Thomas Jefferson
Best known as: 3rd president of the USA
Occupation: Politician
Nationality: American
Religion: Unitarian
Political party: Democratic-Republican
Home: The White House, Washington D.C. and Monticello, Virginia
Born: April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, Virginia
Died: July 4, 1826 at Monticello
Remains: buried at Monticello
Education: attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia
Offices held:
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758-1774)
Member of the Continental Congress (1775-1776 and 1783-1784)
Governor of Virginia (1779-1781)
U.S. Minister to France (1785-1789)
Secretary of State under George Washington (1790-1793)
Vice President of the U.S. (1797-1801)
President of the U.S. (1801-1809)
Short biography:
Thomas Jefferson was a leading voice for American independence during the Revolutionary War and ended up drafting the Declaration of Independence. He opposed a powerful central government and did not attend the Constitutional Convention because he was serving as Minister to France at the time. Jefferson was a strict constructionist, which meant that he believed the federal government should not have any powers except the ones specifically mentioned in the Constitution. As Washington's Secretary of State, Jefferson fought constantly with Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton over the issue of federal power and eventually resigned his office. After serving one term as vice president under his rival, John Adams, Jefferson was elected president in what he called the "Revolution of 1800," his chance to shrink the government and give more power to the states and the people. During his two terms in office, Jefferson largely succeeded in reducing the power of the federal government, but he also realized that enlarging America's navy, maintaining a tiny amount of influence over the national economy, and doubling the size of the country through the Louisiana Purchase were practical policies that helped the country.
Wife: Martha Skelton
Friends: George Washington, James Madison
Vice president: Aaron Burr
Cabinet:
Secretary of State: James Madison
Secretary of the Treasury: Samuel Dexter (1801), Albert Gallatin (1801-1809)
Secretary of War: Henry Dearborn
Attorney General: Levi Lincoln (1801-1804), Robert Smith (1805), John Breckinridge (1805-1806), Caesar A. Rodney (1807-1809)
Postmaster General: Joseph Habersham (1801), Gideon Granger (1801-1809)
Secretary of the Navy: Benjamin Stoddert (1801), Robert Smith (1801-1810)
Parents: Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph
Enemies: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton
Fun facts:
- While in France in 1787, Jefferson took a detour to Italy when he heard that their rice was more popular than America's. It turned out that farmers in the Italian region of Lombardy had a different strain of rice, and that planting this type of rice outside Italy was punishable by death. Not caring about this minor problem, Jefferson stuffed thee seeds in his pockets and bribed his mule driver into taking some too. Today this type of Italian rice still grows in the USA.
- In addition to being a leader and scholar, Jefferson was also an inventor. His most successful invention was the dumbwaiter, but he also invented a machine that allowed a person to write two identical letters at once, doors that automatically close when another door is closed, and the "turning machine" - clothes hangers that could be rotated with a stick.
- Jefferson sometimes greeted dignitaries while wearing his pajamas.
- Every morning, he soaked his feet in cold water.
-
Jefferson's epitaph reads:
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
& Father of the University of Virginia
Notice anything missing?
Learn more? Quotes by Jefferson
