As with reverent thought we turn from the closing days of George Washington’s life, our interest is drawn to the career of another national hero, with whom we associate the most remarkable expansion in the area of our country.
Thomas Jefferson.
Already through the achievements of early pioneers and settlers, such as Daniel Boone in Kentucky, John Sevier and James Robertson in Tennessee, and George Rogers Clark in the region of the Great Lakes, the country lying between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River had come to be a part of the United States.
But now in a very different and much easier way the territory lying beyond the Mississippi and stretching westward to the Rocky Mountains was added to the national domain. This we obtained, not by exploration or settlement, but by purchase; and the man who had most to do with our getting it was Thomas Jefferson.
The story of the purchase is most interesting, but hardly more so than the story of Thomas Jefferson himself.
He was born in 1743 near Charlottesville, Virginia, on a plantation of nearly two thousand acres. As a boy he lived an out-of-door life, hunting, fishing, swimming, or paddling his boat in the river near his home, and sometimes riding his father’s horses. He was a skilful and daring rider, and remained to the end of his long life fond of a fine horse.
“Monticello,” the Home of Jefferson.
He was a most promising lad. At five he entered school, and even at that early age began his lifelong habit of careful reading and studying. While still but a boy he was known among his playmates for his industry and the thorough way in which he did his work.