Thomas Jefferson | Biography, Political Career, Slavery, & Facts

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[{"p":6,"t":302264},{"p":3,"t":285012},{"p":1,"t":349302},{"p":2,"t":338232},{"p":1,"t":630010},{"p":6,"t":617805},{"p":1,"t":1084748},{"p":1,"t":498751},{"p":1,"t":2103067},{"p":1,"t":2249657}], "sequence": 1, "topics": {} }); </script> <article class="article-content container-lg qa-content px-0 pt-0 pb-40 py-lg-20 content md-expanded" data-topic-id="302264"> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col-auto"> <div class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Jefferson">Thomas Jefferson</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61876"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson#ref61876">Early years</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref384060"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson#ref384060">At a glance: the Jefferson presidency</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61877"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Declaring-independence">Declaring independence</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61878"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Declaring-independence#ref61878">American in Paris</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61879"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Slavery-and-racism">Slavery and racism</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61880"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Party-politics">Party politics</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61881"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Presidency">Presidency</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref61882"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Retirement">Retirement</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref277386"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/Retirement#ref277386">Cabinet of President Thomas Jefferson</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/quotes/Thomas-Jefferson">Quotes</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Thomas-Jefferson">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/images-videos">Images, Videos & Interactives</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/230563-050-89524BA9/Digitally-restored-vector-painting-of-President-Thomas-Jefferson.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/281395" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/230563-004-B9ACD67B/Digitally-restored-vector-painting-of-President-Thomas-Jefferson.jpg" alt="Thomas Jefferson" height="50" /> </a> <a href="/video/overview-Thomas-Jefferson/189607" data-href="/media/1/302264/189607" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/98/172698-138-9CD9F1E6/overview-Thomas-Jefferson.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the Louisiana Purchase" class="col-100" /> <div class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; left:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)"> <em class="material-icons font-14" data-icon="play_arrow" > </em> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-050-E3CC6BB4/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/229334" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-004-CC62269D/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg" alt="Jefferson Memorial" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-050-F61AEAF2/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/106712" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-004-907A944C/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg" alt="Monticello" height="50" /> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/302264/312245" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/254701-049-B898680A/Thomas-Jefferson-3rd-president-of-the-United-States-US-1801-09-Democratic-Republican-Party-Infogram-interactive.jpg" alt="Presidency of Thomas Jefferson" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/143621-050-D0409B47/Declaration-of-Independence-canvas-rotunda-John-Trumbull-July-4-1776.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/229145" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/21/143621-159-3EDE9040/Declaration-of-Independence-canvas-rotunda-John-Trumbull-July-4-1776.jpg" alt="John Trumbull: Declaration of Independence" height="50" /> </a> <a href="/video/Declaration-of-Independence-Dramatization-events-adoption-Thomas-July-4-1776/67730" data-href="/media/1/302264/67730" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/80/72980-138-DCA4663D/Declaration-of-Independence-Dramatization-events-adoption-Thomas-July-4-1776.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="How the Declaration of Independence was written" class="col-100" /> <div class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; left:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)"> <em class="material-icons font-14" data-icon="play_arrow" > </em> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/164563-050-41286116/Benjamin-Franklin-draft-John-Adams-Thomas-Jefferson-1776.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/225269" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/63/164563-004-B2DEFC3E/Benjamin-Franklin-draft-John-Adams-Thomas-Jefferson-1776.jpg" alt="Declaration of Independence" height="50" /> </a> <a href="/video/Dramatization-events-tenure-minister-Thomas-Jefferson-France/67731" data-href="/media/1/302264/67731" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <div class="position-relative --aspect-ratio: 16/9"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/81/72981-138-50CE0A8C/Dramatization-events-tenure-minister-Thomas-Jefferson-France.jpg?w=400&h=225&c=crop" alt="Listen to Thomas Jefferson muse the differences between the American Revolution and the French Revolution" class="col-100" /> <div class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; left:50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%)"> <em class="material-icons font-14" data-icon="play_arrow" > </em> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/00/162900-050-947362F6/Thomas-Jefferson-Short-Memorandum-wines-pasta-mold-1788.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/187455" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/00/162900-004-0A14F131/Thomas-Jefferson-Short-Memorandum-wines-pasta-mold-1788.jpg" alt="Thomas Jefferson: memorandum to Mr. Short, 1788" height="50" /> </a> </div> <button disabled class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Previous"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span> </button> <button disabled class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " 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Ellis</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Joseph Ellis, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke since 1972, is one of the nation's foremost scholars of American history. Ellis's commentaries have been featured on CSPAN, CNN, and PBS's <em>Lehrer...