Thomas Jefferson's 'Notes on the State of Virginia': A Prolegomena

Why did Jefferson write 'Notes on the State of Virginia'? There are today two common theses. The first, the Alphabet-Soup Thesis, maintains that the book is more or less a loose collection of notes in answer to the 22 queries given by French diplomat François Barbé-Marbois. Jefferson's altering the arrangement of his answers to the questions is a matter of allowing for a smoother "narrative" for his answers, but other than that, one ought to be cautious not to read too much into his restruc...