• Writer of the Declaration of Independence
• Third president of the United States
• Doubled the size of the United States (Louisiana Purchase)
• First Secretary of State Founded the University of Virginia
• Writer of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom
Declaration author, third President, founder of UVA.
Jefferson's law separating church and state.
The 1803 purchase that doubled America's size.
North African pirates who attacked American ships.
DOUGLAS GINSBURG, Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit:
Like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson was a man of many talents. On his gravestone, Jefferson listed one of his proudest achievements – author of the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration is not only our nation’s birth certificate – it is a timeless definition of liberty: That all persons are created equal. And that government is the servant – not the master – of the people.
Jefferson also took pride in having written the Virginia Statue on Religious Freedom – when most nations had an official religion, and some punished heresy. Jefferson’s Statute inspired the Founders to enshrine religious liberty in our Constitution.
As our first Secretary of State, Jefferson kept America neutral in foreign affairs. As our third president,
he also kept us out of war between Britain and France. But he built up our Navy and sent it to defend American ships from the Barbary pirates of North Africa. And he doubled the nation’s size with the Louisiana Purchase.
In his seventies, Jefferson founded the University of Virginia – now a premier public university. “This institution,” he declared, “will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind.”
