I was starting to wonder if these books ever delved into the shady parts of famous people and with Jefferson, it seems there was no way to avoid it. (I wonder if it has to do in part with if the person is still living, or how long they have been dead for). It's hard for me to look past the statutory rape of his deceased wife's stepsister, and the four children he fathered and kept as slaves until they reached adulthood. poor sally hemings and all the other sally hemings out there. i can't even imagine. she remained a slave until a little after jefferson's death.

jefferson is a good example of how complex humans are. we tend to want to label people as good or bad, and the truth is no one is entirely good or entirely bad (unless of course you believe in JC). the declaration of independence jefferson penned was incredible. it seems he did a great job of keeping us out of additional wars with great britain while serving as the third president of the US and was an attentive grandfather, at least to his white grandchildren. The author says "Jefferson's failure to act boldly to end slavery was perhaps his greatest failure as President" (79). He did ask congress to end the slave trade but more than that needed to happen. It's hard to put that all on Jefferson but, as evidenced by his personal life and owning over 400 slaves, he definitely was complicit.

It was interesting to learn how much he loved reading and the legal profession, seeing how he didn't even collect fees from a third of his clients in his first 6 years as an attorney (although maybe that was a normal part in starting a legal career). Also, interesting about him and Madison falling out and then coming back together later in life and both dying on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Even with a sudden voice shift that was discovered on page 61 and for which I'm confident was unintended, Dennis Brindell Fradin's Who Was Thomas Jefferson? deserves five stars as it is full of personal details about America's third president and the main drafter of the Declaration of Independence. For example, Jefferson, like Lincoln, loved another before marrying their wives. He also had a grandson who was named James Madison after Jefferson's friend President Madison, he was a terrible speaker but a gifted author, he faithfully wrote to his grandchildren encouraging their use of punctuation and capitalization, that his attempt to abolish slavery during his second term was very ineffective but did make it illegal to bring new slaves into the United States, and that he suffered from migraines. This book is a quick read and is highly recommended for students as well as adults--especially on President's Day.

A very good biography on the life of Thomas Jefferson.

This was a well written synopsis of Thomas Jefferson's life. I was glad to see that information about his mistress Sally Hemings was included in this history as most early histories neglected this information.

I feel like I should dislike him out of loyalty to Hamilton. I am obsessed with Hamilton.

I read "Who was Thomas Jefferson" by Dennis Brindell Fradin. This book is the story of Mr. Jefferson and how he became one of our founding fathers. Thomas went through a lot in his life, such as his mother dying and only two of his children living to adulthood. He also had many good moments and became very important in the future of America.
I liked this book. I thought it had a nice structure to the way all the information was presented to me. The author made it a story while still telling all the information. I would not change anything about this book. I don't think it needs any fixing or changing.
I would recommend this book to anyone between the ages of eleven and fifteen. I would recommend it to those age groups because it is very informative, but also an easy read. If you like learning about someone, the this is the book for you. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 starts if I had to.

The author did not do sufficient research. There were major issues with the DNA testing concerning Sally Hemings’ descendants.

“The Scholars’ Commission arrived at the same conclusion. Significantly, that group had not been composed of Jefferson supporters; in fact, several of the scholars had believed that Jefferson might indeed be the father of Hemings’ children.42 But after spending a year investigating the evidence, they all concluded that Randolph, Jefferson’s younger brother, was indeed the most likely father…”
(David Barton)

Read this to the kids on our way to visit Monticello. This series is great about simplifying biographies for children. It mentioned the complicated aspects of Jefferson and slavery and his relationship with Sally Hemings—and while I don’t know that the book needed to dig deeply into the topic, there were some sentences that didn’t set right with me—like the assertion that they eventually were very fond of each other. He was 30 years older than she was, she was 14, she was his slave, and he never freed her. However, it gave us the opportunity to have some deeper conversation while we were in the car for 16 hours today.

This was so good. It gave me some cool, interesting facts that I did not know before. For example, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams both died on the same day, the birthday of the United States of America.

This book is, of course, about Thomas Jefferson's life. It talks about what he did before he graduated college and what he did afterward.

This really, somehow, tickled my love for history and how important it is. This book met exactly what my expectations were for a history book. It was cool when I found out that Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams both died on the same day, and that day happened to be the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Talk about love for something!

