Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

==Interests and activities==
[[File:MJK50147 Virginia State Capitol.jpg|thumb|left|[[Virginia State Capitol]] in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], which Jefferson designed]]

Jefferson was a farmer, obsessed with new crops, soil conditions, garden designs, and scientific agricultural techniques. His main cash crop was tobacco, but its price was usually low and it was rarely profitable. He tried to achieve self-sufficiency with wheat, vegetables, flax, corn, hogs, sheep, poultry, and cattle to supply his family, slaves, and employees, but he lived perpetually beyond his means<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/debt |title=Debt |work=Thomas Jefferson Foundation |access-date=October 9, 2018 }}</ref> and was always in debt.<ref>[[#Hayes|Hayes, 2008]], p. 100; [[#McEwan|McEwan, 1991]], pp. 20–39.</ref> Jefferson also planted two vineyards at Monticello and hoped to grow ''Vitis vinifera,'' the European wine grape species, to make wine, but the crop failed. His efforts were nonetheless an important contribution to the development of American viticulture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Vineyards at Monticello |url=https://www.monticello.org/house-gardens/farms-gardens/fruit-gardens/the-vineyards/ |access-date=October 25, 2024 |website=Monticello |language=en}}</ref>

Jefferson mastered architecture through [[Autodidacticism|self-study]]. His primary authority was [[Andrea Palladio]]'s 1570 ''[[The Four Books of Architecture]]'', which outlines the principles of classical design.<ref>[[#Brodie|Brodie, 1974]], pp. 87–88; [[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], p. 9.</ref> Jefferson helped popularize the Neo-[[Palladian architecture|Palladian]] style in the United States, utilizing designs for the [[Virginia State Capitol]], the [[University of Virginia]], [[Monticello]], and others.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 2, p. 202; [[#Bernstein03|Berstein, 2003]], p. 193.</ref> It has been speculated that he was inspired by the [[Château de Rastignac]] in southwest France. Jefferson viewed the plans during his service as ambassador to France, and may have convinced the architect of the [[White House]] to modify the [[Truman Balcony|South Portico]] to resemble the château.<ref name=":1b">{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Michael|title=A chateau fit for a president|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/opinion/15iht-edjohnson.html|access-date=July 28, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 15, 2006}}</ref>

In [[archaeology]] in 1784, Jefferson, using the [[Trench|trench method]], started excavating several Native American burial mounds in [[Virginia]]. His excavations were prompted by the [[Mound Builders|"Moundbuilders" question]] and his careful methods allowed him to witness the [[Stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] layout, the various human remains and other artifacts inside the mound. The evidence present at the site granted him enough insight to admit that he saw no reason why the ancestors of the present-day Native Americans could not have raised those mounds.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Renfrew |first1=Colin |title=Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, practice |last2=Bahn |first2=Paul G. |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-500-29159-7 |edition=3º |pages=17–18}}</ref>

He was interested in birds and wine, and was a noted [[gourmet]].<ref name=Hayes135>[[#Hayes|Hayes, 2008]], pp. 135–136.</ref> As a naturalist, he was fascinated by the [[Natural Bridge (Virginia)|Natural Bridge]] geological formation, and in 1774 successfully acquired the Bridge by a grant from George III.<ref>[[#Kastning|Kastning, 2014]], p. 8.</ref>

As an advocate of Enlightenment ideals, Jefferson studied many aspects of the natural sciences and frequently corresponded, and even hosted on multiple occasions, with [[Prussia]]<nowiki/>n explorer, [[Alexander von Humboldt]]. These two figures regularly shared ideas and knowledge with one another with letters spanning multiple years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 6 December 1813 |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-0011 |access-date=February 26, 2025 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}}</ref>

===American Philosophical Society===
Jefferson was a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] for 35 years, beginning in 1780. Through the society he advanced the [[Science in the Age of Enlightenment|sciences and Enlightenment ideals]], emphasizing that knowledge of science reinforced and extended freedom.<ref name=Hayes432>[[#Hayes|Hayes, 2008]], p. 432.</ref> His ''Notes on the State of Virginia'' was written in part as a contribution to the society.<ref name=TJFAPS>[[#TJFAPS|TJF: "American Philosophical Society"]]</ref> He became the society's third president on March 3, 1797, a few months after he was elected Vice President of the United States.<ref name=TJFAPS/><ref name=Berstein118>[[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], pp. 118–119.</ref> In accepting, Jefferson stated: "I feel no qualification for this distinguished post but a sincere zeal for all the objects of our institution and an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may at length reach even the extremes of society, beggars and kings."<ref name=Hayes432/>

On March 10, 1797, Jefferson gave a lecture, later published as a paper in 1799, which reported on the skeletal remains of an extinct large sloth, which he named ''[[Megalonyx]]'', unearthed by saltpeter workers from a cave in what is now Monroe County, West Virginia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Babcock |first=Loren E. |date=March 18, 2024 |title=Nomenclatural history of Megalonyx Jefferson, 1799 (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae) |url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/117999/ |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=1195 |pages=297–308 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.1195.117999 |doi-access=free |pmid=38532771 |issn=1313-2970|pmc=10964019 |bibcode=2024ZooK.1195..297B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jefferson |first=Thomas |date=1799 |title=A Memoir on the Discovery of Certain Bones of a Quadruped of the Clawed Kind in the Western Parts of Virginia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005103 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=4 |pages=246–260 |doi=10.2307/1005103 |issn=0065-9746 |jstor=1005103}}</ref> Jefferson is considered to be a pioneer of scientific paleontology research in North America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simpson |first=George Gaylord |date=1942 |title=The Beginnings of Vertebrate Paleontology in North America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/985085 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=130–188 |jstor=985085 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref>

