Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (1785)
“From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 28 October 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/ud04. DEAR SIR, — Seven o’clock, and retired to my fireside, I have determined to enter into conversation […]
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Legislature of Vermont (1807)
I received in due season the address of the legislature of Vermont, bearing date the 5th of November, 1806, in which, with their approbation of the general course of my […]
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
“An Act for establishing religious Freedom.” Encyclopedia Virginia, Primary Documents. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/96jb. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by […]
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association (1802)
“Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists,” Information Bulletin June 1998, Library of Congress. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/bqdb. GENTLEMEN, The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards […]
Inaugural Address (1805)
Thomas Jefferson, Inaugural Address Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/202013 PROCEEDING, fellow citizens, to that qualification which the constitution requires before my entrance […]
Annual Message to Congress (1803)
Thomas Jefferson, “Thomas Jefferson, October 17, 1803, Annual Message,” in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Thomas Jefferson, 1803, The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of […]
Opinion on the French Treaties
“IV. Opinion on the Treaties with France, 28 April 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/vmoe. I PROCEED, in compliance with the requisition of the President, to give an opinion in writing […]
Autobiography: On the Bill Establishing Religious Freedom
“Jefferson’s Autobiography,” The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/73r6. The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in […]
Notes on the State of Virginia: Query 15
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (London: John Stockdale, 1787), 249-258. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/i1an. Query 15: The colleges and public establishments, the roads, buildings, &c.? The college of William and Mary is […]
Notes on the State of Virginia: Query 14
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (London: John Stockdale, 1787), 214-249. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/db7h. Query 14: The administration of justice and description of the laws? The state is divided into counties. In […]