The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Thomas Jefferson’

A lawyer by profession, Thomas Jefferson drafted the American Declaration of Independence. His biggest fait accompli was skilfully negotiating with France to purchase the state of Louisiana in 1803, which nearly doubled the size of the United States. Jefferson was also an inventor, and he is credited with helping to define the duties and regulations of the United States Patent Office.

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale in 1800. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Name: Thomas Jefferson

Birth Date: April 1743 – July 1826

Job Functions: President, Lawyer, Inventor

Fields: Politics and Law

Known For: Drafting the Declaration of Independence and Third President of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson, first secretary of state, the second vice-president, and the third president of the United States was born in Shadwell, Virginia in 1743. His early schooling included: Latin, Greek, French, and mathematics, from the Reverend William Douglas, and later from the Reverend James Maury. In March 1760, when Jefferson was 17 years old, he entered the school of philosophy at the College of William and Mary where he continued his studies in mathematics and other sciences.

In 1762, Jefferson left the College of William and Mary to study law at Wythe’s law office at Williamsburg for the next five years. Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1767 and established a successful law practice.

Jefferson’s public career started in 1769, serving as a representative in the Virginia House of Burgesses, America’s first elected body of government, while he was still practicing law. The American Revolution which took place from 1775 to 1783 forced him to abandon his practice in 1774. An eloquent spokesman, in 1774, Jefferson argued that Americans had the natural rights to govern themselves in the famed document, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. His political thought underpinned the movement toward American freedoms.

After the American Revolution started in June 1775, Jefferson took his seat in the second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which brought together the country’s leading political figures of the day. As a legal writer, and legislative draftsman, Congress named him to a committee with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman to draft a declaration of independence. His colleagues on the committee tasked Jefferson with preparing the paper. Though John Adams, Benjamin Franklin made slight changes, Congress deleted an entire section that denounced the slave trade and blamed the King of England for continuing it. Many members of congress owned and traded slaves. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, and it is essentially Jefferson’s.

The Declaration of Independence outlined the arguments justifying the position of the American Revolutionaries and also affirmed the rights of the colonists to dissolve the “political bands” with the British government. A key sentence from the document, which is often quoted:

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

In June 1779, Jefferson became the Governor of Virginia as the Revolutionary War entered a new phase when the British decided to attack the South. Early 1781, the British invaded Virginia, and Jefferson was criticized and blamed for the state’s lack of resistance, so he quit public service. Not having access to his farm and books, and the death of his wife in September 1782 had plunged him into deep despair. November of that year, Congress appointed him to a peace commission in Paris, but he ended up in Congress instead.

From November 1783 to May 1784, Jefferson drafted the first regulation of government for the western territory to create free and equal states out of the wilderness. He was also instrumental in creating foreign policy. Trade was important to America, and in 1784, Jefferson was appointed to a three-man commission along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin to negotiate trade treaties with European countries. When Franklin retired, Jefferson replaced him as a representative to France, where he spent the next five years in Europe.

While Jefferson was minister to France, he consulted with European scientists on new inventions, and he also “observed the state of the sciences and new advances in technology, noting agricultural and mechanical innovations and labor-saving devices, all of which he reported to correspondents in America and a number of which he adapted for his own use at Monticello…. He reported to James Madison the new “phosphoretic matches,” the invention of the Argand lamp, and various applications of steam power that had come to his attention. He envisaged steam not as the means to achieve an industrial revolution but rather as a supplementary source of power…. The type of plough used by French peasants led Jefferson to design an improved moldboard, which he subsequently had constructed and tested successfully at Monticello.”

Jefferson also acted as mentor to French politicians Marquis de Lafayette, and Victor de Riquetti, marquis de Mirabeau. And in 1789, he was an informal adviser to the drafting of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man.

