Jefferson had children with his wife, Martha, and with his mistress and slave, Sally Hemings, but these children lived very different lives.
The complexities of race in early America had deep ramifications for the daughters of one of its most important citizens.
Important new information on the central figure in the early American republic has surfaced with the publication of new volumes of Jefferson's journals and correspondence.
Jefferson transformed an elegant country house into an American symbol, a paradigm for the young nation’s architecture.
Incensed that many leading European scientists had belittled North America's climate and fauna, Thomas Jefferson shipped them evidence and published a long reply in Notes on the State of Virginia.
It has been called one of the most consequential debates in American history. The Revolution's greatest orator later fought to stop ratification of the Constitution because of his worries about powers proposed for the Federal government
Aaron Burr's 1807 trial challenged the Constitution
Thomas Jefferson took his scissors to the Bible in search of truth
An impetuous and sometimes corrupt Congress has often hamstrung the efforts of the president since the earliest days of the Republic
As Adams and Jefferson died, America came of age
Over the question of whether Missouri should be admitted to the Union as a free or slave state in 1820, creative moderates brokered an ingenious compromise that averted civil war
Without major compromises by all involved and the agreement to avoid the contentious issue of slavery, the framers would never have written and ratified the Constitution
A historian tackles one of American history’s thorniest questions
Sharp business skills ensured the first president’s phenomenal success
Why Have Our Presidents Almost Always Stumbled After Their First Four Years?
Suppose they could go on "Meet The Press"...
The explorers who set out two hundred years ago were in danger for three years. Their legacy was in danger for decade after decade—and it was Meriwether Lewis who almost killed it.
“WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS…”
A descendant of Thomas Jefferson comments on the quarrel over who can be allowed in the family graveyard, and the missing remains of Sally Hemings. The outcome of the dispute is important to every American.
When John Adams was elected President, and Thomas Jefferson Vice President, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.
VOTER TURNOUT MAY BE DOWN IN RECENT YEARS, BUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE COMMON CITIZEN HAS GROWN TO FAR SURPASS ANYTHING THE FOUNDING FATHERS EVER DREAMED OF
A Jefferson descendant on luck, ancestry, and the meaning of the DNA findings
DAVID McCULLOUGH tells why he thinks history is the most challenging, exhilarating, and immediate of subjects
AFTER THREE TIMES traveling the trail they blazed, the author imagines what the two captains of Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery would make of the civilization we have built on the tremendous promise they offered
…and grow, and grow, from almost no employees to three million. Don’t blame the welfare state, or the military; the truth is much more interesting.
The DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE is not what Thomas Jefferson thought it was when he wrote it—and that is why we celebrate it
ON IT HE GAVE THE NEW nation a new industry, wrote a protoguide to New England inns and taverns, (probably) did some secret politicking, discovered a town that lived up to his hopes for a democratic society, scrutinized everything from rattlesnakes to rum manufacture—and, in the process, pretty much invented the summer vacation itself
The ambassador from an infant republic spent five enchanted years in the French capital at a time when monarchy was giving way to revolution. Walking the city streets today, you can still feel the extravagant spirit of the city and the era he knew.