Sketches of The American Founders: Jefferson

Born in 1743 in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson was to become a leader in the American Revolution, drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He studied law with George Wythe of Virginia and was admitted to practice law in 1767. He was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1768, and after marrying Martha Skelton in 1772, he became a member of the Continental Congress in 1775.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” wrote Jefferson, “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.” Above all, Jefferson is remembered for inspiring language that never raised form over substance. On education and intellectual freedom, he offered this: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Throughout his life he was adamant about preserving his freedom, arguing that eternal vigilance was necessary to gain liberty. He wrote, “If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”

He was an anti-federalist who believed strongly in limited government, aligned with patriots like George Mason of Virginia who demanded a Bill of Rights. Jefferson was actually in France during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, never signing that document. He was notoriously distrustful of government: “In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

The anti-federalists were worried about the lack of express provisions in the new Constitution that would protect their liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, the right against unreasonable searches, the rights to due process and a jury trial, and the right against cruel and unusual punishment.

Jefferson returned from France to become the first Secretary of State in 1790, later assuming the presidency in 1801. He was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon in 1803. He died on the same day as John Adams, July 4, 1826.

He freed five slaves in his will, but failed to free another 130. Like much of the rest of the country at that time, he was embroiled in the  controversy over slavery, falling at one time or another on both sides of the issue. He had drafted the Northwest Ordinance of 1784, which brought Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin into the Union only on the condition that slavery would be prohibited. That territory had been a part of Virginia.