Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3d PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. As the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, he is probably the most conspicuous champion of political and spiritual freedom in his country's history. He voiced the aspirations of the new nation in matchless phrase, and one may doubt if any other American has been so often quoted. As a public official--legislator, diplomat, and executive--he served the province and commonwealth of Virginia and the young American republic almost 40 years.
While his services as a Revolutionary patriot have beenhonored by his countrymen with only slight dissent, his later and more controversial political activities have been variously interpreted. Believing that the government was not being conducted in the spirit of 1776, he turned against the administration in WASHINGTON's second term and remained in opposition during the presidency of John ADAMS. Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, was the acknowledged head of his political party, and his election to the highest office has been interpreted as a vindication of the right of political opposition. His ELECTION checked in the United States the tide of political reaction that was sweeping the Western world, and it furthered the development of political democracy. Throughout his life he sought to do that, though the term he generally used was republicanism.
Opinions differ about his conduct of foreign affairs as president. He acquired the vast province of Louisiana and maintained neutrality in a world of war, but his policies failed to safeguard neutral rights at sea and imposed hardships at home. As a result, his administration reached its nadir as it ended. Until his last year as president he exercised leadership over his party that was to be matched by no other 19th century president, and he enjoyed remarkable popularity. He was rightly hailed as the "Man of the People," because he sought to conduct the government in the popular interest, rather than in the interest of any privileged group, and, insofar as possible, in accordance with the people's will.
He was a tall and vigorous man, not particularly impressive in person but amiable, once his original stiffness wore off. He was habitually tactful and notably respectful of the opinions and personalities of others, though he had slight tolerance of those he believed unfaithful to republicanism. A devoted family man who set great store by privacy, he built his house upon a mountain, but he did not look down on people. A distinguished architect and naturalist in his own right, a remarkable linguist, a noted bibliophile, and the father of the University of Virginia, he was the chief patron of learning and the arts in his country in his day. And, with the possible exception of Benjamin Franklin, he was the closest American approximation of the universal man.
Early Career Jefferson was born at Shadwell, his father's home in Albemarle county, Va., on April 13 (April 2, Old Style), 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson, a man of legendary strength, was a successful planter and surveyor who gained minor title to fame as an explorer and mapmaker. His prominence in his own locality is attested by the fact that he served as a burgess and as county lieutenant. Peter's son later held the same offices. Through his mother, Jane Randolph, a member of one of the most famous Virginia families, Thomas was related to many of the most prominent people in the province.
Besides being well born, Thomas Jefferson was well educated. In small private schools, notably that of James Maury, he was thoroughly grounded in the classics. He attended the College of William and Mary--completing the course in 1762--where Dr. William Small taught him mathematics and introduced him to science. He associated intimately with the liberal-minded Lt. Gov. Francis Fauquier, and read law (1762-1767) with George Wythe, the greatest law teacher of his generation in Virginia.
Jefferson became unusually learned in the law. He was admittedto the bar in 1767 and practiced until 1774, when the courts were closed by the American Revolution. He was a successful lawyer, though his professional income was only a supplement. He had inherited a considerable landed estate from his father, and doubled it by a happy marriage on Jan. 1, 1772, to Martha Wayles Skelton. However, his father-in-law's estate imposed a burdensome debt on Jefferson. He began building Monticello before his marriage, but his mansion was not completed in its present form until a generation later.
Jefferson's lifelong emphasis on local government grew directly from his own experience. He served as magistrate and as county lieutenant of Albemarle county. Elected to the House of Burgesses when he was 25, he served there from 1769 to 1774, showing himself to be an effective committeeman and skillful draftsman, though not an able speaker.Minister to France Jefferson's stay in France (1784-1789), where he was first a commissioner to negotiate commercial treaties and then Benjamin Franklin's successor as minister, was in many ways the richest period of his life. He gained genuine commercial concessions from the French, negotiated an important consular convention in 1788, and served the interests of his own weak government with diligence and skill. He was confirmed in his opinion that France was a natural friend of the United States, and Britain at this stage a natural rival, and thus his foreign policy assumed the orientation it was to maintain until the eve of the Louisiana Purchase. The publication of his book on Virginia symbolized his unofficial service of information to the French. His services to his own countrymen were exemplified by the books, the seeds and plants, the statues and architectural models, and the scientific information that he sent home. His stay in Europe contributed greatly to that universality of spirit and diversity of achievement in which he was equaled by no other American statesman, except possibly Franklin.
Toward the end of his mission he reported with scrupulous care the unfolding revolution in France. His personal part in it was slight, and such advice as he gave was moderate. Doubting the readiness of the people for self-government of the American type, he now favored a limited monarchy for France, and he cautioned his liberal friends not to risk the loss of their gains by going too fast. Though always aware of the importance of French developments in the worldwide struggle for greater freedom and happiness, he tended to stress this more after he returned home and perceived the dangers of political reaction in his own country. Eventually he was repelled by the excesses of the French Revolution, and he thoroughly disapproved of it when it passed into an openly imperialistic phase under Napoleon. But insofar as it represented a revolt against despotism, he continued to believe that its spirit could never die.