Jefferson served as APS president for the next eighteen years, including through both terms of his presidency.<ref name=TJFAPS/> He introduced [[Meriwether Lewis]] to the society, where various scientists tutored him in preparation for the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]].<ref name=TJFAPS/><ref name="Ambrose, 1996, p. 126">[[#Ambrose|Ambrose, 1996]], p. 126.</ref> He resigned on January 20, 1815, but remained active through correspondence.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 2, p. 399.</ref>

===Linguistics===
Jefferson had a lifelong interest in [[linguistics]], and could speak, read, and write in a number of languages, including French, Greek, Italian, and German. In his early years, he excelled in classical languages.<ref name="ReferenceA">[[#Miller|Univ. Virginia archives: Miller Center]]</ref><ref>[[#Andresen|Andresen, 2006]], Chap. 1.</ref> Jefferson later came to regard Greek as the "perfect language" as expressed in its laws and philosophy.<ref name=Boberchap1>[[#Bober|Bober, 2008]], p. 16.</ref> While attending the College of William & Mary, he taught himself Italian.<ref name=Italy>[[#TJFItaly|TJF: Italy – Language]]</ref> Here Jefferson first became familiar with the [[Anglo-Saxon]] language, studying it in a linguistic and philosophical capacity. He owned 17 volumes of Anglo-Saxon texts and grammar and later wrote an essay on the Anglo-Saxon language.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Jefferson claimed to have taught himself Spanish during his nineteen-day journey to France, using only a grammar guide and a copy of ''[[Don Quixote]]''.<ref>[[#TJFSpanish|TJF: Spanish Language]]</ref>

Linguistics played a significant role in how Jefferson modeled and expressed political and philosophical ideas. He believed that the study of ancient languages was essential in understanding the roots of modern language.<ref name=Hellen155>[[#Hellenbrand|Hellenbrand, 1990]], pp. 155–156.</ref> Jefferson criticized [[Linguistic purism in English|language purists]] and supported the introduction of neologisms to English, foreseeing the emergence of [[American English|"an American dialect"]]. He described the [[Académie Française]], a body designated to regulate the French language, as an "[[Linguistic prescription#Criticisms|endeavor to arrest the progress of their language]]".<ref name=neology>{{cite web | url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0333 | title=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to John Waldo, 16 August 1813}}</ref> 

He collected and understood a number of [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|American Indian vocabularies]] and instructed Lewis and Clark to record and collect various Indian languages during their Expedition.<ref>[[#Frawley|Frawley, 2003]], p. 96.</ref> When Jefferson moved from Washington after his presidency, he took 50 Native American vocabulary lists back to Monticello along with the rest of his possessions. Somewhere along the journey, a thief stole the heavy chest, thinking it was full of valuables, but its contents were dumped into the James River when the thief discovered it was only filled with papers. Thirty years of collecting were lost, with only a few fragments rescued from the muddy banks of the river.<ref>[[#apsmuseum|American Philosophical Society, 2016: Gathering voices]]</ref>

Jefferson was not an outstanding orator and preferred to communicate through writing or remain silent if possible. Instead of delivering his [[State of the Union]] addresses himself, Jefferson wrote the annual messages and sent a representative to read them aloud in Congress, which started a tradition that continued until 1913, when President [[Woodrow Wilson]] chose to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress verbally and in person.<ref>[[#TJFSpeaking|TJF: "Public speaking"]]</ref>

===Inventions===
Jefferson invented many small practical devices and improved contemporary inventions, including a revolving book-stand and a "Great Clock" powered by the gravitational pull on cannonballs. He improved the [[pedometer]], the [[polygraph (duplicating device)|polygraph]] (a device for duplicating writing),<ref>[[#cipher|Univ. Virginia archives]]</ref> and the [[moldboard plow]], an idea he never patented and gave to posterity.<ref>[[#Malone62|Malone, 1962]], pp. 213–215.</ref> Jefferson can also be credited as the creator of the [[swivel chair#Origin|swivel chair]], the first of which he created and used to write much of the Declaration of Independence.<ref>[[#Kaplan|Kaplan, 1993]], p. 315.</ref> He first opposed patents but later supported them. From 1790 to 1793, as Secretary of State, he was the ''ex officio'' head of the three-person patent review board. He drafted reforms of US patent law which led to him being relieved of this duty in 1793, and also drastically changed the patent system.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Martin |first1=Russell L. |title=Patents |url=https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/patents/ |publisher=Thomas Jefferson Foundation |access-date=September 20, 2022 |date=April 1989|encyclopedia=Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia}}; source also links to two related 21st-century sources</ref>

As Minister to France, Jefferson was impressed by the military standardization program known as the ''[[Gribeauval system|Système Gribeauval]]'', and initiated a program as president to develop [[interchangeable parts]] for firearms. For his inventiveness and ingenuity, Jefferson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree from [[Harvard University]] in 1787.<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], pp. 335–336.</ref>