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Bio
James Madison
The oldest of twelve children, James Madison was born on March 16, 1751 to James and Nelly Madison. James Sr. was a slave owner and planter. In the early 1760s, he constructed a new home in Orange County, Virginia, and the family moved into the plantation estate, Montpelier. Although James Madison was often ill as a child, he was also naturally inquisitive
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Bio
John Adams
On April 21, 1789, John Adams became the first Vice President of the United States. Over the next twelve years, John and Abigail followed the federal government as it was relocated from New York City to Philadelphia, and finally to Washington, D.C. The constant sojourning in service to their nation was the defining characteristic of the Adamses’ lives.Born on October 30, 1735 in
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Bio
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia to Jane and Peter Jefferson. His father was a Virginia planter, surveyor, and slave owner. At age fourteen, Jefferson’s father died, and Thomas inherited some thirty enslaved individuals. Jefferson fully embraced the lifestyle of an affluent member of the planter class, and over the course of his lifetime he ow
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Scholarship
The Revolutionary Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson
Nearly two decades after his election to the presidency, Thomas Jefferson elaborated on the significance of this triumph to his friend Spencer Roane. The “revolution of 1800,” he wrote, “was as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 76.” This transformation was “not effected indeed by the sword…but by the rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage
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Andrew Jackson Goes to the Beach
Okay – so he didn’t exactly go to the beach but he did spend four long vacations on the Virginia coast indulging in sea air, privacy, and “bathing.” Close enough! In 1829, during the first summer of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, he went on an inspection tour of several military projects around Norfolk, Virginia. One of the places he visited was a man-made
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Scholarship
Sculpture, Bribery, and the Founding Fathers
During his short time in America, Italian neoclassical sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi created approximately thirty-six marble busts of prominent men including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, earning him a place as one of the most prolific sculptors in early American history. In particular he is known for a neoclassical bust of George Washington, currently part of the
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The Complexities of Slavery in the Nation's Capital
For the first seventy-two years of its existence, the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., harbored one of America’s most difficult historical truths and greatest contradictions: slavery. The city’s placement along the Potomac River, in between the slave states of Maryland and Virginia, ensured that slavery was ingrained into every aspect of life, including the buildings, institutions, and social
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Scholarship
The Enslaved Household of President George Washington
On April 16, 1789, George Washington left his home at Mount Vernon to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States. He was accompanied by Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, and Colonel David Humphreys, Washington’s longtime friend and secretary. Although the president-elect made no mention of their presence in his diary, he wa
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"Mourn Columbia!": The Death and Legacy of Stephen Decatur
At the time of his death in 1820, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. was one of the most revered public figures in the United States. He was a highly decorated military hero and a leader in Washington, D.C.’s elite social circles. Some of his contemporaries had even suggested Decatur as a potential candidate for president.1 His violent and unexpected death, th
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Scholarship
Thomas Jefferson's Cabinet
On November 26, 1791, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson attended the first cabinet meeting in American history. At 10:00 am, he arrived at the President’s House on the corner of Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He walked upstairs and entered George Washington’s private study on the second floor. The room was relatively small—fifteen by twenty-one feet—and overcrowded with fur
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Scholarship
The History of the Pardon Power
Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states that the President has the authority to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The United States Supreme Court has interpreted this power as “plenary,” meaning that is considerably broad and not generally subject to congressional modification.1 In both Ex parte Garland (1866) and United S
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Article
Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?
So much about the new United States was new—a democracy in a world full of monarchies, an elected president instead of a king, a people who had claimed the rights and responsibilities of citizens, to name just a few—that it should be no surprise that the location of a capital city would be addressed by the Framers of the