Bibliography of Thomas Jefferson

This article is part of a series about Thomas Jefferson
Early life and political career Early life and career Declaration of Independence Committee of Five Notes on the State of Virginia Minister to France Secretary of State First Party System 1796 election Vice presidency Personal life 3rd President of the United States Presidency First term 1800 election 1st inauguration Jeffersonian democracy Fiscal policy Twelfth Amendment Military Peace Establishment Act Yazoo land scandal Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Expedition First Barbary War Burr–Hamilton duel Second term 1804 election 2nd inauguration Burr conspiracy Florida and Haiti Native American relations Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves Red River Expedition Pike Expedition Chesapeake–Leopard affair Embargo Act Judicial appointments Post-presidency Education University of Virginia Autobiography Death Legacy Legacy cultural depictions Memorials Monticello Democratic-Republican Party Religious views Views on education Views on slavery Jefferson–Hemings controversy Bibliography
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The bibliography of Thomas Jefferson refers to published works about Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. Biographical and political accounts for Jefferson now span across three centuries.

Up until 1851, virtually all biographical accounts for Jefferson relied on general and common knowledge gained from official records and public writings and newspapers. Henry S. Randall—the first historian allowed to interview Jefferson's family, giving him access to family letters and records—did biographies of Jefferson take on a more intimate perspective. Randall wrote an 1858 three-volume biography which set the premise for many biographies that followed.^[1][2] Before Randall, George Tucker produced his two-volume 1837 account of Jefferson which offered a glint of insight into Jefferson's personal life. Following Jefferson's death he was roundly criticized by the Christian Clergy for his Bible and other writings. Tucker was the first notable historian to explore Jefferson's religious life from a biographical perspective.^[3]

Though scrutinized by some historians before, during the 1960s civil rights era, historians, many of them with political and social motivations, began criticizing Jefferson for owning slaves and his racial views.^[4] While some of their accounts were unforgiving with their often selective points of view, others have noted that Jefferson, while owning slaves and reluctant to release them into freedom unprepared, was among the first of his time to advance the idea of equality and freedom for the African descendants enslaved in the new world.^[5] Many of the older biographical works are now in the public domain and often available online in their entirety in the form of e-books, while later publications whose copyrights are still valid can often be partially viewed on the internet.