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The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Volume 35: 1 August to 30 November 1801. Edited by Barbara B. Oberg and others. (Princeton, N.J.. and Oxford, Eng.: Princeton University Press, 2008. Pp. [1], 825. $99.50, ISBN 978-0-69113773-5.)
In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson spent August and almost all of September at Monticello, but he was hardly on vacation; the amount of correspondence from these months nearly equals that of the next two months spent in Washington, D. C. This abundance was partly because he could not directly discuss matters with his advisers. More important was Jefferson's desire to have written records. In administering the government, he followed the practice of George Washington, receiving documents from the cabinet and seeking written advice by means of circular letters.
While at home in Virginia, Jefferson inoculated approximately two hundred people against smallpox. These included his slaves, his sons-in-law and their slaves, and several neighbors; Jefferson and his daughters had been inoculated years earlier in Philadelphia. The 1801 inoculations used...