To Thomas Jefferson from Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy, 21 February 1804
From Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy
a auteuil prés paris ce 1er. Ventose an 12.
(21 fevrier 1804)
Monsieur,
Le General la Fayette me mande qu’il a bien voulu vous faire hommage de ma part, d’un ouvrage qui traite de la formation de nos idées; mais qu’il ne vous est pas parvenu. je regrette que la Seconde edition que l’on prepare ne Soit pas encor faite, par ce qu’elle contiendra quelques additions importantes. en attendant j’ai l’honneur de vous envoyer de nouveau la premiere; et j’y joins une Seconde partie que j’ai publiée depuis, et qui traite de l’expression de nos idées. la troisieme a laquelle je travaille, traitera de leur deduction; et complettera le Sujet.
j’attache un grand interest a ce que cet ecrit ait l’avantage d’etre connu de vous. je n’ose esperer qu’il merite le Suffrage que j’ambitionne le plus dans le monde; mais j’aime à me flatter que l’homme d’etat et le philosophe eclairé qui fait le bonheur d’un grand peuple et contribue puissamment aux progrés de l’humanité toute entiere, verra avec indulgence et bienveillance quelques recherches qui ont pour but d’assurer la marche de l’esprit humain, et de donner enfin une base incontestable a toutes Ses connoissances.
j’ai l’honneur de vous Saluer avec respect et admiration
Destutt-Tracy
Editors’ Translation
Auteuil, near Paris. 1st Ventose, Year 12
(21 Feb. 1804)
Sir,
General Lafayette informs me that he sent you my book, as I requested, about how ideas are formed, but that it did not reach you. To my regret, the second edition, which will contain some important additions, is still in preparation and not yet complete. In the meantime, I have the honor of sending you another copy of the first volume along with a second part that I published later, concerning how ideas are expressed. The third and final part, which I am working on now, treats how they are deduced. That will complete the project.
It is very important to me that this work have the advantage of being known by you. I do not dare hope that it deserves the approval I most desire in the world, but I like to flatter myself that the statesman and enlightened thinker who is responsible for the well-being of a great people and who contributes powerfully to the progress of all humanity, will view with indulgence and good will this research which seeks to advance the human spirit and to provide, at last, an indisputable base of all knowledge.
I have the honor of greeting you with respect and admiration.
Destutt-Tracy
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 30 Apr. 1805 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Destutt de Tracy, Projet d’éléments d’idéologie à l’usage des écoles centrales de la Republique Française (Paris, 1801). (2) Destutt de Tracy, Élémens d’idéologie. Seconde partie. Grammaire (Paris, 1803).
Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836) served as colonel of a regiment in the French military under the ancien régime. A deputy for the nobility in the Revolutionary-era Estates General, he renounced his title and embraced the movement for liberal reform, becoming a key figure among less radical leaders such as Lafayette and Volney and at one point publishing a rebuke to Edmund Burke’s critique of the Revolution. He was second-in-command of the cavalry in Lafayette’s Army of the Center in 1792. While in prison during the Terror, he began the philosophical work that became the basis for Éléments d’idéologie, the first volume of which he published in 1801. Destutt de Tracy became a member of France’s National Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1795 and in 1808 was elected to the Académie Française. Named to the Conservative Senate of France in 1799, he retained his association with liberal reformers, whom Bonaparte termed the Idéologues, and took a particular interest in public education. During his retirement years, TJ corresponded with Destutt de Tracy often and prepared a translation of a later work, A Treatise on Political Economy. Using manuscripts sent to him by Destutt de Tracy, TJ in collaboration with William Duane also saw to publication an anonymous English version of A Commentary and Review of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws (Emmet Kennedy, A Philosophe in the Age of Revolution: Destutt de Tracy and the Origins of “Ideology” [Philadelphia, 1978], xi, 14-19, 29, 35-7; Dictionnaire de Biographie Française, 22 vols. [Paris, 1933- ], 11:115-16; , 1:262-3n; 3:3-4; Vol. 36:481n; Vol. 38:615n).
TJ reported to Lafayette that he had not received the first volume of Destutt de Tracy’s examination of ideology (ouvrage qui traite de la formation de nos idées) but in a subsequent letter informed Lafayette that the book had arrived (Vol. 41:665-6; TJ to Lafayette, 31 Jan.).