"Grateful for the collaboration of the French army in the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson helped build a bridge of understanding between New World and Old. In 1784, he went to France, first as trade commissioner and then as Benjamin Franklin's successor as minister, and from there he carried on a prolific and telling correspondence, from 1785 to 1789, with leading American figures including several future U.S. presidents, and Abigail Adams, to foreign colleagues and friends including those who contributed to both the American and the French revolutions, as well as his own family members. Many of the letters were originally penned in a cipher, here transcribed. Diplomacy, philosophy, politics and culture are all interwoven in these articulate notes from one of the most brilliant figures in America's history"--Provided by publisher.