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I.IFE, 
 
 WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
) ^ 
 
 SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFBRSOIV. 
 
 SELECTIONS OF THE MOST VALUABLE PORTIONS OF HIS TOLUMINOUS AND UNRIVALED 
 
 PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 BY B. L. RAYNER. 
 
 ■ For I have sworn upon the Altar of God, eternal hostility against every 
 form of tyranny over the mind of man." — Priv, Corres. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY A. FRANCIS AND W. BOARDMAN. 
 
 1832. 
 
District of Connecticut, to wit : 
 
 Be IT REMEMBERED, That On the twelfth day of June, Anno Domini 1831, 
 Alfred Francis and William Boardman, of the said district, have deposited in 
 '^this office the title of a book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit : 
 " Sketches of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of Thomas Jefferson ; with Se- 
 lections of the most valuable portions of his voluminous and unrivalled Private 
 Correspondence. By B. L.Rayner. 'For I have sworn upon the altar of God, 
 eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.' — P. Carry 
 The right whereof they claim as proprietors m conformity with an act of Gon- 
 jrress, entitled " An act to amend the several acts respecting copy rights." 
 CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
 \ Clerk of the District of ConnecHcul. 
 
 -Page 34, fifth line from the top, for ' 1769' read 1765. 
 
 372, ninth Ime from botttom, for ' thirty-six' read sixteen. 
 397, third line from top, for ' Jay' read Marshal. 
 
 (Note.— Owing to the extension of the volume about 50 pages beyond what 
 /as contemplated, the Appendix is necessarily omitted. 
 
 i^^io^ 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 ^5; 
 
 The iiiaterials for this volume are principally derived from the 
 posthumous works of Mr. Jefferson himself, lately published by 
 his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. These vv^orks were re- 
 ceived with extraordinary approbation by one great portion of the 
 iiublic, as was the case, indeed, with every thing that ever came 
 from that remarkable man ; and by another considerable portion, 
 M'ith a corresponding degree of dissatisfaction, always to be expect- 
 ed from the well known opinions of the Author on certain funda- 
 mental points of principle, and the strongly marked division of pub- 
 lic sentiment on those points. 
 
 These works extend through four large octavo volumes, of about 
 500 pages each ; nearly the whole of which is occupied with the Cor- 
 respondence of the Author, public and private. In the first volume 
 is an auto-memoir of about ninety pages, exhibiting a brief outhne 
 of the first forty-seven years only of the Author's life, and termina- 
 ting, unfortunately, at the precise epoch when his history began to 
 assume the highest importance. It appears in the rough form of 
 ' memoranda and recollections of dates and facts,' taken simply as 
 lie states, 'for his own more ready reference, and for the information 
 of his family.' Besides containing many interesting notices of his 
 personal and family history, the Memoir is enriched by many im- 
 portant particulars relating to the origin and early stages of the 
 Revolution, and the establishment of the Republic ; by the Debates 
 in Congress on the great question of Independence, with the histor- 
 ical circumstances attending the preparation and adoption oi that 
 memorable instrument ; "and by a narrative, interspersed with sage 
 political reflections, of the causes and early course of ile FreiicJi 
 Revolution, as exhibited to the observation of the Author, during" 
 his diplomatic residence at Paris. This portion of the wort derives 
 ])eculiar value from the circumstance of its containing theVirstdis-. 
 closure to the world, in an authentic form, of the Debates on the 
 memorable occasion of Independence, and from the probablity, or 
 rather certainty, that a like knowledge of them is not to be expect- 
 ed from any other source. Appended to the Memoir, or withh the 
 body of it. are a variety of ancient productions of Mr. Jeffeison. 
 which will be new to most readers. Among them are, a pij.per 
 drawn up in 1774, as instructions to the Delegates in Congress mm 
 Virginia, being the first formal enunciation of the political doctriVs 
 
» PREFACE. 
 
 of the Revolution — A Penal Code, being part of a Revised Code of 
 Laws executed by himself and others, in 1776, with reference to the 
 humane principles of a Republican form of government — An his- 
 torical account of the overthrow of the Church establishment in Vir- 
 ginia, always considered by the Author as one of his best efforts in the 
 cause of Liberty — And an elaborate paper, drafted in 1 784, on the 
 establishment of a uniform system of Coinage and Currency, which 
 laid the foundation of the present system in the United States. At 
 the end of the fourth Volume are about eighty pages of what are 
 quaintly denominated Anas ; being Notes of Conversations held 
 with President Washington, Mr. Adams, General Hamilton, and 
 others, while he was Secretary of State, or Vice President ; and 
 Memoranda of Cabinet Councils, committed to paper on the spot, 
 and filed : the whole "combining to show the views and tendencies 
 of parties, from the year 1790 to 1800, and preserved for the purpose 
 of furnishing " their testimony against the only history of that pe- 
 riod which pretends to have been compiled from authentic and un- 
 pubhshed documents." 
 
 The remainder of the four volumes consists entirely of tiie (.'or- 
 respondence of the Author, chiefly private and coafidential, from 
 the year 1775 to his death. During the greater portion of his life, 
 Mr. Jeuerson wrote with a polygraph or copying press, which ena- 
 bled him to preserve with ease a regular file of his letters from year 
 to year. These letters are addressed to a great variety of individ- 
 uals in this, and in foreign countries. They comprise an immense 
 range of information, and in many instances, regular Essays on 
 subjects of History, Politics, Science, Morals, and Religion. 
 
 Taken all in all, this posthumous work is the richest auto-bio- 
 graphical deposite, and one of the most important publications ever 
 presented to the world. Viewed in the light of Political History, 
 Philosophy and Literature, it abounds with relations of momentous 
 import, with reflections of consunmiate wisdom and profound obser- 
 vation, conveyed in a style of unrivalled felicity and pov/er : and it 
 supplies the record of many important transactions connected witli 
 our government, of which no authentic memorials had been pre- 
 served. But it is in the light of a private revelation, pushing its 
 fearless disclosures into the inmost recesses of the mind and charac- 
 ter of theman, that its most distinguishing excellence consists. We 
 have hee the ungarbled contents of the Cabinet of the Author, 
 graduaiy accumulating through an era among the most momentous 
 in the amals of the world, and of which himself was a principal 
 actor, hcessantly placed in the most trying situations which it af- 
 fordet'. This vast collection of letters, compiled from the unrevised 
 maniscripts of the Writer, thrown ofl'" on the spur of the occasion. 
 in tie freedom of unrestrained confidence, and spreading over a 
 peri«d of fift}'^ years, have opened the folding-doors to tiie cliaracter 
 of Hr. Jefferson, and introduced us into the sanctuary of his most 
 secret meditations. They derive essential importance from the fact 
 
PREFACE. \i 
 
 tiuii at the time they were written, the Author had no conception 
 of their ever being made pubUc. On this point we have the au- 
 thority of tlie Editor, who states in his Preface, that " the historical 
 parts of the Letters, and the entire publication, have the rare value 
 of coming from one of the chief actors himself, and of being writ- 
 ten not for the public eye, but in the freedom and confidence of 
 private friendship.'"' 
 
 It would undoubtedly be a hnppy circumstance for this country, 
 and for the mass of mankind, besides serving, if possible, to enhance 
 the reputation of the revered Author, if these works could obtain a 
 circulation which should place them in the hands of every indi- 
 vidual ; for if any thing could give stability to those principles; 
 which form alike the basis of his renown, and the elements of the 
 splendid structure of free government which he was chiefly instru- 
 mental in establishing, it would be such an extensive dissemination 
 of his Writings. Unfortunately, however, the form in which they 
 have appeared, is not the most advantageous to the accomplishment 
 of this desirable purpose. The publication is too voluminous, and 
 consequently too expensive, to admit of a general introduction 
 among all classes ; nor is the mode of arrangement the best adapted 
 10 its reception into ordinary use as a work of reference. 
 
 These considerations have suggested the plan of the present un- 
 dertaking, which aspires to no liiglier claims than that of an ana- 
 lytic, and, it is hoped, a well assorted generalization of the original 
 publication. It has been the leading object of the compilation, to 
 condense the most valuable substance of the four, within the com- 
 pass of one volume, and to supply what are presumed to be essen- 
 tiid wants of the former, by interweaving a connected narrative of 
 ;.he Author's Life, by systematizing the contents as much as possi- 
 i>le, and furnishing the whole with a definite and copious Index. 
 All the great political papers of Mr. Jetierson, contained in the ori- 
 ginal works, have been copied into this, or their substance faithfully 
 stated ; and many others, not therein contained, have been procured 
 from other sources, and likewise introduced. Among the latter, are 
 the Answer of Congress to the 'Conciliatory Pioposition' of Lord 
 North ; the celebrated bill for the establishment of Religious Free- 
 dom ; and the first Inaugural Address of the Author, on his eleva- 
 tion to the Presidency — inserted at length ; an analysis of his Re- 
 ports, while Secretary of State, on Coins, Weights and Measures, 
 on the Fisheries, and on Commerce and Navigation ; the Pre- 
 ambles to the bills for Abolishing the law of Entails, for the Gen- 
 eral Diffusion of Knowledge, and other organic acts of the Virginia 
 Legislature, at the establishment of the lepublican form of govern- 
 ment ; and extracts of the most interesting portions of his ' Notes 
 on Virginia.' 
 
 The Selections from the Pi'ivate Correspondence of Mr. Jefferson, 
 are extensive, and dispersed through the volume, with reference to 
 the topic under consideration, more than to the order of time. Thev 
 
 2 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 will probably be found the most interesting portions of the volume. 
 In making the quotations from this department, it has been the 
 object to bring the greatest quantity of useful matter within the 
 smallest space. Parts of letters, therefore, are usually introduced, — 
 rarely the whole of any one, — sufficient to give the full sense of the 
 Writer on any required point, and avoiding all extraneous observa- 
 tions. The historical and biographical portions of the work have al- 
 so been derived, in great part, from this pregnant source. In some 
 cases the very language of the Author has been adopted, without 
 invariably noting it with the usual mark of credit. In all such 
 cases, however, the style or the sentiment will be sufiiciently distin- 
 guishable to place it where it belongs. Some parts of the narrative 
 riiay appear overwrought with eulogy, to some minds — not so much 
 because the subject does not deserve it, as because it was inlinitely 
 above the attempt. It is a difficult matter to commemorate the deeds 
 of so distinguished a benefactor of the human race, without yield- 
 ing in some degree to the influence of a passion which they arc so 
 justly calculated to inspire : and the writer does not scruple to ad- 
 mit, that he has less endeavored to restrain his own grateful feelings. 
 than to infuse the same into the minds of his readers. 
 
 The character of Tpioma.s Jefferson should be held up to all 
 succeeding generations of American people, as the model on which 
 they should habitually fix their eyes, and fashion their own charac- 
 ters and principles. His unparalleled achievenaents and sacrifices 
 iov their benefit, with the pre-eminent success, and the blissful close 
 of his life, should be continually spread before them, as incitements 
 to run the same virtuous and glorious career of action. His Wri- 
 tings should enlighten the fireside of every citizen of this Republic, 
 and form the text-book of the American statesman. His pure fame 
 sliould be religiously cherished by his countrymen, as a most pre- 
 (ious inheritance to them, and as meriting from man universally an 
 everlasting remembrance. If the present volume shall have been 
 instrumental in promoting these objects, it will have fulfilled its des- 
 tiny. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Nativity of Mr. Jefferson. Peculiarity in tiie concealment of iiis birth-day — 
 Curiosity felt to ascertain it— Motives of his conduct in this particular— Keply 
 to the city authorities of Washington— To Levi Lincoln, pp. 17 : 18. Genealo- 
 gy of Mr. Jefferson - Peculiarity by which it was marked — Prominency of the 
 feature in Thomas. Anecdote related by Mr. Madison. Anliquily of his mater- 
 nal nedigree. Character of his father — E.xtent of his jiatrimony. His early 
 education — Critical position of his boy-hood — His juvenile mind and habits 
 -^Fondness for the classics — For what qualities distinguished in College — 
 Passion for certain Sciences and Fine \rts, pp. 18:20. Circumstances which 
 decided the particular direction of his life. His character of Dr. Small — Of 
 George VVyihe. Commences the study of Law — E.xlent of his researciies. 
 His fervid desciiption of the speech of Patrick Henry against the Stamp-act — 
 Influence of that scene upon his subsequent career. Mottoes of his Seals, pp. 
 22 : 27. Enquiry into the relative birth of individual opinions on the question of 
 American Indeoendence — Remark of Mr. Jefferson upon this point. Notice of 
 liis claims to the distinction of giving dircclion and permanency to tlie moral 
 power of the Revolution — His sarcastic compliment to Vlassacliusetts upon this 
 point — The idea pursued in a letter to General Deaiborn. Enters the Practice 
 of the Law — Professional celebrity. Qualifications us an Advocate — As a Pop- 
 ular Orator. Letter to Major John Cartwright of England, disjjlaying l!ie depth 
 and precision of his legal preparation — Interest excited on the publication of 
 this letter — Answer to E. Everett upon the subject, pp. 27 : 33. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson comes of age. Elected to the Legislature. His first effort in 
 that body t"or the Emanci|)ation of Slaves — Overwhelminir defeat of the measure 
 — Remarks on the singular merits of the proposition. Extract from his Notes 
 on Virginia, on Slaver^'. Progress of the Revolution. System of Non-inter- 
 course adopted by the Colonies — Agency of Mr. Jefferson in bringing Virginia 
 into the meayure — Its utility as an engine of coercion. R,etaliatory resolutions 
 of the British Parliament. Counter resolutions brought forward by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son. Germ of the American Union. Sudden dissolution of the Legislature. 
 Jefferson and others rally a private meeting of the members at the Raleigh 
 tavern — Its spirited doings. Influence of the revolutionary proceedings in Vir- 
 ginia, pp. 34: 40. Apathy of the Colonists — How viewed by Mr. Jefferson — 
 He devises measures for arousing them to a sense of their situation. Meeting 
 of the bolder spirits, to set the machinery in motion — Influence of this conclave 
 upon the course of the Revolution. Committees of Correspondence established 
 — Agency of this measure in begetting a General Congress — Strong present! • 
 ment Df Mr. Jefferson of the result of their deliberations. Interesting debut of 
 Mr. Carr in the Legislature — Mr. Jefferson's character of him. Legislature again 
 dissolved, pp. 41 : 45. Parallel Committees of Correspondence appointed by 
 the other Colonies — Moral agency of this institution in the Pievolution. News 
 of the Boston Port Bill. Popular effervescence. Measures set in motion by Mr. 
 Jefferson. Holds another council with his former confederates, Appointment of 
 a general Fast in Virginia — .Mr. Jefferson's account of his draft of the proclama- 
 tion — Effect of this measure throughout the Colonies. Legislature again dis- 
 solved. Spirited Association entered into by the members. Recommendation 
 of a General Congress, pp. 46 : 53. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 The other Colonies unite in the measure of a General Congress. First demo- 
 cratic Convention in Virginia. Mr. Jefferson elected a member. Instructions 
 proposed by him for the <.;ongressional Delegates — Published by the Convention 
 under the title of ' Summary View of the Rights of British America' — Effect of 
 this work in England — Re published by the Whigs in Parliament— Bill of At- 
 tainder commenced against the author— Political doctrmes of this v/ork form 
 the text of the Revolution ; inserted at length remarks on the Political merits 
 of the work. The Convention virtually assumes the government of the colony. 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 pp. 54:72. Second Virginia Convention. Mr. Jefferson loses all iiopo of a ic- 
 conciliation with the mother country. Inequality of sentiment in the Conven- 
 tion. Grounds taken by Mr. Jetf;rson. Rosoluiwn for puttin><- the Colony into 
 a state of warlike defcnce--Its effect upon the older members —Reasons of their 
 backwardness as stated by vir. Jeffjrson— Violent debates ensue —Conduct of 
 the opposition on its passa'je. Mr. Jefferson elected a Delegate to Congress, 
 He deterinmes on tiie pamful necessity of deciding the contest by the sword, 
 pp. 72 : 78. Letter of Mr. J. to Dr. Small, in England. The regal Legislature 
 of Virginia meets. Conciliatory Proposition of Lord North laid before them— 
 Mr. Jefferson designated to prepare the answer-- Opposition lo his diaught--- 
 Character of the document. Flight of the royal Governor. Effect of the pro- 
 ceedings in Virginia upon the general cause. Fall of the monarchical power in 
 that province. Extract from VVilkes' speech in the British Parliament, pp. 78 : 84- 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson takes his seat in the Continental Coiigres.«;— His emotions--- 
 Curiostiy of members on his appearance. Political influence of the decisions of 
 that body. Mr. Jcffetson appointed on the committee to prepare a Declaration 
 of the Causes of taking up arms -Character of the document. Curious remin- 
 iscence related by Mr. Jefferson. Disparity of sentiment in Cunoress. Opinions 
 of Mr. Jefferson. Extract from the VVar vlanifeslo, pp. 84:iiP,. Mr. Jefferson 
 desio-nated to prepare an answer of Congress to Ijord North's Conciliatory Prop- 
 osition---Tlie document. His letters to a gentleman in England. Re-elected 
 to Cono-iess. His agency in the princi|)al movements in Virginia while in 
 Concrress. His draught of a Preamble, Declaration of Rights, and Constitu- 
 tion for that State. Reasons why they were not adopted entire. His opinion 
 on the Constitution as adopted, and on popular government in general, at this 
 epoch, pp. 89 : 100. Virgmia instructs her Delegates in Congre.'ss to declare In- 
 dependence- -Causes of the rapid proclivity of the public mind to the same sen- 
 timent. Preparatory steps of Congress lor declaring Independence. Mr. Jef- 
 ferson appointed to prepare an animaled Address. Introductory motion of In- 
 dependence — Poweiful resistance to the measure — Heads of debate on the mo- 
 tion. Committee appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence — Mr. Jef- 
 ferson designated lo make the draught— His report, pp. 100: 107. Debates re- 
 newed on the preliminary motion. Vehement opposition to the Declaration--- 
 Parts striken out. The original instrument, with the alterations. Reception of 
 the Declaration by the people— Its immediate -aXiA ulterior influences in the 
 world— Review of its merits. E.vtracts from Ib.e writings of Mr. Jefferson. 
 Comparative merits of the leaders of the physical and the moral power of the 
 Revolution. Remarks on the attempt to detract from the merits of the Decla- 
 ration-— Letter of the Author to Mr. Madison, pp. 107 : 128. Mr. Jefferson re- 
 elected to Congress— -Reasons for declining-- Retirement. Appointed Commis- 
 sioner lo France-- Letter to Congress declining. Extract from his private me- 
 moranda, pp. 128: 132. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson resumes his Seat in the Virginia Legislature— -Commences the 
 work of repuhlicanizing the government. His bill for establishing a Judiciary 
 System— For abolishino- the Law of Enta'ls. Aristocratic peculiarities in the 
 social state of Virginia— Contrary bi-asg«s of Mr. Jefferson. His eulogium upon 
 agriculturalists. View of his objects m repealing the law of Entails. Opposi- 
 tion of the landed aristocracy. Preamble to the act, pp. 133: 137. His attack 
 upon the hierarchy. History of the Church establishment in Virginia. Resis- 
 tance of the privileged order. Final success of his efforts — Glories of this 
 achievement. He introduces a bill for abolishing the Slave trade — For establish- 
 ing a new Seat of government, pp. 138 : 144. He introduces a resolution for Re- 
 vising the Legal Code of Virginia— Appointed, with others, to execute the work. 
 Project for a Dictator — P^esistance of Mr. Jefferson— His powerful development 
 of this atrocious measure, pp. 145 : 148. Meeting of the Revisers of the Laws- 
 Plan of the work--Differcnce of opinion— Distribution of the labor— -General 
 propositions of Mr. Jeffurson— Opinion of Mr. Pendleton. Letter of Mr. J. to 
 Dr. Franklin. Passage of his bill for abolishing the Slave trallick--Historical 
 comparison of this achievement with that of the European nations — Merit of 
 priority-"Order in which the example of Virginia was followed by the other 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 States. Committee of Re visors complete their task — General rule observed by 
 Mr. Jefferson in relation to style, pp. 148 : 155. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Revisors report to the Legislature — Opinion of Mr. Madison on the Revised 
 Code— -Principal innovations by Mr. .T.— llis bill for abrnirating the right of 
 Primogeniiare— -Opposition of the aristocracy. His bill for establishing the 
 doctrine of E-/Cnatriation. Extract from Gjrardin's History. Mr. Jefferson's 
 bill for the cstabhsjimont of Religious Freedom -Men :.s of the peiTormance- — 
 Inserted at length-— Powerful influence of tliis act. Extracts from iiis Corres- 
 pondence, pp. 155 : 162. His bill for the Em;uicipatio • of Slaves-- Effect of its 
 rejection upon him— Extracts from his writmgs. His Criminal Code— -Extent of 
 its innovations on the prevailing system— Rejected by the Legislature— Amend- 
 ments proposed by him— Passed— -Preamble to the act. His Bill for the Gen- 
 eral Diffusion of iCnowle-Jge— Outlines of the proposed system-- Fate of the 
 Bill in the Lcg-islature. Extract from Notes on Virginia. Pieamble to tl'.e Ed- 
 ucation Bill— -Value set by the author upon his system. Extract from his Cor- 
 respondence. Remarks on the general merits of the Revised Code. His char- 
 acter of George Mason— of James .Madison— of Edmund Pendleton, pp. 162: 17o. 
 Removal of Burgoyne's troops to Charlottesville---Huicane attentions of Mr. 
 Jefferson— -The Governor and Council meditate their reiiioval from the State-— ■ 
 Remonstrance of Mr. Jefferson-— Gratitude of the soldiers for his generous in- 
 terposition---His answers to some of the officers, pp. 178 : 18b. 
 
 CHAPTER VIT. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson elected Governor--- Vlagnanimity towards his competitor. He 
 institutes retaliatory measures on Briiisli prisoners — Remonstrance of the British 
 General---His reply— -Approbation of his conduct b)^ the Commander in Chief. 
 Specimen of his early State-papers. Effect of his polit / upon tiie enemy --His 
 appea,! to American captives, suffering under the first c:rocts of his policy. His 
 measures for extending tiie western establishments of Vi ginia---Success. Vir- 
 ginia cedes her unappropriated territory to the U. States— Effect of this measure, 
 pp. 185 : 19&. Re-elected Governor. Distressing situaliiii of V rginia. Extra- 
 ordinary pov/ers conferred on the Gover.ior. Invasion of the Stale under Gen. 
 Leslie. Measures of defence. Honoraljle conduct of the enemy. Invasion un- 
 der Arnold. Capture of the Metiopolis. Intrepidity of tin- Governor — Attempt 
 to seize Arnold. Deplorable pituation of Virginia. Bril:3h re inforrement un- 
 der Philips. Exposure of the Governor. Invasion of Virginia by Cornwallis. 
 Governor's appeal to the Commander in chief for aid. Mr. Jefferson deehnes a 
 re-election. Closing events of liis administration. Attempted impeachment of 
 his character. Approbatory resolution of iho Legislature. Tarlton's attack on 
 Monticello. Stf-y of Carter's Mountain. Narrow escape of Mr. Jefferson. His 
 description of Co nwallis's invasion, pp. 196:208. Writes his Notes on Virginia. 
 Outlines and general incnts of the work.— His" comparison of American gen- 
 ius with that of Europe — Remarks on ihe Constitution of Virginia — on Slave- 
 ry — on Free Inquiry in matters of religion. Ajipointed a Commissioner to ne- 
 gotiate peace — Reasons for drclining. His pursuits in retirement. Description 
 of him by a traveller. Again afipointed Commissioner — Acceptance — Reasons 
 for not joining in the act of pacification, pp. 209 :223. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Re-elected to Congress — Remarks on liis re-appearance. Washington's re- 
 signation of the command of the army — Description of tlie ceremony. Appoint- 
 ed chairman of tlie committee on the ratification of tiie treaty of Peace — De- 
 bates. Contentious character of Congress described by him — Reconciling meas- 
 ure, pp. 224: 229. Appointed to draught a system of Uniform Currency for 
 the United States, and establish a Money Unit — Difference of views between 
 him and the Financier— -Adoption of liis plan — Its merits. Magnitude of his 
 Congressional duties. Appointed chairman of a committee to revise tht treas- 
 ury Department, and report — of Finance, and report — lo draught a Plan of Gov- 
 ernment tot the Western Territories, and report. On a committee of retrench- 
 ^<=^t — of locating and disposing tiie Western lands. Measur(;s taken by Con- 
 gress loi investing the General Govcrnrntui ^yith exclusive power to regulate 
 
11 CONTENTS. 
 
 Commerce— Report of the committee, pp. 229 : 232. He submits a proposition 
 for appointing a ' Committee of the States,' to serve during the recesses of Con- 
 gress — Subsequent failure of the sclieitie; humorous anecdote of Doctor Frank- 
 lin. General Wasiiington consults him on the Cincinnati institution — Its origin 
 — His opinions — Advice to Washington, who takes nieasuies to abolish the order. 
 Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary, with Franklin and Adams, for negotiating 
 treaties of commerce. To whom treaties were to be proposed, pp. 23;^: 239. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Accepts the appointment of Minister to flurope — Sails— Arrival in France, 
 Curiosity excited in the Diplomatic corps at Paris, by the instructions given to 
 our negotiators. Autliorship of these instructions- -His letter on the subject. 
 Mr. Adams joins his colleagues at Paris. General form of treaty. Result of 
 the conference with tlio French Minister. Final result of their propositions to 
 the several Powers of Europe Dignified conduct of the American negotiators, 
 pp. 240: 243. Appointed Resident Mir.ister at the Court of Vers.iilles — Recep- 
 tion at that court. Visit to London — Reception at the Court of St. James. 
 General view of his official duties at Pans. His tribute to La Fayette, and tlie 
 Count do Vergennes. His project to engage the principal European Powers in 
 a perpetual alliance with the U. States against the Piratical States--Letter to 
 Mr. Adams — His proposals-— Their receijtion, and failure, pp. 243:250. His 
 measures for securing tlie foreign credit of the United States---Visit to Holland. 
 E.xtracts, giving his op'nions on the state of society, <S:c. in Europe. Insurrec- 
 tions in America-- How viewed by him. Extracts from his letters to America. 
 Movements in the U. S. for forming a Constitution— Agency of Mr. Jefferson. 
 The National Convention meets — Diversity of opinion. His v ews consulted- 
 Advice to the members— -Result of their labors -Reception by the States-— His 
 opinions on the new Constitution---Letter to Mr. Madison---Advice on the man- 
 ner of accep'ing it — Further extracts. His influence in producing the amend- 
 ments, pp. 250 : 272. Proposed abandonmentof the navigation of tlie Mississippi 
 —Effect upon Mi'. Jefferson, and letter to Mr. Madison. He introduces into the 
 Southern states uplantl cotton and the olive tiee. Tour through France and 
 Italy — Extracts. Communicates to America a variety of new inventions, and 
 articles of culture. His scientific and literary efforts in France. Endeavors to 
 improve the architecture of the U. States. Letter to Washington on the Cin- 
 cinnati—Letters to the young men of America, pp. 272 : 287. Opening scenes of 
 the French Revolution. Causes of this strugole, as stated by Mr. Jefferson— - 
 His Letter, accompanied with a Cijarter of Piights-.-Consultation at his house, 
 and its effocts---Apo]ogy— -Charac'icr of the Queen. Departure, and Farewell 
 tribute to France. Ariival in Virginia. Receives ihe appointment of Secretary 
 of State. His answers, and final acceptance. Arrival at the Seat of Govern- 
 ment, pp 287 : 296. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Political elements of Washington's cabinet. Character of Hamilton, Adams, 
 and remarks on Knox, by Jefferson. His criticaL position, and observations. 
 Hamilton's Funding System and Assumption scheme-— Contentions excited by 
 these measures. Panic of Hamilton. Conciliatory intervention of Mr. Jefferson 
 and final passage of the Assumption---Influpnce of these measuies. National 
 Bank, and grounds of opposition. The President requires the written opinions 
 of his Cabinet. Opinion of Jeflerson. Subsequent influence of the Bank, and 
 extensive monied control of Hamilton. Ojjposition to the adniinistralioM and 
 its causes, as stated by Jefferson, pp. 296:310, Extensive duties of the State 
 Department. His Report on Coins, ic— Its outlines. Report on the Cod and 
 Whale Fislieries ; its general features Report on Commerce and Navigation ; 
 its political effects, pp. 310:322. His duties as to foreign affairs. Extracts 
 from his instructions to our Minister in Spain, on the Navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi, &c. His controversy with Mr. Hammond. In<^iructions to our Minister 
 at London on Impressment. Critical situation of the U. States, as to their foreign 
 relations. Popular feeling in favor of France. Intemperate character of the 
 French Minister. Mr. Jefferson's controversy with him, and the merits of the 
 performance--Character of Genet's communications ; his violent measures--Re- 
 quest for hisiecall decided upon ; how performed by the Secretary. Exfc"'*' 
 pp. 322 : 333. Mr. Jefferson's retiremeii* liom the Cabinet, and its cau""-" ■'■*""°'^^^ 
 
CONTENTS. 15 
 
 of Washington to prevent it; interesting Conversations between them. Ex- 
 tracts from his Correspondence, pp. 333 : 342. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Character of the struggle between the federalists and republicans. Third Con- 
 gress meets ; Mr. JefFei son's report on Commerce taken up. Further view of 
 his Opinions on Commerce, and Extracts from his writings. Charge against him 
 of partiality to France and hostility to England examined. Discriminating com- 
 mercial resolutions of Mr. Madison ; party cffo.Ms to defeat them. Exasperation 
 of parties. Nomination of a Minister Exiraordinary to the British Court ; its 
 effect on the republican party. Character of the Jay treaty, pp. 342 : 348. View 
 of Mr. Jefferson in retirement, &c.— Extracts from liis works. Appointed Presi- 
 ident of the Amer. Philo. Society ; his answer. His sensations on learning late 
 proceedings in Congress---Extracts from his writings on the political affairs 
 of the U. States, pp. 340 : 358. Explanation of his celebrated letter to Mazzei. 
 His rule regarding newspapers ; letter to General Washington. Question of 
 a successor to Washington agitated—Letter of Mr. Jefferson declining being 
 considered a candidate---<.Jharacter of the contest. Election of Adamd---Mag- 
 nanimity of Jefferson towards him, and iiis endeavors to restore harmony— Let- 
 ter to Madison. Selections from his Correspondence, displaying certain points 
 of character, pp. 358 :367. 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Political cliaracter of Adams' cabinet. Jefferson's arrival as Vice President, 
 and precaution to elude ceremony. Determination regarding executive consul- 
 tations. Separation between him and the President. His portraiture of the 
 administration. Catalogue of its most obnoxious measures. Opposition of the 
 Republican party ; its dependence on Jefferson. Extracts from his works, 
 pp. 368 : 384. Desperate situation of affairs in '98. ..99. His advice on the best 
 course of measures. Republican members of Congress letire into the State 
 legislatures. Jefferson draughts the Kentucky Resolutions. Their general char- 
 acter. Extract. Madison's Virginia Resolutions. View of Jefferson's official 
 conduct.. .Prepares his Manual of Parliamentary Practice. Parties bring out 
 their candidates for the Presidency. Character of the contest. Licentiousness 
 of the Pulpit and the Press against Jefferson. Notice of some of the principal 
 libels on his character ; his singular passiveness. Extracts from his works, 
 pp. 384: 391. Result of the election by the people. Constitutional difficulty ; 
 the federalists taking advantage of it resolve to elect Burr. Election scenes 
 in the House, and conduct of the minority. Fidelity of the republicans to, and 
 final election of Jefferson. Attempts of the federalists to extort capitulary terms 
 from him ; his answers. Causes of tiieir final abandonment of the contest, as, 
 stated by hirij. Feelings of jthe nation, pending the election in the House, and 
 subsequently. Last scenes and appointments of the defeated dynasty. Extracts 
 from his correspondence at this memorable epoch, pp. 391 :403. 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 Inauguration of Jefferson. Description of the ceremony. Inaugural addrese. 
 Formation of the Cabinet, and rules of communication. Removal of officers, 
 and rules of action. Outcry of the opposition. President's reply to New 
 Haven remonstrance. Reformation of other abuses. Private rescript of re- 
 form meditated by him. Abolition of levees. Anecdote of Washington. Rule 
 of receiving company. Moral effect of the new order of things, pp. 403:414. 
 Principle of reform. Reduction of the army and navy ; abolition of superflu- 
 ous offices, &c. Measures of the President relating to the international code of 
 mankind. Chastisement of the Mediterranean pirates. His first annual mes- 
 sage. Propositions of reform. Congratulatory addresses of the people, and his 
 answers. Effect of the proposition to abolish internal taxes, and his private ex- 
 planation, pp. 414:424. Reduction of the public debt. Extent of reformations 
 during the first Session. System of finance adopted by the President. Measures 
 adopted by him for the Purchase of Louisiana. Extracts from his works. 
 Ratification of the treaty ; merits of this achievement, pp. 424 : 436. Policy 
 of the Executive towards the Indians; its beneficial effects. Extent of native 
 title extinguished by him. His policy towards foreign nations. His views on 
 commerce, treaties and alliances. Rejection of the treaty negotiated with Great 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 Britain, and how viewed. His justification, in a letter to a fnend. Opinions of 
 the President on the Navy ; letter of John Adams to him, and reply. Insti- 
 tution of Gun Boats; outlines of the system, and historical instances of 
 its efficacy, pp. 436:450. Character of the opposition to the administration. 
 Letter of the President to Jiidu;o Sullivan on the licentiousness of the press. 
 Disunion machinations of the monarchical federalists. Extracts froin his private 
 coirespondence. Jefferson's anxiety to decline a re-election ; reasons for his 
 submitting to another trial. Character of the second contest ; unanimity of 
 the result, pp. 450 : 455. Second inaugural address. His censure upon the fa- 
 natical intruders among' the Indians. His views on the most eligible arrange- 
 ment of the Tariff after the discharge of the public debt, and on the distribution 
 of the surplus revenue. Conspiracy of ]5urr ; his designs, and trial. Immovable 
 tenure of the Judiciary. Correspondence of Jefferson on the subject, his subse- 
 quent opinions, and proposed reinedy, pp. 455 : 464. Foreign rclaiions of the U. 
 States. Embargo ; historical review of its causes. Eorlin and Milan decrees. 
 Impressment of American seamen. Outrage on the Chesapeake. Popular in- 
 iignation. Moderation of the President; approved by the federalisls. Trea- 
 -onable opposition to the embargo. Plot of John Henry. Disclosures of 
 .t. Q. Adams. Causes of opposition to, and utility of the Embargo, pp. 464 : 473. 
 Policy of the President on the Freedom of Speech, and the Press -Anecdote. 
 He discliarges those suffering under the Sedition law. Refuses to permit pros- 
 ecutions for libels against himself. Dismissal of certain prosecutions in Conn. 
 His policy on Freedom of Relioion. Letter to n clergyman. Ridiculous elec- 
 tioneering prophecies of his infidel intentions. His personal religious observan- 
 ces. Review of the minor traits of his administration. Examples of his simpli- 
 city, and disinterestedness, pp 473:483. Private labors fee. of the President. 
 His syllabus of the doctrines of Christianity. Correspondence with literary men, 
 and different societies in Europe. Efforts for the introduction of Vaccination. 
 Correspondence with the Emperor Alexander. His labors on colonization Im- 
 provements bestowed on the city of Washington. Oracular authority of his ad- 
 ministrative policy. Anecdote of Bonaparte. Urgency of the people for his 
 second re-election; his anxiety for retirement. Extracts from his letters. Re- 
 tires to private life. Gratulations of the people. His reply to the citizens of 
 Washington. Proceedings of his native county. He declines all ceremony. 
 Address of the citizens of his native county.... His aflfecting reply. Farewell 
 address of the Virginia Legislature. Remarks on the termination of his polit- 
 ical career, pp. 483 : 496. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Remarks on the nature of his retirement. His principal objects of employ- 
 ment. Selections from his Correspondence, showing his opinions on the Relative 
 Powers of the General and State governments. ..On the Relative Powers of the 
 three branches of the General government. ..On the Tendencies to Consolidation 
 and mode of resistance. ..On Internal Improvement, constructive powers, &c... 
 On Domestic Manufactures. ..On the Laboring classes. Agriculture ..On the Na- 
 tional Bank.. .On Political Parties. His character of the Sovereigns of Europe. 
 His portraiture of General Washington. His opinions of Progressive Improve- 
 ment and Popular Rights. ...On the Missouri Question. ..On the Being of a God... 
 On Religion. Loss of Friends. His advice on the Studies of young men... .On 
 Rules for the regulation of their moral conduct. His Physical Habits, pp. 
 49'i : 520. His system of employment in retirement. Description of Monticello. 
 Portraiture of Mr. Jefferson, by a guest. Number of letters received by him. 
 Treachery of correspondents. His efforts to revive ancient affections between 
 Mr. Adams and himself; reminiscence of his great regard for him. Cor- 
 respondence with Mrs. Adams. Engages the mediation of Dr. Rush. Receives 
 a friendly opening from Mr. Adams, Letter to Dr. Rush. Subsequent corres» 
 pondence between himself and Adams. Extracts, pp. 520:536. University of 
 Virginia— -His agency, and leading object in its establishment. Distinguish- 
 ing features of his public life and private character. Distressing state of his 
 finances---Letter to his grandson— Last letter to Madison. Lottery granted him. 
 Private liberality of the nation. Alarming state of his health. Letter to the 
 Mayor of Washington. Particulars of his last hours. Extraordinary circum- 
 stances of his death. Epitaph by himself. 
 
LIFE, 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSOIV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson was bom April 2d, 1743, on the farm 
 ccilled Shadwell, adjo^^ing; Monticello, in the comity of Albemarle, 
 Virginia. The dat^^^f his nativity was unknown until his decease. 
 It had been a si'^j^ct of speculation and eager scrutiny among 
 the votaries of iberty, for a long series of years, with a view to its 
 special comrx^^J^o^'^tion. Repeated attempts had been made to as- 
 certain it. "^y formal applications to him personally, on various oc- 
 casions t)y individuals, and public bodies ; but from scruples of a 
 patri<^ic nature, he always dechned revealing it, and enjoined the 
 sa)rte privacy upon his family. The principles which determiued 
 bim on this subject, were, the great indeUcacy and impropriety in pei- 
 niinng himself to be made the recipient of an homage, so incom- 
 j>atible with the stanch dignity and independence of the republican 
 character; the still greater repugnance which he should feel, to 
 seeing the birth-day honors of the Republic transferred, in any d(>- 
 gree, to any individual ; and the paramount importance over all, 
 of suppressing, at the first blush, every tendency to familiarize the 
 moral sense of freemen to thfe artificial forms and ceremonies ol" 
 royalty. He thought he discovered in the birth-day celebrations of 
 particular persons, a germ of aristocratical distinction, which it was 
 incumbent upon all such persons, by a timely concert of example, 
 to crush in the bud. Soon after his inauguration in 1801, he was 
 waited on by the Mayor and Corporation of the city of Washing- 
 Ion, with the request that he v,^ould communicate the anniversary 
 of his birth, as they were desirous of commemorating an event 
 
 3 
 
18 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 which had conferred such distinguished excellence upon their coun- 
 try. He replied, in a style of Roman heroism, " The only birth- 
 day which I recognize, is that of my country's liberties." In Au- 
 gust, 1803, he received a similar communication from Levi Lincoln, 
 in behalf of a certain association in Boston, to which he replied : 
 " Disapproving mysel? of transferring the honors and veneration 
 for the great birth-day oi our Repuljlic, to any individual, or of di- 
 viding them with individuals, I have declined letting my own birth- 
 day be known, and have '^.ngaged my family not to communicate it. 
 This has been the uniform answer to every application of the kind.'' 
 On the paternal side, Mr. Jefferson could number no titles to 
 high or ancient lineage. His ai^,estors, however, as far back as 
 they can be traced, were of solid refejectability, and among the first 
 settlers of Virginia. They emigrated to this country from Wales, 
 and from near the mountain of Snowion, the highest in Great- 
 Britain. His grand-father was the first of v]^on\ we have any par- 
 ticular information. He lived in Chesterfien county, at the place 
 called Ozborne's, and ovimed the lands, afterwa^g ([^q glebe of the 
 parish. He had three sons ; Thomas, who diti young ; Field, 
 who resided on the waters of the Roanoke, and lei numerous de- 
 r4cendants ; and Peter, the father of the subject of tk^e Memoirs, 
 who settled in Albemarle county, on the lands called '^hadwell. 
 He was the third or fourth settler in that region of the country. 
 They were all gentlemen of property and influence in the Coi-any. 
 But the chief glory of Mr. Jefferson's genealogy was the stui^ly 
 contempt of hereditary honors and distinctions, with which thc- 
 whole race was imbued. At a period when birth was the principal cir- 
 cumstance which decided rank, such a raciness and unsophisticated 
 tone of character, in an influential family, whose wealth alone was suf- 
 ficient to identify them with the aristocracy, could not but be regard- 
 ed as a novel and decisive peculiarity. It was a strong genealogical 
 feature, pervadmg all the branches of the primitive stock, and form- 
 ing a remarkable head and concentration in the individual who was 
 destined to confer immortality upon the name. With him, indeed, 
 if there was any one sentiment which predominated in early life, 
 and which lost none of its rightful ascendency through a long ca- 
 reer of enlightened and philanthropic effort, it was that of the nat- 
 ural equality of all men, in their rights and wants ; and of the noth- 
 ingness of those pretensions which 'are gained without merit and 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 19 
 
 forfeited without crime.' The boldness with which, on his first 
 entrance into manhood, he attacked and overthrew the deep rooted 
 institutions of Primogeniture and Entails, the parent sources of those 
 artificial inequalities in society which have caused so much misery 
 and oppression in the world, is an indestructible commentary upon 
 this attribute of his character. An anecdote is related by Mr. Mad- 
 ison, which is no less apposite and striking. During the infant 
 stages of our separate sovreignty, the wheels of the republican ma- 
 chine moving rather tardily and awkward, forms of government 
 were the uppermost topics every where, more especially at the con- 
 vivial board. On one of these occasions, at which Mr. Jefferson 
 was present, the question being started as to the best mode of pro- 
 viding the executive chief, it was, among other opinions, gravely ad- 
 vanced that a hereditary designation was preferable to any elective 
 process that could be devised. At the close of an eloquent effiision 
 against the agitations and animosities of a popular choice, and in 
 favor of birth, as on the whole affording a better chance for a suit- 
 able head of the government, Mr. Jefferson, with a smile, remark- 
 ed, that he had heard of a University somewhere in which the_ 
 Professorship of Mathematics tvas hereditary ! The reply, re 
 ceived with acclamation, was a coup de grace to the anti-republi- 
 can orator. 
 
 His father, Peter Jefferson, was born February 29th, 1707-8; and 
 intermarried in 1739, with Jane Randolph, of the age of 19, 
 daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that 
 name and family, settled at Dungeoness, in Goochland county, 
 who trace their pedigree far back in England and Scotland ; " to 
 which" says Mr. Jefferson, " let every one ascribe the faith and 
 merit he chooses." He was a self-educated man ; but endowed by 
 nature, with strong intellectual powers, and a constant thirst for in- 
 formation, he rose steadily by his own exertions, and acquired con 
 siderable distinction in the Colony. He was commissioned, jointly 
 with Joshua Fry, professor of mathematics in William and Mary 
 College, to designate the boundary line between Virginia and North- 
 Carolina ; and was afterwards employed, with the same gentleman, 
 to construct the first regular map of Virginia. He died August 17, 
 1757 leavino" a widow, with six daughters, and two sons, of whoni 
 Thomas was the elder. To both the sons he left large estates ; to 
 Thomas the Shadwell lands, where he was born, and which inclu- 
 
20 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Jed Monticello ; to his brother the estate on James river, called 
 Snowden, after the reputed jjirth-place of the family. The mother 
 of Mr. Jefferson survived to the fortunate year of 1776, the most 
 memorable epoch, ahke in the annals of her country, and the life 
 of her son. 
 
 At the age of five, Thomas was placed by his father at the 
 English school, where he continued four years ; at the expiration of 
 which, he was transferred to the Latin, where he remained five years, 
 under the tviition of Mr. Douglass, a clergyman from Scotland. 
 With the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, he acquired, 
 at the same time, a knowledge of the French. At this period his 
 father died, leaving him an orphan, only fourteen years of age, and 
 without a relative or friend competent to direct or advise him. 
 
 An interesting reminiscence of this critical period of his boyhootl, 
 and of the simple moral process by which he subdued, and wrought 
 into instruments of the greatest good, the perilous circumstances of 
 his position, is contained in an affectionate letter, written more than 
 fifty .years afterwards, to his grandson, in Philadelphia. It is re- 
 plete with sound admonition, applicable to every condition of youth, 
 besides affording a choice insight into the juvenile mind and habits 
 of the writer. His tastes were not so etherial, it appears, as to ex- 
 clude him altogether from the wild and boisterous joys of the chase, 
 and the turf ; but the basis of his moral composition must havt- 
 been strongly intellectual, to have reasoned with such precocity of 
 judgment "in the enthusiastic moment of the death of a fox ;" and 
 to have caught the first impulses of a future ambition so chastened 
 and elevated, amidst the engrossing transports of " the victory of 
 a favorite horse." 
 
 " Your situation, thrown at such a distance from us and alone, 
 cannot but give us all great anxieties for you. As much has been 
 secured for you, by yom- particular position and the acquaintance to 
 which you have been recommended, as could be done towards shield- 
 ing you from the dangers which surround you. But thrown on a 
 wide world, among entire strangers, without a friend or guardian to 
 advise, so young, too, and with so little experience of mankind, 
 your dangers are great, and still your safety must rest on yourself. 
 A determination never to do what "is wrong, prudence, and good 
 humour, will go far towards securing to you the estimation of the 
 world. When I recollect that at fourteen years of age, the whole 
 care and direction of myself was thrown on myself entirely, without 
 a relation or friend qualified to advise or guide me, and recollect tlie 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 21 
 
 various sorts of bad company with which I associated from time to 
 time, I am astonished I did not turn off with some of them, and 
 become as worthless to society as they w^ere. I had the good for- 
 tune to become acquainted very early with some characters of very 
 high standing, and to feel the incessant wish that I could ever be- 
 come what they were. Under temptations and difficulties, I would 
 ask myself what would Dr. Small, Mr. Wythe, Peyton Randolph, 
 do in this situation ? What course in it will ensure me their appro- 
 bation 7 I am certain that this mode of deciding on my conduct, 
 tended more to its correctness than any reasoning powers I posses- 
 sed. Knowing the even and dignified line they pursued, I could 
 never doubt for a moment which of two courses would be in char- 
 acter for them. Whereas, seeking the same object through a pro- 
 cess of moral reasoning, and with the jaundiced eye of youth, 1 
 should often have erred. From the circumstances of my position, I 
 was often thrown into the society of horse-racers, card-players, fox- 
 hunters, scientific and professional men, and of dignified men ; and 
 many a time have I asked myself, in the enthusiastic moment of 
 tlie death of a fox, ^he victory of a favorite horse, the issue of a. 
 fjuestion eloquentlv argued at the bar, or in the great council of the 
 nation, well, wb^ch of these kinds of reputation should I prefer ? 
 That of a hors^-jockey ? a fox-hunter ? an orator '? or the honest ad- 
 vocate of my country's rights? Be assured, my dear Jefferson, 
 tliat these Mtle returns into ourselves, this self-catechising habit, 
 is not trifling, nor useless, but leads to the prudent selection and 
 steady pursuit of what is right." 
 
 On the death of his father, Mr. Jefferson was placed under the 
 instruction of the Rev. Mr. Maury, father of the late Consul at 
 Liverpool, with a view to complete the necessary classical prepar- 
 ation for college. The charms of ancient learning seized with a 
 quick and powerful fascination upon his heart ; they were remarka- 
 bly congenial to his contemplative spirit, and touched the finest and 
 the sweetest susceptibilities of his nature. They were here unfold- 
 ed to him in all their richness and profusion ; and how deeply he 
 drank at the inspiring fountain, may be inferred from those exhaust- 
 less streams of classic elegance which afterwards flowed from his 
 pen, and those bright flashes of oriental imagery with which his 
 lighter writings abound. With Mr. Maury he continued two years ; 
 and then, (1760,) at the age of seventeen, he entered the college of 
 William and Mary, at which he was graduated, two years after, 
 with the highest honors of the institution. 
 
 While in college he was more remarked for solidity than spright- 
 liness of intellect. His faculties were so even and well balanced, 
 
 3* 
 
22 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 that no particular endowment appeared pre-eminent. His course 
 was not marked by any of those eccentricities which often presage 
 the rise of extraordmary genius ; but by that constancy of pursuit, 
 tliat inflexibility of purpose, that bold spirit of inquiry, and thirst 
 for knowledge, which are the surer prognostics of future greatness. 
 His habits were those of patience and severe application, which, 
 aided by a quick and vigorous apprehension, a talent of close and 
 logical combination, and a retentive memory, laid the foundation 
 sufficiently broad and strong for those extensive acquisitions which 
 he subsequently made. Matliematics was his favorite study, and 
 in that science he particularly excelled ; he nevertheless distinguish- 
 ed himself in all the branches of education embraced in the estab- 
 lished course of his Alma Mater. To his devotion to Philosophy and 
 Science, he united an exquisite taste for the Fine Arts. In those of 
 Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture, he made himself such an adept 
 as to be afterwards accounted one of the best critics of the age. For 
 Music he had an uncommon passion; and his hours of relaxation 
 were passed in exercising his skill upon the Vidin, for which he 
 evinced an early and extravagant predilection. Kjs fondness for 
 the Ancient Classics strengthened continually with hk strength, in- 
 somuch that it is said he scarcely passed a day, in all after life, with- 
 out reading a portion of them. The same remark is applicable, in 
 a more emphatic sense, to his passion for the Matliematics. He be- 
 came so well acquainted with both the great languages of antiqui- 
 tv as to read them with ease ; and so far perfected himself in the 
 French as to become familiar with it, which was of essential service 
 to him on entering the diplomatic field, subsequently assigned to 
 liiui. He could also read and speak the Italian language, and had 
 a competent knowledge of the Spanish. Such too, was his early 
 propensity of prying to the bottom of every thing, that he niade 
 himself master of the Anglo-Saxon, as a root of the English, ai^d 
 '• an element in legal Philology." 
 
 But it was the acquaintances which he had the good fortune to 
 form, while in college, which probably determined the particular 
 cast and direction of his ambition. These were the first charac- 
 ters in the society of Williamsburg, and in the whole Province ; 
 among whom he has placed on record, the names of three individ- 
 uals who were particularly instrumental in fixing his future des- 
 tinies, distinguishing each according to his appropriate merit in the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 2S 
 
 work: viz. Dr. Small, one of the professors in college, 'who mado 
 him his daily companion ; Gov. Fauquier, ' the ablest man who had 
 ever filled that office, to whose acquaintance and familiar table,' he 
 was admitted ; and George Wythe, ' his faithful and beloved Men- 
 tor in youth, and his most afiectionate friend through Ufe,' Of the 
 kindness and beneficial services of these gentlemen, we find him. 
 at the age of seventy-seven, retaining the most grateful recollections- 
 and improving his last moments, as it were, in dedicating a farewell 
 tribute of filial veneration to the memory of each. 
 
 " It was" says he "my great good fortune, and what probably fixed 
 the destines of my Ufe, that Dr. Wm. Small, of Scotland, was then 
 professor of mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful 
 branches of science, with a happy talent of communication, correct 
 and gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged and liberal mind. He 
 most happily for me, became soon attached to me, and made me his 
 daily companion when not engaged in the school ; and from hi.s 
 conversation I got my first views of the expansion of science, and 
 of the system of things in which we are placed. Fortunately, the 
 philosophical chair became vacant soon after my arrival at college, 
 and he was appointed to fill it per interim ; and he was the first 
 who ever gave, in that college, regular lectures in Ethics, Rhetoric^ 
 and Belles Lettres." 
 
 To Governor Fauquier, with whom he was in habits of intimacy. 
 is also ascribed a high character. With the exception of an extrava- 
 gant passion for gaming, he was every thing that could have been 
 wished for l^y Virginia, under the royal government. Generous, lib- 
 eral, elegant in his manners and accompUshments,his example left an 
 impression of refinement and erudition on the colony, which eminent- 
 ly contributed to advance its reputation in the Arts. " With him'' 
 continues Mr. Jefferson, "and at his table. Dr. Small and Mr, Wythe, 
 his amici onmimn horarum, and myself, formed a partie quarree, 
 and to the habitual conversations on these occasions, I owed much 
 instruction." 
 
 George Wythe, whose name will occur frequently in these 
 Sketches, was emphatically a second father to the young and 
 aspiring Jefferson. He was born about the year 1 727, of respectxi- 
 ble parentage, on the shores of the Chesapeake. His education had 
 been neglected by his parents ; and himself had led an idle and 
 voluptuous life until the age of thirty ; but by an extraordinary 
 eflfort of self-recovery, at that point of time, he overcame both 
 the want and the waste of early advantages, msomuch as to be- 
 
24 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 come the best Latin and Greek scholar in the State. He was one 
 of the foremost of the Virginia patriots during the stormy season of 
 the Revohition ; and siiccessivel)^ one of the highest legal, legisla- 
 tive, and judicial characters which that State has furnished. He 
 was early elected to the House of Delegates, then called the House 
 of Burgesses, and continued in it until transferred to Congress, in 
 1775. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, of which he had, in debate, been an eminent supporter. 
 The same year, he was appointed by the Legislature of Virginia, 
 one of the celebrated committee to Revise the Laws of the State. 
 In 1777, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Delegates; and 
 the same year was appointed Chancellor of the State, an office 
 which he held until his death, in 1806, a period of thirty years. 
 Mr. Jefferson always spoke with enthusiasm of this friend of many 
 years ; and declares it was the act of his life most gratifying to his 
 heart, to contribute what he deemed but a compliment to his "just 
 reputation." 
 
 '• No man ever left behind liim a character more venerated than 
 George Wythe. His virtue was of the purest tint ; his integrity in 
 flexible, and his justice exact; of warm patriotism, and, devoted as 
 he was to hberty, and the natural and equal rights of man, he might 
 truly be called the Cato of his country, without the avarice of the 
 Roman ; for a more disinterested person never lived. Temperance 
 and legidarity in all his habits, gave him general good health, and 
 his unaffected modesty and suavity of manners endeared hun to 
 every one. He was of easy elocution, his language chaste, method- 
 ical in the arrangement of his matter, learned and logical in the 
 xise of it, and of great urbanity in debate ; not quick of apprehension, 
 but, with a little time, profound in penetration, and sound in con- 
 clusion. In his philosophy he was firm, and neither troubhng, nor 
 perhaps trusting, any one with his religious creed, he left the world 
 to the conclusion, that that religion must be good which could pro- 
 duce a life of exemplary virtue. His stature was of the middle 
 size, well formed and proportioned, and the features of his face were 
 manly, comely, and engaging. Such was George Wythe, the hon- 
 or of his own, and the model of future times." 
 
 Immediately on leaving college, Mr. Jefferson engaged in the 
 study of the Law, under the direction of Mr. Wythe. Here, it is 
 said, fired by the example of his master, he performed the whole cir- 
 cuit of the Civil and Common Law; exploring every topic with pre- 
 cision, and fathoming every principle to the bottom. Here, also,- 
 he is said to have acquired that unrivaled facility, neatness, and or- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 25 
 
 der in business, which gave him, in eflect, in every office that he 
 filled, " the hundred hands of Briareus." With such a guide, in 
 a school of such exalted and searching discipline as that of the 
 Law, all the rudiments of intellectual greatness, could not fail of 
 being stirred into action. Aided by the propitious circumstances of 
 the times, they exhibited a rapid and portentous developementinthe 
 man who was destined to humble the pride of hoary legitimacy, 
 and prostrate its artificial scaffolding in the dust. The occasion 
 was not long wanting, which was fitted to evoke the master passion 
 of his nature in bold and prominent relief His faculties were just 
 fledging into manhood ; they had begun to assume their distinctiN-e 
 flight, and to indicate a novel and illimitable range. At this decisive 
 moment an incident occurred, which riveted them to their meditated 
 ^sphere, and kindled the native ardour of his genius into a flame of 
 fire. It was the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry, on the memo- 
 rable resolutions of 176.5, against the Stamp- Act. Yotmg Jefferson 
 was present and listened to the "bold, grand, and overwhelming 
 eloquence" of the orator of natiu'e ; the eflect of which seems never 
 to have lost its sorcery over his mind. More than fifty years after- 
 wards, he reverts to it with all the vividness of the first impression. 
 "He appeared to me," says he, "to speak as Homer Avrote." The 
 resistance to the last resolution was "most bloody ;" liut the genius 
 of Henry rose with the pressure of the occasion, and descended in 
 "one incessant storm of lightning and thunder," upon his opponents. 
 The effect was indeed tremendous ; it stitick even that veteran and 
 dignified assembly aghast. The resolutions were moved by Henry, 
 and seconded by Mr. Johnston, a memljer from the Northern Neck, 
 They were resisted by the Avhole monarchical body of the House of 
 Burgesses, as a matter of course ; and, besides, they were deemed so 
 ill advised in point of time, as to rally in opposition to them all tlie 
 old members, including such men as Peyton Randolph, Wythe, 
 Pendleton, Nicholas, Bland, &c. honest patriots, whose influence in 
 the House, had till then been unbroken. " But," says Jefferson, 
 •' torrents of sublime eloquence from Henry, backed by the solid rea- 
 soning of Johnston, prevailed. The last, however, and strongest 
 resolution, was carried but by a single vote. The deliate on it wag 
 most bloody. I was then but a student, and stood at the door of 
 communication between the house and the lobby during the whole 
 debate and vote ; and I well remember, that, after the numbers, on 
 
2(5 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 the division were told and declared from the Chair, Peyton Ran- 
 dolph, the Attorney-General, came out at the door where I was 
 standing, and said, as he entered the lobby, 'by G-d, I would have 
 given 500 guineas for a single vote : for one vote would have divid- 
 ed the House, and Robinson was in the chair, who he knew 
 would have negatived the resolution.' " It was in the midst of this 
 magniiicent appeal, so electrifying to his impassioned auditor, that 
 Henry is said to have exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with 
 the look of a god, " Caesar had his Brutus — -Charles the First his 
 Cromwell — and George the Third — ('Treason,' cried the Speaker — 
 'treason, treason,' echoed from every part of the House. It was one 
 of those trying moments which is decisive of character. Henry 
 faultered not an instant ; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing 
 on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his 
 sentence with the firmest emphasis,) wifly^oro^^ % //ie?V example. 
 If this be treason make the most of it."* " 1 well remember, says 
 Jefferson, "the cry of treason, the pause of Henry at the name of 
 George the Third, and the presence of mind with which he closed hin 
 sentence, and baffled the vociferated charge." 
 
 The grandeur of that scene, and the triumphant eclat of Henry, 
 made the heart of young Jefferson ache for the propitious moment 
 which should enrol him among the champions of persecuted human- 
 ity. Then was realized that burning vision of his fancy, which, 
 at the age of fourteen, amidst the crowning hilarities of the chase, 
 had pointed his aspirations to the more solid and rational exultation 
 which awaits "the honest advocate of his country's rights." The 
 feeling which such an exhibition would naturally produce in minds 
 of a common mould, would be temporary, partaking more of the 
 nature of animal excitement, and passing off with the occasion 
 which gave it birth. Not so with Jefferson ; the sensations which 
 it excited in him were purely intellectual; it composed his reflective 
 mind into a deep and settled reverie, which the lapse of half a cen- 
 tury had not broken, and in which were elaborated the most mo- 
 mentous theories affecting the freedom and happiness of man. 
 Already his thoughtful spirit sighed over the wronged, the degraded 
 condition of human nature, and panted for the vindication of its 
 long lost rights and liberties. The tone and strength of the mastei- 
 
 + Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry, page 65. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 27 
 
 sentiment of his mind, at this early period, are clearly iudicated by 
 those emphatic mottoes which he selected for his seals : " Ab eo lib- 
 ertas, a quo spiritus,^^ and ^^ Resistance to tyrants is obedience to 
 Gorf." These mottoes attracted great attention among his cotempo- 
 raries, and were regarded as prophetic of his destiny. They are 
 well remembered to this day, by the aged inhabitants of Virginia, 
 and associated with the warmest recollections of him, whose pres- 
 ence only is lost from among them. The seals themselves are pre- 
 served, as sacred relics, by the family of Mr. Jefferson ; and accu- 
 rate impressions of them in wax, have been obtained by his particu- 
 lar friends, in various parts of the country, by whom they are cher- 
 ished with religious regard. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to ascertain the birth of opin 
 ions on the subject of American Independence ; and to fix the pre- 
 cise epoch, and the particular individual, when and with whom the 
 stupendous conception originated. But the enquiry has been attend- 
 ed with no success, except to multiply candidates for the distinction , 
 and is, from the nature of the case, incapable of solution. It is evi- 
 dent that the measure did not result from any deliberate and precon- 
 certed design on the part of one, or any number of individuals ; but 
 from a combination of progressive, adventitious causes, generated, 
 for the most part, in the hot-bed of the British Parliament, and fos- 
 tered and matured by its unyielding obstinacy. It was the slow and 
 legitimate growth of political oppression, assisted, it is true, by the 
 great advance of certain minds beyond the general step of the age. 
 To use the happy phraseology of Mr. Jefferson, " it would be as 
 difficult to say at what moment the Revolution began, and what in- 
 cident set it in motion, as to fix the moment that the embryo becomes 
 an animal, or the act which gives him a beginning." 
 
 Whether James Otis " breathed into this nation the breath of life," 
 in the capitol of Massachusetts, or Patrick Henry "gave the first 
 impulse to the ball of the Revolution," in the House of Burgesses of 
 Virginia, as has been alternately claimed, and reclaimed against, in 
 a spirit of laudable and patriotic rivalry, by the two great States 
 which have stood forth as the chief competitors for the honor ; or 
 whether Independence "was born" in the breast of a Hancock, a 
 John or Samuel Adams, or a Christopher Gadsden, are questions, 
 which, though they furnish matter for curious and interesting specu- 
 lation, \\all probably never be decided to the satisfaction of all the 
 
28 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 parties. But it is certain that if the subject were examined with re- 
 ference to its bearing upon a Jefferson, and a similar indulgence were 
 allowed in hyperbolism, it might with equal propriety be advanced, 
 tiiat in those pointed and eloquent inscriptions, which he selected in 
 the fire of youth, as the mottoes of his seals, we discover the genn, 
 not merely of emancipated America, but of revolutionary Europe, 
 and of the general amelioration of associated man throughout the 
 world. The Revolution itself was but an inchoate movement, Amer- 
 ica alone considered ; a fGrtiori, it was but the first chapter in the 
 history of the great moral and political regeneration which is ad- 
 vancing over the earth, and to which it gave the primary impulse. 
 The mere political disseverence of the Colonies from the mother 
 country, was but the initiatory process in the grand and fundamen- 
 tal metamorphosis through which they had to pass, in order to derive 
 any essential advantages from the separation ; to Avit, the entire ab- 
 rogation of the regal investiture, and the assumption of free, indepen- 
 dent, self-government. And unless contemplated in the broad light 
 of a contest of principle^ between the advocates of republican and 
 those of kingly government, into which it finally resolved itself, it 
 is of little importance to enquire what incident gave it birth, or who 
 set it in motion. Stopping at the point at which many, who were 
 the boldest at the outset, evidently wished it to stop, and with honest 
 motives, the Revolution would have been nothing more, in effect, 
 than transferring the government to other hands, without putting it 
 into other forms ; and no change would have been wiought in the 
 political condition of the world. It would have been merely a spir- 
 ited and successful rebeUion, or rather a struggle for power, like that 
 which long embroiled the royal races of Plantagenets, Tudors, 
 and Stuarts, terminating, at best, in a limited modification of 
 the old system, and most likely, in its entire adoption, substituting 
 George or John the First, in the room of George the Third. Many a 
 firm breasted champion of the Revolution, proved deficient in metal 
 when brought to the bar of principle. The whig of the first crisis, 
 was transformed into the tory of the second, in many cases, and vice 
 
 versa. 
 
 The solution of the problem, as it is usually stated, therefore, if 
 practicable, would afford no certain criterion of the relative advance 
 of the leading minds of that period. But the question becomes a 
 rational one, and assimies a powerful interest, if presented in its 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 29 
 
 proper aspect ; when and with whom originated those eternal 
 rules of political reason and right, which crowned with glory and 
 immortality the American Revolution, and made it one in substance 
 as well as form? To whom belongs the honor of concei\Tng the 
 sublune, creative idea of giving to those detached and chaotic 
 fragments of empire, which formed the nucleus of the American na- 
 tion, not only shape and organization, but a new projectile impulse, 
 to revolve in an untried orbit, under the control of a new equilibrium 
 of forces 7 Viewing the subject under these, its moral phases, it be- 
 comes of some consequence to ascertain the origin and progress of 
 individual opinions. Those of Mr. Jefferson, both as to date and 
 character, will gradually, and in due time, unfold tiiemselves to the 
 reader, in the course of the sequel. Meanwhile, it is difficult to af- 
 firm whether Massachusetts, who has evinced an honorable degree 
 of sensibility upon this topic, will feel most solaced or rebuked by the 
 ■following compliment paid her by Mr. Jefferson, a few years since, 
 .in a letter to Samuel A. Wells. " We wiUingly cedeto her the laud 
 of having been, although not exclusively, the cradle of sound prin- 
 ciples; and if some of us believe she has deflected from them in her 
 course, we retain full confidence in her ultimate return to them." 
 Again, in a letter to General Dearborn, soon after the close of the 
 last war, he apostrophizes her, in a tone of such winning and frater- 
 nal suppUcation, and so much in unison with our position, that we 
 cannot omit introducing it here. 
 
 " Oh Massachusetts ! how have I lamented the degradation of 
 
 your apostacy ! Massachusetts, with whom I went with pride in 
 
 '76, whose vote was my vote on every public question, and whose 
 
 principles were then the standard of whatever was fiee or fearless. 
 
 But then she was under the counsels of the two Adamses ; Avhile 
 
 Strong, her present leader, was promoting petitions for submission 
 
 to British power and British usurpation. Wliile under her present 
 
 counsels, she must be contented to be nothing ; as having a vote, 
 
 indeed, to be counted, but not respected. But should the State, 
 
 once more, buckle on her republican harness, we shall receive her 
 
 again as a sister, and recollect her wanderings among the crimes 
 
 only of the parricide party, which would have basely sold what 
 
 their fathers so bravely won from the same enemy. Let us look 
 
 forward, then, to the act of repentance, which, by dismissing her 
 
 venal traitors, shall be the signal of return to the bosom, and to the 
 
 principles of her brethren ; and, if her late humiliation can just 
 
 give her modesty enough to suppose that her southern brethren 
 
 Are somewhat on a par with her in wisdom, in information, in 
 
 4 
 
30 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 patriotism, in bravery, and even in honesty, although not in psahn- 
 singing, she will more justly estimate her own relative momentum 
 in the Union. With her ancient principles, she would really be 
 great, if she did not think herself the whole. 1 should l)e pleased 
 to hear that you go into her councils, and assist in bringing her back 
 to those principles, and to a sober satisfaction with her proportionable 
 share in the direction of our affairs." 
 
 In 1767, Mr. JefTerson was inducted into the practice of the Law, 
 at the bar of the General Court, under the auspices of his learned 
 ]3receptor and friend, Mr. Wythe. He brought with him into prac- 
 tice, the whole body of ancient and modern jurisprudence, text and 
 commentary, from its rudest monuments in Anglo-Saxon, to its latest 
 depositories in polished vernacular, well systematized in his mind, 
 and ready for use at a moments v/arning. A specimen of his fa- 
 miliarity with the vast phalanx of legal authorities, from Prisot down 
 to Lord Mansfield, will presently appear ; although it was originally 
 intended as a confidential depositc in the bosom of his correspon- 
 dent. But his professional career was brief, and unfavored with 
 any occasion adequate to disclose the immensity of his technical 
 preparation, or the extent of his abihties as an advocate. The out- 
 lireak of the Revolution, which was followed by a general occlusion 
 of the Courts of Justice, trod close upon his introduction to the bar ; 
 and while it closed one important avenue to distinction, ushered him 
 upon a Ijroader and more diversified theatre of action. 
 
 During the short interval which he spent in his profession, he ac- 
 quired considerable celebrity ; iDut his forensic reputation is so dis- 
 propovtioned to his unusually versatile pre-eminence, as to have oc - 
 casioned the general impression that he was deficient in the requi- 
 site qualifications for a successful practitioner at the bar. That this 
 was not the case, however, we have the authority of a gentleman,* 
 whose opportunities of information, and well known political bias, 
 are a guaranty of the literal accuracy of his statement. "Permit 
 me," says he, "to correct an error which seems to have prevailed. 
 It has been thought that Mr. Jefferson made no figure at the bar: 
 l3Ut the case was far otherwise. There are still extant, in his own 
 fair and neat hand, in the manner of his master, a number of argu- 
 ments which were delivered by him at the bar upon some of the 
 most intricate questions of the law ; which, if they shall ever see 
 
 + William Wirt. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 31 
 
 the liglit} will vindicate his claims to the first honors of the profes- 
 sion." 
 
 Again, we have the authority of the same gentleman upon anoth- 
 er interesting point. It will be new to the reader to learn that Mr. 
 Jefferson was any thing of a popular orator. "It is true," contin- 
 ues the writer, " he was not distinguished in popular debate ; why 
 he was not so, has often been matter of surprise to those who have 
 seen his eloquence on paper, and heard it in conversation. He 
 had all the attributes of the mind, and the heart, and the soul, which 
 are essential to eloquence of the highest order. The only defect- 
 was a imysical one : he wanted volume and compass of voice for a 
 large deliberative assembly; and his voice, from the excess of his 
 sensibility, instead of rising with his feelings and conceptions, sunk 
 imder their pressure, and became gutteral and inarticulate. The 
 consciousness of this infirmity repressed any attempt in a large 
 body, in which he knew he must fail. But his voice was all suffi- 
 cient for the purposes of judicial debate ; and there is no reason to 
 dou])t, that if the services of his country had not called him away 
 so soon from his profession, his fame, as a lawyer, would now have 
 stood upon the same distmguished ground which he confessedly oc- 
 cupies as a statesman, an author, and a scholar." 
 
 The "arguments," above mentioned, have not yet seen the 
 light ; but a curious fragment exists, in the form of a letter to the 
 celebrated English whig. Major John Cartwright, which displays 
 atone view, the wonderful copiousness of legal research, fertility and 
 promptitude of reference, which he possessed, and brought down 
 with him to the age of eighty-one. This long and learned letter 
 embraces a wide range of historical details, and political informa- 
 tion ; and partakes more of the character of a treatise on the British 
 and American Constitutions, than of an epistolary communication. 
 The part which we quote, contains the detection, through a long 
 lahyrinth of legal authorities, of a fondamental heresy, which, at an 
 early period, through a palpaUe mistranslation of two words, crept 
 into the connnon law, and finally, by a series of cumulative adjudi- 
 cations, became firmly embodied in the text, 
 
 "I was glad to find in your l.ook a formal contradiction, at length, 
 of the judiciary usurpation of legislative pov/ers ; for such the judg- 
 es have usurped in their repeated decisions, that Christianity is a pa^t 
 of the common law. The proof of the contrary, which you have 
 
32 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 udduced, is iiicoiitioveitible ; to wit, that the common law existed 
 while the Anglo-Saxons were yet Pagans, at a time when they had 
 never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced, or knew that such a 
 character had ever existed. But it may amuse you, to show when, 
 and by what means, they stole this law in upon us. In a case of 
 quare impedit in the Year-book, 34. H. 6. folio 38. (anno 1458,) a 
 question was made, how far the ecclesiastical law was to be respect- 
 ed in a common law court. And Prisot, Chief Justice, gives his 
 opinion in these words. ' A tiel leis qu'ils de seint eglise out en mt 
 cien scripture covient a nous a donner credence ; car ceo common 
 ley sur quels touts manners leis sont fondes. Et auxy. Sir, nous 
 sumus obliges de conustre lour ley de saint eghse : et semblable- 
 ment ils sont obUges de conustre nostre ley. Et, Sir, si poit apperer 
 or a nousque I'evesque ad fait come un ordinary fera en tiel cas. 
 adong nous devons ceo adjuger bon, ou auterment nemy,' &c. See 
 S. C. Fitzh. Abr. du. inip. 89. Bro. Abr. Q.\x. imp. 12. Finch in 
 his first book, c. 3, is the first aflei"wards who quotes this case, and 
 mistakes it thus. 'To such laws of the church as have warrant in 
 Jioly scripture^ our law giveth credence.' And cites Prisot; mis- 
 translating '■ancien scripture,^ into '■holy scripture,'' Whereas 
 Prisot palpably says, 'to such laws as those of holy church have m- 
 ancient icriting^ it is proper for us to give credence ;' to wit, to their 
 ancient written laws. This was in 1613, a century and a half 
 after the dictum of Prisot. Wingate, in 1658, erects this false trans- 
 lation into a maxim of the common law, copying the words of 
 Finch, but citing Prisot. Wing. Max. 3. and Sheppard, title, 'Reli- 
 gion,' in 1675, copies the same mistranslation, qvioting the Y. Bi 
 Finch and Wingate. Hale expresses it in these words ; 'Christian- 
 ity is parcel of the laws of England.' 1 Ventr. 293, 3 Keb. 607. 
 But he quotes no authority. By these echoings and re-echoings 
 from one to another, it had become so established in 1728, that in 
 the case of the King vs. Woolston, 2 Stra. 834, the court would not. 
 suffer it to be debated, whether to write against Christianity was 
 punishable in the temporal court at common law. Wood, therefore, 
 409, ventures still to vary the phrase and say, that all blasphemy 
 and profaneness are offences by the common law ; and cites 2 Stra. 
 Then Blackstone, in 1763, IV. 59, repeats the words of Hale, that 
 'Christianity is part of the laws of England,' citing Ventris and 
 Strano-e. And finally. Lord Mansfield, with a little qualification, 
 in Evans's case, in 1767, says, that ' the essential principles of rc: 
 vealed rehgion are part of the common law.' Thus ingulphing 
 Bible, Testament, and all into the common law, without citing any 
 authority. And thus we find this chain of authorities hanging link 
 by link, one upon another, and all ultimately on one and the same 
 hook, and that a mistranslation of the words ' ancien scripture' 
 used by Prisot. Finch quotes Prisot ; Wingate does the same. 
 Sheppard quotes Prisot, Finch and Wingate. Hale cites nobody. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'. 33 
 
 The court, in Woolston's case, cites Hale. Wood cites Woolston's 
 case. Blackstone quotes Woolston's case and Hale. And Lord 
 Mansfield, like Hale, ventures it on his own authority. Here I 
 might defy the best read lawyer to produce another scrip of author- 
 ity for this judiciary forgery ; and I might go on further to show, 
 how some of the Anglo-Saxon priests interpolated in the text ot 
 Alfred's laws, the ^Oth, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd chapters of Exodus, 
 and the 15th of the Acts of the Apostles, from the 23d to the 29th 
 verses. But this would lead my pen and your patience too far: 
 What a conspiracy this, between Church and State." 
 
 Major Cartwright was so captivated with the contents of this let- 
 ter, that he could not resist the temptation to permit it to go to the 
 press. Its appearance in the newspapers, excited some sensation, 
 and occasioned, in part, a letter from Ed^vard Everett, requesting 
 further information upon the subject. In reply, Mr. Jefferson, after 
 alluding to the publication of his letter, under the circumstances of 
 frankness and freedom in which it ^^'as written, as " an unfair prac- 
 tice," says, it will " draw upon me the host of judges and divines. 
 They may cavil, but cannot refute it. I fear not for the accuracy 
 of any of my quotations. Tlie doctrine might be disproved by 
 many other and different topics of reasoning ; ]>ut having satisfied 
 myself of the origin of the forgery, and found how like a rolling 
 snoAV-ball, it had guthered volume, I leave its fruther pursuit to those 
 who need further proof" " A licence," continues he, "which should 
 permit ^aticien scripture' to be translated ' holij scrijjture' annihi- 
 lates at once all the evidence of language. With such a licence, 
 we might reverse the sixth commandment into ' Thou shalt not 
 omit murder.' It would be the more extraordinary in this case 
 where the mis-translation was to effect the adoption of the Avhole 
 code of the JcAvish and Christian laws in the text of our Statutes." 
 And he adds, " do we allow to our Judges this lumping legisla- 
 tion?" 
 
34 LIFE. WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson came of age in 1764. He had scarcely arrived at 
 his majority, when he was placed in the nomination of Justices for 
 the county in which he lived ; and at the first election following, 
 fx A i was chosen one of its Representatives to the Legislature. 
 tAi '^M^ He took his seat in that body in May, ITGyand distinguished 
 himself at once, by an effort of philanthropy, to which the steady 
 Uberahzation of sixty years has not brought up the tone of public 
 sentiment ; at least, so far as to reconcile the major will to the per- 
 sonal sacrifices which it involves. The moral intrepidity that could 
 prompt him, a new member, and one of the youngest in the House^ 
 to rise from his seat, with the composure of a martyr, and propose, 
 amidst a body of inexorable planters, a bill "fo?- the j)ermissiou. 
 of the Emancipation of Slaves^''' gave an earnest of his future 
 career, too unequivocal to be misunderstood. It was an act of self 
 immolation, worthy the best model of Sparta, or Rome. He was 
 himself a slave holder, and from the immense inheritance to which 
 he had succeeded, probably one of the largest in the House. He 
 knew too, that it was a measure of peculiar ocliuni^ running coun- 
 ter to the strongest interests, and most intractable prejudices of the 
 ruling population ; that it would draw upon him the keenest resent- 
 ments of the wealthy and the great, who alone held the keys of 
 honor and preferment at home, besides banishing forever, all hope 
 of a favorable consideration with the government. In return for 
 this array of sacrifices, he saw nothing await him but the satisfac- 
 tion of an approving conscience, and the distant commendation of 
 an impartial posterity. He could have no possible motive but the 
 honor of his country, and the gi-atification of a warm and compre- 
 hensive benevolence. 
 
 The bare announcement of the proposition gave a shock to the 
 aristocracy of the House, which aroused their inmost alarms. It 
 touched their sensibilities at a most irritable point, and was rejected 
 by a sudden and overwheliuing vote. Yet the courteous and concil- 
 iatory account which Mr. Jefferson has left of the transaction, 
 ascribe* the failure of the bill to the vicious and despotic influ- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 3^^ 
 
 ence of the government, which,, by its unceasing frown, overawed 
 every attempt at reform, rather than to any moral depravation of 
 the members themselves. They were not insensible to the amazingr 
 merits of the proposition. "Our mmds" says he " were circumscrib- 
 ed within narrow limits, by an habitual belief that it was our dutj" 
 to be subordinate to the mother country in all matters of govern- 
 ment, to direct all our labors in subservience to her interests, and 
 even to observe a bigotted intolerance for all religions but hers. 
 The difficulties with our Representatives were of haljit and despair, 
 not of reflection and conviction. Experience soon proved that they 
 could bring their minds to rights, on the first summons of their at- 
 tention." But indeed, under the regal government, how Avas it pos- 
 sible for any thing liberal to expect success. The C'rown had di- 
 rectly or indirectly the appointment of all officers of any moment, 
 even those, in part, of the ordinary Legislature. The King's Coun- 
 cil, as it was called, which acted as an Upper House, held their 
 places at the Royal wall, and cherished a most humble obedience to 
 that will ; the Governor, too, who had a negative on the laws, held 
 by the same tenure, and with still greater devotedness to it : and. 
 last of all, the Royal negative, which formed the rear-guard to the 
 whole, barred the final pass to every project of melioration. So 
 wanton, indeed, was the exercise of this power in the hands of his 
 Majesty, that for the most trifling reason, and sometimes for no con- 
 ceivable reason at all, he refused his assent to laws of the most salu- 
 tary tendency. Nay, the single interposition of an interested indi- 
 vidual against a law, was scarcely ever known to fail of success, 
 though in the opposite scale were placed the interests of a w^hole 
 country. 
 
 This was Mr. Jefferson's /r*/ measure of reform ; and although 
 rendered abortive by the immature state of things, it was but the 
 inception, as the reader will in due time perceive, of a long series 
 of efforts, partly successful, partly not, in the same benevolent cause. 
 It was the first public movement which he had the honor to origin- 
 ate, and the one, in all probability, whose spirit and object were 
 most congenial to his heart. Indeed, it was but the glimmering 
 of that principle, which constituted the polar star of his whole des- 
 tiny, and which afterwards burst with such astonishing magnifi- 
 cence upon the world, in that immortal manifesto of his country, 
 which proclaimed, that "all men are created equal, and endowed by 
 
36 LIFE, WniTINQS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 their Creator with certain inaUenable rights," It was the prunary 
 development of the workings of a mind which comprehendedj 
 within the mantle of its benignity, every color and condition of hu- 
 man existence ; and which saw, beyond the " rivers of blood" and 
 "years of desolation" which intervened, that enchanting vision, which 
 flashed upon his earliest musings, and kindled his expiring ener- 
 gies, — the vision of emancipated man throughout the world. But a 
 few years after his legislative debut in the cause of slavery, we find 
 him dilating with enthusiasm upon the same subject, in flying "Notes" 
 to M. de Marbois, of the Frencb legation, and recording that vehe- 
 ment and appalling admonition which recent events have almost 
 ripened into prophecy : 
 
 " Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have 
 removed their only firm l^asis, a conviction in the minds of the 
 })eople, that these liberties are of the gift of God ? That they 
 are not to be violated but with his wrath ? Indeed, I tremble for 
 my covmtry, when I reflect that God is just ; that his justice can- 
 not sleep forever : that considering numljers, nature and natural 
 means only, a revolution in the wheel of fortune, an exchange of 
 situation is among possilale events : that it may become prob- 
 able by supernatural interference ! The Almighty has no attri- 
 bute which can take side with us in such a contest." 
 
 But the business of ordinary legislation was drawing to a close 
 in Virginia. The fatal collision between Great-Britain and her 
 Colonies, had waxed to a crisis, which suspended the regular action 
 of government, and summoned the attention of its functionaries to 
 more imperious concerns. Patrick Henry, who was seven years 
 older than Mr. Jefferson, and three or four ahead of him in public 
 hfe, had hitherto been the master-spirit of the Revolution at the 
 South, and, by his superior boldness, hadsustained its principal brunt. 
 The time had now arrived, when he was to divide the burthen and 
 the glory of the distinction, with one who was his junior only in 
 years and eloquence, his equal in moral courage, but in every thing 
 else his superior, at an immeasurable distance. The same session 
 of the Legislature that first saw Mr. Jefferson a member, saw him 
 first also in the little council of the brave. The same session also, 
 (1769) witnessed the adoption of a new mode of resistance to Brit- 
 ish tyranny, which he acted a conspicuous part in promoting ; to 
 wit, the system of non-intercourse, by which the Colonies gradu- 
 ally dissolved all commercial connection with the mother country- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFF^ESSOK. 
 
 37 
 
 Tlie opponents of the embargo, who have slept a good sound sleep, 
 will now begin to bristle up, and say they have discovered, at last, 
 the very germ of that diabolical principle. But here a difficulty 
 presents itself, for the origin of the non-intercourse proceeding be- 
 longs to Massachusetts, the focus of all disinclination to embargoes I 
 The honor of it is hers; she having been pressed, from the pecu- 
 liar circumstances of her local position, to take the precedence of the 
 other Colonies in this important step. Is it possible, that the 
 bruited restrictive system, which was so humiliating in a Jefferson 
 and a Madison, and so heritical in 1 808-9, should owe its birth 
 place to the 'cradle of sound principles,' or trace its pedigree upon 
 the escutcheons of '76 ? It is no less remarkable than true. And 
 the measure, equally honorable on both occasions, was attended 
 with correspondent and glorious results to our common country. 
 Experience has proved, that the most effectual mode of warfare 
 with a nation, which excludes the principle of reciprocity from her 
 code, and grasps at monopolizing the commerce of the world, is to 
 withdraw peaceably from her intercourse, and, by a vigorous sys- 
 tem of retaliation, to debar her from ours. This indeed has never 
 failed to bring matters to a favorable issue, either by compelUng her 
 to retire upon the high ground of the Law of Nations, or by exas- 
 perating her, as in two memorable instances, to such a pitch of 
 madness, as is decreed to be the certain precursor of self-destruction. 
 But in whatever light the principle may have been viewed in 
 later times, its application was eminently efficacious in producing 
 the final appeal, in 1775. It touched, at the most sensitive and 
 irascible point, the great feeling which neutralizes every other in a 
 commercial State, to wit, tliat of interest. Happily, Mr. Jefferson 
 became a member of the Legislature, soon after the adoption of the 
 system in Massachusetts ; he foresaw its operation, if acted upon 
 generally and in concert ; and immediately conceived the design of 
 bringing Virginia up to a line with her northern sister. A concise 
 view of the state of affairs at this period is important. 
 
 The bold and unequivocal attitude into which Virginia had 
 thrown herself by the opposition, which she headed in '65, against 
 the Stamp Act, was imitated with infectious rapidity by all the 
 other Colonies ; which raised the general tone of resentment to 
 such a height, as made Great Britain herself quail before the tem- 
 pest she had excited. The Stamp Act was repealed ; but its re- 
 
38 LIFE, WRITING,?, AND OPINIONS 
 
 l^eal was soon followed by a series of parliamentary and executive 
 acts, equally unconstitutional and oppressive. Among these, were 
 the Declaratory Act of a right in the British Parliament, to tax the 
 Colonies in all cases whatsoever ; the quartering of large bodies of 
 British soldiery in the principal towns of the Colonies, at the ex- 
 pense and incessant annoyance of the inhabitants ; the dissolution, 
 in rapid succession, of the. Colonial Assemblies, and the total sus- ■ 
 pension of the legislative power in New York ; the imposition of 
 duties on all teas, glass, paper, and other articles of the most ne- 
 cessary use, imported into the Colonies, and the appointment of 
 Commissioners, armed with unlimited powers, to be stationed in the 
 several ports for the purpose of exacting the arbitrary customs. 
 These despotic measures, with others of a similar character, produc- 
 ed immediate recourse to retaliation, in the commercial Provinces. 
 The people of Massachusetts, upon whom they fell with their first 
 and heaviest pressure, were the foremost also in resisting their oper- 
 ation. They entered into an association, by which they agreed 
 and solemnly bound themselves, not to import from Great Britain 
 any of the articles taxed, or to use them. They also addressed a 
 circular letter to their sister Colonies, inviting their concurrence and 
 co-operation, in all lawful and constitutional means, for procuring 
 relief from their oppressions. Petitions, memorials, and remon 
 strances were accordingly addressed to the King and Parliament, by 
 the Legislatures of the different Colonies, entreating a rescission of 
 the obnoxious measures, and blending with their entreaties, profes- 
 sions of unv/avering loyalty. To these no answer was condescend- 
 ed. But the non-intercourse proceedings in Massachusetts were of 
 a character too ruinous to the new revenue bill, not to excite atten- 
 tion. They immediately called forth a set of joint resolutions, and 
 an address, from the I^ords and Commons. These resolutions con 
 demned, in the severest terms, all the measures adopted by the 
 Colonies. They re-asserted the right of taxation, and of quarter- 
 ing their troops upon the Colonies. They even went so far as to 
 direct, that the King might employ force of arms, sufRcient to quell 
 the disobedient ; and declared that he had the right to cause the 
 promoters of disorders to be arrested and transported to England 
 for trial. 
 
 These resolutions of the Lords and Commons arrived in America, 
 in May, 1769. The House of Burgesses of Virginia was then in 
 
OP THOMAS JEE'PERSON. 39 
 
 session, and Mr. Jefferson, as we have seen, was for the first time a 
 member. The doctrines avowed in these menacing papers, al- 
 though they were directed principally against the people of Massa- 
 chusetts, were too extraordinary to be overlooked in any assembly 
 which contained a Jefferson. They were no sooner made known 
 to the House, than he proposed the adoption of counter resolutions, 
 and advocated warmly, the propriety of making common cause 
 with Massachusetts, at the hazard of every sacrifice. Counter reso- 
 lutions, and an address to the King, were accordingly agreed to, 
 with little opposition ; and the pregnant determination wtcS then 
 and there formed, of considering the cause of any one Colony as 
 a cotnnion one. The seed of the Ajnerican Union was here first 
 sown. Who cannot perceive, in that spirit of godlike magnanimi- 
 ty, which forgot self, kindred, friends, every thing, in commissera- 
 tion of the sufferings of a distant Colony, the elements of that pow- 
 erful fraternal principle, which carried these Colonies in solid pha- 
 lanx, side to side, and step for step, through the angiy billows of the 
 Revolution ; and which, through so many years of high prosperity, 
 has overawed every rampant eliulUtion, and, by a ceaceless attrac- 
 tion, held upon its point every discordancy of interest and opinion. 
 The spark which was elicited on this occasion, was communicated 
 from heart to heart, and from Colony to Colony, until the principle 
 of <5ohesion became paramount and universal, dissolving every in- 
 congruous tie, and melting into one mass, having a common inter- 
 est and a common danger, the whole body of the people. By the 
 resolutions which they passed, the Legislature re-asserted the exclu- 
 sive right of the Colonies to tax themselves in all cases wliatsoever ; 
 denounced the recent acts of Parliament, as flagrant violations of 
 the British Constitution ; and remonstrated, sternly, against the as- 
 sumed right to transport the freeborn citizens of America to Eng- 
 land, to be tried by their inveterate enemies. The tone of these res- 
 olutions was so strong, as to excite, for the first time, the displeasure 
 of the Governor, the amiable Lord Bottetourt, whose facility of dis- 
 position was proverbial. The House had scarcely adopted, and 
 ordered them to be entered upon their journals, when they were 
 summoned to his presence, to receive the sentence of dissolution. 
 "Mr. Speaker," said he, " and gentlemen of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their 
 
40 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 effects ; you have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are 
 accordingly dissolved." 
 
 Bat the interference of the Executive had no other effect, than to 
 encourage the holy feehng it attempted to repress. The next day, 
 led on by the young spirits, Jefferson, Henry, and the two Lees, the 
 great body of the members retired to a room, called the Apollo, in 
 the Raleigh tavern, the principal hotel in Williamsburg. They 
 there formed themselves into a voluntary Convention, drew up Ar- 
 ticles of Association against the use of any merchandise imported 
 from Great Britain, signed, and recommended them to the people. 
 They repaired to their several counties, ciixulated the Articles of the 
 League among their constituents, and, to the astonishment of all, 
 so popular was the measure, that at the call of another Legislature, 
 themselves were re-elected without a single exception. 
 
 The impetus thus given to the heroic example of Massachusetts, 
 by a remote Province, carried it home to the breast of every Colony. 
 The non-importation agreement became general. All the lux- 
 uries, and many of the comforts of life, were sacrificed, at once, on 
 the altar of colonial liberty. The history of that period presents a 
 sublime spectacle of self-devotement, and rigorous patriotism. As- 
 sociations were formed at every point, and a systematic war of in- 
 terdiction and non-consumption, was directed against British mer- 
 chandise. All ranks, all ages, and both sexes joined, with holy 
 emulation, in nullifymg the unconstitutional tariff. The ladies, 
 who are never permitted to be greatest but on the greatest occasions, 
 established a pecuhar claim to pre-eminence, on this. They relin- 
 quished, without a struggle, all the elegancies, the embelhshments, 
 and even the comforts to which they had been accustomed ; and ex- 
 perienced a refined pleasure in preferring, for their attire, the simple 
 fabric of their own free hands, to the most gorgeous habiliments of 
 tyranny. In Virginia, the anti-revenue movement was reduced to 
 a system, and pursued with unparalleled rigor. A committee of vig- 
 ilance was established in every county, whose duty it was to pro- 
 mote subscriptions to the covenant, and to guard the execution of the 
 Articles. The powers of these committees, being undefined, were 
 almost unlimited. They examined the books of the merchant, 
 and pushed their inquisitorial tribunal into the sanctity of the fire- 
 side, punishing every breach, by fine and public advertisement of 
 the offender, and rewarding every observance by an appropriate 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 41 
 
 !)adge of merit. Such, too, was the imperious virtue of popular 
 ■opinion, that fi^om theii' decision there was no appeal. All who re- 
 fused to subscribe the covenant of self-disfranchisement, or proved 
 derelict in one iota, to its obligations, underwent a species of social 
 excommunication. But the examples of delinquency were exceed 
 ingly rare — of recusancy, rarer ; a few old tories only, of the most 
 intractable stamp, were sent into gentlemanly exile, beyond (he 
 mountains. 
 
 The dissolution of the House of Burgesses, was not attended, as 
 before remarked, with any change in the popular representation ; ex- 
 cept only in the very few instances of those who had decUned assent 
 to the patriot proceedings. The next meeting of tiie Legislature, of 
 any permanent interest, which was not until the spring of 1773, saw 
 Mr. Jefferson again at his post, and intent upon the great business 
 of substituting just principles of government, in the room of those 
 wliich unjustly prevailed. 
 
 A court of inquiry, held in Rhode-Island, as far back as 1762, 
 in which was vested the extraordinary power to transport persons to 
 England, to be tried for offences committed in America, w^as consid- 
 ered by him as demanding attention, even after so long an interval 
 of silence. He was not in pubhc life at the time this proceeding 
 was instituted, and consequently liad not the power to raise his voice 
 against it ; but such was his strong sense of political justice, that, w^hen 
 an important principle was violated, he deemed it never too late to 
 rally to the breach. Acquiescence in such a high-handed en- 
 croachment, would give it the force of precedent, and precedent would 
 soon establish the right. A suitable investigation and protest, too, 
 woulcTresuscitate tlie apprehensions of the Colonists, which had al- 
 -ready relapsed into a fatal repose. This, indeed, appeared to him a 
 more desirable result, than the simple reclamation of right in that par- 
 ticular case. Nothing of unusual excitement having occurred, dur- 
 ing the protracted interval of legislative interruption, the people bad 
 fallen into a state of insensibility to their situation: and yet, the same 
 causes of irritation existed, that had recently thrown them into such 
 ferment. The duty on tea, with a multitude of co-incumbrances, 
 still pressed upon them ; and the Declaratory Act, of a right in the 
 British Parliament, to bind them by their laws, in all cases whatso- 
 ever, still suspended over them, hanging by the temue of minister!' 
 
42 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 al caprice. The lethargy of the pubhc mind, under such a pressure 
 of injustice, indicated to Mr. Jefferson, a fearful state of things. It 
 presented to his philosophic eye, a degree of moral prostration, but 
 one remove from that, which constitutes the proper element for des- 
 potism, and invites its fiercest visitations. It appeared to him 
 indispensable, as a first measm-e, that something should be done, 
 to break in upon the dead calm, which rested, like an incubus, 
 on the Colonies, and to rouse the people to a sense of their real 
 situation. Something, moreover, had been perpetually wanting, to 
 produce concert of action, and a mutual understanding among the 
 Colonies ; which was essential to a systematic and efficacious resis- 
 tance. These objects could only be accomplished, he conceived, by 
 the dissemination, in an impressive form, of the earliest intelligence 
 of events, with suitable and wholesome comments. This would 
 keep their understandings sufficiently informed, and by scattering 
 the flames of excitement, which were principally local, from one Col- 
 ony to another, until the whole continent should be in a blaze, 
 would keep them, also, in a mutual and constant state of alarm. 
 With a view, therefore, to these important objects, and " not think- 
 ing the old and leading members up to the point of forwardness, 
 which the times required," he proposed to a few of the younger 
 ones, a private meeting, in the evening, "to consult on the state of 
 things." On the evening of the eleventh of March, 1773, there- 
 fore, we find this little band of Virginia patriots, consisting of Mr. 
 Jefferson, Patrick Henry, R. H. Lee, F. L. Lee, and Dabney 
 Carr, assembled together in a private room of the Raleigh tavern, 
 to deliberate on the momentous concerns of all British America. 
 The minds of these bold statesmen were in perfect unison ; and 
 the concurrence of such minds, upon such an occasion, could 
 scarcely fail to educe results, which should mark an era in the 
 history of our nation. Nor did it so fail. This little conclave, at 
 the Raleigh tavern in Williamsburg, had the distinguishing merit 
 of originating the most formidable engine of Colonial resistance, 
 that had ever been devised ; to wit, the " Committees of Correspon- 
 dence^'' between the Legislatures of the different Colonies : and the 
 first visible offspring of this measure, was a movement of inconceiv- 
 ably more consequence, not only to America, but to the world — the 
 call of a general Congress of all the Colonies. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 43 
 
 This important result was foreseen, it appears, by the meeting, 
 particularly by Mr. Jefferson, who has left us an interesting remin- 
 iscence of their doings, avoiding, in his usual way, any particular 
 mention of his own agency. 
 
 "We were all sensible that the most urgent of all measures, 
 was that of coming to an understanding with all the other Colo- 
 nies, to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, and 
 to produce a unity of action ; and for this surpose that a Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence, in each Colony, would be the best instru- 
 ment for inter-communication : and that their first measure icould 
 probably be, toj)ropose a meeting of Deputies from every Colo- 
 ny^ at some central place, who should be charged with the direction 
 of the measures which should be taken by all." 
 
 This presentiment, of the call of a General Congress, as the re- 
 sult of their meeting, must have made a powerful impression upon 
 the mind of Mr. Jefferson ; for at the age of seventy-three it was 
 still fresh in his memory. In a letter to a son of Dabney Carr, 
 in 1816, he alludes to it : "I remember that Mr. Carr and myself, 
 returning home together, and conversing on the subject, by the way, 
 concurred in the conclusion, that that measure [Committees of Cor- 
 respondence] must inevitably beget the meeting of a Congress of 
 Deputies from all the Colonies, for the purpose of uniting all in the 
 same principles and measures, for the maintenance of our rights." 
 
 It being decided to recommend the appointment of these commit- 
 tees, Mr. Jefferson proceeded to draft a set of resolutions to that in- 
 tent, and improved the opportunity to insert a special one, directing 
 an incjuiry into the judicial proceedings in Rhode-Island. The reso- 
 lutions being agreed to, it was decided to propose them to the House 
 of Burgesses, the next morning. His colleagues in council, pressed 
 uix)n Mr. Jefferson to move them; "but I urged," says he, "that 
 it should be done by Mr. Carr, my friend and brother-in-law, then a 
 new member, to whom I Avished an opportunity should be given, of 
 making known to the House, his great worth and talents." It was 
 accordingly agreed that Mr. Carr should move them ; after which, 
 this patriotic coterie dissolved, and repaired to their lodgings. 
 
 The resolutions were brought foi-ward in the House of Burgesses, 
 the next morning, by young Mr. Carr ; who failed not to exhibit on 
 the occasion, "his great worth and talents," in a speech which elec- 
 trified the whole assembly. For once, it is said, the genius of Hen- 
 ry stood rebuked, before the eloquence of such a rival. Mr. Carr 
 
44 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 was a member from the county of Louisa^ handsome in person, dig- 
 nified and engaging in manners, rich in imagination, cogent in rea-- 
 soiling, firm and undaunted in purpose, enthusiastic in the cause of 
 Uberty ; and from the high promise which tliis display of his abili- 
 ties and patriotism inspired, lie was hailed as a powerful acquisition 
 to the reform party. The members flocked around him, greeted 
 him ^^'ith praises, which spoke fervently in their countenances ; and 
 congratulated themselves on the accession of such a champion to . 
 tlieir cause. But how soon were these proud anticipations blighted . 
 Brief Mas the career of the eloquent and lamented Carr. In two 
 months from the occasion which witnessed this, his first and last 
 popular triumph, he was no more. 
 
 With what sensations Mr. Jefferson contemplated the success of 
 '•his friend and l)rother-in-law," and marked the deep sentiment of 
 admiration which pervaded every bosom, can only be imagined. 
 His great expectations were realized ; he was overpowered with de- 
 light ; and the scene altogether, made an impression upon him, 
 which time coidd not obliterate. Nearly half a century afterwards, 
 he reverts to the transaction, in a letter to a friend, v^'ith a freshness 
 which showed a heart yet warm with the feeling it excited. 
 
 "I well remember the pleasure expressed in the countenance and 
 coilversation of the members generally, on this debut of Mr. Can-, 
 and the hopes they conceived, as vv^ell from the talents as the patriot- 
 ism it manifested. But he died within tv;o months after, and in him 
 we lost a powerful fellow lajjorer. His character was of a high oi'- 
 der. A spotless integrity, soimd judgment, handsome imagination, 
 enriched by education and reading, tjuick and clear in his concep- 
 tions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with 
 the sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was 
 inflexible in whatever he thought was right : but when no moral 
 principle stood in the way, never had man more of the milk of hu- 
 man kindness, of indulgence, of softness, of pleasantry in conver- 
 sation and conduct. The lumiber of his friends, and the warmth 
 of their aticction, were proofs of his worth, and of their estimate of 
 it. To give to those now living, an idea of the affliction j^roduced 
 by his death, in the minds of all who knew him, I liken it to that 
 lately felt by themselves, on the death of his eldest son, Peter Carr. 
 so like him in all his endowments and moral qualities, and whose 
 recollection can never recur without a deep-drawn sigh from the I30- 
 som of any one who kncAV him." 
 
 The resolutions were adopted the same day, March 12, 1773, 
 without a dissenting voice. They had been drafted so dexter- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 45 
 
 ously, and in such guarded terms, as not to awaken a suspicion 
 in the old and cautious members, of their probable tendency ; whicli 
 caused a unanimous concurrence in the vote. They stand recorded 
 on the journals of the House, thus : 
 
 Whereas, the minds of His Majesty's most faithful subjects in this 
 Colony have been much disturbed, by various rumors, and reports 
 of proceedings^ tending to deprive them of their ancient, legal, and 
 constitutional rights : 
 
 "And whereas, the affairs of this Colony are frequently connect- 
 ed with those of Great Britain, as well as the neighboring Colo- 
 nies, which renders a communication of sentiments necessary ; in 
 order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness, and to quiet the minds 
 of the people, as well as for the other good purposes above mention- 
 ed : 
 
 " Be it resolved. That a standing Committee of CoiTespondence 
 and enquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, to wit : the 
 honorable Peyton Randolph, Robert C. Nicholas, Richard Bland, 
 Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick 
 Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thom- 
 as Jetf'erson, esquires, any six of whom be a committee, whose bu- 
 siness it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence 
 of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, or proceed- 
 ings of administration, as may relate to, or affect the British Colo- 
 nies in America ; and to keep up and maintain a coriespondence 
 and communication with our sister Colonies, respecting those impor- 
 tant considerations ; and the result of such their proceedings, from 
 time to time, to lay before this House. 
 
 " Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said committee, that 
 they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the princi- 
 ples and authority, on which was constituted a court of enquiry, said 
 to have been lately held in Rhode-Island, with powers to transport 
 persons accused of offences committed in America, to places beyond 
 the seas to be tried. 
 
 " The said resolutions being severally read a second time, were, 
 upon the question severally put thereupon, agreed to by the House, 
 nemine coiitradicente. 
 
 " Resolved, That the Speaker of this House do transmit to the 
 Speakers of the different Assemblies of the British Colonies on the 
 continent, copies of the said resolutions, and desire that they will 
 lay them before their respective Assemblies, and request them to ap- 
 point some person or persons of their respective bodies, to communi- 
 cate from time to time with the said conrntiittee." 
 
 The House of Burgesses had no sooner passed these resolutions, 
 than they were dissolved, as usual, by the Governor, then Lord Dun- 
 more. For, although clothed in the most plausible and inoffensive 
 
46 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 language, that watchful Executive had too much sagacit)^ not to 
 perceive, that they laid the foundation for a more formidable amount 
 of resistance, than had yet been apprehended. But the sentence 
 of dissolution had no other effect, than to give a popular impulse 
 to the proceedings that led to it ; and to excite to greater promp- 
 titude and zeal, those who were designated in the resolutions, for 
 putting the machine into operation. The very next day, the Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence assembled, organized, and proceeded to 
 business. They adopted a Circular letter, prepared by Mr. Jefter- 
 son, to the Speakers of the other Colonies, enclosing to each a copy 
 of the resolutions ; and left it in charge with their Chairman, Pey- 
 ton Randolph, who was also Speaker of the House, to transmit 
 them by expresses. The chief mover, thus had the happiness to see 
 his favorite measure in an energetic course of execution. 
 
 Although the result of the Raleigh consultation had a more 
 decisive bearing upon the subseciuent movements of the country; 
 than any recoimnendation that had preceded it, yet we find no 
 mention of the occurrence in any of the numerous books of our 
 revolution. But the history of the American Revolution has not 
 been written, so said John Adams, in 1815; Mr. Jefferson echoes 
 back the sentiment of his correspondent, and adds, it never can be 
 written. ' On the subject, says h^, of the history of the American 
 Revolution, you ask, who shall write it ? Who can write it ? And 
 who \<\Vi ever he able to v^'rite it 1 Nobody ; except merely its exter- • 
 ual facts ; all its councils, designs, and discussions were conducted 
 in secret, and no traces of them were preserved. These, which 
 are the life and soul of history, must forever be unknown.' Mr. 
 Madison is the only person now, who can be looked to with any 
 confid<nice, to supply the revelation of these 'councils and designs,' 
 and tiie public expectation is strongly directed to that quarter ; but 
 it is not probaljle that even he possesses the requisite materials foi' 
 such an undertaking. 
 
 As an example of the imperfection of our revolutionary chroni- 
 cles it should lie here noted, that the origination of these Commit- 
 tees of Correspondence between the Colonies, was for a long time 
 claimed in behalf of Massachusetts. Gordon was the first historian 
 who committed the oversight;* Marshall! copied Gordon, with 
 
 + Vol. 1. page 202. t Life of Washington, Vol. 2. p. 139. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOK. JT 
 
 some improvements upon the text ; succeeding historians, copying 
 tliem, repeated the error, until it became estal3lished. But tlie mat- 
 ter was set to riglits in a letter from Mr. Jefferson to Samuel A, 
 Wells, of Boston, dated May 12th, 1819 ; in which the historical 
 distinction is lucidly traced between the jnovincial Committees of 
 Correspondence, which originated iri Massachusetts, in 1772, and 
 the national Committees, which originated in Virginia, in 1773; 
 the former, were expressly for a correspondence among the several 
 towns of that province only ; the latter, for a correspondence among 
 the several Colonies. Mr. Wells, upon an investigation of the 
 subject, concurs in the same conclusion, in a letter to his informant ; 
 and further shows, that Massachusetts did not adopt the measure, 
 but on the receipt of the proposition from Virginia, which was at 
 their next session. Mr. Jefferson, however, is slightly mistaken in 
 ascribing the error, in the first instance, to Marshall, who is par- 
 tially supported by the previous authority ; though he does not ex- 
 pressly cite him upon the point. 
 
 The recommendation of the Virginia Legislature was responded 
 to with alacrity by the sister Colonies, and parallel Committees of 
 Correspondence were appointed by them all, as their Assemblies 
 successively convened. By this means, a channel of direct and 
 vigorous inter-comnmnication was established between the various 
 Provinces; which, by the reciprocal interchange of opinions and 
 alarms, and the mutual fusion of interests and affections, maintain- 
 ed a steady equalization of purpose and action throughout the Colo- 
 nies, and " consolidated the phalanx w^hich breasted the power of 
 Britain." The operations of this great poUtical institution were 
 incalculably beneficial to the American cause. Its precise influ- 
 ence upon the course and management of the Revolution has 
 never teen critically and historically ascertained. Its mighty cabinet 
 has never been broken open, and the contents exposed to the world ; 
 yet it Is supposed, that the publication of its voluminous correspond- 
 ence would exhibit some of the most vehement productions of Mr. 
 Jefferson's pen, as he sustained an acdve agency in its functions : 
 and it is generally believed, tJiat the revelation of its transactions 
 and counsels, would develope to the world the secret springs and 
 causes of many movements, the knowledge of which would reflect 
 accumulated gloiy on the venerated chiefs of that bold era. 
 
48 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 As was predicted Vjy Mr. Jefferson, and his confederates in the 
 scheme, .the estabhshment of Corresponding Committees resulted 
 in the convocation of a General Congress ; which event followed^ 
 indeed, the ensuing year. The intermediate steps to that unportant 
 result, require a summary notice, in order to display the connection 
 of the prophecy with the fulfilment. 
 
 The resistance to the revenue impositions had been conducted 
 with such inflexibility, and such general concert, as to have check- 
 ed the regular current of importation into the Colonies, and occa- 
 sioned a prodigious surchai-ge of the dutied commodities in Eng- 
 land. Immense quantities of tea, in particular, had accumulated 
 in the warehouses of the East India company — a monopoly, which 
 was much caressed by the Government, and had an extensive in- 
 fluence over it. This Company having obtained permission to 
 transport their tea, free of the usual export duty, from Great Brit- 
 ain to America, on condition, that upon its introduction there, the 
 duty of three pence per pound should be paid, immediately dis- 
 patched enormous shipments to Boston, and other American ports. 
 On the arrival of the tea in Boston, the patriots were thrown into a 
 phrenzy of mingled indignation and alarm. They saw, and felt, 
 that the crisis now approached, which was to decide the great ques- 
 tion, whether they would submit to taxation without representation, 
 or brave the consequences of some decisive movement, of a physi- 
 cal nature, adequate to relieve them from the emergency. For, if 
 the tea was permitted to be landed, it would be sold, the duties 
 paid, and all that they had gained, be lost. They resolved, 'there- 
 fore, that it should not be landed ; and the resolution was no sooner 
 formed, than executed, by the destruction of the entire cargo. 
 
 The intelligence of this spirited coup de main in vindication of 
 popular rights, so exasperated the British ministry, that, in their 
 thirst for vengeance, they resorted to a measure which fixed the 
 irrevocable sentence of dismemberment upon the British empire. 
 This was the famous Boston Port Bill, by which the harbor of that 
 great commercial emporium was closed against the importation of 
 any goods, wares or merchandise whatsoever, from and after the 
 first day of June, 1774. 
 
 Upon the arri,val in Bostofi of the rumor of the impending ca- 
 lamity, a meeting of the inhabitants was called ; the act was de- 
 nounced as cruel and flagitious ; they made their appeal to God 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 49 
 
 and the world. Numerous copies of tlie act were printed and dis- 
 persed over the Colonies ; and to make a deeper impression on 
 the multitude, the copies were printed on mourning paper, lx)rder- 
 od with black lines ; and they were cried through the country as 
 the ' barbarous, cruel, sanguinary and inhuman murder^* 
 
 The Legislature of Virginia was in session when the news of 
 this tyrannical interdict was received, to wit, in May, 1774. Mr. 
 Jefferson was still a member, and his sympathies for the bleeding 
 partizans of liberty at the North, now rose to a point unequalled at 
 any previous stage of their sufferings. Quickly perceiving the ad- 
 vantages to be derived from the popular effervescence, which he 
 foresaw it would create, ho as quickly devised the means for wield- 
 ing those advantages to effect, and for the l^cnefit of the common 
 cause. The history of tlie machinery, which his creative genius 
 now put in motion, is curious and interesting. Fearful to trust the 
 lead, at this propitious moment, to the tardy pace of the old mem- 
 l)ers, he again rallied the little council of chiefs, v/ith whom he had 
 confederated on the former occasion, and concerted a private meet- 
 ing, the same evening, at the Council Chaml^er of the Library, ' to 
 consult on the proper measures to be taken.' Punctual at the ap- 
 pointed hour, those kindred spirits met ; and mutually ripe in 
 sentiment, they unanimously agreed, that they ' must boldly take 
 an unequivocal stand in the line Avith Massachusetts.' They were 
 also impressed with the necessity of arousing the people from the 
 apathy into which they had fallen, as to passing events ; and for 
 this purpose, Mr. Jefferson, with a keensighted perception of human 
 nature, that would have honored the wisdom of age, proposed the 
 appointment of a day of general fasting and jirayer tlirougJiout 
 the Colony, " as most likely to call up and alarm their attention." 
 The proposition met an enthusiastic acceptance with his colleagues : 
 and he was requested to prepare the necessary instrument, to be 
 presented to the House. The reader will be cvirious to learn 
 how Mr. Jefferson proceeded to mature, and marshal in proper 
 form, the appropriate technics of so grave and serious a per- 
 formance. '• No example," says he, " of such a solemnity had ex- 
 isted since the days of ovu- distress in the war of '55, since which a 
 new generation had grown up. With the help, therefore, of Rush- 
 
 * Botta, Vol. 1. page 120. 
 
50 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 woith, whom we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents 
 and forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked 
 up a resohition, somewhat modernizing their phrases, for appointing 
 the first day of June, on which the Port Bill was to commence^ 
 for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, to implore Heaven to 
 avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in 
 support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the King and Par- 
 liament to moderation and justice." The draft was approved by 
 the consulting members ; but before they separated, another impor- 
 tant figure was necessary to be arranged ; and the manner in which 
 it was done, showed the wisdom and sagacity which presided over 
 the deliberations of that heroic conclave. " To give greater empha- 
 sis to our proposition," continues Mr. Jefferson, " we agreed to wait, 
 the next morning, on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave and religious char- 
 acter was more in unison with the tone of our resolution, and to 
 solicit him to move it." They accordingly went to Mr. Nicholas 
 the next morning. He moved it the same day, May 24th ; and 
 to their equal astonishment and gratification, it passed without 
 opposition. 
 
 The instrument was drawn up very much after the pattern of 
 the New England proclamations of the present day, with great 
 solemnity of air and phraseology, directing the members, " preceded 
 by the Speaker and mace," to assemble on the appointed day, " de- 
 voutly to implore the Divine interposition for averting the heavy 
 calamity which threatens destruction to our civil rights, and the 
 evils of civil war ; to give us one heart and one mind, firmly to 
 oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American 
 rights ; and that the minds of His Majesty and Parliament may 
 be inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, to 
 remove from the loyal people of America, all cause of alarm from 
 a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with their ruin." 
 
 The solemn example of Virginia was the signal for a general 
 movement among the Colonies. The same religious observance 
 was ordered to be kept, on the same day, in all the principal towns ; 
 and the first day of June was a day of general mourning through- 
 out the continent. Business was suspended ; the bells all sounded 
 a funeral knell; the pulpits reverberated with incendiary discourses ; 
 and every engine of popular terror was put in requisition. In Vir- 
 ginia, the heavens were shrouded in gloom ; the ministers of the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 51 
 
 relio^ion, arrayed in their long black robes, headed processions of the 
 people, and alarmed them, from the pulpit, with terrific appeals to 
 their passions ; the popular orators pronounced their inflammatory 
 harrangues ; the committees of vigilance circulated the infection 
 into every village ; and all co-operated, with prodigious effect, in 
 promoting the general conflagration. The countenances of the 
 multitude, it appears, partook wofuUy of the general eclipse. " The 
 people," says Mr. Jefferson, "met generally, with anxiety and alarm 
 in their countenances, and the effect of the day, through the whole 
 Colony, was like a shock of electricity, arousing every man, and 
 placing him erect and solidly on his centre." 
 
 But the most important transaction of this eventful session, re- 
 mains to be considered. The chain of causes and consequences, 
 conducted, by a close and happy involution, to the grand result, so 
 confidently predicted, and so much desired by Mr. Jefferson. It 
 would hardly seem credible at the present day, that a resolution for 
 the appointment of a religious ceremony, conceived in such terms of 
 mingled devotion and loyalty, as was that of the House of Burgess- 
 es, should have provoked the hostile interposition of the Executive 
 power. But so it was. The order of the House, for a general fast, 
 had no sooner fallen under the jealous eye of Lord Dunmore, than 
 he made his appearance before them with the following speech : 
 " Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House of Burgesses : I have 
 in my hand a paper published by order of your House, conceived in 
 such terms as reflect highly upon His Majesty and the Parliament of 
 Great Britain, which makes it necessary to dissolve you, and you 
 are dissolved accordingly." 
 
 But the powers of the government had become completely par- 
 alyzed in that contumacious Colony ; and its Executive decrees were 
 regarded as idle ceremonies. Disrobed of their ofllicial capacity on- 
 ly, not disheartened, nor disunited in purpose, the whole body of the 
 members, headed by the bold chiefs whom we have so often desig- 
 nated, repaired in a mass to the Apollo, the consecrated seat of their 
 former deliberations. They immediately organized themselves into 
 an independent Convention, agreed to an association, more solemnly 
 than ever, against the calamitous revenue system; declared, boldly, 
 that an attack on any one Colony, to compel submission to arbitrary 
 taxes, should be considered an attack on all British America ; and 
 instruaed their Committee of Correspondence to prq)ose to the cor- 
 
52 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 responding committees of the other Colonies, the expediency of ap- 
 pointing Deputies to meet in Congress, annually, at such place 
 as should be convenient, to direct, from time to time, the measures 
 required by the general interest. 
 
 The following is the manifesto adopted on this occasion, signed 
 l)y eighty-nine members. The internal evidence, Avhich is suffi- 
 ciently strong, is the only proof Mr. Jefferson thought proper to leave, 
 of its having come from him. 
 
 " An association, signed by eighty-nine micmbers of the late House 
 of Burgesses. We, His Majesty's most dutihd and loyal subjects, 
 the late Representatives of the good people of this country, having 
 been deprived, by the sudden interposition of the Executive part of 
 this government, from giving our countrymen the advice we wished 
 to convey to them, in a legislative capacity, find ourselves under 
 the hard necessity of adopting this, the only method we have left, 
 of pointing out to our countrymen such measures as, in our opinion, 
 are best fitted to secure our dear rights and liberty from destruction, 
 l)y the heavy hand of power now lifted against North America. 
 With much grief we find, that our dutiful applications to Great 
 Britain for the security of our just, ancient, and constitutional rights, 
 have been not only disregarded, but that a determined system is 
 formed and pressed, for reducing the inhabitants of British Ameri- 
 ca to slavery, by sul^jecting them to the payment of taxes, imposed 
 without the consent of the people or their Representatives ; and 
 that, in pursuit of this system, we find an act of the British ParUa- 
 ment, lately passed, for stopping the harbor and commerce of the 
 town of Boston, in our sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, until 
 the people there submit to the payment of such unconstitutional 
 taxes ; and which act most violently and arbitrarily deprives them 
 of their property, in wharves erected by private persons, at their 
 own great and proper expense ; which act is, in our opinion, a most 
 dangerous attempt to destroy the constitutional liberty and rights 
 of all North America. It is further our opinion, that as tea, on its 
 importation into America, is charged with a duty imposed by Par- 
 liament, for the purpose of raising a revenue, without the consent 
 (rf the people, it ought not to be used by any person who wishes 
 well to the constitutional riohts and^ liberties of British America. 
 And whereas the India company have ungenerously attempted the 
 ruin of America, by sending many ships loaded with teas into the 
 Colonies, thereby intending to fix a precedent in favor of arbitrary 
 taxation, we deem it highly proper, and do accordingly recommend 
 it stiongly to our countrymen, not to purchase or use any kind of 
 East India commodity whatsoever, except saltpetre and spices, un- 
 til the grievances of America ai'e redressed. We are further clearly 
 of opinion, that an attack made on one of our sister Colonies, to 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 53 
 
 <:ompeI submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all Brit- 
 ish America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the united 
 wisdom of the whole be applied. And for this jiur pose it is re- 
 >:ommended to the Committee of Correspondence^ that they com- 
 inunicate with thair several corresponding committees, oti the 
 expediency of appointing Depufies from the several Colonies 
 of British America, to meet iiy^ general Congress, at such place, 
 annually, as shall be thought most convenient ; there to delib- 
 erate on those general measures which the united interests of 
 America may from time to time require. 
 
 A tender regard for the interests of our fellow subjects, the mer- 
 chants and manufactm'ers of Great Britain, prevents us from going 
 further at this time ; most earnestly hoping, that the unconstitution- 
 al principle of taxing the Colonies without their consent, will not be 
 persisted in, thereby to compel us, against our wilJ, to avoid all com- 
 mercial intercourse with Britain. Wishing them and our people 
 free and happy, we are their affijctionate friends, the late Represen- 
 tatives of Virginia." 
 
 That no time might be lost in carrying into effect their own re- 
 commendation of a Congress, they did not leave their seats with- 
 out first having arranged the preliminary meeting for the choice of 
 their own Deputies. They passed a resolution soHciting the people 
 of the several cmnties, to elect Representatives, to meet at Wilhams- 
 burg, the IstJf August ensuing, to take into further consideration 
 the state of <i\^ Colony ; and particularly to appoint Delegates to the 
 General Congress, should that measure be acceded to by the Cor- 
 responding Committees of the other Colonies. The meeting then 
 dissolved ; and the members, on retm-ning to their respective coun- 
 ties, were universally greeted with the plaudits and congratulations 
 of their countrymen. 
 
54 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 From this period, 1774, the rc^^al government might be consider- 
 ed as virtually at an end, in Yii-ginia. The self-constituted Con- 
 vention, which was erected upon the ruins of the regal Legislature, 
 immediately succeeded, hj a bold usurpation, to all its functions, and 
 took the reins of the government completely into theii' own hands. 
 Agreeably to their instructions, the Committee of Correspondence 
 lost no time in proposing to the co-ordinate committees of the other 
 Provinces, the expediency of uniting in the plan of a General Con- 
 gress. They met the day after the adjournment of the Convention, 
 Mr. Jefferson in the chair ; prepared letters according to their in- 
 structions ; and dispatched them by messiengers express, to their 
 several destinations. The proposition was unanimously embraced ; 
 by Massachusetts first, whose Legislature was in session, when it 
 was received ; and by all the other Provinces, in quick succession, 
 in the order in which their respective Legislatures, or informal Con- 
 ventions, assembled. Delegates were universally chosen ; no Prov- 
 ince sending less than two or more than seven. Philadelphia, 
 forming a convenient central point, w^as designated as the place, and 
 the 5th of September ensuing, as the time, of meeting. 
 
 Agreeably to the further recommendation of the memorable 
 meeting at the Apollo, the people of the several counties of Virginia, 
 universally elected Delegates to the preliminary Convention, at 
 Williamsburg. Mr. Jefferson was chosen to represent the county in 
 which he resided. Men of the first distinction in wealth, talents and 
 wisdom, were unifonnly selected ; such as George Washington, the 
 Randolphs, Pendleton, Wythe, Henry, the Lees, Nicholas, Bland, 
 Harrison, (fcc. &c. ; and oq the first of August, '74, this formida- 
 ble body, being the first deuKjcratic Convention in Virginia, assem- 
 bled at Williamsburg, and organized for business, with all the so- 
 lemnities of the regular Legislature. 
 
 Anticipating, probably, that he should be called upon to perform 
 his usual office of draughtsman, at the Convention ; or anxious, per- 
 haps, to impress the stamp of liberality and forwardness upon their 
 doings, Mr. Jefferson, before leaving home, had prepared a code of 
 
. OF THOMAS JEFFERSON". 55 
 
 iiisti'uctions to the Delegates who should be chosen to Congress, 
 which he meant to propose for their adoption. Speaking of these 
 instructions, the author says, " they were drawn in haste, witli a 
 number of blanks, with some uncertainties_^and inaccuracies of his- 
 torical facts, which I neglected at the moment, knowing they could 
 be readily corrected at the meeting." 
 
 However much the diffidence of the author may have inclined 
 him to deprecate the rigor of criticism, by diminishing its preten- 
 sions, it is generally admitted, that this production ranks second only 
 to the Declaration of Independence ; of which it was, indeed, the 
 genuine precursor, both as it respects boldness and originality of sen- 
 timent, and unrivaled felicity of composition. He set out for Wil- 
 liamsburg, some days before that appointed for the meeting of 
 the Convention, but was arrested on his journey by sickness, which 
 prevented his attendance in person^ His ardent spirit, however, was 
 wholly there; and so anxious was he to discharge, in some way, the 
 duties of his appointment, that he forwarded by express, dupUcate 
 copies of his draught; one under cover to Patrick Henry, the other, 
 to Peyton Randolph, whom he presumed would be chairman of the 
 Convention. His own account of the reception of his draught, is 
 too interesting to be omitted. 
 
 " Whether Mr. Henry disapproved the ground taken, or was too 
 lazy to read it, — for he was the laziest man in reading I ever 
 knew,— I never learned : but he communicated it to nobody. He 
 probably thought it too bold, as a first measure, as the majority of 
 the members did. On the other copy being laid upon the table of 
 the Convention, by Peyton Randolph, as the proposition of a mem- 
 ber who was prevented from attendance, by sickness on the road, 
 tamer sentiments were preferred, and, I believe, wisely preferred ; 
 the leap I proposed being too long, as yet, for the mass of our citi- 
 zens. The distance between these, and the instructions actually 
 adopted, is of some curiosity, however, as it shows the inequality of 
 pace with which we moved, and the prudence requhed to keep front 
 and rear together." 
 
 The paper was read, nevertheless, with great avidity, by the mem- 
 bers ; and although they considered it 'a leap too long' for the pres- 
 ent state of things, they were so impressed with its profound and 
 luminous expositions of the rights and wrongs of the Colonies, that 
 they caused it to be published in pamphlet form, under the title of 
 "A Summary View of the Rights of British America." A copy of 
 the work having found its way to England, it was taken up by the 
 
Sfr LIFEy WRlTINGSr AND' OPINlOKg 
 
 whigs in Parliament, interpolated some by the celebiated Burke, iit 
 order to adapt it to opposition purposes there, and in that form ran 
 rapidly through several editions. Such doctrines as were advanced 
 in this pamphlet, had never before been heard in England, nor even 
 ventured in America; and they drew upon the author, the 
 hottest vials of ministerial wrath. The name of Jefferson was 
 forthwith enrolled in a Bill of Attainder, for treason, in company 
 with those of about twenty otlier American citizens, who were con- 
 sidered the principal 'agitators' in the Colonies. The Attainder, how- 
 ever, although actually commenced in ParUament, never came to 
 maturity, but 'was suppressed in embryo, by the hasty step of events, 
 which warned them to be a little cautious.' 
 
