Meet Thomas Jefferson

By Marvin Barrett

(1967) ISBN 0375812113

This is a well rounded picture of a person very important to anyone researching the history of our country,  Since tweens often times do study this area of history, this book can prove to be a highly tool for them in their research endeavors. This book starts off with a good clear and interesting recounting of the family background of Thomas Jefferson.

Life was definitely not one of glamour and endless socializing.  The father of Jefferson was a farmer, with land to his name it is true, but a farmer nevertheless and he passed away when Jefferson was only fourteen years of age.  Jefferson then had many responsibilities handed to him which he carried out well and continued his education and he involved himself at a very young age in the political side of life. This behavior was risky inasmuch as by doing so Jefferson and his friends incurred the wrath of the King of England.  Jefferson, in becoming the author of the Declaration of Independence, ran the real danger of the English army sending soldiers for him.  When this actually occurred Jefferson did manage to escape them.  When the war ended, Jefferson continued involving himself in the life of politics and he eventually became the Third President of the United States.

This book places an emphasis on the fact, often alluded in the majority of works on Jefferson, that Jefferson was a strong opponent of the existence of slavery.  This is an issue that this book’s readers, most especially its tween readers, may like to research further.  The illustrations are very helpful to the reader in presenting good clues to the life of Jefferson and his world.