Peter S. Onuf

Thomas Jefferson, the Classical World, and Early America, edited by Peter S. Onuf and Nicholas P. Cole is a collection of essays from various classical scholars that attempts to flesh out the degree of influence classicism had on Jefferson, both personally and politically. This is no easy task, as the architect of Monticello, one of the most famous examples of neo-classical buildings in early America, and the scholar who was fluent in both Greek and Latin, in a letter to John Adams, “ridiculed Plato’s Republic; and in other correspondence, he dismissed the importance and refused to bemoan the loss of major portions of Aristotle’s Politics,” (56). Evidently, Thomas Jefferson’s views on the relevance and importance of classicism was at best conflicted.


This collection contains ten essays broken down into two parts: Jefferson’s Classical World and Classical Influences. By keeping the focus broad the editors have done an excellent job of allowing the authors to present a vivid picture of the intellectual world of the Revolutionary period. Because of this, we are able to place Jefferson’s worldview within the context of his peers, and what emerges is a Jefferson who is not inline with many of his contemporaries in terms of classical thought.

Giving a thoughtful review of a collection of essays which cover such a scope as this, which ranges from such topics as classical moral theory, to childrearing and education, to an analysis of George Washington as Cincinnatus, to Aristotle and King Alfred, and to Pericles in America is challenging to say the least. However, the editors have again done an excellent job at collating these diverse essays into an insightful whole, which generally paints a cohesive picture of a Jefferson who, while personally enamoured with classical language, writings and architecture, none the less views ancient political theory with suspicion. While the individual authors in this book may disagree about whether the classics were foundational or illustrative for Jefferson, the overall books allows for a more open-ended dualistic answer.

For the rest of this review check out my book blog ~http://stevebrady.tumblr.com/
… (mais)

I’ll give it a three because the light it sheds on Jefferson’s character outweighs my dissatisfaction with it’s literary merit. The “Empire of the Imagination” of the subtitle seems to refer not only to the glorious republic that Jefferson imagined the new nation could become, but also to the self-image he cultivated, which was often at odds with reality. He extolled the virtues of home life, wherein, he thought were cultivated the spirit of fellowship and civility and moral values that would be the bedrock of the national comity. He often wrote about the central place that home played in his life. Yet he only spent a handful of years actually living in Monticello, and most of that time was in what he considered to be an illicit relationship with a slave. On that biggest question, that of slavery, he recognized its evil, yet came to an accommodation with it, thinking that he could ameliorate it with kindness, and wishfully thinking that his countrymen would quickly come to appreciate its corrosive effect on them and, thus, disavow it. He was a sensitive poet, who may have been out of place in politics, and I love him for his poetry, for his love and care for humanity, which has inspired us, but which, I suspect partly because of the excessive optimism he brought to bear on the practical matters of state, we have fallen short of.… (mais)

If there's a Declaration of Independence buff on your holiday shopping list, you might consider a beautiful new book from the University of Virginia Press. Declaring Independence: The Origin and Influence of America's Founding Document (2008), features a selection of excellent full-color images from the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection at UVa's library, a quartet of essays by notable Declaration scholars, and biographical sketches of the signers.

Edited by Christian Y. Dupont and Peter S. Onuf (who wrote the introduction), the book includes a preface by David McCullough and a short epilogue by retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In the essays Pauline Maier and Robert M.S. McDonald examine the question of the Declaration's authorship, Robert G. Parkinson takes a close look at the bill of indictments against the King (the 'meat and potatoes' of the document), and David Armitage discusses the role of the Declaration in subsequent struggles for independence across the world.

The essays are mostly distillations of larger works (Maier's American Scripture; McDonald's articles "Thomas Jefferson's Changing Reputation as Author of the Declaration of Independence" and "Thomas Jefferson and Historical Self-Construction: The Earth Belongs to the Living?"; Armitage's The Declaration of Independence: A Global History), and they serve as decent short introductions to the relevant questions and (hopefully) as a gateway into those more detailed studies. The highlight of Declaring Independence is the gallery of images, which include some of the very rare printings of the Declaration from the period immediately following its adoption as well as some of the elaborate decorative engravings done during later periods.

Exquisitely designed and produced, this book should serve as a long-lasting catalogue of a fascinating collection of Declaration materials.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-declaring-independence.html… (mais)