Nora McDermott
11/15/10
History
THOMAS JEFFERSON
I have no doubt that Thomas Jefferson is a household name in America. Jefferson was the 3rd president of the United States an writer of the ever-so-famous Declaration of Independence. I’m afraid a lot of his accomplishments end up getting overlooked. It seems unexpected, with all the credit we give him. The fact of the matter is, Jefferson’s endeavors are so great that we end up forgetting a lot of what he’d done.
Thomas Jefferson was born on the great day of April 13, 1743 on his father’s, Peter Jefferson’s, Plantation called Shadwell in Virginia. His mother died when was 14, and Thomas inherited about 5,000 acres of land, which included the Shadwell house, even though he always dreamed of living on a mountain. In 1768 he decided to see though his dream of living on a mountain and contracted for a clearing on the top of a mountain that rose above Shadwell. It took about forty years of building and rebuilding to finally finish Monticello, the name of his future house and the mountain it sat upon. He lived there with his wife, Martha, after their marriage in January, 1772, although sadly, Martha never lived to see Monticello completed. In fact, most of his family dies and only half of his children even make it into adulthood.
With the land, Thomas Jefferson had also inherited slaves from both his father and father-in-law, John Wayles. He normally had 200 slaves, half of them being under the age of 16. Only about 80 of his slaves lived on Monticello. The rest lived on adjacent farms and Thomas’s other estate in Bedford County, Virginia. In all, Jefferson had owned approximately 600 slaves.
Thomas Jefferson studied at the College of William and Mary for two years and then began the read the law with a prominent Virginian juror, George Wythe. Had had his first legal case in 1767. In two years he was elected into Virginia’s House of Burgesses. One of his first political works that became popular was a draft of directions for Virginia’s delegation to the First Continental Congress called Summary View of the Rights of British America. In this, Thomas clearly states that he doesn’t wish to separate from England, although that opinion does change in the near future.
Two years after he wrote Summary View of the Rights of British America, Jefferson was chosen for the Second Continental Congress in 1776. Here is where he drafted the infamous Declaration of Independence, where he argued for the colonies to become free and independent states. The Declaration claims that all men, no matter wealth or status, are equal and that as people we are entitled certain freedoms the government does not get to control. Thomas Jefferson understood that his visions for America are not fully realized and they will continue to face challenges throughout history. Even so the Declaration continues to influence not just the United States, but around the world.
After the Second Continental Congress, Jefferson returned to Virginia and worked in the Legislature. He served as a member of the new House of Delegates with James Madison. with whom Jefferson worked with to end the religious establishment in Virginia, which would end with Thomas’s Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. Thomas Jefferson was elected Governor from 1779 to 1781 and afterward he completed a book named “Notes on the State of Virginia.” It was highly controversial when it was published, especially the part on slavery. In his book he recognized how horrible the institution of slaveholding really was. This was especially ironic considering his relations with slaves, including an affair with one of them after his wife died that resulted in Jefferson fathering 6 of her kids.
In 1784 he travel to France to work as a trade commissioner and later he began working as Benjamin Franklin’s successor as U.S. minister. Thomas became fascinated by European culture and sent home to Monticello things from up on France, like artwork, architectural drawings, books, furniture, information, scientific instruments, and seeds and plants. In 1790 Jefferson returned to America to be the first Secretary of State under the new president, George Washington. One of the main things about his tenure as secretary was his opposition to the beliefs of Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of Treasury. Thomas thought that the ideas Hamilton wanted was to pro-British and promoted a more powerful national government.
Jefferson became the presidential candidate for the Democratic-Republican party soon enough, though. He went toe-to-toe with John Adams, with whom he lost to and became the vice-president under. Only four years later though, he defeated Adams in another election and was elected President of the United States. Two of the biggest highlights from Jefferson’s presidency were the Louisiana Purchase and his support for the Lewis and Clark expedition. In the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. bought over 837,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi from France for $15,000,000. The Lewis and Clark expedition was a journey Thomas commissioned to explore northwest territory in order to find natural resources and a transcontinental route. The trip was over a year long and headed by Meriwether Lewis and Williams Clark, who returned to St. Louis with great information about geography, plants, animals, and Native Americans. During his second term, Jefferson was known for trying to remain neutral with Britain and France on the brink of war. Unfortunately, his efforts did not stop America from coming into conflict with Britain in 1812 after he had left office and it was assumed by his colleague, James Madison
During the last years of his life, Thomas Jefferson stayed at his home in Monticello. There he had many visitors who treated him as a sage. Thomas sold his collection of books, almost 65000 volumes, to create the center of the Library of Congress before buying more books for his own personal library. Jefferson understood the irony in this, claiming that he can’t live without books. Jefferson’s last big public act was founding the University of Virginia at the ripe age of 76. Thomas was the one who secured the location, designed the buildings, and planned the curriculum. He also spearheaded the campaign for its charter and served as its first rector.
Like most Virginia planters, Thomas Jefferson’s retirement was filled with debt. With constant fluctuations of the agricultural economy, it was impossible to pay off the debt he got from his inheritance from his father-in-law. His financial situation got much worse with the War of 1813, followed by the Panic of 1819. His financial situation hardly got better over years, even if he was considered wealthy.
Thomas Jefferson died only a few hours before one of his close friends, John Adams, had taken his final breath as well on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Yes, yet another irony in Jefferson’s life. The day a new nation was born was the day one of its greatest founders died. One thing that always stuck with me was Thomas’s gravehead, one he designed himself. Of all of his many accomplishments, it only includes 3.
HERE WAS BURIED
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE
DECLARATION
OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE
STATUTE OF VIRGINIA
FOR
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
BORN APRIL 2, 1743 O.S.
DIED JULY 4. 1826
Thomas Jefferson, a Brief Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-brief-biography