July Series of the Month: The Works of Thomas Jefferson

Few men stand with as towering a stature in the annals of American legend as Thomas Jefferson. Author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, he ranks as one of the most significant of the United States' Founding Fathers, his political philosophies continuing to impact the nation to this day.

This replica of the 12-volume "Federal Edition" of 1904 is considered a masterpiece of historical scholarship, praised for its attention to detail as well as its objective dispassion toward its subject.

Readers can discover

- Jefferson's itinerary and chronology, 1743-1770 

- his autobiography of 1743-1790
- "The Anas," notes and memoranda, 1791-1806
- correspondence and miscellaneous writings, 1760-1770
- letters to such persons as James Madison, John Adams, George Washington, and others
- papers including "Thoughts on Lotteries"
- Jefferson's will
- and much more!

About the Editor

In the late 19th century American biographer Paul Leicester Ford (1865-1902) assembled this collection of Jefferson's most important, most influential, and most revealing writings.

The paperback retail list price for this series is: $215.88, but now our price is: $169.99 (you save $45.89 or a 21 percent discount)

The hardcover retail list price for this series is: $359.88, but now our price is: $289.99 (you save $69.89 or a 20 percent discount)

The Electoral College, Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of
the New York Artillery by Alonzo Chappel
(Wikimedia) 

As many of you are preparing for Christmas and the holidays, political events, just like life, continue. Last Monday, the Electoral College voted to confirm President-Elect Donald Trump to become the 45th U.S. President. This should not have been a surprise as the Electoral College is ruled by mostly formal rules. Still, in recent weeks a forceful debate about the Electoral College was raging in the media, especially due to the fact that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in no uncertain numbers.

CNN columnist, Scott Piro, a few days before the Electoral College vote took place, made a case for abolishing the Electoral College in his article, "It's time for the Electoral College to fall on its sword".

After stating that "The Electoral College has contradicted the popular vote in two of the last five presidential elections, electing a Republican president in both those splits", Piro says: "This archaic safeguard (i.e. the Electoral College) from our Founding Fathers, created to stop an unfit leader from becoming president but having the modern effect of blocking the will of the people, will have proved its harmfulness to everyone. The flipping of the presidency from Trump to Clinton would be collateral damage or a big fat bonus, depending on which side of the aisle you sit."

Let's now go to the background of this socalled "archaic safeguard", to The Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays written in 1787 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, together using the pseudonym Publius, to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, who reportedly wrote the 68th essays of The Federalist Papers, titled "The Mode of Electing the President", said the following: