Title: Early life and career of Thomas Jefferson
Content:  Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was involved in politics from his early adult years. This article covers his early life and career, through his writing the Declaration of Independence, participation in the American Revolutionary War, serving as governor of Virginia, and election and service as Vice-President to President John Adams. Born into the planter class of Virginia, Jefferson was highly educated and valued his years at the College of William and Mary. He became an attorney and planter, building on the estate and 20–40 slaves inherited from his father.
Title: Thomas Jefferson
Content:  Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams and as the first United States Secretary of State under George Washington. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both 
Title: Bibliography of Thomas Jefferson
Content:  Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third president of the United States (1801–1809). He served in the Continental Congress, and as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). From mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. Jefferson was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) serving under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison, organized the Democratic-Republican Party, and subsequently resigned from Washington's cabinet. He was elected Vice President in 1796. He wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts. As president Jefferson promoted and authorized the Louisiana 
Title: Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
Content:  Thomas Jefferson served as the president of the United States From March 4th, 1801 To March 4th, 1809. Jefferson assumed the office after defeating incumbent President John Adams in the 1800 presidential election. The election was a political realignment in which the Democratic-Republican Party swept the Federalist Party out of power, ushering in a generation of Democratic-Republican dominance in American politics. After serving two terms, Jefferson was succeeded by Secretary of State James Madison, also of the Democratic-Republican Party. Jefferson took office determined to roll back the Federalist program of the 1790s. His administration reduced taxes, government spending, and the national debt, and repealed the 
Title: American Sphinx
Content:  President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson felt far more comfortable writing, to which the Declaration of Independence attests, than public speaking. He worked extensively behind the scenes with other politicians to accomplish his political programs and create alliances. Ellis praises Thomas Jefferson's first term as one of the most successful of any US presidency in terms of achieving stated goals; in his first term, Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, which would so affect the character of the United States, and significantly reduced the federal budget. But what sets Jefferson apart from other U.S. presidents, particularly John Adams, was his uniquely "feminine" approach to politics. Detesting direct confrontation, he was a master "dinner table" politician. He was known for inviting his competitors to dinner to plant the seeds of his ideas and defuse controversies.
Title: Thomas Jefferson
Content:  In the presidential campaign of 1796, Jefferson lost the electoral college vote to Federalist John Adams by 71–68 and was thus elected vice president. As presiding officer of the Senate, he assumed a more passive role than his predecessor John Adams. He allowed the Senate to freely conduct debates and confined his participation to procedural issues, which he called an "honorable and easy" role. Jefferson had previously studied parliamentary law and procedure for 40 years, making him unusually well qualified to serve as presiding officer. In 1800, he published his assembled notes on Senate procedure as A Manual of Parliamentary Practice. Jefferson would cast only three tie-breaking votes in the Senate. Jefferson held four confidential talks with French consul Joseph Létombe in the spring 
Title: Thomas Jefferson and slavery
Content:   Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, owned more than 600 African-Americans during some periods of his adult life. Jefferson freed two of his slaves while he lived; seven others were freed after his death. Jefferson consistently spoke out against the international slave trade and outlawed it while he was President. He privately advocated gradual emancipation and colonization of slaves already in the United States, rather than immediate manumission. After Peter Jefferson died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. John Harvie Sr. then became Thomas' guardian. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acre of land, including Monticello. 
Title: Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
Content:   Jefferson ran for president in the 1796 election as a Democratic-Republican, but finished second in the electoral vote to Federalist John Adams; under the laws then in place, Jefferson's second-place finish made him the Vice President of the United States. Jefferson strongly opposed the Federalist program, including the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the nation became increasingly polarized. Jefferson and Adams were once again the major presidential candidates of their respective parties in the 1800 presidential election, and Aaron Burr was the Democratic-Republican Party's vice presidential nominees. Adams's campaign was weakened by unpopular taxes and vicious Federalist infighting over his actions in the Quasi-War. The Democratic-Republicans accused the Federalists of being secret monarchists, while the Federalists charged that Jefferson was a godless libertine in thrall to the French. Under the election system in place at 
Title: Early life and career of Thomas Jefferson
Content:  America." As vice president, Jefferson conducted secret talks with the French, in which he advocated that the French government take a more aggressive position against the American government, which he thought was too close to the British. He succeeded in getting the American ambassador expelled from France. As the Democratic-Republican presidential candidate in 1796, Jefferson lost to John Adams, but had enough electoral votes to become Vice President (1797–1801). One of the chief duties of a Vice president is presiding over the Senate, and Jefferson was concerned about its lack of rules leaving decisions to the discretion of the presiding officer. Years before holding his first office, Jefferson had 
Title: Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
Content:  Before Jefferson could take office, there was a transition period in which he was the president-elect following his victory in the contingent election. The transition between Adams and Jefferson represented the first transfer of the presidency between two different political parties in United States history, and set the precedent for all subsequent inter-party transitions. It was the first time in United States history the a president handed over the presidency to a political opponent. Unlike the presidential transitions of today, transitions at this time were informal affairs, with relatively minimal activity required of the president-elect. During the transition, Jefferson picked members of his Cabinet. He also selected individuals less principal positions of his administration, such as Meriwether Lewis to serve as his personal secretary. Before leaving office, the lame duck, to the outrage of the Democratic-Republicans, at the last minute Adams appointed many federal judges (mostly belonging to the Federalist Party) to fill positions created by the Judiciary Act of 1801. These would be dubbed "midnight judges". Jefferson denounced this action.

Question: what did thomas jefferson do before he became president?
Answer: Statesman.