Thomas Jefferson (13April1743 – 04July1826), principal author of Declaration of Independence, the 3rd President of US 1801-1809

Thomas Jefferson: "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government."

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Thomas Jefferson, (Born April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, Virginia; died July 4, 1826, Monticello), author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia, considered as “the first cultured President” of the United States.

Jefferson once said: “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”

In his own life he stood by this statement, as he worked arduously to design his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He included several of his inventions and innovations designed to make life easier, more convenient and to please his many guests. In fact, there were very few things he asked others to do that he wasn’t willing to do himself. He believed in leading by example –the first President to do so.

Jefferson’s hobby, and passion, was archeology – at a time when archeology was so young that it wasn’t even called a science. Many have said that Jefferson in many ways popularized and legitimized the “discipline.” For example, when he found an Indian burial mound on his Virginian estate, he made the unique approach of cutting a wedge deep into the mound so that he could visually explore each cross section and draw his own conclusions. The practice later became a standard in archeology, at a time when the common practice was to simply dig downwards and hope nothing was destroyed.

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he had been elected the second Vice President of the United States, serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801. Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.

Jefferson was mainly of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law, with the largest number of his cases concerning land ownership claims.[1] During the American Revolution, he represented Virginia in the Continental Congress that adopted the Declaration, drafted the law for religious freedom as a Virginia legislator, and served as a wartime governor (1779–1781). He became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nation's first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington.

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Photos courtesy of Archiving Early America, appalachianconservative.wordpress.com, and Wikipedia

Original Source: american-presidents.com