(Born April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, Virginia; died July 4, 1826, Monticello)

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."

Thomas Jefferson -- author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia -- voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades.

His father Peter Jefferson was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother Jane Randolph a member of one of Virginia's most distinguished families. Having inherited a considerable landed estate from his father, Jefferson began building Monticello when he was twenty-six years old. Three years later, he married Martha Wayles Skelton, with whom he lived happily for ten years until her death. Their marriage produced six children, but only two survived to adulthood. Jefferson, who never remarried, maintained Monticello as his home throughout his life, always expanding and changing the house.

Jefferson inherited slaves from both his father and father-in-law. In a typical year, he owned about 200, almost half of them under the age of sixteen. About eighty of these lived at Monticello; the others lived on adjacent Albemarle County plantations, and on his Poplar Forest estate in Bedford County, Virginia. Jefferson freed two slaves in his lifetime and five in his will and chose not to pursue two others who ran away. All were members of the Hemings family; the seven he eventually freed were skilled tradesmen.

As a member of the Continental Congress (1775-1776), Jefferson was chosen together with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingstone and Roger Sherman in 1776 to draft the Declaration of Independence. He wrote the declaration all by himself and was amended by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

Jefferson left Congress in the autumn of 1776 and served in the Virginia legislature until his election as governor in 1779. He was governor from 1779 to 1781.

During this brief private interval (1781-1783) he began to compile his Notes on the State of Virginia, which was first published in 1785. In this document there are some of his thoughts on the question of slavery. From 1783 to 1784 he was a member of the Continental Congress.

Jefferson's stay in France (1784-1789), where he was first a commissioner to negotiate commercial treaties and then Benjamin Franklin's successor as minister, was in many ways the richest period of his life. He was confirmed in his opinion that France was a natural friend of the United States, and Britain at this stage a natural rival.

Toward the end of his mission he reported with scrupulous care the unfolding revolution in France. Eventually he was repelled by the excesses of the French Revolution, and he thoroughly disapproved of it when it passed into an openly imperialistic phase under Napoleon.

Because of his absence in Europe, Jefferson had no direct part in the framing or ratification of the Constitution of the United States (17 sept. 1787), and at first the document aroused his fears. His chief objections were that it did not expressly safeguard the rights of individuals, and that the unlimited eligibility of the president for reelection would make it possible for him to become a king. He became sufficiently satisfied after he learned that a bill of rights would be provided and after be reflected that there would be no danger of monarchy under George Washington.

During Jefferson's service at this post as secretary of state from 1790 to 1793, Alexander Hamilton, secratary of the treasury, defeated the movement for commercial discrimination against Britain, which Jefferson favored. Jefferson's policy was not pro-French, but it seemed anti-British. Hamilton was distinctly pro-British.

By late 1792 or 1793 the opponents of Hamiltonianism constituted a fairly definite national party, calling itself Republican. Early in 1795 the Virginians in Congress forced Hamilton to quit his office.

Jefferson retired as Secretary of State at the end of the year 1793. During a respite of three years from public duties, he began to remodel his house at Monticello and interested himself greatly in agriculture.

He was supported by the Republicans for president in 1796, and running second to John Adams by three electoral votes, he became vice president.

Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr defeated John Adams in the elections of 1800. Jefferson's own title to the presidency was not established for some weeks because he was tied with his running mate under the workings of the original electoral system. The election was thrown into the House of Representatives. The Federalists voted for Burr through many indecisive ballots. Finally, enough of them abstained to permit the obvious will of the majority to be carried out. And so Jefferson became the 3d president of the United States of America. And what also was important that the transition was effected by strictly constitutional means. Jefferson emphasized this in his conciliatory inaugural address.

His first term as president was rather succesfull. That had various reasons. First, he was the undisputed leader of a party that had aquired cohesion during its years in opposition.

Second, he had loyal and competent lieutenants like the secratary of State, James Madison, and the secratary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin.

And, last but not least, he was very popular because of his policy of economy and his tax reduction.

Dispute with the judiciary Jefferson restored the party balance in the civil service, but he was relativly unsuccesful in his moves against the j

The effort to remove partisan judges by impeachment was a virtiual failure, and the Federalists remained entrenched in the judiciary, though they became less actively partisan.

The Louisiana purchase. The most notable achievement of Jefferson's precidency was the purchase of Louisiana in 1803. Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe were sent to France to negotiate with Napoleon. The treaty they sent home aroused constitutional scruples in Jefferson's mind. It seemed to him that this vast and large acquisition of territory would change the charracter of the Union. And so it should be authorized by a constitutional amendment. But he recognized that there was no time for such a slow procedure otherwise the purchase could be in danger. And so became Louisiana, for 15 million dollars, a part of the United States.

Although he was still the undisputed leader of his party, Jefferson encountered greater difficulties, on both the domestic and foreign fronts, in his second term than in his first. One of the domestic problems was the Burr-Conspiracy. Former vice president Burr stood on trial for treason. But the rulings of judge John Marshall made conviction impossible. And Jefferson erred gravely in saying in advance that Burr's guilt was beyond dispute.

One of the largest foreign problems was the Embargo adopted in december 1807. It was regarded by Jefferson as the only alternative to war and submission. The act barred all exports to Britain and France. But it had less effect abroad than had been expected and caused economic difficulty at home. Toward the end of his administation, he assented to the embargo's repeal, to save the Union, he said. Amore moderate measure was adopted, but it did not avert war with Britain in 1812.

Jefferson was succeeded as president in 1809 by his friend James Madison, and during the last seventeen years of his life, he remained in Virginia. During this period, he sold his collection of books to the government to form the nucleus of the Library of Congress. Jefferson embarked on his last great public service at the age of seventy-six, with the founding of the University of Virginia. He spearheaded the legislative campaign for its charter, secured its location, designed its buildings, planned its curriculum, and served as the first rector.

On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson ended his Inauguration speech with the following words:

Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it when you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our counsils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.

Indeed, every President is beholden to the people, and history judges them, not because they were bold enough to exercise power, but because they were humble enough to understand the source of their power.

Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, just hours before his close friend John Adams, on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was eighty-three years old, the holder of large debts, but according to all evidence a very optimistic man.

It was Jefferson's wish that his tomb stone reflect the things that he had given the people, not the things that the people had given to him. It is for this reason that Thomas Jefferson's epitaph reads: