Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States (1801-1809). He was a spokesman for democracy and the rights of man with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779-1781). Jefferson was a prolific writer and philosopher, as well as a skilled politician, lawyer, and architect. He designed his own home, Monticello, and the campus of the University of Virginia. As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as the exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy. He was a leader in the Enlightenment and a firm believer in the scientific method. He was a polymath who spoke five languages and was deeply interested in science, invention, architecture, religion, and philosophy. He was a founder of the University of Virginia and the founder of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society.
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