Thomas Jefferson
(1743–1826)
Probably the most dramatic coincidence in American history occurred the day John Adams died in Massachusetts. On his deathbed, he observed that Thomas Jefferson still lived. But in Virginia earlier that same day, Thomas Jefferson also died. The coincidence is remarkable not only because Adams and Jefferson were both leaders of the Revolution, nor only because they were lifelong friends. The day on which they both died happened to be the Fourth of July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
A champion of equal rights and of intellectual and political freedom, Jefferson had the tastes and some of the privileges of an aristocrat. His father, a man of substantial property, died when Jefferson was fourteen, having provided him with a thorough classical education and leaving him some 5,000 acres of land. In 1760, Jefferson entered the College of William and Mary, where he is said to have studied fifteen hours a day. After being graduated, he followed the path taken by Patrick Henry and many other Southern statesmen: he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and, in 1768, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
The Revolution made Jefferson prominent as it did many public-minded Southerners. In 1774 he published a widely read pamphlet on American rights. It probably prompted the Continental Congress to choose him to draft a declaration explaining why the colonies felt it necessary to become independent. For part of the war he acted as governor of Virginia. Jefferson wished to retire after the Revolution, but was drawn again into public affairs. A skillful diplomat, he succeeded Benjamin Franklin in 1785 as minister to France. He became Secretary of State under George Washington. In 1801, after a bitterly fought election, he became President himself. His accomplishments in office included the Louisiana Purchase, which added to the United States over 820,000 square miles of land formerly owned by France. This huge tract was later carved into thirteen states or parts of states.
Jefferson is remembered mostly as a statesman. But like Franklin and other figures of the Age of Reason, he was extremely versatile. Intensely interested in education, he drew up the program of studies for the University of Virginia. Well-read in science, languages, and philosophy, he avidly collected books, ten thousand of which he sold to Congress as the basis for what is now the Library of Congress. A lover of the arts, he attended the theater, collected paintings, and played the violin. (His wife Martha played the piano and harpsichord.) A fine architect, he designed much of his beautiful home, Monticello, and planned the buildings and campus of the University of Virginia. Whether remembered as a statesman, or as a patron of the arts, or as an architect, or as the author of the Declaration of Independence, or as the third President, Thomas Jefferson’s legacy lives on.
