Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

===Lawyer and House of Burgesses===
{{Further|A Summary View of the Rights of British America}}
[[File:House of Burgesses in the Capitol Williamsburg James City County Virginia by Frances Benjamin Johnston.jpg|thumb|alt=Chamber of House of Burgesses|[[House of Burgesses]] in Williamsburg, where Jefferson served from 1769 to 1775]]
In 1767, Jefferson was granted admission to the Virginia bar, and lived with his mother at Shadwell.<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 11, 49.</ref> Between 1769 and 1775, he represented [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]] in Virginia's [[House of Burgesses]].<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 40.</ref> While serving in the House of Burgesses, Jefferson pursued reforms to slavery, including writing and sponsoring legislation in 1769 to strip power from the royal governor and courts, instead providing masters of slaves with the discretion to emancipate them. Jefferson persuaded his cousin [[Richard Bland]] to spearhead the legislation's passage, but it faced strong opposition in a state whose economy was largely agrarian.<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 47–49.</ref>

As a lawyer, Jefferson took on seven freedom-seeking enslaved people as clients<ref>[[#Gordon08|Gordon-Reed, 2008]], p. 348.</ref> and waived his fee for one he claimed should be freed before the minimum statutory age for emancipation.<ref name=Gordon99>[[#Gordon08|Gordon-Reed, 2008]], pp. 99–100.</ref> Jefferson invoked [[natural law]], arguing "everyone comes into the world with a right to his own person and using it at his own will&nbsp;... This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because it is necessary for his own sustenance." The judge cut him off and ruled against his client. As a consolation, Jefferson gave his client some money, which was conceivably used to aid his escape shortly thereafter.<ref name=Gordon99/> Jefferson's underlying intellectual argument that all people were entitled by their creator to what he labeled a "natural right" to liberty is a theme that he later prominently incorporated into the Declaration of Independence.<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], p. 49.</ref> In 1767, Jefferson took on 68 cases for the General Court of Virginia and was counsel in three notable cases of that era, ''Howell v. Netherland'' (1770), ''Bolling v. Bolling'' (1771), and ''Blair v. Blair'' (1772).<ref name=Konig_Time_Line>[[#Konig1|Konig, David T., Encyclopedia Virginia]]</ref>

In 1774, Jefferson authored a resolution calling for a boycott of all British goods in protest of the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]]'s passing of the [[Intolerable Acts]]. Jefferson's resolution was later expanded into ''[[A Summary View of the Rights of British America]]'', published that year in which he argued that people have the right to [[Self-governing colony|govern themselves]].<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 71–73.</ref>