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L’Enfant’s original plan for the District had been followed on-and-off since it was developed in the early 19th century. A major element of his plan for the city was two perpendicular axis, intersecting in the center of the Mall, forming a cross. Each arm of the cross was to terminate at a monumental building, with another monumental building at the intersection of the cross. The intersection became the Washington Monument in 1884 (located a few hundred feet off-center due to soil mechanics). The east-west arm ran from the U.S. Capitol to a ‘monument site’; this became the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. The north-south arm ran from the White House just past the Tidal Basin to another ‘monument site.’
An Act of Congress in 1934 designated the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission to oversee the erection of a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, located at the empty ‘monument site’ on the south arm of the cross. The Memorial Commission selected architect John Russell Pope to design the monument. Breaking with tradition, the commission didn’t hold a competition for the design, leading to the accusation that the process was ‘undemocratic.’ Pope chose a Neoclassical design for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial - a design that Jefferson himself had used at both his home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia - based on the Pantheon in Rome. Jefferson had believed that the Pantheon was the perfect model for any circular building.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid the cornerstone for the monument on November 15, 1939. The building of the monument involved the removal of 2.5 acres of the Japanese Cherry Trees surrounding the Tidal Basin, much to the chagrin of some. People chained themselves to the trees, but that didn’t stop construction. Pope died during construction, so the design was executed (and altered slightly) by Daniel P. Higgins and Otto R. Eggers.
In the center of the monument is a 19-foot high bronze statue of Jefferson, weighing 5 tons, sculpted by Rudolph Evans in 1941. The statue looks across the Tidal Basin towards the White House. Some say he actually faces his nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, at the Department of Treasury Building adjacent to the White House. The memorial was finished in 1943.
Inside the memorial, Jefferson’s words are used to illustrate the principles to which he dedicated his life. Those principles - Government derived from the people; Freedom of religion; Separation between church and state; Free education - became known as ‘Jeffersonian’ principles. Also inside the memorial, like the Lincoln Memorial, is a small museum about Thomas Jefferson and a gift shop.
The best way to get to the memorial is by bicycle. The closest Metro stop is Smithsonian - blocks and blocks away. If you’re walking, it is much shorter to come from the Lincoln Memorial than the Washington Monument despite what it looks like on the map.
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"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
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