Thomas Jefferson's influence on the U.S. Constitution

Constitution

Thomas Jefferson espoused the belief that the Constitution of the United States was a document inspired by God and that such a document had never been constructed before in the history of men. He was instrumental in asserting men's natural rights (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) in the Constitution. Those natural rights, along with man's natural right to practice whatever religion so desired were fundamental to his beliefs. He even went so far to say that the document (as well as the Declaration of Independence) rendered all the other former forms of government known to man, null and void..

Jefferson was a true believer in the equality of man and gave many examples of how that equality had been propagated throughout time. Jefferson believed that the time had arrived for man to come forth and assume the mantle of self-government. He also believed that the only way to truly set forth such a self-government was by establishing, in writing, the standards by which that self-government would itself be governed. John Locke believed the same way and espoused that, "all men are created equal and that is a self-evident truth." Both men's philosophies weighed heavily on the Constitution of the United States, although Jefferson's viewpoints were much more evident due to his proximity and availability to those who were creating such a document. What is interesting to note, is that most of the signers of the Constitution were of the belief that the Constitution was not a perfect document. Jefferson believed that it was an imperfect writing, and in fact he wrote, "This constitution was formed when we were new and unexperienced in the science of government...no wonder then that time and trial have discovered very capital defects in it." (Jefferson 1979-page 28)