THOMAS JEFFERSON
1743- April 13th, born at Shadwill, the heir of a prominent tobacco plantation.
1757- Age 14, Thomas' father Peter Jefferson dies, leaving Thomas head of family. Thomas was a smart young man with intellectual curiosity, consistently learning and achieving.
1760- Thomas attends William and Mary College, studies for 2 years.
1762- Practices law with George Wythe, a highly respected law man of Virginia, for five years and....
1767- was admitted to the bar and continued to practice law until 1774 when the courts were closed as a result of the revolution.
1769- Elected to the House of Burgesses at age 25, builds Monticello- his estate.
1773- The Boston Tea Party
1774- Publishes "A Summary Review of The Rights of British America," a Patriot Pamphlet that dealt with natural rights of man, and denounced the Parliamentary rule over the colonies.
1775- Voted a member of The Continental Congress.
1775- Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. Soon thereafter the American Revolution begins. The Continental Congress selects George Washington as General of The American Army.
July 4th 1776- Thomas Jefferson writes The Declaration of Independence, taking 18 days to draft the one page document, that claimed the colonies freedom from English rule. Same year he leaves congress to work with Virginia Legislature.
1779- Elected Governor of Virginia, serves two years.
1781- [Major Battle of Yorktown] Puts together the compilation, "Notes on Virginia" at Monticello.....
1782- [Wife dies] which was published in 1785. It dealt with topics such as the question of slavery which he had always opposed.
1783- Again a member of The Continental Congress, one year; provides new methods of currency in dollars and cents.
1784- Becomes successor to Ben Franklin as Minister of France, he was a great negotiator and well respected by France. Considered France an ally.
1789- Leaves France as the French Revolution unfolds, considered to be an ugly war, their new ruler is a man named Napoleon.
1790- Selected by George Washington as Secretary of State.1790-1793. Jefferson's policy was Anti-British. Some were Pro-British, such as Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury. Two partys are established: The Federalists and The Republican. Jefferson's party was the Democrat-Republic.
1793- Retires as Secretary, and takes time off from Public Service to work at his estate "Monticello."
1796- Republican support for presidency, finishes second to John Adams by three votes, and is Vice President.---Adams term, powered by the Federalists, created and passed many acts that increased tension between the parties.
1800- Thomas Jefferson is selected by Congress and the public will after he tied with Aaron Burr as the 3rd president of the U.S.A.
1803- The Louisiana Purchase for 15 Million dollars, "the biggest achievement of his presidency" which doubled our land without conflict of war. Serves two terms as President and undisputed leader of his party.
1809- Leaves office and succeeded by his loyal friend and Lieutenant James Madison. He remains in Virginia and was coined "the Sage of Monticello" for his wise opinions and advice. Still busy til' the day he died.
1819- Founded the University of Virginia, one of the finest institutions in America today, at age 77.
July 4th 1826- at 83 years, Thomas dies on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson's legacy, wished by him, can best be remembered for three accomplishments: the author of The Declaration of Independence, the author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and the Founding Father of the University of Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States of America, and major founder and factor of this great, free country of ours. He was a visionary who was motivated by his quest for knowledge and his thirst for freedom and natural rights of man.
He believed the best kind of government was one that didn't rule the people, but that conversely, the people rule the government.
His first inaugaral address was concerned mostly with uniting the Federalists and Republican Parties to sustain a union between the 13 colonies and political powers therein--- one nation, indivisible.
This election was unique though, for this was the first incumbent president defeated, in which now the people of America are introduced to a new party and new policy.
Thomas Jefferson, humbly, took the oath of office on March 4th, 1801. In the midst of a new world, where independence and free will were splitting in many directions, and peaking tension branches into a search for proper guidance, the man in charge was the noble, Thomas Jefferson, whose sole purpose was to create a uniformed cohesion amongst all the people of America, making us the United States.
Thomas was a tremendously revered writer, but wasn't an affluent public speaker. In the face of a position much larger than the man himself, he confidently, yet modestly addresses the nation at his Inaugaral; Speaking to the people and of the people and by the people.
"Let us then, with courage and confidence pursue our own federal and republican principles, our attachment to our union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the hundredth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them including honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and has greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citezens- a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."
Thomas Jefferson
In my research, I find Thomas Jefferson to be a true patriot, in every sense of the word, defined by his life, his legacy, and his everlasting words.
Thomas Rodney, MTR 9525