Jefferson, Thomas

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, articulated and perpetuated the American ideals of liberty and freedom of speech, press, and conscience.

Jefferson was born in Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Virginia. His father, Peter Jefferson, died in 1757 when Thomas was only fourteen. Thomas inherited 5,000 acres of land and many slaves. He attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1760 to 1762, but left without taking a degree. After studying law under prominent Virginia lawyer and judge George Wythe, Jefferson was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767. In 1769 he began a six-year tenure in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. [Page 620]

In 1776, one year after he entered the Second Continental Congress, Jefferson, now thirty-three, was one of five members selected to draft the Declaration of Independence. Following the lead of John Adams, the committee unanimously selected Jefferson to write the document, which he did over the course of three days. The Continental Congress then amended the Declaration and ratified it on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence is best known for articulating the natural rights philosophy that all people (“men”) are entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and that they have the right to reject any government that does not secure such rights. As he did throughout his life, Jefferson strongly believed that every American should have the right to prevent the government from infringing on the liberties of its citizens. Certain liberties, including those of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition, should be sacred to everyone.

Jefferson was serving as ambassador to France when the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 to replace the Articles of Confederation, but he remained well informed about events in America, largely because of his correspondence with his good friend James Madison. Jefferson recognized that a stronger federal government would make the country more secure economically and militarily, but he feared that a strong central government might become too powerful, restricting citizens’ rights. He therefore wanted the new Constitution to be accompanied by a written “bill of rights” to guarantee personal liberties, such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from standing armies, trial by jury, and habeas corpus. Jefferson’s correspondence with James Madison helped to convince Madison to introduce a bill of rights into the First Congress. After ratification by the requisite number of states, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, went into effect in 1791.

In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo L. Black and some of his colleagues on the Supreme Court traced the origins of the First Amendment to a bill establishing religious freedom that Jefferson drafted and introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1779. The bill was not passed until 1786, when, through the efforts of James Madison, it was adopted as the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The statute, which had three main sections, explained why compulsory religion requirements were wrong, stated that men were free to express their opinions on religion and choose how or if to worship without having their rights as citizens diminished, and explained how the right of freedom of religion was a natural right of mankind.

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