 This ancient paper is highly valuable, as containing the first 
 disclosure, in a round and authentic form, of the state of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson's mind, on the subject of those great political questions, whicis 
 were the bases of the American Revolution ; and as exhibiting, in 
 the discussions which it gave rise to, and in the circumstances at- 
 tending its rejection by the Convention, the ' inequality of pace' 
 with which the leaders in the American councils travelled onward, 
 to the same result. It is curious and impressive to take a retrospec- 
 tive view of the minds of that noble fraternity of American sages, 
 vAicli, some straining on to keep up, others falling bask to receive 
 them, moved in a column of unanimity and powei', which as- 
 tonished the eighteenth centmy. Nor will it be thought invidiouS; 
 at the present day, to compare the Ijirth, and trace the relative pro- 
 gress of their opinions^ on the subject of those eternal principles, 
 the practical apphcation of which, in a rational and peacable way^ 
 has already regenerated the political condition of half the world. 
 
 It appears, that in the most essential ])7'mciples involved in'the 
 emancipation of the American Colonies, from Great Britain — those 
 principles, v/hich settled the question upon its right basis, and de- 
 termined the final crisis, by forming an issue of eternal irreconcili- 
 bility — Mr. Jefferson was for a long time ahead of his cotempora- 
 ries. The great point, at which the leaders of that hazardous en- 
 terprise, with a single exception, halted, as the ne plus ultra of colo- 
 nial right, he only called the ' half-way house.' A brief memoran- 
 dum, which he himself has left of that period, explains the ground 
 which he occupied, and the precise distance between him and his 
 compatriots. Speaking of his draft of instructions, he says — 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 57 
 
 "In this I took the ground that^ from the beginning, I hac! 
 thought the only one orthodox or tenable, which was, that the rela- 
 tion between Great Britain and these Colonies, was exactly the 
 same, as that of England and Scotland, after the accession of 
 James and until the union ; and the same as her present relations 
 with Hanover, having the same executive chief, but no other neces- 
 sary political connection ; and that our emigration from England 
 to this country, gave her no more rights over us, than the emigra- 
 tions of the Danes and Saxons gave to the present authorities of 
 the mother country, over England. In this doctrine, however, I 
 had never been able to get any one to agree with me but Mr. 
 Wythe. He concurred in it from the first dawn of the question — 
 What was the pohtical relation between us and England? Our 
 other patriots. Randolph, the Lees, Nicholas, Pendleton, stopped at 
 the half-way house of John Dickinson, Avho admitted that England 
 had a right to regulate our commerce, and to lay duties on it for the 
 purposes of regulation, but not of raising revenue. But for this 
 ground there was no foundation in compact, in any acknowledged 
 principles of colonization, nor in reason — expatriation being a nat- 
 ural right, and acted on as such, by all nations, in all ages." 
 
 Again, in a letter to .Tohn Saunderson, in 1820, containing some 
 notices and recollections for the biography of George Wythe, he says : 
 
 " On the first dawn of the Revolution, instead of higgling on 
 half-way principles, as others did, who feared to follow their reason, 
 he [Wythe] took his stand 07i the solid ground, that the only link 
 of political union between us and Great Britain, was the identity 
 of our execudve ; tliat that nation, and its Parliament, had no more 
 authority over us, than we had over them ; and that we were co- 
 ordinate nations with Great Britain and Hanover." 
 
 This point is further illustrated in the Bill of Attainder, Ijefore 
 mentioned as having been commenced in the British Parhament. 
 After reciting a hst of proscriptions, among which were Hancock 
 and the Adamses, as notorious leaders of the opposition in Massa- 
 chusetts, Patrick Henry, as the same in Virginia, Peyton Randolph, 
 as President of the General Congress in Philadelphia, the Bill adds, 
 ' and Thomas Jefferson, as author of a proposition to the Convention 
 of Virginia, for an addi-ess to the King, in which was maintained, 
 that there was in right, no link of union between England and 
 the Colonies,- but that of the same King ; and that neither the 
 Parliafnent, nor amj other functionary of that government, had 
 any more right to exercise authority over the Colonies, than 
 over the Electorate of Hanover ; yet expressing, in conclusion,. 
 
 6* 
 
58 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 an acquiescence in leasonaljle restrictions of commerce, for the ben- 
 efit of Great Britain, a conviction of the mutual advantages of un- 
 ion, and a disavowal of the wish for separation.'* 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the correct definition and answer of the 
 great question, which formed the hinge of the American Revolu- 
 tion, to wit, of the right of taxation without representation, were 
 original with Mr. Jefferson. He, following out the right of ex- 
 patriation into all its legitimate consequences, advanced at once, 
 to the necessary conclusion, and the only one which he deemed or- 
 thodox or tenable — that there was no political connection whatever, 
 between the Parliament of Great Britain and the Colonies ; and, 
 consequently, that it had no right to tax them in any case — not 
 even for the regulation of connnerce. The other patriots, either 
 not admitting the right of expatriation, or, which is most likely, 
 not having pursued, to the same extent, its necessary results, con- 
 ceded the authority of Parliament over the Colonies, for the pur- 
 poses of commercial regulation, though not of raising reyenue. 
 But this was going no farther than Bmke, Chatham, Wilkes, Fox, 
 and the opposition members generally, of the House of Commons, 
 went ; and it is not improbable, that had the question been restrain- 
 ed to that issue, it would have terminated in mutual reconciliation, 
 upon that basis. But the f^uestion was not so I'etrained, and quite 
 a different conclusion resulted. It is no small evidence of orio-inal- 
 ity, that one of the youngest of the American counsellors, and a 
 youth compared to most of them, should have been the first to have 
 planted himself upon the utmost verge of colonial right, short of 
 absolute independence. 
 
 But there were other principles advanced in this bold political 
 Essay, which were deemed equally novel and extraordinary, by the 
 sages of the Virginia Convention ; and an adequate view of the 
 singular progress of the author's mind, at this period, cannot be 
 given, without presenting it entire to the reader. The richness and 
 energy of the composition, generally, and the fervid eloquence of 
 particular passages, would alone compensate for its great length. 
 It will be perceived, that, for the first time, the word 'States' is sub- 
 stituted for 'Colonies,' by the author. This will not be thought a 
 small circumstance, when it is known, that in the debates upon the 
 
 * Girardin's History of Virginia, Appendix, No. 12, note. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 59 
 
 t)eclaration of Independence even, the word 'States' was made a 
 subject of repeated cavil, and in several instances, actually expung- 
 ed. 
 
 '•' Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said Deputies, when 
 assembled in General Congress, with the Deputies from the other 
 States of British America, to propose to the said Congress that an 
 humble and dutiful address l^e presented to His Majesty, begging 
 leave to lay before him, as Chief Magistrate of the British empire, 
 the united complaints of His Majesty's subjects in America ; com- 
 plaints which are excited by many unwarrantalile encroachments 
 and usurpations, attempted to be made by the Legislature of one 
 part of the empire, upon the rights which God and the laws, have 
 given equally and independently to all. To represent to His Ma- 
 jesty that these, his States, have often individually made humble 
 application to his Imperial throne, to obtain, through its interven- 
 tion, some redress of their injured rights ; to none of which was 
 ever even an answer condescended. Humbly to hope that this, 
 their joint address, penned in the language of truth, and divested 
 of those expressions of servility which would persuade His Majesty 
 that we are asking favors, and not rights, shall obtain from His Ma- 
 jesty a more respectful acceptance ; and this His Majesty will think 
 we have reason to expect, when he reflects that he is no more than 
 the chief officer of the people, appointed by the laws, and circum- 
 scribed with definite powers, to assist in working the gi'eat machine 
 of government, erected for their use, and, consequently, subject to 
 their superintendence ; and in order that these, our rights, as well 
 as the invasions of them, may be laid more fully before His Majes- 
 ty, to take a view of them from the origin and first settlement of 
 these countries. 
 
 "To remind him that our ancestors, before their emigration to 
 America, were the free inhabitants of the British dominions in Eu- 
 rope, and possessed a right, which nature has given to all men, of 
 departing from the country in which chance, not choice, has placed 
 them, of going in quest of new habitations, and of there establish- 
 ing new societies, under such laws and regulations, as to them 
 shall seem most likely to promote public happiness. That their 
 Saxon ancestors had, under tliis universal law, in like manner left 
 their native wilds and woods in the North of Europe, had possess- 
 ed themselves of the island of Britain, then less charged with in- 
 habitants, and had established there that system of laws which has 
 so long been the glory and protection of that country. Nor was 
 ever- any claim of superiority or dependence asserted over them, 
 by that mother country from which they had migrated : and were 
 such a claim made, it is believed His Majesty's subjects in Great 
 Britain have too firm a feeling of the rights derived to them from 
 their ancestors, to bow down the sovereignty of their State before such 
 
60 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 viMonary pretensions. And it is thought that no cii'cumstance" ha^ 
 occurred to distinguish, materially, the British irom the Saxon emi^ 
 gration. America was conquered, and her settlements made and 
 firmly established, at the expense of individuals, and not of the 
 British pulilic. Their own l)lood was spilt in acquiring lands for 
 their settlement, their own fortunes expended in making that set- 
 dement effectual. For themselves they fought, for themselves 
 they conquered, and for themselves alone they have right to hold. 
 No shilling was ever issued from the public treasures of His Majes- 
 ty, or his ancestors, for their assistance, till of very late times, after 
 the Colonies had become established on a firm and permanent foot- 
 ing. That then, indeed, having become valuable to Great Britain 
 for her commercial purposes, his Parliament was pleased to lend 
 them assistance, against an enemy who would fain have draAvn to 
 herself the benefits of their commerce, to the great aggrandizement 
 of herself, and danger of Great Britain. Such assistance, and in 
 such circumstances, they had often before given to Portugal and 
 other allied States, with whom they carry on a commercial inter- 
 course. Yet these States never supposed, that by calhng in her aid, 
 they thereby submitted themselves to her sovereignty. Had such 
 terms been proposed, they would have rejected them with disdain, 
 and trusted for better to the moderation of their enemies, or to a vig- 
 oi'ous exertion of their own force. We do not, however, mean to 
 underrate those aids, which, to us, were doubtless valuable, on what- 
 ever principles granted : but we would show that they cannot give 
 a title to that authorit}'^ which the British Parliament would arro- 
 gate over us ; and that they may amply be repaid, by our giving to 
 the inhabitants of Great Britain such exclusive privileges in trade 
 as may be advantageous to them, and, at the same time, not too re- 
 strictive to ourselves. That settlement having been thus effected in 
 tlie wilds of America, the emigrants thought proper to adopt that 
 system of laws, under which they had hitherto lived in the mother 
 country, and to continue their union with her, by submitting them- 
 selves to the same common sovereign, who was thereby made the 
 central link, connecting the several parts of the empire thus newly 
 multiplied. 
 
 " But that not long were they pennitted, however far they thought 
 themselves removed from the hand of oppression, to hold undis- 
 turbed, the rights thus acquired at the hazard of their lives and loss 
 of their fortunes. A family of Princes was then on the British 
 tlirone, whose treasonable crimes against their people brought on 
 tliem, afterwards, the exertion of those sacred and sovereign rights 
 of punishment, reserved in the hands of the people for cases of ex- 
 ti'eme necessity, and judged by the constitution unsafe to be delegat- 
 ed to any other judicature. While every day brought forth some 
 new and unjustifiable exertion of power over their subjects on that 
 aide the water, it was not to be expected that those here, much 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON". 61 
 
 less able at that time to oppose the designs of despotism, should be 
 exempted from injury. Accordingly, this country, whicli had been 
 acquired by the lives, the labors, and fortunes of individual adven- 
 turers, was by these Princes, at several times, parted out and distri- 
 buted among the favorites and followers of their fortunes ; and, by 
 an assumed ri^ht of the crown alone, were erected into distinct and 
 independent governments ; a measure, which, it is believed. His 
 Majesty's prudence and understanding would prevent him from im- 
 itating at this day ; as no exercise of such power, of dividmg and 
 dismemberi]ig a country, lias ever occurred in his Majesty's realm 
 of England, though now of very ancient standing ; nor could it be 
 justified or acquiesced under there, or in any other part of His Ma- 
 jesty's empire. 
 
 " That the exercise of a free trade with all parts of the world, 
 possessed by the American colonists, as of natural right, and which 
 no law of their own had taken away or abridged, was next the ol>- 
 ject of unjust encroachment. Some of the Col6nies having thought 
 proper to continue the administration of their government in the 
 name and under the authority of His Majesty, King Charles the 
 First, whom, notwithstanding his late deposition by the Common- 
 wealth of England, they continued in the sovereignty of their State, 
 the Parliament, for the Commonwealth, took the same in high 
 offence and assumed upon themselves the power of prohibiting 
 their trade with all other parts of the world, except the island of 
 Great Britain. This arbitrary act, however, they soon recalled, and 
 by solemn treaty entered into on the 12th day of March, 1651, 
 between the said Commonwealth by their Commissioners, and the 
 Colony of Virginia by their House of Burgesses, it was expressly 
 stipulated by the eighth article of the said treaty, that they should 
 have ' free trade as the people of England do enjoy to all places 
 and with all nations, according to the laws of that CommoiiAvealth.' 
 But that, upon the restoration of His Majesty, King Charles the 
 Second, their rights of free commerce fell once more a victim to 
 arbitrary power : and by several acts of his reign, as well as of 
 some of his successors, the trade of the Colonies was laid under 
 such restrictions, as show what hopes they might form from the 
 justice of a British Parliament, were its uncontrolled power admit- 
 over these States.* History has informed us, that bodies of men, 
 as well as individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny. A 
 view of these acts of Parliament for regulation, as it has l^een af- 
 fectedly called, of the American trade, if all other evidences were 
 removed out of the case, would undeniably evince the truth of this 
 observation. Besides the duties they impose on our articles of ex- 
 port and import, they prohibit our going to any markets northward 
 
 * 12. C.2. c. 18. 15. C.2. c. n. 25. C. 2. c. 7. 7. 8. W. M. c. 22. 11. W. 
 34. Anne, 6. C. 2. c. 13, 
 
 \, 
 
62 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 of Cape Finistena, in the kiugdom of Spain, for the sale of com- 
 modities which Great Britain will not take from us, and for the 
 jxirchase of others, with which she cannot supply us ; and that; 
 for no other than the arljitrary purpose of purchasing for tliem- 
 selves, by a sacrifice of our rights and interests, certam privileges 
 in their commerce with an allied State, who, in confidence that 
 tlieir exclusive trade with America will be continued, while the 
 principles and power of the British Parliament be the same, havo 
 indulged themselves in every exorbitance which tlieir avarice could 
 dictate, or our necessities extort ; have raised their commodities 
 called for in America, to the double and treble of what they were 
 sold for, before such exclusive privileges were given them, and of 
 what tetter commodities of the same kind would cost us elsewhere \ 
 and, at the same time, give us much less for what we carry thith- 
 er, than might be had at more convenient ports. That these acts 
 prohibit us from carrying, in cjuest of other purchasers, the surplus 
 of our tobaccos, remaining after the consumption of Great Britain 
 is supplied : so that we must leave them with the British mer- 
 cliant, for whatever he will please to allow us, to be l^y him re- 
 shipped to foreign markets, where he will reap the benefits of mak- 
 ing sale of them for full value. That, to heighten still the idea of 
 Parliamentary justice, and to show with what moderation they are 
 like to exercise power, where themselves are to feel no part of its 
 weight, we take leave to mention to His Majesty certain other acts 
 of the British Parliament, l)y which they Avould prohibit us from 
 inanufiicturing, for our own use, the articles we raise on our own 
 lands, with our own laljor. By an act passed in the fifth year of 
 the reign of his late Majesty, King George the Second, an Amer- 
 ican subject is forbidden to make a hat for himself, of the fur Avhich 
 he has taken, perhaps on his own soil ; an instance of despotism, 
 to which no parallel can be produced in the most arbitrary ages 
 of British history. By one other act, passed in the twenty-third 
 year of the same reign, the iron Avhich we make, we are forbidden 
 to manufacture ; and, heavy as that article is, and necessary in ev- 
 ery branch of husbandry, besides commission and insurance, we 
 ai"e to pay freight for it to Great Britain, and freight for it back 
 again, for the purpose of supporting, not men, but machines in the 
 island of Great Britain. In the same spirit of equal and impartial 
 legislation, is to be viewed the act of Parliament, passed in the 
 fifth year of the same reign, by which American lands are made 
 subject to the demands of British creditors, while their own lands 
 were still continued unanswerable for their debts ; from which, 
 one of these conclusions must necessarily follow, either that jus- 
 tice is not the same thing in America as in Britain, or else that 
 tile British Parhament pay less regard to it here than there. But, 
 that we do not point out to His Majesty the injustice of these acts, 
 with intent to rest on that principle the cause of their nullity ; but 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON- ^ 
 
 t 
 
 to show that experience confirms the propriety of those pohtical 
 principles, which exempt us from the jurisdiction of the British 
 ParUament. The true ground on which we declare these acts 
 void, is, that the British Parliament has no right to exercise au- 
 thority over us. 
 
 " That these exercises of usurped power have not been confined 
 to instances alone, in which themselves were interested : but they 
 have also intermeddled with the regulation of the internal affairs 
 of the Colonies. The act of the 9th of Anne, for establishing a 
 post-office in America, seems to have had little connection with 
 British convenience, except that of accommodating His Majesty's 
 ministers and favorites with the sale of a lucrative and easy office. 
 " That thus we have hastened through the reigns which preceded 
 His Majesty's, during which the violations of our rights were less 
 alarming, because repeated at more distant intervals, than that 
 rapid and bold succession of injuries, which is likely to distinguish 
 the present from all other periods of American story. Scarcelv 
 have our minds been able to emerge from the astonishment, into 
 which one stroke of Parliamentary thunder has involved us, before 
 another more heavy and more alarming is fallen on us. Sino-le 
 acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a 
 day ; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, 
 and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too 
 plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to 
 slavery. 
 
 " That the act passed in the fourth year of His Majesty's reign, 
 entitled ' an act [Act for granting certain duties.] 
 
 " One other act passed in the fifth year of his reign, entitled 
 ' an act [Stamp Act.] 
 
 " One other act passed in the sixth year of his reign, entitled 
 ' an act [Act declaring the right of Parliament over the Colonies.] 
 " And one other act passed in the seventh year of his reign, en- 
 titled ' an act [Act for granting duties on paper, tea, &c.] 
 
 " Form that connected chain of parliamentary usurpations, which 
 has already been the subject of frequent applications to His Majesty, 
 and the Houses of the Lords and Commons of Great Britain ; and 
 no answers having yet been condescended to any of these, we 
 shall not trouble His Majesty with a repetition of the matters they 
 contained. 
 
 " But that one other act passed in the same seventh year of his 
 reign, .having been a peculiar attempt, must ever require peculiar 
 mention. It is entitled ' an act [Act suspending Legislature of 
 New York.] 
 
 " One Jfree and independent Legislature hereby takes upon itseff 
 to suspend the powers of another, free and independent as itselt 
 Thus exhibiting a phenomenon unknown in nature, the creator 
 .and creature of its own power. Not only the principles of oator 
 
64 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 men sense, but the common feelings of human nature must be 
 surrendered up, before His Majesty's subjects here can be persuaded 
 to beheve, that they hold their political existence at the will of a 
 British Parliament. Shall these governments be dissolved, thek 
 property annihilated, and their people reduced to a state of nature, 
 at the imperious breath of a Ijody of men whom tliey never saw, 
 in whonr they never confided, and over whom they have no pow- 
 ers of punishment or removal, let their crimes against the American 
 public be ever so great ? Can any one reason be assigned, why one 
 hundred and sixty thousand electors in the island of Great Britain 
 should give law to four millions in the States of America, every 
 individual of whom is equal to every individual of them in virtue, 
 in understanding, and in bodily strength ? Were this to be admitted, 
 instead of being a free people, as we have hitherto supposed, and 
 mean to continue ourselves, we should suddenly be found the slaves, 
 not of one, but of one hundred and sixty thousand tyrants ; dis- 
 tinguished, too, from all others, by this singular circumstance, that 
 they are removed from the reach of fear, the only restraining mo- 
 tive which may hold the hand of a tyrant. 
 
 " That, by ' an act to discontinue in such manner, and for such 
 time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading 
 or shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town and 
 within the harbor of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 in North America,'* which was passed at the last session of the Brit- 
 ish Parliament, a large and jiopulous town, whose trade was their 
 sole subsistence, was deprived of that trade, and involved in utter 
 ruin. Let us for a while, suppose the question of right suspended, 
 in order to examine this act on principles of justice. An act of 
 Parliament had been passed, imposing iuties on teas, to be paid 
 in America, against which act the Americans had protested, as 
 inauthoritative. The East India Company, who till that time] had 
 never sent a pound of tea to America on their own account, step 
 forth on that occasion, the asserters. of parliamentary right, and 
 send hither many ship loads of that obnoxious commodity. The 
 masters of their several vessels, however, on their arrival in Amer- 
 ica, wisely attended to admonition, and returned with their car- 
 goes. In the province of New England alone, the remonstrances 
 of the people were disregarded, and a compliance, after being 
 many days waited for, was flatly refused. Whether in this, the 
 master of the vessel was governed by his obstinacy, or his in- 
 structions, let those who know, say. There are extraordinary sit- 
 uations, which require extraordinary interposition. An exaspera- 
 ted people, who feel that they possess power, are not easily restrain- 
 ed within hmits strictly regular. A number of them assembled 
 
 + 14 G. 3. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 65 
 
 in the town of Boston, threw the tea into the ocean, and dis- 
 persed without doing any other act of violence. If in this they 
 did wrong, they were known, and were amenable to the laws of 
 the land ; against which, it could not be objected that they had ever, 
 in any instance, been obstructed or diverted from their regular 
 course, in favor of popular offenders. They should, therefore, not 
 have been distrusted on this occasion. But that ill-fated Colony had 
 formerly been bold in their enmities against the House of Stuart, 
 and were now devoted to ruin, by that unseen hand which governs the 
 momentous affairs of this great empire. On the partial represen- 
 tations of a few worthless ministerial dependants, whose constant 
 office it has been to keep that government embroiled ; and who, by 
 their treacheries, hope to obtain the dignity of British knighthood, 
 without calling for a party accused, without asking a proof, with 
 out attempting a distinction betAveen the guilty and the innocent, 
 the whole of that ancient and wealthy town, is in a moment re- 
 duced from opulence to beggary. Men who had spent their Jives in 
 extending the British commerce, who had invested in that place, 
 the wealth their honest endeavors had merited, found themselves 
 and their families, thrown at once on the world, for subsistence 
 by its charities. Not the hundredth part of the infiabitants of that 
 town had been concerned in the act compLauied of; many of 
 them were in Great Britain, and in other parts beyond sea ; yet 
 all were involved in one indiscriminate ruin, by a new executive 
 power, unheard of till tten, that of a British Parliament. A pro- 
 perty of the value of many millions of money was sacrificed, to 
 revenge, not to rej^ty, the los^ of a few thousands. This is ad- 
 ministering iustJ^e with a J^avy hand indeed ! And when is this 
 tempest to be arrested in ^-' course ? Two wharves are to be opened 
 agam when His Maje-y shall think proper ; the residue which hned 
 the extensive shor<^ of the bay of Boston, are for ever interdicted 
 the exercise of commerce. This little exception seems to have 
 been tirowp m for no other purpose, than that of setting a prece • 
 dent for investing His Majesty with legislative powers. If the 
 pulse of his people shall beat calmly under this experiment, anoth- 
 er and another will be tried, till the measure of despotism be filled 
 up. It would be an insult on common sense, to pretend that this 
 exception was made in order to restore its commerce to that great 
 town. The trade which cannot be received at two wharves alone, 
 must of necessity be transferred to some other place ; to which it 
 will soon be followed by that of the two wharves. Considered in 
 this hght it would be an insolent and cruel mockery at the annihi- 
 lation of the town of Boston. By the act for the suppression of 
 riots and tumults in the town of Boston,* passed also in the last ses- 
 
 + 14 G. 3. 
 
66 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 sion of Parliament, a murder committed there, is, if the Governor 
 pleases, to be tried in the court of King's Bench, in the island of 
 Great Britain, by a jury of Middlesex. The witnesses, too, on 
 receipt of such a sum as the Governor shall think it reasonable for 
 them to expend, are to enter into cognizance to appear at the trial. 
 This is, in other words, taxing them to the amount of their recog- 
 nizance ; and that amount may be v/hatever a Governor pleases. 
 For who does His Majesty think can be prevailed on to cross the 
 Atlantic, for the sole purpose of bearing evidence to a fact ? His 
 expenses are to be borne, indeed, as they shall be estimated by a 
 Governor ; but who are to feed the wife and children whom he 
 leaves behind, and who have had no other subsistence but his 
 daily labor ? Those epidemical disorders, too, so terrible in a for- 
 eign climate, is the cure of them to be estimated among the articles 
 of expense, and their danger to be warded off by the almighty 
 power of a Parliament ? And the wretched criminal, if he hap- 
 pen to have offended on the American side, stripped of his priv- 
 ilege of trial Ijy peers of his vicinage, removed from the place where 
 alone full evidence cou\d be obtained, without money, without 
 counsel, witi^ut friends, Avithout exculpatory proof, is tried be- 
 fore Judges prctVtermined to condemn. The cowaids who would 
 suffer a countryman to l)e torn from the bowels of their society, in 
 order to be thus offered a sacrifice to Parliamentary tyranny, would 
 merit that everlasting infamy now fixtd on the authors of the act ! 
 A clause, for a suin ar purpose, had bee^ introduced into an act, 
 passed in the twelfth year of l[\<, Majesty's reign, entitled " an act 
 for the better securing and preserving 'His Majesty's dock-yards 
 magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores ;" aga-iist which, as mer- 
 iting the same. censures, the several CoV»ies have hlready protested 
 " That these are the acts of power, assu^^ed by a body of men 
 foreign to our constitutions, and unack now lulled \>y our laws • 
 against which we do, on behalf of the inhabitant of Bnti^h. Amer- 
 ica, enter this our solemn and determined protest. And wa do ear- 
 nestly entreat His Majesty, as yet the only mediator) pov^^^av \^. 
 tween the several States of the British empire, to recommend to liis 
 ParUament of Great Britain, the total revocation of these' acts, 
 which, however nugatory they be, may yet prove the cause of fur- 
 ther discontents and jealousies among us. 
 
 " That we next proceed to consider the conduct of His Majesty, 
 as holding the Executive powers of the laAvs of these States, and 
 mark out his deviations from the line of duty. By the constitution 
 of Great Britain, as well as of the several American States, His 
 Majesty possesses the power of refusing to pass into a law, any bill 
 which has already passed the other two branches of the Legislature. 
 His Majesty, however, and his ancestors, conscious of the impropri- 
 ety of opposing their single opinion to the united wisdom of two 
 Houses of Parliament, while theii' proceedings were unbiassed by 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 67 
 
 interested principles, for several ages past, have modestly declined 
 the exercise of this power, in that part of his empire called Great 
 Britain. But, by change of circumstances, other principles than 
 those of justice simply, have obtained an influence on their deter- 
 minations. The addition of new States to the British empire, has 
 produced an addition of new, and sometimes, opposite interests. 
 It is now, therefore, the great office of His Majesty, to resume the 
 exercise of his negative power, and to prevent the passage of laws 
 by any one Legislature of the empii'e, which might bear injuriously 
 on the rights and interests of another. Yet this will not excuse 
 the wanton exercise of this power, which we have seen His Majesty 
 practice on the laws of the American legislatures. For the most 
 trifling reasons, and sometimes for no conceivable reason at all, 
 His Majesty has rejected laws of the most salutary tendency. The 
 abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those 
 Colonies, wliere it was, unhappily, introduced in their infant state. 
 But previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is ne- 
 cessary to exclude all further importations from Africa. Yet our 
 repeated attempts to effect this, by prohibitions, and by imposing 
 duties which might amount to a prohibition, have been hitherto de- 
 feated by His Majesty's negative : thus preferring the immediate ad- 
 vantages of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the 
 American States, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded 
 by this infamous practice. Nay, the single interposition of an in- 
 terested individual against a law, was scarcely ever know^n to fail of 
 success, though in the opposite scale v/ere placed the interests of a 
 whole country. That this is so shameful an abuse of a power, 
 trusted with His Majesty for other purposes, as if, not reformed, 
 would call for some legal restrictions. 
 
 " With equal inattention to the necessities of his people here, has 
 His Majesty permitted our laws to lie neglected in England for 
 years, neither confirming them by his assent, nor annulling them 
 by his negative : so that such of them as have no suspending clause, 
 we hold on the most precarious of all tenures, His Majesty's will : 
 and such of them as suspend themselves till His Majesty's assent 
 lie obtained, we have feared might be called into existence at some 
 future and distant period, when time and change of circumstances 
 shall have rendered them destructive to his people here. And, to 
 render this grievance still more oppressive. His Majesty, by his in- 
 structions, has laid his Governors under such restrictions, that they 
 can pass no law of any moment, unless it have such suspending 
 clause ; so that, however immmediate may be the call for legislative 
 interposition, the law cannot be executed till it has twice crossed 
 the Atlantic, by which time the evil may have spent its whole force. 
 
 " But in what terms reconcilable to Majesty, and at the same 
 time to truth, shall we speak of a late instruction to His Majesty's 
 Governor of the Colony of Virginia, by which he is forbidden to 
 
68 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 assent to any law for the division of a county, unless the new coun- 
 ty will consent to have no representative in Assembly 7 That Col- 
 ony has as yet affixed no boundary to the westward. Their west- 
 ern counties, therefore, are of indefinite extent. Some of them 
 are actually seated many hundred miles from theii- Eastern Umits, 
 Is it possil^le, then, that His Majesty can have bestowed a single 
 thought on the situation of those people, who, in order to obtain 
 justice for injuries, however great or small, must, by the laws of 
 that Colony, attend their county court at such a distance, with all 
 their witnesses, monthly, till theii- litigation be determined '? Or 
 does His Majesty seriously wish, and publish it to the world, that 
 his subjects should give up the glorious right of representation, with 
 all the benefits derived from that, and submit themselves to be ab- 
 solute slaves of his sovereign will ? Or is it rather meant to con- 
 fine the legislative body to theii" present numbers, that they may 
 be the cheaper bargain, whenever they shall become worth a pur- 
 chase. 
 
 " One of the articles of impeachment againt Tresilian and the 
 other Judges of Westminister Hall, in the reign of Richard the 
 Second, for which they suffered death, as traitors to their country, 
 was, that they had advised the King that he might dissolve his Par- 
 liament at any time : and succeeding Kings have adopted the 
 opinion of these unjust Judges. Since the establishment, however, 
 of the British constitution, at the glorious Revolution, on its free 
 and ancient principles, neither His Majesty nor his ancestors have 
 exercised such a power of dissolution in the island of Great Brit- 
 ain ;* and, when His Majesty was petitioned by the united voice 
 of his people there to dissolve the present Parhament, who had 
 become obnoxious to them, his Ministers were heard to declare, in 
 open Parliament, that His Majesty possessed no such power by the 
 constitution. But how different their language, and his practice, 
 here ! To declare, as theii' duty required, the known rights of 
 their country, to oppose the usurpation of every foreign judicature, 
 to disregard the imperious mandates of a Minister or Governor, 
 have been the avowed causes of dissolving Houses of Representa- 
 tives in America. But if such powers be really vested in His Ma- 
 jesty, can he suppose they are there placed to awe the members 
 "from such purposes as these ? When the representative body have 
 lost the confidence of their constituents, when they have notorious- 
 ly made sale of their most valual^le rights, when they have assum- 
 ed to themselves powers which the people never put into their hands, 
 
 * On further inquiry, I find two instances of dissolutions before the Parlia- 
 ment would, of itself, have been at an end : viz. the Parliament called to meet 
 August 24, 1698, was dissolved by King William, December 19, 1700, and a new 
 one called, to meet February 6, 1701, which was also dissolved November 11, 
 1701, and a new oae met December 30, 1701. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON- 6§ 
 
 then, indeed, theii' continuing in office becomes dangerous to the 
 State, and calls for an exercise of the power of dissolution. Such 
 being the causes for which the representative ]x)dy should, and 
 should not, be dissolved, will it not appear strange, to an unbiassed 
 observer, that that of Great Britain was not dissolved, while those 
 of the Colonies have repeatedly incurred that sentence ? 
 
 "But your Majesty or your Governors have carried this power be- 
 yond every limit known or provided for by the laws. After dissolving 
 one House of Representatives, they have refused to call another, so 
 that, for a great length of time, the Legislature provided by the laws 
 has been out of existence. From the nature of things, every soci- 
 ety must at all times possess within itself the sovereign power of 
 legislation. The feelings of human nature revolt against the sup- 
 position of a State so situated, as that it may not, in any emergen- 
 cy, provide against dangers which perhaps threaten immediate ruin. 
 While those bodies are in existence to whom the people have dele- 
 gated the powers of legislation, they alone possess, and may exer- 
 cise, those powers. But when they are dissolved, by the lopping off 
 one or more of their branches, the power reverts to the people, who 
 may use it to unlimited extent, either assembling together in person, 
 sending deputies, or in any other way they may think proper. We 
 forbear to trace consecjuences further ; the dangers are conspicuous 
 with v.liich this practice is replete. 
 
 " That we shall, at this time also, take notice of an error in the 
 nature of our land-holdings, which crept in at a very early period of 
 our settlement. The introduction of the feudal tenures into the 
 kingdom of England, though ancient, is well enough understood to 
 set this matter in a proper light. In the earlier ages of the Saxon 
 settlement, feudal holdings were certainly altogether unknown, and 
 very few, if any, had been introduced at the time of the Norman 
 conquest. Our Saxon ancestors held their lands, as they did their 
 personal property, in absolute dominion, disencumbered with any 
 superior, answering nearly to the nature of those possessions which 
 the Feudalists term Allodial. William the Norman first introduced 
 that system generally. The lands which had belonged to those 
 who fell in the battle of Hastings, and in the subsequent insurrec- 
 tions of his reign, formed a considerable proportion of the lands of 
 the whole kingdom. These he granted out, subject to feudal du- 
 ties, as did he also those of a great number of his new subjects, 
 who, by persuasions or threats, were induced to surrender them for 
 that purpose. But still much was left in the hands of his Saxon 
 subjects, held of no superior, and not subject to feudal conditions. 
 These, therefore, by express laws, enacted to render uniform the 
 system of military defence, were made liable to the same military 
 duties as if they had been feuds : and the Norman lawyers soon 
 found means to saddle them, also, with aU the other feudal burthens> 
 But still they had not been surrendered to the King, they were not 
 
 7* 
 
70 LIFE, WRTTISTGS, AND OPlNrONS^ 
 
 derived from his grant, and therefore they were not holden of him, 
 A general principle, indeed, was introduced, that 'all lands in Eng- 
 land were held either mediately or immediately of the Crown :' but 
 this was lx)nowed from those holdings which were truly feudal, and 
 only applied to others for the purposes of illustration. Feudal hold- 
 ings were, therefore, but exceptions out of the Saxon laws of pos- 
 session, under which all lands were held in absolute right. These, 
 therefore, still form the basis or groundwork of the common law, to 
 prevail wheresoever the exceptions have not taken place. America 
 was not conquered by William the Norman, nor its lands surrender- 
 ed to him or any of his successors. Possessions there are, undoubt- 
 edly, of the Allodial nature. Oiu" ancestors, however, who migra- 
 ted hither, were laborers, not lawyers. The fictitious principle, that 
 all lands belong originally to the King, they were early persuaded to 
 believe real, and accordingly took grants of their own lands from the 
 Crown. And while the Crown continued to giant for small sums 
 and on reasonable rents, there was no inducement to arrest the error, 
 and lay it open to public view. But His Majesty has lately taken 
 on him to advance the terms of purchase and of holding to the 
 double of what they were ; by which means the acquisition of lands 
 being rendered difficult, the population of our country is likely to he 
 checked. It is time, therefore, for us to lay this matter before His 
 Majesty, and to declare that he has no right to grant lands of him- 
 self. From the natiue and purpose of civil institutions, all the lands 
 within the limits which any particidar society has circumscribed 
 around itself, are assumed by that society, and subject to their allot- 
 ment ; this may l)e done l)y themselves assembled collectively, ov 
 by their Legislature, to whom they may have delegated sovereign 
 authority : and, if they are allotted in neither of these ways, each 
 individual of the society may appropriate to himself such lands as he 
 finds vacant, and occupancy will give him title. 
 
 " That, in order to enforce the arbitrary measures before com- 
 plained of, His Majesty has, from time to time, sent among us large 
 bodies of armed forces, viot made up of the people here, nor raised by 
 the authority of our laws. Did His Majesty possess such a right as 
 this, it might swallow up all our other rights whenever he should 
 think proper. But His Majesty has no right to land a single armed 
 man on our shores ; and those whom he sends here are liable to 
 our laws for the suppression and punishment of riots, routs, and un- 
 lawful assemblies, or are hostile bodies invading us in defiance of 
 law. When, in the course of the late war, it became expedient that 
 a l)ody of Hanoverian troops should be brought over for the defence 
 of Great Britain, His Majesty's gi'andfather, our late sovereign, did 
 not pretend to introduce them under any authority he possessed. 
 Such a measure would have given just alarm to his subjects of 
 Great Britain, whose liberties would not be safe if armed men of an- 
 other country, and of another spirit, might be brought into the realm 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. Ti 
 
 at any time, without the consent of their Legislature. He, there- 
 fore, apphed to Parhament, who passed an act for that purpose, hm- 
 iting the number to be brought in, and the time they were to^contin- 
 ue. In hke manner is His Majesty restrained in every part of the 
 empire. He possesses indeed tlie executive power of the laws in 
 every State ; but they are the laws of the particular State, which he 
 is to administer within that State, and not those of any one within 
 the limits of another. Every State must judge for itself, the num- 
 ber of armed men which they may safely trust among them, of 
 whom they are to consist, and under what restrictions they are to be 
 laid. To render these proceedings still more criminal against our 
 laws, instead of subjecting the military to the civil power. His Majes- 
 ty has expressly made the civil subordinate to the military. But 
 can His Majesty thus put down all law under his feet ? Can he 
 erect a power superior to that which erected himself? He has done 
 it indeed by force ; but let him remember that force cannot give right. 
 " That these are our grievances, which we have thus laid before 
 His Majesty, Avith that freedom of language and sentiment which 
 becomes a free people, claiming their rights as derived from the laws 
 of nature, and not as the gift of their Chief Magistrate. Let those 
 flatter, who fear : it is not an American art. To give praise where 
 it is not due, might he well from the venal, but would ill beseem 
 those who are asserting the rights of human nature. They know, 
 and will, therefore, say, that Kings are the servants, not the propri- 
 etors of the people. Open your breast, Sire, to liberal and expand- 
 ed thought. Let not the name of George the Third be a blot on 
 the page of history. You are surrounded by British counsellors, but 
 remember that they are parties. You have no ministers for Amer- 
 ican affairs, because you have none taken from among us, nor amena- 
 ble to the laws on which they are to give you advice. It behoves you, 
 therefore, to think and to act for yourself and yom- people. The great 
 principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader : to pursue 
 them, requires not the aid of many counsellors. The whole art of 
 government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do 
 your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail. No 
 longer persevere in sacrificing the rights of one part of the empu'e, 
 to the inordinate desires of another : but deal out to all equal and 
 impartial right. Let no act be passed by any one Legislature, which 
 may infringe on the rights and liberties of another. This is the impor- 
 tant post in which fortune has placed you, holding the balance of a 
 great, if a well poised empire. This, Sire, is the advice of your great 
 American council, on the observance of which may, perhaps, depend 
 your fehcity and future fame, and the preservation of that harmony 
 which alone can continue, both to Great Britain and America, the 
 reciprocal advantages of their connexion. It is neither our wish 
 nor our interest to separate from her. We are willing, on our part, 
 to sacrifice every thing which reason can ask, to the restoration of 
 
72 , LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tliat tranquillity for which all must wish. On their part, let tneiTS 
 be ready to establish union on a generous plan. Let them name 
 tlieir terms, but let them be just. Accept of every commercial pre- 
 ference it is in our power to give, for such things as we can raise for 
 tlieir use, or they make for ours. But let them not think to exclude 
 us from going to other markets, to dispose of those commodities 
 wliicli they cannot use, nor to supply those wants which they can- 
 not supply. Still less, let it be proposed, that our properties, within 
 our own territories, shall be taxed or regulated by any power on 
 earth, but our own. The God who gave us life, gave us hberty at 
 the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin 
 them. This, Sire, is our last, our determined resolution. And that 
 you will be pleased to interpose, with that efficacy which your earn- 
 esst endeavors may insure, to procure redress of these our great 
 grievances, to quiet the minds of your sulijects in British America 
 against any apprehensions of future encroachment, to establish fra- 
 ternal love and harmony through the whole empire, and that that 
 may continue to the latest ages of time, is the fervent prayer of all 
 Britisli America." 
 
 Upon a critical examination of this valuable paper, it will be per- 
 ceived, that the author had akeady attained to those sublime and 
 fundamental discoveries in Political Science, which have since, 
 through the unitedinstrumentalityof himself and his disciples, receiv- 
 ed such an astonisliing exemplification before the world. It is a 
 more learned and elementary production, than the Declaration of 
 Independence ; to wdiich it is not inferior as a literary performance ; 
 but in power and sublimity of conception, greatly overshadowed, as 
 is every other monument of human genius, by the 'Declaratory 
 Charter of our rights and of the rights of man.' 
 
 The author begins with the vindication of tire first principle of 
 all jx»litical truth, the sovereignty of the people, as a right which 
 they derive from God, and not from His Majesty ; Avho, he boldly 
 affirms, 'is no more than the chief officer of tire people, appointed 
 by the laws, and circumscribed with definite powers, to assist in 
 working the great machine of government, erected for their use, 
 and consequently subject to their superintendence.' He next pro- 
 ceeds to vindicate the right of expatriation, showing that the bar- 
 barian nations in the North of Europe, from whom the inhabitants 
 of Great Britain descended, would have as good right to usurp ju- 
 risdiction over them, as they have over us ; and from this right, the 
 basis of every other, he deduces the broad principle, that the Amer- 
 ican 'States' were co-ordinate nations with Great Britain herself^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 73 
 
 liaving a common Executive head, but no other link of poUtical 
 union. The doctors of nullification would here find a triumphant 
 justification of their theory, should it be made to appear, that the 
 States possess the same relation to the federal, that they then did 
 to the mother, government ! He repudiates, with Ijecoming satire, 
 the fictitious principle of the common law, that all lands belong me- 
 diately or immediately to the Crown ; and says, ' it is high time to 
 declare, that His Majesty has no/ight to grant lands of himself.' 
 Finally, he tells His Majesty to 'open his breast to liberal and ex- 
 panded thought ; that the gi-eat principles of right and wrong are 
 legible to every reader ;' and that ' the whole art of government 
 cmisists in the art of being honest.^ 
 
 As has already been observed, the Convention at Williamsburg 
 were not prepared to sanction, Isy their delilierate adoption, the prin- 
 ciples contained in these 'instructions.' Tamer sentmients* were 
 substituted ; the congressional delegates! appointed, to the number 
 of seven ; and resolutions adopted, in which they pledged them- 
 selves to make common cause with the people of Boston, in every 
 extremity — l^roke off all commercial connexion with the mother 
 country, vmtil the grievances of which they complained, should l)e 
 redressed — and empowered their chairman, Peyton Randolph, or in 
 case of his death, Robert C. Nicholas, on any future occasion, that 
 might in his opinion require it, to reconvene the several delegates 
 of the Colony, at such time and place as he might judge proper. 
 This last resolve was more important than all the others, as it show- 
 ed their determination to continue the government in their own 
 hands, to the exclusion of the parent authorities, and was a virtual 
 assumption of independence, in Virginia. 
 
 The General Congress assembled at Carpenter's Hall, in Phila- 
 delphia, September 5th, '74 ; and organized for business, by choos- 
 ing Peyton Randolph of Virginia, President, and Charles Thomp- 
 son of Pennsylvania, Secretary. Delegates attended from every 
 Province, except Georgia, and were in number fifty-five. The 
 splendid proceedings of that venerated body, Ijelong to general his- 
 tory, and do not require any reference in this voliime, until Mr. 
 
 *See Appendix, Note A. 
 
 t The delegates to the first Congress, on the part of Virginia, were Peyton 
 Randolph, Richard H.Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, 
 Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. 
 
•^4 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Jefferson became a member. They terminated their first session 
 on the 26th of October, to meet again at the same place, on the 10th 
 of May ensuing, at which time Mr. Jefferson became a Deputy 
 elect. 
 
 On the 20th of March, 1775, the popular Convention of Virginia 
 assembled, for the second time, upon invitation of the Chairman, to 
 deliberate further on the condition of public affairs, and the meas- 
 ures which it demanded. Mr. Jefferson continued to be a member ; 
 and the reader will be prepared to expect a corresponding continu- 
 ance of bold results. We have already seen him the author of 
 (pinions, which, should they become so far americanizcd as to affect 
 tlie controversy, could not but transfer the decision to the bloody tri- 
 bunal of nations. To a political union with Great Britain, upon 
 the broad basis of reason and right, he was not averse ; nay, he 
 most anxiously and fervently desired it, to avoid the horrors and des- 
 olations which the other alternative presented. " But^ by the God 
 that made ^/ze," said he, a short time subsequent, ^^I vrdl cease to 
 exists before I yield to a connexion on such terms as the British 
 Parliament 'proi^oseP The distance between the terms upon 
 which he would consent to a union, and the terms which Great 
 Britain had challenged, and manifested a disposition to extort, was 
 too great to admit any reasonable hope of accommodation. The 
 Oiily grounds upon which he would submit to a compromise, were, 
 freedom from all jurisdiction of the British Parliament, and the ex- 
 clusive regulation, by the Colonies, of their own internal affairs, — 
 freedom from all restraints upon navigation, witli respect to other 
 nations, — freedom from all necessary accountability to the common 
 law, — and, in a word, freedom from all the laws, institutions and 
 customs of the mother country, until they shoidd have been specifi- 
 cally adopted as our laws, institutions and customs, by the positive 
 or implied assent of the people. But would Great Britain consent 
 to an abandonment of all her pretensions, and accept the proffered 
 bagatelle ') The idea was preposterous. So far from it, there was 
 Uttle probability she would yield to the far more gracious propo- 
 sals of Congress. Mr. Jefferson saw, with prophetic certainty, the 
 inevitable result ; and he yearned to have the same clear, strong, 
 yet terrible perspective burst upon the tardy apprehensions of his 
 countrymen. With that wonderful precision with which he al- 
 ways penetrated the future, and predicted its developments, he had 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 75 
 
 long anticipated the awful crisis, to which tlie current of events was 
 fast settling ; and we have now arrived close upon the epoch, when 
 his mind was made up to meet that crisis, with all the firmness 
 which the nature of it demanded. " My creed^'' says he, '•'•had been 
 formed on unsheathing the sioordat Lexington?'' This event, it 
 will be recollected, occurred the ensuing month. Time will soon 
 disclose, with what fideUty our political apostle put his 'creed' into 
 practice. 
 
 The Convention proceeded to business. They adopted a resolu- 
 tion expressive of their unqualified approbation of the measures of 
 Congress ; declaring, that they considered ' this whole continent as 
 under the highest obligations to that respectable body, for the wis- 
 dom of their counsels, and their unremitted endeavours to main- 
 tain and preserve inviolate, the just rights and liberties of His Ma- 
 jesty's dutiful and loyal subjects in America.' They next resolved, 
 that ' the warmest thanks of the Convention, and of all the inhab- 
 itants of this Colony, were due, and that this just tribute of ap- 
 plause be presented to the worthy delegates deputed by a former 
 Convention, to represent thl3 Colony in general Congress, for their 
 cheerful undertaking and faithful discharge of the very impoitant 
 tiust reposed in them.' 
 
 It would be doing injustice to Mr. Jefferson, to suppose the above 
 resolutions came from him. They have none of the holy phren- 
 zj of his thoughts, or of the uniform polish of his pen. Not 
 that he disapproved them ; on the contrary, he regarded their 
 adoption as an act of imperious justice, as well as gratitude. But 
 they probably proceeded from that grave and tranquil side of tlie 
 House, which now, as heretofore, was content to follow ; and whose 
 sentiments, being more in unison with the instructions given to 
 their own Deputies, were more conformable, also, to the attitude 
 assumed by Congress. For be it understood, there was the same 
 strong inequality of sentiment in this, as in all former meetings ; 
 nor was it long in displaying itself, even fearfully. Soon there 
 arose a tall and muscular leader from the other side of the House, 
 who responded, in a note of thunder, to the preceding resolutions, 
 as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That this Colony be immediately put into a state of 
 defence, and that be a committee to prepare a plan for em- 
 
 bodying, arming, and disciplining, such a number of men, as may 
 be sufficient for that purpose." 
 
76 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 The effect of this proposition was Uke a bolt from heaven, upon 
 the veteran and placid body of the Convention. A deep and pain- 
 ful sensation ensued, portending a desperate resistance to the 
 measure. Long and vehement was the contest that succeeded. 
 The resolution was opposed by all the old and considerate mem- 
 bers, including some of the warmest patriots of the Conven- 
 tion, Pendleton, Harrison, Bland, Nicholas, and even the sanguine 
 and republican Wythe. Alluding to these gentlemen, and their 
 backwardness upon this occasion, Mr. Jefferson writes to a friend, 
 in 1815 : 
 
 " These were honest and able men, who had begun the opposition 
 on the same grounds, but with a moderation more adapted to their 
 age and experience. Subsequent events favored the bolder spirits 
 of Henry, the Lees, Pages, Mason, &c. with whom I went in all 
 points. Sensible, however, of the importance of unanunity among 
 our constituents, although we often wished to have gone on faster, 
 we slackened our pace, that our less ardent colleagues might keep 
 up with us ; and they, on their part, differing nothing from us in 
 principle, quickened their gait somewhat beyond that, which their 
 prudence might, of itself, have advised, and thus consohdated the 
 phalanx, which breasted the power of Britain. By this harmony 
 of the bold with the cautious, we advanced, with our constituents, 
 in undivided mass, and with fewer examples of separation, than 
 perhaps existed in any other part of the union." 
 
 It is a sublime contemplation to dwell upon the example thus 
 recorded by Mr. Jefferson, of that indissoluble fraternization in the 
 cause of liberty, which prevailed among our forefathers ; humbUng 
 the pride of experience, chastening the enthusiasm of youth, and 
 graduating all minds to the same height of resolution and action. 
 In the chaste and cohesive patriotism of that day, no mixture of 
 personal ambition ever entered, to cormpt or divide the mass. 
 These gentlemen were all characters of weight in the Colony ; so 
 much so, that in all proceedings of a popular bearing, it was essen- 
 tial to conciliate their interest. Their opposition, therefore, at this 
 stage of their advances, was a source of real anguish to the more 
 ardent chiefs of the reform party. Their repugnance, too, to the 
 military proposition, was as unfeigned, as it was firm. They had 
 never dreamed of carrying their resistance into more serious forms, 
 than those of petition, remonstrance, and passive non-intercourse. 
 Their expectations were yet warm and unclouded, of a final re- 
 conciliation with the parent government ; and they shrunk, with 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON* 77 
 
 unaffected horror, from any attitude, which might endanger that 
 result. Their minds had not yet expanded beyond the restraints 
 \}f education and deep-rooted prejudice ; and they chmg, with filial 
 attachment, to the institutions and form of government, of the 
 mother country. Most of them, moreover, were zealous Churchmen, 
 ardently attached to the established reUgion of Great Britain ; and 
 dreaded an avulsion from her, on that account, as from the anchor 
 of their salvation. They directed the Avhole weight of their influ- 
 ence, and exerted all the powers of their eloquence, to defeat the 
 measure ; but their resistance was overborne by the im}^tuosity of 
 that torrent, which poured from the lips of the affimialive champi- 
 ons. The resohition was moved by Mr. Henry, and supported by 
 him, by Mr. Jefferson, and the whole of that magnanimous host, 
 which had achieved such miracles in council. They put their 
 united resources into action ; and, by an effort of tremendous power, 
 lx)re off the palm against the wisdom and pertinacity of the ad- 
 versary corps. The proposition was earned ; and no sooner was 
 the vote declared, than the opposing members, one and all. filed in 
 with the majority, and lent their names to supply the blank in the 
 resolution. They 'quickened their gait somewhat be)^ond that 
 which theii" prudence had, of itself, advised,' and advanced boldly, 
 to a line with their colleagues. Mr. Jefferson was also appointed 
 on the committee to prepare the plan called for by the resolution. 
 The committee met immediately ; and reported to the same Con- 
 vention, a plan for embodying, arming, and disciplining the militia? 
 which was likewise adopted. Thus did the Colony of Virginia arise 
 and cover herself with the " impenetrable segis" of popular goveni- 
 «rnments, — an army of citizen soldiers. 
 
 This was a capital revolutionary movement. Besides the local 
 advantages which it secured, it operated as a stimulus to the sister 
 Colonies, and to Congress. But it was even more important as 
 recognizing a fundamental principle. In the preamble to the reso- 
 lution, which bears the broad stamp of Mr. Jefferson's sentiments, 
 it is declared, ' that a well-regulated militia, composed of gentlemen 
 and yeomen, is the natural strength and only security of a free 
 government ; and. that a standing army^ of mercenary soldiers 
 is subversive of tlie quiet, dangerous to the liberties, and burthen- 
 some to the properties of the people.' 
 
 8 
 
78 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Having disposed of this trying subject, and transacted some other 
 business of minor importance, the Convention proceeded to the 
 election of Deputies to the ensuing Congress. They re-appointed 
 the same persons ; and, foreseeing the probabihty that Peyton Ran- 
 dolph would be called off, to attend a meeting of the House of Bur- 
 gesses, of which he was Speaker, they made choice of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son to supply the vacancy. To have been appointed, young as he 
 was, a suljstitute of the President of Congress, was an evidence of 
 the extraordinary estimate which was put upon his abilities. Last- 
 ly, having provided for a re-election of Delegates to the next Con- 
 vention, they came to an adjournment. 
 
 We have now reached the precise date, May 1775, at which 
 Mr. Jefferson consummated his creed ; that creed v/hich he so 
 eloquently dictatedto Congress, one year after, and they so undaunt- 
 edly proimdgated to the world. ' The God who gave us life, gave 
 us liberty at the same lime,' was his first tenet ; ' the hand of. force 
 may destroy, but cannot disjoin them,' was his last, his determined 
 resolution. How beautifully consistent the profession, with the final 
 resolve. The 'hand of force' had been upraised; the sword had 
 been drawn at Lexington, and blood had been spilt. From that 
 moment, all hope, not to say desire, of a peaceable accommodation, 
 perished in his bosom. Strong as had been the ties of consan- 
 guinity, which bound him to his British brethren, and none had 
 ever felt or cherished them more fondly, his love of justice, honor, 
 and the rights of humanity, were still stronger. Long had he re- 
 turned affection for cruelty ; long had he striven, by the holy elo- 
 quence of passive fortitude, and the holier eloquence of his untir- 
 ing prayers, to re-establish fraternal love and harmony. But his 
 ' repeated petitions had been answered only by repeated injuries,' un- 
 til the merciless catalogue had been crimsoned with the blood of his 
 countrymen. This fatal act had 'given the last stal3 to agonizing 
 affection, and manly spirit bade him to renounce forever those un- 
 feeling brethren.' 'We must endeavor, he then felt, to forget our 
 former love for them, and hold tliem, as we hold the rest of man- 
 kind, enemies in war, in peace friends.' 
 
 The following letter, written at this time, exhibits the state of his 
 own, and of the public mind, on the intelligence of the first hos- 
 tilities. It is the earliest, in date, of his published Correspondence, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 79 
 
 and is addressed to his old college friend and preceptor, Dr. Wil- 
 liam Small, then residing in England. 
 
 " May 7, 1775. 
 " Dear Sir, — Within this week we have received the mihappy 
 news of an action of consideraljle magnitude, between the King's 
 troops and our brethren of Boston, in which, it is said, five hundred 
 of the former, with the Earl of Percy are slain. That such an 
 action has occurred, is undouljted, though perhaps the circumstan- 
 ces may not have reached us with truth. This accident has cut 
 off our last hope of reconciUation, and a phrenzy of revenge seems 
 to have seized all ranks of people. It is a lamentable circum- 
 stance, that the only mediatory power, acknowledged by both par- 
 ties, instead of leading to a reconciliation his divided people, should 
 pursue the incendiary purpose of still blowing up the flames, as we 
 find him constantly doing, in every speech and public declaration. 
 This may, perhaps, be intended to intimidate into acquiescence, 
 but the effect has been most unfortunately otherwise. A little 
 knowledge of human nature, and attention to its ordinary work- 
 ings, might have forseen that the spirits of the people here were in 
 a state, in which they were more likely to be provoked, than fright- 
 ened, by haughty deportment. And to fill up the measure of irri- 
 tation, a proscription of individuals has iDeen substituted in the 
 room of just trial. Can it be beheved, that a grateful people will 
 suffer those to be consigned to execution, whose sole crime has 
 been the developing and asserting theii- rights ? Had the Parlia- 
 ment possessed the power of reflection, they would have avoided 
 a measure as impotent as it was inflammatory. When I saw Lord 
 Chatham's bill, I entertained high hope that a reconciliation could 
 have been brought about. The difference between his terms, and 
 those offered by our Congress, might have been accommodated, 
 if entered on, by both parties, with a disposition to accommodate. 
 But the dignity of Parhament, it seems, can brook no opposition 
 to its povv^er. Strange, that a set of men, who have made sale of 
 their virtue to the minister, should yet talk of retaining dignity ! 
 But I am getting into pohtics, though I sat down only to ask your 
 acceptance of the wine, and express my constant washes for your 
 happiness." 
 
 According to expectation, the General Assembly of Virginia 
 was summoned by Governor Dunmore, to meet on the 1st day of 
 June, '75 ; and Peyton Randolph was obhged to leave the chair 
 of Congress, to attend as Speaker 'to that Assembly. Thus was 
 created the anticipated vacancy in the congressional delegation, 
 which Mr. Jefferson was so happily elected to fill. But he did not 
 take his seat in that memorable body until some weeks after. A 
 
80 LIFE, WRITfNGSy AND OPmiONS 
 
 more imperious duty required his attention at home, just at that mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Lord Dunmore had paraded the Legislature before him, witia 
 a mighty flourish of the graces, intimating that His Majesty^ 
 in the plenitude of his royal condescension, had extended the "olive 
 branch" to liis discontented subjects in America, and opened the 
 door of reconciliation, upon such terms as demanded their grateful 
 consideration and prompt acceptance. The olive branch of Diui- 
 raore proved to be the famous "Conciliatory Proposition" of Lord 
 North ; than which, a more insidious overture, or a more awkward 
 attempt at diplomacy, never disgi^aced the annals of ministerial in- 
 trigue. He immediately laid his budget before the Legislatui'e. 
 with an air of great pomp and mystery. Happily, Mr. Jefferson 
 was a member ; and he was entreated to delay his departure for 
 Congress, until this exciting subject should have Ijeen disposed of. 
 The Speaker, Randolph, knowing that the same proposition had 
 been addressed to the Governors of all the Colonies, and anxious: 
 that the answer of the Virginia Assembly, likely to be the first, 
 should harmonize with the sentiments and wishes of the body he 
 had recently left, persuaded Mr. Jefferson to remain at his post. 
 '• He feared," says the latter, " that Mr. Nicholas, whose mind wa'S 
 not yet up to the mark of the times, would undertake the answer, 
 and therefore pressed me to prepare it." 
 
 The import of this celel^rated Proposition was, that shoidd any 
 Colony propose to contribute its proportion towards providing for 
 the common defence, such proportion to be disposable hy Parlia- 
 'tnent^ and to defray the amount of its own civil list : such Colo- 
 ny, should the proposal he approved by the parent government, 
 should be exempted from all parliamentary taxes, except those for 
 the regulation of commerce ; the nett proceeds of which should Ije 
 passed to its separate credit. It was jjerceived, at once, that an 
 official proposition from the British Court, so specious in its terms, 
 and, at the same time, so mischievous in its designs, required a 
 fundamental evisceration and reply. A committee of twelve, there- 
 fore, of the strongest members, was raised, to devise the appropri- 
 ate treatment ; and to Mr. Jefferson, who was one of the commit- 
 tee, was assigned with one accord, the exclusive preparation of the 
 instnmient. In what manner he executed the important charge 
 confided to him, it would be almost superfluous to repeat. The 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 81 
 
 admirable addi ess, with which he baffled the diplomacy of the Brit- 
 ish minister, and unmasked the beauties of his vaunted ' Proposi- 
 tion,' has been the theme of the historian, and the statesman, from 
 that day to the present. The original draught was so strong, that 
 even the Committee were in doubt ; and although they consented 
 to report it, they attacked it with severity, in the House. ' But 
 with the aid of Randolph,' says Mr. Jefferson, ' I carried it through ; 
 with long and doubtful scruples from Mr. Nicholas and James 
 Mercer, and a dash of cold water on it here and there, enfeebling 
 it somewhat, but finally with unanimity, or a vote approaching it. ' 
 
 In his answer, the author did not scruple to intimate to the Min- 
 ister, that his proposition was perfectly understood on this side of 
 the water. That its real object was to produce a division among 
 the Colonies, some of which, it was supposed, would accept it. 
 and forsake the rest ; or in failure of that, to afford a pretext to 
 the people of England, for justifying the Government in the adop- 
 tion of the most coercive measures. He declared, moreover, that 
 having examined it in the most favorable point of view, he was 
 still compelled, with pain and disappointment, to conclude, that it 
 only changed the form of oppression, without lightening its bur- 
 den ; and that therefore, he must meet it by a firm and unqualifi- 
 ed rejection'of its terms. He said, that the proposal then made to 
 them, involved the interests of all the Colonies, and should have 
 been addressed to them in their collective capacity. They were 
 then represented in a General Congress, composed of Deputies 
 from all the States, whose union, he trusted, had been so strong- 
 ly cemented, that no partial apphcation could produce the slightest 
 departure from the common cause. They considered themselves 
 as bound in honor, as well as interest, to share one general fate 
 with their sister Colonies : and should hold themselves as base de- 
 serters of the Union to which they had acceded, were they to 
 agree to any measures of a separate accommodation. This cele- 
 brated paper concludes, it appears, with a religious ejaculation ; the 
 want of which, in some of the documents drawn by Mr. Jeflferson, 
 has afforded a theme of unjust animadversion upon his views of 
 the Divine superintendence. 
 
 " These, my Lord, are our sentunents, on this important subject, 
 which we offer only as an individual part of the whole empire. 
 Final determination we leave to the General Congress, now sitting, 
 before whom we shall lay the papers your lordship has communi- 
 
82 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 cated to us. For ourselves, we have exhausted every mode of np- 
 phcation, which our invention could suggest, as proper and promis- 
 ing. We have decently remonstrated with Parliament^ — they have 
 added new injuries to the old ; we have wearied our King with 
 supplications — he has not deigned to answer us ; we have appeal- 
 ed to the native honor and justice of the British nation — their ef- 
 forts in our favor have hitherto teen ineffectual. What then re- 
 mains to he done 'I That we commit our injuries to the even-hand- 
 ed justice of that Being, who doeth no wrong, earnestly beseeching 
 Him to illuminate the councils, and prosper the endeavors of those 
 to whom America hath confided her hopes ; that through their wise 
 directions, we may again see re-united the blessings of li)>erty. 
 prasperity, and harmony with Great Britain." 
 
 It may be considered fortunate, that Virginia took the precedence 
 of the other Colonies, perhaps even of Congress, in replying to this 
 deceptive overture ; and no less fortunate, that the business of pre- 
 paring the answer, devolved on Mr. Jefferson. A less decisive and 
 unequivocal stand, at the outset, would have admitted the entering 
 wedge, and perhaps ended in utter disorganization. It is not 
 among the least of the merits of this performance, that the ' Union' 
 is kept in uppermost view throughout, and the word ' Congress' 
 sounded in the ears of his lordship, at every step, telling him. that 
 that Is the door at which he must knock with all his messages of ne- 
 gociation. Better evidence, however, of the high character of this 
 production, could not be given, than that, on Mr. Jefferson's repaii-- 
 iug to Philadelphia, and conveying the first notice of it to Con 
 gress, that enlightened body were so impressed with the ground 
 taken, that they very soon adopted it, upon a slight revision by the 
 author, as the concurrent voice of the Nation. This circumstance 
 accounts for the similarity of feature in the two instruments. 
 The one adopted by Congress will be given entire, in its proper 
 place. Viewed in a political light, the present essay, like his 
 ' Rights of British America,' proves the author's mind to have been 
 indoctrinated, in the great principles of the Revolution, long before 
 he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Its effect upon Lord 
 Dunmore, may be infen-ed from his answer, a few days after its 
 presentation to His Excellency. It was sufficiently laconic. " Gen- 
 tlemen of the House of Burgesses — It is with real concern I can 
 discover nothing in yom* address, that I think manifests the small- 
 esi inclination to, or will be productive of, a reconciliation with the 
 mother country." 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 83 
 
 This was the last regal Assembly that ever met in Virginia. 
 They adjourned on the 24th of June, '75, and the Governor could 
 never afterwards collect a quorum. Himself, in a paroxysm of terror 
 and despair, had some days before abandoned the palace, fled for 
 refuge on board one of the British ships of war, and declared he 
 would never return, unless they closed in with the conciliatory prop- 
 osition of the Prime Minister. But the fearless and irrevocable 
 sentence of a Jefferson was soon passed upon that ; and although 
 His Excellency returned, the people would never afterwards receive 
 liim, or reverence his authority. 
 
 Thus crumbled to the dust, after having stood two centuries and 
 a half, the baseless fabric of the monarchical power, in Virginia : 
 and with it, " the wide arch of the raised empire fell." 
 
 As this was the last, so was it the most important Assembly that 
 was held under the royal government. By its decisions, a long 
 stride was taken in advancement of the general cause. The ex- 
 ample was electric upon the other Provinces, and was felt with awe 
 in the great American Council. The influence of its proceedings 
 upon the final catastrophe, is well remembered by an historian.* 
 " The constant gratitude," says he, " of the American people, will, 
 through every succeeding generation, be due to this Assembly of 
 enlightened patriots. Had they, upon this occasion, have accepted 
 of any partial terms of accommodation, favorable to themselves 
 alone, and in exclusion of the rights of the other Colonies, or had 
 they been less firm in repelling the aggressions of the Governor, or 
 less able in defending their own liberties, the cause of American 
 Independence might probably have terminated very differently from 
 what it actuaUy did." 
 
 The fall of the regal power in Virginia, commenced the literal 
 verification of that blasting prophecy of Wilkes, in the House of 
 Commons, the February before. But tlie 'loss of the first Prov- 
 ince of empire' was not followed, as he hoped, with the 'loss of the 
 heads of the Ministers.' In the course of one of the most vehe- 
 ment and overwhelming onsets against Administration, and one 
 of the most ardent and powerful discourses upon human liberty, 
 every tittle of which was a prophecy, that intrepid defender of the 
 rights of man uttered the following sentences. "In the great scale 
 
 * Girardin. 
 
84 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 of empire, you will decline, I fear, from the decision of this day ; 
 and the Americans will rise to independence, to power, to all the 
 greatness of the most renowned States ; for they build on the solid 
 basis of general pubUc liberty." "If you persist in your resolution, 
 all hope of reconciUation is extinct. The Americans will triumph — 
 the whole continent of North America will be dismembered from 
 Great Britain, and the wide arch of the raised empire fall. But I 
 hope the just vengeance of the people will overtake the authors of 
 these pernicious counsels, and the loss of the first Province of the 
 empire, be speedily followed by the loss'of the heads of those Min- 
 isters who first invented them." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the 21st of June, 1775, Mr. Jefferson took his seat in the 
 grand Council of select Arbiters, to whom America had committed 
 the direction of her united destinies. In the origination of this 
 Council, he had exercised a leading agency; and through the whole 
 process of its establishment, he had persevered, with all that ardor, 
 which the force of his opinions uniformly engendered in the pur- 
 suit of great public enterprises. The emotions with which he en- 
 tered upon this new scene, the object of his steadfast devotion, and 
 the subject of an early, fixed, and animating presentiment, may 
 well be imagmed. Here indeed, were centered all those expectations 
 for his country, and for mankind, which had enabled him to sur- 
 mount past emergencies with ease, and which braced him for a ter- 
 rible futurity. His fame had preceded him. The novelty and ex- 
 traordinary boldness of his revolutionary papers, had marked him 
 as a prodigy in political ethics. He brought with him, also, a high 
 reputation for literature, science, and a singular talent for composi- 
 tion. " Writings of his," says John Adams, " were handed about, 
 remarkable for their peculiar felicity of expression." These circum- 
 stances made him an object of curiosity among the members. His 
 presence was courted. Curiosity was soon changed into admiration ; 
 and admiration, in many instances, ripened into attachments, 
 
OB" tHOMAS JEFFERSON. 85 
 
 which, cherished by his \varm and tenacious sensibiUties, the fiercest 
 conflicts of opinion were never afterwards permitted to extinguish. 
 In the language of the same distinguished cotemporary, and one 
 who could feehngly attest the last observation, "he seized upon my 
 heart." 
 
 The sentiment was reciprocal. He was now ushered upon a 
 theatre, broad enough to match his own standard of thought, and de- 
 sire of action. His patriotism had comprehended the whole territo- 
 ry of British America, and would stop at nothing short. The Union 
 had had its birth place in his capacious mind. It had been first 
 breathed from his lips. He had pointed to it, in all his propositions ; 
 and hurled it in defiance, at tiie British Premier. The consolidation 
 of the moral and physical energies of the continent, was the first 
 object of his ambition ; and that object was now in a fair course of 
 accomplishment. 
 
 The scene, moreover, was exquisitely adapted to his intellectual 
 taste. Here was the great arena for the attack and defence of prin- 
 ciple. The cool champions of reason, and the hghtning sons of 
 eloquence were gathered to the combat ; and momentous questions 
 of political law were required to be discussed. Noav was the time, 
 thought he, which should try the 'creeds' as well as the souls of 
 men. On one side, was the full grown partisan of revolution ; on 
 the other, the hngerhig adherent of conciliation. Here, were the 
 •half-way guests' of John Dickinson — there, the whole length 'fol- 
 lowers of their own reason ;' the fervid impetuosity of youth, and 
 the frigid caution of old age, were there ; yet all assembled in solemn 
 array, around a conmion altar, and ready to swear eternal cohesion 
 upon one point, — that of a common deliverance or a common ruin. 
 The materials were worthy the occasion, and the results were pro 
 portioned to both. The triumph of reason was signal and over- 
 Avhelming. The decisions of that Assembly have long since passed 
 into political axioms. They are revered as authority, at this day, 
 and are dictating, in awful majesty, to the trembling autocrats of 
 the earth. 
 
 Congress had been in session about six weeks when Mr. Jeffer- 
 son arrived ; yet an opportunity had been reserved, in anticipation, 
 for impressing the tone of his sentiments upon the most important 
 State-paper that had yet been meditated. 
 
 On the 24th of June, the committee which had been appointed 
 
86 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 to prepare a Declaration, of the causes of taking up armSf 
 brought in their report. The report, being disapproved Ijy the ma- 
 jority, was recommitted, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Dickinson were 
 added to the committee. This document was designed as a mani- 
 festo to the world, justificatory of their resistance to the parent gov- 
 ernment, and required a sound and skillful disposition. The com- 
 mittee requested Mr. Jefferson to execute the draught. He excused 
 iiimself ; but on their pressing him with urgency, he consented. He 
 brought it from his study, and laid it before the committee. It was too 
 strong for Mr. Dickinson, as was anticipated by the writer. He 
 still retained the hope of reconciliation with the mother country, 
 and was unwilling it should be lessened by offensive statements. 
 " He was so honest a man," says our reminiscent,, "and so able a 
 one, that he was greatly indulged even by those who could not feel 
 his scruples." They therefore requested him to take the paper, and 
 re-mould it according to his own views. He did so : preparing an 
 entire new statement, and retaining of the former draught, only the 
 last four paragraphs and half of the preceding one. The commit- 
 tee approved and reported it. In Congress, it encountered the shrugs 
 and grimaces of the revolution party, in every quarter of the House ; 
 and the desire of unanimity, ever predominant, was the only mo- 
 tive which silenced theii- repugnance to its lukewarmness. A hu^ 
 morous circumstance attending its adoption, is related by Mr. JeiTei-- 
 son. It shows the great disparity of opinion which prevailed in 
 that body, and the mutual sacrifices which were constantly required 
 to preserve an unbroken column. 
 
 " Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dick- 
 inson, and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable 
 part of our l^ody, in permitting him to draw their second peti- 
 tion to the King, according to his own ideas, and passing it with 
 scarcely any amendment. The disgust against its humility was 
 general ; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only 
 circumstance which reconciled them to it. l^he vote being passed, 
 although further observation on it was out of order, he could not re- 
 frain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded by 
 saying, ' There is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I 
 disapprove, and that is the word Congress ; on which Ben Harri- 
 son rose and said, ' There is but one word in the paper, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, of which I approve, and that is the word Congress.^ " 
 
 This production enjoys a high reputation. The fact that Mr. 
 Jefferson had any agency in its preparation, or that so strong a dis- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 87 
 
 crimination of sentiment existed in the Congiess of '75, has never 
 been stated by any writer ; nor indeed have any of those interest- 
 ing minutiae, connected with our ancient history, come to the hght, 
 until since the pubUcation of his private 'memoranda.' As a Uter- 
 ary performance, and as a specimen of revolutionary fortitude, al- 
 most incredible, the effect of which was to charge the entire re- 
 sponsibility of the war upon Great Britain, it possesses great merit. 
 But in a political point of view, it is insufferably tame and humilia- 
 ting ; though even in that light, it was the best, perhaps, that the 
 circumstances of the times allowed, inasmuch as it coincided \vith 
 the sentiments of the great majority of the American people. It 
 abandoned the whole ground which Mr. Jefferson had taken in his 
 draught, the ground which he had uniformly maintained in his pre- 
 vious writings, and the one which Congress themselves adopted, the 
 next year, as the only orthodox and tenable statement of their cause. 
 It intimated a desire for an amicable compact, something like Mag- 
 na Charta, in which doubtful, undefined points should be ascertain- 
 ed, so as to secure that proportion of authority and liberty, which 
 would be for the general good of the whole empire. It claimed 
 only a partial exemption from the authority of Parliament ; ex- 
 pressed a willingness in the Colonies to contribute, in their own 
 way, to the expenses of government ; but made a traverse, at last, 
 in preferring the horrors of war, to submission to the unlimited su- 
 premacy of Parliament.* 
 
 Such were the doctrines which influenced a very great majority 
 of Congress, and so continued for a twelve-month. The actual 
 revolutionists were a feeble body in the House. The decision of 
 character requisite to assume a posture so heretical at this time, and 
 so pregnant with the auguries of woe, desolation and death, appear- 
 ed almost supernatural. It was enjoyed by few even of that race 
 of men. The opinions which Mr. Jefferson had advanced at the 
 outset, contained the essence of independence ; and the ardor of his 
 convictions had, as on all other occasions, excited a corresponding 
 tenor of action. The eye of reason and philosophy, with which 
 he viewed the contest, presented to him the strangest inconsisten- 
 cies in the antagonist opinions ; and it was a part of his religion to 
 postpone no principle of right to the principle of expediency, farther 
 
 * Raftisay. 
 
88 LIFE) WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 than was indispensable to the maintenance and greatest good of 
 that right. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was 'disgusted' 
 with the nature of those grounds upon which the majority chose to 
 submit tlieir cause to the umpirage of the world. But he knew, that 
 public opinion was the only force which America possessed, and, 
 that that was ' growing apace under the fostering hand of the King 
 and Parliament.' He therefore, suljmitted with patience to the res- 
 traints which its present condition imposed. Nor is it to be inferred, 
 that even he aimed at independence as a measure desirable in the 
 abstract ; but as an awful alternative only, — a matter of the last 
 resort. In this spirit, he had mingled with his protestations of right, 
 and his solemn asseverations of eternal resistance, expressions of a 
 cordial desire for a re-establishment of the union, upon a just and 
 equitable basis. But such an union, he had long been convinced 
 was not within the most distant contemplation of the British Court ; 
 and those expressions were retained by him, more as a matter of 
 form than any thing else. After stating the grounds upon which 
 they rested the justification of their appeal to arms, the manifesto 
 concludes in the language of Mr. Jefferson's draught. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that, while all historians have concurred in 
 ascribing the entire production to Mr. Dickinson, they have, at the 
 same time, generally quoted only Mr. Jefferson's conclusion, 
 
 " We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional 
 submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by 
 foree — the latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this 
 contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Hon- 
 or, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom 
 which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our inno- 
 cent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure 
 the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that 
 wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail 
 hereditary bondage upon them. 
 
 " Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resour- 
 ces are great ; and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly 
 attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the 
 Divine favour towards us, that his providence would not permit us 
 to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up 
 to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike 
 operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. 
 With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most 
 solemnly, before God and the world, declare^ that, exerting the ut- 
 most energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hatli 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. S9\ 
 
 •graciously bestowed on us, the arms we have been compelled by 
 <3ur enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with 
 unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation 
 of our liberties ; being with one mind resolved to die freemen, rath- 
 er than to live slaves. 
 
 " Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends 
 ■and fellow subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them, that 
 wo mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so hap- 
 pily subsisted between us, and which we sincerelj^ wish to see restor- 
 ed — necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or 
 induced us to excite any other nation to war against them — we have 
 not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great 
 Britain, and establishing independent States. We fight not for glo- 
 ry or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spec- 
 tacle, of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any im- 
 putation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privile- 
 ges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than ser- 
 vitude or death. 
 
 "In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our 
 birth right, and which we ever enjoyed until the late violation of it 
 — for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest 
 industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually 
 offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when 
 hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger 
 of their being renewed shall be removed — and not before. 
 
 " With an humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and 
 impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore 
 his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, 
 to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and 
 thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war." 
 
 This declaration was published to the army by General Wash- 
 ington ; and proclaimed from the pulpit, with great solemnity, by 
 the ministers of religion. 
 
 On the 22d of July, Congress took into consideration Uie Concil- 
 iatory Proposition of Lord North. This was a final measure, and 
 it is said, they delayed their answer, under pretext of dignity, with a 
 view to wait the event of the first actions, from which they might 
 di'aw some prognostics of the probable issue of the war. However 
 this may be, they exercised great discrimination in constituting the 
 committee, who should prepare the instrument. Being elected by 
 ballot, the number of votes which each received, decided his station 
 on the committee — which was in the following order: Dr. Franklin, 
 Mr. Jefferson, John Adams and Richard H. Lee. A stronger com- 
 mittee could not have been raised in that House. It combined the 
 
 9 
 
90 LIFE, WRITrNGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 greatest maturity of judgment, with the soundest revohitionary prin- 
 ciples. It was a signal compliment to Mr. Jefferson, who was Ijut a 
 new member, and the youngest man in the whole body. The an- 
 swer of the Virginia Assembly, upon the same subject, having been 
 known and admired, the committee requested its distinguished au- 
 thor, to prepare the present report. He consented ; and, as before 
 observed, made his reply on the former occasion, the basis of this. 
 Being intimately blended v\^ith the reputation of the writer, and the 
 next in importance among our revolutionary papers, to his own 
 'Declaration,' it requires a place in this volume. 
 
 "The Congress took the said resolution into consideration, and 
 are tliereupon of opinion : 
 
 " That the Colonies of America are entitled to the sole and ex- 
 clusive privilege, of giving and granting their ov.'n money ; that 
 this involves a right of deliberating, v^hether they will make any 
 gift, for what purpose it shall be made, and what shall be its amount ; 
 that it is a high breach of tliis privilege, for any body of men, ex- 
 traneous of their constitutions, to prescribe the purposes for which 
 money shall l3e levied on them ; to take to themselves the authori- 
 ty of judging of their conditions, circumstances, and situations, and 
 of determining the amoimt of the contributions to be levied ; and 
 that, as the Colonies possess a right of appropriating their gifts, so 
 are they entitled, at all times, to inquire into their application, to see 
 that they are not wasted among the venal and corrupt, for the pur- 
 pase of undermining the civil rights of the givers, nor yet. be divert- 
 ed to the support of standing armies, inconsistent \vith freedom and 
 subversive of theii' quiet. 
 
 " To propose, therefore, as this resolution does, that the monies, 
 given by the Colonies, shall be subject to the disposal of Parliament 
 alone, is to propose, that they shall relinquish this right of inquiry, 
 and put it in the power of others, to render their gifts ruinous, in 
 proportion as they are liberal 
 
 "That this privilege, of giving, or of withholding our monies, is 
 an important barrier against the undue exertion of prerogative, 
 which, if left altogether without control, may he exercised to our 
 great oppression •, and all history shows hov/ efficacious is its inter- 
 cession for redress of grievances, and re-establishment of rights, and 
 liow improvident it wou!d 1)6, to part with so powerful a mediator. 
 
 "We are of opinion, that the proposition, contained in this reso- 
 lution, is unreasonable and insidious. Unreasonable ; because, if 
 we declare we accede to it, we declare, without reservation, we will 
 purchase the favor of Parliament, not knomng, at the same time, at 
 what price they will please to estimate their favor. Insidious ; be- 
 cause, individual Colonies, having bid and bidden again, till they 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 91 
 
 find the avidity of the seller too great for all their powers to satisfy, 
 are then to return into opposition, divided from their sister Colonies, 
 whom the Minister will have previously detached, by a grant of 
 easier terms, or l)y an artful procrastination of a definitive answer. 
 
 " That the suspension of the exercise of their pretended power 
 of taxation, jjeing, expressly, made commensurate with the continu- 
 ance of our gifts, these must be perpetual to make that so. Where- 
 as, no experience has shown, that a gift of perpetual revenue se- 
 cures a perpetual return of duty, or of kind disposition. On the 
 contrary, the Parliament itself, wisely attentive to the observation, is 
 in the estaljlished practice of granting its supplies from year to year 
 only. 
 
 " Desirous and determined as we are, to consider, in the most dis- 
 passionate view, every seeming advance, towards a reconciliation, 
 made by the British Parliament, let our brethren of Britain reflect, 
 what would have been the sacrifice to men of free spirits, had even 
 fair terms been proflfered, as these insidious proposals were, with cir- 
 cumstances of insult or defiance. A proposition to give our money, 
 accompanied with large fleets and armies, seems addressed to our 
 fears, rather than to our freedom. With what patience, could Brit- 
 ons have received articles of a treaty, from any power on earth, 
 when borne on the point of a l^ayonet, by military plenipotentiaries ? 
 We think the attempt unnecessary to raise vipon us, by force or by 
 threats, our proportional contributions to the common defence, when 
 all know, and themselves acknov/ledge, we have fully contributed, 
 whenever called upon to do so, in the character of freemen. 
 
 "We are of opinion it is not just, that the Colonies should be re- 
 quired to ol>lige themselves to other contributions, while Great Brit- 
 ain possesses a monopoly of their trade. This of itself lays them 
 under heavy contril^ution. To demand therefore additional aids, in 
 the form of a tax, is to demand the double of their equal proportion. 
 If we contribute equally with other parts of the empire, let us, 
 equally with them, enjoy free commerce with the whole vi^orld : but 
 while the restrictions on our trade shut to us the resources of wealth, 
 is it just, we should bear all other burdens, equally Avith those to 
 whom every resource is open ? 
 
 " We conceive, that the British Parliament has no right to inter- 
 meddle with our provisions for the support of civil government, or 
 administration of justice. The provisions we have made are such 
 as please ourselves, and are agreeable to our own circumstances. 
 They answer the substantial purposes of government, and of jus- 
 tice ; and other purposes than these should not be answered. We 
 do not mean, that our people shall l3e burdened, with oppressive tax- 
 es, to provide sinecures for the idle or the wicked, under color of pro- 
 viding for a civil list. While Parliament pursue their plan of civil 
 government, within their own jurisdiction, we, also, hope to pursue 
 ours, without molestation. 
 
92 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " We are of opinion, the proposition is altogether unsatisfactory ; 
 because it imports only a suspension of the mode, not a renuncia- 
 tion of the pretended right, to tax us : because, too, it does not pro- 
 pose to repeal the several acts of Parliament, passed for the pur- 
 poses of restraining the trade, and altering the form of government 
 of one of our Colonies ; extending the boundaries, and changing 
 the government of Quebec ; enlarging the jurisdiction of the courts 
 of admiralty and vice-admiralty ; taking from us the right of a trial 
 by jury of the vicinage, in cases affecting both hfe and property } 
 transporting us into other countries, to be tried for criminal ofiences ; 
 exempting, by mock trial, the murderers of Colonists from punish- 
 ment ; and quartering soldiers on us, in times of profound peace. 
 Nor do they renounce the power of suspending our own Legisla- 
 tures, and legislating for us themselves, in all cases whatsoever. On 
 the contrary, to show they mean no discontinuance of injury, they 
 pass acts, at tlie very time of holding out this proposition, for restrain- 
 ing the commerce and fisheries of the Provinces of New-England ; 
 and for interdicting the trade of other Colonies, with all foreign na- 
 tions, and with each other. This proves unequivocally, they mean 
 not to relinquish the exercise of indiscriminate legislation over us. 
 
 " Upon the whole, this proposition seems to have been held up to 
 the whole world, to deceive it into a belief, that there was nothing in 
 dispute between us, but the mode of levying taxes ; and that the 
 Parliament having been now so good as to give up this, the Colonies 
 are unreasonable, if not perfectly satisfied. Whereas, in truth, our 
 adversaries still claim a right of demanding, ad UhiUini, and of 
 taxing us themselves, to the full amount of their demand, if we do 
 comply with it. This leaves us without any thing we can call 
 property : but, what is of more importance, and what, in this pro- 
 posal, they keep out of sight, as if no such point was now in contest, 
 between us, they claim a right to alter our charters, and establish 
 laws, and leave us without any security for our lives or liberties. 
 
 " The proposition seems, also, to have been calculated, more par- 
 ticularly, to lull into fatal security, our weU-affected fellow subjects, 
 on the other side of the water, till time should be given, for the op- 
 eration of those arms, which a British minister pronounced would, 
 instantaneously, reduce the cowardly sons of America, to unreserv- 
 ed submission. But, when the world reflects, how inadetiuate to 
 justice are these vaunted terms ; when it attends to the rapid and 
 bold succession of injuries, which, during a course of eleven years, 
 have l)een aimed at the Colonies : when it reviews the pacific and 
 respectful expostulations, which, during that whole time, were the 
 sole arms we opposed to them ; when it observes, that our complaints 
 were either not heard at all, or were answered with new and accu- 
 mulated injuries ; when it recollects, that the minister himself, on 
 an early occasion, declared, " that he would never ti"eat with Amer- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 93 
 
 ica, till he had brought her to his feet ;" that an avowed partisan of 
 ministry has, more lately, denounced against us the dreadful sen- 
 tence " delenda est Carthago ;" and that this was done, in pres- 
 ence of a British Senate, and being unreproved by them, must be 
 taken to be their own sentiments, especially as the purpose has al- 
 ready, in part, been carried into execution, by their treatment of Bos- 
 ton, and burning of Charlestown ; when it considers the great ar- 
 maments, with which they have invaded us, and the circumstances 
 of cruelty, with which these have commenced and prosecuted hos- 
 tilities ; when these things, we say, are laid together, and attentively 
 considered, can the world be deceived into an opinion, that we are 
 unreasonable ? Or can it hesitate to believe with us, that nothing, 
 but our own exertions, may defeat the ministerial sentence of death, 
 or abject submission ?" 
 
 On the first of August, Congress adjourned, to meet again on the 
 5th of September following. 
 
 Although Mr. Jefferson had been in Congress but little over a 
 month, and a silent member, he had erected a more durable monu- 
 ment to his fame, than any of his colleagues ; and stood on an emi- 
 nence not inferior to the chiefest among the chiefs of that Olympic 
 Assembly. The following letters, which he addressed at this crit- 
 ical time, to a friend in England, are a couple of rare revolutionary 
 fragments. They should be preserved as religious relics ; not only 
 in veneration of the man, his pacific disposition, and his sleepless 
 efforts for the restoration of tranquillity, with, though not without, a 
 restoration of the just rights in question ; but also in remembrance 
 of the character of that struggle which fills so sacred a page in our 
 history. They show how little there was of any thing but princi 
 pie, which entered into the motives of a principal actor, and one 
 who was proscribed as an unpardonable among the movers of the 
 rebellion. 
 
 " Monticello, August 25, 1775. 
 •' Dear Sir,— I am sorry the situation of our country should ren- 
 der it not eligible to you to remain longer in it. I hope the return- 
 ing wisdom of Great Britain will, ere long, put an end to this un- 
 natural contest. There may be people to whose tempers and dis- 
 positions, contention is pleasing, and who, therefore, wish a con- 
 tinuance of confusion ; but to me, it is of all states but one, the 
 most horrid. My first wish is a restoration of our just rights ; 
 my second, a return of the happy period, when, consistently with 
 duty, I may withchaw myself totally from the public stage, and pass 
 the rest of my days in domestic ease and tranquillity, banishing 
 
 9* 
 
94 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 every desire of ever hearing what passes in the world. Perhaps, 
 (for the latter adds considerably to the warmth of the former wish,) 
 looking with fondness towards a reconciliation with Great Britain^ 
 I cannot help hoping yon may be able to contribute towards ex- 
 pediting this good work. I think it must be evident to yourself, 
 that the Ministry have been deceived by their officers on this side 
 of the water, who (for what purpose, I cannot tell) have constantly 
 represented the American opposition as that of a small faction, in 
 which the body of the people took little part. This, you can in- 
 form them, of your awn knowledge, is untrue. They have taken 
 it into theu- heads, too, that we are cowards, and shall surrender at 
 discretion to an armed force. The past and future operations of 
 the war luust confirm or undeceive them on that head. I wish 
 they were thoroughly and minutely acquainted with every circum- 
 stance relative to America, as it exists in truth. I am persuaded, this 
 would go far towards disposing them to reconciliation. Even those 
 in Parliament who are called friends to America, seem to know 
 nothing of om* real determinations. I observe, they pronounced in 
 the last Parliament, that the Congress of 1774, did not mean to 
 insist rigorously on the terms they held out, but kept something in 
 reserve, to give up ; and, in fact, that they would give up every 
 thing but the article of taxation. Now, the truth is far from this, 
 as I can affirm, and put my honor to the assertion. Their con- 
 tinuance in this error may perhaps produce very ill consequences. 
 The Congress stated the lowest terms they thought possible to be 
 accepted, in order to convince the world they were not unreasonable. 
 They gave up the monopoly and regulation of trade, and all acts 
 of Parliament prior to 1764, leaving to British generosity to ren- 
 der these, at some future time, as easy to America, as the interest 
 of Britain would admit. But this was before blood w^as spilt: I 
 cannot affirm, but have reason to think, these terms would not 
 now be accepted. I wish no false sense of honor, no ignorance of 
 our real intentions, no vain hope that partial concessions of right 
 will be accepted, may induce tlie Ministry to trifle with acconmio- 
 dation, till it shall be out of their power ever to accommodate. 
 If, indeed, Great Britain, disjoined from her Colonies, be a match 
 for the most potent nations of Europe, with the Colonies thrown 
 into their scale, they may go on securely. But if they are not as- 
 sured of this, it would be certainly unwise, by trying the event of 
 another campaign, to risk our accepting a foreign aid, which per- 
 haps may not be obtamable, but on condition of everlasting avul- 
 sion from Great Britain. This would he thought a hard condition 
 to those who still wish for re-union with their parent country. I 
 am sincerely one of those ; and would rather be in dependence on 
 Great Britain, properly hmited, than on any nation upon earth, or 
 than on no nation. I3ut I am one of those, too, who, rather thait 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 93 
 
 submit to the rights of legislating for us, assumed by the British 
 Parliament, and which late experience has shown they will so cru- 
 elly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the 
 ocean. 
 
 If undeceiving the Minister, as to matters of fact, may change 
 his disposition, it will perhaps be in your power, by assisting to do 
 this, to render service to the whole empire at the most critical 
 time, certainly, that it has ever seen. Whether Britain shall con- 
 tinue the head of the gieatest empire on earth, or shall return to 
 her original station in the poUtical scale of Europe, depends, per- 
 haps, on the resolutions of the succeeding winter. God send they 
 may be wise and salutary for us all. I shall be glad to hear from 
 you as often as you may l^e disposed to think of things here. You 
 may be at liberty, I expect, to communicate some things, coiivsis- 
 tently with your honor and the duties you will owe to a protecting 
 nation. Such a communication among individuals may be mu- 
 tually beneficial to the contending parties. On this or any future 
 occasion, if 1 affirm to you any facts, your knowledge of me will 
 enable you to decide on their credibility ; if I hazard opinions on 
 the dispositions of men or other speculative pomts, you can only 
 know they are my opinions. My best wishes for your felicity at- 
 tend you wherever you go ; and believe me to be, assuredly, your 
 friend and servant." 
 
 "Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1775. 
 "Dear Sir, — * ***** It is an immense misfortune to 
 the whole empire, to have a King of such a disposition at such a 
 time. We are told, and every thing proves it true, that he is the 
 bitterest enemy we have. His Minister is able, and that satisfies 
 me, that ignorance or wickedness somewhere, controls him. In an 
 earlier part of this contest, our petitions told him, that from our 
 King there was but one appeal. The admonition was despised, 
 and that appeal forced on us. To undo his empire, he has but one 
 truth more to learn : that, after colonies have drawn the sword, 
 there is but one step more they can take. That step is now pres- 
 sed upon us by the measures adopted, as if they were afraid we 
 would not take it. Beheve me, dear Sir, there is not in the British 
 empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Brit- 
 ain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I mil cease to 
 exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British 
 Parliament propose ; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments 
 of America. We v.^ant neither inducement nor power to declare 
 and assert a separation. It is wilt alone which is wanting ; and 
 that is growing apace under the fostering hand of om- King. One 
 bloody campaign will probably decide everlastingly our future 
 course ; I am sony to find a bloody campaign is decided on. If 
 
96 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 our winds and waters should not combine to rescue their shores 
 from slavery, and General Howe's reinforcement should arrive in 
 safety, we have hopes he will be inspirited to come out of Boston 
 and take another dmbbing ; and we must drub him soundly , before 
 the sceptred tyrant will know we are not mere brutes, to crouch 
 under his hand, and kiss the rod, with which he deigns to scourge 
 us. Yoursj &c. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was re-elected to Congress in August, 1775, and 
 again in June, '76 ; continuing a member of that body, without in- 
 termission, until he resigned his seat in September, '76. 
 
 During his absence however, at Philadelphia, he was not inat- 
 tentive to the affairs of his native State. He maintained a con- 
 stant correspondence with the patriot leaders in that Province, par- 
 ticularly Mr. Wythe, and stimulated them, if any stimulus was 
 wanting, to the strongest measures of political enfranchisement. 
 Having headed the principal movements in Virginia, of a civil 
 character, he exercised a preponderating influence in her councils. 
 That State also, he was aware, constituted so important a link in 
 the Union, that it would be difficult for any part to go wrong, if 
 she went right. She had given birth to the most prominent meas- 
 ures in the Continent, of a general character ; and her precedent 
 was deemed authority in the Federal Council. The examples 
 with which she was now about to arouse their attention, were more 
 decisive, than any she had hitherto presented ; and he felt an in- 
 vincible anxiety to participate in bringing them forward, to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 The dissolution of the regal, and substitution of the popular, 
 administration in Virginia, was unattended by a single spasm. 
 But as yet, no settled form of government had been established. 
 There was no Constitution, and no distinct Executive head. The 
 legislative, judiciary, and executive functions, were all lodged in 
 one body — the Colonial Convention. This was the grand deposi- 
 tory of the whole pohtical power in the Province. Although con- 
 fined to his station in Congress, and oppressed with the cares of the 
 general administration, Mr. Jefferson could not overlook, in silence, 
 the dangers to be apprehended from so jarring a combination of 
 fundamental powers, in the political establishment of Virginia ; and 
 he exerted his influence to procure a more perfect organization, at 
 the meeting of the next Convention. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 9f 
 
 The Convention assembled at Williamsburg, on the 6th of May, 
 1776, when the vices of the existing system were removed, by the 
 adoption of a Declaration of Rights, and a Constitution, 
 which have existed, without alteration, from that day until within 
 a few years past. The subject was brought forward on the 15th 
 of May, by Colonel Archibald Cary, a man of herculean stature, 
 and force of character, who moved the appointment of a commit- 
 tee ' to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of government, to 
 maintain peace and order in the Coloii}^, and secure substantial and 
 equal liberty to the people.' Whereupon a committee of thirty-four 
 persons was appointed, consisting of the wisest heads and firmest 
 hearts of Virginia ; of whom, that veteran republican, George 
 Mason, who was himself a host, was one. 
 
 The question now arises which has been so often agitated — 
 What particular agency, if any, had Mr. Jefferson, in the formation 
 of the Virginia Constitution ? He was distant from the scene of 
 the Convention, and immersed in the complicated duties of his offi- 
 cial station. This question has, within a few years, been put to 
 rest by Mr. Girardin, in his Continuation of Burke's History of 
 Virginia. This gentleman had free access to Mr. Jefferson' spapers, 
 while compiling his history, and has presented the matter in a 
 clear light. 
 
 It appears that the entire Preamhle, and some portions of the 
 body of the instrument, are the production of Mr. Jefferson ;. but 
 the bulk of the Constitution, including the Declaration of Rights, 
 is the work of George Mason. Eager upon the great work of 
 Political Reformation, the former had composed, at Philadelphia, 
 and transmitted to his friend Mr. Wythe, the draught of an entu-e 
 system of government, comprehending a Preamble, Declaration of 
 Rights, and Constitution. But his plan was not received until the 
 previous one had gone through a Committee of the whole, and 
 been submitted to the Convention for their final sanction. It was 
 then too late to adopt it entire. " Mr, Jefferson's valuable commu- 
 nication," says Mr. Girardin," reached the Convention, just at the 
 moment when the plan originally drawn up by Colonel George 
 Mason, and afterwards discussed and amended, was to receive the 
 final sanction of that venerable body. It was now too late to re- 
 trace previous steps ; the session had already been uncommonly la- 
 
98 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 borious ; and considerations of personal delicacy hindered those,* 
 to whom Mr. Jefferson's ideas were imparted, from proposing or 
 urging new alteiations. Two or three parts of his plan, and the 
 whole of his Preamble, however, were adopted ; and to this circum 
 stance, must be ascribed the strong similitude between the Pream- 
 ble, and the Declaration of Independence, subsequently issued by 
 the Continental Congress, both having been traced by the same pen." 
 In the Life of Patrick Henry, it is also stated :t ' There noAV ex- 
 ists aniong the archives of this State, an original rough draught of 
 a Constitution for Virginia, in the hand writing of Mr. Jefferson, 
 containing this identical Preamble. The l^ody of the Constitu- 
 tion had been adopted ])y the committee of the whole, before the ar- 
 rival of Mr. Jefferson's plan : his Preamble, however, was prefixed 
 to the instrument ; and some of the modifications proposed by him, 
 introduced into the body of it.' 
 
 The Constitution was adopted unanimously, on the 29th of 
 June, 1776 ; and to that date may be referred the first establish- 
 ment of self-government, l)y a written compact, in the western con- 
 tinent, and probably in the whole Avorld. It formed the model for 
 all the other States, as they successively recovered themselves from 
 the parent monarchy ; and they were not slow in doing this. The 
 example of Virginia was soon followed by the other Provinces, and 
 the popular administrations succeeded to the regal, with astonishing 
 rapidity. 
 
 The part which Mr. Jeflerson took in this important transaction, 
 cannot be sufficiently admired. It happened on the eve of the mo- 
 mentous proceedings upon Independence, in Congress ; and in the 
 midst of the busy preparation for that all-absorbing question. But 
 tlie freedom and prosperity of his native State lay nearest to his 
 heart. His watchful spirit hovered over her, with the protecting care 
 
 * Tlie historian hero alludes to Mr. Wythe, and cites his answer to Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, as follows : 
 
 " VVlien I came here the plan of Government had been committed to the 
 whole House. To those who had the chief hand in forming it, the one you put 
 into my hands was shewn. Two or three parts of this, were, with little altera- 
 tion, inserted in that ; but such was the impatience of sitting long enough to 
 discuss several important points in which they differ, and so many other mat- 
 ters were necessarily to be dispatched before the adjournment, that I was per- 
 suaded the revision of a subject the members seemed tired of, would at that 
 time have been unsuccessfully proposed. — The system agreed to, in my opinion^ 
 requires reformation. In October, I hope you will effect it." 
 
 t Page 196, Note. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 99 
 
 of a tutelary genius. When, therefore, he saw her righting herself 
 into the noble attitude of Independence, he strove to reach forth 
 a helping arm and to throw the whole weight which his situation 
 allowed him to command, into that scale of her power which should 
 embody the greatest amount of repubhcanism in the operation. 
 He saw, that the step she was then about to take, would decide ev- 
 erlastingly her political course ; perhaps, too, the everlasting political 
 course of the whole country. He was anxious, therefore, that it 
 should partake as thoroughly of the popular spirit, as the state of 
 public opinion would admit. The system which was adopted, was 
 more aristocratical in its features, than the one which he proposed, 
 and less perfect as a whole. But the merits of his plan will be 
 more particularly discussed in a future chapter. Meanwhile, the 
 following paragraph, in a letter to Major John Caitwright, in 1824, 
 will suffice to show the general light in which he viewed the first 
 republican charter, as well as the extent to which he carried his de- 
 mocratic theory, in 1776. 
 
 " Virginia, of which I am myself a native and resident, was not 
 only the first of the States, but, I beheve I may say, the first of the 
 nations of the earth, which assembled its wise men peaceably to- 
 gether, to form a fundamental constitution, to commit it to writing, 
 and place it among their archives, where every one should be free 
 to appeal to its text. But this act was very imperfect. The other 
 States, as they proceeded successfully to the same work, made suc- 
 cessive improvements ; and several of them, still further corrected by 
 experience, have, by conventions, still further amended their first 
 forms. My own State has gone on so far with its jpremiere 
 ehauche; but it is now proposing to call a convention for amend- 
 ment. Among the other improvements, 1 hope they will adopt the 
 subdivision of our counties into wards. The former may be estima- 
 ted at an average of twenty-four miles square ; the latter should be 
 about six miles square each, and would answer to the hundi-eds of 
 your Saxon Alfred. In each of these might be, 1, An elementary 
 school. 2. A company of militia, with its officers. 3. A justice of 
 the peace and constable. 4. Each ward should take cai"e of their 
 own poor. 5. Their own roads. 6. Their oAvn police. 7. Elect 
 witliin themselves one or more jurors to attend the courts of justice. 
 And, 8. Give in at their Folk-house, their votes foF all functionaries 
 reserved to their election. Each ward would thus be a small repub- 
 lic within itself, and every man in the State would thus become an 
 acting member of the common government, transacting in person a 
 great portion of its rights and duties, subordinate indeed, yet impoi^ 
 tant and entirely within his competence. The wit of man cannot 
 
100 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 devise a more solid basis for a free, durable, and well-administered 
 Repaljlic." 
 
 This was the remarkable extent to which Mr. Jefferson carried 
 his theory of representative government at the first 'leap.' That 
 he had imbibed these doctrines so early as '76, is evident ; for in his 
 celebrated Revisal of the Laws of Virginia, commenced in the au- 
 tumn of that year, he introduced a proposition for dividing the whole 
 State into wards of six miles square, and for imparting to each, 
 those identical portions of self-government above described. This 
 curious fact will be more fuUy developed in the sequel. 
 
 But this Convention aspired to a higher agency in directing the 
 course of the Revolution. The same hour which gave birth to the 
 proposition for establishing the new government, was signalized by 
 the adoption of a recommendation, which pointed directly to the 
 grand object of the struggle. The resolution containing it, was 
 conceived in the following terms : 
 
 "Resolved, unanimousli/, That the Delegates appointed to rep- 
 resent this Colony in General Congress, be instructed to propose to 
 that respectable body, to declare the United Colonies free 
 AND INDEPENDENT States, absolvcd from all allegiance to, or de- 
 pendance upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain ; and 
 that they give the assent of this Colony to such declaration, and to 
 whatever measures may l^e thought proper and necessary by the 
 Congress, for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of 
 THE Colonies, at such time, and in the manner, as to them shall 
 seem Isest. Provided, that the power of forming government for, 
 and the regulation of, the internal concerns of each Colony, be left 
 to the respective Colonial Legislatures." 
 
 The intelligence of this auspicious denouement, was received 
 with a general feehng of approbation throughout the country, and in 
 many places, with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. It was the 
 signal for corresponding manifestations in most of the Provincial 
 Legislatures, and in the course of a short period, a great majority of 
 the Representatives yi Congress, were instructed to the same efTect. 
 The burning theme of Independence was thus echoed and re-echo- 
 ed from one Colony to another, and thundered upon the attention of 
 the people, in unremitting peals. 
 
 At this propitious moment, the gallant author of ' Common Sense' 
 lighted his fiercest torch, and discharged a tremendous battery into 
 the public mind ; animating the torpid reins of the loyahst, and 
 instilling new phrensy into the aching bosom of the patriot. The 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 101 
 
 «iflbi'ts of this unrivaled propagandist, were powerfully reinforced 
 by those solid appeals to the reason and conscience, which were 
 propounded to individual characters of weight, in different sections, 
 through the dignified medium of Private Correspondence. This 
 was the great political lever of Mr. Jefferson ; and upon this, as upon 
 all other occasions, its power, in application to the moral, was like that 
 of Archimedes to the material, world. These active moral caus- 
 <is, mingling in confluence, poured a steady stream of excitement 
 into the popular mind. The brilliant success of the American arms, 
 in several important engagements, strengthened the general procliv- 
 ity ; and the unmitigable rigor of the parent despotism, pursuing 
 with unbridled ferocity, the destruction of her devoted offspring, 
 swelled the torrent of irritation and of generous enthusiasm, to its 
 ultimatum. 
 
 In Congress also, at this period. May, '76, corresponding advances 
 had been made m pohtical sentiment. The doctrines of Mr. Jefier- 
 son were now clearly in the ascendant. It was no longer heresj^ to 
 maintain the sovereignty of the people, and the co-ordinate sove- 
 reignty of the States with Great Britain, in all matters of govern- 
 ment, external as well as internal ; at least, it was not so in prac- 
 tice, however it may have been in the abstract. The revolution 
 party were predominant. A poM^erfid minority, however, still exis- 
 ted, who clung with filial suppliancy to the supposed ties, which 
 bound them in conscience and in honor, to the parent government. 
 But, happily, tliis party were terribly shaken in their faith, by a re- 
 cent act of Parliament, which declared the Colonies in a State of 
 rebellion, and out of the protection oi" the British Crown. They 
 reasoned from this, that as protection and dependence were recipro- 
 cal, the one having ceased, the othe^' might also ; and that there- 
 fore. Great Britain herself had actually declared them independent ! 
 This was a sound conclusion ; p^d who can sufficiently admire the 
 stupendous folly of the British Parliament ? Still, however, cau- 
 tious approaches to the last extremities, were requisite, to preserve the 
 customary unanimity. 
 
 A preparatory step was accordingly taken by the Patriots, which 
 discovered great address. A resolution was proposed declaring, that 
 ' whereas the government of Great Britain had excluded the Uni- 
 ted Colonies from the protectioti of the Crown, it was therefore 
 irreconcilable to reason and good conscience, for the people to con 
 
 10 
 
102 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tinue their allegiance to the government under that Crown ; and 
 they accordingly recommended the several Colonies to establish 
 independent govei^nments of their own.^ 
 
 This resolution was adopted on the 15th of May ; and by a re- 
 markable coincidence, the Convention of Virginia had, on the same 
 day, adopted the resolution appointing a committee to prepare a 
 declaration of rights and plan of government for that Colony. It 
 is said, that Mr. Jefferson, being constantly apprised of the progress 
 of the Convention, promoted this singular concurrence of parallel 
 results, with a view to popular effect. Be this as it may, he was 
 an ardent patron of the measure in Congress ; regarding it, as he 
 did, the entering wedge of the grand proposition, which he throb- 
 l^d with impatience to see carried. 
 
 On the 28th of May, upon motion of Mr. Jefferson, Congress 
 resolved, " that an animated Address be published, to impress the 
 minds of the people with the necessity of now stepping forward to 
 save their country, their freedom, and their property." Being ap- 
 pointed chairman of the committee upon this resolution, he prepar- 
 ed the address ; and an animated address it was ; conceived in 
 his happiest manner, with a power of expression and of argument, 
 which carried conviction and courage to the breast of every man. 
 This was another ingenious stroke of policy, designed to prepare 
 the popular mind for a favorable reception of the momentous decis- 
 ion in reserve. 
 
 The plot of the magnificent drama now began to thicken. The 
 delegates from Virginia received their Independence instructions 
 early in June, and immediately held a conference to arrange the 
 preluninaries for acting uyon them, with all the solemnity which 
 the nature of the occasion i^equired. Richard H. Lee, being the 
 oldest in the delegation, and et^owed with extraordinary powers of 
 eloquence, was designated to m«.ke the introductory motion, and 
 the seventh of June was ordered as "the day. Accordingly, on that 
 day he rose from his seat and moved, Oiat Congress should declare. 
 ' That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
 and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegi- 
 ance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between 
 them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally 
 dissolved ; that measures should be immediately taken for procur- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 103 
 
 ing the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be 
 formed to bind the Colonies more closely together.' 
 
 The House being obliged to attend at that time, to some other 
 business, the proposition was deferred to the next day, when the 
 members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock. 
 
 Saturday, June 8th, Congress proceeded to take the subject into 
 consideration, and referred it to a Committee of the Whole, into 
 which they immediately lesolved themselves, and passed that day 
 and Monday, the iOth, in warm and vehement debates. 
 
 The conflict was painful. The hardest metal of that hard race 
 of legislators, was brought into collision. All the strong combat- 
 ants in that giant Areopagus, the impetuous declaimer, and the 
 astute logician, were marshaled in fearful array, and the most mo- 
 metous question that ever agitated a political assembly, alternately 
 oppugned and defended, with a power and pertinacity which set ima- 
 gination at defiance. The heads only, of the arguments delivered 
 on this interesting occasion, have been preserved — by one man alone, 
 Mr. Jefferson ; and they owe their first disclosure to the world, to his 
 pasthumous publication. They shall be given here in the summa- 
 ry form, in which they were left by him. 
 
 In opposition to the measure, it was argued by Dickinson and 
 Wilson of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, 
 Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, and others — 
 
 "That, though they were friends to the measures themselves, and 
 saw the impossibihty that we should ever again be united with 
 Great Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this time : 
 
 " That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise and prop- 
 er now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the 
 people drove us into it : 
 
 " That they were our power, and without them our declarations 
 could not be carried into effect : 
 
 " That the people of the middle Colonies (Maryland, Delaware, 
 Pennsylvania, the Jerseys and New York) were not yet ripe for 
 bidding adieu to British connection, but that they were fast ripen- 
 ing, and in a short time, would join in the general voice of Amer- 
 ica ; 
 
 " That the resolution, entered into by this House on the 15th of 
 May, for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the 
 Crown, had shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown these 
 middle Colonies, that they had not yet accommodated their minds 
 to a separation from the mother country : 
 
 " That some of them had expressly forbidden their Delegates to 
 
104 LIFEj WRITINGS, AND OPINION'S 
 
 consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instructiciisf, 
 and consequently no powers to give such consent : 
 
 " That if the Delegates of any particular Colony had no power to 
 declare such Colony independent, certain they were, the others 
 could not declare it for them ; the Colonies being as yet perfectly 
 independent of each other : 
 
 " That the Assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above 
 stairs, their Convention would sit within a few days ; the convention 
 of New York was now sitting ; and those of the Jerseys and Dela- 
 ware comities would meet on the Monday following, and it Avas 
 probable these bodies would take up the question of Independence, 
 and w^ould declare to their Delegates the voice of their State : 
 
 " That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these Dele- 
 gates must retire, and possibly their Colonies might secede from 
 the Union : 
 
 '• That such a secession would weaken us more than could l^e 
 compensated by any foreign alliance : 
 
 '■ That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would 
 either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so 
 much in their power as that desperate declaration would place us, 
 they would insist on terms proportionably more hard and prejudi- 
 cial : 
 
 '• That we have little reason to expect an alliance with those to 
 whom alone, as yet, we have cast our eyes : 
 
 '• That France and Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising 
 oower, which would one day certainly strip them of all their Amer- 
 ican possessions : • • i i 
 
 '^That it wasmorelikely they should form a connection with the 
 British Court, who, if they should find themselves unable otherwise 
 to extricate themselves from their difficulties, would agree to a par- 
 tition of our territories, restoring Canada to France, and the Floi- 
 idas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery of these Col- 
 onies : 
 
 " That it would not l)e long Ijefore we should receive certain m- 
 formation of the disposition of the French Court, from the agent 
 whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose : 
 
 '• That if this disposition should l>e favorable, by waiting the event 
 of the present campaign, wliich we all hoped would be successful, 
 we should have reason to expect an aUiance on better terms : 
 
 " That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid from 
 sucli an ally, as, from the advance of the season and distance of our 
 situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance durmg 
 this campaign : , 
 
 " That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which 
 we would form an alliance, before we declared we would form one 
 
 at all events : t^ i • f t j 
 
 " And that if these were agreed on, and our Declaration ot Inde- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 105 
 
 pendence ready, by the time our Ambassador should be prepared to 
 sail, it would be as well, as to go into that Declaration at this day." 
 
 In support of the proposition, it was urged by Mr. Jefferson, John 
 and Samuel Adams, Lee, Wythe, and others — 
 
 '' That no gentleman had argued against the policy or the right 
 of separation from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we should 
 <^ver renew our connection ; that they had only opposed its being 
 now declared : 
 
 " That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, we should make ourselves what we are not ; but whether 
 we should declare a fact which already exists : 
 
 '' That, as to the people or Parliament of England, we had always 
 been independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriving effi- 
 cacy from our acquiescence only, and not from any rights they pos- 
 sessed of imposing them, and that so far, our connection had been 
 federal only, and was now dissolved by the commencement of hos- 
 tilities : 
 
 " That, as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, 
 but that this bond Avas now dissolved by his assent to the late act of 
 Parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by 
 his levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of 
 his protection ; it being a certain position in law, that allegiance and 
 protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is with- 
 drawn : 
 
 "That James the II. never declared the people of England out of 
 his protection, yet his actions proved it and the Parhament declared it: 
 
 " No Delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of de- 
 claring an existent truth : 
 
 '' That the Delegates from the Delaware counties having declar- 
 ed their constituents ready to join, there are only two Colonies, Penn- 
 sylvania and Maryland, whose Delegates are absolutely tied up. 
 and that these had, by their instructions, only reserved a right of 
 confirming or rejecting the measure : 
 
 " That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted 
 for, from the times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth 
 ago, since which the face of affairs has totally changed : 
 
 " That within that time, it had become apparent that Britain was 
 determined to accept nothing less than a carte-blanche, and that the 
 King's answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Coun- 
 cil of London, which had come to hand four days ago, must have 
 satisfied every one of this point : 
 
 " That the people wait for us to lead the way : 
 
 " That they are in favor of the measure, though the instructions 
 given by some of their representatives are not : 
 
 " That the voice of the representatives is not always consonanL 
 
 10* 
 
106 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case in 
 these middle Colonies : 
 
 "That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved 
 this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the Colonies of Penn- 
 sylvania and Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer 
 part of the people, and proved them to be the majority even in these 
 Colonies : 
 
 " That the backwardness of these two Colonies might be ascribed 
 partly, to the influence of proprietary power and connections, and 
 partly, to their having not yet been attacked by the enemy : 
 
 " That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as there 
 seeiified no probability that the enemy would make either of these 
 the seat of this summer's war : 
 
 " That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for perfect 
 unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever become 
 of one sentiment on any question : 
 
 " That the conduct of some Colonies, from the beginning of this 
 contest, had given reason to suspect it was their settled policy to 
 k<;ep in the rear of the confederacy, that their particular prospect 
 might be better, even in the worst event : 
 
 •That, therefore, it was necessary for those Colonies, who had 
 thrown themselves foivvard and hazarded all from the beginning, to 
 come forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard : 
 
 " That the history of the Dutcli Revolution, of whom three states 
 only confederated at first, proved that a secession of some Colo- 
 nies would not be so dangerous as some apprehended : 
 
 " That a Declaration of Independence alone could render it con- 
 sistent with European delicacy, for European powers to treat with 
 us, or even to receive an Ambassador from us : 
 
 " That tiU this, they would not receive our vessels into their ports, 
 noF acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admiralty to be 
 legitimate, in cases of captiue of British vessels : 
 
 " That though France and Spain may be jealous of our rising 
 power, they must tliink it will be much more formidable with the 
 addition of Great Britain ; and will therefore see it their irUerest to 
 prevent a coalition ; but should they refuse, we shall be but where 
 we are ; whereas without trying, we shall never know whether 
 they will aid us or not : 
 
 " That tlie present campaign may be unsuccessful, and therefore 
 we had better propose an aUiance while our affaii's wear a hopeful 
 aspect : 
 
 " That to wait the event of this campaign will certainly work de • 
 lay, Ijecause, during this summer, France may assist us effectually, 
 by cutting off those supplies of provisions from England and Ireland, 
 on which the enemy's armies here are to depend ; or by setting in 
 motion the great power they have collected in the West Indies, and 
 calling our enemy to the defence of the possessions they have there . 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 107 
 
 " That it would be idle to lose time in settling the terms of alli- 
 ance, till we had tirst determined we would enter into alliance : 
 
 " That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for our 
 people, who will want clothes, and will want money too, for the pay- 
 ment of taxes : 
 
 '• And that the only misfortune is, that we did not enter into alli- 
 ance with France six months sooner, as, besides opening her ports 
 for the vent of our last year's produce, she might have marched an 
 army into Germany, and prevented the petty Princes there, from sell- 
 ing their unhappy subjects to subdue us." 
 
 The tenor of these debates indicated such a strength of opposi- 
 tion to the measure, that it was deemed impolitic to press it at this 
 time. The Colonies of New- York, New- Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina, were not yet ' matured for 
 falling from the parent stem ;' but as they were fast advancing to 
 that state, it was thought most prudent to w^ait awhile for them. 
 The final decision of the question was therefore postponed to the 
 1st of July. But, that this might occasion as little delay as possi- 
 ble, it was ordered that a committee be appointed to prepare a 
 Declaration of Independence, to the intent of the motion. 
 Mr. Jefferson having the highest number of votes, was placed at the 
 head of this Committee ; the other members were John Adams, Dr. 
 Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The Com- 
 mittee met, and unanimously solicited Mr. Jefferson to prepare the 
 draught of the Declaration, alone. He drew it ; but before submit- 
 ting it to the Committee, he communicated it, separately, to Dr. 
 Franklin and Mr. Adams, with a view to avail himself of the ben- 
 efit of their criticisms. They criticised it, and suggested two or 
 three alterations, merely verbal, intended to soften somewhat the 
 original phraseology. The Committee unanimously approved it ; 
 and on Friday, the 28th of June, he reported it to Congress, when 
 it was read and ordered to lie on the table. 
 
 On Monday, the first of July, agreeal^ly to assignment, the House 
 resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, and resumed the 
 consideration of the preliminary motion. It was debated again 
 through the day, and finally carried in the afiirraative, by the votes 
 of New-Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, New- 
 Jersey, Maryland, Yii'ginia, North Carolina and Georgia. SoVvth 
 Carolina and Pemrsylvania, voted against it. Delaware had but 
 
 two members present, and they were divided. The Delegates from 
 
108 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 New- York declared they were for it themselves, and were assure(f 
 their constituents were for it ; but, that their instructions having been 
 drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still tlie 
 general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing which 
 should impede that object. They therefore, thought themselves not 
 justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from 
 the question ; which was granted them. In this state of things, 
 the Committee rose and reported their resolution to the House. Mr. 
 Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, then requested the determin- 
 ation might be put off to the next day, as he believed his collegues, 
 thougli they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for 
 the sake of unanimity. The ultimate decision by the House, was 
 accordingly postponed to the next day, July 2d, when it was again 
 moved, and South Carolina concurred in voting for it. In the mean 
 time, a third member had come post from the Delaware counties, 
 and turned the vote of that Colony in favor of the resolution. Mem- 
 bers of a different sentiment attending that morning, from Pennsyl- 
 vania, her vote also was changed ; so that the whole twelve Colo- 
 nies, who were authorised to vote at all, gave their voice for it ; 
 and within a few days, July 9th, the Convention of New- York ap- 
 proved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the Avith- 
 drawal of her Delegates from the question. 
 
 It should be observed that these oscillatory proceedings and final 
 vote, were upon the original motion, to declare the Colonies inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 Congress proceeded the same day, July 2d, to consider the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, which had been reported the 28th of 
 June, and ordered to lie on the table. The debates were again re- 
 newed with great violence — greater than before. Tremendous was 
 the ordeal through which the title-deed of our liberties, perfect as it 
 had issued from the hands of its great artificer, was destined to pass. 
 Inch by inch, was its progress through the House disputed. Ev- 
 ery dictum of peculiar political force, (and it was crowded with 
 such,) and almost every sentence, were made a subject of acrimoni- 
 ous animadversion, by the anti-revolutionists. On the other hand, 
 the champions of Independence contended, with the constancy of 
 martyrs, for every tenet and every word of the precious gospel of 
 their faith. Among the latter class, the Author of the Declaration 
 himself, has assigned to John Adams the pre-eminent station ef 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 109 
 
 jtrimus intei' pares. Thirty -seven years afterwards, he declared 
 that "Mr. Adams was the pillar of its support on the floor of Con- 
 gress, its ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious as- 
 saults it encountered." At another time, he said " John Adams 
 Wcis our Colossus on the floor. Not graceful, not elegant, not al- 
 ways fluent in his public addresses, he yet came out with a power, 
 both of thought and of expression, which moved us from our seats.'' 
 The grandeur, and the terror of that scene transcend the boundaries 
 of conception. On the result of their dehl^erations, hung the fate 
 of America, and the pohtical salvation of the world. Their coun • 
 oils, their speeches, their emotions, their countenances, have been 
 celebrated, in ceaseless multiplication, in prose and in verse, from 
 tliat day to the present ; but the representations have fallen, and 
 must forever fall, infinitely short of the realities. Through the long, 
 doubtful, and incessant conflict, .mi Mr. JeflTerson, a silent, though 
 not an unimpassioned, witness of the furnace of disquisition, which 
 was trying the product of his own mind. To a man of ordinary 
 sensibilities, the spectacle must have been painful ; to him it was 
 peculiarly so.* 
 
 The debates were continued with vmremitting heat, through the 
 2d, 3d, and 4th days of July, till on the evening of the last, — the 
 most important day, politically speaking, that the world ever saw,— • 
 
 * The ready and good-humored Dr. Franklin, silting near Mr. Jefferson, and 
 seeing him agonisinjr under the severity of the strictures, related in his ear, by y 
 way of comfort, the following anecdote : / 
 
 "■ I have made it a rule, whenever it is in my power, to avoid becoming the / 
 draughtsman of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from ; 
 an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeymon printer, one ^v,.^ 
 of my companions, an a])prentice hatter, having served out his time, was about ■ 
 
 to open a shop for himself. His first concern was to have a handsome sign- 
 board, with a proper inscription. He composed it in these words : " John 
 Thompson, iif«//er, makes and sells hats for rradi/ monetj,':'' w\ih the figure of the 
 hat subjoined But he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amend- 
 ments. The first he showed it to, thought the word '■ hat/er,' tautologous. be- 
 cause followed by the woids ^77iakes hals,^ which shows he was a hatter. It 
 was struck out. The next observed, that the word ' makes,' might as well be 
 omitted, becaiise his customers would not care who made the hats ; if good, and 
 to their minds, they would buy, by whomsoever made. He stiuck it out. A 
 third said he thought the words'/or 7-eadi/ money' were useless, as it was not 
 tlie custom of the place to sell on credit : every one who purchased expected to 
 pay. They v;ere parted with, and the inscription now stood, 'John Thompson, 
 sells hats.' ' Sells hats ." says his next friend ; ' why, nobody will expect you to 
 give them away. What, then, is the use of the word .'' It was stricken out; 
 and ^ hats' followed, the rather, as there was one painted on the board ; so his 
 inscription was reduced, ultimately, to 'John Thompson,' with the figure of 
 Ihe hat subjoined." 
 
^ 10 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 they were brought to a close. The principle of unanimity finalfr 
 preponderated ; and reciprocal concessions, sufficient to unite all on 
 the solid ground of the main purpose, were generously laid at its feet. 
 Some of the most splendid specifications, however, in the American 
 Charter, were surrendered, in the spirit of compromise. On some of 
 these, too, it is well known the Author set the highest value, as re- 
 cognising principles to which he was enthusiastically partial, and 
 which were almost peculiar to him. His scorching malediction 
 against the traffickers in human blood, is pointedly among the lat- 
 ter. The hght in which he viewed these depradations upon the 
 original, may be gathered from the following memorandum of the 
 transaction ; in which, too, he betrays a fact in relation to New 
 England, that is not generally known. 
 
