"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.."
When Thomas Jefferson entered office in 1801, he was the great American political thinker of his age. He'd crafted the Declaration of Independence as a leading member of the Second Continental Congress, was Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State under George Washington and Vice President under John Adams. Throughout his career he advocated for individual liberty, separation of church and sate, strict interpretation of the United States Constitution and limited federal government.
Ironically, during his first term in office he vastly increased the power of the federal government. In 1803, he doubled the size of the United States when he authorized the Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million dollars - even though the Constitution made no provisions that empowered the president to purchase territory from a foreign power. By the time he left office in 1809, he made it clear that his presidency had been a "splendid misery".
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