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| Thomas Jefferson was the President of the United States. Join: US Presidents Project Discuss: presidents |
- At a dinner to honor Nobel Prize recipients of the Western Hemisphere, U.S. President John F. Kennedy said, “I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. (29 Apr 1962)[1]
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Biography
Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most influential of the United States' Founding Fathers. His portrait graces the US two-dollar bill and nickel.
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France.
Jefferson supported states' rights, limited federal government power, and separation of church and state.
He believed that every American was entitled to an education adequate enough to give a person the skills and abilities needed to vote. Beyond that, he believed, should be determined on a person-by-person basis. Not everyone is suited to a college education.
Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801).
Jefferson was a man who wore many hats including horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia.
Jefferson died on the Fourth of July, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. He died a few hours before John Adams. There are stories that while Adams lay dying, he spoke of Thomas, unaware that Jefferson had already passed away.
Thomas Jefferson's alma mater was the College of William and Mary.
Thomas Jefferson in his own words
From the pen of Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event."
--Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.
"I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ."
--The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.
DNA
Jefferson's Y-DNA is of the type found in Haplogroup T (formerly K2) and is considered fairly rare according to the same article. You may read more about Haplogroup T here.[1]
More DNA information for Thomas Jefferson and other famous people is available on the Wikipedia link here.[2]
Thomas Jefferson's oldest known ancestors can be accessed by using the WikiTree.Widget.
Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Thomas Jefferson had an intimate relationship with, Sally Hemings, a woman he enslaved. Due to evidence from the time, plus the addition of Y DNA testing, it is believed he was the father of six of her children. See: Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson for more detailed information. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation believes the preponderance of evidence is strongest in favor of this being true. With this in mind, relationships on WikiTree will reflect this conclusion until/unless brand new evidence that strongly sways the conclusion in a new direction comes to light. WikiTree's US Presidents Project and US Black Heritage Project are in agreement that they will not engage in any arguments or discussion regarding these relationships without new evidence.
Legacy
Twenty-six U.S. states have named counties in President Jefferson's honor: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
See also: Monticello Plantation, Albemarle, Virginia
Sources
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, URL: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8623. Accessed 19 Mar 2018 by Patricia Prickett Hickin.
- The Connecticut Courant. Vol XXXVII. Number 1965. Hartford, Connecticut. Monday, 20 Sep 1802. fp
- Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America / [Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Editor]. - 2nd Ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981. Print.
- Dabney Neff McLean. The English Ancestry of Thomas Jefferson. Clearfield; 1 January 1996. ISBN 978-0-8063-4608-3.
- Call, Michel L. 2006. The royal ancestry bible: a 3,400 pedigree chart compilation (plus index and appendix) containing royal ancestors of 300 colonial American families who are themselves ancestors of 70 million Americans: condensed edition with Mormon pioneer supplement. Salt Lake City, Utah: M.L. Call - Descent of Four Presidents from Emperor Charlemagne
- Roberts, Gary Boyd, Christopher Challender Child, and Julie Helen Otto. 1989. Ancestors of American presidents. Santa Clarita, Calif: C. Boyer. pp. 6-8, 139-141
- Godfrey Memorial Library, comp.
- American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 1999; Godfrey Memorial Library, American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library
- Portrait & Bio. Album of Mahaska Co. IA (1887)
- Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 23 September 2019), memorial page for Thomas Jefferson (13 Apr 1743–4 Jul 1826), Find A Grave: Memorial #544, citing Monticello National Park Grounds, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.
- Albemarle County in Virginia...; 1901 See pp. 235-38 for a history of the Jefferson family in Albemarle County VA.
- Wikipedia: Thomas Jefferson
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Albemarle County (11 May 1769–1 June 1775)