</em></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Joseph J. Ellis</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2025-02-16T00:00:00CST" >Feb 16, 2025</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm 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class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>July 4, 1826, <a href="/topic/Monticello-building-Virginia">Monticello</a>, <a href="/place/Virginia-state">Virginia</a>, <a href="/place/United-States">U.S.</a> (aged 83)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Title / Office: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/presidency-of-the-United-States-of-America">presidency of the United States of America (1801-1809)</a>, <a href="/place/United-States">United States</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/vice-president-of-the-United-States-of-America">vice president of the United States of America (1797-1801)</a>, <a href="/place/United-States">United States</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/governor-government-official">governor (1779-1781)</a>, <a href="/place/Virginia-state">Virginia</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Political Affiliation: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Democratic-Republican-Party">Democratic-Republican Party</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Awards And Honors: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Hall-of-Fame-for-Great-Americans">Hall of Fame (1900)</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Works: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Declaration-of-Independence">Declaration of Independence</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Notes-on-the-State-of-Virginia">“Notes on the State of Virginia”</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Movement / Style: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/Federal-style">Federal style</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Palladianism">Palladianism</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Family Members: </dt> <dd>spouse <a href="/biography/Martha-Jefferson">Martha Jefferson</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Subjects Of Study: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/church-and-state">church and state</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/political-philosophy">political philosophy</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Role In: </dt> <dd><a href="/event/American-Revolution">American Revolution</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Louisiana-Purchase">Louisiana Purchase</a></dd> <dd><a href="/event/Northwest-Ordinances">Northwest Ordinances</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Nullification-Crisis">Nullification Crisis</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Thomas-Jefferson"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> <button class="facts-list-show-more-btn mt-15 p-0 mx-auto btn font-14 d-block font-weight-normal"> <span class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></span> <span class="show-more-label">Show More</span> </button> </div><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Who was Thomas Jefferson? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Thomas Jefferson was the primary draftsman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Declaration-of-Independence\">Declaration of Independence<\/a> of the United States and the nation\u2019s first secretary of state (1789\u201394), its second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/vice-president-of-the-United-States-of-America\">vice president<\/a> (1797\u20131801), and, as the third <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/president-government-official\">president<\/a> (1801\u201309), the statesman responsible for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Louisiana-Purchase\">Louisiana Purchase<\/a>.  " } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Where was Thomas Jefferson educated? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "As a teenager, Thomas Jefferson boarded with the local schoolmaster to learn Latin and Greek. In 1760 he entered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/College-of-William-Mary\">College of William & Mary<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Williamsburg-Virginia\">Williamsburg<\/a>, where he was influenced by, among others, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/George-Wythe\">George Wythe<\/a>, the leading legal scholar in Virginia, with whom he read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/law\">law<\/a> from 1762 to 1767. " } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What was Thomas Jefferson like? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Thomas Jefferson was known for his shyness (apart from his two inaugural addresses as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/president-government-official\">president<\/a>, there is no record of Jefferson delivering any public speeches whatsoever) and for his zealous certainty about the American cause. He was full of contradictions, arguing for human <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/liberty-human-rights\">freedom<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/equality-human-rights\">equality<\/a> while owning hundreds of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/slavery-sociology\">enslaved<\/a> people. " } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>How was Thomas Jefferson influential? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Thomas Jefferson\u2019s ideas about politics and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/government\">government<\/a> greatly influenced early American history. He believed that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/American-Revolution\">American Revolution<\/a> represented a clean break with the past and that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States\">United States<\/a> should reject all European versions of political discipline and resist efforts to create a strong central governmental authority. " } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What is Thomas Jefferson remembered for? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Thomas Jefferson is remembered for being the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. The fact that he owned over 600 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/slavery-sociology\">enslaved<\/a> people during his life while forcefully advocating for human <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/liberty-human-rights\">freedom<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/equality-human-rights\">equality<\/a> made Jefferson one of America\u2019s most problematic and paradoxical heroes." } } ] } </script> <div class="top-questions qa-accordion d-flex flex-column module-spacing"><div class="font-weight-bold font-14 mb-5"> Top Questions </div><div id="intent-accordion" class="md-intent-accordion"><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="1"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Who was Thomas Jefferson? