FREE ESSAY ON THOMAS JEFFERSON

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Thomas Jefferson 
Thomas Jefferson symbolizes the promise and the contradictions of America's historical
heritage. As the third president of the United States, a diplomat, plantation owner,
architect, scientist, and philosopher, he is one of the most important figures in
American history. The writings of Thomas Jefferson are today more meaningful than ever
before in America's history. You could reach into your pocket, pull out a nickel and find
him gazing into the middle distance. Jefferson was born on April 13 (April 2, Old Style),
1743, at Shadwell, the most important of the tobacco plantations owned by his father
Peter Jefferson, in the Virginia upcountry. An intelligent man, although educated, Peter
Jefferson became a successful surveyor, landowner, and member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses from Albemarle County. His wife Jane Randolph, a member of one of the most
distinguished Virginia families. As a child, he enjoyed to the full the advantages of his
family's position in life: the books, the horses, and the good life of the "Big Houses"
at Tuckahoe and Shadwell. When his father died he left his fourteen-year-old son with not
only valuable lands and property but the inheritance of Virginia wealth as well as loving
and caring advise. Thomas not formally educated himself; he studied at Revered Mr.
Maury's school, not far from Shadwell. After two years' in the spring of 1760, he left
his native Albemarle to attend William and Mary College. Jefferson gives evidence of
enjoying to the party scene: the music, the dancing, the flirtations, and the punch
drinking. After graduating from William and Mary in the spring of 1762, Jefferson studied
law five years under George Wythe. Knowledge of the law is essential to an understanding
of governmental procedures. He became a successful lawyer starting his career. When
Jefferson was turning thirty he started his political career. In January of 1772, he had
married Martha Wayles Skelton. After being married, they moved to Monticello, not far
from his old home in Shadwell, this had been destroyed by fire in 1770. Jefferson arrived
in Philadelphia in June 1775 as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress;
he already possessed, as John Adams remarked. " A reputation for literature, science, and
a happy talent of composition." When he returned a later, he was appointed to the five-
man committee, including Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Which is the most important
assignment ever given in the history of America: the drafting of a formal declaration of
independence from Great Britain. Jefferson had the responsibility of preparing the draft,
and was finally approved on July 4, 1776. By the age of thirty-three, his reputation had
grown. Returning to the Virginia House of Delegates in October 1776, Jefferson at once
set to work on a carefully planned reform of the laws of Virginia. He introduced a bill
to reorganize the courts of justice. Jefferson made the most of his opportunity to
modernize the body of the law. He surveyed the whole field of education, and proposed a
systematic plan of statewide education. He attempted to write religious toleration into
the laws of Virginia by separating Church and State; when the "Bill for establishing
Religious Freedom" was finally passed in 1785, he considered it a major contribution to
American society. In June of 1779, he was elected Governor of Virginia. Jefferson took up
his duties at a time when the British were raiding Virginia; in control of the sea, they
could send forth-plundering parties to capture food and ammunition, and destroy.
Jefferson himself escaped capture at the hands of troops by Colonel Tarleton. In June of
1781 he had injured his wrist and was unable to ride for some time. During this period,
he wrote to Marquis de Marbois, Secretary of the French Legation at Philadelphia. The
observations Jefferson had been making for years about the surrounding country, its
climate, its natural beauties, minerals, waterways, agriculture, and government. The
manuscript was later the Notes of Virginia. In September 1782, Jefferson's wife ill since
the birth of their last daughter died. Shortly after in June 1783, the General Assembly
of Virginia elected Jefferson as a delegate to the Confederation Congress where he again
headed important committees, drafted man reports, and official papers. Here, he
criticized the proposed currency system and provided, in his "Notes on the Establishment
of a Money Unit," a sound coinage system to take its place. He drew up a draft for
temporary government of the Western Territory or the Ordinance of the Northwestern
Territory, stressing the importance of equality between the original and the new states,
and attempting to exclude slavery from all the territories. Jefferson was appointed
Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to assist Benjamin Franklin and John Adams,
on May 7, 1784. Jefferson entered the European stage where Diplomacy and society, arts
and sciences, revolution and love were to provide him the richest years of his life. In
1785, on Franklin's departure for America, Jefferson was made Minister Plenipotentiary to
the Court of France. In January of 1794, were the rewards of being once mare a private,
free, man able to read, write, and enjoy music he retired. In the few months of
retirement Jefferson began supervising the farm of his estates and designed a plow, which
revolutionized agriculture. He also read in his library and wrote friends. After three
years of retirement, Jefferson was drafted in 1796 to run for President and accepted it.
He ran against John Adams losing but became the vice-president. After Adams term,
Jefferson ran for president again against Aaron Burr. Jefferson's second term, an
impatient John Randolph of Roanoke did not like by Jefferson's methods of dealing with
the Federalists. Rejecting Jefferson's policy involving territorial controversies with
Spain, he led a small but forceful team of anti-Administration Republicans in the House
of Representatives. As Jefferson's second term ended, he reopened his campaign for a
system of general education in Virginia. Jefferson was convinced that the institution
could be the greatest achievement in a lifetime dedicated to the belief that truth makes
men free. The institution or State University for Virginia was the first American
University to be free of official church connection. The University of Virginia was
Jefferson's daily concern during his last seven years. He chose the books for the college
library, drew up the curriculum, designed the buildings, and supervised their
construction. The University opened in 1825 the winter before Jefferson's death.
Jefferson continued to pursue a multitude of other tasks. In his eightieth year he wrote
on politics, sending President Monroe long expositions later known as the Monroe
Doctrine. Jefferson's life had been rich and deep, astonishing in its complexity,
rewarding to his family, his friends, his fellow citizens, and to America. Jefferson died
ten days before the fiftieth anniversary of American independence July 4, 1826. Jefferson
symbolizes for many both the promise and the contradictions of America's historical
heritage. He was a plantation owner from Virginia who helped formulate the American
Revolution and became the third President of the new country. He wrote the Declaration of
Independence. Jefferson's manifesto asserted that God had not created masters and
servants, aristocrats and commoners. All had been "created equal". All were entitled to
human dignity. Jefferson was a landowner and engaged in ambitious building projects at
Monticello and Poplar Forest. He unsuccessfully looked for an alternative crop to
tobacco, and like many American farmers after him he was heavily in debt to the banks.
Jefferson's plantations were worked by slaves he owned an estimated two hundred slaves.
During his presidency, his political enemies published charges that the had several
children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings which was not in the book I read but a
point I wanted to bring up. How can a man so intelligent and brave write the Declaration
of Independence and own slaves? The man, who wrote, "all men are created equal." He seems
to be so what of a hypocrite. I will take into consideration that in the
eighteenth-century, Virginia slaveholders might have wished freedom for slaves, but the
difficulties of finding viable places of residence and means of livelihood may have been
a factor. Although we may find Jefferson guilty of failing to make adequate allowance for
the conditions in which slaves were forced to live, Jefferson did not take the next step
of concluding that slaves were fit only for slavery. Did Jefferson mean to include blacks
or women in the language of the Declaration? Writing from retirement at he age of
seventy-three, he told a correspondent the "laws and institutions must go hand in hand
with the progress of the human mind." I respect Thomas Jefferson for his intelligence,
work, and actions took to form our country today. Jefferson was a very intelligent man
for his time and find it amazing of all the work he did in his lifetime. I believe he is
the most important president of all the presidents of America.