Hero Tales from History — Thomas Jefferson, The Father of Democracy

THOMAS JEFFERSON, THE FATHER OF DEMOCRACY

Thomas Jefferson was born on his father’s many-thousand-acre farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, on the banks of River Anna, whose name was shortened to “Rivanna.

” Thomas’s father, Colonel Peter Jefferson, had come over the sea from Wales, and his mother was Jane Randolph, a daughter of one of the “F. F.

V.

’s,” or First Families of Virginia.

The Jefferson boy grew up tall, thin, awkward, freckled and red-haired.

His father, like George Washington’s, was a wealthy planter, who died while Thomas was yet a lad.

But young Jefferson’s mother was not left poor like Washington’s; she was able to send her son to William and Mary College.

Though Thomas was always reading and studying, he was very fond of playing the violin.

Several stories are told about Jefferson and his “fiddle,” as they called it then.

One is that he played duets with Patrick Henry; another is that he once performed with George Washington, who played quite well on the flute.

Thomas was so eager to learn and so afraid of wasting time in college that he took the four years’ course in two years, graduating at nineteen.

Besides the regular college branches, he studied architecture, and after graduating devoted some time to that profession before fully deciding to study law.

Young Jefferson was not admitted to practise law until five years after finishing his college course.

This was because he was not content merely with “reading law,” but he read many books on other subjects and continued his study of music.

While he was attending court at Charlottesville, his home at Shadwell was burned to the ground.

An old negro house-servant came to tell the young master all about the fire.

Lawyer Jefferson thought first of his large library and asked if his precious books had been saved.

“No, massa,” said the old slave.

“Dem books is all burnt up, but de fire didn’t cotch your dear old fiddle.

I carried dat out, myse’f, I did.

” Perhaps the best story of all that are still told of Jefferson and his fiddle is that about two young men admirers of the young and beautiful widow Skelton.

They called on her one evening and found “Tom” Jefferson there already.

He was playing his violin while she accompanied him on her spinet--an old-fashioned piano.

They listened a moment and laughed.

“We won’t play ‘second fiddle’ or break up their duet,” said one of the callers.

So they went away without leaving their names.

It was not long before Thomas Jefferson, like George Washington, married a wealthy widow and brought her to live on one of the largest and finest estates in old Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson had planned and built a new house in place of the one which had been burned down.

He chose a high hill on the plantation, from which, across the surrounding country, the town of Charlottesville could be seen miles away.

He named the estate “Monticello,” the Italian word for “little mountain.

” About the time the Jeffersons were married the whole country was stirred by the Stamp Act and other taxes demanded by England of the American colonies.

These taxes seemed unjust, because the people were not allowed the right to send men from America to help make the laws which they had to obey.

Jefferson wrote a pamphlet on the subject, which he called “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.

” In it he said, “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.

” When the people of the colonies in America were fully aroused, they sent men to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia to decide what to do about the unjust acts of the British king and his wrong advisers.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Richard Henry Lee were among the men, called delegates, sent from “Old Virginia.

” One day in the Congress, Richard Henry Lee arose and made this motion: “_Resolved_, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.

” After discussing Lee’s resolution for three days, the [Illustration: THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THAT HISTORIC DOCUMENT OF WHICH JEFFERSON WAS THE AUTHOR.

] Congress voted to have a statement drawn up to send to King George the Third, declaring that the people of the United Colonies could not stand wrong treatment any longer.

Thomas Jefferson was appointed chairman of a committee of five to write this paper, which came to be called the Declaration of Independence.

This is one of the four greatest legal papers ever written.

In it were these lines, which will be repeated as long as there are people living in the world who love liberty: “We hold these truths to be self-evident--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

” “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

” When the War for Independence was won, Thomas Jefferson was sent to France to represent the young American republic.

Then when Washington was President he was called home to be Secretary of State.

After Washington died, Thomas Jefferson was elected the third President of the United States.

Instead of being fond of show in using the power given to him by the people, Thomas Jefferson was very simple in his tastes.

When he came to be inaugurated President he did not drive through the streets of Washington in a coach with six horses and outriders and escorts, as other Presidents had done, but walked with a few friends from his boarding-house to the new Capitol, then building, where he delivered his Inaugural Address and took the oath of office.

This so-called “Jeffersonian simplicity” seemed strange then, because he was a man of wealth and lived in a beautiful mansion.

Many people did not like his simple ways.

They thought the President of the United States should show more dignity.

The minister from Great Britain was offended because, when he came to present his respects and those of the king of England, President Jefferson received him in a dressing-gown and slippers and heavy yarn socks.

But the sensible people thought so much of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence that they did not mind what kind of stockings Thomas Jefferson wore.

While he was President, Jefferson saw that the country’s interests would be hampered while New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, belonged to France.

It was like having another nation own and control the south door of the United States.

So Jefferson sent men to purchase from the French government New Orleans and the right of way out of the Mississippi.

Napoleon was then in power, and as he needed money to carry on his war with England, he offered to sell to the United States, for fifteen million dollars, not only New Orleans, but all the western country which France had claimed since the days of La Salle and other explorers.

This was a great bargain and the men whom President Jefferson had sent bought the land without waiting to hear from home.

This was called the Louisiana Purchase, and the people were more than glad to approve what the President had done.

The expedition of Lewis and Clark was sent out by Jefferson to explore and make maps of the Louisiana Purchase.