Thomas Jefferson

Life and legacy

Thomas Jefferson was born on 13 April 1743 (New Style) at Shadwell plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, the third of ten children of Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor, and Jane Randolph, a member of one of Virginia's most prominent families. Educated at the College of William & Mary, Jefferson studied law under the eminent jurist George Wythe and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767. He built his beloved Monticello - "little mountain" in Italian - on land he inherited at the age of twenty-one, and the estate's design, which Jefferson continually revised over decades, reflects his deep engagement with classical and Palladian architecture.

In June 1776, at the age of thirty-three, Jefferson was appointed to a five-member committee tasked with drafting a declaration of independence from Great Britain. The committee assigned him the primary role, and over seventeen days he composed what became the most famous statement of human rights in history. Drawing on the natural rights philosophy of John Locke and the Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason, Jefferson declared it "self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on 4 July 1776.

Jefferson served as Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), minister to France (1785-1789), the nation's first Secretary of State under George Washington (1790-1793), Vice President under John Adams (1797-1801), and third President of the United States (1801-1809). As president, his greatest achievement was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which doubled the size of the young nation and opened the American West to settlement. He commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) to explore the new territory.

Jefferson was a man of deep contradictions. He wrote eloquently about human liberty and equality while owning more than six hundred enslaved people over the course of his life. Historical and DNA evidence has established that he fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello. These contradictions remain central to any honest assessment of his legacy and of the founding era of the United States.

In retirement at Monticello, Jefferson devoted himself to founding the University of Virginia, which was chartered in 1819 and opened in 1825. He designed its campus, selected its curriculum, and recruited its faculty, calling it the achievement of which he was most proud. Jefferson died at Monticello on 4 July 1826 - the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. His friend and rival John Adams died the same day in Massachusetts, reportedly saying "Thomas Jefferson survives," unaware that Jefferson had passed away hours earlier.

Key accomplishments

• Drafted the Declaration of Independence (1776), the foundational statement of American democratic ideals
• Negotiated the Louisiana Purchase (1803), doubling the territory of the United States
• Served as third President of the United States (1801-1809)
• Founded the University of Virginia (1819), designing its campus and curriculum
• Authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786), a landmark in the separation of church and state

Quotes

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776

I cannot live without books.

Letter to John Adams, 10 June 1815

Related figures