A Summary View of the Rights of British America

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1825) was one of the most well-known Americans in history. As one of the prominent Founding Fathers, Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, the first Secretary of State, the third President of the United States, and the founder of the University of Virginia. Jefferson served the young nation for over five decades of his life. 

Given his gifted writing ability, it’s no surprise that Jefferson was a prodigious writer, and delegates to the First Continental Congress were the intended recipient of a 1774 pamphlet of Jefferson’s known as A Summary View of the Rights of British America. In this pamphlet, Jefferson laid out for delegates to the First Continental Congress a set of grievances against the King, especially against his (and Parliament's) response to the Boston Tea Party. In a way, it was a prelude to the list of grievances that Jefferson would list in the Declaration of Independence two years later. 

This edition of  A Summary View of the Rights of British America is specially formatted with images of Jefferson, other Founding Fathers, and Monticello.