BIOGRAPHY ON THOMAS JEFFERSON, INCLUDE HIS WRITINGS Term Paper

BIOGRAPHY ON THOMAS JEFFERSON, INCLUDE HIS WRITINGS - Term Paper Example He wanted to be remembered for the things people owed to him. His tombstone, which he designed for himself, read,† Here was buried author of declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious Freedom, and father of university of Virginia, Born April 2, 1743 O.S. Died July 4. 1826†, (Irelan,1888). Though, historians wanted to attach other triumphs as well, such as his expertise in linguistics, his distinction as an architect and an environmentalist, but readers of his life are well concurred with his own assessment.(Risjord,1994). MAJOR IDEAS: Thomas Jefferson promoted many philosophical theories such as natural rights, constitutionalism, which automatically leads to justice and democracy. He was a person who believed in equitable distribution of land. One of the major ideas of Jefferson were emphasizing on education’s importance in democracy. He extended the structure of educational system to four stages i.e., elementary school, grammar school, universities and lifelong learning. Jefferson was always known for his huge collection of books throughout the history. When the British burned the Library of Congress during the war in 1812, Jefferson was offered $23,950 for his 6000 volume library, which he agreed upon and sold. His uncountable efforts towards the development of educational sector are commendable. In 1819, he pressurized the Virginia legislature to employ a commission for the need of a university in the state. In 1825, University of Virginia was located in Charlottesville and accepted its first set of students in the year 1826. Thomas Jefferson took great pains for the establishment of University of Virginia. He not only designed the building and the whole campus himself, but also developed the syllabus and hired competent educationist at that time. He also coined the term aristocracy of merit, which signifies the importance of certain group of people who have unique tendencies. According to this, rewards are allocated to the best or those who have talents can rule the world.(Demille, ) Unfortunately, Jefferson’s view of education was limited to the Whites of the society. He also preached about the equality among human beings although he was one of the largest slaveholder, so apparently he excluded blacks or at least his own slaves from the territory of being considered as a human (Massner, 2008) He held an opinion that the states legislature should be the most powerful area due to this he was interested in writing the constitution of the state. EARLY LIFE Albemarle County Virginia, which was then called, Shadwell, was Jefferson’s birth place. He was born on 2nd April in the year of 1743. Thomas was Peter Jefferson and Jane Rudolph’s third child and eldest of the three sons. From Peter he inherited his energetic body and a love of mathematical subjects and a mind to formulate new ways of success and independence. After Peter’s death, Thomas was left with 5 acres of land and an established position and respect in the community (Malone, 1993). Due to his father’s inclination towards education, he had an opportunity of getting an excellent tutoring. He went to boarding schools and thus, excelled in languages. He took classes in William and Mary College at the age of seventeen in Virginia, where his majors were mathematics, science, philosophy, literature, rhetoric. He went to study law when