Thomas Jefferson Beautiful Mind Summary

In Verlyn Klinkenborg’s article “ Thomas Jefferson Beautiful Mind” he describes Thomas Jefferson with a quote from Henry Adams “ The liveliest description is worth less than a moment of personal contact.” This quote does not even close to justify how impressive Thomas Jefferson was. When a person thinks of Thomas they most likely think of the man who created one of America's most important documents, the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was a man of leadership and incredible intellect. A man we think of today as the ‘founding’ father, the creator of our country. Thomas may seem like any normal revolutionary but he has a long and exciting history behind him. He was an avid inventor and wrote as much as possible. He wrote the world

At his home in Albemarle, Virginia he was only five years old when he started to learn German, Italian, French, English, philosophy, and science (Klinkenborg). His father worked hard to give him a good education and sometimes taught him extra from the side, such as penmanship, literature and plant life. His father also taught him quite a bit of surveying, which helped him during his life in the frontier after his presidency. Sadly, his father died unexpectedly when he was age fourteen and had to fend for himself in education and he had to help his seven other siblings (Thompson). Thomas Jefferson hardly spent any of his time without a nose in a book or exploring the world. Thomas Jefferson said it himself, “I cannot live without books”. This is a trait that will stay with him for the rest of his life. Throughout his life Thomas Jefferson did not enjoy public speaking, but his skill with a pen was undeniably incredible. For example at age 14 he wrote a pamphlet about British oppression. It was good enough to get into the newspaper and got him quite a bit of recognition (Weintrob). This was much before the revolution was even in sight but Thomas had the foresight to see what may come if they do not do something soon