Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), one of America’s most important Founding Fathers, was the third president of the United States, the founder of the University of Virginia, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the author of Notes on the State of Virginia. J. Jefferson Looney is the Daniel P. Jordan Editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. The Retirement Series is sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia.