Jefferson also spent a good deal of his retirement writing letters. Historian Andrew O’Shaughnessy says Jefferson was one of the great letter writers of his time.

One of his famous correspondences was with John Adams. Adams was the second president of the United States. Adams and Jefferson had been friends during the first years of the United States. But politics had made them enemies. Their friendship ended after the election of 1800.

Yet in retirement, the two men became friends again. Jefferson and Adams had what Andrew O’Shaughnessy calls a “remarkable correspondence.”

“They discuss the memory of the American revolution, the history of it, and how it should be written. But they also range over scientific and philosophical subjects.”

Jefferson wrote about 19,000 letters in his lifetime. A project to publish the entire collection started in 1943 and is not expected to be completed until 2026.

Jefferson also used his retirement to improve education in his home state of Virginia. Jefferson believed firmly in the value of education. His whole idea of government depended on the ability of citizens to make intelligent decisions.

He proposed a school system of three steps.

The first would be elementary schools, where all children could learn reading, writing, arithmetic and geography. These schools would be built in all areas of the state and would be paid for by the people living in each area.