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Medal Name: Third President of the United States of America
Struck for: Thomas Jefferson
OBVERSE
TH. (Thomas) JEFFERSON PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (United States) A.D. (Anno Domini: The year of our Lord) 1801.
Bust of President Jefferson, facing the left.
REVERSE
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP.
Two hands clasped in token of amity: on the cuff of the left wrist three stripesand as many buttons; on the other, the American eagle; above the hands, a calumet and a tomahawk crossed Indian emblems of peace and war.
BACKGROUND
Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, April 2, 1743. He studied at William andMary College, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1767. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, ofVirginia, from 1769 till the Revolution; was delegate to the Continental Congress in 1775; wrote the Declaration of Independence, 1776; was governor of Virginia, 1779-1781; member of Congress, 1782; minister to France, 1785-1789; secretary of State to President Washington, 1790-1793; vice-president of the United States, 1797-1801; President (first term), 1801-1805; (second term), 1805-1809. He then retired to his estate of Monticello, inAlbemarle County, Virginia, and died there, July 4, 1826, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Independence of the United States, and on the same day with John Adams.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)