BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS ARIES: THOMAS JEFFERSON

US statesman and third president, born in Albemarle, Virginia, USA. After several years of law practice, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769–75) and sided with the revolutionary faction, writing an influential tract, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774). He was mainly responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence (adopted 4 Jul 1776) which embodied some of his ideas on the natural rights of people.

In 1789 George Washington appointed Jefferson secretary of state. In that position he became head of the liberal democratic–Republican faction and worked against the more conservative Federalist policies of Hamilton, Madison, and Washington.

A complex man, happier when at intellectual pursuits than as an elected politician, he was more admired abroad in his day than at home.