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 Sermon
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to Sermon.
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by Mr. Pierpoint.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (Explicit first-person reading: 'I have read with much satisfaction the Sermon of Mr. Pierpoint which you have been so kind as to send to me.' Author in-passage; proposed as a new Work.). Self-report reliability discount 0.85: Explicit reading with a content-responsive verdict ('much pleased with the spirit of brotherly forbearance in matters of religion which it breathes'); the sender (Thacher) is not the author.