A member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from to , Jefferson played an active role in the organization of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence. Colonial resentment against Britain was fomenting, and committees such as this one represented an underground group of political agitators which worked to oppose British domination of the colonies.
This document propelled him into the larger spotlight. He became known as a man of immense abilities in articulating the colonial position for independence.
Before long, he was known to stand with Patrick Henry as one of the leading radicals who argued that the British Parliament had no authority at all to make laws for the colonies. When the reluctantly revolutionary Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in , Jefferson found himself appointed with four other delegates to write a declaration of independence.
This group of five men was destined to lead the new nation. Livingston, strategically deferred to Jefferson to draft the document. Jefferson's selection was based upon his powerful writing style and the fact that he represented the interests of Virginia, the most influential southern colony. Virginia's leadership in stating the colonial cause was a key in creating a united front against Britain. The respected Benjamin Franklin backed off from penning a first draft, saying that he would never write anything for others to edit.
John Adams handed the task over to Jefferson, expressing his admiration of Jefferson's superior writing skills. Adams said that the young Virginian was unmatched in his eloquence and his penetrating mind. He later regretted not writing the document to his dying day. Jefferson wrote the draft and defended it before the committee as a simple piece designed to present in plain and firm terms the "common sense" of independence. The document's structure included a statement of principles and then a list of grievances.
The document's assertion of fundamental human rights provided a compact statement of government that underlies the Republic. In Jefferson's mind, the Declaration of Independence would provide the foundation for the creation of an American society truly representative and egalitarian.
From to , Jefferson served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, where he successfully sought to abolish entail and primogeniture, legal devices that preserved land estates and passed them on to eldest sons, exclusive of any other family members, upon the father's death.
Jefferson's efforts to abolish primogeniture would strike a blow at inherited concentrations of wealth. It was a difficult fight, but he eventually prevailed. Jefferson also helped to break the traditional link between religion and government by authoring the famous Virginia Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which was finally passed into law thanks to the efforts of Jefferson's friend James Madison.
As an avowed deist, Jefferson believed in a divine creator who had set creation in motion according to a set of natural laws that required no further intervention by a deity in the universe. For Jefferson, God was not a personal savior, and he looked upon all established religions as cultural artifacts. Accordingly, he opposed the use of religion by government as a means of granting privileges or imposing duty upon the citizenry.
Jefferson argued that such a misuse enslaved the human mind and thus violated the principle of liberty upon which a democracy should rest. He also feared that religion would hinder the development of a national elite, a moral and ethical group of aristocrats who would lead the nation.
Similarly, Jefferson advocated a radical system of free public education. All white male Virginians, he argued, should be educated to literacy at lower schools while the naturally superior of mind and talent should be supported in a system of higher education. These intellectually talented men would then become the natural leaders of the nation.
Jefferson asserted that the only barrier to a student's admittance to the university should be his own intellectual limits. Her father was a ship captain named Isham Randolph of Dungeness. Jane was also a cousin of Peyton Randolph. Furthermore, she was the granddaughter of members of the English and Scottish gentry. His father was Peter Jefferson. Information concerning his background is unknown. Peter became executor of the estate of his friend Colonel William Randolph when he died in Thomas Jefferson's family included nine siblings plus his adopted sibling Thomas.
Two of his siblings died when they were children. During this period there may have been heavy precipitation as well, for on March 6, the day before Elizabeth's funeral, Jefferson notes, "A flood in the Rivanna 18 I. The recorded weather conditions create interesting speculations but cannot be positively linked as causal in Elizabeth Jefferson's death.
Her death, as her life, remains surrounded by many unanswerable questions. An article courtesy of the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia. Click for more. Anna October 1, -? Randolph October 1, - September 15, 8 Spouse: Never married.
Children: None. Betts, Edwin Morris and James A. Bear, eds. The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Boyd, Julian P. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, et al. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello. New York: W.
Norton, Kern, Susan. The Jeffersons at Shadwell. Kierner, Cynthia A. Looney, J. Jefferson et al. Scharff, Virginia. The Women Jefferson Loved. New York: Harper, Shackelford, George Green, ed. Stanton, Lucia. First Last. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Sponsors View all.
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