Character Catalog

The founding document proclaiming the independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain. Written primarily by Jefferson, it establishes the principles of natural rights and popular sovereignty that would go on to influence the Atlantic Revolutions.

The only book Jefferson ever published, written in response to a questionnaire from a French diplomat. In it, he describes the geography, wildlife, flora, populations, and political organization of Virginia, alongside philosophical reflections on slavery and religious freedom.

A landmark law separating church and state in Virginia, passed after a lengthy legislative struggle. This text is considered one of the direct sources of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

A landmark presidential decision by which Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon for 15 million dollars. The deal doubled the size of the United States and opened the door to westward expansion.

Jefferson designed and redesigned his Monticello estate over more than forty years, drawing inspiration from the Roman Pantheon and Palladian villas. This architectural masterpiece has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Jefferson founded, architecturally designed, and pedagogically organized the University of Virginia, the first fully secular university in America. He oversaw its construction until his death and personally drafted its first academic curricula.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed.

All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs.

Jefferson's plantation and primary residence, which he designed himself in a Neoclassical style inspired by Andrea Palladio. The site embodies both his architectural genius and the glaring contradiction of his slaveholding life.

The city where Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and where the Continental Congress convened. Independence Hall, the building where it was adopted, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Jefferson lived in Paris from 1784 to 1789 as U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary. There he moved in Enlightenment philosophical circles, discovered French architecture, and witnessed the early stirrings of the Revolution.

The federal capital whose urban development Jefferson helped oversee, and where he served as president from 1801 to 1809. He lived in the White House, which was still unfinished when he arrived.

Founded and architecturally designed by Jefferson in 1819, the university embodies his vision of secular public education. He drew up its plans around an innovative concept he called an "academical village."