President Thomas Jefferson held presidential office for two consecutive terms from 1801-1809. A "Renaissance Man" as many would say, Jefferson was a statesman, philosopher, scientist, architect, and lawyer. Ironically, Jefferson was a slaveholder as well. As the author of the Declaration of Independence, and the Statute for Religious Freedom, Jefferson is remembered as a great president, and for all of his great achievements and successful contributions to our country. He was a founder of the Democratic Party, and became one of the leading American architects of his time and designed the Virginia Capitol, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello. Jefferson had a good-humored nature and was multi-lingual. He spoke French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Latin, but also studied some 40 American-Indian languages. The death of his wife and five of his six children left Jefferson with a deep sense of loneliness, and caused him to mourn. .
President Andrew Jackson held office from 1829 - 1837. Jackson had little formal schooling and was orphaned at age 14, and later moved to Tennessee frontier and became a successful lawyer, land speculator, and planter, living on his estate, The Hermitage. Jackson was a general in the War of 1812, and was nicknamed "Old Hickory" because of his toughness. Like Jefferson, Jackson was also a founder of the Democratic Party. During Jackson's presidency, he disapproved of many actions by Congress. Jackson portrayed himself as a "man of the people", which won the support of many. (This group later became known as the Democratic Party.).
Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743. In 1760, when he was 16, he entered the College of William and Mary. In 1776 Thomas Jefferson was appointed to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (which officially declared the United States independent from Britain). At the young age of 33 Jefferson became chair of the committee and did most of the actual writing.
