Thomas Jefferson Facts – 36 Interesting facts about Thomas Jefferson

Facts about Thomas Jefferson

He was instrumental in widening the frontiers of United States and bought the territory of Louisiana. He commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to map and explore uncharted land across the wilderness to the pacific coast. The expedition lasted for two years and produced a wealth of information about Geography, American Indian tribes as well as the flora and fauna of the land.

He named his house Monticello and designed it personally. Monticello means mountain in Italian language.

Monticello and the University of Virginia are on the World Heritage List.

He was also a devoted farmer and grew a number of crops on his farms. He wanted to make US self sufficient in food grains and also advocated crop rotation and also redesigned the plow to make it more efficient.

He had many people who worked in his plantation and farms. It included slaves and other white workers.

He did not free his slaves arguing that they will not be able to survive in the free world. He however did not favor slavery and said it was not the right thing to do.

Although an advocate of individual liberty, he personally owned hundreds of slaves.

He wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, but still considered the African American inferior to whites.

He freed only a small number of slaves in his will and majority of slaves under him was resold later.

His second stint in the office was not rosy and in spite of his efforts to maintain neutrality in the Europe’s Napoleonic Wars (1803-15), the U.S. ended up going to war against Britain in 1812.