Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, the family farm in Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Virginia. He was the third child in the family and grew up with six sisters and one brother. Two other brothers died in infancy. His father, Peter Jefferson, had served as surveyor, sheriff, colonel of militia, and member of the House of Burgesses. Thomas's mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, came from one of the oldest families in Virginia. Thomas developed …

…both. In 1784, Jefferson submitted a draft of an ordinance for the political organization of the western lands. It would have divided the entire region into several states. Each would eventually be admitted to the Union on a basis of complete equality with the original 13 states. Jefferson's provision forbidding slavery west of the Appalachians lost by a single vote. The Ordinance of 1784 never went into effect, but it furnished the basis for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.