Thomas Jefferson Declaration Of Independence Summary

Ms. deborah hodge
Thomas Jefferson
Dual Credit U.S. History

Lisa Russell

Thomas Jefferson “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” (“Thomas Jefferson Quotes”). Thomas Jefferson included this statement in the Declaration of Independence to help make strides toward separating and gaining independence from Great Britain. The great scholar, writer, and lawyer that Thomas Jefferson was helped him to contribute greatly to the history of the United States of America by writing the Declaration of Independence, becoming the third president of the United States, and making the
He was sent off a few months later to Williamsburg for the assembly meeting. They were to discuss the future colonial action toward the Townshend Acts (Smith). In the middle of this whole mess, Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton. The couple had six children with only two, Martha and Mary, living to adulthood. Jefferson was thrilled with being a husband and a father, but he had to return to politics.
In 1774, he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America to support the colony of Massachusetts against the assaults of the Coercive, or Intolerable, Acts. Jefferson was chosen to be a Virginia delegate in 1775 at the Constitutional Convention, also known as the Second Continental Congress, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss and decide on the subject of independence (Magill). The delegates voted to create the Continental Army. They also acted as the national government of the colonies, even though they were not actually a ruling government
President from 1801-1809. He won the 1800 and the 1804 presidential elections. Jefferson’s first presidential term was one of the most popular and successful in American History. He made peace with Great Britain and other countries and he reduced the national debt by a third (Magill). He also worked very well with Congress, even better than Washington or Adams before him. He believed in religious freedom and separation of church and state. He gained support by getting to know people on a personal level and never talking politics outside of work. Thomas was very informal, not caring what you wore or where you sat around the dinner table. Jefferson was a man of hard work. He awoke at 5:00 a.m. and worked until he went to bed at 10:00 p.m., with about four hours a day for meals and his daily exercise of horseback riding. He figured his first year expenses in the White House to be around $16,000. Jefferson paid this with his own salary of only $25,000 a year. He had to borrow $4,000 at the end of the first year in office in order to balance his own personal budget. One of the standouts of Jefferson’s first term was the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801 and the passing of the Judiciary Act of 1802 which reorganized the federal court system (Meltzer). The second term was not as successful as the first had been, but Thomas accomplished numerous things. He made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, helped pass the twelfth