American Sphinx, The Character of Thomas Jefferson written by Joseph Ellis is about the life of one unique past President of the United States of America. It starts out about his childhood in Virginia although they do not go into great detail about his young life. He does let us in on a little bit of an insight dealing with Jefferson and how he got where he did in a timely order. .
The book starts out telling us about Thomas Jefferson's dealings in the Continental Congress and the part he had in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is still a big part of our history for today's standings and we still abide by all the Bill of Rights that was written a time after the Declaration of Independence. .
Thomas Jefferson was the Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781 at which he served a two-year term. He was later elected into Congress in 1783. He also took over Benjamin Franklin's place and was named the United States Minister for France. Although he was not a big fan of the French and the monarch system of government but he managed to deal with it. When he went to France he gladly took his daughters with him and got to know a little more about the French culture. .
George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson in 1790 to become the nation's first Secretary of State and under the new Constitution. He served from 1790 till 1793 when he was ready to return home in Monticello. In 1794 when he finally returned home to Monticello he began his old life once again of farming and raising crops like he had always done. He was very likable and not too many didn't get along with him.
The Presidency was done a lot different back then, than it is done today. Today we have our separate parties and the ones running for President already have their Vice-President's picked out and running with them. Back when they first started our government system the one's ran for President were voted much like today but the runner up would automatically be the Vice President.