Ask Thomas Jefferson

Ask Thomas Jefferson: Sample Letters

Monticello Cabinet Please read through these letters before submitting a new question to Mr. Jefferson. If you are interested in a particular topic, you might want to use your browser's "find" button to search for specific key words.

Here is a clickable list of some of the topics raised in these sample letters: Declaration of Independence . . . Jefferson a Vegetarian? . . . Decimal Dollar System . . . Did Jefferson Free His Slaves . . . Jefferson's Shoe Size . . . Monticello's Dome . . . The Embargo Act . . . Louisiana Purchase . . . Jefferson's Political Inconsistencies . . . Water Supply and Design of Monticello . . . Storage of Ice . . . Jefferson's Education . . . Life Following the Signing of the Declaration . . . A Brief Description of Jefferson . . . Jefferson's Grandchildren . . . Poplar Forest (Jefferson's retreat home) . . . Problems During Presidency . . . Electoral College . . . How Slaves Worshiped . . . The "Poisonous" Tomato . . . Pets and Animals . . . Planets Known to Jefferson . . . Jefferson's Views on the Constitution . . . Agriculture at Monticello

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Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I have found in some readings that describe how the signers of the Declaration of Independence felt as if "they were signing their own death warrant". The war was not over at this point. How did the signers stay safe? What kept them from being hunted down by the British and hung as traitors right away? With this risk in mind how did the Declaration ever get signed? Since you were there I thought you might have these answers for me and Mrs. I's class.

Mrs. D.

Dear Mrs. D,

Thank you for your recent letter. The signers of the Declaration of Independence did indeed "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." These men have risked everything dear to them in order to make this political statement. There was no way for them to stay safe. Francis Lewis of New York lost his fortune, his home, and his wife who died shortly after her imprisonment by the British. Richard Stockton of New Jersey was captured and was so mistreated that he became an invalid, dying two years after his release. Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, the money raiser for the revolution, was jailed and died a pauper. Thomas Nelson, Jr. of Virginia became a general and turned cannon fire on his own home in Yorktown because Cornwallis was quartered there.

Each and every man who signed the Declaration of Independence did so because of his abiding belief that the colonies should be free from English rule.

I am with great esteem, Your most obedt. humble servt,

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

We are studying the Declaration of Independence. We have have a few questions for you. First, How many changes were made to the the first draft of the Declaration before it was signed? How much did you write on your own and how did the commitie help? In the movie 1776, John Adams and Ben Franklin danced with Martha. Is this historicly accurate? Lastly why were you a vegatatarian?

Dear Mr. Camarda and students,

Thank you for your recent letter. I am pleased to hear that you are studying the Declaration of Independence and I hope that you still find it a relevent document in your time.

I can not tell you exactly how many changes were made from the first to the final drafts of the document, as I have never counted them. I can tell you that there were a number of them. My whole paragraph on slavery was taken out. Most of the document is my writing. The Congress did make a number of changes, but the essence of the document is still mine. The committee was a great help in their critique of the draft, but they did not lend a lot of help in the actual writing.

I am not familar with what a movie is, so please forgive me if I do not answer your next question properly. Please enlighten me as to what a movie is. I can tell you however that what ever a movie is, it is incorrect in saying that Mr. Adams and Mr. Franklin danced with my dear wife Martha. Martha never came to Philadelphia. She was laid up at home while I served in the Second Continental Congress.

I am not sure that you can say that I am a true vegetarian. I enjoy vegetables greatly and look at meat as a condiment to my vegetables. The pea is my favorite vegetable. What is yours?

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

Thank you for your letter. In response to your question, a movie is a kind of entertainment that we watch in the 20th century. It is kind of like a play that you can watch at anytime. Think of a painting that moves with sound. It took years of inventing to develop this but we love it and we know you would too. We still use the automatic door that you created. Our teacher, by the way, attended the University and talks about it all the time. Who was your best friend besides dear Martha? One of our student's favorite veggie is corn.

My dear students,

Thank you for your kind letter explaining the function of a movie. It sounds like a most ingenious invention. Imagine the possibilities of such a glorious thing. Do people make movies for entertainment purposes only, or are they also educational in nature?

