Peter S. Onuf

Contributed to the study of early America. In 1993, conceived and organized a conference on Jefferson at the University of Virginia. That conference and the book that grew out of it, Jeffersonian Legacies (1993), transformed Jefferson scholarship. It marked the line between the older scholarship that focused upon Jefferson's life, and a new scholarship that grappled more fully with Jefferson's influence on, among others things, federalism, slavery, race, and westward expansion. This shift in focus reinvigorated Jefferson scholarship, attracting a younger generation to the field who might not otherwise have seen how studying Jefferson's life could be a window into so many different recurring themes in American history. Through his scholarship and mentorship he has, and will continue to have, an enormous impact on our understanding of America's origins.