Thomas Jefferson

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

T. Jefferson, Letter to Danbury Baptist Association (1802)

Chronology of Mr. Jefferson's Life

1743	Born April 13 in Shadwell (Goochland County), Virginia. His father, Peter, was a wealthy planter and commander of the local militia. His mother Jane Randolph Jefferson was from one of the most well-known families in Virginia, the Randolphs.
1760 - 1762	Attends the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and studies science, math and rhetoric. "Quitted college" in 1760.
1762 - 1767	Studies law in Williamsburg, Virginia.
1769	Drew first sketch of Monticello.
1769 - 1774	Served as Albemarle's delegate to the Virginia House of Buresses.
1772	Marries Martha Wayles Skelton, a twenty-three year old widow, on New Year's Day. Martha "Patsy" Jefferson is born. (Martha gave birth to six children, but only two -- Martha and Mary -- survived to become adults.)
1774	Writes A Summary View of the Rights of British America.
1775	Elected to the Second Continental Congress.
1775	The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775 when British soldiers and colonial militiamen clashed in the towns osf Lexington and Concord, Massachuetts. Athored the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms with .
1776	Principal author of the Declaration of Independence, completing the first draft on June 28. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston also served on the drafting committee which would make minor changes to the Declaration, as did the Congress. The Declaration was approved it on July 4.
1776 - 1779	Served as a member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among his many proposals included arguing for religious freedom, creating a state-wide public school system, giving more owners of small farms the right to vote and overhauling criminal laws to limit the use of the death penalty.
1778	Mary "Polly" Jefferson is born.
1779 - 1781	Governor of Virginia.
1779	Author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (reintroduced by James Madison and passed in 1786).
1781	The British army invaded Virginia. Jefferson narrowly escapes.
1782	Martha Jefferson dies on September 6. Jefferson never remarried.
1783	The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Serves in the U.S. Congress.
1784	Sent to France as the United State's minister. He would return to the United States in 1789 (after the ratification of the Constitution).
1790 - 1793	Appointed first Secretary of State under George Washington.
1797 - 1801	Ran for president of the United States. Finishes second to John Adams and would serve as Vice President.
1801 - 1809	Sworn in as the third President of the United States on March 4, 1801 and would be the first president to serve his entire time in Washington, D.C. Aaron Burr served as his first Vice President from 1801-1805 and George Clinton from 1805-1809. James Madison served as his Secretary of State.
1803	Purchased the Louisiana Territory for $15 million, nearly doubling the size of the United States.
1804 - 1806	Lewis and Clark explore from St. Louis, Missouri over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean near present day Astoria, Oregon.
1807	At the urging of Jefferson, Congress adopted the Embargo Act of 1807 stopping U.S. ships from sailing to foreign ports and closed U.S. ports to foreign ships. The Act had devestating impact upon the economy as prices for crops fell and many people lost their jobs.
1809	Retires to Monticello. Work on the main house would not be completed until 1809. The Embargo Act expired.
1814	Again urges Virginia to enact his plan for state-wide public education. The legislature rejected much of Jefferson's plan but did give its approval for a state university -- the University of Virginia. (See 1819.)
1815	Sells most of his books to the Library of Congress. Most of the collection would be destroyed by a fire in 1851.
1819	Founder of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
1826	Dies at Monticello on July 4. (Former President John Adams died the same day.) The epitaph, which he wrote, reads: "Here was burried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia."