James C. Thompson

James Thompson grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where he studied art at the Delaware Art Museum. He studied Philosophy as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. As a graduate student, he lived across the Rivanna River from Monticello on the Shadwell farm of Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. During his four years there, he commenced what has been a continuing investigation into "the philosophy" of Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Thompson cultivated his interest in the History of Ideas teaching courses in Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics and in Western Civilization at Strayer University in Alexandria, Virginia. He has written seven books. Commonwealth Books of Virginia published The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy in 2010, The Dubious Achievement of the First Continental Congress in 2011, and Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment – Paris 1785 in 2014. In 201, it will release Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment – Background Notes, George Washington’s Mulatto Man – Who was Billy Lee?, and The First Revolutions in the Minds of the People.