Daily President: Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

Oh wow, I'm terrible with keeping up with the schedule for this thing

Anyways, our third president is... the third president, Thomas Jefferson! Kinda cool how he randomly ended up being #3. So, Thomas Jefferson! Here we come to the first founding father president we'll be looking at, and one of the most influential early American politicians.



Jefferson was born in colonial Virginia, and studied law at William and Mary College, after which he had a brief legal career representing slaves suing for their freedom (although ironically, he himself owned slaves). During the revolution, he was a representative for Virginia in the continental congress, authored the Declaration of Independence, and served as governor of his home state, which saw Virginia move it's capital to Richmond, where it remains to the present. After the Revolution, he served as minister to France, and secretary of state under Washington. Alongside James Madison, he formed the Democratic-Republican party in opposition to John Adams and his Federalists, starting the First Party System. In 1800, Jefferson defeated his friend/rival Adams in an election, and almost lost the presidency to Aaron Burr due to how elections worked at the time and a single D-R Party elector failing to abstain from casting a second vote, until the House of Representatives settled the matter by giving Jefferson the presidency (the flaw was later corrected and separate votes were cast for president and VP). In Jefferson's first term, his major accomplishments included fighting pirates on the Barbary Coast, and the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the USA. Near the end of Jefferson's first term, Vice President Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, and then proceeded to commit treason, forcing Jefferson to replace him with George Clinton, who would also be Vice President for his successor, James Madison. In 1804, Jefferson ran against Federalist Charles C. Pinckney, and easily won a second term. In his next 4 years saw the controversial Embargo Act cause economic disturbance, as well as the first Indian Removals, to Louisiana, and the banning of the importation of slaves in 1807. Over 200 years after leaving office, Jefferson remains one of the most well-respected presidents, often considered one of the best.

Fun Jefferson Fact: He claimed to know 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, Welsh, Arabic, Greek, and Latin

Tomorrow's (If i actually make a post tomorrow) president will be George Washington!

Personally, I don't see why people think Jefferson was a great president. Sure, he was able to make the USA be a more democratic and free country, but besides that nothing truly positive or groundbreaking occurred due to him. Yes, there was the Louisiana purchase, but that was bound to happen since Napoleon was not interested in the land and the only reasonable country to hand it to would be the US.