Outline For Thomas Jefferson Research Paper

Thomas Jefferson was a 33 year old newlywed delegate from Virginia. He was a very tall man. He was also the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the best, if not the best writer of his time, he wrote multiple books, essays, and passages. He was a very respected man in congress, so when he made decisions, people listened. He proposed that the dove be adopted as the national bird of America.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson is arguably one of the most influential people to Virginia and the United States before and during the American Revolution. Jefferson had been a governor for Virginia during the American Revolution, he had wrote the Declaration of Independence along with four other notable American politicians, and served as a minister to France in 1785-1789. Without Jefferson the American Revolution most likely would have played out completely different and we could possibly be living a different life today.

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

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

     Joseph J. Ellis, a historian who was educated at the College of William and Mary and Yale, is a Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke University. He has written four books on historical topics, centered on the time Jefferson was alive, dealing with issues and personalities Jefferson dealt with firsthand. After authoring a book on a politician such as John Adams, Ellis seems to have felt a need or want to focus on Jefferson, presumably because of his status as founding father and main contributor to the constitution.

Jefferson wanted a separation of powers within the government in order to prevent one person or group having a tyrannical hold over the nation. He believed

April 13, 1743 Albemarle County in the English colony of Virginia was the start of an American historical giant. Thomas Jefferson was born in affluence to his father, Peter Jefferson, a rising young planter in the Virginia colony, and his mother, Jane Randolph, who held a high status within the colony as well. Due to his father’s prosperity Jefferson was afforded the absolute best in the ways of education, starting with private tutors at the age of five, then moving on to learn how to read Greek and Roman in there original text and finally taking his studies to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg which he would say is “…what probably fixed the destinies of my life…” pg 5. On the other side of the spectrum, a few years later

“As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence” (Freidel, 2006). Jefferson believed in the Constitution and as Senator of the state of Virginia, abided by it. The words of The Declaration of Independence written by Jefferson remain part of the verbiage today, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Biography.com, 2014).

We always hear about Thomas Jefferson in our history classes, as one of the most influential American politicians at the time of the nation’s birth. Though, we don’t always take the time to understand why this is the case. Looking at what he accomplished as president and politician seems mind boggling. In my blog, I will discuss Thomas Jefferson’s major accomplishments, his leadership lessons, and criticisms of his actions.

Eugene R. Sheridan is a member of the Princeton University Department of History and Senior Associate Editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. He has written books and articles on a number of subjects in early American History. To begin with, the author cites specific achievements that Thomas Jefferson made, starting with the contributions he did when he was part of the Continental Congress. “As a member of the Continental Congress, he proclaimed in the imperishable prose of the Declaration of Independence the values of liberty, equality, and natural rights that always have been at the heart of the American experiment in self-government” (Sheridan 64). He specifically speaks about his participation as the main author of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1776, the American people declared themselves an independent nation. The American people were traumatized by the Revolution and feared a strong central government. This led to their first attempt at a government, the Articles of Confederation, which ultimately failed. After this let down of a government, the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, which would become the law of the American land. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two influential individuals, who were originally involved in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Both were involved in the political side of the Revolutionary war, but when speaking of it, told alternate versions of the war. As they approached the end of their lives, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams dedicated themselves to telling extremely differentiating versions of the Revolutionary War; Jefferson focusing on the glory and Adams focusing on the hardships, while Jefferson’s version is the only one recorded in the textbooks students use today.

One of the devices used to back up Jefferson’s viewpoint is ethos. The very first sentence of the document is: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the

Adams and Jefferson’s friendship, with its marked decline and then reconciliation, serves as a great symbol for the broader relationships between all of the Founding Fathers. They encouraged each other in their writings and were proud to consider the Union as their life's work. By the election of 1796, after Adams dutifully if not reluctantly served two terms as Vice President while Jefferson was in “retirement” at Monticello, the two found themselves suddenly competing against one another in America's first Presidential campaign. Adams gained fame as the “Atlas for independence” because he openly refused to reconcile with England, and because of his guidebook Thoughts on Government. Also Adams served as Chair on the Board of War and Ordinance during the most uncertain period of the war.

In 1776, since Jefferson was a member of Continental Congress, he was chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence, since he was a member of Continental Congress. (Brief…Jefferson, 2005). Looking back in High School, the class discussion about The Declaration of Independence was that Jefferson predicted the coming of great changes in America within the times that he lived in. He wrote this document for the American Citizens at the time, and it still exists today. The Declaration personified many of the ideas that separated the colonies from England and therefore the process of creating a new country begun.

Alexander Hamilton’s vision came closer to becoming a reality in the 1820’s. By the 1820’s, the Embargo Act, War of 1812 and the Panic of 1819 played a very important role in the reshaping of our countries economic development and scope and power of the American government. The conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton visions was necessary and made a huge impact on the American development. The main topics of conflict between Thomas Jefferson was the type economy, how much of a role the government played in the lives of the people and how they felt about slavery and the growing black population in America.