Notes on the State of Virginia

Available for the first time in Penguin Classics, Notes on the State of Virginia is at once a scientific discourse, an attempt to define America, and an examination of the idea of freedom. With the same genius and clear, flexible prose style that informs the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson chronicles Virginia's natural, social, and political history.Frank Shuffleton includes in this edition with selections from relevant correspondence and discusses the work's origins, composition, and initial reception. He focuses particularly on Jefferson's response to contemporary scientific writings on "New World degeneracy"; his differing treatment of Blacks and Native Americans; and his influential (and problematic) role in creating a mythicized American self-image.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the third president of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most beloved and revered Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

Frank Shuffelton was an eminent scholar and critic of American literature. He taught at the University of Rochester for almost 40 years and served as a professor and chair of the Department of English. He published two books on Thomas Jefferson, including Thomas Jefferson: A Comprehensive, Annotated Bibliography, and edited Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Letters of John and Abigail Adams, and The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Jefferson. He died in 2010.