Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an
American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President
of the United States (1801–1809). He was a spokesman for democracy, and embraced the principles of republicanism and the rights of the individual
with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American
Revolution,
he served in the Continental
Congress,
representing Virginia, and then served as a wartime Governor
of Virginia (1779–1781). In May 1785, he became theUnited
States Minister to France and later the first United
States Secretary of State (1790–1793) serving under President George Washington. In opposition to Alexander Hamilton's Federalism, Jefferson and his close friend,James Madison, organized the Democratic-Republican
Party, and
later resigned from Washington's cabinet. Elected Vice President in 1796,
Jefferson opposed Adams, and with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky
and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien
and Sedition Acts.
Elected president in what Jefferson called the Revolution of 1800, he oversaw acquisition of the vast Louisiana Territory from France (1803), and sent out the Lewis
and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), and later three others, to explore the new west. Jefferson
doubled the size of the United States during his presidency. His second term
was beset with troubles at home, such as the failed treason trial of his former
Vice President Aaron Burr. When Britain threatened American shipping
challenging U.S. neutrality during its war with Napoleon, he tried economic warfare with his embargo
laws, which
only impeded American foreign trade. In 1803, President Jefferson initiated a
process of Indian tribal removal to the Louisiana
Territory west of the Mississippi River, having opened lands for eventual American
settlers. In 1807 Jefferson drafted and signed into law a bill that banned
slave importation into the United States.
A leader in the Enlightenment, Jefferson was a polymath in the arts, sciences, and politics.
Considered an important architect in the classical tradition, he designed his
home Monticello and other notable buildings.
Jefferson was keenly interested in science, invention, architecture, religion,
and philosophy; he was an active member and eventual president of the American
Philosophical Society. He was conversant in French, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, and
studied other languages and linguistics, interests which led him to found the
University of Virginia after his presidency. Although not a notable orator,
Jefferson was a skilled writer and corresponded with many influential people in
America and Europe throughout his adult life. After Martha Jefferson, his wife of eleven years, died in
1782, Jefferson kept his promise to her that he would never remarry. Their
marriage had produced six children, of whom two survived to adulthood.
As long as he lived, Jefferson expressed
opposition to slavery, yet he owned hundreds of slaves and freed only a few of
them. Historians generally believe that after the death of his wife Jefferson
had a long-term relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings, and fathered some or all of her
children. Although criticized by many present-day scholars over the issues of
racism and slavery, Jefferson is consistently rated as
one of the greatest U.S. presidents.
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