Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia on April 13, 1743. He attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, graduating in 1762 after studying the law, among other subjects. Jefferson married Martha Wayles in 1772 and had six children. He served as a Colonel in the Virginia Militia during the American Revolutionary War.  Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in June 1776.  Martha Jefferson died in 1782.

Jefferson became the second governor of Virginia in 1779 and served until 1781. He was appointed the U.S. Minister to France in 1785 and held office until 1789 when the United States formally became a nation. George Washington named Jefferson the first U.S. Secretary of State, an office he held from 1790 to 1793.

Jefferson and James Madison founded the National Gazette in 1971 to combat the Federalists they opposed. In 1792, they formed the Democratic-Republican Party to protect and preserve American democracy from political infighting and big-monied interests. The Democratic-Republican Party was the first party system founded in the new United States.

1797 Jefferson was elected John Adam’s Vice President, the second such person from 1797 to 1801.

Thomas Jefferson ran for and won the American presidency, holding office for two terms from 1801 to 1809. His presidency was active. Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation’s size, founded the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1802, supported the Lewis and Clark Expedition, appointed three people to the Supreme Court, and implemented the Embargo Act to defend American industry from abroad. He fought Barbary Pirates in Libya, disrupting American trade in the region.

Upon leaving office and returning to life as a private citizen, Jefferson founded the University of Virginia. He continued writing about freedom of speech and religion, farmed at his home at Monticello, philosophized, and stayed in touch with many leaders who followed him in Washington and worldwide.

Jefferson had an exciting experience with slavery, having enslaved people during his time at Monticello. Jefferson also had a relationship with the enslaved person Sally Hemings, fathering, it is believed, six children with her. Hemings was Jefferson’s wife Martha’s half-sister, it was reported. In his draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson condemned the slave trade. Jefferson opposed the immediate emancipation of all enslaved people on social and economic grounds that many others sought. Instead, he favored the gradual phasing out of the institution. During his presidency, he signed a law in 1807 to prohibit the international import of enslaved people as well.

Jefferson died at age 83 in his bed at Monticello on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He is buried at Monticello.