Greatness Of Thomas Jefferson example essay topic

How does one determine the measure of a man? His accomplishments? His ancestry? His financial worth? Or do we look deep into the heart and soul of that man and determine the weight of his values, his dreams and what he has stood for in the grand scheme of things?

We will appraise the lives of six important figures in the shaping of our country. With this evaluation, we risk becoming critic and judge, but in an attempt to go beyond those things both tangible and measurable, perhaps we will be forgiven. Thomas Jefferson called him, .".. a wise, a good and a great man". Patrick Henry, when asked who he thought was the greatest man in Congress, replied, ... ". if you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is the greatest man on that floor".

Despite his height and noble bearing, Washington was a quiet man who pondered long before decisions. Even with little schooling, he was an avid student of math and science. At a very early age, he was aware and respectful of decorum and manners. At 13, he copied the one hundred and ten "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversations", and lived by them.

His mathematical and science skills coupled with attributes of respect, responsibility and strength secured him a position as a surveyor in Virginia at only sixteen. These same qualities, planted as deeply into his soul as the trees on his father's farm, are what gave him the courage and perseverance to plunge headlong into a life filled with some of the greatest achievements in American history. At 20 years old, Washington was plodding through one thousand miles of snow, swimming ice-clogged rivers and dodging the bullets of angry Native Americans only to carry a warning message to an unwelcoming French commander in the Ohio River Valley. He was shot once, and walked one hundred miles when his horse got too weak to go on. But he finished the task laid before him. In this first mission, courage and perseverance were metals he earned to wear on his heart.

Two years later he commanded the British army in the French and Indian War. As Lieutenant Colonel of the Virginia forces, he captured twenty-one French and killed ten, loosing only one man in the process. In this, he added two metals, strength and wisdom. Military battles dominated Washington's years, and the battles both won and lost created the warp and weft of the fabric of his life. Without the losses, there would have been only the weft, leaving a weak fabric indeed. Instead, it strengthened.

What's more, Washington seemed divinely blessed for this work, this weaving, and this strengthening. Washington: "I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side". Finally the power, divine or otherwise, holding sway over Washington's life seemed to decide it was time to place him in a position he had earned through the equally merciless fires of defeat and adversity and joy and success. First he was named Commander of the Continental Army and served as such throughout the Revolutionary War. In 1787, he was the President of the Constitutional Convention that drew up the Constitution. And finally, in 1789 he became the first President.

As president, Washington became the potter -- -America, the clay. He had a daunting, broken potter's wheel before him. But he took the people's good, rich American soil and he placed it there. Smoothing, he organized the new government and made appointments for offices that didn't exist before him.

Lifting the clay of the new government, he straightened its crooked finances. He began trying to shape a new and better relationship with England, and he strengthened the new vessel of America with what to him was the wonderful and valuable blood of the native American. Upon his death, "Light Horse" Harry Lee said of him, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the heart of his countrymen, he was second to none". To that we heartily concur. Illegitimately born into the poor society of 1755, Alexander Hamilton and his mother were abandoned on St Croix Island.

After losing her at 13, he walked a narrow gully of poverty for several years. It was because of these beginnings that he emerged with his chin high and a chip on his shoulder. His entire life, he would wear pride like a fine shirt, forcing those who would resent his low birth to consider, much of the time grudgingly, his high achievements. A Spitfire determination to improve his circumstances set him reading books and studying profusely. On the wings of friends who saw his genius, he was sent to America where they hoped he would become a physician and return to them. He never saw the West Indies again.

In America, Hamilton was thrust into the heat of the Revolution. As men prepared for battle at Lexington and Concord, he took the title Captain of the Provincial Company of Artillery. From there, he fought several battles with George Washington who was impressed with Hamilton's character and handed him the position of aide-de-camp. But spending winter with Washington at Valley Forge left him with a combination of frustration at the state of the military and a desire for fighting. Regretfully, in 1781, through ill-feelings for each other, Hamilton and Washington split company.