You ask about my best friend. The older I get, the harder I find that question to answer. In my youth my best friend was Dabney Carr. He went on to marry my sister Martha. When he died I buried him under a tree on Monticello Mountain. It was the first grave in my family's cemetery.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I am in the third grade and am doing a report on you. I read that it was you who thought of the dollar and coins. Please tell me why you thought of the decimal system being used and if you had any design in mind for the money?

Dear Mistress Samantha,

Thank you for your recent letter. You are correct in your knowledge that I did indeed have many thoughts and ideas on our new country's currency system. I have even penned the "Notes on the establishment of a Money Unit" and have presented it to members of congress. In it I outline the advantages of using a decimal system for simplicity sake. The use of the term dollar was taken from the Spanish dollar which is familiar to the minds of the people. I believe that we are the first nation in history to adopt a coinage system that incorporates the simple division in tens. In its early years, the US Mint has not been able to keep up with the demand for money, so we are still using the old silver and gold coins from Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany.

Dear TJ,

Exactly what size shoe do you wear? I wear a size 12.

P.S. You are my idol!

Dear Master Jack,

Thank you for your recent letter. I do not know what you mean by shoe size. My boots are made to fit my feet by the cobbler. My current boots are a little over 11" long.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

We are interested in your views on slavery. Did you free your slaves? If so, under what circumstances?

My dear students,

Thank you for writing to me once again. My opinion has ever been that, until more can be done for the slaves, we should endeavor, with those whom fortune has thrown on our hands, to feed and clothe them well, protect them from ill usage, and require such reasonable labor only as is performed voluntarily by freeman. The laws do not permit us to turn them loose. I see manumission as similar to abandoning children, who have no way of caring for themselves. I leave it for future generations to correct the ills of their fathers.

As for your second question, I have indeed freed two slaves. I also plan to free five more in my will. All of these men are skilled tradesmen and capable of earning a living on their own. I should also mention that two slaves ran away and were not pursued by me.

P.S. From Mr. Jefferson's scribe:

All nine slaves who were freed or were allowed to run away were members of the Hemings family. Four of them (the two "run aways" and the two freed in his will) were the children of Sally Hemings. Most historians now accept the existence of a relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings that led to the birth of one, and most likely all four, of Sally Heming's surviving children. Thomas Jefferson did not acknowledge this during his lifetime and the above letter reflects this fact.

Interior view of Monticello's Dome Room Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I am designing a school poster for a report on the architecture of Monticello and need several different facts about the dome room. Could you please send me some neat facts like is the dome room modeled after another dome, or is there something unique about it? Anything you think might be of interest would be helpful.

Dear Mistress Sarah,

Thank you for your recent letter. The dome at Monticello is modeled after the Temple of Vesta in Rome. The major difference between the two is that the Temple of Vesta is round and Monticello's dome is an elongated octagon. The dome is unique in several ways. The round windows at the back of the dome room are raised higher than those at the sides and front of the dome. They are also half clear glass and half mirrored. The lower half needed to be mirrored due to the location of the windows cutting into the slope of the main house roof. This is also the reason that the windows are raised higher than the other windows. The walls of the dome room are a lovely shade of bright yellow and the floor is grass green.

I hope you find this information helpful for your report.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I am a student in the eleventh grade, and currently taking advanced placement U.S. History. We studied the Age of Jefferson in great depth. My question deals with the Embargo Act passed during the second term in office... what was the point of banning trade with ALL countries, when the only ones who we were having problems with were Great Britain and France? We had a history of problems with them (XYZ Affair under Adams, impressment of sailors), but a good deal of the other countries were respectful of U.S. neutrality and left us alone. What was the point of banning trade with everyone; wouldn't it have been much simpler to only ban it with the two aforesaid countries, as Madison did at the beginning of his first term?

Thank you for your time.

Dear Mistress Kristina,

The alternative of the embargo was war, and, in fact, it was the last card we had to play, short of war. All regard to the rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers had beset the highway of commercial intercourse with edicts which, taken together, exposed our commerce and mariners, under almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies. Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves, with a view of associating us in their war against the other. But we wished war with neither. Under these circumstances were passed the laws of which you speak, by those delegated to exercise the powers of legislation for the country, with every sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faithfully. In reviewing these measures, therefore, we hoped to advert to the difficulties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made. To have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender our independence. To resist them by armies was war, without consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The alternative preferred by the Legislature of suspending a commerce placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our citizens their property, and our mariners to their country, has the peculiar advantaged of giving time to the belligerent nations to revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our rights.

