The Three Greatest Men
Thomas Jefferson to John Trumbull
(1756-1843)
Holograph press copy,
February 15, 1789
Manuscript Division
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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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