Thomas Jefferson example essay topic

Thomas Jefferson was Born on April 13, 1743, on a farm called Shadwell, what is now called Monticello, in the county of Albemarle, Virginia. Jefferson was the third child in the family and grew up with six sisters and one brother. At the age of five, Jefferson was placed by his father, Peter Jefferson, at an 'English school, for four years, where he developed an interest in botany, geology, cartography, and North American exploration'. After English school, was transferred to a Latin school, where he remained five years under the watchful eye of Mr. Douglass, a clergyman from Scotland.

This is were he found and developed a love for Greek and Latin, which helped him acquired at the same time a knowledge of the French. At this period, his father died, leaving him an orphan only fourteen years old and without a relative or friend to guide him. (Daugherty 59). In 1760, at the age of 16, Jefferson entered the College of William and Mary where he studied under William Small and George Wythe. Through Small, he got his first views of science and of the system of things in which we are placed. Through Small and Wythe, Jefferson became good friends with Governor Francis Fauquier.

After finishing college in 1762, Jefferson studied law with Wythe and noticed a growing tension between America and Great Britain. Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1767. He successfully practiced law and became acquainted with the civil and common law, exploring every topic and every principle. until public service occupied most of his time. (Daugherty 97) Though he was not a master in the art of writing, Jefferson proved to be an able writer of laws and resolutions. he was very straight to the point in his writings. Jefferson soon became a member in a group which opposed and took action in the arguments between Britain and the colonies. ' Together with other patriots, the group met in the Apollo Room of Williamsburg's famous Raleigh Tavern in 1769 and formed a nonimportation agreement against Britain, vowing not to pay import duties imposed by the Townshend Acts.

' (Back at his home in Shadwell Virginia, he designed and supervised the building of his home in Monticello, on a nearby hill. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769. In 1770 Jefferson met Martha Wales Skelton, a wealthy widow of 23, and married her in 1772. They settled in Monticello and had one son and five daughters. Only two of his children, Martha and Mary, survived until their adulthood.

Saddle, Mrs. Martha Jefferson died September 1782 because of illness since the birth of their last daughter, leaving Thomas to take care of his two remaining children. When Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia in June, 1775, as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, he already possessed, as John Adams remarked, 'a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent of composition' (Koch and Peden 21). When he returned in 1776, he was appointed to the five-man committee, that included Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, which was charged with the most momentous assignment ever given in the history of America: the drafting of a formal declaration of independence from Great Britain (Daugherty 109). Jefferson was responsible for writing the draft. The document, was finally approved by Congress on July 4, 1776.

Cut and occasionally altered by Adams, or Franklin, or the Congress itself because it was said to be to strong of words, the Declaration is almost completely Jefferson's, and makes a great susses of his early career. In June of 1779, Jefferson became governor of Virginia, guiding Virginians through the final years of the Revolutionary War. 'As a member of the Second Continental Congress, he drafted a plan for decimal coinage and composed an ordinance for the Northwest Territory that formed the foundation for the Ordinance of 1787'. 'In 1785, he became minister to France. Appointed secretary of state in President Washington's Cabinet in 1790,' Jefferson defended local interests against Alexander Hamilton's policies and led a group called the Republicans.

He was elected vice-president in 1796 and protested the enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts by writing The Kentucky Resolutions. (Smith 134,135). During his second term, he was faced full of difficulties. To avoid war, Jefferson promoted the Non-Intercourse Act of 1806 and the Embargo of 1807. The Embargo was heavily criticized and had not been effective. 'To make matters worse, the domestic front was racked with defections and desertions.

When his term expired on March 3, 1809, he was thrilled to be leaving politics and returning to Monticello' (Mclaughlin 376). On July 4, 1826, Jefferson died at Monticello. He was buried on the hillside beside his wife. He had written the script for his headstone himself: 'Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom and Father of the University of Virginia.

' (Now the Question is that after the Declaration of Independence has been written and signed by the colonist, are all men really created equal? My answer to that is No I don't think all men are created equal because if we were created equal then women would be able to do all jobs men can do and vice versa. Also if all men were created equal we would never have racial, gender, or religious discrimination. so what i think Jefferson should have said was all men should be treated equal.