THOMAS JEFFERSON

I. Background/Biography

Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2] 1743 July 4, 1826) was an

American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and
the third President of the United States (18011809). He was a spokesman for democracy, and
embraced the principles of republicanism and the rights of the individual with worldwide influence.
At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing
Virginia, and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (17791781). In May 1785, he
became the United States Minister to France and later the first United States Secretary of State
(17901793) serving under President George Washington. In opposition to Alexander
Hamilton's Federalism, Jefferson and his close friend, James Madison, organized
the Democratic-Republican Party, and later resigned from Washington's cabinet. Elected Vice
President in 1796 in the administration of John Adams, Jefferson opposed Adams, and with
Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien
and Sedition Acts.

A leader in the Enlightenment, Jefferson was a polymath in the arts, sciences, and politics.
Considered an important architect in the classical tradition, he designed his home Monticello and
other notable buildings. Jefferson was keenly interested in science, invention, architecture,
religion, and philosophy; he was an active member and eventual president of the American
Philosophical Society. He was conversant in French, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Spanish, and
studied other languages and linguistics, interests which led him to found the University of Virginia
after his presidency. Although not a notable orator, Jefferson was a skilled writer and
corresponded with many influential people in America and Europe throughout his adult life.
Early Life and Career

The third of ten children, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 OS)
at the family home, in a one and a half story farmhouse not far from the Virginia wilderness.
According to his autobiography, Jefferson's earliest memory was being handed to a slave on
horseback and carried 50 miles away to their new home which overlooked the Rivanna River near
Richmond, in Shadwell, Goochland County, Virginia, now part of Albemarle County. Much of his
correspondence to relatives makes mention of this memory. His father was Peter Jefferson, a
planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, never getting the chance to measure
up to him as an adult. Jefferson's facial appearance resembled that of his father, but his slim
physical form resembled that of his mother's family. He was of English and possible Welsh
descent, although this remains unclear. His mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham
Randolph, a ship's captain and sometime planter. Peter and Jane married in 1739. Thomas
Jefferson showed little interest in learning about his ancestry; on his father's side he only knew of
the existence of his grandfather.

Before the widower William Randolph, an old friend of Peter Jefferson, died in 1745, he
appointed Peter as guardian to manage his Tuckahoe Plantation and care for his four children.
That year the Jeffersons relocated to Tuckahoe, where they lived for the next seven years before
returning to Shadwell in 1752. Peter Jefferson died in 1757 and the Jefferson estate was divided
between Peter's two sons, Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres
(2,000 ha; 7.8 sq mi) of land, including Monticello, and between 20 and 40 slaves. He took control
of the property after he came of age at 21. The precise amount of land and number of slaves that
Jefferson inherited is estimated.

Education

Jefferson began his childhood education under the direction of tutors at Tuckahoe along
with the Randolph children. In 1752, Jefferson began attending a local school run by a Scottish
Presbyterian minister. At the age of nine, Jefferson began studying Latin, Greek, and French; he
learned to ride horses, and began to appreciate the study of nature. He studied under
Reverend James Maury from 1758 to 1760 near Gordonsville, Virginia. While boarding with
Maury's family, he studied history, science, and the classics.

At age 16, Jefferson entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg and first met
the law professor George Wythe who became his influential mentor. He studied mathematics,
metaphysics, and philosophy under Professor William Small, who introduced the enthusiastic
Jefferson to the writings of the British Empiricists, including John Locke, Francis Bacon,
and Isaac Newton. He also improved his French, Greek, and violin. A diligent student, Jefferson
displayed an avid curiosity in all fields and graduated in 1762, completing his studies in only two
years. Jefferson read law while working as a law clerk for Wythe. During this time, he also read a
wide variety of English classics and political works. Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar in
1767.

