--- title: Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father Almost Didn't Run for President description: He contemplated walking away from the chance canonical: https://time.com/3770987/thomas-jefferson-almost-wasnt-president/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-13T11:00:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:41:49.570Z article:section: History og:title: Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father Almost Didn't Run for President og:description: He contemplated walking away from the chance og:url: https://time.com/3770987/thomas-jefferson-almost-wasnt-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf439e23a664d0b3/698786aa35ba6f88bfc07e3d/tj.jpeg?branch=production&width=665&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 665 og:image:height: 374 og:image:alt: 'Thomas Jefferson', 1805. Artist: Rembrandt Peale og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father Almost Didn't Run for President twitter:description: He contemplated walking away from the chance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf439e23a664d0b3/698786aa35ba6f88bfc07e3d/tj.jpeg?branch=production&width=665&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Thomas Jefferson Almost Didn't Run for President > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 13, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  An 1805 portrait of Thomas Jefferson An 1805 portrait of Thomas Jefferson Print Collector/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 13, 2015 11:00 AM UTC It’s hard to imagine a version of American history in which Thomas Jefferson, born on this day, April 13, in 1743, was never President. And yet, before he became the United States’ third President, he nearly walked away from politics entirely. As Walter Kirn explained as part of a special 2005 TIME report on Thomas Jefferson’s legacy, the vast trove of letters that Jefferson left behind reveals that he was pretty sure he was done with politics in 1781, a full two decades before his inauguration: --- > “” --- That, of course, turned out not to be true. (“Nearly everything he wrote was contradicted at some point by something he did,” Kirn notes, from that very letter to his stance on slavery.) There’s no easy answer as to why Jefferson changed his mind, but by doing so he continued his strong track record of changing history. **_Read TIME’s 2005 special issue about Thomas Jefferson, here in the archives:_** [Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Thomas Jefferson](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601040705,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3770987/thomas-jefferson-almost-wasnt-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3770987/thomas-jefferson-almost-wasnt-president/"},"headline":"Thomas Jefferson Almost Didn't Run for President","datePublished":"2015-04-13T11:00:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:41:49.570Z","description":"He contemplated walking away from the chance","url":"https://time.com/3770987/thomas-jefferson-almost-wasnt-president/","keywords":["White House","politics","Thomas Jefferson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf439e23a664d0b3/698786aa35ba6f88bfc07e3d/tj.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf439e23a664d0b3/698786aa35ba6f88bfc07e3d/tj.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"'Thomas Jefferson', 1805. 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