The Genius of Thomas Jefferson

Abraham Lincoln admired him. So did Franklin Roosevelt. Did John F. Kennedy. Dozens of other presidents revealed similar sentiments. They were speaking about Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president. Carol Swain checks out why their praise was so well should have.

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Script:

There’s a reason Thomas Jefferson’s face is on our coinage; why his toned head is on Mount Rushmore; and why there is a magnificent memorial in his honor in Washington, DC.

As British historian Paul Johnson put it in A History of the American People, “… nobody did more than [Jefferson] did to create the United States of America.”

Born upon April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, Jefferson early on showed an intellectual interest that would never be satiated.

He feasted on books on history, science, philosophy, and math, while discovering Latin, Greek, and French. He would ultimately collect a personal library of 6,500 volumes, declaring, “I can not live without books.”

There was essentially no topic which he didn’t discover remarkable and didn’t try to master. Most of the time, he prospered.

He finished from college in simply 2 years with a plan to practice law. At age 25, he won a seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses– Virginia’s colonial equivalent of a House of Representatives– getting in politics just as the American colonies were beginning to challenge British rule.

Although Jefferson was not a gifted speaker, he was a genius with words.

This present did not go unnoticed.

John Adams and Benjamin Franklin– no rhetorical slouches themselves– asked him to write the first draft of America’s Declaration of Independence.

Their self-confidence was highly rewarded. Jefferson’s assertions that “all men are developed equivalent,” which “nature’s God … The Creator” had granted them “inalienable” rights formed the cornerstones of the American experiment.

Jefferson was not yet 34.

In 1790, President Washington designated him to be the brand-new country’s very first Secretary of State, among the 2 crucial posts in Washington’s cabinet. The other post was Secretary of the Treasury to which Washington selected Alexander Hamilton.

The two ended up being bitter rivals. Jefferson suspected Hamilton’s belief in a powerful central federal government; Hamilton believed Jefferson was an unwise dreamer.

Both misunderstood the other. This was most likely inevitable provided their significant egos and strong convictions. And although it’s real that Jefferson was a lofty political theorist, he was also a cunning political leader.

Once been close allies– most especially John Adams, his hardball tactics outraged or alienated individuals who had.

After defeating Adams in a contentious election in 1800, Jefferson served two terms as America’s 3rd president– a period historians still think about amongst the most successful and substantial in American history.

He lowered the scope and reach of the federal government– cutting taxes, lowering costs, and retiring half of the nationwide financial obligation.

This was the small-government Jefferson in action. However he had no issue working out energetic executive authority when he felt it was required. Nowhere is this better revealed than his greatest accomplishment as president: the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, or just 4 cents an acre.

In one fell swoop, Jefferson orchestrated an offer that doubled the size of the United States, incorporating areas of what are now fifteen states, while also removing the presence of a powerful European empire from North America.

After completing two terms, Jefferson, following Washington’s example, stepped down from the very first workplace.

He spent the last seventeen years of his life at his cherished home, Monticello, an estate he developed not far from his birth place.

There, he not only established the University of Virginia, but repaired his relationship with his long-lost pal, John Adams. They started a fabled correspondence that continued almost to the end of their lives.

Extremely– if one is so likely, one may even state providentially– Jefferson and Adams died on the very same day, July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

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Abraham Lincoln admired him. They were talking about Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president. And although it’s true that Jefferson was a lofty political theorist, he was likewise a cunning political leader.

This was the small-government Jefferson in action. No place is this much better revealed than his greatest achievement as president: the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, or simply 4 cents an acre.