Reading Reflection: Thomas Jefferson

Reading Reflection: Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Virginia. He was born to his father, Peter Jefferson, and his mother, Jane Randolph. Both of them were born to wealthy and prominent families in Virginia. The Jefferson family had a plantation at Shadwell that his father owned. Thomas Jefferson’s father was involved in public service and also politics in Virginia which Thomas was inspired by and this shaped his future life and involvement in politics. Peter Jefferson directed Thomas’s early education by hiring a tutor which was a common practice for kids of plantation owners during this time. This was an activity which Jefferson was later against in his philosophies of education. Jefferson started his education at the age of five - learning basic reading, writing, and math. At age seventeen, Jefferson began his tenure at William

One of which, is the influence John Locke had on Jefferson. Jefferson derived most of his philosophies, most particularly in government, from John Locke. This meant a strict separation of church from state and also, most importantly, the idea that people should be independent and have a strong voice in government. The common people should have the ability to overthrow a government if the current government is unjust or fringes upon the rights of individuals. The other key concept that the reader should pay close attention to is the Enlightenment theories that Thomas Jefferson was a part of and used in his own theories for education and government. The Enlightenment era involved people looking at life and how the world worked more scientifically instead of by following the Bible and religion so closely. People started to stray away from the idea of such strict religious control in areas such as education. Monarchies and high-ranking aristocrats could practically do whatever they pleased and they influenced society and how people learned and