On March 27, 1775, Future President Thomas Jefferson was elected to the second Continental Congress. Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, quickly made a name for himself in the Continental Congress with the publication of his paper, A Summary View of the Rights of British America . Several more papers would follow in the coming year, including Drafts and Notes on the Virginia Constitution . In June 1776, Congress assembled a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Following a great deal of discussion, the committee selected Jefferson to compose the document. At just 33 years of age, it only took Jefferson a couple of days to complete a draft of what is regarded as the most important document in the history of democracy. After a few small changes, the committee submitted the draft, titled A Declaration by the Representatives in General Congress Assembled , to Congress on June 28, 1776. The document was formally adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, under the new title The Dec...

On March 6, 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise (also called the Compromise Bill of 1820) into law. The bill sought to make even the number of slave-holding states and free states in the nascent nation. It allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state while Maine joined as a free state. What's more, the bill prohibited portions of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the 36-degrees-30-minutes latitude line from engaging in slavery. Monroe, who was born into the Virginia slave-holding planter class, strongly supported states’ rights, but let Congress bicker over the issue of slavery in the new territories. He then closely examined any proposed legislation for its constitutionality. Although he realized that slavery ran contrary to the values written into the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, he, like fellow Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, feared abolition would rip apart the country they had fought so hard to crea...

Today's quote of the day comes from Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Not only was he was the third president of the United States, but the revered Founding Father also wrote the Declaration of Independence, founded the University of Virginia, and pulled off the Louisiana Purchase, among other notable accomplishments. "It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness." - Thomas Jefferson I think what Thomas Jefferson was trying to say in a nutshell is that it's the simple things in life that truly hold value and brings us true joy. Reading a great book, taking a tranquil walk around the park, connecting with nature, petting your cat -- it's these simple moments that makes us the happiest, yet we often take them for granted. Instead, we become overly focused on acquiring more and more material possessions, being promoted into jobs that require longer hours and thus more time away from our families, and so on. I think th...