Who Was Thomas Jefferson?

       Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, and the third President of the United States, was born at Shadwell, Virginia, April 2, 1743. After graduating at William and Mary College he read law under Judge Wythe, was admitted to the bar m 1767, and practiced law with extraordinary success. He was elected a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769, and in 1773 united with Patrick Henry and other leaders of the patriotic party in the formation of the Committee of Correspondence for uniting the colonies in action, and for disseminating information among them. He was a staunch and able supporter of the advanced views of the patriot party, and in June, 1775, took his seat in the Continental Congress, where in the next year he was appointed, with Franklin, Adams and others, on a committee to prepare a declaration of independence, and was himself designated as chairman of such committee. At the request of his colleagues he drafted what is since known as the " Declaration of American Independence," which was reported to Congress June 28, and unanimously adopted by that body July 4, 1776. He subsequently resigned his seat in Congress, as well as the appointment of commissioner to France, served for some time in the Virginia Assembly, where he effected numerous valuable reforms, and in 1779 was elected Governor of Virginia. He was twice appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace with England, but in both instances was prevented by circumstances beyond his control from accepting the position. He was re-elected to Congress in 1783, was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to Europe in 1784 by Congress to form treaties with different powers, and in 1785 was chosen to succeed Benjamin Franklin as Minister at Paris. Jefferson formed while in France a strong and enduring predilection for the people of that country as opposed to those of England. Returning to America in 1789, he became Secretary of State in the Cabinet of Washington.

       The struggle between the two great parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, now commenced. Hamilton, at the head of the former, favored a United States Bank and the observance of a strict neutrality between England and France, while Jefferson, as leader of the latter, bitterly opposed the financial measures of Hamilton and advocated assisting the French with men and arms. The disputes between these two rival statesmen at length grew so stormy that Jefferson resigned his office, December 31, 1793.

       At the dose of Washington's second term Jefferson was nominated for President by the Republicans. John Adams was elected, but Jefierson, having received the next highest number of votes, became, as the law then stood, Vice-President of the United States. He was elected President in 1800, was re-elected in 1804, and withdrew to private life in 1809, after a successful and prosperous administration of eight years. He was one of the principal founders of the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, near his residence at Monticello, of which institution he became the rector. He died on the same day with John Adams, July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence.

A Mini Biography of Thomas Jefferson.

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