Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was a politician, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and inventor. One of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson was extremely influential to the Revolution (being the primary author of the Declaration of Independence) and the nely-formed United States (being the first secretary of state, second vice president, and third president - from 1801 to 1809).
Life[]
Born in his family's plantation in Virginia in April of 1743, Jefferson was the third of ten children. His father was a self-educated planter and surveyor while his mother was the daughter of a ship's captain and planter. Jefferson stated that his mother brought him aristocracy. Regretting his lack of a formal education, Jefferson's father entered him and a few of his siblings into formal education. When Jefferson was nine, he entered into a school ran by a Scottish Presbyterian minister and began to study the natural world.
In 1757, Jefferson's father died. Shortly after this, Jefferson met a Reverend named James Maury who began teaching the teenaged Jefferson and allowed him to board at the Maury family house. Around this time, Jefferson met various Native chiefs - most notably a Cherokee chief named Ostenaco. He also met a native of Williamsburg named Patrick Henry and befriended him.
In 1761, Jefferson entered into the recently-built College of William and Mary. Jefferson was tutored by a professor of natural philosophy named William Small and began to become acquainted with the ideals of the Empiricists. Small (along with the academic George Wythe and colonial administrator Francis Fauquier) recognized some genius lurking within young Jefferson and began to ingratiate him into their order.
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Writing style and viewpoints[]
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Notable works[]
- A Summary View of the Rights of British America
- Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
- Declaration of Independence
- Notes on the State of Virginia
- Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States
- Autobiography
- The Jefferson Bible
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Appearances in fiction[]
- Thomas Jefferson is a major character within Gore Vidal's novel Burr. Within this novel, Jefferson is described as an extremely cunning and somewhat malicious political schemer.
- A young Thomas Jefferson briefly appears in Thomas Pynchon's novel Mason & Dixon.
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Sources[]
- Wikipedia