Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson
Born	Thomas Jefferson 13 4, 1743
Birthplace	Shadwell, Colony of Virginia, British America
Died	Template:Death date and age Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Statesman, planter, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, author
Known for	Primary author of the Declaration of Independence; 3rd President of the United States; Louisiana Purchase
Awards	Founder of the University of Virginia
Website	[https://www.monticello.org Official site]

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2], 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. As the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson articulated principles of individual liberty and self-governance that became foundational texts of the American republic and influenced democratic movements around the world. Before ascending to the presidency, Jefferson served as the second Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, as United States Minister to France from 1785 to 1789, and as the nation's first Secretary of State under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793. He also served as the second Vice President of the United States under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. As president, Jefferson oversaw the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which doubled the geographic size of the United States, and supported the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the western territories. A leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and natural rights, Jefferson produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels throughout a career spanning more than five decades of public service. He was also a lifelong slaveholder, and the complexity of his legacy—championing liberty while holding hundreds of people in bondage—has been the subject of extensive historical scholarship and public debate.

Early Life

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation in the Colony of Virginia, into the Virginia planter class. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a planter and surveyor who amassed a considerable estate, including dozens of enslaved people, and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, belonged to one of the most prominent Virginia families of the colonial era. Peter Jefferson died in 1757 when Thomas was fourteen, leaving his son approximately 5,000 acres of land and a number of enslaved people.

From an early age, Jefferson displayed an intellectual curiosity and appetite for learning that would define his life. He studied Latin, Greek, and French as a boy, and developed an enduring love of books that eventually resulted in one of the largest personal libraries in the United States. Growing up on the Virginia frontier, Jefferson also developed a lifelong interest in the natural world, agriculture, and the sciences—interests that would later manifest in his detailed horticultural records at Monticello and his advocacy for scientific inquiry as a national endeavor.

Jefferson inherited a position of social prominence in Virginia, and like many members of the colonial planter elite, his wealth and status were inseparable from the institution of slavery. He inherited enslaved people from his father's estate and would continue to hold enslaved laborers throughout his life, a fact that stands in stark contrast to the egalitarian ideals he would later espouse in his public writings.

Education

Jefferson began his formal education at age nine, studying with local clergymen who instructed him in classical languages and literature. At the age of sixteen, in 1760, he entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he studied for two years under Professor William Small, a Scottish-born scholar who introduced Jefferson to the writings of the British Empiricists, including John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton. Jefferson later credited Small with shaping his habits of critical inquiry and his philosophical outlook.

After completing his studies at William & Mary, Jefferson read law under George Wythe, one of the most respected legal scholars in Virginia and later a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767 and practiced law until 1774, developing a reputation as a capable and learned attorney. His legal training and deep reading in political philosophy provided the intellectual foundation for his later career as a revolutionary statesman and political theorist.

Career

Virginia Legislator and Revolutionary

Jefferson entered public life in 1769 when he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served until 1775. During this period, he aligned himself with the patriot faction opposed to British parliamentary taxation and imperial overreach. In 1774, Jefferson authored A Summary View of the Rights of British America, a pamphlet that argued forcefully against parliamentary authority over the colonies and articulated a vision of natural rights that foreshadowed the Declaration of Independence. Although the pamphlet was not officially adopted by the Virginia Convention for which it was written, it circulated widely and established Jefferson's reputation as one of the most articulate voices of the colonial resistance movement.

Author of the Declaration of Independence

In June 1776, as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Jefferson was appointed to a five-member committee tasked with drafting a formal declaration of independence from Great Britain. The committee—which also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston—entrusted the actual drafting to Jefferson, who was recognized for his literary talent and command of political philosophy. Working over approximately seventeen days, Jefferson produced a document that drew upon Enlightenment principles, English constitutional theory, and his own earlier writings to articulate the colonies' case for separation from the British Crown.

The Declaration of Independence, adopted unanimously by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, asserted that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights," including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These phrases became among the most celebrated in the English language and have served as touchstones for democratic and human rights movements across the globe. The Congress made a number of revisions to Jefferson's original draft, including the removal of a passage condemning the slave trade—a deletion that Jefferson resented but that reflected the political realities of a coalition that included slaveholding colonies.

Governor of Virginia

Jefferson served as the second governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, a period that coincided with some of the most difficult years of the American Revolutionary War. His tenure was marked by the British invasion of Virginia in 1781, during which Jefferson and the Virginia legislature were forced to flee from Richmond and then from Charlottesville as British forces under Banastre Tarleton raided the state capital. Jefferson's handling of the military crisis was criticized at the time, and an inquiry was initiated by the Virginia legislature, although he was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

During his governorship, Jefferson also pursued significant legislative reforms. He drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was introduced in the Virginia legislature in 1779 and ultimately enacted in 1786 with the support of James Madison. The statute established the principle that government had no authority to compel religious belief or to levy taxes in support of any religious institution, and it became a model for the First Amendment's religion clauses.