In comparing my administration to that of Mr. Madison's you forget, that he did not avoid a war, as was my intention.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

Our US History class is interested in finding out how you interpreted the Constitution in regard to the purchase of Louisiana from France. You are usually associated with a strict-construction interpretation of the Constitution. Did your view change with the purchase of Louisiana?

My Dear Students,

Thank you for your recent letter. You ask a very important question and one that is of great interest to me - the constitutionality of the Louisiana Purchase. It was indeed something that I was troubled by. It seems that everyone, including the Cabinet and Congress agreed that it was too good a deal to pass up. It would not only secure our territorial boundary, but would also open up the country to great land wealth. The Federalist opposition did bring up the question of constitutionality, however I have often thought that a strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of highest obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.

As you well know, there was a difficulty in this acquisition which presented a handle to the malcontents among us. Our confederation was certainly confined to the limits established by the Revolution. The General Government has no powers but such as the Constitution has given it; and it has not given it a power of holding foreign territory, and still less of incorporating it into the Union. An amendment of the Constitution seemed necessary for this. In the meantime, we had to ratify and pay our money, as we had treated, for a thing beyond the Constitution, and relied on the nation to sanction an act done for its great good, without its previous authority. Do you not agree?

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

Were you at all nervous about negotiating the Loiusiana Purchase? Did the citizens have any influence on your decision to make the purchase? Was money an issue on transportation to the land, or the cost of a mass of land that big?

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer our letter.

Dear Master Chris C.,

Thank you for your recent letter. I can not exactly say that I was nervous about negotiating the purchase of Louisiana. The negotiations were done in France by Mr. Robert Livingston and Mr. James Monroe. I was however very nervous about the future of the Port of New Orleans. Due to its location at the mouth of the Mississippi River, it played a very important role in our economy. I was most eager to acquire it. I was in need of securing the future of the United States by purchasing New Orleans. It was a great joy to hear of our purchase of not only the port, but also of all of the Louisiana Territory.

You ask if the citizens had any influence on my decision to purchase Louisiana. They did indeed have a great influence upon my decision. It was because of the trade along the Mississippi, and France's reign over New Orleans (they were not allowing foreign ships to enter the port) that I was so anxious to purchase New Orleans.

Money was always a concern for the new United States government; however the purchase of the Louisiana Territory was a transaction that we felt was in our best interest.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

My class is studying you and your inconsistencies. Please try to help us with this question: It has been said that the most consistent trait of you is your inconsistencies. Again, someone said, "The immortality of Jefferson does not lie in any one of his achievements, but in his attitude toward mankind. Please comment on this and tell us if you are a president of "principle or pragmatism" or possibly both?

Have a great day!

My dear students,

Thank you for your recent letter. You ask a most interesting question when you ask about my supposed inconsistencies. I am not one to dwell on what others think of me, nor do I purport to understand why some people make claims about others that are hurtful, however I will do my best to respond to your question even though I have always thought that it is best to let one's reputation stand on its own merits. Having lived a rather long life and having spent much of it in public service to my country, I have had many different opinions over the years. Is it fair to judge a man's opinions while still a relatively young man against those opinions of his many years later when he has lived and experienced much of life? I judge it imprudent of any man not to grow with the years and reform and alter his opinions from time to time. Do you not agree?

I can not respond to your second question as I have not the hindsight that you have to view my life in anything other than what I am currently living today. As for my presidency, I can say that I view it as a mixture of both principle and pragmatism. You must remember that the country is but still young in my time and my election to the office of the presidency marked the first time in history that a leader of a country changed from one party of beliefs to that of another in a peaceful manner and did not cause a revolution of some sort. I have lived in very uncertain times for our young country. There are many who would wish that our experiment in democracy would fail.

You must remember in your analysis of the past and the people within the past that we are all just a product of our ages and of our upbringing. I am quite pleased with the practical things which I have accomplished in my lifetime and in their benefit to the people. I do not think that you can isolate the principles from the pragmatic for isn't it one that leads to the other?

Dear Thomas Jefferson,

Hi my name is Katie. I am a 9th grade student in Boise, ID. I have some pondering questions to ask you about your house. I was wondering about how you designed his house? I want to know how the water came through the porch into the inside of the house? How could you use your new invention of indoor plumbing? How many times did you redesign your house? My real question is if the house is still preserved and if everything was left in it's spot?

