Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2], 1743 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Father and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. A prolific writer and philosopher, Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. His political philosophy formed the basis for Jeffersonian democracy, which dominated early American politics alongside federalism. Jefferson remains celebrated as an icon of American political values, but is also controversial for being a lifelong slave owner.
Born into a slave owning family in Shadwell, Virginia, Jefferson emerged as an ideological leader of the American Revolution through his fierce advocacy for civil liberties, including the freedoms of speech, religion, and thought. He was elected to represent Virginia in the Second Continental Congress in 1775 and selected a member of the Committee of Five. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence largely alone, and the document was unanimously passed by the Congress in 1776. Jefferson was appointed U.S. Minister to France in 1785 by the Confederation Congress, maintaining the American–French alliance against the British. He was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of State by President George Washington in 1790, helping administer Washington's policy of neutrality in European conflicts. Jefferson and his political ally James Madison founded the Democratic-Republican Party in 1792, centered on republicanism, individual rights, agrarianism, and limited government. Running against Federalist Party candidate John Adams in 1796, Jefferson finished with the second-highest number of votes and became Adams's vice president. He ran again in 1800, winning against Adams, and in 1804 overwhelmingly defeating the Federalists' Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina.
Jefferson's presidency assertively defended the nation's shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies, promoted a western expansionist policy with the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation's geographic size, and reduced military forces and expenditures following successful negotiations with France. In his second presidential term, he was beset by difficulties at home, including the trial of his former vice president Aaron Burr. In 1807, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act to defend the nation's industries from British threats to U.S. shipping, limit foreign trade, and stimulate the birth of American manufacturing.
Jefferson is ranked among the upper tier of U.S. presidents both by scholars and in public opinion. Presidential scholars and historians have praised Jefferson's advocacy of religious freedom and tolerance, his peaceful acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France, and his leadership in supporting the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They acknowledge his lifelong ownership of large numbers of slaves, but offer varying interpretations of his views on and relationship with slavery.
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