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American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Memory, Exhibit Object Focus

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The Three Greatest Men

Thomas Jefferson to John Trumbull
Thomas Jefferson to John Trumbull
(1756-1843)

Holograph press copy,
February 15, 1789
Manuscript Division

Thomas Jefferson identified Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Isaac Newton as "the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception," in this 1789 letter ordering portraits of them from the American painter, John Trumbull. Their works in the physical and moral sciences were instrumental in Jefferson's education and world view.

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