Throughout his life, Jefferson depended on books for his education. In 1770, Jefferson's
home as well as family library (consisting of 200 volumes) in Shadwell, Virginia, was destroyed
by fire. By 1773 he had collected 1,250 titles. By 1815, his collection had grown to almost 6,500
volumes. He collected and accumulated thousands of books for his library at Monticello. When
Jefferson's father Peter died Thomas inherited, among other things, his large library. A significant
portion of Jefferson's library was also bequeathed to him in the will of George Wythe, who had an
extensive collection. After the British burned the Library of Congress in 1814 Jefferson offered to
sell his collection of more than 6,000 books to the Library for $23,950. After realizing he was no
longer in possession of such a grand collection he wrote in a letter to John Adams, "I cannot live
without books". He intended to pay off some of his large debt, but immediately started buying
more books. In February 2011 the New York Times reported that a part of Jefferson's retirement
library, containing 74 volumes with 28 book titles, was discovered at Washington University in St.
Louis. In honor of Jefferson's contribution, the library's website for federal legislative information
was named THOMAS.

Jefferson studied law in colonial Virginia from 1768 to 1773 with his friend and mentor,
George Wythe, Jefferson's client list featured members of Virginia's elite families, including
members of his mother's family, the Randolph. Following his study with George Wythe, Jefferson
was admitted to the bar of the General Court of Virginia in 1767 and then lived with his mother at
Shadwell. His practice took him up and down the Valley from Staunton to Winchester. It was while
he was at Shadwell that he lost his library, legal papers, and notes for the coming legal term to a
fire. He was desperate, even frantic, but George Wythe consoled him with a line from Virgil, "Carry
on, and preserve yourselves for better times.

Besides practicing law, Jefferson represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of
Burgesses beginning on May 11, 1769 and ending June 20, 1775. Though inheriting 150 slaves
from his father, Jefferson proved more willing to reform Virginia's slavery in his early career than
later when he became an embodiment of slave-holding interest in the new republic. In 1769 he
made one effort to enact enabling legislation for the masters' "permission of the emancipation of
slaves," thus taking away the discretion in each case from the royal Governor and his General
Court. It was rejected, and although Jefferson had persuaded his cousin Richard Bland to take
the lead, the reaction in the House was conclusive. Jefferson recalled Bland was "treated with the
grossest indecorum."

As a lawyer, Jefferson was closely involved with and took on a number of freedom suits
for slaves seeking their freedom.[40] He took the case of Samuel Howell (i.e. Samuel Howell v.
Wade Netherland) without charging him a fee.[41] Howell was the grandson of a white woman and
a black man who sued that he should be freed immediately, not waiting until the statutory age of
emancipation at thirty-one for such a mixed-race case. Jefferson made a natural-law argument,
"everyone comes into the world with a right to his own person and using it at his own will.

II. Political Insights

Jefferson's political ideals were greatly influenced by the writings of John Locke, Francis
Bacon, and Isaac Newton, whom he considered the three greatest men that ever lived. He was
also profoundly interested in the writings of the French philosopher and historian Voltaire and
owned seven works by the author. Jefferson idealized the independent yeoman as the best
example of republican virtues, distrusting cities and financiers, and often favoring decentralized
power. He believed that most of the tyranny and misfortunes that had plagued the common man
in Europe were due to inflated and corrupt political establishments and monarchies. Having had
supported efforts to disestablish the Church of England, and authored the Virginia Statute for
Religious Freedom, he called for a wall of separation between church and state at the federal
level. The Republicans under Jefferson were strongly influenced by the 18th-century British
opposition writers of the Whig Party, who believed in limited government His Democratic-
Republican Party became dominant in early American politics and his views became known
as Jeffersonian democracy.

Society and Government

Jefferson believed that each man has "certain inalienable rights" and "Rightful liberty is
unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of
others. A proper government, for Jefferson, is one that not only prohibits individuals in society
from infringing on the liberty of other individuals, but also restrains itself from diminishing individual
liberty as a protection against tyranny from the majority. Influenced by Isaac Newton, Jefferson
considered social systems as analogous to physical systems. In the social world, Jefferson likens
love to a force similar to gravity in the physical world. People are naturally attracted to each other
through love, but dependence corrupts this attraction and results in political problems. Removing
or preventing corrupting dependence by banking or royal influences would enable men to be equal
in practice.

