"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." These are words Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter during the heat of the party conflict in 1800. Thomas Jefferson was born in Albermarle County, Virginia in 1743. His father was planter and surveyor. Jefferson inherited about 5,000 acres of land from him. Thomas's mom was a Randolph. So from her he received a high social standing. He would soon go on to study at the College of William and Mary. Then he would go on to read law. Martha Wayles Skelton would become Thomas Jefferson's wife in 1772. They went on to live in his mountaintop home, Monticello.
The colonists soon discovered that the freckled, sandy-haired, tall and awkward Thomas Jefferson was no public speaker. However, he was an eloquent correspondent. Jefferson used his pen rather than his words in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress. He felt he would help the patriot cause more by writing. At the age of 33 and as the "silent member" of Congress, Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. The following years were dedicated to make its words a reality for Virginia. Among his accomplishments, he wrote a bill that established religious freedom.
In 1785, Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France. Thomas had sympathy for the French Revolution. His sympathy led him into conflict with Alexander Hamilton while Jefferson was Secretary of State in President Washington's cabinet. Jefferson would later resign in 1793.
Two parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, began to form as a result of sharp political conflict. The Republicans sympathized with the revolutionary cause that was happening in France. Thomas Jefferson soon assumed the leadership of the Republicans. The Federalists wanted a strong centralized government. However, the Republicans attacked the policies of the Federalists.