building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

highlighted 17 , Mazzei was also one of the inspirers of the thesis of the principle of
equality of men, incorporated in the Declaration of Independence. For this reason,
John F. Kennedy himself granted Mazzei honours which no‐one had ever given him
previously in his book A Nation of Immigrants (1958) 18 .
Among the documents made available by the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
electronic archive dedicated to the Thomas Jefferson Papers 19 contains the detailed
diaries, the Garden Book and the Farm Book, in which Jefferson recorded his
intentions and the agricultural actions taken, listing not only the plants, seeds,
flowers, but also the origins of the flora and the successes and failures of the
relevant cultivations [Figures 11‐12].
The extraordinary interest aroused by these handwritten documents highlights the
continual modifications of the landscape and the attempts made on it.
The hypothesis completed during the years of his presidency contained four
elliptical paths, the roundabouts, which surround the hill top and as they slowly
descend to lower levels, they gradually increase in circumference [Figure 7].
These paths give access to several landscaped areas, designed around the main
building. Furthermore, “The ground between the upper and lower roundabouts to
be laid out in lawns and clumps of trees, the lawns opening so as to give
advantageous catches of prospect to the upper roundabout. Vistas from the lower
roundabout to good portions of prospect” 20 . To the East the paths go beyond The
Grove, obtained by thinning out a nearby portion of natural forest, cleared of the
undergrowth, then skirting the Mulberry Row to the South, with the pavilions used
17 See MARCHIONE, Margherita, Philip Mazzei: Jefferson's "Zealous Whig", Morristown, NJ, American
Institute of Italian Studies, 1975, and in bibliography the other studies by Marchione about Mazzei.
18 See KENNEDY, F. John, A Nation of Immigrants, New York, Harper Collins, 1964 (first ed. 1958), pp.
15‐16: “The great doctrine incorporated into the Declaration of
Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italianborn
patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson. A few alleged scholars try to
discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement and idea, saying that "there is no mention of it
anywhere until after the Declaration was published". This phrase appears in Italian in Mazzei's own
hand, written in Italian, several years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei
and Jefferson often exchanged ideas about true liberty and freedom. No one man can take complete
credit for the ideals of American democracy”.
19 http://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/ URL visited May 28, 2012
20 JEFFERSON, Thomas, “General Ideas for the improvement of Monticello” c. 1804, Jefferson Papers,
Massachusetts Historical Society, in TEYSSOT, George (ed.), The American lawn, New York, Princeton
architectural press; Montreal, Canadian centre for architecture, 1999, p. 79
17