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Concept
Thomas Jefferson
Summary
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Among the Committee of Five charged by the Second Continental Congress with drafting the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was the document's primary author. Following the American Revolutionary War and prior to becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams.
Jefferson's writings and advocacy for human rights, including freedom of thought, speech and religion, helped inspire the American Revolution, which ultimately led the successful American Revolutionary War. This in turn led to American independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the establishment of the United States as a free and sovereign nation. He was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, and produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national and international levels. During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia at the Second Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence, and served as the second governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. In 1785, Congress appointed Jefferson U.S. minister to France, where he served from 1785 to 1789. President Washington then appointed Jefferson the nation's first secretary of state, where he served from 1790 to 1793. During this time, in the early 1790s, Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the nation's First Party System. With Madison, Jefferson anonymously wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 and 1799, which sought to strengthen states' rights by nullifying the federal Alien and Sedition Acts.
Jefferson and Federalist John Adams became both friends and political rivals, serving in the Continental Congress and drafting the Declaration of Independence together.
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