Thomas Jefferson :: Biography Biographies Bio Jefferson Essays

doubting Thomas JeffersonJefferson was born at Shadwell, his fathers home in Albemarle county, Va., on April 13, 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson, a man of legendary strength, was a successful planter and surveyor who gained minor title to fame as an explorer and mapmaker. His prominence in his admit locality is attested by the fact that he served as a burgess and as county lieutenant. Jefferson later held the same offices. Through his generate, Jane Randolph, a division of one of the nigh famous Virginia families, Thomas was related to many of the most prominent people in Virginia.Besides being well born, Thomas Jefferson was well educated. In small private schools, notably that of James Maury, he was thoroughly grounded in the classics. He attended the College of William and Mary--completing the course in 1762--where Dr. William refined taught him mathematics and introduced him to science. He associated intimately with the liberal-minded Lt. Gov. Francis Fauquier, and read honor (1762-1767) with George Wythe, the greatest law teacher of his contemporaries in Virginia.Jefferson became unusually good at law. He was admitted to the bar in 1767 and practiced until 1774, when the courts were closed by the American Revolution. He was a successful lawyer, though professional income was only a supplement. He had inherited a considerable landed estate from his father, and doubled it by a happy marriage on Jan. 1, 1772, to Martha Wayles Skelton However, his father-in-laws estate imposed a burdensome debt on Jefferson. He began building Monticello before his marriage, but his abode was not completed in its present form until a generation later.Jeffersons lifelong emphasis on local g all overnment grew directly from his have got experience. He served as magistrate and as county lieutenant of Albemarle county. Elected to the House of Burgesses when he was 25, he served there from 1769 to 1774, showing himself to be an effective committeeman and skillful draftsm an, though not an able speaker.The Revolutionary EraFrom the beginning of the struggle with the mother country, Jefferson stood with the more advanced Patriots, grounding his position on a wide of the mark knowledge of English history and political philosophy. His most notable early on contribution to the cause of the Patriots was his powerful pamphlet A Summary go through of the Rights of British America (made in 1774), originally written for presentation to the Virginia principle of that year. In this he emphasized natural rights, including that of emigration, and denied parliamentary authority over the colonies, recognizing no tie with the mother country except the king.