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Thomas Jefferson

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 22, 2022 | Original: October 29, 2009

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president, was a leading figure in America’s early development. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Jefferson served in the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress and was governor of Virginia. He later served as U.S. minister to France and U.S. secretary of state and was vice president under John Adams (1735-1826). 

Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican who thought the national government should have a limited role in citizens’ lives, was elected president in 1800. During his two terms in office (1801-1809), the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition. Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he also enslaved over six hundred people throughout his life. After leaving office, he retired to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped found the University of Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson’s Early Years

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia . His father, Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a prominent Virginia family. Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one surviving brother.

Did you know? In 1815, Jefferson sold his 6,700-volume personal library to Congress for $23,950 to replace books lost when the British burned the U.S. Capitol, which housed the Library of Congress, during the War of 1812. Jefferson's books formed the foundation of the rebuilt Library of Congress's collections.

In 1762, Jefferson graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he reportedly enjoyed studying for 15 hours, then practicing violin for several more hours on a daily basis. He went on to study law under the tutelage of respected Virginia attorney George Wythe (there were no official law schools in America at the time, and Wythe’s other pupils included future Chief Justice John Marshall and statesman Henry Clay ). 

Jefferson began working as a lawyer in 1767. As a member of colonial Virginia’s House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775, Jefferson, who was known for his reserved manner, gained recognition for penning a pamphlet, “A Summary View of the Rights of British America” (1774), which declared that the British Parliament had no right to exercise authority over the American colonies .

Marriage and Monticello

After his father died when Jefferson was a teen, the future president inherited the Shadwell property. In 1768, Jefferson began clearing a mountaintop on the land in preparation for the elegant brick mansion he would construct there called Monticello (“little mountain” in Italian). Jefferson, who had a keen interest in architecture and gardening, designed the home and its elaborate gardens himself. 

Over the course of his life, he remodeled and expanded Monticello and filled it with art, fine furnishings and interesting gadgets and architectural details. He kept records of everything that happened at the 5,000-acre plantation, including daily weather reports, a gardening journal and notes about his slaves and animals.

On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton (1748-82), a young widow. The couple moved to Monticello and eventually had six children; only two of their daughters—Martha (1772-1836) and Mary (1778-1804)—survived into adulthood. In 1782, Jefferson’s wife Martha died at age 33 following complications from childbirth. Jefferson was distraught and never remarried. However, it is believed he fathered more children with one of his enslaved women, Sally Hemings (1773-1835), who was also his wife’s half-sister .

Slavery was a contradictory issue in Jefferson’s life. Although he was an advocate for individual liberty and at one point promoted a plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves in America, he enslaved people throughout his life. Additionally, while he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” he believed African Americans were biologically inferior to whites and thought the two races could not coexist peacefully in freedom. Jefferson inherited some 175 enslaved people from his father and father-in-law and owned an estimated 600 slaves over the course of his life. He freed only a small number of them in his will; the majority were sold following his death.

Thomas Jefferson and the American Revolution

In 1775, with the American Revolutionary War recently underway, Jefferson was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Although not known as a great public speaker, he was a gifted writer and at age 33, was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence (before he began writing, Jefferson discussed the document’s contents with a five-member drafting committee that included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin ). The Declaration of Independence , which explained why the 13 colonies wanted to be free of British rule and also detailed the importance of individual rights and freedoms, was adopted on July 4, 1776.

In the fall of 1776, Jefferson resigned from the Continental Congress and was re-elected to the Virginia House of Delegates (formerly the House of Burgesses). He considered the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he authored in the late 1770s and which Virginia lawmakers eventually passed in 1786, to be one of the significant achievements of his career. It was a forerunner to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , which protects people’s right to worship as they choose.

From 1779 to 1781, Jefferson served as governor of Virginia, and from 1783 to 1784, did a second stint in Congress (then officially known, since 1781, as the Congress of the Confederation). In 1785, he succeeded Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) as U.S. minister to France. Jefferson’s duties in Europe meant he could not attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787; however, he was kept informed of the proceedings to draft a new national constitution and later advocated for including a bill of rights and presidential term limits.

Jefferson's Path to the Presidency

After returning to America in the fall of 1789, Jefferson accepted an appointment from President George Washington (1732-99) to become the new nation’s first secretary of state. In this post, Jefferson clashed with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1755/57-1804) over foreign policy and their differing interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. In the early 1790s, Jefferson, who favored strong state and local government, co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose Hamilton’s Federalist Party , which advocated for a strong national government with broad powers over the economy.

In the presidential election of 1796, Jefferson ran against John Adams and received the second-highest amount of votes, which, according to the law at the time, made him vice president.

Jefferson ran against Adams again in the presidential election of 1800, which turned into a bitter battle between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson defeated Adams; however, due to a flaw in the electoral system, Jefferson tied with fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr (1756-1836). The House of Representatives broke the tie and voted Jefferson into office. In order to avoid a repeat of this situation, Congress proposed the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which required separate voting for president and vice president. The amendment was ratified in 1804.

Jefferson Becomes Third U.S. President

Jefferson was sworn into office on March 4, 1801; he was the first presidential inauguration held in Washington, D.C. ( George Washington was inaugurated in New York in 1789; in 1793, he was sworn into office in Philadelphia, as was his successor, John Adams, in 1797.) Instead of riding in a horse-drawn carriage, Jefferson broke with tradition and walked to and from the ceremony.

One of the most significant achievements of Jefferson’s first administration was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million in 1803. At more than 820,000 square miles, the Louisiana Purchase (which included lands extending between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico to present-day Canada) effectively doubled the size of the United States. Jefferson then commissioned explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the uncharted land, plus the area beyond, out to the Pacific Ocean. (At the time, most Americans lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.)  Lewis and Clark’s expedition , known today as the Corps of Discovery, lasted from 1804 to 1806 and provided valuable information about the geography, American Indian tribes and animal and plant life of the western part of the continent.

In 1804, Jefferson ran for re-election and defeated Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney (1746-1825) of South Carolina with more than 70 percent of the popular vote and an electoral count of 162-14. During his second term, Jefferson focused on trying to keep America out of Europe’s Napoleonic Wars (1803-15). However, after Great Britain and France, who were at war, both began harassing American merchant ships, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807. 

The act, which closed U.S. ports to foreign trade, proved unpopular with Americans and hurt the U.S. economy. It was repealed in 1809 and, despite the president’s attempts to maintain neutrality, the U.S. ended up going to war against Britain in the War of 1812. Jefferson chose not to run for a third term in 1808 and was succeeded in office by James Madison (1751-1836), a fellow Virginian and former U.S. secretary of state.

Thomas Jefferson’s Later Years and Death

Jefferson spent his post-presidential years at Monticello, where he continued to pursue his many interests, including architecture, music, reading and gardening. He also helped found the University of Virginia, which held its first classes in 1825. Jefferson was involved with designing the school’s buildings and curriculum and ensured that unlike other American colleges at the time, the school had no religious affiliation or religious requirements for its students.

Jefferson died at age 83 at Monticello on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Coincidentally, John Adams, Jefferson’s friend, former rival and fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, died the same day . Jefferson was buried at Monticello. However, due to the significant debt the former president had accumulated during his life, his mansion, furnishing and enslaved people were sold at auction following his death. Monticello was eventually acquired by a nonprofit organization, which opened it to the public in 1954.

Jefferson remains an American icon. His face appears on the U.S. nickel and is carved into stone at Mount Rushmore . The Jefferson Memorial, near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson’s birth.

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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father of the United States who wrote the Declaration of Independence. As U.S. president, he completed the Louisiana Purchase.

(1743-1826)

Who Was Thomas Jefferson?

Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at the Shadwell plantation located just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson was born into one of the most prominent families of Virginia's planter elite. His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was a member of the proud Randolph clan, a family claiming descent from English and Scottish royalty.

His father, Peter Jefferson, was a successful farmer as well as a skilled surveyor and cartographer who produced the first accurate map of the Province of Virginia. The young Jefferson was the third born of 10 siblings.

As a boy, Jefferson's favorite pastimes were playing in the woods, practicing the violin and reading. He began his formal education at the age of nine, studying Latin and Greek at a local private school run by the Reverend William Douglas.

In 1757, at the age of 14, he took up further study of the classical languages as well as literature and mathematics with the Reverend James Maury, whom Jefferson later described as "a correct classical scholar."

• College of William and Mary

In 1760, having learned all he could from Maury, Jefferson left home to attend the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia's capital.

Although it was the second oldest college in America (after Harvard ), William and Mary was not at that time an especially rigorous academic institution. Jefferson was dismayed to discover that his classmates expended their energies betting on horse races, playing cards and courting women rather than studying.

Nevertheless, the serious and precocious Jefferson fell in with a circle of older scholars that included Professor William Small, Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier and lawyer George Wythe, and it was from them that he received his true education.

Becoming a Lawyer

After three years at William and Mary, Jefferson decided to read law under Wythe, one of the preeminent lawyers of the American colonies. There were no law schools at this time; instead aspiring attorneys "read law" under the supervision of an established lawyer before being examined by the bar.

Wythe guided Jefferson through an extraordinarily rigorous five-year course of study (more than double the typical duration); by the time Jefferson won admission to the Virginia bar in 1767, he was already one of the most learned lawyers in America.

In 1770, Jefferson began construction of what was perhaps his greatest labor of love: Monticello , his house atop a small rise in the Piedmont region of Virginia. The house was built on land his father had owned since 1735.

In keeping with the interests of one of America's greatest "Renaissance Men" — Jefferson's interests ranged from botany and archaeology to music and birdwatching — Jefferson himself drafted the blueprints for Monticello’s neoclassical mansion, outbuildings and gardens.

More than just a residence, Monticello was also a working plantation, where Jefferson kept roughly 130 African Americans in slavery. Their duties included tending gardens and livestock, plowing fields and working at the on-site textile factory.

Thomas Jefferson's Children

From 1767 to 1774, Jefferson practiced law in Virginia with great success, trying many cases and winning most of them. During these years, he also met and fell in love with Martha Wayles Skelton, a recent widow and one of the wealthiest women in Virginia.

The pair married on January 1, 1772. Thomas and Martha Jefferson had six children together, but only two survived into adulthood: Martha, their firstborn, and Mary, their fourth. Only Martha survived her father.

His six children with Martha, however, were not the only children Jefferson fathered.

Sally Hemings

History scholars and a significant body of DNA evidence indicate that Jefferson had an affair – and at least one child – with one of his enslaved people, a woman named Sally Hemings, who was in fact Martha Jefferson's half-sister.

Sally's mother, Betty Hemings, was an enslaved owned by Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wayles, who was the father of Betty's daughter Sally. It is overwhelmingly likely, if not absolutely certain, that Jefferson fathered all six of Sally Hemings' children.

Most compelling is DNA evidence showing that some male member of the Jefferson family fathered Hemings' children, and that it was not Samuel or Peter Carr, the only two of Jefferson's male relatives in the vicinity at the relevant times.

Political Career

The beginning of Jefferson's professional life coincided with great changes in Great Britain's 13 colonies in America.

The conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763 left Great Britain in dire financial straits; to raise revenue, the Crown levied a host of new taxes on its American colonies. In particular, the Stamp Act of 1765, imposing a tax on printed and paper goods, outraged the colonists, giving rise to the American revolutionary slogan, "No taxation without representation."

Eight years later, on December 16, 1773, colonists protesting a British tea tax dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor in what is known as the Boston Tea Party . In April 1775, American militiamen clashed with British soldiers at the Battles of Lexington and Concord , the first battles in what developed into the Revolutionary War .

Jefferson was one of the earliest and most fervent supporters of the cause of American independence from Great Britain. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1768 and joined its radical bloc, led by Patrick Henry and George Washington .

In 1774, Jefferson penned his first major political work, A Summary View of the Rights of British America , which established his reputation as one of the most eloquent advocates of the American cause.

A year later, in 1775, Jefferson attended the Second Continental Congress , which created the Continental Army and appointed Jefferson's fellow Virginian, George Washington, as its commander-in-chief. However, the Congress' most significant work fell to Jefferson himself.

Declaration of Independence

In June 1776, the Congress appointed a five-man committee (Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin , Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston) to draft a Declaration of Independence .

The committee then chose Jefferson to author the declaration's first draft, selecting him for what Adams called his "happy talent for composition and singular felicity of expression." Over the next 17 days, Jefferson drafted one of the most beautiful and powerful testaments to liberty and equality in world history.

The document opened with a preamble stating the natural rights of all human beings and then continued on to enumerate specific grievances against King George III that absolved the American colonies of any allegiance to the British Crown.

Although the version of the Declaration of Independence adopted on July 4, 1776, had undergone a series of revisions from Jefferson's original draft, its immortal words remain essentially his own: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

After authoring the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson returned to Virginia, where, from 1776 to 1779, he served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. There he sought to revise Virginia's laws to fit the American ideals he had outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson successfully abolished the doctrine of entail, which dictated that only a property owner's heirs could inherit his land, and the doctrine of primogeniture, which required that in the absence of a will a property owner's oldest son inherited his entire estate.

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Separation of Church and State

In 1777, Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which established freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

Although the document was not adopted as Virginia state law for another nine years, it was one of Jefferson's proudest life accomplishments.

Governor of Virginia

On June 1, 1779, the Virginia legislature elected Jefferson as the state's second governor. His two years as governor proved the low point of Jefferson's political career. Torn between the Continental Army's desperate pleas for more men and supplies and Virginians' strong desire to keep such resources for their own defense, Jefferson waffled and pleased no one.

As the Revolutionary War progressed into the South, Jefferson moved the capital from Williamsburg to Richmond, only to be forced to evacuate that city when it, rather than Williamsburg, turned out to be the target of British attack.

On June 1, 1781, the day before the end of his second term as governor, Jefferson was forced to flee his home at Monticello (located near Charlottesville, Virginia), only narrowly escaping capture by the British cavalry. Although he had no choice but to flee, his political enemies later pointed to this inglorious incident as evidence of cowardice.

