Thomas Jefferson Facts for Kids

Thomas Jefferson (1743 to 1826) was the third President of the United States, from 1801 to 1809, and the main writer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. As president he made the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the country. He founded the University of Virginia. He also enslaved more than 600 people during his life.

Thomas Jefferson quick facts

• Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States.
• He wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence at 33.
• The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States.
• He enslaved more than 600 people during his lifetime.
• He died on 4 July 1826, the same day as John Adams.

Who was Thomas Jefferson?

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, from 1801 to 1809. He is famous as the main writer of the Declaration of Independence, the document that announced America’s break from Britain in 1776.

He was also a lawyer, a farmer, an architect and a keen reader, who founded the University of Virginia.

But Jefferson’s life had a deep contradiction. He wrote that “all men are created equal”, yet he enslaved more than 600 people during his lifetime, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center says. This guide tells both parts of his story.

Thomas Jefferson at a glance
Born	13 April 1743, Shadwell, Virginia
Died	4 July 1826, Monticello, Virginia
President	3rd, from 1801 to 1809
Party	Democratic-Republican
Famous for	the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase
Home	Monticello, Virginia

Early life

Thomas Jefferson was born on 13 April 1743 at Shadwell, a plantation in Virginia, the Miller Center says. The National Park Service says he was the elder of two sons in a family of ten children.

His father, Peter Jefferson, was a surveyor and planter. He died in 1757, when Thomas was 14, and The White House says Thomas inherited about 5,000 acres of land.

Jefferson went to the College of William and Mary in 1760 and graduated in 1762. He then studied law, and the National Park Service says he began working as a lawyer in 1767.

In 1769, he was elected to the House of Burgesses, Virginia’s law-making assembly, The White House says.

Family life

On 1 January 1772, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, a young widow. The National Park Service says they had six children, but only two of their daughters lived to be adults.

Martha died on 6 September 1782. Jefferson never married again.

Writing the Declaration of Independence

By the 1770s, many people in the American colonies wanted to break away from British rule. In 1774, the Miller Center says, Jefferson wrote a pamphlet called “A Summary View of the Rights of British America”, which made him well known.

On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress chose five men to write a declaration of independence. The National Archives says they were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson wrote the first draft. He was only 33 years old. The White House says he wrote it in 17 days in June 1776. Franklin and Adams then suggested changes before it went to the whole committee.

Congress voted for independence on 2 July 1776 and officially adopted the Declaration on 4 July 1776, the National Archives says. That is why Americans celebrate 4 July as Independence Day. Learn more in our American Revolution facts.

The handwritten copy was signed on 2 August 1776, and 56 men signed it in the end. The Declaration has been kept at the National Archives in Washington, DC, since 1952.

Jefferson’s first draft criticised slavery, the Miller Center says, but that part was taken out.

Jobs before he was president

Jefferson held many important jobs. The White House says he was Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, during the Revolutionary War.

From 1785 to 1789, he was the United States’ minister, a kind of ambassador, to France, living in Europe for several years.

He then became Secretary of State for President George Washington, from 1790 until he resigned in 1793, the National Park Service says.

In the 1796 election, Jefferson came second, which under the rules then meant he became Vice President, serving under John Adams from 1797 to 1801.

President Jefferson

The 1800 election ended in a tie in the Electoral College, the Miller Center says, so the House of Representatives had to decide. It chose Jefferson.

He served as president from 4 March 1801 to 4 March 1809, and was re-elected in 1804 by a landslide. The National Park Service says that from 1801 to 1805, he sent the US Navy to fight the Barbary pirates of North Africa.

In 1807, The White House says, he brought in a trade embargo, which stopped American ships trading with other countries.

The Louisiana Purchase

Jefferson’s biggest achievement as president was buying a huge area of land from France. The National Archives says the Louisiana Purchase treaty is dated 30 April 1803.

The United States paid $15 million. The land covered 828,000 square miles, at about 4 cents an acre, and doubled the size of the United States, the National Archives says.

It was much more than today’s state of Louisiana. It stretched across the middle of North America.

Lewis and Clark

Jefferson wanted to know what lay in the new lands. The National Park Service says he chose his own secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an expedition to explore the West.

The group, called the Corps of Discovery, had more than 30 people, including a Native woman and her child and an enslaved Black man, the National Park Service says. Their aim was to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean, and they did reach the Pacific.

The National Park Service says the Lewis and Clark trail is about 4,900 miles long, and crosses the lands of more than 60 Native American tribes. Learn more in our Native American facts.

