Thomas Jefferson

by John Torrey Morse Jr., George Grant (Foreword by)

Overview

Originally published in 1898, Thomas Jefferson a classic biography of the man who so deeply ingrained the republican ideals of the Founding Fathers into American society. As such, it is the kind of work that avoids the trap of noticing everything that went unnoticed in the past while failing to notice all that the past deemed notable. Immediately lauded by the critics when it was first published, John T. Morse's biography of Jefferson was embraced by the reading public. Today, its republication is a welcome opportunity to remind leaders today of the great story of liberty that enabled the young American nation to become an undisputed world power and a beacon of freedom to oppressed people everywhere. Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant and complex man who was practically born into America's ruling elite. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, in the Continental Congress, as ambassador to the French court, as governor of Virginia, as secretary of state under George Washington, as vice president under John Adams, and as president. The author of the Declaration of Independence, he was also the founder of the Universityof Virginia and established the Library of Congress. Despite all these credentials, Jefferson was hardly considered a member of the establishment of his day. Indeed, he was best known as a revolutionary populist. When he won the presidential election of 1800, it was dubbed a kind of bloodless revolution." He brought to the presidency a philosophy of representative government firmly rooted in the rights and liberties of individuals. As a result, he helped to dramatically change the character of the nation."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781581824094
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	11/01/2004
Series:	American Statesman
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.72(d)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER III. IN CONGRESS. Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia on the tenth day of his journey, and on June 21 became one of that assembly concerning which Lord Chatham truly said that its members had never been excelled " in solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion." Jefferson, at the age of thirty-two, was among the younger deputies1 in a body which, by the aid of Dr. Franklin, aged seventy-one, and Edward Rutledge, aged twenty-six, represented all the adult generations of the country. He brought with him a considerable reputation as a ready and eloquent writer, and was justly expected, by his counsel, his pen, and his vote, to bring substantial reinforcement to the more advanced party. In debate, however, not much was to be anticipated from him, for he was never able to talk even moderately well in a deliberative body. Not only was his poorvoice an impediment, but he was a man who instinctively abhorred contest. Daringly as he wrote, yet he shrank from that contention which pitted him face to face against another, though the only weapons were the " winged words " of parliamentary argumentation. Turmoil and confusion he detested ; amid wrangling and disputing he preferred to be silent; it was in conversation, in the committee-room, and preeminently when he had pen, ink, and paper before him, that he amply justified his presence among the three-score chosen ones of the thirteen colonies. In his appropriate department he quickly superseded Jay as document-writer to Congress. 1 Not, as he himself with wonted inaccuracy says, "the youngest man but one;" for besides Edward Rutledge, born in 1749, there was also John Jay, born in 1745. Yet his first endeavor didnot point to this distinction. When news of the fight at Bunker's Hill arrived in Philade...