Minister to France

In 1785, the Continental Congress appointed Jefferson as the United States Minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin. Jefferson served in Paris from 1785 to 1789, a period that encompassed the outbreak of the French Revolution. While in France, Jefferson immersed himself in European culture, science, and architecture, forming lasting intellectual relationships with French and European thinkers. He also worked to advance American commercial interests and negotiate trade agreements with European powers.

Jefferson's years in France deepened his appreciation for republican government and his suspicion of monarchy and aristocratic privilege, convictions that would shape his political career upon his return to the United States. He witnessed the early stages of the French Revolution with cautious optimism, advising the Marquis de Lafayette and other French reformers on constitutional matters.

Secretary of State

Upon his return from France in 1789, President George Washington appointed Jefferson as the first Secretary of State of the United States, a position he held from 1790 to 1793. In this role, Jefferson was responsible for the conduct of the nation's foreign affairs and became a central figure in the political debates of the early republic.

Jefferson's tenure as Secretary of State was defined in large part by his growing ideological conflict with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton favored a strong central government, a national bank, and close commercial and diplomatic ties with Great Britain, while Jefferson championed states' rights, agrarian interests, and sympathy with revolutionary France. This rivalry laid the groundwork for the emergence of the nation's First Party System, with Hamilton's supporters forming the Federalist Party and Jefferson and his ally James Madison organizing the Democratic-Republican Party in 1792. Jefferson resigned from the cabinet at the end of 1793, citing disagreements with the administration's direction.

Vice Presidency

In the presidential election of 1796, Jefferson ran as the Democratic-Republican candidate against Federalist John Adams. Under the electoral laws of the time, the candidate receiving the second-highest number of electoral votes became vice president. Jefferson finished second, and thus served as Vice President of the United States from 1797 to 1801 under Adams, his political rival and one-time close friend.

As vice president, Jefferson presided over the Senate and wrote A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for use in legislative proceedings. However, his relationship with Adams was strained by political differences, and Jefferson largely operated as the leader of the opposition. During this period, he also secretly contributed to the drafting of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, which argued that states had the right to declare federal laws unconstitutional—a doctrine that would have significant and controversial implications in later American political history.

Presidency (1801–1809)

Election of 1800

Jefferson challenged Adams again in the presidential election of 1800, a bitterly contested race that Jefferson later described as the "Revolution of 1800." Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr received an equal number of electoral votes, sending the election to the House of Representatives, where Jefferson prevailed after 36 ballots. The election marked the first peaceful transfer of power between opposing political parties in American history.

First Term

Jefferson's presidency assertively defended the nation's shipping and trade interests. One of his earliest foreign policy challenges involved the Barbary pirates of North Africa, who had been demanding tribute payments from American merchant ships. Jefferson refused to continue the payments and dispatched the United States Navy to the Mediterranean, initiating the First Barbary War (1801–1805), which resulted in favorable terms for the United States.

The defining achievement of Jefferson's first term was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, in which the United States acquired approximately 828,000 square miles of territory from France for $15 million—roughly four cents per acre. The purchase doubled the geographic size of the nation and opened vast tracts of land west of the Mississippi River to American settlement and exploration. Jefferson subsequently commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) to explore the newly acquired territory, map a route to the Pacific Ocean, and establish relations with Native American peoples along the way.

Jefferson was reelected in 1804 by an overwhelming margin, defeating Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina.

Second Term

Jefferson's second term proved more difficult. He was beset by the conspiracy trial of his former vice president Aaron Burr, who was accused of plotting to create an independent republic in the western territories. Burr was ultimately acquitted of treason in 1807, but the affair consumed considerable political energy.

On the international front, Jefferson faced continued aggression from Great Britain, which had resumed the impressment of American sailors and was interfering with American shipping. In response, Jefferson signed the Embargo Act of 1807, which prohibited American ships from trading with foreign ports. The embargo was intended to defend American economic interests and pressure Britain and France into respecting American neutrality, but it proved deeply unpopular domestically, causing economic hardship particularly in the commercial states of New England. The act was repealed shortly before Jefferson left office in 1809.

State of the Union and Presidential Precedents

Jefferson established several precedents for the conduct of the presidency. Notably, he discontinued the practice of delivering the State of the Union address in person before Congress, a tradition begun by George Washington. Jefferson instead submitted his annual messages to Congress in written form, a practice that continued for over a century until Woodrow Wilson revived the spoken address in 1913.

