Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday at Anthony’s Antiques! Come see Thomas Jefferson’s Personal Copies of Cicero’s Orations Used in His Writing of the Declaration of Independence.

Provenance:

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Lewis Henry Machen (1829) - a Senate Clerk who preserved congressional records during the war of 1812. This set is accompanied by the original 1829 auction catalog.

These books - first purchased 197 years ago - remained in the Machen family until they found their way to Anthony’s Antiques where we have them for sale today!

Cicero’s Influence on Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence

The Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero profoundly influenced Enlightenment thought, and through it, the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. Cicero’s writings on natural law, republican government, and the moral duties of citizens helped shape the intellectual foundation of the Declaration of Independence.  

At the heart of Cicero’s philosophy was the belief in a universal, eternal law - lex naturalist - rooted in nature and reason. He argued that these laws were higher than any human legislation and accessible to all rational beings. Jefferson echoed this idea in the Declaration, asserting that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This concept of inherent rights was passed down through Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, who were themselves deeply influenced by Cicero.

Cicero also emphasized the importance of virtue and justice in public life. He believed that the legitimacy of government depended on the moral character of its leaders and their dedication to the common good. Jefferson adopted this moral vision, asserting that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed and should be altered or abolished if they become destructive of natural rights.

Cicero’s ideal of a mixed republican government - balancing power among different branches - also shaped the republican ideals of the American founding. While Jefferson favored more democratic forms than Cicero, he still valued the Roman model of civic responsibility, public virtue, and resistance to tyranny.

Finally, as a master of rhetoric, Cicero’s persuasive style left a mark on Jefferson’s prose, The Declaration, like Cicero’s orations, is structured as a rational appeal grounded in shared moral principles and the demand for justice.

Though separated by nearly two millennia, Cicero’s ideas lived on in Jefferson’s pen, helping to give voice to one of the most enduring declarations of liberty in human history.