The presidential contest between Adams and Jefferson had been so intense and angry that it had threatened the peaceful transfer of power When Adams lost the election some Americans including Virginia governor and ardent Democratic-Republican James Monroe feared the Federalists might seize control illegally In his speech the new president aimed to calm these fears and to remind Americans that they shared basic principles of government no matter which political party they supported Their fierce arguments Jefferson said were the sign of a people whose constitution protected their right to think speak and write freely The people had chosen a new president under the rule of law We are all republicans We are all federalists Jefferson said Let us then fellow-citizens unite with one heart and one mind Jefferson stressed in his speech the ideal he had written into the Declaration of Independence twenty-five years earlier in 1776 that all men are created equal The US Constitution he said would ensure that tolerance and reason prevailed and that people who held a minority point of view would not be silenced or stripped of rights All will bear in mind this sacred principle he stated that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail that will to be rightful must be reasonable that the minority possess their equal rights which equal law must protect and to violate would be oppression Thomas Jefferson’s words reflected his vision of a democratic society A good government the new president said shall restrain men from injuring one another shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned 8
Isaac Jefferson also known as Isaac Granger was one of Jefferson’s slaves and a skilled tinsmith and blacksmith In his life however Jefferson’s actions did not always match his ideals The man who championed self-rule enslaved hundreds of African Americans As president Jefferson would also sometimes follow what he considered the most practical course of action even when it conflicted with his beliefs Jefferson’s ideals and contradictions would color his presidency and his legacy and transform the United States itself 9
CHAPTER ONE THE VIRGINIAN Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13 1743 in Albemarle County in Virginia the first of the thirteen British colonies These colonies would become the United States Thomas was the third of ten children and the eldest son of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph Jefferson Jane Jefferson had been born in London England but her family immigrated to Virginia when she was a child Peter Jefferson was a self educated plantation owner surveyor and slaveholder Europeans had brought the first enslaved Africans to the colonies in 1619 to Virginia According to family legend Thomas Jefferson’s first memory was of being carried on a pillow by one of his family’s slaves from Shadwell the plantation where he had been born to the family’s new home at nearby Tuckahoe Plantation Education Thomas like many children of his social class began his schooling with a tutor at home At the age of nine he began boarding at a school run by William Douglas a local Christian clergyman and teacher Thomas studied the classical languages Latin and Greek which was typical for a well-educated man 10
Thomas was born at Shadwell a plantation in Virginia This illustration shows the mill and farmhouse at Shadwell of his time When he was fourteen his beloved father died The future president then started taking lessons from another clergyman James Maury an old friend of his father who provided Thomas with further education in the classics Thomas found Maury’s religious views too narrow however In March 1760 Jefferson moved to Williamsburg then the capital of Virginia to study in the philosophy department of the College of William Mary He also studied natural philosophy as the study of science was then called and the study of natural phenomenon would become a lifelong love Almost seventeen years old Jefferson enjoyed socializing but he was a diligent student Awake from dawn until two o’clock in the morning he studied fifteen hours a day practiced his violin for three and slept and took meals during the other six His friend John Page said that Jefferson could tear himself away from his dearest friends to fly to his studies 11
