THOMAS JEFFERSON: A VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAIN
(Lou Reda Productions, Inc., $24.95). The documentary on the life of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), produced for the Public Television Network by its Central Virginia station in 1994 is now available on video. The narrative highlights Jefferson’s youth as a conscientious student who spent 14 to 15 hours a day in study; his inheritance of the family estate in Virginia at the age of 21; his role in the 1776 drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the inconsistencies between the tenets expressed in that document and his role as a slaveholder; his achievements as president, most notably the 1803 acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, a vast region that doubled the size of the new nation; the controversy surrounding his relationship with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves; his founding of the University of Virginia; and his death on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
