Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a Virginia planter, lawyer and scholar who read widely in law, science, architecture and the classics. In 1776, at thirty-three, he drafted the Declaration of Independence for the Continental Congress, stating that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. He wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, served as governor of Virginia during the war, as minister to France, and as the first Secretary of State under Washington, where he clashed with Alexander Hamilton. As third president from 1801 to 1809 he bought the vast Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, doubling the size of the country, and sent Lewis and Clark to explore it. He designed his home, Monticello, and founded the University of Virginia. Jefferson called slavery a moral evil yet held more than six hundred people in slavery over his lifetime, and freed only a few. He died on 4 July 1826, the same day as John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Baptized in his youth and a member of his local Episcopal church; his personal views are often described as deist-leaning and are debated. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Signers of the Declaration · George Wythe · Richard Henry Lee · Benjamin Harrison V · Thomas Nelson Jr. · Francis Lightfoot Lee · Carter Braxton · John Adams · Benjamin Franklin