Thomas Jefferson

Introduction

Twenty-five years before he became President, Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Two years before that, he had written A Summary View of the Rights of British America, protesting laws passed by British Parliament.

"Let no law be passed by any one legislature," he wrote, "which may step on the rights and liberties or another... The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."

Thesis Statement

From the beginning of the struggle with the mother country, Jefferson stood with the more advanced Patriots, grounding his position on a wide knowledge of ...