“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” (Whitney 27). This quote from Thomas Jefferson which is carved on his memorial in Washington, D.C., is the philosophy by which he lived his life. Jefferson is a truly iconic figure through American history, he has helped pave the way for America as we live in it today. He was a firm advocate of freedom and the belief that all men are created equal. As in the words of Lincoln “The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of a free society” (Wood 91). Jefferson has been, since the beginning, a symbol, of what we as people are supposed to be.
Jefferson was born April 13th 1743 on the family farm in the small town of Shadwell, Virginia. Jefferson was the third born in a family of 10. His mother , Jane, was a member of the Randolph family, one of the oldest and most distinguished in Virginia (Whitney 28). Thomas was a quick learner. He had mastered Greek and Latin by the age of 14. Later that year his father died, leaving him 2,500 acres and 30 slaves. Only 2 years later at the age of 16, Jefferson enrolled at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. Just 3 years later, after graduating, he studied law with a lawyer whom he'd met in college. He often attended sessions of Virginia's House of Burgesses where he became acquainted with some of the times great politicians. He took particular interest in Patrick Henry's “Give me Liberty” speech denouncing the British Stamp Act in 1765, quoting that his forensic talents were “such as I have never heard from any other man” (Whitney 28).
In 1772 Jefferson married a very wealthy woman by the name of Martha Wayles Skelton. The fortune she carried with her name nearly doubled his estate. Sadly, two years earlier, his home in Shadwell had burned down. He promptly began the construction of his mansion, Monticello. While the mansion was being built, Jefferson and his wife had to...