 " The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth 
 keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For thi^ 
 reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of 
 England, were struck out, lest they should give them offence. The 
 clause too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, was 
 struck out, in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, wlio 
 had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who. 
 on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our northern breth- 
 ren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures : 
 for thong li the people had very feiv slaves themselves, yet they 
 had been pretty considerable carriers of them to othei^sJ'' 
 
 For the purpose of comparing the original, with the amended, 
 form, the Declaration will be presented, as it came from the hands 
 of the Author. The parts stricken out by Congi'ess are printed 
 in Italics, and inclosed in brackets ; and those inserted by them 
 are placed in the margin. The sentiments of men are known by 
 what they reject, as well as by what they receive, and the compar- 
 ison, in the present case, will discover corroborative proof of the 
 singular forwardness of one mind, on certain great points of prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of 
 America, in General Congress assembled. 
 
 When, in the course of human events, it becomes ne- 
 cessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
 have connected them with another, and to assume among 
 the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to 
 which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle 
 them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind r^ 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Ill 
 
 certain 
 
 <^xiiies, that they should declare the causes which impel 
 tiiem to the separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men 
 are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Crea- 
 tor with [inherent and] inalienable rights ; that among 
 these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that 
 to secure these rights, governments are instituted among 
 men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed ; that whenever any form of government be- 
 comes destructive of these ends, it is the right of a peo- 
 ple to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, 
 laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing 
 its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
 to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, 
 will dictate that governments long established should not 
 be changed for light and transient causes ; and according- 
 ly all experience hath shown that mankind are more 
 disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right 
 themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
 accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usur- 
 pations [begun at a distinguished period and] pursu- 
 ing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce 
 ihem under absolute despotism, it Is their right, it is their 
 duty to throw off such government, and to provide new 
 guards for their future security. Such has been the patient 
 sufferance of the Colonies ; and such is now the necessi- 
 ty which constrains them to . [expunge] their former sys- 
 tems of government. The history of the present King 
 of Great Britain is a history of [unremitting] injuries repeated 
 and usurpations, [among which appears no solitary 
 fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest^ hut all all having- 
 have] in direct object the establishment of an absolute 
 tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts \y& 
 submitted to a candid world [for the truth of which ive 
 pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.] 
 
 He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome 
 and necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of imme- 
 diate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their 
 operation till his assent should be obtained ; and, when 
 so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
 He has refused to pass other laws for the accommoda- 
 tion of large districts of people, unless those people would 
 xelinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a 
 right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places un- 
 usual, uncomfortable and distant from the depository of 
 
 alter 
 
112 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 obstructed 
 by 
 
 their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them 
 into compliance with his measures. 
 
 He has dissolved representative Houses repeatedly [and 
 co7itinually\ for opposing with manly firmness his inva- 
 sions on the rights of the people. 
 
 He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions 
 to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative pow- 
 ers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the peo- 
 ple at large for their exercise, the State remaining, in the 
 mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
 without and convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
 States ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for natural • 
 ization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage 
 their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new 
 appropriations of lands. 
 
 He has [suffered] the administration of justice [total- 
 ly to cease in some of these States] refusing his assent 
 to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 
 
 He has made [our] judges dependant on his will alone 
 for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and pay- 
 ment of their salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of new offices, [by a self 
 assumed power] and sent hither swarms of new officers 
 to harass otn" people, and eat otit their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us in times of peace standing ar- 
 mies [and ships of ivar] without the consent of our le- 
 gislatures. 
 
 He lias affected to render the military independent of- 
 and superior to, the civil power. 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a juris- 
 diction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged 
 by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended 
 legislation for quartering large bodies of armed troops 
 among us ; for protecting them by a mock trial from pun- 
 ishment for any murders which they should commit on 
 the inhabitants of these States ; for cutting off our trade 
 with all parts of the world ; for imposing taxes on us 
 without our consent ; for depriving us [ ] of the benefits 
 of trial by jury ; for transpoting us be3/^ond seas to be 
 tried for pretended offences ; for abolishing the fiee sys- 
 tem of English laws in a neighboring Province, estab- 
 lishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging 
 its botmdaries, so as to render it at once an example and 
 fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in- 
 colonies to these [states] ; for taking away our charters, abolish- 
 ing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally 
 
 in many 
 cases 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 113 
 
 (he forms of our governments ; for suspending our own 
 legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with pow- 
 er to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. by declaring 
 
 He has abdicated government here \vnthdrau'ing "^ «"* ?^ l^Js 
 his governors, and declaring ic^ out of his o^^e^-*- ^ag^nff^war 
 ance and jM'ofection.] against us 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt 
 our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
 
 He is at this time transporting large armies of for- 
 eign mercenaries to complete the works of death, des- 
 olation, and tyranny already begun with circumstan- 
 ces of cruelty and perfid}^ [ ] unworthy the head of a scarcely par- 
 civihzed nation. mlrs'r1)irbl^r! 
 
 He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive ous ages and 
 on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to totally 
 become the executioners of their friends and brethren, 
 or to fall themselves by their hands. 
 
 He has [ ] endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants excited do- 
 of our frontiers the merciless Indian Savages, whose "^^stic insur- 
 known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruc- ^^' ^^ ^^^ 
 tion of all ages, sexes and conditions [of existence.] has 
 
 [He has incited treasonable insurrections of onr 
 fellow citizens, ivith the allurements of forfeiture 
 and confscation of our property. 
 
 He has urged cruel ivar against human nature 
 itself violating its most sacred rights of life and lib- 
 erty in the persons of a distant jjeople who never of- 
 fended him, captivating and carrying them into 
 slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 
 death in their transportation thither. This pirati- 
 cal loarfare, the opprobium of infidel poivers, is 
 the warfare of the christian ki7ig of Great Brit- 
 ain. Determined to keep ojten a market where men 
 should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his neg- 
 ative for suppressing every legislative attempt to pro- 
 hibit or to restrain this execrable coinmerce. And that 
 this assemblage of horrors inight want no fact of dis- 
 tinguished die, he is now exciting those very people 
 to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that lib- 
 erty of ichich he has deprived them, by murderiyig 
 the people on whom he also obtruded them : thus 
 paying off former crimes committed against the 
 liberties of one people with crimes which he urges 
 them to commit against the lives of another?^ 
 
 In every stage of these oppressions we have petition- 
 ed for redress in the most humble terms : our repeated 
 petitions have been answered only by repeated injuries. 
 
 A prince whose character is thus marked by every 
 act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of 
 
 11 
 
114 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 free a [ ] people [who mean to be free. Future ages will 
 
 scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man ad- 
 ventured, within the short compass of twelve years 
 only, to lay a foundation so broad and so nndis- 
 guisedfor tyranny over a people fostered andfi^ed 
 in jnincijiles of freedom.^ 
 
 Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our 
 British brethren. We have warned them from time 
 an unwarrant- to time of attempts by their legislature to extend [a] 
 able jurisdiction over \tliese our states.] We have reminded 
 them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle- 
 ment here [no one of ichich could warrant so strange 
 a pretension : that these were effected at the expense 
 of our oicn blood and treasure, unassisted by the 
 wealth or the strength of Great Britain : that in 
 constituting indeed our several for^ns of government., 
 we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a 
 fou7idatio7i for perpetual league and amity with 
 them : but that submission to their 2)arliament was- 
 no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if his- 
 liave tory may be credited: and^ we [ ] appealed to their 
 
 and we have native justice and magnanimity \as well as to] the 
 conjured them j^gg ^^ ^^j. common kindred to disavow these usurpa- 
 tions which [icere likely to] interrupt our connection 
 would inevita- j^^^j correspondence. They too have been deaf to the 
 ^ voice of justice and of consanguinity, [and ichen oc- 
 
 casions have been given them, by the regidar course 
 of their laws, of removing from their councils the 
 disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free 
 election, re-established them in jjoiver. At this very 
 time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate 
 to send over not only soldiers of our coonmon blood, 
 but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade arid 
 destroy us. These facts have given the last stab 
 to agonizing affection, and inanly spirit bids us to 
 renounce for ever these unfeeling brethren.. We 
 onust endeavor to forget our former love for them, 
 and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, en- 
 emies in war, in jjeace friends. We might have 
 been a- free and a great people together ; but a com- 
 munication of grandeur and of freedom, it seems, 
 is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will 
 have it. The road to happiness and to glory is 
 We must open to us too. We ivill tread it apart from them, 
 therefore an(£] acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our 
 and hold them [ctemaV] separation [ ] ! 
 
 as we hold the 
 rest of man- 
 kind, enemies 
 
 in war, in ■; _ ^ 
 
 peace, friends. ■ .. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 115 
 
 We therefore the representatives of the 
 United States of America in General Con- appealing to the supreme 
 g,ess assembled, [ ] do in the name, and by >t„°/, ofVriS 'SU™ 
 the authority of the good people of these 
 
 [states reject and renounce all allegiance colonies, solemnly publish 
 and subjection to the kings of Great Brit- and declare, that these uni- 
 ain and all others who may /«e/-e«/^er ^^d colonies are, and of 
 , . , ,, , , ^y -' , rijSfht ouorht to be, free and 
 
 claim by, through, or under them ; we lit- independent states; that 
 terly dissolve all political connection which they are absolved from all 
 may heretofore have subsisted betioeen us allegiance to the British 
 i .1 J ;• ± f r< jcrown, and that all politi- 
 
 and the people or parliament of Great ^^^ connection between 
 Britain : and finally we do assert and de- them and the state of Great 
 dare these colonies to be free and indepen- Britain is, and ought to be, 
 dent states,] and that as free and indepen- totally dissolved ; 
 dent states, they have full power to levy war, 
 conclude peace, contract alliances, establish 
 commerce, and do all other acts and things 
 which independent states may of right do. 
 
 And for the support of this declaration, [ ] with a firm reliance on 
 we mutually pledge to each other our lives, providence*^'"" ° 
 our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
 The world has long since passed judgment upon the relative mer- 
 its of these two forms of the American Declaration, and awarded the 
 palm of pre-eminence to the primitive one. The amendments ob- 
 literated some of its boldest and brightest features ; impaired the 
 beauty and force of others ; and softened the general tone of the 
 whole instrument. 
 
 The Declaration thus amended in Committee of the Whole, was 
 reported to the House on the 4th of July, agreed to, and signed by 
 every member present, except Mr. Dickinson. On the 19th of 
 July, it was ordered to l3e engrossed on parchment ; and on the 2d 
 of August, the engrossed copy, after being compared at the table 
 with the original, was ordered to be signed by every member. 
 
 On the same day that Independence was declared, Mr. Jefferson 
 was appointed oner of a committee of three, to devise an appropriate 
 Coat of Arms for the republic of the ' United States of America.' 
 
 The Declaration was received by the people with unbounded ad- 
 miration and joy. On the 8th of July it was promulgated, with 
 great solemnity, at Pliiladelphia, and saluted by the assembled mul- 
 titude, with peals on peals of acclammation. On the 11th it was 
 published in New- York, and proclaimed before the American Ar- 
 ray, which, at that time, was assembled in the vicinity, with all the 
 
116 LIFEj WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 pomp and circumstance of a military pageant. It was received \\ith 
 delirious exultation by the collected chivalry of the Revolution. 
 They filled the air with their shouts, and shook the earth with the 
 thunders of their artillery. In Boston, the popular transports were 
 unparalleled. The national manifesto was proclaimed from the 
 balcony of the Capitol, in the presence of all the authorities, civil 
 and military, and of an innumerable concourse of people. An im- 
 mense banquet was prepared, at which the authorities, and all the 
 principal citizens attended, and drank toasts expressive of enthusi- 
 astic veneration for liberty, and of unmingled detestation of tyrants. 
 The rejoicings were continued through the night, and every ensign 
 of royalty, that adorned either the public or private edifice, was de- 
 molished before mortiing. 
 
 Similar demonstrations of patriotic enthusiasm^ crov/ned the re- 
 ception of the Declaration in all the cities and chief towns of the 
 continent. Its progress through the land was hke the triumpha! 
 procession of a mighty deliverer. 
 
 In Virginia, the annunciation was greeted with graver tokens of 
 public felicitation. The Convention decreed, that the name of the 
 King should be expunged fiom the liturgy of the established reli- 
 gion. All the remaining emblems of royal authority, were super- 
 seded by appropriate representatives of the new order of things. A 
 new Coat of Arms for the Commonwealth, was immediately order- 
 ed. Several devices were proposed. One by Dr. Franklin, with 
 the motto, " Rebellion to Tyrants, m obedience to God."' Another 
 by Mr. JeflTerson, with the characteristic motto, " Re.r est qui re- 
 gem lion hahetr And another by Mr. Wythe, which Avas adopt • 
 ed. It represented Virtue as the tutelary Genius of the Common- 
 wealth, robed in the drapery of an Amazon, resting one hand upon 
 a spear, and holding with the other a sword, trampling upon Tyran- 
 ny, personified by a prostrate man, with a crown fallen from his 
 head, bearing in one hand a broken chain, and in the other a 
 scourge. Around the exergon were inscribed, at the top, Virginia, 
 and underneath, the words, &ic semper iyrannis. On the re- 
 verse, was charactered a group of figures ; Lihertas in the centre, 
 with her wand and cap ; on one side Ceres, with her horn of plenty 
 in the right hand, and a sheaf of wheat in the left ; on the other 
 side appeared Eternity, with the Globe and Phoenix. Around the 
 exergon were inscribed these words, Devs nobis haec otia fecit. 
 
OF TIIOMAS JEFFERSON". 117 
 
 Such were some of the immediate influences of this immortal 
 State-paper. But who shall describe its ulterior influences, physi- 
 cal, moral, and political, upon America, and itpon all the feiloAv na- 
 tions of the earth ? Those which liave already transpired, have 
 been stupendous ; some benificent, others calamitous, yet all the 
 harbingers of final glory : and those which have yet to transpire, 
 the human mind can scarcely exaggerate to its vision. Volumes 
 might be written in illustrating the agency of this teeming record, 
 in advancmg the Avell-being of nations, and augmenting the amount 
 of human happiness. That portion of its blessings, which de- 
 scended to its immediate inheritors, or which is possessed by th© 
 present inhabitants of the globe, comprises but a partial account in 
 the estimate. It is the sun of the political universe. It is the focus 
 of revolutionary light and heat, from which have issued those kin- 
 dred rays and impulses, which have warmed, and enlightened, and 
 agitated, and plunged into kindred convulsions, for the recovery of 
 their just rights, the oppressed, king-bestridden^ and law-ridden peo 
 pie of other countries, in almost every part of the earth. It laid the 
 foundation for the first great and successful experiment of free gov- 
 ernment ; of a government, whose career of success has been so 
 unexampled, as to have already secured to it a pre-eminence of 
 character among the Powers of the earth ; and whose greatness in 
 the scale of empire, will one day enable it, if it should so please, to 
 dictate to all other governments. The effects of this potent exam- 
 ple, were soon visible, in that tremendous struggle for political re- 
 formation, which shook to its centre the gigantic empire of France,. 
 — in those less formidable ones, which more recently, and at fitful 
 intervals, have shaken the whole continent of South America, — 
 and in that steady and peaceable process of regeneration, which at 
 this moment, is undermining the strong pillars of that Power, from 
 which was hewn the first member in the sisterhood of Free States^ 
 The principles of the Declaration of Independence, have occasion- 
 ed this great and growing change in the political destinies of the 
 world. The knowledge of that renowned charter has reared, and 
 is fast rearing, disciples to its master, among the darkest portions of 
 civilized humanity. It has been heard and felt, wherever the art of 
 printing has communicated it to the mind of man ; nor will the pe- 
 riod arrive when it shall cease to be felt and feared, until the last 
 
 11* 
 
118 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS' 
 
 tyrant shall have been tumbled from his throne, and the last throne 
 shivered, by the lightning of its power. 
 
 The Author of the Declaration himself, was not unconscious of 
 the amazing consequences which would flow from it, when thus 
 ushered before the world, as the simultaneous fiat of the whole peo- 
 ple. On the contrary, they formed the theme of his incessant ima- 
 ginings, and of his proudest prognostications. The emancipation 
 of the whole family of nations, as the ultimate result, was the im- 
 movable conviction of his mind. It was in unison with the reve- 
 ries of his early youth ; and experience but confirmed him in the an- 
 imating presentiment. Stirring effusions upon this topic, abound in 
 his private memoranda, and familiar coiTespondence with his 
 friends. Speaking of the French Revolution, as the first link in the 
 chain of great consequences, he says, in his notes upon that ill-star- 
 red drama : 
 
 "As yet, we are but in the first chapter of its history. The ap- 
 peal to the rights of man, which had been made in the United 
 Btates, was taken up by France, first of the European nations. 
 From her the spirit has spread over those of the South. The ty- 
 rants of the North have allied indeed against it ; but it is irresisti- 
 ble. Their opposition will only multiply its millions of human vic- 
 tims ; their owu satellites will catch it, and the condition of man will 
 be finally and greatly meliorated. This is a wonderful instance of 
 great events from small causes. So inscrutable is the arrangement 
 of causes and consequences in this world, that a two-penny duty on 
 tea, unjustly imposed in a sequestered part of it, changes the condi- 
 tion of all its inhabitants." 
 
 Again, in a letter to John Adams, in 1823, the kindhng prophe- 
 cy is pursued, with the eloquence and the assurance, seemingly, of 
 CDnscious inspiration. 
 
 " The generation which commences a revolution rarely completer 
 i(. Haliituated from their infancy to passive suljmission of body and 
 mind to their kings and priests, they are not qualified, when called 
 ou, to think and provide for themselves ; and their inexperience, their 
 ignorance and bigotry, make them instruments often, in the hands 
 of the Bonapartes and Iturbides, to defeat their own rights and pur- 
 poses. This is the present situation of Europe and Spanish Amer- 
 ica. But it is not desperate. The light which has been shed on 
 mankind by the art of printing, has eminently changed the condi- 
 tion of the world. As yet, that light has dawned on the middling 
 only of the men in Europe. The kings and the rabble, of 
 ignorance, have not yet received its rays : but it continues to 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 119 
 
 spread, and while printing is preserved, it can no more recede than 
 the sun return on his course. A first attempt to recover the right of 
 self-government may fail, so may a second, a third, &c. But as a 
 younger and more instructed race comes on, the sentiment becomes 
 more and more intuitive, and a fourth, a fifth, or some suljsequent 
 one of the ever-renewed attempts will ultimately succeed. In 
 France, the first effort was defeated by Roliespierre, the second by 
 Bonaparte, the third l^y Louis XVIII., and his holy allies ; another is 
 yet to come, and all Europe, Russia excepted, has caught the spirit ; 
 and all will attain representative government, more or less perfect. 
 This is now well understood to be a necessary check on Kings', 
 whom they will probably think it more prudent to chain and tame, 
 than to exterminate. To attain all this, however, rivers of blood 
 must yet flow, and years of desolation pass over ; yet the object is 
 worth rivers of blood, and years of desolation. For what inherit- / 
 ance so valuable, can man leave to his posterity ? The spirit of the^ 
 Spaniard, and his deadly and eternal hatred to a Frenchman, gives 
 me much confidence that he will never submit, iDut finally defeat- 
 this atrocious violation of the laws of God and man, under which 
 he is suffering ; and the wisdom and firmness of the Cortes, afford 
 reasonable hope, that that nation will settle down in a temperate 
 representative government, with an executive properly sulwrdina- 
 ted to that. Portugal, Italy, Prussia, Germany, Gieece, will fol- 
 low suit. You and I shall look down from another world on these 
 glorious achievments to man, which will add to the joys even of 
 heaven." 
 
 Such are the ulterior tendencies and probable results of this stu- 
 pendous Act. SuflScient has already elapsed, to demonstrate, that 
 the Author w^as scarcely more happy in originating its principles, 
 than in predicting it glorious consequences. The ' achievments' of 
 the last twelvemonth, would 'add to the joys of heaven,' should his 
 spirit continue its cognizance of the scene of its continued l)enefi- 
 cence. 
 
 But aside from its magnificent results, immediate and remote, 
 past and prospective, the Declaration itself is a production of the 
 highest order of merit. Of its bold, dignified, and comprehensive 
 diction, its vigour and condensation of thought, its vivid and imjDet- 
 uous recital of wrongs, and its solemn and masculine reclamations 
 of right, it would be superfluous to speak. These topics have al- 
 ready exhausted, a thousand times over, the very fountains of eulogy. 
 Its great and distinguishing excellence lies in its j^olitical churac- 
 ter ; and in order to put a just estimate upon its merits in this re- 
 8pect, it is necessary to travel back to the period when it was pro- 
 
120 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 mulgated. Political philosophy was then unborn. In the wide 
 range of speculative disquisition, no writer had advanced to the 
 threshold of the true economy of government. iVll was compara- 
 tive gloom and barbarism. The doctrine of the divine right of 
 Kings, and of the necessity of passive submission to their control, 
 was the universally accredited theory. Fatalism in politics was as 
 predominant and unquestioned, as was the dogma of papal infalli- 
 bility, before the Reformation ; and it was deemed as impious to 
 consult reason in reference to the one, as the other. Governments 
 v/ere considered as instituted for the benefit of the governing few ; 
 and the people as mere instruments in their hands, and for their 
 aggrandizement. Popular rights was a term not comprehended in 
 the political vocabularies of that day. All that the people enjoyed 
 they were supposed to hold by virtue of concession from the au- 
 thorities ordained by God to rule over them. Isolated writers in 
 France and England, had indeed broached some substantial im- 
 provements upon the estalalished system ; but their innovations 
 were cautious and comparatively superficial. The reformation of 
 the mass of heresies and vagaries, was reserved for the great 
 Ameiican Sage. His antecedent writings had given the world a 
 foretaste of his principles and his power ; but the occasion had not 
 arrived, which was to quahfy them to make head against the op- 
 posing torrent. His Declaration, therefore, establishes the era 
 in history, of the character which really belonged to him at a much 
 anterior date. By the extraordinary circumstances which called it 
 into existence, he was enabled to usher his principles upon the at- 
 tention of mankind, with sucii resistless eclat, as to surmount in- 
 stantaneously, the impediments, which, in the ordinary course of 
 things, centuries could not have dissipated. He rode into the criti- 
 cal station of a radical political reformer, upon the ovenvhelming tide 
 of popular opinion. But even then, nine-tenths of the moral and 
 physical power of the world, was in the opposite scale ; and the en- 
 terprise was a hazardous one. Local circumstances, however, overbal • 
 anced the vast disproportion of these forces. The isolated position 
 of the scene of opemtion, disjoined from the rest of the world by 
 a wide expanse of ocean, rescued the experiment from the crushing 
 influence of the Mammoths and Leviathans of the East. Success 
 attended this masterly political effort ; and its Author became the 
 founder of a new school in the ethics of government. The prin- 
 
OF THOMAS JEPFERSOK". 
 
 121 
 
 ciples of this school have already regenerated the condition of one 
 hemisphere, and v.-ill ultimately dictate to the civilized world. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence, therefore, estabhshed a great 
 epoch in the science of government. By it, the whole system of 
 the ancient regime, which was pm-ely artificial, was exploded, and 
 sii})erseded by an entire new code, founded in reason and morahty. 
 The principles of the former, were reversed. All power was de- 
 clared to be inherent^ originally, in the people, and derived, second- 
 arily, to the rulers. Thcij, instead of being the masters, were de- 
 clared to be the servants of the people. It proclaimed the great 
 truths, that 'governments are instituted for the benefit of the people, 
 and that ' they derive their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
 erned.' The whole of this pure theory rested upon the funda- 
 mental axiom of the native equality of the human race. This, 
 it will be recollected, was a favorite maxim of the Author in early 
 youth, and formed the basis of his first effort of legislation. In the 
 same spu-it, it is placed at the head of the imposing catalogue of 
 ' self-evident tmths,' with which he prefaces the present perfonii- 
 ance. 
 
 There is another prominent feature in this paper, which is strong- 
 ly illustrative of the writer. Consideration is especially due to it, 
 since it has sometimes been cited in derogation of the instrument, 
 whereas it constitutes one of its peculiar beauties. It is the appar- 
 ent asperity, with which it treats the personal character of the King, 
 and the industrious precision, with which it charges upon him ex- 
 clusively, the complicated calamities of the Colonies. Those who 
 recollect the ground originally assumed, and uniformly maintained 
 by Mr. Jefferson, on the controverted question of the relation be- 
 tween Great Britain and the Colonies, wiU not derive any unfavor- 
 able mipressions from this objection. On the contrary, they will 
 be struck w4th the admirable consistency of his opinions upon this 
 point, through every stage of the controversy, from first to last. 
 It will be remembered, that the only link of connection which he 
 recognized, as subsisting between the Colonies and the mother 
 country, was that of an identity of Sovereign. Consequently, tlie 
 Oldy political tie, which it was the business of the Declaration to 
 sever, was that which united us to the King himself. Parhament 
 is not so much as mentioned in the whole instrument ; he liad 
 never admitted its authority ; consequently he had nothing to do 
 
122 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 with it, nor with the British Government, in the aggregate. But 
 allegiance to the Crown he had acknowledged, in common wnth all 
 the Colonists, and scrupulously adhered to, down to the epoch of the 
 la^jt extremities. Conformity to the principles upon which he rest- 
 ed the dispute, required that he should restrain the responsibility of 
 all that had been perpetrated, to the Monarch alone. And he ac- 
 cordingly charged upon him, indiscriminately, all the malversa- 
 tions of the Government ; either as the sole and separate agent, or 
 when abuses of Parliament are referred to, as " comljining with 
 others" in " acts of pretended legislation." How beautifully then, 
 does this mode of procedure tally with the line of opinion and con- 
 duct, which he had uniformly observed before. In his first politi- 
 cal essay, he had narrowed the issue down to the same point, to 
 which he now confijied it. But at that time, the opinion was 
 deemed heterodox and chimerical ; only a single individual c^uld 
 be found to agree with him ; his proposition was rejected by the 
 Assembly to which it was offered, and the middle ground taken. 
 Congress, indeed, were now prepared to adopt the same principle ; 
 not however, without expunging that portion* of the original in- 
 strument, which went to declare they had always been of the same 
 opinion. A simple regard to truth required this exception to the 
 primitive form. 
 
 From the imperfect view thus presented, of the character of this 
 document, the reader will be qualified to form some idea of the great 
 principles of the American Revolution ; and to detect from among 
 its sainted constellation of movers and counsellors, the mind which 
 had the predominant agency in originating, illustrating and establish- 
 ing those principles. An attentive reflection upon those salient and 
 governing points in the Revolution, which decided its political direction 
 and character, w ill detect a strong discrimination of doctrine among its 
 principal actors, and will assign to Thomas Jefferson the distinction 
 of pre-eminence, in the management of its moral power. He had 
 constantly pre-occupied its path. He had anticipated all its cardinal 
 decisions, at a great distance ; prescril^ed the terms of most of them ; 
 and was emphatically the father of the principles, which governed 
 in tlie greatest and final one, His Declaration, backed by the om- 
 
 * See Declaration. The paragraph begins, » Nor have we been wanting ia 
 attentions to our British brethren,' 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 123 
 
 nipotence of the occasion, breathed those principles into the Nation, 
 and consummated their eternal ascendancy. These principles, thus 
 potently transfused and nationaUzed, gave soul and body to the 
 American Revolution, and distinguished it from all its predecessors 
 in the earth, by making it a revolution of mind, and not of mere 
 brute force. Powerful affinities co-operated to produce this great 
 moral transformation, but the trancendent influence of particular 
 characters can never be disguised or overlooked, in the estiiuate of 
 causes. With the developments, Avhich are daily multiplying, of 
 the councils and transactions of that prolific era, all reputed history 
 will be confounded, if it is not already, in the relative importance 
 wliich it has attached to its political, and its military chieftains. In 
 vain had the immortal Washington led the armies of the Revolution 
 to the ' field of honorable death,' and performed such miracles of 
 valor and martial enterprise, had not the moral condition of the 
 Country kept pace with its physical conquests. In vain had tlie 
 particular rights in dispute been secured, by a decision upon the 
 final appeal, and our Independence, to all common intent, \yeen 
 achieved, had not a cotemporaneous change been effected in the 
 minds, feelings, habits and dispositions of the people, preparatory to 
 a fundamental reformation in the principles and practices of their 
 Government. The emancipation of the American Colonies from 
 the parent empire, might have been a mere feat of arms, great in- 
 deed, but scarcely worth the cost ; yet how inconceivably important 
 the event, with the concomitant and resulting benefits, which 
 were actually superinduced. And in the mighty work of securing 
 these benefits, who led the way ? Who, on all occasions involving 
 the fate of first principles, uniformly took the laboring oar, and had 
 the singular felicity to see his opinions finally and completely amer- 
 icanized ? 
 
 The generation has passed away, which could number a solitary 
 dissentient in the decision of these questions. The time has been, 
 however, in which the temper and animosity of the popular mind, 
 engendered by the fierce and angry collisions upon those very prin- 
 ciples, presented a disreputable contrast in the state of feeling on this 
 subject. Upon the organization of the government, a strong party 
 arose which strangely misconceived the genuine text of the Revo- 
 iution. Under this infatuation, they first attempted to bring the prin- 
 ciples themselves into disrepute, and afterwards, on perceiving their 
 
124 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 inherent soundness and infinite merit, to detract from the generally 
 aximitted title of Mr. Jefferson as their originator and principal pro- 
 moter. Not only were the doctrines of the Declaration pronounced 
 oommon-place, and downrightplagiarisms, but the authorship of the 
 production itself was brought in question. The newspapers, even 
 of a very modern date,* teem with disgraceful ribaldry upon this 
 topic. To these pusillanimous assaults upon his just reputation, 
 he opposed no other barrier, than that of 'the dignified contempt by 
 which he has consigned to oblivion, all the spoken and written scur- 
 rility of his enemies.'! Among the multitude of sacrilegious stric- 
 tures upon the primitive palladium of human liberty, and its canon- 
 ized framer, the most elaborate attempt at disparagement, appeared 
 in the unnatural form of a fourth of July oration, in 1S23, by 
 Timothy Pickering. The political opinions advanced in this 
 critique, being matters of mere private specidation, do not deeply 
 concern us ; but the material inaccuracies of fact which it contains, 
 relative to the Declaration of Independence, require attention ; more 
 especially since they have obtained an extensive currency with 
 
 * The following extracts from leading anti-republican journals, so late as the 
 year 1822, will suffice to exhibit the general character of that warfare, which for 
 thirty years, was directed against the silent and unresisting claims of the Au- 
 thor of the Declaration. The first is from the Philadelphia Union, and the sec- 
 ond from the New-York Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " Wo have long been acquainted with the facts alluded to in the following ar- 
 ticle from the Federal Republican. We have seen Mr. Jefferson's draught of the 
 Declaration of Independence, scored and scratched like a school hoy''s exercise. 
 When Mr. Schaeffer shall comply with his promise to publish the documents re- 
 lating to this subject, the jackdaw will be slript of the plumage, with which adula- 
 tion has adorned him, and the crown will be placed on the head of a real patriot.^' 
 
 " The old controversy relative to Mr. Jefferson's agency in drafting the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, is again revived, in the southern papers, and, as is 
 usual in most controversies, both parties are in error — the one denying him all 
 credit in regard to the authorship of that splendid document, and the other be- 
 stowing it all upon him. It appears to be the common opinion that Mr. Jeffer- 
 son was the exclusive author of the Declaration of 1776 ; and he is every year 
 toasted as such in every part of the country. But this is not the fact. Mr. Jef- 
 ferson was one of the committee appointed to prepare the draught, and he drew 
 the original paper ; but his co-adjutors were so little satisfied with the perform- 
 ance, that it was loorked over and altered almost from beginning to end. Many al- 
 terations of language were made, much was stricken out, as much more added; 
 so that when completed it bore but little resemblance to Mr. Jejferson''s draught. 
 We have had for several years a copy of this document, which shows at one 
 view, the original draught as made by Mr. Jefferson, the erasures and alterations 
 that were made, and also the additions of the Committee. Mr. Jefferson de- 
 serves as vxuch credit, for the share he took in this labor, as any other member of the 
 Committee, and no more.'''' 
 
 jf- Edinburgh Review, 1814. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 125 
 
 ilie public. The best ansvv-er, however, to this diatribe of Picker- 
 ing, is found in a confidential letter of Mr. Jefferson, to his bosom 
 friend Madison ; than which, no example of familiar correspondence 
 could be given, which should illustrate the character of the writer 
 in a more endearing light. 
 
 "You have doubtless sesn Timothy Pickering's fourth of July 
 observations on the Declaration of Independence. If liis principles 
 and prejudices, personal and political, gave us uo reason to douljt 
 whether he had truly quoted the information he alleges to have re- 
 ceived from Mr. Adams, I should then say, that in some of the par- 
 ticulars, Mr. Adams' memory has led him into imquestionable er- 
 ror. At the age of eighty-eight, and forty-seven years after the 
 transactions of Independence, this is not wonderful. Nor should I, 
 at the age of eighty, on the small advantage of that difference only, 
 venture to oppose my memory to his, were it not supported by writ- 
 ten notes, taken by myself at the moment and on the spot. He 
 says, ' The committee of five, to wit, Doctor Frankhn, Sherman, 
 Livingston, and ourselves, met, discussed the suliject, and then ap- 
 pointed him and myself to make the draught; that we, as asub- 
 comiuittee, met, and after the urgencies of each on the other, I con- 
 sented to undertake the task ; that, the draught being made, we, the 
 sub-committee, met, and conned the paper over, and he does not 
 remember that he made or suggested a single alteration.' Now 
 these details are quite incorrect. The committee of Ave met ; no 
 such thing as a sub-committee was proposed, but tJiey imanimously 
 pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. I consented ; 
 I drew it ; but before I reported it to the committee, I communica- 
 ted it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, requesting theii- 
 corrections, because they were the two members of whose judg- 
 ments and amendments I wished most to have the benefit, Ijefore 
 presenting it to the committee ; and you have seen the original 
 paper now in my hands, with the corrections of Doctor Franklin 
 and Mr. Adams interhned in their own hand vrritings. Their 
 alterations were two or three only, and merely verbal. I then 
 wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, un- 
 altered, to Congress. This personal communication and consulta- 
 tion with Mr. Adams, he has misremembered into the actings of a 
 sub-committee. Pickering's observations, and Mr. Adams' in addi- 
 tion, ' that it contained no new ideas, that it is a common-place 
 compilation, its sentiments hacknied in Congress for two years be- 
 fore, and its essence contained in Otis' pamplet,' may all be true. 
 Of that I am not to be the judge. Richard Henry Lee charged 
 It as copied from Locke's Treatise on CTOvernment. Otis' pamph- 
 let I never saw, and whether I had gathered my ideas fiom read- 
 ing or reflection I. do not know. I know only that I turned to nei- 
 ther book nor pamphlet while writing it. I did n^t consider it 
 
 12 
 
126 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 as any part of my charge to invent new ideas altogether, and to 
 offer no sentiment which had ever been expressed before. Had 
 Mr, Adams been so restrained, Congress would have lost the bene- 
 fit of his bold and impressive advocations of the rights of Revolu- 
 tion. For no man's confident and fervent addresses, more than 
 Mr. Adams', encouraged and supported us through^ the difficulties 
 surrounding us, which, like the ceaseless action of gravity, weighed 
 on us l)y niglit and by day. Yet, on the same ground, we may 
 ask what of these elevated thouglits v/as nev/, or can be affirmed 
 never before to have entered the conceptions of man ? 
 
 Whether, also, the sentiments of Independence, and the reasons 
 for declaring it, which makes so great a portion of the instrument, 
 liad been hacknied in Congress for two years before the 4th of 
 July, '76, or this dictum also of Mr. Adams be another slip of 
 memory, let history say. This however, I Vvall say for Mr. Adams, 
 that he supported the Declaration with zeal and ability, fighting 
 fearlessly for every word of it. As to myself, I thought it a duty 
 to be, on that occasion, a passive auditor of the opinions of others, 
 more impartial judges than I could be, of its merits or demerits. 
 During the debate, I was sitting by Doctor Franklin, and he ob- 
 served that I was writhing a little under the acrimonious criticisms 
 on some of its parts ; and it was on that occasion, that by way of 
 comfort, he, told me the story of John Thomson, the hatter, and 
 his new sign. 
 
 Timothy thinks the instrument the better for having a fourth of 
 it expunged. He would have thought it still better, had the other 
 three fourths gone out also, all but the single sentiment (the only 
 one he approves), which recommends friendship to his dear Eng- 
 land, whenever she is willing to be at peace with us. His insinu- 
 ations are, that althougli ' the high tone of the instrument was in 
 unison wath the warm feelings of the times, this sentiment of ha- 
 bitual friendship to England should never be forgotten, and that 
 the duties it enjoins should especialli/ be borne in mind on every 
 celebration of this anniversary.' In other words, that the Decla- 
 tion, as being a libel on the government of England, composed in 
 times of passion, should now be buried in utter oblivion, to spare 
 the feelings of our EngUsh friends and Angloman fellow-citizens. 
 But it is not to wound them that we wish to keep it in mind ; but 
 to cherish the principles of the instrument in the bosoms of our 
 own citizens ; and it is a heavenly comfort to see that these prin- 
 . ciples are yet so strongly felt, as to render a cii'cumstance so trifling 
 as this little lapse of memory of Mr. Adams', worthy of being 
 solemnly announced and supported at an anniversary assemblage 
 of the nation on its birth-day. In opposition, however, to Mr. 
 Pickering, I pray God that these principles may be eternal, and 
 close the prayer with my affectionate wishes for yourself of long 
 life, health and happiness." 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 127 
 
 Among the articles of information, which Mr. Pickering alleges 
 to have received from Mr. Adams, he should have included the oft 
 repeated declaration of the latter, that ' no man, but the one who 
 did, could have produced that immortal paper.' He might also 
 have cited the well known fact, that he retained to the last, his pre- 
 ference for the primitive reading. With respect to the particular 
 circumstances attending its preparation, the Notes happily taken by 
 Mr. Jefferson at the time, and the original copy of the Declaration, 
 in the hand writing of the author, found among his papers at his 
 death, with the interlineations in the hand writings of Mr. Adams 
 and Dr. Franklin, are placed in one scale, and the imputed recol-, 
 lections of an octogenarian, in the other ; and the world must de- 
 cide between them. The assertion, also, that the doctrines of the 
 Declaration had been hacknied in Congress, for two years before, is 
 contradicted by the whole tenor of history. Nothing had appeared 
 like it, in the range of political disquisition, except his own previ- 
 ous essays ; the most important of which, had been rejected as pre- 
 mature and extravagant, but two years before, by the identical As- 
 sembly which issued the Jirsi instructions recommendatory of In- 
 dependence. All historians concur in testifying, that total emanci- 
 pation was not contemplated until the Spring of '76.* And Mr. 
 Adams in '75 had declared, " There is not a man in the province, 
 among the whigs, nor ever was, who harbors a wish of Independ- 
 ence," Again, '• Our patriots have never determmed or desired to 
 be independent States." How then could the sentiments of the 
 Declaration have been hacknied, in Congress, for two years before ? 
 So far from it, the whole aim and object of that body, anterior to 
 the Spring of '76, had been reconcihation ; and all its consultations 
 and discussions had been conducted upon that basis. The rea- 
 sons and rights of Revolution existed, it is true, in the funda- 
 mental principles of colonization. But who, let it be remarked, 
 was the earliest to discover, illustrate, and enforce those principles ? 
 Historic fidehty will say, the Author of the Declaration himself, in 
 his masterly dissertation upon the doctrine of expatriation, &,c. in 
 '74 ; in which he constructed the entire, and the only tenable the- 
 ory of Colonial rights, then deemed so treasonable and revolutiona- 
 ry as to subject him to the ostracism of the British Parliament. 
 
 * See Gordon, Ramsay, Marshall, Bottn, &c. 
 
128 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPrNIONS 
 
 Well might he then magnanimously declare, in noticing the viir- 
 dictive maraudings upon his reputation, ' let history speak.' Nor 
 will his confidence in the integrity of that luiipire, be deceived. 
 Impartial generations will rely with more confidence, upon the pure 
 text of contemporaneous chronicles, than upon the gratuitous con- 
 structions, contortions and surmises of modern critics and commen- 
 tators. The civil and political history of that renowned race has 
 never been presented in a just and adequate light ; its monuments, 
 too, are fast crumbling away ; but it is hoped, that enough has been 
 preserved, with the aid of competent hands, to rescue from reproach 
 at least, an age, which united the greatest moral endowments to 
 the greatest power of cii-cumstances, and had a larger share in 
 shaping the destinies of mankind, than any other that has yet ap,- 
 peared. 
 
 The tenii for which Mr. Jefierson had been elected to Congre&s, 
 expiied on the 11th of August, '70 ; and he had communicated to 
 the Convention of Virginia, in June preceding, his intentions to 
 decline a re-appointment. But his excuses were overruled Ijy that 
 body, and he was unanmiously re-elected. On receiving intelli- 
 gence of the result, gratifying as it was in the higliest degree, he 
 addressed a second letter to the chairman of the Convention, in 
 which he adhered to his original resolution, — as folloAvs : 
 
 " I am sorry the situation of my domestic affaus renders it in- 
 dispensably necessary, that I should solicit the substitution of some 
 other person here, in my room. The delicacy of the House will 
 not requii'e me to enter minutely into the private causes which ren- 
 der this necessary. I trust they will be satisfied I would not have 
 urged it again, were it not unavoidable. I shall with cheerfulness 
 continue in dvUy here till the expiration of our ) ear, by which time 
 I hope it will be convenient for my successor to attend." 
 
 He continued in Congress until the 2d of September following, 
 when, his successor having arrived, he resigned his seat and re- 
 turned to Virginia. 
 
 Thus closed the extraordinary career of this illustrious Reformer 
 in the Continental Congress. He had been in actual attendance 
 upon that renowned Legislature, a Dout nine months only, in all; and 
 yet he had succeeded in impressing his character, in distinct and 
 legible forms, upon the whole inchoate empire. The result is as- 
 tonishing when considered in connection with his immature age. 
 He had, at this time, attained only his thirty-third year, and was 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSbN. 129 
 
 the youngest man but one, in the session of '76. The example is 
 without a parallel in the personal annals of the world. 
 
 We^have been restrained by our design, to the capital and distin- 
 guishing points in his course. The minor features of his service 
 while engaged in conducting the general administration, vrere pro- 
 portioned to the same standard ; but they are shorn of all interest 
 by the overshadowing importance, which attaches to his gigantic 
 chef de' onvres in the sphere of Revolution. In the multiplied 
 operations of a subordinate character, which engaged the attention 
 of the House, he sustained a corresponding prominency. To es- 
 timate the extent of his labors, it is only necessary to turn over 
 the journals of Congress. In constituting the committees of im- 
 portance it v^ras the policy, in general, to put Virginia at the head ; 
 and the effect of this pohcy was to throw him into the situation 
 of Chairman, unusually often. No member, probably, served on 
 more committees, or executed a greater amount of business, in pro- 
 portion to his term of service, than he did. The union of uncom- 
 mon practical facility, with pecuhar theoretical acuteness and pro- 
 pensity, is an anomoly in the constitution of man. It is proverbial, 
 however, that he displayed an aptitude no less original and sur- 
 prising in the ordinary details of legislation, than in the high con- 
 cerns of an abstract and metaphysical nature, v\7hich were commit- 
 ted to him. 
 
 The retirement of Mr. Jefferson from a stage of action, on 
 which he had performed such prodigies of Revolution, in the zenith 
 of human popularity and power, and at the first crisis of Independ- 
 ence, may appear unaccountable, vvith tlie lights already in pos- 
 session of the. reader. The causes which he assigned, seem clearly 
 disproportioned to the effect, reasoning from all analogy, applicable 
 to himself alone, or the human character generally ; and compel 
 us to resort to more competent aids of revelation, for a satisfactory 
 solution of the mystery. The predominant motive, which dictated 
 his resignation, but which his modesty would not permit him to 
 urge to the Convention, is found inserted among his private ' Mem- 
 oranda.' It is alike curious and honorable. He says : " The 
 new government (in Virginia) was now organized ; a meeting of 
 the Legislatiue was to be held in October, and I had been elected 
 a member by my county. / kneio that our legislation, wuier 
 the regal government, had many very vicious points wl^i'Ch ur- 
 
 12* 
 
130 LIFEj WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 i^ently required reformation ; and I thought I coidd be of inore 
 use in forwarding that ivork. I therefore retired from my seat 
 in Congress," &:c. The whole secret of the transaction is here un- 
 veiled, and is singularly in unison with the reigning attribute of 
 his character. Those who recollect the iiTepressible anxiety which 
 he felt for Vkginia, while in the crisis of her transition from the 
 monarchical to the republican state, and the severe contribution 
 wliich he made upon his own industry, towards securing the great- 
 est practicable measure of freedom and liberality in the act, will be 
 impressed Vv^ith the admirable coincidence of purpose, A\'hich influ- 
 enced his present determination. The new government in the first 
 province of free empire, was now" fairly put in motion ; and he felt 
 an invincible desire to participate in the measures of the first re- 
 publican Legislature under it. Every thing, he conceived, depend- 
 ed upon the stamp of political unction that should be impressed 
 upon the new institutions of a State government, which was to set 
 the example in the career of repul^Ucan legislation, and which 
 constituted so influential a member of the incipient confederacy. 
 The principles of her present code were incompatible with the 
 enjoyment of any considerable benefits under the change of Ad- 
 ministration, and required a fundamental revision and reduction 
 io a consistent standard. The EngUsh common law, with its odi- 
 ous and despotic refinements of feudal origin, was in full force : 
 many of the British statutes, of the most obnoxious character, still 
 binding upon them ; the Tirginia statutes themselves scarcely less 
 aristocratic, and hostile to well-regulated liberty ; presenting, in all, 
 an unwieldy and vicious pile of legislation, civil and religious, 
 which, in the mind of the political redeemer of men, embra- 
 ced stronger attractions, and more imperious urgencies, than 
 the scene which he had just immortalized with his labours.^ 
 To have descended fiom an eminence in Congress, which placed 
 him indisputably at the helm of the Revolution, to the subordinate 
 station of representative to the municipal Assembly, was an act of 
 magnanimous patriotism, of which history furnishes few examples. 
 But he was impressed with the necessity of carrying into action, 
 upon the generous flood of the national enthusiasm, all the sound 
 principles which he meditated securing in the efibrt of emancipa- 
 tion-, and now he thought was the propitious moment for com 
 mencing the enterprise. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 131 
 
 " The spirit of the times," he said " may alter, will alter. Oiiv 
 rulers will become corrupt, oin- people careless. A single zealot 
 may become persecutor, and better men be his victhns. It can 
 never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential 
 right, on a legal basis, is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves 
 united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down 
 hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the 
 people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their 
 rights disregarded. They v»all forget themselves, but in the sole 
 faculty of making money, and will never think of writing to effect 
 a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall 
 not be knocked off at the conclusion of this wai-, will remain on us 
 long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive 
 or expire in a convulsion." 
 
 With the special design, therefore, of heading, in person, the 
 great work of political regeneration, which he had sketched for his 
 country, and for mankind, he early signified his determination to 
 relinquish his station in the National Councils ; and v/as instantly 
 thereupon elected to a seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 
 
 Before following him into that body, however, the order of time 
 requires us to notice a singular mark of distinction conferred on him 
 by Congress. He had been absent from Philadelphia but a few 
 days, before he received the appointment of Commissioner to France, 
 in conjunction with Dr. Franklin, to negotiate treaties of alliance 
 and commerce w ith that government. Silas Dean, then m France, 
 acting as agent for procuring military supplies, and for sounding 
 the dispositions of the government towards us, was joined with them 
 in the commission. The appointment was made on the last day of 
 September, 1776. Greater importance was attached to the success- 
 ful issue of the transaction, than to any other that had yet been 
 meditated. The prevailing object of declaring Independence, had 
 been to secure the countenance and assistance of foreign Powers ; 
 and towards France, — chivalrous, highminded France, — whose 
 friendship and co-operation appeared the most likely to be obtained, 
 the hopes of the .country w^re undividedly directed. 
 
 If any thing could mark more unequivocally, the respect of Con- 
 gress for the abilities of Mr. Jefferson, as manifested by this ap- 
 pointment, it was the fact of their having associated a young man 
 of thirty-three, with a venerable philosopher of seventy, then the 
 most distinguished civil character in America. 
 
132 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPIKIONS 
 
 But the same reasons whicli influenced his retirement from Con- 
 gress, induced him to decline accepting the foreign station also, as 
 appears by the following letter addressed to the President of Congress. 
 
 "Williamsburg, October 11, 1776. 
 " Honorable Sir, — Your favor of the 30th, together with the reso- 
 lutions of Congress, of the 26th ultimo, came safe to hand. It 
 would argue great insensibiUty in me, could I receive with indiffer- 
 ence, so confidential an ap})ointment from your Ijody. My thanks 
 are a poor return for the partiality they have been pleased to enter- 
 tain for me. No cares for my own person, nor yet for my private 
 affair's, would have induced one moment's hesitation to accept the 
 charge. But circumstances very peculiar in the situation of my 
 family, such as neither permit me to leave, nor to carry it, compel 
 me to ask leave to decline a service so honorable, and, at the same 
 time, so important to the American cause. The necessity under 
 which I labor, and the conflict 1 have undergone for three days, 
 during wdiich I could not determine to dismiss your messenger, will, 
 I hope, plead my pardon with Congress ; and I am sure there are 
 too many of that body to whom they may with better hopes con- 
 fide this charge, to leave them under a moment's difficulty in mak- 
 ing a new choice. I am, sir, with the most sincere attachment to 
 your honorable body, and the great cause they support, their and 
 your most obedient, humble servant. 
 
 But a more adetjuate and interesting revelation of his motives, 
 than is contained in the above letter, is found among his private 
 Memoranda. After repeating the domestic causes already stated, he 
 says : " I saw., too, that the laboring oar loas really at home., 
 where much was to he done, of the most permanent interest, in 
 new-modelling our governments, and much to defend our fanes 
 and firesides, from the desolations of an invading enemy, pressing on 
 our country in every point. I declined, therefore, and Dr. Lee was 
 appointed in my place." 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 133 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia, on the 
 7th of October, 177G, the opening day of the session. The first ob- 
 ject of reform, which arrested the attention of his enquiring mind, 
 was the Judiciary System ; the organization of v/hich, upon the 
 broad basis of reason and common sense, struck him as a measure 
 of superlative importance. Besides being indispensable, in great 
 part, to meet the external revolution of the government, such a 
 sclieme of improvement, was eminently calculated to attach the pop- 
 ular bias to the new order of things, — which should ahvays be the 
 first business of the Reformer. In the French Revolution, for in- 
 stance, the principle of a la mode simply, which arranged all the 
 handsome young women on the side of democracy, was an engine 
 of more power m that Nation, than the two hundred thousand men 
 of the King. But the potent enthusiasm of new opinions, will sub- 
 side with the novelty of them, and expire in a more potent revulsion, 
 unless fortified by the gradual attainment of such real advantages as 
 are competent to satisfy the reasonable anticipations of the adher- 
 ent multitude. No man had studied, with more fidelity, the opera- 
 tions of the human mind, or knew how to control them with more 
 certainty and efiect, than Mr. Jefferson. He was less adapted than 
 many others, to raise the tempest, but no one was better fitted to ride 
 on, and direct it. He was clearly the magician of the age in this 
 way ; and the secret of his power lay in his mode of exerting and 
 applying it. The cherishment of the jJeople was the vital princi- 
 ple of his policy, and the spring of his unprecedented success. 
 The object, which he was now about to forward, was an eminent 
 illustration of this wise policy. The administration of justice, is a 
 subject of profound and universal concernment. It comes home to 
 the ' business and bosoms of men.' The measure which should en- 
 graft it, in sound and judicious forms, upon the infant body politic, 
 would be an example of disinterested reform, that would concen- 
 trate, at once, the energies of popular favor. 
 
 On the 11th of October, therefore, he obtained leave to bring in 
 a Bill for the establishment of Courts of Justice. The proposition 
 
J 34 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINION.-^ 
 
 was referred to a committee, of which he was chairman. He draft 
 ctl the ordinance ; submitted it to the committee, by whom it was 
 approved ; and reported it to the Hourie, where, after passing tluough 
 the ordinary course, it was adopted with unanimity. 
 
 The system proposed by Mr. Jefferson, was simple in its organi- 
 zation, and highly republican in its spirit. It is retained, essential- 
 ly unimpaired, in the existing code of Virginia. It established the 
 model for succeeding Legislatures, in the different States, as they 
 successively proceeded to the same duty ; and its main features are 
 observable in the Judiciary Systems of all our State governments, 
 at the present day. 
 
 It divided the State into counties, and erected three distinct 
 grades of Courts — County, Superior, and Supreme. The quality 
 and extent of jurisdiction, prescribed to each grade, were similar to 
 the prevailing divisions on that subject, in the United States. The 
 trial by jury was guarded with extreme circumspection. In all 
 questions of fact, or of fact and law combined, the reference to a 
 jury was made imperative in the Courts of Law ; and the franier 
 of the bill had designed to make it imperative also, in the Court of 
 Chancery ; but the provision was defeated in the House, ]iy the in- 
 troduction of a discretionary clause, on motion of Mr. Pendleton, a 
 gentleman of high English prejudices. The consequence has been, 
 that as no suiter will say to his judge, ' Sir, I distrust you, give me a 
 jury,' juries are rarely, perhaps never, seen in that Court, but when 
 ordered by the Chancellor of his own accord. 
 
 On the following day, October 12, he brought forward his celebra- 
 ted Bill for the aboUtion of the Law of Entails. This was a cardinal 
 measure, and a bold one for the political semi-barbarism of that age. 
 Nor could a body of men have been easily selected, upon whose 
 sensibilities the proposition would have grated with more harshness, 
 than upon the refined aristocracy of a Virginia Assembly. The 
 strong lines of discrimination, which were impressed upon the socie- 
 ty of Virginia, during the early stages of the settlement, are celebra- 
 ted in history ; nor has the genius of her republican institutions 
 been successful, as yet, in obliterating those artificial and dissocializ- 
 ing distinctions, or in extinguishing the high aristocratical spirit 
 which they engendered. In the earlier times of the Colony, when 
 lands were to be obtained for little or nothing, certain provident in- 
 dividuals procured large grants ; and,, desirous of founding great 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 13 5 
 
 families for themselves, settled them on their descendants in fee tail. 
 The transmission of these estates from generation to generation, in 
 the same name, raised up a distinct set of families, who, being privi- 
 leged by the law, in the perpetuation of their wealth, were thus 
 formed into a Patrician order, distinguished by the splendor and 
 luxury of their establishments. This order, having in process of 
 time, engulphed the greater part of the landed property, and with it, 
 the political power of the Province, remained stationary, in gener- 
 al, on the grounds of their forefathers ; for there was no emigration 
 to the westward in those days. The Irish, who had gotten posses- 
 sion of the valley between the Blue-Ridge and the North Mountain, 
 formed a barrier over which none ventured to leap ; and their man- 
 ners presented no attractions to the opulent lowlanders to settle 
 among them. 
 
 " In such a state of things," says Mr. Jefferson, " scarcely admit- 
 ting any change of station, society would settle itself down into sev- 
 eral strata, separated by no marked lines, but shading off impercep- 
 tibly from top to bottom, nothing disturbing the order of their re- 
 pose. There were, then, first aristocrats, composed of the great 
 landholders who had seated themselves below tide water on the 
 main rivers, and lived in a style of luxury and extravagance, insup- 
 portable by the other inhabitants, and which, indeed, ended, in sever- 
 al instances, in the ruin of their own fortunes. Next to these were 
 what may be called Jialf breeds; the descendants of the younger 
 sons and daughters of the aristocrats, who inherited the pride of their 
 ancestors, without their wealth. Then came the pretenders, men 
 who from vanity or the impulse of growing wealth, or from that en- 
 terprize which is natural to talents, sought to detach themselves from 
 the plebeian ranks, to which they properly belonged, and unitated, 
 at some distance, the manners and habits of the great. Next to 
 these, were a solid and independent yeomanry, looking askance at 
 those above, yet not venturing to jostle them. And last and lowest, 
 Sifeculum of beings called overseers, the most abject, degraded, un- 
 principled race ; ahvays cap in hand to the dons who employed 
 them, and furnishing materials for the exercise of their pride, inso- 
 lence, and spirit of domination." 
 
 By birth and fortune, Mr. Jefferson belonged to the aristocracy ; 
 but his intellectual tastes revolted him from the indolent and volup- 
 tuous habits which marked the lives of that order ; and his political 
 principles attached him, by early and indissoluble sympathies, to 
 the solid and independent yeomanry, whom he represents as ' look- 
 ing askance' at those above them. 
 
136 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " Those who labor in the earth," he early declared, " are the choS' 
 en people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he 
 lias made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. 
 It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred lire, which oth- 
 erwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of 
 morals in the mass of cultivators, is a phenomenon of which no age 
 nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, 
 who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as 
 does the husliandman, for their subsistence, depend for it on the 
 casualties and caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservi- 
 ence and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit 
 tools for the designs of amliition. This, the natural progress and 
 consequence of the arts, has sometimes, perhaps, been retarded by 
 accidental circumstances ; but, generally speaking, the proportion, 
 vrhich the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears, in any 
 State, to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its 
 healthy parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to measure 
 its degree of corruption." 
 
 Impressed with these strong, unsophisticated views, he bewailed, 
 with an incessant desire of redressment, the vitiated and fearfully an- 
 ti-republican features, which characterized the social state of Vir- 
 ginia. The Law of Entails was the key-stone of this pernicious oli- 
 garchy. Besides locking up the lands of the Commonwealth in the 
 hands of a fixed nobility, and thereby discouraging immigration, it 
 legitimated the mastery of might over right, and in the most effectu- 
 al forms. It was a weapon, which the law itself superadded to the 
 multitude of natural means, to assist the strong in beating down and 
 trampling upon the weak. It enabled the original and opulent pro- 
 prietaries of the " Ancient Dominion," or their descendants, to per- 
 petuate the unnatural supremacy of wealth, over talents and virtue, 
 and to entail upon society ad infinitum^ the most disastrous corrup- 
 tions of the regal dynasty. Children became disobedient and dis- 
 sipated, or relapsed into a state of indolent independence, when they 
 knew they could not be ousted of their estates ; creditors were de- 
 frauded of their honest debts ; and bona fide purchasers were, in 
 many instances, either deprived of their title altogether, or compell- 
 ed to resort to courts of justice, to substantiate it against innumera- 
 ble latent entails. The abolition of this prerogative, therefore, was 
 rightly deemed by Mr. Jefferson, a first measure in repubhcanizing 
 the institutions, manners and customs of his country. 
 
 " To annul this privilege," says he, " and instead of an aristoc- 
 racy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to 
 
OF TH61MAS JEFFERSON. 137 
 
 make an opening for the aristocracy of Adrtue and talent, which na- 
 ture has Avisely provided for the direction of the interests of society, 
 and scattered witli equal hand through all its conditions, was deem- 
 ed essential to a well ordered republic. To effect it, no violence was 
 necessary, no deprivation of natural right, but rather an enlarge- 
 ment of it, by a repeal of the law. For tliis AA'ould authorise the 
 present holder to divide the property among his children, equally, 
 as his affections were divided ; and would place them, by natural 
 generation, on the level of their fellow citizens." 
 
 The Repeal was resisted, with desperation, by the sturdy and in- 
 exorable barons of the Legislature. It would doubtless amuse the 
 modern mind, to have a peep at the arguments which were urged 
 against a measure, so clearly dictated by every principle of justice 
 and sound policy : but unfortunately they have not been preserved. 
 The opposition was headed by Edmund Pendleton, speaker of the 
 House, a gentleman of great capacity, but zealously attached to an- 
 cient establishments. He had been the jirotege of the lordly John 
 Robinson, the acknowledged leader, of the landed aristocracy, for 
 half a century ; and the mantle of his patron had fallen upon him- 
 self. His personal influence was gigantic, and his powers as a de- 
 bater, were of a high order. For dexterity of address, fertility of 
 resource, and parliamentary management, he was without a rival. 
 With such a champion, some idea may be formed, oi the character 
 and force of the opposition. But their resistance was unavailing. 
 Finding they could not overthrow the gene'til principle of the bill, 
 they took Jieir stand on an amendment »vhich they proposed, — in- 
 stead of absolute abolition, to permit t-^ie tenant in tail, to convey in 
 fee simple, if he chose it : and thej were within a few votes of sav- 
 ing so much of the old law. But after a severe contest, the bill 
 finally passed for entire abolition ; and thus, to use the language of 
 the Author, was " broken up the hereditary and high-handed aris- 
 tocracy, which, by accumulating immense masses of property in 
 single lines of family, had divided our country into two distinct or- 
 ders of nobles and plebeians." The following short preamble intro- 
 duces the act. 
 
 " Whereas, the perpetuation of property in certain families, by 
 means of gifts made to them in fee taille, is contrary to good policy, 
 tends to deceive fair traders, who give credit on the visible possession 
 of such estates, discourages the holders thereof from taking care 
 and improving the same, and sometimes does injury to the morals 
 of youth, by rendering them independent of, and disobedient to 
 
138 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 their parents ; and whereas, the former method of docking such 
 estates taille, by special act of Assembly, formed for every particular 
 case, employed very much of the time of the Legislature, and the 
 same, as well as the method of defeating such estates, when of small 
 value, was burthensome to the public, and also to individuals : 
 " Be it therefore enacted, &c. 
 
 The next prominent heresy in the pohtical economy of Virginia, 
 which encountered the keen glance of the Reformer, was her Reili- 
 gious Establishment. This institution, he considered one of the 
 most preposterous and deleterious remnants of the repudiated regen- 
 cy ; but his advances upon this sulrject, in all its breadth and bear- 
 ings, had left the residue of mankind, with few exceptions, far in 
 the rear of his conclusions. 
 
 The Church establishment of Virginia was of the Episcopal order, 
 coeval with its first colonization, and, in all respects, a filiation of 
 the parent hierarchy. The first settlers of the Colony were Eng- 
 lishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church ; and the grant of 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, contained an express proviso, that their laws 
 'should not be against the true christian faith, now professed in the 
 Church of England.' They emigrated from the bosom of the 
 mother church, ' just at a point of time, when it was flushed with 
 complete victory over the religious of all other persuasions. Pos- 
 sessed, as they became, of the powers of makhig, administering, and 
 executing the laws, they showed equal intolerance in this country, 
 with their Presbyterian bretheren, who had emigrated to the north- 
 ern governments.'* As so^n as the state of the Colony admitted, it 
 was divided into parishes, in tach of which was installed a minister 
 of the Anglican church, endowed with a fixed salary in tobacco, a 
 glebe house and land, with the other necessary appendages. To 
 meet these expenses, all the inhabitants of the parish were assessed, 
 whether they were, or not, members of the established Church. 
 The integrity of the institution was guarded by the severest penal- 
 ties against schismatics. Besides the Common Law provisions 
 against heresij, making it a capital offence, punishable by burning, 
 their own statuary enactments were scarcely less flagitious. Sever- 
 al acts of the Viiginia Assembly, about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century, had made it penal in parents to refiise to have their chil- 
 dren baptised ; had prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers ; 
 
 * Notes on Virginia, p. 216. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 139 
 
 had made it penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into 
 the State ; had ordered those already there, and such as should come 
 thereafter, to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country ; pre- 
 scribed a milder punishment for the first and second return, but 
 death for the third ; had inhibited all persons from suffering their 
 meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them individually, or 
 disix)sing of books which supported their tenets. And so late as 
 1705, an act of Assemljly Avas passed, declaring, if any person 
 iDrought up in the Christian religion, denied the being of a God, or 
 the Trinity, or asserted there were more Gods than one, or de- 
 nied the Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be of divine 
 authority, he was punishable on the first offence, by incapacity to 
 hold any office or employment, ecclesiastical, civil, or military ; on 
 the second, by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guar- 
 dian, executor, or administrator, and by three years imprisonment 
 without bail. 
 
 »Such is an epitome of the religious slavery, which existed at this 
 
 dine, in Viiginia , and 'if no evp^-ntiono Lad Uiken place, as did 
 
 in New England, it was not owing to the moderation of the Church, 
 or spirit of the Legislature, as may be inferred from the laws them- 
 selves ; but to historical circumstances which have not been hand- 
 ed down to us.'* The Convention which sat in May, '76, in their 
 Declaration of Rights, had indeed proclaimed it to be a truth, and a 
 natural right, that the exercise of religion should be free ; " but 
 when they proceeded," says Mr. Jefferson, " to form on that Declara- 
 tion, the ordinance of government, instead of taking up every prin- 
 ciple declared in the Bill of Rights, and guarding it by legislative 
 sanction, they passed over that which asserted our rehgious rights, 
 leaving them as they found them." The wlijole catalogue of spirit- 
 ual oppressions, therefore, was reserved for himself to wipe away ; to 
 effect which, was an enterprise of a more desperate character than 
 any he had ever undertaken. The generous excitement of the 
 Revolution, was a powerful auxiliary to him ; but the state of the 
 country, in general, exhibited the strange phenomenon, of a people 
 devoting their lives and fortunes, for the recovery of their civil free- 
 dom, and yet clinging, with idolatry, to a mental tyranny, tenfold 
 more presumptuous and paralyzing, than all their external bonds. 
 
 * Notes on Virginia, p. 216. 
 
140 Lipi:, wrRiTiNGS, aj?d of iiSrioiSrs 
 
 Other moral causes, however, still more efficacious, combined with 
 the spirit of the Revolution, to assist him in the arduous labor oi 
 spiritual disenchantment. These causes are summarily stated by 
 himself. 
 
 "In process of time, however, other sectarisms w^ere introduced,- 
 chietly of the Presbyterian family ; and the established clergy, se- 
 cure for life in their glebes and salaries, adding to these, generally, 
 the emoluments of a classical school, found employment enough in 
 their farms and school rooms, for the rest of the week, and devoted' 
 Sunday only to the edification of their flock, by service, and a sei'- 
 mon at their parish church. Their other pastoral functions were 
 little attended to. Against this inactivity, the zeal and industry of 
 sectarian pi-eachers had an open and undisputed field ; and by the 
 time of the Revolution, a majority of the inhabitants had become 
 dissenters fi-om the estabhshcd church, but vrere still ol)liged to pay 
 contril)utions to support the pastors of the nnnority. This unright- 
 eous compulsion, to maintain teachers of what they deemed religious 
 errors, was grievously felt during the regal government, and without 
 a hope of relief. But the first repubhcan Legislature, which metii> 
 '76^ was crowded with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyrctuuy."' 
 
 Encouraged by the rising spirit of determination among the dis- 
 senters, and relieved from the complicated restraints which external- 
 ly barred all improvement, under the monarchy, he commenced hi& 
 attack on the dominant religion, eaily in the session — to wit, on the 
 11th of October. This bold and imposing movement, supported 
 by the incessant and well directed appeals of the petitioners, roused 
 the privileged clergy fiom their luxurious and protracted inertness. 
 Counter memorials, accordingly, poured in from every cjuarter, soli- 
 citing a continuance of the ecclesiastical polity, upon principles of 
 justice, wisdom, and expediency. They represented, that the repeal 
 of the church establishment would be an ex post facto enactment, 
 and a violation of the public faith ; that the Episcopal clergy had 
 entered upon their endowments, with the plighted obligation of the 
 government to continue them therein, during life, or good behavior, 
 as a compensation for their services, and that they held them by a 
 tenure as sacred as that by which any man has secured to him his 
 private property ; that the Episcopahans did not mean to encroach 
 on the religious rights of any sect of men, yet they conceived the ex- 
 istmg institution^, consecrated by the practice of so many years, as 
 eminently conducive to the peace and happiness of the State ; much 
 confusion, and probably civil commotions would attend the propos- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 141 
 
 ed change ; and finally, that an appeal should be made, for the de- 
 cision of so important a question, to the sentiments and wishes of 
 the people at large. The petitions, on the other hand, expatiated 
 in bewitching strains, upon the l^urning theme of liberty ; and blend- 
 ed with unanswerable demonstrations of right and reason, the pa- 
 thetic expostulations of bereaved freemen. 
 
 The subject was referred to the Committee of the whole House, 
 on the state of the country, with the multitude of appertaining 
 memorials and remonstrances. " These," says Mr. Jefferson in 
 1820, '• brought on the severest contests m which I have ever been 
 engaged. Our great opponents, were Mr. Pendleton and Robert 
 Carter Nicholas ; honest men, but zealous churchmen," The ma- 
 jority of the Legislature, unfortunately, were of the same religious 
 stamp, which forced an alteration in the mode of attack, on the 
 leader of the reform party. Finding he could not maintain the 
 ground on which he set out, he varied his position from absolute, to 
 partial abolition; and after vehement contests in the committee, al- 
 most daily, from the 11th of October, to the 5th of December, he 
 prevailed so far only, as to repeal the laws, which rendered criminal 
 the maintenance of any religious opinions, the forl)earance of re- 
 pairing to cliurch, or the exercise of any mode of w^orship. By 
 the same act also, he secured a provision, exempting dissenters 
 from contibutioiis to the support of the established church, and sus- 
 pending, until the next session only, levies on the members of the 
 church for the salaries of their own incumbents. But his oppo- 
 nents carried in a declaratory saving, that religious assemblies 
 ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made for con- 
 tinuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending their con- 
 duct. They succeeded also, in incorporating an express reserva- 
 tion of the ultimate question, — Whether a general assessment 
 should not be estabhshed by law, on every one, to support the pastor 
 of his choice ; or whether all should be left to free and voluntary 
 contributions. This question, the last prop of the tottering hierar- 
 chy, reduced the struggle to one of pure principle. The particu- 
 lar object of the dissenters being secured, they deserted the volunteer 
 champion of their cause, and went over, in troops, to the advocates 
 of a general assessment. This step, the natural proclivity of the 
 sectarian mind, showed them incapable of religious lil^erty, upon an 
 expansive scale, or broader than their own interests, as schismatics^ 
 
 13* 
 
142 " LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 But the defection of the dissenters, painful as it was, only stimtr- 
 lated his desire for total abolition, as it developed more palpably, the 
 evidences of its necessity. He remained unshaken at his post ; and 
 brouoht on the reserved question, at every session, from 76 to '79 ; 
 during which time, he could only obtain a suspension of the levies 
 from year to year, until the session of '79, when, by his unwearied 
 exertions, the question was carried definitively, against a general 
 assessment, and the establishment of the Anglican church entirely 
 overthrown. 
 
 This achievment is one of the standing monuments of that glo- 
 ry-hallowed age, and of its great intellectual magician. The Rev- 
 olution itself, with its catalogue of civil and political liberations- 
 would have been but o. compromise, without it, between despotism 
 and freedom ; and the balance would have been against us, in the 
 same proportion as the liberties of a nation depend more on the 
 moral, than on the political condition of its inhabitants. If ever 
 there was an occasion, when the American people might glory in 
 the superiority of their discoveries in the science of governmenty 
 over the aggregate attainments of the nations of the earth, and 
 ])oast of having produced a legislator, wis^r than the wisest of their 
 own, greater than the greatest of antiquity, it was that on which 
 the Author of tliis act, peaceably, and by the mere force of reason^ 
 banished from their political code, a heresy, fundamental in char- 
 acter, consecrated by immemorial adoption, universal and uninter- 
 rupted transmission, and cherished by the most indonatable preju- 
 dices of the human mind. The liistory of the world presents no 
 other example of a dissolution of Church and State, uncrimsoned 
 by the l)lood of the martyr, or unattended, sooner or later, by a re^ 
 establishment of the union, upon the basis of a more powerftil sec- 
 tarism. It belonged to America, guided by the unsophisticated 
 counsels of a native lawgiver, to establish the legitimate theory on 
 this momentous subject, by exempting the operations of the human 
 mind, in toto, from the jurisdiction of civil government. The other 
 nations of the earth, catching their inspiiation from the American 
 altar, are approximating, in slow degrees, to the same beneficent 
 result ; and the time is not far distant, probably, when the policy 
 of Mr. Jefferson will be universally recognized and put in practice. 
 Who, then, can set limits to the magnitude of this political innova- 
 ion, or the merits of its unrestrained originator ? It is from such 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 14S 
 
 contiaests, achieved by such means, that the collect standard is de- 
 rived, which determines the relative preponderance of empires, as 
 of individuals, in the scale of greatness, power, and respectability. 
 Thus was the cause of religious liberty astonishingly advanced. 
 But still the work was incomplete. Statutory oppressions were dis- 
 annulled ; but those which existed at the common law^, continued 
 in force ; nor were the advantages already gained, secured by any 
 |X)sitive legislative sanction. The proceedings hitherto, upon the 
 subject, were of a belligerent character ; and although crownied ^^^th 
 unexampled success, were regarded by the mover, in great part, as 
 an experiment upon public opinion, ' indicative,' as he expressed it, 
 ' of the general pulse of reformation.' The immortal barrier which 
 he sul>se(iuently erected, in perpetual security of the rights, of which 
 he had already procured the recognition, forms the inimitable con- 
 clusion of this impressive drama. We allude to his celebrated Re- 
 ligious Freedom Bill, universally regarded as the chiefest of the 
 bulwarks of human rights. As it constitutes a part of his gefteral 
 Code of Revisal, the merits of this bill wDl be more particularly 
 considered, when we come to develope the features of that vast and 
 recondite labor. 
 
 The next prominent corruption of the Monarchy, which Mr. 
 Jefferson regarded as fatally inconsistent with the republican change, 
 was the existence, and the practice of slavery. We have already 
 seen hun, on two occasions, exerting his talents, and raising his 
 prophetic voice, in awful admonition, against the continuance of 
 this atrocious and wide spread injustice. The result of his for- 
 mer attempt in the Legislature, which was based upon man- 
 umission, or the permission to emancipate, had convinced him, 
 of the utter impracticabihty of maintaining that ground ; and of 
 the necessity of attacking the evil in such mode as should militate 
 less diamatrically against the interests and prejudices of the reigning 
 population. He took his stand, therefore, upon a proposition to 
 abolish the execrable commerce in slaves ; which, by stopping im- 
 portation, would arrest the increase of the evil, and diminish the 
 obstacles to eventual eradication. But the business of the war 
 pressing heavily upon the Legislature, the subject was not acted 
 upon definitively, until the session of '78, wdien the bill was carried 
 without opposition, and the slave trade triumphantly al^olished in 
 Vu-ginia. The vast importance of this measure, and the grounds 
 
144 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 upon which the author may contest the merit of priority, with the 
 world, in the benevolent enterpise of African emancipation, will be 
 explained at greater length, when we arrive at that period of his le- 
 gislative history. 
 
 The next object of public improvement, which struck the atten- 
 tive mind of Mr. Jefferson as being of immediate urgency, was the 
 removal of the Seat of Government. The situation of Williams- 
 burg Avas so exposed, that it might be captured at any time in war, 
 by the enemy running up, in the night, either of the rivers be- 
 tween which it lay, landing a force above, and taking possession ; 
 without the possibility of saving either the officers and archives of 
 the government, or the military magazines. The Seat of Gov- 
 ernment had been originally fixed at Jamestown, the first settle- 
 ment of the colonists ; whence it had l)een afterwards removed a 
 few miles inland, to Williamsburg. But at that time the settle- 
 ments had not extended beyond the tide waters ; now they had 
 cros«ed the Allegany ; and the centre of population had travelled 
 fai' into the interior, from what it had been. In view of these con- 
 siderations he submitted a proposition, early in October, for the re- 
 moval of the government seat from Williamsburg to Richmond, 
 the present metropolis ; but it did not prevail until the session of 
 May, 79. 
 
 Such were some of the astonishing feats of legislation, with 
 which Mr. Jeflerson commenced the process of republican izing the 
 institutions of America, in the first regular Legislature that was or- 
 ganized on the dissolution of the Monarchy. They were all, it 
 will be perceived, of an elementary character, and highly demo- 
 cratic in their object and tendency. But still, the unique and 
 deeply interesting work was only begun — so thought the reaching 
 and untrammelled Innovator who contrived it. The original plan 
 which he had proposed to himself, on determining to leave the 
 floor of Congress, comprehended the entire resolution, and recast- 
 ing into other forms, of the anciently established and generally re- 
 ceived bases of civil government. 
 
 " So far,"' says he, in his brief notes of these transactions, " we 
 were proceeding in the details of reformation only ; selecting 
 points of legislation, prominent in character and principle, ur- 
 gent, and indicative of the strength of the general pulse of re- 
 formation. When I left Congress in '76, it was in the persuasion, 
 that oar whole code must be reviewed, adapted to our republican 
 
OF THOMAS JePFERSOK. 145 
 
 form of government ; and now, that we had no negatives of Councils, 
 Governors and Kings to restrain ns from doing right, that it should 
 be corrected in all its parts, with a single eye to reason and the good 
 of those for whose government it was framed." 
 
 In pursuance of his original design, therefore, he now brought 
 forward a proposition, which stands recorded in the Statute books 
 of Virginia, in the following terms. 
 
 "Whereas, on the late change which hath of necessity been intro- 
 duced into the form of government in this country, it is become 
 also necessary to make corresponding changes in the laws hereto- 
 fore in force ; many of which are inapplicable to the powers of gov- 
 ernment as now organized, others are founded on principles hetero- 
 geneous to the republican spirit ; others, which long before such 
 change, had been oppressive to the people, could yet never be re- 
 pealed while the regal power continued ; and others, having taken 
 their origin v/hile our ancestors remained in Britain, are not so well 
 adapted to our present circumstances of time and place ; and it is 
 also necessary to introduce certain other laws, which, though prov- 
 ed by the experience of other States to be friendly to liberty and the 
 lights of mankind, we have not heretofore been permitted to adopt ; 
 and whereas a work of such magnitude, labor, and difficulty, may 
 not 1)0 effected during the short and busy term of a session of 
 Asseml^ly : 
 
 "Be it therefore enacted, by the General Assembly of the Com- 
 monwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of 
 the same, — That a connnittee, to consist of five persons, shall be 
 appointed by joint Imllot of both Houses, (three of whom to Ije a 
 quoriun.) who shall have full power and authority to levise, alter, 
 amend, repeal, or introduce all or any of the said laws, to form the 
 same into Bills, and report them to the next meeting of the Gener- 
 al Assembly", 
 
 The resolution was passed on the 24th of October, 76, and on 
 the 5th of November, Mr. Jefferson, as chairman, was associated in 
 a commission with Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, Georare 
 Mason, and Thomas Ludwell Lee, to execute the contemplated 
 revisal. The Commissioners were elected by a joint ballot of both 
 Houses ; and the choice resulted in the selection of an assemblage 
 of characters, Avhich united the first order of capacity, intelligence, 
 and legal research, to a preponderance of the rankest revolutionary 
 principles. Suitable provisions were added, to render the execution 
 of a work of such magnitude and difficulty, as easy and expedi- 
 tious as practicable ; and such was the importance attached to the 
 result of their laljors, that the Assembly excused Mr. Wythe from 
 
146 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINION'S 
 
 his attendance in Congress, to secure his undivided co operatioiT, 
 Having accepted the arduous and responsible charge, the Commit- 
 tee of Revisors immediately came to an agreement, to meet at 
 Fredericksburg, in January ensuing, to settle the plan of operation, 
 and to distribute the work. The foundation was thus laid, for en- 
 abling the great republican lawgiver, to pursue his system of reform, 
 so auspiciously commenced, in all the latitude of his long cherished 
 and well expressed purpose, — ' with a single eye to reason, and the 
 good of mankind.' 
 
 But in the midst of this brisk and bold-spirited action of the in- 
 cipient popular Administration, an irregularity occurred, which, had 
 it been permitted to prevail, would have been a standing evidence, 
 of the incapacity of man for self-government. The autumn of '76, 
 was one of the darkest and most distressing periods of the Revolu- 
 tion. The courage of the country seemed to relapse into a tempo- 
 rary panic. The fortitude of the Virginia Legislature, fell for a 
 season ; and in a moment of terror and despondency, the demented 
 project was seriously meditated of creating a Dictator, investeiJ 
 with every power, legislative, executive and judiciary, civil and 
 military, of life and of death. The scheme originated with the 
 aristocratic portion of the House ; and produced an exacerbation of 
 temper which menaced a violent dissolution of the body. A dis- 
 crimination of political sentiment was developed by the event, 
 which before, was deemed incredible among the members of that he- 
 roic Legislature. The republican and the monarchist stood unveiled, 
 as if by the power of magic ; and such was the discrepancy of opinion 
 and of honest zeal, — for no one has attempted to impeach the motives 
 of either party, — that they walked the streets on different sides. It 
 was on this occasion, that Col. Archibald Cary, mover of the cele- 
 brated resolutions of Independence, now Speaker of the Senate, 
 manifested a patriotic sternness, which has placed him in history, 
 along side of a Cato and a Brutus.* Meeting Col. Syme, the 
 step- brother of Patrick Henry, in the lobby of the House, during 
 the agitation, he accosted him with great fierceness, in the following 
 terms : — " I am told that your brother wishes to be Dictator : tell 
 him from me, that the day of his appointment, shall be tlie day of 
 his death, — for he shall feel my dagger in his heart, before the sun 
 
 *Girardin, p.l92. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 147 
 
 set of that day."* The feeUngs excited m the mind of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, who was eminently instrumental in crushing the parricidal 
 project, may be inferred from that nervous and overpowering devel- 
 opment of its nature and tendency, whicli he recorded, a few 
 years after, as an everlasting warning to his countrymen. The 
 following is an extract. 
 
 " One, who entered into this contest, from a pure love of liberty, 
 and a sense of injured rights, avIio determined to make every sac- 
 rifice, and to meet every danger, for the re establishment of those 
 rights, on a firm basis, who did not mean to expend his blood and 
 substance, for the w^retched purpose of changing this master for 
 that, but to place the powers of governing him, in a plurality of 
 hands of his own choice, so that the corrupt will of no one man, 
 might in future oppress him, must stand confounded and dismayed, 
 when he is told, that a consideral^le portion of that plurality, had 
 meditated the surrender of them, into a single hand, and, in lieu 
 of a limited monarchy, to deliver him over to a despotic one ! How 
 must he find his efforts and sacrifices abused and baffled, if he may 
 still, by a single vote, be laid prostrate at the feet of one man ? In 
 God's name, from whence have they derived this power ? Is it from 
 our ancient laws ? None such can be produced. Is it from any 
 principle in our new constitution, expressed or implied ? Every 
 lineament of that, expressed or implied, is in full opposition to it. 
 Its fundamental principle is, that the State shall be governed as a 
 Commonwealth. It provides a republican organization, proscribes 
 under the name of prerogative, the exercise of all powers undefined 
 by the laws ; places on this basis, the whole system of our laws ; 
 and by consolidating them together, chuses that they should be left to 
 stand or fall together, never providing for any circumstances, nor 
 admitting that such could arise, wherein either should be suspended, 
 no, not for a moment. Our ancient laws expressly declare, that 
 those who are but delegates themselves, shall not delegate to others, 
 powers, which require judgment and integrity in theii" exercise. — 
 Or was this proposition moved, on a supposed right in the movers 
 of abandoning their posts in a moment of distress ? The same 
 laws forbid the abandonment of that post, even on ordinary occa- 
 sions : and much more, a transfer of their powers into other hands, 
 and other forms, without consulting the people. They never admit 
 the idea, that these, like sheep or cattle, may be given from hand 
 to hand, without an appeal to their own wiU. Was it from the 
 necessity of the case ? Necessities which dissolve a government, 
 do not convey its authority to an oligarchy or a monarchy. They 
 
 *Allhough it was generally supposed that Mr. Henry, then Gov. of the State, 
 was the person in view for the Dictatorship, yet there is no evidence that ha 
 was implicated in the scheme himself, or had any knowledge of it. 
 
148 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 throw back, into the hands of the people, the powers they had del- 
 egated, and leave them as individuals to shift for themselves. A 
 leader may ofier, but not impose himself, nor lie imposed on them. 
 Much less can their necks be submitted to his sword, their breath 
 to be held at his will, or caprice. The necessity which should operate 
 these tremendous effects, should at least be palpable and irresisfeable. 
 * * * In this State alone, did there exist so little virtue, that fear 
 was to be fixed in the hearts of the people, to become the mo- 
 tive of their exertions, and the principle of their government ? The 
 very thought alone, was treason against the people ; was treason 
 against mankind in general; rivetting for ever the chains Avhich 
 bow down their necks, by giving to their oppressors a proof, which 
 they would have trumpeted through the universe, of the imbecility 
 of republican government, in times of pressing danger, to shield 
 them from harm. Those who assume the right of giving away 
 the reins of government in any case, must be sure that the herd, 
 whom they hand on to the rods and hatchet of the dictator, Avill lay 
 their heads on the block, when he shall nod to them. But if our 
 Assemblies supposed such a resignation in the people, I hope they 
 mistook their character. I am of opinion, that the government, in- 
 stead of being braced and invigorated for greater exertions, under 
 their difficulties, \vould have been thrown back upon the bimgling 
 machinery of county committees for administration, till a con- 
 vention could have been called, and its wheels again set into reg- 
 ular motion. What a cruel moment was this, for creating such 
 an embarrassment, for putting to the proof, the attachment of our 
 countrymen, to republican government ?" 
 
 On the 13th of January, 1777, the committee appointed to Re- 
 vise the Laws, assembled at Fredericksburg, agreeably to previous 
 arangement, to settle the general principles of execution, and to dis- 
 tribute the labor. In relation to the first business of the consulta- 
 tion, the primary question was, 'whether they should propose to 
 abolish the whole existing system of laws, and prepare a new and 
 complete Institute, or preserve the general system, and only modify 
 it to the present state of things.' Mr. Pendleton, contrary to his 
 usual disposition in favor of ancient things, was for the former 
 proposition, in Avhich he was joined by Mr. Lee. To this it w^as 
 objected by Mr. Jeffei'son, that to abrogate the whole system, would 
 be a bold measure, and probably far beyond the views of the Legis- 
 lature ; that they had been in the practice of revising, fiom time to 
 time, the laws of the Colony, omitting the expired, the repealed, 
 and the obsolete, amending only those detained, and probably 
 now meant they should do the same, only including the British stat' 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 149 
 
 r\tes as well as our own ; that to compose a new Institute, like those 
 of Justinian and Bracton, or that of Blackstone, which was the 
 inodel proposed by Mr. Pendleton, would be an arduous undertak- 
 ing, of vast research, of great consideration and judgment ; and 
 when reduced to a text, from the imperfection of human language, 
 and its incompetence to express distinctly every shade of idea, 
 would become a subject of question and chicanery, until settled by 
 repeated adjudications ; that this woidd involve us for ages in liti- 
 gation, and render property uncertain, until, hke the statutes of old, 
 every word had been tried and settled by numerous decisions, and 
 by new volumes of reports and commentaries ; and, to be systemat- 
 ical, must be the work of one hand.' This last was the opinion 
 also of Mr. Wythe and Mr. Mason, and was consequently adopted as 
 the rule. They then proceeded to the distribution of the labor ; upon 
 which, Mr. Mason excused himself, as, being no lawyer, he felt him- 
 self unqualified to participate in the execution of the work, and re- 
 signed, indeed, soon after. Mr. Lee excused himself on the same 
 ground, and lived but a short time longer. The whole undertak- 
 ing, consequently, devolved on Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Pendleton, and 
 Mr. Wythe, who divided it among themselves, in the following 
 manner : — The whole Common Law, and the Statutes to the 4th 
 James L — when their separate Legislature was established, — were 
 assigned to Mr. Jefferson ; the British Statutes, from that period to 
 the present day, to Mr. Wythe ; and the Virginia laws to Mr. Pen- 
 dleton. 
 
 As the Law of Descents and the Criminal Law fell within tlie 
 portion assigned to Mr. Jefferson, in both of which he designed to 
 introduce certain fundamental changes, he submitted his intentions 
 to the committee, vdth a view to obtain their concurrence. First, 
 with respect to Descents, he proposed to abolish the law of Primo- 
 geniture, and to make real estate descendible in equal partition to 
 the next of kin, as personal property was, by the statute of distribution. 
 Mr. Pendleton objected to the plan, and insisted «pon preserving 
 the right of primogeniture entire ; but finding be could not main- 
 tain the whole, he proposed to adopt the Hebrew principle, and give 
 a double portion to the elder son. In reply, Mr. Jefferson observed, 
 " that if the elder son could eat twice as mucli, or do double work, 
 it might be a natural evidence of his right to a double portion ; but 
 being on a par, in his powers and wants, Avith his Ijrothers and sis- 
 
 14 
 
150 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ters, he should be on a par also in the partition of the patrimony." 
 The argument was as coiichisive as it was characteristic ; and, the 
 other members of the committee concurring with him, the principle 
 was adopted. 
 
 On the subject of the Criminal Law, he proposed, as a fundamen- 
 tal rule, that the punishment of death should be abohshed, in all 
 cases, except for treason and murder. The extraordinary humani- 
 ty of this proposition, is illustrated by the fact, that at this time, the 
 penal code of Great Britain comprehended more than two hundred 
 offences, besides treason and murder, punishalile by hanging ; ma- 
 ny of which were of so venial a nature as scarcely to deserve flagel- 
 lation. The innovation recommended would sweep from the parent 
 code, all its cruel and sanguinary features, without impairing its en- 
 ergy, as modern experience has proved, and present an example to 
 mankind, of wise and philanthropic legislation, which of itself would 
 be enough to immortalize the Revolution. The proposition was ap- 
 proved by the committee ; and for all felonies, under treason and 
 murder, it was agreed to suljstitute, in the room of capital punish- 
 ment, hard labor in the public works, and, in some cases, the lex tali- 
 onis, or law of retaliation. With the last mentioned substitute, Mr, 
 Jefferson was dissatisfied, but acquiesced in the decision of the 
 board. "How this revolting principle," says he, " came to obtain 
 our approbation, I do not remember. There remained, indeed, in 
 our laws, a vestige of it, in a single case of a slave. It was the Eng- 
 lish law, in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, copied probably from the 
 Hebrew law of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' and it was the 
 law of several ancient people ; but the modern mind had left it far 
 in the rear of its advances." Having decided upon these general 
 principles, as the basis of revision, they repaired to their respective 
 homes, to accomplish the magnificent design. 
 
 During the years 1777 and 8, the anxieties and agitations of the 
 war weighed so heavily and constantly upon the Legislature, that 
 little attention could be s^pared to advancing the progress of pohtical 
 reform. Mr. JefTerson continued a meml^er, Ijut in obedience to 
 more pressing urgencies, suspended, in great part, the ruling pur- 
 pose of his mind, and buried himself in the external concerns of rev- 
 olution. In all the practical details of legislation, he contrilsuted his 
 full quota of service ; but their volume prevents their incorporation, 
 .to any amount, into this work. Not a moment was passed unen>- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 151 
 
 ployed. Every interval which could be safely abstracted from his 
 duties in the Legislature, was devoted to the preparation of the Re- 
 vised Code of Virginia, or to a vigilant cu-cumspection of the nation- 
 al affairs. 
 
 The following letter to Dr. Franklin, in Paris, evinces the tri- 
 umphant satisfaction with which he contemplated the establishment 
 of republicanism on the ruins of monarchy, in his native State, as 
 well as the anxiety and zeal which he carried into every depart- 
 ment of the public service. It is the fourth, in date, of his pubhshed 
 correspondence. 
 
 " Virgina, August 13, 1777, 
 " Honorable Sir, — ^I forljear to write you news, as the time of Mr. 
 Shore's departure being uncertain, it might be old before you receive 
 it, and he can, in person, possess you of all we have. With respect 
 to the State of Virginia in particular, the people seem to have laid 
 aside the monarchical, and taken up the republican government, 
 with as much ease as would have attended their throwing off an old, 
 and putting on a new suit of clothes. Not a single throe has at- 
 tended this important transformation. A half dozen aristocratical 
 gentlemen, agonizing under the loss of pre-eminence, have some- 
 times ventured their sarcasms on our political metamorphosis. They 
 have been thought fitter objects of pity than of punishment. We 
 are at present in the complete and c[uiet exercise of well organized 
 government, save only that our courts of justice do not open till the 
 fall. I think nothing can bring the security of our continent and its 
 cause into danger, if we can support the credit of our paper. To 
 do that, I apprehend one or two steps must be taken. Either to 
 procure free trade by alliance with some naval power able to protect 
 it ; or, if we find there is no prospect of that, to shut our ports totally 
 to all the world, and turn our Colonies into manufactories. The 
 former would be most eligible, because most conformable to the hab- 
 its and wishes of our people. Were the British Court to return to 
 their senses in time to seize the little advantage which still remains 
 within their reach from this quarter, I judge that, on acknowledging 
 oiir absolute independence and sovereignty, a connnercial treaty 
 beneficial to them, and perhaps even a league of }iiutual offence and 
 defence, might, not seeing the expense or consequences of such a 
 measure, be approved by our people, if nothing in the mean time, 
 done on your part, should prevent it. But they will continue to 
 grasp at their desperate sovereignty, till every benefit short of that is 
 forever out of their reach. I i\'ish my domestic situation had render- 
 ed it possible for me to join you in the very honoralale charge confi- 
 ded to you. Residence in a polite Court, society of literati of the 
 first order, a just cause and an approving God, will add length to a 
 
152 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 life for which all men pra)^, aucl none more than your most obeclieirf 
 and humble servant." 
 
 In addition to the crowd of military operations, which engaged the 
 attention of the Legislature, two important transactions of a civil 
 character, in both of which Mr. JefTerson took the lead, distinguish- 
 ed the autumnal session of 1777. These were, the ratification of 
 the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, proposed by Con- 
 gress on the 17th of November, '7G ; and the adoption of a plau 
 to dispose of the vast unappropriated lands of Virginia, on the west- 
 ern waters, the avails of which to be applied to the creation of a 
 sinking fund, in aid of the taxes, for discharging the pul^lic debt. 
 A loan office was established, in which the waste and unpatented 
 lands were registered, and sold, from time to time, on moderate 
 terms, for the benefit of the State. In the present posture of affairs, 
 no measure could have been proposed, more directly and widely ben- 
 eficial ; it opened an incalculable resource for the support of the pub- 
 lic credit. 
 
 The May session of 1778, also, notwithstanding the importunity 
 of the war, and the unremitting assiduities of military preparation, 
 was distinguished by a civil transaction, which is intimately blend- 
 ed with the reputation of Mr. Jefferson, and with the honor of our 
 common country. We allude to the abohtion of the Slave Trade. 
 The bill for this purpose^ it will be recollected, was introduced by 
 him at the October session of '76, but was not acted upon finally, un- 
 til the present, when a more }xirticular illustration of its merits wa? 
 promised, by a historical comparison of the efforts of other nations, 
 in the same benevolent sphere. The British empire has claimed 
 the honor of having set the example to the world, of the renuncia- 
 tion of this diabolical traffick ; and Lord Castlereagh declared, in the 
 House of Commons, on the 9th of February, 1818, that on the sub- 
 ject of making the slave trade punishable by law, Great Britain had 
 led the way. A little attention to dates and transactions, will eluci- 
 date the historical truth on this point. 
 
 In the year 1791, Mr. Willjerforce, Avho is considered the father 
 of African Abolition in England, made his first grand motion to 
 that effect in the House of Commons. After a vehement and pro- 
 tracted debate, in the course of which, Mr. Fox said, that "if the 
 House did not, by their vote, mark to all niankind their abhorrence 
 of a practice so savage, so enormous, so repugnant to all laws, hu- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 153 
 
 mail and divine, they would consign their character to eternal in- 
 famy," — the motion was lost by a consideral^le majority. The ensu- 
 ing year, he renewed his proposition, with nnaljated ardor, and 
 again it was rejected by the House. They nevertheless manifested 
 some relaxation in their resistance to the general principle, by vot- 
 ing a gradual abolition, the same year ; but the House of Lords 
 refused to concur. The same vote was again carried in 1794, in 
 (I^ommons, by a very thin House ; but lost with the Peers, by a 
 majority of forty-five to four. Similar results attended the annual 
 and indefatigable exertions of the aljolitionists, for the space of four- 
 teen years ; and it was not until the 25th of March, 1807, that 
 England consented to renounce the Slave Trade, by a law which 
 enacted, that no vessels should clear out for slaves from any port 
 within the British dominions, after the 1st of May, 1807 ; and 
 that no slave should Ije landed in the Colonies after the 1st of 
 March, ISOS. On the 16th of March, 1792, Denmark promulgated 
 a law, which interdicted the Slave Trade on the part of Danish sub- 
 jects, after the commencement of the year 1803 ; and which pre- 
 scribed that all importations of slaves into the Danish dominions 
 should cease at the same period. Sweden, who had never author- 
 ized the trallick, consented to its prohibition in 1813; and the King 
 of the Netherlands in 1814. In France, Bonaparte interdicted it 
 siX)ntaneously and immediately on his return from Elba, in 1815. 
 In 1816, Spain stipulated in a treaty with England, to renounce 
 the trade entirely, after the 30th of March, 1820, in consideration 
 of the sum of four hundred thousand pounds sterling. About the 
 same time, also, a treaty was concluded by the same Power, with 
 Portugal, in which she required the period of eight years to com- 
 plete the work of abolition, together with certain material changes 
 in the commercial relations of the two countries.* 
 
 From the foregoing statement, it appears, that the high honor 
 of having set the example in the magnanimous work of African 
 Abolition, belongs clearly and aljsolutely to America. That Vir- 
 ginia was the firsi sovereign and independent State, herself a slave 
 holding community, which renounced the nefarious commerce ; 
 that she preceded Great Britain twenty-nine years, and the other 
 principal, slave dealing Powers in Europe, except Denmark, more 
 
 Walsh's Appeal, pp. 320—364, 
 
 14* 
 
154 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 than thirty-five years ; and that among the multitude of statesmen 
 and philanthropists, whose praises have been heralded through the 
 universe, and deservedly so, for their splendid successes in this spe- 
 cies of legislation, the merit of priority, and of self-denying patri- 
 otism, attaches irresistably and incontestibly to Mr. Jefferson. The 
 Bill which he sulDmitted to the Legislature, and which finally re- 
 ceived their sanction, prohibited, under heavy penalties, the intro- 
 duction of any slave mto Yirginia, by land or by water ; and de- 
 clared, that every slave imported contrary thereto, should be imme- 
 diately free ; excepting such as might belong to persons emigrating 
 from the other States, or be claimed by discount, devise, or mar- 
 riage, or be at that time, the actual property of any citizen of the 
 Commonwealth, residing in any other of the United States, or be- 
 long to travellers making a transient stay, and carrying their slaves 
 away with them. The circumstance ought not to be overlooked, 
 that this important triumph w^as achieved amid the turbvilence and 
 anxiety of Revolution ; thus exhibiting the sublime spectacle of a 
 people legislating for the hberties of another and distant continent, 
 before the recovery of their own. The example was followed up 
 by Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
 in the years 1780, W, '88 ; and in 1794 the Congress of the Uni- 
 ted States interdicted the trade from all the ports of the Union, 
 under severe penalties. Thus was the work of al)olition finally 
 consummated in America, and a great step taken towards eradica- 
 ting the inveterate and hydra-headed evil. The cause of emanci- 
 2>ation is a very ditTeient subject. We have already noticed the 
 opinions, and the official labors of Mr. Jefferson upon that point ; 
 his future and indefatigable efforts in the same cause, diffused, as 
 they are, tluough his v/hole life, will progi-essively develope them- 
 selves in the seqviel. 
 
 In the month of February, 1779, the Committee of Revisors, 
 having completed their respective tasks, convened at Williamsjjurg, 
 to review, approve, and consolidate them into one Report. They 
 came together day after day, and examined critically their several 
 parts, scrutinizing and amending, until they had agreed on the 
 whole. They had, in this work, embodied all the Common Law 
 which it was thought necessary to alter, all the British Statutes, 
 from Magna Charta to the present day, and all the laws of Vir- 
 ginia, from the establishment of their separate Legislature to the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 155 
 
 present timej which they thought should be retained, within the 
 compass of one hundred and Uventy-six bills, making a printed 
 foho of ninety pages only. A monument of codification, upon the 
 republican model, almost incredible at that period ! The whole of 
 this herculean labor, the major part of w^hich fell to Mr. Jeifcrson, 
 was accomplished at detached and hurried intervals, amidst the 
 complicated occupations and anxieties of the times, within the 
 brief space of two years. In the execmtion of his part, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son observed a rule, in relation to style, which may appear rather 
 odd to the modern draughtsman. In reforming the ancient stat- 
 utes, he preserved the diction of the text ; and in all new draughts, 
 he avoided the introduction of modern technicalities, and adopted 
 the sample of antiquity ; which, from its greater simplicity, would 
 allow less scope for the chicanery of the lawyers, and remove from 
 among the people, numberless liabilities to litigation. Against the 
 labored phraseology of modern statute.^, he has entered an amusing 
 protest. ' Their verbosity,' says he, 'their endless tautologies, their 
 involutions of case within case, and parenthesis within parenthesis, 
 and their multiplied efforts at certainty, by saids and aforesaids, 
 by ors and by ands, to make them more plain, have rendered them 
 really more perplexed and incomprehensible, not only to common 
 readers, but to the lawyers themselves.' 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1779, the Committee of Revisors commu- 
 nicated their Report to the General Assembly, accompanied by a 
 letter to the Speaker, signed by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Wythe, and 
 authorized by Mr. Pendleton. 
 
 The Revised Code was not enacted in a mass, as was contem- 
 plated ; the minds of the Legislature were not prepared for so ex- 
 tensive a transition, at once, and the violence of the times afforded 
 little leisure for the business of metaphysical discussion and training. 
 Some Bills were taken out, occasionally, from time to time, and 
 passed ; but the main body of the work was not entered upon, un- 
 till after the general peace, in 1785 ; " when," says Mr. Jefferson, 
 
156 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " by the unwearied exertions of Mr. Madison, in opposition to the 
 endless quibbles, chicaneries, perversions, vexations, and delays of 
 lawyers and denii-lawyers, most of the bills were passed by the 
 Legislature, with little alteration." The distinguished cotemporary, 
 who is represented as having had so important an agency in car- 
 ry in «• this code into operation, has added verbal testimony of the 
 uncommon estimate which he put upon its merits. " It has" says 
 he, " been a mine of legislative wealth, and a model of statuto- 
 ry composition, containing not a single superflnoj/^ word, and 
 prefer ing always words and phrases of a meaning fixed as much 
 as possible by oracular treatises, or solemn adjudications."* 
 
 In preparing this work, Mr. Jefferson improved the opportunity 
 to push his favorite system of reform into every branch and fibre 
 of administration, which could be reached through that avenue. 
 The principal innovations which he made upon the established or- 
 der of things, were the following : 
 
 1. The Repeal of the Law of Entails, which, though separately 
 enacted at the first republican session, he incorporated into the Re- 
 vised Code. 
 
 2. The Abrogation of the right of Primogeniture, and the equal 
 division of mheritances among" all the children, or other represen- 
 tatives in equal degree. 
 
 3. The Assertion of the right of Expatriation, or a repul^lican 
 definition of the rules wheteby aliens may become citizens, and 
 citizens make themselves aliens. 
 
 4. The Establishment of Rehgious Freedom upon the broadest 
 foundation. 
 
 5. The Emancipaticfla of all Slaves born after the passage of 
 the act, and deportation at a proper age — not carried into effect. 
 
 6. The Abolition of Capital Punishment in all cases, except 
 those of treason and murder ; and the graduation of punishments 
 to crimes throughout, upon the principles of reason and humanity — 
 enacted with amendments. 
 
 7. The Establishrtient of a systematical plan of General Educa- 
 tion, reaching all classes of citizens, and adapted to every grade of 
 capacity — not canied into effect. 
 
 * Letter to S. H. Smith, 1827. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 157 
 
 The first of these prominent features of the Revival, has already 
 been considered at sufficient length. 
 
 The second in the catalogue, holds an eminent rank among the 
 ancient and venerable foundations of republicanism. It overturn- 
 ed one of the most arbitrary and unrighteous, am.ong the multiplied; 
 institutions, which have been permitted to evict the laws of God 
 and the order of nature, from the social systeius of mankind. The 
 principle of Primogeniture was a feudal engraftment upon the an- 
 cient common law of England, introduced by William the Con- 
 queror, with the host of kindred burthens and restrictions ; and as 
 it formed the main pillar of the military despotisms in barbarian 
 Scandinavia, so in civilized England, it constituted the grand arte- 
 ry of a hereditary and heavy bearing oligarchy. liike the law of 
 entails, it operated to perpetuate the soil and wealth of the king- 
 dom in single lines of faniiUes, and to create an artificial nobility, 
 founded on the mere circumstance of birth, to the exclusion from all 
 power and place, of the real nobility of talent and virtue, which 
 nature lias wisely ordered for the direction of human aflairs. It 
 did not escape the penetration of Mr. Jefferson, that the existence 
 of such a principle, in a republican government, was a political 
 solecism ; on the extinction of which, depended the consisience 
 and stability of the whole structure. The aristocracy of Virginia 
 opposed the innovation with the usual pertinacity, which marked 
 their adherence to the ancient privileges of the order ; Ijut the 
 bill was finally carried, in 1785, and forms the present lav.- of De- 
 scents in that distinguished Commonwealth. 
 
 The law on the subject of Expatriation, established the republi- 
 can doctrine on that cardinal and much controverted principle of 
 revolution. The original opinions of the Author, in reference to 
 this question, from the earUest daw3i of colonial resistance, with 
 the singular discrepancy between them and those of his leading 
 compatriots, have been illustrated, in a preceding chapter, by an 
 appeal to the written testimony of that period. Heterodox and 
 presumptuous as his rights of colonization were deemed by the po- 
 litical doctors of tlic first phasis of the Revolution, the public mind 
 had now approximated so nearly to the same point, as to author- 
 ize the attempt to establish them upon a legal basis. The bill for 
 this purpose, was taken up separately, and carried, on the 26th of 
 June, '79, principally through the exertions of George Mason, into 
 
158 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 whose hands the Author had committed it, on his retiring from 
 the Legislature, tlie first of that month. After stating the condi- 
 tions of naturahzation, and declaring who shall be deemed citizens, 
 and who aUens, on terms extremely liberal and democratic, the 
 act goes on to prescribe : " And in order to preserve to the citizens 
 of this Commonwealth that natural right, icliich all men have, 
 of rehnquishing the country, in which birth or other accident may 
 have thrown them, and seeking subsistence and happiness where- 
 soever they may be able, or may hope to find tliem ; and to de- 
 clare, uneciuivocally, what circumstances shall be deemed evidence 
 of an intention in any citizen to exercise that right : It is enac- 
 ted and declared," &c. Having defined the necessary circumstan- 
 ces of evidence, and the mode of proceeding thereon, the act con- 
 cludes by giving to all free white inhabitants of other States, ex- 
 cept paupers and fugitives from justice, the same rights, privileges 
 and inununities, as belong to the free citizens of the Commonwealth, 
 and the liberty of free ingress and egress to and from the same ; 
 reserving, however, the right and authority of retaining persons 
 guilty, or charged with the commission, of any high crime or mis- 
 demeanor in another State, and of delivering them over to the au- 
 thorUiois of the State from which tbey fled, upon demand of the Gov- 
 ernor or executive power of such State. Speaking of this act, the 
 Continuator of Burk's History of Virginia, remarks : 
 
 " Its operation has been superseded by subsec[uent institutions ; 
 but that philanthropy which opened, in Virginia, an asylum to in- 
 dividuals of any nation not at open war with America, upon their 
 removing to the State to reside, and taking an oath of fidelity ; and 
 that respect for the natural and social rights of men, which lays no 
 restraints whatever on expatriation, and claims the allegiance of citi- 
 zens, so long only as they are willing to retain that character, cannot 
 be forgotten. The legislators of Virginia well knew, that the strong- 
 est hold of a government on its citizens, is that affection which ra- 
 tional liberty, mild laws, and protecting institutions never fail to pro- 
 duce ; especially, when physical advantages march in front with po- 
 litical blessings, and industry and worth are perennial sources of 
 comfort and respectability." 
 
 The act for the establishment of Religious Freedom, is perhaps 
 the most mteresting feature in the Revised Code. With the single 
 exception of the Declaration of Independence, it is the most celebra- 
 ted of the author's productions, and the one to which himself always 
 recurred with the highest pride and satisfaction. The preamble 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 159 
 
 which ushers in the act, demonstrates, with unrivaled ^andeur, 
 and with the emphasis of mathematical certainty, the premise up- 
 on which the stupendous proposition was founded; "and the disci- 
 ple of truth," says a writer,* "on beholding this temple of refuge, 
 must feel a holier awe from the magnificence of the vestibule." 
 Taldng into consideration the infancy of political science, at that pe- 
 riod, the feeble advance?, in particular, which had been made on the 
 subject of rehgious liberty, the bigoted adhesion of the mind to tra- 
 ditional scruples in spiritual concerns, and the high fermentation of 
 the Church party, smarting under the recent loss of government 
 power and patronage, the erection, by law, of this memorable bul- 
 wark of human freedom, may be regarded as the proudest triumph 
 of reason and philosophy, of which that, or any other age, can boast. 
 The following is the Preamble, with the accompanying Act. 
 
 " Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free ; that all 
 attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by 
 civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and mean- 
 ness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our reli- 
 gion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propa- 
 gate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do ; that 
 the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as eccle- 
 siastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, 
 have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their 
 own opinions and modes of thinking, as the only true and infallible, 
 and as such, endeavoring to impose them on others, hath establish- 
 ed and maintained false religious over the greatest part of the world, 
 and through all time ; that to compel a man to furnish contribu- 
 tions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbeheves, 
 is sinful and tyrannical ; that even the forcing him to support this 
 or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of 
 the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular 
 pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and w^hose powers 
 he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from 
 the ministry those temporary rewards, which, proceeding from an 
 approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement 
 to earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction of mankind ; 
 that our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions, 
 any more than our opinions in physics or geometry ; that therefore 
 the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the pubhc confidence, by 
 laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and 
 emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opin- 
 ion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages, 
 
 * S. H. Smith. 
 
160 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 to which in common with his fellow citizens he has a natural right ; 
 that it lends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant 
 to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honors and 
 emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it ; yet 
 though indeed these are ciiminal who do not withstand sucli tempta- 
 tion, vet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way ; that 
 to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of 
 opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on 
 supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, wliich at once 
 destroys all religious liberty, because he being of comse judge of that 
 tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve 
 or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with 
 or differ from his own ; that it is time enough for the rightful pur- 
 poses of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles 
 break out into overt acts against peace and good order ; and finally, 
 that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the 
 proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear 
 from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her 
 natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be 
 dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them : 
 
 " Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be 
 compelled to freqvient or support any religious worship.'place, or minis- 
 try, whatsoever, nor shall be en forced, restrained, molested, or burthen- 
 ed in his l3ody or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his re- 
 ligious opinions or belief ; but that all men shall be free to profess, 
 and by argument to mamtain, their opinion in matters of religion, 
 and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their 
 civil capacities. 
 
 " And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the 
 people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power 
 to restrain the acts of successiA-e Assemblies, constituted with.pow- 
 ers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irre- 
 vocable would be of no effect in law ; yet we are free to declare, 
 and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural 
 rights of mankind, and that if any act should be hereafter passed to 
 repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, suck act will be an in- 
 fringement of natural right." 
 
 The above is the form in which it received the sanction of the 
 Legislatm-e, and varies somewhat from the original draught. ' The 
 variations,' says the compiler of the Yirginia statutes, 'rendered the 
 style less elegant, though they did not materially affect the sense.' 
 The Bill was not acted upon until the year 17S5, nor carried then, 
 but with considerable difficulty. 
 
 " I had drawn it," says the author, " in all the latitude of reason 
 and right. It still met with opposition ; but, with some mutilations 
 
GP TH6MAS JEFFERSON. 161 
 
 III the preamble, it was finally passed ; and a singular proposition 
 proved, that its protection of opinion was meant to l)e universal. 
 Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the 
 plan of the Holy Author of our religion, an amendment was pro- 
 posed, by inserting the words 'Jesus Christ,' so that it should read, 
 ' a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the Holy Author of our 
 religion ;' the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof 
 that thej' meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, 
 the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hin- 
 doo, and Infidel of every denomination." 
 
 This celebrated Act has been the standing model of legislation 
 for the security of religious freedom, in all parts of the Union, from 
 that day to the present ; and there is not, we believe, a State, that 
 has legislated at all upon the subject, which has not incorporated, 
 either in its Constitution, or its Statutory Code, the suljstance of its 
 provisions, and, in some instances, its phraseology to a considerable 
 extent. 
 
 On its promulgation, in 1785, it excited unbounded admiration, 
 and was copied into every newspaper, which made any pretensions 
 to liberality, with enthusiastic comments. In Europe, it produced 
 a considerable sensation. It was translated into all the principal 
 languages, copied into the newspapers, reviews, and encyclopedias, 
 and applauded beyond measure by the statesmen and philosophers 
 of the ancient world. Mr. Jefferson was in France when the in- 
 telligence was received in Europe, resident Minister at the Court of 
 Versailles; and in his private letters to America, of that date, frequent 
 mention is made of the admkation expressed for the Act of Religious 
 Freedom, and the Revised Code generally. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Wythe, dated Paris, August 13, 1786, he thus 
 writes : 
 
 " The European papers have armounced, that the Assembly of 
 Virginia were occupied on the revisal of their code of laws. This 
 with some other similar intelligence, has contributed much to con- 
 vince the people of Europe, that what the English papers are con- 
 stantly publishing of our anarchy, is false ; as they are sensible, 
 that such a work is that of a people only, who are in perfect tran- 
 quillity. Our act for freedom of religion is extremely applauded. 
 The ambassadors and ministers of the several nations of Europe, 
 resident at this court, have asked of me copies of it, to send to their 
 sovereigns, and it is inserted at full length in several books now in 
 the press; among others, in the new Encyclopedie. I think it will 
 produce considerable good, even in these countries, Avliere ignorance, 
 
 15 
 
162 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 superstition, poverty, and oppression of body and mind, in every 
 form, are so firmly settled on the mass of the people, that tlieir re- 
 demption from them can never be hoped. If all the sovereigns of 
 Europe were to set theinselves to work, to emancipate the minds of 
 their subjects from their present ignorance and prejudices, and that, 
 as zealously as they now endeavor the contrary, a thousand years 
 would not place them on that high ground, on which our common 
 people are now setting out. Ours could not have been so fairly 
 placed under the control of the common sense of the people, had 
 they not l)een separated from their parent stock, and kept from con- 
 tamination, either from them, or the other people of the old world, 
 by the intervention of so wide an ocean. To know the worth of 
 this, one must see the want of it here." 
 
 Again, in a letter to Mr. Madison, dated Paris, Dec. 16, 1786, he 
 communicates the same informiition, in such a manner, that it loses 
 no interest by the repetition. 
 
 •' The Virginia act for religious freedom has been received Avith 
 infinite approbation in Europe, and propagated with enthusiasm. 
 I do not mean by the governments, but by the individuals who 
 compose them. It has been translated into French and Italian, 
 has been sent to most of the courts of Europe, and has been the 
 best evidence of the falsehood of those reports, which stated us to 
 be in anarchy. It is inserted in the new Encyclopedie, and is ap- 
 pearing in most of the publications respecting America. In fact, it 
 is comfortable to see the standard of reason at length erected, after 
 so many ages, during which the human mind has been held in 
 vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles : and it is honorahle for us 
 to have produced the first legislature who had the courage to de- 
 clare, that the reason of man may be trusted with the formation of 
 his own opinions." 
 
 The next distinguishing and fundamental change recommended 
 by the Revisal, regarded the freedom of the unhappy sons of Africa ; 
 and proposed, directly, the Emancipation of all Slaves born after the 
 passage of the act. The Bill reported by the Revisors, did not it- 
 self contain this proposition ; but an amendment containing it, was 
 prepared, to be offered to the Legislature, whenever the bill should 
 be taken up. ''It was thought better," says the Author, " that this 
 should be kept back, and attempted only, by way of amendment." 
 It was further agreed, to embrace in the residuary proposition a 
 clause, directing, that the after born Slaves should continue with 
 their parents to a certain age, then be brought up at the public ex- 
 pense, to tillage, arts or sciences, according to their geniuses, till the 
 females should be eighteen, and the males twenty-one years of age, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'. 163 
 
 when they should be colonized to such place as the circumstances of 
 the time should render most proper, sending them out with arms, 
 implements of household and the handicraft arts, seeds, pairs of the 
 useful domestic animals, (fcc. ; to declare them a free and independ- 
 ent people, and extend to them our alliance and protection, till they 
 should have acquired strength ; and to send vessels, at the same 
 time, to other parts of the world for an equal number of white in- 
 habitants, to induce whom to migrate thither, proper encourage 
 ments were to be proposed. But when the Bill was taken up by 
 the Legislature, in 17S5, neither Mr. Jefferson, nor Mr. Wythe, his 
 chief coadjutor in the undertaking, were members ; the former be- 
 ing absent on the Legation to France, and the latter, an officer of 
 the judiciary department ; so the contemplated amendment was not 
 proposed, and the Bill passed unaltered, being a mere digest of the 
 existing laws on the subject, Avithout any intimation of a plan for 
 future and general emancipation. 
 
 If there was any one question connected with the freedom and 
 happiness of mankind, on which the genius of Mr. Jefferson kin- 
 dled into an extravagance, seemingly incompatible with sobriety 
 and right reason, it was that of the Emancipation of Slaves. It 
 was hardly possible for him, as he declared, to write and be temper- 
 ate on the subject. The quotations already given to the reader, 
 exhibit abundant evidence of the intensity with which he yearned, 
 to use his own language, " for the moment of delivery to this op- 
 pressed description of men." The following vehement exhortation 
 was penned in France, on learning the passage of the Slave Bill, in 
 Virginia, without the adoption of liis concerted amendment. 
 
 " What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is 
 man ! who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, and 
 death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and, the next mo- 
 ment, be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him 
 through his trial, and inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour 
 of which is fraught with more misery, than ages of that which he 
 rose in rebellion to oppose ! But we must await, with patience, the 
 workings of an overruling Providence, and hope that that is pre- 
 paring the deliverance of these our suffering brethren. When the 
 measure of their tears shall be full, when their groans shall have 
 involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless a God of justice will 
 awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light and hberality among 
 their oppressors, or at length, by his exterminating thunder, man- 
 
 ■*5# ♦ 
 
1.64 LIFEj WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 if est his attention to the things of this world, and that they are 
 not left to the guidance of a hlind fatality." 
 
 The following paragraph, in allusion to the same transaction of 
 the Legislature, was written at the age of seventy -seven, and fount! 
 among his papers at the time of his death. Time but added em- 
 phasis to his appalling predictions, and strengthened his attach- 
 ment to the plan of redemption, which he originally proposed. 
 
 " It was found that the public mind would not yet bear the pro- 
 position, nor will it bear it even at this day, (1821.) Yet the day 
 is not distant, when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. 
 Nothinsf is more ceitainlv written in the book of fate, than that 
 these people are to be free ; nor is it less certain, that the two 
 races,^ equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, 
 habit, opinion have drawn indelible lines of distinction between 
 them. It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation 
 and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degree, as that the 
 evil will wear oft' insensibly, and their place be, jjari passu, filled 
 up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force it- 
 self on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held up. We 
 should in vain look for an example in the Spanish deportation, 
 or deletion of the Moors. This precedent would fall far short of 
 our case.*' 
 
 The ' Bill for proportioning Crimes and Punishments in cases 
 heretofore capital' occupies a proud niche in the temple of revolu- 
 tionary reform. The changes which it proposed in the Criminal 
 Code of the old world, were of the most extensive character, and 
 such as modern experience has proved abundantly adequate to the 
 protection and good order of society, while they saved a great 
 amount of individual suffering and slaughter. The<''j*ical writer,-- 
 had shaken, profoundly, the barbarous opinions which prevailed on 
 the subject of penal jurisprudence ; among whom Mr. Jefferson 
 mentions Beccaria, in particular, as having " satisfied the reasona- 
 ble world, of the unrightfulness and inefficacy of the punishment 
 of crimes by death." But no mitigation had been effected in prac- 
 tice ; and the Author of this act stands before the world, as the first 
 official lawgiver, who, having -dvanced to the true theory of crim- 
 inal ethics, went boldly and nationally to work to incorporate it in 
 the mechanism of civil government. The legitimate object of all 
 punishment being, in his opinion, disciplinary, rather than vindica- 
 tory, he made the reformation of the offender, the fundamental 
 maxim of his theory ; and graduated his scale of penal sanctions- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 165 
 
 by that standaid. The punisliment of death putting this object en- 
 tirely out of the question, he restrained its infliction to cases, in 
 which reformation was either hopeless, or too hazardous to attempt. 
 Modern codifyers and moral philosopher have, without exception, 
 adopted the same principle for their guide ; and, pursuing it to 
 a still greater extent, have effected still greater improvements on the 
 ancient economy. It led eventually to the suggestion of the Peni- 
 tentiary system, now so well tested by experience, as to have become 
 nearly universal ; and the idea has of late been carried so far as to 
 have brought seriously in question, the right and utility of capital 
 punishment, in any case. That strong confidence in the innate vir- 
 tue of man, which was so conspicuous in the character of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, and which led him to exclude the agency of force from ev- 
 ery member of the body politic, which came under his control, 
 placed him at once on the high and hmiiane ground, in relation to 
 criminal jurisprudence, which forms a prominent object of prose- 
 cution with the philanthropists and utilitarians of the present day. 
 The following letter, inclosing the Bill to one of his colleagues, for 
 examination, is worthy of being preserved. 
 
 "Monticello, November 1, 1778. 
 "Dear Sir — I have got through the bill ' for proportioning crimes 
 and punishments in cases heretofore capital,' and now enclose it to 
 you with the request that you will be so good, as scrupulously to ex- 
 amine and correct it, that it may be presented to our committee, 
 with as few defects as possible. In its style I have aimed at accu- 
 racy, brevity, and simplicity, preserving however, the very words of 
 the established law, wherever their meaning had l)een sanctioned by 
 judicial decipio"is, or rendered technical by usage. The same mat- 
 ter, if couched in the modern statutory language, with all its tau- 
 tologies, redundancies, and circumlocutions, would have spread 
 itself over many -nges, and been unintelligible to those whom it 
 most concerns. Indeed, I wished to exhibit a sample of reforma- 
 tion in the barbarous style, into which modern statutes have de- 
 generated from their ancient simplicity. And I must pray you to 
 be as watchful over what I have not said, as what is said ; for the 
 omissions of this bill have all thei positive meaning. I have 
 thought it better to drop, in sdence, the i^ws Ave mean to discontinue, 
 and let them be swept away by the general negative words of this, 
 than to detail them in clauses of express repeal. By the side of 
 the text I have written the notes I made, as I went along, for the 
 benefit of my own memory. They may serve to draw your atten- 
 tion to questions, to which the expressions or the omissions of the 
 
 15* 
 
168 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPlNIONS^ 
 
 text may give rise. The extracts from the Anglo-Saxon laws, the 
 sources of the Common Law, I wrote in their original, for my own 
 satisfaction ; but I have added Latin, or liberal English translations- 
 From the time of Canute to that of the Magna Charta, you know, 
 the text of our statutes is preserved to us in Latin only, and some 
 old French. 
 
 1 have strictly observed the scale of punishments settled by the 
 Committee, without being entirely satisfied with it. The lex tali- 
 onis, although a restitution of the Common Law, to the simplicity 
 of which we have generally found it so advantageous to return, will 
 be revolting to the humanized feelings of modern times. An eye 
 for an eye, and a hand for a hand, will exhibit spectacles in exe- 
 cution, whose moral effect would be questionable ; and even the 
 memhrmn jiro membro of Bracton, or the punishment of the of- 
 fending member, although long authorized ])y our law, for the same 
 offence in a slave, has, you know, been not long since repealed, in 
 coniformity with public sentiment. This needs reconsideration." 
 
 The Bill was brought forward in the Legislature, by Mr. Madi- 
 son,, in 1785, and lost by a single vote. The general intelligence 
 of the country had not then progressed to a point,which was prepared 
 to sanction the opinions of the Re visor on the subject of Capita! 
 Punishment. But it was well, perhaps, on the whole, that the Bill 
 was rejected ; for it enabled the Author to effect a substantial im- 
 provement on his original plan : to wit, the substitution of labor ht 
 .wlitary confinement, for labor in the public works. The latter, it 
 will be recollected, had been adopted by the Revisors, in the room 
 of punishment by death ; but it had not then been essayed by any 
 actual experiment. Afterwards, in 1786, the experiment was tried 
 in Pennsylvania, for two years, without approbation, when it was 
 followed by the Penitentiary system, on the principle of labor in 
 confinement, which succeeded beyond calculation. About the same 
 time Mr. Jefferson, in France, had heard of a ^benevolent society 
 iu England, which had been indulged by the government in an 
 experiment of the effect of labor in solitary confinement, on some 
 of their criminals ; which experiment was proceeding auspiciously. 
 The same idea had been suggested in France, and an Architect of 
 Lyons liad proposed a well contrived plan of a Prison, on the prin- 
 ciple of solitary confinement. Attentive to these valuable hintsy 
 Mr. Jefferson procured a drawing of the Prison proposed by this 
 Architect ; and having a little before been written to by the Gov- 
 emoc of Virginia, for a plan of a Capitol and Prison for that StatCj 
 
OF TriOMAS JEFFERSON* 167 
 
 he sent him the Lyons drawing, instead of a plan of a comition 
 prison ; " in the hope," says he, " that it would suggest the idea of 
 labor in soUtary confinement, instead of that on the pubHc works, 
 which we had adopted in our Revised Code." This was in June, 
 1786. The principle, accordingly, but not the exact form of the 
 drawing, was preserved in carrying the plan into execution, by the 
 erection of what is now called the Penitentiary, at Richmond. In 
 the mean time, the increasing intelligence and sensibility of the 
 age were preparing the way for the general sweep of capital revo- 
 cations, recommended by the Revisors ; and the public opinion was 
 ripening, by reflection, and by the example of Pennsylvania, for the 
 adoption of the newly essayed substitute. 
 