Jefferson declined to seek a third term as governor and stepped down on June 4, 1781. Claiming that he was giving up public life for good, he returned to Monticello, where he intended to live out the rest of his days as a gentleman farmer surrounded by the domestic pleasures of his family, his farm and his books.

Notes on the State of Virginia

To fill his time at home, in late 1781, Jefferson began working on his only full-length book, the modestly titled Notes on the State of Virginia .

While the book's ostensible purpose was to outline the history, culture and geography of Virginia, it also provides a window into Jefferson's political philosophy and worldview.

Contained in Notes on the State of Virginia is Jefferson's vision of the good society he hoped America would become: a virtuous agricultural republic, based on the values of liberty, honesty and simplicity and centered on the self-sufficient yeoman farmer.

Jefferson's Enslaved People

Jefferson's writings also shed light on his contradictory, controversial and much-debated views on race and slavery . Jefferson owned enslaved people through his entire life, and his very existence as a gentleman farmer depended on the institution of slavery.

Like most white Americans of that time, Jefferson held views we would now describe as nakedly racist: He believed that Black people were innately inferior to white people in terms of both mental and physical capacity.

Nevertheless, he claimed to abhor slavery as a violation of the natural rights of man. He saw the eventual solution of America's race problem as the abolition of slavery followed by the exile of formerly enslaved people to either Africa or Haiti, because, he believed, formerly enslaved could not live peacefully alongside their former masters.

As Jefferson wrote, "We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other."

Minister to France

Jefferson was spurred back into public life by private tragedy: the untimely death of his beloved wife, Martha, on September 6, 1782, at the age of 34.

After months of mourning, in June 1783, Jefferson returned to Philadelphia to lead the Virginia delegation to the Confederation Congress. In 1785, that body appointed Jefferson to replace Benjamin Franklin as U.S. minister to France.

Although Jefferson appreciated much about European culture — its arts, architecture, literature, food and wines — he found the juxtaposition of the aristocracy's grandeur and the masses' poverty repellant. "I find the general fate of humanity here, most deplorable," he wrote in one letter.

In Europe, Jefferson rekindled his friendship with John Adams, who served as minister to Great Britain, and Adams' wife, Abigail Adams . The educated and erudite Abigail, with whom Jefferson maintained a lengthy correspondence on a wide variety of subjects, was perhaps the only woman he ever treated as an intellectual equal.

Jefferson's official duties as minister consisted primarily of negotiating loans and trade agreements with private citizens and government officials in Paris and Amsterdam.

After nearly five years in Paris, Jefferson returned to America at the end of 1789 with a much greater appreciation for his home country. As he wrote to his good friend, James Monroe , "My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy."

Secretary of State

Jefferson arrived in Virginia in November 1789 to find George Washington waiting for him with news that Washington had been elected the first president of the United States of America, and that he was appointing Jefferson as his secretary of state.

Besides Jefferson, Washington's most trusted advisor was Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton . A dozen years younger than Jefferson, Hamilton was a New Yorker and war hero who, unlike Jefferson and Washington, had risen from humble beginnings.

Jefferson's Political Party

Rancorous partisan battles emerged to divide the new American government during Washington's presidency.

On one side, the Federalists , led by Hamilton, advocated for a strong national government, broad interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and neutrality in European affairs.

On the other side, the Republican political party, led by Jefferson, promoted the supremacy of state governments, a strict constructionist interpretation of the Constitution and support for the French Revolution .

Washington's two most trusted advisors thus provided nearly opposite advice on the most pressing issues of the day: the creation of a national bank, the appointment of federal judges and the official posture toward France.

On January 5, 1794, frustrated by the endless conflicts, Jefferson resigned as secretary of state, once again abandoning politics in favor of his family and farm at his beloved Monticello.

Jefferson as Vice President

In 1797, despite Jefferson's public ambivalence and previous claims that he was through with politics, the Republicans selected Jefferson as their candidate to succeed George Washington as president.

In those days, candidates did not campaign for office openly, so Jefferson did little more than remain at home on the way to finishing a close second to then-Vice President John Adams in the electoral college , which, by the rules of the time, made Jefferson the new vice president.

Besides presiding over the U.S. Senate , the vice president had essentially no substantive role in government. The long friendship between Adams and Jefferson had cooled due to political differences (Adams was a Federalist), and Adams did not consult his vice president on any important decisions.

To occupy his time during his four years as vice president, Jefferson authored A Manual of Parliamentary Practice , one of the most useful guides to legislative proceedings ever written, and served as the president of the American Philosophical Society .

John Adams' presidency revealed deep fissures in the Federalist Party between moderates such as Adams and Washington and more extreme Federalists like Alexander Hamilton.

In the presidential election of 1800, the Federalists refused to back Adams, clearing the way for the Republican candidates Jefferson and Aaron Burr to tie for first place with 73 electoral votes each. After a long and contentious debate, the House of Representatives selected Jefferson to serve as the third U.S. president, with Burr as his vice president.

The election of Jefferson in 1800 was a landmark of world history, the first peacetime transfer of power from one party to another in a modern republic.

Delivering his inaugural address on March 4, 1801, Jefferson spoke to the fundamental commonalities uniting all Americans despite their partisan differences. "Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle," he stated. "We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."

Accomplishments

President Jefferson's accomplishments during his first term in office were numerous, remarkably successful and productive.

In keeping with his Republican values, Jefferson stripped the presidency of all the trappings of European royalty, reduced the size of the armed forces and government bureaucracy and lowered the national debt from $80 million to $57 million in his first two years in office.

Nevertheless, Jefferson's most important achievements as president all involved bold assertions of national government power and surprisingly liberal readings of the U.S. Constitution.

Louisiana Purchase

Jefferson's most significant accomplishment as president was the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, he acquired land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from cash-strapped Napoleonic France for the bargain price of $15 million, thereby doubling the size of the nation in a single stroke.

He then devised the wonderfully informative Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore, map out and report back on the new American territories.

Tripoli Pirates

Jefferson also put an end to the centuries-old problem of Tripoli pirates from North Africa disrupting American shipping in the Mediterranean. During the Barbary War, Jefferson forced the pirates to capitulate by deploying new American warships.

Notably, both the Louisiana Purchase and the undeclared war against the Barbary pirates conflicted with Jefferson's much-avowed Republican values. Both actions represented unprecedented expansions of national government power, and neither was explicitly sanctioned by the Constitution.

Second Term as President

Although Jefferson easily won re-election in 1804, his second term in office proved much more difficult and less productive than his first. He largely failed in his efforts to impeach the many Federalist judges swept into government by the Judiciary Act of 1801.

However, the greatest challenges of Jefferson's second term were posed by the war between Napoleonic France and Great Britain. Both Britain and France attempted to prevent American commerce with the other power by harassing American shipping, and Britain in particular sought to impress American sailors into the British Navy.

In response, Jefferson passed the Embargo Act of 1807, suspending all trade with Europe. The move wrecked the American economy as exports crashed from $108 million to $22 million by the time he left office in 1809. The embargo also led to the War of 1812 with Great Britain after Jefferson left office.

Post Presidency

On March 4, 1809, after watching the inauguration of his close friend and successor James Madison , Jefferson returned to Virginia to live out the rest of his days as "The Sage of Monticello."

Jefferson's primary pastime was endlessly rebuilding, remodeling and improving his home and estate, at considerable expense.

A Frenchman, Marquis de Chastellux, quipped, "it may be said that Mr. Jefferson is the first American who has consulted the Fine Arts to know how he should shelter himself from the weather."

University of Virginia

Jefferson also dedicated his later years to organizing the University of Virginia , the nation's first secular university. He personally designed the campus, envisioned as an "academical village," and hand-selected renowned European scholars to serve as its professors.

The University of Virginia opened its doors on March 7, 1825, one of the proudest days of Jefferson's life.

Jefferson also kept up an outpouring of correspondence at the end of his life. In particular, he rekindled a lively correspondence on politics, philosophy and literature with John Adams that stands out among the most extraordinary exchanges of letters in history.

Nevertheless, Jefferson's retirement was marred by financial woes. To pay off the substantial debts he incurred over decades of living beyond his means, Jefferson resorted to selling his cherished personal library to the national government to serve as the foundation of the Library of Congress .

Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — only a few hours before John Adams passed away in Massachusetts.

In the moments before he passed, Adams spoke his last words, eternally true if not in the literal sense in which he meant them, "Thomas Jefferson survives."

As the author of the Declaration of Independence, the foundational text of American democracy and one of the most important documents in world history, Jefferson will be forever revered as one of the great American Founding Fathers. However, Jefferson was also a man of many contradictions.

Jefferson was the spokesman of liberty and a racist enslaved people owner, a champion of the common people and a man with luxurious and aristocratic tastes, a believer in limited government and a president who expanded governmental authority beyond the wildest visions of his predecessors, a quiet man who abhorred politics and arguably the most dominant political figure of his generation.

The tensions between Jefferson's principles and practices make him all the more apt a symbol for the nation he helped create, a nation whose shining ideals have always been complicated by a complex history.

Jefferson is buried in the family cemetery at his beloved Monticello, in a grave marked by a plain gray tombstone. The brief inscription it bears, written by Jefferson himself, is as noteworthy for what it excludes as what it includes.

The inscription suggests Jefferson's humility as well as his belief that his greatest gifts to posterity came in the realm of ideas rather than the realm of politics: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and father of the University Of Virginia."

Sally Hemmings

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QUICK FACTS

• Name: Thomas Jefferson
• Birth Year: 1743
• Birth date: April 13, 1743
• Birth State: Virginia
• Birth City: Shadwell
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father of the United States who wrote the Declaration of Independence. As U.S. president, he completed the Louisiana Purchase.
• U.S. Politics
• Astrological Sign: Aries
• Death Year: 1826
• Death date: July 4, 1826
• Death State: Virginia
• Death City: Monticello (near Charlottesville)
• Death Country: United States

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Thomas Jefferson Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/political-figures/thomas-jefferson
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: January 25, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• We have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.
• All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
• ...How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy.
• Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
• The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
• I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
• I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial.
• I cannot live without books; but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object.
• The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
• All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
• I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
• [A] wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
• I know well that no man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it.

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Biography Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743–July 4, 1826) was a leading  Founding Father of the United States, the author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and he served as the third President of the US (1801–1809). Jefferson was a committed Republican – arguing passionately for liberty, democracy and devolved power. Jefferson also wrote the Statute for Religious Freedom in 1777 – it was adopted by the state of Virginia in 1786. Jefferson was also a noted polymath with wide-ranging interests from architecture to gardening, philosophy, literature and education. Although a slave owner himself, Jefferson sought to introduce a bill (1800) to end slavery in all Western territories. As President, he signed a bill to ban the importation of slaves into the US (1807).

Jefferson’s Childhood

“Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. This, sire, is our last, our determined resolution;”

Thomas Jefferson – A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774). ( Wikisource )

Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of Independence (1776)

Thomas Jefferson was the primary author in drafting the American Declaration of Independence. The act was adopted on July 4th, 1776 and was a symbolic statement of the aims of the American Revolution.

 “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…”

– Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence , July 4th, 1776. Jefferson received suggestions from others such as James Madison. He was also influenced by the writings of the British Empiricists, in particular, John Locke and Thomas Paine . The importance of the Declaration of Independence was summed up in The Gettysburg address of Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

However, Jefferson was disappointed that a reference to the evil of slavery was removed at the request of delegates from the South. From 1785 to 1789 Jefferson served as minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin . In France, Jefferson became immersed in Paris society. He was a noted host and came into contact with many of the great thinkers of the age. Jefferson also saw the social and political turmoil which resulted in the French Revolution. On 26 August 1789, the French Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , which was directly influenced by Jefferson’s US Declaration of Independence. On his return to America Jefferson served under George Washington as first Secretary of State. Here he began debating with the Hamilton factions over the size of government spending. Jefferson was an advocate of minimal government. At the end of his term 1783, he retired temporarily to Monticello, where he spent time amongst his gardens and with his family.

Jefferson – President in 1800

In 1796 Jefferson stood for President but lost narrowly to John Adams ; however, under the terms of the constitution, this was sufficient for him to become Vice President. In the run-up to the next election of 1800 Jefferson fought a bitter campaign. In particular, the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 led to the imprisonment of many newspaper editors who supported Jefferson and were critical of the existing government. However, Jefferson was narrowly elected and this allowed him to promote open and representative government. On being elected, he offered a hand of friendship to his former political enemies. He also allowed the Sedition Act to expire and promoted the practical existence of free speech. The Presidency of Jefferson was eventful, but importantly he was able to preside over a period of relative stability and generally kept America out of conflict.

“I love peace, and am anxious that we should give the world still another useful lesson, by showing to them other modes of punishing injuries than by war, which is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”

At the time American neutrality was imperilled by the British-French wars, which raged around Canada. In 1803 Jefferson was able to double the size of the US, through the Louisiana Purchase, which gave America many states to the west. He also commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which crossed America seeking to explore and create friendships with the Native American populations.

Jefferson’s Retirement in Monticello

Thomas Jefferson’s Personal Life

Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton in 1772. Together they had six children, including one stillborn son. Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772–1836), Jane Randolph (1774–1775), a stillborn or unnamed son (1777), Mary Wayles (1778–1804), Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781), and Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1785). Martha died only 10 years later. Thomas Jefferson remained single for the rest of his life. It was alleged that Jefferson fathered some of Sally Hemings’ daughters. Jefferson never denied it in public, but he did deny it private correspondence. There has never been any conclusive proof that this occurred.

Personal qualities

Jefferson was over 6’2″; this was very tall for his age. He didn’t relish public speaking, he preferred to express his opinions through his writings. His friends and family remarked on Jefferson’s many fine qualities. He was sympathetic and engaging in conversation. Never bored, he always found different avenues of interest to explore. Thomas Jefferson left a profound mark on America, through his influential shaping of the American constitution and political practices. Jefferson died at the age of 84 on the afternoon of July 4; it was the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A few hours later on the same day, his longtime friend and fellow Founding Father John Adams also passed away. On his tombstone, Jefferson had inscribed three achievements he was proudest of:

HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of Thomas Jefferson ”, Oxford, UK – www.biographyonline.net . Published 22 June 2014 Last updated 22 October 2019.

