Thomas Jefferson
President, philosopher, a controversial figure that heralded a new era.
Biography: In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, "I have sworn
upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albermarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father,
a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He
studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a
widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.
Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was
no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen
rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted
the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most
notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.
Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His sympathy for the French
Revolution led him into conflict with Alexander Hamilton when Jefferson was Secretary of State in President
Washington's Cabinet. He resigned in 1793.
Sharp political conflict developed, and two separate parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans,
began to form. Jefferson gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans, who sympathized with the
revolutionary cause in France. Attacking Federalist policies, he opposed a strong centralized Government and
championed the rights of states.
As a reluctant candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election. Through a flaw
in the Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of President Adams. In 1800 the defect
caused a more serious problem. Republican electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice
President from their own party, cast a tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of
Representatives settled the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged Jefferson's
election.
When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France had passed. He slashed Army and Navy
expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national
debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American
commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of
new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the
Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.
During Jefferson's second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement
in the Napoleonic wars, though both England and France interfered with the neutral rights of American
merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted solution, an embargo upon American shipping, worked badly and was
unpopular.
Jefferson retired to Monticello to ponder such projects as his grand designs for the University of Virginia. A
French nobleman observed that he had placed his house and his mind "on an elevated situation, from which
he might contemplate the universe."
Links to other sites on the Web
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Thomas Jefferson Online A fascinating documentary was done on Jefferson. Find out more about it here.
Monticello, Home to Thomas Jefferson
© 1997 wendyt@ucla.edu
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