Jefferson defended his plans for freedom of religion and universal education while advocating a wide distribution of property as the only means of insuring a free and independent people. At the same time, he expressed his fears for the future of the country. Jefferson worried that after the Revolution, the passion and quest for civility and virtue in public life would be supplanted by greed as men searched for opportunities leading to individual fortune.
Included in the Notes is a discussion of slavery in which Jefferson states both his opposition to the institution and his belief in the racial inferiority of blacks. Jefferson concluded, although not with absolute certainty—because he had not studied the subject with scientific rigor—"that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.
Virginia sent Jefferson as its representative to the Confederation Congress in , where he worked to establish the decimal system as the nation's basis of measurement. More importantly, in , Jefferson drafted an ordinance providing for the temporary government of western territories under congressional control.
The national domain was to be divided into ten districts, and once the population of each district reached 20,, the residents could call a convention and establish a territorial constitution and government of their own choosing. When the territorial population then reached a size equal to the smallest of the original thirteen states, the residents could petition Congress for statehood.
Jefferson's original proposal included a provision prohibiting slavery in the new states, but Congress rejected this part by a vote of seven to six. In , Jefferson also helped draft an ordinance for surveying and selling congressional lands; though superseded by the Land Ordinance of , Jefferson's ordinance established the basic framework of federal land policy.
The Territorial Government Ordinance was replaced with the Northwest Ordinance of , which did prohibit slavery in those lands organized north of the Ohio River. The ordinance also replaced Jefferson's guarantee of initial self-government with congressionally appointed governors and judges. For four years, beginning in , Jefferson served as America's minister to France, a position equivalent to today's ambassador.
In this post, he negotiated commercial treaties and closely observed the disorderly events leading up to the French Revolution. As a widower, Jefferson enjoyed his years in France, living there with his two daughters, Martha, age twelve, and Mary, age seven. He partook fully of French culture, intellectual salons, and the like. Upon his departure from France, he was convinced that French Enlightenment thought, as expressed by its philosophers and artists, would eventually prove the foundation for a new world order to the great benefit of all humanity.
It was also during these years that Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings began. Hemings was the daughter of his wife's father and a slave woman in his household. Fourteen years old, Sally accompanied Jefferson's daughter Mary to Europe in While fulfilling his duties in France, Jefferson corresponded with members of the Constitutional Convention during and In particular, Jefferson communicated with James Madison about the events surrounding the creation of a new form of government.
Having kept abreast of the discussions and developments, Jefferson supported the ratification of the U. Constitution but also strongly emphasized the need for a bill of rights, amendments to the Constitution that would safeguard basic civil liberties, such as the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion, the right to bear arms, and the right to have a speedy trial by a jury of one's peers. Jefferson reluctantly agreed to serve as Washington's secretary of state in the nation's first administration, beginning in He supported closer relations with France and viewed England with skepticism.
At that time, England and France were at war, and Hamilton won Washington's agreement to honor a pro-British policy of neutrality rather than the treaty providing for assistance to France, which Jefferson favored.
Thus, Jefferson's effectiveness in foreign policy was blunted by Washington's insistence on a more neutral stance. Although he enjoyed Washington's complete confidence, Jefferson found that the President was increasingly influenced by Alexander Hamilton, who had been his aide during the war and in the first administration served as his secretary of treasury. As Jefferson's chief rival for the President's attention, Hamilton succeeded in swaying Washington in favor of a strong centralized government.
Hamilton's successful policy agenda included federally funding state debts that were incurred during the war with England, creating a national bank, supporting commerce and manufacturing as the economic foundation of the new Republic, and using England as an economic model.
Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. January 16, - January 18, January 14, - January 16, This searchable database identifies former governors by state and dates of service.
The governors' biographies available on the NGA website provide summary biographical information only and are edited infrequently. New York: James T. Congress Colonial Williamsburg Monticello U. Department of State The White House. Recent Virginia Governors. Mark R. Warner January 12, - January 14, Learn More.
Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he was also a slave owner. After leaving office, he retired to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped found the University of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, , at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia.
Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one surviving brother. In , 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. Jefferson began working as a lawyer in After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, the future president inherited the Shadwell property. 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,acre plantation, including daily weather reports, a gardening journal and notes about his slaves and animals.
The couple moved to Monticello and eventually had six children; only two of their daughters—Martha and Mary —survived into adulthood. Jefferson was distraught and never remarried. 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.
Jefferson inherited some slaves from his father and father-in-law and owned an estimated 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. In , with the American Revolutionary War recently under way, Jefferson was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. The Declaration of Independence, which explained why the 13 colonies wanted to be free of British rule and also detailed the importance of individual rights and freedoms, was adopted on July 4, In the fall of , Jefferson resigned from the Continental Congress and was re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates formerly the House of Burgesses.
He considered the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he authored in the late s and which Virginia lawmakers eventually passed in , to be one of the significant achievements of his career.
It was a forerunner to the First Amendment to the U. From to , Jefferson served as governor of Virginia, and from to , did a second stint in Congress then officially known, since , as the Congress of the Confederation.
In , he succeeded Benjamin Franklin as U. In this post, Jefferson clashed with U. In the presidential election of , Jefferson ran against John Adams and received the second highest amount of votes, which, according to the law at the time, made him vice president.
Jefferson ran against Adams again in the presidential election of , which turned into a bitter battle between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson defeated Adams; however, due to a flaw in the electoral system, Jefferson tied with fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr The House of Representatives broke the tie and voted Jefferson into office.
In order to avoid a repeat of this situation, Congress proposed the Twelfth Amendment to the U.
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