3. Thomas Jefferson
Net worth:
$212 million
Aside from being a Founding Father and the main author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson is also the savvy investor who doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase.
How he made his riches
Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy land and slave owner, and operated a massive 5,000 acre plantation. Ironically, Jefferson was an infamously slippery debtor, and despite the great wealth of his lifetime he died owing a tremendous sum of money. At the time of his death owed the modern equivalent of $2 million.