Who is Thomas Jefferson? Childhood, Family
Thomas Jefferson was a founding Father of the United States. He was one of the creators of the Declaration of Independence.Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia to Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph Jefferson. From a very young age, he was an avid reader and loved to explore nature.
He also learned to play the violin and knew different languages such as Greek, French and Latin. When Jefferson was eleven years, old he lost his father. He inherited his father’s assets, including a huge piece of land, and started managing them.
School, Education, College
Thomas got his formal education in science and history. Later he went to the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He studied law under a respected Virginia lawyer. After he completed his law degree in 1767, Jefferson started working as a lawyer. By 1773, he had handled many cases and counted amongst the reputed lawyers of Virginia.
Political Career, Fight for the Independence, Congress
They early 1770s were the start of his political career. The American colonies were being wrongly treated by the British rulers. Jefferson became a leader and decided to fight for their independence. In 1775, he became a delegate at the Second Continental Congress.
The same year, the American Revolution of Independence started. Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and the other members of the committee made some changes and presented it to the Congress. It is the most prized document in the history if the United States.
As a Governor of Virginia, War 1970, Republican Party, Britain
In 1779, Jefferson became the governor of Virginia. A significant change at the time was that the capital of the state changed from Williamsburg to Richmond. The same year, he was appointed as the first professor of law at the College of William and Mary.
In 1785, Jefferson worked as a minister to France. As a minister, Jefferson helped France and Britain during the war. In 1790, Jefferson became the first secretary of state, when George Washington was president. He supported the state and local governments. He co-founded the Democratic – Republican Party to fight Hamilton’s Federalist Party.
Presidential Elections, War with France
In 1796, Jefferson competed against John Adams in the presidential elections. He received the second highest votes, which made him vice president. During this period the federalist wanted a war with France. The new Alien and Sedition Acts were passed in 1798, in which taxes were introduced. Jefferson criticized this act and attacked federalists. He believed that federalists had no right to use such power to exploit the public.
Became a Third President of United States, Works, Reduces Taxes
In 1801, Jefferson became the third president of the United States. The first thing he did right of the United States. The first thing he did right after he became president was to reduce the federal budget. He wanted to give the power back to the states. He also reduced taxes, for which he became favorable amongst people.
One of his main achievements, as president was the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson purchased a huge piece of land (Louisiana) , from Napoleon Bonaparte of France. This purchase expanded the area under United States and expanded the land.
Nominated For Captain Meriwether, Battles with Pirates
The second monumental event was the Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1804-06. Jefferson wished to map the area of the land he had acquired, and nominated Captain Meriwether Lewis and second lieutenant William Clark to explore the western territory with a selected group of army volunteers.
Another major event was battling pirates from 1801-05, during the First Barbary War between the United States and Libya. During his presidency, he sent American navy ships off the coast of North Africa to battle pirate ships.
These Barbary pirate ships had been attacking American Merchant vessels for quite some time. Jefferson decided to put a stop to it and thus began the First Barbary War.
In 1801, he published a manual of Parliamentary Practice, and its second edition in 1812. Unfortunately, the Library of Congress was burnt down by the British. So, Jefferson’s vast collection of books was converted into a new library. The Library was named after him.
Good Bye to the world
Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 83 in Virginia. He died on the same day as his fellow Founding Father, John Adams. It was also the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.