How long was Thomas Jefferson president?

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."

Thomas Jefferson presents the first draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress.

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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.

Jefferson, a naturalist, enjoyed receiving a live magpie and prairie dog that were collected during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

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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 spent five decades perfecting his beloved mountaintop home, Monticello. He added clever details such as hidden beds, dumbwaiters, octagonal rooms, and a clock that kept track of the days of the week.

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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.

Fun Facts

• 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

Jefferson was born into the Virginia planter elite. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1762, studied law, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769 and served until the British dissolved the House in 1774. Jefferson was a leading activist in the U.S. independence movement. In 1773, he was a founding member of Virginia's Committee of Correspondence, which disseminated anti-British views, and, in 1774, he published A Summary View of the Rights of British America.

Jefferson was elected as a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, and, in 1776 when he was thirty-three years of age, he drafted the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War, Jefferson returned to Virginia and served as a Delegate (1776-1779) and then as Governor (1779 and 1780). He served as a Delegate to the Confederation Congress from 1783 to 1784 and played a major role in shaping federal land policy. Jefferson joined John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in Paris in 1784 to negotiate commercial treaties with European powers. The following year, he succeeded Franklin as Minister to France (1785-1789) before becoming Secretary of State.

A founder of the Democratic-Republican Party, Jefferson was elected Vice President in 1796 and served two terms as President (1801-1809).

Influence on U.S. Diplomacy

Jefferson made enormous contributions to U.S. diplomacy. While Minister to France, he negotiated a commercial treaty with Prussia (1785) and the Consular Convention with France (1788). As Secretary of State, Jefferson’s approach to foreign affairs was limited by Washington’s preference for neutrality regarding the war between Britain and France. Jefferson favored closer ties to France, who had supported the United States during the Revolutionary War. Tension within Washington’s cabinet—notably with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who favored an assertive central government—prompted Jefferson’s resignation.

As President, Jefferson’s interest in territorial expansion was satisfied by Napoleon Bonaparte’s 1803 offer to sell the Louisiana Territory for 15 million dollars. The purchase solved the longstanding dispute over navigation rights on the Mississippi River, and doubled the size of the country.

Jefferson waged a foreign war, from 1801 to 1805, when he sent U.S. warships to force the Barbary States to cease harassing U.S. shipping. War between France and Great Britain and those states’ infringement of U.S. neutrality inspired Jefferson to push for the 1807 Embargo Act, which prohibited U.S. shipping. Unfortunately, the embargo crippled the U.S. economy and left the nation ill-prepared for the war with Great Britain that would eventually arrive in 1812.

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