The most private space of an intensely private man, this bedchamber maximizes light and space with its alcove bed, triple sash window, and skylight.
Jefferson died of natural causes at the age of 83 on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. In one of the final letters he wrote before his death, Jefferson reflected on the Declaration’s legacy:
“may it be to the world…the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government…. Let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.”
While Jefferson’s death was a reminder of the promise of the Declaration of Independence, it was “an affair of great moment and uncertainty to us slaves,” according to Israel Gillette, in his memoir of his life enslaved at Monticello. The threat of separation from family by sale was an ever-present fear for all enslaved people. These fears would be realized when Gillette and 130 other men, women, and children were sold at a slave auction to pay Jefferson’s debts.