So why does Thomas Jefferson mean anything to my daughter? Well, I will tell you this: It isn’t because she followed in her dad’s footsteps of being a U.S. President child prodigy.

Please humor me as I tell you why Thomas Jefferson matters to my daughter.

No, it is something else entirely.

Give up? One word…HAMILTON.

I really don’t know how it happened, but one day Sloan just really started loving the play Hamilton. Seriously, it was like overnight. Sid and I have watched it before but it was years ago before Sloan had reached an age of reason.

Sloan loves “Hamilton” so much we got her Hamilton pajamas for her birthday.

But starting about six months ago, Sloan somehow discovered the play and has been belting out the songs ever since. If you are familiar with Hamilton, you know Thomas Jefferson plays a pretty major role as an antagonist to the title character. It is kind of funny, because how he is portrayed in the play is pretty much exactly how I had envisioned him for most of my life.

I don’t deny Jefferson’s sketchiness and I do recognize that he is a controversial figure. At the same time, I sincerely value his contributions to the United States of America. It is because of his role as a founding father and his eccentricities that I ranked him #3 when I released my Top Ten U.S. Presidents blog post back in 2017.

When I presented at a conference in the D.C. area back in 2022, I had the pleasure to escape the hotel for an evening to tour the sights with my then-boss. During a previous visit to our nation’s capital I didn’t get the chance to see the Jefferson Monument but I wouldn’t be denied this time around. As with many of the other monuments, the Thomas Jefferson tribute was much larger than I imagined.

I took this photo back in 2022 when I visited Washington D.C. and had the chance to step inside the Jefferson Monument.

I know I am totally going off script now as the point of this post was to discuss why Jefferson matters to Sloan but let me say one more random thing: I love the $2 bill. It truly is just as unique as our third president and I think one of these years a handful of the bills will be crowned my top gift of the Christmas season (have you ever watched someone open an envelope to find $10 in $2 bills?—it is pretty funny).

This is me holding seven $2 bills. I put them in an envelope and used them as a white elephant gift back in December 2024.

But back to Sloan. Thanks to a play that has captured the interest of millions, my daughter has a solid grasp on key moments and prominent figures of early American history. This includes knowledge of the author of the Declaration of Independence who was born on April 13, 1743. Don’t Blink.