Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine

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Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine

• English III

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• Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
• inherited substantial property from his father
  (5,000 acres)
• studied Law at the College of William and Mary
  and was admitted to the bar
• 1768 elected to Virginia House of Burgess
• Declaration of Independence (1776)
• 1785 succeeded B. Franklin as American
  Ambassador to France

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• Thomas Jefferson (cont.)
• Third president of U.S.
• Negotiated Louisiana Purchase from France
• Helped found University of VA
• Book collection became basis for Library of
  Congress
• Architect of his estate, Monticello, in Virginia
• John Adams Thomas Jefferson both died on the
  50th anniversary of the signing of the
  Declaration of Independence

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• Thomas Paine (17371809)
• born in England
• met Benjamin Franklin in England and decided to
  emigrate to America in 1774 to help cause
• The Crisis papers written while Paine a soldier
  in Continental Army
• Washington ordered papers read aloud to encourage
  American troops
• Paine wrote papers during a battle while sitting
  on a log using a drum for a desk
• These are the times that try mens souls.

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• Thomas Paine cont.
• Wrote Common Sense (1776), pamphlet persuading
  Americans to seek independence from monarchy
• Considered the most important pamphlet in U.S.
  History
• Participated in French Revolution in 1787 almost
  beheaded by revolutionaries
• Denounced by Americans for supporting the French
  Revolution and attacks on organized religion
• Died in poverty and ignominy tombstone
  desecrated and body lost

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• Literary Terms
• Aphoristic Style
• The use of sentences or phrases within a larger
  essay or speech (usually persuasive) that stand
  out as memorable statements (aphorisms) in
  themselves.
• Examples from Tom Paines The Crisis
• What we obtain cheap, we esteem too lightly
• Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered
• These are times that try mens souls
• The harder the conflict, the more glorious the
  triumph.
• Though the flame of liberty may cease to shine,
  the coal can never expire.
• It matters not where you live, or what rank of
  life you hold, the evil or the blessing will
  reach you all.