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An American Enigma
Thomas Jefferson is an enigma among American historical figures. He was one of America’s founding fathers, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the third President of the United States.
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4m 59s
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An American Enigma
4m 59s
Thomas Jefferson is an enigma among American historical figures. He was one of America’s founding fathers, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the third President of the United States.
Full Length
Part 1
87m 13s
Jefferson also made himself into a true renaissance man – a scholar, a philosopher, a diplomat, an aesthete, and an architect. As a young man, he was transformed by the fire of the Enlightenment into America’s most articulate voice for human liberty.
Full Length
Part 2
84m 43s
Jefferson’s last years were spent founding the University of Virginia and reestablishing his friendship, after decades of estrangement, from his onetime rival John Adams. His influence on and vision for our country reverberates to this day.
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Drafting the Declaration of Independence
3m 38s
Benjamin Franklin was initially asked to construct the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, but after turning it down, the task was given to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
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The Road to Monticello
2m 59s
Thomas Jefferson was born in the Colony of Virginia on April 13, 1743. Upon his father’s death, Jefferson inherited several thousand acres of land — including the land in which he would one day build his home, Monticello.
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About the Film
Thomas Jefferson is a two-part portrait of our enigmatic and brilliant third president. Thomas Jefferson embodies within his own life the most profound contradictions of American history: as the author of the Declaration of Independence, he gave voice to our fervent desire for freedom, but he also owned more than 150 slaves and never saw fit to free them.
Premiered on PBS: February 1997
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