Because of his absence in Europe, Jefferson had no direct part in the framing or ratification of the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, and at first the document aroused his fears. His chief objections were that it did not expressly safeguard the rights of individuals, and that the unlimited eligibility of the president for reelection would make it possible for him to become a king. He became sufficiently satisfied after he learned that a bill of rights would be provided and after he reflected that there would be no danger of monarchy under George Washington.
Secretary of State Although his fears of monarchical tendencies remained and colored his attitude in later partisan struggles, it was as a friend of the new government that he accepted Washington's invitation to become secretary of state.
During Jefferson's service in this post from 1790 to 1793, Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, defeated the movement for commercial discrimination against Britain, which Jefferson favored. Hamilton, also, connived with the British minister George Hammond to nullify Jefferson's efforts in 1792 to gain observance of the terms of peace from the British, and especially to dislodge them from the northwest posts. Jefferson's policy was not pro-French, but it seemed anti-British. Hamilton was distinctly pro-British, largely for financial reasons, and he became more so when general war broke out in Europe and ideology was clearly involved. In 1793, Jefferson wanted the French Revolution to succeed against its external foes, but he also recognized that the interests of his own country demanded a policy of neutrality. Such a policy was adopted, to the dissatisfaction of many strong friends of democracy in America, and was executed so fairly as to win the reluctant praise of the British.
Jefferson was greatly embarrassed by the indiscretions of the fiery French minister, Edmond Charles Genet, who arrived in Washington in the spring of 1793, but he skillfully brought about Genet's recall and avoided a breach with the revolutionary government of his country.
Jefferson helped Hamilton gain congressional consent to the assumption of state debts, for which the location of the federal capital on the Potomac was the political return. His growing objections to the Hamiltonian financial system were partly owing to his belief that the treasury was catering to commercial and financial groups, not agricultural, but he also believed that Hamilton was building up his own political power by creating ties of financial interest and was corrupting Congress. The issue between the two secretaries was sharply joined by 1791, when the Bank of the United States was established. They gave to the president their rival interpretations of the Constitution in this connection. The victory at the time and in the long run was with Hamilton's doctrine of liberal construction, or interpretation, of the Constitution and his assertion of broad national power. But Jefferson's general distrust of power and his reliance on basic law as a safeguard have enduring value.
By late 1792 or 1793 the opponents of amiltonianism constituted a fairly definite national party, calling itself Republican. Jefferson's recognized leadership of this group can be more easily attributed to his official standing and his political philosophy than to his partisan activities. In the summer and autumn of 1792, by means of anonymous newspaper articles, Hamilton sought to drive Jefferson from the government. The alleged justification was the campaign being waged against Hamilton by the editor of the National Gazette, Philip Freneau. Jefferson had given Freneau minor employment as a translator for the State Department, but he claimed that he never brought influence to bear on him, and there is no evidence that he himself wrote anything for the paper. But he had told Washington precisely what he thought of his colleague's policies, and had already said that he himself wanted to get out of the government.
Early in 1793 the Virginians in CONGRESS vainly sought to drive Hamilton from office or at least to rebuke him sharply for alleged financial mismanagement. Jefferson undoubtedly sympathized with this attack and probably drafted the resolutions that were introduced by Rep. William Branch Giles (Va.) and soundly defeated. A degree of unity was forced on the president's official family by the foreign crisis of 1793, which also caused Jefferson to delay his retirement to the end of the year.
Vice President
During a respite of three years from public duties, he began to remodel his house at Monticello and interested himself greatly in agriculture,
claiming that he had wholly lost the "little spice of ambition" he had once had. He was outraged by Washington's attack on the Democratic societies, which were identified with his party, and by what he regarded as the surrender to the British in Jay's Treaty, but at this stage he was playing little part in politics. Nonetheless, he was supported by
the Republicans for president in 1796, and, running second to John Adams by three ELECTORAL VOTES, he became VICE PRESIDENT. His Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801) was a result of his experience as the
presiding officer over the Senate. His papers on the extinct megalonyx and on the moldboard of a plow invented by him attested to his scientific interests and attainments. These papers were presented to the
American Philosophical Society, of which he became president in 1797.
President: First Term
Jefferson's victory over John Adams in the presidential election of 1800 can be partially explained by the dissension among the Federalists, but the policies of the government were unpopular, and as a party the Federalists were now much less Representative of the country than were the Republicans. Jefferson's own title to the presidency was not established for some weeks, because he was accidentally tied with his running mate, Aaron BURR, under the workings of the original electoral system. The election was thrown into the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, where the Federalists voted for Burr through many indecisive ballots. Finally, enough of them abstained to permit the obvious will of the majority to be carried out.