This was a wonderful children’s biography on Thomas Jefferson. This book showed the good, the bad, and the ugly of this important leader who helped to shape the United States of America. What is humorous to me is there is NO WAY he would be elected now with the way Presidential Campaigns are run. Yet he is considered to be one of our greatest Presidents of all time.

Reviewed for Heartland School

Who Was Thomas Jefferson by Dennis Brindell Fradin is a biography. It talks about Thomas Jefferson’s personal life, life in politics, and how he helped free America. It also talks about how he tried to end slavery in America.

Thomas Jefferson grew up on a plantation in central Virginia. He was third in a family of ten children and his family owned dozens of slaves. Growing up, Thomas looked up to his father and wanted to be just like him when he was older. In 1752, Tom was sent to study with Reverend William Douglas. He spent five years learning many things, but Tom was bored by schoolwork and would much rather read on his own.

After his father died, Tom inherited most of the estate. When Tom turned 18, he went to college and he graduated after just two years. He began to study law and he became an attorney when he was just 24 years old. Soon after, Tom became interested in politics. He ran for and won a seat in the House of Burgesses in 1769, where he served until the American Revolution ended the colonial government.

A year after his family home burned down, Jefferson began building a new home four miles away from the old one. Also at this time, Tom fell in love with Rebecca Burwell, but after his failed attempt at a proposal, Rebecca married another man. Soon after, he met Martha Wayles. They fell in love and married on New Year’s Day of 1772. The couple had five daughters and a son, but only two of them grew to adulthood.

Despite being a poor public speaker, Jefferson was an amazing writer. He wrote an article convincing the people in the colonies to separate from Britain. By 1775, Jefferson had a seat in Congress and he began to try to create a new independent nation away from the British rule. During the war, a committee was asked to prepare a Declaration Of Independence. The committee voted that Jefferson should write the declaration finally after a few months, he did. The states voted on Independence and the vote was unanimous.

America finally won the war, but before he could celebrate, his wife Martha died four months after having her sixth and final child. He was overcome with grief and to take his mind off of it, Jefferson turned to politics. He was elected onto the Continental Congress in 1783. After he was sent to Paris for a job for the Congress, his youngest daughter Lucy died. A slave named Sally Hemings, only fourteen years old, brought his other daughter to live with him.

Sally and Jefferson had begun to have a relationship while Paris. Although Sally had little choice in the matter, because Jefferson was her master, they maintained their relationship for forty years. After a while, though, Sally seemed to have grown very fond of Jefferson and in 1769, Sally became pregnant with Jefferson’s child. Jefferson returned to the U.S. with Sally only because he made her a promise to set her and their children free. Over the next nineteen years, Sally and Jefferson had nine more children and he didn’t set them free for years.

Jefferson became President George Washington’s Secretary of State, and he served for almost four years. Jefferson got in many arguments with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton eventually causing him to resign. He stayed at his home for fifteen more years until he went back into politics. He began serving as Vice President in 1797 under John Adams. Soon after, Jefferson became the third President of the United States. During his time as president he helped make the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the country’s size.

Jefferson had a close relationship with his family and he kept in touch using letters. He also had many failed attempts to end slavery. Jefferson spent the last seventeen years of his life at his home with his family. He loved to spend time with his grandchildren and even taught them how to write. Finally, Jefferson began to write letters to John Adams resolving the conflict they had in the past and becoming great friends.

In his last years, He designed buildings with his granddaughter and sold his collection of books to prevent going into debt. He was happy for the last few years of his life living a healthy life into his eighties. On July 2, Jefferson gathered his loved ones in his room and died the same day as John Adams. Coincidentally, they both died on July 4, 1826, the fifteenth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. After his death, he was carved into Mount Rushmore to honor him and the country he helped to create.

My favorite part was when Thomas Jefferson tried to end slavery. The story states, “Jefferson considered ways to end slavery. Should all slaves be freed at once? Should they be freed gradually? Or was it best just to prevent new slaves from entering the country?” This shows that his plan was really thought out and that he really believed in freeing the slaves. This also shows how he has changed from when he owned many slaves to wanting to free them after he freed his family. In doing this, he made a big step in the history of the United States by beginning to make people see that all people are equal.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Thomas Jefferson’s role in building the country. It covers what Thomas Jefferson did to free the country and write the Declaration of Independence. It also talks about his time as the President and the steps he took to make the country what it is today.