 In 1798, therefore, after the steady humanization of ten years,, 
 the Legislature resumed the subject of the Criminal Law, and pas- 
 sed the Bill reported by Mr. Jefferson, with the substitution of soli- 
 tary, in the room of public, labor. The diction of the text, also, 
 was modernized, which the Author had scrupulously avoided, to 
 prevent new questions, by new expressions ; and, instead of the 
 settled distinctions of murder and manslaughter, preserved by him, 
 the new terms of murder in the first and second degree, were in- 
 troduced. These alterations were probably not for the better, as 
 they gave occasion for renewed questions of definition. The Bill 
 was brought forward the last time, by Mr. G. K. Taylor, who was 
 chiefly instrumental in procuring its passage, with the amendments. 
 The following brief preamble to the act, gives a forcible view of 
 the general idea of the Author, 
 
 "Whereas,, it frequently happens that wicked and dissolute men. 
 resigning themselves to the dominion of inordinate passions, commit 
 violations on the lives, liberties, and property of others, and, the se- 
 cure enjoyment of these having principally induced men to enter 
 into society, government would be defective in its principal purpose, 
 were it not to restrain such criminal acts, by inflicting due punish- 
 ments on those who perpetrate them ; but it appears at the same 
 time, equally deducible from the purposes of society, that a member 
 thereof, committing an inferior injury, does not wholly forfeit the 
 protection of his fellow-citizens, but, after suffering a punishment in 
 proportion to his offence, is entitled to their protection from all greater 
 pain, so that it becomes a duty in the Legislature to arrange, in 
 a proper scale, the crimes which it may be necessary for them to re- 
 press, and to adjust thereto a corresponding gradation of punish- 
 ments. 
 
168 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " And whereas, the reformation of offenders, thougli an ohject 
 worthy the attention of the laws, is not effected at all by capital 
 punishments, which exterminate, instead of reforming, and should 
 be the last melancholy resource against those whose existence is 
 become inconsistent with the safety of their fellow-citizens, which 
 also weaken the State, by cutting off so many avIio, if reformed, 
 might be restored sound members to society, who, even under a 
 course of correction, might be rendered useful in various labors for 
 the pubhc, and would be living and long continued spectacles to 
 deter others from committing the like ofi'ences. 
 
 '• And forasmuch as the experience of all ages and countries hath 
 shown, that cruel and sanguinary laws defeat their own purpose, 
 by engaging the benevolence of mankind to withhold prosecutions, 
 to smother testimony, or to hsten to it with bias, when, if the pun- 
 ishment were only proportioned to the injury, men would feel it their 
 inchnation, as well as their duty, to see tlie laws observed. 
 
 " For rendering crimes and punishments, therefore, more propor- 
 tionate to each other : 
 
 "Be it enacted by the General Assembly," (fcc. 
 
 We come now to consider the last, and clearly the most important 
 scheme of public reformation contained in the Revised Code, form- 
 ing, as it does, the entrance, and a perpetual guard, to the enjoy- 
 ment of all the others. The system proposed for the Diffusion of 
 Knowledge through the whole mass of the people, by extending to 
 every degree of capacity, a proportional degree of education, and 
 placing all upon an equal footing for obtaining the first and necessa- 
 ry degrees, was an original idea ; than which nothing would seem 
 more admirably contrived for the foundation of a durable and well 
 ordered republic. This portion of the woi k fell more properly with- 
 in the department assigned to Mr. Pendleton : but it was agreed, on 
 the urgent recommendation of Mr. Jefferson, that a new and sys- 
 tematical plan of universal education should be proposed, and he 
 Avas requested to undertake it. He did so, preparing three Bills for 
 that purpose, proposing three distinct grades of instruction, in the fol- 
 lowing order : 1. Elementary schools, for all children generally, 
 rich and poor, without distinction. 2. Colleges, or, as they are more 
 usually styled in this country. Academies, for a middle degree of 
 instmction, calculated for the common purposes of life, yet such as 
 would be desirable for all who were in easy circumstances. 3. A 
 University, in the room of William and Mary College, as the ulti- 
 mate grade, for teaching the sciences generally, and in their highest 
 desrree. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 169 
 
 The first and second Bills were devoted to tlie organization of 
 this system ; and the third was for the estabhshment of a Pubhc 
 Library and Gallery, by the appropriation of a certain sum annually, 
 to the purchase of books, paintings and statues. 
 
 The distribution and organization of the system, in all its parts, 
 exhibit a model of republican equality, and harmonious arrange- 
 ment. The Bill proposed the division of the State into twenty-four 
 Districts, and the subdivision of these into Wards, called Hundreds, 
 of five or six miles square, according to the size and population of the 
 District. In each Hundred was to be established an Elementary 
 School, in which should be taught reading, writing, and common 
 arithmetic ; the expenses of which should be borne by the inhabit- 
 ants of the County, every one in proportion to his general tax rate. 
 All free children, male and female, resident in the Hundred, should 
 be entitled to three years instruction at the school, free of expense, 
 and to as mnch more as they chose, by paying for it. In each Dis- 
 trict was to be established an Academy, or Grammar School, to be 
 supported at the public expense, in w^hich should be taught the clas- 
 sics, grammar, geography, and the higher branches of nvunerical 
 arithmetic. 
 
 The Bill provides further, for the annual selection of the most prom- 
 ising suljjects from the Elementary schools, whose parents were 
 too poor to educate them, who should be transferred to the District 
 institutions, at the public expense. And from the District institu- 
 tions also, a certain number annually were to be selected, of the most 
 promising character, but whose parents were unable to incur the 
 burthen, who should be sent on to the University, to receive the ul- 
 timate degree of intellectual cultivation. Genius and worth would 
 thus be sought out of every walk of hfe ; and, to adopt a favorite 
 sentiment of the Author, the veritable aristocracy of nature, vrould . 
 be completely prepared by the laws, for defying and defeating the 
 pseudo-aristocracy of wealth and birth, in the competition for pub- 
 lic trusts. The final result of the whole scheme would be the 
 teaching all the children of the State reading, writing, and com- 
 mon arithmetic ; turning out upon the theatre of pubhc life, a cer- 
 tain number, annually, of superior genius, well instructed in Greek, 
 and Latin, Grammar, Geograpliy, and the higher branches of 
 Arithmetic ; turning out, also, a certain number, annually, of still 
 superior parts, who, to those branches of education shall have ad- 
 
170 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ded the Sciences, in their perfection ; and the furnishing to the 
 wealthier part of the people convenient schools, at which their chil 
 dren might be educated, at their own expense. 
 
 It was further in contemplation of the Author, had his system 
 been carried into operation, to have imparted to the Wards, or Hun- 
 dreds, all those portions of self-government, for which thej^ are best 
 tjuahfied ; by confiding to them the care of their poor, their roads. 
 |X)lice, elections, the nomination of jurors, administration of justice 
 in small cases, and elementary exercises of miUtia ; in short, to 
 have made them litde republics^ with a warden at the head of 
 each, for all those concerns, which, being under their eye, the> 
 would better manage, than the larger republics, of the county, oi 
 State. A general call of Ward meetings by the wardens, on the 
 same day throughout the State, would, at any time, embody the 
 genuine sense of the people, on any required point, and present a 
 forcible illustration of democratic government. The immeasurable 
 utility of the proposed plan of education, cannot be comprehended 
 in any way more readily, than by listening to the opinions of the 
 Author, conveyed in his own language. 
 
 '■ The general objects of this law are to provide an education adapt- 
 ed to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every one, and 
 directed to their freedom and happiness. Specific details Avere not 
 proper for the law. These must be the business of the visitors en- 
 trusted with its execution. The first stage of this education being 
 the schools of the Hundreds, wherein the great mass of the people 
 will receive their instruction, the principal foundations of future or- 
 der will be laid here. Instead, therefore, of putting the Bible and 
 Testament into the hands of the children, at an age when their 
 judgments are not sufficiently matured for religious enquiries, their 
 memories may here be stored with the most useful facts from Gre- 
 cian, Roman, European and American history. The first elements 
 of morality too, may be instilled into their minds ; such as, when 
 further developed, as their judgments advance in strength, may 
 teach them how to work out their own greatest happiness, by shew- 
 ing them that it does not depend on the condifion ot life in which 
 chance has placed them; but is alwav=5 die result of a good con- 
 science, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits. 
 Those, whom either the w ealth of their parents, or the adoption of 
 the State, shall destine to higher degrees of learning, will go on t(^ 
 the grammar schools, which constitute the next stage, there to be 
 instructed in the languages. The learning Greek and Latin, 1 am 
 told, is going into disuse in Europe. I know not what their man- 
 ners faid occupations may call for ; but jt would be very ill-judged 
 
OF THOafc^S JEFFERSON. 171 
 
 in us to follow their example in this instance. There is a certain 
 period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen years of age, when 
 the mind, like tlie body, is not yet firm enough for laborious and 
 close operations. If applied to such, it falls an early victim to pre- 
 mature exertion : exhibiting, indeed, at first, in these young and 
 tender subjects, the flattering appearance of their being men while 
 they are yet children, but ending in reducing them to be children 
 when they should be men. The memory is then most susceptible 
 and tenacious of impressions ; and the learning of languages being 
 chiefly a work of memory, seems precisely fitted to the powers of 
 this period, which is long enough too, for acquiring the most useful 
 languages, ancient and modern. I do not pretend that language is 
 science : it is only an instrument for the attainment of science. But 
 that time is not lost which is employed in providing tools for future op- 
 eration : more especially, as in this case, the books put into the hands 
 of the youth, for this purpose, may be such as will at the same time im- 
 press their minds with useful facts and good principles. If this period 
 be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind becomes lethargic and impo- 
 tent, as would the body it inhabits, if unexercised during the same 
 time. The sympathy between body and mmd, during their rise, 
 progress, and decline, is too strict and obvious to endanger our being 
 misled, while we reason from the one to the other. As soon as they 
 are of sufficient age, it is supposed they will be sent on from the 
 Grammar schools to the University, which constitutes our third and 
 last stage, there to study those sciences which may be adapted to 
 their views. By that part of our plan, which prescribes the selec- 
 tion of the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we 
 hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as lib- 
 erally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if 
 not sought for and cultivated. But of the views of this law, none 
 is more important, none more legitimate, than that of Tendering the 
 people the safe, as they are the ultimate guardians of their own lib- 
 erty. For this purpose, the reading of the first stage, where they re- 
 ceive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to be chief- 
 ly historical. History, by apprizing them of the past, will enable 
 them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of 
 other times and other nations ; it will qualify them as judges of the 
 actions and designs of men ; it will enable them to know ambition 
 under every disguise it may assume ; and knowing it, to defeat its 
 views. In every government on earth are some traces of hmnan 
 weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning 
 will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and im- 
 prove. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers 
 of the people alone. The people themselves, then, are its only safe 
 depositories. And to render them safe, their minds must be improv- 
 ed to a certain degree. This, indeed, is not all that is necessary, 
 though it be essentially necessary. An amendment of our constitu- 
 
172 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 •tioii must here come in aid of the pubhc education. The influence 
 over government must be shared among all the people. If every 
 individual which composes their mass, participates of the ultimate 
 authority, the government will be safe ; because the corrupting the 
 whole mass v/ill exceed any private resources of wealth : and public 
 ones cannot be provided but by levies on the people. In this case, 
 every man would have to pay his own price. The government of 
 Great Britain has been corrupted, because but one man in ten has a 
 right to vote for meml^ers of Parliament. The sellers of the govern- 
 ment, therefore, get nine-tenths of their price clear. It has been 
 thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right of suf 
 frage to a few of the wealthier of the people ; but it would be more 
 efl'ectually restrained, by an extension of that right, to such num- 
 bers as would bid defiance to the means of corruption." 
 
 The three several Bills, for the Ward schools, the District institu- 
 tions, the University, and for the establishment of a Library and 
 Gallery, were all brought forward in the Legislature, in the year 
 1796. The first only was acted upon, and finally adopted ; but 
 with an amendment which completely defeated it. They inserted 
 a provision leaving it to the Court of each county, to determine for 
 itself, when the act should be carried into execution. The eflfect 
 of the bill being to throw on w^ealth the education of the poor, and 
 the Justices, who were of the wealthier class, being unwilling to 
 incur the responsibility, the plan was not suffered to commence in 
 a single county. The bill which proposed erecting the College of 
 William and Mary into a University, encountered insuperable im- 
 pediments at the threshold. The present College was an estab- 
 lishment purely of the Church of England ; the Visitors were re- 
 quired to be all of that Church ; the Professors to subscribe its 
 thirty-nine Articles ; the Students to learn its Catechism ; and one 
 of its fundamental objects was declared to be, to raise up ministers 
 for that Church. The' religious jealousies, therefore, of the dis- 
 senters took alarm, legt the enlargement of the institution might 
 give an ascendency to the Anglican sect, and refused acting at all 
 upon the bill. The Bill for the establishment of a Library and 
 Gallery, received a similar fate ; and thus no part of this grand 
 and beneficial system was ever permitted to take effect. 
 
 The unaccountable insensibility of the people of Virginia to the 
 benefits of this noble scheme of practical reform, as manifested by 
 their persevering neglect to carry it into operation, is feelingly de- 
 plored by the accomplished Continuator of Burk's History of Virginia. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFPERSOIT- 173 
 
 ^^ Why has not the admirable bill, which, by carrying educa- 
 tion to every man's door, would elicit genius and worth from their 
 obscurest recesses, yet been acted upon by the great Council of 
 f he State ? Is it less important than that for a reform of the penal 
 code, the substance of which has since been so beneficially adopt- 
 •id J If we could presume to add any thing to the luminous de- 
 velopments of its impi-essive preamlile, we would oljserve, that 
 the situation of Virginia cannot always be so favorable to virtue, 
 liberty, and good social order, as it is at present. Population will 
 increase, and inherent principles of corruption and degeneracy be 
 gradually, perhaps rapidly, evolved. To counteract their operation, 
 let knowledge be universally diffused — Let it become the key-stone 
 of the political edifice — we mean that knowledge, which, accordiuo- 
 to the true and important intent of the bill, will " render the peo- 
 ple the safe, as they are the ultimate guardians of their liberties ;" 
 enable the governed to control the governors, and eventually to 
 become so in their turn ; in short, like the blood in the huiiian 
 system, pervade, animate, and energize all the parts of the body 
 politic." 
 
 The following is the Preamble which introduces the magnifi- 
 cent proposition : 
 
 Whereas it appeareth, that the great advantages, which civilized 
 and polished nations enjoy, beyond the savage and barbarous na- 
 tions of the world, are principally derived from the invention and 
 use of letters, by means whereof the knowledge and experience of 
 past ages are recorded and tiansmitted, so that man, availing him- 
 self in succession of the accumulated wisdom and discoveries of 
 his predecessors, is enabled more successfully to pursue and im- 
 prove, not only those arts which contribute to the support, conven- 
 ience, and ornament of life, but those also, v/hich tend to illumine 
 and ennoble his understanding, and his nature. 
 
 And whereas, upon a review of the history of mankind, it seem- 
 eth that however favorable republican government, founded on the 
 pririciples of equal liberty, justice and order, may be to human hajv 
 piness, no real stability, or lasting permanency thereof can be ra- 
 tionally hoped for, if the minds of the citizens be not rendered 
 liberal and humane, and be not fully impressed with the impor- 
 tance of those piinciples from whence these blessings proceed : 
 With a view therefore, to lay the first foundations of a system of 
 education, which may tend to produce those desii"able purposes : 
 Be it enacted, &c. 
 
 Perhaps there was no one feature of the Revised Code, on which 
 ?vlr. Jefferson placed a more justly exalted estimate, than that wliich 
 proposed the diffusion of Education universally and impartially 
 among the people. Knowledge is unquestionably, to use an ex- 
 
 16 
 
174 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND DPINIONS 
 
 pression of his own, "the key-stone of the pohtical arch," in popular 
 governments, and the only foundation which can be laid for per- 
 manent freedom and prosperity. Upon this point he was enthusi 
 astically pertinacious. His efforts were perseveringly directed to 
 the attainment of the object, in the form originally proposed by 
 him, on all possible occasions which subsequently ollered ; and on 
 his final retirement from the theatre of pul^lic affairs, he made it 
 the great business of his life. Being in France, as before stated, at 
 the time the main body of the Kevisal was entered on, he was 
 deprived the opportunity of raising his voice, and uttering his opin- 
 ions in the Legislature, with the power and authority he had for- 
 merly done ; but his letters to his friends in Virginia, of that date, 
 abound with the most eloquent persuasions of the importance of 
 carrying into effect those portions of the work, which he deemed most 
 essential to the freedom and happiness of the people. Among these, 
 the Bill under consideration occupied a prominent share of his solici- 
 lude ; as is manifested by the following extract of a letter to Mr. 
 Wythe, dated Paris, August 13, 1786. 
 
 '• I think by far the most important bill in our whole code, is 
 that for the diffusion of knovv^ledge among the people. No other 
 sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and 
 happiness. If any body thinks, that kings, nobles, or priests are 
 good conservators of the public happiness, send him here. It is 
 the best school in the universe to cure him of that folly. He will see 
 here, with his own eyes, that these descriptions of men are an 
 abandoned confederacy against the happiness of the mass of the 
 people. The omnipotence of their effect cannot be better proved, 
 than in this country particularly, where, notwithstanding the finest 
 soil upon earth, the finest climate under heaven, and a people of 
 the most benevolent, the most gay and amiable character of which 
 the human form is susceptible ; where such a people, I say, sur- 
 rounded l)y so many blessings from nature, are loaded with mis- 
 ery by kings, nobles, and priests, and by them alone. Preach, 
 my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance : establish and improve 
 the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen 
 know, that the people alone can protect us against these evils, and 
 that the tax wliich will l>e paid for this purpose, is not more than 
 the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and no- 
 bles, who will rise up among us, if we leave the people in igno- 
 rance. The people of England, I think, are less oppressed than 
 here. But it needs but half an eye to see, when among them, 
 that the foundation is laid in their dispositions for the establish- 
 ment of a despotism. Nobility, wealth, and pomp are the objects 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 175 
 
 of tlieir admiration. They are by no means the free minded peo- 
 ple, we suppose them in America. Their learned men, too, are 
 few in numljer, and are less learned, and infinitely less emancipa- 
 ted from prejudice than those of this country." 
 
 Such are some of the extraordinary innovations on the establish- 
 ed order of things, contained in the celebrated Rivised Code of 
 Virginia, in 1779 ; of all which, Mr. Jefferson was the originator 
 and draughtsman. It is impossible, at the present day, to form an 
 adequate idea of this stupendous political work, or of the combined 
 energies of genius and application, which it required. On the au- 
 thority of Mr. Madison we are enabled to say, •' that it, perhaps, 
 exacted the severest of Mr. Jefferson's public labors." It was un- 
 precedented in the order of time, and stands on the page of histo- 
 ry, the revered repository of the original, consecrate, foundations of 
 repubhcanism. Well might his country apply to himself, the ex- 
 ulting congratulation which he applied to her, in proud antithesis 
 with all the world besides : " What a germ have the freemen of 
 the United States planted ! And how faithfully should they cher- 
 ish the parent tree at home." What a germ indeed ! the growth 
 of which the human imagination can scarcely circumscribe ! 
 Whose ' parent tree,' planted under the auspices of his care, and 
 nourished by the genius of his philosophy, is stretching its branch- 
 es higher and wider in the heavens, and striking its roots deeper 
 and broader in the earth, carrying life, and strength, and the power 
 of self-resurrection to the nations which sit time-pinioned in despo- 
 tism, and rapidly enfranchising the world. How insignificant, emp- 
 ty, and inoperative, would have been the American Revolution, wiMli- 
 out the benefits secured by such labors as these. " Surely," says 
 Mr. Jefferson in writing to one of his revolutionary friends, " we 
 had in view to obtain the theory and practice of good government ; 
 and how any, who seemed so ardent in this pursuit, could as shame- 
 lessly have apostatized, and supposed we meant only to put our 
 government into other hands, but not other forms, is indeed won- 
 derful." The revolution from despotism or from simple monarch- 
 ism even, to a free structure of government, is an enterprise of trans- 
 cendent difficulty ; no other nation on earth has been able to ac- 
 complish it, finally and completely, though the attempts have been 
 frequent, desperate, and terrible. The most refined portions of tlie 
 earth have been deluged with blood, and overspread with desola- 
 
^^^ i^tFE, WP^triNGSy AND OPlNIOSrs 
 
 tion, to recover the high ground on which the State of Virginia 
 planted herself, at once, with tlie ^vhole Ameiican empire in lier 
 tram, by the mere force of reason, without a sohtary throe. And 
 the whole of this magnificent undertaking, was executed during 
 the short interval of three years, chiefly by a single individual 
 agreeably to a long premeditated plan, and carried into action, in 
 great part, by his efforts ; supported, indeed, by able and faithful 
 coadjutors from the ranks of the House, very effective as seconds. 
 but who would not have taken the field as leaders. The whole 
 catalogue of monarchical degeneracies and corruptions under which 
 the transatlantic man has gi'oaned, immemorially, and which 
 were attempted to be entailed on this new hemisphere, were extir- 
 pated in a mass ; and an entire foundation laid for the bold and 
 doubtful experiment of self-government. Freedoin and elasticity 
 were restored to the mind; and the natural equality of the hu- 
 man race, the first maxim of the Author's pohtical creed, was, as on 
 all former occasions, the governing principle of his present goncrnf 
 institute. Four of the bills reported were remarkable illustrations of 
 this principle, suflftcient " to crush forever (he eternal antagonism 
 of artificial aristocracy, against the rights and happiness of the peo- 
 ple." They were marshalled in phalanx by the Author, for the 
 express purpose of carrying out the principle of equality in all its 
 latitude, as appears by his own record of the transaction. 
 
 "I considered four of these bills, passed or reported, as forming a 
 system by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient or future 
 aristocracy ; and a foundation laid for a government truly republi- 
 can. The Repeal of the Laios of Entail would prevent the ac- 
 cumulation and perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and pre- 
 serve the soil of the country from being daily more and more absorb- 
 ed in mortmain. The Abolition of Primogeniture, and equal par- 
 tition of inheritances, removed the feudal and unnatural distinc- 
 tions, which made one member of every family rich, and all the rest 
 poor, substituting equal partition, the b^st of all Agrarian laws. 
 The Restoration of the Rights of Conscience relieved the people 
 from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs ; for the estab- 
 lishment was tridy of the religion of the rich, the dissenting sects 
 being entirely composed of the less wealthy people ; and these, by 
 the Bill for a Getieral Education, would be quahfied to under- 
 stand their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with intelli- 
 , gence their parts in self-government : and all this would be effected, 
 without the violation of a single natinal right of any one individu- 
 al citizen. To these, too, might be added, as a further security, the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 177 
 
 iiitroduction of the trial by jury into the Chancery Courts, which 
 liave aheady engulphed, and continue to engulph, so great a pro- 
 portion of the jurisdiction over our property." 
 
 Among those who were associated with Mr. Jefferson in the 
 great cause of reform, upon democratic grounds, and steadfastly co- 
 operated in impressing the stamp of his principles upon the gov- 
 ernment of the nation, at the first crisis of its birth, the names of 
 George Mason and James Madison, occupy a pre-eminent station. 
 The characters of these distinguished repubhcan statesmen, as 
 drawn by their pohtical chieftain, in his posthumous memoir of 
 those times, are too interesting to be pretermitted. 
 
 "I had many occasional and strenuous coadjutors in debate, and 
 one, most steadfast, able, and zealous ; who ^vas himself a Iwst. 
 This was George Mason, a man of the first order of wisdom among 
 those who acted on the theatre of the Revolution, of expansive 
 mind, profound judgment, cogent in argument, learned in the lore 
 of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change, on 
 democratic principles. His elocution was neither flowing nor 
 smooth ; but his language was strong, his manner most impressive, 
 and strengthened by a dash of biting cynicism, when provocation 
 made it seasonable." 
 
 "Mr. Madison came into the House in 1776, a new member, and 
 young ; which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modes- 
 ty, prevented his venturing himself in debate, before his removal to 
 the Council of State, in November, ^77. From thence he went to 
 Congress, then consisting of few members. Trained in these suc- 
 cessive schools, he acquired a habit of self-possession, which placed 
 at ready command the rich resources of his luminous and discrim- 
 inating mind, and of his extensive information, and rendered hkii 
 the first of every Assembly afterwards, of w^hicli he became a mem- 
 ber. Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but 
 pursuing it closely, in language pvue, classical and copious, soothing 
 always the feelings of his adversaries, by civilities and softness of 
 expression, he rose to the eminent station which he held in the great 
 National Convention of 1787 ; and in that of Virginia, which fol- 
 lowed, he sustained the new constitution in all its parts, bearing ofi' 
 the palm against the logic of George Mason, and the fervid declam- 
 ation of Mr. Henry. With these consummate powers, was united 
 a pure and spotless virtue, which no calumny has ever attempted 
 to sully. Of the powers and polish of his pen, and of the wisdom 
 of his administration in the highest offica of the nation, I need say 
 nothing. They have spoken, and ^vill forever speak for them-^ 
 selves." 
 
 16* 
 
1T8 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Of Mr. Pendleton, also;, who was his ^-eat opponent on all the 
 ultra points of his theory, he has left a most interesting and flatter- 
 ing portrait. 
 
 " Mr. Pendleton, taken all in all, was the ablest man in debate I 
 ha\yj ever met with. He had not, indeed, the poetical fancy of 
 Mr. Henry, his sublime imagination, his \oitj and overwhelming 
 diction ; but he was cool, smooth, and persuasive ; his language 
 flowing, chaste, and embellished ; his conceptions quick, acute, and 
 full of resource ; never vanquished ; for if he lost the main battle, 
 lie returned upon you, and regained so much of it as to make it a 
 drawn one, by dexterous manceuvres, skirmishes in detail, and the 
 recovery of small advantages which, little singly, were important al- 
 together. You never knew when you were clear of him, but were 
 harassed by his perseverance, until the patience was worn down of 
 all who had less of it than himself. Add to this, that he was one of 
 the most virtuous and benevolent of men, the kindest friend, the 
 most amiable and pleasant of companions, which ensured a favora- 
 ble reception to whatever came from him," 
 
 Oar detail of the public and official services of Mr. Jefferson, must 
 now give place to an incident in private life, which discovers to view 
 the liohness of his social affections, and the warmtli of his general 
 philaiitiirophy. On the memorable surrender of Biu-goyne, in '77, 
 it will be recollected, about four thousand British troops fell prisoners 
 of war, into the hands of the American general ; and l)y an express 
 article, in the capitulation, it was provided, that the surrendering ar- 
 my should be retained in America, until an authentic ratification of 
 the Goiiveution entered into between the belligerents, should be re- 
 ceived from the British government. The troops were at first or- 
 dered to Boston, where they remained about a twelve -month, when 
 they were removed to Charlottesville, in Virginia, a short distance 
 from Monticello. They arrived at the latter destination, in Janua- 
 ' ry, 1779. harassed by a long journey, diu'ing a most inclement sea- 
 son, and doomed to encounter the severest hardships on their arrival, 
 from the unfinished state of their barracks, the pressing insufficien- 
 cy of stores, and the impassable condition of the roads, which render- 
 ed the prospect appalling, of a timely and competent supply of subsis- 
 tence. 
 
 A general alarm waa disseminated among the inhabitants, inso- 
 much that reasonable m'mds liecame infected with the panic. Mr. 
 Jefferson, whose steady prescience of a seasonable change in the 
 state of things, preserved him from the contagion, remained tranquil 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 179 
 
 and unmoved. He stood among the multitude and exhorted them 
 to patience and composure, by his reasonings on the inevitable ten- 
 dency of affairs ; and soon, agreeably to his repeated persuasions, 
 every difficulty disappeared, and every apprehension vanished. 
 The planters, being more generally sellers than buyers, availed 
 themselves, with great activity, of the advantages produced by the 
 extraordinary demand for provisions, and quickly removed a scarci- 
 ty merely accidental, to their own sensible benefit. 
 
 In the mean time, Mr. Jefferson mingled personally in the oper- 
 iitions of erecting barracks for the privates, and establishing suitable 
 accommodations for the officers, blending with his personal exer- 
 tions, those allecting civilities and blandishments, which disarm even 
 ihe dungeon of its horrors. It is true, these men were the willing 
 instruments of a bloody and implacable enemy, foes themselves to 
 tiie freedom and happiness of their benefactor, and who, he v/ell 
 knew, regarded him with such peculiar animosity, that under any 
 other circumstances, they would have treated his offers of generosi- 
 ty with unqualified contempt ; they were the enemies of his country, 
 of that country which he so dearly loved, and whose cries were now 
 ascending to Heaven against the injuries and the liberticide purposes 
 of its oppressors ; but yet, they were human beings, and, as such, en- 
 titled, in his opinion, to the same offices of kindness and hospitality, 
 when in distress, as those who were united to him by the ties of nation- 
 al or even kindred alliance. He was indefatigable in his endeavors 
 to render comfortable, and even happy, the situation of the captives : 
 cuid, aided by the benevolent interposition of the citizens of Char- 
 lottesville, and by the genius and humane dispositions of the Com- 
 missary, his exertions were attended with the most gratifying suc- 
 cess. In a short time, the residence of the prisoners assumed a pleas- 
 ing air of comfort and ease ; the barracks were completed, and a 
 plentiful supply of provisions was procured. The officers had rent- 
 ed houses, at an extravagant rate, erected additional buildings, at 
 'their own expense, and hired small farms in the neighborhood, on 
 which they beguiled the tedious hours of captivity, in the delightful 
 occupations of agriculture and gardening. The men imitated, on £i 
 smaller scale, the example of the officers. The environs of the bar- 
 racks presented a charming appearance. The giound was cleared, 
 and divided into small parcels, in the form of regular gardens, neatly 
 enclosed and cultivated. They purchased cows, sheep, poultry, and 
 
ISO tlFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 other domestic animals, which, with the customary mi'al circximstan- 
 ces, embellished the landscape, and presented to the mind, the idea of 
 a company of farmers, rather than a camp of soldiers. 
 
 In addition to the barracks erected by the public, the prisoners had 
 built great numbers for themselves, on a more fanciful scale, and in 
 groups, from a principle of esprit de corps. In short, the whole 
 army, both officers and men, seemed comfortably quartered in their 
 new accommodations, with every prospect of a permanent and hap- 
 py resting place. 
 
 But these extensive preparations and promising arangements 
 were scarcely completed, when the Executive of Virginia, who had 
 been invested by Congress with certain discretionary powers over 
 the " Convention troops," as they were called, came to the deter- 
 mination of removing them, either w'hoUy, or in part, from Char- 
 lottesville, on the alleged ground of the insvifficiency of the State, 
 for their animal subsistence. The rumored intelligence of this de- 
 termination, filled the soldiers with the deepest regret and disap- 
 pointment, lioud complaints were heard from every quarter, 
 against the inhumanity of the measure ; the nation was accused of 
 having violated its faith ; and such was the degree of efferves- 
 cence among the prisoners, that irregular proofs of their dissatisfac- 
 tion were seriously apprehended. 
 
 The generous citizens among whom they were located, partici- 
 pated largely in the general disapprobation. They contemplated 
 the proposition, with mingled regret and mortification. The state 
 of Mr. Jefferson's feelings may easily be imagined. His jealous 
 sensibility for the national honor, and his ardent sympathies for the 
 suffering captives, impelled him to immediate action. He addressed 
 a long letter to Gov. Henry, in which he conducted him over the 
 whole ground, and arrayed before him, in nervous and feeling terms, 
 the multitude of public reasons, which obviously militated against 
 the measure. The luminous and impressive developments of this 
 letter, and the interest which all mankind feel in those efforts which 
 are calculated to humanize the usages, and lessen the calamities of 
 war, will justify the iiitroduction of a few extracts. 
 
 " As an American, I cannot lielp feeling a thorough mortification, 
 that our Congress should have permitted an infraction of our pub- 
 lic honor ; as a citizen of Virginia, I cannot help hoping and con- 
 tiding, that our supreme Executive, whose acts will be considered. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 181 
 
 as the acts of the Commonwealth, estimate that honor too highly 
 to make its infraction their own act. I may be permitted to hope, 
 then, that if any removal takes place, it will be a general one; and, 
 as it is said to be left to the Governor and Council to determine on 
 this, I am satistied, that, suppressing every other consideration, and 
 weighing the matter dispassionately, they will determine upon this 
 sole question, Is it for the benefit of those for whom they act, tliat 
 the Convention troops should be removed from among them? Un- 
 der the head of interest, these circumstances, viz. the expense of 
 building barracks, said to have been j[;^25,000, and of removing the 
 troops backwards and forwards, amounting to I knoAV not how 
 much, are not to be pretermitted, merely because they are Continen- 
 tal expenses ; for we are a part of the Continent ; we must pay a 
 shilling of every dollar wasted. But the sums of money, which, by 
 tliese troops, or on their account, are brought wto, and expended in 
 this State, are a great and local advantage. This can require no 
 proof. It, at tlie conclusion of the war, for instance, our share of 
 the Conihiental debt should be twent.y millions of dollars, or say 
 that we are called on to furnish an annual quota of two millions 
 four himdred thousand dollars, to Congress, to be raised by a tax, 
 it is obvious, that we shotdd raise these given sums with greater or 
 less ease, in proportion to the g-roatcr or loss quantity of money 
 found in circulation among us. I expect that our circulating mon- 
 ey is, by the presence of these troops, at the rate of $30,00i) a week, 
 at the least. I have heard, indeed, that an objection arises to their 
 l^eing kept wnthin this State, from the information of the commis- 
 sary, that they camiot be subsisted here. In attending to the in- 
 formation of that otiicer, it should be borne in min'l that the 
 county of King William, and its vicinities, are one thing, the terri- 
 tory of Virginia, another. If the troops could be fed upon long letters, 
 I believe the gentleman at the head of that department in this 
 country would be the best commissary upon earth. But till I see 
 him determined to act, not to write ; to sacrifice his domestic ease 
 to the duties of his appointment, and apply to the resources of 
 this country, wheresoever they are to be had, I must entertain a 
 diflTerent opinion of him. I am mistaken, if, for the animal sub- 
 sistence of the troops hitherto, we are not principally indebted to 
 the genius and exertions of Hawkins, during the very short time 
 he lived after his appointment to that department, by your board. 
 His eye immediately pervaded the whole State ; it was reduced at 
 once to a regular machine, to a system, and the whole put into 
 movement and animation, by thej^«^ of a comprehensive mind. 
 If the Commonwealth of Virginia cannot furnish these troops with 
 bread, I Avould ask of the commissariat, which of the thirteen is 
 now become the grain colony ? If wc are in danger of famine 
 from the addition of foiu' thousand mouths, what is become of that 
 surplus of bread, the exportation of ^vhich used to feed the West 
 
182 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Indies and Eastern States, and fill the Colony with hard money 1 
 AVlien I urge the sufficiency of this State, however, to subsist these 
 troops, 1 beg to be understood, as having in contemplation the 
 quantity of provisions necessary for their real use, and not as calcu- 
 lating what is to be lost by the wanton use, mismanagement, and 
 carelessness of those employed about it. If magazines of beef 
 and pork are suffered to rot by slovenly butchering, or for want 
 of timely provision and sale ; if quantities of flour are exposed by 
 the commissaries entrusted with the keeping it, to pillage and de 
 strucdon ; and if, when laid up in the Continental stores, it is still 
 to be emjjezzled and sold, the land of Egypt itself would be in- 
 sufficient for their supply, and their removal would be necessary, 
 not to a more plentiful country, but to more able and honest com- 
 missaries. * . * * 
 
 " Their health is also of importance. 1 would not endeavor to 
 show that their lives are a aluable to us, because it would suppose a 
 |x>ssibility, that humanity was kicked out of doors in America, and 
 interest only attended to. The barracks occupy the tup and brow 
 of a very high hill, (you have been untruly told they were in a bot- 
 tom.) They are free from fog, have four springs which seem to be 
 plentiful, one witliin twenty yards of the piquet, two within fifty 
 yards, and another within two livindred and fiity, and they propose 
 to sink wells within the piquet. Of four thousand people, it should 
 be expected, according to the ordinary calculations, that one should 
 die every day. Yet, in the space of near three months, there have 
 been but four deaths among them ; two infants under three weeks 
 old, and two others by apoplexy. The officers tell me, the troops 
 were never before so healthy since they were embodied. 
 
 " But is an enemy so execrable, that, though in captivity, his 
 wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed ? I 
 think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors 
 of war as much as possible. The practice, therefore, of modern 
 nations, of treating captive enemies with politeness and generosity, 
 is not only delightful in contemplation, but really interesting to all 
 the world, friends, foes, and neutrals. Let us apply this. * * 
 
 [Here follows a detail of the labor and expense incurred in provid- 
 ing their present accommodations, &c.] 
 
 " Having thus found the art of rendering captivity itself comforta- 
 ble, and carried it into execution, at their own great expense and la- 
 \x)v, their spirit sustained by the prospect of gratifications rising l3e- 
 fore their eyes, does not every sentiment of humanity revolt against 
 the proposition of stripping them of all this, and removing them into 
 new situations, where from the advanced season of the year, no pre- 
 parations can be made for carrying themselves comfortably through 
 the heat of summer ; and when it is known that the necessary ad- 
 vances for the conveniences already provided, have exhausted their 
 funds and left them unable to make the like exertions anew. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1S3 
 
 Again ; review this matter as it may regard appearances. A body 
 of troops, after staying a twelvemonth at Boston, are ordered to take 
 a march of seven hundred miles to Virginia, where, it is said, they 
 may be plentifully subsisted. As soon as they are there, they are 
 ordered on some other march, because, in Virginia, it is said, they 
 cannot be subsisted. IndiflTerent nations will charge this eitlaer to 
 ignorance, or to whim and caprice ; the parties interested, to cruelty. 
 They now view the proposition in that light, and it is said, there is a 
 general and firm persuasion among them, that they were marched 
 from Boston with no other purpose than to harass and destroy them 
 with eternal marches. Perseverance in object, though not by the 
 most direct way, is often more laudaljle than perpetual changes, as 
 often as the object shifts light. A character of steadiness in our 
 councils is worth more than the suJDsistence of four thousand peo- 
 ple. # * * * 
 
 " To conclude. The separation of these troops would be a Ijreach 
 of public faith ; therefore 1 suppose it impossible. If they are re- 
 moved to another State, it is the fault of the Commissaries ; if they 
 are removed to any other part of the State, it is the fault of the Com- 
 missaries ; and in both cases, the public interest and pulilic security 
 suffer, the comfortable and plentiful suljsistence of our own army is 
 lessened, the health of the troops neglected, their wishes crossed, and 
 their comforts torn from them, the character of whim and caprice, 
 or, what is worse, of cruelty, fixed on us as a nation, and, to crown 
 the whole, our own people disgusted with such a proceeding. 
 
 " I have thus taken the hberty of representing to you the facts 
 and the reasons, which seem to militate against the separation or 
 removal of these troops. I am sensible, however, that the same sub- 
 ject may appear to different persons in very different lights. What 
 I have urged as reasons, may, to sounder minds, be apparent falla- 
 cies. I hope they will appear, at least, so plausible, as to excuse the 
 interposition of your Excellency's most obedient and most humble 
 servant." 
 
 The reasonableness and cogency of this appeal, produced the in- 
 tended effect. The Governor and Council, on a dispassionate re- 
 view of the arguments submitted by Mr. Jefferson, were convinced, 
 that the removal or separation of the troops, would be a breach of 
 ihe public faith, and fix the character of unsteadiness, and what 
 was worse, of cruelty, on the Councils of the nation. The proposi- 
 tion was accordingly abandoned, and the troops permitted to remain 
 together at Charlottesville. 
 
 The liberal and high-mmded conduct of Mr. Jefferson, on this 
 occasion, and his uniform endeavors, during their confinement, tf 
 ameUorate their suffering condition, excited in the soldiers theliveli- 
 
184 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 est emotions of gratitude. They loaded him with expressions of 
 their sensibihty ; and no time could obliterate the impression from 
 their hearts. Subsequently, when Ambassador in Europe, Mr. 
 Jetferson visited Germany ; and passing through a town where one 
 of the Hessian corps, that had been at Charlottesville, happened to 
 be in garrison, he met with Baron De Geismar, who immediately 
 apprized Jiis brother officers of the presence of their benefactor. 
 They flocked around him, greeted him with affecting tokens of their 
 remembrance, and spoke of America with enthusiasm. 
 
 On taking leave of Charlottesville, the principal officers. Major 
 Generals Phillips and Riedesel, Brigadier Specht, C. De Geismar, 
 .T. L. De Unger, and some others, addressed him letters, expressive 
 oftheir lasting attachment, and bidding him an affectionate adieu. 
 Philhps emphatically extols his "delicate proceedings." Riedesel 
 repeatedly and fervently pours out his thanks, and those of his wife 
 and children. To all these letters, Mr. Jefferson returned answers, 
 replete with sentiments of politeness and generosity, of the highest 
 order. Some of these answers have been preserved. " The great 
 cause which divides our countries," he replied to Phillips, " is not to 
 be decided by individual animosities. The harmony of private so- 
 cieties cannot weaken national efforts. To contribute, by neigh- 
 borly intercourse and attention, to make others happy, is the short- 
 est and suiest way of being happy oui-selves. As these sentiments 
 «eemto have directed your conduct, we should be as unwise as illib- 
 eral, were we not to preserve the same temper of mind." 
 
 To General Riedesel he thus wrote : " The little attentions you 
 are pleased to magnify so much, never deserved a mention or 
 
 thought. Opposed as we happen to be, in our sentiments 
 
 of duty and honor, and anxious for contrary events, I shall, never- 
 theless, sincerely rejoice in every circumstance of happiness and safe- 
 ty w4iich may attend you personally." 
 
 To Lieutenant De Unger, xAno Avrote in French wdth an air of 
 great naivete, he replied in the following manner : " The very 
 small amusements which it has been in my power to furnish, in or- 
 der to lighten your heavy hours, by no means merited the ac- 
 knowledgements you make. Their impression must be ascribed to 
 your extreme sensibility rather than to their own weight. When 
 the course of events shall have removed you to distant scenes of ac- 
 .tion, where laurels not moistened with the blood of my country, may 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 185 
 
 be gatherecl, 1 shall urge my sincere prayers for your obtaining ev- 
 ery honor and preferment which may gladden the heart of a soldier. 
 On the other hand, should your fondness for philosophy resume its 
 merited ascendency, is it impossible to hope, that this unexplored 
 country may tempt your residence, by holding out materials, where- 
 \vith to build a fame, fovmded on the happiness, and not on the ca- 
 lamities of human nature ? Be this as it may, a philosopher or a 
 soldier, I wish you personally many felicities." De linger was a 
 votary of literature and science. He was a frequent visitor at the 
 hospitable mansion of Mr. Jefferson, and enjoyed in his library ad- 
 vantages, which, his taste combined with his situation to render 
 doubly precious. Other officers lov^ed music and painting ; they 
 found in him a rich and cultivated taste for the fine arts. They 
 were astonished, delighted ; and their letters to several parts of Ger- 
 many, gave of the American character, ideas derived from that ex- 
 alted specimen. These letters found their way into several Ga- 
 zettes of the ancient world, and the name of Jefferson was associa- 
 ted with that of Franklin, whose fame had then spread over Eu- 
 rope. " Surely," says an historian,* '-'this innocent and bloodless 
 conquest over the minds of m^n, whose swords had originally been 
 hired to the oppressors of America, was in itself scarcely less glori- 
 ous, though in its effects less extensively beneficial, than the splen- 
 did train of victories which had disarmed their hands." 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 On the 1st of June, 1779, Mr. Jefferson was elected Governor of 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia ; and retired from the Legislature, 
 with the highest dignity within the scope of their appointment. 
 Political distinctions being then unknown, the ballot box determin- 
 ed the exact value put upon the abilities of public characters. Be- 
 ing but thirty-six years old, his personal ascendency must have been 
 great to have outweighed the sanctimonious and almost irresistible 
 predisposition for age and experience, in selecting the Executive 
 
 *Girardin, p.327. 
 
186 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 head. The result, however, was not unnatural. The connection 
 of his name, in such distinguished forms, with the most important 
 revolutionary transactions, especially the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, and his bold and rapid succession of reformations, in the mu- 
 nicipal Legislature, sulastituting lepul^licanism in the room of mon- 
 archy, throughout, had established a reputation, whose pre-emi- 
 nence was justly undisputed and indisputable. Yet, with so many 
 claims to the gratitude and confidence of his country, it is stated as 
 an historical fact, that he received the intelligence of his election 
 with unaffected regret. The metaphysical attachments of his mind 
 were unsuited to the pomp and perturbation of office ; and patriotic 
 devotion alone, could induce him to relinquish a sphere of action, in 
 which the labors of the statesmen might be occasionally intermin- 
 gled with the tranquil pursuits of philosophy, and the pleasures of 
 domestic retirement. 
 
 A circumstance attended his elevation to the office of Chief Mag- 
 istrate, which is entitled to special consideration and regard. It was 
 one of the noblest and most endearing traits of Mr. Jefferson's char- 
 acter, that he never would permit his personal attachments to be 
 weakened by public rivalries or political animosities. The most af- 
 fecting proofs of his adherence to this rare species of magnanimity, 
 through seasons of unparalleled political rancor, adorn the later por- 
 tions of his public history. On the present occasion, his intimate 
 friend, John Page, a patriotic and high-minded gentlemen, impru- 
 dently permitting himself to be nominated, shared with him the suf- 
 frages of the Legislature. It is not improbable, that the extreme 
 liberality of Mr. Jefferson's opinions, on certain important points, 
 had rallied in opposition to hipn, the remnants of that avenging 
 aristocracy, whom he had so often and so gloriously vanquished , 
 federating with the personal and political friends of Mr. Page, with 
 at without his connivance, they might be able to make a sensible 
 diversion from the principal candidate, which would account for the 
 actual result of the vote. Be this as it may, Mr. Jefferson would 
 permit no such construction to rest on his own mind, and alienate 
 him from his friend, whatever might be the constructions of the 
 world, to which he was absolutely invulnerable ; and he entreated 
 liis involuntary rival to remain forever easy under this assurance. 
 In reply to a card of explanation from him, he wrote the follow- 
 ing letter. 
 
OF THOMAa JEFFERSON. 
 
 187 
 
 '• Williamsburg, June 22, 1779. 
 " Dear Page, — I received your letter by Mr. Jamieson. It had 
 given me much pain, that the zeal of our respective friends should 
 ever ha\'e placed you and me in the situation of competitors. I was 
 comforted, however, with the reflection, that it was their competi- 
 tion, not ours, and that the difference of the numbers wdiich decided 
 betv.-een us, was too insignificant to give you a pain, or me a pleas- 
 Mve, had our dispositions towards each other been such as to admit 
 those sensations. I know you too well to need an apology for any 
 thing you do, and hope you will for ever be assured of this ; and as 
 to the constructions of the world, they would only have added one 
 to the many sins for wbich they are to go to the devil. As this is 
 the first, I hope it will be the last, instance of ceremony between us. 
 A desire to see my family, which is in Charles City, carries me thith- 
 er to-morrow, and I shall not return till Monday. Be pleased to 
 present my compliments to Mrs. Page, and add this to the assuran- 
 ces I have ever given you, that I am, dear Page, your affectionate 
 friend." 
 
 Immediately on assuming the helm of administration, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son directed the weight of his station, and the powers confided to 
 him, towards reclaiming the enemy to the principles of humanity, 
 m the treatment of American prisoners. He had seen with sensi- 
 bility, that the conduct of the British oflficers, civil and military, had 
 in the whole course of the w ar, been savage, and unprecedented 
 among civilized nations ; that American officers and soldiers, capti- 
 vated by them, had been loaded with irons — consigned to crowded 
 gaols, loathsome dungeons, and prison-ships — supphed often with 
 no food, generally with too little for the sustenance of nature, and 
 that httle so unsound and unvk'holesome, as to have rendered captiv- 
 ity and death almost synonymous with them ; that they had been 
 transported beyond seas, where their fate could not be ascertamed, or 
 compelled to take arms against their country, and by a refinement 
 in cruelty, to become the murderers of their own bretln-en. 
 
 On the other hand, the treatment extended to British prisoners, by 
 American victors, had been marked, he well knew, with singular mod- 
 eration and clemency. They had been supphed, on all occasions, with 
 wholesome and plentiful food, provided with comfortable accommoda- 
 tions, suffered to range at large wdthin extensive tracts of country, 
 permitted to live in American families, to labor for themselves, to 
 acquire and enjoy property, and finally, to participate in the princi- 
 pal benefits of society, while privileged from all its burthens. In 
 some cases they had been treated Avith elegant hospitahty, and refin- 
 
1S8 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OFINIONff 
 
 ed courtesy. We have already witnessed the gratifying spectacle 
 of four thousand British troops, prisoners of war, reheved suddenly 
 from an accumulation of miseries, and raised, some to a state of dig- 
 nified ease, all to a condition of competency and comfort, chief- 
 ly by his own private enterprises, seconded by the liberality and 
 munificence of his fellow citizens. 
 
 Reviewing this contrast, which could not be denied by the ene- 
 my themselves, in a single point, and which had been continued by 
 them for a term of time, which forbade any longer hope of winning 
 them over to the practice of humanity, by the law^ of kindness and 
 generosity, Governor Jefferson felt impelled, by a sense of public 
 justice, to substitute a system of rigorous and dreadful retribution. 
 He felt "called on," in the impressive language of his order, "by 
 that justice we owe to those who are fighting the battles of our coun- 
 try, to deal out miseries to their enemies, measure for measure, and 
 to distress the feelings of mankind by exhibiting to them spectacles 
 of severe retaliation, where we had long and vainly endeavored to 
 introduce an emulation in kindness." 
 
 Happily, the fortune of war had thrown into his pow er, some of 
 those very individuals, w4io, having distinguished themselves person- 
 ally in the practice of cruelties, were proper subjects on which to 
 begin the work of retaliation. Among these w^ere Henry Hamilton, 
 who, for some years past, had acted as Lieutenant Governor of the 
 settlement at Detroit, under Sir Guy Carlton ; Philip Dejean, Jus- 
 tice of the Peace for Detroit, and William Lamothe, captain of vol- 
 unteers, — taken prisoners of war by Colonel Clarke at Fort St. Vin- 
 cents, and brought under guard to Williamsburg, early in June, '79. 
 Proclamations under his own hand, and the concurrent testimony of 
 indifferent witnesses, proved Governor Hamilton a remorseless de- 
 stroyer of the human race, instead of an honorable national enemy. 
 He had excited the Indians to perpetrate their accustomed atroci- 
 ties upon the citizens of the United States, with an eagerness and 
 ingenuity, which evinced, that the general nature of the employ- 
 ment harmonized w^ith his particular disposition. He gave stand- 
 ing rewards for scalps, but offered none for prisoners, which induced 
 the Indians, after compelling their captives to carry their ba^age- 
 into the neighborhood of the fort, to butcher them at last, and carry 
 in their scalps to the Governor, who w^elcomed their return and suc- 
 cess by a discharge of cannon ; and the few American prisoners 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON". 189 
 
 spared by his blood-hounds, were doomed by him to a captivity of 
 hngeiing and complicated toitnreSf terminating in death. Concern- 
 ing Dejean and Lamothe, it was well ascertained, that they had, on 
 all occasions, been the ready and cordial instruments of Hamilton ; 
 the former, acting in the double capacity of judge and jailor, had 
 instigated him by malicious insinuations, to increase rather than re- 
 lax his severities, and had aggravated the cruelty of his orders, by 
 his manner of executing them ; the latter, as commander of volun- 
 teer scalping parties, Indians and whites, had desolated the frontier 
 settlements by his marauding excursions, devoting to indiscrimin- 
 ate destruction, men, women, and children, and stimulating by his 
 example, the fury of his execrable banditti.* 
 
 Possessed, by the force of American arms, of such fit subjects as 
 these, on which to make the first demonstrations of retributive jus- 
 tice, and coerce the enemy into the usages of civilized warfare, 
 Governor Jefferson issued an order, in conformity to the advice of 
 his Council, directing the above named prisoners to be put in irons, 
 confined in the dungeon of the public gaol, debarred the use of pen, 
 ini\:, and paper, and excluded from all conversation, except with 
 their keeper. 
 
 Major General Phillips, who continued near Charlottesville in 
 dignified captivity, having read in the Virginia Gazette, the ener- 
 getic order of the Governor, immediately addressed him a remon- 
 strance on the subject. In his communication, he endeavored to 
 invalidate the testimony against Hamilton, and to extenuate his 
 conduct ; expressed doubts respecting the authority of any particu- 
 lar State to enter upon retaliation, which he supposed belonged ex- 
 clusively to Congress ; expatiated largely on the sacred nature of a 
 capitulation, which, in the present case, he contended, exempted 
 the prisoner from the severe punishment inflicted on him, whatever 
 his previous conduct might have been ; and in conclusion, entreat- 
 ed the Governor to reconsider the subject. " From my residence 
 in Virginia," he adds, " I have conceived the most favorable idea of 
 the gentlemen of this country ; and from my personal acquaint- 
 ance with you, Sir, I am led to imagine it must have been very 
 dissonant to the feelings of your mind, to inflict such a weight of 
 
 ' * Jefferson's "Works, Vol. 1. Appendix, Note A. 
 
 17* 
 
190 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 luiseiy and stigma of disgrace upon the unfortunate gentleman io 
 question." 
 
 Whatever may have been the feelings of Mr. Jefferson, when 
 no superior obligation stood in the way, (and none had better reason 
 to honor them than General Phillips and his fellow captives,) his 
 present situation, as Chief Magistrate, required the stern subordina- 
 tion of those feelings to the service of his country, and the gener- 
 al good of mankind. His own opinion was, that all persons taken 
 in war, as well those who surrendered on capitulation, as those 
 wlio surrendered at discretion, were to be deemed prisoners of war, 
 and liable to the same treatment ; except only so far as they were 
 protected by the express terms of their capitulation. In the sur- 
 rehdry of Governor Hamilton, no stipulation was made as to tlie 
 t reatment of himself or his fellow prisoners. The Governor, indeed, 
 upon signing, had added a flourish of reasons, which induced him 
 to capitulate, one of which was, the generosity of his victorious en- 
 emy. ' Generosity, on a large and comprehensive scale, thought 
 Mr, Jefferson, dictated the making a signal example of the gentle- 
 man ; but waiving that, these were only the private motives in- 
 ducing him to surrender, and did not enter into the contract of the 
 antagonist party.' He continued in the belief, therefore, that the 
 l>are existence of a capitidation, did not privilege Hamilton from 
 confiiiement, there being in that contract no positive stipulation to 
 that effect. The importance of the point, however, in a national 
 view, and his great anxiety for the honor of the government, un- 
 der a charge of violated faith by one of its supreme functionaries, 
 induced him to sul^mit the question to the Commander in Chief ; 
 sensible that there was no other person whose opinion would so 
 authoritatively decide the doubt in the pubhc mind, or to which 
 he was disposed so implicitly to conform. 
 
 General Washington saw wath pleasure the Executive of his 
 native State, entering with commendable energy, upon a course of 
 measures, which the conduct of the enemy had rendered necessa- 
 ry. But, entertaining doubts as to the real bearing and extent of 
 the capitulation in question, and concurring with Mr. .Tefferson, in 
 a sacred respect for the laws and usages of civiUzed nations, he re- 
 commended a relaxation of severities, after a fair trial of the prac- 
 tical effect of the present proceeding. One solemn inculcation 
 would have been administered ; Virginia would have it in her 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 191 
 
 p(nver to repeat it. This alone might produce the intended reform- 
 ation, and remove the horrid necessity of individual chastisement, 
 for national barbarities. 
 
 Influenced by the advice of the Commander in Chief, the more 
 as it harmonized with the better dictates of his understanding, 
 Governor Jefferson re-considered the case of the captives, and issu- 
 ed a second order in council, mitigating the severity of the first, 
 though not comproraiting the right, in any one point. A single 
 specimen of the early State papers of Mr. Jefferson, is the least 
 that will be required by the reader, while it is all that our limits ' 
 will allow. There is something peculiarly elevated in the senti- 
 ment and diction of all his Executive mandates. 
 
 " In Council, September 29, 1779. 
 " The board having been, at no time, unmindful of the circum- 
 stances attending the confinement of Lieutenant Governor Hamil- 
 ton, Captain Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, which the personal 
 cruelties of those men, as well as the general conduct of the ene- 
 my, had constrained them to advise : wishing, and wilHng to ex- 
 pect that their sufferings may lead them to the practice of human- 
 ity, should any future turn of fortune, in their favor, submit to their 
 discretion the fate of their fellow creatures ; that it may prove an 
 admonition to others, meditating like cruelties, not to rely for im- 
 punity in any circumstances of distance or present security ; and 
 that it may induce the enemy to reflect, what must be the painful 
 consequences, should a continuation of the same conduct on their 
 part impel us again to severities, while such multiplied subjects of 
 retaUation are within our power ; sensible that no impression can 
 he made on the event of the war, by wreaking vengeance on mis- 
 erable captives, that the great cause which has animated the two 
 nations against each other, is not to be decided by unmanly cruel- 
 ties on wretches, who have bowed their necks to the power of the 
 victor, but by the exercise of honorable valor in the field ; earnestly 
 hoping that the enemy, viewing the subject in the same light, 
 will be content to abide the event of that mode of decision, and 
 spare us the pain of a second departure from kindness to our cap- 
 tives : confident that commisseration to our prisoners i$ the only 
 possible motive, to which can be candidly ascribed, in the present 
 actual circumstances of the war, the advice we are now about to 
 give ; the board does advise the Governor to send Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, to Hanover 
 court house, there to remain at large, within certain reasonable 
 limits, taking their parole in the usual manner. The Governor 
 oiders accordingly." 
 
19^ LlPEj WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Agreeably to the above order, a parole was drawn up and ten- 
 dered the prisoners. It required them to be inofiensive in word as 
 well as deed; to which they objected, insisting on entire freedom of 
 st5eech. They were, consequently, remanded to their confinement, 
 which was now to be considered voluntary. Their irons, however, 
 were knocked off'. The subaltern prisoners, soon after, subscribed 
 the protlered parole, and were enlarged ; but Hamilton, aspiring to 
 tlie fame of a martyr in the royal cause, and expecting ample re- 
 muneration for his magnified distressei=, by future promotion, long 
 refused to follow. Upon being informed by General Philhps, who 
 had been exchanged, that his sufferings would be perfectly gratu- 
 itous, he at last complied. 
 
 These vigorous measures of Governor Jefferson produced the 
 clTects anticipated. In the first moments of passion, the British re- 
 resorted to what they improperly termed, retaliation ; being a revival 
 only, in more hideous forms, of their established practices — there- 
 fore, to be deemed original and unprovoked in every new instance. 
 A declaration was also issued, that no officers of the Virginia line 
 should be exchanged till Hamilton's affair should be satisfactorily 
 settled. When this information was received, the Governor imme- 
 diately ordered all exchange of British prisoners to be stopped, with 
 tlie determination to use them as pledges for the safety of Ameri- 
 cans in hke circumstances. " It is impossible," he writes to Gen- 
 eral Washington, " they can be serious in attempting to bully us in 
 this manner. We have too many of their subjects in our power, 
 and too much iron to clothe them with, and, I will add, too much 
 resolution to avail ourselves of both, to fear tbeir pretended retalia- 
 tion." Eflectual measures were taken for ascertaining, fi'om time 
 to time, tlie situation and treatment of American captives, with a 
 view to retaliate, on the enemy, corresponding treatment in all cases ; 
 and the prison ship, fitted up on the recommendation of Congress, 
 was ordered to a proper station, for the reception and confinement 
 of such as should be sent to it. " I am afraid," he again writes to the 
 Commander in Chief, " I shall hereafter, perhaps, be obliged to give 
 your Excellency some trouble in aiding me to obtain information of 
 the future usage of our prisoners. I shall give immediate orders 
 for having iu readiness evety engine, which the enemy have con- 
 trived for the destruction of our unhappy citizens captivated by' 
 them. The presentiment of these operations is shocking beyond 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 193 
 
 expression. I pray Heaven to avert them ; but nothing in this 
 World will do it, but a proper conduct in the enemy. In every 
 event, I shall resign myself to the hard necessity under which I 
 shall act." 
 
 The Governor was not insensible to the aggravation of misery, 
 which the first exercises of his policy brought on those unfortimate 
 Citizens of the United States, who were in the power of the ene- 
 ny. On the contrary, he entered feelingly into their situation, and 
 encouraged them, by persuasive appeals to their fortitude, and by 
 those fascinating descriptions of future glory, which so powerfully 
 affect the soldier, to bear up against a temporary increase of per- 
 sona\ suffering, for the lasting and general benefit of their country. 
 An iiieresting letter nf his to Colonel Matthews, ail otiicer of the 
 Virginia line, whose parolp had been leLiacted ))y the enemy, in 
 consequv^re of the new measures, has recently been given to the 
 world. \t. explnins the motives, and the benefirial tcndcucy of his 
 policy, ir a forcible and engaging manner. 
 
 "It gives us great pain that any of our countrymen should be 
 CU off from the society of their friends and tenderest connections, 
 wfye it seems as if it was in our power to administer relief. But 
 we rust to their good sense for discerning, and their spirit for bear- 
 ing k) against the fallacy of this appearance. * * # 
 Humane conduct on our part, was found to produce no effect ; the 
 contrar}^ therefore, was to be tried. If it produces a proper lenity 
 to our citizens in captivity, it will have the effect we meant ; if it 
 does not, ve shall return a severity as terrible as universal. If the 
 causes of oiv vigor against Hamilton were founded in truth, that 
 rigor was jus, and would not give right to the enemy to commence 
 any new hosti^ties on their part ; and all such new severities are 
 to be considered, not as retaliation, but as original and unprovoked. 
 If those causes y^ve not founded in truth, they should have denied 
 them. If, declinirjiT the tribunal of truth and reason, they choose 
 to pervert this into », contest of cruelty and destruction, we wnll 
 contend with them in that line, and measure out misery to those 
 in our power, in that ^aultiplied proportion which the advantage of 
 superior numbers enable;! us to do. We shall think it our particu- 
 lar duty, after the information we gather from the papei's which 
 have been laid before us, lo pay very constant attention to your 
 situation, and that of your fellow prisoners. We hope that the 
 prudence of the enemy will be your protection from injury ; and 
 we are assured that your regard for the honor of your country 
 would not permit you to wish we should suffer ourselves to be bul- 
 lied into an acquiescence, under every insult and cruelty they may 
 
194 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 choose to practise, and a fear to retaliate, lest )'oii should be made 
 to experience additional sufierings. Tlieir officers and soldiers in 
 our hands are pledges for your safety ; we are determined to use 
 them as such. Iron will be retaliated by iron, but a great multi- 
 plication on distinguished objects ; prison ships by prison ships, and 
 like for like in general. * * * 
 
 I beg you to be assured, there is nothing consistent with X\v 
 honor of your country, which we shall not, at all times, be ready <o 
 do for the relief of yourself and companions in captivity. We kno.v. 
 that ardent spirit and hatred for tyranny, which brought you iito 
 3"our present situation, will enable you to bear up against it vith 
 the firmness, which has distinguished you as a soldier, and to look 
 forward with pleasure to the day, when events shall take ilace. 
 against which the wounded spirits of your enemies will fiid no 
 coanfort, even from ipflections on the niOBt refined of the cueltifs 
 with v/hich iliey have glutted thpinselves. I am, &.c." 
 
 These inspiriting scntivnenta of tlie Exeriitive, lifted tie hearts 
 ot tlie American prison ore, to the fortitude of martyrs. They ac- 
 cn.il/^«rpd^ with god like heroism, in tlic stern necessity, which dic- 
 tated the oblivion of their private distresses, in the prospect of tAe 
 general amelioration of captivated man. Nor was this delighfui 
 anticipation wholly disappointed. The practical inculcation of 'uch 
 a lesson, produced a sensible humiliation in the conduct of tie en- 
 emy, through the subsequent stages of the wTcr. The Joor of 
 British magnanimity, which was barred to the dictates c reason, 
 justice, and national honor, was compelled, reluctantly, to yield to 
 tlie cries of their own countrymen, and the fatal admonitions of 
 experience. 
 
 These details, we are aware, are disproportionec' to the general 
 scale of our narrative ; but they evince how thoroughly American 
 was the heart of Mr. Jefierson, subduing all its sympathies for his 
 British brethren, however powerful they were before, the moment 
 they came in conflict with the well being of lis countrymen. Ex- 
 treme sensibility almost invariably begets rt^eak magistrates ; and 
 the examples are equally rare, of civil rulers, who have uni- 
 ted to a general philanthropy so acute, a/ove of country so predom- 
 inant and exclusive. 
 
 In the same national spirit which guided his military operations- 
 he engaged in a civil transaction of extensive and solid utility to 
 to the Commonwealth. Upon the mediation of Spain, offered 
 alx)ut tliis time, sanguine hopes were entertained of an anproacli- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 195 
 
 ing pacification ; and Congress, in settling their ultimatum, had 
 Hitimated, that the principal of uti possidetis should be recogniz- 
 ed in adjusting the boundaries of the several States. Whereu{x>n, 
 Governor Jefferson instituted active measures for extending the 
 western establishments of Virginia, with a view to secure, by actual 
 possession, the right of that State in its whole extent, to the Mis- 
 sissippi. He engaged a company of scientific gentlemen to proceed, 
 under an escort, to the Mississippi, and ascertain, by celestial ob- 
 servation, the point on that river intersected by the latitude of thirty 
 six and a half degrees, the southern limit of the State ; and to 
 measure its distance from the mouth of the Ohio. 
 
 The brave -and enterprising Colonel Clarke, who, by a series of un- 
 paralleled successes over the Indians, had already secured extensive 
 acquisitions to Virginia, was selected by the Governor to conduct the 
 military operations. He was directed, so soon as,the southern limit 
 on the Mississippi should be ascertained, to select a strong and com- 
 manding position, near that point, and to estaljlish there a Fort and 
 garrison ; thence to extend his conquests northward to the Lakes, 
 erecting Forts at different points, which might serve as monuments 
 of actual possession, besides affording protection to that portion of 
 the country. Under these orders. Fort Jefferson, in compliment to 
 the founder of the enterprize, was erected and garrisoned on the 
 Mississippi, a few miles above the southern limit. The final result 
 of this patriotic expedition, was the addition to the chartered limits of 
 Virginia, of that immense tract of country north west of the Ohio 
 river, which includes the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio in 
 part, and the Michigan Territory. 
 
 The following year, 1780, on the urgent recommendation of 
 Governor Jefferson, and in compliance with the wishes of Congress, 
 a resolution passed the Legislature, generously ceding to the United 
 States, the whole of this vast extent of unappropriated territory. 
 This important event removed the great obstacle to the ratification 
 of the Confederacy between the States. Upon transmitting the res- 
 olution to the President of Congress, the Governor wrote : " I shall 
 be rendered very happy if the other States of the Union, equally'im- 
 pressed with the necessity of the important convention in prospect, 
 shall be wilhng to sacrifice equally to its completion. This single 
 "event, couldittake place shortly, would outweigh every success which 
 
196 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 the enemy have hitherto obtained, and render desperate the hopes to 
 which those successes have given birth." 
 
 To this magnanimous resolution, were appended the well known 
 sentiments of Mr. Jeflerson, with respect to the navigation of the 
 Mississippi, and the necessity of securing a free Port at the mouth 
 of that river. 
 
 In the course of one month after the adoption of this measure, 
 the Confederation was completed. 
 
 On the first of June, 1780, Mr. Jefferson was re-elected Govern- 
 or by the unanimous vote of the Legislature. During his second 
 gubernatorial term, Virginia, which had hitherto been distant from 
 I he seat of war, was destined to be made the theatre of a cam- 
 paign more arduous, perilous and distressing, than perhaps distin- 
 guished any other period of the Revolution. Three systematic inva- 
 sions, by numerous and veteran armies, inundated the State, in 
 quick and terrible succession ; nor could there have been a more un- 
 favoralile concurrence of circumstances, for offering an adequate re- 
 sistance, than existed during the whole time these formidal)le oper- 
 ations were carried on. Virginia was completely defenceless ; her 
 physical resources were exhausted ; her troops had been drawn off 
 to the South and to the North, to meet the incessant demands' in 
 those quarters, and the Continental army was too much reduced to 
 afford her any important succors. The militia constituted the only 
 force on which any reliance could be placed ; and the resort to this 
 force was limited by the deficiency of arms, which was aggravated 
 by the pressing destitution of the finances. Indeed, the general con- 
 dition of the country, at the South, exhibited a deplorable aspect. 
 The city of Charleston, with the main body of the Continental army, 
 had fallen into the hands of Lord Cornwallis ; and the haughty 
 victor, inflated with success, had proclaimed his intention of pushing 
 his advances northward, on a magnificent scale of conquest, subju- 
 gating in his course, the entire States of Nortli Carolina and Vir- 
 ginia, and devoting the inhabitants to unconditional submission, or 
 the sword. 
 
 Intelligence of these menacing calculations had no sooner reach- 
 ed Virginia, than the Governor commenced the most vigorous meas- 
 ures for recreating the army, and putting the comitry in a firm pos- 
 ture of defence. Fcff this purpose, he was invested by the Legisla- 
 lure with new and extraordinary powers. Should the State be 
 
OP THOMAS DfEFFERSON. 197 
 
 mvadecl, 20,000 militia were placed at his disposal ; he was empow- 
 ered to impress provisions and other articles, for the public service, 
 and likewise, to lay an embargo in the ports of the Commonwealth, 
 whenever expedient. He was authorized to confine or remove all 
 persons suspected of disaffection ; and to subject to martial law in- 
 dividuals acting as spies or guides to the enemy, or in any manner 
 aiding, abetting, and comforting them, or disseminating among the 
 militia the seeds of discontent, mutiny and revolt. He was direct- 
 ed to invigorate the laboratory for the manufacture of arms, which 
 had, of late, been languishing ; and, at the same time, to provide 
 proper magazines for warlike stores. To meet the pecuniary exi 
 §encies of the times, paper emissions were necessarily multiplied ; 
 and new taxes were devised. 
 
 These defensive arrangements were scarcely enacted, when their 
 execution was suddenly suspended, by the appearance in the Ches- 
 apeake, of a strong British armament, under the command of Gen- 
 eral Leslie. Resistance by maritime means, being unavailable at 
 this juncture, the Governor immediately collected as large a body oi 
 militia as he could equip, to prevent the debarkation of the enemy ; 
 but the alarm of the inhabitants, whose first care was to secure their 
 wives, children, and movable property, together with the insufficien- 
 cy of arms, rendered his exertions ineffectual. It was to him a 
 source of anguish and mortification, to think, that a jjeople able and 
 zealous to repel the invader, should be reduced to impotency, by the 
 want of defensive weapons. The enemy landed at different points, 
 but soon concentrated their forces in Portsmouth, fortified themselves, 
 and remained in close quarters, until they retreated on ]3oard their 
 ships. It appears this force had been detached by Cornwalhs, to 
 invade Virginia by water, occupy Portsmouth for the purposes of 
 support <ind safe rendezvous, and join the main army under his 
 command, on its entrance, by land, into the southern borders of the 
 State. But the precipitate retreat of Comwallis into South Caroli- 
 na, in consequence of serious reverses in that quarter, defeated Les- 
 lie's anticipated junctiMi with the main army, and compelled his 
 sudden departure fiom the State, leaving his works unfinished and 
 undestroyed. The principal injury resulting from this invasion, 
 was the loss of a quantity of cattle, collected for the use of the 
 southern army, and seized by the enemy immediately after disem- 
 barking. Indeed, the conduct of this detachment, whilst in Vir- 
 
 IS 
 
198 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ginia, was an honorable exception, in all respects, to that savage 
 and predatory system, which had hitherto marked the footsteps of 
 British conquest. " I must," writes the Governor to General Wash- 
 ington, " do their General and Commander the justice to observe, 
 that in every case, which their attention and influence could reach, 
 as far as I have been informed, their conduct was such as does 
 them the greatest honor. In the few instances of wanton and un- 
 necessary devastation, they punished the aggressors." To the firm- 
 ness of Mr. Jefferson, in the case of Hamilton, history ascribes in 
 great part, this reputable deviation from a mode of warfare, which 
 all mankind must abhor.* 
 
 This hostile armament had scarcely left the coast, when Virginia 
 was surprised by another invasion, of a more formidable character, 
 from an unexpected quarter. The parricide Arnold, apprised of 
 the vulnerable condition of Virginia, on the sea board, projected the 
 plan of a second attack by a naval force. He embarked from New 
 York, at the instance of Sir Henry Clinton, and on the 30th of De- 
 cember, 1780, was seen entering the Capes of Virginia, with twenty- 
 seven sail of vessels. He ascended James river, and landed about 
 fifteen miles below Richmond. On the approach of a hostile force 
 into the heart of the State, the inhabitants were thrown into con- 
 sternation. The Governor made every effort for calling in a suffi- 
 cient body of militia to resist the incursion ; but, being dispersed 
 over a large tract of country, they could be collected but slowly. 
 Richmond being evidently the object of their attack, every effort was 
 necessary for immediately securing the arms, military stores, records, 
 &c. from the ravages of the profligate invader. He hastily embod- 
 ied about two hundred half armed militia, for the purpose of protect- 
 ing the removal of the records, military stores, (fcc. to the opposite 
 side of James river. He superintended their movements in person ; 
 and was seen urging, by his presence, the business of transporta- 
 tion, and coolly issuing his orders, until the enemy had actually en- 
 tered the lower part of the town, preceded by a body of light horse. 
 Soon the whole regiment poured into Richmond, and commenced 
 the work of pillage and conflagration. They burnt the foundary, 
 the boring mill, the magazine, a number of dwelling houses, the 
 l>ooks and papers of the Auditor's and the Council office, and retired 
 
 * History of Virginia, vol. 4, p. 421. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFRSON. 199 
 
 the next day. Within less than forty-eight hours, they had pene- 
 trated thirty-three miles into the country, committed the whole inju- 
 ry, and retreated down the river. The Governor himself narrowly 
 escaped being taken, owing to the suddenness of the attack, and his 
 continuance on the scene of danger, at an unreasonable hour, for the 
 purpose of securing the public property. He had previously sent off 
 ills family to Tuckahoe, eight miles above Richmond, on tlie same 
 side of the river ; but did not join them himself until 1 o'clock in 
 the night He returned the next morning, and continued his person- 
 al attendance in the vicinity of the metropolis, during the whole in- 
 vasion, to the imminent exposure of his life ; and yet, the virulence of 
 party spirit has imputed to him not only flagrant remissness, but a' 
 want of common courage on this occasion ! 
 
 Arnold shortly after encamped at Portsmouth, where he remain- 
 ed for a long time, in close quarters, panic struck with guilt, and 
 harrowed by the tortures of the lowest hell. The capture of this 
 execrable traitor had, from the moment of his perfidy, been an ob- 
 ject of eager pursuit with all the patriots. Mr. Jefferson was induc- 
 ed to consider the plan practicable, while in his present situation. 
 
 The following letter to General Muhlenburgh, dated Richmond, 
 January 31, 'SI, developes the scheme which he laid for the accom- 
 plishment of so desirable an object. 
 
 " Sir, — Acquainted as you are with the treasons of Arnold, I need 
 say nothing for your information, or to give you a proper sentiment 
 of them. You will readily suppose, that it is above all things desir- 
 able to drag him from those, under whose wing he is now shekered. 
 On his march to and from this place, I am certain it might have been 
 done with facility, by men of enterprise and firmness. I think it 
 may still be done, though perhaps, not quite so easily. Having pe- 
 culiar confidence in the men from the western side of the moun- 
 tains, I meant, as soon as they should come down, to get the enter- 
 prise proposed to a chosen number of them, such, whose courage 
 and whose fidehty would be above all doubt. Your perfect knowl- 
 edge of those men personally, and my confidence in your discretion, 
 induce me to ask you to pick from among them, proper characters, 
 in such numbers as you think best ; to reveal to them our desire ; 
 and engage them to undertake to seize and bring off this greatest of 
 all traitors. Whether this may be best effected by their going in as 
 friends, and awaiting their opportunity, or otherwise, is left to them- 
 selves. The smaller the number, the better, so that they may be 
 sufficient to manage him. Every necessary caution must be used 
 on their part, to prevent a discovery of their design by the enemy. 
 
200 LIl-^E, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 I will undei-take, if they are successful in bringing him ofi' aiivey 
 that they shall receive five thousand guineas reward among them; 
 and to men formed for such an enterprise, it must be a great incite- 
 ment to know, that their names will be recorded with glory in his- 
 tory, with those of Vanwert, Paulding and Williams." 
 
 Bold and adventurous spirits were found in Muhlenburg's corps, 
 who panted to undertake the daring enterprise ; but Arnold had 
 become cautious and circumspect, beyond the reach of stratagem ; 
 he lay buried in close confinement at Portsmouth, suffered no stran- 
 ger to approach him, and never afterwards unguardedly exposed 
 his person. The project, therefore, was rendered abortive. 
 
 The real situation of Virginia, at this period, is forcibly depicted 
 111 the letteis and dispatches of the Governor. " The fatal want of 
 arms," he wrote on the 8th of February, "puts it out of our power 
 to bring a greater force into the field than will barely suffice to re- 
 strain the adventures of the pitiful body of men the enemy have at 
 Portsmouth. Should they be reinforced, the country will be perfect- 
 ly open to them by land as well as by water." " I have been 
 knocking at the door of Congress," he again wrote on die 17th, "for 
 aids of all kinds, but especially of arms, ever since the middle of 
 summer. The speaker, Harrison, is gone to be heard on that sub- 
 ject. Justice, indeed, requires that we should be aided powerfully. 
 Yet, if they would only repay us the arms we have lent them, we 
 should give the enemy troul^le, though abandoned to ourselves," 
 On the same day, he addressed the Commander in Chief, as fol- 
 lows : "Arms and a naval force, are the only means of salvation 
 for Virginia. Two days ago, I received information of the arrival of 
 a sixty-four gun ship and two frigates, in our Bay, being part of the 
 fleet of our good Ally, at Rhode-Island. Could they get at the Brit- 
 ish ships, they are sufficient to destroy them, but these are drawn 
 up into EUzabeth river, into which the sixty-four cannot enter. I 
 apprehend they could do nothing more than block up the river. 
 This, indeed, would reduce the enem}", as we could cut off" their sup- 
 plies by land ; but the operation requiring much time, would proba- 
 bly be too dangerous for the auxiliary force. Not having yet had 
 any particular information of the designs of the French commander, 
 I cannot pretend to say what measures this will lead to." 
 
 This desperate situation of affairs Avas aggravated by the arrival 
 in the Bay, of two thousand additional British troops, under the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON". 201 
 
 coniinand of Major General Phillips. This powerful reinforcement 
 shortly after formed a junction with Arnold, and the combined 
 forces, under Phillipsj immediately renewed, on a more extensive 
 scale than heretofore, their favorite system of predatory and incen- 
 diary incursions into all parts of the unprotected country. They 
 captured and laid waste Williamsburg, Petersburg, and several min- 
 or settlements ; and pursued their destroying advances from vil- 
 lage to village, until they were arrested in their vandal career, by the 
 gallant defender of universal liberty — the immortal La Fayette. 
 During the ferocious and discursive operations of PhiUips and Ar- 
 nold, the Governor remained constantly in and about Richmond, ex- 
 erting all his powers for collecting the militia, and providing sitch 
 means for the defence of the State, as its exhausted resources ad- 
 mitted. Never assuming a guard, and w^ith only the river between 
 him and the enemy, his lodgings were frequently within four or five 
 miles of them, and his personal exposure, consequently, very great. 
 
 But the grand and final movement against Virginia, compared 
 to which, the previous invasions were feeble and desultory efTbrts, 
 remains to be mentioned. On the 20th of May, 1781, Lord Corn- 
 wallis entered the State, on the southern frontier, with an army of 
 four thousand men. His entry was almost triumphal ; and, pro- 
 ceeding directly to Petersburg, where he formed a junction with the 
 forces under Phillips and Arnold, he estabUshed head quarters, and 
 commenced his vaunted plan of subduing the whole State. 
 
 This alarming event happened but a few days previous to the 
 close of Mr. Jefferson's administration ; and, in view of the awful 
 crisis which impended over his native State, he felt it his duty, be- 
 fore resigning the government into other hands, to make one, last, 
 solemn appeal to the Commander in Chief, for those important suc- 
 cors, so often before solicited, and on which now evidently depend- 
 ed the salvation of the Commonwealth. 
 
 "Your Excellency will 
 judge from this state of things, and from what you know of our 
 country, what it may probably suffer during the present campaign. 
 Should the enemy be able to produce no opportunity of annihila- 
 ting the Marquis's army, a small proportion of their force may yet 
 restrain his movements effectually, while the greater part are em- 
 ployed, in detachment, to waste an unarmed country, and lead the 
 minds of the people to acquiescence under those events, which they 
 see no human power prepared to ward off". We are too far re- 
 
 18* 
 
202 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 moved from the other scenes of war to say, whether tlie main force 
 of the enemy be within this State. But I suppose they cannot 
 any where spare so great an army for the operations of the field. 
 Were it possike for this circumstance to justify in your Excellency, 
 a determination to lend us your personal aid, it is evident from the 
 imiversal voice, that the presence of their beloved countryman, 
 whose talents have so long been successfully employed in estab- 
 lishing the freedom of kindred States, to whose person, they have 
 :^till flattered themselves they retained some right, and have ever 
 looked up, as their dernier resort in distress, would restore full 
 confidence of salvation to our citizens, and would render them 
 et|ual to whatever is not impossiljle. I cannot undertake to foresee 
 and obviate the difficulties which lie in the way of such a resolu- 
 tion. The whole subject is before you, of which I see only detach- 
 ed parts : and your judgment will be formed on a view of the 
 whole. Should the danger of this State, and its consequence to 
 the Union, be such, as to render it best for the whole that you 
 should repair to its assistance, the difticulty woidd then be, how to 
 keep men out of the field. I have undertaken to hint this mat- 
 ter to your Excellency, not only on my ow^n sense of its importance 
 to us, but at the solicitations of many members of weight in our 
 Legislature, which has not yet assembled to speak their own desires." 
 "A few days will bring to me that relief which the constitution 
 has prepared for those oppressed with the labors of my office, and a 
 long declared resolution of relinquishing it to abler hands, has pre- 
 pared my way for retirement to a private station : still, as an indi- 
 vidual, 1 should feel the comfortable effects of your presence, and 
 have (what I thought could not have been) an additional motive 
 for that gratitude, esteem, and respect, with which I have the hon- 
 or to be," &c. 
 
 This interesting letter was written but three days previous to the 
 expiration of his second gubernatorial year ; at which time, he had 
 long cherished the determination of relinquishing the administra- 
 tion in favor of a successor, whose habits, dispositions and pursuits, 
 would render him better fitted for the supreme direction of affairs, 
 at such a crisis. " From the beUef," said he, " that, under the pres- 
 sure of the invasion, under which Ave were then laboring, the pub- 
 lic would have more confidence in a military chief, and that the 
 military commander being invested with the civil power also, both 
 niiglit be wielded with more energy, promptitude and effect for the 
 defence of the State, I resigned the administration at the end of 
 my second year, and General Nelson was appointed to succeed me."^ 
 His successor was elected, on the 12th of June, 17S1. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 203^ 
 
 The closing" events of Mr. Jefi'erson's administration, having ex- 
 cited much attention, and occasioned some misrepresentation, a few 
 additional observations, founded on authentic documents, may not 
 be unacceptable to the candid reader. 
 
 Ever since the invasion of the metropolis, vmder Arnold, in 
 January, 'SI, and the sudden dispersion, by that event, of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, the legislative functions of the government had 
 been almost totally suspended ; the meml^ers had re-assembled on 
 the first of March, but after a few days session, were compelled to 
 adjourn ; they met again on the 7th of May, but the threatening 
 movements of the enemy, again compelled them, on the 10th, to 
 adjourn to Charlottesville, to met on the 24th. During (his long 
 and critical interval, therefore, the main burden of public afiairs 
 had devolved on the Governor. The weight of anxiety, of re- 
 sponsibility, of personal labor and suffering, which he was called on 
 to endure, no one, who is a stranger to that disastrous period, can 
 adequately conceive. In the discharge of the arduous and multi- 
 plied services, which were required to conduct the administration 
 through a series of formidable invasions, he was cool, sagacious, 
 vigilant, and indefatigable ; but, without continental aids, confined 
 to the resources of the State, exhausted of them, in great part, by 
 the draughts he had furnished to other States, and limited in his 
 resort to the remainder, by the destitution of arms, his exertions 
 were nearly paralyzed, and the public mind began seriously to de- 
 spond. 
 
 In addition to the multiplied irruptions from the East and the 
 South, Virginia had had a powerful army to oppose on her West- 
 ern frontier. The English and Indians were incessantly harass- 
 ing her in that quarter, by their savage ijicursions. At lengthy 
 the powerful army under CornwalUs, poun^d into the State, and 
 filled up the measure of public danger and distress. The Legisla- 
 ture, which had hastily adjourned from Richmond to Charlottes- 
 ville, had scarcely assembled at the latter place, when they were 
 driven thence by the enemy, over the mountains to Staunton. 
 This was on the last days of May. Pursued and hunted, in this 
 manner, from county to -count}'', with the armies of the enemy in 
 the heart of the State, destitute of internal resources, and aided 
 only by the inconsiderable regular force under La Fayette, many 
 members of that heroic Assembly became dissatisfied, discouraged, 
 
204 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 desperate ; and in the phrenzy of the moment, began to resusci- 
 tat^ the deceased and damning project of Dictator. Some, indeed, 
 were so infatuated as to deem the measure not only sakitary and 
 advisable, but as presenting the only hope of deliverance at this 
 alarming juncture. An individual,* who had borne a distinguished 
 and exemplary part in the anterior transactions of the Revolu- 
 tion, was already designated for the contemplated office. But it 
 was foreseen with dismay by the dictator men, that no headway 
 could be made with such a proposition, against the transcendant 
 popularity and influence of the present Executive ; it was necessa- 
 ry, as a first measure, that he should be put completely hors de 
 combat. For this purpose, his official character was attacked ; the 
 misfortunes of the period, were imputed to the imbecility of his ad- 
 ministration ; he was impeached in a loose, informal way, and a 
 day for some species of hearing, at the succeeding session of the 
 Assembly, was appouited. But no evidence was ever offered to sus- , 
 tain the impeachment ; no question was ever taken upon it, disclos- 
 ing in any manner, the approbation of the legislature ; and the hear- 
 ing was appointed by general consent, for the purpose, as many 
 members expressed themselves, of giving Mr. Jefferson an oppor- 
 tunity of demonstrating the absurdity of the censure. Indeed, the 
 whole effort at impeachment was a mere feint, designed to remove 
 Mr. Jefferson out of the question, for the present, and to make man- 
 ifest, if possible, the necessity of a Dictator. It failed, however, in 
 both objects ; the effect on Mr. Jefferson was entirely the reverse of 
 what had been intended ; and as to the proposed dictatorship, the 
 pulse of the Assembly was incidentally felt in the debates on the 
 state of the Commonwealth, and in out-door conversations, the 
 general tone of which, foretold such a violent opposition to the 
 measure, as induced the original movers to abandon it with precip- 
 itation. This was the second instance of a similar attempt in that 
 State, and of a similar result, caused chiefly by the virtuous and 
 insuperable ascendancy of the same individuals. 
 
 While these things were going on at Staunton, Mi*. Jefferson 
 was distant from the scene of action, at Bedford, neither interfering 
 himself, nor applied to by the Legislature for any information touch- 
 ing the charges preferred against him ; but so soon as the project 
 
 * Mr, Henry. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 203 
 
 for a dictator was dropped, his resignation of the Government 
 apjjeared. This produced a new scene ; the dictator men insisted 
 upon re-electing him ; but his friends strenuously opposed it, on the 
 grounds, that as he had divested himself of the government to heal 
 the divisions of the Legislature, at that critical season, for the pul)- 
 lic good ; and to meet the accusation upon equal terms, for his own 
 lionor, his motives were too strong to be relinquished, and too fair 
 to be withstood. Still, on the nomination of General Nelson, the 
 most popular man in the State, and without an enemy in the Le- 
 gislature, a considerable portion of the Assembly voted for Mr. 
 Jefferson. 
 
 On the day appointed for the hearing before mentioned, Mr. Jef- 
 ferson appeared in the House of Delegates, having been interme- 
 diately elected a member. No one offered himself as his accuser. 
 Mr. George Nicholas, who had been seduced to institute the pro- 
 ceeding, and who afterwards paid him an homage equally honor- 
 able to both,* having satisfied himself, in the interim, of the utter 
 groundlessness of the charges, declined the further prosecution of 
 the alfair. Mr. Jefferson, nevertheless, rose in his seat, addressed 
 the House in general terms upon the subject, and expressed his 
 readiness to answer any accusations which might be preferred 
 against him. Silence ensued. Not a word of censure was whis- 
 pered. After a short pause, the following resolution was proposed, 
 and adopted unanimously by both Houses.t 
 
 '• Resolved, That the sincere thanks of the General Assembly 
 be given to our former Governor, Thomas Jefferson, Esq. for 
 his impartial, upright and attentive administration, whilst in ofl[ice. 
 The Assembly wish in the strongest manner to declare the high 
 opinion which they entertain of Mr. Jefferson's ability, rectitude, 
 and integrity, as Chief Magistrate of this Commonwealth, and 
 mean, by thus publicly avowing their opinion, to obviate and to 
 remove ^1 unmerited censure." 
 
 A few days after the expiration of Mr. Jefferson's constitutional 
 term of office, and before the appointment of his successor, an in- 
 cident occurred which has been so strangely misrepresented, in 
 later times, as to justify a relation of the details. 
 
 * G. Nicholas' letter to his constituents — Kentucky. 
 
 T Most of this relation is copied with verbal precision from the statement of an 
 eyewitness of the whole transaction, inserted in the Appendix to the Continua~ 
 tion of Burk's History of Virginia, 
 
206 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OFINIOJfS 
 
 Learning that the General Assembly was in session at Char- 
 lottesville, Cornwallis detached the "ferocious Tarlton," as notori- 
 ously styled, to proceed to that place, take by surprise the members, 
 seize on the person of Mr. Jefferson, whom they supposed still in 
 office, and spread devastation and terror on his route. 
 
 Elated with the idea of an enterprise so congenial to his dispo- 
 sition, and confident of an easy prey, Tarlton selected a competent 
 body of men, trained to habitual licentiousness by unrestrained 
 indulgence and the demoralizing influence of example, and pro- 
 ceeded with ardor on his ignoble expedition. Early in the morn- 
 ing of June 4th, when within about ten miles of his destination, 
 he detached a troop of horse, under Captain M'Cleod, to Monticello, 
 the well known seat of Mr. Jefferson ; and proceeded himself with 
 the main body, to Charlottesville, were he expected to find the 
 Legislature unapprised of his movement. The alarm, however, 
 had been conveyed to Charlottesville, about sunrise the same morn- 
 ing, and thence quickly to Monticello, only three miles distant. 
 The Speakers of the two Houses, were lodging with Mr. Jefferson 
 at his house. His guests had barely time to hurry to Charlottes- 
 ville, adjourn the Legislature over to Staunton, and, with most of 
 the other members, to effect their escape. He imniediately ordered 
 his carnage, in which Mrs. Jefferson and her children were conveyed 
 to the house of Colonel Carter, on the neighbouring mountain, while 
 himself tarried behind, breakfasted as usual, and completed some 
 necessary arrangements preparatory to his departure. Suddenly, a 
 messenger. Lieutenant Hudson, who had descried the rapid ad- 
 vance of the enemy, drove up at half speed, and gave him a 
 second and last alarm ; stating that the enemy were already as- 
 cending the winding road, which leads to the summit of Monticello, 
 and urging his immediate flight. He then calmly ordered his riding 
 horse, which was shoeing at a neighboring blacksmiths, directing 
 him to be led to a gate opening on the road to Colonel Carter's, 
 whither he walked by a cross path, mounted his horse, and, instead 
 of taking the high road, plunged into the woods of the adjoining 
 mounting, and soon rejoined his family. In less than ten minutes 
 after Mr. Jefferson's departure, his house was surrounded by the 
 impetuous light horse, thirsting for their noble prey. They entered 
 the mansion of the patriot, with a flush of expectation proportioned 
 to the value of their supposed victim ; and, notwithstanding the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 207 
 
 cliagiiii and irritation which the first discovery of their disappointment 
 excited, a sacred and honorable regard was manifested for the tisa- 
 ges of enUghtened nations at war. Mr. Jefferson's property was 
 respected, especially his books and papers, by the particular injunc- 
 tions of M'Cleod. So much does the conduct of soldiers, depend 
 on the principles and temper of their officers. 
 
 This is the famous adventure of Carter's mountain, which has 
 been so often and so scandalously caricatured in the licentious chron- 
 icles of partisan controversy. Had the facts been accidentally sta- 
 ted, it would have appeared, that this favorite fabrication amounted 
 to nothing more, than that Mr. Jefferson did not remain in his 
 house, and there fight, single handed, a whole troop of horse, whose 
 main body, too, was within supporting distance, or suffer himself to 
 be taken prisoner. It is somewhat singular, that this egregious of- 
 fence was never heard of until many years after, when most of 
 that generation had disappeared, and a new one risen up. Al- 
 though the whole affair happened some days before the abortive at- 
 tempt at impeachment, yet neither his conduct on this occasion, 
 nor his pretended flight from Richmond, in January previous, were 
 included among the charges. 
 
 Having accompanied his family one day's journey, Mr. Jefferson 
 returned to Monticello. Finding the enemy retired, with few traces 
 of depredation, he again rejoined his family, and proceeded with 
 them to an estate he owned in Bedford ; where, galloping over his 
 farm one day, he was thrown from his horse, and disabled from 
 riding on horse-back for a considerable time. But the federal ver- 
 sion of the story found it more convenient to give him this fall in 
 his retreat before Tarlton, some weeks anterior, as a proof that be 
 withdrew from a troop of horse, with a precipitancy which Don 
 Quixote would not Imve practiced. 
 
 M'Cleod tarried about eighteen hours at Monticello, and Tarlton 
 about the same time at Charlottesville, when the detachments re- 
 united, and retired to Elkhill, a plantation of Mr. Jefferson's. At 
 this place, Cornwallis had now encamped, with the main army, and 
 estabUshed head quarters. Some idea may be formed of the van- 
 dahsm practiced by the British, during their continuance at Elkhill, 
 and, indeed, through the whole succeeding part of that campaign, 
 from the following extract of a letter, written by Mr. Jefferson, on 
 
208 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 a special request. It is dated July 16th, 1788, and addressed to 
 Dr. Gordon, one of the compilers of our revolutionary history. 
 
 " Cornwallis remained in this position ten days, his own head- 
 quarters being in my house, at that place. I had time to remove 
 most of the effects out of the house. He destro37ed all my growing 
 crops of corn and tobacco ; he burned all my barns, containing the 
 same articles of the last year, having first taken what corn he wan- 
 ted ; he used, as was ''to be expected, all my stock of cattle, sheep, 
 and hogs, for the sustenance of his army, and carried of all the 
 horses capable of service ; of those too young for service, he cut 
 the throats ; and he burned all the fences on the plantation so as to 
 leave it an absolute waste. He carried off also about thirty slaves. 
 Had this been to give them freedom, he would have done right ; 
 but it was to consign them to inevitable death from the small-pox 
 and putrid fever, then raging in his camp. This I knew after 
 wards to be the fate of twenty-seven of them. I never had news 
 of the remaining three, but presume they shared the same fate. 
 When I say that Lord Cornwallis did all this, I do not mean that 
 he carried about the torch in his own hands, but that it was all 
 done under his eye ; the situation of the house in which he was, 
 commanding a view of every part of the plantation, so that he must 
 have seen every fire. I relate these things on my own knowledge, 
 in a great degree, as I was on the ground soon after he left it. 
 He treated the rest of the neighborhood somewhat in the same 
 style, but not with that spirit of total extermination with which he 
 seemed to rage over my possessions. Wherever he went, the dwel- 
 ling-houses were plundered of every thing which could be carried 
 off. Lord Cornwallis' character in England would forbid the belief 
 that he shared in the plunder ; but that his table was served with 
 the plate thus pillaged from piivate houses, can be proved by many 
 himdred eye-witnesses. From an estimate I made at that time, 
 on the best information I could collect, I supposed the State of 
 Virginia lost under Lord Cornwallis' hands, that year, about thirty 
 thousand slaves ; and that of these, about twenty-seven thousand 
 died of the small-pox and camp-fever, and the rest were partly sent 
 to the West Indies, and exchanged for rum, sugar, coffee, and fruit, 
 and partly sent to New York, from whence they went, at the 
 peace, either to Nova Scotia or England. From this last place, I 
 beheve they have been lately sent to Africa. History will never re- 
 late the horrors committed by the British army, in the southern 
 States of America. They raged in Virginia six months only, from 
 the middle of April to the middle of October, 1781, when they 
 were all taken prisoners ; and I give you a faithfid specimen of 
 their transactions for ten days of that time, and on one spot orily. 
 Ex jyede Herculem. I suppose their whole devastations during 
 those six months, amounted to about three millions sterling." 
 
t)P THOMAS JEFFERSON. 209 
 
 We are now hurried, with instinctive pleasure, from the distress- 
 ing scenes of war and confusion, to a deUghtful interval in Mr. 
 Jefferson's life, in which he recurred with eagerness, to the sober 
 and refreshing pursuits of science. 
 
 During the early part of the turbulent year of '81, while disabled 
 from active employment by the fall hom his horse, he found suffi- 
 cient leisure to compose his celebrated " Notes on Virginia" ; than 
 which, no other work in the English language, of tlie same mag- 
 nitude, possesses more substantial merits, or has attained a more 
 extensive and abiding reputation. This was the only original pub- 
 lication in which he ever embarked ; nor was the present work 
 prepared with any intention, whatever, of committing it to the press. 
 Its history is a httle curious. 
 
 M. de Marbois, of the French legation, in Philadelphia, having 
 heen instructed by his government to obtain such statistical ac- 
 counts of the different States of the Union, as might be useful for 
 their information, addressed a letter to Mr. Jefferson, containing a 
 number of queries relative to the State of Virginia. These queries 
 embraced an extensive range of objects, and were designed to elicit 
 a general view of the geography, natural productions, government, 
 history, and laws of the Commonwealth. Mr. Jefferson had al- 
 ways made it a practice, when . travelling, to' commit his observa- 
 tions to writing ; and to improve every opportunity, by conversa- 
 tions with the inhabitants, and by personal examination, to enlarge 
 his stock of information on the physical and moral condition of the 
 country. 
 
 These memoranda were on loose pieces of paper, promiscuously 
 intermixed, and difficult of recurrence, when occasion required the 
 use of any particular one. He improved tire present opportunity, 
 therefore, to digest and embody the substance of them, in the order 
 of M. de Marbois queries, so as to answer tlie double purpose of 
 gratifying the wishes of the French government, and of arranging 
 them for his own convenience. Some friends, to whom they were 
 occasionally communicated in manuscript, requested copies ; but 
 their volume rendering the business of transcribing too laborious, 
 he proposed to get a few printed, for their private gratification. He 
 was asked such a price, however, as exceeded, in his opinion, the 
 importance of the object, and abandoned the idea. Subsequent- 
 ly, on his arrival in Paris in '84, he found the printing could be ob- 
 
 19 
 
210 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tallied for one fourth part of what he had been asked in America. 
 He thereupon revised and corrected the work, and had two hundred 
 copies printed, under the modest title which it bears. He gave out 
 a very few copies, to his particular friends in Europe, writing in 
 each one a restraint against its publication ; and the remainder he 
 transmitted to his friends in America, An European copy, by the 
 death of the owner, having got into the hands of a Paris booksel- 
 ler, he engaged a hirehng translation, and sent it into the world in 
 the most injurious form possible. " I never had seen," says the Au- 
 thor, " so wretched an attempt at translation. Interverted, abridg- 
 , ed, mutilated, and often reversing the sense of the original, I found 
 it a blotch of errors from beginning to end." Under these circum- 
 stances, he w^as urged by the principle of self defence, to comply 
 with the request of a London bookseller, to publish the English 
 original ; which he accordingly did. By this means, it soon be- 
 came extensively the pioperty of the public, and advanced to a 
 high degree of popularity. The work has since been translated 
 into all the principal tongues of Europe, and run through a large 
 number of editions in England, France,* and America. 
 
 The principal attractions of this unambitious volume are, the 
 solid mass of science, natural and historical, which it contains ; its 
 sound philosophy in matters of government, religion, morals, <fcc. : 
 its triumphant vindication of the man of America, aboriginal and 
 emigrant, and the other cis-atlantic animals, against the fanciful and 
 contumelious theories of European philosophers ; the quantity and 
 variety of general information on useful collateral subjects, Avhich 
 it embraces ; and the beauty and unpretending simphcity of its 
 
 style. 
 
 The first five chapters, in pursuance of the order of M.'de Marbois 
 queries, are occupied with geographical details, comprehending a 
 description of the extent and boundaries of Virginia ; a circumstan- 
 tial account of its rivers, their navigableness, and connections with 
 the Atlantic ; a philosophical view of its stupendous mountains, 
 its beautiful cascades, caverns, and other interesting curiosities of 
 nature, with the phenomena attending them. Our Hmits will not 
 permit us to indulge in quotations, or the reader should he gratified 
 with the Author's description of the passage of the Potowmac 
 
 * The celebrated Abbe Morellet published a translation of his Notes, in 1786. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 211 
 
 througli the Blue Ridge, which he calls 'one of the most stupendous 
 scenes in nature, and wortli a voyage across the Atlantic' 
 
 The sixth chapter commences with a minute and scientific no- 
 tice of the mines, minerals, mineral waters, and other subter- 
 raneous treasui-es of the State, interspersed with interesting specu- 
 lations in geology and cosraogeny ; branches thence into the bound- 
 less regions of the botanical kingdom, presenting an elaborate synop- 
 sis of its trees, plants, fruits, and every variety of vegetable growth, 
 spontaneous and cultivated ; and concludes with a luminous and 
 learned dissertation on the brute animals, and on the man of 
 America, exhibiting a comparative view of the size of the former, 
 and the prowess, physical and intellectual, of the latter, vnih. those 
 of their corresponding species in Europe. 
 
 In treating this part of the subject, the Author indulges a latitude 
 of enquiry, for the purpose of vindicating the character of his rising 
 country, against the ignorant or malevolent aspersions of European 
 physiologists, particularly Mons. de Buffon and the Abbe Raynal. 
 By the former of these celebrated naturalists, the opinion had been 
 gravely advanced, that the animals common to both the old and 
 new world, were smaller in the latter ; that those jjeculiar to the 
 new were on a smaller scale, and exhibited fewer species ; that those 
 which have been domesticated in both, have degenerated in Amer- 
 ica ; and that the same inherent inferiority marked the aboriginal 
 man of this continent ; — by the latter, this degrading hypothesis had 
 been extended, so as to comprehend the white man, and European 
 emigrant, as well as the native inhabitant. These visionary opin- 
 ions, built on strained speculation, and not on fact, or the legitimate 
 deductions of science, have been scouted by the increasing intelli- 
 gence of succeeding times, yet they were generally believed, by the 
 learned and unlearned, until overthrown by the Author of this w^ork. 
 Instead of opposing one hypothesis to another, and relying on 
 grounds merely speculative, he met and refuted the positions of his 
 learned antagonists, by bringing them, at once, to the standard of 
 fact and experiment. He measures and weighs the animal of each 
 species, in the old and new world, and by a tabular comparative 
 statement of the result, reduces the whole question to a mere mat- 
 ter of arithmetical calculation. 
 
 In illustrating the intellectual equality of the American abori- 
 gines, he appeals to the living monuments of their genius, and chal- 
 
212 LIFEj WRiTINGSj AND OPINIONS 
 
 ienges the annals of European eloquence, to produce a single p?i»' 
 sage superior to the celebrated speech of Logan, a Mungo chiefs 
 In refutation of the pretended degeneracy of the wliite man of 
 America, he appeals to examples of moral gieatness, whose memo- 
 ries shall flourish and be revered, Avhen the sapient calumniators of 
 America shall have been consigned to oblivion. 
 
 "In war, we have produced a Washington, whose memory will 
 be adored while liberty shall have votaries ; whose name will tri- 
 umph over time, and will in future ages assume its just station 
 among the most celebrated Avorthies of the world, w^hen tliat wretch- 
 ed philosophy shall be forgotten, which would have arranged him 
 among the degeneracies of nature. In physics, we have produced a 
 Franklin, than whom no one of the present age has made more im- 
 portant discoveries, or has enriched philosophy Avith more, or more 
 ingenious solutions of the phenomena of nature. We have suppos- 
 ed Mr. Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living : that in genin^* 
 he must be first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he has ex- 
 liibited as great a proof of mechanical genius as the world has ever 
 produced. He has not indeed made a w^orld ; but he has by imita- 
 tion approached nearer its Maker, than any man who has lived from 
 the cieation to this day. As in philosophy and war, so in govern- 
 ment, in oratory, in painting, in the plastic art, we might show that 
 America, though but a child of yesterday, has already given hope- 
 ful proofs of genius, as well of the nobler kinds, which arouse the 
 best feelings of man, w^hich call him into action, which substantiate 
 his freedom, and conduct him to happiness, as of the subordinate, 
 which serve to amuse him only." 
 
 The six succeeding heads of enquiry, proposed by M. de Marbois. 
 opened the way for the ingenious lucubrations of the Author, on the 
 climate of Virginia, its varieties, changes, and their causes ; the 
 number of inhabitants, of every age, sex, and color, with some val- 
 uable observations on the dangers of foreign influence in the affaii"s 
 of our government, arising from excessive emigration ; on the num- 
 ber and condition of the militia and regular troops, with the man- 
 ner in which they are embodied and recruited ; on the number and 
 condition of the Indian tiibes estabhshed in the State, their manners, 
 customs, and history, with an ingenious solution of the great ques- 
 tion respecting the origin of this singular race of people, on philolo- 
 gical grounds. A knowledge of their several languages he consid- 
 ered as furnishing the most certain evidence of their derivation. 
 Under this idea, he spent thirty years in endeavoring to procure In- 
 dian vocabularies to the same set of words. He had collected about 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 213 
 
 fifty, and digested them in collateral columns. Of the two hundred 
 and fifty words of his vocabularies, and the one hundred and thirty 
 words of the great Russian vocabularies of the languages of the oth- 
 er quarters of the globe, seventy-three were common to both, and 
 would have furnished materials, from which something satisfactory 
 might have resulted ; but, by an "irreparable misfortune," as he 
 termed it, the whole, both digest and originals, were stolen from a 
 trunk while ascending James river, thrown into the river by the 
 thief, and but a small fragment of them was ever recovered. 
 
 Under the query relative to the several charters of the State, and 
 its present form of government, Mr. Jefferson presents a compact 
 statistical view of the Colony, from the first settlement under the 
 grant of Glueen Elizabeth, in 1584, down to the time at which he 
 wrote ; gives the outlines of the existing Constitution, and enumer- 
 ates what he considers its capital defects. 
 
 A brief notice of these defects, and the remedies which he propos- 
 ed, will explain more fully, as was promised, the opinions of Mr. 
 Jefferson on the Constitution of Virginia, being the first republican 
 charter ever known. In the appendix to the volume under review, 
 is inserted a new Constitution, prepared by himself, in 1783, when 
 it was expected the Assembly of Virginia would call a Convention 
 for remodeling the old one, — an event which he long and vainly 
 desired to see. This draught corresponds, in all its main features, 
 with the one prepared by him while in Congress, in 1776, and 
 transmitted to the Convention in Virginia, then sitting for that pur- 
 pose, though received too late to be adopted. 
 
 Among the palpable defects of the existing estabUshment, he enu- 
 merates : 1. The want of universal suffrage, — or rather such an 
 extension of the elective franchise, as would give a voice in the gov- 
 ernment to all those who pay and fight for its support. This is the 
 vital principle of a pure democracy ; and Mr. Jefferson appears to 
 have been the first politician, of whom we have any information, 
 who ventured forth publicly as its advocate. Possessed of a large 
 estate himself, and gratified with the enjoyment of every honor, no 
 personal ambition could be supposed to enter into his motives, and 
 his opinion was received with great weight. The principle has since 
 been incorporated, with greater or less modifications, into the Con- 
 stitutions of almost all the States. The predominance of the land- 
 ed influence, family aristocracy, and a general repugnance to risk- 
 
 19* 
 
214 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 iiig- innovations, have hitherto retained the freehold quahfication in 
 Virginia ; though its rigor has been modified by recent amendments- 
 The success of the experiment, wherever it hag been tried, has 
 abundantly tested the soundness of the principle. 
 
 2. InequaUty of representation. This deformity pervaded the 
 first repubhcaii charter of Virginia, to an astonishing degree. Mr. 
 Jefferson detects and exposes the evil in a strong hght, l)y a tabular 
 statement of the relative number of electors and representatives in 
 each county ; and calls the attention of his countrymen to the sub- 
 ject, in an impressive manner. According to his statement, the 
 county of Warwick, with only one hundred electors, had an equal 
 representation with the county of Loudon, having 1700 electors : 
 and taking the State at large, 19,000 men in one part, were enabled 
 to give law to up-wards of 30,000 in the remaining part. This de- 
 fect was remedied by the late Constitution. 
 
 3. The Senate is necessarily too homogeneous with the House of 
 Delegates. Being chosen by the same electors, at the same tune, 
 and oHt of the same subjects, the choice falls of course on the same 
 description of men ; defeating thereby the great purpose of establish- 
 ing different Houses of legislation, which is to introduce the influ- 
 ence of different interests or different principles. 
 
 4. The want of a sufficient barrier between the legislative, judi- 
 ciary, and executive powers of the government. The concentration 
 of these in the same hands, constituted, in his opinion, the precise 
 definition of despotism. By the Constitution of Virginia, they alt 
 remlted to the same body, the Legislature, though they were exer- 
 cised by different bodies. He proclaims a solemn warning again^^t 
 this heresy, and invokes an immediate apphcation of the remedy ; 
 urging, that the time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is be- 
 
 • fore they shall have seized the heads of the government, and been 
 spread by them through the body of the people. " It is better," says 
 he, "to keep the wolf out of the field, than to trust to drawing his 
 teeth and talons after he shall have entered."' 
 
 5 and 6. Finally^ as objections of the greatest magnitude, Mr. 
 Jefferson argued, that the Constitution itself w^as a mere legislative 
 ordinance, enacted at a critical time, for a temporary purpose, not 
 superior to the ordinary Legislature, but alterable by it ; and that 
 the Assembly, possessing the right, as tliey did, of determining a 
 (luorura of their own body, might convert the government into an 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 215 
 
 absolute despotism, at any moment, by consolidating' all its powerg, 
 and placing then in the hands of a single individual. To the joint 
 operation of these two defects, aided by the inauspicious temper of 
 the times, he ascribed the infatuated attempt of the Legislature, in 
 1776, repeated in 'SI, to surrender the liberties of the people into 
 the hands of a Dictator. He concludes his remarks upon the Con- 
 jstitution by a solemn appeal to the people, for their speedy interpo- 
 sition. 
 
 " Oar situation is indeed perilous, and I hope my countrymen will 
 be sensible of it, and will apply, at a proper season, the proper reme- 
 dy ; which is a Convention to fix the Constitution, to amend its de- 
 fects, to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, 
 which, when ihey transgress, their acts shall become nullities ; to 
 render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words, a re- 
 Ijellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril tliat their ac- 
 quiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those 
 rights." 
 
 Under the enquiry concerning the administration of justice, &c. 
 the Author presents a view of the judiciary system of Vnginia, fram- 
 ed, indeed, by himself, in '7(3 — with a general description of the 
 laws. With a modesty peculiar to himself, he alludes to the Re- 
 vised Code, as a work which bad been " executed by three gentle- 
 men" — glances at the most important reformations which it intro- 
 duced, but carefully conceals every circumstance which might in- 
 dicate his participation in that splendid structure of republican juris- 
 prudence. In commenting upon the benevolent provisions recom- 
 mended in this Code, for the future disposition of the black*, the 
 genius of the Author appears again in its favorite element. He in- 
 sists upon colonization to a distant country, as the only safe and 
 practicable mode of ultimate redemption ; and urges strong rea- 
 sons of policy as well as necessity against their being retained in 
 the State, and incorporated among the race of whites. " Deep 
 rooted prejudices entertained by the whites ; ten thousand recollec- 
 tions by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained ; new prov- 
 ocations ; the real distinctions which nature has made ; and many 
 other chcumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce con- 
 vulsions, which will probably never end, but in the extermination of 
 the one or the other race." To these distinctions, which are polit- 
 ical, he adds many others, which are physical and moral ; but space 
 is not allowed us to pursue the subject, nor to follow the Author 
 
216 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 through his elaborate and hiteiesting investigation of the question; 
 whether the blacks and the Indians are inferior races of beings to 
 the whites. Making all due allowances for the difference of condi- 
 tion, education, &c. between the blacks and whites, still the evi- 
 dences were too strong, not to admit doubts of the intellectual equal- 
 ity of the two species. Of the former, many have been so situated, 
 that they might have availed themselves of the conversation of 
 their masters ; many have been brought up to the handicraft arts, 
 and from that circumstance, have always been associated with the 
 whites. Some have been liberally educated, have lived in coun- 
 tries where the arts and sciences are cultivated to a high degree, 
 and have had before their eyes, samples of the best workmanship, 
 and of the noblest intelhgence. " But never yet," he adds, " could 
 I find a black that had uttered a thought above the level of plain 
 narration ; never seen even an elementary trait of painting or sculp • 
 ture." Still, it was not against experience to suppose, that diflTerent 
 species of the same genus, or varieties of the same species, might 
 possess different quaUfications. The Indians, on the other hand, 
 with none of the advantages above named, will often carve figures 
 on their pipes, not destitute of design and merit. They will crayon 
 out an animal, a plant, or a country, so as to prove the existence of 
 a germ in their minds, which only wants cultivation. They will 
 astonish you with strokes of the most subUme oratory, such as prove 
 their reason and sentiment strong, their imagination glowing and 
 elevated. On the whole, therefore, he advanced it as his opinion, 
 that the Indians are equal to the whites, in body and mind ; and as 
 a problem only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, 
 or made so by tune and circumstances, are inferior to them. To 
 justify a conclusion, in the latter case, required observations which 
 eluded the research of all the senses ; it should, therefore, be haz- 
 arded with extreme caution, especially when such conclusion would 
 degrade a whole race of men from the rank in the scale of beings, 
 which their Creator may, perhaps, have assigned them. The dif- 
 ference of color, feature, inclination, &c., is sufficient to warrant the 
 presumption, that they were designed for a separate existence ; but 
 it furnishes no evidence of the riffht to enslave and torment them as 
 mere brutes. " "Will not a lover of natural history then," he con- 
 cludes, "one who views the gi-adations in all the races of animals,- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 217 
 
 with the eye of philosophy, excuse an effort to keep these in the de- 
 paitinent of man as distinct as nature has formed them ?" 
 
 The unhappy influence of slavery upon the manners and mor- 
 als of the people, is forcibly portrayed in a succeeding chapter, 
 
 " The whole commerce between -master and slave is a perpetual 
 exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most nnremittmg des- 
 potism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. 
 Our children see this, and learn to imitate it ; for man is an imita- 
 tative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. 
 From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others 
 do. If a parent could And no motive either in his philanthropy or 
 his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his 
 slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. 
 But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child 
 looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in 
 the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst passions, and 
 thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be 
 stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodi- 
 gy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such cir- 
 cumstances. And with what execration should the statesman be 
 loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on the 
 rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into ene- 
 mies ; destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patris of 
 tiie other. For if a slave can have a country in this world, it must 
 be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and la- 
 bor for another : in which he must lock up the faculties of his na- 
 ture, contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the 
 evanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condi- 
 tion on the endless generations proceeding from him." 
 
 The freedom of Mr. Jefferson's strictures on Slavery and the Con- 
 stitution of Virginia, were the reasons, it appears, which influenced 
 him to Hmit the circulation of the work, originally, to his confiden- 
 tial friends. In his letters to them, accompanying the gift of a copy, 
 he uniformly explains the motives by which he was actuated, in en- 
 joining suppression. Those who. on marking the singular anxiety of 
 the Author throughout that affair, thought personal delicacy the 
 principal restraining cause, had not yet arrived at the proper stand- 
 ard of estimating his principles of action. In presenting a copy of 
 the work to General Chastellux, he thus writes : 
 
 "I have been honored with the receipt .of your letter of the 2d 
 instant, and am to thank you, as I do sincerel}?^, for the partiality 
 with which you receive the copy of the Notes on my country. As 
 I can answer for the facts therein reported on my own observation. 
 
S18 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 and have admitted none on tlie report of others, which were not 
 supported b}^ evidence suthcient to command my own assent, I am 
 not afraid that you should make any extracts you please for the 
 Journal de Physique, which come within their plan of publication. 
 The strictures on Slavery and on the Constitution of Virginia, are 
 not of that kind, and they are tke,parts which I do not wish to have 
 made public, at least, till I know whetber their publication would do 
 most harm or good. It is possible, that inmy oion country, these 
 strictures viight j^rodnce on irritation, uhich would indispose 
 thejicople toivards the tie o great objects I have in vierv ; that is, 
 the emancipation of their slaves, and the settlejnent of their con- 
 stitution on a firmer and more permanent basis. Ifl learn from 
 thence, that they will not produce that effect, I have piinted and re- 
 served just copies enough to be able to give one to every young man 
 at the College. It is to them I look, to the rising generation, and 
 not to the one now in power, for these great reformations." 
 
 In transmitting copies to his friends in America, he expresses 
 the same lofty reasons ; of which the following, in a letter to Mr. 
 Monroe, is a sample. 
 
 " I send you by Mr. Otto, a copy of my book. Be so good a« 
 to ajwlogize to Mr. Thompson for my not sending him one by this 
 coaiveyance. I could not burden Mr. Otto with more, on so long a 
 road as that from here to L'Orient. I will send him one by a Mr. 
 Williams, who will go ere long. I ha^'e taken measures to pre- 
 vent its pubhcation. My reason is, that I fear the terms in which 
 I sj^eak of slavery, and of our constitution, may produce an irrita- 
 tion, which will revolt the minds of our countrymen against re- 
 formation in these two articles, and thus do more harm than good. 
 1 have asked of Mr. Madison to sound this matter as far as he 
 cau, and if he thinks it will not produce that effect, I have then 
 copies enough printed to give one to each of the young men at the 
 College, and to my friends in the country." 
 
 The remainder of this justly renowned Treatise, is occupied with 
 useful details and learned dissertations, under the following lieads 
 of enquiry : The Colleges, Public Estabhshments, and mode of 
 Architecture in Virginia— The measures taken with regard to the 
 Estates and Possessions of tories during the war — The different Re- 
 ligions received into the State; — The particular Manners and Cus- 
 toms of the people — The present state of Manufactures, Commerce, 
 and Agriculture — The usual commodities of Export and Import — 
 The Weights, Measvires, and Currency in hard money, with the 
 rates of Exchange with Europe — The public Income and Expen- 
 ses— 'The Histories of the State, the Memorials pubUshed under its 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON." 219 
 
 iTiame while a Colony, and a Chronological Catalogue of its State 
 Papers since the commencement of the Revolution, 
 
 Perhaps the most celebrated portion of the whole w^ork, k, that 
 which contains the opinions of the Author on the subject of free 
 ENCiuiRY in matters of religion. The interest which all mankind 
 feel on a point so vitally connected with the policy of our govern- 
 jnent, and the freedom and happiness of its subjects, will justify a 
 liberal quotation here, in concluding our remarks upon these inval- 
 uable " Notes." The sentiments of the writer, although generally 
 esteemed heretical and well nigh impious, at the time, are now as 
 generally reputed orthodox and unquestionable. 
 
 " Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against 
 error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by 
 bringing every false one to their tribunal, and to the test of their 
 investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error 
 only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry, 
 Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free in- 
 «{uiry been indulged at the era of the reformation, the corruptions 
 of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrain- 
 ed now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones en- 
 couraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine 
 and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. 
 Thus in France, the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and 
 the potatoe as an article of food. Government is just as infallibly 
 too when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent to the in- 
 quisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere : the government 
 had declared it to be as fiat as a trencher, and Galileo was obliged 
 to abjure his error. This error, however, at length prevailed, the 
 earth became a globe, and Descartes declared it was whirled round 
 its axis by a vortex. The government in which he lived was wise 
 enough to see, tlmt this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or 
 we should all have been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, 
 the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle 
 of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of rea- 
 son, than it would be w"ere the government to step ui, and make it 
 an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been 
 indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which 
 needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. 
 Subject opinion to coercion : whom will you make your inquisitors ? 
 FaUible men ; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as 
 pubhc reasons. And why subject it to coercion ? To produce uni- 
 formity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable J No more than 
 of face and stature. Introduce ihe bed of Procrustes then, and as 
 tiiere is danger that the great men may beat the small, make u». 
 
220 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Dif- 
 ference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects 
 perform the office of a censor moram over each other. Is uniform- 
 ity attainable ? Millions of innocent men, women and children, 
 since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, 
 fined and imprisoned ; yet we have not advanced one inch towards 
 uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion ? to make one 
 half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support 
 roguery and error ail over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhab- 
 ited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess, proba- 
 bly, a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one 
 of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that 
 one, we should wish to see the nine hundred and ninety-nine wan- 
 dering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a 
 majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion 
 are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free 
 inquiry must be indulged ; how can we wish others to indulge it 
 while we refuse it ourselves." 
 
 On the 15th of June, 1781, Mr. Jefferson was appointed, with 
 Mr. Adams, Dr. Frankhn, Mr. Jay and Mr. Laurens, a Minister 
 Plenipotentiary, for negotiating peace, then expected to be effected 
 through the mediation of the Empress of Russia. The same rea- 
 sons, however, which induced hun to decline a foreign station in 
 '76, constrained him, on the present occasion, to plead his excuse 
 with Congress, and entreat permission to remain at home. " Such 
 was the state of my family," says he, " that I could not leave it, 
 nor could I expose it to the dangers of the sea, and of capture by the 
 British ships, then cx)vering the ocean." This delicate restraint re- 
 leased him from the meditated Embassy ; and the negotiation in 
 fact, was never entered on. 
 
 So imperfect is the light Avhich has been thrown on the private his- 
 tory of Mr. Jefferson, that it was not thought proper to interrupt the 
 narrative of his public career, for those general facts only, of a do- 
 mestic character, which are incorporated in his recent auto-biogra- 
 phy. He was married on the first of January, 1772, to Mrs. Mar- 
 tha Skelton, widow of Bathurst Skelton, then twenty-three years 
 of age. She was the daughter of John Wayles, a lawyer of ex- 
 tensive practice, to which he had been introduced, more by his 
 great industry, punctuality, and practical readiness, than by emi- 
 nence in the science of his profession. He is represented to have 
 been a most agreeable companion, full of pleasantry and good humor, 
 which gave him a happy welcome into every society. He acquii'ed 
 
rOP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 221 
 
 ^ti immense foitune., by his practice at the bar, and died in May, 
 1773, leaving three daughters. The portion which fell, on that 
 event, to Mrs. Jefferson, was about equal to his own patrimony, and 
 consequently doubled the affluence of their circumstances. 
 
 At the period of which we have been speaking, Mr. Jefferson 
 had three daughters ; in the education of whom, according to his 
 own ideas, he carried into practical exercise, all that enthusiasm, 
 which had distinguished his public endeavors in relation to the 
 same subject. With a mind exquisitely attuned to all those en- 
 dearments, which make up the measure of domestic felicity, with a 
 wife no less adapted to multiply and augment those endearments, 
 to the full extent of which they are susceptible, with an extraordi- 
 nary passion for philosophy and the quiet operations of agriculture, 
 it is not surprising he should have preferred, as he afterwards de- 
 clared, ' the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, 
 to all the brilliant pleasures of the most brilliant court in Europe.' 
 It was to him, therefore, an inexpressible luxury, and one which 
 he had not been permitted to enjoy since the commencement of the 
 Revolution, to pass, as he did, the remainder of the year '81, and 
 a considerable part of the succeeding, in the tranquil pleasures and 
 pursuits of domestic retirement. With the cares and delights of his 
 family, his books, and his farm, he mingled the gratification of his 
 devotion to the Fine Arts, particularly architecture. He superin- 
 tended minutely the construction of his elegant mansion, which 
 had been commenced some years before, and was already in a hab- 
 itable condition. The plan of the building was entirely original in 
 this country. He had drawn it himself from books, with a view 
 to improve the architecture of hie countrymen, by introducing an 
 example of the tastes and arts of Europe. The original design of 
 the structure, which was executed before his travels in Europe had 
 supplied him with any models, is allowed by European travellers to 
 have been infinitely superior, in taste and convenience, to that of 
 any other house, at this time, in America.* The fame of the Mon- 
 ticellean philosopher having already spread over Europe, his hospi- 
 table seat was made the resort of scientific adventurers, and of dig- 
 nified travellers, from many parts of that continent 
 
 *Sce Travels of Duke de La Rochefoucault Liancourt, in America ; also, the 
 Travels of Marquis de Chastellux. 
 