Jefferson later said that the ousting of the Federalists and the accession of his own party constituted a "revolution," but that statement was hyperbole. He was speaking of the principles of the
government rather than of its form, and his major concern was to restore the spirit of 1776. He regarded himself as more loyal to the U. S. Constitution than his loose-constructionist foes were, though in fact he
was less a strict constructionist in practice than in theory. Although he had objected to features of Hamilton's financial system, he had no intention of upsetting it now that it was firmly established. Instead, the purpose he had in mind, and was to be highly successful in carrying out, was to obviate some of the grave dangers he saw in the system by
reducing the national debt.
ferson's accession to the presidency is notable in American history because it marked the first transfer of national authority from one political group to another, and it is especially significant that,
despite Federalist obstructionism for a time, the transition was effected by peaceful and strictly constitutional means. Jeffersonhimself emphasized this in his conciliatory inaugural address. These
events set a precedent of acquiescence in the will of the majority. The new president described this as a "sacred principle" that must prevail, but he added that, to be rightful, it must be reasonable and that the rights of minorities must be protected. His accession removed the threat of counterrevolution from his country. The government he conducted, in
its spirit of tolerance and humanity, was without parallel in his world.
first term, most of it in a period of relative international calm, was distinctly successful. He was the undisputed leader of a party that had acquired cohesion during its years in opposition. In James Madison as secretary of state and Albert Gallatin as secretary of the treasury, he had lieutenants of high competence whom he treated as peers but whose loyalty to him bordered on reverence. By virtually ruling himself out of the party, Vice President Aaron Burr relieved Jefferson of a potential rival. Working through the Republican leaders in Congress, whom he treated with the utmost respect, Jefferson exercised influence on that body that was unexampled in previous presidential history and was to be rarely matched in later administrations. Because of his own commitment, and that of most of his countrymen, to the doctrine of division of powers between the executive and legislative branches, his leadership, except in foreign affairs, was indirect and generally unadmitted. He also shared with most of his fellows a rather negative concept of the functions of the federal government in the domestic sphere. The policy of economy and tax reduction that the favorable world situation permitted him to follow served to reduce rather than increase the burdens of his countrymen, and it contributed no little to his popularity.
sident: Second Term
On both the domestic and foreign fronts Jefferson encountered greater difficulties in his second term than in his first. But he was relatively successful at home during most of it. Factionalism increased among
Republicans. But the revolt of John Randolph, an uncompromising strict constructionist and formerly the Republican leader in the House of presentatives, was contained. Until the last session of Congress in
his presidency, Jefferson maintained his influence over that body and his undisputed leadership of his party.
ferson, meanwhile, was succeeded as president in 1809 by his loyal lieutenant, James Madison. During the last 17 years of his life, Jefferson remained in Virginia. His failures tended to be forgotten, and as the "Sage of Monticello" he engaged in a vast and rich correspondence with John Adams and others. He abandoned newspapers for Tacitus and Thucydides, he said, and until his dying day he feasted on classical
writings. He read them in the original, as he did authors in French, Spanish, and Italian. Toward the end of the War of 1812, he sold his magnificent collection of books to the government for the Library of Congress, of which he has been regarded ever since as the virtual founder.
rson resigned the presidency of the American Philosophical Society, which he had held for many years, but maintained his interest in all branches of human learning. He kept charts of the temperature. He personally directed the operations of his mills and farms into his 70s. He never ceased his efforts to advance agriculture. Jefferson's last great public service was the founding of the University of Virginia, which was chartered in 1819. He inspired the legislative campaign for a university, got it located in his own county, planned the buildings, and
served as the first rector.He gave much attention to the education of his grandchildren, chiefly the offspring of his daughter Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph. His daughter Maoffspring of his daughter Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph. His daughter Maria, who married John W. Eppes, died during his first
term as president. For her son Francis, he built a gem of a house at Poplar Forest in Bedford .
Jefferson had long been troubled by debt, and the failure of a friend whose note he had endorsed brought him to virtual bankruptcy. But he was rich in honor, friendship, and domestic happiness when he died at Monticello on July 4, 1826 just hours before John Adams, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.ians in CONGRESS vainly sought to drive Hamilton from office or at least to rebuke him sharply for alleged financial mismanagement. Jefferson undoubtedly sympathized with this attack and probably drafted the resolutions that were introduced by Rep. William Branch Giles (Va.) and soundly defeated. A degree of unity was forced on the president's official family by the foreign crisis of 1793, which also caused Jefferson to delay his retirement to the end of the year.
Vice President
During a respite of three years from public duties, he began to remodel his house at Monticello and interested himself greatly in agriculture, claiming that he had wholly lost the "little spice of ambition" he had once had. He was outraged by Washington's attack on the Democratic societies, which were identified with his party, and by what he regarded as the surrender to the British in Jay's Treaty, but at this stage he was playing little part in politics.
More Information about Thomas Jefferson
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
On Slavery
Papers
Son of Virginia
Third President
