Enlightened Republicanism: A Study of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia

Enlightened Republicanism is the first book-length study of Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, which has often been used as a treasury of quotations from which historians, political scientists, and literary scholars have borrowed in order to prove one point or another about America or Jefferson himself. David Tucker examines Jefferson’s work as a whole, arguing that the it was carefully structured. He proceeds to demonstrate that only a deeper understanding of this structure as an integral part of Jefferson’s argument can give the reader a true comprehension of Notes on the State of Virginia. Enlightened republicanism, as Jefferson defined it, was revolutionary, as it fundamentally changed the goals of government and the practice of politics to bring them into accord as much as possible with the complex and varied demands of nature.