Jefferson’s life is well documented in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, a projected 60-volume series containing not only the 18,000 letters written by Jefferson but also, in full or in summary, the more than 25,000 letters written to him. Including documents of historical significance as well as private notes not closely examined until their publication in the Papers, this series is an unmatched source of scholarship on the nation’s third president.
It’s all history.

1 January-10 May 1793
The dramatic escalation in the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to determine the future course of the new American nation is the main theme of this volume (25). Under pressure from other Republicans, Jefferson decides to continue as Secretary of State instead of retiring to Monticello at the end of President Washington’s first term. At the same time he begins to play a more active role as a Republican party leader, involving himself secretly in a major effort by House Republicans to have Hamilton dismissed from office by censuring his management of public finances. France’s declaration of war on Great Britain and the Netherlands leads Jefferson into a serious conflict with Hamilton over how to protect American neutrality in the face of the widening European war.

1 June 1800 to 16 February 1801
“I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all?” Thomas Jefferson muses in volume 32. His answer: “I do not know that it is.”
As the volume closes, the election is still unresolved after six long days of balloting by the House.

17 February to 30 April 1801
Under normal circumstances, Thomas Jefferson would have had more than two months to prepare for his presidency. However, since the House of Representatives finally settled a tied electoral vote only on 17 February 1801, he had two weeks. Volume 33, which covers the two-and-a-half-month period from that day through April 30, is the first of some twenty volumes that will document Jefferson’s two terms as President of the United States.

1 August to 30 November 1801 (Volume 35)
For the first two months covered by this volume, Thomas Jefferson is residing at Monticello, avoiding the “rather sickly” season in the nation’s capital. His mountaintop house finally has a roof and both daughters and their families come to stay with him. Using cowpox vaccine received from Benjamin Waterhouse, he undertakes what he calls “my experiment,” the systematic inoculation of family members and slaves against the smallpox.

1 December 1801 to 3 March 1802, Volume 36
The president receives a “Mammoth Cheese” as a token of esteem from the citizens of Cheshire, Massachusetts, and the letter from the Danbury Baptists arrives. In his famous reply to the Baptists, Jefferson states that “religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god.” Shortly after legislators arrive in town for the opening of Congress, he begins to entertain at the President’s House. He uses such occasions to bridge the divide between the executive and legislative branches and foster political understanding between Republicans and Federalists. As he moves into his second year as president, he is optimistic about his legislative program and the Republican majority in Congress.

Happy Birthday, Jefferson!
History lives on:

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