Beyond Jefferson: The Hemingses, the Randolphs, and the Making of Nineteenth-Century America

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Christa Dierksheide

Beyond Jefferson

The Hemingses, the Randolphs, and the Making of Nineteenth-Century America

Christa Dierksheide

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English

Yale University
03 February 2025

History; History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900

A global history of how Thomas Jefferson's descendants navigated the legacy of the Declaration of Independence on both sides of the color line

The Declaration of Independence identified two core principles—independence and equality—that defined the American Revolution and the nation forged in 1776. Jefferson believed that each new generation of Americans would have to look to the ""experience of the present"" rather than the ""wisdom"" of the past to interpret and apply these principles in new and progressive ways.

Historian Christa Dierksheide examines the lives and experiences of a rising generation of Jefferson's descendants, Black and white, illuminating how they redefined equality and independence in a world that was half a century removed from the American Revolution. The Hemingses and Randolphs moved beyond Jefferson and his eighteenth-century world, leveraging their own ideas and experiences in nineteenth-century Britain, China, Cuba, Mexico, and the American West to claim independence and equal rights in an imperial and slaveholding republic.

By: Christa Dierksheide
Imprint: Yale University
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780300226522
ISBN 10: 0300226527
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 03 February 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Christa Dierksheide is Brockman Foundation Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor and associate professor of history at the University of Virginia, where she directs the Center for the Study of the Age of Jefferson. She lives in Charlottesville, VA.

Reviews for Beyond Jefferson: The Hemingses, the Randolphs, and the Making of Nineteenth-Century America

“In Beyond Jefferson, Christa Dierksheide considers how Thomas Jefferson’s descendants, white and Black, children and grandchildren, engaged with the complicated legacy of the American Revolution. This story of how Jefferson’s lineal descendants grappled with his legacy is sophisticated and beautifully written. It blends intellectual, social, cultural, and family history in a unique and compelling manner to discuss broad themes relevant to the history of the United States during the nineteenth century and after.”—Frank Cogliano, author of A Revolutionary Friendship: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the American Republic “Thomas Jefferson hoped future generations would secure the new nation’s independence, guarantee the equal rights of its enterprising citizens, and thus redeem the American Revolution’s promise. Christa Dierksheide’s eloquent and illuminating life histories of leading members of his own families, Black and white, reveal what became of the nation Jefferson envisioned. Beyond Jefferson is a welcome and timely contribution to our national self-understanding.”—Peter S. Onuf, coauthor, with Annette Gordon-Reed, of “Most Blessed of Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination