The Anglo-American synecdoche?: Thomas Jefferson’s British legacy 1800-1865

O'Connor, Peter

Abstract

This article is focused on one of the behemoths of American history, Thomas Jefferson. Unlike most studies, however, it removes the Virginian statesman from his familiar American context in order to illustrate his significance as a British icon. It considers the use of his image in British discourse between 1800 and 1865 to demonstrate the resonance of his name for British people of the period. In doing so it examines the uses of Jefferson’s image with reference to democracy and slavery to illustrate how the ambiguity and seeming contradictions in the deployment of his image are indicative of a broader debate in nineteenth century Britain about the meaning of the United States. Furthermore it demonstrates, through the use of Jefferson’s image, the steady but uneven process of disillusion with American politics and society among British reformers

Citation

O'Connor, P. (2015). The Anglo-American synecdoche?: Thomas Jefferson’s British legacy 1800-1865. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.1080/14794012.2015.1022371

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 7, 2014
• Publication Date: Apr 17, 2015
• Deposit Date: Apr 4, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 4, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Transatlantic Studies
• Print ISSN: 1479-4012
• Electronic ISSN: 1754-1018
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14794012.2015.1022371
• Keywords: Thomas Jefferson, democracy, slavery, Anglo-American, Britain, USA
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/749547
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14794012.2015.1022371
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Transatlantic Studies on 17 April 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14794012.2015.1022371.