Jefferson, Thomas Lewis

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was one of the premiere American writer/statesmen of the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1776 he was elected to the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence and is considered its major draftsman. After serving as Virginia's Governor from 1779 to 1781, he served in Congress in 1783 and then followed Benjamin Franklin as United States Minister to France from 1785 to 1789. Jefferson then became this country's first Secretary of State (1790 to 1793) before serving as its second Vice-President (1797-1801). In 1800 Jefferson was elected President by the House of Representatives after a tie in the popular vote withAaron Burr. During his first term, Jefferson preserved open navigation on the Mississippi with the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803. Jefferson was reelected in 1804. As an American scholar, Jefferson was active early in the sciences, including geography and botany, especially in relation to his plantation Monticello. He also served as President of theAmerican Philosophical Society from 1797 to 1815. Due to his interest in scholarship, Jefferson was a proponent of popular education and was intimately involved with and instrumental in the formation of the University of Virginia. As a man, Jefferson was husband to Martha Wayles Skelton from 1772 to 1782 and father to two surviving children, Martha and Mary. Jeffrson was also a collector of books.