Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson (1743–1846) was an American statesman, diplomat, advocate, scholar, and Founding Father, who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.

He served as the second vice president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.

Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, was a promoter of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, urging American colonists to flee the Kingdom of Great Britain and establish a new country; he authored policy and decisions at both the state and national level. He served Virginia in the American Revolutionary War as a Virginia senator from 1779 to 1781, and was the second Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781.

He became the first minister of France in May 1785 and later the country's first secretary of state under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793.

During the establishment of the First Party System, Jefferson and James Madison formed the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party.

He anonymously wrote the tense Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 and 1799, which sought to expand states' rights by nullifying the federal Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson, as president, defended the country's shipping and trade policies against Barbary pirates and tough British trade policies.

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Early life and career

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743, Julian calendar), at the family's Shadwell Plantation in the British Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was 14 years old; his mother, Jane Randolph, was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen; he died when Jefferson was 14 years old. On the death of William Randolph III, the plantation's owner and Jefferson's neighbor, who in his will had named Peter guardian of Randolph's children, Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745. The Jeffersons returned to Shadwell, where Peter died in 1757, where his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. John Harvie Sr. became Thomas' guardian. In 1753, he attended the wedding of his uncle Field Jefferson to Mary Allen Hunt, who became a close friend and early mentor. Thomas inherited nearly 5,000 acres (7,000 sq. mi) of property, including Monticello, and assumed full control of his estate at age 21.

Jefferson began his education at Tuckahoe with the Randolph children by tutors. At the age of five, Thomas' father, who was self-taught, regretted not having formal education, and moved Thomas into an English school. He attended a local church run by a Scottish Presbyterian minister in 1752 and then began studying the natural world, which he adored. He began learning Latin, Greek, and French, as well as learning how to ride horses at this point. Thomas read books from his father's modest library. He was taught from 1758 to 1760 by Reverend James Maury near Gordonsville, Virginia, where he studied history, mathematics, and the classics when boarding with Maury's family. Jefferson learned to know and befriended many American Indians, including the legendary Cherokee chief Ontasseté, who visited Shadwell on their way to Williamsburg to trade. During the two years Jefferson was with the Maury family, he travelled to Williamsburg and met Colonel Dandridge, the father of Martha Washington. The young Jeffersons in Williamsburg admired Patrick Henry, eight years his senior, and shared a common interest in violin playing.

Jefferson began studying mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy with Professor William Small at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the age of 16, studying mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy. Jefferson experimented with the British Empiricists, including John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton under Small's tutelage. Small introduced Jefferson to George Wythe and Francis Fauquier. Small, Wythe, and Fauquier recognized Jefferson as a man of extraordinary talent and included him in their inner circle, where he became a regular guest of their Friday dinner parties, where politics and philosophy were addressed. Later in life, Jefferson said he had more common good sense, more concrete & philosophical discussions than in all the rest of my life." He was more involved with parties and dancing in his first year at the college, but in his second year, he regretted that he had squandered away so much time and resources; he devoted himself to fifteen hours of study per day. Jefferson's French and Greek language as well as his violin technique were all enhanced. He completed two years after starting in 1762. When working as a law clerk in his office, he studied the legislation under Wythe's tutelage to get his law license. He also read a large number of English classics and political works. Jefferson was well-read in a number of fields, including history, natural law, natural science, ethics, and several other science topics, including agriculture. Overall, he drew a lot of attention on the philosophers. Jefferson compiled a survey of his extensive readings in his Commonplace Book during his years of study under Wythe's watchful eye. Wythe was so impressed with Jefferson that he bequeathed his entire library to him later.

