<P> Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) is a book written by Thomas Jefferson . He completed the first version in 1781, and updated and enlarged the book in 1782 and 1783 . Notes on the State of Virginia originated in Jefferson's responding to questions about Virginia, posed to him in 1780 by François Barbé - Marbois, then Secretary of the French delegation in Philadelphia, the temporary capital of the United Colonies . </P> <P> Widely considered the most important American book published before 1800, Notes on the State of Virginia is both a compilation of data by Jefferson about the state's natural resources and economy, and his vigorous argument about the nature of the good society, which he believed was incarnated by Virginia . He expressed his beliefs in the separation of church and state, constitutional government, checks and balances, and individual liberty . He wrote extensively about slavery, the problems of miscegenation, and his belief that whites and blacks could not live together in a free society . </P>

Who wrote notes on the state of virginia