[presidio9]

Jefferson thought his term as U.S. President unworthy of his tombstone. Writer of the Declaration of Independence, Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.

And your point is? None of these make the man a great president. US Grant won the Civil War for Pete's sake!

Speaking of which, while Jefferson was the scribe of the Declaration, because he was one of the youngest delegates and had excellent penmanship, its content was a group effort. A majority of the great lines are not his.

[allmendream]

Well my point was that he himself didn’t think his Presidency much of an accomplishment.

That being said he did, as President, lower taxes, reduce the Federal debt, and established our foreign policy of not paying off Muslim pirates, and did the Louisiana purchase. Not a bad record by any measure.

As to the Declaration - I think you can see from the following that the content and eloquence of the Declaration - one of his accomplishments that he did wish to take credit for - were entirely his. I reject your characterization that the majority of the great lines are not largely or entirely his.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/rough.htm