A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States
by Thomas Jefferson
| Jefferson's Manual | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
||
| Author | Thomas Jefferson | |
| Published | Washington City: Samuel Harrison Smith | |
| Date | 1801 | |
| Language | English | |
As Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson served as President of the Senate from 1797 to 1801. During that time, he worked on a manual of parliamentary procedure, based on notes formed while he was a student at the College of William & Mary. He also wrote to his old professor, George Wythe, for advice. Wythe, in his mid-70s, at first declined, but later sent his notes. Jefferson's manual was published in 1801.[1]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "Parliamentary Manual. 12mo.'" and given by Thomas Jefferson to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph. Later appears on Randolph's 1832 estate inventory as "Jefferson's Manual' ($1.00 value)." Both George Wythe's Library[2] on LibraryThing and the Brown Bibliography[3] include the 1801 edition of A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States.
Letters between Jefferson and Wythe also discuss the publication. Jefferson first requests Wythe's aid in a letter dated February 28, 1800. He follows up this request in an April 7, 1800 letter to which Wythe responds on April 10 citing a faulty memory for his inability to help. He then writes Jefferson on April 23, 1800, "Whenever that εγχειριδιον περι την σνμβουλην νομοθετικην [Manual of Legislative Counsel], which thou art preparing shall be published, as I anxiously hope it will be, reserve two or three copies for me."[4]
As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to find a copy of Jefferson's 1801 Manual.
See also
- An Appendix to the Notes on Virginia Relative to the Murder of the Logan Family
- Jefferson Inventory
- Notes on the State of Virginia
- Thomas Jefferson
- Wythe's Library
- Wythe to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1800
References
- ↑ Giles Wilkeson Gray, "Thomas Jefferson's Interest in Parliamentary Practice," Speech Monographs (November 1960), 315-322.
- ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on August 8, 2023.
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433
- ↑ Wythe to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1800, Library of Congress, The Thomas Jefferson Papers.
External Links
- Read this book in Google Books.
- View Jefferson's copy at the Library of Congress.