Thomas Jefferson, the “Sage of Monticello,” and founder of the University of Virginia, was born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia. He was educated at William and Mary College, and early developed a rare taste for study, music, and general culture. His is one of the greatest and most interesting figures in our history. He received and adorned all the positions in the gift of his fellow-citizens, from that of member of the State Legislature to that of President of the United States, which office he twice filled. He is considered the founder of the present Democratic party in politics; and he gained imperishable fame as the author of the Declaration of Independence. He spent five years in France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin as minister to that country, and he introduced into the United States the decimal system of currency.
Monticello, the Home of Thomas Jefferson, Albemarle County, Va.
His love for country life induced him to retire to Monticello, his place in Albemarle County, where he spent his declining years in planning and establishing the University of Virginia. His love of freedom in every possible form is shown in his plan for the University, which was, unlike most colleges of the times, to be under the patronage of no church, and the students were to be controlled like any community of citizens. He was also opposed to slavery. (See his Notes on Virginia.)
He died at Monticello, July 4, 1826, on the same day with John Adams, just fifty years after the great event of their lives, the declaration of independence of the United States.
The following inscription was at his own request put upon his tombstone:
Thomas Jefferson,
Author of the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of
Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father
of the University of Virginia.
WORKS.
Autobiography, Essays, Treatises, Letters, Reports, Messages, and Addresses, (9 volumes).