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1-Page Summary of Thomas Jefferson

Overview

Thomas Jefferson was a politician who understood the importance of pragmatism. He knew that one had to be flexible in order to preserve our country, so he adjusted his principles as necessary.

Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743. He grew up on a plantation, and his family had money. When he was 14, his father died. He went to college at William & Mary when he was 16 years old and studied law with George Wythe, who influenced him by encouraging him to read widely about philosophy and literature.

Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1767. He became a delegate to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769. In 1768, he began work on Monticello, his home that he would continue working on until his death. He married Martha Wayles Skelton, who was 23 at the time and had been widowed twice before, in 1772. During this period Jefferson was involved with various issues related to slavery reform but did not succeed as much as he wanted because it wasn’t popular with other lawmakers at that time.

Jefferson was involved in politics from a young age. He wrote a resolution that called for people to pray and fast because of the Intolerable Acts. This showed his pragmatism, as he wasn’t traditionally religious but used religion to make an appeal for change.

Jefferson was elected a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775. He had a close friendship with Massachusetts delegate John Adams because both were strong supporters of independence. With Adams’s encouragement, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It was accepted by Congress in 1776 but with many changes including excising a section that condemned slavery. This process was difficult for Jefferson because he was not used to debating publicly and preferred working behind the scenes before taking action.

Jefferson returned to Virginia and was elected to the House of Delegates. He then became governor, but his actions were criticized and he had a hard time dealing with that criticism.

In 1782, after a long illness exacerbated by six childbirths, Patty Jefferson died. Her death left her husband grief-stricken and agonized.

After the war, Jefferson was appointed to Congress. He worked on policies for Western settlement and his ideas largely became law in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Meanwhile, Jefferson was sent as an ambassador to France. He reestablished his friendship with John Adams and became close friends with Abigail Adams and her son John Quincy. Sally Hemings, who was 14 at the time, went overseas as a companion for Jefferson’s daughter Polly. She came from Virginia where she had been enslaved by Jefferson’s father-in-law. Over the next two years, they began having sex together in Paris.

Jefferson’s stay in France was over and he returned to the United States in 1789. He had seen a lot of what happened during the French Revolution, which led him to believe that it was similar to the American Revolution. Jefferson thought that America should side with those who supported democracy instead of monarchs.

President George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state. He often argued with Alexander Hamilton, who was a supporter of Britain and feared the anarchy in France. When war broke out between France and Britain, both men wanted to support their respective countries.

After serving as secretary of state, Jefferson resigned and returned to Monticello. He then began organizing the Democratic-Republican Party and ran for president in 1796. John Adams was elected president while he came in second place.

Jefferson became vice president under the law at that time because he finished second in the election.