Part 1 of Essay
1743-1826, intellectual, statesman, and third president of the United States. Although Jefferson served as governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state, vice president, and president, he is remembered in history less for the offices he held than for what he stood for: his belief in the natural rights of man ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... of the Continental Congress charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence. As its principal author, Jefferson gave eloquent expression to the principles of the natural rights of man, among which, he affirmed, was self-government. Jefferson's intellectual prowess led some political opponents to dismiss him as a visionary, but he was remarkably successful in politics. As leader of the opposition to the Federalist policies of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, Jefferson was put forward by his supporters t ....