Thomas Jefferson Essays (1527 words) - Thomas Jefferson,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson symbolizes the promise and the contradictions of Americas 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 Americas 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 familys position in life: the books, the ho rses, 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. Maurys 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 gove rnment. The manuscript was later the Notes of Virginia. In September 1782, Jeffersons 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