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Thomas Jefferson

The new coin is one of five special quarter designs commemorating America's 250th birthday. 

America's 250th Anniversary

See the New Quarter Honoring Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence That Enters Circulation Next Week, Ahead of America’s 250th Birthday

The design is one of several coin denominations, and the third of five new quarters, made specially for the country’s semiquincentennial

Visitors view the Star-Spangled Banner at the National Museum of American History.

The National Museum of American History Is Displaying 250 Objects to Commemorate the Country’s Big Birthday. Here’s the Story Behind Ten of the Artifacts

Featuring iconic and everyday items, including a Revolutionary War gunboat and a first-generation iPod, “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness” is open now at the museum

Indigenous communities in the Andes domesticated the potato between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Potatoes Didn’t Just Feed Ancient Indigenous Communities in the Andes—the Tasty Tubers Also Reshaped People’s DNA

A new study finds that Indigenous Andeans living in what is now Peru have extra copies of a gene called AMY1, which helps the body digest starch

Initial excavations last month at Monticello revealed a layer of brick rubble.

Enslaved and Free Workers Built Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Brick by Brick. Archaeologists Just Discovered One of the Kilns They Used

Researchers think the newly unearthed structure was used to fire and cure bricks during construction of the site’s original mansion in the early 1770s

The first episode of "Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution" premieres on April 7, with the second installment following on April 14. Note: The upside-down Union Jack as seen here was in the original publicity photograph provided by PBS.

America's 250th Anniversary

In a New Documentary, One of Britain’s Most Famous Historians Reframes the American Revolution as a ‘Messy Divorce’

Lucy Worsley’s PBS series highlights the emotional fallout of the conflict, with a focus on the British perspective

This statue of George Washington on horseback, dedicated in February 1860, is highlighted in silhouette.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Commemorate Presidents’ Day With 15 Images That Celebrate the Founding Fathers

See Smithsonian magazine contest photos that honor U.S. presidents and their monuments

The New York Public Library has one of Thomas Jefferson's handwritten copies of the Declaration of Independence in its collection.

America's 250th Anniversary

See Thomas Jefferson’s Handwritten Copy of the Declaration of Independence

The rare document will be on view for just three days at the New York Public Library next year in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary

Gouverneur Morris condensed and revised a draft of the United States Constitution, but he came to doubt his own words by the end of his life.

America's 250th Anniversary

The Founding Father Who Lost a Leg, Romanced Married and Single Women Alike, and Escaped the Bloodshed of the French Revolution

Gouverneur Morris wrote the preamble to the Constitution and shaped the future of the nascent United States. Later in life, he rejected the foundational document as a failure

A batteau is a flat-bottomed vessel, a wooden relic of the 18th century that once carried tobacco, iron and flour through Virginia.

Two Centuries Ago, Batteaumen on Virginia’s James River Ended Long Work Days With a Taste of Freedom

The James River Batteau Company, an outdoor recreation-meets-historical tour business, has designed a dinner cruise that honors the resilience and culinary ingenuity of enslaved boatmen

A 19th-century lithograph of Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" speech

America's 250th Anniversary

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the height of Henry’s influence. But the politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government after the American Revolution

A statue of Clementina Rind, a trailblazing publisher and printer who took over the Virginia Gazette after her husband's death, is featured in the Virginia Women's Monument.

America's 250th Anniversary

Newly Discovered Letters Illuminate the Life of a Female Printer Who Published Revolutionary Texts and Pushed the Colonies Toward Independence

As Virginia’s first female newspaper publisher, Clementina Rind emphasized women’s viewpoints and collaborated with prominent politicians like Thomas Jefferson

Between July 1776 and June 1826, Jefferson recorded weather conditions in 19,000 observations across nearly 100 locations.

Discover Why Thomas Jefferson Meticulously Monitored the Weather Wherever He Went

The third president knew that the whims of nature shaped Americans’ daily lives as farmers and enslavers

William E. Leuchtenburg's new book spotlights (from left to right) George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

What the American Revolution Taught the United States’ First Presidents

A new book by historian William E. Leuchtenburg examines how the first six commanders in chief embodied the revolutionary spirit and set precedents that shaped their successors’ tenures

To mark her graduation from dental school in 2021, Breanna Henley took photographs in front of a slave cabin at Redcliffe Plantation.

Why Descendants Are Returning to the Plantations Where Their Ancestors Were Enslaved

Some Black Americans are reclaiming antebellum estates as part of their family legacy, reflecting the power and possibility of these historic sites

York, the enslaved man who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their history-making expedition, appears in the rightmost canoe in this 1905 painting by Charles Marion Russell.

History of Now

The Forgotten Black Explorers Who Transformed Americans’ Understanding of the Wilderness

Esteban, York and James Beckwourth charted the American frontier between the 16th and 19th centuries

Suzan-Lori Parks' Sally & Tom makes its New York debut on April 16.

This Play Within a Play Confronts the Power Dynamic Between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson

In “Sally & Tom,” Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks continues her investigation of American myths

Michael Douglas stars as Benjamin Franklin in the Apple TV+ series "Franklin."

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind Apple TV+’s ‘Franklin’

A new limited series starring Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin revisits the founding father’s years as the American ambassador to France

A late-19th-century photograph of John Mason's mansion on Analostan Island, now called Theodore Roosevelt Island

Untold Stories of American History

This Peaceful Nature Sanctuary in Washington, D.C. Sits on the Ruins of a Plantation

Before Theodore Roosevelt Island was transformed into a tribute to the nation’s “conservation president,” a prominent Virginia family relied on enslaved laborers to build and tend to its summer home there

Green tea's enduring popularity is reflected in the "teacup without handle" emoji (left). The "hot beverage" emoji (right) takes its cue from another tea tradition: black tea.

What Emoji Tell Us About the History of Tea

From ancient China to 20th-century America, the aromatic beverage has undergone a dramatic evolution

George Washington used the light of this brass candle stand while laboring over his farewell address in 1796.

How George Washington Wrote His Farewell Address

A candle stand used by the first president illuminates his extraordinary last days in office

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