Thomas Jefferson Declared Our Independence
This is the first United States stamp to honor Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. He was well-educated and loved to learn by reading books.
As a young man of 26, he began construction on his home named Monticello just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.
In his mid-thirties as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, he drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson as Governor of Virginia and Other Offices
After the U.S. gained independence, Jefferson served in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was instrumental in revising and crafting many of Virginia’s state laws. Eventually he was elected governor of the state.
He was appointed minister to France, a position he filled from 1785 to 1789. Returning to the United States in 1789, he was accepted the position of Secretary of State in Washington’s Cabinet. Jefferson was often at odds with Alexander Hamilton and later fell out of favor with Washington.
Vice President and President Jefferson
Jefferson served as Adams’ Vice President and was elected President himself in 1801. Aaron Burr was his Vice President.
It was during Jefferson’s term in office that the U.S. made the Louisiana Purchase, and Jefferson appointed Lewis and Clark to explore and map it, recording all their findings and experiences.
Jefferson served 2 terms as President (1801-1808). He was first honored in 1856 on a U.S. postage stamp (shown above) issued 30 years after his death.
Cataloging the Jefferson 5-Cent
For various reasons, such as perforations, shades of color and border design differences, some catalogs give as many as eight different listings. The Minimalist Catalog considers all of these to be the same stamp reissued several times between 1856 and 1875 and assigns the one catalog number, USC 5.
Note: I do not own any copy of this stamp yet. It is shown here courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons. It is actually the 1860-61 issue which can be determined by the clipping of the frame design at the top center and bottom center.
| Thomas Jefferson 5c Statistics | |||
| Date Used | Designer | Printing | Number |
| 3/24/1856 | Joseph I. Pease and Cyrus Durand | TCC | ~150,000 |
| 5/4/1860 | Joseph I. Pease and Cyrus Durand | TCC | ~570,000 |