In political terms, Americans thought that virtue was the "glue" that held together a
republic, whereas patronage, dependency and coercion held together a monarchy. "Virtue" in this
sense was public virtue, in particular self-sacrifice. Americans reasoned that liberty and
republicanism required a virtuous society, and the society had to be free of dependence and
extensive patronage networks, such as banking, government, or military. While Jefferson
believed most people could not escape corrupting dependence, the franchise should be extended
only to those who could, including the yeoman farmer. He disliked inter-generational dependence,
such as national debt and unalterable governments. Jefferson believed that individual liberties
were the fruit of equality and that they were threatened only by government. Excesses of
democracy for Jefferson were caused by institutional corruptions rather than human nature. He
remained less suspicious of working democracy than many of his contemporaries.
As president, Jefferson tried to re-create the balance between the state and federal
governments as it existed under the Articles of Confederation. He tried to shift the balance of
power back to the states, taking this action from his classical republican conception that liberty
could only be retained in small, homogeneous societies. He believed that the Federalist system
enacted by Washington and Adams had encouraged corrupting patronage and
dependence. Many of Jefferson's apparent contradictions can be understood within this
philosophical framework. For example, he opposed women's right to vote or any participation in
politics because he believed that a government must be controlled by the economically
independent. Instead he argued: "our good ladies ... are contented to soothe and calm the minds
of their husbands returning ruffled from political debate."

Democracy

Jefferson is often cited as an important figure in early American democracy. He envisioned

democracy as an expression of society as a whole, and called for national self-determination,
cultural uniformity, and education of all males of the commonwealth. Jefferson believed that public
education and a free press were essential to a democratic nation: "If a nation expects to be
ignorant and free it expects what never was and never will be. ... The people cannot be safe
without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe".

By the end of his career, Jefferson was critical of his home state for violating "the principle
of equal political rights", meaning the social right of universal male suffrage. But he arrived at that
position by stages. Initially, with the onset of the Revolution, Jefferson accepted Blackstone's
principle that property ownership would lead to the independent will required from voters in a
republic, but he sought to further expand the suffrage by land distribution to the poor. Beginning
in the Revolutionary Era and afterward, an alternative to property requirements was legally
established by several states expanding the eligible voters from landed gentry to include
male Euro-American tax-paying citizens, those owning either their own houses or their own tools
and paying taxes on them.

After leaving Washington's cabinet as Secretary of State, by mid-October 1795 Jefferson's

thoughts turned on the electoral bases of Republican and anti-Republican (Federalist) political
coalitions. The "Republican" classification of the United States for which he would advocate
included: 1. "the entire body of landholders" everywhere, and 2. "the body of laborers" without
land, whether agricultural or mechanical. Beginning with Jefferson's electioneering for the
"revolution of 1800", his democratic efforts were based on egalitarian appeals.
 Republicans united behind Jefferson as Vice President, president of the Senate. The
election practices of 1796 expanding democracy were extended nationwide, with local
committees and correspondence networks set up. County committees framed local Republican
tickets, and initiated partisan Republican newspapers. Privately, Jefferson promoted Republican
candidates to run for local state offices. He sought an aristocracy of merit, not birth including his
vice presidential candidate a New Yorker, George Clinton, the child of Irish immigrants. Jefferson
in his later years referred to the 1800 election as the "revolution of 1800", "as real a revolution in
the principles of our government as that of '76 was in its form", one "not effected indeed by the
sword ... but by the ... suffrage of the people." Voter participation grew in Jefferson's two terms,
exploding to "unimaginable levels" compared to the Federalist Era, with doubling turnouts. John
Quincy Adams noted following Jefferson's 1804 election, "The power of the Administration rests
upon the support of a much stronger majority of the people throughout the Union than the former
Administrations ever possessed."

Jefferson continued his campaign to expand the electorate in his retirement

correspondence. In response to a pamphlet advocating a Virginia Constitutional Convention, he
went further than the radical convention promoters. He sought a "general suffrage" of all taxpayers
and militia-men, as well as equal representation by voter population in the state legislature, not
skewed to favor slave-holding regions of the state. He also favored a reform of Virginia's country
courthouse system to more nearly resemble that of the more democratic townships of New
England.

