The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson (Dover Thrift Editions)

I was a bit disappointed in this book. Having read and relished The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, I was anxious to read the native narrative of another of the Founding Fathers. Unfortunately, where as Franklin's book combines delightful personal details along with perspectives on the man's government service, Jefferson's autobiography is quite dry and seems to be more an official catalog of committee deliberations than a story about his own life. The rear cover of the books states, in addition to other things, that the book "...presents a detailed account of his young life..." and "...his life in retirement." I think that one would be hard pressed to identify more than a couple paragraphs in this 101 page book in which Jefferson describes his youth or his retirement. The book was interesting, though more from the historical and political perspectives than from any insight it offers into the inner philosophy or personal life of the man.

Downloaded to my IPod Touch to have reading material when I wait at appointments. What an amazing mind this man had!! Without him this would have been a different country. He added soul and intellect to a very large degree.

Off times we forget the great leaders that have formed this country, sometimes they toook the wrong path in life just like 99 percent of the people in the world but they still left a positive foot print the rest of us should try to copy. RLK

Mr Jefferson seemed reluctant to really delve into his life. He was such a brilliant gentleman, inventer, statesman, writer, who had his peers admiration. However, I felt his life was not as brief as his book and should have presented much more to the reader.

Narrated without embellishment, these are the accounts of the genius without whom there might be no America as we know it. An average writer, but a great thinker, tells a story every American should read.

He may have written (plagiarized) the Declaration of Independence, but his hypocrisy concerning slavery, which runs rampant throughout his autobiography, indicates to me that his "all men are created equal," only included white males. Even though I did not like this book, I highly recommend that all Americans read it (since it's a free Kindle read) to learn the truth about Jefferson.

This was a small, interesting book, but I found it a difficult read, due to the language used back then. Very different from today's speech. I was rather disappointed that it did not include some of his earlier life.

In an attempt to gain a greater understanding of American Politics today I decided to research our Founding Fathers, and to read in their own words, what their intent for our country was...this was a great way to start this evolution.

This piece disappointed me. It contains very little biographical materials but offers more of summary of his work during various phases of his career. I expected more of a telling of his life story.

You hear the right wing blowhards constantly rant about the constitution this and the founding fathers that. Do yourself a favor. Ignore the phony wordplay from the flag draped dupes of the Right Wing and Faux News and just read the words from the men who actually participated in the effort to give our New Country a document that would spell out our rights and freedoms. This man is one of the most instrumental of our founding fathers. Read his words and about his life without the phony rhetoric. A really good read.

Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the document that declared that the United States is henceforth independent from Britain, on July 4. It is a good day to celebrate this historic event despite it not being the date when the declaration was made.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration, but it went through many revisions before the final was approved; some say as many as 50 edits, all designed to make the document more persuasive and less hostile to the British. A draft of the Declaration was approved by majority vote of the delegates to the Continental Congress on July 2, not the 4th. John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776, “The second day of July 1776 will be the most Epocha (sic) in the History of America.”
Historian tell us that the Declaration was not read to the public until July 6. There was no need to sign the document since it was passed on July 2. Only two delegates, John Hancock and Charles Thomson, signed the Declaration on July 4. The greater majority of the delegates did not sign it until August 2, 1776; some even later. Four of the delegates never signed it. Those who heroically signed the Declaration knew that the penalty for doing so would be death if the British captured them.
Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration’s first draft was born in 1743 and died on the holiday of July 4 at the age of 83 in 1826. He served as the second Vice President of the USA under John Adams from 1797 to 1801 and as the county’s third President from 1801 to 1809. John Adams, who served as the country’s second President, after George Washington, was President from 1789 to 1797. He also died on the holiday of July 4, 1826, the same day as Thomas Jefferson, at age 90. James Monroe, the fifth President of the USA, from 1817 to 1825, also died on the holiday of July 4, but in 1831, at age 73. No other president followed this practice.
Thomas Jefferson wrote “The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson” in 1821 when he was 77 years old. The book is only 84 pages long and most readers would have hoped to learn more about this lawyer, a founding father of the United States, more of his ideas about Declaration of Independence than he wrote, what prompted him to be a man of the Enlightenment, his idea of a higher power that may not be a god, his true views on slavery, and more. It is also unfortunate that the book is written in a very difficult to understand manner and some of his statements seem not to be altogether true, such as his claim about slavery, because he was a slaveholder of many slaves, had children by one of them, and did not arrange to free them in his will. Yet he tells us that he served in the Virginia legislature before the War of Independence and wrote, “I made one effort in that body for the permission of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected: and indeed, during the regal government, nothing liberal could expect success.”
He also wrote that every member of the Continental Congress who was present signed the Declaration on July 4, except Mr. Dickinson, despite the fact that some of the signers were not members of the Congress on July 4, and this claim is rejected by historians, as stated above.

