Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was a Founding Father and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. From 1797 to 1801 he served as the second vice president under John Adams. A prolific writer and philosopher, he was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, and his political philosophy of republicanism, individual liberty, agrarianism, and limited government formed the basis of Jeffersonian democracy. He enslaved more than 600 people over his lifetime.

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Biography

Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743 into a planter family. A lawyer and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, he became a leading voice of colonial resistance to Britain, and in 1776 the Continental Congress chose him to draft the Declaration of Independence.

He served as Governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War and as minister to France in the early years of the French Revolution. Back home he became the first Secretary of State under Washington, then led the Democratic-Republican opposition to Alexander Hamilton's Federalists. He was vice president under John Adams.

As the third president, from 1801 to 1809, he bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, doubling the size of the country, and sent Lewis and Clark to explore it. He founded the University of Virginia in retirement. He wrote that all men are created equal yet enslaved more than 600 people during his life. He died on 4 July 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration.