Positive reconstruction · reader-scoped, not an inferred-absence lacuna
This reconstruction covers the readable fraction of Thomas Jefferson's formation -- attested reading and writing only, not the whole of a life.
Thomas Jefferson and American Jurisprudence
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to American Jurisprudence.
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by an unknown author.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (First-person selective reading claim: 'But I read your 6th chapter with interest and satisfaction, on the question whether the common law (of England) makes a part of the laws of our General Government.' The volume is titled in-passage (American Jurisprudence); its author is the addressee, whose name the source truncates ('JOHN M. GOOD...'), so the new Work is proposed title-only.). Self-report reliability discount 0.7: Expressly selective ('I read your 6th chapter with interest and satisfaction') within a candid refusal to read law books solidly - depth discount; chapter-level specificity (its question stated: whether the English common law is part of federal law) proves real contact; author-flattery context mild given the disclaimer.