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Thomas Jefferson contributions to government
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“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” This is a quote from one of
America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson was the third child in a family of ten children. Jefferson was born on
April 13, 1743 in Virginia. He went to boarding school from age nine until the age of sixteen. Jefferson had a quality and personal education that many could not afford. When Jefferson’s father died, he looked to many of his professors for fatherly advice.
Thomas Jefferson became a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775 but, he didn't become a popular face until he presented a draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress on July 2nd. Jefferson’s wording of it was approved on July 4th of 1776. Jefferson was
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Later Thomas Jefferson became President of the United States in 1801. Followers of Jefferson wanted the federal government to have very limited power. Thomas Jefferson held a plain public image, he seemed like an ordinary, everyday citizen. Besides being a politician and diplomat, he was an architect, educator, inventor, farmer and philosopher-scientist. He worked hard to be a great leader and someone to look up to. He believed that only loyal men should hold federal offices. He stuck by his beliefs and by the end of his second term almost all of the federal jobs were held by loyal, trustworthy men. Federalist Charles C. Pinckney lost to Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1804. Jefferson won easily due to his extreme popularity among citizens.
Jefferson famously lowered the national debt from $83 million to $45 million by cutting government spending.He also started the United States Military academy at West Point in 1802 as he reduced the size of the army and navy. When he needed a better army or navy he just started building them. At one point he even paid a humiliating ransom to save American prisoners from the pasha of the
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This was the famous expedition that was led by thirty-two year old Lewis & twenty-eight year old Clark. Meriwether Lewis was was very skilled in wilderness and William Clark was a frontiersman and Indian fighter. Jefferson also dispatched other expeditions are this time. Some of these expeditions had leaders who lead people to believe that all that was out there in the Louisiana Territory, was uncultivable land. In 1804 Jefferson was reelected resident mainly because so many people liked his bold move when he purchased territory. Others, like the New England Federalist, disapproved of the territorial expansion since it made their regions less powerful. The Essex Junto were the most extreme group of Federalist at the time. They wanted to succeed from the Union and form a northern confederacy. Alexander Hamilton, the leading Federalist did not agree with this idea. They then turned to Hamilton’s rival, Vice President Aaron Burr, who accepted their
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States of America, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was governor of the state of Virginia between the years of 1779 and 1781. He was a founding father who believed in individual and estates rights. Many people admire him for having been a person who firmly believed in the ideals of democracy, equality and freedom. However, at the same time, he kept slaves, and made other contradictory decisions and this made other people to question his beliefs. Jefferson both, made good decisions for the country, but also made some bad decisions that were harmful to the US.
Thomas Jefferson’s presidential actions are often less remembered than his work on the Declaration of Independence and his other Revolutionary War contributions, despite their impact on how the United States would, literally, take shape. There were many outcomes from his time in office, the eight years from 1801 to 1809, some good, others less so. Still, I believe that, on the whole, his administration benefited the nation. For one thing, President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase added hundreds of thousands square miles to the size of the United States. Another, though less direct influence he had was that, in initiating the case of Marbury v. Madison, he unintentionally aided the Supreme Court in gaining the power to exercise judicial review.
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Virginia (Whitehouse.gov, n.d., para. 2). He came from a rich family, which afforded him to be very well educated. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence; served as minister of France, governor of Virginia, secretary of state during George Washington’s presidency, and vice-president under John Adams (Thomas Jefferson, n.d., para. 1.) He was also the third president of the United States. Jefferson was an avid opponent of royal ruling and the suppression of individual’s rights, “…I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” (Whitehouse.gov, n.d., para. 1).
Thomas Jefferson was an educated, articulate and accomplished man from a well-respected family. He had a great understanding of farming and of the relationship between man and his environment, working diligently to balance the two for the best interest of each. He “considered himself first and always a man of the land” (Jewett, 2005). His vision of the New World was of true, idealistic freedom with limited government involvement; an educated farmer, a moral man who would sustain himself off of the very land his freedom was based.
Thomas Jefferson has been a household name and has been greatly known by everyone in the United States since the late 1700’s. Not only was he present and play a crucial role in the American Revolution, but he also wrote the Declaration of independence and was also the third President of the United States. During his time as president his views and beliefs really countered the views of famous federalists of that time. (George Washington and John Adams) Jefferson had very passionate beliefs that favored the rights of the people and really gave the people and the states a lot more power than the Federalist Party believed they should have. “Jefferson’s political platform called for shrinking the infant
Mr. Jefferson was considered to be a gifted writer, but he was not a public speaker. He wrote his support for the patriotic cause in the House of Burgesses and the Continental congresses but he did not give any speeches. He was a silent member, and as such, drafted the Declaration of Independence. He became the first Secretary of State under George Washington, but resigned the post in 1793. His resignation was due to political conflicts with Alexander Hamilton and his sympathies for the French Revolution. As political differences grew in the new nation, two parties began to form; Jefferson became the leader of the Jeffersonian Party, which later evolved into the Democratic-Republican Party. He opposed a strong central government and was a champion for states' rights.
