The Adams-Jefferson Letters

The Adams-Jefferson Letters, edited by historian Lester J. Cappon and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1959, serves as a definitive scholarly collection of the extensive correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Conceived to illuminate the intellectual partnership and eventual political estrangement between the two founding fathers, the project was part of a mid-twentieth-century scholarly movement to compile and contextualize the primary source documents of the early American republic.

Cappon’s editorial approach was noted for its meticulous annotations, which provide essential historical context for letters written during the final decades of the lives of both men, particularly following their retirements. By organizing these documents chronologically, the volume captures their evolving reflections on government, philosophy, and the legacy of the Revolution. It was received by historians as a seminal achievement in documentary editing, significantly shaping subsequent academic understanding of the relationship between these two figures.