Thomas Jefferson's moose ...

In addition to his role as one of the founding fathers of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson is known for his interests in architecture, history, science, engineering, and many other wide and varied items. His pursuit of those interests knew few bounds, as evidenced by his almost humorous quest to prove a European scientist wrong.

In 1785, Jefferson was the ranking American diplomat in France. And there, he decided to take on the misguided beliefs of Georges de Buffon, the leading French naturalist of the day. Buffon believed that the animals and plants of North America were inferior, in size and vigor, to those of Europe.

To prove Buffon wrong, Jefferson commissioned a hunter to shoot an American moose and ship it to him France, which was not a small feat. The American diplomat was disappointed in the size of the carcass that arrived, so he ordered another hunting expedition, writes historian Joseph J. Ellis in his 1996 biography American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson.

Although “somewhat frustrated that the [second] moose was only seven feet tall and that its hair kept falling out,” Jefferson had the carcass put on display in the entry of the hotel in which he lived, notes Ellis.

“Buffon, who was himself a minuscule man less than five feet tall, was invited to observe the smelly and somewhat imperfect trophy but concluded it was insufficient evidence to force a revision of his anti-American theory,” Ellis adds.

Interestingly, Jefferson believed not only that American plants and animals were no less impressive than European varieties, but that America produced more impressive plants and animals than Europe. In a sense, Jefferson became sort of an American Buffon, believing that mammoths – those large, hairy, prehistoric animals resembling modern elephants – still roamed the unexplored American West.

Jefferson wrote because others needed elsewhere ...

In his book American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, historian Joseph J. Ellis takes us to Phildelphia in summer 1776, when "the writing of the Declaration of Independence did not seem nearly so important as other priorities," such as each state's own constitution. But after Virginia's Richard Henry Lee introduced to Congress a resolution establishing the American colonies to be "free and independent states," a five-member committee -- including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson -- was appointed to draft a document that could implement the Lee proposal. Jefferson's writing skills were recognized, but that reputation was not prime in determining which of them would draft the document. "Jefferson was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence ... in great part because the other eligible authors had more important things to do," writes Ellis.

Washington's last fear ...

Doctors, family members, and slaves witnessed George Washington's final hours and death at 67 in December 1799. Sickened with an infection in his throat, causing a part of it to swell so much that breathing became impossible, Washington's final deathbed words were "Tis well" as he took his own pulse before taking his last breath.

But before that final observation, he spoke more stridently to an assistant:  "I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than two days after I am dead ... Do you understand me?"  That directive, relayed to us today by historian Joseph J. Ellis in his 2004 book, His Excellency: George Washington, exposes a particular fear of the first president.

"Washington believed that several apparently dead people, perhaps including Jesus, had really been buried alive, a fate he wished to avoid," writes Ellis.