Today we celebrate the birthday of our third president, Thomas Jefferson. (We call him TJ around here). The boys are quite familiar with him already, but I did want to illustrate what a nerdy, yet totally cool guy TJ was. He was endlessly curious, insanely creative, and an all around good guy. One of my favs for sure. He taught everyone you could learn anything from books, and you could disagree with your friends and still be friends. All excellent lessons. Plus, he brought us waffles and french fries. Does it get any better?
Yesterday I took down our Greek Gods board and finally got up our presidents board for April. Our them this month is documents. We took the long scroll of paper and aged it by ripping it up a little, crinkling it all up, and setting it on fire! (In a safe controlled environment outside of course)
TJ obviously gets the Declaration of Independence.
James Monroe had the Monroe Doctrine. (Which technically was a buried deep inside his 'Annual Message, aka the State of the Union).
James Buchanan gets the document in which South Carolina succeeded from the Union.
And Ulysses Simpson Grant has the Surrender Terms at Appomattox. His looks a little different though, because as he and Robert E. Lee were discussing the terms, Lee asked Grant to write it down. So, he tore a page out of his book and jotted it down. (See how it looks like notebook paper?)
So, they're all set for this month, and even with my low motivation, I was so happy I got them up. Next month we only have two presidents, and in June there's just the one, I'm looking forward to the break.
Asa is in the office today (so Peyton was my photographer). I know, it's terrible he's missing TJ's B-day, but what can you do? He has to save vacation days for actual vacation. Anyway, I realized at lunch I didn't have the stuff to make waffles, so I had to settle for some Eggos. Sorry, TJ. But, I improvised, so he'd be happy with me. He brought a waffle iron back from France, and he's credited with popularizing them in the U.S. Thanks, TJ!
And the boys didn't seem to mind my improvisation.
After lunch and some chores, we got all set for the toy timeline.
So, TJ's time line is a little out of order. But, I wanted to note something very interesting about him before we started with his story. He designed his own grave marker, and on it he listed the three accomplishments he was most proud of them. As we got to them on the timeline, I wanted to add them to the tomb stone. Technically, yes, I was using the Washington Monument from True American. I just cut it off to make it a little shorter.
So, TJ was born in colonial Virginia on April 13, 1743 (Or April 2 according to the old calendar). He had a bunch of siblings, his parents were rich, owned tons of land and slaves, he had the best tutors, you know, YAWN-- a childhood like every other president until Andrew Jackson. I don't know if Peter and Jane Jefferson were redheads, but Jefferson was, so I used some red heads as his parents.
He did love the outdoors, exploring, and books even at an early age, so that's cool. I mean pretty much everything about TJ is cool.
When TJ was 14 his dad died, and being the oldest boy, Tom went ahead and inherrited all kinds of money and slaves and stuff. He went off to college when he was 16 all Doogie Howser style, and was out in two years. Because, someone as badass and nerdy as TJ only needs two years to master things like metaphysics, astronomy, Greek, and Latin. He got up at 5 am nearly every day of his life to study Science. He was a nerdy, awesome, brainiac.
So, as I talked about TJ, I talked about all the million of things he did, and added a little sticker to him to denote it. Of course we had
TJ the Writer: He HATED public speaking, but writing he could do. He wrote the best breakup letter in history! Come on!
TJ the astronomer: He loved stargazing almost as much as he liked books, he even designed what may have been the first observatory in the U.S.
Speaking of designing...
TJ the Architect: He not only designed the streets and layout of D.C, he designed the rotunda for the University of Virginia, the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond (he moved the capital from Williamsburg when he was governor), and his own home at Monticello!
TJ the Paleontologist/Archaeologist: He was obsessed with fossils! He even has a mammoth named after him. He was also the only president to lead an archaeological dig (at an Indian burial ground in Virginia)
TJ the foodie: Screw the simple tastes we usually get from our founding fathers. TJ spent time in France, and he picked up french fries (potatoes served the french way), and waffles.
TJ the Wine Snob: France also introduced the guy to wine and he loved it. He eventually had his own winery at Monticello.
