In a brief prefatory “Advertisement,” Jefferson explains the origin of Notes on the State of Virginia in queries proposed to him by the French diplomat François Barbé-Marbois. He begs pardon for any omissions or imperfections in his treatment of various subjects; these comments illustrate Jefferson’s well-known modesty about his own talents as a writer. Jefferson mentions that, after a translation of the book appeared in France, it is now appearing for the first time in its original language. This suggests the wide European interest in Jefferson and America at that time. Jefferson would maintain notable ties to and interest in political developments in France, especially during the French Revolution.

In Query I, Jefferson details the boundaries of the state of Virginia. As his discussion makes clear, the state then consisted of a much larger area than it does today, encompassing present-day West Virginia and extending to present-day Ohio. It is notable that Jefferson, writing amid the American Revolutionary War, refers to Virginia throughout the book as a “state,” sometimes as a “country,” and never as a colony. The diction reflects his political convictions as he expressed them in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson authored and which ignited the revolution; the Declaration asserted that the American colonies were to be “united states” independent of Great Britain.