Second Administration (March 4, 1805-March 3, 1809)

Vice President: George Clinton Secretary of State: James Madison Secretary of the Treasury: Albert Gallatin Secretary of War: Henry Dearborn Attorney General: John Breckenridge; Caesar A. Rodney (from January 1807)

Postmaster General: Gideon Granger Secretary of the Navy: Robert Smith Supreme Court Appointments: Henry Brockholst Livingston (1806); Thomas Todd (1807)

Family Facts

Father: Peter Jefferson (1708-1757)

Mother: Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-1776)

Wife: Martha Wayles Skelton (1748-1782) Marriage: January 1, 1772 Children: Martha “Patsy” (1772-1836); Jane Randolph (1774-1775); Mary (1778-1804); Lucy (1780-1781); Lucy (1782-1785). A son died in infancy in 1777. Jefferson likely fathered at least one child with his slave, Sally Hemings.

Unusual Facts

Thomas Jefferson was the first president elected by the House of Representatives.

When he became president, he had been a widower for 19 years. His daughter Martha or “Patsy” assumed the role of first lady.

Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D. C. To lessen pomp, he eliminated the state carriage.

Bears brought back from Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition were displayed in cages on the White House lawn. For years the White House was sometimes referred to as the “president’s bear garden.”

Jefferson once said, “I cannot live without books,” and about 6,000 volumes from his private library were purchased for $23,950 to help start the Library of Congress.

Jefferson is credited with several inventions, including the swivel chair, a pedometer, a machine to make fiber from hemp, a lettercopying machine, a clock that kept track of the days of the week, and the lazy Susan.