Thomas Jefferson

Was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in (1776), and for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States one of the most influential Founding Fathers. Jefferson envisioned America as the force behind a great "Empire of Liberty" that would promote republicanism and counter the imperialism of the British Empire.
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France.

Besides practicing law, Jefferson represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Burgesses beginning in 1769. Following the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament in 1774, he wrote a set of resolutions against the acts, which were expanded into A Summary View of the Rights of British America, his first published work.