When our Founding Fathers were faced with meeting Britain’s demands or separating, it was a great decision. They knew that any resistance on their part would be great enough to classify them as traitors with the death penalty for treason. They came together and bravely made the decision that their beliefs, “Freedom and Justice for All” and the American people, came first.

His influence as a founding father:

Thomas Jefferson was asked to put pencil on paper and write the principles they advocated. He wrote the Declaration of Independence without notes, writing and rewriting until the page was filled with editions. His goal was to create a document that his compatriots understood, one that would inspire them to take the great risk of secession from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson’s courage came from an unshakable belief that he would be successful in this endeavor and that the resulting Revolutionary War would be, too. His courage was marked by an optimism that other Founding Fathers lacked. Even George Washington doubted the new republic would be a success. Thomas Jefferson’s firm conviction that a government based on “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” will endure and prosper demonstrates a courage that fearless men around the world still struggle to demonstrate.

Initially, Thomas Jefferson wanted John Adams to write the Declaration of Independence, but Adams convinced everyone that Jefferson was the man for this heavy task. Some of the reasons for this that we can safely assume are that Thomas Jefferson had spent his entire life ardently pursuing his love of learning. His gift of words combined with a passionate belief in the concept of freedom would result in the document that would not only lead to the Revolutionary War, but also shape the ideals the nation would cherish for centuries to come. Ideals that we maintain to this day.

“I believe in the dreams of the future more than in the history of the past.” Jefferson once wrote to his longtime friend, John Adams. They had a difficult friendship. Brothers since the start of the Revolutionary War, their post-war differences in their political parties caused a rift between them in the late 1790s, which was not healed until 1812 when they established a close correspondence that would continue until their death in 1826. It has been said that if John Adams wrote the words of the American Revolution, Jefferson wrote the music. The two died four hours apart on the fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The last words of John Adams were: “Independence Forever” and “Thomas Jefferson Survives”. Just before his death, Jefferson called his friends and family to his bedside and said:

“I have done for my country and for all humanity all that I could, and now I renounce my soul to my God without fear, my daughter to my country.”

His life and his greatest achievements:

So where did this man come from? With such a legendary life, we would expect him to be born predestined for it. Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia in 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson, ran a plantation until his death in 1757 when Thomas was only 12 years old. From a young age, Thomas was blessed with a lively curiosity. By the time of his father’s death, he had already begun to learn Latin, Greek, and French. Thomas Jefferson, however, was not without its flaws. In both his political and personal life, his actions have sometimes been seen as contradictory to his core beliefs. Although he valued freedom and equality above all else, he not only owned slaves, but is also believed to have had children with one of them, Sally Hemings. The fact that he kept slaves while advocating for an end to slavery is particularly disturbing because Jefferson sincerely believed that when a man lived a moral life, that moral influence and enhance the lives of others. It seems that this was an internal conflict that he lived with all his life.

Thomas Jefferson won the presidency in 1800 after a tie with Aaron Burr sent the election to the House of Representatives. He had run the campaign with the new Democratic-Republican nomination, a party formed to counter the growing power of the Federalist Party. He disagreed with the federalist Alexander Hamilton’s vision of freedom. Hamilton believed that individual liberty must be preserved through social and economic policies enacted by the central government, while Jefferson felt that too much government endangered individual liberty. Their beliefs are still in our government today. The Democratic Party is an offshoot of his party and, although the modern Republican Party would not be created until 1854 and is not a direct offshoot, its name was chosen in homage to the beliefs of Thomas Jefferson. Now we owe him another debt for continuing to fight in the fight for a lesser government.

As president, Thomas Jefferson’s outstanding accomplishments reflected his courage to envision America as a great country that would play a positive role on the world stage. Just as his writings in the Declaration of Independence inspired the belief that a nation built on freedom and equality would succeed, Jefferson’s drive to expand the nation’s borders reinforced the belief in a bright future for America. Jefferson oversaw the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling the size of the country. In 1804, he led the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the west. Thomas Jefferson is considered the father of the American West even though he himself never traveled more than a few miles west of his beloved Monticello home.

Other accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson include the formation of the military academy known today as West Point, the ability of the Supreme Court to declare laws passed by Congress unconstitutional, and a ban on the importation of slaves from Africa. He was the first president to show that the transfer of power between parties could be done without chaos or revolution. However, his vision of a country where freedom and equality prevail is his greatest legacy.

Thomas Jefferson along with George Washignton, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt is one of the four men sculpted on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.

What inspires me when I look back on the life of Thomas Jefferson is that the path he chose to follow was not necessarily the easiest, but the one that he knew was paved with beliefs and morals that he held very close to his heart. He believed in freedom for all equally and the freedom to love his God. He believed that citizens came first and that the government was there to protect the people. When we think of our freedom, it is important to remember that this intrepid Man, Thomas Jefferson, was the main author of the Declaration of Independence that detailed why they separated from Great Britain. At the time this was considered treason and was punishable by death. Thomas Jefferson stood his ground and we are better for it.