Thomas Jefferson1
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 ad
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. By the age of thirty-three, his reputation had grown. In June of 1781 he had injured his wrist and was unable to ride for some time. In 1785, on Franklin's departure for America, Jefferson was made Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of France. " I respect Thomas Jefferson for his intelligence, work, and actions took to form our country today. As Jefferson's second term ended, he reopened his campaign for a system of general education in Virginia. Jefferson's second term, an impatient John Randolph of Roanoke did not like by Jefferson's methods of dealing with the Federalists. Jefferson's plantations were worked by slaves he owned an estimated two hundred slaves. He chose the books for the college library, drew up the curriculum, designed the buildings, and supervised their construction. Jefferson continued to pursue a multitude of other tasks. The University opened in 1825 the winter before Jefferson's death. Jefferson was convinced that the institution could be the greatest achievement in a lifetime dedicated to the belief that truth makes men free. Jefferson had the responsibility of preparing the draft, and was finally approved on July 4, 1776. Jefferson was a landowner and engaged in ambitious building projects at Monticello and Poplar Forest. Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia in June 1775 as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress; he already possessed, as John Adams remarked.
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