10 Trivia Questions about Thomas Jefferson

  1. Ten Questions and Answers about Thomas Jefferson 
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Jefferson Memorial modeled after Pantheon in Rome

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Jefferson statue of bronze at 19 feet.

 

1. Did Jefferson have an affair with Sally Hemming, his slave in residence?  In 2000, DNA results concluded that he was the father of Sally Hemming’s son Eston and likely other children.

 

2.Did Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day?   These two revolutionaries renewed their friendship over their golden years through correspondence.  On July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence, John Adams died at the age of 90 years, erroneously thinking that Jefferson had survived him in his last words.  Jefferson had died five hours earlier at Monticello at the age of 82.

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Front view resembles Jefferson’s Monticello.

3.What was the greatest scandal of his life?  Many of his contemporaries said he was a coward for fleeing Monticello on horseback on the morning of June 4, 1781, just as a squadron of British cavalrymen began to gallop up the little mountain toward his home.

4.Was Thomas Jefferson a confirmed bachelor?  Patty Jefferson died, September 6, 1782. ” On her deathbed, holding her hand in his, Mr. Jefferson promised her solemnly that he would never marry again.  And he never did.”–Edward Bacon, overseer.

5.Was Thomas Jefferson an alcoholic?  While in France, Jefferson developed a taste for exorbitantly expensive fine wines.  The wine bill for his first term as president ran to roughly $10,000 (nearly $190,000 in today’s dollars.)

 

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Construction began in 1939 and completed in 1943 with the bronze statue added in 1947.

 

6.Did Jefferson attend college?  He studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.  After graduation from Wm&Mary he began reading law with George Wythe.

7.What did Jefferson really think of slavery?   He used slaves on his plantation for profit where they were taught a trade for which they earned extra money outside their work day. He was in favor of abolishing slavery, he realized that such a social change needed to be planned over time to be successful.

 

8.Did Jefferson solely write the Declaration of Independence?  Jefferson was the true author with five appointed people to draw up the articles; Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Jefferson himself.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

 

 

9. Who influenced Thomas Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence?  John Locke influenced him.  For example, Jefferson paraphrased Locke’s ideas in the Declaration of Independence, changing “life, liberty and property” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

10. Was he the “Father of the University of Virginia?”  This phrase was coined by Marquis de Lafayette on his grand tour of the United States in 1854-1825.  Lafayette dined with former President James Madison and Jefferson in the Dome Room of the unfinished Rotunda at the University’s inaugural banquet,  where he coined the phrase in a toast to Jefferson.

 

 

 

 

 

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