 20 
 
222 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 It may not be unsatisfactory to the reader, to have a picture of 
 the Patriot in his hermitage, as he appeared to the celebrated 
 French traveller, General Cliastellux : " Let me describe to you 
 a man, not yet forty, tall, and with a mild and pleasing counte- 
 nance, but whose mind and understanding are ample substitutes 
 for every exterior grace — An American, who, without ever having 
 quitted his own country, is at once a musician, skilled in drawing, 
 a geometrician, an astronomer, a natural philosopher, legislator, and 
 statesman — ^A senator of America, who sat for two years in that fa- 
 mous Congress, which brought about the Revolution ; and which 
 is never mentioned without respect, though unhappily not without 
 regret — A Governor of Virginia, who filled this difficult station dur- 
 ing the invasions of Arnold, of Phillips, and of Cornwallis — A phi- 
 losopher, in voluntary retirement from the world and public busi- 
 ness, because he loves the world inasmuch only, as he can flatter 
 himself with being useful to mankind ; and the minds of his coun- 
 trymen are not yet in a condition either to bear the light, or to suf- 
 fer contradiction — A mild and amiable wife, charming children, 
 of whose education he himself takes charge, a house to embellish, 
 great provisions, and the arts and sciences to cultivate ;— these are 
 what remain to Mr. Jefferson, after having played a principal char- 
 acter on the theatre of the new world, and which he preferred to 
 the honorable commission of Minister Plenipotentiary in Europe." 
 In the autumn of '82, assurances having been received from the 
 British government, that a general peace would be concluded in 
 the ensuing winter or spring. Congress renewed the appointment 
 of their Plenipotentiaries for that purpose. A great and afflicting 
 change had, at this time, taken place in the domestic relations of 
 Mr. Jefferson ; and the reasons which before operated imperatively 
 against his acceptance of the mission, were suddenly superseded 
 by others, as imperatively urging his absence from the seat of his 
 dearest and most hallowed ties. The appointment was made on 
 the 13th of November. " I had, two months before that," says he. 
 " lost the cherished companion of my life, in whose affections, una- 
 bated on both sides, I had lived the last ten years, in unchequered 
 happiness." With the public interests, theiefore, the state cf his 
 mind concurred in recommending the change of scene proposed : 
 and he accepted the appointment. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 223 
 
 He left Monticello on the 19th of December, '82, for Philadel- 
 phia, where he arrived on the 27th. The Minister of France, Lu- 
 zerne, offered him a passage in the frigate Romulus, which he 
 accepted ; but she was then l,ying a few miles below Baltimore, 
 blockaded by ice. No other conveyance being available, he re- 
 mained in Philadelphia a month. On his arrival, Congress had 
 passed an order offering him free access to the archives of the gov- 
 ernment ; and he improved the leisure interval by a constant and 
 daily attendance at the office of State, examining the public papers, 
 with a view to possess himself thoroughly of the state of our for- 
 eign affairs. He then proceeded to Baltimore, to await the libera- 
 tion of the French frigate from the ice. After being detained 
 there nearly a month longer, information was received, that a pro- 
 visional Treaty of Peace had been signed by 'those of the Com- 
 missioners* who were on the spot, on the 3d of September, '82 ; 
 which treaty was to become absolute, on the conclusion of peace 
 between France and Great Britain, Considering the object of his 
 mission to Europe as now substantially accomplished, he repaired 
 immediately to Philadelphia, to take the orders of Congress ; and 
 was excused by them from further proceeding. He therefore re- 
 turned home, where he arrived on the 15th of May, '83. 
 
 The appointment and re-appointment of Mr. JefTerson on the 
 distinguished embassy, which resulted in the negotiation of the 
 definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, though but a fair 
 tribute to his extraordinary revolutionary services, have never been 
 associated in history, with that important event. The circumstan- 
 ces above detailed, alone prevented the addition of his signature to 
 the Treaty, which would necessarily have given the same honorable 
 notoriety to his connection witli the transaction, as is attached to his 
 associate Commissioners. 
 
 * John Adams, Dr. Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, 
 
224 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS^ 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1783, Mr. Jefferson, whose transcendent 
 capabilities were never overlooked, though sometimes, unhappily, 
 luiobtainable, was re-elected by the Legislature, to his ancient and 
 well adapted station of Delegate to Congress, His appointment 
 was to take effect on the 1st of November ensuing, when the term 
 of the existing delegation would have expired. He left home on 
 the 16th of October, arrived at Trenton, where Congress was sit- 
 ting, on the 3d of November, and took his seat on the 4th ; on 
 which day Congress adjourned, to meet at Annapolis on the 26th. 
 The re-appearance, in the halls of the National Legislature, of 
 the renowned Author of the Declaration of Independence, after an 
 absence of seven years, during which the momentous principles of 
 that Declaration had been solemnly contested and substantiated, 
 before the sovereign tribunal of nations, must have impressed even 
 that dignified Assembly with awe. How proudly must he have 
 felt in looking round upon those, if any such were there, who had 
 treated the question of Independence as idle chimera, and incessant- 
 ly beleaguered the cause with sinister auguries of the result ? And 
 with what deep exultation must he have met and grasped the 
 hand of those, who had breasted with him the difficulties which 
 hung on them so heavily, ' whose vote,' as he once proudly said, 
 * had been his vote on every pubhc question, and whose principles 
 had been the standard of whatever was free or fearless'? The 
 praises and congratulations which were mutually interchanged, on 
 this occasion, were enthusiastic, overflowing ; royalists and repub- 
 licans kindled in the competition of public and private felicitation ; 
 and the scene altogether, presented a tont ensemble^ not unworthy 
 the conclusion of the long and agonizing drama, the result of which 
 had verified the hopes of the most sanguine votary of the rights of 
 man. 
 
 Congress convened at Annapohs on the 26th of Noveml^er, agree- 
 ably to adjournment ; iDut the pressure of the public afiairs having 
 relaxed, the members had become proportionally remiss in their 
 attendance, insomuch, that a majority of the States necessary by 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 225^ 
 
 the Confederation to constitute a quorum, even for minor business, 
 did not assemble until the 13th of December. 
 
 On the 19th of the same month, the great conflict being over, 
 and our National Independence acknowledged by Great Britain, 
 the illustrious Generalissimo of the American army, requested per- 
 mission of Congress to resign his honorable commission; and, 
 with the deference ever paid by him to the civil authority, desired 
 to kiiow their pleasure, in what manner the grateful duty should. 
 be performed. 
 
 To give aia eclat and dignity to the transaction, analogous to the 
 importance of the event, they decreed, that the commission should 
 be delivered up at a Public Audience, on the 23d of December,, 
 at twelve o'clock ; and suitable arrangements were ordered, for 
 making of the occasion, a grand and impressive republican pa- 
 geant. The character sustained by Mr. Jefferson in this affecting 
 scene, will justify a general description of the circumstances. 
 
 When the horn- arrived for the performance of the interesting 
 ceremony, the galleries were overloaded with spectators ; and many 
 distinguished individuals, among whom were the executive and 
 legislative characters of the States, several General Officers, and the 
 Consul General of France, were admitted on the floor of Congress. 
 The spectacle about to be exhibited, was calculated to awake the 
 proudest recollections, and excite the most sublime emotions that 
 ever animated the human soul. From the first moment of peace, 
 the public mind had been fixed intently upon General Washington, 
 to know what he would do ; he stood on the pinnacle of military 
 fame and power ; but his ambition was satisfied, for the liberties of 
 his country had been gained ; and his admiring fellow citizens 
 were now assembled to witness the execution of a purpose, deliber- 
 ately and warmly embraced, of leaving to the world a great and 
 solemn example of moderation. 
 
 The representatives of the sovereign people of the Union, remain- 
 ed seated and covered ; the spectators, standing and uncovered. 
 The General was introduced by the Secretary, and conducted to a 
 chair near the President of Congress. After a proper interval, si- 
 lence was commanded, and a short pause ensued. The President, 
 General Mifflin, then rose and informed him that the United States 
 in Congress assembled, were prepared to receive his communica- 
 tions. Washington rose, and with a native dignity, equalled only 
 
 20* 
 
226 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 by the grandeur of the occasion, deUvered his affectionate addresj? 
 and valedictory. 
 
 Having then advanced to the Chair, and dehvered his commis- 
 sioii to the President, he returned to his place, and received stand 
 lug the following answer of the President, in the name of Con- 
 gress. This interesting paper was prepared by Mr. Jefferson ! 
 
 " Sir, — The United States in Congress assembled, receive witli 
 emotions too affecting for utterance, the solemn resignation of the 
 authorities under which you have led their troops with success 
 through a perilous and douVitful war. Called upon by your coun- 
 try to defend its invaded rights, you accepted the sacred charge, \)e- 
 fore it had formed alliances, and whilst it was without funds or a 
 government to support you. You have conducted the great milita- 
 ry contest with wisdom and fortitude, invarialjly regarding the rights 
 of the civil power through all disasters and changes. You liave, by 
 the love and confidence of your fellow-citizens, enabled them to 
 display their martial genius, and transmit their fame to posterity. 
 You have persevered, till these United States, aided by a magnan- 
 imous king and nation, have been en aWed, under a just Providence- 
 to close the war in freedom, safety and independence : on which 
 happy event, we sincerely join you in congratulations. 
 
 " Having defended the standard of liberty in this new world : 
 having taught a lesson useful to those who inflict, and to those who. 
 feel oppression, you retire from the great theatre of action, with the 
 blessings of your fellow citizens — but the glory of 3'our virtues will 
 not terminate with yoiu military command, it v. ill continue to ani- 
 mate remotest ages. 
 
 ''We feel with you our obhgations to the army in general, and 
 will particidariy cliarge ourselves with the interests of those confi- 
 dential officers, who have attended your person to this affecting mo- 
 ment. 
 
 " We join you in commending the interests of our dearest coun- 
 try to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching him to dispose the 
 hearts and minds of its citizens, to improve the opportunity afforded 
 them, of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you 
 we address to Him our earnest prayers, that a life so Ijeloved, may 
 be fostered with all his care ; that your days may he happy as they 
 have been illustrious ; and that he will finally give you that reward 
 Vvdiich this world cannot give." 
 
 On the same day, December 23d, measures were taken for ratify- 
 ing the definitive Treaty of Peace, which had been signed at Paris 
 on the 3d of September, 1783, and recehed here in November fol- 
 lowing. The Treaty, with the joint letter of the American Pleni- 
 potentiaries, was referred to a committee, ofwhicliMr. Jefferson was 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 227 
 
 * 
 
 chairman, to consider and report thereon. The necessary House 
 not being present, the committee were directed to address letters to 
 the Governors of the ahsent States, stating the receipt of the defin- 
 itive Treaty ; that seven States only were in attendance, while 
 nine were essential to its ratitication ; and urging them to press on 
 their Delegates the necessity of an immediate attendance. 
 
 Meanwhile, the House being restless under the delay, the opinion 
 was advanced by several members, that seven States were com- 
 petent to confirm treaties ; and the motion was accordingly 
 made for an immediate ratification. Mr. Jefferson adhered to the 
 strict letter of the Confederation, against the constructive opinion, 
 and opposed the motion. It was debated with considerable warmth, 
 on the 2Gth and 27th. No traces of the proceedings, however, ap- 
 pear in the journals of Congress. It being made palpable, in the 
 course of the debates, that the proposition could not be sustained, it 
 was decided to make no entry at all. Massachusetts alone would 
 have voted for it ; Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Virginia against 
 it ; Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina would have been di- 
 vided. 
 
 In embodying his recollections of these transactions, in 1821, Mr. 
 Jefferson improved the occasion, to record a severe but merited cen- 
 sure on the general character and conduct of our congressional bod- 
 ies. It certainly deserves the attention of all those who are entrust- 
 ed with the exercise of the elective franchise, in this happy Republic. 
 
 "Our body w^as little numerous, but very contentious. Day after 
 day was wasted on the most unimportant questions. A member^ 
 one of those afflicted with the morbid rage of debate, of an ardent 
 mind; prompt imagination, and copious flow of words, who heard 
 with impatience any logic which was not his own, sitting near mc 
 on some occasion of a trifling but wordy debate, asked me how I 
 could sit in silence, hearing so much false reasoning, which a word 
 should refute ? I ol^served to him, that to refute indeed was easy. 
 l)ut to silence impossible ; that in measures brought forward by my- 
 self, I took the laboring oar, as was incmnbent on me ; but that in 
 general, I was willuig to listen ; that if every sound argument or 
 objection was used by some one or other of the numerous debaters, 
 it was enough ; if not, I thought it sufhcient to suggest the omission, 
 without going into a repetition of what had been aheady said by 
 others : that this was a waste and abuse of the time and patience 
 of the House, which could not be justified. And I believe, that if 
 the members of deliberate bodies were to observe this course general- 
 ly, they would do in a day, what takes them a week ; and it is 
 
228 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 really more questionable, than may at first be thought, whether 
 Bonaparte's duDib legislature, which said nothing, and did much, 
 may not be preferable to one which talks much, and does nothing. 
 i served with General Washington in the Legislature of Virginia, 
 before the Revolution, and, dining it, with Dr. Franivlin in Con- 
 gress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, 
 nor to any but the main point, which was to decide the question. 
 They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the 
 little ones would follow of themselves. If the present Congress errs 
 in too much talking, how can it be otherwise, in a body to which 
 the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is, to 
 (luestion every thing, yield nothing, and talk jjy the hour ? That 
 one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together, ought 
 not to be expected." 
 
 Those who thought seven States competent to the ratification, 
 being very uneasy under the loss of their motion, Mr. Jefferson pro- 
 posed, on the 3d of January, to meet them on the middle ground ; 
 and accordingly moved a resolution, which premised, that there were 
 but seven States present, who were imanimous for the ratifica- 
 tion, but differed in opinion on the question of competency ; that 
 those, hov/ever, in the negative, were unwilUng that any pov,'ers 
 which it might be supposed they possessed, should remain unexer- 
 cised for the restoration of peace, provided it could be done, saving 
 their good faith, and without importing any opinion of Congress, 
 that seven States w^ere competent ; and resolving, that the treaty 
 be ratified so far as they had power ; that it should be transmitted to 
 our Ministers, with instructions to keep it uncomraunicated ; to en- 
 deavor to obtain three months longer for exchange of ratifications ; 
 that they should be informed, that so soon as nine States shall be 
 present, a ratification by nine shall be sent them ; if this should get 
 to them before the ultimate point of time for exchange, they were 
 to use it, and not the other; if not, they were to offer the act of the 
 seven States in exchange, informing them the treaty had come to 
 hand v/hile Congress was not in session, that but seven States were 
 as yet assembled, and these had unanimously concurred in the rati- 
 fication. This resolution was debated on the 3d and 4th of Janua- 
 ry ; and on the 5th, the question being carried, the House directed 
 the President to write to our Ministers accordingly. 
 
 On the 14th of January, Delegates from Connecticut and South 
 Carolina having arrived, the necessary complement of States was 
 in attendance ; and on report of Mr. Jefferson, in behalf of the com- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFRSON. 229 
 
 mittee, the definitive Treaty of Peace between the United States and 
 Great Britain, was solemnly ratified and confirmed, without a dis- 
 senting voice. Thus was consummated, in the calm of reason, a 
 work, which, through eight consecutive years of blood and violence, 
 had chained the attention of the universe, — a work, which resulted 
 in the establishment of an Independent Empire, upon republican 
 principles ; and it was certainly no more than a matter of strict 
 right, that the individual, who had taken the lead in originating 
 those principles, and ' declaring' them to the world, should have as- 
 signed to him the first place in ratifying the assent of the principal 
 Powers of Europe, to their justness and validity. 
 
 But the act, by which Mr. Jefierson chiefly distinguished himself, 
 in his second congressional course, was his establishment of a Mon- 
 ey Unit, and a uniform system of currency, for the United States. 
 The interesting fact is not generally known to the people of this 
 country, that Mr. Jefierson was the father of their present admirable 
 system of Coinage and Currency. In the volumes and volumes 
 which have been written on this extraordinary man, no allusion to 
 the circumstance has ever appeared ; and yet, it is one of the noblest 
 commentaries upon the versatility of his intellectual powers. ' The 
 historical circumstances attending the preparation and final adop- 
 tion of his scheme are of some curiosity, as showing the disparity of 
 views which prevailed on the subject. 
 
 Early in January, 1782, Congress had turned their attention to 
 the variety and discordancy of monies current in the several States ; 
 and had directed their financier, Robert Morris, to report to them a 
 table of the difierent currencies, and of the rates at which foreign coins 
 should be received at the treasury. That ofiScer, or rather his assist- 
 ant, Gouvcrneur Morris, answered them, the same month, in an able 
 and elaborate statement of the denominations of money cuvrent in 
 the several States, and of the comparative value of the foreign coins 
 chiefly in circulation among us. He went also into the considera- 
 tion of the necessity of estabhshing a fixed standard of value with us, 
 and of adopting a Money Unit. He proposed for that unit, such 
 a fraction of pure silver as would be a common measure of the pen- 
 ny of every State, without leaving a fraction. This common divis- 
 ion he found to be T4V o of a dollar, or x^V of a crown sterling. The 
 value of a dollar, therefore, was to be expressed by 1440 units, and 
 of a crown by 1600 ; each unit containing a quarter of a grain of 
 
S30 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 fine silver. The following year, 1783, Congress again turned their 
 attention to the subject, and tlie Financier, by a letter of April 30, 
 further explained his idea, and urged the unit he had proposed ; 
 but nothing more vv'as done on it, until the early part of the ensuing 
 year, '84, when, Mr. Jefferson having become a member, the sub- 
 ject was referred to a committee, of which he was made chairman. 
 
 "The general views of the Financier, were sound," says he, " and 
 the principle was ingenious, on which he proposed to found his unit ; 
 but it was too minute for ordinary use, too laborious for computation, 
 either by head or in figures. The price of a loaf of bread, g'^ of a dol- 
 lar, would be 72 units. A pound of butter, ^ of a dollar, 288 units. 
 A horse or bullock, of eighty dollars' value, Avould require a nota- 
 tion of six figures, to wit, 115,200, and the public debt, suppose of 
 eighty millions, would require twelve figures, to wit, 115,200,000,000 
 units. Such a system of money arithmetic would be entirely un- 
 manageable for the common piu'poses of society. I proposed, there- 
 fore, instead of this, to adopt the Dollar as our unit of account and 
 payment, and that its divisions and subdivisions should be in the 
 decimal ratio. I wrote some notes on the subject, which I submit- 
 ted to the consideration of the Financier. I received his answer 
 and adherance to his general system, only agreeing to take for his 
 luiit one hundred of those he first proposed, so that a dollar should 
 be 14yVp, and a crown 16 units. I replied to this, and printed my 
 notes and reply on a flying sheet, which I put into the hands of the 
 members of Congress for consideration, and the committee agreed 
 to report on my principle. This was adopted the ensuing year, 
 and is the system which now prevails. 
 
 The money system recommended by Mr. Jefferson, and adopted 
 by Congress in 1785, has almost entirely superseded the various and 
 jjerplexing currencies, which formerly prevailed in the different 
 States, and established a uniformity of computation among them, 
 harmonizing, in some degree, with their unity as a nation. For 
 soundness and simplicity, easy computation, and facility of intro- 
 duction among the people, it is probably unequalled by any sys- 
 tejn now in use, in any other nation on the globe. A tolerable 
 estimate of its advantages over the currencies of other nations, may 
 be formed on an examination of the views of the Author, as draft- 
 ed by himself at the time, and submitted to the consideration of the 
 eominittee.* 
 
 As might be expected, the return to the National Councils, of so 
 
 » See Appendi.v, Note B. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 231 
 
 <listinguished a character as Mr. Jefferson, drew upon him an unus- 
 wal proportion of business of the first magnitude. The journals of 
 ihe House place him continually in the foreground of the concen- 
 ti'ated wisdom of the nation. He was on all the committees, to 
 whom concerns of the highest moment were entrusted ; and was 
 twice, in one month, elected chairman of Congress, during the ab- 
 sence, from indisposition, of the President. 
 
 He was appointed chairman of a grand committee to revise the 
 institution of the Treasury Department, and report such alterations 
 as they should deem proper. The lousiness of this committee was 
 emphatically to reduce order out of chaos. The finances of the 
 country were in a most deplorable condition ; no adequate system 
 had been devised for meeting the constant and increasing requisi- 
 tions upon the treasury ; no compulsory power existing in Congress, 
 over the States, many of them, being dissatisfied with their quotas, 
 refused to contrit)ute altogether, and none appeared to have the 
 means at command for satisfying the demands made upon them. 
 The peace and harmony of the Union were manifestly in danger. 
 Mr. Jefferson entered upon the arduous trust, with great zeal and 
 fidehty, and draughted an able report on the subject, in the form of 
 a Circular Letter to the supreme Executive of the several States : 
 which report was unanimously adopted. He likewise reported from 
 the same committee, the draught of an ordinance for erecting the 
 department of finance into commission, under the title of ' The 
 Board of Treasury,' which was also adopted. 
 
 He was appointed chairman of a grand committee to prepare and 
 report to Congress, the arrears of interest on the National Debt, 
 with the interest and expenses of the current year ; and to adjust 
 an equitable apportionment of the whole demand, among the sev- 
 eral States. He drew the report of the committee. It was an elab- 
 orate performance, embracing a full and comprehensive review of 
 the various debts of the Union, the interest due thereon, with the 
 expenses of the current year, and exhibiting by a table annexed, 
 an apportionment of the necessary requisitions upon the several 
 States, for defraying the amount. The report was accepted and 
 passed. 
 
 He was appointed chairman of a committee to devise and report 
 a plan of government for the Western Territories. He drew tlie 
 prdinance, on a principle analogous to the State governments, repor- 
 
232 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ted it to the House, where, after going through the ordinary course, 
 it was adopted with few alterations. He improved the occasion to 
 testify, once more, his abhorrence of Slavery, by introducing into 
 his plan, the following provision : " That after the year 1800 of 
 the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
 servitude in any of the States, otherwise than in punishment of 
 crimes, whereof tlie party shall have been duly convicted to have 
 been personally guilty." But the clause was stricken out by Con- 
 gress, as well as another, which provided that no person should be 
 admitted a citizen, who held any hereditary title. 
 
 He was appointed on a conmiittee of retrenchment, to consider 
 and report what reductions might he made in the civil list. On 
 the report of this committee, such a reduction was ordered, by sup- 
 pressing unnecessary offices, and diminishing the salaries of others, 
 as produced an annual saving to the United States, of 24,000 dollars. 
 He was made chairman of a committee to settle the mode of 
 locating and disposing lands in the Western Territory. He pre- 
 pared the report of the committee, which was adopted. It estab- 
 lished the mode of locating and disposing the vacant lands of the 
 United States, which has hitherto been pusued, with httle variation. 
 By the Confederation, exclusive power over the regulation of 
 commerce, even by treaty, was not given to Congress; but the 
 right was reserved to the State legislatures, of imposing such duties 
 on foreigners, as their own people were subjected to, and of prohibit- 
 ing the exportation and importation of any species of goods, within 
 their respective ports. The inconveniences of this arrangement 
 were speedily felt, to an alarming degree. Great Britain had al- 
 ready adopted regulations destructive of our commerce with her 
 West India islands ; and unless the United States, in their federa- 
 tive capacity, were invested with powers conipetent to the protection 
 of their commerce, by countervailing regulations, it was obvious 
 they could never command reciprocal advantages in trade ; without 
 which their foreign connnerce must dechne, and eventually be an- 
 nihilated. A committee was therefore appointed, of which TVIr. Jef- 
 ferson was a member, to institute measures for transferring the prin- 
 cipal jurisdiction of commerce, from the States to the National tribu- 
 nal. They reported resolutions recommending the Legislatures of 
 the several States, to invest the Federal Government, for the term 
 of fifteen years, with the power to interdict from our ports the com- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 233 
 
 Siiierce of any nation, with wliom the United States shall not have 
 estabhshed treaties. The report was accepted, and the resokitions 
 passed. 
 
 All these important transactions, with many others, in which Mr. 
 Jetierson had a leading agency, were accomplished during the win- 
 ter and spring of 1784, the whole term of his second congressional 
 service. 
 
 During the same term, he submitted a proposition, vv^iich embia- 
 ced a double object — to invigorate and economize the government. 
 The permanent session of Congress, and the flagrant remissness of 
 the members, had begun to be a subject of uneasiness through the 
 country ; and even some of the Legislatures had recommended to 
 them intermissions, and periodical sessions. But the government 
 was not yet organized into separate Departments ; there was no dis- 
 tinct Executive, nor had the Confederation made provision for a 
 visible head of affairs, during vacations of Congi-ess. Such a head 
 Avas necessary, however, to superintend the executive business, to 
 receive and communicate with foreign Ministers and imtions, and 
 to assemble Congress on sudden and extraordinary emergencies. 
 Mr. Jefferson, therefore, proposed the appointment of an executive 
 board, to consist of one member from each State, who should re- 
 main in session during the recess of Congress, under the title of 
 ' Committee of the States.' The powers of this periodical substi- 
 tute of Congress, were to embiace all the executive functions of the 
 principal, which should not be specially reserved, but none of the 
 legislative ; the concurrence of nine meml^ers should be required to 
 determine all questions, except that of adjournment from day to 
 day ; they should keep a journal of tlieir proceedings to be laid l3e- 
 fore Congress, whom they should also be empowered to assemble, 
 on any occurrence during the recess, in which the peace or happi- 
 ness of the United States might be involved. 
 
 The proposition was adopted, and a Committee of the States ap- 
 pointed. On the adjournment of Congress, in June following, they 
 entered upon their duties, but in the course of two months, quarrel- 
 led among themselves, divided into two parties, abandoned their 
 post, and left the government without any visible head, until the 
 next meeting of Congress. The scheme w^as found to be an im- 
 practicable one, though it was the be^t within the authority of Con- 
 gress, at that time, to adopt. And, on the whole, it was a happy 
 21 
 
234 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 circumstance to our Republic, that tlie theory proved as impractica- 
 ble as it did ; for it developed, in a clear light, the palpable defect of 
 the Confederation, in not having provided for a separation of the 
 legislative, executive, and judiciary functions: and this defect, to- 
 gether with the want of ^adequate powers in the General Govern- 
 ment, to collect their contributions, and to regulate commerce, were 
 the two great causes which led to the forniation and adoption of 
 our present Constitution. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson has left a brief reminiscence of his sentiments, and 
 of an amusing interview Avith Dr. Franklin, on learning the sudden 
 rupture and dispersion of the new Executive Chiefs. 
 
 " We have since seen the same thing take place, in the Directory 
 of France; and I believe it will for ever take place in any Execu- 
 tive consisting of a pluraUty. Our plan, best, I believe, combines 
 wisdom and practicability, by providing a plurality of councillors, 
 but a single arbiter for ultimate decision. I was in France when 
 we heard of this schism and separation of oar Committee, and, 
 speaking with Dr. Franklin of this singidar disposition of men to 
 quarrel, and divide into parties, he gave his sentiments, as usual, by 
 way of apologue. He luentioned the Eddystone light-house, in the 
 British channel, as being built on a rock, in the mid-channel, total- 
 ly inaccessible in winter, from the boisterous character of that sea, 
 in that season ; that, therefore, for the two keepers employed to keep 
 up the lights, all provisions for the winter were necessarily carried to 
 them in autumn, as they could never be visited again till the return 
 of the milder season ; that, on the first practicable day in the spring, 
 a boat put off to them with fresh supphes. The boatmen met at 
 the door one of the keepers, and accosted him with a 'How goes it, 
 friend?' 'Very well.' 'How is your companion?' ' I do not know.' 
 ' Don't know ?' ' Is not he here ?' ' I cant tell.' ' Have not you seen 
 him to day ?' 'No.' 'When did you see him ?' ' Not since last fall.' 
 ' You have killed him ?' ' Not I, indeed.' They were about to lay 
 hold of him, as having certainly murdered his companion ; but he 
 desired them to go up stairs and examine for themselves. They 
 went up, and there found the other keeper. They had quarrelled, 
 it seems, soon after being left there, had divided into two parties, as- 
 ' signed the cares below to one, and those above to the other, and 
 liad never spoken to, or seen, one another since. 
 
 While in Congress, at Annapolis, Mr. Jefferson received an ur- 
 gent letter from General Washington, requesting his opinions on 
 the institution of the Cincinnati, and on the conduct most proper 
 for him to pursue in relation to it. The origin of this institution 
 was perfectly innocent ; but its anti-republican organization and 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 235 
 
 tendency soon excited a heavy solicitude in the breasts of the more 
 sensitive guardians of liberty, which at length broke forth in accents 
 of loud and extensive disapprobation. The idea was suggested by 
 General Knox, and finally matured into a regular association of 
 all the otBcers of the American ai my, to continue during their lives, 
 and those of their eldest male posteiity, or in failure thereof, any col- 
 lateral branches who might be judged worthy admission, with pow- 
 er to incorporate, as honorary members for life, individuals of the 
 respective States, distinguished for their patriotism and abilities. 
 The laws of the association further provided for periodical meetings, 
 general and particular, fixed contributions for such of the members 
 as might be in distress, and a badge to be Avorn by them, and pre- 
 sented, by a special envoy, to the French officers who had served in 
 the United States, who were to be invited to consider themselves as 
 belonging to the society ; at the head of which the Commander in 
 Chief was unanimously designated to place his name. 
 
 General W ashington saw with pain the uneasiness of the pubhc 
 Diind under this institution, and appealed to Mr. Jefferson for his 
 advice on the most eligible measures to be pursued, at the next 
 meeting. The answer of Mr. Jefferson, as it probably decided the 
 future destinies of this famous institution, is worthy of being pre- 
 served. It is dated Annapolis, April 16, 1784. 
 
 " I received your favor of April the 8th, by Colonel Harrison 
 The subject of it is interesting, and, so far as you have stood con- 
 nected with it, has been matter of anxiety to me ; because, what- 
 ever may be the ultimate fate of the institution of the Cincinnati, 
 as, in its course, it draws to it some degree of disapprobation, I have 
 wished to see you standing on ground separated from it, that the 
 character which will be handed to future ages, of the head of our 
 Revolution, may, in no instance, be compromitted in subordinate 
 altercations. The subject has been at the point of my pen in every 
 letter I have written to you, but has been still restrained by the re- 
 flection that you had among your friends more able counsellors, and, 
 in yourself, one abler than them all. Your letter has now render- 
 ed a duty what was before a desire, and I cannot better merit your 
 confidence than by a full and free communication of facts and sen- 
 timents, as far as they have come within my observation. When 
 the army was about to be disbanded, and the officers to take final 
 leave, perhaps never again to meet, it was natural for men who had 
 accompanied each other through so many scenes of hardship, of 
 difficulty and danger, who, in a variety of instances, must have been 
 rendered mutually dear by those aids and good offices, to which 
 
23G LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 their situations had given occasion, it was natural, I say, for these 
 to seize with fondness any proposition wiiich promised to bring them 
 together again, at certain and regular periods. And this, 1 take 
 for granted, was the origin and object of this institution : and I have 
 no suspicion that they foresaw, much less intended, those mischiefs 
 which exist perhaps in the forebodings of politicians only. I doubt, 
 however, whether in its execution, it would be found to answer the 
 v.'ishes of those who framed it, and to foster those friendships it was 
 intended to preserve. The members would be brought together at 
 their annual assemblies no longer to encounter a cojinnon enemy, 
 but to encounter one another in debate and sentiment. For some- 
 thing, I suppose, is to be done at these meetings, and, however un- 
 important, it will suffice to produce difference of opinion, contradic- 
 tion, and irritation. The way to make friends quarrel is to put 
 tliem in disputation under the public eye. An expeiience of near 
 twenty years has taught me, that few friendships stand this test, 
 and that public assemblies where every one is free to act and speak, 
 are the most powerful looseners of the bands of private fricndsliip. 
 I think, therefore, that this institution v/ould fail in its principal ol> 
 ject, the perpetuation of the personal friendships contracted through 
 the war. 
 
 "The objections of those who are opposed to the institution shall 
 be briefly sketched. You will readil}^ fill them up. They uige 
 that it is against the Confederation— against the letter of some of our 
 Constitutions — against the spirit of all of them : — that the foundation 
 on which all these are built, is the natural equality of man, the de- 
 nial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office, and, par- 
 ticularly, the denial of a pre-eminence by birth : that however, in 
 their present dispositions, citizens might decline accepting honorary 
 instalments into the order ; but a time may come, when a change 
 of dispositions would render these flattering, when a well directed 
 distribution of them might draw into the order all the men of talents, 
 of office, and wealth ; and in this case, would probably procure an in- 
 graftment into the government ; that in this, they will be supported 
 by their foreign mem!>ers, and the viashes and influence of foreign 
 courts ; that experience has shown that the hereditary brandies of 
 modern governments are the patrons of privilege and prerogative, 
 and not of the natural rights of the people, whose oppressors they 
 generally are : that b.esides these evils, which are remote, others 
 may take place more immediately ; that a distinction is kept up be- 
 tween the civil and military, which it is for the happiness of both 
 to o]>literate ; that when the members assemble they will be propos- 
 ing to do something, and what that something may be, will depend 
 on actual circumstances ; that being an organized body, under hab- 
 its of subordination, the first obstruction to enterprise will ]3e already 
 surmounted ; that the moderation and virtue of a single character 
 liave probably prevented this Revolution from being closed as most 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 237 
 
 Others have been, by a subversion of that hberty it was intended to 
 estabUsh ; that he is not immortal, and liis successor, or some of his 
 successors, may be led by false calculations into a less certain road to 
 glory. 
 
 "This, Sir, is as faithful an account of sentiments and facts as I 
 am able to give you. You know the extent of the circle within 
 which my observations are at present circumscribed, and can esti- 
 mate how far, as forming a part of the general opinion, it may merit 
 notice, or ought to influence your particular conduct. 
 
 " It now remains to pay obedience to that part of your letter 
 which requests sentiments on the most eligible measures to be pur- 
 sued by the society, at their next meeting. I must be far from pre- 
 tending to be a judge of what would, in fact, be the most eligible 
 measures for tbe society. I can only give you the opinions of those 
 with whom I have conversed, and who, as I have before observed, 
 are unfriendly to it. They lead to these conclusions. 1. If the so- 
 ciety proceed according to its institution, it will be better to make no 
 application to Congress on that subject, or any other, in their associa- 
 ted character. 2. If they should propose to modiiy it, so as to ren- 
 der it unobjectionable, I think it would not be effected without such 
 a modification as would amount almost to annihilation : for such 
 would it be to part with its inheritability, its organization, and its 
 assemblies. 3. If they shall be disposed to discontinue the whole, 
 it would remain with them to determine whether they would choose 
 it to be done by their own act only, or by a reference of the matter 
 to Congress, which would infallibly produce a recommendation of 
 total discontinuance. 
 
 " You wiU be sensible, Sir, that these communications are with- 
 out reserve. I supposed such to be your wish, and mean them but 
 as materials, with such others ns you may collect, for your better 
 judgment to v/ork on. I consider the whole matter as between our- 
 selves alone, having determined to take no active part in this or any 
 thing else, which may lead to altercation, or disturb that quiet and 
 tranquiUity of mind, to which I consign the remaining portion of 
 my life. I have been thrown back by events, on a stage where I 
 had never more thought to appear. It is but for a time, however, 
 and as a day laborer, free to withdraw, or be withdrawn at will. 
 While I remain, I shall pursue in silence the path of right, but in 
 eveiy situation, public or private, I shall be gratified by all occasions 
 of rendering you service, and of convincing you there is no one, to 
 whom your reputation and happiness are dearer than to, Sir, your 
 most obedient and most humble servant." 
 
 The sentiments of Mr. Jefferson on the subject of the Cincinnati, 
 were the sentiments of a majority of the members of Congress ; 
 and they soon animated the mass of the people. General Wash- 
 
 21* 
 
238 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ington was oppressed with solicitude ; he weighed the considera- 
 tions submitted to him, with intense dehberation ; and although 
 concious of the purity of tlie motives in which the institution origin 
 ated, he became sensible that it might produce political evils, whicli 
 the warmth of those motives had disguised. But whether so or 
 not, the fact that a majority of the people were opposed to it, was a 
 sufficient motive with him, for desiring its immediate suppression. 
 The first annual meeting was to be held in May ensuing, at Phil- 
 adelphia ; it was now at hand ; and he went to it with the deter- 
 mination to exert all his influence for its annihilation. He propos- 
 f d the matter to his fellow officers, and urged it with all his powers. 
 ' It met witli an opposition,' says Mr. Jetferson, ' which was ob- 
 served to cloud his face with an anxiety, that the most distressful 
 scenes of the war had scarcely ever produced. The question of 
 dissolution was canvassed for several days, and, at length, the or- 
 der was on the point of receiving its annihilation, by the vote of a 
 great majority of its members. At this moment, their envoy arriv- 
 ed from France, charged with letters from the French officers^ 
 accepting cordially the proposed badges of fellowship, with solicita- 
 tions from others to be received into the order, and the recognition 
 of their magnanimous sovereign. The prospect was now changed. 
 The question assumed a new form. After an offer made by 
 themselves, and accepted by their friends, im what words could 
 they clothe a proposition to retract it, which would not covei- them- 
 selves with the reproaches of levity and ingratitude ? which would 
 not appear an insult to those whom they loved ? They found it 
 necessary, therefore, to preserve so much of the institution, as would 
 support the foreign branch ; but they obliterated every feature 
 v.'hich was calculated to give offence to their own citizens ; thus 
 sacrificing, on each hand, to their brave allies, and to their country.' 
 The society was to retain its existence, its name, and its chari- 
 table funds; these last, however, w^ere to be deposited with their 
 respective Legislatures. The order w^as to be no longer hereditary ; 
 and it was to be communicated to no new members. The general 
 meetings, instead of annual, were to be triennial only. The eagle 
 and ril)bon, indeed, were retained ; because they were willing they 
 should be worn by their friends in a country where they would not 
 be objects of offence ; but themselves never wore them. " They 
 laid them up in their bureaus, with the medals of American Inde- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON". 239 
 
 pendence, with those of the trophies they had taken, and the battle:^* 
 they had won." 
 
 On the 7th of May, Congress resolved that a Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary should be appointed, in addition to Dr. Franklin and Mr. 
 Adams, already in Europe, for negotiating treaties of commerce will i 
 foreign nations ; and Mr. Jefferson was unanimously elected. 
 
 Tlie charge confided to this distinguished Legation, comprehend- 
 ed the origination and management of all our Foreign Relations ; 
 the adjustment of which, upon a firm and equitable basis, was evi- 
 dently an undertaking of uncommon magnitude, difficulty and deli- 
 cacy. We had now become an independent nation, and, as such; 
 it was incumbent upon us to assert, v/ith dignity, all those rights of 
 fellowship with other nations, to which our separate and equal sta- 
 tion gave us an equal title ; and to receive, with suitable acknowl- 
 edgements, as many favors, as any of them were disposed to grant, 
 it was the great object of Congress, in the appointment of these 
 Ambassadors, to get our commerce established with every nation, 
 on a footing as favorable as that of any other government ; and, 
 for this purpose, they were directed to propose to each nation a dis- 
 tinct treaty of commerce. The acceptance, too, of such treaties, 
 would amount to an acknowledgement, by each, of our independ- 
 ence, and of our reception into the fraternity of nations ; "which," 
 says Mr. Jefferson, "although as possessing our station of right, and 
 in fact, we would not condescend to ask, v.^e were not unwilling to 
 furnish opportunities for receiving their friendly salutations and wel- 
 come." With France, the United Netherlands and Sweden, the 
 United States already had commercial treaties ; but commissions 
 were given for those countries also, should any amendments be 
 thought necessary. The other Powers, to which treaties were to 
 be proposed, were England, Hamburg, Saxony, Prussia, Denmark, 
 Russia, Austria, Venice, Rome, Naples, Tuscany, Sardinia, Genoa, 
 Spain, Portugal, the Porte, Algiers, Tripoh, Tunis, and Morocco. 
 
2-40 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson accepted the honorable commission of Ambassa- 
 dor, and bid a final adieu to Congress, on the 11th of May, '84, 
 instead of returning to Monticello, the scene of his recent and dis- 
 tressing bereavement, he went directly to Philadelphia, took with 
 him his eldest daughter, then in that city, and proceeded thence to 
 Boston, in quest of a passage. This was the only occasion ou 
 which Mr. Jefferson ever visited New England ; and while pursu- 
 ing his journey, he made a point of stopping at the principal towns 
 on the seaboard, to inform himself of the state of commerce in each 
 State. With the same view, he extended his route into New Hamp- 
 shire, and returned to Boston. He sailed thence, on the 5th of 
 July, in the merchant ship Ceres, bound to Cowes, wdiere he arrived, 
 after a pleasant voyage, on the 26th. He was detained there a few 
 days, by the indisposition of his daughter, embarked for Havre ou 
 the 30th, and arrived at Paris on the 6th of August. He called 
 immediately on Dr. Franklin, at Passy, communicated to him 
 their charge and instructions ; and they wrote to Mr. Adams, then 
 at the Hague, to join thein at Paris. 
 
 The instructions given by Congress to the first Plenipotentiaries 
 of Independent America, were a novelty in the history of interna- 
 tional transactions ; and much curiosity was manifested by the di- 
 plomatic corps of Euiope, resident at the court of Versailles, to know 
 the author of them. These instructions contemplated the introduc- 
 tion of numerous and fundamental reformations in the reciprocal 
 relations of neutrals and belligerents, which, had the propositions of 
 our Ministers been embraced by the principal powers of Europe, 
 would have effected a series of the most substantial and desirable 
 improvements in the international code of mankind. The princi- 
 pal reformations intended, w^ere, a provision exempting from cap- 
 ture, by the public ot private armed ships of either belligerent, when 
 at war, all merchant vessels and their cargoes, employed merely in 
 carrying on the commerce between nations — or, in other words, the 
 abolition of privateering; a provision against the molestation of 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 
 
 241 
 
 iisliermeu, husbandmen, citizens unarnied. and following their oc- 
 cuj)ations in unfortified places : for the humane treatment of prison- 
 ers of war ; for the abolition of contraband ©f war, which exposes 
 merchant vessels to such ruinous detentions and abuses ; and for 
 the recognition of the principle of " free bottoms, free goods." 
 
 Such were the distinguishing features of these unique in^^truc- 
 lions ; and the interesting question of their authorship has never 
 been settled until since the publication of Mr. Jefierson's Private 
 Correspondence. In a letter of his, written but a short time l^efore 
 his death, to John Q,. Adams, then President of the United States, 
 the whole histoi'y of the transaction is conciseh' stated, in ansv.'cr 
 to a special and friendly enquiry on the subject. With a modesty 
 only equalled by his uniform silence theretofore, upon the point, he 
 ascribes to Dr. Franklin, the merit of having suggested the princi- 
 pal innovations, meditated by these instructions. 
 
 " I am thankful for the very interesting message and documents 
 of which you liave been so kind as to send me a copy, and will 
 state my recollections as to the particular passage of the message 
 to which you ask my attention. On the conclusion of peace. Con- 
 gress, sensible of their right to assume independence, v.'ould not 
 condescend to as!c its acknowledgment from other nations, yet 
 were willing, by some of the ordinary international transactions, to 
 receive what would inijily that acknowledgement. They appointed 
 commissioners, therefore, to propose treaties of commerce to the 
 principal nations of Europe. I was then a member of Congress, 
 was of the committee appointed to prepare instructions for the com- 
 missioners, vras, as you suppose, the drauglitsman of those actually 
 agreed to, and was joined with your father and Doctor Franklin, 
 to carry them into execution. But the stipulations making part of 
 these instructions, which respected privateering, l)lockades, contra- 
 band, and freedom of the fisheries, were not original conceptions 
 of mine. They had before been suggested ])y Doctor Franklin, in 
 some of his papers in possession of the public, and had, I think, 
 been recommended in some letter of his to Congress. I happen 
 only to have been the inserter of them in the first pul)lic act which 
 gave the formal sanction of a public authority." * * 
 
 Agreeably to their request, Mr. Adams soon joined his colleagues 
 of the Legation, at Paris ; and their first employment was, to pre- 
 pare a general form of treaty, based upon the broad principles of 
 their instructions, to be proposed to each nation, without discrimina- 
 tion, but without ixrging it upon any. In the conference with the 
 Count de Vergennes, with whose nation the United States already 
 
242 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 had a treaty, it was mutually agreed to leave to legislative regula- 
 tion, on both sides, such moditications of our commercial intercourse 
 as would voluntarily flow from amicable dispositions. They next 
 sounded the Ministers of the several European nations, assembled 
 at the court of Versailles, on the dispositions of their respective gov- 
 ernments towards mutual commerce, and the expediency of encour- 
 aging it by the protection of a treaty. The final success of theii' 
 propositions to the various Powers, during a twelve month term of 
 joint diplomatic attendance in Europe, is very pleasantly and com- 
 prehensively stated by Mr. Jefferson himself. 
 
 ''Old Frederick, of Prussia, met us cordially, and without hesita- 
 tion, and, appointing the Baron de Thulemeyer, his minister at the 
 Hague, to negotiate with us, we communicated to him our ProjeL 
 which, with little alteration by the King, was soon concluded. 
 Denmark and Tuscany entered also into negotiations v/ith us. 
 Other Powers appearing indifierent, we did not think it proper to 
 j>ress them. They seemed, in fact, to know little about us, but as 
 rebels, who had been successful in throwing ofl' the yoke of the 
 mother country. They were ignorant of our commerce, which had 
 been always monopolized by England, and of the exchange of ar- 
 ticles it might offer advantageously to both parties. They were 
 inclined, therefore, to stand aloof, until they could see better what 
 relations might be usefully instituted with us. The negotiations, 
 therefore, begun with Denmark and Tuscany, Ave ])rotracted de- 
 signedly, until our powers had expired ; and abstained from making 
 new propositions to others having no colonies ; because our com- 
 merce being an exchange of raw for wrought materials, is a com- 
 jKJtent price for admission into the colonies of those possessing them ; 
 but were we to give it, without price, to others, all would claim it, 
 without price, on the ground of g-entis amicisswia." 
 
 Such was the insufferable affectation of reserve and hauteur, 
 with which the Ambassadors of independent America were treated, 
 by the sapient representatives of the governments of the ancient 
 world. How ridiculous must their short sighted diplomacy appear, 
 at the present day, in the face of all Europe ! It is true, the Uni- 
 ted States had just emerged fiom a subordinate condition ; but a 
 little knowledge of the situation and resources, the people, and in- 
 stitutions of America, would have apprised them of the rank she 
 was destined to hold in the scale of empire, and of the nature of 
 these. relations which it was their interest to have estabhshed with 
 lier. By assuming an air of coyness and indifference, they proba- 
 bly imagined they could inveigle our Ministers into terms more ad- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 243 
 
 vautageous to themselves, than they were in the habit of instituting 
 with the old countries, and more experienced agents. But they 
 were met by the untutored negotiators of republican America, with 
 an equal indifference, as just and honorable as theirs was falla- 
 cious and disreputable, springing as it did, from a sense of the real 
 value of our commerce, and a determination not to exchange it, in 
 any case, without an adequate equivalent. As soon as they became 
 sensible, therefore, that they could do nothing with the greater 
 Powers, who alone could offer a competent exchange for our com- 
 merce, they prudently resolved not to hamper our country with en- 
 gagements to those of less significance ; and accordingly suffered 
 their commission to expire without closing any other negotiation 
 than that with the King of Prussia. 
 
 Thus, through the stupidity and avarice of European govern- 
 ments, was lost to the world, a precious opportunity of reforming 
 fundamentally its international code, by the introduction of those 
 wise and beneficent principles, which emanated from the mind of a 
 Jefferson and a Franklin, and which have been the admiration ol 
 all nations, in all succeeding times.* " Had these governments," 
 says Mr. Jefferson, " been then apprised of the 'station we should 
 so soon occupy among nations, all, I believe, would have met us 
 promptly and with frankness. These principles would then have 
 been established with all, and from being the conventional law with 
 us alone, would have slid into their engagements with one another, 
 and become general. They have not yet got into written history ; 
 but their adoption by our southern brethren, will bring them into 
 observance, and make them, what they should be, a part of the law 
 of the world, and of the reformation of principles for which they 
 they will be indebted to us." 
 
 On the 10th of March, 1785, Mr. Jefferson received the unan- 
 imous appointment of Minister Plerjipotentiary at the Court of 
 
 * In allusion to these new principles of international policy, the Edinburgh 
 Review, whose high toryism on all points, makes it the best witness in the case, 
 is constrained to make a respectable acknowledgment. In an article of the July 
 No. 1830, reviewing Jefferson's Works, it says : — 
 
 " The foreign policy of the United States is to us a point of more immediate, 
 as, indeed, it some day must become a point of incalculable importance. It in- 
 volves bold innovations on the principles and practice of the Law of Nations, 
 as hitherto understood and established. Some of these innovations appear to 
 be improvements for the interest of humanity ; others, to be only cncroach- 
 jnents and pretexts for the interest of America." 
 
244 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 France, as successor to Dr. Franklin, who had obtained leave to 
 return to America. He was re-elected to the same dignified sta- 
 tion in October, ^S7, on the expiration of his first term, and contin- 
 ued to represent the United States at that polite Court, until Octo- 
 ber, 1789, when he was permitted to return to his native country. 
 
 Mr. Adams was about the same time appointed Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary to England, and left Paris for London, in June, '85. 
 
 Mr. Jefi'erson accepted the appointment, with a native diffidence, 
 heightened by a sense of the extraordinary merits of his predecessor, 
 and of the exalted estimation in Avliich they had established him 
 with the French nation. In his letter of acceptance, to John Jay, 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs, he conveys his acknovvdedgements, 
 in the following terms. 
 
 '' I beg permission through you, Sir, to testify to Congress my 
 gratitude for this new mark of their favor, and my assurances of 
 endeavoring to merit it by a faithful attention to the discharge of 
 the duties annexed to it. Fervent zeal is all which I can be sure of 
 carrying into your service ; and where I fail through a want of those 
 powers which nature and circumstances deny me, I shall rely on 
 their indulgence, and much also on that candor with which your 
 goodness will present my proceedings to their eye. The kind 
 terms in which you are pleased to notify this honor to me, require 
 my sincere thanks." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's reception at the splendid Court of Versailles, ^s res- 
 ident Ambassador of America, and his introduction into the brilliant 
 circles of Paris, were of the most flattering character. At first, he 
 was universally pointed to, and appreciated only, as the successor of 
 the admired, the beloved, the venerated Frankhn ; but in a short 
 time, his own estimable qualities became known, and established 
 him in the affections of the nation, with a firmness and fervor, 
 which rivaled the reputation of his predecessor. He was every 
 where, and on all occasions, greeted with a welcome, which har- 
 monized nobly with the trite pre-eminence of that generous people, in 
 all the social dispositions of the heart, and with their cordial attach- 
 ments, in particular, to the freemen and freedom of the United 
 States. With a mind constituted, as was Mr. Jefferson's, so much 
 in unison with the sensibility, frankness and enthusiasm of the 
 French character, it is not wonderful, that the attentions which 
 were showered upon him, the science of their literary men, the 
 warmth of their general philanthropy, and the devoteduess of their 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 245 
 
 delect friendships, made an impression upon hini, which he caniec!, 
 ill all its freshness, to his grave. 
 
 On the retirement of Dr. Franklin from the diplomatic field, the 
 duties of the joint commission for forming commercial treaties in 
 Europe, devolved on Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams; and their sep- 
 iiiate location, added to their insuperable repugnance to pressing the 
 subject upon the European governments, had almost extinguished 
 tile idea of further operations. But in February, 1 786, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son received, by express, a letter from his colleague irt London, urg- 
 ing his immediate attendance at that Court, stating as a reason, that 
 lie tliought he discovered there some symptoms of a more favorable 
 disposition towards the United States. Col. Smith, his Secretary of 
 Legation, was the bearer of Mr. Adams' urgencies. Accordingly, 
 Mr. Jefferson left Paris, on the 1st of March, for the purpose of co-oper- 
 ating with Mr. Adams in a second attempt to negotiate a treaty of 
 commerce with Great Britain. On his arrival in London, the two 
 Ministers joined, and agreed on a very summary and liberal form 
 of treaty to be offered, proposing, in direct terms, a mutual exchange 
 of citizenship, of ships, and of productions generally. 
 
 The reader will be amused with Mr. Jefferson's account of the 
 magnanimous reception of their proposition, and of the final result 
 of his trip to the dignified Court of St. James ! I 
 
 " On my presentation, as usual, to the King and Queen, at their 
 ■levees, it was impossible for any thing to be more ungracious, than 
 their notice of Mr. Adams and myself. I saw, at once, that the 
 ulcerations of mind in that quarter, left nothing to be expected on 
 the subject of my attendance ; and, on the first conference with the 
 Marquis of Caermarthen, the Minister for foreign affairs, the dis- 
 tance and disinclination which he betrayed in his conversation, the 
 vagueness and evasions of his answers to us, confirmed me in the 
 behef of their aversion to have any thing to do with us. We de- 
 Uvered him, however, our Projet, Mr. Adams not despairing as 
 much as I did, of its effect. We afterwards, by one or more notes, 
 requested his appointment of an interview and conference, which, 
 without directly decUning, he evaded, by pretence of other pressing 
 occupations for the moment. After staying there seven weeks, till 
 within a few days of the expiration of our commission, I informed 
 the Minister, by note, thatiny duties at Paris required my return to 
 that place, and that I should, with pleasure, be the bearer of any 
 commands to his Ambassador theie. He answered, that he had 
 none, and wishing me a pleasant journey, I left London the 26thj 
 and arrived at Paris the 30th of April." 
 
 22 
 
246 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Mr, Jefferson's duties, while Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, 
 were principally confined to the subject of our commercial relations 
 with that country ; in which he effected many important modifica- 
 tions, highly advantageous to the United States. He succeeded in 
 procuring the receipt of our whale oils, salted fish, and salted meats, 
 on favorable terms ; the admission of our rice on equal terms with 
 that of Piedmont, Egypt, and the Levant ; a suppression of the 
 duties on our wheat. Hour, furs, &c. ; the suppression of the mo- 
 nopoly for making and selling»spermaceti candles ; the naturaliza- 
 tion of our ships ; a mitigation of the monopoly of our tobacco 
 trade by the farmers-general of France; a reduction of the du- 
 ties on our tar, pitch, and turpentine ; and the free admission of our 
 productions generally, into their West India islands. In exchange, 
 the United States received, by direct trade, the wines, brandies, oils, 
 and productions and manufactures generally, of France, These 
 objects were not accomplished, however, without a series of difficult 
 and laborious negotiations, aided by the mutual good temper and 
 dispositions of both parties, and by the mediation of a powerful 
 auxiliary and friend at that Court, whose arduous and disinterested 
 services in the cause of America, can never be forgotten. 
 
 " On these occasions," says he, " I was powerfully aided by all 
 the influence and the energies of the Marquis de La Fayette, who 
 proved himself equally zealous for the friendship and welfare of both 
 nations ; and,, in justice, I must also say, that I found the govern- 
 ment entirely disposed to befriend us on all occasions, and to yield 
 us every indulgence, not absolutely injurious to themselves. T^ie 
 Count de Vergennes had the reputation with the diplomatic corps, 
 of being wary and slippery in his diplomatic intercourse ; and so 
 he might be, with those whom he knew to be slippery, and double 
 faced themselves. As he saw that I had no indirect views, practic- 
 ed no subtleties, meddled in no intrigues, pursued no concealed ob- 
 ject, I found him as frank, as honorable, as easy of access to reason, 
 as any man with whom 1 had ever done business ; and I must 
 say the same for his successor, Montmorin, one of the most honest 
 and worthy of human beings." 
 
 Our commerce in the Mediterranean having, at this time, lieen 
 suddenly placed under alaim, by the captme of two of our vessels 
 and crews, by the Barbary cruisers, Mr. Jefferson projected a coali- 
 tion of the principal European Powers, subject to their habitual 
 depredations, to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace, and 
 to guaranty that peace to each other. He was early and resolutely 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 24T 
 
 determined, so far as his opinions could have weight, that the Uni- 
 ted States should nevei; acquiesce in " the European humiliation," 
 as he termed it, ^r'pfiirchasing their peace of those lawless pirates. 
 '• Millions forfaefence, but not a cent for tribute," was his celebra- 
 ted motto. The following is a statement of his reasons for this dig- 
 nified and energetic policy, addressed to Mr. Adams, soon after re- 
 turning to Paris, with a view to obtain his concurrence in the prop- 
 osition. 
 
 '' 1. Justice is in favor of this opinion. 2. Honor favors it. 3. It 
 will procure us respect in Europe ; and respect is a safeguard to 
 interest. 4. It will arm the federal head, with the safest of all the 
 instruments of coercion over its delinquent members, and prevent 
 it from using what would be less safe. I think, that so far you go 
 with me. But in the next steps we shall differ. 5. I think it least 
 expensive. 6. Equally effectual. I ask a fleet of one hundred and 
 fifty guns, the one half of which shall be in constant cruise. This 
 fleet, built, manned, and victualled for six months, will cost four 
 iumdred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. Its aimual expense 
 will be three hundred pounds sterling a gun, including every thing : 
 this will be forty-five thousand pounds sterling a year. I take 
 British experience for the basis of my calculation : though we 
 know, from our own experience, that we can do in this way for 
 pounds lawful, what costs them pounds sterling. Were we to 
 charge all this to the Algerine war, it would amount to little more 
 than we must pay if we buy peace. But as it is proper and neces- 
 sary, that we should establish a small marine force, (even were we 
 to buy a peace from the Algerines) and as that force, laid vip in 
 our dock -yard, would cost half as much annually as if kept in or- 
 der for service, we have a right to say, that only twenty two thou- 
 sand and five hundred pounds sterling, per annum, should be 
 charged to the Algerine war. 7. It will be as effectual. To all the- 
 mismanagements of Spain and Portugal, urged to show that war 
 against those people is ineffectual, I urge a single fact to prove the 
 contrary, where there is any management. About forty years ago^ 
 the Algerines having broke their treaty with France, this court 
 sent Monsieur de Massiac, with one large and two small frigates : 
 he blockaded the harbor of Algiers three months, and they subscrib- 
 ed to the terms he proposed. If it be adiiiitted, however, that war, 
 on the fairest prospects, is still exposed to uncertainties, I weigh 
 against this the greater uncertainty of the duration of a peace bought 
 with money, from such a people, from a Dey eighty years old, and 
 by a nation who, on the hypothesis of buying peace, is to have 
 no power on the sea to enforce an observance of it, 
 
 " So far I have gone on the supposition, that the whole weight of 
 this war would rest on us. But 1, Naples will join us. The 
 
248 LtFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 character of their naval minister (Acton), his known sentiments 
 with respect to the peace Spain is officially trying to make foe 
 them, and his dispositions against the Algerines, give the best 
 grounds to believe it. 2. Every principle of reason assures us, 
 that Portugal will join us, I state this as taking for granted, what 
 all seem to believe, that they will not be at peace with Algiers. 
 I suppose, then, that a convention might be formed between Por- 
 tugal, Naples, and the United States, by which the burden of the 
 war might be quotaed on them, according to their respective wealth : 
 and the term of it should be, when Algiers should subscribe to a 
 peace with all three ou equal terms. This might be left open for 
 other nations to accede to ; and many, if not most of the powers 
 of Europe (except France, England, Holland, and Spain, if her 
 peace be made) would sooner or later enter into the confederacy, for 
 the sake of having their peace with the piratical States guarantied 
 by the whole. I suppose, that, in this case, our proportion of force 
 would not be the half of what I first calculated on." 
 
 Presuming on Mr. Adams' concurrence, and without waiting his 
 answer, Mr. Jefferson immediately draughted and proposed to the 
 diplomatic corps at Paris, for consultation with their respective gov- 
 ernments, articles of special confederation against the Barbary Pow- 
 ers, iu the following terms ; 
 
 "Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at v/ar v/ith 
 the piratical States of Barbary. 
 
 1. It is proposed, that the several powers at war Avitli the pirati- 
 cal States of Barbary, or any two or more of them, who shall be 
 willing, shall enter into a convention to carry on their operations 
 against those States, in concert, beginning with the Algerines. 
 
 2. This convention shall remain open to any other power, avIio 
 shall, at any hiture time, wish to accede to it : the parties reserving 
 the right to prescribe the conditions of such accession, according (o 
 the circumstances existing at the time it shall be proposed. 
 
 3. The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical 
 States to perpetual peace, without price, and to guaranty that peace 
 to each other. 
 
 4. The operations for obtaining this peace, shall be constant cruis 
 es on their coast, with a naval force now to be agreed on^ It is 
 not proposed, that this force shall be so considerable, as to be incon- 
 venient to any party. It is believed, that half a dozen frigates, 
 with as many tenders or xebecs, one half of which shall be in cruise, 
 while the other half is at rest, will suffice. 
 
 5. T'he force agreed to be necessary, shall he furnished by the 
 parties, in certain quotas, now to be fixed ; it being expected, that 
 each will be willing to contribute, in such proportion as circum- 
 stances mav render reasonable. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 249 
 
 6. As miscarriages often proceed iioin the want of harmony 
 among officers of different nations, the parties shall now consider 
 and decide, whether it will not be better to contribute their quotas 
 in money, to be employed in titling out and keeping on duty a 
 single fleet of the force agreed on. 
 
 7. The difficulties and delays, too^ which will attend the man- 
 agement of these operations, if coaducted by the parties themselves 
 separately, distant as their courts may be from, one another, and 
 incapable of meeting in consultation, suggest a question, whether 
 it will not be better for them to give full powers, for that purpo&e,. 
 to their Ambassadors, or other Ministers resident at some one court 
 of Europe, who shall form a Conunittee, or Council, for carrying 
 this convention into effect ; wherein, the vote of each member sliail 
 be computed in proportion to the quota of his sovereign, and the 
 majority so computed, shall prevail in aU questions within the 
 view of this convention. The court of Versailles is proposed, on 
 account of its neighborhood to the Mediterranean, and because ali, 
 those powers are represented there, who are likely to become par- 
 ties to this Convention. 
 
 8. To save to that Council the embarrassment of personal soli- 
 citations for office, and to assure the parties, that their contributions 
 ^v\\l be applied solely to the object for which they are destined, there 
 shall be no establishment of officers for the said Council, such as 
 Commissioners, Secretaries, or any other kind, with either salaries 
 or perquisites,, nor any other lucrative appointments,* but such. 
 whose functions are to be exercised on board the said vessels, 
 
 9. Should war arise between any two of the parties to this con- 
 vention, it shall not extend to this enterprise, nor interrupt it ; but 
 as to this, they shall be reputed at peace. • 
 
 10. When Algiers shall be reduced to peace, the other piratical 
 States, if they refuse to discontinue tlieir piracies, shall become the 
 objects of this convention, either successively or to.o"ether, as shall 
 seem best. 
 
 11. Where this convention would interfere with treaties actually 
 existing between any of the parties and the States of Barbary, the 
 treaty shall prevail, and such party shall be allowed to withdraw 
 from the operations against that State." 
 
 The proposals were received with applause by Port'jgal, Naples, 
 the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Demark, and Sweden. Spain had 
 just concluded a treaty with Algiers, at the expense of three mill- 
 ions of dollars, and was indisposed to rehnquish the benefit of Iier 
 engagement, until a first infraction by the other party, when she 
 was ready to join. Mr. Jeflferson had previously sounded the dis- 
 positions of the Count de Vergennes ; and although France was at 
 peace, by a mercenarv tenure, with the Barbary States, and fears 
 
 22 " 
 
250 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 weie entertained, that she would secretly give them her aid, he did 
 not think it proper, in his conference with that Minister, to insinu- 
 ate a doubt of the fair conduct of his government ; but on stating 
 to him the proposition, he mentioned that apprehensions were felt, 
 that England would mterfere in behalf of the piratical Powers. 
 ' She dares not do it,' was his reply. Mr. Jefferson pressed the point 
 no further. The other Ministers were satisfied with this indication 
 of the sentiments of France, and nothing was now wanting to 
 bring the measure into direct consideration, but the assent of the 
 United States, and their authority to make the formal stipulation. 
 Mr. Jefferson communicated to Congress the favorable prospect of 
 protectmg their commerce from the Barbary depredations, and for 
 such a term of time, as by an exclusion of them from the 'sea. 
 would change their characters, from a predatory to an agricultural 
 people ; towards which, however, should the measure be approved, 
 it was expected they would contribute a frigate, and its expenses, 
 for constant cruise. But the United States were in no condition 
 to unite in such an undertaking. The powers of Congress over 
 the people for obtaining contributions, being merely recommenda- 
 tory, and openly disregarded by the States, they declined entering 
 into an eilgagement, which they were conscious they could not ful- 
 fil vv'ith punctuality. The association, consequently, fell through : 
 but the principle has ever since governed in the American councils, 
 and its first recommendation by Mr: Jefferson, on the present occa- 
 sion, may be regarded as the germ of the American Navy ! This 
 point will receive a furtlier illustration in the sequel. 
 
 The remaining public objects of importance, w^hich engaged \\\fi 
 attention, were : 1st, The settlement of our financial concerns with 
 cur bankers in France and Holland, which were in a most critical 
 and embarrassing state. Owing to the partial suspension in the 
 action of our govermiient, while passing from the Confederation 
 to the Constitutional form, the credit of the nation stood, at one 
 time, on the vei^e of bankruptcy. Seeing there was not a mo- 
 ment to loose, Mr. Jefferson went directly to Holland, joined Mr. 
 Adams at the Hague, where, without instructions, and at their own 
 risk, they executed bonds for a million of florins, and placed the 
 1 credit of the United States in security, for three years to come : 
 by which time they thought the new government would get fairly 
 under way. 2d, The conclusion of a Consular convention witU 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 251 
 
 France, based upon republican principles. 3d, The restoration of 
 cettain prizes taken from the British during the war, recaptured bv 
 Denmark, and delivered up to the British. He instituted meas- 
 ures to recover indemnification from Denmark ; but the negotia- 
 tion, by imavoidable circumstances, was spun out beyond the term 
 of his ministry. 4th, The redemption of American citizens taken 
 captive by the Algerines ; and the formation of treaties with the 
 Barbary States. The inability of the United States to supply him 
 with the necessary funds, prevented the redemption of the Algerine 
 captives, until after his return from France ; and the only treaty 
 which he sticceeded in concluding with the Barbary States, was 
 that with the government of Morocco. 
 
 It will be ahke curious and interesting to the American reader, 
 to know how the general appearance of things in Europe, struck 
 the republican mind of Mr. Jefferson. His private letters, while hi 
 Paris, addressed to his friends in America, comprise the most nerv- 
 ous, and in some respects, the most valuable portions of his volu- 
 minous correspondence. His bold and picturesque views of the 
 state of society and manners in Europe, his fervid and graphic com- 
 parisons of its governments, laws and institutions, with those of re- 
 publicanized America, and his cogent and unremitting exhortations 
 to his countrymen, to preserve themselves, and the blessings they 
 enjoy, free from contamination from the people and principles of 
 the old world, are among the most valuable and interesting legacies 
 which he has bequeathed to his country. We shall be excused for 
 indulging in copious selections from his correspondence, during this 
 various and widely instructive interval of his public life. 
 
 To Mr. Monroe. — "I sincerely wish you may find it convenient 
 to come here ; the pleasure of the trip will be less than you expect,, 
 but the utility greater. It will make you adore your own countrvr 
 its soil, its chmate, its equality, liberty, laws, people and manners. 
 My God ! how httle do my countiymen know what precious bless- 
 ings they are in possession of, and Avhich no other people on earth 
 enjoy. I confess I had no idea of it myself While we shall see 
 multiplied instances of Europeans going to live in America, I will 
 venture to say no man now living, will ever see an instance of an 
 American removing to settle in Europe, and continuing there. 
 Come then and see the proofs of this, and on your return, add your 
 testimony to that of every thinking American, in order to satisfy 
 our countrymen how much it is their interest to preserve, uninfect- 
 
252 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 ed by contagion, those peculiarities in their governments and man- 
 ners, to which they are indebted for those blessings."' 
 
 To Mr. Bellini. — "Behold me at length on the vaunted scene 
 of Europe ! It is not necessary for your information, that I should 
 enter into details concerning it. But you are, perhaps, curious to 
 know how this new scene has struck a savage of the movmtains of 
 America. Not aclvanlageou-^ly, I assure you. I find the general 
 iate of humanity here most deplorable. The truth of Voltaire's ob- 
 servation oli'ers itself perpetually, that every man here must be ei- 
 ther the hammer or the anvil. It is a true picture of that country tu 
 which they say we shall pass hereafter, and where we are to see 
 God and his angels in splendor, and crowds of the damned trampled 
 under their feet. While the great mass of the people are thus sufier- 
 ing under physical and moral oppression, I have endeavored to ex- 
 amine more nearly the condition of the great, to appreciate the true 
 value of the circumstances in their situation which dazzle the bulk 
 of spectators, and, especially, to compare it with that degree of hap- 
 piness which is enjoyed in America hj cvcvy class of people. In- 
 trigues of love occupy the younger, and those of ambition the eldei 
 part of the great. Conjugal love having no existence among them, 
 domestic happiness, of which that is the basis, is utterly unknown. 
 In lieu of this, are substituted pursuits which nourish and invigorate 
 all our bad passions, and which offer only moments of ecstacy, amidst 
 days and months of restlessness and torment. Much, very much 
 inferior, this, to the tranquil, permanent felicity, with which domes- 
 1 ic society in America blesses most of its inhabitants ; leaving them 
 to follow steadily those pursuits which health and reason approve, 
 and rendering truly dehcious the intervals of those pursuits. 
 
 '•In science, the mass of the people is two centuries behind ours ; 
 their literati, half a dozen years before us. Books, really good, ac 
 (juire just reputation in that time, and so become known to us, and 
 communicate to us all their advances in knowledge. Is not this 
 tielay compensated, by our being placed out of the reach of that 
 swarm of nonsensical publications, which issues daily from a thou- 
 sand presses, and perishes almost in issuing ? AVith respect to what 
 are termed polite manners, without sacrificing too much the sinceri- 
 ty of language, I would wish ray countrymen/^to adopt just so much 
 of European politeness, as to be ready to make all those little sacri- 
 fices of self, which really render European manners amiable, and 
 relieve society from the disagreeAble scenes to which rudeness often 
 subjects it. Here, it seems that a man might pass a life without en- 
 countering a single rudeness. In the pleasures of the table they 
 are far before us,^ because with good taste they unite temperance. 
 They do not terminate the most sociable meals by transforming 
 themselves into brutes. I have never yet seen a man drunk in 
 France, even among the lowest of the people. Were I to proceed 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 253 
 
 to tell you how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting-, 
 jnusic, I should want words. It is in these arts they shine. The 
 last of them, particularly, is an enjoyment, the deprivation of which 
 with us cannot be calculated. I am almost ready to say, it is the 
 only thing which from my heart I envy them, and which, in spite 
 of all the authority of the ]3ecalogue, I do covet. But 1 am running 
 on in an estimate of things infinitely better known to you than to 
 me, and which will only serve to convince you, that I have brought 
 with me all the prejudices of country, habit, and age."' 
 
 To J. Bannister, Jr. — " But why send an American youth {(» 
 Europe for education l What are the objects of an useful Ameri- 
 can education ? Classical knowledge, modern languages, chietiv 
 French, Spanish and Itahan ; Matiiematics, Natural Philosopli}-. 
 Natural History, Civil History, and Ethics. In Natural Pliilosophv. 
 I mean to include Chemistry and Agriculture, and in Natural His- 
 tory, to include Botany, as well as the other branches of those de- 
 partments. It is true, that the habit of speaking the modern lan- 
 guages cannot be so well acquired iii America ; but every other ar- 
 ticle can be as well acquired at William and Mary College, as at 
 any place in Europe. When college education is done with, and a 
 young man is to prepare himself for public life, he must cast his 
 eyes (for America) either on Law or Physic. For the former, where 
 can he apply so advantageously as to Mr. Wythe? For the latter, 
 lie must come to Europe : the medical class of students, therefore, 
 is the only one which need come to Europe. Let us vioAv the dis- 
 advantages of sending a youtli to Europe. To enumerate them 
 all, would require a volume. I will select a few. If he goes to 
 England, he learns drinking, horse racing, and boxing. These ' 
 are the peculiarities of English education. The follovring circum- 
 stances are common to education in that, and the otJier countries 
 of Europe. He acfjiures a fondness for European luxury and dissi- 
 pation, and a contempt for the simplicity of his own country ; he 
 is fascinated with the privileges of the European aristocrats, and 
 sees, vrith abhorrence, the lovely equality v.diich the poor enjoy with 
 the rich in his own country ; h(j cantracts a partiality for aristocra- 
 cy or monarchy ; he forjns foreign friendships which vrili never he 
 useful to him. and loses the season of life for forming in his own 
 country those friendships, Vihich, of all othei's, are the most faithful 
 and permanent; he is led by the strongesi. of all the human pas- 
 sions into a spirit for female intrigue, destructive of his own aJid oth- 
 ers' happiness, or a passion for harlots, destructive of his health, and 
 in both cases, learns to consider fidelity to the marriage bed as an 
 ungentlemanly practice, and inconsistent with happiness ; he recol- 
 lects the voluptuary dress and arts of the EuroiDean woj^ien, and 
 pities aird despises the chaste affections and simplicity of (hose of 
 his own country ; he retains, through hfe. a fond recollection, and 
 
254 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 a hankering" after those places, which were the scenes of his first 
 pleasures and of his first connections; he returns to his own country 
 a foreigner, unacquainted witli the practices of domestic economy 
 necessary to preserve liim from ruin, speaking and writing his na- 
 tive tongue as a foreigner, and therefore unqualiiied to obtain those 
 distinctions, which eloquence of the pen and tongue ensures in a free 
 country ; for J would observe to you, that what is called -style in 
 writing or speaking, is formed very early in hfe, while the imagina- 
 tion is warm, and impressions are permanent. I ani of opinion, that 
 there never was an instance of a man's writing or speaking his na- 
 tive tongue with elegance, who passed from fifteen to twenty years 
 of age out of the country where it was spoken. Thus, no instance 
 exists of a person's writing two languages perfectly. That will al- 
 ways appear to be his native language, which was most fomiliar to 
 him in his youth. It appears to me then, that an American com- 
 ing to Europe for education, loses in his knowledge, in his morals, 
 in his health, in his habits, and in his happiness. I had entertained 
 only doubts on this head, before I came to Europe : what I see and 
 hear, since I came here, proves more than I had even suspected. 
 Cast your eye over America : who are the men of most learning, of 
 most eloquence, most beloved by their countrymen, and most trusted 
 and promoted by them ? They are those who have been educated 
 among them, and whose manners, morals, and habits, are perfectly 
 homogeneous with those of the country." 
 
 To Mrs. Bingham. — " I know. Madam, that the twelve-montlt 
 is not yet expired ; but it will be, nearly, before this will have the 
 honor of being put into your hands. You are then engaged to tell 
 me, truly and honestly, whether you do not find the trancjuil pleas- 
 ures of America, preferable to the empty bustle of Paris. For to 
 what does that bustle tend? At eleven o'clock, it is day, chez 
 madamc, the curtains are drawn. Propped on bolsters and pil- 
 lows, and her head scratched into a little order, the bulletins of the 
 sick are read, and the billets of the well. She writes to some of her 
 acquaintance, and receives the visits of others. If the morning is 
 not very thronged, she is able to get out and hobble round the cage 
 of the Palais Royal ; but she must hobble quickly, for the coiffeur's 
 turn is come ; and a tremendous turn it is ! Happy, if he does not 
 make her arrive when dinner is half over ! The torpitude of diges- 
 tion a little passed, she flutters half an hour through the streets, by 
 way of paying visits, and then to the spectacles. These finished, 
 another half hour is devoted to dodging in and out of the doors of 
 hei' very sincere friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards ; 
 and after cards, bed : to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like 
 a mill-horse, the same trodden circle over again. Thus the days of 
 life are consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present 
 moment ; ever flying from the ennid of that, yet carrying it with 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 255 
 
 US ; eternally in pursuit of happiness, which keeps eternally before 
 tis. If death or bankruptcy happen to trip us out of the circle, it 
 is matter for the buzz of the evening, and is completely forgotten by 
 the next morning. In America, on the other hand, the society of 
 your husband, the fond cares for the children, the arrangements of 
 the house, the improvements of the^^roiinds, fill every moment with 
 a lieaTtKy and iisehJiTlictivity. Every exertion is encouraging, be- 
 cause to present amusement it joins the promise of some future good. 
 The intervals of leisure are filled by the society of real friends, 
 whose affections are not thinned to cob-web, by being spread over 
 a thousand objects. This is the picture, in the light it is presented 
 to my mind ; now let me have it in yours. If we do not concur 
 this year, we shall the next ; or if not then, in a year or two more. 
 You see I am determined not to suppose myself mistaken." 
 
 It was during Mr. Jefferson's residence in France, that the gov- 
 ernment of the United States underwent the crisis of transition 
 " from its chrysalid to its organic form," to use one of his own hap- 
 py metaphors ; and in the course of this final and interesting meta- 
 morphosis, opinions were gradually evolved, which were fundamen- 
 tally dissonant in character, and which ultimately divided the na- 
 tion into two distinct and perpetual parties. -Soon after the restora 
 lion of peace, the incompetency of the Confederation to sustain the 
 republican structure, was so alarmingly felt, that reasonable minds 
 gave way, even of those who had been most ardent in its establish- 
 ment ; and they apostatized, in numbers, to the principles of mon- 
 archical government, as the only refuge of political safety. 
 
 The causes of this deflection in political opinion, are inherent, 
 more or less, in the constitution of man ; but powerful external rea- 
 sons co-operated, at this period, to stimulate and force it on. The 
 people had come out of the war of the Revolution, oppressed with an 
 overwhelming indebtedness. They were oppressed with the debts 
 of the Union, with the debts of the individual States, and with their 
 own private debts ; and they were utterly incapacitated from dis- 
 charging either, for the best of all causes, the want of pecuniary 
 means. The inability of Congress, from the want of coercive pow- 
 ers, to cancel the public obligations, destroyed the public credit] and 
 the application of judgment and execution, in the case of private 
 debts, drove the delinquent to prison, and destroyed the confidence 
 between man and man. The interruption of their commerce with 
 Great Britain, and the deficiency, as yet, of other markets for their 
 productions, operated with peculiar severity upon the Eastern States; 
 
256 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 and the neglect of a suitable relaxation of the judiciary arm, in those 
 governments, brought on disastrous consequences. Under the pres- 
 sure of the general distress, the popular discontent broke out into 
 acts of violence, and liagrant insubordination. Tumultuary meet- 
 ings were held in New-Hampshire and Connecticut ; and in Massa- 
 chusetts a formidable insurrection arose, which menaced the very 
 foundations of the government. 
 
 These disturbances and commotions occasioned a general alarm 
 throughout the Union. They excited a sensible distrust of the 
 principles of our government, among its most sanguine votaries ; 
 while, with its enemies, the intelligence of such occurrences was 
 greeted with exultation, as affording a happy augury of the down- 
 fall of the Republic. Now it was, that those comforting ideas of 
 pubhc virtue, on which the beautiful edifice of Liberty was erected, 
 began to be scouted as fallacious, chimerical. The people were 
 discredited, feared ; and terror was to be fixed in their hearts, and 
 in the mechanism of their government, as the only competent mo- 
 tive of restraint, and engine of subordination. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was distant from his beloved country, at this dis- 
 heartening juncture ; but his beneficent eye watched over her, and 
 the voice of his counsels was heard and felt. His confidence in 
 the soundness of the republican theory, underwent no change from 
 those occasional eccentricities in practice, which are inseparable 
 from all human establishments, and which were chargeable, in 
 the present case, to the pressure of the times, and the debilities 
 of their first written essay, rather than to any inherent princi- 
 ple of disorganization. His reliance upon the good sense of the 
 people to rectify abuses in a proper manner, was so strong, that he 
 deemed an occasional rebellion a desirable event, inasmuch as it 
 afforded the best evidence, that this sense was active and vigorous ; 
 to enlighten it, then, was the only thing necessary to ensure a fa- 
 vorable result. Indeed,, his conviction of the capacity of mankind 
 to govern themselves, was confirmed by the inteUigence of these 
 irregular proofs of their dissatisfaction under the present circum- 
 stances ; and he took care to impress his opinions upon his numer- 
 ous correspondents in America, on every occasion, and in the most 
 emphatic terms. An insight into his private correspondence, at 
 this period, will afford a sublime entertainment to the lovers of 
 human nature, and human rights. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 257 
 
 To Col. E. Carrington. — ^" I am persuaded myself, that the 
 good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. 
 They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct them- 
 selves. The people are the only censors of their governors ; and 
 even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their 
 institution. To punish these errors too severely, would be to sup- 
 press the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent 
 these irregular interpositions of the people, is to give them full infor- 
 mation of their affairs, through the channel of the public papers, and 
 to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the 
 people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the 
 people, the very first object should be to keep that right ; and Avere 
 it left to me to decide, whether we should have a government with- 
 out newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not 
 hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean, that 
 every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading 
 them. I am convinced that those societies, (as the Indians) which 
 live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely 
 greater degree of happiness, than those who live under the Euro- 
 pean governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place 
 of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did any 
 where. Among the latter, under pretence of governing, they have 
 divided their nation into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not 
 exaggei'ate. This is the true picture of Europe. Cherish, there- 
 fore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not 
 be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening 
 them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you, 
 and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall 
 all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in 
 spite of individual exceptions : and experience declares, that man is 
 the only animal which devours his own kind ; for I can apply no 
 milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey 
 of the rich on the poor." 
 
 To James Madison. — "I am impatient to learn your sentiments 
 on the late troubles in the Eastern States. So far as I have yet 
 seen, they do not appear to threaten serious consequences. Those 
 States have suffered by the stoppage of the channels of their com- 
 merce, which have not yet found other issues. This must render 
 money scarce, and make the people uneasy. This uneasiness has 
 produced acts aljsolutely unjustifiable : but I hope they will provoke 
 no severities from their governments. A consciousness of those in 
 power, that their administration of the public affairs has been honest, 
 may, perhaps, produce too great a degree of indignation : and those 
 characters wherein fear predominates over hope, may apprehend too 
 much from these instances of irregularity. They may conclude too 
 iiastiiy, that nature has formed man insusceptible of any other gov- 
 
 23 
 
258 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 eminent than that of force, a conclusion not founded in truth nor 
 experience. Societies exist under three forms, sufficiently distin- 
 guishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. 
 Under governments, wherein the will of every one has a just influ- 
 ence ; as is the case in England, in a slight degree, and in our 
 States, in a great one. 3. Under governments of force; as is the 
 case ill all other monarchies, and in most of the other republics. 
 To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they 
 must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a 
 prol^lem, not clear in my mind, that the first condition is not the 
 best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of 
 population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The 
 mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and 
 happiness. It has its evils too : the principal of which is the turbu- 
 lence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions 
 of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosaju liber- 
 fMtem quani quietam serviiutem. Even this evil is productive of 
 good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a 
 general attention to the public affairs. I hold it, that a little rebellion 
 now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world, 
 as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, gener- 
 ally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people, which 
 have produced them. An observation of this truth should render 
 honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebell- 
 ions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessa- 
 ry for the sound health of government." 
 
 To David Hartley, of England. — " The most interesting intel- 
 ligence from America, is that respecting the late insurrection in Mas- 
 sachusetts. The cause of this has not been developed to me to my 
 perfect satisfaction. The most probable is, that those individuals 
 were of the imprudent number of those who have involved them- 
 selves in debt beyond their abilities to pay, and that a vigorous effort 
 in that government to compel the payment of private debts, and 
 raise money for public ones, produced the resistance. I believe you 
 may be assured, that an idea or desire of returning to any thing 
 like their ancient government, never entered into their heads. I 
 am not discouraged by this. For thus I calculate. An insurrec- 
 tion in one of thirteen States, in the course of eleven years that they 
 have subsisted, amounts to one in any particular State, in one hun- 
 dred and forty-three years, say a century and a half This would 
 not be near as many as have happened in every other government 
 that has ever existed. So that we shall have the difference between 
 a light and a heavy government as clear gain. I have no fear, but 
 that the result of our experiment will be, that men may be trusted 
 to govern themselves without a master. Could the contrary of this 
 be proved, I should conclude, either that there is no God, ov that he 
 is a malevolent being. 
 
OF I'HOMAS JEiFFERSOK. 259 
 
 To Col. Smith. — " Wonderful is the effect of impudent and per- 
 5-eveiing lying. The British ministry have so long hired their gaz- 
 etteers to lepeat, and model into every form, lies about our being 
 in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English 
 nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to 
 believe them, and what is more wonderful, we have believed them 
 ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy exist ? Where did it ever 
 exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts J And can his- 
 tory produce an instance of rebellion so honorably conducted ? I 
 say nothing of its motives. They were founded in ignorance, not 
 wickedness. God forbid, we should ever be twenty years without 
 such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well in- 
 formed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in propor 
 tion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they re- 
 main quiet under such misconceptions, it is a lethargy, the forerun- 
 ner of death to the public liberty. We have had thirteen States in- 
 dependent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That 
 comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each State. 
 WKa,f. ouuiitry oelore ever exisied a i^cntuij and a half without a 
 rebellion ? And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers 
 are not warned from time to time, that the people preserve the spir- 
 it of resistance ? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them 
 right as to facts, pardon, and pacify them. What signify a few 
 lives lost in a century or two ? The tree of hberty must be refresh- 
 ed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its 
 natural manure." 
 
 Such is a specimen of the current of sound philosophy, which Mr. 
 Jefferson poured into the breasts of the public characters of Ameri- 
 ca, at this important juncture. His opinions were received with 
 veneration by all those with whom he had acted on the theatre of 
 the Revolution ; and his earnest and unremitting counsels had a 
 powerfid influence in checking the anti-republican tendencies, which 
 had already risen up. In a short time, the deluge of evils which 
 overflowed the country, was traced to its original source ; and no 
 sooner was the happy discovery made, than the virtue and good 
 sense of the people, in verification of his repeated auguries, nobly 
 interposed, and, instead of seeking relief in rebellion and civil war, 
 assembled their wise men together to apply a rational and peacea- 
 ble remedy. 
 
 The first grand movement towards re-organizing the government 
 of the United States, upon the admirable basis of the present Con- 
 stitution, was made in the General Assembly of Virginia, on motion 
 of Mr. Madison. The proposition contemplated an amendment of 
 
260 
 
 Life, xv-Ri-TiNGs, and oPmroNsr 
 
 the Confederation, which should confer on Congress tlie absolute 
 and excUisive power over the regulation of commerce ; and result- 
 ed in the convocation of a Convention for that pilrpose, to meet at 
 Annapolis, in September, 1786. The commercial Convention fail- 
 ed in point of representation ; but it laid the foundation for the call 
 of a grand National Convention, with powers to revise the entire 
 system of government, to meet at Philadelphia the ensuing year. 
 The opinions of Mr. Jefferson had an undoubted influence in 
 tire origination of these important proceedings in America. In all 
 his despatches to the government, and in his private letters to the 
 leading political men, he had reiterated the necessity of fundamen- 
 tal reformations in the federal compact. The defect which he most 
 deplored in the existing system, was the absence of a unifornr pow- 
 er to regulate our commercial intercourse with foreign nations. 
 This disability was the incessant theme of his complaints. It M'aw 
 the primary source, he deoiciicU, of ihoHe Irregularities ana i-u^^nr 
 va3s^lents, which continually obstructed his negotiations with the 
 European nations. Those Powers who were disposed to treat, 
 would never do it, so long as the government had no authority to 
 cover them, by treaty, from the liavigation acts of the particular 
 .States, and those who were indisposed, at present, would forever re- 
 main so for the same reason ; whilst all would exercise the right to 
 retaliate on the Union, the restrictions imposed on their commerce 
 by the laws of any one individual State. He maintained a constant 
 correspondence on these points with Washington, Wythe, Monroe, 
 Langdon, Gerry, and particularly his friend and protege, Mad- 
 ison, with whom his wishes were laws, and his opinions, oracles. 
 The intelhgence of the first movements in America, towards a re- 
 formation of the national compact, filled him with the liveliest grat- 
 ification, as evmced by his letters of that date. A single specimen 
 will sutiice to show the general tenor of his correspondence on this 
 subject. 
 
 To James Madison. — " I have heard, with great pleasure, that 
 our Assembly have come to the resolution, of giving the regulation 
 of their commerce to the federal head. I will venture to assert, that 
 there is not one of its opposersj who, placed on this giound, would 
 not see the wisdom of the measure. The politics of Europe render 
 it indispensably necessary, tliat, with respect to every thing external, 
 we be one nation only, firmly hooped together. Interior govern- 
 ment is what each State should keep to itself. If it were seen iu 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON". 261 
 
 Europe, that all our States could be brought to concur in what the 
 Virginia Assembly has done, it would produce a total revolution in 
 their opinion of us, and respect for us. And it should ever be held 
 in mind, that insult and war are the consequences of a want of res- 
 pectability in the national character. As long as the States exer- 
 cise, separately, those acts of power which respect foreign nations, 
 so long will there continue to be irregularities committed by some 
 one or other of them, which will constantly keep us on an ill foot- 
 ing with foreign nations." 
 
 The National Convention, appointed to digest a new Constitution 
 of government, assembled at Philadelphia, on the 25th of May, 
 1787. Delegates attended from all the States, except Rhode-Isl- 
 and, who refused to appoint. George Washington was unanimous- 
 ly chosen to preside over their deliberations. They sat with clos- 
 ed doors, and passed an injunction of entire secrecy on their pro- 
 ceedings. This was an erroneous beginning, in the opinion of Mr. 
 Jefferson, who viewed every encroachment upon the freedom of 
 speech with extreme jealousy. " I am sorry," he writes to Mr. Ad- 
 ams, "they began their deliberations by so abominable a precedent, 
 as that of tying up the tongues of their members. Nothing can jus- 
 tify this example, but the innocence of their intentions, and ignor- 
 ance ^of the value of public discussions. I have no doubt that all 
 their other measures will be good and wise. It is really an assem- 
 bly of demi-gods." 
 
 During the deliberations and discussions of this august and ven-* 
 erable body, those feaiful anti-republican heresies, which had sprung 
 up during the short interval of peace, developed themselves in a 
 more tangible and decided form. Various propositions were sub- 
 mitted, some of which were dangerous approximations to monarchy. 
 One of these, proposed by Alexander Hamilton, w^as izi fact a com- 
 promise between the two principles of royalism and republicanism. 
 According to this plan, the Executive and one branch of the Legis- 
 lature, were to continue in office during good behavior ; and the 
 Governors of the States were to be named by these two permanent 
 organs. The proposition, however, was rejected ; upon which Mr. 
 Hamilton left the Convention, and never returned again until near 
 its conclusion. 
 
 Although a stranger to these transactions, Mr. Jefferson could not 
 contemplate the idea of such a convention without great anxiety, 
 
 23* 
 
262 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPII<JIONS 
 
 knowing, as he did, the poUtical degeneracies which liad arisen 
 among his countrymen. His counsels were eagerly solicited by 
 Madison, Wythe, and others, from time to time, during the progress 
 of the Convention, and he communicated to them his opinions, with 
 equal modesty and frankness. It is very evident, from the tenor of 
 aoine of his answers, that he had received hints of the strong mo- 
 narchical dispositions which characterized a considerable portion of 
 the members. His fears were so strong from this direction, that he 
 leaned heavily the other way, in stating his opinions of the necessa- 
 ry reformations. 
 
 To Mr. Madison. — '• The idea of separating the executive bu- 
 siness of ths confederacy from Congress, as the judiciary is already, 
 in some degree, is just and necessary. I had frequently pressed on 
 (he members individually, while in Congress, the doing this by a 
 resolution of Congress for appointing an executive connnittee. to 
 act during the sessions of Congress, as the committee of the States 
 was to act during their vacations. But the referring to this com- 
 miftee all executive business, as it should present itself, would re- 
 t{uire a more persevering self-denial than I suppose Congress to 
 possess. It would be much better to make that separation b}' a fed- 
 eral act. The negative proposed to be given them on all the acts 
 of the several legislatures, is now, for the first time, suggested to my 
 mind. Prima facie^ I do not like it. It fails in an essential 
 character ; that the hole and the patch should be commensurate. 
 But this proposes to mend a small hole, by covering the whole gar- 
 ment. Not more than one out of one hundred State acts, concern 
 the confederacy. This proposition, then, in order to give them one 
 'degree of power, which they ought to have, gives them ninety-nine 
 more, which they ought not to have, upon a presumption that they 
 will aiot exercise the ninety-nine." 
 
 To E. Carrington. — "I confess, I do not go as far in the re- 
 forms thought necessary, as some of my correspondents in America; 
 but if the convention should adopt such propositions, I shall sup- 
 pose them necessary. My general plan would be, to make the 
 States one, as to every thing connected with foreign nations, and 
 several as to every thing purely domestic. But with all the imper- 
 fections ot our present government, it is, without comparison, the 
 best existing, or that ever did exist. Its greatest defect is the im- 
 perfect manner in which matters of commerce have been provided 
 for." 
 
 To Mr. Hawkins. — " I look up with you to the federal conven- 
 tion, for an amendment of our federal affairs. Yet I do not view 
 them in so disadvantageous a light at present, as some do. And 
 above all things, I am astonished at some people's considering a 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 263 
 
 kingly government as a refuge. Advise such to read the fable of 
 the frogs, who solicited Jupiter for a king. If that does not put 
 them to rights, send them to Europe, to see something of the trap- 
 pings of monarch}', and I will undertake, that every man shall go 
 back thoroughly cured. If all the evils which can arise among us, 
 from the republican form of government, from this day to the day 
 of judgment, could be put into a scale against what this country 
 suliers from its monarchical form, in a week, or England, in a 
 month, the latter would preponderate. Consider the contents of 
 the Red book in England, or the Almanac Royale of France, and 
 say what a people gain by monarchy. No race of kings has ever 
 presented above one man of common sense, in twenty generations. 
 The best they can do is, to leave things to their ministers ; and 
 what are their ministers, but a committee badly chosen ? If the 
 king ever meddles, it is to do harm." 
 
 I'o J. Jones — " I am anxious to hear what oiu" federal convention 
 recommends, and what the vStates will do in consequence of their re- 
 commendation. * * * "With all the defects of our constitution, 
 whether general or particular, the comparison of our governments 
 with those of Europe, is like a comparison of heaven and hell. Eng- 
 land, hke the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate sta- 
 tion. And yet I hear there are people among you, who think the 
 experience of oiu" governments has already proved, that republican 
 governments will not answer. Send those gentry here, to count 
 the blessings of monarchy. A king's sister, for instance, stopped in 
 the road, and on a hostile journey, is sufficient cause for him to 
 march immediately twenty-thousand men to revenge the insult, 
 when he had shoAvn himself httle moved by the matter of right 
 then in question." 
 
 To G, Wythe.—" You ask nie in your letter w^hat ameliora- 
 tions I think necessary in our federal constitution. It is now too 
 late to answer the question, and it would have always been pre- 
 sumption in me to have done it. Your own ideas, and those of the 
 great characters who were to be concerned with you in these dis- 
 cussions, will give the law, as they ought to do, to us all. My own 
 general idea was,' that the States §]iould severally preserve their 
 sovereignty in whatever concerns themselves alone ; and that what- 
 ever may concern another State, or any foreign nation, should be made 
 a part of the federal sovereignt)^ ; that the exercise of the federal 
 sovereignty should be divided among three several bodies, legisla- 
 tive, executive, and judiciary, as the State sovereignties are ; and 
 that some peaceable means should be contrived, for the federal 
 head to force compliance on the part of the States." 
 
 To General Washington — " I remain in hopes of great and 
 good effects from the decision of the Assembly over which you are 
 presiding. To make our States one, as to all foreign concerns, pre- 
 
364 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 serve them several as to all merely domestic, to give to the federal 
 head some peaceable mode of enforcing its just authority, to organ- 
 ize that head into legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, 
 are great desiderata in our federal constitution. Yet with all its 
 defects, and with all those of our particular governments, the in- 
 conveniences resulting from them are so light, in comparison with 
 those existing in every other government on earth, that our citizens 
 may certainly be considered as in the happiest pohtical situation 
 which exists." 
 
 On the 17th of September, '87, the National Convention dis- 
 solved, and submitted the result of their labors to the world. A 
 more perfect political work, probably, never emanated from any as- 
 sembly of men ; and nothing but a spirit of amity and mutual 
 concession, unrivaled in national transactions, could have elicited 
 such a result from such a discordancy of minds. The instrument^ 
 however, was not without its defects; and as these were all on the side 
 of power, and too palpable not to be detected by an intelligent peo- 
 ple, it excited among the more jealous partisans of hberty, such a 
 tem^jest of opposition, as rendered its acceptance by the nation ex- 
 tremely problematical. It was taken up by special conventions in 
 the several States, in the years '87 and '88. The contest raged 
 the severest in Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and New Hamp- 
 shire. In these States, the public discussions were vehement and 
 agitating ; but the question was finally carried in favor of ratifica- 
 tion, by small majorities, in all of them. In Georgia, New Jersey, 
 and Delaware, the Constitution was ratified without opposition ; 
 and by considerable majorities, in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ma- 
 ryland, and South Carolina. North Carolina w^ould only accept it 
 upon the condition of previous amendments. Rhode Island declin- 
 ed calling a convention, and did not accede to the Union until May, 
 1790. Six States ratified without qualification, and seven, with 
 the recommendation of certain specified amendments. 
 
 Mr. Jeflferson received a copy of the new Constitution early in 
 November, '87. He read and contemplated its provisions with gieat 
 satisfaction, though not without seifious apprehensions from some of 
 its features. His principal objections w^ere, the absence of a Dec- 
 laration of Rights ensuring freedom of rehgion, freedom of the 
 press, freedom of the person under the uninterrupted protection of 
 the habeas corpus, the trial by jury in civil as well as criminal 
 cases ; and the perpetual re-eligibility of the President. His opin- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 265 
 
 ions Were immediately consulted by his political friends in the Uni- 
 ted States, and he communicated to them his approbations and ob- 
 jections, without reserve. They are found stated at length, and in 
 a most interesting manner, in a letter to Mr. Madison, dated Pari---, 
 December 20th, 17S7. 
 
 '•' I like much the general idea of framing a government, wliicli 
 should go on of itself, peaceably, without needing continual recur- 
 rence to the State legislatures. I like the organization of the gov- 
 ernment into legislative, judiciary, and executive. J like the pov/er 
 given the legislature to levy taxes, and for that I'cason solely, I ap- 
 prove of the greater House being chosen by the people directly. 
 For though I think a House, so chosen, will be very far inferior 
 to the present Congress, will be very illy qualified to legislate for 
 the Union, for foreign nations, etc. ; yet this evil does not v/eigh 
 against the good of preserving inviolate the fundamental principle, 
 that the people arc not to be taxed but by representatives i-iiuox.^ 
 innnediately by themselves. I am captivated i)y the compromise 
 .^c .1 — i-,-_w.^- .«-:..,„ ^f fi,p p-i-eat and little St-'it^'^ "^ the latter to 
 equal, and the former to proportional mtluexice. I am much pleas- 
 ed, too, Avith the sulxstitution of the method of voting bv persons, 
 instead of that of voting by States ; and I like the negative given 
 to the Executive, conjointly with a third of either H^ouse ; though 
 I should have liked it better, had the judiciary been associated lor 
 that purpose, or invested separately with a similar power. There 
 are other good things of less moment. 
 
 '•' I will now tell you what I do not like. First, the omission of 
 a I-)ill of rights, providing clearly, and without the aid of sopliism, 
 for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against 
 standing armies, restriction of monopolies, the eternal and unre- 
 mitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all 
 matters of.foct triable by the laws of the land, and not by the 
 laws of nations. To say, as Mr. Wilson does, that a bill of rights 
 was not necessary, because all is reserved in the case of the general 
 government, which is not given, while in the particular ones, all is 
 given which is not reserved, might do for the audience to which it 
 was addressed : but it is surely a gratis dictum, the reverse of 
 which might just as well be said ; and it is opposed by strong in- 
 ferences from the body of flie instrument, as well as from the omis- 
 sion of the clause of our present Confederation, which had made 
 the reservation in express terms. It was hard to conclude, because 
 there had been a want of uniformity among the States as to the 
 cases triable by jury, because some have been so incautious as to 
 dispense with this mode of trial in certain cases, therefore the more 
 prudent States shall be reduced to the same level of calami- 
 ty. It would have been much more just and wise to have con- 
 cluded the other way, that as most of the States had preserved, 
 
266 LIFE, WRITINGS, ANl) OPmiONS 
 
 with jealousy this sacred palladium of liberty, those who had Wclfi' 
 dered, should be brought back to it : and to have established gen- 
 eral right rather than general Wrong. For I consider all the ill as 
 <i5tablishcd, which may be established. I have a right to nothing, 
 which another has a right to take away ; and Congress will have 
 a rigjjt to take away trials by jury in all civil cases. Let mc add,r 
 that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every 
 government on earth, genernl or particular ; and what lio just gov- 
 ernment should refuse, or rest on inference. 
 
 " The second feature I dishke, aud strongly dislike, is the aban- 
 donment, in every instance, of the principle of rotation in office, 
 and most particularly in the case of the President. Reason and 
 experience tell us, that the first magistrate will always be re-elected 
 if he may be re-elected. He is then an officer for life. This once 
 observed, it becomes of so much consequence to certain nations, to 
 have a friend or a foe at the head of our affairs, that they will 
 u^i.^.i\,ic with money and with arms. A Galloman, or an Anglo-- 
 man, will be suppoited l)y the nation he befriends. If once elect- 
 ed, and at a — --nirl or third election outvotrd b->- --7- r>v *— ,.„.--, 
 he will pretend false votes, loui piay, hold possession 01 the reins 
 of government, be supported by the States voting for him, especial- 
 ly if they be the central ones, lying in a compact body themselves, 
 and separating their opponents ; and they will be aided by one 
 nation in Europe, while the majority are aided by another. The 
 election of a President of America, some years hence, will be much 
 more interesting to certain nations of Europe, than ever the elec- 
 tion of a king of Poland was. Reflect on all the instances in his- 
 tory, ancient and modern, of elective monarchies, and say, if they 
 do not give foundation for my fears : the Roman Emperors, the 
 Popes while they were of any importance, the German Emp'nor? 
 till they became hereditary in practice, the kings of Poland, the 
 Deys of the Ottoman dependencies. It may be said, that if elec- 
 tions are to be attended with these disorders, the less frequently 
 they are repeated the better. But experience says, that to free 
 them from disorder, they must be rendered less interesting by a 
 necessity of change. No foreign power, nor domestic party, will 
 wa-ste their blood and money to elect a person, who must go out at 
 the end of a short period. The power of removing every fourth 
 year by the vote of the people, is a power which they will not ex- 
 ercise, and if they were dis|X)sed to exercise it, they would not be 
 permitted. The King of Poland is removable every day by the 
 diet. But they never remove him. Nor Avould Russia, the Em- 
 peror, &c. permit them to do it. Smaller objections are, the ap- 
 peals on matters of fact as well as law ; and the binding all per- 
 sons, legislative, executive and judiciary, by oath, to maintain that 
 constitution. I do not pretend to decide, what would be the best 
 method of procuring the establishment of tlie manifold good thing* 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 267 
 
 ill this constitution, and of getting rid of the bad. Whether by 
 adopting it, in hopes of future amendment ; or, after it shall have 
 been duly weighed and canvassed by the people, after seeing the 
 parts they generally disUke. and those they generally approve, to 
 say to them, ' We see now what you wish. You are willing to 
 give to your federal government such and such powers : Ijut you 
 wish, at the same time, to have such and such fundamental rights 
 secured to you, and certain sources of convulsion taken away. 
 Be it so. Send together your deputies again. Let them establish 
 your fundamental rights by a sacrosanct declaration, and let them 
 pass the parts of the constitution you have approved. These will 
 give powers to your federal government sufficient for your happi- 
 ness.' 
 
 " This is what might be said, and would probably produce a 
 speedy, more perfect, and more permanent form of government. 
 At all events, 1 hope you will not be discouraged from making 
 other tiials, if the present one should fail. We are never permit- 
 ted to despair of the commonwealth. I have thus told you freely 
 what I like, and what I dislike, merely as a matter of curiosity ; 
 for I know it is not in my power to offer matter of information to 
 your judgment, which has been formed after hearing and weighing 
 every thing which the wisdom of man could offer on these sub- 
 jects. I own, I am not a friend to a very energetic government 
 It is always oppressive. * * * j^f^gj- ^U, it is my principle 
 that the will of the majorify should prevail. If they approve the 
 proposed constitution in all its parts, I shall concur in it cheerfully, 
 in hopes they will amend it, whenever they shall find it works 
 wrong. This reliance cainot deceive us, as long as we remain 
 virtuous ; and I think we shall be so, as long as agriculture is our 
 principal object, which will be the case, while there remain vacant 
 lands in any part of America. When we get piled upon one an- 
 other in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in 
 Europe, and go to eating cne another as they do there." 
 
 With the mass of good which it contained, Mr. Jefferson found, 
 on a careful scrutiny, such a mixture of evil in the new Constitu- 
 tion, that he was in doubt what course to recommend his country- 
 men. How the good should be secured, and the ill avoided, was 
 the great question, and presented great difficulties. To refer it 
 back to a new Convention, might jeopardize the whole, which was 
 utterly inadmissible. His first advice, therefore, was that the nine 
 States first acting upon it, should accept unconditionally, and thus 
 secure whatever in it was wise and beneficial ; and that the four 
 States last acting, should accept only on the previous condition, 
 that certaui amendments should be made. But he afterwards re- 
 
268 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 commended the more prudent course of unconditional acceptance 
 by■^the whole, with a concomitant declaration, that it should stand 
 as a perpetual instruction to their respective delegates, to endeavor 
 to obtain such and such reformations. And this was the course 
 finally adopted by a majority of the States. 
 
 Much as has been said and written of Mr. Jeflerson's hostility to 
 the Federal Constitution, there was not a person in America, who 
 set a more solid value on it, even in its original form ; nor one who 
 was impressed with more rational anxieties for its adoption. To 
 estimate the force of his convictions upon this point, and the cogen- 
 cy of his endeavors to instil the same convictions into his country- 
 men, it is only necessary to consult the pages of his private corres- 
 pondence. Adoring republicanism, hating monarchy, he discrim- 
 inated, with the heart of a true American, and with the sagacity of 
 a profound statesman, between those features of the instrument 
 which were congenial, and those which were hostile, to the princi- 
 ples of his political idolatry. While he gave all his soul to the pres- 
 ervation of the former, he deprecated, v»'ith equal sincerity, any ad- 
 mixture of the latter, neither approving nor condemning in the 
 mass. He was, therefore, neither a fec'eralist nor an anti-federalist, 
 as the advocates and opponents of the Constitution were distin- 
 guished. He was a fearless and independent asserter of his opin- 
 ions on questions of national concernmsnt, the most profound and 
 interesting that had ever been submittel to the deliberation of the 
 American people ; and he had the happ'ness to see those opinions, 
 on almost every point, very soon adopted by the nation, and incor- 
 porated into its frame of government, by special amendatory acts. 
 A few passages from his correspondence will evince his anxiety for 
 the fate of the Constitution, and his perseverance in the endeavor to 
 obtain the amendments which he deemed so essential. 
 
 To William Carmichael. — "The conduct of Massachusetts 
 has been noble. She accepted the Constitution, but voted that it 
 should stand as a perpetual instruction to her Delegates, to endeav- 
 or to obtain such and such reformations ; and the minority, though 
 very strong both in numbers and abilities, declared viritim and ser- 
 iatim, that acknowledging the principle that the majority must give 
 the law, they would now support the new Constitution with their 
 tongues, and with their blood, if necessary. I was much pleased 
 with many and essential parts of this instiiunent, from the begin- 
 iiing. But I thought I saw in it many faults^ gieat and small. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 2()1> 
 
 AYliat I have read and reflected, has brought me over from several 
 of my objections, of the first moment, and to acquiesce under some 
 others. Two only remain, of essential consideration, to wit. tlie 
 want of a bill of rights, and the expunging the principle of necessa- 
 ry rotation in the offices of President and Senator. '' * If the 
 States which were to decide after her, should all do the same, it is im- 
 possible but they must obtain the essential amendments. It will be 
 more difficult, if \xe lose this instrument, to recover Avhat is good in 
 it, than to correct what is bad, after we shall have adopted it. It 
 has, therefore, my hearty prayers, and I wait with anxiety for news 
 of the votes of Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia." 
 
 To E. RuTLEDGE. — "I cougmtulate you on the accession of 
 your State to the new federal constitution. This is the last I have 
 yet heard of, but I expect daily to hear that my own has followed 
 'the good example, and suppose it is already estabhshed. Our gov- 
 ernment wanted bracing. Still we must take care not to rvm from 
 one extreme to another ; not to l^race too high. I own, I join those 
 in opinion, who think a bill of rights necessary. I apprehend too. 
 that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation in the offices 
 of President and Senator, Avill end in abuse. But my confidence 
 is, that there will, for a long time, be virtue and good sense enough 
 in our countrymen, to correct abuses. We can surely boast of hav- 
 ing set the world a beautiful example of a government reformed bv 
 reason alone, without bloodshed. But the world is too far oppressed 
 to profit by the example. On this side of the Atlantic, the blood of 
 the people has become an inheritance, and those who fatten on it, 
 will not relinquish it easily." 
 
 To James Madison.^ — -"I sincerely rejoice at the iicceptance of 
 our new constitution by nine States. It is a good canvass, on 
 which some strokes only want retouching. What these are, I think 
 are sufficiently manifested by the general voice from north to south, 
 which calls for a bill of rights. It seems pretty generally under- 
 stood, that this should go to juries, habeas corpus, standing ar- 
 mies, printing, rehgion, and monopolies. I conceive there may lie 
 difficulty in finding general modifications of these, suited to the 
 habits of all the States. But if such cannot be foimd, then it is 
 better to establish trials by jury, the right of habeas corpus, free- 
 dom of the press, and freedom of religion, in all cases, and to abol- 
 ish standing armies in time of peace, and monopolies in all cases, 
 than not to do it in any. The few cases wherein these things may 
 do evil, cannot be weighed against the raultitude, wherein the want 
 of them will do evil." 
 
 To G. Washington. — "I have seen, with infinite pleasure, our 
 new constitution accepted by eleven States, not rejected by the 
 twelfth • and that the thirteenth happens to be a State of the least 
 
 U 
 
270 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 importance. It is true, that the minorities in most of the accepting 
 States have been very respectable ; so much so, as to render it pru- 
 dent, were it not otherwise reasonable, to make some sacrifice to 
 them. I am in hopes, that the annexation of a bill of rights to the 
 constitution will alone draw over so great a proportion of the minor- 
 ities, as to leave little danger in the opposition of the residue ; and 
 that this annexation may be made by Congress and the Assemblies, 
 without calling a convention, which might endanger the most val- 
 uable parts of the system." 
 
 To F. HoPKiNsoN. — " You say that I have been dished up to 
 you as an anti-federalist, and ask me if it be just. My opinion was 
 never worthy enough of notice, to merit citing ; but since you ask 
 it, I will tell it to 5^ou. I am not a federalist, because I never sub- 
 mitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party 
 of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in any 
 thing else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an 
 addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I 
 could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. 
 Therefore, I protest to you, I am not of the party of federalists. 
 But I am much farther from that of the anti-federalists. I approv- 
 ed, from the first moment, of the great mass of what is in the new 
 constitution ; the consolidation of the government ; the organiza- 
 tion into executive, legislative, and judiciary; the subdivisions of 
 the legislative ; the happy compromise of interests between thfe 
 great and little States, by the different manner of voting in the dif- 
 ferent Houses ; the voting by persons instead of States ; the quali- 
 fied negative on laws given to the executive, which, however, I 
 should have hked better if associated with the judiciary also, as in 
 INew-York ; and the power of taxation. * * * 
 
 '• These, my dear friend, are my sentiments, by which you will 
 see I was right in saying, I am neither federalist nor anti-federalist ; 
 that I am of neither party, nor yet a trimmer between parties. 
 These, my opinions, I wrote, within a few hours after I had read 
 the constitution, to one or two friends in America. I had not then 
 read one single word printed on the subject. I never had an opin- 
 ion in politics or religion, which I was afraid to own. A costive re- 
 serve on these subjects might have procured me more esteem from 
 some people, but less from myself. My great w ish is, to go on in a 
 strict, but silent performance of my duty : to avoid attracting notice, 
 and to keep my name out of newspapers, because I find the pain of 
 a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the 
 pleasure of much praise." 
 
 To Col. Humphreys. — " The operations which have taken 
 place in America lately, fill me with pleasure. In the first place, 
 they realize the confidence I had, that, whenever our aflfairs go ob- 
 viously wrong, the good sense of the people will interpose, and set 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON". 271 
 
 them to lights. The example of changing a constitution, by as- 
 sembhng the wise men of the State, instead of assembhng armies, 
 will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we bad 
 given thorn. The constitution, too, which was the result of our de- 
 liberations, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to man^ 
 and some of the accommodations of interest which it has adopted, 
 are greatly pleasing to me, who have before had occasions of seeing 
 how ditHcult those interests were to accommodate. A general con- 
 currence of opinion seems to authorize us to say it has some defects. 
 I am one of those who think it a defect, that the iinportant rights, 
 not placed in security by the frame of the constitution itself, were 
 not explicitly secured by a supplementary declaration. There are 
 rights which it is useless to surrender to the governinent, and which 
 governments have yet always been fond to invade. These are the 
 rights of thinking, and pubhshing our thoughts by speaking or 
 writing ; the right of free commerce ; the right of personal freedom. 
 There are instruments for administering the government so pecu- 
 liarly trust-worthy, that w^e should never leave the legislature at 
 liberty to change them. The new constitution has secured these in 
 the executive aud legislative departments ; but not in the judiciary. 
 Jt should have established trials by the people themselves, that is to 
 say, by jury. There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of 
 the nation, and which place them so totally ^i (lie mviC}' ui tl.oir 
 governors, that those governors, whether legislative or executive, 
 should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot, but in 
 well defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army. We 
 are now allowed to say, such a declaration of rights, as a supple- 
 ment to the constitution, where that is silent, is wanting, to secure 
 us in these points. The general voice has legitimated this objec- 
 tion. It has not, however, authorized me to consider as a real de- 
 fect, what I thought, and still think one, the perpetual re-eligibility 
 of the President. But three States out of eleven having declared 
 against this, we must suppose we are wrong, according to the fun- 
 damental law of every society, the le.v majoi-is jjartis, to which we 
 are bound to submit. And should the inajority change their opin- 
 ion, and become sensible that this trait in their constitution is wrong, 
 I would wish it to remain uncorrected, as long as we can avail our- 
 selves of the services of our great leader, whose talents and whose 
 weight of character, I consider as peculiarly necessary to get the gov- 
 ernment so under way, as that it may afterwards be carried on by 
 subordinate characters." 
 
 The ardor and perseverance of ]Mr. Jefferson in the effort to ob- 
 tain a supplementary Bill of Rights to the Constitution, Avere soon 
 crowned with success. At the session of 1789, Mr. Madison sub- 
 mitted to Congress a series of amendments, which, with various 
 propositions on the same subject from other States, were referred 
 
'>7'i 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 to a committee of one from each State in the Union. The result 
 was the annexation, in due form, of the ten original amendments 
 to our Federal Constitution. So great was the influence of Mr. 
 Jellerson in forwarding this measure, though absent during the 
 whole time, that he is universally regarded as the father of these 
 amendments. They embraced the principal objections urged by 
 him, without going far enough to satisfy him entirely. By them, 
 the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, the right of the 
 people to deliberate and petition for redress of grievances, the right 
 of keeping and bearing arms, of the trial by jury in civil as well as 
 criminal cases, the exemption from general warrants, and from the 
 quartering of soldiers in private dwellings, were pronounced irrevo- 
 cable and intangible by the government ; and the powers not dele- 
 gated by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, were 
 declared to be reserved to the States or to the people. But the right 
 of habeas corpus was still left to the discretion of Congress ; mo- 
 nopolies were not positively guarded against ; and standing armies 
 in time of peace were not prohibited. His objections, also, against 
 the perpetual re-etigibility of the President, although backed by the 
 recommendation of three States, were not sanctioned by Congres-s. 
 His fears of that feature were founded on the importance of the of- 
 lice, on the fierce contentions it might excite among ourselves, if 
 continuable for life, and the dangers of interference, either with 
 money or arms, by foreign nations, to whom the choice of an Amer- 
 ican President might become interesting. Examples of this 
 abounded in history ; in the case of the Roman Emperors, for in- 
 stance ; of the Popes, while of any significance ; of the German 
 Emperors ; the Kings of Poland, and the Deys of Barbary. But his 
 apprehensions on this head gradually subsided, and finally l^ecame 
 entirely removed, on witnessing the effect in practice. Alluding to 
 his early opinions on this subject, he said in 1821 : 
 
 " My wish was, that the President should be elected for seven 
 years, and be ineligible afterwards. This term I thought suflicient 
 to enable him, with the concurrence of the Legislature, to carry 
 through and establish any system of improvement he should pro- 
 pose for the general good. But the practice adopted, I think, is bet- 
 ter, allowing his continuance for eight years, with a liability to be 
 dropped at half way of the term, making that a period of prol>a- 
 tion. * * * The exanrple of four Presidents, voluntarily retir- 
 ing at the end of their eighth year, and the progress of public opin^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 273 
 
 ioa, that the principle is sakitary, have given it in practice tlie force 
 of precedent and usage ; insomuch, tliat should a President consent 
 to be a candidate for a third election, I trust he would be rejected, 
 on this demonstration of ambitious views." 
 
 There was another question agitated in the Councils of the 
 United States, during Mr. Jefferson's residence in France, which 
 he viewed with as much concern as the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion. This was the proposition to abandon the navigation of the 
 Mississippi to the King of Spain, lor the period of twenty-five or 
 thirty years, as an equivalent for a treaty of commerce with that 
 nation. John Jay, Secretary of foreign affairs, who had been au- 
 thorized to institute a negotiation with the Spanish government, 
 laid the proposition before Congress, as a secret. The whole atfair 
 was veiled in midnight darkness, and so continued until the year 
 1818, when a resolution was passed authorizing the pubhcation 
 of the secret journals of the old Congress. 
 
 The proposition of Mr, Jay created an angiy excitement in Con- 
 gress. The scheme was resisted, with greath warmtli, by tlie 
 States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and 
 Georgia, on the following grounds : 1. It would dismember the 
 Union. 2. It would violate the compact of the national govern- 
 ment with those States, who had surrendered to it their western 
 lands. 3, It would check the growth of the western country by 
 depriving the inhabitants of a natural outlet for their productions. 
 4. It would depreciate the value of the western lands, and sink 
 proportionally a valuable fund for the payment of the national 
 debt. 5. It would be such a sacrifice for particular purposes, as 
 would be obvious to the most undiscerning. 
 
 The proposition was sustained by all the New England States, 
 wuth New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These States 
 moved in solid phalanx, and in mysterious silence, against every 
 attempt to defeat, alter, or amend the proposed terms of negotiation. 
 The opposition were in despair, when it occurred to them, that as 
 the assent of nine States was necessary by the Confederation to 
 form treaties, the instructions given to Mr. Jay were unconstitution- 
 al, inasmuch as seven States only had voted them. A resolution 
 was, therefore, introduced declaring the original vote which had 
 been taken, incompetent to confer treaty making powers. But the 
 resolution was negatived by the same States, in the same mysteri- 
 
 24* 
 
274 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ous silence. A resolution was tlien ofl'ered, to remove the injunc- 
 tion of secrecy, whicii shared the same fate. Finally, after a heat- 
 ed and protracted altercation, the minority succeeded so far as to 
 obtain the authority to treat for an entrepot at New Orleans, and 
 for the navigation of the Mississippi in common with Spain, down 
 to the Florid as. 
 
 A hint of these transactions having reached the ears of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, in Paris, he was exercised with the greatest inquietude and 
 alarm. He considered the abandonment of the navigation of the 
 Mississippi, as, ipso facto, a dismemberment of the Union ; and he 
 improved every occasion, in his letters to America, to impress on 
 the leading members of the government, the ungrateful character 
 and suicidal tendency of the measure. A single specimen, found 
 in a letter to Mr. Madison, dated January 30, '87, will suffice to 
 display the general tenor of an active and extensive correspondence, 
 for several months, on this vitally interesting question. 
 
 " If these transactions [insurrections] give me no uneasiness, I 
 feel very dilTerently at another piece of intelligence, to wit, the 
 possibility that, the navigation of the Mississippi may be abandoned 
 to Spain. I never had any interest westward of the Allegany ; 
 and I never will have any. But I have had great opportunities of 
 knowing the character of the people who inhaljit that country ; 
 and I will venture to say, that the act which abandons the naviga- 
 tion of the Mississippi, is an act of separation between the eastern 
 and western country. It is a relinquishment of five parts out of 
 eight of the territory of the United States ; an abandoment of the 
 fairest subject for the payment of our public debts, and the chaining 
 those debts on our own necks, in 2)erpetuum. I have the utmost 
 confidence in the honest intentions of those who concur in this 
 measure ; but I lament their want of acquaintance with the char- 
 acter and physical advantages of the people, who, right or wrong, 
 will suppose their interests sacrificed on this occasion to the con- 
 trary interests of that part of the confederacy in possession of pres- 
 ent power. If they declare themselves a separate people, we are 
 incapable of a single effort to retain them. Our citizens can never 
 be induced, either as militia or as soldiers, to go there to cut the 
 throats of their own brothers and sons, or rather, to be themselves* 
 the subjects, instead of the perpetrators, of the parricide. Nor 
 would that country quit the cost of being retained against the will 
 of its inhabitants, could it he done. But it cannot be done. They 
 are able already to rescue the navigation of the Mississippi out of 
 the hands of Spain, and to add New Orleans to their own territory. 
 They will be joined Ijy the inliabitants of Louisiana. This will 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 275 
 
 bring on a vrar between them and Spain ; and that will produce 
 the question with us, whether it will not be worth our while to 
 become parties with them in the war, in order to re-unite them 
 with us, and thus correct our error. And were I to permit ray 
 forebodings to go one step further, I should predict, that the inhab- 
 itants of tile United States would force their rulers to take the af- 
 firmative of that question. I wish I may be mistaken in all these 
 opinions." 
 
 The right of the United States to the free navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi, in its whole extent, and the establishment of that right 
 upon an immovable basis, was a subject which early engaged the 
 attention of Mr. Jefterson. It was one of those enterprises of vast 
 national utility, w4iich seemed to match his patriotism, and to sum- 
 mon all his powers into action. He persevered in the effort, through 
 a period of fifteen years, in dificrent public stations ; and his agen- 
 cy in producing the final result, was scarcely less distinguished, 
 though less direct and efficacious, than in accomplishing the splen- 
 did achievement of the acquisition of Louisiana. The question 
 was not definitively settled until 1803, when, being at the head of 
 the nation, he appointed Mr. Monroe minister to Madrid, for the 
 express purpose of concluding a final arrangement with that gov- 
 ernment, covering all the points at issue growing out of the sub- 
 ject. The mission was as honorable as it was successful. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's watchfulness over the interests of America, while 
 in Europe, exceeds all calculation. Nothing escaped his notice, 
 which he thought could be made useful in his own country. The 
 southern States are indebted to him for the introduction of the cul- 
 ture of upland rice. In 1790, he procured a cask of this species 
 of rice, from the river Denbigh, in Africa, about latitude 9 deg. 
 30 min. north, which he sent to Charleston, in the hope that it 
 would supersede the culture of the wet rice, which renders South 
 Carolina and Georgia so pestilential through the summer. The 
 quantity was divided at Charleston, and a part sent to Georgia, by 
 his directions. The cultivation of this rice has now become gen- 
 eral in the upper parts of Georgia and South Carohna, and is 
 highly prized. It was supposed by Mr. Jefferson, that it might be 
 grown successfully in Tennessee and Kentucky. He also endeav- 
 oured to obtain the seed of the Cochin-China rice, for the purpose 
 of introducing its cultivation in the same States ; but it does not 
 appear whether he was successful or not. In the same spirit of 
 
276 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 unremitting attention to the interests of his infant country, he traijs- 
 mitted from Marseilles to Charleston, a great variety of olive plants, 
 for experimenting their growth in South Carolina and Georgia. 
 " The greatest service," says he, " which can be rendered any coun- 
 try is, to add an useful plant to its culture ; especially a bread 
 grain ; next in value to bread, is oil." These plants Avere tried, 
 and are now flourishing at the south ; although not yet multiplied 
 extensively, they will be the germ of that invaluable species of cul- 
 tivation in those States. 
 
 AH the powers of Mr. Jefferson seemed to kindle in the pursuit 
 of multiplying objects of profitable agriculture in America, and of 
 improving the husbandry of those already established as staples. 
 With this patriotic view, he made a tour into the southern parts of 
 France, and the northern of Italy, in which he passed three months, 
 mingling private gratification with services of the highest public 
 utility. His plan was to visit the ports along the Avestern and 
 southern coast of France, particularly Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, 
 and L'Orient, to obtain such information as would enable him to 
 judge of the practicability of making further improvements in our 
 commerce with the southern provinces of Fiance ; to visit the ca- 
 nal of Languedoc, and possess himself of such information in that 
 species of navigation, as might be useful to communicate to his 
 countrymen ; and thence to pass into the northern provinces of 
 Italy, to examine minutely the different subjects of culture in those 
 munificent regions, to ascertain what improvements might be made 
 in America, in the culture and husbandry of rice and other staples 
 common to both countries ; and, if any, what other productions of 
 that climate, might be advantageously introduced, as articles of do- 
 mestic grovv'th, into the southern States. Another object with him 
 was, to try the mineral waters of Aix, in Provence, for a dislocated 
 wrist, unsuccessfully set, in pursuance of the advice of his sur- 
 geon. 
 
