Admirers in the nation’s capital are marking the 269th birthday of the founding father, Thomas Jefferson, who is credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence. To mark the 269th anniversary of the third president’s birth, on Friday, the National Park Service, the Military District of Washington, and the D.C. Society of the Sons of the American Revolution will lay a wreath at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Jefferson, who gave his personal library to the United States after invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building in 1814 and the small library of some 3,000 volumes within, was a political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, and inventor. The Jefferson memorial is located along the tidal basin and was dedicated in 1943, on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
