“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” -Thomas Jefferson. This quote from Thomas Jefferson shows his views on liberty and how important liberty and freedom are. Thomas Jefferson is one of the founding father of the united states. He was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia and died on July 4, 1826, in Monticello, Virginia. During his lifetime Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer, diplomat, an inventor, and a writer. He also was involved with many political jobs and served as the nation’s first secretary of state, the second vice president and the 3rd president of the united states of America.
Thomas Jefferson lived through many important events and contributed a lot to America. He was responsible for many important things such as writing the declaration of independence, the Louisiana purchase and abolishing the slave trade. Some of the major event Thomas Jefferson was present for was the revolutionary war, The first Electoral College tie and the year without a summer. Without Thomas Jefferson contribution to the united state of America, our country would look and be very different from today.
Thomas Jefferson grew up in the American colonies in the state of Virginia and was addicted to learning. Thomas Jefferson loved and had a passion in learning about science, mathematics, rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. Thomas Jefferson enrolled in the College of William and Mary In 1760. Because of his passion to learn Thomas Jefferson became very knowledgeable in many things and was considered a great political thinker of his time. After years of schooling, Thomas Jefferson became a lawyer and traveled throughout the state practicing law for the colonial court.
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During his travel, he meet and fell in loved with a girl named Martha Wayles Skelton. They got married on January 1, 1772. After years of being a lawyer, Thomas Jefferson was elected into the Virginia’s House of Burgesses in 1769 and was a member till 1774. The American colonies resentment of Britain started to grow While Jefferson was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses. During this time many colonists rioted and protested over the taxes Britain placed and their actions throughout 13 colonies. the Boston Massacre was one of the riots that occur while Jefferson was in the House of Burgesses.
During the Boston massacre, angry patriots started to throw stones at the British soldiers occupying the city of Boston forcing the Britain soldier to fire at them killing 5 civilians. Another riot that occurred was the Boston Tea Party in which a group of patriot dressed up as native American, snuck onto a British merchant ship and dumped 10,000 pounds of tea into the harbor of Boston. Many of the American colonists were starting to hate Britain and dislike the British taxing them. Jefferson agreed with many of the angry colonists and later wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America in 1774 which basically stated that Britain King George had no rights over the American colonist.
This put Jefferson into the spotlight of many including continental congress as it showed the talent and knowledge Jefferson possed in articulating the colonial position and thoughts. Jefferson is later elected as a delegate of Virginia to the second meeting of Continental Congress to replace Peyton Randolph, the former president of Congress on March 27, 1775, right after the revolutionary war had just begun. Jefferson becomes the youngest member of the continental congress at age 33. The battle Lexington and Concord happened on April 19, 1775, and was the first battle of the revolutionary war. After the first battle of the revolutionary war, Jefferson meets with the second meeting of the continental congress in Philadelphia On June 20th, 1775 to discuss the war and the independence of America.
One year later on July 2nd, 1776 Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the declaration of independence for the continental congress. Jefferson was chosen to write the declaration of independence based on his reputation and skill in literature. the writing of the declaration of independence was one of the most defining events in his life and had a great impact on America such as future freedom and liberties. Jefferson wrote in the declaration of independence and stated that the American colonist had a right to obtain freedom and repel against Britain. He stated in the declaration of independence that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights such as life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. this asserted the basic fundamentals of human rights and helped create a nation based on freedom and egalitarian government.
However, this statement did not include women, indentured servant or African Americans since he believed that they were inferior to white men. Jefferson original wanted to put a statement in the document that would due away of slavery but in the end, chose not to because it was believed that the two races could not coexist together with freedom. Jefferson himself own many slaves which he inherited from his father. He presented the declaration of independence to Congress and they approved the document on July 4th, 1776. This document established Thomas Jefferson as one of the new nation founding father and told the rest of the world that America was free and its own country.
Shortly after Jefferson resigned from continental congress to rejoin the Virginia House of Delegates formerly known as the house of Burgesses in the fall of 1776. While Jefferson was in the house of delegates he Drafted a Virginia statute for religious freedom which guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths in the colony of Virginia. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom later became a precursor to the first amendments of the us constitution bill of rights. Without this achievement, the first amendment for religious freedom might not exist as it does today. Jefferson then served as governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781 and later rejoined Congress in 1783.
