ExclusiveThomas Jefferson: The Father of the Declaration of Independence

I'm Tiffany Brannan. Welcome to American Legend. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories. But here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous, and some are obscure. But each person deserves to be discovered, because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans in our daily lives. We remember the birth of our nation here in America as July 4th, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That was just the beginning, though. And all too often, we don't remember or really appreciate all the hard work and the agonizing details which happened before, during, and after the Revolution to really establish this new nation. And there are a few names which stand out as being extremely crucial in the founding of the nation, and one of those greatest names is Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson is called the father of the Declaration of Independence. He later would serve as the third president of the United States. But before that, he was very influential in leading to having a United States of which to be the president. He, along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and two men whose names are barely ever remembered, crafted the idea of the Declaration of Independence being involved in the Continental Congress. But everyone agreed that it would be Jefferson to actually write this very important document. The first draft is in his handwriting, and it would mostly be his immortal words which declared that we were starting a new nation. But what was Jefferson's background before that, and what is his legacy today? Perhaps more than any other of the early presidents, he shaped many aspects of our government which continue to this day, taking the ideas of democracy, a republic, and liberty from mere ideas such as expressed in the Declaration to a practical working government that could function in and of itself, with its states, and with foreign countries. Now Jefferson began his life as the son of a surveyor, having been born in Virginia. He was greatly educated as a young man, loving to learn. In fact, you could truly call him a Renaissance man because he was very gifted in mathematics, law, science, music, dancing, art. He was extremely cultured and well-rounded. If he hadn't taken it into his mind that it was his duty to become one of the founding fathers of the United States, he would have enjoyed having a much more artistic career. He grew up on a plantation and then ended up creating his own plantation, also in Virginia, on a plot of land he named Monticello, which means little mountain. He was a gifted architect, studying the great buildings of Europe in antiquity as well as in more modern times, and thus he designed all the buildings in Monticello, and he even designed many other important government buildings during his work. He served as the governor of Virginia at one point, and he was a delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress. Eventually, he would end up going to France as an ambassador, taking over the position formerly held by John Adams, before returning to the United States when the French Revolution was breaking out in great force, around the time of 1789. Back in the United States, he was appointed the first Secretary of State by his friend and fellow Virginian, George Washington. He ended up resigning from this post, though, because of some heated political differences. Most notably, he did not get along at all with Alexander Hamilton. People seem to know that name now because of the famous new musical, yet contrary to popular belief, Hamilton was not a president. He was, however, a very important member of the early American political scene, and because of his vocal criticism and downright disagreeableness with Alexander Hamilton, he received a lot of criticism from George Washington and ended up resigning. He also was unpopular in these early days because of his continued support of the French Revolution, even during its very violent reign of terror. When it came time for the next president to be elected after George Washington's two terms, Thomas Jefferson was one of the main contenders. He came in second, so he became vice president to John Adams. Now, this was a difficult position for both of them because they came from very different political backgrounds, with John Adams being a Federalist, prioritizing the central government and being friendly to England, whereas Thomas Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican, which favored power to the states, not a centralized government, and being friendly with France. Rather than just sit quietly and supporting what the president wanted, he questioned everything John Adams did, and he even encouraged the states to openly rebel against the centralized government if they didn't agree with it. This might seem like rather counterintuitive, but he strongly believed that too much of these Federalist ideas would destroy the very ideas of liberty and the rights of the individual for which they had all fought during the Revolution. When John Adams ran for re-election, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr went against him. John Adams was not as popular by this point, so he came in third. But Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were tied for first place, each having received 73 votes from the Electoral College. It took 36 separate ballots for a decision to be reached, because the Federalists refused to vote either way, because they were sort of against both of the candidates, since they both were Democratic-Republican. Finally, it would end up being Alexander Hamilton who cast the deciding vote and swayed the other Federalists to vote for Thomas Jefferson. Quite ironic, considering the reason Thomas Jefferson left being Secretary of State was because he opposed Alexander Hamilton. Ultimately, that shows that the Founding Fathers just wanted a successful, vibrant culture and government for everyone. They wanted what the Declaration of Independence had declared, the rights of the individual man. Sadly, one of the main things people remember about Thomas Jefferson today is not that he wrote the Declaration of Independence. It's not that he was the Vice President or the Third President. It's not that he was the only person to serve as Vice President and to then serve two full terms as President. Nor is it that he helped establish the public school system, the monetary system. He repealed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which was threatening freedom of the press and freedom of immigration. Sadly, what people remember about Thomas Jefferson was that he was a slaveholder. He owned slaves because of his family, gained a lot of them through his marriage. He continued to use them to build Monticello and to serve him and work on his plantation throughout his life. This seems remarkably hypocritical, considering how he wrote that all men are created equal and every man should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even more controversial is the relationship he is reported to have had with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. The history of her with his family is quite fascinating because she was, you could