Thomas Jefferson

1. The Declaration and the Republic

A Virginia planter and lawyer, Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress in 1776. The text established the language of natural rights and popular consent that still defines the American political narrative.

He was governor of Virginia, minister in France and secretary of state under Washington, before founding with Madison the party that would oppose the Hamiltonian program.

2. Presidency and Louisiana Purchase

Elected president in 1800, he promoted a more austere administration and, at the same time, expanded the territory with the Louisiana Purchase (1803). His mandate also revealed tensions between republican ideals and the reality of slavery, of which he was the owner.

He retired to Monticello, where he designed the University of Virginia. He died on July 4, 1826, the same day as John Adams and the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration.

3. Numismatic Legacy

Jefferson is the permanent portrait on the U.S.two dollars. In this collection he appears, with Monticello and the Liberty Bell, in the$5 USDA Food Coupon (Series 2000-B), a continuation of the portrait design adopted in the mid-1970s for that name of the food stamp program.