Thank you for your help and concern.

P.S. I really think you were an inspiring and a great 3rd President.

Dear Mistress Katie,

Thank you for your recent letter concerning Monticello. I believe that you are mistaken in your assumption that I have indoor plumbing as you call it. I do have three indoor privies, but the water from my terrace water collection system does not enter the house in any way. The rain water falls through the terrace floorboards and into gutters that run the length of the terraces. They empty the rainwater into one of four cisterns that are at the corners of each of the terraces. The cisterns hold the water until it is retrieved by bucket.

I redesigned Monticello once after I returned from France. My original design for Monticello was based upon designs I saw in Andrea Palladio's Four Books of Architecture. While in France I was exposed to the wonders of European architecture and the French neo-classical, and upon my return I remodeled Monticello to resemble a French neo-classical town house.

I can not tell you how Monticello looks in your time, but I would surely hope that members of your generation could appreciate it as much as my family and I have.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I heard that you had a ice house and I was wondering how you kept the ice cold throughout the year?

Dear Master John,

Thank you for your recent letter. Yes indeed, I do have an ice house at Monticello. The ice house is on the north (colder) side of the house and is 16 feet deep and 8 feet in diameter (it is a cylinder). It is lined with stones and extends 4 feet above ground. Its roof is made of wood and it has a layer of dirt on top of it for insulation. It takes 62 wagon loads of ice to fill the house. The ice blocks are covered with a thick insulation layer of straw and wood shavings. The ice house is currently being filled with river ice that is not edible. I am thinking of building another ice house closer to the river and using it for only river ice. The Monticello ice house will then be filled with snow only and it will be edible and available for making ices and ice creams.

Even with the ice being insulated with straw and wood shavings, it will only last until sometime in July or August at best before it completely melts. How do you keep your ice from melting?

I am Aaron K. and am the spokesperson for my class. We want to know about your education. What age did you start? Where did you go to school? How many teachers did you have in school? Where did you go to high school? Where did you go to college? What was your favorite subject in school?

Dear Master Aaron and classmates,

Thank you for your recent letter. Please forgive me for not responding to it sooner, but I have been away from Monticello and have only recently returned.

My father placed me at the English school at five years of age; and at the Latin at nine, where I continued until his death in 1757. My teacher, Mr. Douglas, a clergyman from Scotland, with the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, taught me the French; and on the death of my father, I went to the Reverend M. Maury, a correct classical scholar, with whom I continued two years; and then, to wit, in the spring of 1760, went to William and Mary College where I continued two years. I then read law under the direction of Mr. Wythe of Williamsburg.

Mr. Jefferson:

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Sully

My name is Jacob. I am writing you as we are studying Presidents in my 3rd grade class at school. We are writing reports and having a wax museum involving the Presidents that each of us students are studying. I chose you.

Did life in the United States change instantly after the Declaration of Independence or did it take time for the citizens to make the changes? Also, do you have any direct relatives in lower Michigan which is were I am from? Vegetables aren't my favorite food - did you always enjoy them or learn to like them? Last, for our wax museum, I need to look like you did. Could you give me more information on your specific looks?

Dear Master Jacob,

Thank you for your recent letter. Life in American did not change all at once after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. To begin with, the Declaration had to be ratified by all of the new states. Many things did however change, Most especially, the country was engaged in a war with England and commerce and daily lives were greatly affected.

I do not have any relatives that I know of in your part of the country. I am sorry to hear that vegetables are not your favorite food. I have always been partial to them and enjoy the pea most.

As for my looks...I stand 6 foot 2 1/2 inches tall and stand very straight. In my youth I had sandy red hair and a freckled complexion. Today my hair has turned to white, but I still stand erect and have not lost much of my height.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

We are a group of girls in fourth grade, in Mrs. Boyle's room. Our school is located in Blacksburg, Virginia. We are going on a field trip in May, to see your home, Monticello. We have some questions for you. One of them is: What are your grandchildren's names? What did you think when you were elected president the second time? When you thought of building Monticello, where did you get your ideas?

