Jefferson's Notes on Virginia

Abstract

W A [ORTHY of re-examination during the bicentenary of Thomas Jefferson is his earliest and best-known work, the the State of Virginia. All students of Jefferson have necessarily referred to it; some, indeed, seem to have studied it before pronouncing evaluations more or less acceptable. The origin of the Notes is partly traced in the Autobiography, which was prepared in I82I, but one must go far beyond this if the book is to be made understandable. This siall volume is mainly the product of Jefferson's late thirties, before tenure of high governmental office turned his geographical interests into other and even more productive channels. Hence a critique of the Notes, however exhaustive, cannot provide the full measure ofJefferson as a geographer or as a promoter of geography. Jefferson's description of Virginia traces back to notations of the kind often entered in booksjournals for the preservation of excerpts from publications, oral reports, and fragments of personal observation. Men of learning sometimes used them also to clarify thought matters they considered important. The maintenance of a commonplace book required thought and attention during leisure hours, such a book reflecting more discrimination than its near relative, the scrapbook. The journal of commonplaces, although less intimate than the diary, nevertheless contributes to an understanding of the man who kept it: Nathaniel Bowditch, for example, leaned toward problems of mathematics and navigation. The versatile Jefferson ranged widely, for, to use his own words; had always made it a practice, whenever an opportunity occurred of obtaining information about our country, which might be of use to me in my station, public or private, to commit it to writing.' This was not a bound volume but consisted of memoranda on loose papers, bundled up without order, and difficult of recurrence when I had occasion for a particular one. Jefferson did maintain journals more consistent with his methodical habits, but they were devoted largely to political and legal matters.2

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