Thomas Jefferson: A Life

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Light and Liberty – Quotes of Thomas Jefferson

Light and Liberty – Quotes of Thomas Jefferson at Amazon

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Thomas Jefferson

The 3rd President of the United States

The biography for President Jefferson and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

Thomas Jefferson, a spokesman for democracy, was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States (1801–1809).

In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father, a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He studied at the College of William and Mary, then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home, Monticello.

Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause. As the “silent member” of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.

Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His sympathy for the French Revolution led him into conflict with Alexander Hamilton when Jefferson was Secretary of State in President Washington’s Cabinet. He resigned in 1793.

Sharp political conflict developed, and two separate parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, began to form. Jefferson gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans, who sympathized with the revolutionary cause in France. Attacking Federalist policies, he opposed a strong centralized Government and championed the rights of states.

As a reluctant candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election. Through a flaw in the Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of President Adams. In 1800 the defect caused a more serious problem. Republican electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice President from their own party, cast a tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives settled the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged Jefferson’s election.

When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France had passed. He slashed Army and Navy expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.

During Jefferson’s second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement in the Napoleonic wars, though both England and France interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson’s attempted solution, an embargo upon American shipping, worked badly and was unpopular.

Jefferson retired to Monticello to ponder such projects as his grand designs for the University of Virginia. A French nobleman observed that he had placed his house and his mind “on an elevated situation, from which he might contemplate the universe.”

He died on July 4, 1826.

Learn more about Thomas Jefferson’s spouse, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson .

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U.S. Presidents / Thomas Jefferson

1743 - 1826

Thomas jefferson.

…some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot…abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm…? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. First Inaugural Address

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, spent his childhood roaming the woods and studying his books on a remote plantation in the Virginia Piedmont. Thanks to the prosperity of his father, Jefferson had an excellent education. After years in boarding school, where he excelled in classical languages, Jefferson enrolled in William and Mary College in his home state of Virginia, taking classes in science, mathematics, rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. He also studied law, and by the time he was admitted to the Virginia bar in April 1767, many considered him to have one of the nation's best legal minds.

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Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Thomas Jefferson.” Accessed April 24, 2024. https://millercenter.org/president/jefferson.

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Professor Peter Onuf is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia.

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Thomas jefferson.

Third president of the United States

Thomas Jefferson was born near the Blue Ridge Mountains of the British-ruled colony of Virginia on April 13, 1743. From the age of nine, Jefferson studied away from home and lived with his tutor. His father—a landowner, surveyor, and government official—died when his son was 14. Later Jefferson enrolled at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. His education included science, mathematics, philosophy, law, English language and literature, Latin, Greek, French, and dancing.

"LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS"

After college, Jefferson became a lawyer. By age 26 he was a member of Virginia’s colonial legislature, or government. Like George Washington , Jefferson spoke out against Great Britain’s rule over the 13 North American colonies. When the colonists decided to demand their independence from Great Britain , Jefferson was chosen to write a document explaining why the colonies should be free. The document became known as the Declaration of Independence. It’s still admired today for its call for freedom, equality, and its demand that all citizens deserve "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Before he became president, Jefferson was governor of Virginia before the Revolutionary War. After the war, he served as U.S. minister to France , secretary of state for President George Washington , and vice president for President John Adams, the country’s second president.

GO WEST, YOUNG NATION

When Jefferson became the third president of the United States in 1801, the country basically ended at the Mississippi River; France controlled much of what was west. That included the Port of New Orleans, in what is now Louisiana . It’s coastal location made it a key spot for trade—and Jefferson wanted it. In 1803, he made what’s known as one of the greatest real estate deals in history: the Louisiana Purchase .

France agreed to sell the entire city of New Orleans, which included the port, to the United States for $10 million; they threw in the rest of the territory they owned for an additional $5 million. The agreement—which gave the United States about 828,000 square miles of land—almost doubled the size of the nearly 30-year-old nation. Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to join William Clark in leading an expedition to the West Coast to explore the country’s new land. The Louisiana Purchase is thought by many to be Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment as president.

LASTING LEGACY

Jefferson retired to Monticello, his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the end of his second term. He designed and founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville during his retirement.

Jefferson left a complicated legacy: The man who wrote the Declaration of Independence—which states that "all men are created equal"—also enslaved more than 600 people during his lifetime. But according to his writings, Jefferson knew that future generations would have to end the enslavement of people, and that it would be a long, terrible process.

Like his friend John Adams, Jefferson died 50 years to the day after the approval of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1826.

• Jefferson is credited with first introducing french fries to the United States.

• As secretary of state, Jefferson organized a contest to design the White House. Historians think he secretly entered—and lost.

• Jefferson loved cheese so much, a Massachusetts farmer once gifted him with a 1,300-pound piece.

From the Nat Geo Kids books Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum and Weird But True Know-It-All: U.S. Presidents by Brianna Dumont, revised for digital by Avery Hurt

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President Thomas Jefferson

• The Louisiana Purchase - He bought a large section of land to the west of the original 13 colonies from Napoleon of France. Although much of this land was unsettled, it was so large it nearly doubled the size of the United States. He also made a really good deal buying all this land for only 15 million dollars.
• Lewis and Clark Expedition - Once he had bought the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson needed to map the area and find out what was west of the country's land. He appointed Lewis and Clark to explore the western territory and report back on what was there.
• Battling Pirates - He sent American Navy ships to battle pirate ships on the coast of North Africa. These pirates had been attacking American merchant vessels, and Jefferson was determined to put a stop to it. This caused a minor war called the First Barbary War.

• Jefferson was also an accomplished architect. He designed his famous home at Monticello as well as buildings for the University of Virginia.
• He had nine brothers and sisters.
• The White House was called the Presidential Mansion at the time when he lived there. He kept things informal, often answering the front door himself.
• The U.S. Congress purchased Jefferson's book collection in order to help him get out of debt. There were approximately 6000 books which became the start of the Library of Congress.
• He wrote his own epitaph for his tombstone. On it he listed what he considered his major accomplishments. He did not include becoming president of the United States.
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A Brief Biography of Thomas Jefferson

By Tim Lambert

His Early Life

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the USA. He was born on 13 April 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father Peter was a wealthy landowner. His mother was called Jane. However, his father died when he was 14 leaving him a substantial amount of land. In 1760 Thomas Jefferson went to the College of William and Mary.

Then in 1762, he began studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1767. From 1769 to 1775 Jefferson was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774 he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America. He argued that the British parliament had no authority over the American colonies who were bound to Britain only by loyalty to the king.

Meanwhile, in 1772 he married a woman named Martha Wayles Skelton. The couple had 6 children but only two (a daughter named Martha and another named Maria) survived childhood. Sadly Martha Senior died in 1782 aged only 33. Jefferson also had children by his slave, Sally Hemings.

The Statesman

In 1775 Jefferson became a member of the Second Continental Congress. He became one of 5 men appointed to write a declaration of independence and he was asked to write the first draft. It was edited by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and also by the Continental Congress but the final version was adopted on 4 July 1776.

In 1776 Jefferson entered the Virginia House of Delegates where he worked to reform the laws. He drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was not passed till 1786. In 1779 he was elected governor of Virginia for a one-year term. He was elected again in 1780. However, in 1781, the British invaded Virginia. Jefferson was nearly captured but he fled to his estate at Poplar Forest. In 1783 Jefferson became a member of the Confederation Congress. He drafted the ordinance of 1784 which organized the western territories.

In 1784 he was sent to France to help negotiate trade treaties. In 1785 he became US minister to France. The same year, 1785 he published a book in Paris called Notes on the State of Virginia. The first English version was published in London in 1787. Jefferson returned to the USA in 1789.

The same year, 1789 Jefferson became US Secretary of State. However, he resigned in 1793. In 1796 he ran for the presidency but lost against John Adams. He did however become vice president. Jefferson ran for the presidency again in 1800. This time he was elected.

Jefferson is best remembered for the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. He was reelected in 1804. He retired in 1809. Jefferson helped to found the University of Virginia in 1819. Thomas Jefferson died on 4 July 1826. He was 83 years old.

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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies

The Best Biographies of Thomas Jefferson

16 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Steve in Best Biographies Posts , President #03 - T Jefferson

≈ 62 Comments

American history , best biographies , book reviews , Dumas Malone , John Boles , Jon Meacham , Joseph Ellis , Kevin Hayes , Merrill Peterson , presidential biographies , Presidents , Thomas Jefferson , Willard Sterne Randall

After nearly two months with Thomas Jefferson involving five biographies (ten books in total) and over 5,000 pages of reading, I still feel I know Jefferson less well than many other revolutionary-era figures…including some like Alexander Hamilton who I’ve only encountered through his numerous appearances in various presidential biographies.

But that’s part of the intriguing mystery that Jefferson presents – even the most dedicated Jefferson scholars such as Malone and Peterson have admitted difficulty in getting to know our third president on a personal level.  In his biography of Jefferson, Merrill Peterson acknowledged being mortified in confessing he still found Jefferson “impenetrable” after years of study.

Part of what seems to make Jefferson so complex is that he is not merely a two-dimensional figure.  The set of internal rules governing his behavior resembles a multi-variable differential equation whose output seems maddeningly inconsistent at times.  But on a basic level, Jefferson is no different than most of us – guided by a small number of core convictions, steered by a larger set of general principles, and influenced by a broad group of more nebulous forces.

Only that smallest group of convictions seemed to guide Jefferson as if they were immutable laws of physics.  His other principles and beliefs were more maleable, able to change under great strain, competing forces, or compelling circumstances of the moment.  He was a passionately private man, yet ended up in public office for most of his adult life.  He professed the evils of slavery, yet owned slaves (and may have even had a long-term relationship with one).  He was intensely afraid of the power of a broad federal government under the direction of a strong president, yet as president did very little to curb that power and in many instances did just the opposite.

* Dumas Malone’s six-volume series (“Jefferson and His Time”) took over three  decades to complete – it was begun when my parents were not old enough to walk, and finished when I was almost entering middle school. This series, to which Malone dedicated a huge chunk of his adult life, took me just five (rather intense) weeks to read.

Although this series does not receive high marks as a means of “entertainment” it receives the very best marks for its content and scholarship. The first five volumes won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975.

Volume 1 (“Jefferson the Virginian”) covers the first four decades of Jefferson’s life, up to the point when became a diplomat in Europe. Volume 2 (“Jefferson and the Rights of Man”) covers the years 1784-1792 which Jefferson spent in Europe as a diplomat and as George Washington’s first Secretary of State.

Volume 3 (“Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty”) covers the last year of Jefferson’s tenure as Secretary of State, his three-year retirement at Monticello, his years as John Adams’ Vice President and his election to the presidency in 1800. Volumes 4 and 5 (“Jefferson the President”) cover his eight year presidency while Volume 6 (“The Sage of Monticello”) covers the final seventeen years of Jefferson’s life.

As thorough and comprehensive as any biography on Jefferson could possibly be, the series suffers only from being less “readable” than more recent biographies which are written in modern, well-flowing verse, and perhaps for not addressing the Hemings controversy with evidence that has only recently come to light.

Malone’s series on Thomas Jefferson reminds me of Thomas Flexner’s series on Washington and Page Smith’s on John Adams – together, these three great works are in a class all to themselves. (Full reviews: Vol 1 , Vol 2 , Vol 3 , Vol 4 , Vol 5 , Vol 6 )

Merrill Peterson’s “ Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation, ” published in 1970, was written while Malone was about halfway through his series on Jefferson. In no other single-volume biography of any of our first three presidents can a reader find a more comprehensive book, chock-a-block with such an impressive level of relevant detail. Yet compared to Malone’s series, while it seems to contain proportionately similar granularity, it also seems to contain relatively fewer interesting conclusory remarks and insights.

Without a doubt, no serious library would be complete without a copy of Peterson’s classic. But with the benefit of hindsight, if I were forced to choose between reading Malone’s six-volume series or Peterson’s single-volume biography, I would not hesitate to invest the additional time required to experience Malone’s series. ( Full review here )

Joseph Ellis’s “ American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson ” was published in 1996, three years after he published his biography of John Adams. This is by far my favorite of Ellis’s books, and the second most “enjoyable” read among the Jefferson biographies.

Like each of Ellis’s works I’ve read so far, this book is not quite a biography and should not be read as such. In my opinion, the best way to enjoy “American Sphinx” is to first read either Malone’s series or Peterson’s biography. Ellis not only observes Jefferson’s behavior throughout life, as have other authors, but also synthesizes his observations into a set of characteristics that seems to have defined Jefferson’s personality. This book comes as close to getting into Jefferson’s mind as any book I’ve read. ( Full review here )

“ Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson ” by Alan Pell Crawford was published in 2008 and, despite a number of imperfections, proves quite an enjoyable and easy read. Although it exudes a slight tabloid “feel” Crawford has exploited a niche never before fully explored – even Malone’s last volume focusing on Jefferson’s retirement years seems slightly incomplete in hindsight.

By the end of the book, though, it feels as thought the author may have tried too hard to make his case. Rather than coming across as insightful and revealing, the book finally beings to feel hyperbolic and melodramatic. Nonetheless, as my next-to-last book on Jefferson, it was perfectly timed and absorbingly provocative. ( Full review here )

“ Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power ” by Jon Meacham was published in 2012 and is currently the most popular of the Jefferson biographies. As I’ve discovered from readers of this site, Meacham is a polarizing author. Those who love him do so because his primary mission seems to be to entertain and, only secondarily, to inform. Others find him distressing for exactly the same reason, sensing that he merely puts new wrapping paper on an old treasure.

