Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

Workhouse of Nature (Quotation)

Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "workhouse of nature" in a 1786 letter to Maria Cosway.

"And our own dear Monticello ... How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated at our feet!"1
     - Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, October 12, 1786

Footnotes

  1. PTJ, 10:447. Transcription available at Founders Online.