Young Thomas Jefferson Was ‘Not Good with Women,’ ‘Blew’ Proposal to First Love... Who Turned Him Down Flat (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Thomas Jeffersonwas a lot of things. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence. He was the first U.S. secretary of state (under George Washington), the second U.S. vice-president (under John Adams) and the third president of the United States. He was also a founding father and scholar who spoke French fluently and played the violin.

One thing he wasn’t, at least not in his younger years, was good with women. That’s the general consensus of the experts who address the subject in the new six-part documentary seriesThomas Jefferson, which premieres Feb. 17 on the History channel and continues over the next two consecutive nights.

“When Jefferson is young, he is anxious, and he’s just uncomfortable around women,” says Susan A. Kern, author ofThe Jeffersons at Shadwell, in the documentary series.

The first episode zeroes in on a woman from Jefferson’s younger days who left him publicly flummoxed and tongue-tied. “We are able to read in letters of his early loves and in particular, one, Rebecca Burwell,” says historical actor and Thomas Jefferson interpreter Bill Barker. “She evidently has quite a number of suitors. Jefferson thinks, quite proudly, that he’s prominent in that line-up, so Thomas Jefferson decides that it is time that he will formally propose.”

If it sounds like a bit of a hasty move, that was how suitors rolled back then. “Remember it was a different kind of world,” historian Annette Gordon-Reed explains. “They didn’t date in the way we think of dating people. You are involved with people, and at some point you’re expected to be married to them.”

Annette Gordon-Reed in ‘Thomas Jefferson’.A+E Networks

A+E Networks

That was Jefferson’s intention with Rebecca Burwell, but things didn’t go according to plan.

“He stayed up the entire night composing and memorizing this proposal,” Barker says. “The next evening he would find himself in a holiday soiree and dance.”

“On the floor with his fair Rebecca, he begins his proposal,” Barker continues. “And he says, ‘The words fall out in a great disarray.’ He can remember one or two sentences that he memorized and then, suddenly, not only had everyone left the floor, but so had his fair Rebecca. And he said, ‘The day never saw a more miserable creature when the sun rose that next morning.’ So evidently, he blew it.

The History channel’s promo for ‘Thomas Jefferson’.A+E Networks

Here, Frank Cogliano, author ofA Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Public, also weighs in: “I mean, he’s not good with women, at least not in his early days. I mean, he’s awkward.”

Andrew Davenport in ‘Thomas Jefferson’.A+E Networks

“This docuseries is the most comprehensive and modern survey of Jefferson’s life and times,” Andrew Davenport, a historian and descendant of those enslaved at Jefferson’s Monticello plantation who appears in the docuseries, tells PEOPLE. “I hope viewers have a renewed understanding of the people who founded our republic and begin to see themselves and each other as re-founders of the U.S. as we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary.”

Thomas Jeffersonpremieres Feb. 17 on the History channel at 8 p.m. ET and will air over the following two nights. Each episode will stream the day after its premiere.

source: people.com