Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson loved to write letters, and they are often of a very high quality. His handwriting varied but little during his entire lifetime, although his signature was usually much larger than his text. Letters in which he expresses his feelings about something personal are so scarce that one revealing that he had “in view no earthly object but the good of his fellow citizens” stands out as exceptional. Instead, he focused on topics of interest to him, which included such diverse fields as politics, science, philosophy, literature, art, architecture and foreign cultures (to name a few). Jefferson was unexcelled by any president when dealing with these matters, and letters of his combining erudite discussions of multiple subjects remain dazzling in their virtuosity.

Jefferson believed in the ability of the people to govern themselves well, and opposed what he saw as the “big government” approach. His greatest achievement as president was his expansion of the nation by the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France.