TJ the Musician: He was pretty good at the violin and the cello, plus he could sing and dance. He could have done some serious damage on American Idol.
TJ the Linguist: He could speak SIX other languages, fluently!
TJ the Botanist: He loved to study plants (um, remember that time he got arrested in Vermont while studying plants with his BFF James Madison?), and he even taught everyone tomatoes weren't poisonous.
Speaking of plants...
TJ the Farmer: He believed in an agrarian society, in part to make us independent from other nations. He also developed the idea of crop rotation and redesigned the plow to make it more effecient.
Speaking of his designs...
TJ the Inventor: He created a type of pedometer, a walking stick that unfolded into a chair, a letter-copying device, America's system of dollars and cents (using the decimal system), the polygraph, the dumb waiter, and the swivel chair. This guy would have killed it on Shark Tank.
But, he might have lost the deal when he told the shark he refused to patent any of his inventions. He didn't believe in patents!
All this made TJ quite the catch, and he caught the eye of Martha, a 23 year old widow. Martha's family was rich with a whole bunch of slaves too. She had been well educated, she was popular, and everyone liked her. Apparently she was pretty too, though nobody actually knows what she looked like, since there aren't any pictures/paintings of her known today.
Anyway, the two fell in love over their common interests in music and books. It was a total nerd love-fest. They got married, inherited a bunch of slaves (including Betty Hemings and her daughter Sally) from Martha's dad, and had six kids. Only two survived into adulthood though, because you know, disease and infant mortality and stuff. The two that survived were daughters Polly and Patsy.
TJ who became a lawyer out of college (because duh! thats what you do), eventually got into politics and was part of the House of Burgessess. (You know that first form of government before we were states and stuff. I've told you about this before, come on!)
But, everyone was getting pretty pissy with the British and when the Continental Congress met everyone decided they were pretty pissed off at the British.
So, TJ, the best writer out of the group (and the youngest guy), gets together with his buddies John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and writes this little thing you might have heard of, The Declaration of Independence.
It takes TJ and his buddies a little over two weeks to put the thing together. A big fat F-U to the British. And then you know, Lexington and Concord! GW crossing the Delaware! The Battle of Yorktown!
Oh, and TJ gets his first accomplishment for his tomb stone.
But TJ isn't a fighter. He's a nerdy, red headed, freckled, rich kid. He's much better served to write than to fight. So, he's back in Virginia working at the State Legislature when he and his buddy James Madison write even more documents about freedom and liberty and stuff.
The Statute for Religious Freedom was exactly what it sounds like. The Church of England had been closely tied to the British Government, and Great Britain has imposed taxes to fund the church. The people in colonial Virginia were not thrilled with this nonsense. TJ was like 'hey, separation of church and state, ya'll!'.
And there goes number two on his list of accomplishments!
He continued his political climb while everyone else was off firing shots heard round the world and stuff, and ended up Governor of Virginia.
But then tragedy struck, Cue the death bed! Martha, the love of TJ's life, fell ill. Having a bunch of kids in a row and being diabetic proved fatal. When she was on her way out, she made TJ promise he'd never marry again. Of course he promised her, because that's what you do when your wife is dying.
Once Martha kicked the bucket, TJ was uber depressed. He fainted, and it took forever for him to come to. People were starting to think he wouldn't, and he would die of a broken heart. Obviously, he did come around, but he was super depressed for awhile after that. He locked himself in his room, he'd pace back and forth for hours, he'd take long secluded carriage rides out into the woods. He might even have been suicidal.
But, evntually he pulled himself out of it and continued his career in politics. After the war, the Confederation Congress made him the U.S. minister of France. His buddies Ben Franklin and John Adams headed to Europe too. Tj took his oldest daughter, Patsy with him. A few months later he sent for his other daughter, Polly, and one of his slaves brought his daughter to him. This slave, a woman by the name of Sally Hemings.
