Part 1 of Essay
Third U.S. president; born in Albermarle County, Va. Son of a surveyor-landowner and a mother who was a member of the distinguished Randolph family of Virginia, he graduated from the College of William and Mary (1762) and read law under George Wythe. After several years of law practice, Jefferson was elected to the Virg ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... on the natural rights of certain people. Jefferson then returned to Virginia, where as a member of its legislature (1776--79), he took the lead in creating a state constitution and then served as governor (1779--81); during this time he proposed that Virginia abolish the slave trade and assure religious freedom, but he did not achieve this. He was not very successful in organizing Virginian resistance to the British military operations there and would come under criticism for his lack of leadership. Returning to t ....