Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father who was principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776). He was elected the second Vice President of the United States (1797–1801) and the third President (1801–09). Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, which motivated American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation. He produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level.

Primarily of English ancestry, he was born and educated in Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg and practiced law. During the American Revolution, he represented Virginia in the Continental Congress that adopted the Declaration, drafted the law for religious freedom as a Virginia legislator, and served as a wartime governor (1779–1781). He became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nation's first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System. In 1796, he was elected vice president. With Madison, he anonymously wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798–1799, which sought to embolden states' rights in opposition to the national government by nullifying the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Thomas Jefferson (athlete)

Thomas Theodore Jefferson (born June 8, 1962) is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the 200 meters. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Kent State University.

He competed for the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in the 200 metres where he won the bronze medal.

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Thomas Jefferson (musician)

Thomas Jefferson (born June 20, 1920, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American Dixieland jazz trumpeter, strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong.

Jefferson played drums and French horn while young before switching to trumpet. He played with Papa Celestin's orchestra in 1936, as well as with New Orleans jazz musicians such as Sidney Desvigne and Jump Jackson. In the 1950s, he worked with Johnny St. Cyr, Santo Pecora, and George Lewis. He recorded sparingly as a leader; sessions include an album for Southland Records in 1960 and one for Storyville Records in 1974. Jazz critic Scott Yanow called Jefferson "one of the finest trumpeters in New Orleans during the 1950s and 60s."

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Jefferson Memorial

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), one of the most important of the American Founding Fathers as the main drafter and writer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, Governor of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia, American minister to King Louis XVI and the Kingdom of France, first U.S. Secretary of State under the first President George Washington, the second Vice President of the United States under second President John Adams, and also the third President (1801–1809), as well as being the founder of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia.

The neoclassical Memorial building on the Tidal Basin off the Washington Channel of the Potomac River was designed by the architect John Russell Pope and built by the Philadelphia contractor John McShain. Construction of the building began in 1939 and was completed in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947.

Jefferson Memorial (disambiguation)

Jefferson Memorial is an American landmark structure in Washington, D.C.

Jefferson Memorial may also refer to:

Thomas Jefferson (Bitter)

Thomas Jefferson is an outdoor 1915 bronze sculpture of Thomas Jefferson by Karl Bitter, located outside Jefferson High School in north Portland, Oregon, United States. The statue was dedicated in June 1915.

Description

Karl Bitter's statue, which overlooks the football and track fields on the north side of Jefferson High School, depicts Thomas Jefferson seated on a draped chair with his arm resting on its back. His right arm rests in his lap and holds a pen and papers. The bronze measures 5 feet (1.5 m) x 2.5 feet (0.76 m) x 3.5 feet (1.1 m) and sits on a stone base that measures 5 feet (1.5 m) x 3.5 feet (1.1 m) x 4 feet (1.2 m). One description displays: KARL BITTER ROMAN BRONZE WORKS NEW YORK, NY. The front of the plinth reads: THE GIFT OF THE ALUMNI AND STUDENTS OF JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL AND / BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE / JUNE 1915. The base's west side display: BEAR IN MIND THIS SACRED PRINCIPAL, THAT / THOUGH THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY IS IN / ALL CASES TO PREVAIL, THAT WILL, TO BE / RIGHTFUL, MUST BE REASONABLE; THAT THE / MINORITY POSSESS THEIR EQUAL RIGHTS, / WHICH EQUAL LAWS MUST PROTECT, / AND TO VIOLATE WOULD BE OPPRESSION." / THOMAS JEFFERSON. The east side of the base includes inscriptions of the foundry Roman Bronze Works' mark as well as the text: THE GREATEST SERVICE WHICH CAN BE / RENDERED TO ANY COUNTRY IS TO ADD / A USEFUL PLANT TO ITS CULTURE." / THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Thomas Jefferson (film)

Thomas Jefferson is a 1997 three-part American documentary film directed and produced by Ken Burns. It covers the life and times of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States.

In this film Jefferson is portrayed as renaissance man. Not only was he a dedicated public servant, but was also a writer, an inventor, and a noted architect. Burns captures both the public and private person.

Actors and historians

Many noted actors read lines of various historical figures. A series of American university professors of history and political figures discussed background information.

Actors included:

Historians and political commentators included: Daniel Boorstin, Andrew Burstein, Joseph Ellis, Clay S. Jenkinson, Gore Vidal, George Will, Garry Wills, John Hope Franklin, James Oliver Horton and Julian Bond.

A topic of Jefferson's private life was the long-rumored liaison between Jefferson and his mixed-race slave Sally Hemings. She was a half-sister to his late wife, and the daughter of John Wayles and his slave Betty Hemings; Sally was three-quarters white. The white historians gave all the reasons they believed Jefferson would not have done it. Black historians discussed "reality and inevitability." Noted historian John Hope Franklin referred to all the mulattos of the period and said, "These things [interracial liaisons] were part of the natural landscape in Virginia, and Mr. Jefferson was as likely as any others to have done this because it's in character with the times—and indeed, with him, who believed in exploiting these people that he controlled completely."