But no matter your take on Meacham, “The Art of Power” is both easy and enjoyable to read. At times it is thoroughly engrossing and contains its own interesting perspective on Jefferson’s life. Although it is lighter on penetrating, recently-uncovered insights and heavier on clever one-liners than previous Jefferson biographies, it probably serves as the perfect “second” biography of Jefferson. ( Full review here )

– – – – – – –

[ Added January 2020 ]

* In 2013, I read four single-volume biographies of Jefferson and the six-volume series described above. Since then I’ve had the chance to read a biography of Jefferson I missed on that first trip through Jefferson: Willard Sterne Randall’s “ Thomas Jefferson: A Life ” which was published in 1993. But while it is uniquely valuable as a study of Jefferson’s legal studies and career, it covers most of the remainder of his life – including his presidency – with less dexterity and it turned out to be my least-favorite biography of Jefferson thus far.  ( Full review here )

[ Added October 2021 ]

* I’ve also now read John Boles’s 2017 biography “ Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty .” With 520 pages of text, this biography proves uncommonly thoughtful, thorough and revealing. Boles expends no small effort in attempting to unravel Jefferson’s complexity and perplexing contradictions – including the large gap between his attitude toward slavery and his actions – and here the book is quite successful. Less ideal is the relative lack of focus on understanding and revealing Jefferson’s friendships with figures such as James Madison and John Adams. And Boles’s writing style, while crisp and articulate, is rarely particularly colorful or engrossing. But overall this is perhaps the best modern, single-volume introduction to Jefferson’s life and times. ( Full review here )

[ Added August 2022 ]

* Published in 2008, Kevin Hayes’s “ The Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson ” is a dense, detailed 644-page intellectual biography of the third president focused on the literature he read, wrote and collected. Although it provides much of the framework of a traditional biography, it is decidedly not one and cannot serve as an adequate substitute for anyone seeking a thorough and broad introduction to Jefferson. The natural audience for this book is quite limited, but for someone already familiar with T.J. who is interested in exploring his intellectual evolution through an analysis of the words that shaped his world, this book may prove ideal.  ( Full review here )

[ Added December 2022 ]

* Published two weeks ago, Fred Kaplan’s “ His Masterly Pen: A Biography of Jefferson the Writer ” resembles Kevin Hayes’s “The Road to Monticello” –  in spirit . However, the two books are quite different in approach. This book by Kaplan looks deceptively like a traditional biography – its chapters proceed chronologically and the narrative includes large chunks of Jefferson’s  non -literary life. But it’s focus is on understanding Jefferson’s character, contradictions and philosophy as revealed by his letters, speeches, declarations and books (and not by the books he bought, borrowed or merely read). As a supplemental text for readers acquainted with Jefferson, this book may prove uniquely intellectual and insightful. For readers seeking a traditional biography of Jefferson it is not ideal. ( Full review here )

Best Overall: Dumas Malone’s six-volume series

Most Enjoyable Biography: “ Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power ”

Best Single-Volume Biography: “ Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty ”

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62 thoughts on “the best biographies of thomas jefferson”.

May 25, 2013 at 9:24 pm

It’s sad how so many modern “scholars” now dismiss Malone’s work.

May 26, 2013 at 4:33 pm

Reblogged this on Practically Historical .

May 17, 2020 at 6:21 pm

Great website. Fantastic overviews of presidential historiography.

I believe you are a bit easy perhaps on Malone re: the Hemmings issue with “and perhaps for not addressing the Hemings controversy with evidence that has only recently come to light.”

Malone, of course did not have DNA, however, if you look closely at the evidence he did have, he systematically approached what was available to reach a preconceived conclusion. Malone knew that Sally’s children were TJ’s and wrote it otherwise. He simply could not abandon his position as the pied piper of the TJ cult.

And while his work is masterful. It is important to understand his limitations in being objective.

October 15, 2013 at 12:59 pm

Unfortunately I started my book on TJ – “In Pursuit of Reason” by Noble Cunningham – before discovering your blog, and stupidly chose it only because it was $1 in my library’s bookstore. It wasn’t awful, just not terribly well written or compelling. I’ll happily admit that I’m interested in the presidents’ family lives as well as their political lives, and this was one shortcoming in Cunningham’s book, though not the only one. I think it’s a problem that the author did not even mention the Sally Hemings scandal, since it did come out during TJ’s presidency, via a man who had turned against TJ. The scandal was discussed in McCullough’s book on John Adams, and in the book I just finished on Madison (by Brookhiser). To have it ignored in a TJ bio seemed disingenuous, to put it nicely. I honestly feel I learned more about TJ the man (not the pol) from the Adams bio than from Cunningham’s book!

April 5, 2014 at 9:17 am

Just discovered your site — really good work. In your work on Jefferson did you run into any assessment of Fawn Brodie’s controversial bio?

May 24, 2014 at 5:46 am

Not in the biographies themselves, but there were numerous references to Fawn Brodie’s work in reviews I later read of the books I had read, and one of my frequent visitors makes no secret of his views: http://practicallyhistorical.net/?s=fawn+brodie

April 5, 2014 at 9:39 am

In your readings on Jefferson, did you ever run into any assessments of Fawn Brodie’s controversial biography?

April 5, 2014 at 1:42 pm

None of the books I read referenced Brodie’s biography in a substantive way (not that I remember, anyway) though I recall thee book being referenced in the bibliography of a few. I shied away from Brodie when I was selecting Jefferson bios to read given the overwhelming and consistently negative feedback I saw, but it’s on my “must read” list for my second pass through the presidents – out of curiosity, if nothing else.

April 5, 2014 at 1:51 pm

I also found the following assessment of Brodie’s biography thought-provoking (so much so that it convinced me to add the book to my follow-up list on Jefferson: http://practicallyhistorical.net/2013/03/06/classic-historical-takedowns-pt-1-2/

April 14, 2015 at 2:31 pm

I’d also toss into the mix Henry Wiencek’s “Master of the Mountain.” Like American Sphinx, not a full bio, and even less complimentary. But a fully documented dismantling of many of the myths that surround Jefferson and much Jefferson scholarship.

June 13, 2015 at 1:09 pm

I have also been reading presidential bios in order and am just finishing Trefousse’s Andrew Johnson. I’m wondering if you read Willard Sterne Randall’s Jefferson: A Life and what your thoughts were. So glad to find your blog….onto Grant!

June 14, 2015 at 6:21 pm

Good luck finishing up the A Johnson bio(!) I have not read Willard Sterne Randall’s bio of Jefferson – if you have, let me know what you thought. I seem to remember looking it up and finding it got mixed reviews, and since I had what I thought was a full plate of Jefferson bios I didn’t add it into the mix.

June 17, 2015 at 7:38 am

Randall did a very good job of detailing Jefferson’s early life. His Presidency was not emphasized as much, but there are plenty of other great books that do that as you have pointed out. The focus is more on his early life and his years in France. It was a nice insight into the man. Randall’s writing style can be a bit meandering and repetitive, something that he corrects in his Alexander Hamilton bio, but overall I felt It was a worthy read.

November 5, 2015 at 4:29 pm

One short bio that merits attention is RB Bernstein’s very fine study for Oxford’s series of shorter biographies. I recall a lot of insight in a very little space (<300 pages) in this volume. Felt like I had a better understanding of the man and his legacy than Meacham.

November 6, 2015 at 7:27 am

Thanks, I’ve had a couple people tell me I need to read that one (as sort of a turbo-charged substitute for an American President Series bio of Jefferson) so I’ll probably add it to my follow-up list.

September 22, 2017 at 5:37 pm

I agree enthusiastically with you about the brief R.B. Bernstein biography of Thomas Jefferson.

March 3, 2016 at 7:19 pm

not even a mention of Henry Adams’s work on the jefferson administration?

March 10, 2016 at 3:37 pm

Steve, have you been inclined to read Chernow’s Hamilton biography, or another Hamilton work, during your journey? Reading through biographies of Washington and Adams and gearing up for Jefferson and Madison it feels like not reading a Hamilton biography would do a disservice to the revolutionary era. Also thank you for the recommendation of Ferling’s John Adams: A Life, really enjoying it.

March 14, 2016 at 7:01 am

Will, I do have a large-ish (and ever expanding!) list of biographies I would like to read about the supporting cast of characters who worked with the presidents over time. One of the first to make the list was Alexander Hamilton (I’ve owned the Chernow bio of Hamilton longer than I’ve owned his book on Washington!) I haven’t given myself the flexibility of reading these non-presidential biographies yet for fear I would never get through the presidents themselves, but I really can’t wait to read about Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Calhoun, Henry Clay, Seward, Elihu Root, etc.

November 2, 2016 at 4:56 pm

I’m currently reading Brands bio of Franklin, then moving on to Chernow’s Hamilton as preludes before starting on Washington in January

November 2, 2016 at 5:01 pm

I have to admit to being a bit jealous – those are two of the non -presidential biographies that are sitting in front of me begging to be read! I hope you enjoy them and let me know what you’re reading when you work through the presidents!

September 2, 2016 at 11:51 am

Six volumes for the first two presidents, doubled as I read Dumas Malone’s six volume series. This was a serious investment in time, but absolutely worth it. I found a set of 5 on eBay in very good shape with djs and had to obviously buy one separately. After finishing I felt like I had lost a friend, the books were so absorbing. Even when I am done with this journey, I don’t feel like I need to read any more on Jefferson, I understand him as much as possible as a man and politician.

September 2, 2016 at 8:46 pm

Congrats on getting through so many volumes in your first three presidents! With limited time I don’t think you can go wrong with Chernow (Wash), McCullough (Adams) and Meacham (Jefferson) but the Flexner, Smith and Malone series on those three really provide penetrating, readable depth that’s hard to find in single-volume biographies. I can’t wait to see where you go from here!

October 13, 2016 at 3:15 pm

This one may answer my question! Loved Chernow’s Washington and am now finishing McCullough’s Adams, which I’ve also enjoyed. Given that, and given that I want to stick to one volume, would Meacham be your recommendation here?

October 13, 2016 at 3:41 pm

If I had to read a single-volume bio of Washington I would probably choose Meacham’s (with Ellis’s in second place). But be forewarned…based on comments I’ve gotten it is clear that “The Art of Power” appeals to most people (as it did me) but there is a not insignificant group who felt let down by the book for one reason or another. If you read it let me know what you thought! (As you probably know I loved the Washington and Adams bios you read. LOVED them.)

January 9, 2017 at 4:03 pm

Finished “The Art of Power,” it was a bit up and down for me, but I liked it on the whole, as I thought that it gave a really good insight into the way Jefferson thought and worked. I did find it to be lacking in detail and context for many of the events Jefferson lived through. McCullough and Chernow, for example, seemed to delve more deeply into the events of Adams’s and Washington’s lifetimes and give you a better sense of understanding of the age. Meachem seemed to give a very brief (couple paragraphs) intro, then moved immediately to how Jefferson interpreted it and exercised his power. They also seemed to spend more time than Meachem introducing and providing meaningful insight on the other power players so you had a better sense of the people their subjects were working with/around.

Having said that, I thought it provided a really fair assessment of TJ, without overly glorifying him and didn’t ignore his many faults. I also thought it did a nice job of going out of its way to be fair to Hamilton’s point of view, and noted that neither Jefferson or Hamilton was the caricature that their opponents (up to the modern day) have painted of them. On the same note, however, I felt it was at times unfairly critical of Adams, but maybe that was just because I had just finished McCullough’s book!

Maybe since Jefferson was more of a personal enigma than Washington or Adams, that’s what consumed Meachem’s efforts, but I felt that if I hadn’t already had a fairly strong grasp on the events of the 1770s-1800s I might have been lost at certain points in this book.

Taking a bit of a presidential break and moving to Hamilton and Lafayette bios next, but I’ll be back for Madison soon, so I’m sure you’ll hear from me again!

January 2, 2017 at 3:24 pm

I’m curious if anyone has an opinion about Fawn Brodie’s, “Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History,” which I just started reading on the heels of completing Ron Chernow’s superb Washington biography. Brodie is interesting so far, but it doesn’t seem to be in the first rank of presidential bios. Any thoughts?

January 2, 2017 at 3:39 pm

I’ve not read Brodie’s biography but it receives reviews “all over the map.” These two discussions caught my eye back when I was deciding which Jefferson bios to read: Gary Wills’ note and Practically Historical blog’s view .

January 2, 2017 at 3:41 pm

Thanks Steve! I’ll check ’em out.

September 22, 2017 at 5:34 pm

Excellent job with your website. It is one of a kind. Thank you. I agree with your reviews and rankings of biographies — at least the ones I have read. I have not read as many as you.

For example, the FDR biographies you reviewed and the ranked order of those books is spot on.

For Thomas Jefferson, I think an important brief book to add to your list is “Thomas Jefferson” by R.B. Bernstein. A brief biography of this character, who I understand and love (despite his shortcomings), is nearly impossible. I loved this brief book.

Again, thank you for your website.

February 21, 2018 at 3:49 pm

I am curious if you’ve looked at, or if any one else has, Alf Mapp’s two volume bio on Jefferson from the 1980s, “Passionate Pilgrim” and “The Strange Case of Mistaken Identity.” I own this set but haven’t read it yet. I’ve generally heard good things about it, and know it was well regarded upon its release.

February 22, 2018 at 8:22 am

I never ran across these biographies until well after I finished Jefferson. Because they seem rarely read, I haven’t come across any particularly insightful reviews (not that I’ve looked all that hard) so I’ve got these sitting in a list that’s the literary equivalent of purgatory – I’m not sure whether to make them part of the my follow-up list or whether to avoid them altogether. If you or anyone else does or has read these volumes, I’d love to know what the verdict is…!

February 22, 2018 at 9:45 am

I’d suggest leaving Mapp’s books in purgatory. Your follow-up list is already massive (and will undoubted grow), includes three (four if you count Dr. Wood’s Friends Divided) Jefferson titles already, and the Jefferson literature is vast enough to keep it there.

By the way, Friends Divided is a wonderful book. The last few chapters dealing with their reconciliation and correspondence are the best parts. Summed up nicely by the final sentence comparing Jefferson’s Idealism v Adams’s Realism: “That’s why we honor Jefferson and not Adams.”

April 3, 2018 at 11:51 am

How would you rate Mapp’s books? Since I already own them, I’m curious now if they’re still worth reading, or if they’re only sub par. Given the amount of Jefferson scholarship, I can see why you’d recommend not adding them to the follow-up list, even if they’re worth reading. They may not offer anything unique enough to warrant reading them after having already read so much! I do plan on reading Malone’s 6 volume work first, as I already own that one as well.

