'Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment Background Notes is a self-contained collection of seventeen essays. Author James Thompson envisioned it originally as a supplement for his earlier book, Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment Paris 1785.' Readers will find in these detailed background notes a feast of little known facts, seldom noted events, and forgotten relationships. As they peer into historical nooks and crannies that only the author seems to know about, they will develop a new insight into the circumspect political loner who drafted the Declaration of Independence alone in his Philadelphia...