Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, governed Virginia, and later used the State Department and presidency to extend Revolutionary principles into national policy.
Born April 13, 1743 / Died July 4, 1826
On April 13, 1743, at Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson was born into the planter world of Albemarle County. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law under George Wythe, whose training tied him to Virginia's legal elite. Service in the House of Burgesses during the imperial crisis launched his political career.
In June 1776 the Continental Congress appointed Jefferson to the committee drafting the Declaration of Independence, and his pen gave the break with Britain its most enduring language. He later served as governor of Virginia, minister to France, and secretary of state, where he fought over finance and foreign policy with Alexander Hamilton. His Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, enacted in 1786, made disestablishment and liberty of conscience central parts of the Revolutionary settlement.
Jefferson's words in the Declaration remained a touchstone for abolitionists, women's rights advocates, and later civil-rights movements claiming the promise of equality. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom also fed directly into American arguments about church and state and the later First Amendment tradition.
Key Contributions
- Jefferson later drafted the Declaration of Independence and served as the third president of the United States.
- During his presidency, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country and intensified later debates over western expansion and slavery.
- On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence as part of the political leadership tied to Virginia.
Related Events
Louisiana Purchase completed
On April 30, 1803, Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe signed the Louisiana Purchase treaty in Paris, transferring France's vast Mississippi Valley territory to the United States.
Declaration of Independence adopted
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and ordered the document printed as the public case for separation.
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