Thomas Jefferson

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Thank you Bruce

Thomas Jefferson

was a very remarkable man who started

learning very

early in life and never stopped.

At 5, began

studying under his cousin's 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.

Also could write in Greek with one hand

while writing the same in Latin with the other.

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

Washington.

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

size.

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 along

with John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson

knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government.

He understood

actual history, the nature of God, His laws and the nature

of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand

today.

Jefferson really

knew his stuff.

A voice from the

past to lead us in the future:

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 ."--

Thomas

Jefferson

"The

democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those

who are

willing to work and give to those who would not."

--

Thomas

Jefferson

"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."

--

Thomas

Jefferson

"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."--

Thomas

Jefferson

"My

reading of history convinces me that most bad government

results

from too much government."--

Thomas

Jefferson

"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

government."

--

Thomas

Jefferson

"The

tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to

time

with the

blood of patriots and tyrants."--

Thomas

Jefferson

"To

compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he

disbelieves

and

abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

--

Thomas

Jefferson

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."