Jefferson graduated from college in two years and began studying law under George Wythe a distinguished lawyer who introduced Jefferson to other leaders of the colony After almost five years of studying with Wythe Jefferson was admitted to the bar to practice law in 1767 A Young Statesman In 1768 Virginians elected twenty-five-year-old Thomas Jefferson to serve in the colony’s legislature the House of Burgesses Jefferson put his writing talents to work by drafting resolutions and laws for the colony He associated with fellow legislators George Washington Patrick Henry and other like-minded men who opposed the rule the royal governor placed on them Tensions were rising in the colonies over British-imposed taxation which upset many colonists because the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament Jefferson helped The House of Burgesses met at the old Capitol in Virginia The building was later destroyed by a fire 12
organize protests against British policies that he saw as unjust Meanwhile the young legislator began designing a house to be built on land his father had left him The property was on a mountaintop across the river from Jefferson’s birthplace so he named the estate Monticello meaning little mountain in Italian He relied on slaves to farm tobacco and other crops on his 5,000-acre 2,023-hectare plantation Slaves also helped construct the house and outbuildings and eventually even made nails and bricks in Monticello’s workshops On January 1 1772 Jefferson married young widow Martha Wayles Skelton who came from a wealthy prominent family of planters She and Jefferson shared a love of music He played the violin and she played the harpsichord John Wayles Jefferson’s father-in-law died in 1773 and left his daughter extensive amounts of property By law a married woman’s property belonged to her husband Besides the land Thomas Jefferson gained possession of 135 slaves one of the colony’s largest holdings of slaves Among them were Elizabeth Hemings and her children John Wayles was widely believed to be the father of several of Hemings’s children making these children the enslaved half siblings of Thomas Jefferson’s wife Martha Lucy Cottrell left was born at Monticello and was later sold at a public auction She is holding the granddaughter of George Blaetterman her enslaver after 1826 13
This was possible because white owners were legally free to take sexual advantage of their slaves with or without the enslaved person’s consent Further by Virginia law children born to an enslaved mother were also slaves even if their fathers were white Even as he oversaw the growth of his plantation Jefferson became increasingly active in politics In 1774 representatives from each of the colonies gathered to plan resistance to British rule Jefferson wrote instructions for the delegates who were to attend the nation’s First Continental Congress On his way to present the document to the delegates himself he became ill Instead he sent his slave to deliver it to Patrick Henry Jefferson’s written statement about colonial freedom was later published as the pamphlet A Summary View of the Rights of British America Jefferson’s argument that it was illegal for King George III of Great Britain to control colonial politics gained him recognition as a patriot leader In 1775 Thomas Jefferson was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress Weeks before the Congress was to meet in Philadelphia Pennsylvania British soldiers clashed with colonial militiamen at Lexington and Concord Massachusetts In response to the violence the Continental Congress named George Washington the leader of a newly formed Continental King George III fought to keep the American colonies under British rule 14
Army and sent him to take command of the troops The disputes between Great Britain and its American colonies had flared into war The Declaration of Independence Jefferson returned to the Continental Congress in May 1776 In June the Congress assigned him to a committee to write a document declaring the colonies independence from Great Britain Jefferson’s fellow committee members Benjamin Franklin Robert Livingston John Adams and Roger Sherman recognized what Adams called Jefferson’s happy talent for composition and singular felicity of expression and persuaded Jefferson to write the first version Left to right Benjamin Franklin John Adams and Thomas Jefferson meet to review a draft of the Declaration of Independence 15
