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Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, in many ways defines the meaning of the United States. This extensively researched work reveals that Jefferson was in fact generally favorable to the Haitian Revolution, before and during his presidency, and supportive of its independence.

This book is the first to discuss at any length John Adams's views on race, slavery, and slavery extension by examining his writings, politics, and diplomacy. Historian Arthur Scherr, an expert who is uniquely knowledgeable about Adams's views on slavery, race, and the Haitian Revolution, reveals Adams's attitudes toward slavery and race in and out of office, spotlighting his views on slavery during the American Revolution, his perspective regarding race as vice president and president of the United States, and his opinions in retirement.

In this groundbreaking study, Arthur Scherr examines the positions on slavery held by two of the most famous New Yorkers of the early American republic: John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. Using Hamilton's 1779 proposal to free Southern slaves on the condition that they fight in the Continental Army as a starting point, Scherr assesses the pair’s positions on enslavement. Utilizing often-untouched resources, Scherr offers a re-evaluation of Hamilton and Jay’s modern status as antislavery icons.

This panoramic study combines a survey of the life of child prodigy and renowned African American poet Phillis Wheatley, her work and experiences, and uniquely, a careful rendering and reassessment of the opinions of her contemporaries and the ideas and motivations of present-day scholars regarding her verse and historical significance. Arthur Scherr, an expert on the transatlantic Enlightenment and such major figures of American political culture as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe, adds a vital new perspective to our understanding of Phillis Wheatley. Also investigated is the relationship between Wheatley and the statesman whom scholars generally depict as Wheatley’s greatest adversary: Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and tarnished American icon. The book analyzes the meaning and significance of Jefferson’s three-sentence critique of Wheatley’s poetry in Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), published in London three years after her death.

Writers often depict Thomas Jefferson as a narrow-minded defender of states' rights and Virginia's interests, despite his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and vigorous defense of the young republic's sovereignty. Some historians claim he was particularly hostile to the New England states, whose Federalist electorate he regarded as enemies of his Democratic-Republican Party. This study of Jefferson's lifelong relationship with New England reveals him to be a consistent nationalist and friend of the region, from his first visit to Boston in 1784 to his recruiting of Massachusetts scholars to teach at the University of Virginia. His nationalist point of view is most evident where some historians claim to see it least: in his opinions of the people and politics of New England. He admired New Englanders' Revolutionary patriotism, especially that of his friend John Adams, and considered their direct democracy and town-meeting traditions a model for the rest of the Union.

"I Married Me a Wife" is a revisionist study of gender relations in late-eighteenth-century America. The American Museum, published during five early years of the United States, was a popular middle-class magazine in many ways the Reader's Digest of its time. Analyzing fiction, essays, poetry, and editorials in the American Museum on the subject of women, Arthur Scherr finds its views less parochial and antifeminist than many of the period's literary sources have led scholars to expect. The selections printed in the magazine, rather than reiterating the idea that "the woman's place is in the home," depict a more variegated view of women in diverse socioeconomic and emotional situations vis-a-vis men. The American Museum was published during the shaping of the U.S. Constitution; it is Scherr's conclusion that the Constitution's founding principle of individual freedom influenced the middle-class man's respect and support for women's autonomy, individuality, and self-determination to a degree rarely acknowledged by contemporary historians.

Jefferson's moral and political thought are more complex than they appear at first glance, consisting of two Jeffersons, and evolving from a natural law, universal Enlightenment ethos to a more cultural relativist perspective. RIGHTFUL LIBERTY explores themes and events overlooked by other Jefferson experts, such as his response to the English abolitionist Thomas Branagan; the formative influence of Montesquieu on the young Jefferson's opposition to slavery; a comparison of his attitudes to slavery and abolition with those of Edward Coles; his relationships with Black slaves and freedmen other than those of the well-known Hemings family; and a more nuanced perspective on his view of the Missouri Compromises of 1820 and 1821 than is found elsewhere. As speculations about Jefferson's personal life, often based on little evidence prevail, this volume examines him from a more wide-ranging perspective, discerning his moral, political, and religious thought in relation to his actions.