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U.S. Presidents
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Thomas Jefferson
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Ulysses S. Grant
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James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
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William McKinley
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William H. Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Key Dates
1760 Thomas Jefferson enters the College of William and Mary.
1767 Jefferson begins practicing law.
1768 Jefferson begins building Monticello.
1768 Jefferson is elected to the Virginia Legislature.
1772 Thomas Jefferson marries Martha Wayles Skelton.
1772 Jefferson's daughter Marhta is born.
1775 Jefferson serves at the Second Continental Congress.
1776 Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence.
1779 Thomas Jefferson is elected governor of Virginia.
1782 Martha Washington dies.
1784 Jefferson serves as the American minister to France.
1789 The French Revolution begins.
1790 Washington appoints Jefferson as his Secretary of State.
1796 John Adams defeats Jefferson in the presidential elections.
1800 Jefferson and Arron Burr tie in the election for president.
1800 Spain gives Louisiana back to France.
1801 The House of Representatives breaks the tie by electing Jefferson as president and Burr vice president.
1801 Jefferson appoints Madison as Secretary of State.
1803 The Supreme Court declares a law unconstitutional for the first time.
1803 Louisiana is purchased from France. Lewis and Clark set off to explore the territory.
1804 Jefferson is reelected.
1808 Jefferson prohibits the importation of slaves from Africa.
1819 Jefferson founds the University of Virginia.
1826 On July 4th Jefferson dies a few hours before John Adams.
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Thomas Jefferson
1801 - 1809
Third President
Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia before the United States became a country.
He was the country's first-known speleologist (cave explorer).
Thomas Jefferson didn't serve in the military.
Jefferson was 6' 2" tall.
He was a lawyer and plantation owner.
On New Years day of 1772 he and Martha Wayles Skelton married.
Thomas designed his famous home, Monticello. He had several unique features including a two faced clock that it could be seen from the inside of the house and from outside.
He was one of the first people in the U.S. to eat and grow tomatoes. He ate some while he Paris, France and brought back some seeds. He also picked up a recipe for vanilla ice cream. When he returned to the States, Jefferson would often serve the cold treat to guests at Monticello,
Thomas Jefferson could read Greek, Latin, French and English.
Thomas was 6' 2.5" tall.
Thomas Jefferson had two daughters who lived to adulthood (Martha-"Patsy" and May-"Polly." There are books written about him also fathering illegitimate children with his slave Sally Hemings.
Jefferson served in the Virginia House of Burgess.
He also served as a minister to France and as Secretary of State.
Jefferson thought his biggest achievement in life was writing the Declaration of Independence.
List of offices Jefferson held besides being President:
- Member of Virginia House of Burgesses, 1769-74
- Member of Continental Congress, 1775-76
- Governor of Virginia, 1779-81
- Member of Continental Congress, 1783-85
- Minister to France, 1785-89
- Secretary of State, 1790-93 (under Washington)
- Vice President, 1797-1801
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Some people give him credit for starting the inaugural parade. People followed him when he was walking back to the White House after being sworn in as president.
He was the second of seven Presidents who came from Virginia.
Jefferson originated the custom of shaking hands with the President of the U.S. Before his term people bowed to the President.
Thomas Jefferson owned slaves at one time.
The first baby to be born in the White House took place during Jefferson's administration. His grandson, James Manison Randolph was born there.
However, he also wrote the often quoted words "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal".
His first election to President came by a vote of the House of Representatives because no one had won a majority of the votes. Jefferson had 73 electoral votes, Burr had 73 electoral votes, and Adams had 65 electoral votes. Burr had run for vice president, but did not withdraw from the presidential vote in the House of Representatives.
The state of Ohio was added to the United States while he was president (1803).
Jefferson always carried a notebook and a pencil so he could write down ideas.
Thomas Jefferson had two vice presidents during his terms, Aaron Burr (1801-1805) and George Clinton (1805-1809).
He founded the University of Virginia in 1819. He is the only president who started a college/university.
Thomas Jefferson's right hand was crippled in 1786 from rheumatism.
The Library of Congress purchased his 6,500 volume book collection in 1815 to replace the collection that had been burned by the British. He received $23,950 for his books.
Thomas Jefferson was Vice President under John Adams.
During Thomas Jefferson's Presidency the US fought the Tripolitan War, 1800-1805, against the Barbary pirates.
Ohio became a state in 1803.
Jefferson was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. The purchase of this land foe 15 million dollars expanded the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean and double the area of the U.S. James Monroe was one of the people who negotiated the agreement.
Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this uncharted area.
Clark and Lewis sent to grizzly bear cubs to the White House. It is said that Jefferson could be seen walking on the White House grounds with the cubs. He kept the bears in a cage on the White House lawn.
Jefferson also had a pet mocking bird named Dick. He trained it to sing while he played the violin.
President Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th. He died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He died a few hours after John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson even designed his own tombstone and wrote the epitaph which didn't mention him being president. His epitaph read, "Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the Father of the University of Virginia.
Quotes from Thomas Jefferson:
"Agriculture is the most useful occupations of man."
Thomas Jefferson, May 29, 1807
"When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred." February 21, 1825.
"It is more honorable to repair a wrong than to persist in it."
To the Cherokee Chiefs, Jan. 10, 1806
"The Constitution of the United States is the result of the collected wisdom of our country." Nov. 20, 1801
"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."aa
Web Sites:
Explore Monticello - Learn about Thomas Jefferson's home and the grounds surrounding it. |
. Random House, USA, 2006
. Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 2009
Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 2011
, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2011
, Scholastic Inc. New York, 2001
, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2012