April 7, 2018 at 12:42 pm

I don’t think you can really understand Jefferson until you understand Hamilton. I suggest Alexander Hamilton by Chernow.

April 8, 2018 at 4:15 am

That is the very first “non presidential biography” I’m planning to read once I get through Obama…!

February 26, 2020 at 4:43 pm

I would love some advise on choosing a single-volume biography on Jefferson. I am interested in Meacham’s “The Art of Power,” But I’ve also seen good reviews of the 2017 bio “Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty” by John B. Boles.

Most posts above were made prior to the latter’s publishing. I would love to hear some thoughts on either (or both for those who have read them). With opinion of Jefferson being so varied and he being so complicated a person, I am looking for the most “fair” and informative bio.

February 26, 2020 at 4:48 pm

For what it’s worth, I’m also looking forward to hearing from anyone who has feedback on Boles’s biography. Earlier this year I read Willard Sterne Randall’s bio of Jefferson but wonder whether I should have tackled Boles’s instead…?

May 9, 2020 at 5:04 am

I’ve read both Boles and Meacham, but not Randall (not yet, at least). I think Boles’s book was definitely more on the “informative” side of the scale, as compared to Meacham’s, which is more on the “entertaining” side. So for anyone trying to choose between the two, it really depends which kind of treatment is most appealing to you.

To me, Boles’s book was more factual and straightforward and not as much of an enjoyable, engaging read, to the point that his depiction of Jefferson made him feel a little lifeless and passive – things just happened to Jefferson and he went along with them, as opposed to Meacham’s depiction of an active, ambitious Jefferson who knew what he wanted and controlled his own destiny. I get the sense the truth was somewhere in between.

Joseph Ellis’s was my favorite Jefferson book, but I think you have to read a full-scale biography like Boles or Meacham first before you can fully appreciate Ellis.

So while they all have their strengths, none, to me, stand out as being a definitive single-volume Jefferson biography. Maybe he’s just too complicated to cover in just one book!

August 12, 2020 at 8:48 am

Six months later you have probably solved this dilemma, but I have read the Meacham book and the Ellis book. In my opinion the Meacham book reads like a collection of chronological facts about Jefferson with not much attempt to provide any insight into Jefferson or any context for his actions.

The Ellis book is much better in my opinion but it is not a biography, as stated above. You might want to read the Meacham book first just to get an idea of what his life was like. You might also want to read a general history of America during the Revolution and the Early Republic years just to get a sense of historical context to Jefferson’s actions.

August 12, 2020 at 8:54 am

Your note & observation underscores one of the numerous reasons I’m now glad I didn’t initially choose “just one” biography per president to read – different authors with differing styles, often from different eras themselves, with access to different information each create a uniquely informative view of their subject. Reading several books on someone (like Jefferson in particular!) provides a far more nuanced, colorful and often complicated portrait of the person. I do think Meacham and Ellis create a particularly interesting duo when attempting to uncover Jefferson (who, I must say, remains a mystery to me even today)…

August 3, 2020 at 2:29 pm

Has anyone read: 1. The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Three volumes. by Henry S Randall? or 2. The Life of Thomas Jefferson William Linn?

These are efforts from the 1800s.

November 6, 2020 at 8:12 pm

I have not read either, but Randall’s may be interesting. He was the first (only?) biographer to interview Jefferson’s immediate family.

For reading and historical purposes there are probably much better options, but the immediacy of it is interesting.

November 7, 2020 at 10:21 am

Thank you for your comments. Randall looks interesting.

January 7, 2021 at 12:25 pm

I’d like to have your thoughts on Boles’ Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty. Having just read Chernow’s Hamilton, which is pretty negative about TJ, I’ve seen comments that Boles offers a more balanced perspective.

January 7, 2021 at 1:37 pm

I haven’t read Boles’s biography of Jefferson yet. It was published after I’d already gotten through my biographies of Jefferson, but I’ve added it to my “follow-up” list and plan to read it later this year.

January 23, 2021 at 11:26 pm

I finally got a chance to go over to the next town and hit their used bookstores.

I was able to procure an immaculate like new set of Dumas’ 6 volumes for just $35 total.

Also found Rayback’s Millard Fillmore (Easton Press edition) for just $10.

And then I ran over to the other store and found a copy of Peterson’s Jefferson biography for $7.

Was completely happy with my trip as I have all the biographies I wanted for the first 3 presidents.

January 25, 2021 at 5:27 am

I wish my town had a next-town-over with a bookstore like that!

March 13, 2021 at 8:00 pm

I posted briefly on the Madison discussion about Meacham’s Art of Power, and I was just really disappointed by that one. Unfortunately, unless I venture into Malone’s six-volume series, I might not find what I am looking for (and even with this there is still no guarantee). The one beacon of hope of finding a good one-volume bio might be with Boles. I am really hoping you can review that soon, because I really don’t want to sit down for another disappointing Jefferson experience!

In my opinion, Meacham gives only a very broad overview of the life of Jefferson. All of the details, especially the political interactions, seem to be given only superficial treatment. So many of the concluding thoughts of the author read like a high school term paper (like somewhat cringe-worthy filler material). It seems strange that I obtained a better understanding of Jefferson’s mind through his cameo appearances in other books. This is surprising, especially considering that over 200 pages of this volume are dedicated solely to notes. Even then, some of the conclusions are suspect.

For example, Meacham states that the causes of the revolution are not quite clear, and then goes on to suggest it was merely the brainchild of plantation owners who were heavily in debt to Britain and who didn’t like the idea of being taxed, and that Britain’s treatment of the colonies really wasn’t all that bad. Maybe this is true for some folks in Virginia, but thankfully I found much more thorough explanations in recent reads of H.W. Brands’ biography on Franklin and Les Standiford’s Desperate Sons. I was also disappointed that there was hardly more than a couple of pages dedicated to the debate and internal controversy of the Louisiana Purchase, as well as over the repeal of and passage of new Judicial Acts. These seem to be the most important parts of the Jefferson presidency, and yet, I learned next to nothing.

For a book titled “The Art of Power”, I really expected a greater in-depth look at the political dealings of Jefferson. Instead, we just get a broad overview of his personal life, and politics seem somewhat ancillary to that discussion.

March 15, 2021 at 8:19 am

Of all the books I’ve enjoyed over the years, this is the one that people seem to disagree on the most. In hindsight, most of the criticism is well-deserved but at the time I remember finding Meacham’s treatment more readable and penetrating if not quite as thorough as much of what I read elsewhere (with Malone and Peterson most notably and in most instances).

I was hoping to fall in love with Willard Sterne Randall’s bio of Jefferson, or perhaps John Boles 2017 biography. The former was disappointing. The latter is on tap for later this year!

March 19, 2021 at 8:18 pm

I just finished Boles’ biography and it is one of the finest biographies I’ve ever read. It is well-written. He is even-handed. His discussion of slavery and Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings is thorough. I cannot imagine a better treatment of the Jeffersonian paradox: a man who enslaved other human beings, but was also thwarted in his efforts to move the country toward gradual emancipation – and then he didn’t even free most of his own slaves in his will (paradox x 2). Boles ponders the questions these facts raise. He covers all periods of Jefferson’s life. It is well-researched. And the bibliographical essay at the end almost by itself makes owning the book worthwhile. I could not have been more pleased. Thanks, Steve, for your excellent work.

March 20, 2021 at 4:32 am

Well…now I’m REALLY looking forward to reading Boles’s bio of Jefferson later this year (currently scheduled for September)!

March 20, 2021 at 5:03 pm

Hi Mark, if you don’t mind my asking, how well did Boles’ go into other controversial details? For context, I should have been a bit more specific in my criticisms of Meacham in my earlier comment. In terms of Sally Hemings and the contradiction of Jefferson’s slave ownership, I think that this was actually the strongest aspect of the Art of Power (although I have read some criticize that perhaps Meacham did not explore the nature of the relationship more, i.e., the possible power and subservient dynamics of such a relationship). I was instead concerned with other controversies and contradictions that may not be as popularly known, but which I find fascinating. Some examples, all of which are either glossed over or not mentioned at all by Meacham:

1. Chapter 23 of Hamilton: “Citizen Genêt … wanted the United States to extend more funds to France and supply foodstuffs and other army provisions. Much more controversially, he wanted to strike blows against Spanish and British possessions in North America and was ready to hire secret agents for that purpose. Jefferson became his clandestine accomplice when he furnished Genêt with a letter introducing a French botanist named André Michaux to the governor of Kentucky. Michaux planned to arm Kentuckians and stir up frontier settlements in Spanish Louisiana. Jefferson’s aid violated the policy of neutrality and made Hamilton’s unauthorized talks with George Beckwith seem like tame indiscretions in comparison.” I don’t know what others believe, but this seems borderline treasonous to me.

2. Chapter 2 of “Three Lives of James Madison” notes that as governor of Virginia, Jefferson secretly imprisoned British General Henry Hamilton in the dungeon of the Williamsburg jail for nearly two years, even after General Washington advised Jefferson to release him (Madison was also complicit in this). The implication was that they might have been attempting to conceal atrocities committed by the Virginia militia against native civilians, and that Hamilton’s release was conditioned on his silence. 3. Jefferson’s many contradictions regarding the French Revolution, not the least of which his previous admiration of Louis XVI and subsequent ambivalence over his murder and several other officers who served alongside American soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

4. Freneu’s newspaper – Jefferson putting an obviously unqualified person on the State Department payroll in order to entice (i.e., bribe or finance) a partisan newspaper.

5. Completely brushing off Shay’s Rebellion – “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. Incomprehensible words, really, from a figure in government.

Thank you in advance for indulging me! I know this is somewhat detailed and specific. Just hoping to not have to dive into the six-volume series if Boles does the job.

March 21, 2021 at 8:31 am

Hi Brandon: I’m not sure my response will make your decision any easier, but here goes.

1. Boles’ definitely discusses Genet and Michaux, but to me Jefferson does not come across in the book as a clandestine accomplice.

2. I am finishing a book on Baron de Steuben now and the “Three Lives of James Madison” is my next book. I regret to say that I remember nothing about Henry Hamilton in Boles’ book and there is no mention of the name in the index under Hamilton. I should add that the text of the Boles book is a mere 520 pages. He mentions in the acknowledgements that he submitted a much longer manuscript. Perhaps his discussion of this episode ended up on the cutting room floor.

3. Certainly, there is much in the book about Jefferson’s attitudes toward France and his time there. My sense is that the Federalists – Hamilton, Adams, and Gouverneur Morris – were more hypocritical in their views of the revolution than Jefferson. They clearly viewed the revolutionaries in France as the rabble. Jefferson enjoyed the finer things that France offered and this can appear as an inconsistency. But ultimately, he was true to his republican principles, Boles would say almost to a fault. Boles states, Jefferson “was almost in a state of denial regarding matters in France, or, perhaps more accurately, he was willing to tolerate dreadful means for such an important end.” 242. Without question, Boles includes some Jefferson quotes that can make Jefferson seem callous when it comes to bloodshed and loss of life. But Boles does a good job of contextualizing Jefferson’s statements to make them a bit less damning.

4. Boles definitely addresses the Freneau newspaper controversy. It’s hard to tell whether it would be in sufficient detail to satisfy you. Hamilton’s use of John Fenno was almost, not quite maybe, as objectionable. I think the closeness of these politicians to these newspaper men shocks our conscience today, but rules regarding conflicts of interest and the like were a little less formal back then. Despite his mild manners, Jefferson could be a no holds barred type of guy. The fact that Jefferson wasn’t drummed out of government when the whole Freneau thing came to light shows the differences between then and now.

5. I thought I remembered the language you quoted, but I couldn’t find it when I went back to look for it. (That doesn’t mean it isn’t in there; I just couldn’t locate it.) Nonetheless, Boles does reference Jefferson’s views on Shay’s Rebellion. Of course, it’s critical to keep in mind that Jefferson was in France when it occurred. Boles states, Jefferson “missed how seriously many in the United States took the threat.” (Please see answer to #3 about Jefferson’s callousness.)

What I liked about the Boles book is his effort to contextualize the things that Jefferson said and did, but it didn’t come across as hagiographic. I loved the book, but Jefferson as a person continues to disappoint as compared with the Jefferson many of us were taught to revere in grade school.

That’s all I’ve got. Not sure this really helps you. Boles does a stellar job in 520 pages, but it’s tough to compete in terms of comprehensiveness with six volumes.

October 28, 2021 at 12:33 pm

Totally agree with your assessment of John Boles’ biography of Jefferson. I found him sympathetic but critical to his subject – a masterful, thoughtful treatment of a life lived in its historical context. I felt he spoke effectively to many of the contemporary controversies surrounding Jefferson’s legacy. Have you read Kevin Hayes’ The Road to Monticello? Another terrific insight into Jefferson’s life.

January 7, 2023 at 10:52 am

I realize I’m replying to my original reply, but I was drawn back to this page by the recent activity (see below). Regarding Tim Rosenfield’s comment, which should be above, and Steve’s subsequent review, I wondered the extent to which Kevin Hayes in The Road to Monticello addressed the evolution of Jefferson’s views on slavery. How did he evolve from someone who apparently at one point believed in gradual emancipation to someone who didn’t free most of his slaves at his death? Is this discussed in Hayes’ book? (I still haven’t read the Hayes book despite the comment below.) Are there other recent studies of Jefferson that delve into this topic in any detail? Thanks.

October 28, 2021 at 5:34 pm

I have not read the Hayes’ book, but it looks interesting. I will add it to my very long list. Thank you for the recommendation.

March 18, 2022 at 10:17 am

Thank you so much for this website and all the work you have put into it (and time spent reading)! Have you heard much about Christopher Hitchens’ “Thomas Jefferson: Author of America”? I was discussing my presidential reading campaign with my English professor the other day (some 12 years after I took his class) and he said it was excellent. Hitchens seems like an interesting fellow, though maybe a little sharp around the edges, and am curious how a personality like that examines a president like Jefferson. Thanks again!

