Thomas Jefferson

A story of math and political stasis.

The black naturalist, astronomer, surveyor, and almanac-writer Benjamin Banneker took issue with Thomas Jefferson’s attitude toward “those of my complexion.”

The voice of Doctor Johnson, archcritic of the American Revolution, was constantly in mind for the Declaration of Independence’s drafter.

Portraying a 19th-century president.

Jefferson’s system depended on shoring up the bulwarks of race and basing the law on a theory of government that withdrew protection from unfavored groups.

Is Jefferson's Bible evidence that the Founding Fathers engaged with scripture to birth a Christian nation? Or that they sought to foster a new secular order?

Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of open migration. But who qualified as a refugee?

Understanding the meaning of the word "slut" in the Founders' vocabulary.

Thomas Jefferson imagines an unequal gender utopia.

Jefferson and his connection to partisanship in early America.

Jefferson revised the Gospels to make Jesus more reasonable, and lost the power of his story.

Jefferson envisioned land-use policies that he hoped would mitigate epidemics – and other urban evils.

Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence announced a new epoch in world history, transforming a provincial tax revolt into a great struggle to liberate humanity.

Four new books show how different, and maybe also why.

It's a myth that the Founders opposed the regulation of deadly weapons.

One emphasized the freedom to think; the other, in effect, the freedom to pray.

A Pulitzer historian assesses what we are to make of UVA’s founder, 200 years hence.

New exhibits put slavery at the center of Monticello's story, and make it clear that Jefferson was the father of Hemings' children.

The burning of Washington presented an opportunity for Jefferson’s books to educate the nation by becoming a national library.

The resurgence of the debate over the Sage of Monticello's legacy: Is Jefferson the ultimate patriot or ultimate hypocrite?