MIAMI, United States. — On a day like today, 280 years ago, Thomas Jefferson was born in the state of Virginia, considered one of the founding fathers of the American nation, and the main author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, a valuable document that, at present, should be taken as a reference at a global level.
A visionary man of character, he anticipated the emergence of the United States as a great empire of freedom, a defender of democracy and a fierce enemy of British colonialism. During his term as the third president of the American Union, he strengthened republican and nationalist sentiment, favored states’ rights, and advocated a limited federal government.
A scholar with a profound humanistic vocation, Thomas Jefferson served democracy as a legislator in his native Virginia, whose University he founded in 1819 and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. He also proposed reforming and updating the legal system, to reflect the new democratic condition of the state. He established freedom of religion and changed the judicial system for the better.
He did not have the same success as governor, because while he was in office English troops took the state, badly defended by a meager militia, forcing Jefferson and a group of legislators to flee. He was accused of not having done enough to ensure the safety of the state, and although the charges were dismissed after investigation, he was never again elected to serve in the Virginia Parliament. However, he was made a congressman in 1783.
That ruling as governor delayed his political career, but his work in Congress was impeccable, and he remained there for two years, until he was appointed ambassador to France, a position he held for four years. Faithful to his ideals of democracy and freedom, when the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Jefferson sided with the insurgents.
Upon his return from France, he served as Secretary of State to President George Washington. From his position he defended state fiscal policies, staunchly supported French republicanism and proposed the economic and commercial suffocation of Great Britain.
His double presidential term (1801-1809) recorded two historical events: the Louisiana Purchase from France, which doubled the size of the United States, and the expedition to those new territories of Captain Meriwether Lewis and explorer William Clark, an adventure which lasted three years and from which vast scientific and geographical knowledge was gathered.
Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 54th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence.
