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Thomas Jefferson 's Influence On The American Revolution

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Thomas Jefferson was not just a Founding Father of the United States of America. He played a key role in the politics surrounding the American Revolution, but he also had various other accomplishments. Jefferson was also associated with the Enlightenment era. Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 and died on July 4, 1826. He lived in Virginia, where he built his estate, Monticello. Jefferson was born at the Shadwell Plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia to Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph Jefferson. Peter Jefferson was a farmer, surveyor, and cartographer, and he created the first accurate map of the Province of Virginia. Jane Jefferson was a descendant of English and Scottish royalty. Thomas Jefferson had nine other …show more content…

Although it was revised from his original version, Jefferson is still considered the primary author (McColley).
Thomas Jefferson was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1776 to 1779. Jefferson pushed for legislation that would make Virginia more American and less English. Jefferson was successful in getting the traditions of “entail” and “primogeniture” terminated. Although Jefferson could not get slavery outlawed, importing slaves became illegal. Jefferson also wrote An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, Passed in the Assembly of Virginia in the Beginning of the Year 1786 in 1777, which separated the church and state in order to get religious freedom in Virginia and further demonstrated Jefferson’s beliefs of equality (Badertscher).
From 1779 to 1781, Thomas Jefferson was the governor of Virginia. This job proved to be challenging. Jefferson struggled to keep people happy because the Continental Army wanted more soldiers and resources, but the Virginians did not want to give them any (Biography.com Editors). The British were also trying to capture Jefferson (McColley). After Jefferson’s time as governor was up, he decided to step back from politics (Biography.com Editors).
During this period of retirement, Jefferson wrote Notes on the State of Virginia in 1781. Jefferson wrote about all things Virginia: government, nature, society, etc. However, he also discussed his views on the broader topic of America and what changes he

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