Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th

Due to a combination of rheumatism brought on my arm and wrist injuries, as well as digestive and bladder disorders, his health started to worsen in July 1825, and by June 1826, he was bedridden. Jefferson turned down a request from Washington to join the Declaration of Independence commemoration celebration on July 3 due to a fever. On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson passed away at Monticello at the age of 83. Coincidentally, Jefferson's friend, erstwhile opponent, and fellow Declaration of Independence signatory John Adams passed away on the same day. At Monticello, Jefferson was laid to rest. However, the former president's home, furnishings, and enslaved people were auctioned off after his passing because of the substantial debt he had racked up during his lifetime. In the end, a charitable organization bought Monticello, and in 1954, it was made accessible to the general public.

Jefferson is revered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, a key figure in the planning of the American Revolution, and a Renaissance man who advanced science and learning. He is seen as a symbol of individual liberty, democracy, and republicanism. His advocacy for enhanced voting rights and participatory democracy helped to define his period and set the bar for the next generations. According to Meacham, throughout the first half of the democratic republic's existence, Thomas Jefferson had the biggest impact, succeeded by presidential adherents James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren. Francis D. Cogliano refers to Jefferson's more than 18,000 letters of important political and philosophical content as "a documentary legacy... unmatched in American history in its number and scope."

Jefferson is still revered in America. Jefferson is honored with structures, statues, stamps, and money. In the 1920s, Jefferson was chosen by artist Gutzon Borglum and given the go-ahead by President Calvin Coolidge to be carved into stone at the Mount Rushmore Memorial with George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. On the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth, in 1943, Washington, D.C., held a dedication ceremony for the Jefferson Memorial. Rudulph Evans' 19-foot (6-meter) statue of Thomas Jefferson and engravings of quotes from his writings may be found inside the memorial. The inscription encircling the monument next to the roof that reads, "I have vowed upon the altar of God perpetual hatred against every kind of tyranny over the thought of man," is the most noticeable.