Monticello Moments - Anniversaries and Relics: Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence in 1825

Join Monticello staff in the visitor center for a special talk about Jefferson's account of writing the Declaration and what happened to the writing desk that he used.

The researchers behind the Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series spend years immersed in Jefferson's private world, reading and analyzing his letters and the details that haven't made it into the history books. This talk offers a unique chance to hear directly from Monticello researchers about writing the Declaration of Independence in Jefferson's own words.

An editor of the Papers will discuss some of Jefferson's 1825 correspondence, in which he recalled where exactly he wrote the Declaration, and how Jefferson gifted the writing desk on which he drafted the Declaration to his grandson-in-law. Jefferson speculated that one day people might "give imaginary value to this relic, for it's association with the birth of the Great charter of our Independance."