March 21, 2022 at 5:38 am

I’ve heard about it but haven’t read it. Hitchens was, indeed, a fascinating fellow, and at some point I’ll probably read his book on Jefferson. But for the moment I have too many traditional biographies to get to, so I’ll probably wait on this for awhile.

January 6, 2023 at 5:59 am

Hi there! I am such a fan of this site and probably browse it daily at this point, reading various reviews, etc.

I would love to know which of TJ’s biographies gave the most extensive treatment of the Burr Conspiracy. Do you remember off hand?

January 7, 2023 at 6:48 am

The Malone series probably provided the most thorough review, followed by Merrill Peterson’s biography. After that, I’d say the most useful coverage was probably Jon Meacham’s.

January 7, 2023 at 7:15 am

Malone, of course, will win on sheer page count. However, he his rarely objective when it comes to TJ the man of marble. Always the highest and best motives attached, whilst is opponents make up a who’s who rogue gallery of miscreants and Burr is enemy number one.

There are a number of book length studies on the conspiracy as such that provide a more balanced approach and wider source use than Malone.

The debate over Burr will never end because it rests at the very interpretation of what America could be, should be and sometimes actually is. Thus every generation will rework the Burr conspiracy influenced by more contemporary events.

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One man with courage is a majority.

- By Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson - The Founding Father

Thomas Jefferson, the third American president, played an important role in America's independence struggle. Besides politics, Jefferson was also a scientist, musician and a strong proponent of public education. In addition to that, he was one of the greatest contributors to human progress.

Jefferson was born into a wealthy family in Virginia. Peter Jefferson was his father and he earned a living as a rich surveyor and plantation owner. Jane Randolph, Thomas Jefferson;s mother, was from one of the richest families in Virginia. He was the eldest son born to his parents, and a third born overall. His father willingly supported the young Jefferson;s education. Consequently, he ensured that his son had some of the best opportunities for education available at the time. Jefferson thus became one of the most educated and influential persons at that time. When he was seventeen years old, Jefferson secured admission in William and May. During his time there, he read widely on a range of topics. This included science, philosophy and law. In addition, Jefferson also learned French, Spanish and Italian. The college, which was located in the colony;s capital of Williamsburg, provided Jefferson with a glimpse of how government works. This knowledge would undoubtedly be crucial when he later on joined government. In the year 1761, he gained admission to the bar, establishing a practice that enjoyed much success. However, he had to abandon the practice when the war. Instead, he chose to use his legal skills to contribute positively towards the struggle for independence. In 1769, when he joined the United States; first elected body, he began building the Monticello. This was after he inherited a considerably huge estate form his father. Three years after construction began he got married to Martha Wayles Skelton. The union lasted ten years and produced six children. His wife died after ten years of a happy marriage; Jefferson never remarried. However, only two of his six children survived to adulthood. He continued to live in Monticello for the rest of his life. Like most other building by Jefferson, Monticello was a unique creation.

Jefferson and Slavery

Throughout his life, Jefferson remained a slave owner. The issue of slavery remained a contradictory part of his life. At one time, he even attempted to launch a plan for the gradual freeing of slaves. However, he believed that black people were a different species altogether from white people. As a result, it was not possible for the two races to exist together in peace. When he eventually died, Jefferson owned six hundred slaves. He freed some in his will while the rest of his slaves were auctioned off.

Thomas Jefferson and the American Revolution

Being a great believer in independence, he supported the independence efforts. This belief was strengthened by his life in the wilderness of Virginia. At the time, there was very poor road network and the presence of government was scant. However, despite living far from centers of civilization. The plantation owners were still civil and lived harmoniously. In light of his beliefs, Jefferson wrote extensively on the topic of the people;s right to govern themselves. His literature was read well beyond the borders of Virginia. Most people came to recognize his exemplary writing skills. His ability to win the hearts and minds of people through mere words was recognized throughout the colonies. When the revolutionary war began in the year 1775, Jefferson was selected as a congress delegate. Despite the fact that his oratory skills were quite poor, his writing skills were superb. Consequently, he was chosen to make a Declaration of Independence draft. His legal expertise was also part of the reason he was chosen. The independence fighters wanted to ensure the document did not have any errors. Thomas Jefferson was nominated from a five-member committee selected by the continental congress. The committee also constituted John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. He and John Adams would go on to form a strong bond that would last for the rest of their lives.

Before he began writing his first draft, Jefferson aged 33 at the time first discussed it with the committee. In short, it was an explanation of what the American Revolution was. Until that time, the goals of the American Revolution had not been put to paper. In addition to that, it was used to serve as a reference point for why the thirteen colonies were engaged in war with the British. After much deliberation, a document, which detailed the aspirations of the people to gain independence, was approved. The final document was adopted on July 4, 1776.

Governor and Legislator

In 1776, he resigned from the Continental Congress and returned to Virginia. There, he was immediately re-elected to the House of Delegates. It had formerly been known as House of Burgesses. Jefferson believed that the independence struggle was more than just a struggle against foreign rule. He believed that it was a struggle for the right of every individual. Thus, he set out to change the laws of aristocracy by birth; he himself was part of this aristocracy. He changed the law so that talent and virtue would determine aristocracy henceforth. His bill on Freedom, was what he considered his greatest achievement. The bill was deliberate for over seven years, eventually being passed in 1786. Another bill, which would have created the public schools system in Virginia never passed. The bill on religious freedom essentially separated the church and state. It also served for the basis of the First Amendment of the constitution, which protects people;s right to worship as they deem fit. His time as governor of Virginia was not entirely rosy. Firstly, the governor had very little power. Secondly, the British invaded Virginia and the entire legislature and executive ran away. Everyone felt that Jefferson was to blame. However, there was little that he could have done even if he had stayed. An inquiry did later clear him of any wrongdoing. The criticism he received at the time was so intense that he vowed never to serve in public office again.

Service to Congress

Until that time, there were no legal agreements with other European powers for commerce except France. Recognizing the importance of commerce to the American economy, a three-man committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and himself was formed. It was supposed to come up with coherent policies for trade with the European powers. His writing skills were also crucial in the drafting of the peace treaty between the United States and Britain, signed in 1783. Later on, he replaced Benjamin Franklin as ambassador to France in 1785. In 1789, he eventually returned to the United States.

Road to The Presidency

In the 1790s, Jefferson co-founded the Republican Party, which advocated lesser government. This was in order to oppose the Federalist Party led by Hamilton, which advocated larger federal government. In the elections, he lost and came second to John Adams, which automatically made him vice president.

Jefferson as President

In 1800, the unusually bitterly contested election saw Jefferson emerged victorious. He was sworn in as President in 1801 on March 4. During his inaugural speech, Jefferson highlighted the ideals of the Republican Party. He also called on peace and harmony to prevail among the different political parties.One of his greatest achievements was the purchase of the Louisiana territory in 1803 from France for $15 million. The acquisition essentially doubled the country's size. He then commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore this vast territory. It provided valuable data on the western part of the nation. In his re-election campaign, he defeated the Federalist candidate from South Carolina. He won more than seventy percent of the popular vote and almost all votes of the Electoral College. During the Anglo-French war, he intended to keep America a neutral. His actions proved injurious to the economic prosperity and were hugely unpopular. The policies were eventually repealed and eventually had to take sides and went to war against the British. In 1808, he chose not run for president again. James Madison succeeded him, a fellow Virginian.

Thomas died in 1826, coincidentally, his long-time friend John Adams died on the same day. He was buried at Monticello, where he had continued to reside after retiring from office. Thomas Jefferson remains an iconic figure in American history. His face is carved in stone at Mount Rushmore. His face is also on the nickel. The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated to him. This was in honor of his contributions to the United States. The name of the president will go a long way in remembering the actions of founding the American nation. It has also become synonymous to independence and the struggles therein. Most importantly, his views towards democracy have been discussed in both the academia and the political landscape. In fact, they continue to influence the perception of democracy not only in America but also the rest of the world. His contribution to freedoms and rights of individuals and groups have been illuminated, and they continue to be a source of inspiration in the modern world. Overall, Jefferson was a highly influential and reliable American leader and has been ranked as one of the most successful and influential American presidents.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

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William Short

Unlike his more illustrious contemporaries  James Madison  and  James Monroe ,  William Short  (1759-1849), whom Thomas Jefferson referred to as his "adoptive son," never skyrocketed to political fame. Instead, after serving as Jefferson's secretary and working as a career diplomat, he became a successful financier. He admitted that "nothing could be less Virginian" than spending less than his income and investing the rest, but from what he called a "small patrimony," he eventually made himself a millionaire. [1]

Short first sought Jefferson's advice while still a student at the  College of William and Mary , where he studied law under  George Wythe  and became a founder and president of Phi Beta Kappa (1778-81). He became a freemason in 1781. Connected to Jefferson by marriage (Short was the nephew of Henry and Robert Skipwith, each of whom had married half-sisters of  Martha Jefferson ), Short may have attended Jefferson's wedding in 1772. He visited Monticello several times before Martha Jefferson died in 1782, and he accompanied the Jefferson family to  Poplar Forest  in 1781 when the family escaped Tarleton's troops. Jefferson even became his client when he helped to settle Martha Jefferson's estate after her father died. After Short graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1779, Jefferson served as one of his examiners for the bar. In recommending him for work, Jefferson wrote to Madison that "a peculiar talent for prying into facts" marked his character. [2]  Short decided to settle in Richmond to begin his practice. He was appointed to the Executive Council of Virginia shortly thereafter, a prestigious appointment that often segued to the Governor's chair (both Madison and Monroe held the same office early in their careers).

Apart from family relationship and informal adoption, Jefferson promoted Short's career by giving him experience in the field of diplomacy. Short arrived in  Paris  in November 1784 as Jefferson's private secretary and lived with Jefferson at the Hôtels de Landron and  Langeac . His appointment was approved by Congress the following year. To prepare for his tasks, and because he was surprised at Jefferson's lack of fluency in French, Short lived with a family in the village of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the winter of 1784-85 to become more fluent in the language. In 1788 Short followed Jefferson's advice to travel to  Italy  where he gathered details for making Parmesan cheeses, data on grapes and wine culture, a treatise on silk culture, and a macaroni (spaghetti) mold. [3] According to Jefferson, he came back from the trip "charged, like a bee, with the honey of wisdom, a blessing to his country and honour and comfort to his friends." [4]

Jefferson's attachment to Short is apparent in his efforts to get Short to move to Albemarle County. In asking Monroe about his future plans, Jefferson includes Short in his vision of the ideal neighborhood: "What measures have you taken for establishing yourself near Monticello? Nothing in this world will keep me long from that spot of ultimate repose for me. I keep my eye on yourself and Short for society and do not despair of Madison." [5] In further anticipating his return to Monticello, Jefferson again writes to Monroe, saying he would return much sooner if he could see "a society forming there as yourself, Madison, and Short." [6] Later in a letter to Short himself, Jefferson states that "affection and the long habit of your society have rendered it necessary to me." [7]

Short remained unpersuaded. Reluctant to return to the bar, Short accepted a promotion to the rank of chargé d'affaires just before Jefferson's departure in the autumn of 1789. Believing that Short should act in his best interest, Jefferson wrote to John Trumbull to see if Trumbull might be available as a replacement for Short because he hoped that his "adoptive son" would not remain in Paris. [8] Short nevertheless remained to represent America to the court of Louis XVI and perform his duties during the tempestuous phase of the French revolution between 1789 and 1792. Short had begun to establish his reputation. The  Marquis de Lafayette  wrote to George Washington that he depended on the "very able, Engaging and Honest" Short to secure commercial concessions for Americans in France. [9] Under the watchful eye of Alexander Hamilton, Short managed duties as a fiscal agent, borrowing money and refinancing America's foreign debt at a rate lower than that of any other country, a service that helped launch the federal government in the 1790s.

By 1792 Short had become horrified by the excesses of the French Revolution. Unlike Jefferson, he correctly predicted that the tyranny of the mob would be replaced by the tyranny of a despot. Regarding their disagreement over the course of the French Revolution, Short did not trust his mentor's faith in democratic reform, writing that Jefferson's "greatest illusions in politics have proceeded from a most amiable error on his part; having too favorable [an] opinion of the animal called Man." [10] Because Madison agreed with Jefferson on this issue, Short thought that Madison's enmity toward him stemmed from a time at Monticello when he ridiculed Madison's idea about the French Directory being full of "good honest souls—purely republican, & above all things desirous to be kind & affectionate to this sister Republic." [11]

Much to Short's disappointment, President Washington then promoted him to be minister to the Netherlands, not France. In 1785 Short had grown attached to Duchesse Rosalie de la Rochefoucauld, whose husband Duc Louis Alexandre de la Rochefoucauld (an uncle thirty years her senior), was assassinated during the Reign of Terror. Whereas Short hoped Jefferson's influence could help secure his post in France, Jefferson never managed to do so (Gouverneur Morris received the appointment instead). In 1793 Short was appointed as minister resident to Spain. Charged with the mission of negotiating the first treaty between the U.S. and Spain, Short had to wait until 1795 for the Spaniards to begin to cede anything because they were preoccupied with war with France. Rumors that Short was not welcome in Madrid forced Washington to supersede him by appointing Thomas Pinckney to finalize negotiations. Cheated of his triumph in Spain after years of negotiations, Short returned to Paris to live with Rosalie. Short decided to return to the U.S. to take care of business matters only when he realized Rosalie was reluctant to leave her native country.

Immediately upon landing in Norfolk in 1802, Short visited Jefferson for a month at Monticello. Later, he became a frequent guest of President Jefferson in  Washington . Short seemed to think that their relations had cooled by this time, but Jefferson responded to the contrary that Short's loss of a post in France was largely a result of his seventeen year absence from the U.S.; he further assured Short that "public motives" were the reasons for Short's wishes being unfulfilled and that "a difference of view on a single subject" could not "efface the recollections and attachments of a whole life." [12] In 1808 during a recess of Congress, Jefferson nominated him to become the first minister to Russia, but just after Short arrived in France to engage in preliminary talks with the Russian ambassador to France, the Senate refused to send anybody to Russia. Short had to explain that although the U.S. valued Russia's friendship, certain senators did not want to become entangled in Russia's political affairs. He became bitter against Madison, who could have pushed his nomination, or at least renominated him (Madison reissued Jefferson's instructions to John Quincy Adams the following year). At the same time, Short learned that not only did Rosalie refuse to marry him, she opted for a marriage of convenience to an elderly cousin.

