This book analyzes Thomas Jefferson's conception of American nationhood in light of the political and social demands facing the post-Revolutionary Republic in its formative years.

Peter S. Onuf is the Thomas Jeffersonian Memorial Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His books include Origins of the Federal Republic (1983), Statehood and Union (1987), and Jefferson's Empire (2000).

Leonard J. Sadosky is a Ph.D. candidate in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. He was a dissertation fellow at the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, 2000-2001.