Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 on his father’s plantation in Shadwell, Virginia. He spent his first years on the plantation helping his father with small tasks, but at age nine he began his formal education which would be the foundation for his many great accomplishments. From the beginning of his education to age sixteen, Jefferson spent nine months out of the year with a minister-teacher. And just 16 years before the U.S. declared independence from England, he took classes at the
