#4 Jefferson was not elected to the original Virginia delegation in Philadelphia in 1774. He seemed to most of his political contemporaries a hovering and ever-silent presence. He opposed all forms of parliamentary taxation, and supported nonimportation resolutions against British trade regulations. #3 Jefferson’s political career was not very successful. He was also extremely well prepared, and gained a reputation in the Williamsburg court as an extremely well-prepared barrister. #2 Jefferson was a extremely serious young man, and he brought this attitude to the study of law. He sang whenever he was walking or riding, and sometimes when he was reading. His hair and his singing were his two most distinctive characteristics. Sample Book Insights: #1 Jefferson was a tall and slim young Virginian who was constantly singing. His deepest concerns are the education of his daughter and the future of the Great Plains.Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Clay has written nine books, including the critically acclaimed The Character of Meriwether Lewis.Ĭlay lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he is a distinguished scholar of the humanities at Bismarck State College and the founder of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University. He has made four documentary films himself. He has appeared in three Ken Burns documentary films, including the most recent film The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Robert Oppenheimer, and John Wesley Powell. He has portrayed a dozen historical characters, including Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Meriwether Lewis, J. He has been named Humanities Scholar of the Year in Kansas, Nevada, and North Dakota.Ĭlay was one of the creators of the modern Chautauqua movement. All of his degrees are in Renaissance English literature.Ĭlay has won numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal, the highest honor conferred on a public humanities scholar in the United States. He attended the University of Minnesota, Oxford University, and the University of Colorado.

Clay Jenkinson grew up on the western plains of North Dakota, not far from Theodore Roosevelt’s badlands.

American Sphinx by Joseph J. Ellis