Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most influential people in American history. He is most notably recognized for writing the Declaration of Independence. Though this is a great accomplishment it is not his only one. A few of his other accomplishments include being vice president under John Adams, becoming the third president of the United States, the wartime governor of Virginia, minister to France, and Secretary of State under George Washington.

In June 1779, Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia. His political enemies criticized his performance as war governor harshly. He was charged with failure to provide adequate defense at Richmond in 1780 and 1781, although he knew a British invasion was clearly about to happen. In June of 1781 he retired from the governorship. The Virginia assembly later decided that an investigation needed to be made into the conduct of Jefferson's actions while he was governor. The assembly found that Jefferson was not responsible for what had happen in fact, the assembly unanimously voted to appreciate his conduct during his governorship.

Between the years of 1784 and 1789 Jefferson lived outside of the United States. He was mainly stationed in Paris to be a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. Then in 1875 he succeeded Benjamin Franklin as Minister to France. He came up with the idea for France to emulate the British system of constitutional monarchy.

After completing his services in France he returned to America and was appointed as Secretary of State under George Washington. Jefferson was not happy at his position because he did not agree with most of the things that were occurring. These events include allowing the Bank of the United States Act to be passed. He thought most of the ideas that Alexander Hamilton came up with were bad. He thought this because Hamilton was a federalist and Jefferson thought he was going to put monarchist ideas in the government. He resigned on December 31, 1973.

The most famous thing he is known for is being the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. He is only considered to be the primary author because the declaration was revised and parts were re-written by many others. This document states that all men are equal in rights, regardless of birth,