After another brief brush with military action, Hamilton resigned. Not content to live quietly, Hamilton began writing "The Continental ist", which launched him into the political arena. Here, his charm and oratory skills would fight slavery, prove him worthy to sign the Constitution, and allow him to make astronomical progress in the finances of the new America. Working behind the scenes in Hamilton's career, however, were the ghosts of his past. Those low, whispering tell-tales from a miserable island many years ago. No money, no family, no background.

No impressive bloodline to prove worthiness to the high cause of his station. Even though Hamilton held his head high and pushed forward on issues of which he believed, those with prejudice and jealousy, those who held sway over the workings of government, fought him at every turn. Hamilton had the last laugh, so to speak. However posthumously, his financial policies continued to be used by Jefferson, a man who vehemently fought him throughout his political life.

These financial plans are what brought America through troubled times and were, essentially, what kept her alive. But to realize Hamilton's contributions to America is to realize that he gave far more to humanity than to his country. One only needs to study hard the life of Alexander Hamilton to know that he, like Lincoln and many others of this time, spent their lives becoming a living model for all those who desire to set their life's goals not to great financial gain, high praise and respect, or noteworthy deeds, but to lifting their lives out of the quagmire of their murky circumstances and rising to greatness with only their spirits and determination. What is seen in the mind's eye when we hear the name Thomas Jefferson? A man hunched over a writing desk, his face illuminated by a single candle as he scratches noble words on parchment? Probably.

But Jefferson was a multi-layered soul who's talents went beyond the pen and who's decisions literally purchased the heart of America. Jefferson lived in a time when all America bowed to the English Crown. Indeed, no one would have the audacity to lift their chin in defiance. Yet there were a few who dared.

He was deeply impressed with Patrick Henry's impenitent speech against the Stamp Act. The impact of Henry's words was reflected in the first expression of resistance Jefferson penned: A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Set Forth in some Resolutions Intended for the Inspection of the Present Delegates if the People of Virginia, now in Convention. He had picked up the gauntlet, donned it, and joined the ranks of great men shaking their fists at England. Two years went by.

With the bullets of Lexington and Concord proverbially flying past his head, Jefferson was asked to compose the words of freedom. To England, this document would be the ultimate call to arms. Jefferson and all those who dared to utter these words knew the Crown would have no recourse but to punish these petulant children. In the years that followed, Jefferson nearly lost his life during this desperate time of snapping the chains of England. But the grave danger he lived through paled in comparison to the wounds suffered with the loss of his dear wife. Upon her death, he considered himself "as dead to the world as she was whose loss occasioned it".

In the years before his presidency he spent much of his time in politics, traveling to Europe for the benefit of his young country. But in 1793 he came home to Monticello convinced he would never return to public office. This was not to be, however. At fifty-seven he was sworn in as President. His greatest achievement in the eyes of most Americans was the purchase of the Louisiana territory from Napoleon for fifteen million dollars. Jefferson's contributions, however, went beyond this one, stellar accomplishment.

There was much more to the man, Thomas Jefferson. The surprising importance he placed on farming is recorded in his own words: 'The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its [agri] culture. ' In a letter to George Washington, he expresses the gravity with which he views agriculture: "Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness". With regard to lowly plants, strong words indeed from a man who penned the words that freed a country.

Jefferson was an inventor. From developing the very patent office that would help the world recognize his contributions, to the designing of a small lap desk, Jefferson's mind never stopped creating. He improved a Dutch plow, developed a clock that told both the day of the week and the time, and improved the polygraph -- -a forerunner of our modern day photo copier. His revolving bookstand and swivel chair were direct reflections of his love for reading and writing and a hint of the lifestyle Jefferson held dear.

All these things, however, were not the things of which Jefferson wanted to be remembered. The founding of the University of Virginia he considered his greatest accomplishment. He wanted only this forever connected to his name. Not relishing the office of President, Jefferson nonetheless pressed into the wind of controversy, then tyranny, then war.

He held ground and fought with pen and heart and bravery. When the wind died down and he was free of the presidency, he wrote: "Never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power... ". Why? Because of the man underneath. The greatness of Thomas Jefferson did not lie in his political contributions or even in his gift with a pen.

