Thomas Jefferson

Born: April 13, 1743 Died: July 4, 1826

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. His father was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother was born into one of Virginia’s most distinguished families. He had a very good education and went to college at age 17. 

Jefferson is most well known for being the third president of the United States but that is nowhere near the only thing he did. Jefferson was an inventor, an architect, a diplomat, a US state governor, a lawyer, a philosopher, a scientist, a revolutionary, a statesman, a writer, and John Adams’s vice president. Some examples of things he invented are a macaroni machine and several new types of iron plows especially designed to use on hillsides. Jefferson was also remarkably creative in Statesmanship and used his legal skills to help the rebel cause. He often said that nature destined him to be a scientist but there were no good opportunities for a scientific career in virginia. Some of the most notable things he did while he was president were orchestrating the Louisiana Purchase, which expanded the territory of the United States, and taking power away from the federal government by cutting taxes and decreasing the size of the military.

Although many people think of Jefferson as a remarkable, creative, and intelligent person, others disagree. Many people thought he was a hypocrite because he claimed to support equal rights for all men and to be against slavery, while also owning 5000 acres of land and over 700 enslaved people, the most out of all the presidents.

Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 at age 83. This happened to be the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.