#3: Jefferson, Thomas

Thomas Jefferson
April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826

I started reading the article about Thomas J this past weekend when a friend was visiting, but then put it down and am just now getting around to writing up the bits I learned. Here goes:

• In addition to being an all-around Renaissance man (the World Book is super gushy about Jefferson), some of Jefferson's many inventions included "the swivel chair and the dumb-waiter."
• Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It was approved by his fellow committee members with few changes and adopted by Congress as written. "Jefferson said his object was 'to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent . . . Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind . . ." It is a very fine piece of writing.
  
• While serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, Jefferson sponsored a bill abolishing entail, and later helped outlaw primogeniture, basically making property more alienable and opening the door to political participation for people (read = white men) other than the landed gentry. Even though those things basically don't exist in American law anymore and haven't existed for a loooong while, I still had to learn about them in law school. Alienable property = good stuff. Property law 1L year = lamesauce.
  
• Jefferson allegedly wooed his wife Martha with music. "Two rival suitors came to call one day, but left without a word when they saw [Thomas and Martha] playing a duet on the harpsichord and violin." Is a harpsichord sexy?
  
• As a couple, Thomas and Martha had six children, only two of whom lived to maturity. Martha died after only 10 years of marriage, and Jefferson was so grief-stricken that he withdrew from public life for a year. His daughter wrote many years later: ". . . the violence of his emotion . . . to this day I dare not describe to myself." (Later, as president, Jefferson thought the White House was a lonely place, so his daughters would sometimes come stay and be hostesses.)
  
• World Book credits Jefferson with: (1) piloting through Congress the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War; (2) laying the groundwork for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787; (3) urging his friend James Madison to introduce the 10 constitutional amendments that became known as the Bill of Rights; (4) sending Lewis and Clark on their expedition, then sealing the deal on the Louisiana Purchase; (5) devising the decimal system of currency we still use today; and (6) founding the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia. No small feats.
• While serving as Secretary of State for President Washington, Jefferson opposed Alexander Hamilton's plans to encourage shipping and manufacturing. "Jefferson wanted the United States to remain a nation of farmers." He was strongly anti-federalist (anti-centralization of the federal government) and people like Hamilton and John Adams were his political foes. Later, Jefferson and Adams became buddies again.
  
• Jefferson was sort of elected president in 1800. All the Republican electors had cast one vote for Jefferson and one vote for his running mate Aaron Burr of New York (electors cast two votes back then, and the runner-up would be VP). It meant that technically, both Jefferson and Burr were elected President. Embarrassing! The House of Representatives had to settle the matter. Burr became VP. In Jefferson's second term, Burr was a big headache. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, then got involve in some shady dealings (though he was ultimately acquitted on charges of treason, much to Jefferson's dismay).
  
• As president, Jefferson avoided public speaking because he was bad at it. He was the first president to send his annual message to Congress, rather than deliver it in person. "Later presidents followed this procedure until 1913, when Woodrow Wilson resumed the practice of appearing before Congress."
• In an effort to eliminate some of the formality from the White House, "Jefferson began the practice of having guests shake hands with the President, instead of bowing."
• This very big thing happened when Jefferson was president.
• Jefferson waged war against pirates, sort of like we do today!
• When he left the presidency, Jefferson wrote, "Never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power." World Book makes only one mention of the fact that Jefferson was a slave owner: "Jefferson was 14 years old when his father died. . . . He inherited Shadwell [the family farm] with its 30 slaves and more than 2,5000 acres of land."

The "J - K" volume is skinny, but it contains Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, so I'll be revisiting it.

Also, this volume contains kidney bean, Jews, Jesus Christ, and Kansas.