Dear Mistresses Olivia, Tara, Tabatha, and Amy R.,

Thank you for your recent letter. I am so pleased that you have asked about my dear grandchildren. My eldest daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph has: Anne Cary (born in 1791), Thomas Jefferson (1792), Ellen Wayles (1794-1795), Ellen Wayles (1796), Cornelia (1799), Virginia (1801), Mary Jefferson (1803), James Madison (1806), Benjamin Franklin (1808), Meriwether Lewis (1810), Septimia Anna (1814), and George Wythe (1818). My younger daughter Mary Jefferson Eppes (we call her Maria) has: Francis (1801) and Maria (1(434) 1807). Can you tell that I helped to name Martha's boys?

I was quite honored to be reelected as President. However it did come with mixed emotions, for no man will ever bring out of the presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

My original ideas for the design of Monticello came out of books -- one of them was Palladio's "Four Books of Architecture". After seeing all of the neoclassical buildings in France, I redesigned Monticello into what you will see when you visit it today.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

We are a special Internet class at Appomattox Elementary School. We would like to know how often you visited your "other" home at Poplar Forest and what you liked to do there. Justin wants to know if you really had a "necessary" under the stairs. (He is an impudent child!)

My dear students,

Thank you for your interest in Poplar Forest. I visit it as often as possible - usually two to four times a year. Sometimes my visits are brief (two weeks) and sometimes they can last up to seven weeks at a time.

Poplar Forest is my private retreat. I go there to contemplate, to study, and to read, things that are not always possible at the bustling Monticello. Sometimes I take one or two of my grandchildren with me.

Tell Justin that he is correct. I do have a privy located inside Poplar Forest. It is located at ground level, under the stairway of the western pavilion.

I am with great esteem, Your most obedt. humble servt,

Dear Thomas Jefferson,

We are students from Larchmont Elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia. We would like to ask you a few questions. How did your mom and dad die? What problems did you have as a President? Thank you for your time.

Dear Mistresses Sara and Susan and Master Jeffrey,

Thank you for your recent letter. My father died when I was but fourteen and I do not know the exact reason for his death. He kept getting weaker and weaker and Dr. Walker could do nothing for him. My mother lived much longer and died at the age of 75 of an apoplectic stroke.

You ask a most difficult question when you ask about the problems I had during my Presidency. As with any public office, there were many problems. My first term went relatively smoothly; however, in my second term I established the Embargo Act and made many enemies due to its repercussions. In hindsight, what do you see as the greatest problem of my Presidency?

Mr. Jefferson,

I have a student who would like to know who thought up the idea of the electoral college, who decided to call it that and why did you choose that name. Thanks for your help we have searched all our modern day reference works and can't find an answer.

Dear Mistress Schroeder and Master David,

Thank you for your recent letter. I had very little to do with the concept of the electoral college being placed in the Constitution. As you may remember I was in France for five years during the time of the Constitutional Convention. Mr. James Wilson of Pennsylvania opened the discussion about the election of the President and on Saturday, June 2, 1787 he proposed that electors be elected from electoral districts who will then elect the "Executive magistracy." As you can imagine this touched off quite a debate and eventually became the system as outlined in the Constitution. After the fiasco of my tie vote for the Presidency in the election of 1800, the electoral college was later altered in the twelfth amendment to the Constitution.

The name electoral college has an ancient Latin tradition. The word "college" means a group of people with a common function or privilege. So as you can see, the electoral college is simply a group of people chosen to elect someone. It may interest you to know that the electoral college from each state does not meet with those from other states. All of the states meet separately and then send in their results to Washington City.

I hope this answers your questions.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

When you were a student in WILLIAMSBURG, how did the slaves worship outside of BRUTON PARISH church?

Dear Masters Andrew, Michael, and Johnny,

Thank you for your interesting letter. It made me do quite a bit of thinking (my student days were many years ago). I am not sure if I understand your question fully, so please forgive me if I go about answering it from the wrong angle. Many slaves worshiped within Bruton Parish Church along side their masters. The church has no reserved pews for individual families and the slaves sat next next to their owners.

Those who were not of the Anglican faith either worshiped with their masters at home or often they went out to listen to Baptist or Methodist itinerant preachers. Often times the Baptists were arrested for not having a license to preach or assemble. The Methodists were better tolerated since they were a reform movement within the Anglican Church. They would often assemble out in the open fields and also in Capitol yard.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I have heard many interesting versions of your experimenting with the tomato. What are the true facts?

