[Revised entry by M. Andrew Holowchak on March 28, 2025.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Scholars in general have not taken seriously Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) as a philosopher, perhaps because he never wrote a formal philosophical treatise. Yet Jefferson was a prodigious writer, and his writings were suffuse with philosophical content. Well-acquainted with the philosophical literature of his day and of antiquity, he left behind a rich philosophical legacy in his declarations, presidential messages and addresses, public papers, numerous bills, letters to philosophically minded correspondents…

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