HE is best remembered as a great president and as the author of the Declaration of Independence. He also won lasting fame as a diplomat, a political thinker, and a founder of the Democratic Party. Jefferson's interests and talents covered an amazing range. He became one of the leading American architects of his time and designed the Virginia Capitol, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello. He greatly appreciated art and music and tried to encourage their advancement in the United States. He arranged for the famous French sculptor Jean Houdon to come to America to make a statue of George Washington. Jefferson also posed for Houdon and for the famous American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart. Jefferson also enjoyed playing the violin in chamber music concerts. In addition, Jefferson served as president of the American Philosophical Society, an organization that encouraged a wide range of scientific and intellectual research. Jefferson invented a decoding device, a lap desk, and an improved type of moldboard plow. His collection of more than 6,400 books became a major part of the Library of Congress. Jefferson revised Virginia's laws and founded its state university. He developed the decimal system of coinage that allows Americans to keep accounts in dollars and cents. He compiled a Manual of Parliamentary Practice and prepared written vocabularies of Indian languages. ( Thomas Jefferson, by David Saville Muzzey. New York, Scribner, 1918)During Jefferson's two terms as president, the United States almost doubled in area with the purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory. America preserved its hard-won neutrality while France, was led by Napoleon's armies. Congress passed a law banning the slave trade. It took travelers two days to go from New York City to Philadelphia by stagecoach. But the first successful voyage of Robert Fulton's steamboat, which became famous as the Clermont, signaled a promising new era in th...
