Since last week was the celebration of the Louisiana
Purchase, I thought it might be nice to learn about a man not only responsible
for it, but our third president – Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson was a man of diverse interests. He worked himself hard every day and expected
the same from those around him. Here is
an excerpt from a letter he wrote to his daughter, Martha on her daily
routine. Jefferson had high expectations
of his child. His own wife had died and
his advice was to be passed on to the woman watching over Martha. His daughter
was but 10 years old at the time he wrote this in a letter to her.
“With
respect to the distribution of your time, the following is what I should
approve:
From
8 to 10, practice music
From 10
to 1, dance one day and draw another
From
1 to 2, draw on the day you dance, and write a letter next day
From
3 to 4, read French
From
4 to 5, exercise yourself in music
From
5 till bed-time, read English, write, etc.”
He was born on April 13, 1743 to Peter and Jane
Jefferson. His mother was Randolph, one
of the wealthiest and most prominent families in Virginia. The small family lived in the Tidewater area
of Virginia on an estate called Shadwell.
They lived there for many years before the father moved them to Tuckahoe,
a family estate to care for his cousin’s children. They lived there for 7 years until the
children were grown and then returned to Shadwell. Thomas’ own father died when he was only 14
years old.
The schedule he set for his daughter may seem too much but
as a child, he set his own routine: 5 to 8 study agriculture, botany, zoology,
chemistry, anatomy, and religion. From 8
to 1 study law and politics; afternoons – study history with time out for a
two-mile run in the country; every night study literature, languages, and
oratory (speaking).
When he was only 16 he traveled to Williamsburg to attend
William and Mary College. While there he
met Patrick Henry and they became good friends.
His mentor, George Wythe was a man he respected and he spent many
evenings at the man’s home discussing the many topics he loved. Thomas Jefferson studied law and soon became
a prominent lawyer in 1767. By the time
he was 25 he was voted a member of the House of Burgesses, the ruling body in
Virginia. At the age of 26 he was a
member of the House of Burgesses in Virginia. He wrote the Statute on Religious
Freedom which outlined the separation of church and state.
He met a young lady while in Williamsburg, Martha
Skelton. They married on January 1st,
1773. He took his young wife to the home he had begun in 1770, Monticello,
which means little mountain. It was
there that he began his life as a family man and continued years later as a
grandfather when he retired from political life.
Revolution was in the air.
The king ordered the House of Burgesses disbanded and a new group voted
in. The people had other ideas and voted
the same men back into office, one of them Thomas Jefferson. In 1773, the burgesses met secretly at the
Raleigh Tavern to discuss the unfair taxes placed on the colonies by the British
government. They all agreed something
should be done. The Boston Tea Party
occurred six months later and war at their doorstep.
Thomas Jefferson was active during the War of
Independence. He served as a delegate to
the Continental Congress, the governor of Virginia (after his friend Patrick
Henry), and then later as minister to France in 1785. He was the youngest member of the Continental
Congress. Even though he suffered many
personal losses during the years of the revolution, when congress called, he came. His mother and a young daughter died during this time.
He worked with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman,
and Robert Livingston to write the Declaration of Independence. He worked in a rented room in the Graff House
(now called the Declaration House) many hours into the night. It took him 18 days to write the
declaration. When he presented it to
Congress they made only a few changes before signing it. On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration
of Independence was read to the citizens of Philadelphia and copies were sent
to the other colonies to read to the people.
More fighting was going on.
France sent Lafayette (who was only 19 at the time). He became friends with Jefferson. In 1779, he became governor of Virginia. When
English soldiers reached Virginia, they came after Jefferson who managed to
send his family away and he slipped away in the woods that he knew so
well. He had 7 children but only 2
daughters survived and left him 11 (although some claim he had 12)
grandchildren.
Not long after the war was won, Jefferson left office as
governor. He wanted to stay with his
family. His wife had gotten very
sick. On September 6, 1782, his wife
died. After weeks of seclusion, he finally left his home and headed back to
Philadelphia where he helped the congress create new laws. They decided the territories would become new
states. He also helped them decide on
American money based on a 100 scale. He
went to France and was saddened by the poverty he saw there.
