When Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the nation’s independence, he was already widely recognized as one of the most important figures of America’s revolution, largely due to his authorship of the Declaration of Independence.By 1826, July Fourth celebrations had assumed a sacred, ritual place in the hearts of Americans, as had the ideals of freedom and liberty professed in the Declaration. Through the years since 1776, Jefferson kept the red mahogany desk on which he penned the Declaration tucked away at his home, Monticello, in Virginia.Old and feeble in 1825, the aging revolutionary decided to give away his writing table, as a memento of America’s revolution, to James Coolidge, the husband of Jefferson’s granddaughter.“If things acquire a superstitious value because of their connection with particular persons,” he wrote his granddaughter, informing her of the gift, “surely a connection with the great Charter of our Independence may give a value to what has been associated with that; and such was the idea of the enquirers after the room in which it was written.”In describing his “writing box,” Jefferson believed that it claimed “no merit of particular beauty. It is plain, net, convenient and taking no more room on the writing table than a moderate quarto volume, it yet displays itself sufficiently for any writing.”It was Jefferson’s hope that Mr. Coolidge would accept the gift, especially since its “imaginary value will increase with years.”