History Essay

Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson as Founders of New Nation and Creators of the Constitution

Samuel Addams and Thomas Jefferson were among the Founding Fathers of American independence , whose contribution in establishing the new nation is difficult to overestimate . Their ideas turned into cornerstones of American liberties , set fourth in the Constitution . Having become almost legendary characters after death , at life they were human beings with own thoughts , ideals and mistakes . And these are not only their ideas but their personal qualities , which influenced the newly formed State and which continue

to influence America today . Therefore , their personalities are attracting attention of scholars until now

Alexander Winston observed , that Adams made politics his only profession and rebellion his only business (Oates , 93 . Indeed , this was a prominent writer and political philosopher . He used both his authority and personal example to gain support of the colonists in rebellion against British rule and in the following drafting of the basic s , establishing the new state , such as Declaration of Independence and Constitution . Adams 's influence was decisive in persuading the representatives of Massachusetts to take the side of the colonial government after Intolerable Acts of 1774 (Puls , Mark , 235

It was Adams , who advocated the principles or republicanism in the embryonic American political culture . After the USA gained it 's independence , he contributed to reaching compromise between federalists and anti-federalists in drafting Articles of Confederation and first amendments to the Constitution . The Constitution has been barely ratified in Massachusetts only due to Adams efforts , however , this perhaps costed him his political career . Adams failed to be elected to the 1st US Congress in 1789 , but was elected as Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts , where he served until 1797 , when he left the political arena (Oates , 100

Like Samuel Adams , Thomas Jefferson played a decisive role in promotion of ideas of republicanism in America , being a principal author of the Declaration of Independence . His political ideal was a broad autonomy of single States with strictly limited powers of the federal government Being a plantation owner , Jefferson strongly favored yeoman farmers as examples of republican virtues , but , surprisingly , supported the idea of separation of Church and State when creating Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (Bennett , William J , 99

To realize his ideas , Jefferson created the Jeffersonian Republican party , which later became known as the Democratic-Republican Party and dominated the political scene for almost a quarter of a century . His political career developed from the position of Governor of Virginia to the Secretary of State and than to the vice-President and the 3rd President of the United States

Jefferson is frequently accused of being a slave-owner and thusly his ideals of equity seem to be racist , since he actually supported the segregated society . However , it should be remembered , that Jefferson was nothing more , than a son of his time , when the very nature rights included only white population to social life , and the afro-Americans were politically non-existent (Oates , 110 . Jefferson 's contribution to development of American state...