say, his property through his marriage to his wife. And she was a half-sister of his wife because his father-in-law, after having three wives, all of whom died, ended up taking a slave woman as a mistress. And he had several mixed-race children with her. And one of these was Sally Hemings. And it's believed that Thomas Jefferson had a similar relationship with Sally Hemings after his wife died, having vowed to her that he would never remarry. We can't be 100% sure one way or another, although there are some claims that there's been DNA testing that, in fact, her children are related to him. It is known, though, that he had an agreement with her that when all her children reached the age of 21, he would free them. And it was also noted that there were a lot of servants or slaves around Monticello who were so fair-haired and skinned with auburn hair that they could easily pass for white, and that the children did so since they were only one-eighth African by that point. So what do we say about Thomas Jefferson? How can we rationalize this and really look at how he felt about slavery and the individuals of human beings? Clearly, from a moral standpoint, it's in questionable taste to have a mistress of any kind. But was that one of those cases where the slave owner forces himself on a slave woman, or was it a case where she was more of almost like a wife, except that they weren't married? Well, all we know is that Jefferson was against the basic concept of slavery. He advocated and eventually enforced the permanent ban of the slave trade in the United States. So he stopped the influx of slaves to the United States. Before he became president, he wrote that he thought slavery was cruel, un-American, and not the right thing, that it was against the ideas of liberty. And throughout his writings, you'll see consistent repetitions of the idea of easing out of slavery. He thought it needed to be a slow, gradual leaving, although it was horrible, because he said if we try to just drastically ban all slavery, it's bound to lead to more bloodshed and cruelty than we would have if we stayed with it. Obviously, he was predicting what did happen with the Civil War. It was quite a horrible chapter in American history, as brother was turning against brother. So no doubt he, being a southerner, knew how difficult it would be for many parts of the United States to function without that slave labor. It was one of those cases where he knew it was wrong, but he didn't feel like he could stop it, even in his own personal life, because it was too deeply entrenched. So he stopped the slave trade, but he didn't do anything further than that, while acknowledging it was wrong. He was the first president to live in the White House, but he did not have one permanent first lady, because he had been a widower for many years. Of the seven children whom he and his wife had had, only two had lived to adulthood. And one of them, his eldest daughter, his beloved Patsy, named Martha after her mother, served as an acting first lady for him for much of the time. And sometimes Dolly Madison, who was the wife of his Secretary of State, James Madison, would serve as his first lady as the hostess. Thomas Jefferson successfully won two elections, having a different vice president for his second term, George Clinton, no relation to Bill Clinton. And he chose not to run for a third time, taking the example of George Washington, because this was not law at the time. After that, he went back to Monticello, where he established a college, which was in view of Monticello, and enjoyed living with his daughter and having a son-in-law around and some of his grandchildren, although he ended up going very deep into debt, and he didn't have much money by the time he died. One of the things which he did enjoy in his later years was a rich friendship with his great political rival, John Adams. They became good friends, exchanging letters throughout their later years, and both dying on the 4th of July, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. There are so many quotes from Jefferson throughout his life, his inaugural speeches, his State of the Union addresses, and his countless writings, both from letters and published pamphlets. One of my favorite quotes from him comes from a letter he wrote to a friend. It goes, I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. And this really illustrates how he didn't just believe that people should be free to not be taxed. He believed that we should also have the right to think as we wish and to worship as we please, which many of the founding fathers and important people of the time didn't necessarily believe. They thought certain people had un-American beliefs, so they shouldn't really be allowed to practice that form of worship, whether it was Muslim or Jewish, even Catholic, or non-Christian ideas. But he believed that he had sworn hostility against every form of tyranny, whether it's taxation from the British or people like John Adams, from his point of view, who was trying to put too many constraints on people with things like the Alien and Sedition Act, which made it a crime to be too critical of the president. He thought, you have the right to be critical of the president or anyone else, because that's what America's all about. Thomas Jefferson is a complicated, controversial, but very inspiring person when you really think about his life. He wasn't afraid to say what he believed. He wasn't afraid to go against what other people believed, even the president, when he was the vice president. He was bold in his criticism of people who he thought were doing the wrong thing or who weren't advocating the cause of freedom. But he also was willing to acknowledge that there were some deep flaws in human nature and in American society, in the way one person treats another, which can be hard to root out. And I think he would be the first to acknowledge that there are deep flaws in every individual and every system of government, and all we can do is keep trying to make a difference. Even if it seems a small one in retrospect. His decision to ban the slave trade may seem small and even hypocritical when viewed from the point of view of his own life, yet it was a daring and dangerous thing to do at the time. So although it didn't end slavery, it was at least a step in the right direction. We can remember Jefferson through his legacy of wanting people to be equal, to be friendly and to be open. He adopted informality at the White House by answering the door himself many times, initiating a handshake instead of the formal British bow, and welcoming people into his inner circle as friends, as equals, and to really further the idea of friendship and camaraderie with people even of opposing political beliefs. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about Thomas Jefferson and his fascinating legacy as one of the very important founding fathers of the United States. His legacy inspires us to be bold in what we believe and unafraid in defending our beliefs and fighting for the rights of others and what we believe to be true. I encourage you to read some of his amazing writings and learn more about what he did with his life. In the meantime, keep looking for more American legends. Thank you for watching. Goodbye!