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 Speech on the question of national improvement
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to Speech on the question of national improvement.
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by Edward Livingston.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (Explicit first-person reading: 'I thank you for the copy of your speech on the question of national improvement, which I have read with great pleasure.' Author = the addressee (Edward Livingston); proposed as a new Work.). Self-report reliability discount 0.8: Explicit reading with pleasure of the author-addressee's printed speech, in a reconciliation letter (flattery-context discount); strengthened by the comparative recognition of 'those powers of reasoning and persuasion of which I had formerly seen [proofs]'.