Who is this man? He does look familiar. I'll introduce him and the others you meet much like the late Paul Harvey would. My sources for all of my Declaration of Independence blogs is http://www.ushistory.org/.

He was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. He studied law at William and Mary College. He was admitted to the bar in 1767. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769. that governing body became the Virginia House of Delegates in 1770. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Congress in 1775-1776. He played an important role while there.

This man spoke five languages and read two others. Over the course of his life he wrote 16,000 letters. Remember a letter in that time wasn't a note you put up on the refrigerator nor was it a text message. These were in depth letters most likely consisting of pages and pages. In his life he contributed to many facets of life. He was a lawyer, agronomist, musician, scientist, philosopher, author, architect, inventor, and statesman.

A little known fact about this man is that he was an alternate to Payton Randolph, who was recalled by the Royal Governor. While at the Constitutional Congress he was a member of the committee to draft a declaration of independence. That committee chose him to write it.

I know that you have known who this is. It is none other that Thomas Jefferson.

This was one of the most important founding fathers. I am going to take a quote from my source here:

"[He was] appointed Secretary of State under George Washington. This placed him in a very difficult position. The character of the executive was being established during the first few terms. Jefferson and many others were critical of the form it was taking under the first Federalist administration. Jefferson was sharply at odds with fellow cabinet members John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, both of whom he found to be too authoritarian and too quick to assume overwhelming power for the part of the executive."

Did you hear that? He didn't like it that the executive branch had become "authoritarian." That is why I am concerned about the power that our federal government has over everything in our lives. That means small government and big citizens. That brings us full circle to "We the people..."

Let's get our freedom and power back.