Biography of  Thomas Jefferson   1800 by Rembrandt Peale White House Collection White House Historical Association Thomas Jefferson's record of public service is extraordinary:  he was author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, governor of Virginia, minister to France, first secretary of state, second vice president, and third president of the United States.  In his retirement, he founded the University of Virginia,  He is best known for writing the Declaration of Independence, a document so enduring that it continues to be invoked around the world by people striving for liberty, equality, and the right to self-government.  In his time out of the public spotlight, Jefferson pursued an astonishing array of interests, from math and the natural sciences to classical history and Native American culture.  Not truly an inventor, he loved new technologies and often improved on items already in existence, such as the copying machine known as the polygraph.  He read in six languages besides English, including Greek and Latin, and amassed one of early America's greatest libraries.  He was a talented architect and avid gardener.  He considered himself a farmer by profession and was continually searching for more progressive ways to work his plantations.

Biography of  Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette   1779 by Charles Willson Peale Washington-Curtis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va. The Marquis de Lafayette, a French nobleman, arrived in Philadelphia in July of 1777 and volunteered his services to the Continental Army.  Lafayette would distinguished himself on the battlefield and play an important role in convincing King Louis XVI to send the much needed military support which would help secure the American victory over British forces.  Commissioned a Major General by Congress, Lafayette served as a member of George Washington's staff, fighting in the Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Monmouth and commanding forces at Yorktown during the campaign against Cornwallis.  Lafayette would use his own funds to help alleviate some of the harsh winter conditions of the army at Valley Forge. During the final year of the war, Lafayette met Thomas Jefferson, then Governor of Virginia, developing a friendship that would last almost fifty years.  During Jefferson's tenure as the Minister to France, Lafayette provided valuable assistance in economic and political matters.  In drafting the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Lafayette would turn to Jefferson for advice. In France, Lafayette sought liberty and self-government for his countrymen and served in governmental and military roles to that end. Following the Reign of Terror in France, Lafayette found his political importance nearly vanished, his fortunes ruined, and many members of his family guillotined.

You have been asked to introduce Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette to an assembly of students.  Gather background information and prepare your introductory remarks.  Your remarks should be approximately 10 minutes.  Deliver your remarks to your classmates.

Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette are being honored at a banquet and you have been asked to deliver a toast (words honoring a person). Prepare your toast on each and deliver to your classmates.  

Jefferson and Lafayette have answered your advertisement for the position of Director of the Center for Democracy.  After reviewing their qualifications and checking references, which one will you hire and why? [Students should develop a job description for the position.]

Jefferson and Lafayette have answered your advertisement for the position of Chief of Security.  After reviewing their qualifications and checking references, which one will you hire and why? [Students should develop a job description for the position.]

Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette had admirers as well as critics.  French author Joseph Delteil (1894-1978) wrote in 1928 about Lafayette:  "In short he was a poet and a child.  His real crime, his great crime was imagination.  He never perceived or felt reality, he never believed in it.  He lived in an unreal world and once rational and iridescent, in a surealist [correct spelling: surrealist] world… He lived in a fayettiste" world, enclosed in glass.  Unfortunately life is not "fayettiset"." 

Mirabeau (French politician, writer, and orator, 1749-1791) called him "a man of indecision, a wimp, incapable and harmful, a helpless buffoon."  

Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor of France, 1769-1821) said of him:  "Lafayette was yet another simpleton, he was in no way cut out for the great part he wanted to play.  His good-naturedness in politics meant that he was forever being fooled by men and circumstances."  

Choiseul (French statesman and minister of Louis XV, 1719-1785) nick-named Lafayette "Gilles César" (playing on the name Julius Caesar, Founder of the Roman Empire, 63 BC - 14AD and "Gilles" who was at the time a comedy character [simpleton]).

Take on the role of a historian and research the life of Lafayette, then write an argument for or against each assessment of Lafayette based on your investigation.

How did Jefferson handle his critics? Examine his letter to Noah Webster.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to Noah Webster from Paris in 1790:

"In mentioning me in your Essays, and canvassing my opinions, you have done what everyman has a right to do, and it is for the good of society that that right should be freely exercised. No republic is more real than that of letters, and I am the last in principles, as I am the least in pretensions, to any dictatorship in it. Had I other dispositions, the philosophical and dispassionate spirit with which you have expressed your own opinions in opposition to mine, would still have commanded my approbation."

What is Jefferson telling Webster in the above quote? How does this reflect Jefferson's thoughts in the Declaration of Independence? Compare Webster's essay on education with Jefferson's views on education. How do they agree? How do they disagree? Looking at education today, have any of Webster's ideas or Jefferson's ideas become a reality?

Write an essay outlining your thoughts on your education experience. Are there changes you would recommend to improve the quality of public education? List them. Draw up a Resolution for these improvements to be presented to the Superintendent of your school division.