This volume inaugurates the definitive edition of papers from Thomas Jefferson's retirement. As the volume opens, a new president is installed and Jefferson is anticipating his return to Virginia, where he will pursue a fascinating range of personal and intellectual activities. He prepares for his final departure from Washington by settling accounts and borrowing to pay his creditors. At Monticello he tells of his efforts to restore order at his mismanaged mill complex, breed merino sheep, and otherwise resume full control of his financial and agricultural affairs.

Though he is...

The definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death continues with Volume Two, which covers the period from 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810. Both incoming and outgoing letters are included, totaling 518 documents printed in full. General themes include Jefferson's financial troubles, which eventually led him to loan himself a large sum of money he was managing for Tadeusz Kosciuszko; his preparations to face a lawsuit stemming from his decision as president to remove Edward Livingston from a valuable property in New Orleans; other legal...

Volume Three of the definitive edition of Thomas Jefferson's papers from the end of his presidency until his death presents 567 documents covering the period from 12 August 1810 to 17 June 1811. Jefferson is now firmly ensconced in retirement at Monticello and Poplar Forest. He is not free from legal and political concerns, however, with the controversy over the 1807 federal seizure of the Batture Sainte Marie at New Orleans looming particularly large. Jefferson prepares for his defense against Edward Livingston's lawsuit by corresponding at length with his counsel and involved public...

The 526 documents printed in this volume run from 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. During this period Jefferson reviews the extant sources on the 1765 Stamp Act crisis to aid William Wirt, a Patrick Henry scholar; records his largely positive impressions of George Washington; and updates a reading list for law students that he had initially drawn up forty years earlier. In the spring of 1814 Jefferson becomes a trustee of the Albemarle Academy, the earliest direct ancestor of the University of Virginia. He is soon actively involved in planning for its establishment, helping to draft...