Facts About Thomas Jefferson

Finding facts about Thomas Jefferson on the internet is relatively easy but finding relevant facts, the facts about Thomas Jefferson that every American should be familiar with will take a lot of reading.  The purpose of this article is to condense the most relevant facts with the most historical significance regarding our 3^rd president and present those facts in laymen terms so that even the casual reader will find useful.  This short article could never do justice to the volumes of information devoted to the life and times of Thomas Jefferson but it should give the casual reader or researcher enough information to understand his life and his legacy and also point out the direction for further learning.

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 to a very prominent Virginia family.  He was only 9 years old when he began his education which included the study of Latin, French, and Greek.  He also studied nature and learned how to ride horses.  He was only 14 when his father died and the young Jefferson inherited nearly 5,000 acres and dozens of slaves.  When he was 16, he went off to the College of William and Mary where he was excelled at being a great student in many different fields, such as metaphysics, philosophy, mathematics, and even after he graduated at the age of 19 he continued on to study law and was admitted to the Virginia bar when he was 24.

The following year, in 1768 Jefferson began constructing his family dream home which would forever be known as Monticello.  It was a mountaintop neoclassical estate of his own architectural design.  He worked feverishly on well over a hundred cases a year but he went deeply into debt building Monticello and providing for his slaves, which would be more than 600 by the time of his death.

Thomas Jefferson gained a reputation as a great legal writer and during the Second Continental Congress he was appointed to a 5 man team to draft the Declaration of Independence.  After debating and rewording and deleting all together nearly a quarter of the text Jefferson had written, Congress approved the final draft on the 4^th of July, 1776.  Not bad for a man of only 33.

For the next 14 years Jefferson would serve in his Virginia state legislature, he would serve as Governor of Virginia, and later be appointed to Congress of the Confederation.  He would be elected as Minister to France and then when George Washington was elected to be our First President, Washington chose Jefferson to serve as our nations first Secretary of State.

In 1793, Jefferson was dismayed with Washington siding with Alexander Hamilton on forming a national bank so he retired back to Monticello.  His retirement would only last a few years though because his decided to run for President against his biggest political adversary John Adams.

In 1796, Jefferson lost the election to John Adams but had enough electoral votes to become our nation’s second Vice President.   

In 1800, Jefferson would get another chance and this time he won the presidential election making him our nation’s 3^rd President. 

This is not a complete time-line of events, just a summary.

April 13, 1743 - born in Shadwell, Albermarle County, Virginia

January 1, 1772 · Marries Martha Wayles Skelton

August 1774 ·Jefferson publishes A Summary View of the Rights of British America

June 28, 1776 ·Declaration of Independence presented to Congress

July 2, 1776 ·Congress approves resolution to declare independence

July 4, 1776 ·Congress accepts Declaration of Independence

June 1, 1779 · Jefferson elected governor of Virginia

September 6, 1782 ·Jefferson's wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson dies

May 7, 1784 ·Appointed to serve as foreign minister based in Paris

September 26, 1789 ·Appointed Secretary of State

March 4, 1797 ·Adams and Jefferson inaugurated at Philadelphia

February 17, 1801 ·Jefferson named President on thirty-sixth ballot

January 18, 1803 -President Thomas Jefferson launched the Lewis and Clark Expedition

April 30, 1803 ·Robert Livingston and James Monroe secure the purchase of the Louisiana Territory for the United States from France 

July 4, 1826 ·Dies at Monticello at the age of eighty-three, on the same day as John Adams

January 27, 1827 ·Jefferson's belongings sold by auction at Monticello