When Short promptly decided to leave France for good at the age of 51, he was not at all certain where to live. His interest in the stock market and his land in the Genesee Valley of New York drew him toward  Philadelphia , but he also had investments in Virginia. Through Jefferson he had purchased 1,334 acres of land called  Indian Camp  (now Morven) in 1795, and he and Jefferson had exchanged many letters about agricultural possibilities on this farm. Yet he never built a home there. He rented the land to tenants and stayed at Monticello whenever he was in the area. In 1813 he decided to sell the property to David Higginbotham (this triangular deal cancelled Jefferson's debt to Higginbotham and Jefferson paid his debt to Short after he sold his library in 1815). [13] Financial dealings between Jefferson and Short may have influenced his decision. Short was always more interested in the expected financial return of the property than was Jefferson, and this did not prove beneficial. In addition, in 1794 Jefferson had borrowed about $9,000 from Short to build the nailery, and Jefferson found it difficult to repay the $15,200 principal and accumulated interest.

Whatever strains their relationship had been subjected to, between 1802 and 1826 Short managed to visit Jefferson about a dozen times during the months of August and September. Although they rarely saw each other after 1810, their correspondence demonstrates continued interest in topics such as the abolition of slavery, Christianity, the speculative mania that ended in the Panic of 1819, Epicurean philosophy, political parties, and the  founding of the University of Virginia . Short's last visit to Monticello occurred at Jefferson's invitation to witness the construction of "our incipient University." [14] Purposefully avoiding contact with Madison and Monroe, he stayed at Monticello for several weeks in September 1824, just before the more famous visit by General Lafayette. [15] Short seems to have continuously resented Madison for ending his diplomatic career so abruptly. Regarding Monroe, who also hindered, or at least did not push, his confirmation as minister to Russia, Short was more forgiving. Although he was not interested in social visits, Short concluded that their careers resembled those of Aesop's hare and tortoise, and that "the long experience of public affairs which Monroe has had must have matured his judgement - his heart was always good." [16]

Short's involvement with the University of Virginia was limited to the recruitment of faculty (although his suggestion of Dr. Thomas Cooper was not approved), and fearing that it would fail once Jefferson was gone, he was skeptical of its success: "It was always demonstrable in my eyes that this institution was got up against the grain, and grew much more by the personal influence of one man than by the public feeling .... The idea of employing such a sum as $300,000 to erect a covering for 200 students and professors ... is one that the public cannot be prepared for. Nor will they, I presume, understand, as it was intended, that [idea] of exhibiting models of architecture for the instruction of the rising generation. I have frequently heard Mr. Jefferson say that his germ of a fondness for buildings, was developed in him by the accidental circumstance of his purchasing a book on Architecture, when [a student] at [the] College [of William and Mary], from an old drunken cabinetmaker .... Who could discover by any course of reasoning that a drunken cabinetmaker, residing near the College and having a book on architecture to dispose of, would have caused that immense pile of building on top of Monticello's height, and at its feet the ediface varied by all the beautiful orders of Greece." [17]

There is no record that he gave any money to the University, but with a reputation for being both wealthy and benevolent, Short spent the remainder of his life devoted to philanthropic activities, including keeping others current with American and European political developments, the  American Philosophical Society , and the American Colonization Society. Before he left for France, Short had sold the slaves he inherited, and though he was skeptical of the justice of uprooting slaves, he concluded that colonization was the best way to help blacks, protect slave owners, and thwart the proponents of a hasty abolition. He gave $10,000 to the American Colonization Society in his will and served as one of its presidents for the last decade of his life. Short also contributed to the fund to prevent the financial debacle that overwhelmed Jefferson in 1825-26. He was mortified that the "unfeeling ingrates" of the Virginia General Assembly were reluctant to allow a  lottery  on Jefferson's behalf after his sixty-one years of public service. [18]

- Rebecca Bowman, 9/29/97

Further Sources

• Bizardel, Yvon and Howard C. Rice.  "Poor in Love Mr. Short."   The William and Mary Quarterly  3rd ser., vol. 21, no. 4 (Oct. 1964): 516-33.
• College of William and Mary. Earl Gregg Swem Library.  William Short Papers .
• Cullen, Charles T.  "Jefferson's Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short, 1759-1848."  J ournal of the Early Republic  vol. 14, no. 4 (1994): 564-65.
• Kimball, Marie.  "William Short, Jefferson's Only 'Son.'"   North American Review  223 (1926): 471-86.
• Library of Congress.  William Short Papers, 1778-1853 .
• Shackelford, George Green.  Jefferson's Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short 1759-1848 . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993.
• Watson, Lucille McWane.  "William Short America's First Career Diplomat : Jefferson's "Adopted Son" Took Paris by Storm."   William and Mary Alumni Gazette  vol. 50, no. 1 (July/August 1982): 23-25.
• ^ Short to John Hartwell Cocke, March 25, 1835, Cocke Family Papers, Accession #640, etc.,  Special Collections , University of Virginia Library, quoted in George Green Shackelford,  Jefferson's Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short 1759-1848  (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993), 178. Most of the biographical information in this essay refers to Shackelford's work.
• ^ Jefferson to Madison, May 7, 1783, in  PTJ , 6:266.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Shackelford,  Jefferson's Adoptive Son , 41.
• ^ Jefferson to William Shippen, May 8, 1788, in  PTJ , 13:146.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Jefferson to Monroe, May 11, 1785, in  PTJ , 8:150.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Jefferson to Monroe, August 9, 1788, in  PTJ , 13:490.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Jefferson to Short, March 24, 1789, in  PTJ , 14:695.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Jefferson to Trumbull, June 1, 1789, in  PTJ , 15:164.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Layette to Washington, May 25, 1788, in  The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series , eds. W.W. Abbott and Dorothy Twohig (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997), 6:294.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Short to John Hartwell Cocke, August 12, 1826, Cocke Family Papers, Accession #640, etc.,  Special Collections , University of Virginia Library, quoted in George Green Shackelford, "William Short and Albemarle,"  Magazine of Albemarle County History  15 (1955/56): 16-27.
• ^ Short to Jefferson, May 7, 1816, in  PTJ:RS , 10:21-22.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Jefferson to Short, June 12, 1807, in  Ford , 10:415.  Polygraph copy  available online at the Library of Congress.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ For a detailed account of Jefferson's financial dealings with Short, see Malone,  Jefferson , 6:508-09.
• ^ Jefferson to Short, October 31, 1819, in  PTJ:RS , 15:162-65.  Transcription  available at Founders Online.
• ^ Short to Jefferson, June 29, 1820, Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress.  Recipient's copy  available online.  Transcription  available at Founders Online. Short writes of his apprehension about returning to Virginia, a result of a change in his attitude toward "two persons" in Jefferson's part of the County whom he hoped never to see again.
• ^ Short to Jefferson, July 4, 1817, in  PTJ:RS , 11:500-03.  Transcription  available at Founders Online. See also Short to Jefferson, May 7, 1816, in   PTJ:RS , 10:21-22 ( transcription  available at Founders Online); Shackelford,  Jefferson's Adoptive Son , 169.
• ^ Short to John Hartwell Cocke, July 8, 1828, Cocke Family Papers, Accession #640, etc.,  Special Collections , University of Virginia Library, quoted in Shackelford,  Jefferson's Adoptive Son , 175.
• ^ Short to Cocke, January 8, 1829, Cocke Family Papers, Accession #640, etc.,  Special Collections , University of Virginia Library, quoted in Shackelford,  Jefferson's Adoptive Son , 176.

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History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

The best books on thomas jefferson, recommended by andrew burstein.

Thomas Jefferson is famous for having written the Declaration of Independence, with its ringing claim that "all men are created equal".  In modern times he has been castigated for hypocrisy, given his ownership of slaves and his failure to campaign for abolition. Here, historian Andrew Burstein discusses Jefferson's wider political career and whether it is fair to judge his attitude to slavery by contemporary standards.

Interview by Eve Gerber

Jefferson and the Virginians: Democracy, Constitutions, and Empire by Peter Onuf

Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation by John Ferling

Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles

Madison and Jefferson by Andrew Burstein & Nancy Isenberg

"Those Who Labor for My Happiness": Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello by Lucia Stanton

1 Jefferson and the Virginians: Democracy, Constitutions, and Empire by Peter Onuf

2 jefferson and hamilton: the rivalry that forged a nation by john ferling, 3 jefferson: architect of american liberty by john b. boles, 4 madison and jefferson by andrew burstein & nancy isenberg, 5 "those who labor for my happiness": slavery at thomas jefferson’s monticello by lucia stanton.

T he third president of the United States is our topic today. Before we get to the books, please introduce us to Thomas Jefferson.

We think of the early presidents as nationalists. But, in the early days of the Republic, Americans identified most strongly with their state and local communities. Jefferson represented the states’ rights strain that eventually grew into the defensive mentality that led the South to secede in 1860. So, there’s an interesting interplay in Jefferson’s life: at times he stood for the interests of Virginia, at others for the interests of the nation.

We don’t like the word imperialism now, but back then Jefferson’s efforts to expand America were massively popular and ‘American empire’ had a hopeful ring to it. He was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase, which more than doubled the territorial extent of the United States in the first years of the 19th century. He sent Lewis and Clark to explore the entire North American continent, crossing the as yet unknown Rocky Mountains, which helped Americans imagine becoming a nation that extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. So Jefferson was very much a nationalist in his idea that the republic would extend itself 3,000 miles west.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the idols of what you call ‘founder worship’. A marble temple for him, in the shape of Rome’s Pantheon, was constructed on Washington’s National Mall and dedicated in 1939. At its center is a bronze 19-foot tall 10,000-pound statue of Jefferson. Why the pedestal?

Jefferson and the Virginians , your first recommendation, a book by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor at History at University of Virginia Peter S. Onuf, places our subject in the context of the state that shaped him.

The University of Virginia was founded by Jefferson. Peter inherited the mantle of senior Jefferson scholar at Mr. Jefferson’s university. His best-known book is the brilliantly conceived Jefferson’s Empire . Jefferson and the Virginians is his latest book, written since his retirement. The book examines Jefferson’s interactions with several prominent Virginians at different stages of his political career and helps us understand how Jefferson advanced his political agenda for the United States. It is divided into sections focused on Jefferson’s interactions with each of these individuals.

“When Jefferson was called ‘a democrat’, it was not a compliment.”

Onuf starts with Patrick Henry, a charismatic courtroom lawyer whose oratory fueled the Revolution in Virginia. He was the one who got people fired up in 1775-76 and he became the first governor of independent Virginia. Their relationship was initially friendly. Then, when Jefferson succeeded Henry as Governor, it turned adversarial. Henry opposed Jefferson’s legislative agenda in Virginia, especially when it came to what has since become known as the separation of church and state. So, Henry starts out as a hero of Jefferson and becomes a nemesis.

There’s another chapter about Jefferson and James Madison’s long political alliance, which began based on their common distrust of and opposition to Patrick Henry. Onuf distinguishes Jefferson’s abstract ideas from his practice of politics. He shows that Jefferson has an ecstatic approach to popular politics, whereas Madison, best known as ‘The Father of the Constitution’, was resistant to key elements of Jefferson’s performative democracy.

When people talk about  ‘Jeffersonian democracy’, what do they mean?

Our next Thomas Jefferson book is Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation by historian John Ferling.

Ferling has written many books about the American Revolution; he has an encyclopedic knowledge of this period.

His Jefferson and Hamilton is a portrait in partisanship, a blow-by-blow account of the ideological contest between men with divergent visions. Jefferson feared centralization and a strong national government. Jefferson is, comparatively speaking, a states’-rights advocate. Hamilton believes in the strong central government. Jefferson is a Francophile and Hamilton is an Anglophile.

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Both Jefferson and Hamilton were underhanded in advancing their agendas. Hamilton revealed privileged information to a British representative, subverting Jefferson’s efforts, as secretary of state, to keep a distance from Britain. Jefferson wrote a long letter to Washington, in September 1792, trying to convince him that Hamilton was a monarchist intent on destroying the Republic. Jefferson and Hamilton went head-to-head in Washington’s cabinet. When Washington sided with Hamilton, Jefferson retired to his plantation. Hamilton ultimately got the better of Jefferson—until 1800.

Jefferson referred to his presidential election as the ‘Revolution of 1800’. It sounds grandiose. Please explain what he meant by that and how that fits in with the temperament you’re describing?

You call Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles the “best full-length Jefferson biography of the 21st century”. What makes this book the best life of Thomas Jefferson?

Let’s turn to another very well-written book, Madison and Jefferson by you and your partner Nancy Isenberg.

Madison and Jefferson had a personal and political partnership that lasted fifty years. These two men loved each other, respected each other, and enjoyed each other’s company. It’s an enduring 50 year partnership, which no one had written a book about since 1950.

It’s called Madison and Jefferson , rather than the other way around, because although Madison is generally thought of as Jefferson’s protégé, they were in all respects equals. You could say the Jefferson’s presidency was a co-presidency with Madison, his secretary of state. People think of Madison as the cerebral father of the Constitution, which is accurate, but he was also a power player in Congress, especially in the troubled 1790s, when he held political seniority. Madison was instrumental in forging the anti-Hamilton political interest in Congress that ultimately backed Jefferson. There was nothing Jefferson did not consult Madison on.

The book identifies awkward truths that generations of patriotic mythmakers have avoided facing. It’s a story of country gentlemen practicing hardball politics. We think of democracy as something open and above board, but both Madison and Jefferson came to believe that political progress was best arranged in secret.

You show that Jefferson was a person for whom friendship had a public purpose, as well as a private purpose. He drew so much from his partnership with Madison and in later life, from his correspondence with his former nemesis, John Adams. Should we remember Jefferson as among America’s most successful political users?