Monticello, books and ideas

Jefferson’s home was Monticello, a house he designed himself on a hill in Virginia. He returned there after his presidency in March 1809.

He loved architecture, music, gardening and tinkering with machines, the National Park Service says. He played the violin. People often say he invented many gadgets, but the National Park Service says his only true invention was an iron blade for a plough.

He loved books. The Miller Center says he sold much of his library to Congress to replace books the British burned during the War of 1812.

In 1819, he founded the University of Virginia, which opened in 1825, The White House says. The Miller Center says he designed its buildings, planned what students would learn and chose the teachers.

Jefferson and slavery

Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal”, but he did not free the people he enslaved, the Miller Center says. Over his lifetime, it says, he enslaved 607 people.

PBS NewsHour reported in 2026 that of the more than 600 people Jefferson enslaved, he freed only 10. Up to 70 members of one family, the Hemings family, were enslaved at Monticello over five generations.

The Miller Center says that as a Virginia lawmaker, Jefferson did propose stopping enslaved Africans from being brought into Virginia, and banning slavery in the Northwest Territory. But he kept enslaving people at Monticello. Many were used as security for money he had borrowed, so they were not freed when he died.

Sally Hemings

One of the people Jefferson enslaved was Sally Hemings. PBS and the Miller Center say she was the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife, Martha.

The National Archives says she was 14 when she went to Paris in 1787, to look after Jefferson’s young daughter.

Jefferson and Sally Hemings had six children, and four lived to be adults: Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston, the National Archives says. Beverly and Harriet left Monticello in 1822, and Madison and Eston were freed by Jefferson’s will.

DNA tests in 1998 linked Hemings’s descendants to the Jefferson family. The Miller Center says the evidence makes “a convincing case” that Jefferson was their father.

Today, Monticello tells the stories of the people who were enslaved there. PBS says a memorial wall opened there in 2023, listing 610 names.

His death and his gravestone

Thomas Jefferson died on 4 July 1826, aged 83, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Amazingly, John Adams, the second president, died on the same day.

Jefferson is buried at Monticello. He wrote the words for his gravestone himself, the National Park Service says. They list three things: writing the Declaration of Independence, writing Virginia’s law on religious freedom, and founding the University of Virginia. Being president is not mentioned.

Americans remember their early presidents every February. Find out more in our Presidents Day facts.

More Jefferson facts

Jefferson was tall for his time. The National Park Service says he was about 6 feet 2½ inches tall, and freckled.

He had a second home too. The National Park Service says he owned a house called Poplar Forest, near the town of Lynchburg in Virginia.

He loved science. The Miller Center says he was president of the American Philosophical Society, a famous club for scientists and thinkers, until 1815.

He cared deeply about religious freedom. The law he wrote for Virginia, protecting people’s right to follow their own religion, was one of the three things he chose to have carved on his gravestone.

Three things people get wrong

Jefferson did not write the Declaration all alone. A committee of five was chosen, and Franklin and Adams suggested changes.

Not everyone signed the Declaration on 4 July 1776. The handwritten copy was signed on 2 August.

The Louisiana Purchase was not just Louisiana. It doubled the size of the United States.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Thomas Jefferson famous?

He wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, was the third US president and made the Louisiana Purchase.

When was Thomas Jefferson president?

From 4 March 1801 to 4 March 1809, for two terms. He was the third President of the United States.

What was the Louisiana Purchase?

In 1803 the USA bought 828,000 square miles of land from France for $15 million, doubling the size of the country.

Did Thomas Jefferson own slaves?

Yes. The Miller Center says he enslaved 607 people during his life, and PBS reports he freed only 10 of them.

Who was Sally Hemings?

An enslaved woman at Monticello, half-sister of Jefferson’s wife. DNA evidence makes a convincing case that Jefferson fathered her children.

When did Thomas Jefferson die?

He died on 4 July 1826, aged 83, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Sources

• UVA Miller Center: Thomas Jefferson, life in brief — his career, the 1800 election and the Louisiana Purchase; its pages on his fact sheet, family, life after the presidency, legacy and Sally Hemings were also used
• US National Archives: the Declaration of Independence — the committee of five, dates and signers; its Louisiana Purchase page was also used
• US National Archives (Reagan Library blog, 2023): the Jefferson-Hemings children — Sally Hemings and her four surviving children
• US National Park Service: Thomas Jefferson biography — his life, jobs, interests and gravestone; its Gateway Arch and Lewis and Clark pages were also used
• The White House: founding fathers timeline — dates in Jefferson’s life and career
• PBS NewsHour (July 2026): Jefferson’s complicated legacy — the people he enslaved, the Hemings family and the memorial wall