Thomas Jefferson Facts

• Thomas Jefferson was tall (6 feet 2 1/2 inches) and had reddish hair.
• Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
• One of Jefferson's greatest achievements as President was the Louisiana Purchase, which cost the U.S. approximately 15 million dollars.
• President Jefferson also sent Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition across America in 1803.
• The Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. is modeled after the Pantheon of Rome. Jefferson introduced the circular style of structure with columns to America.
• Thomas Jefferson was not well skilled in public speaking. His strength was in his written words.
• While President, Thomas Jefferson cut the budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey and still reduced the national debt by a third
• One of the newer facts on Thomas Jefferson that I recently discovered was about his involvement in archaeology. Thomas Jefferson is sometimes referred to as the "father of American archaeology", because he was the first to use the method of stratification in an archaeology dig on his property. He organized the dig to explore a mound on his property that turned out to be an old burial ground for Piedmont Indians. As a boy, he had noticed Native American Indians passing by the spot in what appeared to be sadness, and was always curious about it.
• While at William and Mary College, he stayed in the building that is known today as the Sir Christopher Wren Building
• After college, Thomas Jefferson studied law under George Wythe, who would one day join his friend Jefferson in signing the Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson grew many tomatoes at Monticello, even though many people at that time thought that they were poisonous. Once, in Lynchburg, he publicly ate a tomato, apparently causing quite a stir.
• While in the White House, President Thomas Jefferson kept a pet mockingbird named Dick. Dick was sometimes allowed to fly around Jefferson's office.
• Also while President, Thomas Jefferson kept two grizzly bears on the White House lawn, briefly. A gift from Zebulon Pike's expedition, they were eventually give to the museum in Philadelphia.
• Some of Thomas Jefferson's favorite foods were macaroons, macaroni and peas. He ate little meat..."I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that . . . as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet."
• Jefferson experimented with planting many varieties of vegetables and fruits at Monticello. Heirloom seeds from Monticello were planted in the Obama White House garden in 2010. You can purchase seeds for your own garden when you visit Monticello!