with the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation's geographic size, and was able to reduce military forces and expenditures following successful negotiations with France. In his second presidential term, Jefferson was beset by difficulties at home, including the trial of his former vice president Aaron Burr. In 1807, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act to defend the nation's industries from British threats to U.S. shipping, limiting foreign trade and stimulating the birth of the American manufacturing industry. Presidential scholars and historians praise Jefferson's public achievements, including his advocacy of religious freedom and tolerance, his peaceful acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France, and his leadership in supporting the Lewis and Clark Expedition; they give radically differing interpretations of his views on and relationship with slavery.
Jefferson is ranked by both scholars and in public opinion among the upper-tier of American presidents.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally don't write reviews mainly because I would rather spend that time starting my next book. So, I suppose you could say that if I do review a book, I either really enjoyed it or was completely turned off by it.

That said, I read this book quite a few years ago. It was a complete fluke that I even found it. I never heard of the book so I wasn't even looking for it. I was in the stacks at my library and was actually looking for another book and the title caught my eye.

I had read about the trips Jefferson had taken overseas but never in detail. I've always been an admirer of Jefferson because I believe we have one big quality in common- an insatiable desire of books. I have always been incredibly interested in the books he obtained over the years as well as information he gathered. Such as his Farm Book(which I HIGHLY recommend). Jefferson was a lover of knowledge, learning things. I am the same way. So, in turn, reading books about someone the lived his life this way is almost like having a friend who enjoys the same interests- be it a long dead friend, a sort of long-distance friendship.

I won't review the book, that's what the summary already given is for, but I do suggest reading this book. Especially if you are a fan of Thomas Jefferson.

[Harriett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures and "diary" make me want to leave for Southern France immediately!