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. He was born into a family that had status, wealth, and tradition of public service. Jefferson was the third child in the family and grew up with six sisters and one brother. Thomas Jefferson was well educated; he attended private schools and at the age of seventeen he attended the College of William and Mary. Thomas Jefferson was interested in being a scientist, after learning that there was no opportunity for a career in science in Virginia he then studied law. In 1767, Thomas Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1769, when Jefferson public career started he already owned more than twenty-five hundred acres that he inherited from his father who died in 1757. After marring his wife Martha Wayles Skelton whom was a young widow his property doubled. After the death of Martha’s parents, his property doubled again.
Thomas Jefferson was at the center of American history for more than half a century. He was a man of many talents, he was the author of the Declaration of Independence, and he was the third President of the United States.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, author of the Declaration of Independence, was born on April 13, 1743 and grew up on the family plantation at Shadwell in Albermarle County, Virginia. His father was Peter Jefferson, who, with the aid of thirty slaves, tilled a tobacco and wheat farm of 1,900 acres and like his fathers before him, was a justice of the peace, a vestryman of his parish and a member of the colonial legislature. The first of the Virginia Jefferson's of Welsh extraction, Peter in 1738 married Jane Randolph. Of their ten children, Thomas was the third. Thomas inherited a full measure of his father's bodily strength and stature, both having been esteemed in their prime as the strongest men of their county. He also inherited his father's inclination to liberal politics, his taste for literature and his aptitude for mathematics. The Jefferson's were a musical family; the girls sang the songs of the time, and Thomas, practicing the violin assiduously from boyhood, became an excellent performer.
Jefferson came into office on March 4, 1801 and left office on March 4, 1809. His first term’s vice president was Aaron Burr, and his second term’s vice president was George Clinton. He ran with the Democratic-Republican Party and heavily opposed the Federalist Party. Prior to his election, he had already held many positions in public office; vice president and secretary of state . Because he was preceded only by John Adams and George Washington, Jefferson played a large role in the formation of the character of the American President. For his first inaugural address, according to a reporter, “His dress was, as usual, that of a plain citizen without any distinctive badge of office.” This casual nature showed the American public that he was not a king, but a normal citizen who was there for the people, he was even known as the “Man of the People”. Many other American Presidents used that same style in order to appeal to the public.
The American Revolution, perhaps the most momentous war-related milestone in American history, would not have been possible without the strenuous efforts of the courageous men we call Patriots or otherwise known as the Founding Fathers of America, who gave their all in the fight for freedom against the British. Many names of great men come to mind when we think “founding fathers,” such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, or Samuel Adams. Yet there is still one great patriot and founding father who seems to stand out above the rest, and that man is Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson is widely known as being the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase that bought more than 20% of the U.S. However, what most people seem to overlook is his vast knowledge of mathematics and science, and his strong position and belief in Republicanism.
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 on his family’s plantation in Shadwell, Virginia. The third of six children his parents raised him modestly and his father schooled him to be a gentleman. The young Jefferson suffered an emotional shock, when at the age of 14 his father Peter Jefferson died. The young Jefferson was the first male of the family and so he received the bulk of his father’s assets, leaving him with a sizable fortune.
Thomas Jefferson came into presidency with the intentions of limiting the size and power of the central government. His success and failures in accomplishing this goal were many. Thomas Jefferson was America’s third president in reign from 1801 – 1809, once tying in the presidential race with Aaron Burr, where the decision was made by the House of Representatives to choose Jefferson whom they thought was less dangerous than Burr.
Jefferson went to an English school at the age of five where he remained for four years. He was then transferred to a Latin school for five years. His father died in 1758 and Thomas was put under the control of Rev. Maury to prepare for college. When he was 17, Thomas enrolled in the college of William and Mart in Williamsburg, VA. He found the college disappointing but extremely liked the town considering it was the biggest community Jefferson had ever seen. He thrived for knowledge and was able to graduate with the highest honors in the college. After college, he studied law under the instruction of George Wythe and was inducted into the practice of law. He did not reamain in this profession for long and in 1764 was elected a representative to the Legislatures of Justices. During this time he became more and more involved in the public life.
Thomas Jefferson was born in what is now Albermarle County, Virginia on April 13, 1743. Jefferson was educated at the College of William and Mary and then went on to study law with George Wythe. Thomas Jefferson is most well known for his part in writing the Declaration of Independence and for being our third president. Thomas Jefferson has contributed greatly to the building of our government. He was a truly remarkable man who set forth the basic ideals and beliefs in government that have stayed the same for over two hundred years. In researching Thomas Jefferson I see a man who poetically expressed the fundamental purpose behind government that is, I feel, sometimes overlooked in today's political government and by the media.