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Sat 04 Apr 2007A fresh look at the legacy of a fascinating presidentHistoryThomas Jefferson, the third president of the US, remains one of the more fascinating figures in American history. Jefferson's egalitarianism led him to question the institution of slavery, yet his own dependence on the institution as a Virginia planter meant that he never truly accepted black people as the equals of whites.He was highly critical of what he saw of monarchical tendencies in the Washington and Adams administrations that preceded his; yet, as many of his opponents pointed out, many of his most notable acts as president, including the Louisiana Purchase that pushed the boundaries of the US west of the Mississippi, were accomplished through the use of precedents his predecessors had developed.