Statsenko T. Thomas Jefferson is the enlightener, the founder of American democracy

In the thesis research based on the analyzing of the source base, historiographical legacy of Ukrainian, Russian and American scientists we traced the early history of the United States of America. The main aim of the work is the analysis of the activity of the American enlightener, the founder of the democratic development of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson. We characterized his democratic theory and activities concerning implementation of democratic ideas into reality. We defined the role of Thomas Jefferson who in his political activity introduced the leading standards though the number of legislative acts which nowadays are the bases of the American state. The principles of Jefferson's struggle for the implementation of educational ideas are revealed in the dissertation paper. It refers to his religious beliefs and educational creeds and his activities as for the abolition of slavery. Jefferson's democracy is the combination of the rights of individual states and local governments, strict adherence to the Constitution, the promotion of agriculture, trade and industry development, and, above all, faith in the intellectual capacity of ordinary people who elect the government.