Thomas Jefferson

 

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” This is the opening line of one of the most famous documents in American history,  written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 when he was only 34 years-old.  Jefferson was part of a 5 man committee selected by the Second Continental Congress to write the Declaration of Independence. The committee chose him to produce the first draft the document due to his reputation as a writer.

During the September of 1776, Jefferson was elected to the new Virginia House of Delegates. In the three years that he served in there, he wrote 126 bills including ones on religious freedom and streamlining the judiciary. He became the governor of Virginia in 1779, during which time he barely escaped an attack by the British. Years later people would question his bravery when he fled.

Jefferson served as Washington’s first Secretary of State and fought many  epic battles against Washington and Hamilton. Most of the disagreements were centered around a strong central government (Federalists) and states rights (Democratic-Republicans). Washington felt, in part due to his experience during the American Revolution, that a strong federal government was necessary. The weakness of the Articles of Confederation was what led to the Constitutional Convention. He felt that the states would always do what was in their best interests and not the United States best interests. Hamilton wanted to form the first Bank of United States which would absorb all of the debts that the states had accumulated during the revolution. He also believed that this would help bind the states together.  Jefferson, originally from Virginia, disagreed with both of these ideas.  Virginia had not taken on a lot of debt during the revolution, so now they would be saddled with the debts of other states. They were also the largest and most powerful of the states.

One of the things to come out of these battles (besides Jefferson being banned from Washington’s funeral) was the Compromise of 1790. This compromise allowed for the creation of the First Bank of the United States and moved the US Capital from New York to its present location on the Potomac.  Maryland and Virginia each agreed to give up a square piece of land (10 miles x 10 miles) for the creation of the District of Columbia, where the new capital was to be built. In 1846 during the height of the battles over slavery, Virginia requested, and Congress approved, the return of the Virginia portion of the land, thus the reason why DC is not a square today.

Due to a tie in the electoral college, the 1800 presidential election was decided in the House of Representatives. After 36 ballots, Hamilton threw his support behind Jefferson (and against Aaron Burr), winning him the presidency.

Of course during his presidency (1803) he purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon (to help fund his war against everyone). He had huge misgivings about the constitutionality of the purchase, but it was a good deal that he couldn’t resist.  This led to the Lewis and Clark expedition setting off to explore and map the new territory. His purchase almost doubled the land mass of the United States, and only one other President has added more territory to the country than Jefferson.

Jefferson retired to his home at Monticello near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he founded the University of Virginia (it opened the year before he died). The university is notable because it was the first in the country without a religious basis. It had been centered around a library, not a church.

During his retirement years he renewed his friendship with John Adams and over the last 14 years of their lives they exchanged 158 letters. I get that many emails in a day! Of course their letters probably said more than “what r u doing…”

Some interesting facts:

• Jefferson thought that John Adams was more qualified to write the Declaration of Independence. Adams stated "Reason first: You are a Virginian and Virginia ought to be at the head of this business. Reason second: I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular, you are very much otherwise. Reason third: You can write ten times better than I can.”
• Jefferson is one of only two Presidents that has dealt with their Vice Presidents shooting someone. Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey (as dueling was illegal in New York).
• After the British burned the Library of Congress in the War of 1812, he sold his collection of 6,487 books to replenish the collection. You can visit today and still see most of this collection.
• Jefferson was the first President to be inaugurated in Washington DC.
• When Jefferson wrote his epitaph, he mentioned that he was the author of the Declaration of Independence, the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the founder of the University of Virginia.  He did not, however, mention that he was ever the President of the United States.
• Jefferson established the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1802.
• He ordered the Navy to attack the Barbary pirates in the first major overseas offensive by the United States. The pirates had been attacking American ships and demanding ransoms.
• Patsy, Jefferson's daughter, gave birth to a son in the White House, the first birth in the Executive Mansion. Her son was named James in honor of James Madison.
• When JFK hosted 49 Nobel Prize winners at the White House in 1962, he said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, and of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
• So far, Jefferson is the only President that served two full terms and never vetoed a single bill from Congress.

Books:

Writing of the Declaration of Independence:  American Scripture by Pauline Maier

Compromise of 1790: Dinner at Mr. Jefferson’s by Charles Cerami

The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose