How Thomas Jefferson Influenced a Nation

When you hear the name “Thomas Jefferson” you often immediately think of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson is a well-known individual, and most only know him for his work with the Declaration of Independence and that the he was also the third president of the U.S. Although he wrote the Declaration of Independence he also wrote many books that also influence our society almost as much as his best work. In his legacy, Thomas has influenced us word after word, and he stills has an effect on many influences still today.

Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian, was the author of the American Declaration of Independence, an active participant in the Revolution, Governor of Virginia, member of Congress, Minister to France, Secretary of State under President Washington, and president of the United States. He was a polymath who wrote on and was knowledgeable about science, architecture, music, agriculture, law, education, geography, and music. With this knowledge, Thomas used it in his writings in order to publish the perfect finish which eventually gave him his spot in the hall of history of fame.

His father, Peter Jefferson, was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother, Jane Randolph, a member of one of Virginia's most distinguished families. After inheriting a lot of landed estate from his father, Jefferson began constructing Monticello when he was twenty-six years old. Three years later, he married Martha Wayles Skelton, with whom he lived happily for ten years until her death in September 6, 1782. Before her death they had six children, but two died before adulthood. Jefferson maintained Monticello as his home throughout his life, always expanding and changing the house. I guess you could say that he was like The U....

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...lonies. Often dubbed the most important American book published before 1800, Notes on the State of Virginia is both a compilation of data by Jefferson about the state's natural resources and economy, and his vigorous and often eloquent argument about the nature of the good society, which he believed was incarnated by Virginia. He expressed his beliefs in the separation of church and state, constitutional government, checks and balances, and individual liberty. He wrote extensively about slavery, the problems of miscegenation, and his belief that whites and blacks could not live together in a free society.

It was the only full-length book which Jefferson published during his lifetime. He first published it anonymously in Paris in 1785, where he was serving the US government as trade representative. He published the book in its first English edition in 1787 in London.