Philip Thomas

Filippo Mazzei, or as it came to be known in the English speaking world, Philip Mazzei, a name that is very little recognition. But many will be surprised to know he was a great friend of Thomas Jefferson and has actively contributed to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

Philip Mazzei was born in Poggio a Caiano, in Tuscany, Italy, on Christmas Day 1730 and has always been the epitome of modern man. Borrowing the term of winemakers, we could define him as a Super Tuscan. Always in motion and constantly looking for new challenges, he led a life of intense travel, study, political activism and writing. Thank you to these characteristics of his, he got to meet and learn about Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith.

After becoming a doctor and his medical practice in Florence, Italy and the Middle East in recent years, he moved to London, England in 1755 to become an importer to his business. In London, he met Smith and Jefferson, after corresponding with them for commercial reasons. Jefferson convinced Mazzei to undertake a new challenge in starting a vineyard and a wine farm in Virginia, the birthplace of Jefferson.

Mazzei moved to Virginia in 1773 with his wife to be and many winemakers and vine began with Jefferson. While there, he helped me a lot to the country's political activity, until it culminated in the War of Independence. He has shared many libertarian ideologies with Jefferson, and after being naturalized as a citizen of Virginia, he enlisted as a soldier to fight against the British Army during the Revolutionary War. If due to a freeze on the vine and wine business never grew up, political stature Mazzei began booming. Jefferson used one of the writings of his friend to write a new state constitution of Virginia, Mazzei and Jefferson supported the petition at the end of spiritual despotism. In 1778, Mazzei returned to Italy and continued to serve the revolution until 1784 by transporting weapons to Virginia Thanks for the financing of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

What few people know is that Thomas Jefferson would have paraphrased one of Mr. Mazzei's writings during the insertion of the Declaration of the United States article claiming that independence " all men are created equal. "In spite of many trying to discredit an involuntary contribution to Mazzei an important document, a joint resolution of Congress established the conviction and the ideals behind it was the fruit of his mind. President JF Kennedy, in his book "a nation of immigrants", the author also argues that Mazzei behind such a fundamental right.

Another major contribution of this man is his tireless Tuscan opera in four volumes written in French on the American Revolution from a political standpoint. The book's title is "Historical Research and Policy and the United States of Northern America" and since it was the first book on the American Revolution to be written in French, the book became an important document contrast between British propaganda of the time and the only source of information for the French bourgeoisie who otherwise uninformed would result in the French Revolution in 1789.
Philip Mazzei died in Pisa, Tuscany in 1816, after having lived an intense life which led to Tuscany in the United States leaving behind an important legacy that even today we can enjoy.