Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Thomas Jefferson lived by those words as he continually rebuilt himself through his architecture. His architecture serves as an examination of self, nature and philosophy. In Charlottesville, Virginia (1769-1809), Thomas Jefferson wrote an essay in brick and wood, which sought to reconcile nature and man; he nicknamed his “architectural essay” Monticello. So Jefferson's experimental house, Monticello, was not just a piece of construction; it was his unflinching philosophy.Thomas Jefferson on the SelfTo understand the architecture of Thomas Jefferson, one must first understand his philosophy toward the development of the self. Contextualizing his philosophy will serve as the basis for fully explaining Thomas Jefferson's architecture. Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation professor, Peter S. Onuf, in The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (particularly in the chapter Making Sense of Jefferson) the author helps to understand how Thomas Jefferson's architecture, the ideals and vision of the past have developed his mental picture, sometimes paradoxical. Onuf's piece offers a more humanistic (rather than iconic) Thomas Jefferson who effectively separates the reality of his actions from the idol. Onuf, in The Mind of Thomas Jefferson, mentions that Jay Fliegelman argues, in Declaring Independence, that Jefferson was “a conflicted witness and participant in a new affective understanding of the operations of language, one that reconceives every expression as a form of self-expression, as an opportunity and at the same time imperative to express oneself, to become evident". Jefferson was adapting to a world where language was becoming action; and indeed, all that was expressible was an attempt...... middle of paper ......ww.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/monticello-house-faq#whenOnuf, Peter S. The mind of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 19, 2014). Randolph, Sarah N. The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson. Scituate, MA: Digital Scanning, 2001. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 19, 2014). Spahn, Hannah. Thomas Jefferson, Time and History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 20, 2014).VIII. Notes on Heresy, October 11–December 9, 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0222-0009, ver. 2014-02-12) . Source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1, 1760–1776, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp. 553–555.