Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt

This major new work looks at what debt meant to Thomas Jefferson and how that affected his political career and the early history of the American Republic. Sloan argues that Jefferson was always obsessed by debt: in the public sphere because he felt that it robbed people of their independence, and in the private because he was dogged by debt throughout his life. The book depicts Jefferson as a typical representative of the Virginia gentry, subject to debt during this period, but also as a tireless warrior against public debt, first as governor of Virginia and later as President of the United States. Sloan also discusses the role of debt in the American Revolution and Jefferson's vision of political power as the means of redressing economic power that he felt was in the hands of creditors.