Thomas Jefferson

From Turtledove

Thomas Jefferson
Historical Figure
Timeline:	OTL
Nationality:	United States
Religion:	Deist
Date of Birth:	1743
Date of Death:	1826
Cause of Death:	Natural Causes
Occupation:	Politician, Political Philosopher, Inventor
Spouse:	Martha Jefferson
Children:	Martha Washington Jefferson, Jane Randolph Jefferson, stillborn son, Mary Wayles Jefferson, Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson I, Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson II.
Affiliations:	Democratic Party
Timeline:	Southern Victory (posthumous references)

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was a founding father of the United States. He authored the Declaration of Independence and served as the third President of the United States from 1801-1809, as well as the first Secretary of State and the second Vice President. During his presidency, he made the Louisiana Purchase from France, which very nearly doubled the country's territory.

Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. He also served as governor of Virginia from 1779-1781 and ambassador to France from 1783-1784.

[edit] Thomas Jefferson in Southern Victory

Following the War of Secession, Thomas Jefferson was best remembered as an anti-Federalist who attempted to prevent the formation and later to eviscerate the powers of a strong central government. His anti-Federalism provided the intellectual underpinnings for John C. Calhoun's belief in the right of the state to nullify federal law within its borders, which in turn provided the intellectual underpinnings for the Founding Fathers of the Confederate' belief in secession. Because of this, as well as because of his Virginian roots and his ownership of slaves, he was more popular in the CS than in the US (though he would doubtless have found Jake Featherston's centralization of the former nation's federal government very problematic and would in fact probably have considered Featherston a worse tyrant than the British).

In the US, historians tend to look much more favorably on Northern Founding Fathers--such as John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, both of whom Jefferson considered his archrivals. Nevertheless, he joined George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt as the most memorable presidents in US history, though of the four only Roosevelt was viewed in a positive light.

Office
Preceded by John Adams	President of the United States 1801-1809	Succeeded by James Madison

Office
Preceded by None	Democratic-Republican Party Presidential Candidate 1800,1804	Succeeded by James Madison

Office
Preceded by John Adams	Vice-President of the United States 1797-1801	Succeeded by Aaron Burr

Office
Preceded by None	Secretary of State for the United States 1790-1793	Succeeded by Edmund Randolph