American Sphinix: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, is a 1996 book written by Joseph Ellis, a professor or of history at mount Holyoke Collage.It won the 1997 National book Award for Nonfiction. Eills approch to explaining the charecter of Thomas Jefferson begins on June 20, 1775, with Jefferson’s arrival in Philadelphia as Virginia’s delegate to the Continental Congress and the Drafting of the Declaration of Independence.