Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He was from Virginia and was one of the youngest men in Congress. He had only recently become involved in politics. John Adams, the delegate from Massachusetts, had years of experience. Jefferson thought it was only logical that the task of writing this important document should fall to the older, more experienced statesman. Adam's wanted Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, but Jefferson did not want to do it because he thought it would
be too hard and it would take a lot of thinking. Jefferson was a writer, inventor, a
statesman, and an architect. He explored the new ideas about science and
government that were taking shape all around him. When he was told that he had
to write the Declaration of Independence, he started right away which is
contradictory to what we would think, because he didn't want to do it. It took
him 2 weeks to write the Declaration. With this document, the colonies were
declaring themselves independent. Americans would govern themselves.
Thomas Jefferson had first learned the principle of individual freedom as
a student in Williamsburg. He had learned that there were certain rights by which
all people had to live to be able to make their own choices, and to be free to do
as they wished as long as it didn't hurt others. Today we take these ideas for
granted, but they were fairly new in the 1770's. The Americans were not allowed
to govern themselves, to set taxes for themselves, or to defend themselves.
Thomas' first home was the family plantation of Shadwell on the Rivana
River. When Thomas was nine years old, his family moved from the Randolph's
place back to their own plantation, Shadwell. On a bright September morning in
1752, a wagon drove up the path to Shadwell. The driver gave a shout and the
family hurried outside. Everyone helped load Thomas' bags into the coach. His
mother fussed at...