Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 and raised in Shadwell, Virginia. Jefferson’s original birthdate is April 2, 1743 but it was later pushed back 11 days due to the British wanting to catch up with the rest of Europe and changed their calendar from the Julian system to the Gregorian calendar. Due to that Jefferson’s birthday is recognized as on the 13th of April. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 in Monticello, Virginia from Uremia (Monticello 1234).
Thomas Jefferson is 1 of 10 children from Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph. Jefferson’s father was a successful planter and became ill in the summer of 1757 and never recovered, Thomas was only 14 years old at the time (Monticello 1234). When Jefferson’s father pasted he inherited land as well as a number of slaves. Jefferson was married in January of 1772 to Martha Wayles Skelton. They had 6 kids and out of the 6 only 2 survived into their adulthood (Monticello 1234). The 2 that survived were Martha, known as Patsy, and Mary, known at Maria or Polly. Martha, Jefferson’s wife, died only 10 years after they were married.
Jefferson’s father in law, John Wayles, had given Jefferson more slaves than Jefferson’s own father did once Wayles died. A typical year for Jefferson was owning about 200 slaves and almost half of them were under the age of 16 (Monticello 1234). Over half of Jefferson’s life, he owned about 600 men, woman, and children as slaves. As well as owning slaves Jefferson sold many slaves to the highest payers. In Jefferson’s will it stated that he would only free Hemings family slaves, Elizabeth Hemings and her kids were a part of the Wayles estate (Monticello 1234). It is said that John Wayles was the father of 6 of the kids and Jefferson fathered at least 6 of Sally Hemings kids (Monticello 1234). Only 4 of the 6 kids from Sally Hemings survived to reach adulthood and all 4 are mentioned on Jefferson’s plantation records (Monticello 1234).
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Jefferson had once said “I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves…” Jefferson dedicated his life to political freedom, religious freedom, and educational opportunities (Monticello 1234). Jefferson had attended a 2-year course at the College of William and Mary at the age of 17 (Monticello 1234). After those 2 years he read the law for 5 years with Virginia’s prominent jurist (Monticello 1234).
