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Did you know…
Intellectual Beginnings
 Jefferson began his formal studies,
boarding with a minister-teacher nine
months out of the year.
 Jefferson excelled in the classical
languages of Latin, Greek, and French at
the age of 9.
 He continued boarding school until age
sixteen, excelling in classical languages
 In 1760, Jefferson enrolled at the College
of William and Mary, taking classes in
science, mathematics, rhetoric,
philosophy, and literature.
 Jefferson continued his education in the
study of Law under the first professor of
law in America, George Wythe.
 Attending the House of Burgesses as a
student in 1765, Jefferson witnessed the
challenging of the Stamp Act by Patrick
Henry. Jefferson then wanted to pursue a
career in practicing law.
Did you know?
Thomas Jefferson died on the 50 year
anniversary of the signing and ratification
of the Declaration of Independence.
 It took Jefferson 14-17 days to write the
Declaration of Independence, and the
Second Continental Congress spent two
days making some changes to the
document.
 After Jefferson’s retired, he sold his entire
library of 6,500 volumes to the Library of
Congress after it was ransacked by the
British. Jefferson needed the cash to pay
off debts, but he started buying more
books.
 Jefferson designed and helped build his
very first house, which he named
Monticello, when he was 26 years old.
 Monticello, means “little mountain” in
Italian.
 Jefferson designed and founded the
University of Virginia.
 Jefferson would have totally had an
iPad. He loved science, technology and
innovation.
 Jefferson loved vanilla ice cream, which
he most likely tasted while traveling in
France. He brought home a recipe for it,
which is now in the Library of Congress.
Thomas Jefferson:
Personal vs. Political views
on Slavery
The 3rd President of the United States,
and one of the most important and
significant people in American history
when it comes to freedom in America.
Not only did Jefferson draft the
Declaration of Independence, but he
wrestled the great issues of the time
revolving around the Revolution and
rights of all men. Jefferson was a
revolutionary, and leading activist for
liberty in early colonial America, and
the ever changing country throughout
the period of western expansion and
Manifest Destiny, up until his death in
1826.
Positions in Government
 Member of Virginia House of
Burgesses (1769 to 1774)
 Virginia Committee of
Correspondence
 Second Continental Congress
(1776)
 Virginia House of Delegates
 Governor of Virginia (2 yrs.; 1779)
 Confederation Congress in 1783
 Jefferson served as America's
minister to France (1785-1789)
 Constitutional Convention during
1787 and 1788
 First Secretary of State under
President Washington
 Vice President to John Adams
(1796- 1800)
 3rd President of the United States
(1801 – 1809)
Did you know?
Thomas Jefferson was considered to be the
nation's best-read lawyer upon his
admission to the Virginia bar in April
1767.
Important Writings
“We have the wolf by the ears, and we
can neither hold him nor safely let him
go, Justice is in one scale, selfpreservation in the other.”
- Thomas Jefferson
Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, Jefferson took on the Louisiana
Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase was the
United States purchase of approximately
828,000,000 square miles of territory from
France for $15 million dollars. The Lewis and
Clark expedition followed the purchase.
Manifest Destiny
This purchase of foreign territory
ultimately doubled the size of the United States
and allowed for the ideal of Manifest Destiny,
the destined expansion of United States and
attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native
American removal and war with Mexico.
Jefferson also believed that Manifest Destiny
would expand slavery across, eventually
dissipating the dependency. He advocated
“gradual emancipation”.
“An honest man can feel no
pleasure in the exercise of power
over his fellow citizens.”
- Thomas Jefferson
 Declaration of Independence
(July 4th, 1776)
 Confederation Congress in 1783- where
Jefferson worked as a representative of
Virginia to establish the decimal system
as the nation's basis of measurement.

In 1784, Jefferson drafted an ordinance
providing for the temporary government
of western territories under congressional
control.
 Again in 1784, Jefferson also helped draft
an ordinance for surveying and selling
congressional lands; though superseded
by the Land Ordinance of 1785,
Jefferson's ordinance established the
basic framework of federal land policy.
 The 1784 Territorial Government
Ordinance was replaced with the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which did
prohibit slavery in those lands organized
north of the Ohio River. The ordinance
also replaced Jefferson's guarantee of
initial self-government with
congressionally appointed governors and
judges.

In 1803, Jefferson amended the
constitution with the 12th amendment,
changing the way that the Vice President
is chosen.
 Advocated the ratification of the
Constitution and creation of Bill of
Rights.