When Jefferson returned to the United States in 1789, President George Washington appointed him secretary of state, a position in which most of the times in the next three years he unsuccessfully negotiated with European powers. During his time as secretary of state, Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury became involved in a conflict. Hamilton was a Federalist, who favoured the interests of business, and the upper class, while Jefferson favoured agricultural interests. Hamilton emerged the winner in the conflict and Jefferson and his party formed a group known as the Republicans, which evolved into today’s Democratic Party. The dispute between Hamilton and Jefferson was the Bank of the United States, which Hamilton approved of, but Jefferson felt was unconstitutional.

Jefferson gave up his secretary of state position at the end of 1793 and once again quit public life, but in 1796 the Republicans made him their presidential candidate against John Adams. Adams won by a small margin and became President of the United States and Jefferson Vice President. The Republicans doubled their efforts in the next presidential campaign in 1800, which was an extremely bitter one. Jefferson and Aaron Burr ended in a tie, and Alexander Hamilton who despised Burr more than he did Jefferson, lobbied the Federalists in the House to elect Jefferson. Jefferson became the third president of the United States on March 4, 1801 in the new national capital, Washington D.C. When Jefferson was sworn in, he appealed for harmony among all political parties.

Jefferson worked with congress to restore freedom of the press, scaled down the army and navy, ended all internal taxation, and began paying off the national debt. He reformed the economic plans of government by reducing their means of power, and sought to further peace, individual freedoms and to help to solidify the American way of life.

He had many shining moments in his life, but Jefferson’s greatest triumph came in foreign affairs when he successfully negotiated the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803 for approximately $15 million, nearly doubling the size of the United States. Jefferson was easily re-elected in 1804, but soon encountered trouble both at home and abroad. There was disharmony within the Republican Party and Jefferson had to fight hard to maintain control of Congress.

Jefferson encountered problems of attacks on independent US ships by England and France, which were engaged in war. Tension between American and France reached boiling point, and Jefferson avoided war when Congress passed the Nonimportation Act of 1806, forbidding the importation of British goods, and the Embargo Act in December 1807. The embargo met with some success but was extremely expensive and detrimental to the US trade. Near to the end of Jefferson’s second term as president, Congress reversed the embargo. At the end of his term, Jefferson retired to his estate, Monticello.

Jefferson served as the president of the American Philosophical Society from 1797 to 1815. During his retirement, he corresponded with many, and repaired his relationship with John Adams.  He also helped to found the University of Virginia in 1819. He died at Monticello, 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a few hours before John Adams. Months before his death, Jefferson wrote his epitaph, which read:

“Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

Tidbits About Thomas Jefferson

• From 1790-93, Thomas Jefferson served as examiner of patents. He is credited with helping to define the duties and regulations of the U.S. Patent Office. He refused to patent his inventions because he believed that the availability of patents and free sharing on knowledge would spur inventions, and also create prosperity for all.
• Throughout his life, Jefferson conducted scientific studies and collected data:
• Studied new methods for determining the heights of mountains, tested atmospheric moisture with a hygrometer, and used double-refraction optical instruments to measure small angles, eclipses, lunar movement, and Earth’s longitude.
• Recorded the appearance of many plants, animals, and birds on his Monticello estate and wherever his travels took him.
• Kept weather data all his life and shared it with other meteorological observers around the country.
• Invented a swivel chair, a writing desk that could be placed on one’s lap, a walking cane that converted to a chair, and a copying machine that duplicated letters as they were being written.
• Supported other inventions, including the hot-air balloon, dry docks for ships, the submarine, fireproofing for houses, telescopes, the camera obscura, carriage odometers, and personal pedometers.
• While Jefferson was president he conducted botanical expeditions around the Washington, DC, area and distributed European seeds to the local vegetable markets.
• Though he declared that he was a friend of Native Americans, Jefferson ran them off their land as fast as any president before or since. He wrote about the evils of African American slavery, but did nothing effectual to limit its growth after 1800, let alone to begin its abolition.
• In 1998 a DNA analysis of evidence from descendants of Eston Hemings and descendants of Jefferson’s uncle Field Jefferson, found a match indicating that a male member of Jefferson’s family was the father of Eston Hemings.
• “By 1814 when the British burned the nation’s Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the United States. Jefferson offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. Congress purchased Jefferson’s library for $23,950 in 1815. A second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851, destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson.”

