After their marriage, Tom and Martha began their trek to the as yet only minimally completed Monticello. They had to travel more than 100 miles without plane, or boat, or automobile. In the cold and on not quite decent roads. (She must have really loved Tom!)
When they finally arrived, Martha got her first view of the partly completed mansion. Well, it wasn’t a mansion yet. They arrived in the midst of a blustery snowstorm. Martha got her first view of her new home. The still small new home clung to the top of a hill and was dark and empty.
The love story between Tom and Martha is so beautiful and enduring that it will be difficult to put any feeling into it in these few words. Jefferson was a young lawyer in Virginia, having earned his degree after 5 studious years. He graduated from William and Mary College in Williamsburg. His mentor was William Wythe, one of the signers of Tom’s Declaration of Independence.
At 18 years of age, Patrick married Sarah Shelton in 1754. This was 4 or 5 years earlier than was the custom of the time. He nicknamed her “Sallie.” She was 2 years younger than Patrick. They had kind of grown up together in the same small community. Sallie was a pretty young thing with a beautiful complexion and dark brown eyes.
While still in his youth, Benjamin Franklin became convinced that a person’s character was inextricably intertwined with one’s happiness. For that reason, Ben designed a plan to help him to become as perfect in character as he possibly could. He called the plan his “Project for Moral Perfection” and he worked at it his whole life through.
There is much talk these days about our U.S. Constitution. There is not as much talk about the “Father of the Constitution” as James Madison is known. He is, after all, the one who got the framers together to amend the Articles of Confederation. And that took some doing. George Washington didn’t want to attend—he didn’t think it could be successfully accomplished!
John Adams as you know, was elected to succeed George Washington as the President of the United States of America. He had had a great deal to do with the creation of this new nation. He doesn’t get remembered too much for his contributions. He knew it would be that way.