Explore the paradox of the American Revolution—the fight for liberty in an era of pervasive slavery—through the lens of Monticello and its inhabitants. From the "nickel view" of the main house to Jefferson's favorite outdoor reading spot. Stories and news from the worlds of Thomas Jefferson, the larger Monticello community, and the life of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
How have the words and ideas of the Declaration of Independence impacted human rights around the world? There are several ways to celebrate the holidays with Monticello.
Explore our offerings and make your plans to join us on the mountaintop this season. Thomas Jefferson enslaved over six hundred people throughout his life. Learn about the men, women, and children who built Jefferson's home, planted his crops, tended his gardens, and who helped run his household and raise his children. Thomas Jefferson is one of the most frequently quoted and misquoted figures in American history.
Search this extensive collection of quotes by and about Thomas Jefferson—all fully verified and cited by the editors of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. Buy Tickets. In , Jefferson began building his house on the plantation that he inherited from his father, Peter Jefferson. He located it on top of a hill he explored as a child. The main house was still not finished two years later. When he married Martha W. Skelton in , he brought her to the South Pavilion, his bachelor quarters, because the house was not yet habitable.
The newlyweds arrived on horseback during a blizzard. The original eight-room house was apparently still incomplete in the s, but even so impressed European visitors with the sophistication of its design. At this stage, Jefferson knew architecture only through books, and his house closely followed the designs of Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio.
His pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America , written at Monticello and published in , demonstrated his knowledge of the law and his ability to write clearly. By the time Virginia sent him to the Second Continental Congress two years later, everyone recognized him as a fluent writer and superb legal draftsman. The committee appointed to draft a declaration of independence in June selected him to write it.
He submitted his last draft on July 2. Two days later, Congress adopted the final version of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson served as governor of Virginia from to During this time, he drafted the important Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, although it did not become law until Driven from his home by the British and heavily criticized during his last year in office, he decided to abandon politics and retire to Monticello. The death of his wife in changed his plans.
Although he lost his wife at a young age long before residing in the White House, Thomas Jefferson never remarried. They had six children, but only two survived to adulthood. Returning to politics, he served briefly in Congress under the Articles of Confederation, where he laid the foundations for the Northwest Ordinance of that established the framework for westward expansion.
In , he went to France as a member of a trade commission. A year later, he succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France. He thrived on the Enlightenment principles he encountered in France and was smitten with the new Neoclassical architecture that he saw. When Jefferson returned to America in , George Washington asked him to serve as his secretary of state. He held that position until , when he resigned after a series of bitter disputes with Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury.
Hamilton generally distrusted the common man and favored a strong federal government that would encourage the development of industry in the new nation. Jefferson, on the other hand, had an abiding faith in the ability of the people to govern themselves and saw no need for a strong central government. His vision of America was of an agrarian nation of educated small farmers.
The Constitution made no provision for political parties, but the new Federalist Party soon coalesced around Hamilton and his allies. Jefferson was at the heart of the Democratic-Republican Party. In the election of , Jefferson finished second to John Adams, the Federalist candidate. Under the Constitution at that time, Jefferson became vice president, although the fact that the two men were from different parties guaranteed conflict.
In , Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, received the same number of electoral votes, throwing the decision into the House of Representatives, which finally chose Jefferson in February The two confused elections led in to the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which corrected the problems by providing for separate voting for vice president.
Many Federalists feared the onset of mob rule in America after Jefferson's election in , but this first transition from one political party to another passed smoothly. Jefferson immediately dispatched Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the new territory and to continue to the Pacific Coast. Easily re-elected in , Jefferson had to deal with the effects of the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and France.
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