Who is Thomas Jefferson? What did you do?

Thomas Jefferson (1743 ~ 189) was the third president of the United States. He was born in Albemarle County, Virginia on April 13th, 1743, a planter's family. He received a good education since childhood. Besides his native English, he learned Greek, Latin and French well. He also extensively studied mathematics, agronomy, biology, surveying, architecture, philosophy, literature, law and music, and his knowledge was quite profound. At the age of 23, he was qualified as a lawyer. Two years later, he squeezed into the British Parliament of Virginia and began to enter politics.

In view of the restrictions and extortions imposed by the British colonial authorities, Jefferson was an active American autonomist before the gunfire of the War of Independence started. He attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776 and was naturally elected to the five-member drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence. Adams in the Committee patted Jefferson on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you are the one who wrote this declaration!" " Other members also agreed that Jefferson should write it. Jefferson had already written some influential independent articles, such as An Overview of Rights in British America. At this time, he was even more confident: "Of course, of course, I will write it." Jefferson wrote: "We hold the following truth to be self-evident: all men are created equal, and the Creator endowed them with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In order to protect these rights, people set up a government among them, and the legitimate rights of the government are granted with the consent of the ruled. Once any form of government undermines the realization of these goals, the people have the right to replace or abolish it in order to establish a new government. The principles on which the new government is based and the way to organize its rights will make people think that only in this way can they be most likely to gain security and happiness ... "This is undoubtedly an extremely important milestone in the history of human thought, and it is also the greatest innovation of human self-management!

Then, Jefferson, who never formally joined any religious organization in his life, threw out another masterpiece, Virginia Religious Freedom Act, in which he said: "Almighty God has created human thoughts into freedom, and turned them into completely unconstrained things, which shows his supreme will, that is, thoughts must remain free." Obviously, he regarded freedom of thought as an important part of natural human rights. He warned: "Any attempt to influence thoughts by criminal law or oppression in the world, or by administrative regulations, can only lead to hypocrisy and despicable habits." "Truth is fearless, and it is only afraid that human beings will interfere and disarm their natural weapons-free citation and free debate." He pointed out that only free debate can make fallacies less terrible. "All fallacies are not dangerous when everyone can refute them freely." After Washington resolutely gave up the presidency, Jefferson, who served as Secretary of State when he was in office, and Adams, who served as Vice President, were all gearing up. They both believed that their talents could better benefit the American people. Adams won, and he patted Jefferson on the shoulder with a smug face and said, "Brother, just be a good vice president for me!" " Jefferson was confident and said, "be careful, brother. It's strange that I won't kick you out in four years!" " Sure enough, four years later, at the age of 57, Jefferson defeated Adams and became the president of the United States.

On the day of taking the oath of office, he still went to work as usual, walking with a few friends and colleagues, crossing two muddy streets and heading for the National Assembly without taking a carriage. He thinks that he is just a wage earner who is employed by the people, and unnecessary ostentation and extravagance is unnecessary. Therefore, he always tries to make the image of the president civilian and is called the civilian president.

Jefferson had an anecdote when he was vice president, which can explain his civilian style and American humor: he can go anywhere without an entourage. On one occasion, he went to a high-class hotel in Baltimore to open a room. Boyden, the boss, didn't know that he was the famous Jefferson who drafted the Declaration of Independence. Seeing that he was wearing a very ordinary overalls and was still full of sludge, he was very unwilling to receive him, so he dismissed him on the pretext that he had no room. Shortly after Jefferson left, someone told Boyden that the man he had just sent away was the famous Vice President Jefferson! Boyden suddenly felt uneasy, and immediately ordered his servants to find Jefferson, saying that he could arrange as many rooms as he wanted. But by this time Jefferson had booked a room in another hotel. He told his servant to go back and tell his boss, Boyden, I am very grateful for his kindness. But since he doesn't have a room for an ordinary civilian in overalls, then of course there is no room for a vice president.

Jefferson's greatest benefit to Americans during his presidency was that he bought Louisiana with the French. Taking advantage of Napoleon's urgent need for money to fight the British, Jefferson grasped this opportunity very accurately, took the initiative, negotiated several times and slashed the price, and finally bought a large area of land from the Mississippi River to the Loki Mountains at a price of 3 cents an acre, that is, Louisiana. The deal immediately doubled the size of the United States at that time. Later, it was proved that this large piece of land that Jefferson bought in those days was a fertile land of geomantic omen. More than 6 years later, Americans followed suit and bought more than 1.5 million square kilometers of Alaska from the Russians for a mere $7 million. These two businesses brought super and super profits to the United States, and still make Americans laugh in their sleep.

Jefferson was president for two terms and eight years. After leaving office, he returned to his hometown of Monticello, Virginia, and lived in a house designed by himself. Jefferson's annual salary was $25, when he was president, and the restrictions on public funds were very strict. On many occasions, he had to pay for entertainment. In addition, his task of supporting his family was very heavy-his family and relatives and servants numbered hundreds, so he owed about $5, after he left office as president for eight years. At that time, the president of the United States retired, and there was no pension. Jefferson, who was over 6 years old, had to run his own farm and workshop desperately in order to pay off his debts. But always pay off the old debts and owe new debts, and always the new debts roll more than the old debts. Running around to pay off debts often made Jefferson feel overwhelmed. His eldest daughter, Ma Xia, said in a letter to him, "I can stand anything, but I don't want to see you worry about debts at your age." The Library of Congress was burned, and he sold his life's books to Congress at a low price, earning more than 2 thousand dollars, all of which was used to pay off debts.

Even though he was too poor to protect himself, he also devoted considerable time and energy to lobbying for the establishment of the University of Virginia, which was a major event he planned to do after retirement.

Jefferson, who was burdened with debts, finally fell ill in poverty. He realized that he was really old, and it seemed that he had to consider auctioning his property to pay off his debts. The news came out and shocked the whole country. People donated a sum of money for him, more than 16 thousand dollars, but it was still far from solving his debt problem.

When Jefferson was 83 years old, he was seriously ill. He received an invitation from Congress to attend the 5th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th (also the National Day of the United States). Holding the invitation, he was filled with emotion and tears. How much he wants to attend! However, as the days passed, his illness did not improve at all. It was not until June 24, ten days before the anniversary, that he wrote his last personal letter with regret-resigning the invitation due to illness.

After waking up in a coma for several times, he asked people around him, "Is that the day? (July 4th) At noon on July 4th, 1826, just as the national commemoration of the Declaration of Independence was at its climax, Jefferson, her drafter, closed his eyes in his home, leaving a debt and died.

He wrote for his tombstone: "Here, Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, the producer of the Virginia Religious Freedom Act and the founder of the University of Virginia, was buried."