 He left Paris, therefore, on the 28th of Febuary, '87, and pro- 
 ceeded up the Seine, through Champagne and Burgundy, and 
 down the Rhone through the Beaujolais, by Lyons, Avignon, Nis- 
 mes, to Aix. Receiving, on trial, no benefit from the mineral wa- 
 ters of that place, he bent his course into the rice countries of Italy, 
 taking his route by Marseilles Toulon, Hieres, Nice, across the Col 
 de Tende, by Coni, Turin, Vercelh, Novara, Milan, Pavia, Novd, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 277 
 
 Genoa. Thence returning, he passed along the coast, by Savona, 
 Noh, Albenga, Onegha, Monaco, Nice, Antibes, Frejus, Aix. Mar- 
 seilles, Avignon, Nismes, Montpellier, Frontignan, Sette, Agde, and 
 along the canal of Languedoc, by Beziers, Narhonne, Carcassonne, 
 Castelnaudari, through the Son terrain of St. Feriol, and back by 
 Castelnaudari, to Toulouse ; thence to Montauban, and down the 
 Garonne by Langon, to Bordeaux. Thence to Rochelbrt, la Ro- 
 chelle, Nantes, L'Orient ; then back by Rennes to Nantes, and up 
 the Loire, by Angers, Tours, Amboise, Blois, to Orleans; thence 
 direct to Paris, where he arriv^ed on the 10th of June, Soon after 
 returning from this journey, he was joined by his younger daugh- 
 ter, Maria, from Virginia, the youngest having died some time be- 
 fore. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was impressed with delightful sensations in trav- 
 ersing the luxurious provinces of iSouthern France, where the 
 choicest blessings of heaven are spread in profusion before the eye; 
 but his mind assumed a gloomy and contemplative mood, on 
 visiting the storied grounds of Italy, where the richest munificence 
 of nature is blasted by the hand of tyranny, and the ruins of clas- 
 sic grandeur enhance the melancholy contrast, at every step. He 
 travelled incognito, and insinuated himself into every position, 
 from which he might derive a knowledge of the inhabitants, their 
 manners, and modes of living, their implements of husbandry and 
 dairy, their inventions and improvements in these arts, their farms, 
 productions, their wants and superfluities, their means and degree 
 of happiness, and causes of misery. The novelty and variety of 
 the scenes through which he passed^ the multitude of curious 
 and interesting objects which he encountered, presented a perpet- 
 ual feast to his enquiring mind ; nor could they fail to impart the 
 most desirable lessons to the philosophei-, the philanthropist, and 
 the statesman of unvitiated principles. From Nice, under date of 
 April 19th, he writes to the Marquis de La Fayette : 
 
 " I am constantly roving about to see what I have never seen 
 before, and shall never see again. In the great cities, I go to see 
 w4iat travellers think alone worthy of being seen ; but I make a 
 job of it, and generally gulp it all dow^n in a day. On the other 
 hand, I am never satiated w ith rambling through the fields and 
 farms, examining the culture and cultivators with a degree of curi- 
 osity, which makes some take me to be a fool, and others to be much 
 wiser than I am. * * * From the first olive fields of 
 
278 LIFE, WRITINGS, ANO 3PINIOK3 
 
 Pierrelatte, to the orangeries of Hieves, has been continued rapture 
 to me. I have often wished for you. I think you liave not made 
 this journey. It is a pleasure you liave to come, and an improve- 
 ment to be added to tlie many you have ah'eady made. It will be 
 a great comfort to you. to know, from your own inspection, the 
 c<)ndition of all the provinces of your own country, and it will be 
 interesting to them at some future day, to be known to you. This 
 is, periiaps, the only moment of your hfe, in which you can acquire 
 tiiat knowledge. And to do it most efiectually, you must be abso- 
 lutely i/icoQ'nito, you must ferret the people out of their hovels, as 
 I have done, look into their kettles, eat their bread, loll on their 
 beds under pretence of resting yourself, but in fact to find if they 
 are soft. You will feel a sublime pleasure in the course of this in- 
 vestigation, and a sublimer one hereafter, when you shall be able 
 to apply your knowledge to the softening of their beds, or the 
 throwing a morsel of meat into their kettle of vegetables." 
 
 From Lyons to Nismes Mr. JefTerson was ' nourished with the 
 remains of Roman grandeur.' He Avas immersed in antiquities 
 from morning to night. He was transported back to the times of 
 the Ca?sars, the intrigues of their courts, the oppressions of their 
 praetors, and prefects. To him the city of Rome seemed actually 
 existing in all the magnificence of its meridian glory ; and he was 
 iiiled with alarm in momentaiy anticipation of the irruptions of 
 the Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals. Under date of 
 Nismes, he writes to the Countess de Tesse, in a mood, which 
 illustrates the extravagance of his passion for ancient architecture : 
 
 '■ Here I am. Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison Quar- 
 ree, like a lover at his mistress. The stocking-weavers and silk- 
 spinners around it, consider me as a hypochondriac Englishman, 
 about to write with a pistol the last chapter of his history. This 
 is the second time I have been in love since I left Paris. The 
 first was with a Diana at the Chateau de Lay-Epinaye in Beau- 
 jolais, a delicious morsel of sculptiu'e. by M. A. Slodtz. This, you 
 will say, wat> in rule, to fall in love with a female beauty : but 
 with a house ! It is out of all precedent. No, Madam, it is not 
 v.'itliout a precedent, in my own history. V/hile in Paris, I was 
 violently smitten with the Hot(jl.de >Salm, and used to go to the 
 Tuiicries, almost daily, to look at it. The loiieuse des chaises, 
 inattentive to my passion, never had the complaisance to place a 
 chair there, so that, sitting on the parapet, and twisting my neck 
 roimd to see the object of my admiration. I generally left it with a 
 torticollis.''^ 
 
 Mr. Jefierson kept a diary of his excursion into Italy, in which 
 he noted, with minuteness, every circumstance, which he thought 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 279 
 
 might be made useful or insti-iictive to his countrymen. Of these 
 notes, which covered about filly printed octavo pages, he made 
 copies, on his return, and transmitted them.to General Washington 
 and others in America, as containing hints capable of being im- 
 proved in their minds to the benefit of the United States. Hip 
 course of observations supplied him with materials for benefiting 
 the commerce of the United States, in some essential particulars, 
 ■for improving the quality in articles of staple growth, and increas- 
 ing the subjects of cultivation, in some States. At Turin, Milan, 
 and Genoa, he satisfied himself of the practicability of introducing 
 our whale oil, for their consumption, and that of the other great cities 
 of that country. The merchants with whom he asked conferences, 
 met him freely, and communicated frankly ; but not being au- 
 thorized to conclude a formal negotiation, he could only prepare a 
 general disposition to receive our oil merchants. On the article of 
 tobacco, he was more in the possession of his ground ; and put 
 matters into a train for inducing their government to draw their 
 tobacco directly from the United States, and not, as heretofore, from 
 Great Britain. He procured the seeds of three diflferent species of ricCy 
 from Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Levant, divided each quantity 
 into three separate parcels, and forwarded them by as many dif- 
 ferent conveyances, to Charleston, in order to ensure a safe arrival. 
 He questioned the utility of engaging in the cultivation of the vine 
 in the southern States, under the present circumstances of their 
 population. Wines were so cheap in those countries, that a labor- 
 er with us, employed in the culture of any other article, might ex- 
 change it for wine, more and better than he could raise himself. 
 It might, hereafter, become a profitable resource to us ; when the 
 increase of population shall have increased our productions beyond 
 the demand for them at home and abroad. Instead of augment- 
 ing the useless surplus of them, the supernumerary hands might 
 then be employed on the vine. The introduction of the fig, the 
 mulberry, and the ohve, he strongly recommended to the cultiva- 
 tors in the southern parts of the United States. With the olive 
 tree, in particular, he was so smitten, that he declared it next to 
 the most precious, if not the most precious of all the gifts of heav- 
 en to man. He thought, perhaps, it might claim a preference even 
 to bread, considering the infinitude of vegetables, to which it ren- 
 dered a proper and comfortable nourishment. In a letter to Wil- 
 
280 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 liam Drayton, piesident of the Agiicultuial Society in South Car- 
 olina, written on his return from his excursion, he says : 
 
 '• This is an article, the consumption of which will always keep 
 pace with its production. Raise it ; and it begets its own demand. 
 Little is carried to America, because Europe has it not to spare. 
 We therefore have not learned the use of it. But cover the southern 
 States with it, and every man will become a consumer of oil, with- 
 in whose reach it can l)e brought, in point of price. If the mem- 
 ory of those persons is held in great respect in South Carolina, who 
 introduced there the culture of rice, a plant which sows life and 
 death, with almost equal hand, what obligations would be due to 
 him who should introduce the olive tree, and set the example of its 
 culture ! Were the owner of slaves to view it only as the means 
 of bettering their condition, how much would he better that, by 
 planting one of those trees for every slave he possessed ! Having 
 been myself an eye-witness to the blessings which this tree sheds 
 on the poor, I never had my wishes so kindled for the introduction 
 of any article of new culture into our own country. South Caro- 
 lina and Georgia appear to me to be the States, wherein its success,- 
 in favorable positions at least, could not be doubted, and I flattered 
 myself, it would come within the views of the society for agricul- 
 ture, to begin the experiments wdiich are to prove its practicability." 
 
 As in commerce and agriculture, so in the manufacturing inter- 
 est, Mr. Jefferson was indefatigable in endeavoring to benefit the 
 rivalship of America with the Eastern continent. Of every new 
 invention and discovery in the arts, he was prompt to communi- 
 cate the earliest intelligence to Congress, or to individual artists and 
 professors. Among these, the most remarkaljle were, the principle 
 of stereotyping, which he communicated in 1786 ; and the mode of 
 constructing muskets upon the plan of Mr. Whitney, of New- Ha- 
 ven, which he communicated about the same time. It consisted in 
 making all the parts of the musket so exactly alike, as that, mixed 
 together promiscuously, any one part should serve equally for every 
 musket in the magazine. Of those improvements which were 
 claimed as original in Europe, but of which America was entitled 
 to the merit of a prior discovery, his knowledge enabled him to de- 
 tect the imposition, and his patriotism incited him to vindicate the 
 honor of his own countrymen. This was in fact the case in sev- 
 eral instances. 
 
 In the sciences and the fine arts, Mr. Jefferson was equally assid- 
 uous to advance the reputation of his rising country. His letters to 
 President Stiles, to the president of William and Mary College^ to 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 281 
 
 the president of Harvard Universit}^, to Rittenhouse, Charle? 
 Thompson, and others, are splendid ilkistrations of his zeal and effi- 
 ciency in these pursuits. As a mark of the high estimation in 
 which his literary services in Europe, were held in this country, b.e 
 received from Harvard University, in 1789, a diploma conferring 
 on him the Do(Jtorate of Laws. In a letter to Dr. Willard, return- 
 ing his acknowledgments for the honor, he thus concludes: '• It is 
 for such institutions as that over which you preside so worthily, Sir, 
 to do justice to oiu' country, its productions, and its genius. It is the 
 work to which the young men, whom you are forming, should lay 
 their hands. We have spent the prime of our lives in procuring 
 them the precious blessing of liberty. Let them spend theirs in 
 showing that it is the great parent of science and of virtue ; and that 
 a nation will be great in both, always in proportion as it is free. 
 NolDody wishes more warmly for the success of your good exhorta- 
 tions on this subject, than he who has the honor to be, with senti- 
 ments of great esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, humlile 
 servant." 
 
 Their advances in science, and in the arts of sculpture, painting 
 and music, were the only things, he declared, for which he envied 
 the people of France ; and for these he al)solutely did envy them. 
 His passion for the few remains of ancient architecture which ex- 
 isted, was unbounded ; and his efforts unremitting, for introducing 
 samples of them in America, for the jDurpose of encouraging a style 
 of architecture analogous to the Roman model. In June, 1785, he 
 received a request from the Directors of the public buildings in Vir- 
 ginia, to procure and transmit them plans for the capitol, palace. 
 &c. He immediately engaged an architect of capital abilities, for 
 this piupose, and directed him to take for his model the Maison 
 Quarree of Nismes, which he considered 'the most precious and 
 perfect morsel of antiquity in existence.' But what was hi&surprise 
 and regret on learning, a short time after, that the buildings were 
 actually begun, without waiting for the receipt of his plans. ' Pray 
 try, he writes to Mr. Madison, if you can effect the stopping of this 
 work. The loss is not to be weighed against the saving of money 
 which will arise, against the comfort of laying out the public mon- 
 ey for something honorable, the satisfaction of seeing an object and 
 proof of national good taste, and the regret and mollification of erect- 
 ing a monument of our barbarism, which will be loaded with exe- 
 
 25 
 
282 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 orations as long as it shall endure. You see I am an enthusiast 
 on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthusiasm of which I am 
 not ashamed, as its-object is to improve the taste of my countrymen, 
 to increase their reputation, to reconcile to tliem the respect of the 
 world, and procure them its praise.' 
 
 How thoroughly and wonderfully American was the heart of 
 Mr. Jefferson. The specimens we have given exhil)it but a slender 
 outline of a series of correspondence, public and private, comprising 
 more than three hundred letters, chiefly to his friends in the United 
 States, all breathing the same unslumlDcring devotion to the inter- 
 ests of his country, in every imaginable department, from the most 
 intricate points of abstract science, and the most momentous ques- 
 tions of national policy, down to ingenious essays on the most sim- 
 ple processes in agriculture and housewifery. He was, at the same 
 time, in habits of correspondence with many distinguished charac- 
 ters, literary and pohtical, in most of the nations of Europe. His 
 philosophical reputation and powers established him in ready favor 
 with the constellation of bold thinkers, which then illuminated 
 France ; and much of his attention was necessarily, perhaps ad- 
 vantageously, occupied in the metaphysical discussions of the day. 
 He was on terms of intimacy with the Abbe Morellet, Condorcet, 
 D'Alembert, Mirabeau, <fec. ; and he renewed his discussion, in 
 natural science, with Mons. de Buffon, to whom he had already 
 given such a foretaste of his abilities, in his Notes on Virginia. 
 The ladies of that gay capital, who maintain so powerful an as- 
 cendency in all its circles, delighted in his society, and impressed 
 him into their correspondence. His letters to some of them, which 
 have been lately published, are masterpieces of imaginative compo- 
 sition.* At the solicitation of the authors of the Encyclopedie 
 Methodiqtie, the most popular work then publishing in Paris, Mr. 
 Jefferson prepared for insertion several articles on the United States, 
 giving a history of the government of the Confederation, from its 
 origin to the adoption of the Constitution. One of the authors 
 of that work had made the society of the Cincinnati, the subject 
 of a libel on our government, and its great military leader. But 
 before committing it to the press, he submitted it to Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, for examination. He found it a tissue of errors, a mere phil- 
 
 See Appendix, Note C. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 283 
 
 ipic against the institution, in which there appeared an utter ignor- 
 ance of facts and motives. He wrote over the whole article ; in do- 
 ing which he vindicated the motives of General Washington, and his. 
 brother officers, from ev^ery hability to reproach. His own opinions, 
 however, of the ultimate effects of that institution^ underwent such 
 a change, during his residence in Europe, as induced him to recom- 
 mend its total e?ctinction. In a letter to General Washington, dated 
 Paris, November 14, 1786, he thus writes : 
 
 " What has heretofore passed between us on this institution, 
 makes it my duty to mention to you, that I have never heard a per- 
 son in Europe, learned or unlearned, express his thoughts on this 
 institution, who did not consider it as dishonorable and destructive 
 to our governments ; and that eveiy writing which has come out 
 since my arrival here, in which it is mentioned, considers it, even as 
 now reformed, as the germ whose development is one day to destroy 
 the fabric we have reared. I did not apprehend this, while I had 
 American ideas only. But I confess that what I have seen in Eu- 
 rope, has brought me over to that opinion ; and that though the day 
 may be at some distance, beyond the reach of our lives perhaps, yet 
 it will certainly come, when a single fibre left of this institution will 
 produce an hereditary aristocracy, which ^WU change the form of 
 our governments from the best to the worst in the world. To know 
 the mass of evil which flows from this fatal source, a person must 
 be in France ; he must see the finest soil, the finest climate, the 
 most compact state, the most benevolent character of people, and 
 every earthly advantage combined, insufficient to prevent this 
 scourge from rendering existence a cmse to twenty-four out of twen- 
 ty-five parts of the inhabitants of this country. With us, the branch- 
 es of this institution cover all the States. The southern ones, at 
 this time, are aristocratic al in their dispositions : and that that spirit 
 should grow and extend itself, is within the natural order of things. 
 I do not flatter myself with the iimnortality of our governments : but 
 I shall think little also of their longevity, unless this germ of de- 
 struction be taken out. When the society themselves shall weigh 
 the possibility of evil, against the impossibility of any good to pro- 
 ceed from this institution, I cannot help hoping they will eradicate 
 iti I know they wish the permanence of our governments, as 
 much as any individuals composing them." 
 
 Such are some of the extraordinary and diversified services per- 
 formed by Mr. Jefferson in his private, unofficial capacity. The 
 circumstance ought not to be overlooked, that these attentions to the 
 general interests of the United States, were exercised amidst the 
 labors and anxieties of a multiplicity of public avocations. His di- 
 plomatic correspondence with the Count de Vergennes, the most 
 
284 trFE, WRITING.^, AND OPINIONS 
 
 subtle and powerful Minister in all Europe, was almost daily, and 
 in point of spirit and urgency in behalf of America, clearly im rival- 
 ed. His correspondence Avith the bankers of the United States, at 
 Amsterdam and Paris, to preserve the credit of the United States, 
 was constant, and laljorioiis ; and his exertions for the redemption 
 of American captives at Algiers, for establishing a general coalition 
 of all the civilized Powers against the piratical States, and, on fail- 
 ure of that, for negotiating treaties of peace with them, on the most 
 favorable terms, are unprecedented in the history of diplomatic af- 
 fairs. 
 
 But of all the private labors of Mr. Jetlerson, in behalf of his 
 country, none were more useful, none more praiseworlh}^ and patri- 
 otic, than those which were directed to the moral improvement of 
 the rising generation. It was to them he looked, and not to those 
 then on the stage, for the perfection of the glorious political work 
 which he had exhausted every resource, and 'sacrificed every com- 
 fort, in advancing ; and his ambition appeared insatiable to fashion 
 their minds, their habits, their tastes and principles, after the model 
 of the incorruptible generation of '76. His letters addressed to sev- 
 eral young men of Virginia, in whose studies and future pursuits he 
 felt a particular interest, are among the most valuable parts of hi^ 
 private correspondence. The following, addressed to Peter Carr, 
 will suffice as a specimen. 
 
 '•I received by Mr. Mazzei, your letter of April the 20th. I am 
 much mortified to hear that you have lost so much time ; and that 
 when you arrived in Williamsburgh, you were not at all advanced 
 from what you were when you left Monticello. Time now begins 
 1.0 be precious to you. Every day you lose, will retard a day your 
 entrance on that public stage whereon you may begin to 1)e useful 
 to yourself. However, the way to repair the loss is to improve the 
 future time. I trust, that with your dispositions, even the actjuisi- 
 tion of science is a pleasing employment. I can assure you, that tlie 
 possession of it is, what (next to an honest heart) will above all things 
 render you dear to your friends, and give you fame and promotion 
 in your own country. When your mind shall be weW improved 
 with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the highest 
 point of view, but to pursue the interests of your country, the inter- 
 ests of your friends, and your owit interests also, with the purest in- 
 tegrity, the most chaste honor. The defect of these virtues can nev- 
 er be made up by all the other acquirements of body and mind. 
 Make these then your first object. Give up money, give up fame, 
 give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 285 
 
 do an immoral act. And never suppose, that in any possible situa- 
 tion, or mider any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonor- 
 able tiling, however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever 
 you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to your- 
 self, ask yourself how you would a,ct were all the world looking at 
 you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, 
 and exercise them Avhenever an opportunity arises ; being assured 
 that they will gain strength by exercise, as a hmb of the body does, 
 and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of 
 (lie purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sub- 
 lime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death. 
 If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing 
 circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to extricate your- 
 self, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you 
 the best out of the worst situations. Though you cannot see, when 
 you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, 
 and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the laby- 
 rinth, in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you thought 
 a Gordian one, will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mistaken 
 as the supposition, that a person is to extricate himself from a diffi- 
 culty by intrigue, by cliicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by 
 an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the difficulties ten fold ;_ 
 and those who pursue these methods, get themselves so involved at 
 length, that they can turn no way but their infamy becomes more 
 exposed. It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be 
 shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so piti- 
 ful, so contemptible ; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, 
 finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length 
 it becomes habitual ; he tells lies without attending to it. and truths 
 without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue 
 leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposi- 
 tions. 
 
 " An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the 
 second. It is time for you now to begin to be choice in your read- 
 ing, to begin to pursue a regular course in it, and not to suffer your- 
 self to be turned to the right or left by reading any thing out of that 
 course. I have long ago digested a plan for you, suited to the cir- 
 cumstances in which you will be placed. This I will detail to you, 
 from time to time, as you advance. For the present, I advise you • 
 to begin a course of ancient history, reading every thing in the origi- 
 nal and not in translations. First read Goldsmith's History of 
 Greece. This will give you a digested view of that field. Then 
 take up ancient history in the detail, reading the following books ui 
 the following order : Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Helleni- 
 ca, Xenophontis Anabasis, Airian, Q,uintus Curtius, Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus, Justin. This shall form the first stage of your historical read- 
 ing, and is all I need mention to you now. The next, will be of 
 
 25* 
 
286 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Roman history. From that we will come down to modern history. 
 In Greek and Latin poetry, you have read or will read at school, 
 Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides, 
 Sophocles. Read also Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakspeare, Ossian, 
 Pope's and Swift's works, in order to form your style in your own 
 language. In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophpntis Memorabilia, 
 Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies, Antoninus, and 
 ►Seneca. In order to assure a certain progress in this reading, con- 
 sider what hours you have free from the school and the exercises of 
 the school. Give about two of them every day to exercise ; for 
 health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes 
 the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. 
 While tliis gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, 
 enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the 
 ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and 
 stamp no character on the mind. Let your gu)i, therefore, be the 
 constant companion of your walks. Never think of taking a book 
 with you. I'he object of walking is to relax the mind. You 
 should, therefore, not permit yourself even to think while you walk ■, 
 but divert your attention by the objects surrounding you. Walking 
 is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. 
 The Europeans value themselves on having subdued the horse to 
 the uses of man ; but I doubt whether we have not lost more than 
 we have gained, by the use of this animal. No one has occasion- 
 ed so much the degeneracy of the human body. An Indian goes 
 on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey, as an enfeebled 
 white does on his horse ; and he will tire the best horses. There 
 is no habit you will value so much as that of walking far with- 
 out fatigue. I would advise you to take your exercise in the after- 
 noon ; not because it is the best time for exercise, for certainly it is 
 not ; but because it is the best time to spare from your studies ; and 
 habit will soon reconcile it to health, and render it nearly as useful 
 as if you gave to tliat the more precious hours of the day. A little 
 walk of lialf an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is advisa- 
 ble also. It sliakes ofl' sleep, and produces other good elTects in the 
 animal economy. Rise at a fixed and an early hour, and go to bed 
 at a fixed and early hour also. Sitting up late at night is injurious 
 to the health, and not usefid to the mind. Having ascribed proper 
 hours to exercise, divide what remain (I mean of your vacant 
 hours) into three portions. Give the principal to History, the other 
 two, which should be shorter, to Philosophy and Poetry. Write to 
 me every month or two, and let me know the progress you make. 
 Tell me in what manner you employ every hour in the day. The 
 plan 1 have proposed for j'ou is adapted to your present situation on- 
 ly. When that is changed, I shall propose a corresponding change 
 of plan, "^ * * You are now, I expect, learning French. You 
 must push this ; because the books which will be put into your 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 2S7 
 
 hands when you advance into Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, 
 Natural History, ifc,c., will be mostly French ; these sciences being 
 better treated by the French than the English writers. Our future 
 c-onnection with Spain renders that the most necessary of the modern 
 languages, after the French. When you become a public man, 
 you may have occasion for it, and the circumstance of your possess- 
 ing that language may give you a preference over other candidates. 
 I have nothing farther to add for the present, but husband well 
 3'our time, cherish your instructors, strive to make every body your 
 friend ; and be assured that nothing will be so pleasing, as your suc- 
 cess, to, dear Peter, yours aflectionately." 
 
 It was Mr. Jefferson's fortune to be an eye-witness of the opening 
 scenes of that tremendous Revolution, which began so gloriously, 
 and ended so fatally for France. The immediate and exciting 
 cause of this ill-fated struggle for political reformation, he ascribes 
 to the influence of the American example, and American ideas. 
 In his notes on that interesting event, he says : 
 
 " The American Revolution seems first to have awakened the 
 thinking part of the French nation, in general, from the sleep of 
 despotism into which they were sunk. The officers, too, wlio had 
 been to America, were mostly young men, less shackled by habit 
 and prejudice, and more ready to assent to the suggestions of com- 
 mon sense, and feeling of common lights, than others. They came 
 back to France with new ideas and impressions. The press, not- 
 withstanding its shackles, began to disseminate them ; conversa- 
 tion assumed new freedoms ; politics became the theme of all soci- 
 eties, male and female ; and a very extensive and zealous party 
 was formed, wdiich acquired the appellation of the Patriotic party, 
 who, sensible of the abusive government under which they lived, 
 sighed for occasions for reforming it. This party comprehended 
 all the honesty of the kingdom, sufficiently at leisure to think, 
 the men of letters, the easy Bourgeois, the young nobility, partly 
 from reflection, partly from mode ;: for these sentiments became 
 matter of mode, and, as such, united most of the young women to 
 the party." 
 
 The part sustained by Mr. JefTerson in the early stages of the 
 French Revolution, was of a weighty and prominent character. 
 It has not yet been incorporated into written history, but the late 
 revelation of his cabinet to the world, will soon place it there, when 
 it will constitute one of the most interesting features of his posthu- 
 mous leputation. 
 
 Possessing the confidence and intimacy of the leading patriots, 
 and more than all, of the Marcjuis de La Fayette, their head and 
 
288 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Allai5, he was consulted by them, at every step, on all measures of 
 importance ; and the prudence and prophetic wisdom of his coun- 
 sels, which weie implicitly followed while they could have the ben- 
 efit of them, retarded the moment of convulsion and civil war, un- 
 til after his withdrawal from the scene of action. Being from a 
 country which had successfully passed through a similar struggle, 
 his acquaintance was eagerly sought by them, and his opinions 
 carried with them an authority almost oracular. In attempting the 
 redress of present grievances, he recommended a mild and gradual 
 reformation of abuses, one after another, at suitable intervals, so as 
 not to revolt the concihatory dispositions of the King ; and in pro- 
 viding against their recurrence in future, by remodeling the prin- 
 ciples of the government, he recommended cautious approaches to 
 republicanism, to give time for the grov^th of public opinion, and 
 work a peaceable regeneration of the political system, by slow and 
 successive improvements, through a series of years. The interest 
 which he felt in the passing revolution, and his anxiety for the 
 final result, were inconceivably great. He considered a successful 
 reformation of government in France, as insuring a general refor- 
 mation through Europe, and the resurrection to a new life of their 
 people, now ground to dust by the oppressions of the constituted 
 powers. He went daily from Paris to Versailles, to attend the de- 
 bates of the States General, and continued there generally, until 
 the hour of adjournment. This Assembly had been convened, as 
 a mediatorial power between the government and the nation ; and 
 it was well understood, that the King would now concede, 1, Free- 
 dom of the person by habeas corpus ; 2, Freedom of conscience ; 
 3, Freedom of the press ; 4, Trial by jury ; 5, A representative 
 legislature ; 6, Annual meetings ; 7, The origination of laws ; 
 8, The exclusive right of taxation and appropriation ; and 9, The 
 responsibility of ministers. Mr. Jefferson urged, most strenuously, 
 an immediate compromise, upon the basis of these concessions ; 
 and their instant adjournment for a year. They came from the 
 very heart of the King, who had not a wish but for the good of the 
 nation ; and these improvements, if accepted and carried into effect, 
 he had no doubt would be maintained during the present reign, 
 which would be long enough for them to take some root in the 
 constitution, and be consolidated by time and the attachment of 
 the nation. The following letter, addressed to one of the leaders 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 289 
 
 of the States General, conveys his advice, in an emphatic manner, 
 accompanied by a Charter of Rights, prepared by himseh" on the 
 basis of the King's propositions : 
 
 " After you quitted us 3'esterday evening, we continued our con- 
 versation (Monsieur de la Fayette, Mr. Short, and myself) on tlie 
 subject of the difficulties which environ you. The desiroble object 
 being to secure the good which the King has olTered, and to a\oid 
 the ill which seems to tiu'eatcn, an idea was suggested, which ap- 
 pearing to make an impression on Monsieur de La Fayette, I was 
 encouraged to pursue it on my return to Paris, to put it into form, 
 and now to send it to you and him. Is is this ; that the King, 
 in a seance royule, should come forward with a Charter of Rights 
 in his hand, to be signed by himself and by every member of the 
 three orders. This charter to contain the five great points which 
 the Residtat of Uecem!)er ottered on the part of the King : the 
 abolition of pecuniary privileges offered by the privileged orders. 
 and the adoption of the national debt, and a grant of the sum of 
 money asked from the. nation. Tins last will be a cheap price for 
 the preceding articles ; and let the same act declare your immedi- 
 ate separation til! the next anniversary meeting. You will carry 
 back to your constituents more good than ever was effected before 
 without violence, and you will stop exactly at the point v.here vio- 
 lence would othervv'ise begin. Time will be gained, tlio public 
 mind will continue to ripen and to he. informed, a basis of support 
 may be prepared with the people themselves, and expedients occur 
 for gaining still something further at your next meeting, and for 
 stopping again at the point of force. I have ventured to send your- 
 self and Monsieur de La Fayette a sketch of my ideas of what 
 this act might contain, without endangering any dispute. But it 
 is offered merely as a canvass -for you to work on, if it be fit to 
 work on at all. I know too little of the subject, and you know too 
 much of it, to justify me in offering any thing but a hint. I have 
 done it, too, in a hurry : insomuch, that since committing it to 
 writing, it occurs to me that the fifth article may give alarm ; that 
 it is in a good degree included in. the fourth, and is, therefore, use- 
 less. But after all, what excuse can I make, Sir, for tliis presump- 
 tion. I have none but an unmeasuraljle love for your nation, and 
 a painful anxiety lest despotism, after an unaccepted offer to bind 
 its own hands, should seize you again with tenfold fury.'' 
 
 The Cbarter of Rights accompanying the above letter was a 
 judicious compromise between republicanism and monarchy. It 
 was to have been signed by the King, and every member of the 
 Assembly, individually, in his presence. The rights which it con- 
 templated, embraced the ultimate point, in the opinion of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, to which the patriots could go in safety, without producing 
 
290 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 violence ; and with the possession of these powers, he most eager- 
 ly and eloquently contended they could obtain, in future, whatev- 
 er might be further necessary to improve their constitution, and 
 perfect their freedom and happiness. " They thought otlierwise, 
 however," says he, " and events have proved their lamentable error. 
 For, after thirty years of war, foreign and domestic, the loss of 
 millions of lives, the prostration of private happiness, and the foreign 
 subjugation of their owai country for a time, they have obtained no 
 more, nor even that securely. They were unconscious of (for who 
 could foresee ?) the melancholy sequel of their w^ell-meant persever- 
 ance ; that their physical force would be usurped by a first tyrant 
 to trample on the independence, and even the existence, of other 
 nations ; that this would afford a fatal example for the atrocious 
 conspiracy of Kings against their people ; would generate their 
 unholy and homicide alliance to make common cause among them- 
 selves, and to crush, by the power of the whole, the efforts of any 
 part, to moderate their abuses and oppressions." 
 
 In the evening of August 4tli, on motion of the Viscount de 
 Noailles, brother-in-law^ of La Fayette, the Assembly abolished all 
 titles of rank, all the abusive privileges of feudalism, the tythes and 
 casuals of the clergy, all provincial privileges, and, in fine, the feu- 
 dal regimen generally. Many days were employed in putting into 
 the form of laws, the numerous revocations of abuses ; after which, 
 they proceeded to the preliminary work of a Declaration of Rights. 
 An instm)nent of this kind had been prepared by Mr. Jefferson 
 and La Fayette, and submitted to the Assembly by the latter, on 
 the 11th of July ; but the sudden occurrence of acts of violence, 
 had suspended all proceedings upon it. There being much con- 
 cord of opinion on the elements of this instrument, it was liberally 
 framed, and passed with a very general approbation. They then 
 appointed a committee to prepare a projet of a Constitution ; at the 
 head of which was the archbishop of Bordeaux. From him, in 
 the name of the committee, Mr. Jefferson received a letter, request- 
 ing him to attend and assist at their deliberations. But he excused 
 himself, on the obvious considerations, that his mission was to the 
 King, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, that his duties were limi- 
 ted to the concerns of his own country, and forbade his intermed- 
 dling with the internal transactions of France, w^here he had been 
 received under a specific character only. 
 
OF TH03IAS JEFFERSON. 291 
 
 The plan of the Constitution was discussed in sections, and so 
 reported from time to time, as agreed to by the committee. The 
 principles of the general frame of the government, proposing the 
 division of its powers into three departments, executive, legislative, 
 and judiciary, were accepted with great unanimity. But when 
 they proceeded to subordinate developments, many and various 
 shades of opinion came into conflict, and broke the patriots into 
 fragments of very discordant principles. The questions, Whether 
 the king should have a negative on the laws ? whether that nega- 
 tive should be absolute, or suspensive only ? whether there should 
 be two chambers of legislation, or one only ? if two, should one of 
 them be hereditary ? or for life? or for a fixed term only? whether 
 named by the king, or elected by the people ? These questions 
 encountered strong diflferencies of opinion, and produced repulsive 
 combinations among the patriots. The aristocracy were cemented 
 by a common principle of preserving the ancient regime, or whatever 
 should be nearest to it. Making this their polar star, they moved 
 in phalanx, gave preponderance to the minorities of the patriots, 
 -and always to those who advocated the least change. 
 
 In this critical state of things, Mr. Jefferson received a note from 
 the Marcjuis La Fayette, informing him that he should bring a 
 party of six or eight friends, to ask a dinner of him the next day. 
 He assured him of their welcome. When they came, there were 
 La Fayette himself and seven others, leaders of the different frag- 
 ments of the reform party, but honest men, and sensible of the 
 necessity of effecting a coalition by mutual sacrifices. Their ob- 
 ject in soliciting this conference, was to avail themselves of the 
 counsel and mediation of the American minister, to effect a recon- 
 ciliation upon the terms which he should decide. The discussions 
 began at the hour of four, and were continued till ten o'clock in 
 the evening ; during which Mr. Jefferson was witness to a ' cool- 
 ness and candor of argument unusual in political conflicts, to a 
 logical reasoning, and a chaste eloquence, disfigured by no gaudy 
 tinsel of rhetoric or declamation, which he thought worthy of being 
 placed in parallel with the finest dialogues of antiquity, as handed 
 to us by Xenophen, by Plato, and Cicero.' 
 
 The result of this conference decided the fate of the French 
 Constitution. It was mutually agreed, on the advice of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, that the King should have a suspensive veto on the laws ; 
 
292 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 that the Legislature should he composed of a single hody only ; 
 and that it should be chosen by the people. This concordat uni- 
 ted the patriots on a common ground. They all rallied to the prin- 
 ciples thus settled, carried every question agreeably to them, and 
 reduced the aristocracy to impotence and insignificance. 
 
 But duties of exculpation were now incumbent upon Mr. JefTer- 
 son. He waited the next morning on Count Montmorin, Minis- 
 ter of foreign aifairs, and explained to him, with truth and candor, 
 how it happened that his house had been made the scencc of con- 
 ferences of such a character. Montmorin tcld him he already 
 knew every thing which had passed ; that so far from taking um- 
 brage at his conduct on that occasion, he earnestly wished he would 
 habitually assist at such conferences, being satisfied he would 1)6 
 useful in moderating the warmer spirits, and promoting a whole- 
 some and practicable reformation only. Mr. Jefferson told him he 
 knew too well the duties he owed to the King, to the nation, and 
 to his own country, to take any part in the transactions of their inter- 
 nal government ; and that he should persevere, with care, in the 
 character of a neutral and passive spectator, with wishes only, and 
 very sincere ones, that those measures- might prevail, which would 
 be for the greatest good of the nation. " I have no doubt, indeed," 
 says Mr. Jefferson, " that this conference was prenously known 
 and approved by this honest minister, who was in confidence and 
 communication with the patriots, and washed for a reasonable re- 
 formation of the constitution." 
 
 At this auspiciotis stage of the French Revolution, Mr. Jefferson 
 retired from the scene of action ; and the wisdom and moderation 
 of his counsels ceased with the opportunities of imparting them. 
 He left France, with warm and unabated expectations, that no se- 
 rious connnotion would take place, and that the nation would soon 
 settle down in the quiet enjoyment of a mass of liberations, to go 
 on improving its condition, in future, by future and successive amel- 
 iorations, but never to retrograde. The example of the United States 
 had been viewed as their model on all occasions, and with an au- 
 thority like that of the bible, open to explanation, but not to (|ues- 
 tion. The King had now become a passive machine in the hands 
 of the National Assembly, and had he been left to himself, would 
 unquestionably have acquiesced in their determinations. A wise 
 constitution would have been formed, hereditary in his line, hirn- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 293 
 
 self placed at its head, with powers so large as to enable him to ex- 
 ecute all the good of his station, and so limited as to restrain him 
 from its abuse, Tliis constitution he would have faithfully admin- 
 istered, and more than this he never wished. Such was the belief 
 and the hope of Mr. Jefferson ; and to one, mortal source, he as- 
 cribed the overthrow of all these fond anticipations, and the deluge 
 of crimes and cruelties which subsequently desolated France. To 
 the despotic and disastrous influence of a single woman, he attribu- 
 ted the horrible catastrophe of the French Revolution ! 
 
 " But he had a Q.ueen of absolute sway over his weak mind and 
 timid virtue, and of a character the reverse of his in all points. 
 This angel, as gaudily painted in the rhapsodies of Burke, with 
 some smartness of fancy, but no sound sense, was proud, disdainful 
 of restraint, indignant at all obstacles to her will, eager in the pur- 
 suit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her desires, or perish in 
 their wreck. Her inordinate gambling and dissipations, with those 
 of the Count d'Artois, and others of her clique, had been a sensible 
 item in the exhaustion of the treasury, which called into action the 
 reforming hand of the nation ; and her opposition to it, her inflexi- 
 ble perverseness, and dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guillotine, 
 drew the King on with her, and plunged the world into crimes and 
 calamities which will for ever stain the pages of modern history. I 
 have ever beheved, that had there been no Queen, there would 
 have been no Revolution. No force would have been provoked, nor 
 exercised. The King would have gone hand in hand with the 
 wisdom of his sounder counsellors, who, guided by the increased 
 lights of the age, wished only, with the same pace, to advance the 
 principles of their social constitution. The deed which closed the 
 mortal course of these sovereigns, I shall neither approve nor con- 
 demn. I am not prepared to say, that the first magistrate of a na- 
 tion cannot commit treason against his countr)^, or is unamenable 
 to its punishment : nor yet, that where there is no written law, no 
 regulated tribunal, there is not a law in our hearts, and a power in 
 our hands, given for righteous employment in maintaining right, 
 and redressing wrong. Of those who judged the King, many 
 thought him wilfully criminal ; many, that his existence would 
 keep the nation in perpetual conflict with the horde of Kings, who 
 would war against a regeneration which might come home tot hem- 
 selves, and that it were better that one should die than all. I should 
 not have voted with this portion of the legislature. I should have 
 shut up the Queen in a convent, putting harm out of her power, 
 and placed the King in his station, investing him with limited 
 powers, which, I verily believe, he would have honestly exercised, 
 according to the measure of his understanding. In this vray, no 
 void would have been created, courting the usurpation of a military 
 
 26 
 
294 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 adventurer, nor occasion given for those enormities which demoral- 
 ized the nations of the world, and destroyed, and is yet to destroy, 
 millions and millions of its inhabitants." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had been more than a year soliciting leave to return 
 to America, with a view to place his daughters in the society of their 
 friends, to attend to some domestic ariangements of pressing mo- 
 ment, and to resume his station for a short time, at Paris ; but it was 
 not until the last of August that he received the permission desired. 
 
 The generous tribute which he has paid to the French nation, 
 at this point, in his auto-biographical notes, displays at one view, the 
 state of feehng with which he quitted a country, where he had 
 passed so various, useful, and delightful a portion of his public Ufe. 
 
 "And here I cannot leave this great and good country, without 
 expressing my sense of its pre-eminence of character among the 
 nations of the earth. A more benevolent people I have never known,^ 
 nor greater warmth and devotedness in their select friendships. 
 Their kindness and accommodation to strangers is unparalleled, 
 and the hospitahty of Paris is beyond any thing I had conceived to 
 be practicable in a large city. Their eminence, too, in science, the 
 communicative dispositions of their scientific men, the politeness of 
 the general manners, the ease and vivacity of their conversation, 
 give a charm to their society, to be found no where else. In a com- 
 parison of this with other countries, we have the proof of primacy, 
 which was given to Themistocles after the battle of Salamis. Ev- 
 ery general voted to himself the first reward of valor, and the second 
 to Themistocles. So, ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation,. 
 In what country on earth would you rather live ? — Certainly, in my 
 own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest and 
 sweetest aflections and recollections of my life. Which would be 
 your second choice 1 France." 
 
 On the 26th of September, 17S9, Mr. Jeflferson left Paris for 
 America. He was detained at Havre by contrary winds, until the 
 8th of October, when he crossed over to Cowes, where he was agairi^ 
 detained by contrary winds, until the 22d, when he embarked, and 
 landed at Norfolk, Virginia, on the 23d of November. On his way 
 to Monticello, he passed some days at Eppington, in Chesterfield 
 county, the residence of his friend and connection, Mr. Eppes ; and 
 Avhile there, he received a letter from the President, GeneralWash- 
 ington, by express, covering an appointment of Secretary of State 
 to the new government. Gratifying as was this Ijjgh testimony of 
 his public estimation, the highest in the power of the President to 
 confer, he nevertheless received it Avith real regret. His wish had 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 295 
 
 been to return to Paris, where he had left his household establish- 
 ment, to see the end of the Revolution, which he then thought 
 would be certainly and happily closed in less than a year, and to 
 make that tbe epoch of his retirement from all public employments, 
 " I then meant," says he, 'Ho return home, to withdraw from politi- 
 cal life, into which I had been impressed by the circumstances of the 
 times, to sink into the bosom of my family and friends, and devote 
 myself to studies more congenial to my mind.'' In a letter to Mr. 
 Madison, a short time before leaving Paris, he writes : " You ask 
 me if I would accept any appointment on that side of the water? 
 You know the circumstances which led me from retirement, step 
 by step, and from one nomination to another, up to the present. 
 My object is a return to the same retirement. When, therefore, I 
 quit the present, it will not be to engage in any other office, and 
 most especially any one which would require a constant residence 
 from home." In a letter to another friend in Virginia, the same 
 sentiment is pursued : " Your letter has kindled all the fond recol- 
 lections of ancient times ; recollections much dearer to me than any 
 thing I have known since. There are minds which can be pleas- 
 ed by honors and preferments ; but I see nothing in them but envy 
 and enmity. It is only necessary to possess them, to know how 
 little they contribute to happiness, or rather how hostile they are to 
 it. No attachments soothe the mir.d so much a,S thoSG CGuiractea 
 in early life ; nor do I recollect any societies which have given me 
 more pleasure, than those of which you have partaken with me. I 
 had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my 
 family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting 
 the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, 
 which any human power can give." 
 
 In his answer to the President, under date of December 15th, he 
 expressed these dispositions frankly, and his preference of a return 
 to Paris ; but assured him, at the same time, that if it w^as beheved 
 he could be more useful in the administration of the government, 
 he would sacrifice his own inclinations, without hesitation, and re- 
 pair to that destination. He arrived at Monticello, on the 23d of 
 December, where he received a second letter from the President, ex- 
 pressing his continued wishes that he would accept the Department 
 of State, if not absolutely irreconcilable with his inclinations. This 
 silenced his reluctance, and he accepted the new appointment. He 
 
296" LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 left Monticello on the 1st of March, 1790, arrived at New- York, the 
 then seat of Government, on the 21st, and immediately entered on 
 the duties of his station. 
 
 In the short interval which he passed at Monticello, his eldest 
 daughter was married to Thomas M. Randolph, eldest son of the 
 Tuckahoe branch of Randolphs. He was a young gentleman of 
 genius, science, and honorable mind, who afterwards filled a digni- 
 fied station in the General Government, and, at length, the execu- 
 tive chair of Virginia, v.'ith credit, for a number of years. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Jeflferson's arrival at the seat of government, in tlie charac- 
 ter of Secretary of State, completed the organization of the first 
 national administration under the present Constitution of the Uni- 
 ted States. The new system had been in operation about one year. 
 George Washington had been unanimously elected President, and 
 inaugurated on the 30th of April, 1789. John Adams was Vice 
 President ; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury ; Hen- 
 ry KriG::, Secretary Oi "vVur ; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney 
 
 General. 
 
 Of this cabinet, it is matter of historical notoriety, that Alexan- 
 der Hamilton was the Ajax Telemon. To a mind of extraordin- 
 ary endowments, he united the unlimited confidence of the Presi- 
 ident, during the first stages of his executive action, which, aided 
 by a series of fiscal operations, enabling him to insinuate his power 
 into both branches of the legislature, gave him a preponderating 
 and almost irresistable influence jn directing the measures of the 
 Administration. But his political opinions, Avitli such advanta- 
 ges of personal ascendency, rendered him a dangerous minister, at 
 the crisis of the birth of our present government. The political 
 characters of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Vice Presi- 
 dent, are drawn with a powerful and discriminating hand, by Mr. 
 Jeflferson, in his private memoranda of that period. 
 
 " Hamilton was not only a monaichist, but for a monarchy bot- 
 tomed on corruption. In proof of this, I will relate an anecdote, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 297 
 
 for the truth of which I attest the God who made me. Before the 
 President set out on his southern tour in April, 1791, he addressed 
 a letter of the fourth of that month, from Mount Vernon, to the 
 Secretaries of State, Treasury, and War, desiring that if any seri- 
 ous and important cases should arise during his absence, they 
 would consult and act on them. And he requested that the Vice 
 President should also be consulted. This was the only occasion 
 on which that oflicer was ever requesled to take part in a cabinet 
 question. Some occasion for consultation arising, I invited those 
 gentlemen (and the Attorney General as well as I remember,) to 
 dine with tne, hi order to confer on the subject. After the cloth 
 was removed, and our question agreed and dismissed, conversation 
 began on other matters, and, I)y some circumstance, was led to the 
 British Constitution, on which Mr. Adams observed, ' Purge that 
 constitution of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality 
 I represenlation, and it would be the most perfect constitution 
 ever devised by the wit of man.' Hamilton paused and said, 'Purge 
 it of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of rep- 
 resentation, and it would become an impracticable government ; 
 as it stands at present, with all its supposed defects, it is the most 
 perfect government which ever existed.' And this was assuredly 
 the exact line which separated the political creeds of these two 
 gentlemen. The one was for two hereditary branches and an hon- 
 est elective one ; the other for an hereditary King, with a House of 
 Lords and Commons corrupted to his will, and standing between 
 him and the people. Hamilton was, indeed, a singular character. 
 Of acute understanding, disinterested, honest, and honorable in all 
 private transactions, amiable in society, and duly valuing virtue in 
 private life, yet so bewitched and perverted by the British example, 
 as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was essential to 
 the government of a nation. 
 
 - " Mr. Adams had originally been a republican. The glare of 
 royalty and nobility, during his mission to England, had made 
 him believe their fascination a necessary ingredient in government ; 
 and Shays's rebellion, not sufficiently understood where he then 
 was, seemed to prove that the absence of want and oppression, was 
 not a sufficient guarantee of order. His book on the American 
 Constitutions having made known his political bias, he was taken 
 up by the monarchical federalists in his absence, and, on his re- 
 turn to the United States, he was by them made to believe that the 
 general disposition of our citizens was favorable to monarchy. He 
 here wrote his Davila, as a supplement to the former work, and his 
 election to the Presidency confirmed him in his errors. Innumera- 
 ble addresses too, artfully and industriously poured in upon him, 
 deceived him into a confidence that he was on a pinnacle of popu- 
 larity, when the gulph was yawning at his feet, which was to 
 swallow up him and his deceivers. For Avhen General Washing- 
 
 26* 
 
298 - LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ton was withdrawn, these encrgumeni of royalism, kept m check 
 bitherlo by the dread of his honesty, his firmness, his patriotism, 
 and the authority of his name, now mounted on the car of State 
 and free from control, hke Phaeton on that of the sun, drove head- 
 long and wild, looking neither to right nor left, nor regarding any 
 thing but the objects they were driving at ; until, displaying these 
 fully, the eyes of the nation were opened, and a general disband - 
 ment of them from the public councils took place." 
 
 The following note of a conversation with Mr. Hamilton, dated 
 August 13th, 1791, presents a more favorable view of his senti- 
 ments, and seems due to him as a matter of justice. 
 
 " Alexander Hamilton condemning Mr. Adams' writings, and 
 most particularly Davila, as having a tendency to weaken the pres- 
 ent government, declared in substance as follows : ' I own it is my 
 own opinion, though I do not publish it in Dan or Beersheba, tha'. 
 the present government is not that which will answer the ends of 
 society, by giving stability and protection to its rights, and that it 
 will probably be found expedient to go into the British form. How- 
 ever, since we have undertaken the experiment, I am for giving it 
 a fair course, whatever my expectations may be. The success, 
 indeed, so far, is greater than I had expected, and therefore^ at pres- 
 ent, success seems more possible than it had done heretofore, and 
 there are still other and other stages of improvement, which, if the 
 present does not succeed, may be tried, and ought to l>e tried, before 
 we give up the republican form altogether ; for that mind must be 
 really depraved, which would not prefer the equality of political 
 rights, which is the foundation of pure republicanism, if it can Ije 
 obtained consistently with order. Therefore, whoever by his wri- 
 tings disturbs the present order of things, is really blameable, how- 
 ever pure his intentions may be, and he was sure Mr. Adams' were 
 pure.' This is the substance of a declaration made in much more 
 lengthy terms, and which seemed to be more formal than usual for 
 a private conversation between two, and as if intended to quaUfy 
 some less guarded expressions which had been dropped on former 
 occasions. Th. Jefferson has committed it to writing in the mo- 
 ment of A. Hamilton's leaving the room." 
 
 The Secretary of War, General Knox, w^as a gentleman of gi-eat 
 military reputation, but wedded to the splendor, the pompous parade 
 and ceremonies of royalty, to which he had been trained by mili- 
 tary habit. He is understood to have proposed to General Wash- 
 ington, to decide the question of a monarchical or a republican gov ■ 
 crmnent, by his army, before its disbandment, and to assume 
 himself the crown, on the assurance of their support. The indig-- 
 uation with which the Commander in Chief rejected jhis liberticide- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 299 
 
 proposition, was equally worthy his virtue and wisdom. His next 
 proposition was the establishment of an hereditary order, in the name 
 of the Cincinnati, in which he succeeded. 
 
 Such were the strong monarchical elements which entered into 
 the composition of General Washington's cabinet. Against this 
 weight of opinion, Mr. Jefferson constituted the great republican 
 check, and the only one, except on some occasions of support from 
 the Attorney General. What were the scenes of trial, of mortifi- 
 cation, of anguish, and indignity, through which he was called to 
 pass ? They have not yet fully penetrated the veil of secrecy ; nor 
 is it probable history will ever be able to do justice to the political con- 
 flicts of that day. The developments, however, which have been 
 lately made, have thrown a flood of light upon them. They were 
 conflicts of principle, between the advocates of republican, and those 
 of kingly government, and had not the former, with their acknowl- 
 edged leader, put forth the unmeasured and unceasing efforts which 
 they did, our government would have been, at an early day, a very 
 different thing from what the success of those efforts has made it. 
 His first entrance upon the political stage, at New York, discov- 
 ered to him a state of affairs which w41l appear almost incredible 
 at the present day. 
 
 " Here, certainly, I found a state of things which, of all I had 
 ever contemplated, I the least expected. I had left France in the 
 first year of her revolution, in the fervor of natural righls, and zeal 
 for reformation. My conscientious devotion to these rights could 
 not be heightened, but it had been aroused 'and excited by daily 
 exercise. The President received me cordially, and my colleagues 
 and the circle of principal citizens, apparantly Avith welcome. The 
 courtesies of dinner parties given me, as a stranger newly arrived 
 among them, placed me at once in their familiar society. But I 
 cannot describe the wonder and mortification with which the table 
 conversations filled me. Politics were the chief topic, and a pre- 
 ference of kingly over republican government, was evidently the 
 favorite sentiment. An apostate I could not be, nor yet a hypo- 
 crite, and I found myself, for the most part, the only advocate on 
 the republican side of the question, unless among the guests there 
 chanced to be some member of that party from the legislative 
 Houses. Hamilton's financial system had then passed. It had 
 two objects ; 1, as a puzzle, to exclude popular understanding and 
 inquiry ; 2, as a machine for the corruption of the legislature : for 
 he avowed the opinion, that man could be governed by one of two 
 motives only, force or interest :. force, he observed, in this country. 
 
300 " LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 M^as out of the question, and the interests, therefore, of the mem- 
 bers must be laid hold of, to keep the let,nslature in unison with 
 the executive. And with grief and shame it nuist be acknov/ledg- 
 ed, that his machine was not without effect ; that even in this, the 
 birth of our government, some members were found sordid enough 
 to bend their duty to their interests, and to look after peisonal 
 rather than public good." 
 
 Hamilton's financial system, considered as a w^hole, comprehend- 
 ed three great operations, which were carried through in the order 
 in which they are mentioned. 1. The funding the debts of the 
 Union, foreign and domestic, upon certain principles recommended 
 by him. 2. The assumption, by the United States, of the debts of 
 the several States, and the funding of these also, upon similar prin- 
 ciples. 3d. The estabhshment of a National Bank. The first of 
 these measures had passed when Mr. Jefferson arrived at the seat 
 of government. Some acquaintance, however, with its general 
 principles, and those of the financial system generally, is requisite 
 to an intelhgible estimate of his opinions, and of the causes of op- 
 position to the Hamiltonian administration. 
 
 It is well known that during the war, the greatest difficulty we 
 experienced, was the want of money or means to pay the soldiers 
 who fought our battles, or the farmers, manufacturers, and mer- 
 chants who furnished them the necessary supplies of food and 
 clothing. After the expedient of paper money had exhausted it- 
 self, certificates of debt were given to the individual creditors, with 
 assurances of payment, so soon as the United States should be 
 able. But the distresses of these people often obliged them to part 
 with their certificates for the half, the fifth, and even the tenth of 
 their value. This state of things produced a greedy and desolating 
 career of speculation, all over the country ; and the speculators 
 made a trade of cozening the public securities from the holders, by 
 the most fraudulent practices and persuasions that they would nev- 
 er be paid. But this species of gambling in the public paper, at 
 the expense of the poor and honest creditors of the government, 
 would have prevailed to a limited extent only, had not the government 
 itself encouraged and sanctioned it by a deliberate act. It then 
 became swindling on a large and legalized scale. In the bill for 
 funding and paying the domestic debt, Hamilton made no distinc- 
 tion between the original holders, and the fraudulent purchasers of 
 the public securities. Great and just disapprobation arose at put- 
 
OF l-HOMAS JEFF^ERSON/ 301 
 
 ting these two classes of creditors on the same footing", and power- 
 ful exertions were made to pay the former the full value, and the 
 latter, the price only which they had paid, with interest. But this 
 righteous discrimination, by closing the door to corruption, would 
 have defeated the fundamental purpose of Hamilton, which was 
 as honest as it Y»'as wrong; for he had avow^ecl the behef that man 
 could be governed only l^y force or corruption, and surel}'^, no man 
 ever Avent more ingeniously to work to reduce his theory to prac- 
 tice. No one can imagine the torrent of corruption let loose in 
 Congress, and the st-iiiuilus given to the out-door joljbing and 
 speculating herd, on tlic defeat of the discriminating proposition 
 of Mr. Madison. AVhen the trial of strength, on this and other 
 efforts, had indicated the form in which the bill would finally pass, 
 the mercenary scramble began. Couriers and relay-horses by land, 
 and swift sailing pilot-boats by sea, were %ing in all directions. 
 Active partners and agents were associated and employed in every 
 State, town and village, and the public paper bought up at five 
 shillings, and even as low as two shillings in the pound, before the 
 holder knew that Congress had provided for'its redemption at par. 
 Immense sums were thus filched from the poor and ignorant, and 
 fortunes accumulated in a moment, by the dexterity of a political 
 leader. Who can wonder at the overwhelming monied influence 
 which Hamilton raised in his favor, by such an adroit disposition 
 of more than forty millions of dollars, the estimated amount of the 
 domestic debt of the Union ? 
 
 This scheme was over, and another on the tapis at the moment 
 of Mr. Jefferson's arrival. This fiscal operation is well known by 
 the name of the Assumption, Independently of the proper debt 
 of the Union, the States had, during the war, contracted separate 
 and heavy debts ; and these expenses, whether \A'ie>ely or foolishly 
 incurred, were claimed to have been incurred for general purposes, 
 and ought therefore to be reimbursed from the general purse. No- 
 body knew the nature of these debts, their amount, or their proofs. 
 No matter ; we will guess. Nobody knew hov/ much should be re- 
 imbursed to one State, or how much to another. No matter ; we 
 will guess. Thus another scramble was set a going among the sev- 
 eral States, and somegot much, so)ne little, "some nothing. But 
 an additional lever of twenty-millions of dollars, was put into 
 the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury, for bringing the legis- 
 
 \. 
 
 \ 
 
302- LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 lative in subservience to the executive power, and working the ma- 
 diine of government according to the maxims of the monarchical 
 school. 
 
 The Assumption question created the most bitter contests ever 
 known in Congress, before or since the union of the States. The 
 principal grounds on which tliQ measure was resisted, were its un- 
 constitutionality, and its tendency to destroy the sovereignty of the 
 States, by engulphing them in the vortex of consolidation. The 
 discussions, on both sides, were tempestuous ; and the bill is indebt- 
 ed for its final passage, to the pacificatory intervention of Mr. Jeflcr- 
 s5on, a step into which he was most ignorantly and innocently sedu- ^ 
 ced. He arrived in the midst of the debates ; but, a stranger to the 
 ground, a stranger to the actors, and as yet unaware of the object of 
 the measure, he took no concern in it. The great and trying ques- 
 tion, however, was lost in the House of Representatives. This pro- 
 duced a state of things, which exacted from him a duty, on the per- 
 formance of which, he was made to believe, depended the preserva- 
 tion of the Union. Nor, in fact, were the probabilities of such a con- 
 sequence very apochryphal. So high were the feuds excited, that 
 on the rejection of the bill, business was suspended. Congress met 
 and adjourned from day to day, without doing any thing, such 
 was the implacability of the parties. The eastern members partic- 
 ularly, with Smith of South Carolina, threatened a secession and 
 dissolution, unless the measure should be adopted. Hamilton was 
 in despair. He went to Mr. Jefferson, and exerted an eloquence, 
 which was seldom exerted in vain. He painted pathetically, the 
 temper into which the Legislature had been wrought ; the disgust 
 of those who were called the creditor States ; the danger of the se- 
 cession of their members, and the separation of the States. He ob- 
 served that the officers of the Administration ought to act in concert ; 
 that though this question was not of the State department, yet a 
 common duty should make it a common concern ; that the Presi- 
 dent was the centre on which all administrative questions ultimately 
 rested, and that his ministers should all rally around him, and sup- 
 lX)rt, with joint efforts, the measures approved by him ; and that 
 the question having been lost by a small majority only, it was prob- 
 able the timely appeal of Mr. Jefferson, to the judgment and discre- 
 tion of some of his friends, would ellect a change in the vote, and 
 the action of the government, now suspended, be again renewed. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 303 
 
 In reply, Mr. Jefferson remarked, that he was really a stranger to 
 the whole subject ; that not having yet informed himself of the 
 system of finance adopted, he knew not how far the present meas- 
 ure was a necessary supplement ; but that, if its rejection endanger- 
 ed a dissolution of the Union, at this incipient stage, he should deem 
 such a catastrophe the most dreadful of all consequences ; to avert 
 which, all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. He there- 
 fore proposed to Hamilton to dine with him the next day, when he 
 would invite two or three of his own political friends, and bring 
 diem into amicable conference and consultation. The discussion 
 took place at Mr. Jefferson's house ; in which himself sustained no 
 part but that of exhortation to mutual concession. It was finally 
 agreed, that whatever importance was attached to the rejection of the 
 proposition, the preservation of the Union was infinitely more im- 
 portant, and that therefore, the vote of rejection should he rescinded ; 
 to effect which some members should be prevailed on to change 
 their votes. There had been a proposition to establish the seat of 
 government either at Philadelphia or Georgetown ; and it was 
 thought, that by giving the location to Philadelphia for ten years, 
 and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, such an accommoda- 
 tion would be administered as would quiet the opposition of a suffi- 
 cient number. 'vTwo of the Potomac members, accordingly, 
 changed their votes, but with a revulsion of feeling almost suffoca- 
 ting. And Hamilton, on his part, undertook to carry the proposi- 
 tion for removing the seat of government ; which, his influence 
 over the eastern members, with that of Robert Morris, over those of 
 the Middle States, enabled him to effect without difficulty. Mr. 
 Jefferson could never afterwards contemplate with satisfaction, his 
 agency in this corrupt transaction, although he had been urged to it 
 by the purest of all motives, and had restrained it to a character 
 strictly palliative and mediatorial.* 
 
 The passage of the Assumption threw a vast accession of power 
 into the Treasury, and made its chief the master of every question in 
 the Legislature, which was calculated to give to the government 
 the direction suited to his political views. But still the organization 
 was incomplete ; and Hamilton, who was outwitted by few states- 
 men practicing upon the same theory, had the sagacity to perceive 
 
 * Jcffei son's Ana. 
 
304- LIFE, wraTiNGs, and opinions 
 
 it. The eflect of the funding system, and of the assumption, would 
 be temporary ; it would l)e lost with the loss of the individual mem- 
 bers whom it had enriched ; and some engine of more permanent 
 influence must be contrived, while the present majority continued in 
 place, to carry it through all opposition. This engine was the Bank 
 of the United States. 
 
 The history of this transaction is better Icnown. The measure 
 was strenuously opposed on the groiuid of its unconstitutionality. 
 It was conceded on all hands that no express power for this purpose 
 was given by tlie constitution ; but it was contended, that a fair 
 construction of the phrase, ' to make all laws which shall be neces- 
 sary and proper for carrying into execution the enumerated powers,' 
 authorized the adoption of any measure which Congress should 
 think necessary and proper. On the other hand it was urged, that 
 this power Avas not only not granted, but expressly reserved by the, 
 clause providing, that ' all powers not delegated to the United States, 
 nor prohibited to the States, were reserved to the States or to the peo- 
 ple.' As a further evidence against the supposed authority of im- 
 plication, it was observed, that in the convention which framed 
 the Constitution, a proposition to confer this power was made and 
 negatived. 
 
 When the law was presented to the President for his signature, 
 he deemed the constitutional question of so great importance, that 
 he took the unusual method of requesting the written opinions 
 of his cabinet on the suliject. These opinions were accordingly 
 given in. Those of the Secretaries of the Treasury, and of War, 
 were in favor of the constitutionality of the act ; those of the Sec- 
 retary of State, and Attorney General, were against it. The follow- 
 ing is the opinion of Mr. Jetferson. It is an unanswerable argument 
 against the doctrine of implied powers, and is justly considered 
 the text of the true repul^lican faith, on the subject of constitutional 
 interpretation. 
 
 » The Bill for establishing o National Bank, undertakes, among 
 other things, 1. To form the subscribers into a corporation. 2. To 
 enable them, in their corporate capacities, to receive grants of land ; 
 and so far, is against the laws of Mortmain. 3. To make alien 
 subscribers capable of holding lands ; and so far, is against the laws 
 of Alienage. 4. To transmit these lands, on the death of a pro- 
 prietor, to a certain line of successors ; and so far, changes the 
 , course of Descents. 5. To put the lands out of the reach of for- 
 
 L 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 305 
 
 feiture or escheat ; and so far, is against the laws of Forfeiture and 
 Escheat. 6. To transmit personal chattels to successors in a cer- 
 tain line ; and so far, is against the laws of Distribution. 7. To 
 give them the sole and exclusive right of banking under the nation- 
 al authority ; and so far, is against the laws of Motiopoly. 8. To 
 communicate to them a power to make laws paramount to the laws 
 of the States ; for so they must be construed, to protect the institu- 
 tion from the control of the State Legislatures ; and so, probably, 
 they will be construed. 
 
 " I consider the foundation of the constitution as laid on this 
 ground, that 'all powers not delegated to the United States by the 
 constitution, nor prohibited by it to tbe States, are reserved to the 
 States or to the people.' (Twelfth aniendment.) To take a single 
 step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the pow- 
 ers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, 
 no longer susceptible of any definition. 
 
 The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this 
 bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by 
 the constitution. 
 
 I. They are not among the powers specially enumerated. For 
 these are, 
 
 1. A power to lay taxes for the purpose of paying tbe debts of 
 the United States. But no debt is paid by this bill, nor any tax 
 laid. Were it a bill to raise money, its origination in the Senate 
 would condemn it by the constitution. 
 
 2. To 'borrow money.' But this bill neither borrows money, nor 
 insures the borrowing it- The proprietors of the bank will be just 
 as free as any other money-holders, to lender not to lend their mon- 
 ey to the public. The operation proposed in the bill, first to lend 
 them two millions, and then borrow them back again cannot 
 chano-e the nature of the latter act, which wUl still be a payment 
 and notti loan, call it by what name you please. 
 
 3. 'To regulate commerce with foieign nations, and among the 
 States, and with the Indian tribes.' To erect a bank, and to regu- 
 late conmierce, are very different acts. He who erects a bank ere 
 ates a subject of commerce in its bills : so does he who malves a 
 bushel of wheat, or digs a dollar out of the mines. Yet neither of 
 these persons regulates commerce thereby. To make a thing which 
 may be bought and sold, is not to prescribe regulations for buying 
 and selling. Besides, if tliis were an exercise of tbe power of regu 
 lating commerce, it would be void, as extending as much to the in- 
 ternal commerce of every State, as to its external. For the power 
 given to Congress by the constitution, does not extend to the inter- 
 nal regulation of the commerce of a State, (that is to say, of the 
 commerce between citizen and citizen,) which remains exclusively 
 witli its own legislature ; but to its external commerce only, that is 
 Xo say, its commerce with another State, or with foreign nations, or 
 
 27 
 
306 . LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 with the Indian tribes. Accordingly, the bill does not propose the 
 rneasiu'e as a 'regulation of trade,' but as 'productive of considera- 
 ble advantage to trade.' 
 
 Still less are these powers covered by any other of the special 
 enumerations. 
 
 II. Nor are they within either of the general phrases, which are 
 the two following. 
 
 1. 'To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United 
 States ;' that is to say, 'to lay taxes for the ptirposc of providing 
 for the general welfare.' For the laying of taxes is the jjoiver, and 
 the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exer- 
 cised. Congress are not to lay taxes, ad libitum^ for any purpose 
 they p)lease : but only to pay the debts, or jjrovide for the iveJfare 
 of the Union. In like manner, they are not^o do anything they 
 please, to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for 
 that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not as describing the 
 purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power 
 to do any act they please, which might be for the good of the Union, 
 would render all the preceding- and subsequent enumerations of 
 power completely useless. It v/ould reduce the whole instrument 
 to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress wath power to do 
 whatever would be for the good of the United States ; and as tlEiey 
 would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a pow- 
 er to do whatever evil they pleased. It is an established rule of 
 construction, where a phrase will bear either of tv/o meanings, to 
 give it that which will allov^^ some meaning to the other parts of the 
 instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. 
 Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. 
 It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated pow- 
 ers, and those wnthout which, as means, these powers could not be 
 carried into effect. It' is known that the very power now proposed 
 as a means, was rejected as an end by the convention which form- 
 ed the constitution. A proposition was made to them, to authorize 
 Congress to open canals, and an amendatory one, to empower them 
 to incorporate. But the whole was rejected ; and one of the reasons 
 of rejection urged in debate was, that they then would have a pow- 
 er to erect a bank, which would render the great cities, where there 
 were prejudices and jealousies on that subject, averse to the recep- 
 tion of the constitution. 
 
 2. The second general phrase is, 'to make all laws necessary 
 and proper for carrying into execution the enumerated powers.' 
 But they can all be carried into execution without a bank. A bank, 
 therefore, is not necessary, and consequently, not authorized by this 
 phrase. 
 
 It has been much urged, that a bank will give great facility or 
 convenience in the collection of taxes. Suppose this were true : 
 yet the constitution allows only the means which are ' necessary' 
 
OP THOMAS Jefferson. 307 
 
 not those which are merely 'convenient' for eflecting the enumera- 
 ted poM'ers. If such a latitude of construction be allowed to this 
 phrase, as to give any non-enumerated power, it will go to every 
 one ; for there is no one whicii ingenuity may not torture into a 
 convenience, in some way or other, to some one of so long a list of 
 enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated pow- 
 ers, and reduce the whole to one phrase, as before observed. There- 
 fore it was, tliat the constitution restrained them to the necessary 
 means, that is to say, to those means without which the grant of 
 the power would be nugatory. 
 
 But let us examine this ' convenience,' and see what it is. The 
 report on this subject, page 2, states the only general convenience 
 to be, the preventing the transportation and re-transportation of 
 money between the States and the treasury. (For I pass over the 
 increase of circulation medium ascribed to it as a merit, and which, 
 according to my ideas of paper money, is clearly a demerit.) Ev- 
 ery State will have to pay a sum of tax-money into tlie treasury ; 
 and the treasury will have to pay in every State a part of the inter- 
 est on the public debt, and salaries to the officers of government res- 
 ident in that State. In most of the States, there will be still a sur- 
 plus of tax -money, to come up to the seat of government, for the of- 
 ficers residing there. The payments of interests and salary in each 
 Stale, may be made by treasury orders on the State collector. This 
 will take up the greater part of the money he has collected in his 
 State and consequently prevent the great mass of it from being drawn 
 out of the State. If there be a balance of commerce in favor of 
 that State, against the one in which the government resides, the 
 surplus of taxes will be remitted by the bills of exchange drawn for 
 that commercial balance. And so it must be if there were a bank. 
 But if there be no balance of commerce, either direct or circuitous, 
 all the banks in the world could not bring us the surplus of taxes but 
 in the form of money. Treasury orders, then, and bills of ex- 
 change, may prevent the displacement of the main mass of the 
 money collected, without the aid of any bank ; and Avhere these 
 fail, it cannot be prevented even with that aid. 
 
 Perhaps, indeed, bank bills may be a more convenient vehicle 
 than treasury orders. But a little difference in the degree of con- 
 venience, cannot constitute the neccessity which the constitution 
 makes the ground for assmning any non-enumerated power. 
 
 Besides, the existing banks will, without doubt, enter into ar- 
 rangements for lending their agency, and the more favorable, as 
 there will be a competition among them for it. Whereas, this bill 
 delivers us up bound to the national bank, who are free to refuse all 
 arrangements but on their own terms, and the public not free, on 
 such refusal to employ any other bank. That of Philadelphia, I 
 believe, now does this business by their post notes, which, by an ar- 
 rangement with the treasury, are paid by any State collector to 
 
SOS 
 
 LIFE, WKITINGg, AND OPlNIO.NTS 
 
 whom they are presented. This expedient alone, suffices to pre- 
 vent the existence of that necessity which may justify the assump- 
 tion of a non-enumerated power, as a means for carrying into effect 
 an enumerated one. The thing may be done, and has been done, 
 and well done, without tliis assumption ; therefore, it does not stand 
 oil that degree of necessity whicli can honestly justify it. 
 
 It may be said, that a bank, whose bills would have a currency 
 all over the States, would be more convenient than one whose cur- 
 rency is limited to a single State. So it would be still more con- 
 venient, that there should be a bank whose bills should have a cur- 
 rency all over the world. But it does not follow from this superioy 
 eonveniency, that there exists any where a power to establish such a 
 bank, or that the world may not go on very well without it. 
 
 Can it be thought that the constitution intended, that for a shade 
 or two of convenience, more or less, Congress should be authorized 
 to break down the most ancient and fundamental laws of the sever- 
 al States, such as those against mortmain, the laws of alienage, the 
 rules of descent, the acts of distribution, the laws of escheat and for- 
 feiture, and the laws of monopoly. Nothing but a necessity invinci- 
 ble by any other means, can justify such a prostration of laws, 
 which constitute the pillars of our whole system of jurisprudence. 
 Will Congress be too strait-laced to carry the constitution into hon- 
 est effect, unless they may pass over the foundaiion laws of the State 
 governments, for the slightest convenience to theirs ? 
 
 The negative of the President is the shield provided by the con- 
 stitution, to protect against the invasions of the Icgislatvue, 1, the 
 rights of the Executive ; 2, of the Judiciary ; 3, of the States and 
 State legislatures. The present is the case of a right remaining ex- 
 clusively with the States, and is, consequently, one of those intend- 
 ed by the constitution to be placed under his protection. 
 
 It must be added, however, that unless the President's mind, on 
 a view of every thing which is urged for and against this bill, is 
 tolerably clear that it is unauthorized by the constitution, if the 'pro 
 and the con hang so even as to balance his judgment, a just respect 
 for the wisdom of the legislature would naturally decide the bal- 
 ance in favor of their opinion. It is chiefly for cases where they 
 are clearly misled by eiror, ambition, or interest, that the constitu- 
 tion has placed a check in the negative of the President." 
 
 President Washington weighed the opinions of his Secretaries 
 with great deliberation ; and, without being entirely satisfied, con- 
 cluded to approve the act. His own individual opinion was against 
 the constitutional power of the legislature to create such an institu- 
 tion ; but he did not feel warranted to oppose his single judgment 
 to tb.e declared wisdom and wishes of a majority of both Houses, 
 and the opinions of one half of his constitutional advisers. The 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 309 
 
 political effects of this great engine were soon visible. While the 
 governient remained at Philadelphia, a selection of members of Con- 
 gress Avas constantly kept as directors, who, on every question in- 
 teresting to the institution, voted at the will of its founder ; and 
 with the aid of the stockholding members, could always ensure a 
 majority. By this combination, legislative expositions were given 
 to the constitution, which shaped the administrative laws on the 
 model of the British government. And from this influence, the le- 
 gislature was not relieved, until their removal from the precincts of 
 the Bank, to Washington.* 
 
 The extensive monied influence which Hamilton had now estab- 
 lished, by the success of his financial exploits, reduced the whole 
 action of the government under the direction of the Treasury. It 
 must not be understood, however, that any thing like a majority in 
 Congress had yielded to this corruption. Far from it. But a divi- 
 sion, not very unequal, had already taken place in the honest part 
 of that body, between the parties styled republican and federal ; 
 and the mercenary phalanx, added to the latter, of which Hamilton 
 was the leader, insured him always a majority in both Houses. 
 Against this aristocracy of wealth and monarchism, in favor of splen- 
 did schemes of government, and making daily inroads upon the 
 constitution by legislative constructions promotive of those schemes, 
 in favor of perpetual debt, excessive taxation, profuse expenditures, 
 artificial distinctions, monoplies, standing armies, and all the ne- 
 cessary implements and auxiharics of a heavy national, in contra- 
 distinction to (i federal, republican government ; against this party 
 and its measures, an opposition arose, of which a very injurious idea 
 has been insinuated in histor}', but to which the world is indebted 
 for the preservation of the principles of republicanism, and all the 
 blessings which have flowed, and are yet to flow from their institu- 
 tion. At the head of this opposition public opinion has universally 
 placed Thomas Jefferson ; and as his opponents were anxious he 
 should bear all the odium of the distinction, while hving, they will 
 not object to his receiving the glory of it, now awarded to him by 
 the unanimous and dispassionate judgment of posterity. 
 
 " Here then was the real ground of the opposition which was 
 made to the course of administration. Its object was to preserve 
 
 Ana. 
 
310 ■ LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 the legislatme pure and independent of the executive, to restrain 
 the administration to repubUcan forms and principles, and not per- 
 mit the constitution to be construed into a monarchy, and to be 
 warped, in practice, into all the principles and pollutions of their 
 favorite English model. Nor was this an opposition to General 
 Washington. He was true to the republican charge confided to him ; 
 and has solemnly and repeatedly protested to me, in our conversa- 
 tions, that he would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it ; 
 and he did this the oftener and with the more earnestness, because 
 he knew my suspicions of Hamilton's designs against it, and wish- 
 ed to quiet them. For he was not aware of the drift, or of the ef- 
 fect of Hamilton's schemes. Unversed in financial projects and cal- 
 culations and budgets, his approbation of them was bottomed on his 
 confidence in the man." 
 
 No other office under the Government of the United States, com- 
 prehends so wide a range of objects, or involves duties of such mag- 
 nitude, complexity and responsibility, as the Department of State. 
 It embraces the whole mass of foreign administration, and the prin- 
 cipal of the domestic. To the first order of capacity, and the great- 
 est versatility of talent, it is indispensal)le that the organ of this 
 copious magistracy, should unite an intimate and extensive knowl- 
 edge of the foreign and domestic situation of the country, a famil- 
 iarity with the civil and international code of the government, and 
 a profound acquaintance with history, and human nature. If these 
 qualifications are rightly considered essential prerequisities, under 
 ordinary times and circumstances, how much more was their pos- 
 session necessary, at the opening crisis of the new government ? 
 Before it had formed a character among nations, and when the im- 
 pulse and direction which should then l)e given to it, would estab- 
 lish that character, perhaps everlastingly ? Before its internal fac- 
 idtics and capabilities were developed, but while they were in the 
 process of development, when, consequently, every thing depended 
 on the mode of treatment, which should be administered by its su- 
 [H-eme functionaries ? The share Avhich Mr. Jefferson had, in mar- 
 shahng the domestic resources of the republic, and fixing them 
 upon a lucrative foundation, in shaping the subordinate features of 
 its political organization, and, most especially, in estabhshing the 
 principles of its foreign policy, constitutes one of the most splendid 
 epochs in his public history. Among the multitude of his official 
 labors, in advancement of these objects, the following specific acts 
 enjoy a distinguished reputation : 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 311 
 
 Report of a plan for establishing a uniform system of Coinsy 
 Weights and Measures in the United States, 
 Report on the Cod and Whale Fisheries. 
 
 Report on the Commerce and Navigation of the United States. 
 These performances were of an extra character, not necessarily 
 appertaining to the duties of his Department, and, indeed, belong- 
 ing more properly to some one or more of the ordinary committees 
 of Congress. They were of a peculiar nature, growing out of the 
 infancy of the republic, and the imperfect development and organi- 
 zation of its resources, dependencies and capabilities ; and, as such, 
 their execution, in a faithful and satisfactory manner, required an 
 accurate knowledge of the condition of the country, internal and ex- 
 ternal, physical and moral, with the exercise of the most patient in- 
 vestigation, and varied practical talents. The manner in which these 
 difficult and important trusts were discharged by Mr. Jefferson, was 
 of a character which ehcited the spontaneous admiration of all parts 
 of the country. 
 
 1. The Report of the Secretary of State, containing a plan for 
 establishing a uniform system of Coins, Weights and Measures, 
 was executed with astonishing dispatch, considering the intricacy 
 of the subject, and the novelty of the experiment. He received the 
 order of Congress on the 15th of April, 1790, when an illness of 
 several weeks supervened, which, with the pressure of other busi- 
 ness, retarded his entrance upon the undertaking, until some time 
 in the ensuing month. He finished it, however, on the 20th of 
 May. One branch of the subject, that of Coins, had already re- 
 ceived his attention, while a member of Congress, in 1T84 ; and 
 it had then occurred to him, that a corresponding uniformity 
 in the kindred branches, of weights and measures, would be easy of 
 introduction, and a desirable improvement. But the idea was not 
 pursued by him, except for his own private gratification ; having 
 procured an odometer, of curious construction upon this principle, 
 he used to carry it, when travelling, and note the distances in miles, 
 cents and mills. 
 
 In sketching the principles of his system, Mr. Jeflerson was de- 
 pendent on the guides of his own genius. It was in vain to look to 
 tlie enlightened nations of the old world, for an example to direct 
 him in his researches. No such example existed. It is a little re- 
 markable, however, that two of the principal European govern- 
 
312 - LIFK, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ments, France and England, were at this very period, learnedly en- 
 gaged on the same subiect. 
 
 The lirst object which presented itself in his enquiries, was the 
 discovery of some measure of invariable length, as a standard. 
 This was found to be a matter of no small difficulty. 
 
 "There exists not in nature, as far as has been hitherto observed, 
 a single subject or species of subject, accessible to mail; which pre- 
 sents one constant and uniform dimension. 
 
 "The globe of the earth itself, indeed, might be considered as in- 
 variablein all its dimensions, and that its circumference would fur- 
 nish an invariable measure : but no one of its circles, great or small 
 Is accessible to admeasurement through all its parts ; and the various 
 trials, to measure definite portions of them, have been of such vari- 
 ous result, as to shew there is no dependence on that operation for 
 certainty. 
 
 " Matter then, by its mere extension, furnishing nothing invaria- 
 ble, its motion is the only remaining resource. 
 
 "The motion of the earth round its axis, though not absolutely 
 uniform and invariable, may be considered as such for every human 
 purpose. It is measured obviously, but unequally, by the departure 
 of a given meridian from the sun, and its return to it, constituting a 
 solar day. Tlirowing together the inettualities of solar days, a mean 
 interval, or day, has been found, and divided, liy very general con- 
 sent, into eighty -six thousand four hundred equal parts. 
 
 " A pendulum, vibrating freely, in small and equal arcs, may be 
 so adjusted in its length, as, by its vibrations, to make this division 
 of the earth's motion into eighty-six thousand four hundred equal 
 parts, called seconds of mean time. 
 
 "Such a pendulum, then, becomes itself a measure of determin- 
 ate length, to which all others may be referred, as to a standard." 
 
 But even the pendulum was not without its uncertainties. 
 Among these, not the least was the fact, that the period of its vibra- 
 tions varied in different latitudes. To obviate this objection, he pro- 
 posed to fix on some one latitude to which the standard should refer. 
 That of 38 deg. being the mean latitude of the United States, he 
 adopted it, at first ; but afterwards, on receiving a printed copy of a 
 proposition of the Bishop of Autun, to the National Assembly of 
 France, in which the author had recommended the 45 deg., he con- 
 cluded to substitute that in the room of 38 deg., for the sake of 
 uniformity with a nation, with whom we were connected, in (^om'• 
 luerce, and in the hope that it might become a line of union with 
 the rest of the world. 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 313 
 
 Having adopted the pendulum vibrating seconds in the 45 deg. 
 of latitude, as a standard of invariable length, he proceeded to iden- 
 tify, by that, the measures, weights and coins of the United States. 
 But, unacquainted with the extent of reformation meditated by Con- 
 gress, he submitted two alternative plans. First, on the supposition 
 that the difliculty of changing the established habits of a whole 
 nation, opposed an insuperable bar to a radical reformation, he pro- 
 posed that the present weights and measures should be retained, but 
 be rendered uniform, by bringing them to the same invariable stand- 
 ard. Secondly, on the hypothesis that an entire reformation was 
 contemplated, he proposed the adoption of a unit of measure, to which 
 the whole system of weights and measures should be reduced, with 
 divisions and subdivisions in the decimal ratio, corresponding to the 
 uniformity already established in the coins of the United States. 
 On the whole, he was inclined to favor the alternative of a general 
 reformation, with a view to conform the denominations of weights 
 and measures to those already introduced into the currency of the 
 country. The facility, which such an improvement would estab- 
 lish in the vulgar arithmetic, would, in his opinion, be soon and 
 sensibly feU by the mass of the people, who would thereby be ena- 
 bled to compute for themselves, whatever they should have occa- 
 sion to buy, sell, or measure, which the present difficult and com- 
 plicated ratios, for the most part, place beyond their computation. 
 In the event of its being adopted, however, he recommended a grad- 
 ual substitution of it in practice. A progressive introduction would 
 lessen the inconveniences, which might attend too sudden a substi- 
 tution, even of an easier, for a more difficult system. After a given 
 term, for instance, it might begin in the custom houses, where the 
 merchants would become familiarized to it. After a further term, 
 it might be introduced into all legal proceedings ; and merchants 
 and traders in foreign commodities might be required to use it. Af- 
 ter a still further term, all other descriptions of persons might receive 
 it into common use. Too long a postponement, on the other hand, 
 would increase the difficulties of its reception, with the increase of 
 our population. 
 
 This report is a curious and learned document, valuable to the 
 statesman and philosopher ; though, for the same reasons, not cal- 
 culated to interest the general reader. It was submitted to Con- 
 gress on the 13th of July, 1790, and referred to a committee who 
 
lU 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 reported in favor of the alternative plan of a general reformation^ 
 on the principles recommended by the author. But the subject 
 was postponed from session to session, for several years, without re- 
 ceiving a final determination ; and at length, became lost altogeth- 
 er in the crowd of more weighty and important matters. The idea 
 of reducing to a single standard the discordant ratios of coins^ 
 weights and measures, has ever since, at diflferent intervals, engaged 
 the attention of learned statesmen in England, France, Spain and 
 America ; but a fear of encountering the diiiiculties of a change of 
 familiar denominations, with a natural attachment to established 
 usage, lias hitherto prevented the introduction of a general uniform- 
 ity of series, in the systems of either country. 
 
 2. The Report of the Secretary of State on the Cod and 
 Whale Fisheries of the United States, is one of those ancient 
 State papers, which, unlike the iimumeiable multitude that per- 
 ish with the occasion, seem destined as immortal inheritances to 
 this country. The subject was referred to him by Congress, on 
 the 9th of August, 1790, in consequence of a representation fiom 
 the Legislature of Massachus?etts, setting forth the embarrassments 
 under which these great branches of their lousiness labored, and 
 soliciting the interference of the government in various Avays. A 
 very general abstraet of this voluminous paper, as in the case of 
 the preceding, is all that can be expected. 
 
 The Report commences with an historical review of the Fisher- 
 ies, froiAi their discovery in 1517, by adventures from Spain and 
 France, through the intermediate stages of their rise and progress, 
 with different nations, down to their present state. In very remote 
 times, the value of the Newfoundland fishery was deemed almost 
 inappreciable. Such was the importance attached to it, in a na- 
 tional point of view, that it was made the subject of an animated 
 rivalry between the great maratime Powers of Europe, for centuries. 
 The business being as unprofitable to the adventurer, as it was im- 
 portant to the public, the patronage of the foreign governments was 
 employed, at an extravagant rate, and in a variety of forms. Great 
 Britain and France vied in the competition by giving such exor- 
 bitant bounties to their fishermen, as sensibly affected their treas- 
 uries. In 1731, the Americans first engaged in the business ; and, 
 aided by the mere force of natural advantages, by their contiguity 
 to the grounds, the cheapness of their vessels, provisions and casks, 
 
 > 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 315 
 
 and by the superiority of their mariners in skill, enterprise, and sobri- 
 ety, they were able to compete successfully with the distant nations, 
 against the united weight of their patronage. But, during the war 
 of the Revolution, the fisheries of the United States were annihi- 
 lated ; their vessels, utensils, and fishermen destroyed ; their mar- 
 kets in the Mediterranean and British America lost ; their produce 
 dutied in those of France ; and on the restoration of peace, the 
 British navigation system, falling with tenfold violence on this 
 branch of American conmierce, seemed to place its recovery beyond 
 the power of the incipient government. 
 
 Such were the hopeless auspices imder which this important 
 business was to be resumed. Our natural advantages were great ; 
 but on a view of every policy under which it had flourished or de- 
 clined, with every nation, the fact was sufficiently marked, that it 
 was too poor a business to be left to itself, even with the nation 
 the most advantageously situated. While hovv^ever experience 
 {JToved, that no other nation could make a mercantile profit on the 
 Newfoundland fisheries, nor even support them without the aid of 
 large bounties, the author showed, by a long and luminous train of 
 reasoning, that the United States, owing to their natural advanta- 
 ges, could make a living profit on them, provided the government 
 would interfere so far only as to procure a vent for their fish. 
 
 " It will rest therefore, with the wisdom of the legislature, to de- 
 cide, whether prohibition should not be opposed to prohibition, and 
 high duty to high duty, on the fish of other nations ; whether any, 
 and which of the naval and other duties, may be remitted, or an 
 equivalent giv^en to the fisherman in the form of a drawback or 
 bounty ; and whether the loss of markets abroad may not, in some 
 degree, be compensated by creating markets at home : to which 
 might contribute the constituting fish a part of the military ration, 
 in stations not too dislant from navigation, a part of the necessary 
 sea-stores of vessels, and the encouraging private individuals to let 
 the fishermen share with the cultivator, in furnishing the supplies 
 of the table. A habit introduced from motives of patriotism, would 
 soon be followed from motives of taste ; and who will undertake to 
 fix the limits to this demand, if it can be once excited, with a na- 
 tion which doubles, and will continue to double at 'very short peri- 
 ods?" 
 
 The Americans began their Whale Fishery in 1715. They 
 were invited to it at first by the appearance of the whales on their 
 coast. They attacked them in small vessels of forty tons. As the 
 
316 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 whale, being infested, retired from the coast, they followed him fur- 
 ther and further into the ocean, enlarging their vessels, with their 
 adventures, to sixty, one hundred, and two hundred tons. Having 
 extended their pursuit to the Western Islands, they fell in, acciden- 
 tally, with the spermaceti whale ; and the distinction now first arose 
 between the nortliern and southern fisheries, the object of the former 
 being the Greenland whale, which frequented the northern coasts, 
 and that of the latter, the spermaceti whale, which was found in 
 the southern seas. At the commencement of the Revolution the 
 Americans had one hundred and seventy-seven vessels in the north- 
 ern, and one hundred and thirty-two in the southern fishery. 
 
 At that period, our fishery being suspended, the English seized 
 the opportunity of monopolizing the business, by a series of artful 
 measures. They conferred extravagant bounties on their whale 
 ships ; invited the fishermen of the United States to conduct their 
 enterprises ; and prepared the way for effectuating their offer by 
 imposing such a duty on our whale oils as amounted to a prohibi- 
 tion. 
 
 The fishermen of the United States, left without resource by the 
 loss of their markets, began to think of accepting the British invi- 
 tation, and of removing, some to Nova Scotia, others to Great Brit- 
 ain, postponing country and friends to high premiums. 
 
 The government of France could not be inattentive to these pro- 
 ceedings. They saw the danger of permitting four or five thou- 
 sand seamen, the best in the world, to be transferred to the marine 
 strength of a rival nation, and carry with them an art which they 
 possessed almost exclusively. They therefore adopted the plan of 
 extending a counter invitation to American seamen, to remove and 
 settle in Dunkirk, backing their invitation with heavy premiums, 
 and many other advantages. This was in 1785. Mr. JefTerson 
 being then at Paris, endeavored to pievail on the French ministry 
 to vary their policy, first by abating the duties on American oil, 
 and afterwards by closing their ports to all foreign fish oils, of every 
 nation, except the produce of the whale fisheries of the United 
 States. This was accordingly done ; but they continued their en- 
 deavors to increase their share in the fisheries themselves, by the 
 aid of our fishermen, and by giving large bounties to their own. 
 
 Such was the weight of competition against which the United 
 States had to stmggle, for the resumption and continuance of their 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 317 
 
 whale fisheries. Against prohibitory duties in one nation, and 
 bounties to the adventurers of both of those which were contend- 
 ing with each other for the supremacy, the Americans had noth- 
 ing to oppose but poverty and rigorous economy. The business, 
 unaided, was a wretched one, but infinitely too important, in a na- 
 tional point of view, to be overlooked by the government. Be- 
 sides being peculiarly fitted by nature for becoming a source of rev- 
 enue to the United States, it wa!s a valuable nursery for forming 
 American seamen. On the island of Nantucket alone, which was 
 capable of maintaining, by its agriculture, only about twenty fam- 
 ilies, between five and six thousand persons were profitably employ- 
 ed in these fisheries before the war. 
 
 These considerations rendered it indispensable, in the opinion of 
 the author, that some effectual relief should be administered for re 
 instating the business upon its ancient basis. And he recommend- 
 ed the interference of the government in three ways — A remission 
 of duties on the articles used in the fisheries — A retaliating duty 
 on foreign oils coming in competition with ours — Free markets 
 abroad, which was the principal object. 
 
 France was the only nation which needed our surplus ; and it 
 was important that she should continue to view us, as heretofore, 
 not in the light of rivals, but as co-operators against a common ri- 
 val. Friendly arrangements with that nation, and accommodations 
 to mutual interest, rendered easier by amicable dispositions on both 
 sides, might long secure to the United States, this important resource 
 for their seamen. Nor was it the interest of the fishermen alone, 
 which called for the cultivation of friendly relations with France. 
 Besides five-eights of our whale oil, and two-thirds of our salted 
 fish, they received from us one-fourth of our tobacco, three- fourths 
 of our live stock, a considerable and growing portion of our rice, 
 and great supplies, occasionally, of our grain. It was also a free 
 market for our ships and ship-timber, potash and peltry. 
 
 England was the market for the greater part of our spermaceti 
 oil ; but they imposed such a duty on all our oils, as, to the common 
 kind, was a prohibition, and to the spermaceti, but little less ; and 
 not long since, by a, change of construction, without any change 
 of law, they excluded our oils entirely from their ports, when 
 brought in our own vessels ; 
 
 28 
 
318 ' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 '• This serves to show, that the tenure, by which we liold the ad- 
 mission of this commodity in their markets, is as precarious as it 
 is hard. Nor can it be announced, that there is any disposition on 
 their part to arrange this or any other commercial matter, to mu- 
 tual convenience. Tlie exparte regulations, which they have be-' 
 gun, for mounting their navigation on the ruin of ours, can only 
 be opposed by counter regulations on our part. And the loss of 
 seamen, the natural consequence of lost and obstructed markets 
 for our fish and oil, calls, in tlie first place, for serious and timely 
 attention. It will be too late, when the seaman shall have changed 
 his vocation, or gone over to another interest." 
 
 This sound and energetic Report was submitted to Congress on 
 the 4th of February, 1791. It was accepted, published, and ap- 
 plauded by the great majority of the people. The policy so ur- 
 gently recommended by Mr. Jefferson, was adopted ; and its utility 
 was soon demonstrated, by the restoration to the United States, up- 
 on a prosperous and permanent footing, of one of their most im- 
 jwrtant branches of domestic and maritime industry. 
 
 The' strictures of this Report upon the British commercial and 
 navigation system, and its demonstrations of the more liberal policy 
 of France, though they could not be denied by Great Britain her- 
 self, in a single point, received a reluctant assent from the monar- 
 chical party in the United States ; and served to place more in con- 
 trast before the public, the collisions of political sentiment between 
 the heads of the State and Treasury department. This contrast 
 was completed, and the division of sentiment rendered almost as 
 perfect in the public ^^mind, as it existed in the Cabinet, by — 
 
 3. The Report of the Secretary of State on Commerce and 
 Navigation. This paper was prepared in pursuance of a resolution 
 of the House of Representatives, passed on the 23d of February, 
 1791, instructing him to report to Congress the nature and extent 
 of the privileges and restrictions of the commercial intercourse of 
 the United States with foreign nations, and the measures which he 
 should think proper to be adopted for the improvement of their 
 commerce and navigation. 
 
 The Report stated the exports of the United States to Great Brit- 
 ain at more than nine millions annually, and the imports from that 
 nation at fifteen millions. The amount of exports to France was 
 only about four and a half millions, and that of imports two mill- 
 ions. Notwithstanding the vast disproportion of our trade, in favor 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 310 
 
 of England, the restrictions imposed on it by that nation, were far 
 mortf burthensome and oppressive than those imposed by France. 
 
 With respect to the navigation of the United States, our ships, 
 though purchased and navigated by British subjects, were not per- 
 mitted to be used even in the trade of. that nation with vis. While 
 the vessels of other nations were secured by a standing law to 
 carry to England any produce or manufactures of the country to 
 which they belonged, which might be lawfully carried in any ves- 
 sels, ours, with the same prohibition of what was foreign, were fur- 
 ther prohibited by a standing law from carrying thither any of our 
 domestic productions and manufactures. A subsequent act au- 
 thorized the King to permit the carriage of our productions in our 
 own bottoms, at his pleasure, which was given every year by proc- 
 lamation ; but this was so precarious a tenure, that our vessels were 
 liable every moment to be interdicted from British ports. Our ships 
 paid in their ports more than their own, except in the port of Lon- 
 don, where they paid the same. In addition to all this, the greater 
 part of oiu' exports were re-exported from Great Britain to other 
 countries, under the useless charges of a double voyage, and inter- 
 mediate deposite. Instead, therefore, of supplying their wants mere- 
 ly, w^e were loading them with surpluses for transportation to other 
 countries, and thus, besides helping them to command the commerce 
 of the world, were pouring into their treasury extravagant duties, 
 which might as well be paid to other nations who received our ves- 
 sels comparatively free. 
 
 With respect to the navigation of the United States to the portii 
 of France, our ships were free to carry thither all goods and produc- 
 tions which might be carried in their own or any other vessels, ex- 
 cept tobaccos not of our own growth. Our vessels participated with 
 tlieirs the exclusive carriage of our whale oils and tobaccos ; and 
 they were admitted naturalization in all their ports until lately. 
 They and their Colonies were the actual consumers of w^iat they 
 received from us. 
 
 After enumerating the various restrictions on our commerce, in 
 the form of duties on our articles of export, the Report proceeds to 
 recommend the mode in which those restrictions should be removed, 
 modified or counteracted. It proposed two methods : 1. By amica- 
 ble arrangements, as being the most ehgible in all cases, if practica 
 
320 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 blc. 2. By countervailing regulationts, where friendly arrange- 
 ments could not be made. ' 
 
 "There can be no doubt but that of these two, friendly arrange- 
 ment is the most eligible. Instead of embarrassing commerce under 
 piles of regulating laws, duties and prohibitions, could it be relieved 
 from all its shackles in all parts of the world, could every country 
 be employed in producing that which nature has best fitted it to pro- 
 duce, and each be free to exchange with others mutual surpluses 
 for mutual wants, the greatest mass possible would then be produ- 
 ced of those things which contribute to human life and human hap- 
 piness ; the numbers of mankind would he increased, and their 
 condition bettered. 
 
 "Would even a single nation begin with the United States this 
 system of hee commerce, it would be advisable to begin it with that 
 nation ; since it is one by one only, tliat it can be extended to all. 
 AYhen the circumstances of cither party render it expedient to -levy 
 a revenue, by way of impost, on commerce, its freedom might be 
 modified, in that particular, by mutual and equivalent measures, 
 preserving it entire in all others. * * * 
 
 " But should any nation, contrary to our wishes, suppose it may 
 better find its advantage by continuing its system of prohibitions, 
 duties and regulations, it Ijehooves us to protect our citizens, their 
 commerce and navigation, by counter prohibitions, duties and regu- 
 lations, also. Free commerce and navigation are not to be given in 
 exchange for restrictions and vexations : nor are they likely to pro- 
 duce a r&lftxatioii gi them," 
 
 The navigation of the United States, in the opinion of the Secre- 
 tary, involved even higher considerations. As a branch of industiy 
 it was valuable ; but as a l)ulwark of defence, indispensable. Its 
 value as a branch of industry was enhanced by the dependence up- 
 on it, of so many other l>ranches. In times of peace it multiplied 
 competitors for employment in transportation ; in times of wnr, if 
 we had not the means of transportation, the belligerent nations 
 would monopolize our carrying trade. But as a Aveapon of defence, 
 it was inestimable. On the land the United States had nothing to 
 fear, but on the ocean they were liable to injury at all times. Their 
 conunerce must be protected or lost, and with it, their seamen, ship 
 artists, and establishments. 
 
 "Were the ocean, which is the common property of all, open to 
 the industry of all, so that every person and vessel should lie free to 
 take employment wherever it could be found, the United States 
 would certainly not set the example of appropriating to themselves, 
 exclusively, any portion of the connnon stock of occupation. But 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 321 
 
 if particular nations grasp at undue shares, and more especially, if 
 they seize on the means of the United States to convert them into 
 aliment for their own strength, and withdraw them entirely from 
 the support of those to whom they belong, defensive and protecting 
 measures become necessary on the part of the nation whose marine 
 resources are thus invaded, or it will be disarmed of its defence, its 
 productions will lie at the mercy of the nation which has possessed 
 itself exclusively of the means of carrying them, and its poUtics may 
 be influenced by those who command its commerce." 
 
 After pressing this argument much further, the author proceeds 
 to recommend the principles of retaliation, by which the United 
 States should be governed. And these, he contended, to be effectu- 
 al, should be exactly reciprocal and equivalent. Where a nation 
 imposes high duties on our productions, or prohibits them altogeth- 
 er, we should do the same in relation to their productions. First, 
 taking those in competition with our own of the same kind ; and 
 next, those which we receive from them in great quantities, and can 
 furnish ourselves with the soonest. Where a nation refuses to re- 
 eeive in our vessels any productions but our own, we should retort 
 upon them the same terms. Where a nation refuses to consider 
 any vessel as ours which has not been built in our own territories ; 
 or where she refuses to our vessels the carriage of our own produc- 
 tions, to countries under her jurisdiction, we should enact corres- 
 ponding prohibitions in respect to such nation. 
 
 "The estabUshment of some of these principles by Great Britain, 
 alone, has already lost us in our commerce with that country and 
 its possessions, between eight and nine hundred vessels, of near 
 40,000 tons burthen, according to statements from official materials, 
 in which they have confidence. This involves a proportional loss 
 of seamen, ship-wrights, and ship-building, and is too serious a loss 
 to admit forbearance of some effectual remedy. 
 
 "It is true we must expect some inconveniences in practice from 
 the establishment of discriminating duties. But in this, as in so 
 many other cases, we are left to choose between two evils. These 
 inconveniences are nothing when weighed against the loss of 
 wealth and loss of force, which will follow our perseverance in the 
 plan of indiscrimination. When once it shall be perceived that we 
 are either in the system or in the habit of giving equal advantages 
 to those who extinguish our commerce and navigation by duties 
 and prohibitions, as to those who treat both with liberality and jus- 
 tice, liberality and justice will be converted by all into duties and 
 prohibitions. It is not to the moderation and justice of others we 
 are to trust for fair and equal access to market with our productions 
 
 28* 
 
322 ' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 or for our due share in the transportation of them ; but to our own 
 means of independence, and the firm will to use them. INor do the 
 inconveniences of discrimination merit consideration. Not one of 
 the nations before mentioned, perhaps not a commercial nation on 
 earth is without them. In our case, one distinction alone will suf- 
 fice — that is to say — -between nations who favor our productions 
 and navigation, and those who do not favor them. One set of 
 moderate duties, say the present duties, for the first, and a fixed ad- 
 vance on these as to some articles, and prohibitions as to others, for 
 the last. 
 
 " Still it must be repeated that friendly arrangements are prefera- 
 ble with all who will come into them ; and that we should carry 
 into such arrangements all the liberality and spirit of accommoda- 
 tion which the nature of the case will admit.'' 
 
 This celebrated Report, aside from its intrinsic merits, derives great 
 im])ortance from the consideration, that it established the general 
 principles of foreign policy, which it has been the object of the gov- 
 ernment to pursue ever since the civil revolution in 1800. It was 
 finished by Mr. Jefierson in the summer of 1792 ; but, anxious 
 that it should be indisputably correct in matters of fact, he retained 
 it in his hands for more than a year, and it was not communicated 
 to Congress until within a few days previous to his resignation. 
 The political consequences which resulted from it, being of a promi- 
 nent and abiding character, will be more properly considered at that 
 point of time. 
 
 The administration of the foreign affairs of the Republic devolv- 
 ing, ex officio, on the Secretary of State, the principal mass of his la- 
 bors emanates from that source. Being the organ of intercommuni- 
 cation between the government and all foreign nations, the prepar- 
 ing and communicating instructions to our ministers, of every grade, 
 at the different courts, and the answering those of foreign ministers, 
 of every grade, resident in the United States, constitute a perpetual 
 routine of arduous and compUcated^duties. Perhaps there was nev- 
 er a period in our history, in which these duties were more onerous 
 and multiphed, than during the years 1791, '92, and '93. The 
 United States were at issue, on the most delicate points of contro- 
 versy, with England, France, and Spain ; and finally, the coaUtion 
 of European despots, against republican France, drove our govern- 
 ment into the necessity of maintaining a strict and impartial neu- 
 trality towards the belligerent paities — the most difficult posture 
 which this country was ever called on to assume. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 323 
 
 Willi Spain, difficulties had arisen of a serious ciiaracter. They 
 concerned chiefly the navigation of the Mississipjii below our south- 
 ern limit, the right to which was still unyielded ; the settlement of 
 boundaries between the two nations ; and the interference, on the 
 part of Spain, with the tribes of Indians in our territories, inciting 
 them to frequent and ferocious depredations on oiu- citizens. 
 
 On all these points, tlie talents and ingenuity of the Secretary 
 of State, were constantly exercised in communicating and enforcing 
 the opinions of the administration. On the subject of the Missis- 
 sippi, his instructions to our Minister at Madrid, w^ere rigorous and 
 uncompromising. He insisted that the United States had a right 
 not only to the unmolested navigation of that river, to its ')?ioufh, 
 but also to an entrepot near thereto, in the dominions of Spain, sub- 
 ject to our jurisdiction exclusively, for the convenience and protec- 
 tion of our commerce. He grounded these rights upon the broad 
 principle of the law of nature, that the inhabitants on both sides of 
 a navigable river, are entitled to the common use and enjoyment 
 of it, to the ocean ; and that the right to use a thing comprehends 
 a right to all the means necessary to its use. The peculiar energy 
 and urgency of his otiicial communications, are in unison with the 
 high tone of American feeling, which he carried into every situa- 
 tion, public and private. 
 
 " With this information, written and oral, you will be enabled to 
 meet the minister in conversations on the subject of the navigaticfti 
 of the Mississippi, to which we wish you to lead his attention im- 
 mediately. Impress him thoroughly with the necessity of an early, 
 and even an immediate settlement of this matter, and of a return 
 to the field of negotiation for this purpose : and though it must be 
 done delicately, yet he must be made to understand unequivocally, 
 that a resumption of the negotiation is not desired on our part, un- 
 less he can determine, in the first opening of it, to yield the imme- 
 diate and full enjoyment of that navigation. (I say nothing of the 
 claims of Spain to our territory north of the thirty- first degree, and 
 east of the Mississippi. They never merited the respect of an an- 
 swer ; and you know it has been cidmitted at Madrid, that they 
 were not to be maintained.) It may be asked, what need of ne- 
 gotiation, if the navigation is to be ceded at all events ? You know 
 that the navigation cannot be practised without a port, where the 
 sea and river vessels may meet and exchange loads, and where 
 those employed about fhem-^may be safe and unmolested. The 
 right to use a thing, comprehends a right to the means necessary 
 to its use, and without which it would be useless. The fixing on 
 
324 ' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 a proper port, and the degree of freedom it is to enjoy in its oj^era- 
 tioiis, will require negotiation, and be governed by events. There 
 is danger indeed, that even the unavoidable delay of sending a ne- 
 gotiator here, may render the mission too late for the preservation 
 of peace. It is impossible to answer for the forbearance of our wes- 
 tern citizens. We endeavor to quiet them with the expectation of 
 an attainment of our rights by peaceable means. But should they, 
 in a moment of impatience, hazard others, there is no saying how 
 far we may be led : for neither themselves nor their rights will ever 
 be abandoned by us." 
 
 On the subject of the boundaries between the United States and 
 Spain, and the incendiary interference of the latter with the Indians 
 on our territories, the communications of Mr. Jefferson gave a front 
 to the foreign administration of the government, which rivaled the 
 boldest period of the Revolution. He uniformly pressed on our 
 Minister the importance of assuring the Court of Spain, on every 
 occasion, in respectful yet unequivocal terms, that the essential prin- 
 ciples in dispute would never be relinquished, preferring always a 
 peaceful redress of grievances, yet fearless of war, if driven to that 
 extremity. Such however was the obstinacy of Spain, arid her 
 jealousy of a rising power in the w^est, which was one day to oblit- 
 erate her American pessessions, that although she deprecated the 
 possibility of war, she artfully parried all attempts at negotiation, 
 and secretly practised her incendiary manoeuvring with the Indians. 
 This temporizing and inhuman policy, at length drew forth from 
 Mr. Jefferson a bold and eloquent address to the Court of Spain 
 itself, declaring the ultimate determination of the government, in 
 language equally resolute and conciliatory. 
 
 " We love and we value peace ; we know its blessings from expe - 
 rience ; unmeddling with the affairs of other nations, we had hoped 
 that our distance and our dispositions, would have left us free, in the 
 example and indulgence of peace with all the world. We had with 
 sincere and particular dispositions, courted and cultivated the friend- 
 ship of Spain. Cherishing the same sentiments, we have chosen 
 to ascribe the unfriendly insinuations of the Spanish commissioners, 
 in their intercourse with the government of the United States, to the 
 peculiar character of the writers, and to remove the cause from them 
 to their sovereign, in whose justice and love of peace we have confi- 
 dence. If we are disappointed in this appeal, if we are to be forced 
 into a contrary order of things, our mind is made up, we shall meet 
 it with firmness. The necessity of our position will supersede all 
 appeal to calculation now, as it has done heretofore. We confide in 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 325 
 
 our own strength, without boasting of it : we respect that of others, 
 without fearing it. If Spain chooses to consider our self defence 
 against savage butchery as a cause of war to her, we must nreet her 
 also in war, with regret but without fear ; and we shall be happier 
 to the last moment, to repair with her to the tribunal of peace and 
 reason." 
 
 The controversy with Spain, on these several points, w^as contin- 
 ued with unabated ardor, while Mr. Jefferson remained Secretary 
 of State. The rights in dispute were finally secured by treat)", on 
 the principles contended for by him, except that the right to an en- 
 trepot at New Orleans was hmited to three years. The principle 
 of free bottoms, free goods, was also recognized ; and the practice of 
 privateering was humanely restrained. These were favorite ideas 
 with Mr. Jefferson. The treaty with Spain was concluded on tlie 
 27th of October, 1795. 
 
 In the midst of the contest with Spain, the Secretary of State 
 became involved in a diplomatic controversy with Mr. Hammond, 
 Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain to the United States. 
 This controversy originated in the inexecution of the treaty of 
 peace ; infractions of which, in various particulars, had been mutu- 
 ally charged, by each upon the other party, ever since the conclu- 
 sion of the war. Mr. Jelfeison directed the attention of the British 
 Minister to the subject, in a pointed manner. He informed him 
 that the British garrisons had not evacuated the western posts, in 
 violation of an express stipulation to that effect in the seventh arti- 
 ticle, that the British otiicers had (^exercised jurisdiction over the 
 country and inhabitants in the vicinity of these posts, that Ameri- 
 can citizens had been excluded from the navigation of the lakes, 
 and that, contrary to the same article, a great number of negroes, 
 the property of American citizens, had been carried away on the 
 evacuation of New York. 
 
 Mr. Hammond replied, by admitting the alleged infractions, but 
 justifying them, on the ground of retaliation, the United States hav- 
 ing previously, he declared, violated their engagements, by obstruc- 
 ting the payment of debts justly due to British creditors, and by 
 refusing to make remuneration for repeated confiscations of British 
 property, during and since the war. 
 
 To this, Mr. Jefferson rejoined, on the 29th of May, '92, in a 
 masterly communication of more than sixty pages octavo. He re- 
 
326 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 viewed the whole ground of the controversy, from beginning to end, 
 sustaining his former positions and overturning those of the British 
 Minister, by such clear and conclusive arguments, as drove his 
 antagonist fairly from the field. He showed that, with respect to 
 property confiscated by the individual States, the treaty merely 
 stipulated, that Congress should recommend to the legislatures of 
 the several States, to provide for its restitution. That Congress had 
 done all in their power, and all they were bound by the treaty to 
 do ; that it was left witlf the States to comply or not, as they might 
 think proper, with the recommendation of Congress, and that this 
 was so understood by the British negotiators, and l)y the British 
 ministry, at the time the treaty was concluded. He also claimed, 
 that the first infractions were on the part of Great Britain, by re- 
 taining the western posts, and the deportation of negroes ; and that 
 tlie delays and impediments which had taken place, in the collec- 
 tion of British debts, were justifiable on that acoount. 
 
 Hammond never undertook an answer to this communication. 
 After niore than a year had elapsed, without hearing any tiling 
 from him, Mr. Jefierson invited his attention to the subject, and re- 
 quested an answer. But Hammond evaded the challenge, alleging 
 0:3 an excuse for his neglect, that he awaited instructions from his 
 government. In this state the matter rested until it became merg- 
 ed in disputes of a more serious character, by the outbreak of a gen- 
 eral war in Europe, which changed the political relations of both 
 continents. 
 
 Against another pretension on the part of Great Britain, and one 
 which ultimately conduced to the second war with that nation, Mr. 
 Jeflferson had the honor of opposing the first formal resistance of our 
 government. This was the impressment of seamen on board Amer- 
 ican ships, under color of their being British subjects. This cus- 
 tom was peculiar to England ; she had practised it towards all other 
 nations, from time immemorial, but with accumidated rigor towards 
 the United States, since their independence. She claimed the ab- 
 solute right of going on board American ships, with her press-gangs, 
 and constraining into her service all seamen whatsoever, who could 
 not produce upon the spot, written evidences of their citizenship. 
 The consequence was that American citizens were frequently carri- 
 ed off, and subjected to multiplied cruelties, not only without evi- 
 dence, but even against evidence. In opposition to this preposter- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 327 
 
 Oils claim, the Secretai}'^ ^of State proclaimed the determined voice 
 of the government, and authorized a rigorous system of reprisal, 
 unless the practice should be abandoned. He contended that 
 American bottoms should be jirima facie evidence that all on 
 board were Americans, which would throw the burden of proof, 
 where it ought to be, on those who set themselves up against natur- 
 al right. Under date of June 11, 1792, he thus writes to our Min- 
 ister at London : 
 
 "We entirely reject the mode which was the subject of a conver- 
 sation between Mr. Morris and him, [British Minister,] which was, 
 that our seamen should always carry about them certificates of 
 their citizenship. This is a condition never yet submitted to by 
 any nation, one with which seamen would never have the precau- 
 tion to comply ; the casualties of their calling would expose them 
 to the constant destruction or loss of this paper evidence, and thus, 
 the British government would be armed with legal authority to 
 impress the whole of our seamen. The simplest rule will be, that 
 the vessel being American, shall be evidence that the seamen on 
 board her are such. If they apprehend that our vessels might thus 
 become asylums for the fugitives of their own nation from impress- 
 gangs, the number of men to be protected by a vessel may be lim- 
 ited by her tonnage, and one or two officers only be permitted to en- 
 ter the vessel in order to examine the numbers on board ; but no 
 press-gang should be allowed ever to go on board an American ves- 
 sel, till after it shall be found that there are more than their stipula- 
 ted number on board, nor till after the master shall have refused to 
 deliver the supernumeraries (to be named by himself) to the press- 
 officer who has come on board for that purpose ; and, even then, the 
 American Consul should be called in. In order to urge a settle- 
 ment of this point, before a new occasion may arise, it may not be 
 amiss to draw their attention to the peculiar irritation excited on the 
 last occasion, and the difficulty of avoiding our making immediate 
 reprisals on their seamen here." 
 
 On the subject of impressment, Mr. Jefferson's own private opin- 
 ion was, that American bottoms should be conclusive evidence that 
 all on board were American citizens, inasmuch as the right of ex- 
 patriation was a natural right, the free enjoyment of which no na- 
 tion had the authority to molest, with respect to any other nation, 
 imless by special and mutual agreement. But the administration 
 were not prepared, at this time, to carry their resistance to the prin- 
 ciple, further than was necessary for the protection of their own 
 seamen, without affording an asylum for others. 
 
328 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 The combination of European despots against the republic of 
 France, in 1793, placed the United States in a new, and to them, in- 
 experienced position. The situation of a neutral nation is always 
 delicate and embarrassing ; but peculiarly so, when it is connect- 
 ed with the belligerent parties by extensive connnercial relations, 
 and when its subjects are divided by powerful political partialities 
 and antipathies towards the Powers at war. This was precise- 
 ly the situation of the United States. One universal feeling of in- 
 dignation at the interference of England and her allies, with the 
 revolutionary struggle of France, pervaded the whole repubhcan 
 party in America ; and nothing but the extraordinary firmness and 
 prudence of their leader, backed of course, on this occasion, by the 
 whole weight of the administration, could have prevented the gen- 
 erous enthusiasm of the nation from embroiling the government in 
 the foreign conflict, and from plunging its citizens into a ferocious 
 and bloody war with each other. 
 
 The phrenzy of the popular excitement in favor of France, was 
 greatly increased by the intemperate character of the minister of the 
 French republic, Mr. Genet. No sooner had this gentleman arriv- 
 ed in the United States, than, presuming on the state of pulilic feel- 
 ing, he began the design of forcing them to become a party to the war, 
 by an extraordinary course of proceedings. He landed on the 8th of 
 April, 1793, at Chaileston, a port so remote from his points, both of 
 departure and destination, .as to excite attention ; and instead of 
 proceeding directly to Philadelphia, and presenting his credentials to 
 the President, he remained in Charleston five or six weeks. While 
 there, he was constantly engaged in authorizing the fitting and arm- 
 ing vessels in that port, enlisting men, foreigners and citizens,, and 
 giving them commissions to cruise and commit hostilities on the 
 nations at war with France. These vessels were taking and 
 bringing prizes into our ports ; and the Consuls of France, by his 
 direction, were assuming to hold courts of admiralty on them, to 
 try, condemn, and authorize their sale as legal prize. All this was 
 done and doing before Mr. Genet had been received and accredited 
 by the President, without his consent or consultation, in defiance of 
 an express proclamation by the government, and in palpable con- 
 travention of the law of nations. These proceedings immediately 
 called forth from the British Minister several memorials thereon ; 
 to which Mr. Jeflerson replied, on the 1.5th of May, condemning, in 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 329 
 
 the highest degree, the transactions complained against, and assur- 
 ing the Britisli Minister that the United States would take the most 
 effectual measures to prevent their repetition. Mr. Genet reached 
 Philadelphia the next day. His progress through the country had 
 been triumphal ; and he was received at Philadelphia amidst the 
 plaudits and acclamations of the people. On his presentation to 
 the President, he assured him theit on account of the remote situa- 
 tion of the United States, and other circumstances, France did not 
 expect them to become a party in the war, but wished to see them 
 preserve their prosperity and happiness in peace. But in a confer- 
 ence with the Secretary of State, soon after his reception, he alluded 
 to his proceedings at Charleston, and expressed a hope that the Pres- 
 ident had not absolutely decided against them. He added, that he 
 would Avrite the Secretary a note, justifying his conduct under the 
 treaty between the two nations ; but if the President should finally 
 determine otherwise, he must submit, as his instructions enjoined 
 him to do what was agreeable to the Americans. 
 
 In pursuance of his intimation, he addressed a letter to the Sec- 
 retary of State, on the 27th of May, in which it appeared that he 
 was far from possessing a disposition to acquiesce in the decisions of 
 the government. This letter laid the foundation of a correspond- 
 ence, which is confessedly unparalleled in the annals of diplomacy. 
 The communications of Mr. Jefferson embody a complete system of 
 national law, as applicable to the rights and obligations of neutral 
 nations, and present an invaluable commentary on the logic and 
 the legal interpretation of treaties. For elegance and dignity of 
 composition, for coolness and energy of reasoning, for the godlike 
 chastity of purpose, with which they repelled the glowing and se- 
 ductive appeals of a beloved and persecuted nation, and above all. 
 for that more than Roman firmness with which they resisted the 
 torrent of sympathetic enthusiasm which poured ^rom the hearts of 
 his own countrymen, these papers will forever remain a monument 
 to the genius, wisdom, and self denying patriotism of the author. 
 They embrace in themselves a volume of the American State-pa- 
 pers; and a mere outline of them, would exceed the limits prescrib- 
 ed to this. Aside from their momentous apphancy to the occasion, 
 they derive additional importance from the consideration, that they 
 formed the commencement, and the true exposition of that system 
 of policy to which the United States have inflexibly adhered, through 
 
 29 
 
330 ' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 every season in which the warring Powers of the earth have placed 
 them in the predicament of a neutral nation. As a circumstance of 
 some curiosity, if not of some weight, it might be added, that Mr, 
 Jefferson's controversy with Genet, was the first of two transactions 
 only in his poUtical life, which received the open and avowed ap- 
 probation of the federahsts as a party. 
 
 The communications of Genet, on the other hand, were a tissue 
 of inflammatory declamation, and indignity. To the reasonings of 
 Mr. Jefferson on the obligations of the United States, to observe an 
 impartial neutrality towards all the belligerent parties, he applied the 
 epithet of "diplomatic subtelties." And when he sustained the prin- 
 ciples advanced by him, by quotations from Vattel, and other ap- 
 proved jurisconsults. Genet called them "the aphorisms of Vattel," 
 &.C. " You oppose," said he, "to my complaints, to my just reclam- 
 ations, upon the footing of right, the private or public opinion of 
 the President of the United States ; and this egis not appearing to 
 you sufficient, you bring forward aphorisms of Vattel, to justify or 
 excuse infractions committed on positive treaties." And he added, 
 " do not punish the brave individuals of your nation who arrange 
 themselves under our banner, knowing perfectly well, that no law 
 of the United States gives to the government the sole power of ar- 
 resting their zeal, by acts of rigor. The Americans are free; they 
 are not attached to the glebe, like the slaves of Russia ; they may 
 change their situation when they please, and by accepting at this 
 moment the succor of their arms in the habit of tramphng on ty- 
 rants, we do not commit the plagiat of which you speak. The true 
 robbery, the true crime woidd be to enchain the courage of these 
 ffood citizens, of these sincere friends of the best of causes." At oth- 
 er times he would address himself to the political feehngs of Mr. 
 Jefferson himself, whom he had been induced to consider his per- 
 sonal friend, and who, he said, " had initiated him into mysteries 
 which had inflamed his hatred against all those who aspire to an 
 absolute power." 
 
 During the whole time, also, Mr. Genet was industriously engag- 
 ed in disseminating seditious addresses among the people, and at- 
 tempting, by every means in his power, to inflame their passions, 
 already sufficiently excited, and induce them to arise in arms 
 against the enemies of France. What an ungenerous moment 
 
OF TH0MA3 JEFFERSON, 
 
 331 
 
 was this, to put to the test the sensibilities of the American people 
 for their brave and beloved ally '? 
 
 Finally, after a controversy of several months, in the whole course 
 of which, tlie mingled efliusions of arrogance and intemperance, 
 were opposed to a moderation and ftrbearance which could not be 
 betrayed into a single undignified expression, the American govern- 
 ment came to the determination of desiring the recall of Mr. Genet. 
 This delicate duty was executed by Mr. Jefferson, and iri a manner ■ 
 which has doubtless united more suffrages in its favor, taking the 
 world at large, than any other diplomatic performance on record. 
 On the 16th of August, 1793. he addressed a letter to Mr. Morris, the 
 Minister of the United States at Paris, containing an epitome of the 
 whole correspondence, on both sides, assigning the reasons which 
 rendered necessary the recall of Mr. Genet, and directing the case 
 to be immediately laid before his government. 
 
 This celebrated letter is an essay of sixteen pages, octavo. It 
 were vain to attempt a satisfactory analysis of its contents. To a 
 full and dispassionate revievr of the transactions of Mr. Genet, and 
 an unanswerable vindication of the principles upon which the ad- 
 ministration had conducted itself in the controversy, assurances were 
 added of an unwavering attachment to France, expressed in such 
 terms of unaffected sensibility, as to impress the most callous with 
 the sincerity of the heart from which they flowed. The concluding 
 paragraphs are too remarkable not to require an insertion. 
 
 After introducing a series of quotations from Mr. Genet's corres- 
 pondence, which he deemed too offensive to be translated into Eng- 
 lish, or to merit a commentary, the author proceeded in the follow- 
 ing dignified strain : 
 
 " We draw a veil over the sensations which these expicssions ex- 
 cite. No words can render them ; but they will not escape the sen- 
 sibility of a friendly and magnanimous nation, who will do us jus- 
 tice. We see in them neither the portrait of ourselves, nor the pencil 
 of our friends ; but an attempt to embroil both ; to add still another 
 nation to the enemies of his country, and to draw on both a reproach, 
 which it is hoped Avill never stain the history of either. The writ- 
 ten proofs, of \\'hich Mr. Genet was himself the bearer, were too un- 
 equivocal to leave a doubt that the French nation are constant in 
 their friendship to us. The resolves of their National Convention, 
 the letters of their Executive Council attest this truth, in terms 
 which render it necessary to seek in some other hypothesis, the so- 
 lution of Mr. Genet's machinations against our peace and friendship. 
 
