Monticello Blog

While historians have been quick to highlight the national reasons for Jefferson’s vocal support for the admission of Missouri, the situation at Monticello that shaped his thinking has been largely overlooked. In September 1819, Jefferson had agreed to be guarantor of two $10,000 loans for his friend Wilson Cary Nicholas, who promptly died the following year.

Two centuries ago, on February 13, 1819, James Tallmadge, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party formed by Thomas Jefferson, offered an amendment to a bill regarding the admission of the Territory of Missouri into the United States. The so-called Tallmadge Amendment proposed banning further imports of slaves into the future state, as well as the gradual emancipation of those already in the territory. What should have been a simple decision on the future of Missouri, however, soon became a debate on the future of

Why the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom is the key to political freedom and free thought.

As the nation watches hate groups assemble in Charlottesville this weekend, it is important for those of us who live and work here to uphold our shared values and beliefs.

Eleven–year-old Liam Gomberg, wide-eyed and chin in hand, was captivated as he listened to ancient verses of the Jewish memorial prayer for the dead. Liam, his family and approximately 50 Congregation Shearith Israel synagogue members had traveled from New York City to Virginia to honor one of their own, Rachael Levy buried at Monticello 178 years ago.

While Jefferson could not have foreseen the technological advances that have resulted in many environmental issues today, he does express his thoughts on intergenerational obligations and the earth in his famous Rights of Usufruct and Future Generations.

Monticello has always been a work in progress, overflowing with Thomas Jefferson’s brilliance and complexity, his designs and experiments. For nearly a century, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has worked step by step to restore Monticello and its signature mountaintop landscape to the period of Jefferson’s retirement.

"It's as close as you can get to a conversation with Thomas Jefferson.”

Peter Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia (and a great friend of Monticello) wrote a thought-provoking piece about the nature of Americans' views of liberty from the earliest days of the republic.

If you know anything about Jefferson you will know that nothing is more guaranteed to elicit a long impassioned screed than an infringement on intellectual freedom. Stand back!