University of Virginia Library

THOMAS JEFFERSON,

Third President of the United States, was born April 2, 1742, and
died July 4, 1826, at the age of 84 years.

Virginia, glorious in the annals of American history as the birthplace
of a Washington, a Patrick Henry, a Monroe and the Lees, was
also the place of birth of Thomas Jefferson, the framer of the Declaration
of Independence and the Third President of the United States.

He was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, son of Colonel Peter
Jefferson, a well-known gentleman of means in the province of Virginia,
and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson, daughter of Isham Randolph,
of Goochland county. He received his collegiate education at William
and Mary College, read law with the celebrated George Wythe, afterward
chancellor of the State of Virginia, and began practice in 1767.

In 1769 he became a member of the House of Burgesses, where he
served the interests of the colonists until, March 27, 1775, he was
chosen one of Virginia's representatives in the Continental Congress.
In 1774, he published his defense of the colonists, entitled, "Summary
View of the Rights of British America," wherein he boldly
set forth such doctrines that Lord Dunmore, then governor of
the province, threatened him with a prosecution for high treason.
June 1, 1775, Lord Dunmore presented to the legislature of
Virginia certain resolutions of the British parliament, to which

Jefferson, as chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, made
response in one of the ablest State papers on record.

Wednesday, June 21, 1775, Thomas Jefferson took his seat in the Continental
Congress, where he soon became conspicuous, both for his talent
and the ardor with which it was devoted to the cause of liberty. He
served during the remainder of that year, and through the following year,
acting on many important committees, and on the 9th of June, 1776, he
was appointed chairman of that committee to whom was delegated the important
duty of preparing a draft of a Declaration of Independence. When
he appended his signature to that document, as amended and accepted, the
moment was to him the greatest and the gravest of his life.

After serving actively in Congress during the summer of 1776, Mr. Jefferson
returned home, and during the remaining years of the Revolutionary
war devoted himself mainly to the service of his own State. June 1,
1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and as chief magistrate of that
Commonwealth his patriotism and statesmanship made him an invaluable
aid to the harassed and overburdened commander of the Continental
army, then seeing its darkest days. He remained in constant correspondence
with Washington, and gave a soldier's cheerful obedience to any suggestions
and requests that General made concerning Virginia. His term
of office expired June 2, 1780, but as a private citizen he continued to
serve the State until peace was declared.

Near the close of 1782, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to join
the representatives of the United States already in Europe, but the treaty
of Paris, in 1783, rendered his services unnecessary, and he remained in
America.

June 6, 1783, he was again chosen delegate to Congress, and took his
seat on the 4th of November following. March 30, 1784, he was chosen
to preside in Congress, and was chairman of that committee which performed
the important work of revising and getting in proper working
order the treasury department. May 7, 1784, he was appointed to join
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and negotiate treaties of
commerce for the United States with foreign nations. Accompanied by
his oldest daughter, he set sail in July and joined his colleagues in the following
month.

March 10, 1785, Mr. Jefferson was unanimously chosen by Congress to
succeed Dr. Franklin as minister to the court at Versailles, and, re-appointed
in October, 1787, he remained in France until October, 1789,
in that time successfully conducting many important and intricate negotiations
in the interest of the United States.

Immediately upon his return to America, Thomas Jefferson was
appointed by President Washington Secretary of State, and he conducted
this department of the new and untried government past many perils and
by many momentous and statesmanlike decisions through the four years of

Washington's first administration, resigning the office December 31, 179.

Three years of private life ensued, and then again Mr. Jefferson found
himself in the political arena, this time as the leader of one of the two
political parties into which the American voters had become divided. By
the party then calling themselves Republicans, Mr. Jefferson was nominated
for President, and the Federal party nominated John Adams of Massachusetts
as his opponent. The vote was counted in the presence of both
houses of Congress in February, 1797, and Mr. Adams receiving the
majority was declared President, Mr. Jefferson, as was then the law, becoming
vice-president.

March 4, 1797, he took the oath of office, and as presiding officer in the
Senate, delivered before that body a speech which is yet a model of
dignity, modesty and statesmanship. Much of the four succeeding years,
Mr. Jefferson spent in tranquillity at his country home, Monticello. He had
married New Year's Day, 1772, Martha, daughter of John Wayles, a distinguished
lawyer of Charles City county, Virginia, and their union had been
blessed with two beautiful daughters. The death of the wife and mother
occurred about ten years subsequent to her marriage, and toward his two
children Mr. Jefferson always manifested a mother's tenderness combined
with a father's care.

When the time for another presidential election approached, Mr. Jefferson
was again the candidate of his party, his opponent being Aaron Burr of
New York. The vote was a tie, and the election devolved upon the
House of Representatives. After thirty-five ineffectual ballots, a member
from Maryland, authorized by Mr. Burr, withdrew that gentleman's name,
and on the thirty-sixth ballot Mr. Jefferson was elected president, Colonel
Burr becoming vice-president.

March 4, 1801, President Jefferson delivered his inaugural address
in the presence of both Houses of Congress, in which, among many wise
utterances, were the following words, which embody the only safe principles
for the American government:

"Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion,
religious or political; peace, commerce and honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with none."

In December, 1801, President Jefferson established the custom of sending
a President's annual message to the houses of Congress. Before that
time the president had in person made the communication, to which the
Speaker, in behalf of Congress, had at once replied in a formal address.

Re-elected to the presidency, Jefferson served two terms, his second term
of office expiring March 4, 1809. The record of his administration's is a
matter of the history of the country.

At the age of sixty-six, Thomas Jefferson retired to private life at Monticello,
nor did he again engage in public affairs. Here he passed fifteen
tranquil years, surrounded by friends and admirers, and in the happy consciousness

of the growing and assured prosperity of the country he loved.

His last public utterances were embodied in a letter addressed June 24,
1826, to a committee who desired his attendance at the coming anniversary
of Independence Day. The letter is marked by that statesmanship which
characterized all his words to the people. Among its utterances was the
following:

"All eyes are opened, or are opening to the rights of man. The general
spread of the lights of science has already laid open to every view the
palpable truth that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles
on their backs, nor a favoured few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them
legitimately, `by the grace of God!' "

Two days after this letter was written, an indisposition under which Mr.
Jefferson was labouring assumed a more serious form, and his death was
anticipated. But he rallied on the 2d of July, and, on ascertaining the
date, eagerly expressed a wish that he might live to see the dawn of the
fiftieth anniversary of Independence. His wish was granted. He lived
until one o'clock of the afternoon of July 4, 1826, passing then from this
world to another with the tranquillity with which the philosopher's life is
ended.