THOMAS JEFFERSON. - American statesman, b. at Shadwell (Virginia) on 13 Apr. 1743, d. at Monticello (Virginia) on 4 July 1826. For some years he practised law; but soon he emerged as one of the most influential and decisive defenders of the rights of the American colonies against England. As a deputy to the Assembly of Virginia, in 1775 he was elected to the Continental Congress and entrusted with drafting the Declaration of Independence, the famous document by which the colonies broke their ties with the mother country in 1776. Returning to Virginia, he devoted himself to a programme of liberal reforms (separation of State and Church, full religious tolerance, etc.) which he himself had elaborated. He served as Governor of the State (1779), was again a delegate to the Continental Congress (1783), and then minister of the new Confederation to Paris (1785).
His stay in France was of great importance for the evolution of his thought. Starting from positions linked to the English liberal tradition and only partly derived from the Enlightenment, J., through contact with French thinkers, moved away from Anglo-Saxon legalism and traditionalism to embrace a decidedly rationalist and revolutionary philosophy. Moreover, Europe viewed and judged in the light of the Enlightenment convinced him that in America not only had a new nation been founded, but a new age had been inaugurated in the history of mankind: the secular era of peace, progress, and reason. Returning to his homeland after the outbreak of the French Revolution, which he welcomed with exultation and sought to guide, thanks to his prestige with La Fayette and his friends, toward modern forms, he entered as Secretary of State in Washington’s cabinet (1789). The following decade saw the struggle between the Federalist Party, oriented toward conservative solutions in the organization of the State and government under the leadership of the highly skilled Alexander Hamilton, and the Republican Party, which J. gathered around himself and imbued with a decidedly democratic ideology. The conflict had fluctuating fortunes, exacerbated by the echoes of the French Revolution; it culminated in 1800 with the victory of the Republicans and J.’s election to the presidency of the United States. In 1803 he negotiated with Napoleon the purchase of Louisiana. He left office in 1809.