So, we all know the big one: Delegate to the Continental Congress, primary author of the Declaration of Independence. While the geopolitical ramifications of the Declaration were obvious and well known, we don't talk about the internal changes independence necessitated. Every colony - now state - rested its legal existence on a royal charter of one form or another. Independence meant that those charters were now invalid, and that the states had to come up with new constitutions to govern themselves. This meant that Congress was suddenly the least intellectually and politically sexy place to be for a wonk like Jefferson; the real action was happening down at the state level.

Jefferson returned to the Virginia statehouse in the fall of 1776, and spent the next two years (re)building the state's legal system. He served as governor from 1779-1781. During this time, British armies under Benedict Arnold and, later, Lord Cornwallis entered the state. Jefferson, for all his legal and political brilliance, was a poor wartime governor. His efforts to draft militiamen into the Continental Army in 1780 caused a minor civil war in Northumberland County (which I talk a bit a bout here), and made the state government's control of several counties dubious. British troops raided one of Jefferson's smaller plantations, burned Richmond, and generally moved at will through the state. The Virginia government scattered, and was basically nonexistent in the last part of Jefferson's term. When the government reformed, it investigated Jefferson for military incompetence, but decided not to charge him. Jefferson briefly returned to private life to write his book, Notes on the State of Virginia.

After the war, Congress appointed Jefferson as Minister to France, where he served until he was recalled to serve as Secretary of State. While in Paris, he associated with many of the leaders of the first stage of the French Revolution.

Sources

Robert Middlekauf, The Glorious Cause

Michael A. McDonnell, The Politics of War: Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia

Gregory Urwin, "When Freedom Wore a Red Coat"

Once I can sneak into my office without waking my kid up, I'll check out another book and see if there's anything to add about Jefferson's actions towards slavery as a legislator and governor.