Jefferson Memorial

• The Jefferson Memorial is in Washington, D.C., and overlooks the city's Tidal Basin. The memorial's architect, John Russell Pope, built the open-air structure with neo-classical design elements, which include the building's rotunda shape and Greek-style columns. A bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson is in the center of the memorial. Dedicated in 1943, Jefferson Memorial opened to the public on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth year. Japanese cherry trees surrounding Jefferson Memorial are in full bloom during the spring. The Memorial is accessible from East Basin Drive.
  
  

Thomas Jefferson Monument

• Erected in 1910, a life-size statue of Thomas Jefferson stands in front of the Rotunda Building at the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville, Va. As a Virginia native, Jefferson founded the university in 1819. This monument features Jefferson holding the Declaration of Independence; the base of the monument bears excerpts of the Declaration. Jefferson's statue is on top of a replica of the Liberty Bell, the original of which is in Philadelphia, Pa. Surrounding the monument's bell are human figures representing justice, human freedom, liberty and religious freedom. Jefferson's home, Monticello, is just outside Charlottesville.
  
  

Mount Rushmore

• Mount Rushmore National Memorial is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It bears the facial image of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson shares this monument along with three other U.S. Presidents: George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Gutzon Borglum, the monument's sculptor, said the purpose of creating this monument was to "communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States." Borglum worked on Mount Rushmore from 1925-39. The faces of Mount Rushmore are over 5,700 feet above sea level. The facial image of Jefferson, similar to the other faces, is approximately 60 feet tall and was dedicated in 1936.
  
  

Biography

• Prior to the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer by profession, and his law practice was in colonial Virginia. Jefferson became one of Virginia's delegates to the Continental Congress from 1775-79. In 1776, the Congress commissioned Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. After the Revolutionary War, Jefferson served as the nation's first secretary of state under George Washington's presidency. From 1801-09, Jefferson was the third President of the United States. One highlight of Jefferson's presidency was the Louisiana Purchase, where the United States acquired land west of the Mississippi River from the French; the purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States.