THE JEFFERSONIAN UNIT
& RHETORICAL ANALY SIS
ARCHITECTURE
I. Jefferson Biography
II. Jefferson’s Influences and how he is
Influential
III. Reading Strategies
IV. Formative and Summative Assignments
JEFFERSON’S BIOGRAPHY
(April 13th, 1743 – July 4, 1826)
EARLY LIFE
 Born in Shadwell, Virginia, in the Blue Mountain
Foothills.
 Father, Peter Jefferson, land owner and surveyor who
owned 60 slaves.
 Mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, descended from one of
the wealthiest families in colonial Virginia.
 Had seven siblings.
 Earliest memory: being carried around the Jefferson
estate on pillow by four slaves.
EARLY ADULTHOOD
 Practiced law under George
Wythe.
 Decided in 1768 to build his own
house which he called Monticello
(Jefferson never finished completion
of the house).
 Married Martha Skelton in 1770.
EDUCATION
 Father died when he was 14.
 Ran away from home because of
strained relationship with mother.
 Attended College of William and
Mary in Williamsburg.
 Obsessive student: spent 15 hours a
day reading, 3 hours practicing violin,
and the remaining 6 hours sleeping.
E A R LY P O L I T I C A L C A R E E R
 Wrote A Summary View o f the Rights
of Britshy America in 1774 which argued
the American colonies were loosely
controlled by Great Britain.
 Virginia Legislature appointed him
delegate to 2nd Continental Congress in
1775.
 Though shy in nature, elected to fiveperson committee to separate from
England with Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams, among others.
REVOLUTION YEARS
 Drafted The Declaration of Independence which
included phrase “We hold these truths to be selfevident; that all men are created equal” which has
inspired emerging democracies across the globe.
 Involved in the drafting of the Constitution
 Elected governor of Virginia in 1779.
 Wife died in 1782 giving birth to 3rd
daughter..
 Served as ambassador to France from 1784 –
1789.
SLAVERY AND RACISM
 1781 wrote Notes on the State of Virginia.
which stated that the race in America would be
resolved with “convulsions which will probably
never end but in the extermination of one or the
other race.”
 Implicit in this statement, blacks and whites
would never get along.
 Historians find this hypocritical because
Jefferson had a long affair with his slave Sally
Hemmings.
 Note: the phrase “all men are created equal”
only included white men. It never included
African Americans or women.
PRESIDENCY 1801 - 1809
 Louisiana Purchase and Lewis
and Clark Expedition begins
(1803).
 Most other acts of president
unsuccessful with his battles with
Congress and the Supreme Court.
RETIREMENT
 During last years of Jefferson’s life he was extremely active.
 Wrote thousands of letters each year, including a long correspondence with John Adams.
 He created a machine that would replicate any letter he wrote.
 Founded the University of Virginia which was built from his design.
 Tinkered with Monticello, but never found it to be complete.
 John Adams and Jefferson died within hours of each other on July 4th, 1826 – fifty years to
the day since the founding of the Republic.
 Though Jefferson passed before Adams, Adams’ last words were “Jefferson still lives.”
JEFFERSON’S INFLUENCES AND
INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN RHETORIC
RATIONALISM AS A
REACTION TO PURITANISM
PURITANISM
Key Dates: 1620 – 1720
Founded by the Puritans
who immigrated to
American from England to
escape religious persecution.
PURITAN SUBJECT MATTER
Preoccupied with sin and
salvation.
Religion determines social
order and morals.
“Didactic” or teaching
through lecturing.
PURITAN BELIEFS
People born from
Original Sin.
Hard Work and
Discipline lead to salvation.
Emphasis on conforming
to God’s will and the will of
the group.
RATIONALISM
(1720 – 1820)
The period leading up
to the Revolutionary War
and the founding of the
United States of America.
RATIONALISM SUBJECT MATTER
Nature of Government
-Monarchy vs.
Democratic
Politics and Public Discussion
Based upon Science
RATIONALIST BELIEFS
Support Personal Freedoms
“Deism”
-Religion based upon
reason vs. Didactic lecturing.
Universe Explored through
Discovery
THE CRUCIBLE
 Is a dramatic depiction of
how the Salem Witch Trials
affected colonial Salem, MA.
 The play centers around the
conflict between faith vs. reason.
POLITICAL ANCESTRY
 Jefferson has influenced prominent
American leaders from Abraham
Lincoln to JFK, to FDR to President
Obama.
 This unit we will explore those
influences and the conversation that is
still going on how America forms “a
more perfect union.”
READING STRATEGIES
 Building on our foundation discuss
ethos/pathos/logos, and
SOAPSToneR, we will add two new
reading strategies:
1.
Liu Method: A reading strategy
the analyzes the structure of a text.
2.
Close Reading: A dissection of a
text.
FORMATIVE AND
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Summative
Formative
1. Practice Essays
2. Practice Multiple Choice Exam
3. Op-Ed Beats
4. Your own Declaration…
5. Close Reading
6. Vocabulary/Terms
7. Draft 1 of JRP (more info later)
1. Vocab/Term Quizzes
2. Summative Rhetorical Analysis
Essay
QUESTIONS?
P L E A S E S TA N D F O R T H I N K O N
YO U R F E E T