America's Greatest 19th Century Presidents (3 page)

The United States has a long history of producing rags-to-riches political leaders, but Thomas Jefferson was an exception to this tradition. Born into a wealthy plantation family in Shadwell, Virginia, Jefferson never worried about finances during his youth. Both of Jefferson's parents were involved in colonial politics; his mother, Jane Randolph, was from the prominent Randolph family, which held enormous influence in Virginian politics, while father Peter was the founder of the small town in which Jefferson was born. In addition to founding Shadwell, Peter also operated a large and successful plantation, with the help of his slaves.

Given this pedigree, Jefferson was pampered in pursuit of greatness from the very beginning, with an education that rivaled the most advanced in Europe. Starting school at the age of 5, Jefferson had private tutors who gave him a classical education, which included the study of Latin and Greek. Philosophy, the natural sciences, violin and dance were also part of Jefferson's curriculum, all of which were to ensure a well-rounded education befitting a gentleman.

In 1760, at age 17, Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary. He studied law and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767.

Monticello and Marriage

Few Presidents are remembered for their homes, but Jefferson's Monticello is the greatest exception to that rule, and to this day it remains one of the nation’s most instantly recognizable landmarks.

When Jefferson's father died in 1757, his father’s estate was split between Thomas and his brother, Randolph. Jefferson’s share equated to about 5,000 acres of land and between 20-40 slaves. Because his father died when Thomas was only 14, he was not able to legally take hold of this estate until he was 21.

Once Jefferson took formal control of the land, he began constructing his personal estate. Having received the schooling befitting of a gentleman during the late Enlightenment, Jefferson had a broad liberal arts education. This gave him some knowledge of architecture. Jefferson himself thus designed Monticello in a neoclassical mold. He avidly studied the Italian architect Andrea Palladio, and Jefferson's style can therefore be broadly characterized as Palladian. The construction of Monticello began in 1768, but it remained an ongoing project for many years.

He formally moved into Monticello in 1770, and his wife Martha joined him there in 1772 after they were married. Like Jefferson, Martha Wayles Skelton was from a wealthy Virginian background, and she grew up being reared by her father's many slaves. The Jeffersons went on to have six children, but only one daughter lived to be older than 25.

House of Burgesses

Jefferson is remembered today for his remarkable accomplishments, but it may very well have not been possible without the benefit of his wealth in the decade before the American Revolution. Between Jefferson's land estate and slave holdings, he did not really need to work for an income, giving him ample time to dabble in interests like architecture and law. Technically Jefferson was occupied as a lawyer throughout the late 1760's and the early 1770's, but he mostly served elite family friends throughout Virginia.

In 1769, Jefferson truly began to make good on his lineage and upbringing by obtaining a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he first began to dabble in Revolutionary politics. The House of Burgesses was the first governing body comprised of elected representatives among colonists in Britain’s American colonies, and by the time Jefferson got there, it was already a place for fierce debate over the measures Britain was taking vis-à-vis her colonies. Parliament had adopted several types of taxes and measures to levy on the American colonies in order to pay for the victorious but costly Seven Years War in the 1750s. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of the Seven Years War and should pay at least a portion of the expense.

One of the ways they did this was with the Stamp Act of 1765, taxing stamps to raise revenue. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.

Even before being elected, Jefferson first heard Patrick Henry argue against the Stamp Act on the floor of the House of Burgesses. It would be Jefferson’s turn when Parliament passed what came to be known as the Coercive Acts in 1774. The Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America. Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 1773; the British Parliament hoped these punitive measures would, by making an example of Massachusetts, reverse the trend of colonial resistance to parliamentary authority that had begun with the 1765 Stamp Act.

Naturally, the Coercive Acts triggered outrage in the colonies, and following the British passage of the Coercive Acts, Jefferson authored a series of resolutions protesting them. These were expanded into Jefferson's first book,
A Summary View on the Rights of British Americans
, a grand statement of the themes that would be contested in the American Revolution: namely, self government and natural rights. These would be defining items throughout Jefferson's life.

With the Revolution beginning to brew by 1772, Jefferson put himself front and center of the Virginia wing of the conflict. Each colony organized Committees of Correspondence, modeled after Massachusetts' response to British coercion. The Virginia delegation included Thomas Jefferson and other prominent Virginians, including his first cousin Peyton Randolph. Jefferson's entry into Revolution was official.

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