#3 Thomas Jefferson

1801--1809

--Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence included a passage critical of the slave trade, but it was deleted along with a fourth of the original draft when it was revised by the Continental Congress. At the time, Jefferson owned over forty slaves (over the course of his life Jefferson would own some 600 slaves).

--As president, Jefferson began the controversial process of Native American tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory in 1803, and signed the Act of Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1807 (this stated that no new slaves were permitted to be imported to the United States). He also commissioned the creation of the Corps of Discovery, a special unit of the U.S. Army from which the Lewis & Clark Expedition, among others, was born.

--While he was president, Jefferson had the bones of a mastodon sent to the White House, and laid them out in the East Room in an attempt to build the skeleton.

--In 1814 the Library of Congress was attacked by British troops and all the books were burned. Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement, and the next year the Library was restocked with all 6,487 of Jefferson's books.

--In his spare time Jefferson would submit lurid short stories to newspapers and various journals anonymously (under the pen-name "A Correspondent from Virginia") in which Jefferson was a cultured, gentleman gunfighter who frequently helped clients for reward. This premise was later adapted into "Have Gun--Will Travel", a popular American TV show that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963.