332 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 "Conscious, on our part, of the same friendly and sincere dispo- 
 sitions, we can with truth affirm, both for our nation and govern- 
 ment, that we have never oiiiitted a reasonable occasion of mani- 
 festing them. For I will not consider as of that character, opportu- 
 nities of sallying forth from our ports to way-lay, rob, and murder 
 defenceless merchants and others, who have done us no injury, and 
 who were coming to trade with us in the confidence of our peace and 
 amity. The violation of all the laws of order and morality which 
 bind mankind together, would be an unacceptable oti'ering to a just 
 nation. Recurring then only to recent things, after so afflicting a 
 libel we recollect with satisfaction, that in the course of two years, 
 by unceasing exertions, we paid up seven years' arrearages and in- 
 stalments of our debt to France, which the inefficiency of our first 
 form of government had suffered to be accumulating : that press- 
 ing on still to the entire fulfilment of our engagements, we have 
 facihtated to Mr. Genet the effect of the instalments of the present 
 year, to enable him to send relief to his fellow citizens in France, 
 threatened with famine : that in the first moment of the insurrec- 
 tion which threatened the colony of St. Domingo, we stepped for- 
 ward to their relief with arms and money, taking freely on ourselves 
 the risk of an unauthorized aid, when delay would have been de- 
 nial : that we have received, according to our best abilities, the 
 wretched fugitives from the catastrophe of the principal town of 
 that colony, who, escaping from the swords and flames of civil war, 
 threw themselves on us naked and houseless, without food or 
 friends, money or other means, their faculties lost and absorbed in 
 the depth of their distresses : that the exclusive admission to sell 
 here the prizes made by France on her enemies, in the present war, 
 though unstipulated in our treaties, and unfounded in her own 
 practice or in that of other nations, as we believe ; the spirit mani- 
 fested by the late grand jury in their proceedings against those who 
 had aided the enemies of France with arms and implements of war ; 
 the expressions of attachment to his nation, with which Mr. Genet 
 was welcomed on his arrival and journey from south to north, and 
 our long forbearance under his gross usurpations and outrages of 
 the laws and authority of our country, do not bespeak the partiali- 
 ties intimated in his letters. And for these things he rewards us 
 by endeavors to excite discord and distrust between our citizens 
 and those whom they have entrusted with their government, be- 
 tween the different branches of our government, between our nation 
 and his. But none of these things, we hope, will be found in his 
 power. That friendship which dictates to us to bear with his con- 
 duct yet a while, lest the interests of his nation here should suffer in- 
 jury, will hasten them to replace an agent, whose dispositions are 
 such a misrepresentation of theirs, and whose continuance here is 
 inconsistent with order, peace, respect, and that friendly correspond- 
 ence which we hope will ever subsist between the two nations. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 333 
 
 His government will see too that the case is pressing. That it is 
 impossible for two sovereign and independent authorities to be going 
 on within oar territory at the same time without collision. They 
 will foresee that if Mr. Gehet perseveres in his proceedings, the con- 
 sequences would be so hazardous to us, the example so humiliating 
 and pernicious, that we may be forced even to suspend his func- 
 tions before a successor can arrive to continue them. If our citizens 
 have not already been shedding each other's blood, it is not owing to 
 the moderation of Mr. Genet, but to the forbearance of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " Lay the case then immediately before his government. Ac 
 company it with assurances, which cannot be stronger than true, 
 that our friendship for the nation is constant and unabating ; that 
 faithful to our treaties, we have fulfilled them in every point to the 
 best of our understanding; that if in any thing, however, we have 
 construed them amiss, we are ready to enter into candid explana- 
 tions, and to do whatever we can be convinced is right ; that in op- 
 posing the extravagances of an agent, whose character they seeni 
 not sufficiently to have known, we have been urged by motives of 
 duty to ourselves and justice toothers, which cannot but be approv- 
 ed by those who are just themselves ; and finally, that after inde- 
 pendence and self-government, there is nothing we more sincerely 
 wish than perpetual friendship with them." 
 
 This impressive appeal to the justice and magnanimity of France, 
 was successful. Genet was recalled, and his place supplied by 
 Mr. Fauchet, who arrived in the United States in February, 1794. 
 
 On the last day of December, 1793, Mr. Jefferson resigned the 
 office of Secretary of State, and retired from political life. This 
 was not a sudden resolution on his part ; nor an unexpected event 
 to his country. The political disagreement between himself and 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, added to his general disinclination 
 to office, was the cause of his retirement. This disagreement, 
 originating in a fundamental difference of opinion, was aggravated 
 by subsequent collisions in the cabinet, was reflected back upon the 
 people, and^ aggravated, in turn, the agitations and animosities be-- 
 tween the repubUcans and federalists, of which they were respect- 
 ively the leaders. 
 
 On his first introduction upon the political theatre in New York, 
 the general appearance of things, it will be recollected, inspired 
 Mr. Jefferson w^ith distressing presages of the course which the ad- 
 ministration would take, and of the result of his connection with it. 
 The pompous levees of the President, forced on him by the high- 
 
 29* 
 
334 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 dying aristocracy with which he was sunounded, the evening- par- 
 ties of the Vice President. Secretary of War, and others, which 
 were flaming imitations of the pageantry and sycophantry of roy- 
 aUsm ; and above all, the general tone of the table conversations, 
 in which a preference of kingly over republican government was 
 evidently the favorite sentiment, filled him with indescribable won- 
 der and mortification. Then followed those scenes of corruption 
 in the Legislature, and of gambling in the public paper, through 
 the country, over which every lover of his country must weep, as 
 the first and foulest stains upon her political escutcheon. Then 
 came the National Bank, with the eternal precedent fixed upon us, 
 of legislative expositions of the constitution subservient to the will 
 and pleasure of the majority in place, — then the excise law, and 
 the commencement of a system of internal taxation, which is the 
 peculiar opprobium of despotism. 
 
 No sooner had these measures passed, by which the course of 
 administration was clearly indicated, than Mr. Jefferson came to 
 the determination of relinquishing his connection with the govern- 
 ment. Having discovered in a letter from the President, while on 
 a journey to the south, that he intended to resign the administra- 
 tion at the end of his first term, he decided on making that the 
 date of his own retireiiient. This resolution was formed so early 
 LIS April, 1791 ; and first communicated to the President in Febru- 
 ary, 1792. The intelhgence came hke a shock on the mind of 
 General Washington. He had long been aware of the fatal schism 
 in his cabinet, and had labored with unceasing anxiety, to effect a 
 reconciliation ; but that this unhappy circumstance should bring on 
 the retirement of either party, was a calamity which he was not 
 prepared to expect. Washington loved Jefferson ; he almost rev- 
 erenced his talents ; and, as a man and private counsellor, had more 
 confidence in him than any other human being. The private 
 conversations held between these two great public servants, at dif- 
 ferent periods during their official connection, attest the sincerity of 
 their attachment to each other, and the fervor of their devotion to 
 country. While both were incessantly sighing for retirement, each 
 endeavored to dissuade the other from it, as an irremediable public 
 calamity. 
 
 These several conversations, which place the characters of both 
 in a most amiable and interesting light, shall be grouped together. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 335 
 
 their substance faithfully stated, and nearly in the langua<2;e in 
 which they were uttered. The first of them was on the 29th of 
 February, 1792. The President had invited Mr. Jeiferson to l>reak- 
 fast with him ; and after conducting him to a private room, said, 
 in an aflectionate tone, that he had felt much concern at an ex- 
 pression which dropped from him yesterday, and which indicated 
 an intention of retiring when he should. That as to himself, many 
 motives obliged him to it. He had, through the whole course of 
 the war, and most particularly at the close of it, uniformly declared 
 his resolution never to act again in any public station ; that he 
 had already twice retired under that firm resolution ; that were 
 he to continue longer in public life it might give occasion to say, 
 that having tasted the sweets of oflice, he could not subsist without 
 them. That he really felt himself growing old, his bodily health 
 less firm, his memory, always bad, becoming worse, and perhaps 
 the other faculties of his mind showing a decay to others, of which 
 he was insensible himself; that this apprehension particulaly op- 
 pressed him ; that he found, moreover, his activity lessened, busi- 
 ness more irksome, and tranquillity become an irresistable passion. 
 That he did not believe his presence necessary, since there were 
 so many other characters who would do the business as well or bet- 
 ter. That however much he felt himself obliged, for these reasons, 
 to retire, he should consider it as unfortunate if that event should 
 bring on the ^retirement of the great officers of the government ; 
 and that this might produce a shock on the public mind of danger- 
 ous consequence. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson told him, that no man had ever had less desire of 
 entering into public offices than himself ; that the circumstance of 
 a perilous war, which brought every thing into danger, and called 
 for all the services which every citizen could render, had induced 
 him to undertake the administration of the government of Virginia ; 
 that he had both before and after refused repeated appointments of 
 Congress to go abroad in that sort of office, which, if he had con- 
 sulted his own gratification, would always have been most agreea- 
 ble to him ; that on resigning the government of Virginia, at the 
 end of two years, he had retired with a firm resolution never more 
 to appear in public life. That a domestic loss, however, occurred, 
 which made him fancy that a temporary absence and change of 
 scene would be expedient for him ; that he consequently accepted 
 
335 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 a foreign appointment, limited to two years ; at the close of which. 
 Dr. Franklin having left France, he had consented to supply his 
 place, and though he continued in it for three or four years, it was 
 under the constant idea of remaining only a year or two longer ; 
 that the Revolution in France coming on, he had so interested him- 
 self in the event of it, that when obliged to bring his family home, 
 he had still an idea of returning and awaiting the close of that, 
 to fix the era of his final retirement. That on his arrival here, 
 he found he had been appointed to his present office, which he 
 accepted with reluctance, and with a firm resolution of indulging 
 his constant wish of retirement at no very distant day ; that when 
 therefore he had received a letter of the President, of April 1st, 
 1792, and discovered from an expression in that, his intention of 
 retiring at the end of his first term, his mind was made up to make 
 that the epoch of his own retirement from those labors of which he 
 was heartily tired. That, however, he did not beheve there was 
 any idea in either of his brethren in the administration of retiring ; 
 that, on the contrary, he had perceived at a late meeting of the 
 trustees of the sinking fund, that the Secretary of the Treasury 
 had developed the plan he intended to pursue, and that it embrac- 
 ed years in its view. 
 
 The President said, that he considered the Treasury department 
 as a much more limited one, going only to the single object of rev- 
 enue, while that of Secretary of State, embracing nearly all the 
 objects of administration, was much more important, and the re- 
 tirement of Mr. Jefferson, therefore, would be more sensibly felt ; 
 that though the government had set out with a pretty general good 
 will of the public, symptoms of dissatisfaction had lately shown 
 themselves far beyond what he could have expected, and to what 
 height they might arise, in case of two great a change in the ad- 
 ministration, could not be foreseen ; that he thought it important to 
 preserve the check of his opinions particularly, in the administra- 
 tion, in order to keep things in their proper channel. That with 
 respect to the existing causes of public uneasiness, he thought there 
 were suspicions against a particular party, which had been carried a 
 great deal loo far ; there might be desires, but he did not beheve there 
 were designs to transform the government into a monarchy ; that 
 the main body of the people in the Eastern States were as steadily for 
 republicanism as in the Southern ; that the constitution we had was 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFKRSON'. 
 
 33T 
 
 an excellent one, if we could keep it where it was : that it was in- 
 deed supposed there was a party who wished to change it into a 
 monarchical form, but that he could conscientiously declare there 
 was not a man in the United States, who would set his face more 
 decidedly against it than himself. [Here Mr. Jefferson interrupted 
 him by saying : 'No rational man in (he United States suspects you 
 of any other disposition ; but there does not pass a week, in which 
 we cannot prove declarations dropping from the monarchical party, 
 that our government is good for nothing, is a milk and water thing 
 which cannot support itself, we must knock it down, and set up 
 something of more energy.'] The President said, if that was the 
 case, he thought it a proof of their insanity, for that the republican 
 spirit of the Union was so manifest and so solid, it was astonishing- 
 how any one could expect to move it. He proceeded to express his 
 earnest wish that himself and Hamilton could coalesce in the meas- 
 ures of the government; that he had proposed the same thing to Ham- 
 ilton, who had expressed his readiness. He reiterated his extreme 
 wretchedness in office, went lengthily into the newspaper attacks 
 upon him for levees, 6lc. explained how he had been entrapped in- 
 to them by the persons he consulted in New York, and declared 
 if he could but know what the sense of the public was, he would 
 most cheerfully conform to it. He expressed his grief at the op- 
 position which had arisen to the administration, and considered it an 
 opposition to himself ; that though indeed he had signed many acts 
 which he did not approve in all their parts, yet he had never put 
 his name to one which he did not think, on the whole, was eligible. 
 That as to the bank, a difference of opinion ought to be tolerated, 
 until there was some infallible criterion of reason. He said not a 
 word on the corruption of the legislature, but defended the assump- 
 tion, and justified the excise law. He did not believe the discon- 
 tents had extended far from the seat of government, but if they 
 were more extensive than he supposed, it might be, that the desire 
 for his remaining in the government was not general ; and he 
 wished to be better informed on this head. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson replied, that in his opinion there was only a single 
 source of these discontents. Though they had indeed appeared to 
 spread themselves over the War department also, yet he considered 
 that as an overflowing only from their real reservoir, to wit, the 
 Treasury department. That a system had there been contrived, 
 
338' 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 for deluging- ihe States with paper money, for withdrawing out 
 citizens from the pursuits of commerce, manufactures, and other 
 branches of useful industry, to occupy themselves and their capitals 
 in a species of gambling, destructive of morality, and which had 
 insinuated its poison into the government itself. That it w'as a 
 f:ict as certainly known, as that they were then conversing, that 
 particular members of tlie legislature, while those laws were on the 
 carpet, had feathered their nests Avith paper, had then voted for the 
 .laws, and constantly since lent all the energy of their talents, and 
 instrumentality of their oliices, to the estabhshment a'nd enlarge- 
 ment of this system ; that they had chained it about our necks 
 fur a great length of time, and in order to keep the game in their 
 hands, had, from time to time, aided in making such legislative 
 constructions of the constitution, as made it a very different thing 
 from what the people thought they had submitted to ; that they had 
 now brought forward a proposition far beyond any one ever yet 
 advanced, and to which the eyes of many were turned, as the de- 
 cision which was to let us know whether we live under a limited 
 or an unlimited government. He alluded to a proposition in the 
 report on manufactures, which, under color of giving hoiinties for 
 the encouragement of particular manufactures, meant to establish 
 the doctrine, that the power given by the constitution to collect tax- 
 es to provide for the general welfare, permitted Congress to take 
 every thing under their management which tliey should deem for 
 the public welfare ; consequently, that the subsequent enumera- 
 tion of their powers was not the description to which resort must be 
 had, and did not at all constitute the limits of their authority ; 
 that this was a very different question from that of the bank, which 
 was thought an incident to an enumerated power. He observed, 
 that though the people were sound, there was a numerous sect who 
 had monarchy in contemplation, and that the Secretary of the 
 Treasury was one of these. That he had heard him say our con- 
 stitution was a shilly-shally thing, of mere milk and water, which 
 could not last, and was only good as a step to something better. 
 That when we reflected, that he had endeavored in the Convention 
 to make an English constitution of it, and wdien failing in that, we 
 saw all his measures tending to bring it into the same form, it was 
 natural for him to be jealous ; and particulaily, when we saw that 
 these measures had established corruption in the legislature, wher« 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 339 
 
 there was a squadron devoted to the nod of the Treasury, doing 
 whatever he had directed, and ready to do what he should direct. 
 That if the equiUbrium of the three great bodies, legislative, exec- 
 utive and- judiciary, could be preserved, if the legislature could be 
 kept independent, he should never fear the result of our govern- 
 ment ; but that he could not be otherwise than uneasy, when he 
 saw that the executive had swallowed up the legislative branch. 
 As to the establishment of our credit, the vaunted object of the 
 financial system, &c. all that was necessary for this purpose, was 
 an efficient government and an honest one, declaring it. would sa- 
 credly pay its debts, laying taxes for this purpose and applying them 
 to it. He enforced the great topic of all his conversations and his 
 letters, to wit, the importance of the President's continuing in office 
 another term ; that his presence was absolutely necessary ; that he 
 was the only man in the United States, who possessed the confi- 
 dence of the whole ; that the government was founded in opinion 
 and confidence, and the longer he remained, the stronger would be- 
 come the habits of the people in submitting to it, and thinking it a 
 thing to be maintained ; that there was no other person, who would 
 be thought any thing more than the head of a party. That the 
 discontents, which were more extensive than the President suppos- 
 ed, were not directed against him, but against the subordinate mem- 
 bers of the administration ; that these discontents had, indeed, 
 spread over the whole South ; that they were grounded on seeing 
 their judgments and interests sacrificed to those of the Eastern 
 States, on every occasion, and their belief that it was the effect of a 
 mercenary squadron in Congress, at the command of the Treasury. 
 That as to himself the same reasons did not operate to demand his 
 continuance in the administration ; that his concurrence was of 
 much less importance than the President seemed to imagine ; that 
 he kepthimself aloof from all cabal and correspondence on the sub- 
 ject of the government, and saw and spoke with as few as he could. 
 That as to a coalition with Mr. Hamilton, if by that was meant, 
 that either was to sacrifice his general system to the other, it was im- 
 possible. They had both, undoubtedly, formed their conclusions 
 after the most mature consideration, and principles conscientiously 
 adopted, could not be relinquished on either side. His devout wish 
 and prayer was, to see both Houses of Congress cleansed of all per- 
 sons interested in the bank or public stocks ; and that a pure Legisla- 
 
340 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tine being given to the country, he should always be ready to acqui- 
 esce under their determinations, even if contrary to his own opin- 
 ions ; for that he subscribed to the principle that the will of the ma- 
 jority, honestly expressed, should give the law.* 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1793, the President called on Mr. Jeffer- 
 son at his house in the country. He had received a letter from him, 
 of July 31st, announcing his intention of resigning at the close of 
 the following month ; and he made that letter the painful subject 
 of his visit. He now expressed his repentance at not having re- 
 signed himself,! and how painfully it was increased by seeing that 
 he was to be deserted by those on whose aid he most counted ; that 
 he did not know where he should look to find characters to fill the 
 offices ; that mere talents did not suffice for the department of State, 
 but it required a person conversant in foreign affairs, and acquaint- 
 ed with foreign courts ; that Colonel Hamilton had a few weeks 
 before written to him, informing that private ,as well as public rea- 
 sons had brought him to the determination of retiring, and that he 
 should do it towards the close of the next session. He expressed 
 great apprehensions at the fermentation which seemed to be work- 
 ing in the public mind ; that many descriptions of persons, actuated 
 by different causes, appeared to be uniting ; what it would end in 
 he knew not; a new Congress was to assemble, more numer- 
 ous, perhaps of a different spirit ; the first expressions of their sen- 
 timent would be important ; if Mr. Jefferson would only continue 
 with him to the end of that, it would relieve him considerably. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson expressed to him, in addition to his excessive re- 
 pugnance to public life, the particular uneasiness of his present situ- 
 ation, where the laws of society obliged him always to move exactly 
 in the circle which he knew to bear him pecuHar hatred ; to wit, 
 among the wealthy aristocrats, the merchants connected closely 
 with England, the new created paper fortunes ; that thus sur- 
 rounded, his words were caught, multiJDlied, misconstrued, and even 
 
 * Ana. 
 
 + His first term had expired on the 4th of March, 1793. Havinsr consented to 
 a re-election, at the earnest solicitations of all parties, he again received the 
 unanimous vote of the nation. Mr. Adams was also re-elected Vice-President, 
 but not with equal unanimity. Of one hundred and thirty -two votes, Mr. Ad- 
 ams had seventy-seven, and Geo. Clinton of N. York, the republican candidate, 
 lifty. The Slates of Virginia, New-York, North Carolina, and Georgia, were 
 unanimous for Mr. Clinton. Kentucky could not forget the great protector of 
 the West, and gave her vote for Mr. Jefferson, although he was not a candidate. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 341 
 
 fabricated and spread abroad to his injury ; that he saw also there 
 was such an opposition of views between himself and another part 
 of the administration, as to render it pecuUarly unpleasing, and to 
 destroy the necessary harmony ; that he beheved the next Congress 
 would attempt nothing material, but to render their own body in- 
 dependent ; that the republican party, so far as his knowledge ex- 
 tended, were firm in their dispositions to support the present frame 
 of government ; and that on the whole, no crisis existed, which 
 threatened any danger. 
 
 The President entreated him to remain in until the end of an- 
 other quarter, the last of December ; which would carry them 
 through the difficulties of the present year, by which time he was 
 satisfied the affairs of Europe would be settled ; either France 
 would be overwhelmed by the Confederacy, or the latter would give 
 up the contest. By that time, too. Congress would have manifested 
 its character. He went lengthily into the difficulties of naming a 
 successor, canvassed the characters of various conspicuous persona- 
 ges, without being satisfied with any of them, except Mr. Madison, 
 whom he despaired of obtaining ; and concluded, by earnestly de- 
 siring Mr. Jefferson to take time and consider whether he could not 
 continue with him another quarter ; for that, hke a man going to 
 the gallows, he was anxious to put it off as long as he could ; but 
 if he persisted, he must then look about him, and do the best he 
 could towards providing a sviccessor.* 
 
 With the last pressing solicitation of the President, Mr. Jefferson 
 at length complied ; and accordingly postponed his resignation 
 until the last day of the year, 1793, as before stated. The political 
 effects upon the government of the United States, of the retirement 
 of this minister, realized the worst apprehensions of General Wash- 
 ington. They even verified the worst predictions of the opponents 
 of the administration. They broke out wildly, and spread them- 
 selves with accumulative and disastrous potency, through the re- 
 maining period of the eighteenth century ; when they were sud- 
 denly brought to a stand by the triumphant interposition of the peo- 
 ple, in a peaceable and constitutional way. Some developments 
 of that dark history, which have been left by Mr. Jefl^erson, will 
 appear in the succeeding chapter. Meanwhile, the following para- 
 
 Ana. 
 
 30 
 
342 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ^rapli, extracted from his private papers, will not be thought irrele- 
 vant or uniustructive. 
 
 "From the moment of my retiring from the administration, the 
 federalists got unchecked hold of General Washington. His mem- 
 ory was already sensibly impaired by age, the firm tone of mind for 
 which he had been remarkable, was beginning to relax, its energy 
 was abated, a listlessness of labor, a desire for tranquillity had crept 
 on him, and a willingness to let others act, and even think for him. 
 Like the rest of mankind, he was disgusted with atrocities of the 
 French revolution, and was not sufficiently aware of the ditference 
 between the rabble who were used as instrumentsof their perpetra- 
 tion, and the steady and rational chai'acter of the American people, 
 in which he had not sufficient confidence. The opposition too, of 
 the republicaris to the British treaty, and the zealous support of the 
 federalists in that unpopular but favorite measure of theirs, had 
 made him all their own. Understanding, moreover, that I disap- 
 proved of that treaty, and copiously nourished with falsehoods by a 
 malignant neighbor of mine, who ambitioned to be his correspond- 
 ent, he had become alienated from myself personall)*, as from the 
 republican body generally of his fellow citizens ; and he wrote the 
 letters to Mr. Adams and Mr. Carroll, over which, in devotion to his 
 imperishable fame, we must for ever weep as monuments of mortal 
 decay." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The history of the United States from the commencement of the 
 year 1794, to the memorable epoch of 1800, is a history of unre- 
 mitting struggles between the advocates of monarchy and repub- 
 licanism. 
 
 This political drama, of which the present recollection is but as a 
 dream of the night, was scarcely less terrible in its course, or less 
 momentous in its consequences, than the internal conflict of the 
 Revolution. The latter, by an unexampled exertion of moral agen- 
 cy, revolutionized the government fiom a monarchical to a repub- 
 lican structure ; the former, by the instrumentality of the same 
 peaceable power, against the same political antagonists, saved it 
 from retrograding into its original deformity. That this was the 
 real ground and nature of the contest, is too notorious to be contro- 
 verted. Without resorting to the private revelations of a principal 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 343 
 
 actor,* touching the secret transactions of the government, and the 
 avowed opinions of its predominant agents, or without recurring to 
 the newspaper confiagrations of that tempestuous season, the pubUc 
 and written history of the United States abounds with satisfactory 
 testimony on tliis point. 
 
 The third Congress of the United States, the pohticai character 
 of which had been anticipated with great alarm by the monarchical 
 party, and with some uneasiness hj the President, assembled on 
 the 3d of December, 1793. Notwithstanding the atrocious turn of 
 the French Revolution, with which the republican party had be- 
 come identified, irom their sympathy in its -principles only, the 
 last elections had secured a republican majority in the popular 
 branch of the Legislature ; but, as corruption had become the estab- 
 lished principle, at head quarters, the majority was too small not to 
 be easy of debauchery, on questions of vital importance to the party 
 which preponderated in the administration. The political charac- 
 ter of the Senate remained essentially unaltered. 
 
 At this session, it will be recollected, the celebrated Report of Mr. 
 Jefferson on Commerce and Navigation, was submitted to Congress. 
 The comparative expose which this document presented, of the 
 state of our relations with England and France, displayed in such 
 vivid and incontrovertible contrast the conduct of those governments 
 towards the United States, as had an electric effect iipon the ele- 
 ments of the two political parties. The monarchists, who were 
 chained in theory to the British Constitution, and embarked in the 
 design of assimulating ours to that, whose feehngs and interests 
 were essentially British, considered the Report as an insidious attack 
 upon their patron nation, and an unmanly truckling to France. 
 The republicans, on the other hand, were gratified at seeing a true 
 exposition of our foreign relations held up to the view of the nation; 
 and they espoused with ardor the principle of commercial discrim- 
 ination recommended by the author. 
 
 This principle had been a favorite one with Mr. Jefferson, from 
 the origin of the government. In his letters to America, while in 
 France, he had constantly and most strenuously enforced the idea. 
 To make the interest of every nation on the globe, stand surety for 
 its justice to us, and to make injury to them follow injury to us, in 
 
 * JeiFerson's Ana, which abounds in irresistable proofs on this head. 
 
o44 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 equal degree, and as surely as effect follows its cause, was his first, 
 and uniform doctrine through life. With respect to the British gov- 
 ernment, in particular, his opinion was, that nothing would force 
 them to do justice, but the loud voice of their people, and that this 
 could only be excited by distressing their commerce. Besides, it 
 would argue injustice, not to say ingratitude, on our part, to admit 
 every nation to an equal participation in the benefits of our com- 
 merce, whilst one loaded us with freedoms, liberalities and courte- 
 sies, and another with burthens, prohibitions and execrations. 
 This was precisely the case as between England and France. In 
 a letter to Mr. Madison, dated Paris, 1789, Mr, Jefferson wrote : 
 
 " When of two nations, the one has engaged herself in a ruinous 
 war for us, has spent her blood and money to save us, has opened 
 her bosom to us in peace, and received us almost on the footing of 
 her own citizens, while the other has moved heaven, earth, and hell 
 to .exterminate us in war, has insulted us in all her councils in 
 peace, shut her doors to us in every part where her interests would 
 admit it, libeled us in foreign nations, endeavored to poison them 
 against the reception of our most precious commodities ; to place 
 these two nations on a footing, is to give a great deal more to one 
 than to the other, if the maxim be true, that to make unequal quan- 
 tities equal, you must add more to one than the other. To say, in 
 excuse, that gratitude is never to enter into the motives of national 
 conduct, is to revive a principle which has been buried for centu- 
 ries, Vi'ith its kindred principles of the lawfulness of assassination, 
 poison, perjury, (fcc. All of these were legitimate principles in the 
 dark a""e's which intervened between ancient and modern civiliza- 
 tion but exploded and held in just horror in the eighteenth century. 
 I know but one code of morality for men, whether acting singly or 
 i:ollectively. He who says I will be a rogue when I act in compa- 
 ny with a hundred others, but an honest man when I act alone, 
 will be believed in the former assertion, but not in the latter." 
 
 His ideas on comixierce, and the line of conduct proper to be ob- 
 served towards France and England, are stated more at length in a 
 letter to Elbridge Gerry, about this time : 
 
 " I do sincerely wish with you, that we could take our stand on a 
 ground perfectly neutral and independent towards all nations. It 
 has been my constant object through my public life : and with re- 
 spect to the English and French, particularly, I have too often ex- 
 pressed to the former my wishes, and made to them propositions, 
 verbally and in writing, officially and privately, to official and pri- 
 vate characters, for them to doubt of my views, if they could be 
 content with equality. Of this they are in possession of several 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 345 
 
 written and formal proofs, in my own hand-writing. But they have 
 wished a monopoly of commerce and influence with us ; and they 
 have in fact obtained it. When Ave take notice that theirs is the 
 workshop to which we go for all we want ; that Avith them centre 
 either immediately or ultimately all the labors of our hands and 
 lands ; that to them belongs either openly or secretly the great mass 
 of our navigation ; that even the factorage of their affairs here, is 
 kept to themselves by factitious citizenships ; that these foreign and 
 false citizens now constitute the great body of what are called our 
 merchants, fill ovu" sea-ports, are planted in every little town and 
 district of the interior country, sway every thing in the former pla- 
 ces by their own votes, and those of their dependents, in the latter, 
 by their insinuations and the influence of their ledgers ; that they 
 are advancing fast to a monopoly of our banks and public funds, 
 and thereby placing our public finances under their control ; that 
 they have in their alliance the most influential characters in and 
 out of office ; when they have shown that by all these bearings on 
 the different branches of the government, they can force it to pro- 
 ceed in whatever direction they dictate, and bend the interests of 
 this country entirely to the will of another ; when all this, I say, is 
 attended to, it is impossible for us to say we stand on independent 
 ground, impossible for a free mind not to see and to groan under the 
 bondage in which it is bound. If any thing after this could excite 
 surprise, it would be that they had been able so far to throw dust in 
 the eyes of our own citizens, as to fix on those who wish merely to 
 recover self government the charge of subserving one foreign influ- 
 ence because they resist submission to another. But they possess 
 our printing presses, a powerful engine in their government of us. 
 At this very moment [1797] they would have drawn us into a war 
 on the side of England, had it not been for the failure of her bank. 
 Such was their open and loud cry, and that of their gazettes, till this 
 event. After plunging us in all the broils of the European nations, 
 there would remain but one act to close our tragedy, that is, to break 
 up our Union ; and even this they have ventured seriously and so- 
 lemnly to propose and maintain by arguments in a Connecticut pa- 
 per. I have been happy, however, in beheving, from the stifling of 
 this effort, that that dose was found too strong, and excited as much 
 repugnance there as it did hoiror in the other parts of our country, 
 and that whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, 
 Ave shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and 
 that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming 
 an arena of gladiators. Much as T abhor Avar, and view it as the 
 greatest scourge of mankind, and anxiously as I wish to keep out 
 of the broils of Europe, I Avould yet go Avith my brethren in these, 
 .rather than separate from them. But I hope we may still keep 
 clear of them, notAvithstanding our present thraldom, and that time 
 may be given us to reflect on the aAvful crisis we have passed 
 
 30* 
 
346 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ihiough, and to find some means of shielding ourselves in future 
 from foreign influence, political, commercial, or in whatever other 
 form it may be attempted. I can scarcely withhold myself from 
 joining in the wish of Silas Deane, that there were an ocean of fire 
 between us and the old world." 
 
 The sentiment of these letters was precisely in unison with Mr. 
 Jefierson's commercial Report ; and for this he was accused of ser- 
 vility to France, pronounced the High Priest of jacobinism, and 
 branded with every epithet of scurrility, which the genius of vitu- 
 peration could invent ! 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1794, the House resolved itself into a 
 committee of the whole, on the report of the Secretary of State rela- 
 tive to the privileges and restrictions of the commerce of the United 
 States ; when Mr. Madison arose, and, after some prefatory obser- 
 vations, submitted a series of resolutions for the consideration of the 
 members. 
 
 These celebrated resolutions were predicated on the principle of 
 commercial discrimination, and embraced the complete idea of Mr. 
 Jefferson's Report. They imposed an additional duty on the manu- 
 factures, and on the tonnage of vessels, of nations having no com- 
 mercial treaty with the United States ; reduced the duties already 
 uiiposed by law on the tonnage of vessels belonging to nations hav- 
 ing such commercial treaty ; and reciprocated the restrictions which 
 were imposed on American navigation. The last of the resolutions 
 declared, that provision ought to be made, for ascertaining the loss- 
 es sustained by American citizens, from the operation of particular 
 regulations of any country, contravening the law of nations; and 
 that these losses be reimbursed, in the first instance, out of the addi- 
 tional duties on the manufactures and vessels of the nation estab- 
 lishing such regulations. Long and acrimonious discussions suc- 
 ceeded, Oil these propositions ; and on the 8th of February, the first 
 was adopted by a majority of five. 
 
 A motion was then made by the Anglican party, to amend the 
 second by extending its operation to all nations, without discrimin- 
 ation. This motion was superseded by another, from the republi- 
 can side, exempting all nations from its operation, except Great 
 Britain. This brought the contest to a focus ; and, apprehen- 
 sive of the result of such a proposition, even if adopted, the advo- 
 cates of discrimination moved a postponment of the whole subject* 
 imtil the 1st of March, which was carried. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 347 
 
 In the mean time, intelligence anived of additional British ag- 
 gressions on our connnerce ; and both parties became sensible that 
 something must be done. The repubUcans were in favor of com- 
 mercial retahation, as the most effectual weapon of resistance, and 
 the only one which the crisis of affairs demanded ; the federalists, 
 though they deprecated the possibility of an open rupture with Great 
 Britain, yet preferred even the horrors and desolations of war, to 
 what they deemed a sacrifice of their patron nation to the interests 
 of her rival. They thought it a favorable opportunity, also, to push 
 for a standing army. A proposition was accordingly submitted to 
 this effect ; and also to empower the President to lay an embargo 
 for thirty days, should the welfare of the country, in his opinion, 
 require it. The former was negatived ; the latter prevailed, on the 
 26th of March. 
 
 But the advocates of commercial retaliation were not to be de- 
 terred from tlieir course by any of these feints and diversions. The 
 embargo, shoidd it ever be carried into effect, which indeed was 
 never intended by the movers themselves, would, besides distressing 
 our own commerce, affect the interests of all foreign nations alike ; 
 whereas it was Great Britain alone, who merited the scourge. Mr. 
 Madison, therefore, frequently signified his determination to call up 
 the discriminating resolutions, unless gentlemen had something 
 more effectual to propose. Whereupon, sundry movements and 
 counter movements were attempted, which produced violent alterca- 
 tions, but ended in nothing. Pending the agitation, however, fresh 
 causes of irritation supervened, which excited the republicans to a 
 bolder pitch of proceeding. Mr. Madison's resolutions were not con- 
 sidered strong enough. They gave way, therefore, to a proposition 
 submitted by Mr. Clark, on the 7th of April, declaring that, until 
 the British government should make restitution for all losses and 
 damages sustained by American citizens from British armed vessels, 
 contrary to the law of nations, and also, until the western posts be 
 given up, all commercial intercourse between the United States 
 and Great Britain, so far as respects the products of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, should be prohibited. This proposition created a tre-^ 
 mendous excitement ; the debates were impassioned, tempestuous; 
 at length, the moment of trial approached, and no longer a doubt 
 existed of the passage of the resolution. 
 
348 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 At this crisis, the monarchical federalists resolved on an act of ex- 
 traordinary boldness, in the character of executive usurpation. 
 They went to the President and engaged his interference in oppo- 
 sition to the proceedings of the House, by nominating an Envoy 
 Extraordinary to the British Court ! Sensible of their present as- 
 cendency in the Senate, and uncertain of its continuance, they 
 meant, by forming a commercial treaty with Great Britain analo- 
 gous to their principles and feelings, to erect a permanent barrier 
 against the power of the Legislature to establish a different system 
 of policy towards that nation. It was deemed unsafe to trust the bu- 
 siness in democratic hands. John Jay was accordingly nominated 
 by the President to proceed on this extraordinary mission ; and, af- 
 ter a vigorous but desperate opposition, was confirmed by the Senate. 
 Intelligence of this proceeding of the President, was received with 
 regret and marked disapprobation hj the republican members of 
 the House. They regarded it as an arbitrary interposition of the 
 executive arm, to arrest the adoption of measures, which were man- 
 ifestly in accordance with the sense of the people. They were re- 
 solved not to be diverted from their course, but to testify, at least, 
 the independence of their ])ody. Mr. Clark's proposition was re- 
 sumed, and the debates renewed with increased acrimony. After a 
 slight modification of its principles, the resolution was adopted on 
 the 23d of April. But the bill was rejected in the Senate, by the 
 casting vote of the Vice President. 
 
 Thus, all attempts to humble the maritime despotism of Great 
 Britain, by making her feel the scorpion lash of her own policy, 
 were defeated by the preponderating influence of British interest 
 and monarchical principles ; and Mr. Jay was dispatched on the 
 humiliating errand of s\ipplicating negotiation at the feet of a mon- 
 arch, who had invariably spurned at negotiation, and rioted in unin- 
 terrupted aggression upon the rights of the ocean. The result of 
 this mission was the famous Jay Treaty, so called, which was " re- 
 ally nothing more," in the language of Mr. Jefferson, "than a treaty 
 of alliance between England and the Anglomen of this country, 
 against the Legislature and people of the United States." The re- 
 maining history of that affair is better known, and need not here be 
 repeated. This single transaction will serve as a specimen, though 
 a very faint one, of the madness of the British monarchical faction. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON-. 349 
 
 through the remainder of the present, and the whole of the succeed- 
 ing- administration. 
 
 Daring these animated proceedings in Congress, which were set 
 in motion by his commercial Report, Mr. Jefiferson was in the bo- 
 som of retirement at Monticello. After five and twenty years' con- 
 tinual employment in the public service, with every wish of per- 
 sonal ambition more tiian gratified, he returned, v/ith infinite appe- 
 tite, to that line of hfe which had always been most congenial to his 
 mind, and from which he was resolved never again to be divorced. 
 In answer to a letter of the Secretary of State, soon after his resig- 
 nation, containing an invitation of the President, pressing his return 
 to the public councils, he wrote : "No circumstances, my dear Sir, 
 will ever more tempt me to engage in any thing public. I thought 
 inyself perfectly fixed in this determination when I left Philadel- 
 phia, but every day and hour since has added to its inflexibility. 
 It is a great pleasure to me to retain the esteem and approliaticn of 
 tlie President, and this forms the only ground of any reluctance at 
 being unable to comply Avith every wish of his. Pray convey these 
 sentiments and a thousand more to him, which my situation does 
 not permit me to go into."' 
 
 In the cultivation of his farm, Avith which he was at all times 
 extravagantly enamored, and to which he was now intently devo- 
 ted, Mr. Jefferson was as philosophical and original, as in every 
 other department of business to which his attention Avas turned. 
 On and around the mountain, on which Monticello is situated, was 
 an estate of about 5000 acres, Avhich he owned ; of Avhich, eleven 
 hundred and twenty acres only Avere under cultivation. A ten 
 years' abandonment of his lands to the ravages of overseers, had 
 brought on them a degree of degradation, far beyond what he had 
 expected ; and determined him on the folloAving plan for retrieving 
 them from the wretched condition in Avhich he found them. He 
 divided all his lands under culture, into four farms, and every farm 
 into seven fields, of forty acres. Each farm, therefore, consisted of 
 two hundred and eighty acres. He established a system of rotation 
 in cropping, Avhich embraced seven years ; and this was the reason 
 for the division of each farm into seven fields. In the first of these 
 years, wheat was cultivated ; in the second, Indian corn ; in the 
 third, peas or potatoes ; in the fourth, vetches ; in the fifth, Avheat ; 
 and in the sixth and seventh, clover. Thus each of his fields 
 
350 LIFE, WRITING.^', AZ^D OPINIONS 
 
 yielded some produce every year, and the rotation of culture, while 
 it prepared the soil for the succeeding crop, increased its produce. 
 Each farm, under the direction of a particular steward or bailiff", 
 was cultivated by four negroes, four negresses, four oxen, and four 
 horses. On each field was constructed a barn sufficiently capacious 
 to hold its produce in grain and forage. A few extracts from his 
 private correspondence, at this period, will show how completely 
 his mind v^'as abstracted from the political world, and absorbed in 
 the occupaLions and enjoyments of hi? rural retreat. 
 
 To James Madison. — "I long to see you. I am proceeding in 
 my agiiculturni plans with a slow but sure step. To get under full 
 way will require tour or live years. But patience and perseverance 
 will accomplish it. My little essay in red clover, the last year, ha^ 
 had the most encouraging success. I sowed then about forty acres. 
 I have sowed this year about one hundred and tw^enty, which the 
 rain now falhng comes very opportunely on. From one hundred 
 and sixty to t^vo hundred acres, \\ ill be my yearly sowing. The 
 secd-ljox described in the agricultural transactions of New- York, re- 
 duces the expense of seeding from six shillings to two shillings and 
 three pence the acre, and does the business better than is possible to 
 be done l)y the human hand." 
 
 To \\. B. Giles. — '• 1 sincerely congratulate you on the great 
 prosperities of our two first allies, the French and Dutch. If I 
 could but see them now at peace with the rest of their continent, I 
 should have little doubt of dining with Pichegru in London, next 
 autumn ; for I believe I should be tempted to leave my clover for 
 a while, and go and hail the dawn of liberty and republicanism in 
 that island. I shall be rendered very happy by^ the visit you prom- 
 ise me. The only thing wanting to make me completely so, is the 
 more frequent society of my friends. It is the more wanting, as I 
 a|n become moi'e firmly fixed to the glebe. If you visit me as a 
 farmer, it must be as a condisciple ; for I am but a learner, an eager 
 one indeed, but 3^et desperate, being too old to learn a new art. 
 HoW'ever, I am as much delighted and occupied with it, as if I was 
 the greatest adept. I shall talk with you about it from morning till 
 night, and put you on very short allowance as to political aliment. 
 ISow and then a pious ejaculation for the French and Dutch repub- 
 licans, returning with due despatch to clover, potatoes, wheat, &c." 
 
 ToM. PactE. — "It was not in my power to attend atFredricks- 
 burg according to the kind invitation in your letter, and in that of 
 Mr. Ogilvie. The heat of the weather, the business of the farm, to 
 which I have made myself necessary, forbade it; and to give one 
 round reason for all, mature samis, I have laid up my Rosinante 
 in his stall, before his unfitness for the road shall expose liira faltering 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSOX. 351 
 
 to the \vorld. But why did not I answer you in time? Because, 
 in truth, I am encouraging myself to grow lazy, and I was sure you 
 would ascribe the delay to any thing sooner than a w^ant of affection 
 or respect to you, for this was not among the possible causeg. In 
 truth, if any thing could ever induce me to sleep another night out 
 of my own house, it would have been your friendly invitation and 
 my sohcitude for the subject of it, the education of our youth. I do 
 most anxiously wish to see the highest degrees of education given 
 to the higher degrees of genius, and to all degrees of it, so much as 
 may enable them to read and understand what is going on in the 
 world, and to keep their part of it going on right : for nothing can 
 keep it right but their own vigilant and distrustful superintendence." 
 
 To E. Randolph. — "I think it is Montaigne who has said, that 
 ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head. I 
 am sure it is true as to every thing political, and shall endeavor to 
 estrange myself to every thing of that character. I indulge myself 
 on one political topic only, that is, in declaring to my coimtrymen 
 the shameless corruption of a portion of the Representatives in the 
 first and second Congresses, and their implicit devotion to the treas- 
 ury. I think 1 do good in this, because it may produce exertions to 
 reform the evil, on the success of which the form of the government 
 is to depend." 
 
 With the peaceful operations of agriculture, Mr. Jefferson combined 
 another gratification which divided his heart equally with them — to 
 wit, the pursuit of science. In compUment to his extraordinary pas- 
 sion for philosophy, and his exalted attainments in science, he was 
 about this time, appointed President of the American Philosophical 
 Society, the oldest and most distinguished institution in the United 
 States. This honor had been first conferred on Dr. Frankhn, and 
 afterwards on Rittenhouse, at whose death Mr. Jefferson was chosen. 
 His sensibility to this mark of distinction, was more profound than 
 he had ever felt on any occasion of political preferment. " The suf- 
 frage of a body," said he in reply, " which comprehends whatever 
 the American world lias of distinction in philosophy and science in 
 general, is the most flattering incident of my life, and that to which 
 I am the most sensible. My satisfaction would be complete, were 
 it not for the consciousness that it is far beyond my titles. I feel 
 no qualification for this distinguished post, but a sincere zeal for all 
 the objects of our institution, and an ardent desire to see knowledge 
 so disseminated through the mass of mankind, that it may, at 
 length, reach even the extremes of society, beggars, and kings." 
 
\ 
 
 352 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Of this Society he was the pride and ornament. He presided 
 over it for a number of years with great efficiency and eclat, eleva- 
 ting its character, and extending its operations, by tljose means which 
 his enlarged acquaintance with science, and the literary world, en- 
 abled him to comiTjand. His constant attendance at its meetings, 
 Avhile he resided in Philadelphia, gave them an interest which had 
 not been excited for a number of years. Science, under his aus- 
 pices, received a fresh impulse, as will appear by consulting the 
 Transactions of that period, which were enriched by many valu- 
 able contributions from himself. 
 
 But it was impossible for Mr. Jefferson utterly to extinguish that 
 inbred fervor of republicanism for which he was so remarkable, or 
 those anxieties for its preservation and purity, which \veighed on 
 him so heavily, at times. He had left Philadelphia net without 
 some inquietude for the future destinies of the government, yet with 
 a confidence so peculiar to himself, in every emergency, as never 
 permitted him to doubt the final result of the experiment. Some 
 personal concern, also, for the fate of his commercial Report, which 
 he had left unacted upon, occasionally obtruded itself upon his re- 
 tirement. The sensations excited in his mind, on the first intelli- 
 gence of that absurd drama in Congress, which immediately suc- 
 ceeded his departure, and which resulted in the nomination of an 
 Envoy Extraordinary to the British Court, are liberally displayed 
 in his letters of that date. His observations on the turbulent pro- 
 ceedings of that session, and its principal actors, on the memorable 
 " Jay treaty," and its effects upon political parties, and on the gen- 
 eral aspect of the public affairs during the years 1794, '95, and '96, 
 are worthy of all consideration. 
 
 To James Madison. — "I have been particularly gratified by 
 the receipt of the papers containing yours and Smith's discussion of 
 your regulating propositions. These debates had not been seen 
 here but in a very short and mutilated form. I am at no loss 
 to ascribe Smith's speech to its true father. Every tittle of it is Ham- 
 ilton's except the introduction. There is scarcely any thing there 
 which I have not heard from him in our various private, though offi- 
 cial discussions. The very turn of the arguments is the same, and 
 others will see as well as myself that the style is Hamilton's. The 
 sophistry is too fine, too ingenious, even to have been comprehended 
 by Smith, much less devised by him. His reply shows he did not 
 understand his first speech ; as its general inferiority proves its Jegit^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 353 
 
 imacy, as evidently as it does the bastardy of the original. Yoii 
 know we had understood that Hamilton had prepared a counter re- 
 port, [on conniierce,] and that some of his humble servants in the 
 Senate were to move a reference to him in order to produce it. But 
 I suppose they thought it would have a better effect, if fired oil' in 
 the House of Representatives. I find the report, however, so fully 
 justified, that the anxieties with which I left it are perfectly quieted. 
 In this quarter, all espouse your propositions with ardor, and with- 
 out a dissenting voice. * * * As to the naval armament, the 
 land armament, and the marine fortifications which are in question 
 with you, I have no doubt they will all be carried. Not that the 
 monocrats and papermen in Congress want war ; but they want ar 
 mies and debts ; and though we may hope that the sound part of 
 Congress is now so augmented as to insure a majority in cases of 
 general interest merely, yet I have always observed that in ques- 
 tions of expense, where members may hope either for offices or jobs 
 for themselves or their friends, some few will be debauched, and that 
 is sufficient to turn the decision where a majority is, at most, but 
 small. I have never seen a Philadelphia paper since I left it, till 
 those you enclosed me ; and I feel myself so thoroughly weaned 
 from the interest I took in the proceedings there, while there, that I 
 have never had a wish to see one, and believe that 1 shall never take 
 another newspaper of any sort. I find my mind totally absorbed 
 in my rural occupations." 
 
 To T. CoxE. — " I am particularly to thank you for your favor 
 in forwarding the Bee. Your letters give a comfortable view of 
 French affairs, and later events seem to confirm it. Over the for- 
 eign powers I am convinced they will triumph completely, and I 
 cannot but hope that that triumph, and the consequent disgrace of 
 the invading tyrants, is destined, in the order of events, to kindle 
 the wrath of the people of Europe against those who have dared to 
 embroil them in such wickedness, and to bring at length, kings, no 
 bles, and priests to the scaffolds which they have been so long delug- 
 ing with human blood. I am still warm whenever I think of 
 these scoundrels, though T do it as seldom as I can, preferring infi 
 nitely to contemplate the tranquil growth of my lucerne and pota- 
 toes. I have so completely withdrawn myself from these specta- 
 cles of usurpation and misrule, that I do not take a single newspa- 
 per, nor read one a month : and I feel myself infinitely the happier 
 for it. 
 
 "We are alarmed here with the apprehensions of Avar ; and sincere- 
 ly anxious that it may be avoided ; but not at the expense either of 
 our faith or honor. It seems much the general opinion hoe, the latter, 
 has been too much wounded not to require reparation, and to seek 
 it even in war, if that be necessary. As to myself, I love peace. 
 and I am anxious that we should give the world still another use- 
 
 31 
 
Oo4 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ful lesson, by showing to them other modes of punishing injuries 
 than by war, which is as much a punishment to the punisher as to 
 the sufferer. I love, therefore, Mr. Clarke's proposition of cutting oft" 
 all communication with the nation which has conducted itself so 
 atrociously. This you will say may bring on war. If it does, we 
 will meet it like men ; but it may not bring on war, and then the 
 <:;xperiment will have been a happy one. I believe this war would 
 be vastly more unanimously approved than any one wc ever were 
 engaged in ; because the aggressions have been so wanton and 
 bare-faced, and so unquestionably against our desire." 
 
 To J. Madison. — " The denunciation of the democratic socie- 
 ties is one of the extraordinary acts of boldness of which we have 
 seen so many from the faction of monocrats. It is wonderful in- 
 deed, that the President should have permitted himself to be the or- 
 2,"an of such an attack on the freedom of discussion, the freedom of 
 writing, printing, and publishing. It must be a matter of rare cu- 
 riosity to get at the modifications of these rights proposed by them, 
 and to see what line their ingenuity would draw between demo- 
 cvatical societies, whose avowed object is the nourishment of the re- 
 publican principles of our constitution, and the society of the Cin- 
 ■innati, a self-created one, carving out for itself hereditary distinc- 
 tions, lowering over our constitution eternally, meeting together in 
 all parts of the Union, periodically, with closed doors, accumulating 
 a capital in their separate treasury, conesponding secretly and reg- 
 ularly, and of which society the very persons denouncing the demo- 
 crats are themselves the fathers, founders, and high officers. Their 
 sight must be perfectly dazzled by the glittering of crowns and cor- 
 onets, not to see the extravagance of the proposition to suppress the 
 friends of general freedom, while those who v/ish to confine that 
 freedom to the few, are permitted to go on in their principles and 
 practices. I here put out of sight the persons whose misbehavior 
 has been taken advantage of to slander the friends of popular rights ; 
 and I am happy to observe, thai as far as the circle of my observa- 
 tion and information extends, every body has lost sight of them, and 
 views the abstract attempt on their natural and constitutional rights 
 in all its nakedness. I have never heard, or heard of, a single ex- 
 pression or opinion which did not condemn it as an inexcusable ag- 
 gression. And with respect to the transactions against the excise 
 law, it appears to me that you are all swept away in the torrent of 
 governmental opinions, or that we do not know what these transac- 
 f ions have been. We know of none which, according to the defin- 
 itions of the law, have been any thing more than riotous. There 
 was indeed a meeting to consult about a separation. But to consult 
 on a question does not amount to a determination of that question in 
 the affirmative, still less to the acting on such a determination : but 
 i^e shall see. I suppose, what the court lawyers, and courtly judges, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 355 
 
 and woulcl-be ambassadors will make of it. The excise law is an 
 infernal one. The first error was to admit it by the constitution : 
 the second, to act on that admission : the third and last will be, to 
 make it the instrument of dismembering the Union, and setting iis 
 all afloat to choose what part of it we will adhere to. " * * 
 
 " However, the time is coming when we shall fetch up the lee- 
 way of our vessel. The changes in your House, I see, are going on 
 for the better, and even the Augean herd over your heads are slowly 
 puiging off tiiei)- impurities. Hold on then, my dear friend, that we 
 may not shipwreck in the mean while. I do not see, in the minds 
 of those with whom I converse, a greater affliction than the fear of 
 your retirement ; but this must not be, unless to a more splendid 
 arid a more etiicacious post. There I should rejoice to see you ; 1 
 hope I may say, I shall rejoice to see you. I have long had much 
 in my mind to say to you on that subject. But double delicacies 
 have kept me silent. I ought perhaps to say, while 1 would not 
 give up my own retirement for the empire of the universe, how I can 
 justify wishing one whose happiness I have so much at heart as 
 yours, to take the front of the battle which is fighting for my secur- 
 ity. This would be easy enough to be done, but not at the heel of 
 a lengthy epistle." 
 
 To M. Page. — " I do not beheve with the Rochefoucaults and 
 Montaignes, that fourteen out of fifteen men are rogues ; I believe 
 a great abatement from that proportion may be made in favor of 
 general honesty. But I have always found that rogues would be 
 uppermost, and I do not know that tlie proportion is too strong for 
 the higher orders, and for those who, rising above the swinish mul- 
 titude, always contrive to nestle themselves into the places of power 
 and profit. These rogues set out with stealing the peoples' good 
 opinion, and then steal from them the right of- withdrawing it, by 
 contriving laws and associations against the power of the people 
 themselves. Our part of the country is in considerable fermentation 
 on what they suspect to be a recent roguery of this kind. They 
 say that while all hands were below deck mending sails, splicing 
 ropes, and every one at his own business, and the captain in his cal)- 
 in attending to his log book and chart, a rogue of a pilot has run 
 them into an enemy's port. But metaphor apart, there is much dis- 
 satisfaction with Mr. Jay and his treaty. For my part, I consider 
 myself now but as a passenger, leaving the world and its govern- 
 ment to those who are likely to live longer in it. That you may be 
 among the longest of these, is my sincere prayer." 
 
 To J. Madison. — " Hamilton is really a colossus to the anti- 
 republican party. Without numbers, he is an host within himself. 
 They have got themselves into a defile, where they might be finish- 
 ed ; but too much security on the republican part will give time to 
 
356 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 liis talents and indefatigableness to extricate them. We have had 
 only middling performances to oppose to him. In truth when he 
 comes forward, there is nobody but yourself who can meet him. His 
 adversaries having begun the attack, he has the advantage of an 
 swering them, and remains unanswered himself. A solid reply 
 might yet completely demolish what was too feebly attacked, and 
 has gathered strength from the weakness of the attack. The mer- 
 chants were certainly (except those of them who are English) as 
 open-mouthed at first against the treaty, as any. But the general 
 expression of indignation has alarmed them for the strength of the 
 government. They have feared the shock would be too great, and 
 have chosen to tack about and support both treaty and government, 
 rather than risk the government. Thus it is, that Hamilton, Jay, 
 &c. in the boldest act they ever ventured on to undermine the gov- 
 ernment, have the address to screen themselves, and direct the hue 
 and cry against those who wished to drag them into light. A bold- 
 er party-stroke was never struck. For it certainly is an attempt of 
 a party, who find they have lost their majority in one branch of the 
 legislature, to make a law by the aid of the other branch and of the 
 executive, under color of a treaty, which shall bind up the hands of 
 the adverse branch from ever restraining the commerce of their pat- 
 ron nation. There appears a pause at present in the pubhc senti- 
 ment, which may be followed by a revulsion. This is the efiiect of 
 the desertion of the merchants, of the President's chiding answer to 
 Boston and Richmond, of the vv'ritings of Curtius and Camillus, and 
 of the quietism intowhicli people naturally fall after first sensations 
 are over. For God's sake take up your pen, and give a fundamen- 
 tal reply to Curtius and Camillus." 
 
 To J. Monroe. — " The British treaty has been formally, at 
 length, laid before Congress. All America is a tiptoe to see what 
 the House of Representatives will decide on it. We conceive the 
 constitutional doctrine to be, that though the President and Senate 
 have the general power of making treaties, yet wherever they in- 
 clude in a treaty matters confided by the constitution to the three 
 branches of legislature, an act of legislation will be requisite to con- 
 firm these articles, and that the House of Representatives, as one 
 branch of the legislature, are perfectly free to pass the act or to re- 
 fuse it, governing themselves by their own judgment whether it is 
 for the good of their constituents to let the treaty go into efilect or not. 
 On the precedent now to be set will depend the future construc- 
 tion of our constitution, and whether the powers of legislation shall 
 be transferred from the President, Senate, and House of Representa- 
 tives, to the President and Senate, and Piamingo or any other In- 
 dian, Algerine, or other chief. It is fortunate that the first decision is 
 to be in a case so palpably atrocious, as to have been predetermined 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 357 
 
 by all America. The appointment of Ellsworth Chief Justice, and 
 Chase one of the judges, is doubtless communicated to you." 
 
 To J. Monroe. — " The campaign of Congress has closed. 
 Though the Anglomen have in the end got their treaty through, 
 and so far have triumphed over the cause of republicanism, yet it 
 has been to them a dear-bought victory. It has given the most rad- 
 ical shock to their party which it has ever received : and there is no 
 doul3t, they would be glad to be replaced on the ground they pos- 
 sessed the instant before Jay's nomination extraordinary. They see 
 that nothing can support them but the colossus of the President's 
 merits with the people, and the moment he retires, that his successor, 
 if a monocrat, will be overborne by the republican sense of his con- 
 stituents ; if a republican, he will of course give fair play to that 
 sense, and lead things into the channel of harmony between the 
 governors and governed. In the mean time, patience." 
 
 To J. Monroe. — -" Congress have risen. You will have seen 
 by their proceedings the truth of what I always observed to you, 
 that one man outweighs them all in influence over the people, who 
 have supported his judgment against their own and that of their re- 
 presentatives. Republicanism must lie on its oars, resign the vessel 
 to its pilot, and themselves, to the course he thinks best for them. 
 I had always conjectiaed, from such facts as I could get hold of, that 
 our public debt was increasing about a million of dollars a year. 
 You will see by Gallatin's speeches that the thing is proved. You 
 will see farther, that we are completely saddled and bridled, and 
 that the bank is so firmly mounted on us that we must go where 
 they will guide." 
 
 To P. Mazzei, (in Europe.) — " The aspect of our politics has 
 wonderfully changed since you left us. In place of that noble love 
 of liberty and repubUcan government which carried us triumphant- 
 ly through the war, an Anghcan monachical and aristocratical par- 
 ty has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the sub- 
 stance, as they have already done the forms, of the British govern- 
 ment. The main body of our citizens, however, remain true to 
 their republican principles : the whole landed interest is republican, 
 and so is a great mass of talents. Against us are the executive, the 
 judiciary, two out of three branches of the legislature, all the officers 
 of the government, all who want to be officers, all timid men who 
 prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty, British 
 merchants and Americans trading on British capitals, speculators 
 and holders in the banks and public funds, a contrivance invented 
 for the purposes of corruption, and for assimilating us in all things to 
 the rotten as well as the sound parts of the British model. It would 
 give you a fever were I to name to you the apostates who have gone 
 over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field and Solo- 
 
 31* 
 
358 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 inons in the council, but, who have had their heads shorn by the 
 harlot England. In short, we are likely to preserve the liberty we 
 have obtained only by unremitting labors and perils. But we shall 
 preserve it ; and our mass of weight and wealth on the good side is 
 so great, as to leave no danger that force will ever be attempted 
 against us. We have only to awake and snap the Lilliputian cords 
 with which they have been entanghng us during the first sleep 
 which succeeded our labors. 
 
 " I begin to feel the effects of age. My health has suddenly bro- 
 ken down, with symptoms which give me to believe I shall not 
 have much to encounter of the tedium vitoe. While it remains, 
 however, my heart will be warm in its friendships, and among 
 these, will always foster the affections with which I am, Dear Sir. 
 your friend and servant." 
 
 The last of the above letters is somewhat celebrated in the politi- 
 cal history of the dark ages of our Republic. The circumstances 
 which have given it notoriety, aside from its remarkable merits as an 
 epistolary essay, are these. It was written to an Italian, an inti- 
 mate and confidential friend of Mr. Jefferson, who had passed some 
 years in the United States, in the vicinity of Monticello. It was a 
 long letter of business, in w4iich was the single paragraph only of 
 political matter, inserted above. This paragraph was extracted. 
 published in a Florence paper, republished in the Moniteur of Paris, 
 and an additional sentence interpolated, which made Mr. Jefferson 
 charge his own country with ingratitude and injustice to the French 
 nation. This was at a time when the dominant party in France 
 were laboring under very general disfavor, and their friends were ea- 
 ger to catch at every circumstance to buoy them up. The sentence 
 respecting France was an entire fabrication. There was not a word 
 m tiie Vv'hole letter relating to France, or any of the proceedings or 
 relations between this country and that. In this interpolated form, 
 it was copied into the newspapers of the United States, made a sub- 
 ject of exaggerated commentary by the editors, and a never failing 
 source of crimination and calumny against Mr. Jefferson and the re- 
 publican party. In the genuine letter, of which the author retain- 
 ed a press-copy, and of which the controverted paragraph is given en- 
 lire, there was not one word which would not then have been, or 
 would not now be approved by every republican in the United States, 
 looking back to the times in which it was written. Instead of be 
 ino" libeled, and made a theme of reprobation, itshoidd be written in 
 sunbeams, in eternal honor of the author, and engraved upon the 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 359 
 
 heart of every American, in everlasting testimony against that peri- 
 od, of which it presents so terrible yet faithful a portrait. 
 
 A great handle was made of this letter to produce a rupture be- 
 tween the writer and General Washington. Besides the interpolated 
 sentence, and the mutilated hue which the translations through 
 Italian and French into English, gave the whole paragraph, a mis- 
 translation of a single word entirely perverted its meaning, and made 
 it a pliant text of copious misrepresentations of the author. The 
 w'ord ' forms' in the first sentence, was rendered form, so as to 
 make Mr. Jefferson express hostiUty to the present frame or organi- 
 zation of government. Whereas the ' forms' there meant, were 
 the levees, birth-days, the pompous cavalcade to the capitol on the 
 meeting of Congress, the formal speech from the throne, the pro- 
 cession of Congress to re-echo the speech in an answer, &c. &c. 
 Of all these, it is true, the writer of that letter was an avowed, an 
 implacable enemy, and intended, on that occasion, to express his 
 unquahfied reprehension. Now General Washington perfectly un- 
 derstood what was meant by these forms, as tliey had been frequent 
 subjects of conversation between him and Mr. Jefferson. On these 
 occasions he always joined in condemning them, explained the cir- 
 cumstances by w^iich the aristocrats had inveigled him into them, 
 and afterwards took measures to prevent their repetition. When 
 the term of his second election arrived, he called the heads of de- 
 partments together, observed that a proper occasion was now offered, 
 of revising the ceremonies established, and desired them, by con- 
 sulting together, to agree on such changes as they should think pro- 
 per. Hamilton concurred with Mr. Jefferson at once, that there was 
 too much ceremony for the character of our government, and par- 
 ticularly, that the parade of the installation at New- York ought not 
 to be copied ; that the President should desire the Chief Justice to at- 
 tend him at his chambers, and administer the oath of office to him 
 in the presence of the higher officers of the government. Randolph 
 and Knox differed from them ; the latter vehemently. As the 
 opinions of the Cabinet were divided, and no positive decision given, 
 no change was made. 
 
 The phrase ' Samsons in the field,' it was always said, was intended 
 to include Gen. Washington under the general charge of apostacy. 
 But himself never so understood it. He knew" that it was meant for 
 the officers of the Cincinnati generally, and that, from what had 
 
360 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 passed between him and Mr. Jefferson at the commencement of the 
 institution, it was not intended to include him. So far from his 
 having called the author to an account, as has been gravely pub- 
 lished, for these expressions in the letter to Mazzei, there never pas 
 sed a word, written oi verbal, directly or indirectly, between them on 
 the subject ; and their last parting, which was at the inauguration 
 of Mr. Adams in '97, was warmly affectionate. General Washington 
 never would have incurred such a degradation as to have appropria- 
 ,ted to himself the imputation in that letter on the ' Samsons in 
 combat.'* 
 
 Unwearied stratagems were used to alienate the President from 
 his late Secretary of State. The latter was represented as indus- 
 triously engaged in promoting the opposition to the government. 
 But if there was any one thing for which he was remarkable, it was 
 his singular forbearance in this respect. It is an extraordinary fact 
 in Mr. Jefferson's Ufe, that he never wrote a paragraph for the news- 
 papers. The only channel of communication which he employed, 
 for making known his sentiments abroad, was that of private corres- 
 pondence ; and he always restrained it to those on whose fidelity he 
 could sacredly rely against a public divulgation. It would be diffi- 
 cult to assign a motive for his singular caution on this head, unless 
 it were an immeasurable desire for tranquillity. Every public in- 
 ducement would certainly have constrained him to a different course; 
 for he had declared, that ' were it left to himself to decide, whether 
 we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers 
 without a government, he should not hesitate a moment to prefer 
 the latter.' Much as he idolized the freedom of the press, as the on- 
 ly safeguard of the public liberty, and preservative against human 
 error, he never appropriated to his own use any portion of its effica- 
 cy ; not even for the puiposes of self defence, against the unparal- 
 leled torrent of obloquy with which he was assailed for thirty years. 
 This curious fact, which would not have been credited by the past 
 generation, appears in many of his letters, and particularly in one to 
 General Washington, written at this period. 
 
 « I have formerly mentioned to you, that from a very early period 
 of my life, I had laid it down as a rule of conduct never to write a 
 word for the public papers. From this, I have never departed in a 
 
 * Letter to Martin Van Buren, 1824. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 361 
 
 single instance ; and on a late occasion, [the British treaty,] when 
 all the world seemed to be writing, besides a rigid adherence to my 
 own rule, I can say with truth, that not a line for the press was ever 
 communicated to me, by any other, except a single petition referred 
 for my correction ; which I did not correct, however, though the 
 contrary, as I have heard, was said in a public place, by one person 
 through error, through malice by another. I learn that this last has 
 thought it worth his while to try to sow tares between you and me, 
 by representing me as still engaged m the bustle of politics, and in 
 turbulence and intrigue against the government. I never believed 
 for a moment that this could make any impression on you, or that 
 your knowledge of me would not overwf^igh the slander of an in- 
 triguer, dirtily employed in sifting the (Muversations of my table, 
 where alone he could hear of me ; and seeking to atone for his sins 
 against you by sins against another, who had never done him any 
 other injury than that of declining his confidences. Political con- 
 versations I really dislike, and therefore avoid where I can without 
 affectation. But when urged by others, I have never conceived 
 that having been in public life requires me to belie my sentiments, 
 or even to conceal them. When I am led by conversation to ex- 
 press them. I do it with the same independence here, which I have 
 practised every where, and which is inseparable from my nature."' 
 
 Early in the year 1795, the two great parties of the nation became 
 firmly arrayed against each other, on the question of providing 
 a successor to General Washington. The withdrawal from the 
 scene of competition, of the only man in the United States who 
 united the choice of all parties, created the first occasion of a dispu- 
 ted election to the Presidency. Mr. Adams was taken up by the 
 monarchical federalists, and by the aristocratical party generally, 
 who, by the patronage of the government, by the duperies which 
 they practised, and the 'terrorism with which they surrounded them- 
 -selves,' drove all the moderate federalists, and many honest repub- 
 licans into their ranks. Mr. JefTerson was undividedly designated 
 as the republican candidate. His name was brought forward with- 
 out concert or approbation on his part, and, indeed, in opposition to 
 his express wishes. In answer to a letter from Mr. Madison, on 
 the subject, in April, '95, he communicated his dispositions frankly 
 and decidedly. After expressing the first wish of his heart, which 
 was to see his correspondent himself at the head of the government, 
 as the fittest person in the United States for that office, he says : 
 
 "For as to myself, the subject had been thoroughly weighed and 
 decided on, and my retirement from office had been meant from all 
 office, high or low, without exception. I can say, too, with truth. 
 
362 
 
 LIFE, "WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 that the subject had not been presented to my mind by any vanity 
 of my own. I know myself and my fellow citizens too well to 
 have ever thought of it. But the idea was forced upon me by con- 
 tinual insinuations in the public papers, while I was in office. As 
 all these came from a hostile quarter, I knew that their object was 
 to poison the public mind as to my motives, when they were not 
 able to charge me with facts. But the idea being once presented 
 to me, my own quiet required that I should face it and examine it. 
 I did so thoroughly, and had no difficulty to see that every reason 
 which had determined me to retire from the office I then held, op- 
 erated more strongly against that which was insinuated to be my 
 object. I decided then on those general grounds which could alone 
 be present to my mind at that time, that is to say, reputation, tran- 
 quilUty, labor ; for as to public duty, it could not be a topic of con- 
 sideration in my case. If these general considerations were suffi- 
 cient to ground a firm resolution never to permit myself to think of 
 the office, or be thought of for it, the special ones, wliich have su- 
 pervened on my retirement, still more insuperably bar the door to 
 it. My health is entirely broken down within the last eight months ; 
 my age requires that 1 should place my affiiirs in a clear state ; 
 these are sound if taken care of, luit capable of considerable dangers 
 if longer neglected ; and above all things, the delights I feel in the 
 society of my family, and in the agricultural pursuits in which I am 
 so eagerly engaged. The little spice of ambition which I had in 
 my 3^ounger days, has long since evaporated, and I set still less store 
 by a posthumous than present name. In stating to you the heads 
 of reasons which, have produced my determination, I do not mean 
 an opening for future discussion, or that 1 may be reasoned oxit. of 
 it. The ([uestion is for ever closed with me ; my sole object is to 
 avail myself of tl^e first ojiening ever given me from a friendly quar- 
 ter (and I could fnot with decency do it before) of preventing any 
 division or loss of votes, which might be fatal to the republican in- 
 terest." 
 
 There can be no doubt that these were the I'eal sentiments of Mr. 
 Jefferson. Writing to a bosom friend, with whom he was in habits 
 of unlimited trust and counsel, lie could have no possible motive to 
 dissemble, but every rational one to avoid it. They were too anal- 
 ogous, also, to the whole tenor of his previous declarations, and to 
 all his attachments to philosophy, agriculture and domestic retire- 
 ment, not to preclude every suspicion of their sincerity. 
 
 The contest was conducted with great asperity. In fierceness 
 and turbulence of character, in the temper and dispositions of the 
 respective parties, and in the principles which were put in issue, the 
 contest so strongly resembled those, of which the present generation 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 363 
 
 have been frequent eye-witnesses and actors, as to render a descrip- 
 tion unnecessary. The issue is well known. The struggle of 
 the people against the party in power, and who have abused 
 that power to the strengthening of their own hands, is always an 
 unequal one ; and was lost, on the present occasion, by the trans- 
 cendent popularity of the existing incumbent, which was dexterous- 
 ly made a stalking horse by the ' monocrats' for carrying their can- 
 ditlate into the succession. The majority, however, was too incon- 
 siderable to make it a triumph. On counting the electoral votes in 
 February, 1797, it appeared there were seventy-one for Mr. Adams, 
 and sixty-eight for Mr. Jefferson. But the difference was still less 
 between the real vote, which was 70 to 69 ; for one of the Pennsyl- 
 vania* electors was excluded, in consequence of some informality, 
 and one who was not an elector, was admitted. Had the same rig- 
 or of construction been observed, in other cases of irregularity, the 
 result of the election, in all probability, would have been reversed. 
 The validity of the Vermont election was a subject of long and rea- 
 sonable doubt, on the ground of informahty. But Mr. Jefferson 
 would not permit his friends to raise a question on it before the 
 House. In aletter to Mr. Madison, dated January 16, 1797, about a 
 month before the electoral votes were counted, he wrote : " I observe 
 doubts are still expressed as to the validity of the Vermont election. 
 Surely, in so great a case, substance, and not form, should prevail. 
 I cannot suppose that the Vermont constitution has been strict in 
 requiring particular forms of expressing the legislative will. As far 
 as my disclaimer may have any effect, I pray you to declare it on 
 every occasion, foreseen or not foreseen by me, in favor of the choice 
 of the people substantially expressed, and to prevent the phenome- 
 non of a pseudo-President at so early a day." 
 
 A similar instance of magnanimity towards his competitor, was 
 manifested by Mr. Jefferson on another occasion during the elec- 
 tion. At one time, it was pretty generally conjectured, that the vote 
 would be equally divided between the opposing candidates ; in 
 which event the election would have devolved on the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, which was likewise believed to be about equally divided. 
 
 * The States of Pennsylvania, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, Georgia, 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, voted for Mr. Jefferson. The New-England States, 
 with N. York, N. Jersey and Delaware, voted for Mr. Adams. Maryland gaye 
 scxen votes for Mr. Adams, and four for Mr. Jefferson. 
 
364 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Foreseeing the possibility of such a dilemma, he wrote to Mr. Mad- 
 ison, under dateof December 17, 1796, authorizing and requesting 
 him, in that event, to manifest his disclaimer in favor of Mr. Adams. 
 
 " The first wish of my heart was, that yoa should have been 
 proposed for the administration of the government. On your de- 
 clining it, I wish any body rather than myself: and there is noth- 
 ing I so anxiously hope, as that my name may come out either sec- 
 ond or third. These would be indifferent to me ; as the last would 
 leave me at home the whole year, and the other, two-thirds of it. 
 I have no expectation that the Eastern States will suffer themselves 
 to be so much outwitted, as to be made the tools for bringing in P. 
 instead of A. I presume they will throw away their second vote. 
 In this case, it begins to appear possible, that there may be an equal 
 division where I had supposed the republican vote would have been 
 considerably minor. It seems also possible, that the Representatives 
 may be divided. This is a diffculty from which the constitution 
 has provided no issue. It is both my duty and inclination, there- 
 fore, to reUeve the embarrassment, should it happen : and in that 
 case, I pray you, and authorize you fully, to solicit on my behalf that 
 Mr. Adams may be preferred He has always been my senior, 
 from the commencement of our public life, and the expression of the 
 public will being equal, this circumstance ought to give him the 
 preference. And when so many motives will be operating to induce 
 some of the members to change their vote, the addition of my wish 
 may have some effect to preponderate the scale." 
 
 So soon as the event of the election became known, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son made every exertion to re-establish harmony between himself 
 and Mr. Adams. They had been cordial friends from the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution until their return from Europe. After their 
 reunion on this side the Atlantic, various little circumstances occur- 
 red, which produced a coldness and partial estrangement on the 
 part of Mr. Adams. But none of these things, it appears, had af- 
 fected the mind of Mr. Jellerson. The deviation of his revolution- 
 ary co-worker from that line of politics, on which they had been 
 united, had not made him less sensible of the rectitude of his heart, 
 He wished him, most devoutly, to know this, as well as another 
 truth, that he was sincerely gratified at having escaped the 'late 
 draught for the helm,' and had not a wish to which his friend pre- 
 sented an obstacle. That he should be convinced of these truths 
 was important to their mutual satisfaction, and perhaps to the har- 
 mony and good conduct of the public service. Accordingly, he ad- 
 dressed a letter to Mr. Madison, in which he enclosed another to Mr, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 365 
 
 Adams, stating the undiminished cordiahty of his attachment, iu 
 the most affecting terms ; and concluding with the sincere prayer 
 that his administration might be filled with glory and happiness to 
 himself, and advantage to the nation. 
 
 The following selections from his correspondence at this period, 
 display a character, to which the world has hitherto attached little 
 credit, in the estimates which it has put upon this extraordinary per- 
 sonage. 
 
 To J. Madison. — "It is difficult to obtain fidl credit to declara- 
 tions of disinclination to honors, and most so with those who still 
 remain in the world. But never was there a more solid unwilling- 
 ness, founded on rigorous calculation, formed in the mind of any 
 man, short of peremptory refusal. No arguments, therefore, were 
 necessary to reconcile me to a relinquishment of the first office, or 
 acceptance of the second. No motive could have induced me to 
 undertake the first, but that of putting our vessel upon her republi- 
 can tack, and preventing her being driven too far to leeward of her 
 true principles. And the second is the only office in the world about 
 which I cannot decide in my own mind, whether I had rather have 
 it or not have it. Pride does not enter into the estimate. For I 
 think with the Romans of old, that the General of to-day should be 
 a common soldier to-morrow, if necessary. But as to Mr. Adams, 
 particularly, I could have no feelings which would revolt at being 
 placed in a secondary station to him. I am his junior in life, I was 
 his junior in Congress, his junior in the diplomatic line, and lately 
 his junior in our civil government. I had AvritteJi him the enclosed 
 letter before the receipt of yours. I had intended it for some time, 
 but had put it off, from time to time,, from the discouragement of 
 despair to make him believe me sincere. As the information by 
 the last post does not make it necessary to change any thing in the 
 letter, I enclose it open for your perusal, as well that you may be 
 possessed of the true state of dispositions between us, as that if there 
 be any circumstance which might render its delivery ineligible, you 
 may return it to me. If Mr. Adams could be induced to administer 
 the' government on its true principles, quitting his bias for an Eng- 
 lish constitution, it would be worthy consideration whether it would 
 not be for the public good, to come to a good understanding with 
 him as to his future elections. He is the only sure Ijarrier against 
 Hamilton's getting in." 
 
 To E. RuTLEDGE. — " You havc seen my name lately tacked to 
 so much of eulogy and of abuse, that I dare say you hardly thought 
 it meant your old acquaintance of '76. In truth, I did not know my- 
 self under the pens either of my friends or foes. It is unfortunate 
 for our peace, that unmerited abuse wounds, while unmerited prai.se 
 
 32 
 
366 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 has not the power to heal. These are hard wao^es for the services of 
 all the active and healthy years of one's life. 1 had retired after live 
 and twenty years of constant occupation in public affairs, and total 
 abandonment of my own. I retired much poorer than when I en- 
 tered the public service, and desired nothing but rest and oblivion. 
 My name, however, was again brought forward, without concert or 
 (jxpectation on my part ; (on my salvation I declare it.) I do not 
 as yet know the result, as a matter of fact ; for in my retired canton 
 we have nothing later from Philadelphia than of the second week 
 (jf this month. Yet I have never one moment doubted the result. 
 1 knew it was impossible Mr. Adams should lose a vote north of the 
 Delaware, and that the free and moral agency of the south w^ould 
 fiu'nish him an abundant supplement. On principles of public re- 
 spect I should not have refused ; but I protest before my God, that 
 i shall, from the bottom of my heart, rejoice at escaping. I know 
 well that no man will ever bring out of that office the reputation 
 which carries him into it. The honey- moon would be as short in 
 that case as in any other, and its moments of ecstacy would be ran- 
 somed by years of torment and hatred. I shall highly value, in- 
 deed, the share which I may have had in the late vote, as an evi- 
 dence of the share I hold in the esteem of my countrymen. But 
 in this point of view, a few votes more or less, will be little sensible, 
 and in every other, the minor will be preferred by me to the major 
 vote. I have no ambition to govern men ; no passion which would 
 lead me to delight to ride in a storm. Fhrniina amo^ syhmsque, 
 inglorious. My attachment to my home has enabled me to make 
 the calculation with vigor, perhaps with partiality, to the issue which 
 keeps me there. The newspapers will permit me to plant my corn, 
 pease, &c. in hills or drills as I please, (and my oranges, by the bye 
 when you send them,) while our eastern friend will be struggling 
 with the storm which is gathering over us; perhaps be shipwreck- 
 <;d in it. This is certainly not a moment to covet the helm." 
 
 To J. Sullivan. — " The idea that I would accept the office of 
 President, but not that of Vice-President of the United States, had 
 not its origin with me. I never thought of questioning the free ex- 
 ercise of the right of my fellow citizens, to marshal those whom they 
 call into their service according to their fitness, nor ever presumed 
 that they were not the best judges of that. Had I indulged a wish 
 in what manner they should dispose of me, it would precisely have 
 coincided with wdiat they have done. Neither the splendor, nor the 
 [lower, nor the difficulties, nor the fame, or defamation, as may hap- 
 jjen, attached to the first magistracy, have any attractions for me. 
 The helm of a free government is ahvays arduous, and never was 
 ours more so, than at a moment v;hen two friend!}^ people are like 
 to be eommitted in war by the ill temper of their administrations. I 
 am so much attached to my domestic situatioii, that I would not have 
 
 y 
 
OF THOMAS JEFPERSOK. 
 
 3G7 
 
 wished to leave it at all. However, if I am to be called from it, the 
 shortest absences and most tranquil station suit me best. I value 
 liighl}', indeed, the part iny fellov.^ citizens gave me in their late 
 vote, as an evidence of their esteem, and I am happy in the informa- 
 tion you are so kind as to give, that many in the eastern quarter 
 entertain the same sentiment. 
 
 "Where a constitution, like ours, wears a mixed aspect of mon- 
 archy and republicanism, its citizens will naturally divide into two 
 classes of sentiment, according as their tone of body or mind, their 
 habits, connections, and callings, induce them to wish to strengthen 
 either the monarchical or the republican features of the constitution. 
 Some will consider it as an elective monarchy, which had better be 
 made hereditary, and therefore endeavor to lead towards that all the 
 forms and principles of its administration. Others will view it as an 
 energetic republic, turning in all its points on the pivot of free and 
 frequent elections. The great body of our native citizens are un- 
 questionably of the republican sentiment. Foreign education, and 
 foreign connections of interest, have produced some exceptions in 
 every part of the Union, north and south ; and perhaps other cir- 
 cumstances in your quarter, better known to you, may have thrown 
 into the scale of exceptions a greater number of the rich. Still 
 there. I believe, and here, I am sure, the great mass is repul)lican. 
 Nor do any of the forms in which the public disposition has been 
 pronounced in the last half dozen years, evince the contrary. All 
 of them, wdien traced to their true source, have only been evidences 
 of the preponderant popularity of a particular great character. That 
 influence once withdrawn, andoiu" countr3aiien left tp the operation 
 of their own unbiased good sense, I have no doubt we shall see a 
 pretty rapid return of general harmony, and our citizens moving in 
 phalanx in the paths of regular liberty, order, and a sacrosanct ad- 
 herence to the constitution. Thus I think it will be, if war with 
 France can be avoided. But if that untoward event comes athwart 
 us in our present point of deviation, no body, I believe, can foresee 
 into what port it will drive us." 
 
36S LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tlic new administration, under John Adams, commenced on the 
 1th of March, 1797. In the composition of his cabinet, the Presi- 
 dent was swayed by the Hamiltonian counsellors who surrounded 
 him, and who had made him all their own. The selection of char- 
 acters was of course purely anti-republican, at the head of whom 
 was Timothy Pickering ; and the measures of the whole adminis- 
 tration partook thoroughly of the same political hue. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson arrived at the seat of government on the 2d of 
 March. Though there was no necessity for his attendance, he had 
 detevmiued to come on, from a principle of respect to the public, and 
 the nev/ President, He had talceu the precaution, however, to 
 manifest his disapprobation of the mimicry of royal forms and cere- 
 monies, which was established at the first inauguration, by declinincr 
 all participation in the homage of the occasion. Soon as he was 
 certified by the public papers, of the event of the election, he address- 
 ed a letter to Mr. Tazewell, Senator of Yirginia, expressing his par- 
 ticular desire to dispense with the useless formality of notification by 
 a special messenger. At the first election of President and Vice 
 President, gentlemen of considerable distinction were deputed to no- 
 tify the parties chosen ; and it was made an oflfice of much dignity. 
 But this expensive'^formality was as unnecessary as it was repug- 
 nant to the genius of oiu' government ; and he was anxious that 
 the precedent should not be drawn into example. He therefore au- 
 thorized Mr. Tazewell to request the Senate, if not incompatible 
 with their views of propriety, to discontinue the practice in relation 
 to himself, and to adopt the channel of the post, as the least trouble- 
 some, the most rapid, and, by the use of duplicates and triplicates, 
 always capable of being rendered the most certain. He addressed 
 another letter, at the same time, to Mr. Madison, requesting him to 
 discountenance in his behalf, all parade of reception, induction, 
 &c. ' I hope, said he, I shall be made a part of no ceremony what- 
 ever. I shall escape into the city as covertl}' as possible. If Gov- 
 ernor Mifflin should show any symptoms of ceremony, pray contrive 
 to parry them.' 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 369 
 
 . There was another point, involving an important constitutional 
 principle, on which Mr. Jefferson improved the occasion of his elec- 
 tion to introduce a salutary reformation in the practice of the gov- 
 ernment. During the previous administration, the Vice President 
 was made a member of the cabinet, and occasionally participated in 
 the executive consultations, equally with the members of the cabi- 
 net proper. But this practice he regarded as an unwarrantable 
 combination of legislative with executive powers, which the consti- 
 tution had wisely separated. He availed himself, therefore, of the 
 first opening from a friendly quarter, to announce his determination 
 to consider the office of Vice-President as legitimately confined to 
 legislative functions, and to sustain no part whatever in the execu- 
 tive consultations. In a letter to Mr. Madison, dated Monticello, 
 January 22, 1797, he says : "My letters inform me that Mr. Ad- 
 ams speaks of me with great friendship, and with satisfaction in the 
 prospect of administering the government in concurrence with me. 
 I am glad of the first information, because, though I saw that our 
 ancient friendship was affected by a litde leaven, produced partly by 
 his constitution, partly by the contrivance of others, yet 1 never felt 
 a dimunition of confidence in his integrity, and retained a solid af- 
 fection for him. His principles of government I knew to be chang- 
 ed, but conscientiously changed. As to my participation in the ad- 
 ministration, if by that he meant the executive cabinet, both duty 
 and inclination will shut that door to me. I cannot have a wish to 
 see the scenes of 1793 revived as to myself, and to descend dailv 
 into the arena, hke a gladiator, to suffer martyrdom in every con- 
 flict. As to duty, the constitution will know me only as the mem- 
 ber of a legislative body ; and its principle is, that of a separation of 
 legislative, executive, and judiciary functions, except in cases speci- 
 fied. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, yet it is 
 clearly the spirit of the constitution, and it ought to be so comment- 
 ed and acted on by every friend to free government." 
 
 In the first moments of the enthusiasm of the inauguration. Mr. 
 Adams forgot party sentiments, and indicated a disposition to har- 
 monize with the republican body of his fellow citizens. He called 
 on Mr. Jefferson the 3d of March, and expressed great pleasure at 
 finding him alone, as he wished a free conversation with him. He 
 entered immediately on an explanation of the situation of our af- 
 fairs with France, and the danger of a rupture with that nation ; 
 
 32* 
 
370 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 lliat he was impressed with the necessit}^ of an immediate mission 
 to the Directory ; that it would have been the first wish of his heart 
 to have got Mr. Jefterson to go there, but that he supposed it was 
 now out of the question. Tiiat he had determined on sending an 
 embassy, which, by its dignity, should satisfy France, and, by its 
 selection from the three great divisions of the continent, should satis- 
 fy all parts of the United States ; in short, that he determined to 
 join Gerry and Madison to Pinckney, and he wished Mr. Jefferson 
 to consult Madison in his behalf. He did so, but Mr. Madison de- 
 clined, as was expected. Two days afterwards, on being informed 
 by Mr. JelTerson of the result of his negotiation, Mr. Adams observ- 
 ed, that on consultation with his caliinet, some objections to that 
 nomination had been raised, which he had not contemplated ; and 
 was going on with excuses which evidently embarrassed him, when 
 they were suddenly interrupted. After that, he never said a word 
 to Mr. Jefferson on the subject, or ever consulted him as to any 
 measures of the administration. On the tirst meeting with his cab- 
 met, it appears, he had fallen completely into the hands of the mon- 
 archical party, and never afterwards recovered himself from their 
 thraldom.* 
 
 It is not our province to write the history of an administration. 
 which is emphatically denominated the ' reign of terror.' The 
 scorching and overwhelming portraiture recorded by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, and bequeathed by liim to his country, is sufficient to convey a 
 general idea of that reckless and overbearing oligarchy, and of that 
 mflexible opposition to it, by those firm spirits to whom the world is 
 indebted for the preservation of repubhcanisra ' at its last gasp.' 
 
 " Their usurpations and violations of the constitution at that pe- 
 riod, and their majority in both Houses of Congress, were so great, 
 so decided, and so daring, that after combating their aggressions, 
 inch by inch, without being able in the least to check their career, 
 the republican leaders thought it would be best for them to give up 
 their useless efforts there, go home, get into their respective legisla- 
 tures, embody whatever of resistance they could be formed into, and 
 if ineffectual, to perish there as in the last ditch. All, therefore, re- 
 tired, leaving Mr. Gallatin alone in the House of Representatives, 
 and myself in the Senate, where I then presided as Vice-President. 
 Remaining at our posts, and bidding defiance to the brow-beatings 
 
 *Ana. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 371 
 
 and insults by which they endeavored to drive us olF also, we kept 
 the mass of republicans in phalanx together, until the legislatures 
 could be brought up to the charge ; and nothing on earth is more 
 certain, than that if myself particularly, placed by my office of Vice 
 President at the head of the republicans, had given way and Vtdth- 
 drawn from my post, the repubhcans throughout the Union would 
 have given up in despair, and the cause would have been lost for 
 ever. By holding on, we obtained time for the legislatures to come 
 up with their weight ; and those of Virginia and Kentucky partic- 
 ularly, but more especially the former, by tlieir celebrated resolutions, 
 saved the constitution at its last gasp. No person who was not a 
 Avitness of the scenes of that gloomy period, can form any idea of the 
 afflicting persecutions and personal indignities we had to brook. 
 They saved our countr}?^ however. The spirits of the people were 
 so much subdued and reduced to despair by the X. Y. Z. impos- 
 ture, and other stratagems and machinations, that theywould have 
 sunk into apathy and monarchy, as the only form of government 
 which could maintain itself." 
 
 '•' Mr. Adams, I am sure, has been long since convinced of the 
 treacheries with which he was surrounded dining his administra- 
 tion. He has since thoroughly seen, that his constituents were 
 devoted to republican government, and whether his judgment is re- v rt. 
 settled on its ancient basis, or not, he is conformed as a good citizen'^ ■' 
 to the will of the majority, and would now, I am persuaded, main- ^^'Kve 
 tain its republican structure with the zeal and fidehty belonging to ,' 
 his character. For even an enemy has said, 'He is always an ?"*-*- ^'^'^' 
 honest man, and often a great one.' But in the fenor of the fury '^ f,Utr^ 
 and follies of those who made him their stalking-horse, no man who '^ 
 
 did not witness it can form an idea of their unbridled madness, , and 
 the terrorism with which they surrounded themselves. The hor- 
 rors of the French revolution, then raging, aided them mainly, and 
 using that as a raw-head and bloody-bones, they were enabled by 
 their stratagems of X. Y. Z. in which ******** was a leading moun- 
 tebank, their tales of tub-plots, ocean-massacres, bloody -buoys, and 
 pulpit lyings and slanderings, and maniacal ravings of their Gardi- 
 ners, their Osgoods, and Parishes, to spread alarm into all but the 
 firmest breasts. Their Attorney General had the impudence to say 
 to a republican member, that deportation must be resorted to, of 
 which, said he, ' you republicans have set the example ;' thus dar- 
 ing to identify us with the murderous Jacobins of France. These 
 transactions, now recollected but as dreams of the night, were then 
 sad realities ; and nothing rescued us from their liberticide effect, 
 but the unyielding opposition of those firm spirits who sternly main 
 tained their post in defiance of terror, until their fellow-citizens could 
 be aroused to their own danger, and rally and rescue the standard 
 of the constitution. This has been happily done. Federalism and 
 
372 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 monarchisrn have languished from that, moment, until tlieii- trea- 
 sonable combinations with the enemies of their country during the 
 late war, their plots of dismembering the Union, and their Hartford 
 Convention, have consigned them to the tomb of the dead : and I 
 fondly hope, ' we may now truly say, "We are all republicans, all 
 federalists,' and that the motto of the standard to which our coun- 
 try will for ever rally, will be, ' Federal union, and republican gov- 
 ernment :' and sure I am we may say, that we are indebted for 
 
 . jLhe preservation of this point of ralliance, to that opposition of which 
 
 so injurious anideais so artfully insinuated and excited in this history." 
 
 The most obnoxious features which characterized the adminis- 
 tration of Mr. Adams, were : 1st. The total abandomnent of the 
 neutral and pacific policy towards foreign nations established by Mr. 
 Jefferson, l)y courting a war with France, and an alliance offensive 
 and defensive with Great Britain. 2d. As supplemental to the 
 main design, the erection of a standing army, the enlargement of 
 the navy, and war preparations of every kind, even after it was 
 known from our envoys, that France was determined on maintain- 
 ing peace with the United States, in spite of the ill temper of admin- 
 istration. 3d. The enormous increase of the public debt, with loans 
 on an usurious interest of 8 per cent, a necessary consequence of the 
 useless war preparations. 4th. Direct taxation, in the form of stamp 
 tax, land tax, &c. the legitimate consequence of excessive expendi- 
 tures and an increase of debt. 5th. The Alien Law, designed to 
 check emigration, and aimed particularly at certain distinguished 
 characters of France, who had chosen an asylum in the United 
 States. 6th. The Sedition Law, aimed at the freedom of the press, 
 and of public discussion. The two last measures were considered as 
 "deliberate, palpable and dangerous" violations of the constitution, 
 and so acted upon by all the republican States, and by the succeeding 
 general administration, in every case. 7th. The enlargement of 
 Jj.,'* the federal judiciary by the creation of ^'^fJ,Y-'^,S..i "'^w judges; and 
 " the assumption of the doctrine, that the common law of England was 
 t i- the law of the United States, and that the federal courts possessed 
 
 jurisdiction co-extensive with that law, to wit, overall cases and 
 persons. This judiciary arrogation was considered by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son as the highest usurpation of federal authority over the sovereign- 
 ty of the States, and the most daring experiment upon the liberties 
 of the people ever attempted by the general government. To these 
 specific usurpations and avowed principles might be added the grad- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSOX. 373 
 
 luil and constant accvuiiulation of power in the general government, 
 at the expense of the States, and in the executive, at the expense 
 of the legislative power, by the general tendency of the administra- 
 tive acts, and by investing the President with extraordinary discre- 
 tionary powers. Another question, on which the parties of that 
 day were strongly divided, andwhicli indeed was the foundation of 
 every other, was on the improvability of the human mind, in science. 
 in ethics, in gov^ernment, religion, &c. The republicans advocated 
 reformation of institutions, pari passu with the progress of science, 
 and maintained that no definite limits could be assigned to that pro- 
 gress. The federalists, on the otlier hand, were the declared ene- 
 mies of progressive reformation. They denied improvement in sci- 
 ence, government, religion, &c. and advocated steady adherence to 
 the principles, practices, and institutions of our fathers, which they 
 represented as the consummation of wisdom, and acme of excel- 
 lence, beyond which the human mind could never advance. 
 
 Against this degenerate and high handed career of administra- 
 tion, which was rapidly impelling the government into a monarchy, 
 the opposition of the people was loud and uncompromising. The 
 disciples of liberty and republican government adhered to Mr. Jef- 
 ferson with undiminished enthusiasm, not only as the great found- 
 er of the principles of republicanism, but as presenting, by his ex- 
 traordinary talents, firmness, and superior station, the only hope of 
 salvation through the awful crisis \\hich threatened destruction to 
 every thing. The republican leaders in every part of the Union, 
 leaned upon him as the Hercides of their political strength, and the 
 Nestor of their pohiical wisdom. His private correspondence with 
 them, through this gloomy period of our history, is of the most inter 
 esting and powerful character. It forms, indeed, an important fea- 
 ture in the secret annals of our government, and an inexliaustiblc 
 resource of materials against the character of those times, of which 
 so plausible an idea has l3een artfully transmitted to posterity. A 
 pretty copious selection from his cabinet, in a connected series, 
 through the years '97, '98 and '99, seems necessary to place the 
 public history, and his own individual character and transactions, 
 in an unvarnished point of hght. 
 
 To General Gates. — " I wish any events could induce us to 
 cease to copy such a model, [the British Government,] and to as- 
 sume the dignity of being original. They had their paper system, 
 
374 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 stockjobbing-. s|iecu]alions, public debt, inoiiied interest, &c., and all 
 this was contrived for us. They raised their cry against jacobinism 
 and revolutionists, we against donoci-atic societies and auti-federal- 
 ists ; their alarmists sounded insurrection, ours marched an army 
 to look for one, but they could not find it. I wish the parallel may 
 stop here, and that wc may avoid, instead of imitating, a general 
 bankruptcy and disastrous war. 
 
 " Congress, or rather the Representatives, have been a fortnight 
 debating between a more or less irritating answer to the President's 
 speech. The latter Avas lost yesterday, jjy forty-eight against fifty- 
 one or fifty-two. It is believed, however, that when they come to 
 propose measures leading directly to war, they will lose some of 
 their numbers. Those who have no wish but for the peace of their 
 country, and its independence of all foreign influence, have a hard 
 struggle indeed; overwhelmed by a cry as loud and imposmg as if 
 it were true, of being under French influence, and this raised Ijy a 
 faction composed of English subjects residing among us, or such as 
 are English in all their relations and sentiment^. However, pa- 
 tience will bring all to rights, and wc shall ])oth live to see tlie mask 
 taken from their faces, and our citizens sensible on which side true 
 liberty and independence are sought." 
 
 To Goi.oNEL Burr. — -'I had always hoped, tliat the populariiy 
 of the late President being once withdrawn from active eflect, the 
 iiatural feelings of the people towards liberty would restore the equi- 
 librunn betVt'een the executive and legislative departments, which 
 had been destroyed by the superior weight and eflfect of that popu- 
 larit}' ; and that their natural feehngs of moral obligation would 
 discountenance the ungrateful predilection of the executive in favor 
 of Great Britain. But unfortunately, the preceding measures [in 
 relation to France] had already alienated the nation who w^ere the 
 object of them, had excited reaction from them, and this reaction 
 has on the minds of our citizens an effect which supplies that of the 
 Washington popularity. This eflect was sensible on some of the 
 late congressional elections, and this it is which has lessened the 
 republican majority in Congress. . When it will be reinforced, must 
 depend on events, and these are so incalculable, that I consider the 
 future character of our republic as in the air ; indeed its f utm-e for- 
 tune will be in the air, if war is made on us by France, and if Lou- 
 isiana becomes a Gallo-American colony. 
 
 " I have been much pleased to see a dawn of change in the spirit 
 of your State. The late elections liave indicated something, 
 which, at a distance, we do not understand. However, what with 
 the English influence in the lower, and tlie Patroon influence in 
 the upper parts of your State, I presume little is to be hoped. If a 
 prospect could be once opened upon us of the penetration of truth 
 into the eastern States : if the people there, who are unquestiona- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 3l O 
 
 bly republicans, could discover that they have been duped into the 
 support of measures calculated to sap the very foundations of repub- 
 licanism, we mig^ht still hope for salvation, and that it would come, 
 as of old, from the East. But will that region ever awake to the 
 true state of things ? Can the middle, southern, and western States 
 hold on till they awake ? These arc painful and doubtful questions : 
 and if, in assuring me of your health, you can give me a comfortable 
 solution of them, it v/ill relieve a mind devoted to the preservation 
 of our repubUcan government in the true form and spirit in which it 
 was estabUshed, but almost oppressed with apprehensions that fraud 
 will at length efiect what force could not, and that what with cur- 
 rents and counter-currents, we shall in the end, be driven back to 
 the land from which we launched twenty years ago. Indeed, my 
 dear Sir, we have been but a sturdy fish on the hook of a dexterous 
 angler, who letting us flounce till we have spent our force, brings us 
 lip at last." 
 
 To E. Gerry. — " It was with infinite joy to me, that you were 
 yesterday announced to the Senate, as Envoy Extraordinary, joint- 
 ly with General Pinckney and Mr. Marshall, to the French repub- 
 lic. It gave me certain assurances that there would l3e a preponder- 
 ance in the mission, sincerely disposed to be at peace with theFrench 
 government and nation. Peace is undoubtedly at present the first 
 object of our nation. Interest and honor are also national consider- 
 ations. But interest, duly weighed, is in favor of peace even at the 
 expense of spoliations past and future ; and honor cannot now be an 
 object. The insnlts and injuries committed on us l)y both the bel- 
 ligerent parties, from the beginning of 1793 to this day, and still 
 continuing, cannot now be wiped offby engaging in w^ar w4th one 
 of them. As there is great reason to expect this is the last cam- 
 paign in Europe, it would certainly be better for us to rub through 
 this year, as we have done through the four preceding ones, and 
 hope that, on the restoration of peace, we may be able to estabhsh 
 some plan for our foreign connections more likely to secure ourpeace, 
 mterest, and honor, in future. Our countrymen have divided them 
 selves by such strong affections, to the French and the English, that 
 nothing will secure us internally bfit a divorce from both nations ; 
 and this must be the object of every real American, and its attain- 
 ment is practicable without much self-denial. But, for this, peace 
 is necessary. Be assured of this, my dear Sir, that if we engage 
 in a war during our present passions, and our present weakness in 
 some quarters, our Union runs the greatest risk of not coming out 
 of that war in the shape in which it enters it. My reliance for our 
 preservation is in your acceptance of this mission. I know the ten- 
 der circumstances w4iich will oppose themselves to it. But its dur- 
 ation will be short, and its reward long. You have it in your pow- 
 er, by accepting and determining the character of the mission, to se- 
 
376 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 cuie the present peace and eternal union of your country. If you 
 decline, on motives of private pain, a substitute may be named who 
 has enlisted his passions in the present contest, and by the prepon- 
 derance of his vote in the mission may entail on us calamities, your 
 share in which, and your feelings, will outweigh whatever pain a 
 temporary absence from your family could give you. The sacrifice 
 will be short, the remorse would be never-ending. Let me then, 
 my dear Sir, conjure your acceptance, and that you will, by this act, 
 seal the mission with the confidence of all parties. Your nomina- 
 tion has given a spring to hope, which was dead before." 
 
 To E. RuTLEDGE. — " The events of Europe coming to us in 
 astonishing and rapid succession, to wit, the public bankruptcy of 
 England, Bonaparte's successes, the successes on the Rhine, the 
 Austrian peace, mutiny of the British fleet, Irish insiu'rection, a de- 
 mand of forty-three millions for the current services of the year, and 
 above all, the warning voice, as is said, of Mr. King, to abandon all 
 thought of connection with Great Britain, that she is going down ir- 
 recoverably, and will sink us also, if we do not clear ourselves, have 
 brought over several to the pacific party, so as, at present, to give 
 majorities against all threatening measures. They go on with fri- 
 gates and fortifications, because they were going on with them be- 
 fore. They direct eighty thousand of their militia to hold them- 
 selves in readiness for service. But they reject the propositions to 
 raise cavalry, artillery, and a provisional army, and to trust private 
 ships with arms in the present combustible state of things. They 
 Ijelieve the present is the last campaign of Europe, and wish to rub 
 through this fragment of a year as they have through the four pre- 
 ceding ones, opposing patience to insult, and interest to honor. 
 They will, therefore, immediately adjourn. This is indeed a most 
 humiliating state of things, but it commenced in 1793. Causes 
 have been adding to causes, and effects accumulating on efl'ects, 
 from that time to this. We had, in 1793, the most respectable char- 
 acter in the universe. What the neutral nations think of us now, 
 I know not ; but we are low indeed with the belligerents. Their 
 kicks and cuffs prove their contempt. If we weather the present 
 storm, I hope we shall avail ourselves of the calm of peace, to place 
 our foreign connections under a new and different arrangement. 
 We must make the interest of every nation stand surety for their 
 justice, and their own loss to follow injury to us, as effect follows its 
 cause. As to every thing except commerce, we ought to divorce 
 ourselves from them all. But this system would require time, tem- 
 per, wisdom, and occasional sacrifice of interest : and how far all of 
 these will be ours, our children may see, but we shall not. The 
 passions are too high at present, to be cooled in our day. You and I 
 have formerly seen warm debates and high political passions. But 
 gentlemen of different politics would then speak to each other, and 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. O' / 
 
 separate the business of the Senate from that of society. It is not 
 so now. Men who have been intimate all their lives, cross the 
 streets to avoid meeting, and tm-n their heads another way, lest they 
 should be obliged to touch their hats. This may do for young 
 men with whom passion is enjoyment. But it is afflicting to peace- 
 able minds. Tranquillity is .the old man's milk. I go to enjoy it 
 in a few days, and to exchange the roar and tumult of bulls and 
 bears, for the prattle of my grand-childien and senile rest. Be 
 these yours, my dear friend, through long years, with every other 
 Ijlessing, and the attachment of friends as warm and sincere, as 
 yours aflectionately." 
 
 To Colonel Campbell. — '■ It is true that a party has risen 
 up among us, or rather has come among us, which is endeavoring 
 to separate us from all friendly connection with France, to unite our 
 destinies with those of Great Britain, and to assimilate our govern- 
 ment to theirs. Our lenity in permitting the return of the old to- 
 ries, gave the first body to this party ; they have been increased by 
 large importations of British merchants and factors, by American- 
 merchants dealing on British capital, and by stock dealers and blink- 
 ing companies, who, by the aid of a paper system, are enriching 
 themselves to the ruin of our country, and swaying the government 
 by their possession of the printing presses, which their wealth com- 
 mands, and by other means, not always honorable to the character 
 of our countrymen. Hitherto, their influence and their system have 
 been irresistible, and they have raised up an executive power which 
 is too strong for the legislature. But I flatter myself they have pas- 
 sed their zenith. The people, while these things were doing, v/ere 
 lulled into rest and security from a cause which no longer exists. 
 No prepossessions now will shut their ears to truth. They begin 
 to see to what port their leaders were steering during their slum- 
 bers, and there is yet time to haul in, if we can avoid a war with 
 France. All can be done peaceably, by the people confining their 
 choice of Representatives and Senators to persons attached to re- 
 publican government and the principles of 1776, not oflftce hunters, 
 but farmers, whose interests are entirely agricultural. Such men 
 are the true representatives of the great American interest, and are 
 alone to be relied on for expressing the proper American sentiments. 
 We owe gratitude to France, justice to England, good will to all, 
 and subservience to none. All this must be brought about by the 
 people, using their elective rights with prudence and self-possession, 
 and not suffering themselves to be duped by treacherous emissaries. 
 It was by the sober sense of our citizens that we were safely and 
 steadily conducted from monarchy to republicanism, and it is by 
 the same agency alone we can be kept from falling back." 
 
 To J. Madison. — " I wrote you last on the 15th ; since that, 
 yours of the 12th has been received. Since that, too, a great change 
 
 33 
 
378 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 has taken place in the appearance of our political atmosphere. 
 The merciiants, as before, continue, a respectable part of them, to 
 wish to avoid arming. The French decree operated on them as a 
 sedative, producing more alarm than resentment : on the Represen- 
 tatives, differently. It excited indignation highly in the war party, 
 though I do not know that it had added any new friends to that side 
 of the question. We still hoped a majority of about four : but the 
 insane message which you will see in the public papers has had 
 great effect. Exultation on the one side, and a certainty of victory ; 
 while the other is petrified with astonishment. Our Evans, though 
 his soul is wrapt up in the sentiments of this message, yet afraid to 
 give a vote openly for it, is going off to-morrow, as is said. Those 
 who count, say there are still two members of the other side who 
 will come over to that of peace. If so, the members will be for war 
 measures, fifty-two, against them fifty-three ; if all are present ex- 
 cept Evans. The question is, what is to be attempted, supposing 
 we have a majority ? I suggest two things : i. As the President 
 declares he has withdrawn the executive prohibition to arm, that 
 Congress should pass a legislative one. If that should fail in the 
 Senate, it would heap coals of fire on their heads. 2. As, to do 
 nothing and to gain time is every thing w^ith us, I propose, that they 
 shall come to a resolution of adjournment, ' in order to go home and 
 consult their constituents on the great crisis of American affairs now 
 existing.' Besides gaining time enough by this, to allow the de- 
 scent on England to have its effect here as well as thei'e, it will be 
 a means of exciting the whole body of the people from the state of 
 inattention in which they are ; it will require every member to call 
 for the sense of his district by petition or instruction ; it will show 
 the people with which side of the House their safety as well as their 
 rights rest, by showing them which is for war and which for peace ; 
 and their representatives will return here invigorated by the avowed 
 support of the American people. I do not know, however, whether 
 this will be approved, as there has been little consultation on the 
 subject. We see a new instance of the inefliciency of constitution- 
 al guards. We had relied with great security on that provision, 
 which requires two-thirds of the legislature to declare war. But 
 this is completely eluded by a majority's taking such measures as 
 will be sure to produce war. I wrote you in my last, that an at- 
 tempt was to be made on that day in Senate, to cleclare the inexpe- 
 diency of renewing our treaties. But the measure is put off under 
 the hope of its being attempted under better auspices. To return to 
 the subject of war, it is quite impossible, when we consider all the 
 existing circumstances, to find any reason in its favor resulting from 
 views either of interest or honor, and plausible enough to impose 
 even on the weakest mind ; and especially, when it would be un- 
 dertaken l3y a majority of one or two only. Whatever then be our 
 stock of charity or liberality, we must resort to other views. And 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 379 
 
 those SO well known to have been entertained at Annapolis, and af- 
 terwards at the grand convention; by a particular set of men, present 
 themselves as those alone which can account for so extraordinary a 
 degree of impetuosity. Perhaps; instead of what was then in con- 
 templation, a separation of the Union, which has been so much the 
 topic to the eastward of late, may be the thing aimed at." 
 
 To J. Madison. — " The bill for the naval armament [twelve 
 vessels] passed by a majority of about four to three in the House of 
 Representatives ; all restrictions on the objects for which the vessels 
 should be used were struck out. The bill for establishing a depart- 
 ment of Secretary of the Navy was tried yesterday, on its passage 
 to the third reading, and prevailed by forty-seven against forty-one. 
 It will be read the third time to-day. The provisional army of twen- 
 ty thousand men will meet some difficulty. It would smely be re- 
 jected if our members were all here. Giles, Clopton, Cabell, and 
 Nicholas have gone, and Clay goes to-morrow. He received here 
 news of the death of his wife. Parker has completely gone over to 
 the war party. In this state of things they will carry what they 
 please. One of the Avar party, in a iit of unguarded passion, de- 
 clared some time ago they would pass a citizen bill, an alien bill, 
 and a sedition bill : accordingly, some days ago, Coit laid a motion 
 on the table of the House of Representatives for modifying the citi- 
 zen law. Their threats pointed at Gallatin, and it is believed they 
 will endeavor to reach him by this bill. Yesterday Mr. Hillhouse 
 laid on the table of the Senate a motion for giving power to send 
 away suspected aliens. This is understood to be meant for Volney 
 and Collot. But it will not stop there when it gets into a course of 
 execution. There is now only wanting, to accomplish the whole 
 declaration before mentioned, a sedition bill, which we shall cer- 
 tainljr soon see proposed. The object of that, is the suppression of 
 the whig presses. Bache's has been particularly named. That pa- 
 per, and also Carey's totter for want of subscriptions. We should 
 really exert ourselves to procure them, for if these papers fall, repub- 
 licanism will be entirely brow beatea." 
 
 To J. Taylor. — " Mr. New showed me your letter on the 
 subject of the patent, which gave me an opportunity of observing 
 what you said as to the effect, with you, of pubhc proceedings, 
 and that it was not unwise now to estimate the separate mass of 
 Yirginia and North Carolina, wnih a view to their separate exis- 
 tence. It is true that we are completely under the saddle of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that they ride us very hard, 
 cruelly insulting our feeUngs, as well as exhausting our strength 
 and subsistence. Their natural friends, the three other eastern 
 States, join them from a sort of family pride, and they have the 
 art to divide certain other parts of the Union so as to make use 
 of them to govern the whole. This is not new, it is the old prac- 
 
3S0 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 tice of despots ; to use a part of the peojjle to keep the rest in order. 
 And those who have once got an ascendency, and possessed them- 
 selves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and otlices, 
 have immense means for retaining their advantage. But our pre- 
 sent situation is not a natural one. The repubUcans, through ev- 
 ery part of the Union, say, that it was the irresistible influence and 
 popularity of General Washington played off by the chinning of 
 Hamilton, which turned the government over to anti republican 
 hands, or turned the republicans chosen by the people into anti-re- 
 publicans. He delivered it over to his successor in this state, and 
 verv untoward events since, improved with great artitice, have pro- 
 duced on the public mind the impressions we sec. But still I re- 
 peat it, this is not the natural state. Time alone would bring round 
 an order of things more correspondent to the sentiments of our con- 
 stituents. But are there no events impending, which will do it 
 within a few months I The crisis with England, the public and 
 authentic avowal of sentiments hostile to the leading principles of 
 our constitution, the prospect of a war, in which we shall stand 
 alone, land tax, stamp tax, increase of public debt, &:c. Be this as 
 it may, in every free and deliberating society, there must, from the 
 nature of. man, be opposite parties, and violent dissensions and dis- 
 cords ; and one of these, for the most part, must prevail over the oth- 
 er for a longer or shorter time. Perhaps this party division is ne- 
 cessary to induce each to watch and delate to the people the pro- 
 ceedings of the other. But if on a temporary superiority of the one 
 party, the other is to resort to a scission of the Union, no federal gov- 
 ernment can ever exist. If to rid ourselves of the present rule of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, we break the Union, will the evil 
 stop there ? Suppose the New^ England States alone cut off, will 
 our natures be changed ? Are we not men still to the south of thai, 
 and with all the passions of men ? Immediately, we shall see a 
 Pennsylvania and a Virginia party arise in the residuary confeder- 
 acy, and the pubhc mind will be distracted with the same party 
 spirit. What a game too will the one party have in their hands, 
 by eternally threatening the Other, that unless they do so and so, 
 they will join their northern neighbors. If we reduce our Union to 
 Virginia and North Carolina, immediately the conflict will l)e estab 
 lished between the representatives of these two States, and they will 
 end by breaking into their simple units. Seeing, therefore, that an 
 association of men who will not cjuarrel with one another is a thing 
 which never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations 
 down to a town meeting or a vestry ; seeing that we nnist have 
 somebody to quarrel with, I had rather keep our New England as- 
 sociates for that purpose, than to see our bickerings transferred to 
 others. They are circumscribed within such narrow limits, and 
 their population so full, ihat their members Avill ever be the minor- 
 ity, and they are marked, like the Jews, with such a perversity of 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 381 
 
 character, as to constitute, from that circumstance, the natural di- 
 vision of our parties. A little patience, and we shall see the reign 
 of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the people recovering 
 their true sight, restoring their government to its true principles. It 
 is true, that in the mean time, we are suflTering deeply in spirit, and 
 incurring the horrors of a war, and long oppressions of enormous 
 public debt. But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, 
 and when and where they would e»d ? Better keep together as 
 we are, haul off from Europe as soon as we can, and from all at- 
 tachment to any portions of it ; and if they show their powers just 
 sufficiently to hoop us together, it v/ill be the happiest situation in 
 which we can exist. If the game runs sometimes against us at 
 home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have 
 an opportunity of winning back the ])riuciples we have lost. For 
 this is a game where principles are the stake. Better luck, there- 
 fore, to us all, and health, happiness, and friendly salutations to 
 yourself." 
 
 To E. Pendleton. — " I wrote you a petition on the 29th of 
 January. I know the extent of this trespass on your tranquillity, 
 and how indiscreet it would have been under any other circumstan- 
 ces. But the fate of this country, whether it shall be irretrievably 
 plunged into a form of government rejected by the makers of the 
 constitution, or shall get back to the true principles of that instru- 
 ment, depends on the turn which things may take within a short 
 period of time ensuing the present moment. The violations of the 
 constitution, propensities to war, to expense, and to a particular foi- 
 eign connection, w^hich we have lately seen, are becoming evident 
 to the people, and are dispelling that mist which X. Y. Z. has 
 spread before their e3^es. This State is coming forward with a 
 boldness not yet seen. Even the German counties of York and 
 Lancaster, hitherto tlie most devoted, have come about, and by pe- 
 titions with four thousand signers remonstrate against the alien and 
 sedition laws, standing armies, and discretionary powers in the Pres- 
 ident, New- York and Jersey are also getting into great agitation. 
 In this State, we fear that the ill-designing may produce insurrec- 
 tion. Nothing could be so fatal. Any thing like force would check 
 the progress of the public opinion and rally them round the gov- 
 ernment. This is not the kind of opposition the American people 
 will permit. But keep away all show of force, and they will bear 
 down the evil {propensities of the government, by the constitutional 
 means of election and petition. If we can keep quiet, therefore, the 
 tide now turning will take a steady and proper direction. Even in 
 New Hampshire there are strong symptoms of a rising inquietude. 
 In this state of things, my dear Sir, it is more in your power than 
 any other man's in the United States, to give the coup de grace to 
 she ruinous principles and practices we have seen. In hopes you 
 
 33* 
 
382 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 have consented to it, I shall fiiinish to you some additional matter 
 which has arisen since my last." 
 
 To T. LoMAX. — " You ask for any communication I may be 
 able to make, which may administer comfort to you. I can give 
 that which is soUd. The spirit of 1776 is not dead. It has only 
 been slumbering. The body of the American people is substantial- 
 jv republican. But their virtuous feelings have been played on by 
 some fact with more fiction ; they have been the dupes of artful 
 manoeuvres, and made for a moment to be willing instruments in 
 forging cliains for themselves. But time and truth have dissipated 
 the delusion, and opened their eyes. They see now that France has 
 sincerely wished peace, and their seducers have wished war, as well 
 for the loaves and fishes which arise out of war expenses, as for the 
 chance of changing the constitution, while the people should have 
 time to contemplate nothing but the levies of men and money. 
 Pennsylvania, Jersey, and New York are coming majestically round 
 to the true principles. In Pennsylvania, thirteen out of twenty- 
 two counties had already petitioned on tlie alien and sedition laws. 
 Jersey and New York had begun the same movement, and though 
 the rising of Congress stops that channel for the expression of their 
 sentiment, the sentiment is going on rapidly, and be fore_ their next 
 meetingthose threeStates will be solidly embodied in sentiment with 
 the six southern and western ones. The atrocious proceedings of 
 l^'rance towards this country had well nigh destroyed its liberties. 
 The Anglomen and monocrats had so artfully confounded the cause 
 of France with that of freedom, that both went down in the same 
 scale. I sincerely join you in abjuring all political connection with 
 every foreign power : and though I coidially wish well to the pro- 
 gress of liberty in all nations, and would for ever give it the weight 
 of our countenance, yet they ore not to be touched without contam- 
 ination, from their other bad principles. Commerce with all na- 
 tions, alliance with none, should be our motto." 
 
 To E. Randolph.-^-" Of all the doctrines which have ever been 
 broached by the federal governjnent, the novel one, of the common 
 law being in force and cognizable as an existing law in their courts, 
 is to me the most formidable. All their other assumptions of un- 
 given powers have been in the detail. The bank law, the treaty 
 doctrine, the sedition act, alien act, the undertaking to change the 
 State lav.'s of evidence in the State courts by certain parts of the 
 stamp act, &c. &c. have been solitary, unconsequential, timid 
 things, in comparison with the audacious, barefaced, and sweeping 
 pretension to a system of law for the United States, without the 
 adoption of their legislature, and so infinitely beyond their power to 
 adopt. If this assumption be yielded to, the State courts may be 
 shut up, as there will then be nothing to hinder citizens of the 
 same State suing each other in the federal courts in every case, as 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. • 383 
 
 Oil a bond for instance, because the common law obliges nayment 
 of it, and the common law they say is their law. * * * 
 
 " I think it will be of great importance, when you come to the 
 proper part, to portray at full length the consequences of this new 
 doctrine, that the common law is the law of the United States, and 
 that their courts have, of course, jurisdiction co-extensive v/ith the 
 law, that is to say, general over all cases and persons. But great 
 heavens ! Who could have conceived in 1789, that within ten years 
 we should have to combat such windmills." 
 
 To S. Adams. — " A letter from you, ray resjiectable friend, after 
 three and twenty years of separation, has given me a pleasure I 
 cannot express. It recalls to my mind the anxious days we then 
 passed in struggling for the cause of mankind. Your piinciples 
 have been tested in the crucible of time, and have come out jnue. 
 You have proved that it was monarchy, and not merely British 
 monarchy, you opposed. A government by representatives, elected 
 by the people at short periods, was our object, and our maxim at 
 that day was, ' Where annual election ends, tyranny liegins ;' nor 
 have our departures from it been sanctioned by the happiness of 
 their effects. A debt of an hundred millions growing by usurious 
 interest, and an artificial paper phalanx overruling the agricultural 
 mass of our country, witli other et ceteras., have a portentous as- 
 pect. 
 
 " I fear our friends on the other side the water, laboring in the 
 same cause, liave yet a great deal of crime and of miser}^ to wade 
 through. My confidence had l)cen placed in the head, not in the 
 heart of Bonaparte. I hoped he would calculate truly the differ- 
 ence between the fame of a Washington and a Cromwell. What- 
 ever his views may be, he has at least transferred the destinies of 
 the republic from the civil to the military arm. Some will use this 
 as a lesson against the practicabihty of republican government. I 
 read it as" a lesson against the danger of standing armies. 
 
 " Adieu, my ever respected and venerable friend. May that kind 
 overruling Providence which has so long spared you to our coun- 
 try, still foster your remaining years with whatever may make them 
 comfortable to yourself and soothing to your friends. Accept the 
 cordial salutations of your aflectionate friend." 
 
 To G. Granger;—'- The true theory of our constitution is sure- 
 ly the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to every 
 thing within themselves, and united as to every thing respecting 
 foreign nations. Let the General Government be reduced to for- 
 eign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of 
 all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will 
 manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for them- 
 selves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very sim- 
 ple organization, and a very unexpensive one ; a few plain duties to 
 
3S4 ■ LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 be performed by a few servants. But I repeat, that this simple 
 and economical mode of government can never l3e secured, if the 
 New England States continue to support the contrary system. I 
 rejoice, therefore, in every appearance of their returning to those 
 principles which I had always imagined to be almost innate in 
 them. In this State, a few persons were deluded by the X. Y. Z. 
 duperies. You saw the effect of it in our last Congressional rep- 
 resentatives, chosen under their influence. This experiment on 
 their credulity is now seen into, and our next representation will 
 1)6 as republican as it has heretofore been. On the whole, we hope, 
 that by a part of the Union having held on to the principles of the 
 constitution, time has been given to the States to recover from the 
 temporary phrenzy into which they have been decoyed, to rally 
 round the constitution, and to rescue it from the destruction witli 
 which it had been threatened even at their own hands." 
 
 To Doctor Rush. — " I promised you a letter on Christianity, 
 which I have not forgotten. On the contrary, it is because I have 
 reflected on it, that I find much more time necessary for it than I 
 can at present dispose of I have a view of the subject which ought 
 to displease neither the rational Christian nor Deist, and would re- 
 concile many to a character they have too hastily rejected. I do 
 not know that it woidd reconcile the genus irritabile vatimi. 
 who are all in arms against me. Their hostility is on too interest- 
 ing ground to be softened. The delusion into which the X. Y. Z. 
 plot showed it possible to jnish the people ; the successful experi- 
 ment made under the prevalence of that delusion on the clause of 
 the constitution, which, while it secured the freedom of the press, 
 covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very 
 favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of 
 Christianity through the United States ; and as every sect believes 
 its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, 
 but especially the Episcopalians and Congregationalists. The re- 
 turning good sense of our coimtry threatens abortion to their hopes, 
 and they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be 
 exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly ; 
 for I have sworn, upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against 
 every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they 
 iiave to fear from me ; and enough too in their opinion. And 
 this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me, forg- 
 ing conversations for me with Mazzei, Bishop Madison, «fcc. which 
 are absolute falsehoods without a circumstance of truth to rest on : 
 falsehoods, too, of which I acquit Mazzei and Bishop Madison, for 
 they are men of truth." 
 
 Despairing of making any head against the monarchical ascen- 
 dency in Congress, where they were brow-beaten by a bold and 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 3S5 
 
 overwhelming majority, the repubhcan leaders formed the determin- 
 ation, on the recommendation of Mr. Jeflerson, to abandon that 
 ground, one and all, to retire within their respective State Legisla- 
 tures, 'embody whatsoever resistance they could, and if inetiectual, 
 to perish there as in the last ditch.' This course was accordingly 
 adopted.- Mr. Jeflerson remained alone in the Senate, where his 
 office confined him, and Mr. Gallatin, in the House. Continuing 
 undismayed at their posts, in defiance of the insults and indignities 
 of the dominant faction, the)' pieserved the repuljhcans in Congress, 
 in firm phalanx, until the State Legislatures could bring up the 
 weight of their resistance. Mr. Madison went into the Yirginia 
 Legislature, and Mr. Nicholas into the Legislature of Kentucky. 
 At a consultation between these gentlemen and Mr. Jefferson, it 
 was agreed, that the engaging the co-operation of these two Slates, 
 who were w^edded in principle and sympathy, in an energetic pro- 
 testation against the constitutionalit]/ of various acts of administra- 
 tion, particularly the Alien and Sedition laws, would be the "best 
 method of manifesting the pubUc sentiment, and awaking the peo- 
 ple to a proper cognizance of their affairs. Mr. Jefferson was press- 
 ed b}^ the other gentlemen to draft the necessary resolutions foi- 
 this purpose, to be offered to the Legislature of Kentucky. After a 
 solemn assurance given, that it should never be known from what 
 quarter they came, he consented ; and Mr. Nicholas undertook, on 
 his part, to propose and carry them through. Accordingly on the 
 10th of November, 1798, they Avere proposed by Mr. Nicholas, and 
 passed with great unanimity. 
 
