Jefferson had a specific vision and an overriding goal: the successful survival of the people's government in the United States. Jefferson believed more in the potential of humanity than any president before him.
Jon Meacham, who wrote a biography about Jefferson, describes him as a person full of complexities, always interested in the conflicts that occur around him, who does not like conflicts, who learns from his mistakes and ultimately prevails, who has managed to lead people and unite thoughts with his understanding of power and human nature.
Jefferson had a specific vision and an overriding goal: the successful survival of the people's government in the United States.
He also believed that the will of an enlightened and educated majority should prevail. He was concerned that the vast majority of American society at large might not be ready for self-government because his opponents had weaker public faith.
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Among the Committee of Five charged by the Second Continental Congress with authoring the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was the document's primary author. Following the American Revolutionary War and prior to becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the first U.S. Secretary of State under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams.
But he also thought that the same majority embodied the liberation promised by freedom and represented the spirit of the nation and the hope of a republic.
The USA has always been divided between idealism and realism, noble goals and inevitable compromises. So was Jefferson.
Just like his nation, in his mind and heart, the conflict between the ideal and the good, the intellectual and the rational, and the deep in the heart continued.
Jefferson's days were as tough as the next US president's. The struggle within him was just like the endless war within the United States.
Jefferson's story stands out today because it embodies an eternal drama and the struggle of a nation's rulers to become great in a cruel and troubled world.
Jefferson believed more in humanity's potential than any of his predecessors, George Washington and John Adams.
His dreams were big. It was as if he knew that dreams would only come true when those who created them had enough strength and genius to subdue their historical goals.
As it is said in a generalized way; Philosophers think and politicians act.
Jefferson's genius was manifested in incorporating both traits and doing both at the same time, often at the same time. This is the art of politics.
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, USA, as the third of ten children in his family. His mother's name is Jane Randolph Jefferson and his father's name is Peter Jefferson. He began learning Latin, Ancient Greek, and French from a young age. When his father died in 1757 at the age of 14, he inherited 20 square kilometers of land and many slaves.
Thomas Jefferson also took history and science courses in addition to his calculus education. He graduated from William and Mary College in 1762, where he studied law. Then he worked with a lawyer for 5 years. He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1767 and became a lawyer. During this period, he worked as a lawyer and judge in Virginia, which was still a colony. Struggling for the recognition of freedom of religion, the abolition of slavery, the equitable distribution of inheritance to children, the establishment of public schools, and the softening of penal laws, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which was proclaimed on July 4, 1776, advocating the equality of all people.
In 1775 he was elected a member of the congress. In the same year, he prepared the Declaration of Independence. In this declaration, it was officially announced that America had separated from England. Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, Jefferson traveled to Europe in 1784 for trade deals. He served as ambassador to France between 1784 and 1789. Upon his return to the country, he was made Secretary of State by President George Washington. Jefferson left the ministry in 1793 and withdrew from politics. Jefferson, who was elected president in 1801, won the second presidential election four years later. In 1806, he brought a law banning the slave trade to Congress.
Resigning his presidency in 1809, Jefferson spent the next years reading and writing at the Monticello farm.
In 1772 he married Martha Wayles, the daughter of a wealthy lawyer. From this marriage, they had children named Martha, Mart, Lucy Elizabeth, Peter, and Jane.
Thomas Jefferson died at the age of 83 on July 4, 1826, in Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.