Thomas Jeffersons Notes On The State Of Virginia A Prolegomena

Why did Jefferson write Notes on the State of Virginia There are today two common theses. The first the AlphabetSoup Thesis maintains that the book is more or less a loose collection of notes in answer to the 22 queries given by French diplomat Franois BarbMarbois. Jeffersons altering the arrangement of his answers to the questions is a matter of allowing for a smoother narrative for his answers but other than that one ought to be cautious not to read too much into his restructuring.