Thomas Jefferson Wrote His Own Epitaph and Didn’t Mention Being President

Before his death, Thomas Jefferson outlined a few specific instructions for his burial; for instance, he wanted the obelisk to be made of coarse stone. Always the writer, Jefferson also crafted his own epitaph highlighting the achievements for which he hoped to be remembered, and, as he put it, “not a word more.” It reads: “Here was buried / Thomas Jefferson / Author of the Declaration of American Independence / of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom / & Father of the University of Virginia.” 

Strangely, nowhere on this epitaph does Jefferson state that he was President of an entire nation; he also fails to mention that he served as governor of Virginia, secretary of state, and Vice President. It’s possible that Jefferson was more proud of his intellectual contributions than the moments he held power. In 1883, Jefferson’s descendants donated the original gravestone to the University of Missouri — a campus designed in a similar fashion to Jefferson’s University of Virginia and the first university in the region acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. Today, a new gravestone marks the founding father’s final resting place, but the epitaph remains the same — still omitting Jefferson’s time as the nation’s chief executive.