JEFFERSON, THOMAS
Thomas Jefferson served as an American Revolutionary and political theorist and as the third president of the United States. Jefferson, who was a talented architect, writer, and diplomat,
Jefferson was born April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father
was a plantation owner and his mother belonged to the Randolph family, whose mem-
bers were leaders of colonial Virginia society. Jef-
ferson graduated from the College of William
and Mary in 1762, and worked as a surveyor
before studying law with GEORGE WYTHE. He
was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767.
His interest in colonial politics led to his
election to the Virginia House of Burgesses in
1769. In the legislature he became closely
aligned with PATRICK HENRY, Richard Henry
Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee, all of whom
espoused the belief that the British Parliament
had no control over the American colonies. He
helped form the Virginia Committee of Corre-
spondence, which protested legislation imposed
on the colonies by Great Britain.
In 1774 Jefferson wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America, a pamphlet that
denied the power of Parliament in the colonies and stated that any loyalty to England and the
king was to be given by choice. He attended the
Second CONTINENTAL CONGRESS in 1775 and
drafted the Reply to Lord North, in which Con-
gress rejected the British prime minister’s pro-
posal that Parliament would not tax the
colonists if they agreed to tax themselves.
After the Revolutionary War began, Jefferson
and four others were asked to draft a declaration
of independence. Jefferson actually wrote the
Declaration of Independence in 1776, which
stated the arguments justifying the position of
the American Revolutionaries. It also affirmed
the natural rights of all people and affirmed the
right of the colonists to “dissolve the political
bands” with the British government.
Jefferson served in the Virginia House of
Delegates from 1776 to 1779 and became gover-
nor of Virginia in 1779. He was responsible for
many changes in Virginia law, including the abo-
lition of religious persecution and the end to
entail (inheritance of land through a particular
line of descent) and primogeniture (inheritance
only by the eldest son). Jefferson also disestab-
lished the Anglican Church as the state-
endorsed religion. Jefferson’s term as governor
expired in 1781, the same year the British
