Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an : Islam and the founders / Denise A. Spellberg.

"This is a Borzoi book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-375) and index.

Introduction : imagining the Muslim as citizen at the founding of the United States -- The European Christian origins of negative but sometimes accurate American ideas about Islam and Muslims, 1529-1797 -- Positive European Christian precedents for the toleration of Muslims, and their presence in colonial America, 1554-1706 -- What Jefferson learned--and didn't--from his Qur'an: his negative views of Islam, and their political uses, contrasted with his support for Muslim civil rights, 1765-86 -- Jefferson versus John Adams: the problem of North African Picracy and their negotiations with a Muslim Ambassador in London, 1784-88 -- Could a Muslim be president? Muslim rights and the ratification of the Constitution, 1788 -- Jefferson wages war against an Islamic power; entertains the first Muslim ambassador; Decides where to place the Qur'an in his library; and affirms his support for Muslim rights, 1790-1823 -- Beyond toleration: John Leland, Baptist advocate for the rights of Muslims, 1776-1841 -- Afterword: Why can't a Muslim be president? Eighteenth-century ideals of the Muslim citizen and their significance in the twenty-first century.

In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur'an, which marked his lifelong interest in Islam.