Jefferson's Warning: Law's Creeping Overgrowth

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was a lawyer by profession. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1765 or 1767 and practised law for about eight years. During this time, he handled over 900 matters, with clients ranging from common farmers to the powerful planter elite. Jefferson's legal training and practice influenced his revolutionary writings, including the Declaration of Independence.

After the American Revolution, Jefferson used his legal knowledge to campaign for legal reform in Virginia. He drafted several bills, including the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom.

Jefferson's legal training and practice also influenced his political career. He became the first US secretary of state and the nation's second vice president before being elected president in 1800. As president, he advocated for democratic principles and natural rights. He was also responsible for significant events in US history, such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Thomas Jefferson's legal career

Jefferson's practice grew rapidly, with his first cases involving the quieting of titles. This was a procedure by which clients sought to be assured that their land titles were legitimate, requiring someone to research government records to check that the title had been properly registered and its quitrents paid. Jefferson's work in this area was aided by his position as the westernmost lawyer admitted to practice in Williamsburg, which allowed him to serve clients at the forefront of westward migration and investment.

Jefferson's legal training and practice had a significant influence on his revolutionary writings, including the "Summary View of the Rights of British America" (1774) and the Declaration of Independence (1776). He was influenced by the English tradition distinguishing between common law and natural law, and his legal training left its mark on his political philosophy and nation-building efforts.

Jefferson's legal career ended in 1774 when the courts of Virginia were closed by the Crown at the beginning of the Revolution. However, he continued to be involved in law after this point, embarking on a creative period of legal statesmanship in 1776. He worked with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton to rewrite the Virginia legal code, drafting 126 bills that abolished primogeniture and entail, granted religious freedom, outlined a free public school system, and taxed by assessments in proportion to property.

In 1779, Jefferson was elected Governor of Virginia, which allowed him to aid in reforming the College of William and Mary's curriculum and establishing a professorship of law—making it the first law school in the United States.

Jefferson's views on slavery

Thomas Jefferson's views on slavery were complex and evolved throughout his life. He was born into a slave-owning family in 1743 and grew up on a plantation with enslaved workers. As an adult, he owned nearly 200 slaves and profited from both their labour and the sale of slaves themselves. Despite this, Jefferson called slavery a "moral depravity" and a "hideous blot", and recognised the evil it caused.

As a young Virginia legislator, Jefferson advocated for allowing private citizens to free their slaves. He also included strong language opposing the transatlantic slave trade in his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. However, he later introduced a bill barring free blacks from staying in the state.

Jefferson's views on black people were also complex and contradictory. At one time, he thought that black people were naturally inferior to other races, but later conceded that their abilities may have been impacted by their servitude. In 1785, he wrote that black people were inferior to whites and that this inferiority could not be explained by their condition of slavery. He also stated that black people lacked basic human emotions, forethought, intelligence, tenderness, imagination, and beauty. However, he conceded that they were the moral equals of all others.

Despite his professed opposition to slavery, Jefferson only freed seven of his slaves during his lifetime, all of whom were members of the Hemings family at Monticello. He believed that most former slaves could not survive independently and feared for his economic survival and the safety of whites. As an older man, he advocated for the freeing and returning of slaves to Africa.

Jefferson also consistently spoke out against the international slave trade and, as president, signed a bill outlawing it. He advocated for the gradual emancipation of slaves within the United States and the colonisation of Africa by freed African Americans. However, he opposed some measures to restrict slavery within the US and was against voluntary manumission.

Jefferson's political career

Thomas Jefferson's political career was long and varied. He was a Founding Father of the United States, and his political career began in 1765 when he was admitted to the Virginia bar. He practised law for eight years, specialising in land cases, and was influenced by the English tradition that distinguished between common law and natural law.

In 1768, Jefferson decided to stand as a candidate for the House of Burgesses, the Virginia legislature. He was a vocal opponent of British Parliament's taxation policies, and in 1774, he wrote 'A Summary View of the Rights of British America', which was published without his permission. This text propelled him to prominence as an early advocate of American independence.

In 1775, Jefferson was appointed a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, and in 1776, he was chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence. He was 33 years old.

In the years that followed, Jefferson worked to make the principles of the Declaration a reality in Virginia. Notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, which was enacted in 1786. He also collaborated with James Madison to end the religious establishment in Virginia.

Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia in 1779, serving until 1781. During his time as governor, he suffered an inquiry into his conduct during the British invasion of Virginia, which left him with a lifelong sensitivity to criticism.

In 1784, Jefferson re-entered public service, serving in France as a trade commissioner and then as the successor to Benjamin Franklin as minister to France. In 1790, he became the first secretary of state under the new Constitution in the administration of President George Washington. He opposed the policies of Alexander Hamilton, believing they encouraged a larger and more powerful national government and were too pro-British.

In 1796, Jefferson became the vice president under John Adams, as the presidential candidate of the nascent Democratic-Republican Party. In 1800, he was elected president, marking the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another in US history.

As president, Jefferson is best known for purchasing the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and supporting the Lewis and Clark expedition. During his second term, he focused on maintaining neutrality in the conflict between Britain and France, though his efforts ultimately failed to prevent the War of 1812.

After leaving office, Jefferson retired to Monticello, though he embarked on one last great public service by founding the University of Virginia at the age of 76. He died on July 4, 1826—the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson's role in the American Revolution

Thomas Jefferson's role in the American Revolution was significant. As a political activist and revolutionary, Jefferson's career was immersed in the American Revolution.

In 1769, Jefferson was elected to the House of Burgesses—a seat he kept throughout the colonial period. In 1774, after the passing of the Intolerable Acts, Jefferson introduced a resolution protesting the British Crown. He called for a boycott of British goods and a day-long fast, which became his "A Summary View of the Rights of Man". In this resolution, Jefferson raised grievances with King George and Parliament's increased role within the colonies, and made an early plea for the sovereignty of the colonies.

In 1775, Jefferson was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. At 33, he was the youngest member, but his talent for composition saw him asked to draft the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, and helped to inspire resistance against British rule, as well as construct an American identity.

During the Revolution, Jefferson served in the Virginia state government, formulating the state constitution. In 1778, he revised Virginia's laws, drafting 126 bills in three years. He focused on providing general education and ending feudal land-owning laws. He served as governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, and during his two one-year terms, he introduced public education and religious freedom to the state.

In 1784, Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as the minister to France, where he significantly advanced US diplomacy. He negotiated the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Prussia and the US—the first commercial alliance between a European power and the US. As minister to France, Jefferson also influenced the French Revolution, consulting on "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen", the founding text of the revolution.

After returning to America in 1789, Jefferson was appointed as the nation's first Secretary of State. He clashed with Alexander Hamilton over foreign policy and their differing interpretations of the US Constitution. Jefferson's commitment to republicanism and democracy was sharpened by his time in Paris, and he went on to co-found the Democratic-Republican Party.

Jefferson's legacy

Thomas Jefferson's legacy is that of a Founding Father of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence, and America's third president. He was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and natural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels.

In his later years, Jefferson founded the University of Virginia, the nation's first secular university. He also designed his own gravestone, on which he chose to list only three achievements: authoring the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and founding the University of Virginia.

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