WHO WAS THIS PATRIOT ... IN A THUMB NAIL SKETCH

  Thomas  Jefferson   This  is amazing. There are two parts. Be sure to read the 2nd  part (in RED).  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.  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."  I  wish we could get this out to  everyone!!!