- http://classroom.monticello.org/kids/resources/profile/81/Brief-Biography-of-Thomas-Jefferson/
- http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-jefferson-9353715
- Excerpt from History.com
(The following is the excerpt from History.com)
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the Declaration of
Independence and the third U.S. president, was a leading figure in America’s
early development. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Jefferson
served in the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress and was
governor of Virginia. He later served as U.S. minister to France and U.S.
secretary of state, and was vice president under John Adams (1735-1826).
Jefferson, who thought the national government should have a limited role in
citizens’ lives, was elected president in 1800. During his two terms in office
(1801-1809), the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark
explored the vast new acquisition. Although Jefferson promoted individual
liberty, he was also a slaveowner. After leaving office, he retired to his
Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped found the University of Virginia.
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S EARLY YEARS
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a
plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia. His father,
Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor and his
mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a prominent Virginia
family. Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one
surviving brother.
In 1762, Jefferson graduated from the College of William and
Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he reportedly enjoyed studying for 15
hours then practicing violin for several more hours on a daily basis. He went
on to study law under the tutelage of a respected Virginia attorney (there were
no official law schools in America at the time), and began working as a lawyer
in 1767. As a member of colonial Virginia’s House of Burgesses from 1769 to
1775, Jefferson, who was known for his reserved manner, gained recognition for
penning a pamphlet, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America” (1774),
which declared that the British Parliament had no right to exercise authority
over the American colonies.
MARRIAGE AND MONTICELLO
After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, the future
president inherited the Shadwell property. In 1768, Jefferson began clearing a
mountaintop on the land, in preparation for the elegant brick mansion he would
construct there called Monticello (“little
mountain” in Italian). Jefferson, who had a keen interest in architecture and
gardening, designed the home and its elaborate gardens himself. Over the course
of his life, he remodeled and expanded Monticello and filled it with art, fine
furnishings and interesting gadgets and architectural details. He kept records
of everything that happened at the 5,000-acre plantation, including daily
weather reports, a gardening journal and notes about his slaves and animals.
On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton
(1748-82), a young widow. The couple moved to Monticello and eventually had six
children; only two daughters–Martha (1772-1836) and Mary (1778-1804)–survived
into adulthood. In 1782, Jefferson’s wife Martha died at age 33 following
complications from child-birth. Jefferson was distraught and never remarried.
However, it is believed he fathered more children with one of his slaves, Sally
Hemmings (1773-1835).
Slavery was a contradictory issue in Jefferson’s life. Although
he was an advocate for individual liberty and at one point promoted a plan for
gradual emancipation of slaves in America, he owned slaves throughout his life.
Additionally, while he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that
“all men are created equal,” he believed African Americans were biologically
inferior to whites and thought the two races could not co-exist peacefully in
freedom. Jefferson inherited some 175 slaves from his father and father-in-law
and owned an estimated 600 slaves over the course of his life. He freed only a
small number of them in his will; the majority were sold following his death.
