Thomas_Jefferson_bio

=**Thomas Jefferson**=


 * Early life:** In colonial America, Thomas Jefferson practiced law and had a plantation in Virginia (Monticello). He opposed the Coercive Acts that Britain passed to punish the colonies (specifically Massachusetts) after the Boston Tea Party. He also believed that the colonies could rule themselves, but this was too radical at the First Continental Congress in 1774.


 * Declaration of Independence:** Jefferson was part of the Second Continental Congress that favored declaring independence. He was part of a committee that was in charge of writing the document in which Jefferson himself had the task of writing the original draft (others, mostly Benjamin Franklin would edit the document). This document was approved and signed by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Jefferson (and the other Founding Fathers) laid out philosophies in the Declaration of Independence stating that (1) there is a Creator, (2) the Creator gave inalienable rights, (3) the Creator has a moral law that governs man, (4) government exists to protect the rights that the Creator gives, and (5) rule should be by the consent of the governed. During the Revolutionary War, Jefferson served in the Virginia legislature and would become governor.

//"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be."//

//"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."//


 * Constitution:** During the Constitutional Convention, Jefferson was the Minister to France to keep relations with the French. He liked the Federal Republic system, but wanted a bill of rights. In the first government under the Constitution, Jefferson became the first Secretary of State. He formed one of the first political parties in the Washington Administration, which favored more state power over federal power and favored agriculture over industry.


 * President:** Jefferson was elected U.S. President in 1800. Obtaining the Louisiana Purchase and sending Lewis and Clark to explore the new territory was one of the major events during the Jefferson Administration. Jefferson believed in was a person's civic duty to worship God, since he believed in the Creator who gave rights of life, liberty, and property. The Capitol building served as a church on Sundays and Jefferson attended regularly.

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