Thomas Jefferson’s Steps to Success

• Had a solid education.
• Great orator and prolific writer who drafted many important documents including the Declaration of Independence.
• Held many positions which prepared him for the US presidency.
• Investigated every branch of science, from botany to biology, meteorology, archaeology, astronomy, chemistry, geology, mathematics, paleontology, and ethnology. This helped him to appreciate technological innovations and inventions.
• Dedicated himself to improving education in Virginia, advocating a statewide system based on a proposal that he had initiated many years earlier.
• Worked to create the University of Virginia, which was finally chartered in 1819, and opened in 1825. Jefferson helped to define the university.
• Designed the curriculum at the new University of Virginia (1819) to revolve around a core of natural philosophy (science), including physics, engineering, and mineralogy, when most American colleges still focused exclusively on the liberal arts and divinity.

Why Thomas Jefferson’s Contribution Matters

• He was the third president of the US.
• Drafted the Declaration of Independence.
• Initiated measures for establishing a decimal system for a standard coinage, and a system of weights and measures.
• Instrumental in developing a system for granting patents.

Lessons from Thomas Jefferson

• Developed a solid foundation which he built on.
• Used the skills he was good at to become successful.
• Free thinker, which allowed him to deviate when he was designing the curriculum for the University of Virginia.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Further Reading/Viewing

President Thomas Jefferson Biography

Cannot view this video, click here. Uploaded by TheUsPresidents on Aug 15, 2011

Book links are affiliate links.

Works Cited/Referenced

Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography

Science and Its Times, Volume 4

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law

Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics

Encyclopedia of the New American Nation

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

I am not a history buff. I do not particularly like history. But history has an important place because it helps us to put things in context. It helps us to better understand the innovative thinkers and inventors who have helped to shape our world. It helps us to understand why people did what they did, and the kind of world they were living in at the time. For the most part, I am not inspired to pick up a history book and read it from start to finish, the way I would for most other books.

Doing the research for, and writing the Wisdom of Life Profiles have opened up a new world for me, and I saw the world unfolding in front of my eyes and it’s quite a remarkable feeling. Through the eyes of the people I profile, I am steeped in history. For instance, I saw Roman Emperors through the eyes of Queen Boudica and Seneca. I saw World War II through the eyes of Sir Winston Churchill, what Russia was like during the Bolshevik Revolution through Ayn Rand and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Revolutionary War through Thomas Jefferson, the American Civil Warthrough Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglas and many more.

Image via Wikipedia

I got to see what people like Susan B Anthony, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and others did to shape our world. I also got to experience what service really means and what it feels like. I also got to experience women’s fight for their right to vote. The things we now take for granted, I saw how hard others fought so that we could have those rights – many gave their lives for their causes.

I travelled with Alexander the Great to Greece, Egypt, Persia, India, and I was there with him when he founded the great library in Alexandria and introduced Greek culture all over the ancient world as he conquered and created a vast empire. Through the eyes of the people I profile, I also see how power can corrupt in the wrong hands, creating despots and fanatics who oppress others forcing their will upon them.

Getting to that place has allowed me to read A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey, and not be bored because it helped me to round out some of the knowledge I acquired from preparing the Wisdom of Life Profiles. It was surprising to discover how much I had already learned. A Short History of the World is exactly that, a short history, so you will not learn about major events in depth by reading it, and the book stops at 1949, so you will not learn about important events after that year.

A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey is divided into two parts, the first is a brief history of the world and the second is a brief history of the United States. It’s a small-sized book, 240 pages in length. It’s divided into:

• Ancient History
• Medieval History
• Modern History
• History of the United States

And under each section, Dorey deals with many topics. For instance, under Modern History you’d find topics such as:

• The Age of Exploration and Discovery
• New Trends at the Beginning of the Modern Period
• Continental Europe from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century
• The Early Modern Period in England
• Europe in the Nineteenth Century
• The First World War
• Effects of the First World War
• The Second World War

A Short History of the World serves a purpose because it touches on so many things, and if readers are interested in any of the events mentioned, they can further explore those topics. You’ll learn that the Phoenicians developed the true alphabet, which they partially derived from the Egyptian characters.

