Thomas Jefferson (1743 1826) was the third United States President (1801 9) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. An advocate of republicanism, he envisioned America as an 'Empire of Liberty' that would strive to promote freedom around the world. First published in 1853 4, this nine-volume edition of Jefferson's writings shows the breadth of his intellectual and political interests. His autobiography, letters, diaries and political memoranda reflect a life lived at the centre of pivotal events, including the French and American Revolutions, and the founding of a new...

Thomas Jefferson (1743 1826) was the third United States President (1801 9) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. An advocate of republicanism, he envisioned America as an 'Empire of Liberty' that would strive to promote freedom around the world. First published in 1853 4, this nine-volume edition of Jefferson's writings shows the breadth of his intellectual and political interests. His autobiography, letters, diaries and political memoranda reflect a life lived at the centre of pivotal events, including the French and American Revolutions, and the founding of a new...

Thomas Jefferson (1743 1826) was the third United States President (1801 9) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. An advocate of republicanism, he envisioned America as an 'Empire of Liberty' that would strive to promote freedom around the world. First published in 1853 4, this nine-volume edition of Jefferson's writings shows the breadth of his intellectual and political interests. His autobiography, letters, diaries and political memoranda reflect a life lived at the centre of pivotal events, including the French and American Revolutions, and the founding of a new...

Thomas Jefferson (1743 1826) was the third United States President (1801 9) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. An advocate of republicanism, he envisioned America as an 'Empire of Liberty' that would strive to promote freedom around the world. First published in 1853 4, this nine-volume edition of Jefferson's writings shows the breadth of his intellectual and political interests. His autobiography, letters, diaries and political memoranda reflect a life lived at the centre of pivotal events, including the French and American Revolutions, and the founding of a new...

Scottish-born Alexander Mackay (1808 52) spent much of his career as a journalist in North America. He was in Britain working for the Morning Chronicle when, in January 1846, he set sail again for the United States, this time to report on the debates over the Oregon question, relating to British and American claims to territory in the Pacific North-West. He spent several months in Washington, D.C. before travelling around the country as far south as the Mississippi, and west to the Great Lakes. This three-volume work, published in 1849, uses his journey to frame a general account of 'the...

Originally published in 1808, this work had long been out of print before being revived in this 1876 edition, which is enhanced by a biography of the author by her godson. A poet, letter-writer and essayist, Anne Grant (1755 1838) lived in America between the ages of three and thirteen, after which her family returned to Scotland. Described by the author as a 'miscellany of description, observation and detail', the book paints a charming picture of New York life in the idyllic world of pre-revolutionary America. Grant blends memories of her childhood in Albany with biographical details of her...

Benjamin Franklin (1706 90) is best known as an American revolutionary politician, but he also excelled as a printer, journalist and natural philosopher despite having little formal education. As a statesman, he was the only person to sign all three major documents of American statehood: the Declaration of Independence, the peace treaty with Britain, and the United States constitution. This three-volume set, first published in 1874, was compiled from Franklin's autobiography (covering the period up to 1857) and autobiographical passages from correspondence and other writings. Using Franklin's...

Benjamin Franklin (1706 90) is best known as an American revolutionary politician, but he also excelled as a printer, journalist and natural philosopher despite having little formal education. As a statesman, he was the only person to sign all three major documents of American statehood: the Declaration of Independence, the peace treaty with Britain, and the United States constitution. This three-volume set, first published in 1874, was compiled from Franklin's autobiography (covering the period up to 1857) and autobiographical passages from correspondence and other writings. Using Franklin's...

William Howard Russell (1820 1907) was a nineteenth-century war correspondent for The Times. In 1861 2 he visited America to report on the secession crisis that had followed Abraham Lincoln's campaign to abolish slavery, in which eleven southern states had withdrawn from the United States to form their own confederacy, resulting in the American Civil War. First published in 1863, this two-volume work recounts Russell's experiences there. Based on his interviews with Lincoln, other pivotal figures, and ordinary citizens, together with his diaries and his letters to The Times, it documents his...

The Cornish-born traveller and writer James Silk Buckingham (1786 1855) campaigned energetically for social reform while a Member of Parliament during the 1830s. He later spent four years in North America, and in 1839 travelled on to Canada to investigate its social and economic landscape. In this revealing account, first published in 1843, Buckingham recalls his experiences in the Eastern provinces. He found the Canadians to be civilized, hospitable, hard working and unfailingly loyal to Britain (unlike the independent Americans, who he reports they despised). He also encountered evidence of...