Thomas Jefferson Speech
By Elijah
Hi, I’m
Thomas Jefferson. I’m here to tell you about my life. I was born on April 2,
1743 in Virginia. Not to brag, but without me, we would be the smallest country
ever!
When I was
little, I had six lousy-whoops!-I mean wonderful sisters and one wonderful
brother. In 1767, I went to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. In
1769 I became a lawyer.
In 1772 on
New Year’s Day, I married Martha Wayles Skelton. In September my daughter,
Patsy, was born.
In 1773,
Martha’s father died. He left us one-third of his estate. We inherited 11,000
acres of land and 135 slaves. I felt that England treated the colonies poorly. I,
along with other Virginia leaders, came up with a plan. We wanted men from all of
the colonies to meet at a Continental Congress. There we would decide what to
do with the British. At 32, I was one of the youngest delegates to the Second
Continental Congress. We delegates decided that the colonies should become
independent of England.
Delegates to
the Second Continental Congress met in the spring of 1776. They asked me and a
few others to write a Declaration of Independence. You may know me for that (laughs). I spent 17 days writing and
rewriting the formal Declaration of Independence. Others made suggestions, but
the document was mostly my work. It says that all men are created equal. It
says everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I
finished writing the Declaration of Independence on June 28, 1776. The congress
debated what it said while I sat silently. On July 4, the Declaration was
adopted. The first shots in the Revolutionary War had been in fired in 1775.
The fighting finally ended in 1781. The Americans won the war and their
independence from England.
In 1779 I was elected governor of
Virginia. British soldiers landed and
almost captured me. But I escaped. I retired as governor in 1781, the same year
that the war ended. I didn’t retire for
long though, I was elected to Congress. The following year, I was sent to
France by Congress. I needed to negotiate treaties with the French. When
Benjamin Franklin resigned as ambassador to France, I replaced him. While I was in Paris, I received a copy of
the Constitution! I liked parts of it, but I worried that it did not have a
bill of rights. I urged that amendments to protect individual rights be added,
and they were!
I became the third president of the
United States in 1801!!! First I served secretary for George Washington. I also
served as vice president for John Adams, who was the country’s second
president. As president, I was most remembered for buying the Louisiana
Territory from France!!! The territory contained all of the land between the
Mississippi River and the Rocky mountains. This purchase of land that cost me
$15 million doubled the size of the United States. I doubted that the
constitution allowed the purchase of the new territory. But I and the Senate
felt that the benefits to the country were important. We were really willing to risk breaking the
law. My secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark explored the new
territory and beyond. They reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805.
I won re-election as president but I
didn’t at all seek a third term. I retired from politics and returned to my
beloved Monticello. I stayed busy. I read books and I wrote many letters.
Through the years I had invented clever devices. I made a revolving music stand
and a device to bring my clothes to me from my closet. I invented a device for
writing to copies of a letter at the same time! I won a prize for a plow I
invented!!! I was lonely without Martha.
She had died in 1782 after giving birth to our sixth child. My children were
dead, too! Except for Patsy.
In 1826, on July 4th, also
the 50th anniversary for the Declaration of independence, I became
ill and I died.
I led a
boycott of the buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
Black people would not ride the buses because they could only sit at the
back of the bus. The bus protest lasted
a year. After that, blacks could sit anywhere they want on the bus. I decided to move back to Atlanta in 1960. I led peaceful protests against white- only
waiting rooms, lunch counters and rest rooms.
I led many marches for freedom. In
1963 I gave my “I Have a Dream” speech to help black and white people live together. In 1964
I won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1968 I died.
Do you know what made me famous? I was
famous because I helped black and white people to live together in peace. 
