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 Life of Patrick Henry (the history of Mr. Henry)
Thomas Jefferson's attested relationship to Life of Patrick Henry (the history of Mr. Henry).
Thomas Jefferson is attested as having read this work by William Wirt.
Evidence ledger
- First-person reading testimony (Explicit first-person reading: 'I have read, with great delight, the portion of the history of Mr. Henry which you have been so kind as to favour me with.' Work and author (the addressee, Wirt) identified in-passage; proposed as a new Work.). Self-report reliability discount 0.85: Explicit reading 'with great delight' of the author's pre-publication portion, addressed to the author (flattery discount), but the same letter proves page-level engagement ('I will particularize the following passages, which I noted as I read them. Page 11: I think this passage had better be moderated') - correction-offering reading is the strongest kind.