Well, he had many lifelong friendships, and he knew how to use them to his advantage. He used his pen to mold opinion, to build alliances, and to forge plans sometimes in coded letters or in small conclaves. Then he and Madison presented pre-formed plans to Congress. Jefferson goaded his allies to enact his political will.

It is impossible, at least for me, to think about any aspect of Thomas Jefferson without turning to the fact that his life of luxury, leisure and civic involvement was made possible by slavery. I look forward to hearing about the 600 enslaved individuals whose labor gave Jefferson liberty.

In Democracy’s Muse , I write about how, from FDR to the present, every president and many members of Congress have quoted Jefferson to advance their own partisan agendas. His words were heroic. But he was someone who had inherited from his father and from his father-in-law a couple of hundred African Americans as property. That’s the world he was born into.

“When I lecture, I use the term ‘timid abolitionist’”

The question is: Why didn’t he do more to bring it to an end? He wrote about slavery as a sin, boldly, in the early 1780s. He wrote that slavery destroyed the virtue of white kids, who, growing up, had to learn the attitudes that embodied mastery. When I lecture, I use the term ‘timid abolitionist’ which is to say Jefferson wasn’t going to say anything more in public than what he wrote when he was young when he hoped that Virginia’s Legislature would find a way to eradicate slavery. He left the task of getting rid of this evil to the next generation.

We focus on Jefferson as the man who should’ve done more. But Washington was president for eight years and he didn’t lift a finger to free African Americans in his lifetime. He did free his slaves in his will, but it wasn’t immediate. Those slaves were only freed after his widow, Martha, died.

John Adams wrote the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution and Declaration of Rights, including the statement that “all men are born free and equal” which provided the basis for Massachusetts courts to abolish slavery in 1783. Prior to that he represented African Americans in suits to win their freedom. He hired freedmen and never enslaved labor.

Nancy and I just wrote a book about John and John Quincy Adams called The Problem of Democracy . It does distinguish the Adams family from the Virginian founders. In New England, they didn’t grow up around slaves. A New Englander might’ve had a household slave or one person who helped in the field. None of the New England states held as slaves more than 1-2% of its population at any time. In Virginia that figure was around 40%.

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Virginians’ economic well-being depended on slavery. Yet some in the state did work to find an end to slavery by compensating owners for their loss of property—a bill promoted by Jefferson’s grandson that nearly passed the Virginia legislature in 1832. Jefferson said that blacks and whites could never live together peacefully, because of understandable black resentments as well as white prejudices. This is what a majority of white early Americans probably believed. So, we would have to indict his entire generation and the entire leadership group for greed and a collective failure to cure their society of a species of injustice and immorality we find ugly and impossible to reconcile.

That brings us to Lucia Stanton’s “Those Who Labor for My Happiness”: Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

This book represents the consummation of Stanton’s career researching the history of plantation slavery. It traces the lives of the extended families of Monticello over generations. Annette Gordon-Reed’s work on the connection between Jefferson and the Hemings family won a Pulitzer. Stanton’s work, as a senior researcher at Monticello for decades, laid a foundation for what Annette wrote. Stanton pretty much started from scratch in reconstructing the world of the slaves and free laborers in Jefferson’s neighborhood.

The only slaves freed in Jefferson’s will were part of the Hemings family. In 1997, DNA effectively proved they were his children. Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who was the biological half-sister of Thomas Jefferson’s wife, gave birth to several of Jefferson’s children. Stanton traces the Hemings family from Jefferson’s plantation to their post-emancipation lives in Ohio. It’s a marvelously interesting story about the diaspora of Jefferson’s house servants, how they made lives for their descendants, their work and professional accomplishments.

What about the other enslaved people? What was the nature of their lives and labor? How did they produce Jefferson’s wealth?

In this book, you meet people who worked in Jefferson’s house. The field laborers’ names were recorded but their lives went unrecorded.

Jefferson spoke of his servants as his “family”. They learned marketable skills. Sally, for example, was a seamstress. One of Sally’s brothers was a chef, another a brewer. Jefferson’s white grandchildren taught members of the Hemings clan how to read and write. One of Jefferson’s granddaughters, Ellen, moved to Boston and became a critic of slavery and she wrote to Jefferson about her objections. She maintained correspondence with the Hemings family; one named a child after Ellen. So, there was clearly fondness felt, something more than a master-servant relationship. Stanton is so good at teasing all this out.

In 2020, a descendant of Jefferson’s, Lucian Truscott IV, opined that the Jefferson Memorial is a monument to “a man who famously wrote that ‘all men are created equal’ in the Declaration of Independence that founded this nation—and yet never did much to make those words come true.” Fair assessment?

Yes, it’s fair. But on the other hand, as I tried to explain before, we have to indict the whole generation for its collective failure, you can’t place the brunt of America’s responsibility on the shoulders of one individual. Are we going to celebrate only those very few people who took an economic hit by freeing their slaves when everyone knew that slavery was evil? That’s a rather narrow way to examine history.

We cannot extract Jefferson from Virginia or the fact that he inherited 200 slaves and died a hundred thousand dollars in debt, which is in the neighborhood of $6 million today. Jefferson is always going to be a man of the 18th century and we can’t impose our moral expectations on men of the 18th century.

June 21, 2021

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Thomas Jefferson - A Short Biography (30 Minute Book Series) Paperback – April 15, 2016

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A Biden-Trump faceoff in 2024 wouldn’t be the first presidential rematch

While it’s still very early, there’s at least a chance that the 2024 presidential election could look a lot like the 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden recently confirmed that he’s seeking a second term , and his predecessor and 2020 opponent, former President Donald Trump, already had launched his campaign to reclaim the White House .

For several decades now, neither major political party has been keen on giving unsuccessful nominees a second bite of the apple. The last time that happened was in 1968, when Republicans chose Richard Nixon, who had lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960.

But that hasn’t always been the case. Should a Biden-Trump sequel come about, it would be the seventh presidential rematch in U.S. history, and the first since the 1950s. In the first four rematches, the outcome was different the second time around; in the most recent two, the outcomes were the same as the first match-up.

Here’s a look at the presidential rematches the country has experienced so far, and the varying political contexts in which they came about:

The prospect that next year’s presidential election could be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump sent us back to the history books to look for any previous presidential rematches.

While we used a variety of sources for this post, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the National Constitution Center were particularly helpful. Figures for popular- and electoral-vote shares came from The American Presidency Project , housed at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson, 1796 and 1800

The country’s first actively contested presidential elections proved conclusively that the Constitution’s elaborate mechanism for electing presidents wouldn’t work once parties were added to the mix.

Originally, each presidential elector cast two ballots , with the candidate receiving the most becoming president and the runner-up becoming vice president. This worked fine the first two elections, when George Washington and John Adams were the clear favorites. But in 1796, when the Federalist Party backed Adams for the presidency and the Democratic-Republican Party supported Thomas Jefferson, the system’s flaws quickly became apparent.

In order to elect their preferred pair as president and vice president, both parties tried to arrange for a few of their electors to either cast only one ballot or vote for someone other than their party’s intended running mate (Thomas Pinckney for the Federalists, Aaron Burr for the Democratic-Republicans). In theory, that would ensure that the intended two men came out on top and in the right order. In practice, in an era of slow communications over great distances, such plans would have been difficult to pull off even if the parties were united and firmly disciplined.

Which they weren’t. Neither the Federalists nor the Democratic-Republicans were fully sold on their respective tickets. (Alexander Hamilton, for one, worked secretly to get some Federalist electors from Southern states to withhold their votes for Adams, in hopes of boosting Pinckney into the top spot – a ploy which backfired when New England Federalists found out about it and refused to cast ballots for Pinckney.) And the electors were free to disregard their party’s “official” picks and cast their two votes however they wished, so long as one went to someone from a state other than their own.

The end result was, as historian Gordon Wood called it, “a confused and chaotic affair.” Although records are incomplete, at least nine electors voted for Jefferson and Pinckney. One voted for Adams and Jefferson. Two cast votes for Washington, who had made it clear he didn’t want the job any longer. In all, 13 men received at least one electoral vote. Adams squeaked out a win, but Jefferson came in second and took the vice presidency.

Adams and Jefferson faced each other again in 1800, and the results were almost as chaotic . This time Jefferson and Burr defeated Adams’ ticket, but because all their electors voted for both of them (rather than a few abstaining or voting for someone else), they tied for first place. That meant the outgoing House of Representatives – still controlled by Federalists, whose candidates had lost the election – got to decide whether Jefferson or Burr would be the next president. The House deadlocked for a week and slogged through 35 ballots before finally choosing Jefferson on the 36th. Before the next election, the 12th Amendment was ratified to require separate balloting for president and vice president – and, it was hoped, to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

John Quincy Adams vs. Andrew Jackson, 1824 and 1828

But the new system wasn’t foolproof either, as the four-sided election of 1824 demonstrated.

By that time the Democratic-Republicans, who’d won every election since 1800 and driven the Federalists into near-oblivion, had splintered into rival factions. No fewer than five prominent public figures sought the presidency in 1824: Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, former Gen. Andrew Jackson, House Speaker Henry Clay, Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun (though he eventually decided to stand for vice president instead). When the dust settled, no one had come close to winning a majority of either the popular or electoral votes.

That sent the election to the House again, which had to choose from among the top three vote-getters. Clay, who had been eliminated, used his influence to swing the vote in Adams’ favor; soon after, Adams appointed Clay as secretary of state. That in turn touched off furious charges by Jackson and his supporters that the two men had conspired in a “corrupt bargain” and effectively launched Jackson’s 1828 campaign.

Jacksonians spent four years attacking Adams and building a new party, the Democrats, to take him on. In 1828, Jackson won clear popular- and electoral-vote victories, and he went on to serve two terms as president.

Martin Van Buren vs. William Henry Harrison, 1836 and 1840

Van Buren, Jackson’s vice president and one of the main architects of the Democratic Party, ran for the top job himself in 1836. But opponents of the Jackson-Van Buren administration were coming together into a new national party: the Whig Party.

The Whigs were still a work in progress in 1836, and Van Buren ended up facing multiple “opposition” candidates who ran in different states . The most successful, retired Gen. William Henry Harrison, carried seven states and won 37% of the popular vote. Although Van Buren won the presidency, Harrison’s performance brought him renewed prominence.

By 1839, the Whigs were organized enough to hold a national convention , which nominated Harrison for the following year’s election. Van Buren’s popularity, meanwhile, had plunged due to the Panic of 1837 and the perception that he was an effete, out-of-touch aristocrat. After a campaign marked by such innovations as sloganeering, mass rallies, image-creation and what today we would call PR stunts , Harrison won the popular vote by 6 percentage points and beat Van Buren decisively in the Electoral College.

Grover Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison, 1888 and 1892

In 1884, Democrat Cleveland had broken the Republicans’ 24-year lock on the presidency and was widely praised as honest, thrifty and hardworking . But he was vulnerable, having alienated many important industries by advocating for lower tariffs. Republicans, who favored high “protective” tariffs, nominated Harrison, who had an impressive pedigree (as William Henry Harrison’s grandson), a Civil War record that made him popular with veterans (Cleveland had hired a substitute to serve in his place ), and was from the swing state of Indiana. Even though Cleveland outpolled him in the popular vote, Harrison prevailed in the Electoral College .

As Cleveland left the White House, his wife reportedly told the staff to “take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house … for I want to find everything just as it is now when we come back again four years from today.” Although Cleveland stayed out of politics at first, by 1891 he was openly criticizing the Harrison administration and the Republican-controlled Congress for raising tariff rates and increasing the money supply by coining more silver dollars . The following year, Cleveland easily won renomination, defeated Harrison and, as Mrs. Cleveland had predicted, returned to the White House.

William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan, 1896 and 1900

Shortly after Cleveland’s reelection, the U.S. economy plunged into a deep depression . That, along with labor unrest and continuing agitation over monetary policy, turned Cleveland’s own party against him. In 1896, the Democrats turned to Bryan, a forceful opponent of the gold standard and advocate of the “free and unlimited coinage of silver,” which he claimed would aid debt-ridden farmers and working people by inflating the money supply.

The Republicans nominated Ohio Gov. William McKinley, a business-oriented conservative who favored high tariffs and the gold standard, which he called “sound money.” McKinley’s campaign raised unprecedented sums from big corporations and used it to forge a coalition of industrial workers and urban dwellers (especially immigrants) in the Northeast and Midwest.

Despite traveling thousands of miles and giving hundreds of speeches, Bryan came up short in both the popular and electoral votes. But he came close enough that he had no real opposition for the Democratic nomination in 1900, when he faced McKinley again.

By then the free-silver issue had receded somewhat, while questions of American imperialism (exemplified by the Spanish-American War and the annexation of Hawaii) came more to the fore. But with the war over and the U.S. economy booming, McKinley won a slightly higher share of the popular vote than he had in 1896, and flipped six states that Bryan had carried four years earlier (while Bryan flipped only one).

Dwight D. Eisenhower vs. Adlai Stevenson, 1952 and 1956

Eisenhower, who had led the Allied armies to victory in Europe during World War II, was so popular that both major parties spawned “Draft Eisenhower” movements. Eisenhower eventually declared himself a Republican and won a closely contested battle for the GOP nomination. The Democrats, who had no obvious front-runner after then-President Harry Truman took himself out of the race, eventually nominated Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson.

Eisenhower, though a political newcomer, proved to be a formidable campaigner , attacking the Democrats over “Korea, Communism and corruption.” He ended up taking 55% of the popular vote in 1952, winning all but nine states.

Four years later, with the Korean War over and the U.S. economy booming, Eisenhower faced no opposition within his party for another term. Stevenson, however, had to fend off several challengers before securing his renomination. For all that, Stevenson had even less success against Eisenhower his second time around: The incumbent president rolled to victory with 57% of the popular vote and the electoral votes of all but seven states.

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Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center

About 1 in 4 Americans have unfavorable views of both Biden and Trump

5 facts about religion and americans’ views of donald trump, 8 in 10 americans say religion is losing influence in public life, in gop contest, trump supporters stand out for dislike of compromise, most americans favor maximum age limits for federal elected officials, supreme court justices, most popular.

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