A Biography of By Laura Rabb Mrs. Barnett’s Class March 2009

Thomas is important because he was elected President and wrote the Declaration of Independence.

 Thomas was born April 13, 1743, in Albemarle County, Virginia. He was born to Jane and Peter Jefferson. He had three sisters. Thomas loved to read and write but he was very shy.

 Thomas went to William and Mary College. Then he went to law school and became a lawyer.  He got married to Martha Wayles Skelton. They liked to play music together. They had six children but four died.

 Thomas was elected to the 2 nd Continental Congress during the American Revolution.  He wrote the Declaration of Independence. This document was adopted on July 4, It said that all people were equal and that we were free from England.

 He worked to make government better.  He worked for religious freedom.  He was Governor of Virginia for two years.  He was U.S. Minister to France.  He was Secretary of State for President George Washington in  He was Vice President for John Adams.  In 1800 he became the 3 rd President of the U.S.

 He made the deal to buy the Louisiana Territory from France. This land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. This deal made the U.S. two times bigger.  He sent Lewis and Clark to this new land. He was president from 1801 to He kept the U.S. out of war with England and France.

 He liked to work with new plants on his farm. He was one of the first to grow tomatoes in the U.S.  When the first Library of Congress burned down, Jefferson sold almost 7,000 of his books to the new library.  When he was 76, he founded the University of Virginia.  He died on July 4,1826, exactly 50 years after he signed the Declaration of Independence.

 The Dumbwaiter was a tiny elevator that carried wine from the cellar to the dining room.  He invented the swivel chair, storm windows and automatic double doors.  He invented a machine that wrote two copies of a letter at the same time called a polygraph.  He invented the hide- away bed and something called a wheel cipher that helped decode secret messages.  Some people say that he invented macaroni and cheese!

 He is on a nickel and a $2.00 bill.  He named his daughter Martha just like his wife.  He would not come out of his room for a while after his wife died.  He designed and built Monticello.  He was the first secretary of the state.

 He was proactive because he kept the U.S. out of the war between England and France.  He synergized with other people who believed that they could make a difference and who wanted to be free from the King of England.  He sharpened his saw by creating and building Monticello and all the inventions in it.  He thought win-win by working with France to buy the Louisiana Purchase from them.

 Barrett, Marvin. Meet Thomas Jefferson. Random House: New York  Cross Giblin, James. Thomas Jefferson: A Picture Book Bibliography. Scholastic, Inc: New York  Greene, Carol. Thomas Jefferson: Author, Inventor, President. Childrens Press: Chicago  Raatma, Lucia. Thomas Jefferson. Compass Point Books: Minneapolis, MN  Wilson, Jr. Vincent. The Book of the Presidents. American History Research Associates: Brookeville, MD.  06/10/27/12-things- thomas-jefferson- invented/ (visited March 27, 2009) 06/10/27/12-things- thomas-jefferson- invented/