I came across this quote from Thomas Jefferson:
I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too.
Does anyone know what this is from or what topic this was about, or was it just a general statement? Or am I getting the wrong meaning from this?
A quick search on google brings up:
I wonder, though, whether a person might sometimes experience secondhand mortification. Could it be that you were mortified on the chairman’s behalf when you saw him so scantily clad? I imagine that when Thomas Jefferson ordered a copy of a French book titled Sur la Création du Monde, Un Système d’Organisation Primitive and a contretemps resulted, Jefferson felt ashamed on our country’s behalf. He wrote to his book dealer, in 1814, “I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America [this latter emphasis is Jefferson’s], a fact like this can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate.” If anyone can be said to have used mortified correctly in such a context, it’s Jefferson.
He doesn’t seem to be discussing IP in that context, but rather how nosy people are, which isn’t entirely exclusive of the former mind you.