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Thomas Jefferson was the primary draftsman of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Independence" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Declaration of Independence</a> of the United States and the nation’s first secretary of state (1789–94), its second <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/vice-president-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">vice president</a> (1797–1801), and, as the third <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/president-government-official" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">president</a> (1801–09), the statesman responsible for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Louisiana Purchase</a>.  </p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="2"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Where was Thomas Jefferson educated? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>As a teenager, Thomas Jefferson boarded with the local schoolmaster to learn Latin and Greek. In 1760 he entered the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/College-of-William-Mary" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">College of William & Mary</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Williamsburg-Virginia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Williamsburg</a>, where he was influenced by, among others, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Wythe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">George Wythe</a>, the leading legal scholar in Virginia, with whom he read <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/law" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">law</a> from 1762 to 1767. </p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="3"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What was Thomas Jefferson like? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Thomas Jefferson was known for his shyness (apart from his two inaugural addresses as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/president-government-official" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">president</a>, there is no record of Jefferson delivering any public speeches whatsoever) and for his zealous certainty about the American cause. He was full of contradictions, arguing for human <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberty-human-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">freedom</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/equality-human-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">equality</a> while owning hundreds of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">enslaved</a> people. </p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="4"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>How was Thomas Jefferson influential? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Thomas Jefferson’s ideas about politics and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/government" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">government</a> greatly influenced early American history. He believed that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American Revolution</a> represented a clean break with the past and that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> should reject all European versions of political discipline and resist efforts to create a strong central governmental authority. </p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="5"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What is Thomas Jefferson remembered for? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Thomas Jefferson is remembered for being the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. The fact that he owned over 600 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">enslaved</a> people during his life while forcefully advocating for human <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberty-human-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">freedom</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/equality-human-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">equality</a> made Jefferson one of America’s most problematic and paradoxical heroes.</p></div></div></div><button class="show-more-button js-toggle-top-questions btn btn-unstyled font-14 d-flex pr-10 rounded-sm"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></button></div></div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/302264/bb1c5882f43113e297192d69e449de24" rel="nofollow">George has his day, and so does Abe. But states honor US presidents in lots of ways</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Feb. 16, 2025, 12:07 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies multiple medialist slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100" data-type="other"><div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex"><div class="rw-track d-flex align-items-center"><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 "><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="189607" data-asm-type="video"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="video" video-id="172698"><a data-id="172698" class="gtm-assembly-link d-flex justify-content-center" style="--aspect-ratio: 16/9" href="/video/overview-Thomas-Jefferson/-189607"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/98/172698-138-9CD9F1E6/overview-Thomas-Jefferson.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the Louisiana Purchase" loading="lazy"><script type="application/json"> { "sources": [ { "file" : "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/tB8DGuvQ.m3u8" } ], "image": "https://cdn.britannica.com/98/172698-138-9CD9F1E6/overview-Thomas-Jefferson.jpg" ,"tracks": [ { "file" : "//assets-jpcust.jwpsrv.com/tracks/O6lPgtyP", "label": "English" } ] ,"adfile": "//content.jwplatform.com/manifests/8kSZ9t4W.m3u8" } </script><div class="btn btn-xl btn-white btn-circle position-absolute shadow" style="top: 50%; transform: translateY(-50%)"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="play_arrow"></em></div></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><span class="md-assembly-title font-weight-bold mr-5 d-inline font-sans-serif md-video-caption" video-control="172698">Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the Louisiana Purchase</span><span>An overview of Thomas Jefferson.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><a class="font-14 mt-10 d-inline-block" href="/biography/Thomas-Jefferson/images-videos">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref108274"></span>Thomas Jefferson</strong> (born April 2 [April 13, New Style], 1743, Shadwell, Virginia [U.S.]