Thomas Jefferson

Best known as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/jefferson

Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/

This exhibition focuses on the extraordinary legacy of Thomas Jefferson--founding father, farmer, architect, inventor, slaveholder, book collector, scholar, diplomat, and the third president of the United States. It traces Jefferson's intellectual development from his earliest days in the Piedmont to an ever-expanding realm of influence in republican Virginia, the American Revolutionary government, the creation of the American nation, and the revolution in individual rights in America and the world.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/

The Thomas Jefferson Papers Timeline: 1743 -1827
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjtime1.html

Selected Quotations from the Thomas Jefferson Papers
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjquote.html

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was many things: a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, civic leader, and diplomat.

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/franklinb

The "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, one of the great milestones in American history, shows the evolution of the text from the initial "fair copy" draft by Thomas Jefferson to the final text adopted by Congress on the morning of July 4, 1776.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trt001.html

Letters to and from Benjamin Franklin & Thomas Jefferson-Search key words Benjamin Franklin

The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript volumes. The collection is organized into ten series or groupings, ranging in date from 1606 to 1827. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, and drafts of documents make up two-thirds of the Papers and document Jefferson's activities as a delegate to the second Continental Congress; his drafting of the Declaration of Independence, June-July 1776; his position as governor of Virginia, 1779-81; his return to Congress as a representative, 1783-84; and his appointment as minister plenipotentiary in Europe and then minister to the Court of Louis XVI, succeeding Benjamin Franklin, 1784-89. Britain that led to the War of 1812.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/

Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin: In His Own Words, indicates the depth and breadth of
Benjamin Franklin's public, professional, and scientific accomplishments through important documents, letters, books, broadsides, and cartoons. Marking the tercentenary of Franklin's birth, this exhibition, concentrates on his achievements as a printer and writer, an inventor and scientist, and, particularly, as a politician and statesman.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/franklin-home.html