Thomas Jefferson Essay, Research Paper

Thomas JeffersonJefferson was born at Shadwell in what is now Albemarle County, Va., onApr. 13, 1743. His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, came from one of the firstfamilies of Virginia; his father, Peter Jefferson, was a well-to-do landowner,although not in the class of the wealthiest planters.Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary and then studied lawwith George Wythe. In 1769 he began six years of service as a representative inthe Virginia House of Burgesses. The following year he began building Monticelloon land inherited from his father. The mansion, which he designed in every detail,took years to complete, but part of it was ready for occupancy when he marriedMartha Wayles Skelton on Jan. 1, 1772. They had six children, two of whomsurvived into adulthood. Jefferson’s reputation began to reach beyond Virginia in 1774, when hewrote a political pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Arguing on the basis of natural rights theory, Jefferson claimed that colonialallegiance to the king was voluntary.Elected to the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia,Jefferson was appointed on June 11, 1776, to head a committee of five inpreparing the Declaration of Independence. He was its primary author. Jefferson’sreference to the voluntary allegiance of colonists to the crown was struck; alsodeleted was a clause that censured the monarchy for imposing slavery uponAmerica. The Declaration of Independence made Jefferson internationally famous. Years later that fame brought up the jealousy of John Adams, who complainedthat the declaration’s ideas were overused.Returning to Virginia late in 1776, Jefferson served until 1779 in the Houseof Delegates, one of the two houses of the General Assembly of Virginia–established in 1776 by the state’s new constitution.While the American Revolution continued, Jefferson wanted to liberalizeVirginia’s laws. Joined by his old law teacher, George Wythe, and by JamesMadison and George Mason, Jefferson introduced a number of bills that were veryresisted by those representing the conservative planter class. In 1776 hesucceeded in getting the abolition of entail; his proposal. Jefferson was also instrumental in making a major revision of the criminalcode, although it was not acted until 1796. His bill to create a free system oftax-supported elementary education for all except slaves was defeated as were hisbills to create a public library and to modernize the curriculum of the College ofWilliam and Mary. In June 1779 the introduction of Jefferson’s bill on religious liberty broughtup a quarrel that caused fighting in Virginia for 8 years. The bill was important asno other state and no other nation provided complete religious freedom at thattime. Jefferson’s bill stated that all men shall be free to do what they wanted forreligion, and to maintain their opinions on matters of religion. Many Virginiansregarded the bill as an attack upon Christianity. It did not pass until 1786, andthen mainly through the stability of James Madison. Jefferson, by then in France,congratulated Madison. In June 1779, Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia. His politicalenemies criticized his performance as war governor merciless. He was chargedwith failure to provide for the enough defense of Richmond in 1780-81, althoughhe knew a British invasion was close when he fled the capital during the momentof crisis. In June 1781 he retired from the governorship. The Virginia assemblyvoted that an inquiry should be made into the conduct of the executive of thisstate. Jefferson was excused. The death of his wife, on Sept. 6, 1782, added to Jefferson’s troubles, butby the following year he was again seated in Congress. There he made twocontributions of lasting importance to the nation. In April 1784 he gave in Notes onthe Establishment of a Money Unit and of a Coinage for the United States wherehe advised the use of a decimal system. This report led to the adoption of thedollar, rather than the pound, as the basic money unit in the United States. As chairman of the committee dealing with the government of westernlands, Jefferson submitted proposals. The proposed ordinance of 1784 showedJefferson’s belief that the western territories should be self-governing and, whenthey reached a certain stage of growth, should be let into the Union as fullpartners with the original 13 states. Jefferson also proposed that slavery should beexcluded from all of the American western territories after 1800. Although hehimself was a slaveowner, he believed that slavery was an evil that should not bepermitted to spread.In 1784 the terms banning slavery was narrowly defeated. If John Beatty ofNew Jersey, who was sick and confined to his lodging, been at the vote, theresults of the vote would have been different. Although Congress approved theproposed ordinance of 1784, it was never put into effect; its main features wereincorporated, however, in the Ordinance of 1787, which established the NorthwestTerritory. Slavery was prohibited in the Northwest Territory. From 1784 to 1789, Jefferson lived outside the United States. He was sentto Paris as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. Then in 1785he went after Benjamin Franklin as minister to France. Most European countries,were indifferent to American economic overtures. They were ignorant of ourcommerce, and of the exchange of articles it might offer an advantage to bothparties. Prussia was the only country to sign a pact based on a model treatydrafted by Jefferson. During these years Jefferson followed events in the United States withunderstandable interest. He advised against any harsh punishment of thoseresponsible for Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts. He worried mostly that thenew Constitution of the United States lacked a Bill of Rights and failed to limit the