—died July 4, 1826, Monticello, Virginia, U.S.) was the draftsman of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-Independence" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Declaration of Independence</a> of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> and the nation’s first secretary of state (1789–94) and second <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/vice-president-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">vice president</a> (1797–1801) and, as the third <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/presidency-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">president</a> (1801–09), the statesman responsible for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Louisiana Purchase</a>. An early advocate of total separation of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-and-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">church and state</a>, he also was the founder and architect of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Virginia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">University of Virginia</a> and the most <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="eloquent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eloquent" data-type="MW">eloquent</a> American proponent of individual freedom as the core meaning of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American Revolution</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="229334" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-050-E3CC6BB4/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/302264/229334"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-050-E3CC6BB4/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-050-E3CC6BB4/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg?w=300" alt="Jefferson Memorial" data-width="1920" data-height="1080" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/181989-050-E3CC6BB4/Jefferson-Memorial-Washington-DC.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/229334">Jefferson Memorial</a><span>Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Long regarded as America’s most distinguished “apostle of liberty,” Jefferson has come under increasingly critical scrutiny within the scholarly world. At the popular level, both in the United States and abroad, he remains an incandescent icon, an inspirational symbol for both major U.S. political parties, as well as for dissenters in communist China, liberal reformers in central and eastern Europe, and aspiring democrats in Africa and Latin America. His image has suffered, however, as the focus on racial equality has prompted a more negative reappraisal of his dependence upon <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">slavery</a> and his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conviction" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conviction" data-type="MW">conviction</a> that American society remain a white man’s domain. Especially disturbing to many were the DNA results of the 1998 study revealing that Jefferson had almost certainly fathered a child with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sally-Hemings" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Sally Hemings</a>, an enslaved woman thirty years his junior and owned by him. (For more on this story, see <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tom-and-Sally-the-Jefferson-Hemings-paternity-debate-1688375" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">“Tom and Sally”: The Jefferson - Hemings paternity debate</a>.) The huge gap between his lyrical expression of liberal ideals and the more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="attenuated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attenuated" data-type="MW">attenuated</a> reality of his own life has transformed Jefferson into America’s most problematic and paradoxical hero. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jefferson-Memorial" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jefferson Memorial</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Washington-DC" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Washington, D.C.</a>, was dedicated to him on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of his birth.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tom-and-Sally-the-Jefferson-Hemings-paternity-debate-1688375" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">(Read Joseph Ellis’s Britannica essay on the Sally Heming’s affair.)</a></em></p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref61876"> <h2 class="h1">Early years</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Albermarle county, where Jefferson was born, lay in the foothills of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Blue-Ridge-mountains" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Blue Ridge</a> Mountains in what was then regarded as a western province of the Old Dominion. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a self-educated surveyor who amassed a tidy estate that included 60 enslaved people. According to family lore, Jefferson’s earliest memory was as a three-year-old boy “being carried on a pillow by a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="mounted" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/mounted" data-type="EB">mounted</a> slave” when the family moved from Shadwell to Tuckahoe. His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was descended from one of the most prominent families in <span id="ref673451"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Virginia-state" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Virginia</a>. She raised two sons, of whom Jefferson was the eldest, and six daughters. There is <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/reason" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">reason</a> to believe that Jefferson’s relationship with his mother was strained, especially after his father died in 1757, because he did everything he could to escape her supervision and had almost nothing to say about her in his memoirs. He boarded with the local schoolmaster to learn his Latin and Greek until 1760, when he entered the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/College-of-William-Mary" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">College of William & Mary</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Williamsburg-Virginia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Williamsburg</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">By all accounts he was an obsessive student, often spending 15 hours of the day with his books, 3 hours practicing his violin, and the remaining 6 hours eating and sleeping. The two chief influences on his learning were <span id="ref673447"></span>William Small, a