Analysis Of Thomas Jefferson's Simple Way Of Life

Janelle Nye
Dr. Wayne Partridge
American Literature I
12th of October 2017

What can we Learn from Thomas Jefferson’s Simple Way of Life?

Part Two of Thomas Jefferson’s autobiography had a few words that caught my eye: Knowledge, Silence, Order, Frugality, and Humility. In my life, I have had to find some of these virtues to find order in my life and it was interesting how these and other virtues were important in the life of Thomas Jefferson in the late 1700’s. I wondered if most of the individuals in this world would practice some of the teachings in Jefferson’s autobiography if it would bring some calm and less chaos in our world. It also made me wonder if Jefferson was taught the importance of education, order, frugality, and humility

He lived with both parents up till Jefferson father died when he was fourteen. Jefferson described his mother as a humorous and very elegant woman. Jefferson did not always speak too much about his mother in his letters or writings, but he did live with his mother throughout law school. Jefferson’s father was the most influential in his life. Jefferson’s father early life, education was limited and neglected at most. Peter Jefferson was described by his son as having a sound mind, judgment and always searching and learning anything and everything he could to better himself. His father collected books and had a small library in the home and always bestowed the importance of educations to his children. Jefferson took the importance of education and continued his education all the way to law school and beyond. Just like his father, Jefferson had an obsession to all kinds of books and this obsession lead to one of the first public libraries in Massachusetts, and he believed that education and learning should always be ongoing. Jefferson’s mission for this public library was to have a place that all people could have easy access to all kids of books. His obsession made “reading fashionable” (Norton, 520) again. This virtue is a given, knowledge and education achieves success. Today, we have more young students moving on to college and more and more businesses and employers are looking at what types of

One morning, he noticed a china bowl on the table one for breakfast. Jefferson stated that he had no knowledge that he or his wife ever purchased this “luxury” item. Jefferson felt embarrassed for having this luxury item and questioned his wife. He really did not get a complete explanation from his wife as to why she purchased such an item, but others soon followed. Phycologist in Mexico documented that living a more frugal and having a more sustainable life can “protect both physical and social environments.” (Corral-Verdugo et al 2011) These same scientists also have studied groups of people that shows that a “sustainable behavior could be indicated by frugal, altruistic and equitable lifestyles can result in enhanced levels of happiness.” (Corral-Verdugo et al