THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826)

The second writer of the revolutionary period in America was Thomas Jefferson. Lawyer, philosopher, architect, statesman, he was just as much a man of the age of Enlightenment as was Franklin. He received a university education at William and Mary College. After graduating he read law with one of the best law teachers of the time and became unusually learned in law. In 1769 he was made a member of the Virginia Assembly; but having been born in a small village in the frontier country of West Virginia, he never lost his sympathy for the small farmers and frontiersmen, which sympathy grew directly from his own experience. All his life he supported the idea of self-government. In 1774 he wrote a pamphlet "A Summary View of the Rights of British America", in which he said that the natural rights of man, such as freedom, the right to use the fruits of one's toil, etc., must be secured by law for all men irrespective of their station in life. In 1776 as a member of the Continental Congress he was in the committee of five to draft the Declaration of Independence. Although Franklin made a fundamental contribution to it, the Declaration was substantially the work of Jefferson, and its literary merit reflects Jefferson's precise clarity and powerful grace of thought.
Here is part of the Declaration: "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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
The influence of Locke is evident in the Declaration. But Locke den¬tified the "natural rights" of man as those of "Life, Liberty and Property", and it is worthy of note that Jefferson substituted the word "happiness" for "property". This shows that Jefferson felt that property was the foundation of inequality.
After the Revolution Jefferson went to Paris where he succeeded Franklin as America's ambassador. There, in 1785, he published his best work, "Notes on the State of Virginia". The book is an account en Virginia prepared by the author as a reply to a series of questions put to him in France during official negotiations. It has 23 sections dealing with natural resources, geography, the fauna and flora, the inhabitants (including the Indians), government, civil rights, education, customs, etc. Today the book is valued for the humane ideas expressed in it. Thanks to Jefferson we learn about the In¬dians, the names of their tribes and their social customs, the story of their struggle with the colonizers, and the names of their two great chiefs: Tecumseh and Logan.
A special chapter deals with the institution of slavery which Jefferson severely criticizes: "...and with what execration1 should the statesman be loaded who, permitting one-half of the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the love of country of the other" Jefferson ends the book with a rational plan for setting the Negroes free.
When Jefferson returned to America, he became Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet. The Federalists were Jefferson's political enemies. At the Constitutional Convention they demanded supreme power for the big proprietors to impose taxation and set up an American bank. For Jefferson the purpose of government was to protect the indivi¬dual, not use him for exploitation; it should provide freedom of speech, press, thought, worship and education. Jefferson's opposition to Fede¬ralism drew the support of the majority and he won the elections of 1800, and served for two terms as President of the USA.
During his remaining years he designed and built the University of Virginia. He set up a public library, and became President of the Ame¬rican Philosophical Society. He died in 1826 on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence