Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, 1794, 336 pp
Description
This American classic is the only full-length book written and published by Thomas Jefferson during his lifetime. Written in 1781, Notes on the State of Virginia was begun by Jefferson as a commentary on the resources and institutions of his home state, but the work's lasting value lies in its delineation of Jefferson's major philosophical, political, scientific, and ethical beliefs. Along with his accounts of such factual matters as North American flora and fauna, Jefferson expounds his views on slavery, education, religious freedom, representative government, and the separation of church and state. The book is the best single statement of Jefferson's principles and the best reflection of his wide-ranging tastes and talents.
Language
Original publication date
1784
Physical description
336 p.; 21 cm
Local notes
Jefferson, an avid amateur paleontologist, rejected supernaturalism, and miracles generally, but reverently assumed Design. A deist, he looked to nature rather than written revelation.
Discusses examples of fossil finds, including seashells on mountains. Rejects global Flood, as well as violent exchange of eath and sea ("convulsion of nature"), and critical of Voltaire's theory of inorganic growth within stones.
Argues that fossil finds from the Ohio Valley (claimed by Virginia), especially the “mammoth” (mastodon), refuted Buffon’s contention that New World organisms were punier than Old World. As he did not believe in species extinction he assumed there could be living members of these fossils further west in unexplored territory, citing the “economy of nature” and alluding to the great chain of being (p. 73). Speculates the bones could be 250,000 years old (p. 60).
1786 Virginia bill for separation of church and state appended to book.
Discusses examples of fossil finds, including seashells on mountains. Rejects global Flood, as well as violent exchange of eath and sea ("convulsion of nature"), and critical of Voltaire's theory of inorganic growth within stones.
Argues that fossil finds from the Ohio Valley (claimed by Virginia), especially the “mammoth” (mastodon), refuted Buffon’s contention that New World organisms were punier than Old World. As he did not believe in species extinction he assumed there could be living members of these fossils further west in unexplored territory, citing the “economy of nature” and alluding to the great chain of being (p. 73). Speculates the bones could be 250,000 years old (p. 60).
1786 Virginia bill for separation of church and state appended to book.