In Jefferson's family's family, the year 1765 was an eventful one. Martha Carr married his close friend and college companion Dabney Carr in July, which greatly delighted Jefferson. He mourned his sister Jane's unexpected death at the age of 25 in October and wrote a farewell epitaph in Latin. Jefferson treasured his books and amassed three libraries in his lifetime. When his Shadwell home burned in a 1770 fire, the first, a 200-volume library that began in his youth, which included books inherited from his father and gifted to him by George Wythe. Nevertheless, he had replenished his collection by 1773 with 1,250 titles, and by 1814, it had grown to nearly 6,500 units. He divided his large number of books into three broad categories corresponding with human brain functions: memory, motivation, and imagination. He sold this second library to the US government to jumpstart the Library of Congress collection after the British burned the Library of Congress during the Burning of Washington. Jefferson remitted $10,500 to William Short and $4,870 to John Barnes of Georgetown, using a portion of the proceeds earned by the auction to pay off a portion of his huge debt. Nevertheless, he soon started buying for his personal library, noting that "I cannot live without books." He began to build a new library of his personal favorites, but it had declined to almost 2,000 volumes by the time of his death, about a decade ago.

Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767 and lived with his mother at Shadwell. He served as a delegate in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775. He sought reforms to slavery, with laws passed in 1769 to grant slaves their authority over slave emancipation, removing the governor and General Court from the royal governor and General Court. He persuaded his cousin Richard Bland to lead the legislation's passage, but opposition was strong.

Jefferson heard seven cases for freedom-seeking slaves and waived his fee for one who said he should be released before he reached his minimum statutory age. "Everyone comes into the world with the right to his own person and using it at his own discretion," Jefferson said, citing the Natural Law. This is what is described as personal liberty, and nature provides him with the ability of sustenance. The judge dismissed him and found against him. Jefferson gave his client some money, which could possibly have been used to support him during his escape shortly thereafter. Later, he incorporated this sentiment into the Declaration of Independence. In addition to three notable cases: Howell v. Netherland (1770), Bolling vs. Bolling (1771), and Blair vs. Blair (1772), he heard 68 cases for the General Court of Virginia in 1767.

The Intolerable Acts were passed by the British parliament in 1774, and Jefferson wrote a bill calling for a "Day of Fasting and Prayer" in protest, as well as a boycott of all British products. His resolution was later rewritten into A Summary View of the Rights of British America, in which he argued that people have the right to regulate themselves.

Jefferson started his primary residence Monticello (Italian for "Little Peak") on a hilltop overlooking his 5,000-acre (20 km2; 7.8 sq mi) plantation in 1768. "Architecture is my passion, and putting up and pulling down, one of my favorite amusements," he said. The bulk of the building was performed by local masons and carpenters, who were aided by Jefferson's slaves.

In 1770, he moved to the South Pavilion. Monticello's perennial project was to transform it into a neoclassical masterpiece in the Palladian style. Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, the 23-year-old widow of Bathurst Skelton, on January 1, 1772, and she moved into the South Pavilion. She was a regular hostess for Jefferson and oversaw the household. Dumas Malone, a biographer, characterized the marriage as the "happiest time of Jefferson's life." Martha wrote extensively, created fine needlework, and was a natural pianist; Jefferson frequently accompanied her on the violin or cello. Martha (Patsy) (1772–1874); Jane (1774–1784); Martha Elizabeth (1780–1784) - six children during their ten years of marriage. Martha and Mary were the only ones to live to adulthood.

Martha Wayles' father John Wayles died in 1773, and the pair and her husband inherit 135 slaves, 11,000 acres (45 km2; 17 sq mi), and the estate's debts. Jefferson took years to pay for his financial troubles, contributing to his financial hardships.

Martha later suffered from chronic illness, including diabetes, and frequent childbirth. Martha's mother died young, and as a child, she was raised with two stepmothers. She died on September 6, 1782, just a few months after the birth of her last child. Martha made Jefferson promise never to marry again, promising that she could not bear to have another mother raise her children shortly before her death. Jefferson was devastated by her death, bouncing back and forth in a never-ending manner, nearly to the point of exhaustion. He returned after three weeks of riding long rambling roads with his daughter Martha, who was described as "a single witness to several a violent burst of grief" in her description.

After serving as secretary of state (1790-1993), he returned to Monticello and began a new renovation based on the architectural principles he had acquired in Europe. The work continued throughout the remainder of his presidency and was completed in 1809.

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