Thomas Jefferson
Many men dedicated the whole of their lives to the cause of the United States of America. They wanted to see a unified state, a country where men and women could live and move freely, and even though it took countless years of hard work and devotion to bring this dream in to the real world, their actions resulted in putting the country on the right track. One of these men was Thomas Jefferson. Born on the 2nd of April in 1743, he lived up till the 4th of July 1826. In addition to being the 3rd President of the United States of America, he was also the 2nd Vice President of the United States, the 1st United States Secretary of State, the 2nd Governor of Virginia and also the holder of numerous other titles.
He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the document which changed the future of all Americans, and put the country on the world map. Apart from this, Thomas Jefferson also played an instrumental role (while as President) in the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French in 1803. In the subsequent year, he set up the Lewis and Clark Expedition in order to explore the vast territory that he had purchased. For two terms, Thomas Jefferson held the office, and during this time, the whole size of the United States virtually doubled. His second term was certainly not as successful as the first one; it was beset with a number of different troubles at home, none more so than the failed treason trial of the former Vice President Aaron Burr.
Secondly, as the British began to threaten the American shipping industry due to the neutrality of the United States against the war of the British with the French, Jefferson resorted to economic warfare, by setting up embargoes. Unfortunately, it only ended up damaging trade within the country itself. Jefferson was also notable for drafting and signing a bill that banned the importation of slaves within the United States. Thomas Jefferson was a polymath in arts, sciences as well as politics.
Thomas Jefferson was also an architect, and was the designer of his own mansion, the Monticello, which was set up on a 5,000 acre plantation and situated near the town of Charlottesville, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson also designed the original buildings of the University of Virginia. Jefferson was also the President of the American Philosophical Society. Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson was opposed to slavery, however, he owned hundreds of slaves himself and only ever freed a handful of them. Thomas Jefferson was a man who made countless contributions to the cause of the United States of America, at a time when the country required as much help as it could get from great and enlightened men, and despite the many flaws that historians point to in his character, it is unlikely that the country could have been what it is today had it not been for the devotion and ingenuity of this man.
