Thomas Jefferson - Genius of Liberty [antikvár]

Preface In 1776 Thomas Jefferson sounded the call for freedom in the Declaration of Independence with words that have come to symbolize liberty and equality to millions of people around the world. Jefferson's and America's ringing declaration, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness," has inspired the spirit of liberty around the world. From the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, to Thomas G. Masaryk's Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, to freedom's cries from Tianenmen Square, Jefferson's words are still a "signal for arousing men to assume the blessings and security of self-government." This illustrated biography, Thomas J^erson: Genius of Liberty, with essays by leading scholars, is the companion volume to the Library's major exhibition on Thomas Jefferson. This exhibition is also part of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Library of Congress. Testimonies to the enduring fascination with Thomas Jefferson and the founders and freedoms of the United States, both the book and the exhibition draw on the Library's unparalleled collection of Jefferson manuscripts and from his personal library acquired by the United States in 1815 as the core of the Library of Congress. Indeed, the Library of Congress is one of Thomas Jefferson's principal legacies. The wide range of his interests determined the universal and diverse nature of the Library's collections and services. Founded in 1800 as the national government prepared to move from Philadelphia to the new capital city, the Library of Congress owned 740 books and 3 maps a year later While he was president of the United States from 1801 to 1809, Jefferson took a keen interest in the Library of Congress and its collections, including approving the first law defining the role and functions of the new institution. He personally recommended books for the Library and appointed the first two librarians of Congress, John J. Beckley (1802-1807) and Patrick Magruder (1807-1815). After the British army invaded Washington in 1814 and burned the Capitol, including the by now 3,ooo-voIume Library of Congress, Jefferson offered to sell his personal library at Monticello to Congress to "re-commence" its collection. Anticipating the argument that his library might be too comprehensive, he emphasized that there was "no subject to which a member of Congress might not have occasion to refer." The purchase of Jefferson's 6,487 volumes for $23,940 was approved in 1815. Jefferson oversaw the packing of the books, leaving them in their