One of the greatest battles, Battle of the Marathon in 490 BC, in which the Persians invaded Greece, outnumbering them 10 to one, the Greek prevailed because they defended their homeland vigorously. The battle demonstrates what we can accomplish when we set our minds to it. “Pheidippides ran all the way to Athens to bring news of the victory. When he arrived he uttered one word “Victory,” and dropped dead. The Marathon race is named for this event.”

The Greek led the world in literature, building many theatres in the open. Many college stadiums today were modeled after that concept. The Greeks acted out plays such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Homer wrote his epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey around 800 BC, and Sappho and Pindar wrote lyric poetry. The great philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle emerged from Greece. The Greek fed their mind, but the Athenians and Spartans were also into physical exercise so they developed games to play, and the great Olympic contests was created.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius (164 – 180 AD) was one of the greatest rulers, and we enjoy his book, Meditations today. Confucius and Lao-tse were two great Chinese leaders. China built the Great Wall of China to keep the raiders and conquerors out. A Short History of the World takes us into the world of the various Dynasties in China. The Arabs in the Middle Ages made significant contributions to mathematics, science, medicine and agriculture. The British invaded France and we have The Hundred Years’ War which was going really bad for the French until Joan of Arc started to lead the French soldiers.

Dorey takes us quickly through history, and we see the birth of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Martin Luther’s reformation of the church; and the Quakers’ start in the United States. As payment for monies owed to him, William Penn, a Quaker accepted a tract of land west of the Delaware River that was in the “New World” in 1681. Penn wanted to leave England because Quakers were persecuted there. This tract of land is known as Pennsylvania for “Penn’s Woods” and he founded the city of Philadelphia. Penn later leased land to the south from the Swedes which became Delaware, and land to the east which became New Jersey.

We get a look at explorers like Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and others, discovering a “New World” that was already occupied by Native Americans. Columbus was looking for a route by sea to India and instead landed in the Americas, the “New World” in October 1492. Italian John Cabot (claimed by the English because he worked for firm in Bristol) set sail and landed in Halifax, thinking that he had reached China. He also discovered Newfoundland. In 1499, Amerigo Vespucci explored the coast of South America and Balboa investigated what we now call Central America.

President Jefferson purchased Louisiana from the French for $15 million in 1803, and nearly doubled the size of the US. And in 1819, President James Monroe purchased Florida from Spain for $5 million.

Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819. But Harvard College, the first institution of higher learning in the United States was founded nearly two centuries before in 1636, the College of William and Mary in 1693, and Yale College in 1701.

We also see the acts of despots like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini and their tragic ends. There are many disturbing events in world history, but we have to take the bad with the good – that’s a part of the price we pay for progress. While reading A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey, I was reminded that this too shall pass. Nothing stays the same forever.

A Short History of the World by J. Milnor Dorey is a great little book to help us understand where we are coming from, so I recommend it. It will be very difficult to get a new copy. I purchased a used copy for $2 from a sidewalk sale. I have written far more profiles than I posted because that was a part of my Summer Project. However, to complement this review, please refer to Boudica, Joan of Arc, Sappho, Charles Darwin, Geronimo’s Story of His Life.

How can you use this information? If there is information that you have to learn, but find it difficult or “dry,” find creative ways like I did to learn it. If you have children who do not like to read, buy books about topics that they are interested in. Perhaps you could get them comic books because they cover virtually any topic you can think of.