Being about to order the Thomas Jefferson autobiography from you, I carefully read all of the reviews you have printed as well as the sample pages. If these samples convey the flavor of his book I expect to enjoy it. I'm widely read about TJ and do not feel I need any further discussion of his personal life. His early 19th century style of writing poses no problem for me. The question of his life with Sally has been adequately settled and so forth. But his vivid description of the day the French stormed the Bastile makes me eager to read the whole book. I gather that he wrote about those aspects of his career that he deemed important. I expect to be delighted to read of these things from his perspective. I thank you for making this important autobiography available.

Maybe its unfair to compare it to Franklin' autobiography but I just finished it and Jefferson' wasn't like I was talking to my neighbor and Franklin' was. Jefferson seemed stuck on the French Revolution and I was mostly interested in what was going on in the U.S.

If one truly wants to know what our Founding Fathers actually said about themselves it is best to read it in their own words. You will quickly find that they had a deeper relationship with the Creator than is popularly reported in modern times - even Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is replete with thankful references to God for the blessings on his life.

For those interested in true American history, I recommend this as well as Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

Few autobiographies offer such a candid and vivid view of the mind of the author. In this, Thomas Jefferson's autobiography, there is no doubt as to the authenticity of the man, the revolutionary and the statesman: the virtue, wisdom and strength that is visible as Jefferson describes both the minor and major events and moments in his public life of service where his reliance upon the essence of the early Republic's laws and the spirit of the national consciousness were blended with the author's unique insight as to how to maintain the delicate balance of Federal necessity, states rights and the influence of the foreign powers and their affairs upon the young nation.

Unlike the autobiographies of other founding fathers (Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, etc.), whose own accounts are more personal and revealing about themselves as well as judgmental and temperamental about their personal experience with their peers, Jefferson has crafted an autobiography, which is true to form: the form of the man and his beliefs, which influenced national policy without every being advanced to replace it, which served a nation selfishly without requiring anything else in return except for the promise of posterity to "preserve, protect and defend" the liberties achieved and to forever more "admire, relish and respect" the eternal need to defend and uphold, at any cost, both the people and the commonwealth for future generations to behold.

I think it funny that today's democratic-socialists have adopted Thomas Jefferson as their "founding father". If anything, this book redeems the reputation and spirit of Jefferson, not as a democrat or democratic-socialist, but as a Republican, dedicated and sworn to instituting a democratic-republican form of government free from the tyranny of dictators and protected from the ill-conceived attempts of men and women from within to manipulate and pervert a form of government conceived as "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Off times we forget the great leaders that have formed this country, sometimes they toook the wrong path in life just like 99 percent of the people in the world but they still left a positive foot print the rest of us should try to copy. RLK

Mr Jefferson seemed reluctant to really delve into his life. He was such a brilliant gentleman, inventer, statesman, writer, who had his peers admiration. However, I felt his life was not as brief as his book and should have presented much more to the reader.