Scandal Alert! So, we all know the story of TJ and Sally, right? I mean, it can't be 100% confirmed, but I'm pretty fricken sure he fathered at least some if not all of her kids. But, here's whats interesting, in France, slavery was illegal. So Sally was paid like a nanny/house keeper. He bought her clothes, and while nobody knows where she stayed during the week, she hung out with TJ on the weekends. She could have stayed in France and been free. But, TJ convinced her to go back to the states instead. Now, why would she do that if she wasn't into him? I mean her family was there and all, but freedom! holy geez. Then when she got back there were babies, who were fair skinned. (Sally herself was bi-racial) And, Sally and her kids got treated pretty well, and differently than everyone else. They were given music lessons, and taught skills. The most work they had to do was run some errands. There's more, but come on. Plus, DNA says they totally were likely his kids. So, there's that.
Now that TJ (and Sally) were back, good old GW asked his buddy if he would be Secretary of State. TJ agreed, but he was one of those Anti-Federalists, and things grew tense. (Not mean though, mind you, TJ liked some good healthy friendly debates, ala my dad and Uncle Warren at Thanksgiving).
The term Anti-Federalists wasn't too cool though. I mean, that just says what you're against, not what you're for. So, the Anti-Federalists ended up becoming the Democratic-Republicans. TJ resigned his post as Secretary of State, because he wasn't all about this big government stuff. He actually wanted the people to have more say. He liked the idea of rebellion, and questioning authority. According to TJ, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots."
But TJ wasn't a John Tyler when it came to rebellion. Nah, he was way too cool for that nonsense. Instead, he acted out by not powdering his wig (ha! that'll show those guys!)
So, TJ ran for president when GW stepped down, but a flaw in the Constitution (see he knew there were issues with that thing!), John Adams ended up president and he ended up Veep. He wasn't thrilled with this, but whatevs. He just spent the next four years rewriting the procedures for the Senate (because you know, the Veep is techinically the president of the Senate).
So, another election rolls around and TJ decides to run again. This time the flaw in the Constitution had even worse consequences. In an effort for TJ to be president and Aaron Burr to be VP, the party screws up and there is a tie. Opps.
And so it gets thrown to the House of Representatives, in which a guy you might know from the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, breaks the tie and votes for TJ. He's not a fan, but he LOATHES Aaron Burr. So there we have it. Tommy J is our pres, and Aaron Burr is our Veep. (This won't be the last you hear about Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, so stay tuned).
So, TJ moves into the White House. Fun fact: he walked to and from his inauguration in the Senate Chamber, the only president to do so. (He was also the first pres. inaugurated in D.C.) And when he got back to the boarding house he was staying that night, all the seats at the dinner table were taken and he went to bed hungry, poor TJ.
Without a first lady, Dolly Madison helped him out. She served ice cream, and they had fries, and they were overall just awesome. TJ might have been rich, but he never wanted to seem that way. He walked around the White House in 'casual clothes', and even answered the front door himself. I take that to mean TJ ate waffles in the Oval, and answered the door in his PJ's, btw. I didn't read that anywhere or anything, I just think it should be true.
Oh, and he fought pirates! The Barbary Pirates were making us pay them off, so they wouldn't bother our ships in the Mediterranean. TJ was like F this, and went to war with the guys.
And we won! It was the first time we had raised our flag on another countries soil. (fun fact: from the shores of Tripoli in the Marine's Hymm comes from this war!)
Of course we all know TJ made an important purchase during his presidency as well. France was about to go to war with the British (in what would become the War of 1812 for us, but don't worry about that yet, it's only 1803, we've got 9 more years to worry about it!), and Nepoleon was unloading the terratory at rock bottom prices! Only 3 cents an acre!
TJ wasn't sure he had the authority to buy the land, but screw it, the values! So, for a cool $15 mill, TJ picks up enough land to double the size of Americas. Federalists thought it was a waste of money (sounds a bit like Sewards Folly, am I right?), but TJ was thrilled.
We interrupt this program to bring you the type of pictures I get when Asa isn't here for a president's birthday.
Anyway, the Junior Wilderness Explorer in TJ couldn't wait to see what this land had to offer. Now, he was one of the most brilliant men to ever be president, but you have to remember, Science was limited back them, so don't think less of TJ for these next thoughts, k?
He actually thought they might find active volcanoes, mountains of salt, and woolly mammoths!
