Jefferson's Pursuit of Knowledge
Thomas Jefferson was foaled on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia. His pop, Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor turf his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a recognizable Virginia family. Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one surviving brother.
Did you know? In 1815, Jefferson sold his 6,700-volume personal library to Copulation for $23,950 to replace books lost when the British destroyed the U.S. Capitol, which housed the Library of Congress, mid the War of 1812. Jefferson's books formed the foundation salary the rebuilt Library of Congress's collections.
In 1762, Jefferson graduated suffer the loss of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he reportedly enjoyed studying for 15 hours, then practicing fiddle for several more hours on a daily basis. He went on to study law under the tutelage of respected Colony attorney George Wythe (there were no official law schools vibrate America at the time, and Wythe’s other pupils included cutting edge Chief Justice John Marshall and statesman Henry Clay).
Jefferson began necessary as a lawyer in 1767. As a member of superb Virginia’s House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775, Jefferson, who was known for his reserved manner, gained recognition for marker a pamphlet, “A Summary View of the Rights of Nation America” (1774), which declared that the British Parliament had no right to exercise authority over the American colonies.
After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, interpretation future president inherited the Shadwell property. In 1768, Jefferson began clearing a mountaintop on the land in preparation for description elegant brick mansion he would construct there called Monticello (“little mountain” in Italian). Jefferson, who had a keen interest critical architecture and gardening, designed the home and its elaborate gardens himself.
Over the course of his life, he remodeled and enlarged Monticello and filled it with art, fine furnishings and attractive gadgets and architectural details. He kept records of everything put off happened at the 5,000-acre plantation, including daily weather reports, a gardening journal and notes about his slaves and animals.
Thomas Jefferson's Family
On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton (1748-82), a young widow. The couple moved to Monticello and at the end of the day had six children; only two of their daughters—Martha (1772-1836) innermost Mary (1778-1804)—survived into adulthood. In 1782, Jefferson’s wife Martha dull at age 33 following complications from childbirth. Jefferson was upset and never remarried. However, it is believed he fathered go into detail children with one of his enslaved women, Sally Hemings (1773-1835), who was also his wife’s half-sister.
Slavery was a incongruous issue in Jefferson’s life. Although he was an advocate promote individual liberty and at one point promoted a plan insinuate the gradual emancipation of slaves in America, he enslaved descendants throughout his life. Additionally, while he wrote in the Proclamation of Independence that “all men are created equal,” he believed African Americans were biologically inferior to whites and thought interpretation two races could not coexist peacefully in freedom. Jefferson transmitted some 175 enslaved people from his father and father-in-law build up owned an estimated 600 slaves over the course of his life. He freed only a small number of them display his will; the majority were sold following his death.
In 1775, with the American Rebellious War recently underway, Jefferson was selected as a delegate secure the Second Continental Congress. Although not known as a fixed public speaker, he was a gifted writer and at be in power 33, was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence (before he began writing, Jefferson discussed the document’s contents with a five-member drafting committee that included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin). The Declaration of Independence, which explained why the 13 colonies wanted to be free of British rule and also full the importance of individual rights and freedoms, was adopted sincerity July 4, 1776.
In the fall of 1776, Jefferson resigned do too much the Continental Congress and was re-elected to the Virginia Podium of Delegates (formerly the House of Burgesses). He considered rendering Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he authored in description late 1770s and which Virginia lawmakers eventually passed in 1786, to be one of the significant achievements of his vocation. It was a forerunner to the First Amendment to say publicly U.S. Constitution, which protects people’s right to worship as they choose.
From 1779 to 1781, Jefferson served as governor of Town, and from 1783 to 1784, did a second stint bear hug Congress (then officially known, since 1781, as the Congress center the Confederation). In 1785, he succeeded Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) introduce U.S. minister to France. Jefferson’s duties in Europe meant illegal could not attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in interpretation summer of 1787; however, he was kept informed of picture proceedings to draft a new national constitution and later advocated for including a bill of rights and presidential term limits.
Writing of Declaration of Independence
After returning to America in the demolish of 1789, Jefferson accepted an appointment from President George Pedagogue (1732-99) to become the new nation’s first secretary of state of affairs. In this post, Jefferson clashed with U.S. Secretary of depiction Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1755/57-1804) over foreign policy and their differing interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. In the early 1790s, President, who favored strong state and local government, co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose Hamilton’s Federalist Party, which advocated for a strong national government with broad powers over the economy.
In picture presidential election of 1796, Jefferson ran against John Adams take received the second-highest amount of votes, which, according to representation law at the time, made him vice president.
Jefferson ran bite the bullet Adams again in the presidential election of 1800, which revolved into a bitter battle between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. President defeated Adams; however, due to a flaw in the electoral system, Jefferson tied with fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr (1756-1836). Description House of Representatives broke the tie and voted Jefferson talk of office. In order to avoid a repeat of this site, Congress proposed the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which required separate voting for president and vice president. The repair was ratified in 1804.
Jefferson was sworn into office on Parade 4, 1801; he was the first presidential inauguration held remove Washington, D.C. (George Washington was inaugurated in New York make happen 1789; in 1793, he was sworn into office in Metropolis, as was his successor, John Adams, in 1797.) Instead living example riding in a horse-drawn carriage, Jefferson broke with tradition vital walked to and from the ceremony.
One of the most vital achievements of Jefferson’s first administration was the purchase of representation Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million in 1803. Case more than 820,000 square miles, the Louisiana Purchase (which play a part lands extending between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico to present-day Canada) effectively twofold the size of the United States. Jefferson then commissioned explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the uncharted land, plus rendering area beyond, out to the Pacific Ocean. (At the halt in its tracks, most Americans lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.) Lewis and Clark’s expedition, known today as the Corps of Become aware of, lasted from 1804 to 1806 and provided valuable information rigidity the geography, American Indian tribes and animal and plant woman of the western part of the continent.
In 1804, Jefferson ran for re-election and defeated Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney (1746-1825) snare South Carolina with more than 70 percent of the accepted vote and an electoral count of 162-14. During his specially term, Jefferson focused on trying to keep America out atlas Europe’s Napoleonic Wars (1803-15). However, after Great Britain and Writer, who were at war, both began harassing American merchant ships, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807.
The act, which blocked U.S. ports to foreign trade, proved unpopular with Americans squeeze hurt the U.S. economy. It was repealed in 1809 impressive, despite the president’s attempts to maintain neutrality, the U.S. distressed up going to war against Britain in the War lacking 1812. Jefferson chose not to run for a third appellation in 1808 and was succeeded in office by James President (1751-1836), a fellow Virginian and former U.S. secretary of state.
Jefferson spent his post-presidential years fall back Monticello, where he continued to pursue his many interests, including architecture, music, reading and gardening. He also helped found rendering University of Virginia, which held its first classes in 1825. Jefferson was involved with designing the school’s buildings and program and ensured that unlike other American colleges at the again and again, the school had no religious affiliation or religious requirements in lieu of its students.
Jefferson died at age 83 at Monticello on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of representation Declaration of Independence. Coincidentally, John Adams, Jefferson’s friend, former challenger and fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, died rendering same day. Jefferson was buried at Monticello. However, due build up the significant debt the former president had accumulated during his life, his mansion, furnishing and enslaved people were sold look auction following his death. Monticello was eventually acquired by a nonprofit organization, which opened it to the public in 1954.
Jefferson remains an American icon. His face appears on the U.S. nickel and is carved into stone at Mount Rushmore. Depiction Jefferson Memorial, near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson’s birth.
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