It lay in the remarkable strength he possessed to take on the political birth pains of his nation when all he really wanted to be was a farmer, an inventor, a botanist, a naturalist and a teacher. Thomas Jefferson was made of the same stuff as the handful of other magnificent men that refined our nation. So wonderful was this stuff that it has long since vanished, and may never reappear again. A tiny man with piercing blue eyes, it was Madison's character and sense of humor that made him an impressive figure. Lifelong friend of Thomas Jefferson, he joined the Revolutionary fray fresh from college in 1772. This brilliant man was soon referred to as the "Father of the Constitution".

His system of checks and balances created the perfect blueprint for the new country. On the heels of this, he had a hand in writing the Federalist papers, a series of essays designed to explain and support the Constitution. Also to his credit, he drafted the Bill of Rights. Fearing too much power in the government, Madison and Jefferson founded the Republican Party in the 1790's. When Jefferson became president in 1800, he appointed Madison secretary of state. This became a joining of two minds that thought as one on policy after policy.

In Madison's early years as president, England and France were at war. As if dealing with squabbling children, Madison tried measure after measure to stop the dangerous contention for power. The resulting war of 1812 with England was ultimately ended by a motley army of Louisiana militia, Tennessee riflemen, pirates, and odd others that were led by General Andrew Jackson. Madison spent his last years in his home in Virginia.

Two men would speak of this great man's contributions. John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "Notwithstanding a thousand faults and blunders, his Administration has acquired more glory and established more Union than all three Predecessors, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson put together". But Senator Henry Clay's powerful words summed this man's life, "Madison rendered more important services to his country then any other man, Washington only excepted". Best known for his heroism in the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans earned Andrew Jackson the nickname "Old Hickory". Even though he was known as a representative of the common people, the Creek and Seminole Indians were not among those people. A glance at Jackson's military career will show a dark, treacherous side to his dealings with Native Americans.

Of this the Trail of Tears can attest. Nevertheless, the War of 1812 had turned him into the "Hero of New Orleans". He helped strengthen the office of the president by establishing the veto as a presidential option and giving the president the power to make and remake the cabinet. And for the first time, there was no national debt. Ultimately, Andrew Jackson was a man who did not conform to what people thought he should be. He was not politically correct.

To be so would have been our loss. From early duels that defended his honor and that of his wife, to open invitation parties at the White House, Andrew Jackson was truly a self-made character with a heart for America. Lincoln was a study in victory over poverty and the ragged garments it wears. His life, a testimony of excellence from nothingness, stands as tall as Lincoln stood. It was an eminent portrayal of all things good in a man. Probably best associated with issues of slavery, Lincoln's opinions about it were formed early.

On a flatboat trip to New Orleans in his twenty-first year, he witnessed more atrocities of slavery than his heart could hold. But in Lincoln's ponderous way, he hid these things deep in his soul. For many more years, his opinions, intentions and political decisions shaped and molded what fate finally brought to fruition in 1861. As president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation and shook it in the face of the Confederates. It was not his intention to make slavery the issue of war. But with this document he deprived the enemy of something they sorely needed: soldiers.

In the same breath, Lincoln had found the general that would lead the country into unification. Ulysses S. Grant. Out of dozens of men Lincoln could have chosen, this man of unmatched integrity and courage turned the tide of a divided nation and sealed for all time the words United States of America. As a parting gift to humanity, Lincoln gave us the Gettysburg Address.

For every citizen willing to honor those both past and present who have given all for what they believed in, Lincoln put in a speech the words that would ring in the hearts of Americans forever. For a man with a few mere years of formal education, Lincoln was what the world would call a prodigy. But Lincoln was simply a man who didn't recognize his poor youth. Didn't realize he should be daunted by his lack of experience and education. Was unaware that his background should doom him to a life of failure. Indeed, the crude years he spent as a child seemed to refine him, instilling the character and strength he would need to lead a nation through one of the darkest time of it's history and into the bright light beyond.

So how does one determine the measure of a man? Albert Einstein once said, "The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive". Each of these five men gave, none asked to receive. The question is, which gave more? Can bravery be measured? Can courage or spirit?

What ethereal machine would we use to measure the greatness of a man? The answer to this question can only be answered in the heart of the person asking it. Only they would possess the tool needed to measure the worth of a man.