What you may not have known about Thomas Jefferson

                                 Thomas Jefferson

         What you may not have known about Thomas Jefferson

Martha Wayles was born on her father's plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. She married Mr. Skeleton but was widowed by the age of 22. She married Thomas Jefferson in 1771 and moved to his home, Monticello.

Martha's father was a large slaveholder, and Martha inherited 135 slaves when her father died. They came to Monticello, including the slave girl Sally Hemings.

Thomas and Martha became the parents of six children. Three died in infancy. Sally became responsible for the children's care after Martha died in 1782.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson became the minister to France, bringing his daughter Mary and the slave Sally with him. Sally was now 15. While in France, Thomas became intimate with Sally.

After he moved back to Monticello in Virginia, he had five children with the teenage slave. He became president, and the rumors started. He did not confirm or deny the allegations.

Before his wife Martha died, he promised he would give Sally her freedom when he died. He did. 

Why did Martha want Sally to have her freedom? Because Sally was Martha's half-sister. Martha's father, John Wayles, was Sally's father, and her mother was a slave named Elizabeth Hemings.

Thomas Jefferson's concubine was his sister-in-law.

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Thomas Jefferson chose Monticello, his home, to be his burial place. He designed his grave marker, a simple stone obelisk. The inscription was to be chiseled into the granite.

People wondered whether it would show that he was the 3rd president of the United States and that he had been vice president from 1797 to 1801. He had many disagreements with President John Adams. As Jefferson was from the South, he helped Adams win, as he was from the North. 

Jefferson was the first Secretary of State under George Washington. He was the minister to France and the governor of Virginia.

Jefferson died on July 4th, 1826, and when the marker was revealed, it read:

"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Liberty, and Father of the University of Virginia."

He wanted to be remembered for independence, religious liberty, and education.

From Shocking Secrets of American History By Bill Coate

 

A Dinner Party on July 20, 1790, made History.

 

The Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, wanted to see President Washington settle the issue. He was not able to see the president, but Thomas Jefferson rose to the occasion.

James Madison, a member of the House of Representatives, wanted the federal government to settle all state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War.

Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton said his state, Virginia, had paid its debt and did not want to pay the debts of the northern states.

On July 20, 1790, Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, invited Hamilton and James Madison to dinner. During the meal, Jefferson proposed that the South would accept Madison's proposal if our nation's capital were located in Virginia. Madison believed the Southern states would back it.
The Residency Bill was passed by Congress. So, the capital of our country is Washington, D.C.

History at a dinner party.

 

                        His Beginning

This is self-promoting, so if you don't like it, ignore.

 His Beginning, my newest book, is available at https://author.amazon.com/books. It is about a child born to poor parents, who lived under foreign rule, became a refugee, and was hunted by a cruel man. 

If you read the book, please read a review, positive or negative. Be honest. It helps me to learn what works and what doesn't. Thank you. Self-promoting Pat

                 Curse of the Presidency 

A Shawnee, who changed his name from Lalawethika to Tenskwatawa, became known as the Prophet. He and his twin brother, Tecumseh, were leaders and wanted to unite other tribes with theirs and established a village that the Americans called Prophetstown. It was north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana.

They wanted to establish a nation with its own borders, government, and culture. Many Shawnees, Potawatomi, Kickapoos, Winnebagoes, Sauks, Ottawas, Wyandots, and Iowas joined them. They wanted a city-state separate from the white settlers.

The governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, negotiated the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which was signed by some Native Americans. The treaty was for 2.5 to 3 million acres for the Americans. This ended Tecumseh's and Tenskwatawa's plans.

Now, General William Henry Harrison settled the issues with the twin brothers and their followers at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Before he died, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, pronounced a curse on Harrison. No one thought much of it. Harrison was elected President of the United States in 1840. In March 1841, Harrison, known as the Indian fighter, was 69 when he gave his inaugural speech in the pouring rain. He caught pneumonia and died after one month in office. People remembered the curse.

Harrison was elected in 1840 and died in office. Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 and died in office. James A. Garfield was elected in 1880 and was assassinated while in office. William McKinley, elected in 1900, died in office. Warren Harding, elected in 1920, died in office. Franklin Roosevelt, elected in 1940, died in office. John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, died in office.

Every twenty years, in an election year ending in zero, the president died in office.

Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, was shot but lived. He put an end to the curse.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

My website is https://www.wrintwater, and the drop-down menu "Writing Water Home" has my blog. 

 

                    Freedom of the Press

We all have heard stories about Benjamin Franklin. We know about his inventions, his diplomacy, and his common sense.

Near the end of his life, he wrote his last will and testament. He passed over his illegitimate son William, who was on the opposite side during the War for Independence, and they became bitter enemies.

So Ben left almost his entire estate to his daughter Sarah Bache and to her son, Benjamin Bache. He left his printing press.

 By the late 1790s, Benjamin Bache started his own newspaper, and he did not like President John Adams's administration. His comments on Adams' government were not well received.

 In 1798, Congress passed a law called the Alien and Sedition Acts. The law made it a crime to criticize the government in print.

Benjamin Franklin Bache was true to his grandfather and was not deterred. He publicly attacked the foreign and domestic policies, so Mr. Bache was thrown into prison.

When Thomas Jefferson became President, two years later, he pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act. It was too late for Benjamin Franklin Bache. He died in prison a few months before.
He stood by his ideas to his death.

Information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate.

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                      That Teddy Roosevelt

            Nothing was going to stop him from making a speech, not even a bullet!

Three men were campaigning for the presidency. Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat, William Howard Taft was running as a Republican, and Theodore Roosevelt was a Progressive, or as some said, the Bull Moose party.

The Progressives had Roosevelt on the campaign trail. And on October 12, 1912, Teddy was in Milwaukee. He was on his way to the auditorium to give his speech when he was shot in the chest by an unknown man. The man was never caught, but his bullet did some damage. It passed through the thick papers of the speech and struck the metal eyeglass case before entering Teddy's body.

Doctors ordered Roosevelt to the hospital, but he had his mind made up, and he was going to deliver his speech. He continued on, entered the auditorium, and stood before the crowd. He began his speech with, "Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

Despite all his efforts, he finished second in the election. 

When he was determined to do something, he did it. My book, Range War Legacy, is set during his presidency, and he had a significant influence on the cattle and sheep war. My research relates the factual account of the part he played in history. He made things happen.

The information on Theodore Roosevelt, the Bull Moose Party, and his run for president is from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate.

 

          America's First Woman President

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. Before he became president, he married Edith Bolling. Was she the right choice for a future president?

He guided our nation through World War I. After the war, he wanted to form the League of Nations.

Congress was against it, so he embarked on a train trip through the country, giving speeches in favor of this new idea.

His doctors did not want him to take on the strenuous journey and commitment, as his health was failing. In Kansas, he had a paralyzing stroke. Everyone in his entourage headed back to Washington, D.C.

Edith Wilson took charge. Without her permission, no one could see the president. The vice president, his son-in-law, every secretary, and even Congressmen. There could be no exceptions.

The legislation that could enter his room was decided by Edith. If she approved, the president's palsied hand signed the papers.

His private secretary only entered when sent for. The important information or questions were given to Mrs. Wilson, and she determined when and if they were given to the president. 

Edith decided that while her husband was breathing, he would remain the president in thought and deed.

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was signed. Edith Wilson, however, served as the president's secretary, the acting secretary of state, and the acting president of the United States by this time.

  Source of information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate