Thomas Jefferson

Hannah Spahn
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

“Author of the Declaration of American Independence[,] of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia”: when Thomas Jefferson composed the epitaph for his tombstone, these were the three achievements which he listed, as he put it, “as testimonials that I have lived” (Jefferson,

Writings

706). Instead of enumerating, for instance, his various political offices – secretary of state, vice president, and president of the United States among them – Jefferson chose to present himself to posterity as a man of the Enlightenment committed to the ideas of political and religious liberty, member of a generation who had given, as he claimed in his last political statement, “the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish…

3012 words

Citation: Spahn, Hannah. "Thomas Jefferson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 May 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2354, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2354 Thomas Jefferson 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.