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| Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)
Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)
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Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was one of the leaders of the
independence movement against Great Britain, author of the American Declaration
of Independence and third president of the United States of America (1801-1809).
He was one of the general agents of the American enlightenment. As a diplomat
and as a friend of English and French intellectuals he had direct contact to the
leading scouts of Europe.
Jefferson was born on 13th April 1743 in Shadwell
(Virginia)as the son of a wealthy owner of a plantation. In 1767 he was admitted
as a lawyer and in 1769 he was a member of the parliament of Virginia for the
first time.
The Independence
In 1774 Jefferson published the writing ”A Summary
View of the Rights of British America”. Therein he argued that the
first settlers came as independent individuals to America and not as envoys of
the British government. They would have, accordingly, the right to determine
their type of government by themselves. As a result the Continental Congress
instructed Jefferson, a member of the Congress, to formulate of the Declaration
of Independence of the 4th July 1776. It was based on the Summary
View and emphasized explicitly the rights of the colonists, to loosen from their
mother country because of the unlawful laws of the British
Government.
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The Declaration of
Independence
As a member of the parliament of Virginia (1776-1779),
Jefferson worked on a reform of the economy after the principles of the
enlightenment and the republicanism. He fought for the abolition of social
privileges, co-operated on the humanisation of the criminal law of Virginia and
enforced the separation of church and state. But the parliament refused his
draft of bill for a state school- and library system indeed. Only after many
years Jefferson could open the University of Virginia (1825).
From 1779 to 1781 Jefferson was Governor of Virginia, before
he retired on his property Monticello, where he wrote his ”Notes on the
State of Virginia”, which were thought originally as information for a
French correspondent and treated the social, political and economic aspects of
life in Virginia in the 18th century. These notes became very famous
later time.
In 1783 Jefferson was once again representative in the
Continental Congress, and from 1784 to 1789 he was ambassador in France. Here he
became witness of the early phase of the French revolution, which he greeted
enthusiastically.
The governments Washington and Adams
As a foreign secretary (1789-1794) under George Washington
Jefferson took up again his suggestions in 1783: The USA should close with the
European states - besides Great Britain - trade agreements. But the congress
refused .
After his resignation as foreign secretary Jefferson got
into opposition for the government, which got in again contact to Great Britain.
In 1796 he had himself set up from the oppositionel Republicans Party (today the
Democratic Party) as presidential candidate and in 1797 he became with the
second largest percentage of votes according to the at that time valid vote
system, vice president under President John Adams.
The presidency Jefferson
In 1800 Jefferson won the presidential elections after an
election campaign, in which he had emphasised the rights for the single states.
Jefferson’s most important performance as president was the expansion of
the USA to the west (to about the double size of the current territory): In 1803
he purchased Louisiana from France and ordered the Lewis-and-Clark-sending
(1804-1806) for the exploration of the West. In the foreign policy Jefferson was
less successful. To force Great Britain to respect the neutrality of the USA in
the Napoleon Wars, he imposed a business embargo over Europe in 1807. The
embargo brought no advantage to the USA, on the contrary: The American economy
and the foreign trade of New England had to accept large losses for many
years.
After his resignation from the presidency in 1809 Jefferson
was consultant of his successors Madison and Monroe and influenced the political
and cultural life in the USA.
Jefferson died on 4th July 1826 in Monticello.
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