number of terms for the presidency.In France he witnessed the beginning of the French Revolution, but hedoubted whether the French people could imitate the American example ofrepublican government. His advice was that France should try to imitate theBritish system of constitutional monarchy. When Jefferson left Paris on Sept. 26, 1789, he expected to return to hispost. On that date and unknown to him, Congress confirmed his appointment assecretary of state in the first administration of George Washington. Jeffersonaccepted the position with some stubbornness mostly because of Washington’sinsistence. He right away showed his alarm at the regal forms and ceremoniesthat marked the executive office. Jefferson, however, distrusted both the proposals and the motives ofSecretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. He thought Hamilton’s financialprograms both unwise and unconstitutional.On the issue of federal assumption of state debts, Jefferson made abargain with Hamilton permitting assumption to pass a compromise that he laterregretted. He attempted to persuade Washington to veto the bill incorporating aBank of the United States recommended by Hamilton. Jefferson suspected Hamilton and others in the growing Federalist Party ofa secret design to create monarchist ideals and institutions in the government. The disagreements brought over into foreign affairs. Hamilton was pro-British, andJefferson was pro-French, although he directed the office of secretary of state witha notable objective. The more Washington sided with Hamilton, the moreJefferson became angry with his minority position within the cabinet. Finally, afterbeing twice taken away from resigning, Jefferson did finally resign on Dec. 31,1793. At home for the next three years, Jefferson devoted himself to farm andfamily. He experimented with a new plow and other ingenious inventions, built anail factory, helped the rebuilding of Monticello, set out a thousand peach trees,received elegant guests from abroad, and welcomed the visits of hisgrandchildren. Jefferson thought Washington’s effort to suppress the Whiskey Rebellionan unnecessary use of military force. He ignored Washington’s blame of theDemocratic societies. Jefferson welcomed Washington’s decision not to run for a third term in1796. Jefferson became the hesitant presidential candidate of the Democratic-Republican party, and he seemed relieved when the Federalist candidate, JohnAdams, gained a narrow Electorial college victory. As the runner-up, however,Jefferson became vice-president under the system then in effect. Jefferson hoped that he could work with Adams, as of old, especially sinceboth men shared an anti-Hamilton idea. But those hopes were soon destroyed. Relations with France faded away. In 1798, in the wake of the XYZ Affair, theQuasi-War began.New taxes were imposed and the Alien and Sedition Acts threatened thefreedom of Americans. Jefferson secretly authored the Kentucky Resolution. Moreimportant, he provided his party with principles and strategy, aiming to win theelection of 1800. Jefferson’s win was delayed temporarily as a result of a tie in electoralballots with his running mate, Aaron Burr, which shifted the election to the Houseof Representatives. There Hamilton’s influence helped Jefferson to control,although most Federalists supported Burr. In his inaugural speech Jefferson heldout an olive branch to his political enemies, inviting them to bury the hate of thepast decade, to unite now as Americans. Federalist leaders remained very opposed to Jefferson, but the peopleapproved his policies. Internal taxes were reduced; the military budget was cut;the Alien and Sedition Acts were permitted to end; and plans were made to doaway with the public debt.The Louisiana Purchase capped his achievements. Jefferson had toovercome constitutional boundaries in order to take over the large new territorywithout authorization by constitutional amendment. The purchase was receivedwith a lot of enthusiasm. In the election of 1804, Jefferson swept every stateexcept two–Connecticut and Delaware. Jefferson’s second administration began with a minor success–thefavorable settlement ending the Tripolitan War, in which the newly created U.S. Navy fought for the first time. The following year the Lewis and Clark Expedition,which the president had dispatched to explore the Louisiana Territory, returnedtriumphantly after crossing the continent.The West was also a source of trouble though. The disaffected Aaron Burrengaged in a scheme, the details of which are still doubtful, either to establish anindependent republic in the Louisiana Territory or to launch an invasion ofSpanish-held Mexico. Jefferson acted swiftly to arrest Burr early in 1807 and bringhim to trial for treason. Burr was acquitted though. Jefferson’s main concern in his second administration was foreign affairs,in which he experienced a large failure. In the course of the Napoleonic WarsBritain and France repeatedly violated American power in incidents such as theChesapeake affair in 1807. Jefferson attempted to avoid a policy of either . The Embargo Act (Dec. 22, 1807), which prohibited just about all exportsand most imports and was supplemented by enforcing legislation, was designedto coerce British and French recognition of American rights. Although it failed, itdid rile-up many northerners, who suffered economically, to a state of dare ofnational authority.The Federalist party experienced a rebirth of popularity. In 1809, shortlybefore he retired from the presidency, Jefferson signed the act repealing theembargo, which had been in effect for 15 months. In the final 17 years of his life, Jefferson’s major accomplishment was thefounding in 1819 of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He started it,planned it, designed it, and supervised both its construction and the hiring offaculty. The university was the last of three contributions that Jefferson wished tobe remembered On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration ofIndependence, Jefferson died at Monticello.