Thomas Jefferson (born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell (a colony of Virginia) and died on July 4, 1826, at Monticello, Virginia) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, he was the 3rd American president from 1801-1809 and the main author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most influential state theorists in the United States.
From 1797 to 1801 he was also the second American vice president. Jefferson was one of the founders of the Democratic-Republican Party of the United States. His presidential years included the purchase of Louisiana, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and a failed trade embargo against Britain and France.
He is considered the “father of the University of Virginia” and his private library was the basis for the reconstruction of the Library of Congress after the war of 1812. His thinking and acting were determined by the principles of the Enlightenment.
He campaigned for a separation of religion and state, for great freedom of the individual, and for a strong federal structure in the United States. Jefferson had an ambiguous relationship to slavery: he owned slaves himself, but also spoke out against the institution on several occasions.
Thomas Jefferson also emerged as an architect. Well-known buildings include his Monticello residence and the University of Virginia, both of which have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1987.
The Early Life of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Shadwell, in the county of Albemarle, in the colony of Virginia. His parents, Peter Jefferson I (1708-1757) and Jane Randolph (1720-1776), are part of families of notables settled in the region for several generations.
Thomas Jefferson is the first son of a family of ten children. His father owns a plantation in the county of Albemarle, and devotes part of his time to mapping and self-study; he wanted his son Thomas to have a solid education.
In 1752, Thomas Jefferson attended a school run by the Scottish Reverend William Douglas, who taught him several languages, including Latin, Ancient Greek, and French, but also Spanish, Italian, and Old English. When his father died in 1757, he was only 14 years old and inherited his immense property, on which hundreds of slaves worked.
Jefferson perfected his classical culture, learned natural sciences and history from the Reverend James Maury in Fredericksburg. In 1760, Jefferson undertook higher studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg where he trained in various disciplines (botany, geology, cartography, Greek, Latin, law, history, philosophy). He perfects his French.
His philosophy teacher, William Small, gave him a taste for English authors John Locke, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and taught him to use methodical doubt. Jefferson attends theFlat Hat Club, a secret society, and a student fraternity. A graduate in 1762, he then studied law with his friend and mentor George Wythe.
He was admitted to the bar in 1767 before being elected to the Assembly of Virginia in 1769. Jefferson sits in the Bourgeois House of Virginia between 1767 and 1775.
Thomas Jefferson Family
After the fire of the family mansion in 1770, Jefferson began construction of his house which later became Monticello. In 1772, at age 29, Jefferson married the 23-year-old widow, Martha Wayles Skelton, with whom he has six children: Martha (1772-1836), Jane (1774-1775), a stillborn son (1777), Mary (1778-1804), Lucy Elisabeth (1780-1781) and Lucy Elisabeth II (1782-1784).
Martha died on 6 September as 1782 after the birth of her last child. Jefferson never remarried. Jefferson is accused of having a long-term intimate relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, who is believed to have been a half-sister to Jefferson’s late wife.
She had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood and were released or allowed to escape. They were probably 7/8th whites by descent.
Political Career
In the 1770s, Jefferson earned a good reputation as a lawyer and politician. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, the second chamber of the Virginia Parliament. In 1774 he published A Summary View of the Rights of British America.
This pamphlet, which was intended to instruct the Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress, made him an influential pioneer of American patriots who opposed certain forms of British taxation. In 1774, Jefferson was appointed Virginia’s delegate to the Continental Congress.
There he was a member of the committee that was to prepare the colonies’ declaration of independence. This committee instructed Jefferson to prepare a first draft of the statement. Some suggestions for improvements to this draft came from John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and Congress itself also made some changes.
Still, Jefferson is the lead author of the statement. In late 1776, Jefferson returned to Virginia, where he was re-elected to the community center. As a member of parliament, he worked towards major reform of the Virginia legal system.
He wrote 126 bills in three years, campaigning for the abolition of primogeniture, freedom of religion, and reform of criminal law and education, among other things. He was supported by George Wythe, James Madison, and George Mason, among others. In 1779 to 1783 he was elected governor of Virginia.
On June 6, 1783, the Virginia Assembly appointed him to the Confederation Congress on behalf of the State, for the period beginning on November 1. In Congress, he was a member of the committee charged with setting foreign exchange rates, and therefore recommended that the US currency should be based on the decimal system.
Democrat-Republican presidential candidate Jefferson lost the 1796 election to his friend and then Vice President John Adams, but obtained enough electoral votes to become Vice President (1797-1801). Working closely with Aaron Burr of New York, Jefferson primarily attacked the new taxes and ran for the Presidency in 1800.
Thomas Jefferson Presidency
First Term
Thomas Jefferson’s first presidential term was marked by major successes (purchase of Louisiana), political reforms, and certain popularity. The President officially takes office onMarch 4, 1801. The ceremony takes place for the first time in Washington, DC, which becomes the federal capital.
Jefferson’s presidency marks an important step in the American democratic tradition: it represents the first alternation between the two main political parties in the country.
Second Term
Thomas Jefferson’s second presidential term is more difficult than the first. With his vice-president George Clinton, he faces several problems: on the foreign affairs level, Jefferson tries to preserve his country’s neutrality in the face of the troubles of the Napoleonic wars.
Besides, Jefferson’s party was weakened by the split of John Randolph who formed the group of “Quids” or “Old Republicans”, who stood alongside James Monroe. Finally, Burr’s conspiracy threatens the unity of the country.
Last Year and Death
At the end of his life, Jefferson was particularly troubled by financial problems. At times the value of his property (converted to today’s standards) had been $212 million, but he had always lived as a generous virgin gentleman and invested enormous sums in the construction and expansion of Monticello.
Assuming a friend’s surety led to even more debt, so he eventually had to sell much of his property and accept the certainty that his heirs would not be able to hold Monticello. But he was also very concerned about US politics. Above all, the Missouri compromise of 1820 woke him “like the fire bell at night”, so he wrote to John Holmes in April 1820.
In his view, the constitution of the central government did not allow the spread of slavery to be prevented. The letter goes on to say: “I regret to die now believing that the vain self-sacrifice of the 1776 generation to gain self-government and happiness for their country is thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons should be. ”
Finally, health problems were added, and Jefferson had to cancel an invitation from Roger Weightman for a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In his reply letter to Weightman, however, he addressed the American people one last time.
The general spread of the “light of science”, he wrote, had already revealed the obvious truth to everyone, “that the broad mass of mankind was not born with saddles on their backs, still, a few booted and spurred, ready, lawfully, by the grace of God to ride on them.
” Just over a week later, Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of his declaration of independence. His predecessor, president, a political opponent, and long-time friend John Adams, died on the same day.