Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Following the American Revolutionary War and prior to becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, and produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. His writings and advocacy for human rights, including freedom of thought, speech, and religion, served as substantial inspirations to the American Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War in which the Thirteen Colonies succeeded in breaking from British America and establishing the United States as a free and sovereign nation.

13 April 1743

Born on the same birth day (13 April): Aaron Lewis • Alan Clark • Alan Jones (radio broadcaster) • Allison Williams (actress) • April 13 • Arthur Harris • Christopher Hitchens • Howard Keel • J. B. Lightfoot • Jonathan Brandis • Klaus Lehnertz • Len Cook • Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans • Olga Tañón • Philip Norman (author) • Phyllis Fraser • Sorcha Boru

Born in the same month (April 1743): Edmund Cartwright