Changes

== Revolution of 1800 ==

== Revolution of 1800 ==

Jefferson learned the art of politics by first serving in the House of Burgesses in Virginia (an early Virginia legislative system similar to what became Congress).  Jefferson was a brilliant writer, but a terrible speaker.  In fact, he avoided public speaking whenever possible.  He rarely spoke when he served in the Continental Congress, and when he did speak he expressed anti-religious views that were not shared by others. John Adams wrote about Jefferson:<ref name="Jefferson">http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Public_Speaking</ref>

Jefferson learned the art of politics by first serving in the House of Burgesses in Virginia (an early Virginia legislative system similar to what became Congress).  Jefferson was a brilliant writer, having authored perhaps the most famous sentence ever written in the English language (in the Declaration of Independence, 1776):

But Jefferson was not a good public speaker, and he avoided speaking whenever possible.  He rarely spoke when he served in the Continental Congress, and when he did speak he expressed anti-religious views that were not shared by others. John Adams wrote about Jefferson:<ref name="Jefferson">http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Public_Speaking</ref>

:Mr. Jefferson had been now about a Year a Member of Congress, but had attended his Duty in the House but a very small part of the time and when there had never spoken in public: and during the whole Time I satt [''sic''] with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three Sentences together. The most of a Speech he ever made in my hearing was a gross insult on Religion, in one or two Sentences, for which I gave him immediately the Reprehension, which he richly merited.

:Mr. Jefferson had been now about a Year a Member of Congress, but had attended his Duty in the House but a very small part of the time and when there had never spoken in public: and during the whole Time I satt [''sic''] with him in Congress, I never heard him utter three Sentences together. The most of a Speech he ever made in my hearing was a gross insult on Religion, in one or two Sentences, for which I gave him immediately the Reprehension, which he richly merited.