Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.s. President

Portrait of Jefferson by artist Rembrandt Peale, believed to be from 1803. JThomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826) was an American Founding... more

by Omikron

Title

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.s. President

Artist

Omikron

Medium

Painting - Photograph

Description

Portrait of Jefferson by artist Rembrandt Peale, believed to be from 1803. JThomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and third President of the United States (1801-1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790-1793). As Vice-President opposed to John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts and formed the basis of states' rights. Elected president in what Jefferson called the Revolution of 1800, he oversaw a peaceful transition in power, purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France (1803), and sent the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) to explore the new west. A plantation owner's son, Jefferson trained as a lawyer but claimed to have "an abiding passion for mathematics and the natural sciences, particularly those branches applicable to agriculture". He was in contact with some of the leading figures in the European scientific Enlightenment and helped to introduce their discoveries and new ways of thinking to the United States. He also carried out systematic, archaeological excavations of American Indian burial mounds in Virginia in 1784. On July 4th at ten minutes before one o'clock Jefferson died at the age of 83, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and a few hours before John Adams, whose own last words were, "Independence forever" and "Thomas Jefferson survives."

Uploaded

November 6th, 2016