While in France one of his daughters died so he sent for his
remaining daughter, Polly. (Patsy was
already with him). Polly arrived with a
young slave, Sally Hemings. (Evidence
has shown he had a relationship with Ms. Hemings and had several children with
her over his remaining lifetime. While
kept a secret for hundreds of years, the truth was proven through DNA testing).
While in France, he met with his friend the Marquis de
Lafayette. He tried to help France write laws to help the people but the French
Revolution started and he was barely able to leave himself once the king and
queen of France were captured. The
entire country was overrun with poverty and he had hoped to help the government
rectify the situation. The French
Revolution occurred in that country with people touting the very things he and
written in his Declaration of Independence for our country.
Jefferson became Secretary of State for George
Washington. He ran for president but
lost to John Adams and became his Vice President. The two disagreed on many topics. A split occurred in the voting populace at
this time. Those who favored Adams were
known as Federalists and those who followed Jefferson were called
anit-Federalists, Democrat-Republicans, or just simply Republicans. Jefferson ran against Adams and won the
election in 1801. This upset Adams
greatly who left the capital before Jefferson was even inaugurated in
1801. They would remain on the outs for
years until Abigail sent a letter to console him when his daughter died. At that time, the men renewed their
friendship.
He was a simple man, even while president. He was rumored to have greeted a foreign dignitary
wearing his farmer’s clothes and slippers.
The man was offended but the people loved him. During his presidency he accomplished many
things.
We think the race for president between Bush and Gore was
tight – when Jefferson ran against Aaron Burr, the votes were tied. The final vote went to the House of
Representatives. The House had to take
36 votes before Jefferson was declared the winner and Burr was made his Vice
President. Because of this, the
Constitution was amended so that the position of President and Vice President
would have separate ballots (no longer would the loser have to become Vice
President). Today we have a totally different voting procedure for President and Vice President.
Lewis and Clark
Expedition
Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to reach the Pacific
Ocean. They left in 1803 and did not
return until 1805, nearly 2 ½ years later.
They secured Sacagawea as their guide and with her help, Lewis and Clark
were able to communicate with Native American tribes along the way. The men brought back many plants and animals,
including two grizzly bears that Jefferson let roam on the White House grounds.
The Louisiana
Purchase
He offered to buy the Port of Orleans and France offered to
sell the entire Louisiana territory.
They were too busy fighting the British.
They sold it for about $15 million.
Ironically the US had to borrow money from the Bank of England in order
to make the purchase. They offered
promissory notes in exchange and then repaid the debt later. What is iron is that the French feared the English
would send ships to the new land and take it over, so in a way, the new
territory belonged to a British bank.
Like in when we purchase a home – we take out a mortgage. In this case, we took out a mortgage to
purchase the Louisiana territory which eventually became ours when we paid back
the loan.
Napoleon regretted the treaty immediately. Spain was furious because they felt the
land belonged to them, not France.
Jefferson threatened war with Spain if they caused a problem. Spain backed down because of their inferior
navy. Spain transferred its holdings to
France who then transferred it all to the US.
During his presidency, he convinced Congress to ban the
slave trade in 1808. Unfortunately
thousands were still smuggled into the country to be sold afterwards. As
president he slashed military spending, cut the budget, and reduced the
national debt. He used his power though
to purchase the Louisiana territory from Napoleon in 1803. He easily won a second term in 1804. He was president from 1801 to 1809
After his presidency, he returned to Monticello. He enjoyed his life there – inventing,
playing with his grandchildren, and having lavish parties with his
neighbors. At one point his debts were
so great the American people sent him money to pay them. Even so, when he died, his home had to be
sold. Although he freed 5 slaves in his
will, over 200 had to be sold to pay his debts (some were his own children by
Sally Hemings). He continued to advise his friends Monroe and Madison during
their presidencies, but otherwise, he led a quiet life until his death. His two major accomplishments after the
presidency include – selling over 6,000 books to the government when theirs
were destroyed during the War of 1812.
He was very involved in starting the University of Virginia. He rode his horse every day the many miles to
oversee the construction. He felt it was
one of his greatest accomplishments.
He died on the 50th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence in 1826, on the same day as John Adams.
On his tombstone he
wanted written:
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of
Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for
religious freedom,
And the father of the University
of Virginia.
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