Dear Mistress Danielle,

Thank you for your recent letter asking about my views on the tomato. I have grown them for many years in my garden at Monticello. Many of my countrymen think that they are poisonous and should only be used as ornamental plants, but they are being quite shortsighted. The tomato makes an excellent addition to many soups and sauces. I created quite a stir in Lynchburg, not far from my home at Poplar Forest, when I ate a tomato in public, just to prove that it was not deleterious to my health.

The tomato was first introduced as an edible food, as far as I know, to Virginia when Dr. Sequeyra, a Jewish doctor from Portugal, first brought them over in the mid-eighteenth century.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

We are students at Stony Point Elementary School, near Keswick, Virginia. We have some questions and hope you will be kind enough to answer. We are Blake, John, Michael, Whitenye, Kaitlyn, Caitlyn, Brittany, Misty and Crystal.

We know that you had a pet mockingbird. Did you have other pets? Someone in our class read that you had a pet bear. Is this true? How many horses did you have?

One of us was wondering where you got the fish in your pond? What type of fish did you have there? How did you make the pond?

Thank you for your kind indulgence.

Dear students,

Thank you for your recent letter. You have asked many questions and I will endeavor to answer them all.

I am pleased that you have heard of Dick, my mockingbird. I have not had a pet bear. I was privileged to receive two splendid bear cubs from Mr. Zebulon Pike's expedition to the Southwest. They stayed briefly on the lawn near the President's House and I then had them sent to Mr. Charles Willson Peale for his museum in Philadelphia. I believe that he had to kill them after they escaped and terrorized the citizens of that city.

I have had many horses in my day. I enjoy a fine horse and riding is a great passion of mine. Some of my horses' names are: Allycroker, Bremo, Caractacus, Castor, Eagle, Odin, Peacemaker, Polly Peachum, Powhatan, Remus, Romulus, and Tecumseh.

I have often been asked by students such as yourselves about my fish pond. The fish usually come from local rivers and streams. The pond is a hole in the ground with hydraulic cement covering the dirt.

planetary model

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

What planets do you know the names of?

Why didn't you put being president of the United States on your tombstone?

Dear Students,

You show a great interest in astronomy. I am also interested in the skies and am aware of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Earth. It was quite exciting in 1781 when the planet Uranus was discovered. Have any more planets been discovered in your lifetime?

I chose not to put any of my elected offices on my tombstone because they were all gifts given to me by the people of the United States. I chose instead to record the gifts that I gave to the people.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

My name is Sabrina and I am currently researching your life for a project I am working on for my AP American history class. This assignment is very in-depth, and I would like to ask you a few questions if I may about your life.

To begin with, do you believe that had you been attending the meeting in Philadelphia in which our Constitution was drafted that it would be the same as it is today. Since you were in Europe for the nation's business, do you believe that your opinion would have changed anything in the document? If so, which parts? Secondly, of what religious beliefs were you? I have read that you were a member of no specific denomination, but were you a Christian? I know that most of the Virginian aristocrats of your day were Anglicans, and later Episcopalians, but you must have had convictions of another kind to not attend these. Please explain. And finally, for what do you wish to be remembered most? Thank you for taking the time to answer my letter.

Dear Mistress Sabrina,

It troubles me that a member of the fairer sex has such weighty matters upon her mind. However, if you indulge my long response, I will attempt to impart some of my thoughts upon the newly written constitution. I like much the general idea of framing a government which should go on of itself peaceable, without needing continual recurrence to the state legislatures. I like the organization of the government into Legislative, Judiciary and Executive. I like the power given the Legislature to levy taxes; and for that reason solely approve of the greater house being chosen by the people directly. For tho' I think a house chosen by them will be very illy qualified to legislate for the Union, for foreign nations &c. yet this evil does not weigh against the good of preserving inviolate the fundamental principle that the people are not to be taxed but by representatives chosen immediately by themselves. I am captivated by the compromise of the opposite claims of the great and little states, of the latter to equal, and the former to proportional influence. I am much pleased too with the substitution of the method of voting by persons, instead of that of voting by states: and I like the negative given to the Executive with a third of either house, though I should have liked it better had the Judiciary been associated for that purpose, or invested with a similar and separate power.

