Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

This is the story of Thomas Jefferson's final letter. In 1826, Thomas Jefferson was at a low point in his life.

The author of the Declaration of Independence had turned 83 in April. Everything was crumbling.

His beloved eldest granddaughter had died after childbirth

as Jefferson wept inconsolably in the next room.

He was in so much debt for mismanaging Monticello

that he petitioned the Virginia General Assembly

for permission to raise cash through a lottery.

Worst of all, Jefferson suffered terrible health problems.

He had chronic diarrhea and difficulty urinating, possibly from prostate cancer.

Amid all these burdens, the nation's 50th anniversary of its independence was approaching,

and Jefferson was invited to a massive celebration in Washington.

There was no way that he could attend, of course.

But the importance of the moment was not lost on him.

The era of the founders was almost over,

and the United States had been mired in a period of partisan disunity.

And as old, sick, distraught, and as broke as he was, Jefferson couldn't let the moment pass.

He wrote a letter to the mayor of Washington.

The letter shows in the handwriting how carefully Jefferson composed it, lingering over lines and adding words in the margin.

This was the man whose words gave shape to the cause

of independence, words that Abraham Lincoln would use decades later in reforging the union.

He said he was flattered by the invitation and that declining it made his illness even harder

...