Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father died when he was 14, leaving him a vast estate with dozens of slaves. After graduating from William and Mary and continuing his law studies there, he passed the Virginia bar. He returned home to build Monticello and practice law. He entered state politics in 1769 and wrote a set of arguments against the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament in 1774. This work led to his nomination to the Second Continental Congress of 1775.

War broke out in 1775 and the Congress debated a resolution of independence the following year. In the summer of 1776, Jefferson was asked to write the first draft of the declaration that was to accompany the resolution. After some changes and debate, the members of the Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Jefferson went home and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He served as the state’s Governor from 1779-1781. The state legislature sent him to represent them in the Congress of the Confederation in 1783.

While in Congress, he helped set up the currency system before being called as the Minister to France in 1785. He was not in the U.S. when the Constitution was written or ratified, but supported it. He managed trade negotiations with the French until his return to the U.S. in 1789, when he became the Secretary of State under George Washington. He made an enemy of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton by arguing that Hamilton and the Federalists were attempting to establish a new monarchy. He strongly supported France in their 1793 war with the British, which bucked the official position of neutrality. He retired from public life in 1793.

Jefferson ran for president in 1796, but came in second to John Adams, so he became vice-president. John Adams was a Federalist, which put them greatly at odds. Jefferson, along with James Madison, anonymously wrote arguments to rally support for state’s rights against federal impositions such as taxes. He ran again in 1800 and tied in the electoral vote with Aaron Burr, so the vote came down to the House of Representatives. Hamilton argued in his favor as the lesser of two evils and Jefferson won.

Jefferson repealed many federal taxes and relied on customs revenue and tariffs. In 1803, despite its lack of constitutionality, Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France and doubled the size of the U.S. in one step.

Jefferson won reelection in 1804, but dropped Burr from the ticket after he shot Hamilton in a duel. In his second term, Jefferson signed the Embargo Act of 1807, which blocked importation of goods into the U.S. It was so ineffective and ill advised that it was repealed before Jefferson left office. In March of 1807, he signed a bill outlawing slave importation in the U.S.

After leaving office, Jefferson actively worked to found a public university free of church influences in his home state, besides working as an inventor and gentleman farmer. The result of his vision, the University of Virginia, was founded in 1819 and opened in 1825. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 in his home at Monticello of a combination of ailments.