Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson is a very unfluential individual that had made an impact on our history. He was known as an architect, historian, naturalist, philosopher, musician, scientist and politician. Jefferson was brought into this world by his parents named Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph on April 13, 1743. As a child, Jefferson was very bright and he loved to learn. By the age of 5, he had read many books including the Holy Bible. When he was 9 years old, he was taken out of school and was tutored instead. In 1760, he attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He then started to study law with George Wythe in 1762. He became a lawyer at the age of 24 and he earned about $3,000 a year. He also worked as a planter and earned about $2,000 a year. Jerfferson's early life was very pleasant.
Thomas Jefferson was also a very important person when it came to Westward Expansion. He was our 3rd president and he helped us win all the land to complete what is now called the United States of America. Ever since he was young, he had a lot of interest in what was called westward exploration due to the influence his dad had rubbed off on him. As president during the 1800's he was successful in acquiring the Louisiana Territory in the year of 1803. He then sent two men known as Lewis and CLark on an expedition to map and explore up the Missouri River. This plan turned out to be very successful and their knowledge of the land by the Missouri River had grown due to their expedition.
Thomas Jefferson was the person who helped us gain more land and expand west of the country. Jerfferson started with only purchasing 828,000 square miles of land for about $15 million from France. After that, the land just kept on coming. He did have to fight for some of it and the others were offered for a price. At first Jefferson just wanted to expand west to be able to export and import goods through the New Orleans port. It was going to be taken away from them so he decided that it would be best if he just purchased it. Jefferson ended up having more land than he had expected.
