Thomas Jefferson! The Man of Many Words! LITERALLY!!

Thomas Jefferson lived from April 13, 1743-1826. Ironically, he died on July 4, 1826, 50 years after the signing of the declaration of independence. In his life time, he wrote the declaration, became a President in 1800, and lived the last part of his life at Monticello. He worked constantly to keep America out of the affairs of the pesky Europeans and the Napoleonic Wars. Although, since the most important part of his life is probably the writing and drafting of the Declaration of Independence, this blog post will feature information about that. Information comes from: http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/biography.html
http://www.historycentral.com/bio/presidents/jefferson.html
as well as some titles and offices from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_jefferson

Enjoy!


On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed Richard Lee's Declaration of Independence. Franklin later believed that this would day would be celebrated for all time. Well, he was close. Lee's Declaration was the real declaration of Independence, but it didn't have that power that documents have to move the people and possible allies. That's where Jefferson came in.



So, some sort of document was needed that would persuade the colonists to their cause as well as France. Before Lee's declaration was ratified, Congress, knowing that another document would be needed, created a committee to make such a document. Thomas Jefferson became the drafter. But why was he chosen?



Thomas Jefferson certainly had some renown. He was known for his brilliance in writing. You could say that Jefferson was the quiet kid in the corner who was secretly a genius. At the young age of 33, this representative from Virginia now had the task of writing a profound document. Since he was a Virginian...

Click for the picture due to how big it is.
Click Here for laughs!

Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" was passed in Congress on July 4, 1776. Why yes, this does have a correlation with our Independence day! Jefferson wrote his document like an attorney. He asserted that all men were created equal and had certain unalienable rights. He continued that Britain violated those rights, so the colonists had a right to secede.



One problem with Jefferson's document that people for many generations were haunted about was the fact that "all men were created equal". This line came to question the use of slaves. Were they men? Were they created equal. Jefferson himself owned many slaves, so obviously he believed that slaves were not considered men.



The Document had a profound impact then and now. The colonists were inspired as well as France! In fact, Lafeyette hung it up in his room. It made such an impact and has become such a monumental and revolutionary document in the history of the World. We should thank Jefferson, for he was the one that helped persuaded France to join our cause. He was the conductor of the train on the railway of independence hat chugga-choo-choo'd on looking for and gaining supporters to land at the station of war. The train had alot of French people on it, so in spite of that, it was still a good train. (hehe Frenchy)




JEFFERSON, WE SALUTE YOU!