Statesman · 1743 – 1826

Thomas Jefferson

If you're interested in Thomas Jefferson, these historical figures share a similar impact, discipline, philosophy, or era. Each recommendation explains why the connection exists.

Similar Impact & Significance

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

90

Inventor · 1706 – 1790

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath — a founding father, scientist, inventor, writer and diplomat — whose work on electricity and statesmanship made him one of the most admired figures of the 18th century.

  • Founding Father
  • Experiments on electricity

Why A fellow Founding Father who helped edit Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.

Portrait of George Washington

George Washington

91

Statesman · 1732 – 1799

George Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolution and the first President of the United States, whose leadership and restraint shaped the new republic.

  • Commanding the Continental Army
  • First U.S. President

Why The first president, under whom Jefferson served as Secretary of State.

Portrait of John Locke

John Locke

93

Philosopher · 1632 – 1704

John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as the father of liberalism, whose theories of empiricism, natural rights, and government by consent shaped the Enlightenment and the founding of modern democracies.

  • Empiricism
  • Natural rights

Why The philosopher whose ideas of natural rights shaped Jefferson's Declaration.

Portrait of Cicero

Cicero

88

Statesman · 106 BC – 43 BC

Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator and philosopher whose speeches and writings defined Latin prose, transmitted Greek philosophy to Rome, and championed the values of the Roman Republic.

  • Roman oratory
  • Defending the Republic

Why Also a statesman & writer · Comparable historical impact

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

88

Philosopher · 1469 – 1527

Niccolò Machiavelli was a Renaissance Italian diplomat, political philosopher and writer whose treatise The Prince founded modern political science and gave his name to ruthless statecraft.

  • The Prince
  • Founding modern political science

Why Also a writer & statesman · Comparable historical impact

Portrait of Thomas More

Thomas More

79

Statesman · 1478 – 1535

Thomas More was an English statesman, lawyer and Renaissance humanist who served as Lord Chancellor and coined the word "utopia" in his book of that name — and who was executed for refusing to accept King Henry VIII's break with Rome.

  • Utopia
  • Coining the word 'utopia'

Why Also a statesman & writer · Comparable historical impact

Same Field or Discipline

Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

85

Statesman · 1858 – 1919

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States, a soldier, conservationist and reformer — and a remarkably prolific author who wrote around forty books on history, nature, politics and exploration alongside his public career.

  • 26th U.S. President
  • National parks and conservation

Why Also a statesman & president · Active in the same era

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

92

President · 1809 – 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, who led the nation through its Civil War, preserved the Union, and abolished slavery before his assassination in 1865.

  • Leading the Union in the Civil War
  • The Emancipation Proclamation

Why Also a president & statesman · Active in the same era

Portrait of Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

90

Statesman · 1874 – 1965

Winston Churchill was the British statesman who led the United Kingdom to victory in World War II — and a prolific historian and writer whose books and speeches won him the Nobel Prize in Literature, a rare honour for a man of action.

  • Leadership in World War II
  • Historic wartime speeches

Why Also a statesman & writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

92

Statesman · 1918 – 2013

Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and statesman who, after 27 years in prison, became the country's first democratically elected president and a global symbol of reconciliation.

  • Ending apartheid
  • 27 years in prison

Why Also a statesman & president · Active in the same era

Portrait of Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

82

Astronomer · 1934 – 1996

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and planetary scientist who became the world's most famous communicator of science, reaching millions through the television series Cosmos and best-selling books that made him a celebrated author as well as a researcher.

  • Cosmos
  • Science communication

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

81

Writer · 1809 – 1849

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer and poet, a master of the macabre, who invented the detective story, helped shape the modern short story and science fiction, and gave the world haunting tales and poems such as "The Raven".

  • The Raven
  • Detective fiction

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson

80

Poet · 1830 – 1886

Emily Dickinson was an American poet who lived in near-seclusion and published almost nothing in her lifetime, yet whose nearly 1,800 original, compressed poems made her, after her death, one of the most important poets in the English language.

  • Nearly 1,800 poems
  • Reclusive life

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

82

Writer · 1899 – 1961

Ernest Hemingway was an American novelist and short-story writer whose spare, understated prose style revolutionized 20th-century fiction, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature for works such as The Old Man and the Sea.

  • The Old Man and the Sea
  • A Farewell to Arms

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

80

Novelist · 1896 – 1940

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist and short-story writer, the great chronicler of the Jazz Age, whose novel The Great Gatsby is often called the quintessential American novel.

  • The Great Gatsby
  • The Jazz Age

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

84

Revolutionary Leader · 1926 – 2016

Fidel Castro was the Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew the Batista dictatorship in 1959 and then ruled Cuba as a communist state for nearly five decades, becoming the longest-serving non-royal head of government in the 20th century and a towering symbol of Cold War confrontation.

  • Cuban Revolution
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

Why Also a president · Active in the same era

Portrait of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

84

Abolitionist · 1818 – 1895

Frederick Douglass was an American abolitionist, orator and writer who escaped slavery to become the most powerful voice of the antislavery movement and one of the foremost advocates for equality and human rights in the 19th century.

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
  • Abolitionist oratory

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

80

Writer · 1817 – 1862

Henry David Thoreau was an American writer, naturalist and philosopher whose book Walden and essay "Civil Disobedience" became foundational texts of environmental thought and nonviolent resistance, influencing reformers around the world.

  • Walden
  • Civil Disobedience

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Herman Melville

Herman Melville

80

Novelist · 1819 – 1891

Herman Melville was an American novelist and poet whose Moby-Dick, neglected in his lifetime, is now regarded as one of the greatest novels ever written and a towering achievement of American literature.

  • Moby-Dick
  • Billy Budd

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

84

Writer · 1835 – 1910

Mark Twain was an American writer and humorist, called the "father of American literature", whose novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn captured the voice of America and remain classics of world literature.

  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

80

Writer · 1928 – 2014

Maya Angelou was an American writer, poet and civil rights activist whose autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became a landmark of American literature, giving powerful voice to Black womanhood, trauma and resilience.

  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • Still I Rise

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

78

Novelist · 1804 – 1864

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short-story writer whose dark, morally probing fiction — above all The Scarlet Letter — explored sin, guilt and hypocrisy in Puritan New England and helped found the American novel.

  • The Scarlet Letter
  • The House of the Seven Gables

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

81

Novelist · 1931 – 2019

Toni Morrison was an American novelist whose richly poetic explorations of Black American life — above all Beloved — won her the Pulitzer Prize and made her the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

  • Beloved
  • Song of Solomon

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Portrait of Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

81

Poet · 1819 – 1892

Walt Whitman was an American poet whose collection Leaves of Grass broke from traditional verse to celebrate democracy, the body and the self in sweeping free verse, making him a founding father of modern American poetry.

  • Leaves of Grass
  • Free verse

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era