So, as we know, (thanks Oregon Trail!) TJ sent out his buddy Meriweather Lewis to check out the land. And Meriweather brought along his army buddy, William Clark. They met up with Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian and a year and a half later they had made it to Fort Clatsop!
While they were off collecting plants and bear cubs (no seriously) to bring back to TJ, it was time for his re-election. He was a shoe in, but he'd had enough of his Veep, Aaron Burr. Burr knew he was being dropped from the ticket, and so he tried to run for Governor of NY. Hamilton called Burr a traitor, said he was going to have New England succeed from the Union, and ruined Burrs chances. Burr was pissed, and so he challenged Alexander to a duel (but in New Jersey, not NY since dueling was less illegal in NJ). Burr THE SITTING VP, shot and killed Hamilton in the duel.
At least you'll end up on the $10 bill instead of being remembered as a murderous traitor, Alex!
During his second term, Lewis and Clark show back up with all kinds of stuff for TJ, including two bear cubs he keeps on the White House lawn! (Oh, and TJ also had a pet Mockingbird who would sing when he played the violin, how cool is that?!) There was also this nasty little trade embargo that happened in term number two, but that didn't go so well, and nobody today really remembers it, because TJ was badass enough not to care about this little blip.
So, TJ leaves office and his buddy James Madison takes over, and Dolly gets to be a real first lady!
TJ goes back to Monticello. Now, we're still one accomplishment short on his tomb stone. You'd think, hey, probably President of the United States, but you'd be wrong (even though when he died there were only SIX men who had EVER been president). TJ helped create and organize the University of Virginia. He served as president of the University before James Madison took over for him. So, Father of the University of Virginia is the third accomplishment listed.
TJ spent his days playing with his grandkids at Monticello. He also went over all his finances and debts (He was in serious debt by then, keeping up with all those hobbies and interested proved expensive). He became sick and was eventually bed ridden. But, TJ, always wanted to be in control knew the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was coming up, and he wanted to go out in style. He woke up on July 3rd, and asked his doctor "is it the fourth yet?" When his doctor told him it wasn't, TJ held on for another 17 hours so he could die on the 4th of July, the 50th anniversary.
In a weird twist of events, his friend who helped write it along with him, John Adams, died the very same day.
We made birthday cards (excuse Calib's weird look here)...
And added to the board.
Then we had a fun two sided puzzle to work on. I could have been more creative in our activity today, but we'd just done lots of projects for Greek Week. Plus, a two sided puzzle. It's innovative! TJ would be proud. (Ok, a stretch, but still...)
Plus the boys all like doing puzzles and it's low maintenance.
On one side we had TJ (that's the first picture way up at the beginning of the blog), on the other side we had the Jefferson Memorial.
Which, was dedicated on TJ's 200th Birthday, 72 years ago!
TJ enjoyed crab and various fish, he was also a big fan of veggies (peas were his favorite). So for dinner we had crab cakes, french fries, and peas (well mixed veggies with peas)!
Plus, we'll be having ice cream for dessert. Now, Dolly Madison is often credited with serving ice cream in the White House. You might remember we celebrated that during James Madison's birthday. But, TJ actually made that possible when he brought an ice cream maker/freezer back from France with him. And while he may or may not have been the first person to serve it, the first known recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream was jotted down by our third president himself. The recipe is in the Library of Congress today, along with 27,000 other documents TJ wrote!
Oh, and the hashtag for the day: Not going to powder my wig #rebel #redheadshavemorefun
(It's in a purple for the Democratic-Republican Party).
Check out how full our historical hashtag wall is getting (on the first set anyway).
That's your history lesson for the day, hope you made it through, it was a long one. Next up is James Buchanan in ten days. He'll be decidedly less interesting.
Oh... and...
I wrote 95% of my blog before Asa got home so I wouldn't have to spend the evening on my computer! Yay! (Thanks to the kids for being so well behaved today, cleaning up after themselves and helping me out to make that possible!) It's the weekend around here, and I couldn't be more excited!
Next Up: Goodbye Spring Breakers, it's finally time to hit those theme parks!
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