Editor's note: This editorial, with modifications, has appeared in previous Fourth of July editions. The story of how the Declaration of Independence came to be says much about the ideals of the men ...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — I called my brother, Kevin, to ask if he would spend Independence Day with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and me. Monticello has a new tour focusing on the fond and fractious ...

Thomas Jefferson was a contradictory character: the Virginia aristocrat known as the "man of the people"; the president who simplified the office yet never denied himself a luxury; the slave owner who ...

Adams was the one who asked Jefferson to write the original draft, but he stewed for years about the decision. While he recognized Jefferson's “particular felicity of expression,” he nonetheless ...

America’s first president, George Washington, is on Mount Rushmore. So is the third, Thomas Jefferson. But there is only the merest crevice between them where the second, John Adams, might have been.

Don’t serve him merlot, Frenchies! Adams (center) meets with Jefferson (left) and Franklin. / HBO: Kent Eanes Note: A variation of this piece will run in the issue of TIME on newsstands next week.