Thomas Jefferson

Date of Birth:

13-Apr-1743

Nationality:

United States

Profession:

Thomas Jefferson was the first U.S. secretary of state. Declaration of Independence, first secretary of state and second president (under John Adams). As the third president of the United States, Jefferson stabilized the U.S. economy and defeated generals from North Africa during the Battle of the Barthary. He was responsible for double the size of the United States by successfully securing the purchase of Louisiana. He also founded the University of Virginia. Jefferson also practiced law in Virginia with great success, tried many cases and won most of them. Over the years, he has met and fallen in love with Martha Wayles Skelton, a recent widow and one of the wealthiest women in Virginia. Jefferson was one of the oldest and most ardent supporters of American liberation from Great Britain. He was elected to the Virgin House of Burgesses in 1768 and joined its brilliant bloc, led by Patrick Henry and George Washington.

AUTHOR DETAILS

Thomas Jefferson

Books by Thomas Jefferson

QUOTES BY Thomas Jefferson

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”

“Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”