Surveillance in the empire of liberty : why Thomas Jefferson matters in our information age / Melissa Adler.
| Author/creator | Adler, Melissa author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2026. |
| Copyright Date | ©2026 |
| Description | xxiv, 248 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- Toward a theory of social categories in-formation -- Part 1: Mastery -- Designing for surveillance -- Patriotism and paternalism -- The intimacy of encryption -- Part II: Informing -- Educating to inform in the early republic -- Delivering the news -- Part III: Datafication -- The plantation in the field of vision -- Revolutionary algorithms -- Geographic information systems -- Coda: does Jefferson matter in our information age? |
| Abstract | Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, also invented, modified, and applied surveillance techniques, geographic information systems, and algorithmic formulas at his plantations and in his public offices. Jefferson's expertise in political arithmetic, information management, and observation was essential to his vision for an expanding "empire of liberty." These methods were also instrumental to the rationalization of slavery and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their land. To arrive at a new understanding of the limits to aspirations toward liberty, security, and equality in the United States, Adler has developed a framework that centers information in a Jeffersonian political economy that produced social and economic divisions. This book provides an analysis of Jefferson's ledgers, surveillance and encryption techniques, designs for educating and informing the settler population, and land management policies. Adler argues that information architectures are mechanisms by which cultural and political divisions endure, and that close examination of Jefferson's use and organization of information reveals some of the processes by which problems associated with settler colonialism, racism, and heteropatriarchy have become systemic. --Page 4 of cover. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | ebook version : 9798765145609 |
| Genre/form | Informational works. |
| Genre/form | Documents d'information. |
| ISBN | 9798765145623 |
| ISBN | electronic publication |
| ISBN | electronic book |
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