American Presidents Documents

U.S. Presidents have varying backgrounds and political persuasions. Only one was unanimously elected. They can have little or lasting influence. These stories are about individuals with the power to make a difference at home and abroad.

After his wife died, Thomas Jefferson was devastated.  His daughter Martha, who was ten at the time, said that her father fainted when her mother...

This image depicts the second page of a letter which Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend about two months after his wife died.  In it he reports t...

Thomas Jefferson was very upset about John Marshall's opinion in Marbury v Madison.  Year after the 1803 opinion was written, Jefferson wrote abo...

Thomas Jefferson delivered his first inaugural address on the 4th of March, 1801.  This is a page from his handwritten manuscript. The Library o...

Thomas Jefferson left specific instructions for his grave site.  He wanted an obelisk, as shown in this drawing which he made, with the following...

About fourteen months before he died, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Henry Lee.  Dated the 8th of May, 1825, the letter expresses (among othe...

This image depicts the concluding page of Thomas Jefferson's May 8, 1825 letter to Henry Lee in which he describes what was important to him as he dra...

Thomas Jefferson surmised who wrote the various articles as they appeared in The Federalist Papers.  This image depicts the notes he made in his ...

In 1817, Thomas Jefferson sent a list of helpful rules to live by to Paul Clay, the son of his friend Charles Clay.  He refined that list in 1825...

  Text of a "Runaway Slave Notice," from the Library of Congress, which indicates that Thomas Jefferson wanted the return of one of his slaves w...

This illustration, c 1935 by Bernhardt Wall, depicts the Ten Commandments (or “Decalogue”) of Thomas Jefferson.  These “Ten Rul...

The first page of President Kennedy's inaugural address, as it was actually given. Click on the image for a readable view. See, also:JFK Inaugural A...

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