Scottish-born teacher of mathematics and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/science" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">science</a>, and <span id="ref673449"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Wythe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">George Wythe</a>, the leading legal scholar in Virginia. From them Jefferson learned a keen appreciation of supportive mentors, a concept he later institutionalized at the University of Virginia. He read <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/law" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">law</a> with Wythe from 1762 to 1767, then left Williamsburg to practice, mostly representing small-scale planters from the western counties in cases involving land claims and titles. Although he handled no landmark cases and came across as a nervous and somewhat indifferent speaker before the bench, he earned a reputation as a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="formidable" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/formidable" data-type="MW">formidable</a> legal scholar. He was a shy and extremely serious young man.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/us-presidents-and-their-years-in-office-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/44/164744-131-7A6008A3/Richard-M-Nixon-campaign-stop-crowd-gesture-1968.jpg" alt="Richard M. Nixon. Richard Nixon during a 1968 campaign stop. President Nixon" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">U.S. Presidents and Their Years in Office Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="106712" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-050-F61AEAF2/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/302264/106712"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-050-F61AEAF2/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-050-F61AEAF2/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg?w=300" alt="Monticello" data-width="1600" data-height="1194" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/92868-050-F61AEAF2/Monticello-Charlottesville-Virginia.jpg" data-href="/media/1/302264/106712">Monticello</a><span>Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1768 he made two important decisions: first, to build his own home atop an 867-foot- (264-meter-) high mountain near Shadwell that he eventually named <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Monticello-building-Virginia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Monticello</a> and, second, to stand as a candidate for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-of-Burgesses" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">House of Burgesses</a>. These decisions nicely embodied the two competing impulses that would persist throughout his life—namely, to combine an active career in politics with periodic seclusion in his own private haven. His political timing was also <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="impeccable" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impeccable" data-type="MW">impeccable</a>, for he entered the Virginia legislature just as opposition to the taxation policies of the British <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parliament" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Parliament</a> was congealing. Although he made few speeches and tended to follow the lead of the Tidewater elite, his support for resolutions opposing Parliament’s authority over the colonies was resolute.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the early 1770s his own character was also congealing. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martha-Jefferson" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Martha Jefferson</a>), an attractive and delicate young widow whose dowry more than doubled his holdings in land and enslaved people. In 1774 he wrote <em><span id="ref673453"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Summary-View-of-the-Rights-of-British-America" class="md-crosslink ">A Summary View of the Rights of British America</a></em>, which was quickly published, though without his permission, and catapulted him into visibility beyond Virginia as an early advocate of American independence from Parliament’s authority; the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-colonies" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">American colonies</a> were tied to Great Britain, he believed, only by wholly voluntary bonds of loyalty to the king.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=august-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">His reputation thus <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="enhanced" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enhanced" data-type="MW">enhanced</a>, the Virginia legislature appointed him a delegate to the Second <span id="ref673454"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Continental-Congress" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Continental Congress</a> in the spring of 1775. He rode into Philadelphia—and into American history—on June 20, 1775, a tall (slightly above 6 feet 2 inches [1.88 meters]) and gangly young man with reddish blond hair, hazel eyes, a burnished complexion, and rock-ribbed certainty about the American cause. In retrospect, the central <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="paradox" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradox" data-type="MW">paradox</a> of his life was also on display, for the man who the following year was to craft the most famous <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="manifesto" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manifesto" data-type="MW">manifesto</a> for human equality in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/world-history" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">world history</a> arrived in an ornate carriage drawn by four handsome horses and accompanied by three enslaved people.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref384060"> <h2 class="h1">At a glance: the Jefferson presidency</h2> <div class="mb-20"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="312245" data-asm-type="infogram"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="infogram"><script id="infogram_0__/wILiSGXeMcU8hYBJKlsv" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?Itp" type="text/javascript" title="Presidency of Thomas Jefferson"></script></div></figure></div></div> </section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":6,"pageId":302264,"pageLength":1013,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.62"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.62' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true,"hasAiTopQuestions":false,"hasSimplifyButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Thomas Jefferson | Biography, Political Career, Slavery, & Facts | Britannica