Rebellion and Individual Rights

During the French Revolution, Jefferson advocated rebellion and violence when
necessary. In a letter to James Madison on January 30, 1787, Jefferson wrote, "A little rebellion,
now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
... It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. Similarly, in a letter to Abigail
Adams on February 22, 1787 he wrote, "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on
certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but
better so than not to be exercised at all." Concerning Shays' Rebellion after he had heard of the
bloodshed, on November 13, 1787 Jefferson wrote to William S. Smith, John Adams' son-in-law,
"What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must from time to time be
refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." In another letter to Smith
during 1787, Jefferson wrote: "And what country can preserve its liberties, if the rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."

From his initial viewpoint in Paris at the time of the Constitution's ratification, Jefferson
was transformed in office as president under a challenge which both strengthened the Union and
Jefferson's commitment to it. As late as 1804 before his second term began, Jefferson seemed
at ease with the prospect of dividing the nation into separate democracies. In view of a prospective
republic in the Mississippi River Valley, they would be "as much our children and our descendants"
alongside any coastal confederacy remaining. "I feel myself as much identified with that [western]
country as with this [United States].
III. Critique

In Jeffersons political insights, he called for the separation of church and state. I believe that
the church and the state should be separated because they both have different beliefs and
practices. Religious groups cannot dictate or control the government. They cannot cause the
government to adopt their particular doctrines as policy for everyone, they cannot cause the
government to restrict other groups. I believe that rather than religious bias, government must
be guided by evidence and compassion. It is difficult to establish a law if the church is involved in
the governments everyday activities or affair. There are instances that the church will interfere
with the governments decision which makes the passage of the bill to make it a law takes longer
than it originally should be.

Jefferson believed that each man has "certain inalienable rights" and "Rightful liberty. I
strongly agree with him because each one of us has a right that cannot be taken away from us.
Inalienable means undeniable or inherent and incapable of being lost or sold. It is God who gave
us life and the liberty to live in this world. According to him, it is our right to overthrow the
government if it abuses our natural rights. We are in contract with the government and we are
obliged to follow the rules they establish, but we also have a natural right which the government
cannot interfere. Having a government means to attain a peaceful and organized community with
the help of the leaders. We are free to express our opinions or critique about the governments
actions but we should remember that everything has limitations and that we should aware of the
things that we share in public. It is okay to criticize other people but not the extent of degrading
them.

Jefferson believed that individual liberties were the fruit of equality and that they were
threatened only by government. I don't believe that people are born with equal capabilities.
Regardless of how much I study, I won't be another Einstein. Regardless of how much I practice,
I simply wouldn't have the physical abilities of some athletes. I believe in equal opportunity to do
what is necessary to work towards their goals but it is impossible to guarantee equal results. The
homeless person in your scenario should have the opportunity to go to school. They should have
the opportunity to work towards getting an education. Will they get an education? If they are
physically capable, that is up to them. Equality does not exist properly in every society. Equality
means equal justice which does not exist everywhere. People with more money think that they
can do anything. In the cases of courts, people with more money are proved right and the
innocent does not get fair justice. This is inequality among us. People are by nature selfish and
so once they acquire the resources they are not likely to share them. This means that there is an
uneven distribution and a society without equality.
 According to him, public education and a free press were essential to a democratic nation. I
do agree with him because as a democratic country, the governments concern is the people.
Democracy is often explained as "a government of the people, by the people for the people."
Public opinion is important in a democracy because the people are the ultimate source of
power. Therefore, any governmental official has to take public opinion into account when
deciding how to act. I am not trying to say that politicians always do what the people
want. Clearly, there are a lot of people who are angry with the government, especially right
now. But politicians do need to avoid making the majority of the people too unhappy. If they
anger people badly enough, they will be voted out of office. Anyone can speak their mind but
there is a point to where we should all be careful with our words. Threats, religion matters,
expressing ones feeling in an educational institution.
 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Term Paper

Submitted By: Christine Iyle Q. Balgos