There are other good things of less moment. I will now add what I do not like. First the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of Nations. to say that a bill of rights was not necessary because all is reserved in the case of the general government which is not given, while in the particular ones all is given which is not reserved might do for the Audience to whom it was addressed, but is surely gratis dictum, opposed by strong inferences from the body of the instrument, as well as from the omission of the clause of our present confederation which had declared in express terms. It was a hard conclusion to say because there has been no uniformity among the states as to the cases triable by jury, because some have been so incautious as to abandon this mode of trial, therefore the more prudent states shall be reduced to the same level of calamity. It would have been much more just and wise to have concluded the other way that as most of the states had judiciously preserved this palladium, those who had wandered should be brought back to it, and to have established general right instead of general wrong. Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

The second feature I dislike, and greatly dislike, is the abandonment in every instance of the necessity of rotation in office, and most particularly in the case of the President. Experience concurs with reason in concluding that the first magistrate will always be re-elected if the constitution permits it. He is then an officer of life. This once observed it becomes of so much consequence to certain nations to have a friend or a foe at the head of our affairs that they will interfere with money and with arms. A Galloman or an Angloman will be supported by the nation he befriends. If once elected, and at a second or third election outvoted by one or two votes, he will pretend false votes, foul play, hold possession of the reins of government, be supported by the states voting for him, especially if they are the central ones lying in a compact body themselves and separating their opponents: and they will be aided by one nation of Europe, while the majority are aided by another. The election of a President of America some years hence will be much more interesting to certain nations of Europe than ever the election of a king of Poland was. Reflect on all the instances in history ancient and modern, of elective monarchies, and say if they do not give foundation for my fears, the Roman emperors, the popes, while they were of any importance, the German emperors till they became hereditary in practice, the kings of Poland, the Deys of the Ottoman dependencies. It may be said that if elections are to be attended with these disorders, the seldomer they are renewed the better. But experience shows that the only way to prevent disorder is to render them uninteresting by frequent changes. An incapacity to be elected a second time would have been the only effectual preventative. The power of removing him every fourth year by the vote of the people is a power which will not be exercised. The king of Poland is removable every day by the Diet, yet he is never removed. - Smaller objections are the Appeal in fact as well as law, and the binding all persons Legislative, Executive and Judiciary by oath to maintain that constitution. I do not pretend to decide what would be the best method of procuring the establishment of the manifold good things in this constitution, and of getting rid of the bad. Whether by adopting it in hopes of future amendment, or, after it has been duly weighed and canvassed by the people, after seeing the parts they generally dislike, and those they generally approve, to say to them 'We see now what you wish. Send together your deputies again, let them frame a constitution for you omitting what you have condemned, and establishing the powers you approve. Even these will be a great addition to the energy of your government.' -I have thus told you freely what I like and dislike.

As for your second question on my religious beliefs: I have considered religion as a matter between every man and his Maker, in which no other, and far less the public had a right to intermeddle.

To answer your final question, I wish to be remembered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and as the father of the University of Virginia.

I wish you the best with your school project.

P.S., My scribe wishes to tell you that much of the above letter is in my original words, especially that which I excerpted on the Constitution from a letter written to James Madison from Paris on Dec. 20. 1787.

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

I am doing a Social Studies porject on you and your home Monticello. I have read that Monticello was a working farm. Can you please tell me what kind of crops were grown on the farm and what kind of farm animals did you have.

Thank you
Megan

Dear Mistress Megan,

Thank you for your recent letter. Monticello is indeed a working plantation. I grow tobacco and wheat as my major cash crops as well as oats, flax, red clover and a large variety of fruits and vegetables. I am especially fond of vegetables and find the pea to be my favorite one. What is your favorite food. As for the animals, I have the usual ones: cows, sheep, goats, horses, chickens, pigs, ducks, etc. I am especially fond of horses and take great pride in my fine stable. Do you have a favorite animal?

Pictures, from top to bottom:

Monticello Cabinet, where Jefferson wrote many of his letters (photograph by Robert Lautman)
A detail from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, July 4th, 1776 (1823), an engraving of Asher B. Durand, made after John Trumbull's painting
Jefferson's boots
Interior of Monticello's Dome Room (photography by Robert C. Lautman)
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Sully (1783-1872). s after Sully's 1821 original life portrait. Oil on canvas.
Jefferson's grandson, Francis Wayles Eppes (photograph by Edward Owen)
An orrery, or model of the solar system (photograph by Edward Owen)