A disastrous lottery, the loss of an entire library, and the fate of one very
controversial relationship. Thomas Jefferson may have once had control of the country,
but who controlled his estate after he died? Keep watching to find out.
Though Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day,
settling the two presidents' estates could not have been more different.
While both incurred significant amounts of debt in their lifetimes, John Adams died debt-free
and owned 275 acres of land. Thanks to help from his son, John Adams died in a position
where he could bequeath both land and books to Quincy, Massachusetts, to start a school.
Things did not run so smoothly for Thomas Jefferson, and much of
what he bequeathed in his will never made it to his intended recipients.
Jefferson was in debt for most of his life due to several factors. Much of his income relied on
agriculture, which was not his strongest skill set. Compound that with a lavish lifestyle and
debts inherited from family and friends, and he wasn't the fountain of wealth one might imagine.
Jefferson spent his last months scrambling to sort out his affairs.
He knew that he'd been afforded lenience as a founder of the constitution and former president.
Should his debts pass down to his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, she would not
receive the same consideration. So, Jefferson and his grandson,
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, devised a scheme to resolve their financial woes: a lottery.
Though initially well-received, the lottery was halted when a group of
well-meaning citizens from New York offered to raise the money instead.
To their disappointment, the money raised didn't come close to the amount needed.
In the meantime, the lottery had lost much of its steam.
Ever the optimist, Jefferson died believing that the lottery would solve his dire financial
situation. His daughter, Martha, said that "he died tranquil," so strong was his hope
for the lottery. The Saturday Evening Post recalled that he even wrote to his grandson,
"as these misfortunes have been held back for my last days, when few remain to me.
I duly acknowledge that I have gone through a long life,
with fewer circumstances of affliction than are the lot of most men."
His optimism did not match reality, and the public's enthusiasm for the lottery dwindled.
Eventually, his family members canceled the lottery entirely.
After Jefferson's death, his daughter Martha inherited his debts, as he'd feared.
In 1831, she sold his Monticello home and the 130 enslaved people held in bondage there.
Eventually, his grandson took on paying back his grandfather's debts,
the last payment occurring 50 years after Jefferson's death.
Thomas Jefferson, who penned the sentiment "all men are created equal,"
famously had an ambivalent relationship with the true meaning of the words.
Smithsonian Magazine reports that Jefferson traded his early abolitionist beliefs for
the profits that chattel slavery afforded him as a plantation owner.
As George Washington was planning emancipation at Mount Vernon, having disavowed slavery,
Smithsonian Magazine says that Jefferson mortgaged the enslaved people he held to build Monticello.
Out of the over 600 enslaved people held on his estate over his lifetime, Jefferson had
only freed two before his death. According to The Washington Post, his will only freed five more.
The auction block meant family separation for the rest of the enslaved people held at Monticello.
Families were sold to as many as eight different buyers, and the families of
the five freed people were not spared from separation either. Joseph Fossett,
freed by Jefferson's will, worked for 10 years to buy the rest of his family's freedom.
In the end, he was only able to save his wife, while his four children remained enslaved.
"Looked at in full, you find a man whose life was made possible by slavery."
The brothers Madison and Eston Hemings were two of the enslaved
people freed by Thomas Jefferson's will. According to The New York Times,
historical records and DNA evidence point to Jefferson as their biological father.
Much is unknown about the nature of the relationship between Jefferson and their mother,
Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman held at Monticello.
Jefferson fathered her six children, starting from when she was 16 years old. The complexities
of the relationship have been debated for a long time, and while there's a lot that
remains unknown, we do know that Sally Hemings negotiated for the freedom of her children.
Hemings accompanied Jefferson's family to Paris,
experiencing legal freedom and the vibrant cultural, artistic, and intellectual milieu.
Two years later, pregnant, she refused to return to Virginia unless Jefferson
agreed to "extraordinary privileges" for herself and freedom for her future children.
Her daughters, Beverly and Harriet, were allowed to leave Monticello four
years before Jefferson's death. Though never officially freed,
they slipped into white society, undiscovered but unable to mention their roots or heritage.
"I stood up and I proudly said, 'Thomas Jefferson was my great, great, great, great,
great, great grandfather!' and the teacher said, 'Sit down, and stop telling lies.'
Jefferson never freed Sally Hemings. After Jefferson's death,
his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph unofficially freed her and allowed
her to move to Charlottesville, Virginia, to live with her sons.
In addition to the Monticello plantation, Thomas Jefferson owned and ran the Poplar
Forest plantation. He had inherited the 4,819 acres in Bedford Country, Virginia,
from his father-in-law in 1773. Used primarily for tobacco, overseers and roughly 100 enslaved
persons held in bondage operated the plantation, which also served as a favorite retreat.
Jefferson turned over the property to his grandson, Francis Wayles Eppes, in 1822,
at the time of Eppes' marriage. Later, upon hearing of his grandfather's financial
difficulties, Eppes tried to return Poplar Forest, but Jefferson refused.
Later, Jefferson's will officially bequeathed the plantation to Eppes. Two years later,
Eppes sold Poplar Forest and relocated to Florida, establishing another plantation.
Jefferson was renowned for his library, but his debts compromised his personal library's fate.
His will expresses his desire to donate his books to the University of Virginia.
However, to settle his debts posthumously, the contents of Monticello's library were sold at
two estate sales, one in Washington D.C. and another in Philadelphia.
Francis Eppes followed suit and sold the Poplar Forest library in New York City in 1873.
Thomas Jefferson's will seems to be a fitting final document for the former president.
The contradiction between his wishes and the reality at hand speaks to his complex legacy.
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