Thomas Jefferson's Influence On Education

Tahj Morales

Mr. Wade

Advanced American Economics and Government, Period 2

18th April, 2015 April 13th, 1743; this was the day that Thomas Jefferson was born to his parents, Jane Randolph Jefferson and Peter Jefferson, in Shadwell, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was born into a fairly wealthy family since his father worked as a cartographer, and his mother, Jane, was part of the upper class Randolph family. Peter Jefferson is recorded as making the first accurate map of Virginia, and he was born in Virginia after his ancestors traveled to there from Great Britain, specifically Wales (Brodie 34). Jane Randolph Jefferson, on the other hand, was born in London, and she did not move to Virginia until 1725, when she was almost four years old. Peter

Peter Jefferson was also noted to have a great influence upon the education of his children, especially over the education of Thomas. This involved not just ensuring his children received a formal education, but also teaching them important skills like hunting, learning how to ride a horse, and learning how to use a gun (Brodie 35).Thomas Jefferson received his formal education from Reverends William Douglas and James Maury, the latter of which taught him a lot in the fields of literature and language, which may explain why Thomas was fascinated with eloquence of language and writing, specifically that of his own father. Thomas he showed great admiration for his father, mostly likely since he was the firstborn son of the family. Thomas also inherited some of his father’s knowledge in the field of surveying, and he, when talking of his father’s famous map, “frequently declared that his map was of more value than the book in which it appeared” (Brodie 36). Jane Randolph Jefferson and Peter Jefferson would have seven more children after Thomas, including four more girls and three more boys. Jefferson did have a surprisingly complicated relationship with children his age as he grew up, for his childhood involved much loss, both of innocence and of life. Jefferson got along quite well with his oldest sister, Jane. On the other hand, Jefferson’s cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, is speculated to have bullied him as a child, and the trouble between the two stemmed into adulthood property disputes. Regarding the aforementioned losses, Jefferson was greatly impacted by the death of his brother early on in life. Peter Field, his younger brother, died when he was less than five weeks old in 1748 (Brodie 48). According to Brodie, Jefferson also picked up on the differences between whites and blacks at a very young age. Despite his early disapproval of this, he does seem to base