Thomas Jefferson

Wren Building, College of William & Mary where Jefferson studied

House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, Virginia, where Jefferson served 1769–1775

U.S. Declaration of Independence – 1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy

Governor's Palace, Governor Jefferson's residence in Williamsburg

Independence Hall Assembly Room where Jefferson served in Congress

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson while in London in 1786 at 44 by Mather Brown

Thomas Jefferson in 1791 at 48 by Charles Willson Peale

Jefferson in 1799 at 57, painted by Charles Peale Polk

President Thomas Jefferson Peale 1805 Reproduction

Barbary Coast of North Africa 1806. Left is Morocco at Gibraltar, center is Tunis, and right is Tripoli.

The 1803 Louisiana Purchase totaled 827,987 sqmi, doubling the size of the United States.

Corps of Discovery, October 1805 (by Charles Marion Russell, 1905)

Black Hoof, leader of the Shawnee, accepted Jefferson's Indian assimilation policies.

1802 portrait of Aaron Burr by John Vanderlyn

HMS Leopard (right) firing upon USS Chesapeake

A political cartoon showing merchants dodging the "Ograbme", which is "Embargo" spelled backwards (1807)

Portrait of Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart, 1821.

The University of Virginia, Jefferson's "Academical Village"

In 1804, Abigail Adams attempted to reconcile Jefferson and Adams.

Lafayette in 1824, portrait by Ary Scheffer, hanging in U.S. House of Representatives

Thomas Jefferson at age 78. Portrait by Thomas Sully hanging at West Point, commissioned by Faculty and Cadets, 1821.

The Jefferson Bible featuring only the words of Jesus from the evangelists, in parallel Greek, Latin, French and English

Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, national bank proponent and Jefferson's adversary

Jefferson's 1795 Farm Book, page 30, lists 163 slaves at Monticello.

Jefferson depicted as a rooster, and Hemings as a hen

Virginia State Capitol, designed by Jefferson (wings added later)

Mount Rushmore National Memorial (left to right): George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Statue, by Rudulph Evans (1947)

American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the 3rd president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.

- Thomas Jefferson

500 related topics

George Washington

American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the 1st president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

Portrait based on the unfinished Athenaeum Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1796

Ferry Farm, the residence of the Washington family on the Rappahannock River

Lieutenant Colonel Washington holds night council at Fort Necessity

Washington the Soldier: Lieutenant Colonel Washington on horseback during the Battle of the Monongahela (oil, Reǵnier, 1834)

Colonel George Washington, by Charles Willson Peale, 1772

Martha Washington based on a 1757 portrait by John Wollaston

General Washington, Commander of the Continental Army by Charles Willson Peale (1776)

Washington taking command of the Continental Army, just before the siege.

Battle of Long Island
Alonzo Chappel (1858)

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze (1851)

The Passage of the Delaware, by Thomas Sully, 1819 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776
by John Trumbull

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, by John Ward Dunsmore (1907)

Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth, Emanuel Leutze (1851–1854)

An engraving of Washington, likely made after his tenure in the army.

French King Louis XVI allied with Washington and Patriot American colonists

Siege of Yorktown, Generals Washington and Rochambeau give last orders before the attack

General George Washington Resigning His Commission, by John Trumbull, 1824

Shays' Rebellion confirmed for Washington the need to overhaul the Articles of Confederation.

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940. Washington is the presiding officer standing at right.

President George Washington, Gilbert Stuart (1795)

The President's House in Philadelphia was Washington's residence from 1790 to 1797

Seneca chief Red Jacket was Washington's peace emissary with the Northwestern Confederacy.

Battle of Fallen Timbers by R. F. Zogbaum, 1896. The Ohio Country was ceded to America in its aftermath.

USS Constitution: Commissioned and named by President Washington in 1794

Washington's Farewell Address (September 19, 1796)

Washington on his Deathbed
Junius Brutus Stearns 1799

Miniature of George Washington by Robert Field (1800)

The sarcophagi of George (right) and Martha Washington at the present tomb's entrance

The Washington Family by Edward Savage (c. 1789–1796) George and Martha Washington with her grandchildren. National Art Gallery

George Washington's bookplate with the Coat of arms of the Washington family

George Washington as Master of his Lodge, 1793

Washington as Farmer at Mount Vernon
Junius Brutus Stearns, 1851

Runaway advertisement for Oney Judge, enslaved servant in Washington's presidential household

In 1794, Washington privately expressed to Tobias Lear, his secretary, that he found slavery to be repugnant.

Washington, the Constable by Gilbert Stuart (1797)

A drawing from a Japanese manuscript of Washington fighting a tiger.

George Washington Presidential one-dollar coin

As president, he implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in a fierce rivalry between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

United States Declaration of Independence

Pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776.

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration, as painted by Rembrandt Peale

The 13 states at the Declaration of Independence

The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776, an idealized depiction of Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration was widely reprinted (by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900).

Portable writing desk that Jefferson used to draft and finalize the Declaration of Independence

"Declaration House", the reconstructed boarding house at Market and S. 7th Street in Philadelphia, where Jefferson wrote the Declaration

The opening of the original printing of the Declaration, printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision. The engrossed copy was made later (shown at the top of this article). The opening lines differ between the two versions.

English political philosopher John Locke (1632–1704)

The signed copy of the Declaration is now badly faded because of poor preserving practices in the 19th century. It is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

The Syng inkstand, which was used at both the 1776 signing of the Declaration and the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution, is on display in Philadelphia

On July 4, 1776, Continental Congress President John Hancock's signature authenticated the United States Declaration of Independence.

Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., ca. 1859, depicts citizens destroying a statue of King George after the Declaration was read in New York City on July 9, 1776.

William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, manumitted his slave, believing that he could not both fight for liberty and own slaves.

The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives building

John Trumbull's famous 1818 painting is often identified as a depiction of the signing of the Declaration, but it actually shows the drafting committee presenting its work to the Congress.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her two sons (1848)

John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress edited to produce the final version.

Vice President of the United States

Second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession.

John Adams, the first vice president of the United States

Though prominent as a Missouri Senator, Harry Truman had been vice president only three months when he became president; he was never informed of Franklin Roosevelt's war or postwar policies while vice president.

1888 illustration of John Tyler receiving the news of President William Henry Harrison's death from Chief Clerk of the State Department Fletcher Webster

Then-Vice President Joe Biden meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, 2010

Geraldine Ferraro speaks at the 1984 Democratic National Convention following her selection as the party's vice presidential nominee

Map of the United States showing the number of electoral votes allocated following the 2010 census to each state and the District of Columbia for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections; it also notes that Maine and Nebraska distribute electors by way of the Congressional District Method. 270 electoral votes are required for a majority out of 538 votes possible.

Four vice presidents: (from left) outgoing president Lyndon B. Johnson (the 37th vice president), incoming president Richard Nixon (36th), (Everett Dirksen administering oath), incoming vice president Spiro Agnew (39th), and outgoing vice president Hubert Humphrey (38th), January 20, 1969

(Left to right) President Richard Nixon, First Lady Pat Nixon, Betty Ford and Congressman Gerald Ford after President Nixon nominated Congressman Ford to be vice president, October 13, 1973

{{center|Dan Quayle (1989–1993) Age {{age|1947|2|4}}}}

{{center|Al Gore (1993–2001) Age {{age|1948|3|31}}}}

{{center|Dick Cheney (2001–2009) Age {{age|1941|1|30}}}}

{{center|Joe Biden (2009–2017) Age {{age|1942|11|20}}}}

{{center|Mike Pence (2017–2021) Age {{age|1959|6|7}}}}

The first two vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom gained the office by virtue of being runners-up in presidential contests, presided regularly over Senate proceedings and did much to shape the role of Senate president.

Federalist Party

Traditionalist conservative party that was the first political party in the United States.

A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806

The Apotheosis of Washington as seen looking up from the Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.

Gilbert Stuart, John Adams, c. 1800-1815

It controlled the federal government until 1801, when it was overwhelmed by the Democratic-Republican opposition led by President Thomas Jefferson.

1800 United States presidential election

The 4th quadrennial presidential election.

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) and shades of yellow are for Adams (Federalist).

Aaron Burr tied Jefferson in the Electoral College vote

In what is sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800", Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party defeated incumbent President John Adams of the Federalist Party.

Louisiana Purchase

The acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803.

1804 map of "Louisiana", bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains

The future president James Monroe as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France helped Robert R. Livingston in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase

The original treaty of the Louisiana Purchase

Transfer of Louisiana by Ford P. Kaiser for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904)

Issue of 1953, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of signing

Flag raising in the Place d'Armes of New Orleans, marking the transfer of sovereignty over French Louisiana to the United States, December 20, 1803, as depicted by Thure de Thulstrup

The Purchase was one of several territorial additions to the U.S.

Plan of Fort Madison, built in 1808 to establish U.S. control over the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase, drawn 1810

Louisiana Purchase territory shown as American Indian land in Gratiot's map of the defences of the western & north-western frontier, 1837.

Share issued by Hope & Co. in 1804 to finance the Louisiana Purchase.

Acquisition of Louisiana was a long-term goal of President Thomas Jefferson, who was especially eager to gain control of the crucial Mississippi River port of New Orleans.

Alien and Sedition Acts

In 1798, President John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were passed by the Federalist-dominated 5th United States Congress.

John Adams by Gilbert Stuart c. undefined 1800–1815

At the time, the majority of immigrants supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, the political opponents of the Federalists.

States' rights

In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the Tenth Amendment.

When the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which provide a classic statement in support of states' rights and called on state legislatures to nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

Aaron Burr

American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805.

Burr's maternal grandfather Jonathan Edwards

The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775, oil on canvas by John Trumbull, 1786

Aaron Burr and Theodosia Bartow Prevost, portrait by Henry Benbridge

Burr, Hamilton, and Philip Schuyler strolling on Wall Street

Early twentieth-century illustration of Burr (right) dueling with Hamilton

St. James Hotel, Burr's final home and place of death, in a late 19th-century photograph (Staten Island Historical Society)

An unintentional electoral college tie between Burr and presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson resulted in the House of Representatives voting in Jefferson's favor, with Burr becoming Jefferson's vice president due to receiving the second-highest share of the votes.

American Philosophical Society

Scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach.

Thomas Jefferson Garden, adjacent to Library Hall

Reading room for researchers at Library Hall (2019)

Researcher inspecting a folder from the Papers of Henry DeWolf Smyth at the library

Early members included: Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James McHenry, Thomas Paine, David Rittenhouse, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, Nicholas Biddle, Owen Biddle, Benjamin Rush, James Madison, Michael Hillegas, John Marshall, Charles Pettit and John Andrews.