What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Here is the second part of the interview with Jenny Pickles who has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years. What are five great ideas from the interview, and which bits of the interview can you use?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I have worked in the publishing industry since 1995, firstly at Emerald Group Publishing Ltd initially  in the Editorial department.  Here I was responsible for organizing the annual best paper awards for excellence and managing a suite of real estate and environmental scholarly journals. In 2000 I transferred to the Business Development department and took on responsibility for digital licensing, reprints and permissions.  Two years ago I was lucky enough to be offered the role of Associate Director of Global Rights at John Wiley & Sons in the UK. This involves responsibility for all secondary licensing of the many thousands of books and journals published by Wiley including translation rights, permissions and digital licensing.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Since moving to the south of the country to take up my new role my work/life balance has not been especially good, so I am working at building a new network of friends and areas of interest – a work in progress.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Would like to spend more time with my family – I am sure most people would wish for that.  I try to visit as often as I can and they visit me, but this is definitely at the top of my to-do list after I retire and don’t have to juggle limited time and the need to earn a living.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Respect people and they will be more likely to respect you back. Listen to people, they often have interesting and important things to say that you can learn from, spend your money wisely but enjoy your life too, you only get one chance to get it right, aim to leave the world (or even just your workplace or community) in a better place than you found it, be kind and always try to see the other person’s point of view – I don’t always practice what I preach but I try to work at it – it definitely improves both the personal and business aspects of life.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I like the theatre, music, and spend a great amount of my time immersed in a good book – usually thrillers, mysteries and I am not averse to a little supernatural element here and there, my particular favourites of the moment are Harlen Coben, Kathy Reichs, Dean Koontz, Diana Gabaldon,Tess Gerittsen and Andew Gross.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Talking to my colleagues over drinks or a good Thai meal always works for me. We usually come back to the office with lots of ideas.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

See mentor section above

How do you define success?

Fulfillment at a job well done or an achievement worked hard for.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

The willingness to work for it without stamping on others in the process.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Outlined above

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

As above

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Ah now that is a challenge in itself. Assuming they don’t all have to be alive now – if they do I will need to rethink –

1. Stephen Fry (who is), the English actor and comedian now also appearing more often in US programmes such as Bones,  because he is  so intelligent, witty and interesting and makes me laugh.
2. Richard III because I am curious to know if the portrayal of him by some historians and Shakespeare as such an out and out villain who killed his nephews in the Tower is actually true or what really happened.
3. Thomas Jefferson because I would like to hear more first-hand about how the ‘Founding Fathers’ came together, developed their ideas and justified the conflict between individual freedom and slavery.
4. Freddie Mercury, late great from man from Queen, who I miss since his untimely death and all the wonderful music that the world has foregone. I would love him to sing some of my favourites and maybe something new too.
5. Shakespeare to clear up the rumours  about whether he did actually write all of his plays and how he found his inspiration and ideas.

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Too many to mention.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

A survival book to teach me how to stay alive long enough to read my five books, Diana Gabalden’s Outlander series which is cheating really because there are about 7 volumes – having read them all I have gone back to the beginning to enjoy it all over again – I would describe it as the most romantic and enduring of historical novels with a supernatural/time travel twist. The characters are wonderful, the writing both funny and emotional.  Can’t think of any others off hand, just too numerous to mention.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 because of its stunningly beautiful melodies, how they change throughout the piece by featuring different instruments from the orchestra and the way it makes me feel – relaxed, invigorated and moved to tears all at the same time. If there is room on the CD to include Tchiakovsky’s Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty as well all the better. The Movie would be my 15^th Anniversary version of the musical version of Les Miserables – absolutely my all time favourite with such a beautiful score and a dashing Marius in Michael Ball.

If you cannot view the YouTube Video of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 please click here.

If you cannot view the YouTube Video of  Tchiakovsky’s Swan Lake click here.

What excites you about life?

New opportunities

How do you nurture your soul?

With beautiful music, great novels and good friends

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

The good thing to wish for would be the rather clichés world peace but on a personal level a long life with good health in which to enjoy it.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I can spend time with my family, especially if that time is spent in a lovely sunny location with pool and great restaurants near-by.

What are to takeaways from the interview? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.