* At 5, began studying under his cousins tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered the **College** of **William** and Mary.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of *
*British America** ” and retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of **Independence** .
At 33, took three years to revise **Virginia** ’s legal code and
wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of
**Virginia**succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to **France** and negotiated
commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben
Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the
American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the **Kentucky** Resolutions and became the
active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the **United States**.
At 60, obtained the **Louisiana Purchase** doubling the nation’s
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to **Monticello** .
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the **Monroe** Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the **University** of **
Virginia** and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the
Declaration of **Independence**.
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the
brightest minds in the nation at that time He made this statement: “This is
perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in
the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in **Europe**, we
shall become as corrupt as **Europe** .
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
willing to work and give to those who would not.
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A
principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from
too much government.
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.*
* Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants.
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties
than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to
control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive
the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the
continent their fathers conquered.
It is a crying shame we have no such Patriots in our government today. In comparison, they all pale in vision, common sense and passion for freedom and democracy. This is especially true in the Democrat left political party. The GOP, of which Jefferson was a founding member, is also lacking anyone of similar passion, vision and ability. We find ourselves now living in a country where the government appears to be at war with the very citizens that give it its power. Remember, a Government of the People, By the People, and For the People”? Remember the Constitution which starts “We The People”? I am afraid that all of this means virtually nothing now. When the government is secretly spying on citizens who pose no danger and have not in any way shape or form, communicated any kind of threat, are being spied on via the Patriot Act provisions, and we have a Department of Homeland Security that publishes documents such as extremismreport 0409. We find ourselves in a sad state when the sitting President can apparently openly threaten free speech and completely disregard truth, honesty and honor. Where truth is something that puts the citizens who speak it, in the cross-hairs of the White House Truth Office. Seems like the world has been down this road before. And if recollections serve me correctly, that didn’t work out well for anybody. We find ourselves and our nation at a crossroads of sorts. Which direction should we go? It is beginning to seem like we citizens and voters have little choice any more……….