Retirement and Later Years

After leaving the presidency in March 1809, Jefferson retired to Monticello, his plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he devoted himself to farming, correspondence, scientific inquiry, and the founding of the University of Virginia. He designed the university's campus—an architectural masterwork known as the "Academical Village"—and oversaw its establishment as the first secular university in the United States. The University of Virginia was chartered in 1819 and opened in 1825, just one year before Jefferson's death.

In his later years, Jefferson renewed his friendship with John Adams through a remarkable series of letters that constitute one of the most celebrated correspondences in American history. The two former presidents reflected on their roles in the Revolution, debated philosophy and politics, and reconciled their earlier political differences.

Jefferson died at Monticello on July 4, 1826—the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams died the same day in Massachusetts. Jefferson's epitaph, which he composed himself, listed three achievements he wished to be remembered for: author of the Declaration of Independence, author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia.

Personal Life

Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton on January 1, 1772. The couple had six children together, though only two daughters—Martha ("Patsy") and Mary ("Polly")—survived to adulthood. Martha Jefferson died on September 6, 1782, at the age of 33, and Jefferson never remarried.

Jefferson maintained a lifelong relationship with Monticello, the estate he began designing and building in 1768. The house, set atop a mountain near Charlottesville, Virginia, reflected Jefferson's deep engagement with Neoclassical architecture and Palladianism and served as both his primary residence and a working plantation operated by enslaved laborers.

Historical and scientific evidence has established that Jefferson had a long-term relationship with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello who was the half-sister of his deceased wife. In 1998, DNA testing established a genetic link between the Jefferson male line and Hemings's descendants, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello subsequently concluded that Jefferson was the father of Sally Hemings's six children. In 2017, archaeologists at Monticello discovered what they identified as Sally Hemings's living quarters, adjacent to Jefferson's private chambers, and the foundation undertook efforts to incorporate Hemings's story and the broader history of slavery at Monticello into its public interpretation.

Jefferson held approximately 600 enslaved people over the course of his lifetime. Despite expressing opposition to the slave trade in some of his writings, he freed only a small number of enslaved individuals—most of them members of the Hemings family—and he did not provide for a general emancipation of his enslaved workers in his will.

Recognition

Jefferson has been consistently ranked among the upper tier of American presidents in scholarly surveys and public opinion polls. Presidential scholars and historians have praised his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, his advocacy for religious freedom and tolerance, his peaceful acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, and his support for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Jefferson's image appears on the United States nickel and on the two-dollar bill. The Jefferson Memorial, a neoclassical monument on the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 1943 on the 200th anniversary of his birth. His likeness is carved into Mount Rushmore alongside those of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Monticello, Jefferson's home and plantation, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and is operated as a museum and educational center by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. The foundation has in recent years expanded its interpretive programs to include the history of the enslaved community at Monticello, reflecting broader efforts by historical institutions to present a more complete account of Jefferson's life and legacy. In 2026, Monticello continued to host public events and conversations exploring themes of character, service, and the American experiment.

The University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded, remains one of the leading public universities in the United States and preserves his original campus design. Numerous counties, cities, schools, and institutions across the United States bear his name.

Legacy

Thomas Jefferson's legacy occupies a central but contested place in American history. His articulation of the principle that "all men are created equal" provided a philosophical foundation for subsequent movements for civil rights, abolition, women's suffrage, and democratic self-governance—both in the United States and internationally. The Declaration of Independence has been invoked by reformers and revolutionaries worldwide as a statement of universal human rights.

Jefferson's contributions to American governance extended beyond his writings. His insistence on the separation of church and state, codified in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, established a principle that was incorporated into the First Amendment to the Constitution and remains a cornerstone of American constitutional law. His expansionist vision, realized through the Louisiana Purchase, transformed the United States from a coastal republic into a continental power.

As an architect and intellectual, Jefferson left a tangible imprint on American culture. His design for Monticello and the University of Virginia campus are recognized as masterworks of American architecture, blending Palladian and neoclassical elements with practical innovation. His personal library, sold to the federal government in 1815 after the British burned Washington, D.C., formed the nucleus of the Library of Congress.

At the same time, Jefferson's legacy is inextricable from the institution of slavery. He held hundreds of people in bondage, profited from their labor, and failed to take meaningful action toward emancipation despite his stated philosophical opposition to the institution. The revelation and growing public acknowledgment of his relationship with Sally Hemings has further complicated assessments of his character and historical standing. Historians, scholars, and public institutions—including Monticello itself—have increasingly grappled with the contradiction between Jefferson's stated ideals and his personal practice, seeking to present a fuller and more honest account of his life.

Jefferson himself chose to be remembered for three accomplishments: the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the University of Virginia. These selections, inscribed on his tombstone at Monticello, reflect his self-understanding as a champion of liberty, religious tolerance, and education—values that, despite the contradictions of his life, continue to shape American public discourse.