"Peter S. Onuf's book traces Jefferson's vision of the American future to its roots in his idealized notions of nationhood and empire. Onuf's recognition that Jefferson's famed egalitarianism was elaborated in an imperialist context yields original interpretations of our national identity and our ideas of race, of westward expansion and the Civil War, and of American global dominance in the twentieth century.".

"In Onuf's view, Jefferson's quest to define a new American identity also shaped his ambivalent conceptions of slavery and Native American rights." "Jefferson's ideas about race reveal the limitations of his conception of American nationhood. Yet, as Onuf strikingly documents, Jefferson's vision of a republican empire - a regime of peace, prosperity, and union without coercion - continues to define and expand the boundaries of American national identity."--BOOK JACKET.