 These were the celebrated "Kentuckv Resolutions," which are al- 
 lowed to have saved the Constitution in its last struggle. They were 
 followed, the next month, by the equally celebrated " Virginia Res- 
 olutions,"' drawn by Mr. Madison, on principles entirely analogous ; 
 and afterwards, by corresponding demonstrations of political senti- 
 ment in other republican States. They are too voluminous to 
 admit insertion, in extenso. The principles advanced b}^ them, 
 established the republican creed on the fundamental and agitating 
 question ct)ncerning the distribution of powers, intended b)^ the 
 Constitution, between the General and State Governments. They 
 resolved, that the general compact of union between the States, 
 was constituted for special purposes, and with certain definite pow- 
 ers, each State reserving to itself the residuarv mass of risrht for 
 
38G 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 self govonment. That Avhenever the General Government as- 
 sumed undelegated powers, its acts were inauthoritative and void ; 
 and that each State, being an integral party to the compact, of 
 which there was no conunon judge, had a right to judge for it- 
 self, as well of infractions, as of the mode and measure of re- 
 dress. After demonstrating the unconstitutionality of the Alien 
 and Sedition laws, on a variety of grounds, and by a series of elab- 
 orate deductions, after declaring an inviolable attachment to the 
 Union, and an anxious desire for its preservation, the resolutions 
 conclude as follows : 
 
 '• That these and successive acts of the same character, unless 
 arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these States into revo- 
 lution and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against repubh- 
 can governments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be be- 
 lieved, that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron ; that it 
 would be a dangerons delusion, were a confidence in the men of our 
 choice, to silence our fears for the safety of our rights ; that confi- 
 dence is every where the parent of despotism ; free government is 
 founded in jealousy and not in confidence ; it is jealousy and not 
 confidence which prescribes limited Constitutions to bind down 
 those whom we are obliged to trust with power ; that our Constitu- 
 tion has accordingly fixed the limits to which and no further our 
 confidence may go ; and let the honest advocate of confidence read 
 the Alien and Sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not 
 been wise in fixing limits to the Government it created, and wheth- 
 er we should be wise in destroying those limits? I^et him say 
 Avhat the Government is if it be not a tyranny, which the men of 
 our choice have conferred on the President, and the President of 
 our choice has assented to and accepted over the friendly strangers, 
 to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws bad pledged 
 hospitality and protection ; that the men of our choice have more 
 respected the bare suspicions of the President, than the solid rights 
 of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, 
 and the forms and substance of law and justice. In questions of 
 , power then let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind 
 him down from mischief, by the chains of the Constitution. That 
 this Commonwealth does therefore, call on its Co-States for an ex- 
 pression of their sentiments on the acts concerning Ahens, and for 
 the punishment of certain crimes herein before specified, plainly 
 declaring whether these acts are or are not authorized by the Fed- 
 eral Compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so an- 
 nounced, as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited govern- 
 ment, whether general or particular, and that the rights and liber 
 ties of their Co-States, will be exposed to no dangers by remaining 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 387 
 
 • 
 
 embarked on a common bottom with their own — That they will 
 concur with this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so 
 palpably against the Constitution, as to amount to an undisguised 
 declaration, that the compact is not meant to be the measure of the 
 powers of the General Government, but that it will proceed in the 
 exercise over these States of all powers whatsoever — That they 
 will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating 
 them in the hands of the General Government with a power as- 
 sumed to bind the States, (not merely in cases made Federal,) liut 
 in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but 
 by others against their consent — That this would be to surrender 
 the form of government we have chosen, and to live under one de- 
 riving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority — 
 and that the Co-States recurring to their natural right in cases not 
 made Federal, will concur in declaring these acts void and of no 
 force, and will each unite with this Commonwealth in requesting 
 their repeal at the next session of Congress." 
 
 From the warmth with which Mr. Jefferson embarked in oppo- 
 sition to the administration, it might be inferred that he permitted 
 his political feelings to influence him in the discharge of his official 
 duties. But this was not the case. He presided over the Senate, 
 with a dignity never excelled, and, although composed for the most 
 part of his political enemies, with an impartiality, which the rancor 
 and madness of the times never attempted to impeach. How at- 
 tentive he was to the duties of his station, and how accurately he 
 understood the rules of parliamentary order, incident to that station, 
 is attested by his " Manual,"' a work which he at this time pub-, 
 iished, and which has ever since been the guide of both Houses of 
 Congress. 
 
 Soon after the election of Mr. Adams, the poUtical contest for his 
 successor was renewed with increased vehemence and agitation. 
 Mr. Jefferson was again, with one accord, selected as the republican 
 candidate for the Presidency, and Aaron Burr of New York, for 
 the office of Vice President. With equal unanimity, John Adams, 
 the incumbent, and Charles C. Pinkney of South Carolina, were 
 designated as the candidates of the federal party. 
 
 It would be a tedious and painful task to describe the long and 
 terrible ordeal of bigotry, fanaticism, political malevoleiice and vitu- 
 peration, through which Mr. Jefferson was called to pass. The 
 general character of those scandalous annals is matter of prover- 
 bial notoriety. The press was made to groan with daily and inor- 
 
388 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 diiiate ravings against a public character, whose principles had rev- 
 olutionized one hemisphere, and astonished and agitated the other ; 
 and whose only crime was, that he had not joined in the audacious 
 conspiracy to cheat the people of all that they had recovered and 
 consecrated by their blood and treasure. The pulpit was debauch- 
 ed into the profligate service, and became the ready handmaid of 
 the press, in echoing and re-echoing the licentious reprobations of 
 the monarchical faction. No one who was a stranger to that tre- 
 mendous contest, can adequately conceive the diabolism and in- 
 sanity of the pulpit fulminations and pamphleteering anathemas of 
 the traitorous conspirators of Church and State, to identify republi- 
 canism with infidelity, and sink them irrecoverably together. Eve- 
 ry instrument of imposition was employed, and every species of 
 engine which could be brought to bear upon the human passions, 
 was resorted to for intimidation, for crushing the power of thought 
 and speech, and perpetuating a delusion, little inferior to New Eng- 
 land witchcraft, under which the combination of political Maratists 
 and clerical alarmists had undertaken to bind the understandings 
 of the people, and trample their rights in the dust The clergy of 
 New England were the chiefest of the movers and participators in 
 this atrocious crusade against the principles of the Revolution, and 
 their adoring, persevering advocate ; for they believed, and be- 
 lieved rightly, that every portion of power committed to him would 
 be exerted in eternal opposition to their schemes. 
 
 Time would fail us to specify the innumerable fabrications of 
 crime and scurrilit}', with which the myrmidons of monarchism 
 attempted to blacken and beat down the character of the republican 
 candidate. He "was accused of having betrayed his native State 
 into the hands of the enemy on two occasions, while at the head 
 of the government, by a cowardly abandonment of Richmond, on 
 the sudden invasion of Arnold, and subsequently, by an ignomin- 
 ious fliglit from Monticello, on the approach of Tarlton, with cir- 
 cumstances of svich panic and precipitation as to occasion a fall 
 from his horse, and the dislocation of his shoulder. He was charg- 
 ed with being the libeler of Washington, and the retainer of mer- 
 cenary libelers to blast the reputation of the father of his country. 
 He was accused of implacable hostiUty to the Constitution, of em- 
 ploying foreign scribblers to write it down ; and of aiming at the 
 annihilation of all law, order, and government, and the introduc- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 389 
 
 tion of general anarchy and licentiousness. He was familiarly 
 characterized as an atheist, and the patron saint of French atheists, 
 whom he encouraged to migrate to this country ; as a demagogue 
 and disorganizer, industriously sapping the foundations of religion 
 and virtue, and insidiously paving the way for the establishment of 
 a legalized system of infidehty and libertinism. Decency would 
 revolt were we to pursue the catalogue into that low region of olj- 
 scene invective, which was employed to vihfy his private charac- 
 ter, and which abounded in fabrications that have been the theme 
 of infinite lampoonry, in prose and verse. 
 
 While the madness of faction was thus raging, and attempting 
 to despoil him of his well earned reputation, Mr. Jefferson remained 
 a passive spectator of the scene. Covered with the impenetrable 
 aegis of truth, and supported by a proud consciousness of his inno- 
 cence, he surveyed, with godlike composure, the impotent tempest 
 of detraction which was furiously howling around him. He was 
 not insensible under the ferocious depredations upon his character ; 
 on the contrary, no man was more feelingly alive to unmerited cen- 
 sure, or to well-grounded applause. But his confidence in the ulti- 
 mate justice of pubhc opinion was even stronger than his sensibil- 
 ity under its temporary reproaches, and he quietly submitted to the 
 licentiousaees of the press, as an alloy which was inseparable from the 
 inestimable boon of its freedom. Besides, he felt a glorious and ani- 
 mating pride in being made the subject of the first great experiment 
 in the world, which was to test the soundness of his favorite prin- 
 ple, ' that freedom of- discussion, unaided by power, was sufficient 
 for the protection and propagation of truth.' Although frequently 
 solicited by his friends, he never would descend to a newspaper 
 refutation of a single calumny ; and he never, in a single instance, 
 appealed to the righteous retribution of the laws. " I know," ho 
 wrote to a friend in Connecticut, " that I might have filled the 
 coiuts of the United States v. ith actions for these slanders, and have 
 ruined, perhaps, many persons who are not innocent. But this 
 would be no equivalent for the loss of character. I leave them, 
 therefore, to the reproof of their own consciences. If these do not 
 condemn them, there will yet come a day when the false witness will 
 meet a judge who has not slept over his slanders. .If the Rev. 
 Cotton Mather Smith, of Shena, believed this as firmly as I do, he 
 would surely never have affirmed that 1 had obtained my property 
 
 34 
 
390 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 by fraud and robbery ; that in one instance I had defrauded and 
 robbed a widow and fatherless children of an estate to which I was 
 executor, of ten thousand pounds sterling, by' keeping the property 
 and paying them in money at the nominal rate, when it was worth 
 no more than forty to one ; and that all this could be proved."' 
 Every tittle of this pulpit denunciation was founded in falsehood. 
 Mr. Jefferson never was executor but in two instances, which hap- 
 pened about the beginning of the Revolution ; and he never med- 
 dled in either executorship. In one of the cases only were there 
 a widow and children. She was his sister, and retained and man- 
 aged the estate exclusively in her own hands. In the other case, 
 he was co-parcener, and only received on division the equal por- 
 tion allotted him. Again, his property was all patrimonial, except 
 about seven or eight hundred pounds' worth, purchased by himseli 
 and paid for, not to widows and orphans, but to the gentleman from 
 whom he purchased. The charges against Mr. Jefferson were in- 
 deed so audacious, and persevered in with such unblushing assur- 
 ance, as to excite the solicitude of his friends in different sections 
 of the Union ; and they addressed him frequent letters of inquiry 
 on the subiect, These he invariably answered with the frankness 
 and liberality which belonged to his disposition ; but he annexed 
 to every answer a restraint against its publication. In a letter of 
 this kind to Samuel Smith of Maryland, he concludes : 
 
 " These observations will show you how far the imputations in 
 the paragraph sent me approach the truth. Yet they are not in- 
 tended for a newspaper. At a very early period of my life, I deter- 
 mined never to put a sentence into any newspaper. I have religious- 
 ly adhered to the resolution through my life, and have great reason 
 to be contented with it. Were I to undertake to answer the ca- 
 lumnies of the newspapers, it would be more than all my own time 
 and that of twenty aids could effect. For while I should be an- 
 swering one, twenty new ones would be invented. I have thought 
 it better to trust to "the justice of my countrymen, tliat they would 
 judge me by what they see of my conduct on the stage where they 
 have placed me, and what they knew of me before the epoch, since 
 v/hich a particular party has supposed it might answer some view 
 of theirs to vihfy me in the public eye. Some, I know, will not 
 reflect how apocryphal is the testimony of enemies so palpably 
 betraying the views with which they give it. But this is an injury 
 to which duty requires every one to submit whom the public think 
 proper to call into its councils. I thank you, my dear Sir, for the 
 interest you have for me on this occasion. Though I have made 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 391 
 
 up my mind" not to snffei- calumny to disturb my tranquillity, yet I 
 retain all my sensibilities for the approbation of the good and just. 
 That is, indeed, the chief consolation for the hatred of so many, 
 who, without the least personal knowledge, and on the sacred evi- 
 dence of Porcupine and Fcnno alone, cover me with their implaca- 
 ble hatred. The only return I will ever make them, will be to 
 do them all the good I can, in spite of their teeth."' 
 
 The result of this memoraljle conflict is fresh in the minds of our 
 countrymen. It established an illustrious epoch in the history of 
 the world. How consolatory to the friend of man, how inspiring to 
 the votary of human rights, under every pressure of adversity, is 
 the recollection of that bloodless and glory-hallowed triumph! It 
 realized, beyond the power of future dismay, the confidence of those 
 who believe that man may be intrusted with the government of 
 his affairs, while it carried a proportional abortion to the hopes and 
 machinations of the apostate revilers of republicanism. Its memo- 
 ry will be immortal, as the era of the political resurrection of man, 
 by the triumphant re-establislnnent, under new and better auspices, 
 of the sacred principles of the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was successful over his competitor by a vote of 
 seventy-three to sixty-five, in the electoral colleges. The states of 
 New York, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tea- 
 nessee, were unanimous for him. The New England states, with 
 Delaware and New Jersey, were unanimous for Mr. Adams. Penn- 
 sylvania and North Carolina, acting by districts, gave a majority 
 of votes to Mr. Jefferson ; and Maryland was equally divicled be- 
 tween the two candidates. 
 
 But owing to a strange defect in the Constitution, or an unac- 
 countable inattention to its provisions, an unexpected contingency 
 arose which threatened to reverse the declared will of the nation, 
 and to place in the Executive Chair a rnan, who, it was notorious, 
 had not received a solitary vote for that station. Mr. Jefferson was 
 elected President, and Aaron Burr Vice President, by an eqnal 
 number of votes ; and, as the Constitution required no specification 
 of the .office, for which each respectively was designed, but simply 
 confined the choice to the jiperson having the highest mmiber of 
 votes, the consequence was that neither had the majority required 
 by law. Under this dilemma, the election devolved on the House 
 of Representatives, and produced storms of an unprecedented char- 
 acter. The federalists seized on the occasion, as a capital one for 
 
392 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 acting on the monarchical principle of corruption, and bidding de- 
 fiance to the acknowledged suffrage of the people. They held a 
 private caucus, and resolved on the daring alternatives, either to 
 elect Burr in the room of Jefferson, or, by preventing a choice al- 
 together, to create an interregnum. In the latter event, they agreed 
 to pass an act of Congress, devolving the g'overnment on a Presi- 
 dent, pro tem, of the Senate, who would of course l3e a person of 
 their choice. On the developement of this conspirac)^, a tremen- 
 dous sensation was excited. The republicans declared, one and all, 
 openly and firmly, that in the event of a legislative usurpation, de- 
 volving the government on a President of the Senate, the repulili- 
 can states would instantly arm, and resist the usurpation by force. 
 On the lltli of February, the House pioceeded in the manner 
 prescribed by the Constitution to elect a President of the United 
 States. The representatives were required to vote by States, in- 
 stead of by persons. On opening the ballots it appeared there 
 were eight states for Mr. Jefferson, six for Colonel Burr, and two 
 divided ; consequently there was no choice. The process w^as re- 
 peated, and the same result was indicated, tbiiough five successive 
 days and nights, and thirty-fi ve bailoiings. During this long 
 and ay/ful suspense^ the decision depended on a single vote ! Either 
 one of the federalists from the divided States, Yermont and Mary- 
 land coming over to the republican side, would have made a ninth 
 State, and decided the election in favor of Mr. Jefferson. But the 
 opposition appeared invincible in the resolution to have a minority 
 President, or to break up the elective succession. The republicans, 
 on the other hand, deserve eternal praises for the inflexibility of 
 their adherence to the will of tlie people. Various and v.^eighty 
 overtures were made to them, but they resisted them all ; while, 
 what is equally honorable, not a single overture is pretended to have 
 proceeded from them ! Their fidelity on tliis occasion, was even 
 stronger than their love of existence; for while they were equally 
 incapable of being either the subjects or the agents of corruption, 
 they would have resigned their fives, at any moment, to have saved 
 the election of Mr. Jefferson. A precious reminiscence, in proof of 
 this assertion, is related by a distinguished lady* of Washington :— 
 " Mr. N. one of the representatives from Maryland, had been for 
 
 Mrs. S. H. Smith, See Mrs. Hale's Magazine, Nov. 1831. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 393 
 
 some weeks confined to his bed, and was so ill that his life was con- 
 sidered in danger ; ill as he was, he insisted on being carried to the 
 Hall of Representatives, in order to give his vote. The physicians 
 Absolutely forbid such a proceeding ; he insisted, and they appealed 
 to his wife, teUing her that such a removal, and the consequent ex- 
 citement, might prove fatal to his life. ' Be it so, then,' said she. 
 ' if my husband' must die, let it be at the post of duty ; no weak- 
 ness of mine shall oppose his noble resolution.' How little did 
 these physicians expect, when they appealed to the influence of one 
 of the fondest and most devoted of wives, this more than Spartan 
 courage, and in an American, to find a Roman matron ! Of course 
 they withdrew their opposition ; the patient was carried, in a litter, 
 to the Capitol, where a bed was prepared for him in an anti-room 
 adjoining the Senate Chamber, followed by his heroic wife, where, 
 during the four or five days and nights of ballotting, she remained 
 by his side ; supporting by various restoratives, but more by her 
 presence, the strength of the feeble and almost expiring invalid, 
 who with difiiculty traced the name of Jefferson each time the l)al- 
 lot box was handed to him. Such was the spirit of that day— the 
 spirit of that party !" 
 
 Finally, on the thirty-sixth ballot, the opposition gave way, ap 
 parently from sheer exhaustion. Mr. Morris of Vermont withdrew, 
 which enabled his only colleague, Lyon, to give the vote of that State 
 to Mr. Jefferson. The four federalists from Maryland, who had hith- 
 erto supported Burr, voted blanks, which made the positive ticket 
 of their colleagues the vote of that State. South Carolina and 
 Delaware, both represented by federalists, voted blanks. So there 
 were, on the last ballot, ten States for Mr. Jefferson, four for Colo- 
 nel Burr, and two blanks.* The result, on being proclaimed, was 
 greeted with loud and reiterated bursts of applause from the galle- 
 ries, which were immediately ordered by the Speaker to be cleared. 
 Mr. Jefferson did not receive a federal, nor Colonel Burr a demo- 
 cratic vote. The latter became, of course. Vice President ; but his 
 apostacy separated him irretrievably from the confidence of the re- 
 
 * On the last ballot, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, voted for 
 Mr. Jefferson. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, 
 for Colonel Burr. Delaware and South Carolina^ voted blanks. 
 
 34* 
 
394 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 publicans, while it demonstrated his fitness for those treasonable pur- 
 }X)ses of ambition which he subsequently manifested. 
 
 During the five days' pendency of the election, unwearied exer- 
 tions were made by the federalists, to seduce Mr. Jefferson from his 
 political principles, and to obtain from him terms and promises. 
 But his virtue was impregnable. He uniformly and unequivocally 
 declared to them, that he ' would not receive the government on 
 capitulation, nor go into it with his hands tied.' Coming out of 
 the Senate Chamber one day, he found Gouverneur Morris on the 
 steps, who stopped him, and began a conversation on the strange 
 and portentous state of things then existing. He went on to ob- 
 serve that the reasons Avhy the minority of States was so opposed 
 to his (Jefferson's) election, were, 1, He would turn all the federal- 
 ists out of office ; 2, Put down the navy ; 3, Wipe off the public 
 debt. That he need only declare, or authorize his friends to de- 
 i;lare, that he would not take these steps, and instantly the event 
 of the election would be fixed. Mr. Jefferson replied, that he 
 should leave the world to judge of the course he intended to pur- 
 sue, by that which he had pursued hitherto, l^elieving it his duty 
 10 be passive and silent during the present scene ; that he should 
 never go into the office of President with his hands tied l)y any 
 onditions which should hinder him from pursuing the measures 
 which he should deem for the public good. 
 
 About the same time, he called on Mr. Adams, and they convers- 
 ed together on the existing state of things. Mr. Jefferson observed, 
 that a very dangerous experiment was then in contemplation, to de- 
 i'eat the Presidential election by an act of Congress declaring the 
 right of the Senate to name a President of their body, to devolve on 
 him the government during any interregnum ; that such a mea- 
 ure would proljably produce resistance b)^ force,; and incalculable 
 consequences, which it would be in his power to prevent by nega- 
 tiving such an act. Mr. Adams appeared to think the expedient 
 justifiable, and observed that it was in Mr. Jefferson's power to de- 
 cide the election in an instant, by declaring he would not turn out 
 the federal officers, nor put down the navy, nor spunge the national 
 debt. Finding his opinion decided on the propriety of a legislative 
 i.isurpation of the government, Mr. Jefferson pressed the point no 
 farther, but observed that the world must judge as to himself of the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 395 
 
 futiiie by the past, and turned the conversation on other subjects.* 
 The same propositions were intimated to him, about the sametimey 
 by Dwight Foster of Massachusetts, and the same unequivocal and 
 unyielding attitude was maintained. The causes of the final aban- 
 donment of the contest by the federalists, are stated in the following- 
 extracts from the private correspondence of Mr. Jefferson, one. of 
 which Avas written immediately before, and the other immediately 
 after the decision of the question. 
 
 '" Four daj^s of balloting have produced not a single change of a 
 vote. Yet it is confidently believed by most that to-morrow there 
 is to be a coalition. I know of no foundation for this belief How- 
 ever, as Mr. Tyler waits the event of it, he will communicate it to 
 you. If they could have been permitted to pass a law for putting 
 the government into the hands of an officer, they would certainly 
 have prevented an election. But we thought it best to declare open- 
 ly and firmly, one and all, that the day such an act passed, the mid- 
 dle States would arm, and tl.t.at no such usurpation, even for a sin- 
 gle day, should be submitted to. This first shook them ; and they 
 Avere completely alarmed at the resource for which we declared, to 
 wit, a convention to re-organize the government, and to amend it. 
 The very word convention gives them the horrors, as in the pre- 
 sent democratical spirit of America, they fear they should lose some 
 of the favorite morsels of the constitution. Many attempts have 
 been made to obtain terms and promises from me. • 1 have declar- 
 ed to them unequivocally, that I would not receive the.^overninenL 
 on capitulation, that I would not go into it Avith my nands lied. 
 Should they yield the election, I have reason to expect in the outset 
 the greatest difficulties as to nominations. The late incumbents 
 running away from their offices and leaving them vacant, Avili pre- 
 vent my filling them Avithout the jjrevious advice of Senate. Hoav 
 this diflticulty is to be got over I know not." 
 
 " The minority of the House of Representatives, after seeing the 
 impossibility of electing Burr, the certainty that a legislative usurpa- 
 tion Avould be resisted by arms, and a recourse to a convention to re- 
 organize and amend the government, held a considtationon this di- 
 lemma, Avhetlier it Avould be better for them to come over in a body 
 and go Avith the tide of the times, or by a negative conduct suffer the 
 election to l^e made by* a bare majority, keeping their body entire 
 and unbroken, to act in phalanx on such ground of opposition as 
 circumstances shall offer : and I know their determination on this 
 question only by their vote of yesterday. Morris of Vermont Avith- 
 
 * Ana. 
 
396 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 drew, which made Lyon's vote that of his State. The Maryland 
 federahsts put in four blanks, whicli made the positive ticket of their 
 colleagues 'the vote of the State. South Carolina and Delaware put 
 in sixl)lanks. So there were ten states for one candidate, four for 
 another, and two blanks. We consider this, therefore, as a declara- 
 tion of war, on the part of this band. But their conduct appears to 
 have brought over to us the whole body of federalists, who, being 
 alarmed with the danger of a dissolution of the government, had 
 l)een made most anxiously to wish the very administration they had 
 opposed, and to view it when obtained, as a child of their own." 
 
 During the long and doubtful struggle in the House of Represen- 
 tatives, the public mind was in a state of feverish and agonizing 
 suspense, throughout the country. The republicans were oppressed 
 with dismay and gloom at the prospect before them ; v.hile the fed- 
 eralists, who had every thing to gain, and nothing to lose by the 
 event, were intoxicated with delight. But this unnatural order of 
 thino"s was destined to be short-lived. Soon the scene was revers- 
 ed. When the issue became known, one vmiversal sentiment of ex- 
 ultation animated the great republican party of the Union. The 
 intelligence Avas greeted with the thunder of artillery, and the peals 
 of popular huzzas, in every city, town, and village on the continent. 
 Reasonable men gave loose to the most extravagant demonstrations 
 of joy.' When- the first moments of the enthusiasm had subsided, 
 grave g,nd. systematic measures of public felicitation were every 
 where put in motion. Orations, illuminations, processions, balls, 
 banquets and toasts, characterized the occasion as the great republi- 
 can jubilee of the American nation. The inspiring chorus* of 
 " Jefferson and liberty," kindled on every patriot tongue, and rever- 
 ])erated from every mountain, through every, glen, from the Missis- 
 sippi to the St. Lawrence. Innumerable addresses of congratulation, 
 by individuals and pubhc bodies, poured in upon the newly elected 
 President, rife with expressions of personal attachment, and of en- 
 thusiastic devotion to republican principles. 
 
 The federal dpiasty died hard. Like an Herculean victim, grap- 
 pling with destiny, it expired with a terrible repetition of struggles. 
 When the moment of dissolution approached, a last and desperate 
 
 * Rejoice '. Columbia's sons, rejoice ! 
 
 To tyrants never bend the knee, 
 But join with heart, and soul and voice 
 
 For Jeffersqn and Liberty. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 397 
 
 rush was made to seize on all the offices of the government, whose 
 
 tenure would make it difficult to dislodge them, particularly the Ju- ^ 
 
 diciary. fdofin'ja^was nominated Chief Justice, in the room of Ells- ^.jSAP^^ 
 
 worth, resigned ; Theophilus Parsons, Attorney General ; Harri- •. ^,. | 
 
 sonG. Otis, District Attorney of Massachusetts ; James A. Bayard, .•./*'?\iif1ft,«/ 
 
 Minister Plenipotentiary to France ; all of them chiefs of tlie repudi- \.^.^. . 
 
 ated regenc)^, with a host of subordinate appointments, from the 
 
 same political ranks. Finally, the celebrated ' ]>atch of midnight 
 
 judges,' to the number of about twenty, wereenlrenched behind the , 
 
 new limb of the judiciar}^ system, which was intended as a precious 
 
 depository for the remains of federal power. These last acts of the 
 
 expiring oligarchy, the object of which was, either to compel Mr. 
 
 Jefferson to execute the government by federal aids and counsellors, 
 
 or subject him to the odious operation of such m'.iltiplied removals as 
 
 should bear him down, proved as impohtic and suicidal, in the end, 
 
 as they were embarrassing to the new administration. They w^ere 
 
 extreme^ grating to public sentiment, and revolted a numerous 
 
 body of the federalists from their impassioned leaders. 
 
 The following letters of Mr. Jefferson, written in the course t?.f the 
 first tvro months after his election, develope in his usual felicitous 
 manner, the state of political panies at that memorable period, as 
 Vv'ell as the general principles of policy, on which he designed to ■ 
 conduct the administration of the goyernment. Some of them were 
 in answer to the gratulatory addresses of his ancient and venerated 
 co-adjutors of the Revolution, and they derive additional interest 
 from that circumstance. 
 
 To J. Dickinson. — " No pleasure can exceed that which I re- 
 ceived from reading your letter of the 21st ultimo. It was hke the 
 joy we expect in the mansions of (he blessed, when received with 
 the emljraces of our forefathers, we shall be welcomed with their 
 blessing as having done our part not unworthily of them. The 
 storm through which we have passed, has been tremendous indeed. 
 The tough sides of our Argosie have been thoroughly tried. Her 
 strength has stood the waves into Avhich she was steered, with a 
 view to sink her. We shall put her on her republican tack, and she 
 will now show by the beauty of her motion the skill of her builders. 
 Figure apart, our fellow-citizens have been led hood-winked from 
 their principles by a most extraordinary combination of circumstan- 
 ces. But the band is removed, arr 1 they now see for themselves. 
 I hope to see shortly a perfect consolidation, to effect which, nothing 
 shall l^e spared on my part, short of the abandonment of the princir 
 
398 
 
 LIFE, AVRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 pies of our revolution. A just and solid republican government 
 maintained here, will be a standing monument and example for the 
 aim and imitation of the jicople of other countries ; and I join with 
 you in the hope and l)elief that thej^ will see, from our example, that 
 a free government is of all others the most energetic ; that the in- 
 quiry which has been excited among the mass of mankind by our 
 revolution and its consequences, will ameliorate the condition of 
 man over a great portion of the globe. What a satisfaction have 
 we in the contemplation of the benevolent effects of our eiibrts, com- 
 pared with tho^;e of the leaders on the other side, who have discoun- 
 tenanced all advances in science as dangerous innovations, liave 
 endeavored to render philosophy and republicanism terms of re- 
 proach, to persuade us that man cannot be governed but l^y the rod, 
 &.C. I shall have the happiness of living and dying in' the contrary 
 hope." 
 
 To S. Adams. — " I addressed a letter to you, my very dear and 
 ancient friend, on the 4t]i of March : not indeed to you by name, 
 but through the medium of some of my fellow-citizens, whom occa- 
 sion called on me to address. In meditating the matter of that ad- 
 dress, I often aslied myself. Is this exactly in the spirit of the patri- 
 arch, Samuel Adams ') Is it as he would express it 7 Will he ap- 
 prove of it ? I have felt a great deal for our country in the times we 
 liave seen. But individually for no one so much as yourself. When 
 I have been told that you were avoided, insulted, frowned on, I could 
 ixil ejaculate, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do.' I confess I felt an indignation for you, which for myself I have 
 l)een able, under every trial, to keep entirely passive. However, the 
 storm is over, and- we are in port. The ship was not rigged for the 
 service she was put on. We will show the smoothness of her mo- 
 tions on her republican tack. I hope we shall once more see har- 
 mony restored among our citizens, and an entire oblivion of, past 
 feuds. Some of the leaders, who have most committed themselves, 
 cannot come into this. But I hope the great body of our fellow-cit- 
 izens will do it. I will sacrifice every thing but principle lo procure 
 it. A few examples of justice on officers avIio have perverted their 
 functions to the oppression of their fellow-citizens, must, in justice to 
 those citizens, be made. But opinion, and the just maintenance of 
 it, shall never be a crime in my view ; nor bring injury on the indi- 
 vidual. Those whose misconduct in office ought to have produced 
 their removal even by my predecessor, must not be protected by the 
 delicacy due only to honest men. How much I lament that time 
 has deprived me of your aid. It would have been a day of glory 
 which should have called you to the first office of the administra- 
 tion. But give us your counsel, my friend, and give us your bles- 
 sing : and be assured that there exists not in the heart of man a 
 more faiihful esteem than mine to you, and that I shall ever bear 
 you the most affectionate veneration and respect." 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 399 
 
 To R. R. Livingston. — '• The constitution, to which we are all 
 attached, was meant to be republican, and we beheve to be republi- 
 can according to every candid interpretation. Yet we have seen it 
 so interpreted and administered, as to be truly what the French 
 have called it, a monarchle masque. Yet so long has the vessel 
 run on this way and been trimmed to it, that to put her on her re- 
 publican tack will require all the skill, the firmness, and the zeal of 
 her alilest and best friends. It is a crisis which calls on them to sac- 
 rifice all other objects, and repair to her aid in this momentous oper- 
 ation. Not only their skill is wanting, but their names also. It is 
 essential to assemble in the outset persons to compose our adminis- 
 tration, whose talents, integrity, and revolutionary name and princi- 
 ples may inspire the nation, at once, witli unbounded confidence, 
 and impose an awful silence on all the maligners of republicanism ; 
 as may suppress in embryo the purpose avowed by one of their most 
 daring and eflective chiefs, of beating down the administration. 
 These names do not abovmd at this day. So few are they, that 
 yours, my friend, cannot be spared among them without leaving a 
 blank which cannot be filled. If I can obtain for the pubUc the aid 
 of those I have contemplated, I fear nothing. If this cannot be done, 
 then are Ave unfortunate indeed ! We shall be unable to realize 
 the prospects which have been held out to the people, and we must 
 fall back into monarchism, for want of heads, not hands, to help us 
 out of it. This is a common cause, my dear Sir, common to all re- 
 publicans. Though I have been too honorably placed in front of 
 those who are to enter the breach so happily made, yet the energies 
 of every individual are necessary, and in the very place where his 
 energies can most serve the enterprise. I can assure you that your 
 colleagues will be most acceptable to you ; one of them, whom you 
 cannot' mistake, peculiarly so. The part which circumstances con- 
 strain us to piopose to you, is the secretaryship of the navy. These 
 circumstances cannot be explained by letter. Republicanism is so 
 rare in those parts which possess nautical skill, that I cannot find it 
 allied there to the other qualifications. Though you are not nauti- 
 cal by profession, yet your residence and your mechanical science 
 qualify you as well as a gentleman can possibly be, and sufficiently 
 to enable you to choose under agents perfectly c[ualified, and to su- 
 perintend their conduct. Come forward then, my dear Sir, and 
 give us the aid of your talents and the weight of your character to- 
 wards the new establishment of republicanism ; I say, for its new 
 establishment ; for hitherto, we have seen only its travestie." 
 
 To Gov. M'Kean. — " I have to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 favor of February the 20th, and to thank you for your congratulations 
 on the event of the election. Had it terminated in the elevation of 
 Mr. Burr, every republican would, I am sure, have acquiesced in a 
 moment ; because, however it might have been variant from the 
 
400 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 intentions of the voters, yet it would have been agreeal)le to the con- 
 stitution. No man would more cheerfully have submitted than 
 myself, because I am sure the administration would have been re- 
 publican, and the chair of the Senate permitting me to be at home 
 eight months in the year, would, on that account, have been much 
 more consonant to my real satisfaction. But in the event of an usvu'- 
 pation, I was decidedly with those who were determined not to per- 
 mit it. Because that precedent, once set, w^ould be artificially re- 
 produced, and end soon in a dictator. Virginia was bristling tip, I 
 believe." 
 
 To Doctor Priestly. — " I learned some time ago that you 
 were in Philadelphia, but that it was only for a fortnight ; and I 
 supposed you were gone. It was not till yesterday T received in- 
 formation that you Vvcre still there, had been very ill, but were on 
 the recovery. I sincerely rejoice that you are so. Yours is one of 
 the few lives precious to mankind, and for the continuance of which 
 every thinking man is solicitous. Bigots may be an exception. 
 What an effort, my dear Sir, of bigotry in politics and religion have 
 we gone through. The Ijarbarians really flattered themselves they 
 shoidd be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignor- 
 ance put every thing into the hands of power and priestcraft. All 
 advances in science were proscribed as innovations. They pretend- 
 ed to praise and encourage education, but it was to be the education 
 of our ancestors. We were to look backwards not forwards for im- 
 provement : the President himself declaring in one of his answers 
 to addresses, that we were never to expect to go beyond them in re- 
 al science. This was the real ground of all the attacks on you : 
 those who live by mystery and charlaianerie^ fearing you would 
 render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, the 
 most sublime and benevolent but most perverted system that ever 
 shone on man, endeavored to crush your well earned and well de- 
 served fame. But it was the LiUiputians upon Gulliver. Our 
 countrymen have recovered from the alarm into which art and in- 
 dustry had thrown them ; science and honesty are replaced on their 
 high ground ; and you, my dear Sir, as their great apostle, are on 
 its pinnacle. It is with heartfelt satisfaction that, in the first mo- 
 ments of my public action, I can hail}^ou with welcome to our land, 
 tender to you the homage of its respect and esteem, cover you under 
 the protection of those lav.'s which were made for the wise and good 
 like you, and disclaim the legitimacy of that libel on legislation, 
 v^^hich under the form of a law [alien law,] was for some time pla- 
 ced among them. 
 
 " As the storm is nov/ subsiding and the horizon becoming serene, 
 it is pleasant to consider the phenomenon with attention. Wc can 
 no longer sa}^ there is noticing new under the sun. For the whole 
 chapter in this history of man is new. The great extent of our re- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFKRSON. 4(Jl 
 
 public is new. Its sparse habitation is new. Tiie mighty wave of 
 public opinion which has rolled over it is new. But the most pleas- 
 ing novelty is, its so quietly subsiding over such an extent of sur- 
 face to its true level again. The order and good sense displayed in 
 this recovery from delusion, and in the momentous crisis which late- 
 ly arose, really bespeak a strength of character in our nation whicli 
 augurs well for the duration of our republic : and T am much better 
 satisfied now of its stability, than I was before it was tried. I have 
 been above all things solaced by the prospect which opened on us, 
 in the event of a non-election of a President ; in which case, the 
 federal government would have been in the situation of a clock or 
 watch rundown. There was no idea of force, nor of any occasion 
 for it. A convention, invited by the republican members of Con- 
 gress with the virtual President and Vice-President, would have 
 been on the ground in eight weeks, would have repaired the consti- 
 tution where it was defective, and wound it up again. This peace- 
 able and legitimate resource, to which we are in the habit of implicit 
 obedience, superseding all appeal to force, and being always within 
 our reach, shows a precious principle of self-preservation in our com- 
 position, till a change of circumstances shall take place, which in 
 not within prospect p.t any definite period." 
 
 To M. Robinson. — " I have to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 favor of the 3d instant, and to thank ycu for the friendly express- 
 ions it contains. I entertain real hope that the whole body of your 
 fellow citizens (many of whom had been carried away by the X. Y. 
 Z. business) will shortly be consolidated in the same sentiments. 
 When they examine the real principles of both parties, I think they 
 will find httle to differ about. I know, indeed, that there are some 
 of their leaders who have so committed themselves, that pride, if no 
 other passion, will prevent their coalescing. We must be easy with 
 them. The Eastern States will be the last to come over on account 
 of the dominion of the clergy, who had got a smell of union between 
 (Church and State, and began to indulge reveries which can never 
 be realized in the present state of science. If, indeed, the)'^ could 
 have prevailed on us to view all advances in science as dangerous 
 innovations, and to look back to the opinions and practices of our 
 forefathers, instead of looking forward, for improvement, a promising 
 groundwork would have been laid. But I am in hopes their good 
 sense will dictate to them, that since the mountain will not come to 
 them, they had better go to the mountain : that they will find their 
 interest in acquiescing in the liberty and science of their country, 
 and that the Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which 
 they have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and sim- 
 plicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most 
 friendly to hberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human 
 mind." 
 
 35 
 
402 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 To E. Gerry. — " What with the natural current of opmioii 
 which lias been setting over to us Cor eighteen month:::, and the im- 
 mense impetus which was given ii from the 11th to tlie 17 th of Feb- 
 ruary, we may now say tliat the United States, from New York 
 southwardly, are as unanimous in the principles of '7G, as they were 
 in '76. The only difference is, that the leaders who remain behind 
 are more numerous and colder than the aposdes of toryism in '76. 
 The reason is, that we are now justly more tolerant than we could 
 safely have been then, circumstanced as we were. Your part of the 
 Union, though as absolutely republican as ours, had drunk deeper of 
 the delusion, and is therefore slower in recovering from it. The 
 ffigis of government, and the temples of religion and of justice, have 
 all been prostituted there to toll us back to the times when we burnt 
 witches. But your people will rise again. They will av.'ake like 
 Samson from his sleep, and carry away the gates and the posts of 
 the city. You, my friend, are destined to rally them again under 
 tiieir former banners, and when called to the post, exercise it with 
 firmness and with intlexible adherence to your own principles. The 
 people will support you, notwithstanding the bowlings of the raven- 
 ous crew from whose jaws they are escaping. It will be a great 
 blessing to our country if we can once more restore harmony and 
 social love among its citizens. I confess, as to myself, it is almost 
 the first object of my heart, and one to which I would sacrifice ev- 
 ery thing but principle. With the people I have hopes of effecting 
 it. But their Coryphtei are incuraliles. I expect little from them. 
 
 •• I was not deluded by the eulogiums of the public papers in the 
 arst moments of change. If they could have continued to get all 
 the loaves and fishes, that is, if I would have gone over to them, 
 lliey would continue to eulogize. But I well knew that the mo- 
 ment that such removals should take place, as the justice of the [)re- 
 ceding administration ought to have executed, their hue and cry 
 would be set up, and they would take their old stand. I shall disre- 
 gard tliat also. Mr. Adam's last appointments, when he knew he 
 was naming counsellors and aids for me and not for himself, I set 
 aside as far as depends on me. Officers who have been guilty of 
 gross abuses of office, such as marshals packing juries, &c., I shall 
 now remove, as my predecessor ought in justice to have done. The 
 instances will be few, and governed by strict rule, and not party pas- 
 sion. The right of opinion shall suffer no invasion from me. Those 
 Vv^ho have acted well, have nothing to fear, however they may have 
 differed from me in opinion : those who have done ill, however, 
 have nothing to hope ; nor shall I fail to do justice lest it should be 
 ascribed to that difference of opinion. A coalition of sentiments is 
 not for the interest of the printers. They, Uke the clergy, live by 
 the zeal they can kindle, and the schisms they can create. It is 
 contest of opinion in politics as vv^ell as religion Avhich makes us take 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 403 
 
 great interest in them, and bestow our money li'berally on those who 
 furnish ahment to our appetite. The mild and simple principles ot 
 the Christian philosophy would produce too much calm, too much 
 regularity of good, to extract from its disciples a support for a numer- 
 ous priesliiood, were they not to sophisticate it, raniify it, split it into 
 hairs, and twist its texts till they cover the divine morahty of its au- 
 thor with mysteries, an^ require a priesthood to explain them."' 
 
 CHAPTER Xill. 
 
 The fourth of March, 1801, was a proud day to America. The 
 fust democratic President was inducted into office, with no other in- 
 dications of solemnity, than the distant but overflowing tribute of 
 millions of grateful hearts. The crowd of repul^iican strangers who 
 had thronged the city during the previous period of anxiety and 
 agitation, had disappeared, on the understanding that it was the 
 pleasure of the President to be made the subject of no homage or 
 ceremony ; and the vanc}inshed party, of course, had no inclination 
 to witness the consummation of a triumph, in which they could on- 
 \y participate w^ith regret. The city of Washington had been occu- 
 pied, as the seat of government, but a few months only ; the number 
 of its inhabitants, at this time, did not exceed that of a small village : 
 the individuals composing the late administration had taken their 
 .flight, with the ex-President, early on the foiuth of March ; ami 
 now, divested of half its migratory population, the infant metropolis 
 presented a solitary appearance. The wonderful simplicity of the 
 scene and ceremony of the inauguration, is beautifully described by 
 the Washington reminiscent, whom we have before quoted :— 
 " The sun shone bright on that morning. The Senate was con- 
 vened. Those members of the republican party that remained at 
 the seat of government, the Judges of the Supreme Court, some citi- 
 zens and gentry from the neighboring country, and about a dozen 
 ladies made up the assembly in the Senate chamber, who were col- 
 lected to witness the ceremony of the President's inaviguration. Mr. 
 Jefferson had not yet arrived. He was seen walking from his lodg- 
 ings, which were not far distant, attended by five or six gentlemen, 
 who were his fellow lodgers. Soon afterwards he entered, accom- 
 
■104 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 panied by a committee of the Senate, and bowing to the Senate, who 
 arose to receive him, he approached a table on which the Bible lay 
 and took the oath which was administered to him by the Chief Jus- 
 tice. He was then conducted, by the President of the Senate, to 
 his chair, which stood on a platform raised some steps above the 
 floor ; after the pause of a moment or two he arose and delivered 
 that beautiful inaugural address which has since become so popular 
 and celebrated, with a clear, distinct voice, in a firm and modest 
 manner. — On leaving the chair he was surrounded by friends who 
 pressed forward with cordial and eager congiatulations, and some, 
 though not many of the more magnanimous of his opponents, 
 most of whom, however, silently left the chamber. The new 
 President walked home with two or three of the gentlemen 
 who lodged in the same house. At dinner he took his accus- 
 tomed place at the bottom of the table, his nev»' station not elicit- 
 ing from his democratic friends any new attention or courtesy. A 
 gentleman from Baltimore, an invited guest, who accidentally sat 
 next to him, asked permission to wish him joy, 'I would advise you' 
 answered Mr. Jeflersou, smiling, ' to follow my example on nuptial 
 occasions, when I always tell the bridegi'oom I will wait till the end 
 of the year before offering my congratulations.' And this was tlic 
 only and solitary instance of any notice taken of the event of the 
 morning." 
 
 The inaugural address of Mr. Jefferson was as novel and extra- 
 ordinary, as the simplicity of the scene which ushered it ])efore the 
 world. For condensation of ideas, and Addisonian purity of lan- 
 guage, it is allowed to be superior to any thing in the wide circle of 
 political composition. In the short compass in which it is compress- 
 ed, all the essential principles of free governments are stated, in de- 
 tail, with the measures best calculated for their attainment and se- 
 curity, and an ample refutation of the adversary principles. Every 
 word is pregnant witVi sentiment and reproof, and ever}'' sentence 
 contains a text on w^iich might be written volimies of political wis- 
 dom. After a modest exordium, in which the author lamented the 
 inadequacy of his abilities to the jnagnitude of the charge, and 
 expressed his reliance for guidance and support, on the co-ordinate 
 functionaries of the government by whom he was surrounded, the 
 address proceeds in the following terms : 
 
of' THOMAS JEFFERSON. 405 
 
 •■ Dining the contest of opinion through which we have past, the 
 animation of discussions and of exertions, has sometimes worn an 
 aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, 
 and to speak and to write what they thiulv ; but this being now 
 decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the 
 rules of the constitution, all will of course arrange themselves un- 
 der the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common 
 good. All too will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though 
 the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be 
 rightful, must be reasonable ; that the minority possess their equal 
 rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be op- 
 pression. Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and 
 one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and 
 affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary 
 things. And let us reflect tiiat having banished from our land tiiat 
 religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and sufi'er- 
 ed, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intoler- 
 ance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody 
 persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient 
 world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking 
 through blood and slaughter, his long lost liberty, it was not won- 
 derful, that the agitation of the billows should reach even this dis- 
 tant and peaceful shore ; that this should be more felt and feared 
 by some, and less by others ; and should divide opinions, as to 
 measures of safety. "But every difference of opinion is not a differ- 
 ence of principle. We have called by different names, brethren of 
 the same principle. We are all Republicans : we are all Federal- 
 ists. If there be any among us, who would wish to dissolve this 
 Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturb- 
 ed as monuments of the safety, with which error of opinion may 
 be tolerated, w^iere reason is left free to combat it. 1 know indeed, 
 that some honest men fear, that a republican government cannot 
 be strong ; that this government is not strong enough. But would 
 the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, aban- 
 don a government, which has so far kept us free and firm, on the 
 theoretic and visionary fear, that this government, the Avorid's best 
 hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself ? I trust 
 not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on 
 earth. I believe it the only one, where every man, at the call of 
 the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet in- 
 vasions of the public order, as his own personal concern. Some- 
 times it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of 
 himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others ? 
 Or have we found angels in the form of kings, to govern him ? 
 Let history answer this question. 
 
 " Let us then with courage and confidence, pursue our own fed- 
 eral and republican principles ; our attachment to union and repre- 
 
 35* 
 
406 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 senlative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide 
 ocean from the exterminating- havoc of one quarter of the globe : 
 too high minded to endure the degradation^^ of the others, possessing 
 a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the 
 tiiousandth and thousandth generation, entertaining a due sense of 
 our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions 
 of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citi- 
 zens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense 
 of them, enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and 
 [)racticed in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honest)^, 
 truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of man, acknowledg- 
 ing and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispen- 
 sations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and 
 his greater happiness hereafter ; with all these blessings, what is 
 more necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people ? Still 
 one thing more fellow-citizens, a wise and frugal government, which 
 shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them oth- 
 erwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improve- 
 ment, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has 
 earned. This is the sum of good government ; and this is neces- 
 sary to"close the circle of our felicities. 
 
 " About to enter, fellow citizens, on the, exercise of ditties, which 
 comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper you 
 siiould understand what I deem the essential principles of our gov- 
 ernment, and consequently, those, which oug\it to shape its admin- 
 istration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they 
 will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations.^ — 
 Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever stateor persuasion, re- 
 ligious or political : — peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all 
 nations, entangling alliances with none : — the support of the State 
 governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations 
 for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-repub- 
 lican tendencies : — the preservation of the general government in its 
 whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home, 
 and safety abroad : — a jealous care of the right of election by the 
 people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by 
 the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided: — 
 absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital prin- 
 ciple, of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the 
 vital principle and immediate parent of despotism ; a well disciplin- 
 ed militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of 
 war, till regulars may reUeve them : the supremacy of the civil over 
 the miUtary authority : — economy in tiie public expense, that labor 
 may be lightly burdened : — the honest payment of our debts and 
 sacred preservation of the public faith : encouragement of agricul- 
 ture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of informa- 
 tion, and arraignment of all aljuses at the bar of the public reason : 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSO>r. 407 
 
 ■ — freedom of religion ; freedom of the press : and freedom of per- 
 son, under the protection of the habeas corpus : and trial by juries 
 impartially selected. These priiiciples form the bright constella- 
 tion, which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an 
 age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and 
 l)lood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment : they 
 should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic in- 
 struction, the touchstone, by which to try the services of those we 
 trust ; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of 
 alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road 
 which alone leads to peace, hberty and safety. 
 
 " I repair then, fellow citizens, to the post you have assigned me. 
 With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the dif- 
 ficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will 
 rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with 
 the reputation, and the favor, which bring him into it. Without 
 pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in oiu' first and 
 greatest revolutionary character, wliose pre-eminent services had en- 
 titled him to the first place in his country's love, and destined for 
 him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much 
 confidence only as may give firmness and efi'ect to the legal admin- 
 istration of your atfairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of 
 judgment. When right I shall often be thought wrong by those 
 whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. 1 
 ask your indulgence for my own errors which Avill never be inten- 
 tional ; and your support against the errors of others, who may con- 
 demn what they would not, if seen in all its parts. The approba- 
 tion implied by your suffrage, is a great consolation to me for the 
 past ; and my future solicitude will be, to retain the good opinion of 
 those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others 
 by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to 
 the happiness and freedom of all. 
 
 " Relying then on the patronage of your good will, I advance 
 with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you 
 become sensible how much better choices it is in your power to 
 make. And may that infinite Power which rules the destinies of 
 the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give them a 
 favorable 'issue for your peace and prosperity." 
 
 The above Inaugural of the President was not intended as an 
 ostentatious display of his political sentiments. Every principle ad- 
 vanced in it was subsequently reduced to practice, which made his 
 administration the model of every succeeding one, and the admiration 
 of the world. 
 
 In the selection of his Cabinet Ministers, Mr. Jefferson was 
 guided by a preference for those tried spirits, who, to talents and 
 integrity united an undeviating adherence to ancient revolution- 
 
40S LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ary principles. The concurieiice of tiiese two pie-vequisites was 
 deemed eri^ential to enable him to carry into effect tlie system of 
 radical reformation, which he proposed for the good of the nation. 
 "SYith a view to inspire unbounded confidence in liis friends, and 
 ' to impose an awful silence on the maligners of republicanism,' he 
 assembled around him an array of characters, whose ' principles had 
 been tested in the crucible of time.' James Madison Avas appoint- 
 ed Secretary of State ; Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury ; 
 General Dearborn, Secretary of War ; Robert Smith, Secretary of 
 the Navy ; and Levi Lincoln, Attorney General. Agreeably to 
 the example voluntarily set by himself, the Vice President was not 
 invited to ■ take any part in the executive consultations. He ad- 
 dressed a Circular to the Heads of Departments establishing the 
 mode and degree of communication between them and the Presi- 
 dent. All letters of business addressed to himself, v\^ere referred by 
 him to the proper department to be acted upon. Those addressed 
 to the Secretaries, with those referred to them, were all communi- 
 cated to the President, whether an answer was required or not ; in 
 the latter case, simply for his information. If an answer was re- 
 quisite, the Secretary of the department communicated the letter and 
 his proposed ausv.'er. If approved, they were simply sent back after 
 perusal ; if not, they were returned with an informal note, suggest- 
 inf an alteration or query. If any doubt of importance arose, he 
 reserved it for conference. By this means, he was in constant and 
 accurate possession of all facts and proceedings in every part of the 
 Union ; his eye pervaded every part of the administration ; he form- 
 ed a central point for the different branches, preserved an unity of 
 object and action among them, exercised that participation in the 
 ' gestion of affairs' which his office made incumbent on him, and 
 drew upon himself the responsibility of every executive transaction. 
 At the threshold of his administration, Mr. Jefferson w^as met by 
 difficulties which called into requisition all the firmness of his (char- 
 acter. He found all the principal offices of the government, and 
 most of the subordinate ones, in the hands of his political enemies. 
 This state of things was as embarrassing to himself, as offensive to 
 the repubhcan body of his fellow citizens ; and demanded prompter 
 correctives than the tardy effects of death and resignation. On him, 
 therefore, for the first time, devolved the disagreeable enterprize of 
 an Augean purification. To have removed one half of the federal 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 409 
 
 oflicerr!, and placed republicans iu their stead, would have been rig- 
 orous justic' when it was known that the latter composed the great 
 majority of the people. But he carried real moderation into the 
 performance of this duty. He restrained it to the ultimate point of 
 forbearance, which was compatilVic with dissipating the monopoly of 
 trust and influence, in the hands of the minority, and producing an 
 etjuitable distribution only among the majority. The general prin- 
 ciples of action which he sketched for his guide, were the follov>'ing: 
 1st, All appointments to civil office, during pleasure, made after 
 the event of the election was certainly knov.'n to Mr. Adams, were 
 considered as nullities. He did not viev>' the persons appointed as 
 even candidates for the office, but replaced others witliout noticing' 
 or notifying them. 2d, Officers who had been guilty of ojjlckd mal- 
 conduct were proper subjects of removal. 3d, Good men, to whom 
 there was no objection but a difference of political principle, practis- 
 ed on so far only as the right of a private citizen woidd justify, were 
 not proper subjects of removal, except in the case of attorneys and 
 marshals. The courts being so decidedly federal and irremovable, 
 it was thought that those offices, being the doors of entrance, should 
 be exercised by republican citizens, as a shield to the republican ma- 
 jority of the nation. 4tli, Incumbents who had prostituted their 
 offices to the oppression of their fellow citizens, ought, in justice to 
 those citizens, to be removed, and as exatjiples to deter others from 
 like abuses. To these means of introducing repubhcans to a just 
 co-operation in the transaction of the public business, was added one 
 other in the course of his administration, to wit, removal for election- 
 eering activity, or open and industrious opposition to the principles oi 
 the government. " Every officer of the government,"' said he, "may 
 vote at elections according to his own conscience : but we should 
 betray the cause committed to our care, were we to permit the influ- 
 ence of official patronage to be used to overthrow that cause." In 
 all new appointments, the President confined his choice to rcpubli- 
 cims, or republican federalists. Although conciliation and an oblit- 
 eration of past divisions, was the cordial desire of his heart, he firm- 
 ly resisted the counsels of those who advised the bestowmcnt of of- 
 fice on the ' Coryphaei' of the federal party, in order to reconcile. 
 Such a course, he considered as involving, in the end, a certain sac- 
 rifice of principle. Even amiable and honorable monarchists were 
 not, in his opinion, safe subjects of republican confidence. 'While 
 
410 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 we will associate with us in affairs,' he vv rote to Governor Lincoln, 
 ' the federal sect of republicans, to a certain degree, we must strip of 
 all the means of influence thp EssSx junto, and their associate mon- 
 ocrats in every part of the Union. The former differ from us only 
 in tiie shades of power to be given to the Executive, being, with us, 
 attached to republican government. The latter wish to sap the re- 
 public by fraud, if they cannot destroy it by force, and to erect an 
 English monarchy in its place ; some of them, (as Mr. Adams) think- 
 ing its corrupt pans should be cleansed away, others, (as Hamilton) 
 that would make it an impracticable machine. I do not know that 
 the regeneration of otricers will be pushed farther than was settled 
 before 3^ou left us, except as to Essex men.' 
 
 The first experiments in this department of reformation, excited 
 a tremendous clamor against the President. Those who have wit- 
 nessed the wrath, and vociferous lamentation of the press, on a recent 
 displity of the same firm t)olicy, may form a tolerable conception of 
 tlie angry temper and lachrymal effusions of the opposition, on the 
 subject of executive displacements in 1801. The spirit of New 
 England was the sharpest and most unaccomodating.* The Legis- 
 lature of Connecticut, in the spring of 1801, made a general sweep 
 of republicans from the State offices. " We must meet them," 
 said the President, " with eciual intolerance. When they will give 
 a share in the State offices, they shall be replaced in a share of the 
 General offices. Till then we must follow their example. I am 
 sincerely sorr}^ to see the inflexibility of the federal spii'it tlrere, for 
 I cannot believe they are all monarchists P'\ 
 
 The temper of the Eastern governments Vv'as viperous indeed. 
 The outcry of the Gazettes was vehement and inflammatory. By 
 a strange confusion of calumny, the President was alternately stig- 
 
 * The following short paragrapli, extracted from an Oration delivered at New 
 Haven, Ct. before the State Society of Cincinnati, ou the 7th of July, liiOl, by 
 Theodore Dwight, presents a true picture of tlie temper of the opposition east 
 of the Hudson. 
 
 " We liave now reached the consummation of Democratic blessedness. Wo 
 liave a country governed hy blockheads and knaves ; tlie ties of marriage with 
 all its felicities aie severed and destroyed ; our wives and daughters are thrown 
 into tlie stews ; our children are cast into the world from the breast forgotten ; 
 filial piety is extinguished, and our sir names, the only mark of distinction 
 among families, are abolished. Can the imagination paint any thing more 
 dreadful this side hell.' Some parts of the subject are indeed fit only for hor- 
 rid contemplation." 
 
 t Letter to Levi Lincoln, July, 1801. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 411 
 
 niatized as a tyrant and a tool ; and by an obliquity of construction 
 equally perverse, his Inaugural Address was tortured into a weapon 
 against himself, by making it contain pledges and assurances, which 
 his daily conduct was represented as violating. Some occasion of 
 public explanation seemed d-esirable to the President, to obviate the 
 grossness of this attack, as well as to tranquilize the republicans un- 
 der it, who, groaning under the oppressions of the federal ascen- 
 dencies at home, began to be appalled wnth the apprehension that 
 an impression would be made, and their rights inadequately coun- 
 tei -protected by the General Government. Such an occafeion was 
 soon offered. The removal of Mr. Goodrich from the collectorship 
 of New-Haven, who had been commissioned in the last moments of 
 the late administration, and the substitution of Samuel Bishop in 
 his room, produced a bitter remonstrance from the merchants of that 
 city. The President, in his answ^er, improved the opportunity to 
 silence the discontents of either party, by uniting to an ample jus- 
 tification of his policy, and a declared determination to pursue it, an 
 aw^ful refutation of the clamors of the opposition. After demonstra- 
 ting the futility of the objections against Mr. Bishop, by an array of 
 public and private evidences in his favor, this celebrated paper con- 
 cludes as follows : 
 
 " The removal, as it is called, of Mr. Goodrich, forms another sub- 
 ject of comprint. Declarations by myself in favor o( political tol- 
 erance, exhortations to harmony and affection in social intercourse, 
 and to respect for the equal rights of the minority, have, on certain 
 occasions, been quoted and misconstrued into assurances that the 
 tenure of offices was to be undisturbed. But could candor apply 
 such a construction? It is not indeed in the remonstrance thatw^e 
 find it ; but it leads to the explanations which that calls for. 
 When it is considered, that during the late administration, those 
 who were not of a particular sect of politics Avere excluded from all 
 office ; when, by a steady pursuit of this meaeure, nearly the whole 
 offices of the United States were monopolized by that sect : when 
 the public sentiment at length declared itself, and burst open the 
 doors of honor and confidence to those whose opinions they more 
 approved ; was it to be imagined that this monopoly of office w^as 
 still to be continued in the hands of the minority ? Does it violate 
 their equal rights, to assert some rights in the majority also ? Is 
 it political intoleranceio claim a proportionate share in the diroc- 
 tion of the public affairs? Can they not harmonize in society un- 
 less they have every thing in their own hands ? If the will of the 
 nation, manifested by their various elections, calls for an adminis- 
 
\ 
 
 412 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tration of oroveinment according with the opinions of those elected ; 
 if, for the fulfihnent of that will, displacements are necessary, with 
 whom can they so justly begin as with persons appointed in the 
 last moments of an administration-, not for its own aid, but to begin 
 a career at the same time with their successors, by whom they had 
 never l)een approved, and who could scarcely expect from them a 
 cordial co-operation? Mr. Goodrich was one of these. Was it 
 proper for him to place himself in office, without knowing whether 
 those whose agent he w^as to be, would have confidence in his agen- 
 cy ? Can the preference of another as the successor to Mr. Austin, 
 be candidly called a removal of Mr. Goodrich ? If a due participa- 
 tion of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? 
 Those by death are few ; by resignation none. Can iinj other 
 mode than that of removal be proposed? This is a painful office. 
 But it is made my duty, and I meet it as such. I proceed in the op- 
 eration with deliberation and inciuiry, that it may injure the best 
 men least, and effect the purposes of justice and public utility with 
 the least private distress ; that it may be thrown, as much as possi- 
 ble, on delinquency, on oppression, on intolerance, on anti-revolu- 
 tionary adherence to our enemies. 
 
 "The remonstrance laments 'that a change in the administration 
 must produce a change in the subordinate officers ;' in other words, 
 that it should be deemed necessary for all officers to think with 
 their principal ? But on wdiom does this imputation bear ? On 
 those who have excluded from office every shade of opinion which 
 was not theirs ? Or on those who have been so excluded ? I la- 
 ment sincerely that unessential differences of opinion should ever 
 have been deemed sufficient to interdict half the society from the 
 rights and the blessings of self-government, to proscribe them as un- 
 worthy of every trust. It would have been to me a circumstance 
 of great relief, had I found a moderate participation of office in the 
 hands of the majority. I would gladly have left to time and acci- 
 dent to raise them to their just share. But their total exclusion calls 
 for prompter corrections. I shall correct the procedure : but that 
 done, return with joy to that state of things, when the only questions 
 concerning a candidate shall be. Is he honest ? Is he capable ? Is 
 he faithful to the constitution ?" 
 
 The regeneration of the public offices Avas the first measure of 
 importance which gave a character of originality to the administra- 
 tion, Various other abuses existed, dependent on executive indul- 
 gence, which soon called into action (he reformatory hand of the 
 President. The demolition of these, in bold and rapid succession, 
 gave a cheering and prophetic dawn to the republican revolution of 
 government. In a letter of the President to Nathaniel Macon, 
 member of Congress from North Carolina, in May, 1801, it is curious 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. Uo 
 
 to notice the following laconic statement of the progress and fixod 
 protestations of reform : 
 
 " Levees are done away. 
 
 '• The first communication to the next Congress will be, like all 
 subsequent ones, by message, to which no answer will be expected. 
 
 "The diplomatic establishment in Europe will be reduced to 
 three ministers. 
 
 " The compensations to collectors depend on you, and not on me. 
 
 '• The army is undergoing a chaste reforaiation. 
 
 " The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment by the last 
 'of this month. 
 
 " Agencies in every department will be revised. 
 
 " We shall push you to the uttermost in economizing. 
 
 " A very early reconnnendation had been given to the Post Mas- 
 ter General to employ no printer, foreigner, or revolutionary tory in 
 any of his offices. This department is still untouched. 
 
 "The arrival of Mr. Gallatin, yesterday, completed the organiza- 
 tion of our administration." 
 
 During the short interval of time between the inauguration and 
 the meeting of the first Congress, the attention of the President 
 was industriously occupied in maturing and multiplying his plang 
 for republicanizing the government ; and in carrying them into 
 execution, in all cases where he possessed the power independently 
 of the Legislature. The courtly custom of levees, with the train 
 of attendant forms and ceremonies, had its origin with the govern- 
 ment. General Washington resisted the importunities to introduce 
 them, for three weeks after his induction into office. At last he 
 yielded, and Colonel Humphreys, a gentleman of great parade, was 
 charged with the arrangement of ceremonies on the first occasion. 
 Accordingly an ante-chamber and presence-room were provided ; 
 and when the company who were to pay their court, had assembled, 
 the President advanced, preceded by Humphreys. After passing 
 through the ante-chamber, the door of the inner room was thrown, 
 open, and Humphreys entered first, calling out with a loud voice, 
 • The President of the United States.' The President was so much 
 disconcerted, that he never recovered from it during the whole time 
 of the levee. After the company had retired, he said to Humphreys, 
 ' Well, you have taken me in once, but by -^ you shall never take 
 me in a second time.' He never allowed the same form to be re- ^ 
 peated, but had the company introduced as they entered the joom. ' 
 
 36 
 
414 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 where he stood to» receive them. Tlie levees were preserved in all 
 their vigor under Mr. Adams. Repeated at short intervals, and 
 accompanied, as they were, by a general course of sumptuous en- 
 tertainment, they were unnecessarily expensive, demoralizing, and 
 obstructive of business. Mr. Jefferson discontinued them. He had 
 but two 2J«&//c days for the reception of company — the fourth of 
 July and lirst of January. On these occasions, the doors of his 
 house were thrown open, and the most liberal hospitality provided 
 for the entertainment of visitors, of every grade and name in society, 
 without exception or distinction. 
 
 The abolishing the pompous mimicry of royal trappings, which 
 ' were familiarizing tKe spectator to the harbinger's of another form 
 of government,' exerted a salutary influence upon the habits and 
 manners of the Metropolis. The glitter and parade of aristocracy, 
 the ribbons and garters of birth' and place, extravagance of dress, 
 idleness and corruption of manners, dissipation of time, health and 
 money, with all the paraphanalia of European courts and capitals, 
 were swept away, and superseded by the dignified courtesies, the 
 substantial virtues, and elevated simplicities of republicanism. 
 From the federal centre, the rays of this moral renovation diverged 
 in every direction, and exlended their benign and purifying influ- 
 ence over the whole area of the republic. Many now living may 
 recollect with what rapidity the whole foce of society was changed, 
 and the vast tide of anti- republican tendencies, which for years had 
 been setting in upon the country, rolled backward into the flood of 
 ages that had passed away. 
 
 So much for the deiuolition of forms. Pari passu with these, 
 a system of substantial reformations was commenced and vigorous- 
 ly prosecuted by the President. The introduction of economy in 
 the public expenditures" was the cardinal principle of this system. 
 To diminish the number and weight of public burthens, and estab- 
 lish a frugal system of government, which 'should. not take from 
 the mouth of labor the bread it had earned,' was the pride of the 
 President's heart, and the pole star of his operations. To this end, 
 the Army and Navy, which had been raised by his predecessor into 
 heavy monarchical engines, under pretence of vrar, were lowered 
 into easy, republican peace establishments ; or rather to the ulti- 
 mate point of reduction, confided to executive discretion. Farther 
 than this, he could not go without the concurrence of the Legisla- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 415 
 
 ture. The amount of force, inckiding regulars and militia, which 
 the several acts of the preceding administration had authorized the 
 President to raise, was considerably over 100,000 men. This for- 
 midable army, Mr. Jefferson reduced to four regiments of infantry, 
 two regiments of artillerists and engineers, and two troops of light 
 dragoons. The next year, by the consent of the Legislature, he 
 reduced it to two regiments of infantry, one regiment of artillerists, 
 and a corps of engineers, or about 3000 men. 
 
 From the mihtary and marine, he advanced to the civil estab- 
 lishment, and insinuated the purifying operation into every ramifi- 
 cation of that. He visited in person each of the Departments, and 
 obtained a catalogue of the officers employed in each, with a state- 
 ment of their wages, and amount of duties. Those under his 
 own immediate charge, were subjected to the same scrutiny. 
 Thence he extended his enquires over the whole territory of the 
 republic, and comprehended in the revision all those, who, under 
 any species of public employment, drew money from the treasury. 
 This done, he immediately commenced the reduction of all such 
 offices as were deemed unnecessary, whose tenure depended on ex- 
 ecutive discretion. The inspectors of the internal revenue were dis- 
 continued in a mass. They comprised a large body of treasury 
 men, dispersed over the country., useless, and even obstructive to 
 the accountabihty of the internal finance. Various other agencies, 
 created by executive authority, on salaries fixed by the same au- 
 thoiity, were deemed superfluous. These were all suppressed. The 
 diplomatic establishment vv'as reduced to three ministers, all that the 
 public interests required — namely, to England, France, and Spain. 
 He called in foreign ministers who had been absent eleven, and 
 even seventeen years ; and established the rule which he had for- 
 merly recommended to General Washington, by whom it was ap- 
 proved — that no person should be continued on foreign mission 
 beyond a term of six. seven, or eight years. A long absence from 
 their country denationalized their principles and habits. They re- 
 turned like foreigners, and, like them, required a considerable resi- 
 dence here to become Americanized. But the great mass of the 
 public offices, being established by law, required the concurrence of 
 the Legislature to discontinue them. These, therefore, he reserved, 
 to be communicated to Congress, for revision and reduction, in his 
 first annual message. 
 
41G LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 From the internal administration, the President directed his at- 
 tention to the department of foreign affairs; and manifested an ea- 
 ger desire to extend the blessings of reform to all mankind. With 
 this view, he formed the design of introducing some wholesome im- 
 provements in the estabhshed code of international intercourse, by 
 engaging in concurrence and peaceable co-operation, a coalition of 
 the most liberal powers of Europe. These improvements respected 
 the rights of neutral nations, and were original conceptions with 
 himself and Dr. Franklin, as illustrated in a preceding chapter. 
 He desired to see abolished universally the established law of na- 
 tions, which authorized the taking the goods of an enemy from 
 the ship of a friend ; and to have substituted in its place, by special 
 L'ompacts, the more rational and convenient rule, that free ships 
 should make free goods. The vexatious effects of the former prin- 
 ciple upon neutral nations peaceably pursuing their commerce, and 
 its tendency to embroil them with the powers involved in war. 
 were sufficient reasons for its universal abandonment ; while the op- 
 eration of the latter principle, leaving the nations at peace to enjoy 
 unmolested and aloof from the belligerents, the common rights of 
 the ocean, was more favorable to the interests of commerce, and 
 lessened the occasions and vexations of war. Besides, the princi- 
 ple of ' free bottoms free goods,' he contended, was the genuine 
 dictate of national morality, and the converse, which had unfortu- 
 nately obtained, a corruption, originally introduced by accident be- 
 tween the States* which first figured on the water, and afterwards 
 adopted, from the mere force of example, by the other nations, as 
 they successively appeared upon the theatre of the ocean. 
 
 The President desired to see this improvement so far carried out 
 as to abolish the pernicious distinction of contraband of war, in the 
 articles of neutral commerce. He regarded the practice of entering 
 the ship of a friend to search and seize what was called contraband 
 of war, as a violation of natural right, and extremely hable to abuse. 
 
 " War Ijetween two nations" says he, '• cannot diminish the rights 
 of the rest of the world remaining at peace. The doctrine that 
 the rights of nations remaining quietly in the exercise of moral 
 and social duties, are to give way to the convenience of those who 
 prefer plundering and murdering one another, is a monstrous doc- 
 
 * Venice and Genoa. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 417 
 
 trine ; and ought to yield to the more rational law, that ' the wrong 
 which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other, must not in- 
 fringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at peace.' 
 And what is contraband^ by the law of nature 1 Either every thing 
 which may aid or comfort an enemy, or nothing. Either all com- 
 merce which would accommodate him is unlawful, or none is. 
 The difference between articles of one or another description, is a 
 difference in degree only. No line between them can be drawn. 
 Either all intercourse must cease between neutrals and beUiger 
 ents, or all be permitted. Can the world hesitate to say which 
 shall be the rule ? Shall two nations turning tigers, break up \n 
 one instant the peaceable relations of the whole world ? Reason 
 and nature clearly pronounce that the neutral is to go on in the en- 
 joyment of all its rights, that its commerce remains free, not subject 
 to the jurisdiction of another, nor consequently its vessels to search, 
 or to enquiries whether their contents are the property oi an enemy, 
 or are of those which have been called contraband of war." 
 
 These opinions and arguments he communicated, in the form 
 of instructions, to Robert R. Livingston, nominated minister pleni- 
 potentiary to France the day after his assumption of office. They 
 were communicated unofficially, however, and with the express 
 reservation, that they were not to be acted upon until the desolating 
 war in Europe, which threatened to embroil us with the principal 
 belligerents, should be brought to a termination. The same prin- 
 ciples had been repeatedly sanctioned by the government, and he 
 entertained little doubt of the concurrence of his constitutional ad- 
 visers. They formed a part of those much admired instructions of 
 Congress, drafted by himself in 1784, to the first American minis- 
 ters appointed to treat with the nations of Europe ; and were ac- 
 ceded to by Prussia and Portugal. In the renewal of the treaty 
 with Prussia, they had been avoided, at the instance of our then 
 administration, lest it should seem to commit us against England. 
 on a question then threatening decision by the sword ; and in tlie 
 late treaty with the latter power, they had been abandoned by our 
 envoy, which constituted a principal groimd of opposition to that 
 memorable negotiation. Being now at the head of the govern- 
 ment, Mr. Jefferson was anxious to avail himself of all the weight 
 and efficacy of his station, to convince the nations of Europe that 
 they had originally set out in error ; that their error had proved 
 oppressive to the rights and interests of the peaceable part of man- 
 kind ; and that the reformation of false principles could never be- 
 gin better than with those who had been instrumental in establish- 
 ing them. 
 
 36* 
 
418 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Scarcely had the President entered upon the duties of his office, 
 wlieii our commerce in the Mediterranean was placed under the ban 
 of the Pirates. Tripoh, the least considerable of the Barbary Pow- 
 ers, came forward with demands unfounded either in right or com- 
 pact, and avowed the determination to extort them, at the point of 
 thQ sword, on our failure to comply peaceably before a given day. 
 The President felt keenly the insult inflicted on the honor of the 
 nation by this extraordinary menace ; and, with becoming energj'', 
 immediately put in operation such measures of resistance as the 
 urgenc}^ of the case demanded, without waiting the advice of Con- 
 gress. The style of the challenge admitted but one answer. He 
 sent a squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances 
 to the Bey of Tripoli, of our sincere desire to remain in peace ; 
 but with orders to protect our commerce, at all hazards, against 
 the threatened attack. The measure was as seasonable as it was 
 salutary. They Bey had already declared war in form. His 
 cruisers were out ; two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce 
 in the Mediterranean was blockaded ; and that of the Atlantic in 
 peril. The arrival of the American squadron dispelled the danger. 
 One of the Tripolitan cruisers having fallen in with and engaged 
 a small schooner of ours, which had gone out as a tender to the 
 larger vessels, was captured, with a heavy slaughter of her men, 
 and without the loss of a single one on our part. This severe 
 chastisement, with the extraordinary skill and bravery exhibited by 
 the Americans, quieted the pretensions of the Bey, and operated as a 
 salutary cavition in future to that desperate community of freebooters. 
 On the Sth of December, 1801, Mr. Jefferson made his first an- 
 nual communication to Congress, hy message. It had been the 
 imiform practice with his predecessors to make their first communi- 
 cations, on the opening of Congress, by personal address, to which 
 a formal answer was immediately returned by each House sepa- 
 rately. The President always used to go, in state, as it was called, 
 to deliver his speech. He moved to the capitol, preceeded by the 
 Marshal and Constables of the District, with their white staffs, and 
 accompanied by the heads of departments, the members of Con- 
 gress, and a numerous procession of citizens. On these occasions 
 he always wore his sword. A desire to impart a more popular char- 
 acter to the government, by divesting it of a ceremonial which 
 partook in some degree of a royal pageant, a regard to the conven- 
 ience of the Legislature, the economy of their time, and relief from 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 419 
 
 embarrassments of immediate answers, induced Mr. JefiTerson to 
 adopt the mode of communication by message, to which no answer 
 was returned. And his example has been followed by all succeed- 
 ing Presidents. 
 
 The President announced in his message, with great gratifica- 
 tion, that the cessatio'Vi of hostilities in Europe, had produced a con- 
 sequent cessation of those irregularities which had afflicted the 
 commerce of neutral nations ; and restored the ordinary commu- 
 .nications of peace and friendship between the principal powers of 
 the earth. That our intercourse with the Indians on ovir frontiers, 
 was marked by a spirit of mutual conciliation and forbearance, 
 highly advantageous to both parties. That our relations with the 
 Barbary States were in a less satisfactory condition, and such as to 
 inspire the belief that measures of offence ought to be authorized, 
 sufficient to place our force on an equal footing with that of its 
 adversaries. That the increase of population within the last ten 
 years, as indicated by the late census, proceeded in such an unexam- 
 pled ratio as promised a duplication every twenty -two years. That 
 this circumstance, com.bined with others, had produced an augmen- 
 tation of revenue arising from consumption, which proceeded in a 
 ratio far beyond that of population, and authorized a reduction of 
 such of its branches as were particularly odious and oppressive. 
 
 Accordingly he recommended the abolition of all the internal 
 taxes, comprehending excises, stamps, auctions, licences, carriages, 
 and refined sugars ; to which he added the postage of newspapers 
 to facilitate the progress of information. The remaining sources 
 of revenue, aided by the extensive system of economies which he 
 proposed to introduce, w'ould be sufficient, he contended, to provide 
 for the support of government, to pay the interest of the public 
 debt, and to discharge the principal in a shorter period than the 
 laws, or the general expectation had contemplated. 
 
 As supplemental, however, to the proposition for discontinuing the 
 internal taxes, he recommended a sensible and salutary diminution 
 of the public disbursements, by .the aboUtion of all superfluous drafts 
 upon the treasury. He informed the Legislature of the progress 
 he had already made in this depaitment of public duty, by the 
 suppression of all unnecessary offices, agencies and missions, which 
 depended on executive authority ; and recommended to their con- 
 sideration a careful revision of the remainder. " Considering," says 
 
420 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 be, " the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies, 
 and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burthen which the 
 citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every occasion 
 which presents itself, for taking oft' the surcharge ; that it never 
 may be seen how that, after leaving to labor the smallest portion 
 of its earnings on which it can subsist, government shall itself con- 
 sume the residue of what it was instituted to guard." 
 
 In order to multiply barriers against the dissipation of the public 
 money, he recommended Congress to establish the practice of spe-' 
 cific apjiropriations, in all specific cases susceptible of definition ; 
 to reduce the undefined field of conf ingences ; and to bring back to 
 a single department for examination and approval, all accountabil- 
 ities for receipts and expenditures. 
 
 He directed the attention of Congress to a revision of the army, 
 and advised the reduction of the existing establishment to the num- 
 ber of garrisons actually necessary, and the number of men requi- 
 site for each garrison. A standing army in time of peace was both- 
 unnecessary and dangerous. The militia was the main pillar of 
 defence to the country, and the only force which could be ready at 
 every point to repel unexpected invasion, until regulars could be 
 provided to relieve them. This consideration rendered important 
 a careful review, at every session, of the existing organization of 
 the militia, and the amendment of such defects as from time to time 
 might show themselves in the system, until it should be made suffi- 
 ciently perfect. " Nor should we now," said he, " or at any time 
 separate, until we can say we have done every thing for the militia 
 which we could do were an enemy at our door." 
 
 With respect to the navy, although a difference of opinion might 
 exist as to the extent to which it should 'be carried, yet all would 
 agree that a small force was continually wanted for actual service 
 in the Mediterranean. All naval preparations beyond this, the 
 President thought, should be confined to the provision of such arti- 
 cles as might be kept without waste or consumption, and be in 
 readiness for any exigence which might occur. 
 
 Extensive fortifications, projected or commenced on a scale dis- 
 proportioned to the advantages to be derived from them, which 
 were expensive in their erection, expensive in their maintenance, 
 and required a large force to garrison them, he questioned the util- 
 ity of prosecuting or continuing. 
 
OF THOIVIAS JEFFERS01?r. 
 
 421 
 
 The President was of opinion, that agiicultmre, manufacture?, 
 commerce and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, were 
 jnost disposed to thrive when left most free to individual enterprise. 
 Protection from casual embarrassments, however, might sometimes 
 be seasonably interposed ; and was clearly within the constitutional 
 limits of Congress. 
 
 He submitted to the serious consideration of the Legislature, the 
 Judiciary system of the United States, and suggested the expedi- 
 ency of rescinding that branch of it recently erected, should it ap- 
 pear on examination to be superfluous, of which he entertained no 
 doubt. While on the subject of the Judiciary, he commended to 
 their fostering protection the ' inestimable institution of juries,' urg- 
 ing the propriety of their extension to all cases involving the secu- 
 rity of our persons or property, and the necessity of their impartial 
 selection. 
 
 The President warmly recommended a revisal of the laws on 
 the subject of naturalization, and an abbreviation of the period pre- 
 scribed for acquiring citizenship. The existing regulation, requir- 
 ing a residence of fourteen years, was a denial of citizenship to a 
 great proportion of those who asked it, obstructive of the prosper- 
 ous growth of the country, and incompatible with the humane spirit 
 of our laws. 
 
 After commending to them prudence and temperance in discus- 
 sion, which were so conducive to harmony and rational conclusion 
 within their own walls, and to that consolidation of sentiment amorig 
 their constituents, which was progressing with such auspicious ra- 
 pidity, the President concluded as follows: " That all should be 
 satisfied with any one order of things, is not to be expected ; but I 
 indulge the pleasing persuasion that the great body of our citizens 
 will cordially concur in honest and disinterested eflforts, which have 
 for their object to preserve the General and State governments jn 
 their constitutional form and equihbrium ; to maintain peace abroad, 
 and order and obedience to the laws at home ; to establish princi- 
 ples and J^ctices of administration favorable to the security of lib- 
 erty and property, and to reduce expenses to what is necessary for 
 the useful purposes of government." 
 
 The first message of the first democratic President of the United 
 States, was anticipated, as w^as natural to be expected, with a fever 
 of popular impatience. On its appearance, sensations diametrical- 
 
422 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ly opposite were excited in the two great divisions of the political 
 public. The republicans contemplated it with a profound feeling 
 of unalloyed satisfaction ; the federalists, with mingled disapproba- 
 tion and dismay. The fundamental features of his policy, as pub- 
 licly delineated by the President, were too unequivocal and strongly 
 marked not to realize the warmest desires of his supporters, and the 
 worst apprehensions of his adversaries. His propositions for reform- 
 ing the prodigalities of the previous administrations, by the abolition 
 of sinecures, and the estabhshment of a rigid accountability with 
 the remaining offices of the government ; for cutting down the ar- 
 my, and relying for ordinary protection on the unpensioned resource 
 of an omnipresent militia ; for levelling the na.vy to the actual force 
 required for covering our commerce from tlie ravages of the com- 
 mon enemies of Christendom ; for the gradual and systematic ex- 
 tinguishment of the public debt, in derision of the monarchical max- 
 im, that ' a national debt is a national blessing' ; for circumscriljing 
 discretionary powers over money, by establishing the rule of specific 
 appropriations ; for restoring the hospitable polic}^ of the government 
 towards aliens, and fugitives from foreign oppression ; for multiply- 
 ing barriers around the sovereignty of the States and the liberties 
 of the people, against the encroachments of the federal authorities, 
 by crippling the despotism of the Judiciary, and lopping from it a 
 supernumerary member engrafted by his predecessors for political 
 purposes ; all these propositions were seized, with the spirit of de- 
 mons, by his vanquished opponents, and made, o^e by one, a topic 
 of unbridled denunciation and railery. On the other hand, in- 
 numerable addresses of thanks by republican assemblies, and l)y 
 individual champions &f the republican party, were communicated 
 to him from every section of the Union. To these he returned 
 public or private answers, according to the nature of the address. 
 The following extract of a letter to the venerable John Dickinson, 
 ■ will suffice as a specimen of his private answers. 
 
 " The approbation of my ancient friends is above all things the 
 most grateful to my heart. They know for what obje|p we relin- 
 quished the delights of domestic society, tranquillity, and science, 
 and committed oui'selves to the ocean of revolution, to wear out the 
 only life God has given us here, in scenes, tbe benefits of Avhich 
 will accrue only to those who follow us. Surely we had in view to 
 obtain the theory and practice of good government ; and how any, 
 who seemed so ardent in this pursuit, could as shamelessly have 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 423 
 
 apostatized, and supposed we meant only to put our government 
 into other hands, but not other forms, is indeed, wonderful. The 
 lesson we have had will probably be useful to the people at large, 
 by showing to them how capable they are of being made the in- 
 struments of their own bondage. A little more prudence and mod- 
 eration in those who had momited themselves on their fears, and 
 it would have been long and difficult to unhorse them. Their 
 madness had done in three years, what reason alone acting against 
 them would not have effected in many ; and the more, as they 
 might have gone on forming new entrenchments for themselves 
 from 5^ear to year. My great anxiety at present is, to avail our- 
 selves of our.ascendency to establish good principles, and good prac- 
 tices ; to foitify republicanism behind as many barriers as possible, 
 that the outworks may give time to rally and save the citadel, 
 should that be again in danger. On their part, they have retired 
 into the judiciary as a strong hold. There the remains of federal- 
 ism are to be preserved and fed from the treasury, and from that 
 battery, all the works of republicanism are to be beaten down and 
 erased. By a fraudulent use of the constitution, which has made 
 judges irremovable, they have multiplied useless judges merely to 
 strengthen their phalanx." 
 
 But of all the measures of reform recommended in the President's 
 message, none was so auspicious, none so extensive, as the proposi-t 
 tion to suppress all the internal taxes. This wns indeed a solid in-' 
 culcation of the beneficent purposes of administration. The internal ', 
 institution was a distinguishing feature of the Hamiltonian system 
 of finance, and had constituted throughout a powerful entrench- 
 ment to the ancient order of things. It is a surprising fact, that the 
 officers employed in its management, embraced three fourths of all 
 the officers in the pay of the government. They were spread over 
 the country, stationed in every town and hamlet, Uke so many cen- 
 tiuels on the outposts of the citadel, and comprised, in the aggre- 
 gate, an army of stipendiaries at the beck of the treasury chief. 
 In proposing to disband all these at a stroke, the President med- 
 itated the disarming the government of an immense resource of 
 executive patronage and preponderance, besides relieving the people 
 of an arbitrary and oppressive surcharge of taxation. The disin- 
 terestedness and beneficence of the transaction were only equalled 
 by its boldness, at which the republicans themselves were consider- 
 ably alarmed. In a letter to one of them, dated December 19, 
 1801, the President wrote : 
 
 " You will perhaps have been alarmed, as some have been, at the 
 
424 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 proposition to abolish the whole of the internal taxes. But it is 
 perfectly safe. They are under a million of dollars and we can 
 economize the government two or three miUions a year. The im- 
 post alone gives us ten or eleven millions annually, increasing at a 
 compound ratio of six and two thirds per cent, per annum, and 
 consequently doubling in ten years. But leaving that increase for 
 contingencies, the present amount will support the government, pay 
 the interest of the public debt, and discharge the principal in fifteen 
 years. If the increase proceeds, and no contingencies demand it, 
 it will pay off the principal in a shorter time. Exactly one half of 
 the public debt, to wit, thirty-seven millions of dollars, is owned in 
 the United States. That capital then will be set afloat, to be em- 
 ployed in rescuing our commerce from the hands of foreigners, or 
 in agriculture, canals, bridges, or other useful enterprises. By sup- 
 pressing at once the whole external taxes, we abolish three fourths 
 of ihe offices now existing, and spread over the land. Seeing the 
 interest you take in the public affairs, I have indulged myself in 
 observations flowing from a sincere and ardent desire of seeing our 
 affairs put into an honest and advantageous train." 
 
 Fortunately, the first Congress which assembled after Mr. Jeffer- 
 son came into power, contained an ascendency of republicanism in 
 both Houses ; with just enough of opposition to hoop the majority 
 indissolubly together, and enable the Legislature to move in strong 
 and harmonious co-operation with the Executive. They erected 
 into laws all the fundamental reformations recommended by the 
 President, and thereby enabled him to carry through a system of 
 administration which abolished the former regimen generally, and 
 substantially revolutionized the government. To notice the single 
 feature of frugality, b}'' the extensive economies which he introduc- 
 ed, he diminished the expenses of the government 3,000,000 of 
 dollars ! and, after answering the regular exigences of the govern- 
 ment, he discharged eight millions of the national debt, principal 
 and interest, the first year of his administration, and left four and 
 a half millions of dollars in the treasury, for application to the fur- 
 ther discharge of debt and current demands ! The result is unpar- 
 alleled in the annals of civil government. " When effects, so sal- 
 utary," says the President in his second annual message, " result 
 from the plans you have already sanctioned, when merely by avoid- 
 ing false objects of expense, we are able, without a direct tax, with- 
 out internal taxes, and without borrowing, to make large and effec- 
 tual payments towards the discharge of our public debt, and the 
 emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an en^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 425 
 
 couragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order, to proceed as we 
 have began in substituting economy for taxation, in pursuing what 
 is useful for a nation placed as we are, rather than what is practised 
 by others under different circumstances. And whensoever we are 
 destined to meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our 
 countrymen, we have the firmest reliance on those energies, and the 
 comfort of leaving for calls like these, the extraordinary resources of 
 loans and internal taxes. In the mean time, by payments of the 
 principal of our debt, we are liberating, annually, portions of the ex- 
 ternal taxes, and forming from them a growing fund, still further 
 to lessen the necessity of recvuTing to extraordinary resources." 
 
 The following paragraph, extracted from a letter of the President^ 
 to General Kosciusko, dated April 2, 1802, presents a very modest 
 and comprehensive outline of the proceedings of the Legislature in 
 pursuance of the executive recommendations. 
 
 " The session of the first Congress convened since republicanism 
 has recovered its ascendency, is now drawing to a close. They will 
 pretty completely fulfil all the desires of the people. They have re- 
 duced the army and navy to what is barely necessary. They are 
 disarming executive patronage and preponderance, by putting down 
 one half the oflfices of the United States, which are no longer neces- 
 sary. These economies have enabled them to suppress all the in- 
 ternal taxes, and still to make such provision for the payment of 
 their public debt as to discharge that in eighteen years. They have 
 lopped off a parasite limb, planted by their predecessors on their ju- 
 diciary body for party purposes ; they are opening the doors of hos- 
 pitality to the fugitives from the oppressions of other countries ; and 
 we have suppressed all those public forms and ceremonies which 
 tended to familiarize the public eye to the harbingers of another 
 form of government. The people are neaily all united ; their quon- 
 dam leaders, infiuiated with the sense of their impotence, will soon 
 be seen or heard only in the newspapers, which serve as chimneyi-' 
 to carry off noxious vapors and smoke, and all is now tranquil, firm, 
 and well, as it should be." 
 
 The Sedition Law, not included in the above glance, which pro- 
 tected from popular scrutiny and discussion the extravagancies, de- 
 linquencies, and heresies of the government authorities, was per- 
 mitted to expire by its own hmitation. It experienced a natural 
 death, in the course of this session, without even the hope of a day 
 of resurrection. To these specific improvements might be added 
 the general simplification of the system of finance, in which he was 
 
 37 
 
426 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 powerfully aided by the logical mind of a Gallatin ; and the estab- 
 lishment of the permanent rule of definite appropriations of money 
 for all objects susceptible of definition, so that every person in the 
 United States might know for what purpose, and to what amount, 
 every fraction of public expenditure was applied. His personal 
 watchfulness over this department of administration, the operations 
 of which are so intimately interwoven with all human concerns, is 
 forcibly illustrated by the following letter to the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. 
 
 "I have read and considered your report on the operations of the 
 sinking' fund, and entirely approve of it, as the best plan on which 
 we can set out. I think it an object of great importance, to be kept 
 in view and to be undertaken at a fit season, to simphfy our system 
 of finance, and bring it within the comprehension of every mem- 
 ber of Congress. Hamilton set out on a different plan. In order 
 that he might have the entire government of his machine, he deter- 
 mined so to complicate it as that neither the President nor Congress 
 should be able to understand it, or to control him. He succeeded in 
 doing this, not only beyond their reach, but so that he at length 
 could not unravel it himself. He gave to the debt, in the first in- 
 stance, in funding it, the most artificial and mysterious form he 
 could devise. He then moidded up liis appropriations of a number 
 of scraps and remnants, many of which were nothing at all, and ap- 
 plied them to different objects in reversion and remainder, until the 
 whole system was involved in impenetrable fog ; and while he was 
 giving himself the airs of providing for the payment of the debt, he 
 left himself free to add to it continually, as he did in fact, instead of 
 paying it. I hke your idea of kneading all his little scraps and frag- 
 ments into one batch, and adding to it a complementary sum, 
 which, while it forms it into a single mass from which every thing 
 is to be paid, will enable us, should a breach of appropriation ever 
 be charged on us, to prove that the sum appropriated, and more, has 
 been applied to its specific object. 
 
 •' But there is a point beyond this, on which I should wish to keep 
 my eye, and to which I should aim to approach by every tack which 
 ' previous arrangements force on us. That is, to form into one con- 
 ;£(;)Udated mass all the monies received into the treasury, and to mar- 
 shal the several expenditures, giving them a preference of payment 
 according to the order in which they shall be arranged. As for ex- 
 ample. I. The interest of the public debt. 2. Such portions of 
 principal as are exigible. 3. The expenses of government. 4. 
 Such other portions of principal as, though not exigible, we are still 
 free to pay when we please. The last object might be made to take 
 up the residuum of money remaining in the treasury at the end of 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 42T 
 
 every year, after the three first objects were compUed with, and would 
 be the barometer whereby to test the economy of the administra- 
 tion. It would furnish a simple measure by which every one could 
 mete their merit, and by which every one could decide when taxes 
 were deficient orsuperabundant. If to this can be added a simplifica- 
 tion of the form of accounts in the treasury department, and in the 
 organization of its officers, so as to bring every thing to a single centre, 
 we might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligi 
 ble as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress, and ev- 
 ery man of any mind in the Union, should be able to comprehend 
 them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them. Our 
 predecessors have endeavored by intricacies of system, and shuffling 
 the investigator over from one officer to another, to cover every thing 
 from detection. I hope we shall go in the contrary direction, and 
 that, by our honest and judicious reformations, we may be able, 
 within the limits of our time, to bring things back to that simple 
 and intelligible system, on which they should have been organized 
 at first. 
 
 "I have suggested only a single alteration in the report, which is 
 merely verbal and of no consequence. We shall now get rid of the 
 commissioner of the interna] revenue, and superintendant of stamps. 
 It remains to amalgamate the comptroller and auditor into one, and 
 reduce the I'egister to a clerk of accounts ; and then the organiza- 
 tion will consist, as it should at first, of a keeper of monej', a keep- 
 er of accounts, and the head of the department. This constellation 
 of great men in the treasury department was of a piece with the 
 rest of Hamilton's plans. He took his own stand as a Lieutenant 
 General, surrounded by his Major Generals, and stationed his Brig- 
 adiers and Colonels under the name of Supervisors, Inspectors, &c. 
 in the different States. liCt us deserve well of our country by- 
 making her interests the end of all our plans, and not our own 
 ponrp, patronage, and irresponsibility. I have hazarded these hasty 
 and crude ideas, which occurred on contemplating your report. 
 Tliey may be the subject of future conversation and correction." 
 
 Being now identified, as it were, with the Republic, to write the 
 history of Mr, Jefferson Avould be to write the history of the United 
 States, during one of the most plethoric portions of their political ex- 
 istence. But this would be an undertaking as disproportioned to the 
 means of the writer, as to the limits by which he is circumscribed. 
 Nothing more can be expected in the present plan, than an outline 
 of the general policy, foreign and domestic, pursued by the Presi- 
 dent, and of the prominent measures which distinguished his ad- 
 ministration. 
 
428 LIFE; WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Auiovig these, the purchase of Louisiana from France, as it was 
 of the first in point of time, was incomparably the first in magni- 
 tude and importance. It had long been a favorite object with Mr. 
 Jefferson, as essential to removing from the United States a point of 
 eternal friction, and cause of war with the European possessor, be- 
 sides securing to us the exclusive navigation of the western waters, 
 and an immeasurable region of fertile country. The territory of 
 Louisiana was originally colonized by France. In 1762, the great- 
 er part of it, including the island of New -Orleans, was ceded to 
 Spain ; and by the general treaty of peace which followed the 
 Canadian war in '63, the whole territory of France and Spain, east- 
 ward of the Mississippi to the Ibberville, thence through the middle 
 of that river to the sea, was ceded to Great Britain. Under the for- 
 mer possession by France, the territory embraced what is denomin- 
 ated West Florida. Spain, during the war of the Revolution, con- 
 quered this, with East Florida, from Great Britain, and acquired the 
 right to them both by the treaty of 'S3. While in the hands of Spain. 
 the United States acquired the right to a free navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi, and to an entrepot at New-Ofleans. About this time, to wit, 
 in 1800, Spain retroceded to Fiance the whole of Louisiana accord- 
 ing to its ancient and proper limits. 'J'his transfer was attended 
 with a suspension of our right of deposite at New-Orleans, and open- 
 ed to us, in the opinion of the President, the dreadful prospect of a 
 complete reversal of all our friendly relations with France. In 
 view of the threatening crisis, he immediately joined Mr. Monroe as 
 Envoy Extraordinary, to R. R. Livingston, Minister resident at the 
 French Court, with instructions joint and several to negotiate the 
 purchase of Louisiana from France. In the letter to Mr. Monroe 
 conveying the notice of his appointment, the President says : " All 
 eyes, all hopes are now fixed on you ; and were you to decline, the 
 chagrin would be universal, and would shake under your feet the 
 high ground on which you stand with the public. Indeed, I know 
 nothing which would produce such a shock. For on the event of 
 this mission depend the future destinies of this repiibhc. If we 
 cannot, by a purchase of the country, insure to ourselves a course 
 of perpetual peace and friendship with all nations, then, as war 
 cannot be distant, it behooves us immediately to be preparing for that 
 course, without, however, hastening it ; and it may be necessary, 
 on your failure on the continent, to cross the channel. We shall 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 429 
 
 get entangled in European politics, and figuring* more, be much 
 less happy and prosperous. This can only be prevented by a suc- 
 cessful issue to your present mission. I am sensible after the meas- 
 ures you have taken for getting into a different line of business, that 
 it will be a great sacrifice on your part, and presents from the sea- 
 son and other circumstances, serious difficulties. But some men 
 are born for the public. Nature, by fitting them for the service of 
 the human race on a broad scale, has stamped them with the evi- 
 dences of her destination and their duty." 
 
 The personal agency of Mr. Jefferson in this briUiant achieve- 
 ment was of the most laborious and efficacious character. Besides 
 his official instructions communicated through the Secretary of 
 State, his private letters to our Ministers, and to influential charac- 
 ters in France, on whose fideUty and friendship he relied, are splen- 
 did testiilionials of his ardor and indefatigableness in the prosecu- 
 tion of the enterprise. Among these, the following, addressed to 
 Mr. Livingston, is pre-eminent in merit. 
 
 '• The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France, 
 works most sorely on the United States. On this subject the Sec- 
 retary of State has written to you fully, yet I cannot forbear recur- 
 ring to it personally, so deep is the impression it makes on my mind. 
 It completely reverses all the political relations of the United States. 
 and will form a new epoch in our pohtical course. Of all nations 
 of any consideration, France is the one, which, hitherto, has offer- 
 ed the fewest points on which we could have any conflict of right, 
 and the most points of a communion of interests. From these cau- 
 ses we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as one with 
 which we never could have an occasion of difference. Her growth, 
 therefore, we viewed as our own, her misfortunes ours. There is on 
 the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and 
 habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of 
 three eighths of our territory must pass to market, and from its fer- 
 tility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce, and 
 contain more than half of our inhabitants. France, placing herself 
 in that door, assumes to us the attitude of defiance. Spain might 
 have retained it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her fee- 
 ble state, would induce her to increase our facihties there, so that 
 her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us, and it would 
 not, perhaps, be very long before some circumstances might arise, 
 which might make the cession of it to us the price of something of 
 more worth to her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France : 
 the impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restlessness of her 
 character, placed in a point of eternal friction with us. and our char- 
 
 37* 
 
 ^^^ 
 
430 LIFE, writings;, and opinions 
 
 actei, which, though quiet and loving peace and tlie pursuit of 
 vvealtii, is high-minded, despising wealth in competition with in- 
 sult or injury, enterprising and energetic as any nation on earth ; 
 these circumstances render it impossible that France and the United 
 States can continue long friends, when they meet in so irritable a 
 position'. They, as well as we, must be blind, if they do not see 
 this : and we must be very improvident if we do not begin to make 
 arrangements on that hypothesis. The day that France takes pos- 
 session of New Orleans, fixes the sentence which is to restrain her • 
 for ever within her low- water mark. It seals the union of two na- 
 tions, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the 
 ocean. From that moment we must marr)?^ ourselves to the British 
 fleet and nation. We must turn all our attentions to a maritime 
 force, for which our resources place us on very high ground : and. 
 having formed and connected together a power which may render 
 reinforcement of her settlements here impossible to France, make 
 the first cannon which shall be fired in Europe the signal for tearing 
 up any settlement she may have made, and for holding "the two 
 continents of America in sequestration for the common purposes of 
 the United British and American nations. This is not a state of 
 things we seek or desire. It is one v^hich this measure, if adopted 
 ])y France, forces on us as necessarily, as any other cause, by the 
 laws of nature, brings on its necessary effect. It is not from a fear 
 of France that we deprecate this measure proposed by her. For 
 iiowever greater her force is than. ours, compared in the abstract, it 
 is nothing in comparison of ours, when to be exerted on our soil. 
 But it is from a sincere love of peace, and a firm persuasion, that, 
 bound to France by the interests and the strong sympathies still ex- 
 istino" in the minds of our citizens, and holding relative positions 
 which insure their continuance, we are secure of a long course of 
 peace. Whereas, the change of friends, which will be rendered ne- 
 cessary if France changes that position, embarks us necessarily as 
 a belligeient power in the first war of Europe. In that case, France 
 will have held possession of New Orleans during the interval of a 
 peace, long or short, at the end of which it will be wrested from her. 
 Will this short-lived possession have been an equivalent to her for 
 the transfer of such a weight into the scale of her enemy ? Will not 
 the amalgamation of a young, thriving nation, continue to that ene- 
 my the health and force which are at present so evidently on the de- 
 cline ? And will a few years possession of New Orleans add equal- 
 ly to the strength of France ? She may say she needs Louisiana 
 for the supply of her West Indies. She does not need it in time of 
 peace, and in war she could not depend on them, because they would 
 be so easily intercepted. I should suppose that all these considera- 
 tions might, in some proper form, l>e brought into view of the gov- 
 ernment of France. Though stated by us, it ought not to give of- 
 fence ; because we do not bring them forward as a menace, but as 
 
 ^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 431 
 
 consequences not controllable by us, but inevitable from the course 
 of things. We mention them, not as things which we desire by 
 any means, but as things we deprecate ; and we beseech a friend to 
 look forward and to prevent them for our common interests." * * 
 " I have no doubt you have urged these considerations, on every 
 proper occasion, with the government where you are. They are 
 such as must have effect, if you can find means of producing thor- 
 ough reflection on them by that government. The idea here is, 
 that the troops sent to St. Domingo, were to proceed to Louisiana af- 
 ter finishing their work in that island. If this were the arrange- 
 ment, it will give you time to return again and again to the charge. 
 For the conquest of St. Domingo will not be a short work. It will 
 take considerable time, and wear down a great number of soldiers. 
 Every eye in the United States is now fixed on the afiixirs of Louis- 
 iana. Perhaps nothing, since the revolutionary war, has produced 
 more uneasy sensations thvough the body of the nation. Notwith- 
 standing temporary bickerings have taken place with France, she 
 has still a strong hold on the affections of our citizens generall}". I 
 have thought it not amiss, by way of supplement to the letters of 
 the Secretary of State, to write you this private one, to impress you 
 with the importance we affix to this transaction. I pray you to 
 cherish Dupont. He has the Ijest dispositions for the continuance 
 of friendship between the two nations, and pei haps you may be able 
 to make a good use of him." 
 
 On the 30th of April 1S03, the negotiation was concluded, and 
 the entire province of Louisiana ceded to the United States for the 
 sum of fifteen milhonsjof^dollars. The American negotiators seized 
 the favorable moment to urge the claims of American mercjiantson 
 the French Government, for spoliations on their property, which 
 were allowed to .the amount of three millions seven hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars, and the bargain was thus closed. This im- 
 portant acquisition more than doubled the territory of the United 
 States, trebled the quantity of fertile country, secured the uncon- 
 trolled navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and opened 
 an independent outlet for the produce of the Western States, free 
 from collision with other Powers, and the perpetual dangers to our 
 j^eace from that source. The treaty was received with unbounded 
 approbation by the great majority of the nation. The monarchical 
 federalists, particularly in the Eastern States, wrote and declaimed 
 furiously against it. They saw in the great enlargement of our ter- 
 ritory the seeds of a future dismemberment of the Union, by a sepa- 
 raticyi into Eastern and Western confederacies, which they were 
 
432 L.IFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 rather disposed to foment than to discountenance. On the other 
 Jiand, it was the opinion of the President, that the acquisition would 
 prove an additional bond of union, rather than a cause- of dismem- 
 berment ; that the laiger our association, the less would it be shaken 
 by local factions ; and that no one could presume to limit the ex- 
 tent to which the federative principle might operate efiectively. Mr, 
 Madison maintained the same opinion in the Federalist ; and ex- 
 perience has hitherto confirmed it. But in any yiew, were those 
 imaginary and very apochryphal dangers worthy a moment's con- 
 sideration, when contrasted with the certain and incalculable bles- 
 sings of the conquest, as well positive and immediate, as by the avoid- 
 ance, in future, of those interminable calamities Avhich would have 
 ensured a contrary state of things .^ Was it not better that the op- 
 posite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren 
 and children than by strangers of adversary feelings and principles ? 
 With which should we have been most likely to have lived in 
 harmony and friendl)'" intercourse, down to the present day ? 
 
 To General Gates. — " I accept with pleasure, and with pleas- 
 ure reciprocate your congratulations on the acquisition of Louisiana : 
 for it is a subject of mutual congratulation, as it interests every man 
 of the nation. The territory acquired, as it includes all the waters 
 of the Missouri and Mississippi, has more than doubled the area of 
 the United States, and the new part is not inferior to the old in soil, 
 climate, productions, and important communications. If our legis- 
 lature dispose of it with the wisdom we have a right to expect, they 
 may make it the means of tempting all our Indians on the east side 
 of the Mississippi to remove to the west, and of condensing instead 
 of scattering our population. I iind our opposition is very Avilling to 
 pluck feathers from Monroe, although not fond of sticking them in- 
 to Livingston's coat. The truth is, both have a just portion of mer- 
 it ; and were it necessary or proper, it would be shown that each 
 has rendered pecuhar services, and of important value. These 
 grumblers, too, are very uneasy lest the administration should share 
 some little credit for the acquisition, the whole of which they ascribe 
 to the accident of war. They would be cruelly mortified could they 
 see ovu: files from Ma}'^, 1801, the first organization of the adminis- 
 tration, but more especially from April, 1802. They would see, 
 that though we could not say when war would arise, yet we said 
 with energy what would take place when it should arise. We did 
 not, by our intrigues, produce the war ; but we availed ourselves of 
 it when it happened. The other party saw the case now existing, 
 on which our representations were predicated, and the wisdom of 
 timely sacrifice. But when these people make the war give us ev- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 433 
 
 ery thing, they autboiize us to ask what the war gave us in their 
 day 'J They had a war ; what did they make it bring us 'I In- 
 stead of making our neutrahty the ground of gain to their country, 
 they were for phmging into the war. And if they were now in 
 place, they woukl now be at war against the atheists and disorgani- 
 zers of France. They were for making their country an appendage 
 to England. We are friendly, cordially and conscientiously friendly 
 to England, l3ut we are not hostile to France. We will be rigorous- 
 ly just and sincerely friendly to both. I do not beheve we shall have 
 as much to swallow from them as our predecessors had." 
 
 To Doctor PiiiESTLEY. — " I very early saw that Louisiana was 
 indeed a speck in our horizon, which was to burst in a tornado ; and 
 the public are unapprized how near this catastrophe was. Nothing 
 but a frank and friendly development of causes and etfects on our 
 part, and good sense enougli in Bonapaitc to see that the train was 
 unavoidable, and would change the face of the world, saved us from 
 that storn). I did not expect he would yield till a war took place 
 between France and England, and my hope Avas to palliate and en- 
 dure, if Messrs. Ross, Morris, &c. did not force a premature rupture 
 until that event. I believed the event not very distant, but acknowl- 
 edge it came on sooner than J had expected. Whether, however, 
 the good sense of Bonaparte might not see the course predicted to 
 be necessary apd unavoidable, even before a war should be immi- 
 nent, was a chance v.hich v:s. thouglit it c.i:r duty to try : but thoiiii- 
 mediate prospect of rupture brought the case to immediate decision. 
 The denouement has been happy : and I confess I look to this du- 
 plication of area for the extending a government so free and econom- 
 ical as ours, as a great achievement to the mass of happiness which 
 is to ensue. Whether we remain in one confederac)^, or form into 
 Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I believe not very important 
 to the happiness of either part. Those of the v.estern confederacy 
 will be as much our children and descendants as those of the east- 
 ern, and I feel myself as much identified with that country, in future 
 time, as with this : and did I now foresee a separation at some fu- 
 ture day, yet I should feel the duty and the desire to promote the 
 western interests as zealously as the eastern, doing all the good for 
 both portions of our future family which should fall within my pow- 
 
 To M, DupoNT Di: I^Jemoi'rs. — " The treaty which has so 
 happily sealed the friendship of our two countries, has been receiv- 
 ed here Avitli general acclamation. Some inflexible federalists have 
 still ventured to brave the public opinion. It will fix their charac- 
 ter with the world and with posterity, who, not descending to the 
 other points of diffeience between us, will judge them by this fact, 
 so palpable as to speak for itself, in all times and places. For my- 
 self and my country I thank you for the aids you have given in it ; 
 
434 LIFE. WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 and I congratulate you on having lived to give those aids in a 
 transaction replete Avith blessings to unborn millions of men, and 
 ■which will mark the face of a portion on the globe so extensive as 
 that which now composes the United States of America. * * * 
 Our policy will be to form New Orleans and the country on both 
 sides of it on the Gulf of Mexico, into a State ; and, as to all above 
 that, to transplant our Indians into it. constituting them a Mare- 
 chaussee to prc\ent emigrants crossing the river, until we shall have 
 ^lled up all the vacant country on this side. This will secure both 
 Spain and us as to the mines of Mexico, for half a century, and we 
 may safely trust the provisions for that time to the men who shall 
 live in it." 
 
 When the treaty arrived, the President convened Congress at the 
 earhest day practicable, for its ratification and execution. The fed- 
 eralists in both Houses declaimed and voted against it, but the)^ were 
 now so reduced in numbers as to be incapable of serious opposition. 
 The question on its ratification in the Senate was decided by twen- 
 ty-four against seven. The vote in the House of Representatives 
 for making provision for its execution, was carried by eighty-nine 
 against twent3^-thiee. Mr. Pichon, Minister of Fiance, proposed, 
 according to instructions from his government, to have added to the 
 ratification a protestation against any failure in time or other circum- 
 stances of execution, on our part. He was told by the President, 
 that in that case a counter protestation would be annexed on our 
 part, which would leave the thing exactly where it was ; that the 
 negotiation had been conducted from the commencement to its pre- 
 sent stage, with a frankness and sincerity honorable to both nations, 
 and comfortable to the heart of an honest man to review ; that to 
 annex to this last chapter of the transaction such an evidence of mu- 
 tual distrust, would be to change its aspect dishonorably to both par- 
 ties ; that we had not the smallest doubt that Fiance would punctu- 
 ally execute her part ; and that he had more confidence in the word 
 of the First Consul than in all the parchment we could sign. See- 
 ing the ratification passed, and the bills for execution carrying by 
 large majorities in l30th Houses, Mr. Pichon, like an able and hon- 
 est Minister, undertook to do what he knew his employers would 
 have done, with a like knowledge of the circumstances, and exchan- 
 ged the ratifications purely and simply. So this instrument went 
 before the world as an evidence of the candor and mutual confi- 
 dence of the nations, which was attended with the best effects. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 435 
 
 (Commissioners were immediately deputed to receive possession. 
 They proceeded to New Orleans, with such regular troops as were 
 garrisoned in the nearest posts, and with some militia of the Missis- 
 sippi territory. To be prepared for any thing unexpected, which 
 might arise out of the transaction, a respectable body of militia was 
 ordered to be in readiness, in the States of Ohio, Kentucky and Ten- 
 nessee. No occasion, however, arose for their services. Our com- 
 missioners, on their arrival at New Orleans, found the province al- 
 ready delivered by the commissaries of Spain to that of France, who 
 delivered it over to them on the 20th of December, 1803. 
 
 The purchase of Louisiana is considered the greatest political 
 event, next to the Revolution, commemorated in American history. 
 The circumstance ought not to be overlooked that this mighty con- 
 quest, exceeding in territory the greatest monarchy in Europe, was 
 achieved, without the guilt or calamities of blood, from a mihtary 
 autocrat, whose ceaseless ambition was an universahty of empire, 
 and who, in the untamable pursuit of his purpose, went on demolish- 
 ing nations at a blow, and partitioning the earth at pleasure, until 
 vanquished by tlie consolidated power of Europe. The mind is 
 lost in the magnificence of the achievement, and the vastness of its 
 consequences ; its glories can only be commemorated in the unceas- 
 ing homage of the unborn milhons who will participate of its bles- 
 sings. '• There is no country" says a writer, " like the valley of 
 the Mississippi on the face of the globe. — Follow the mighty ara- 
 pitheatre of rocks that nature has heaped around it. Trace the ten 
 tliousand rivers that unite their waters in the mighty Mississippi ; 
 count the happy millions that already crowd and animate their 
 banks — loading their channels with a mighty produce. Then see 
 the whole, bound by the hand of nature in chains which God alone 
 can sever, to a perpetual union at one little connecting point ; and by 
 that point fastening itself by every tie of interest, consanguinity, and 
 feeling, to the remotest promontory on our Atlantic coast. A few 
 short years have done all this ; and yet ages are now before us : 
 ages in which myriads are destined to multiply throughout its wide 
 spread territory, extending the greatness and the happiness of our 
 country from sea to sea. What would we have been without the 
 acquisition of Louisiana ? What were we before it ? God and na- 
 ture fixed the unalterable decree, that the nation which held New 
 ' Orleans should govern the whole of that vast region. France, 
 
436 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 Spain, and Great Britain, had bent their envious eyes upon it. 
 And their intrigues, if matured, would eventually have torn from 
 us that vast Paradise which reposes upon the western waters. * * 
 Other conquests bring with them misery and oppression to the luck- 
 less inhabitant. This brought emancipation, civil and religious 
 freedom, laws, wealth, and the glories of the 8th of January." 
 
 The humane and conciliatory policy extended towards the In- 
 dians on our frontiers, was another distinguishing feature of the Ad- 
 ministration. A free and friendly commerce was opened between 
 them and the United States. Trading houses were established 
 among them, and necessaries furnished them in exchange for their 
 commodities, at such moderate prices as were only not losing to us, 
 while highly advantageous to them. Instead of relying on an aug- 
 mentation of mihtary force, proportioned to our constant extension 
 of frontier, the President recommended a gradual enlargement of 
 the capital employed in this species of commerce, as a more effectu- 
 al, economical, and humane instrument for preserving peace and 
 good neighborhood with the aborigines. The visible and tangible 
 advantages of civilization were spread before their eyes, with a view 
 to train their minds insensibly to the reception of its moral blessings. 
 They were liberally supplied wnth the implements of husbandry and 
 household use ; instructors in the arts of first necessity were located 
 and maintained among them ; the introduction of ardent spirits in- 
 to their limits, was prohibited, at the request of many of their chiefs ; 
 and the punishment of death by hanging was commuted into death 
 by mihtary execution, which was less repugnant to their ideas, 
 and diminished the obstacles to the surrender of the criminah 
 
 The practice of the art of vaccination, first successfully introduc- 
 ed into this country by the patronage and philanthropic exertions of 
 President Jefferson, was made by him to diffuse its blessings among 
 the Indians, with an effect as astonishing as it was humane and 
 endearing. The terrible pestilence, of wdiich this beneficent dis- 
 covery proved a heaven-descended antidote, was even more fatal in 
 its ravages among the natives of the wilderness than in civilized 
 society. The medical skill of their physicians had not attained 
 even to an assuagent of its violence. Whole tribes were swept 
 away at a blast. They opposed no other shield against its attacks 
 than flight, or the fortitude of martyrs. By the kind persuasions and 
 attentive exertions of the President, they were induced to beheve in 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 437 
 
 the efficacy of vaccination as a preventative. Coming from so good 
 and great a father, they thought it must have been sent him horn 
 the Great Spirit ; and whole nations submitted to the process of in- 
 oculation, with the warmest benedictions on their benevolent pro- 
 tector. 
 
 These conciliatory measures of the government, with tlie most 
 rigorous enactments against the intrusion and machinations of 
 fanatical incendiaries and hostile emissaries, established and main- 
 tained a course of friendly relations with the Indians, which was 
 uninterrupted by war with a single tribe, during Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
 ministration. Out of this continued state of peace and reciprocal 
 kindness, treaties sprung up annually, which secured to the United 
 States unbounded accessions to their territorial title. The same 
 year that witnessed the acquisition of Louisiana, was distinguished 
 by the purchase from the Kaskaskias, of that vast and fertile coun- 
 try extending along the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois, 
 to, and up the Ohio ; which was followed, the next year, by the re- 
 linquishment from the Delawares of native title to all the country 
 between the Wabash and Ohio. These extensive acquisitions com- 
 prehended the territory which forms the present States of IlUnois and 
 Indiana. They were soon followed by other purchases of great ex- 
 tent and fertility, from the Northern tribes, and from the Chicka- 
 saws, Cherokees and Creeks, of the Southern. The amount of na- 
 tional domain to which the native title was extinguished, under Mr. 
 Jefferson, embraced nearly one hundred millions of acres ! In ex- 
 change for this, with the enjoyment of an uninterrupted peace with 
 them, the United States had only to pay inconsiderable annuities in 
 animals, in money, in the miplements of agriculture, and to extend 
 to them their patronage and protection. 
 
 The administration of Mr. Jefferson, in relation to foreign Pow- 
 ers, was based upon the broad principles of his inaugural maxim. 
 • — " peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, en- 
 tangling alliances with none." His opinions on commerce were the 
 same as those inculcated in his masterly report in '93 ; and they were 
 such as have ever since been sanctioned by the government. The 
 ports 6f the United States were declared open to all nations, with- 
 out distinction, and the unmolested enjoyment of the ocean, as the 
 common theatre of navigation, was claimed as an inviolaljle right. 
 Freedom was offered for freedom, and prohibition was opposed to 
 
 38 
 
438 LIFE- WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 prohibition, in equal measure, with every nation on the globe. A 
 free system of commerce, which should leave to the fraternity of na- 
 tions the exchange of mutual surplusses for mutual wants, on the 
 basis of easy and exact reciprocity, was the first wish of his heart ; 
 but if any nation, deceived by false calculations of interest into a 
 contrary system, should defeat that wish, his determination was fix- 
 ed to meet inequalities abroad, by countervailing inequalities at 
 home, as the only eflectual weapon of coercion, and of sclf-protee 
 tion. With regard to treaties, it was the system of the President to 
 have none with any nation, as far as could be avoided. The exist- 
 ing treaties, therefore, were permitted to expire, without renewal, and 
 all overtures for treaty with other nations were declined. He be- 
 lieved, that with nations as with individuals, dealings might be car- 
 ried on asadvatitageously, perhaps more so, while their continuance 
 depended on voluntary and reciprocal good treatment, as if fixed by 
 a permanent contract, which, when it became injurious to either 
 party, was made, by forced constructions, to mean what suited them, 
 and became a cause of war, instead of a bond of peace. He had a 
 perfect horror at every thing like connecting ourselves with the poli- 
 tics of Europe. They were governed by so many false principles of 
 foreign intercourse, that he deemed a temporary acquiescence under 
 these, preferable to entangling ourselves with them by alliances ex- 
 torted from our present imbecility on the water. Peace was now 
 our most important interest, and a recovery from debt. " If we can 
 delay but for a few years," he wrote to an American Minister, " the 
 necessity of vindicating the laws of nature on the ocean, we shall be 
 the more sure of doing it with effect. The day is within ony time 
 as well as yours, when we may say by what laws other nations 
 shall treat us on the sea. And we will say it. In the mean time 
 we wish to let every treaty we have drop off Avithout renewal." 
 With regard to the British government, in particular, he had so little 
 confidence that they would voluntarily retire from their habitual 
 wrongs in the impressment of our seamen, that without an express 
 stipulation to that effect, he was satisfied we ought never to tie up 
 our hands, by treaty, from the right of passing non -importation or 
 non-intercourse acts, to make it their interest to become just. 
 
 Out of this keen sensibihty to miaritime injuries, a transaction arose 
 which has been a source of torrents of abuse upon the President. 
 A commitiee of the Senate called on him with two resolutions of 
 that body on the subject of impressment and spoliations by Great. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 439 
 
 Britain, and velien\ently urged the importance of an extraordinary 
 mission, to demand satisfaction. The President revolted at the idea. 
 After so many injuries and indignities fi'om that nation, such a 
 mark of respect as an extraordinary mission, was a degradation to 
 which he could not submit. He was so averse to the measiue, and 
 gave them so hard an answer, that they felt it most sorely. But it 
 did not end here. The members of the other House set upon him 
 individually, and represented the responsibility which a failure to 
 obtain redress would throw on him, pursuing a course in opposition 
 to the opinion of nearly every member of the legislature. He found 
 it necessary, at length, to yield to the general sense of the national 
 council ; and accordingly nominated Mr. Monroe as Minister Ex- 
 traordinary, to join the ordinary one, Mr. Pinckney, at the British 
 Court. Explicit instructions were given them to conclude no treaty 
 without a specific article guarding against impressments. After a 
 tedious negotiation they succeeded in concluding a treaty — the best 
 undotibtedly that could be procured — but containing no provision in 
 conformity to the sine qua noii expressed in their instructions, rela- 
 tive to aggressions on our seamen. Previously, by a letter from our 
 negotiators, information had been received, that they had it in their 
 power to sign such a treaty ; and in return the President had ap- 
 prised them that should it be forwarded, it could not be ratified, and 
 recommended a resumption of negotiations for inserting the stipula- 
 tion in question. The treaty came to hand exactly in the exception- 
 able shape in which the administration had predetermined against 
 its acceptance. The President rejected it, on his oiv7i responsibil- 
 ity, and transmitted instructions to put the treaty into an acceptable 
 form, if practicable ; otherwise, to back out of the negotiation as well 
 as they could, letting it die away insensibly. 
 
 Besides the abandonment of the principle which was the great 
 object of the extraordinary mission, there were other material ob- 
 jections to the treaty, which abundantly justified the President in re- 
 jecting it without consulting the opinions of the Senate. The Brit- 
 ish commissioners appeared to have screwed every article as far as 
 it would bear, to have surrendered nothing, and taken every thing. 
 There was but a single article, the expunging of which would have 
 left such a preponderance of evil in all the others, as to have made 
 it infinitely worse than no treaty ; and even that article admitted 
 only our right to enjoy the indirect colonial trade, during the pre- 
 
440 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 aent hostilities. If peace was made that year, and war resumed 
 the next, the benefit of this stipulation was gone, and yet we were 
 bound for ten years, to pass no non-importation or non-intercourse 
 laws, nor take any other measures to restrain the usurpations of the 
 ' Leviathan of the ocean.' And to crown the whole, a protestation 
 was annexed by the British Ministers, at the time of the signature, 
 the eflect of which was to leave that government free to consider it 
 a treaty or no treaty, according to their own convenience, while it 
 bound the United States finally and unconditionally. 
 
 This proceeding of the President was considered a mighty and 
 a fatal error by the opponents of the administration ; and many 
 sensible republicans even, were inclined to the opinion that he should 
 have consulted the co-ordinate branch of the treaty-making power, 
 on the question of rejection. But the Constitution has made the 
 concurrence of both branches necessary to the confirmation, not to 
 the rejection of a treaty ; and where that instrument has confided in- 
 dependent matters to either department of government, it is both the 
 right and duty of such department, to decide independently as to the 
 com'se it ought to pursue. Mr. Jefferson acted upon this construc- 
 tion ; and the same principle has been recognized, in repeated in- 
 stances,, under both federal and repubhcan administrations. The 
 leading principle of the constitution evidently is, the independence 
 of the legislature, executive, and judiciary, of each other ; and the ut- 
 most jealousy of this principle should be exercised by each, to prevent 
 either of the others from becoming a despotic branch. This was the 
 deliberate opinion of Mr. Jefferson, on which he always acted, and 
 declared he would ever act, and maintain it with the powers of the 
 government, against any control which might be attempted by the 
 judiciary or legislature, in subversion of his right to move independ- 
 ently in his peculiar province. Examples in which the position 
 has been maintained, sufficient to establish its soundness, have 
 abounded in the practice of the government. The most pointed 
 and conspicuous instances are stated by Mr. Jefferson in the fol- 
 lowing extract of a letter to Judge Roane, in 1819. 
 
 " My construction of the constitution is very different from that 
 you quote. It is that each department is truly independent of the 
 others, and has an equal right to decide for itself what is the mean- 
 ing of the constitution in the cases submitted to its action ; and es- 
 pecially, where it is to act ultimately and without appeal. I will ex- 
 plain myself by examples, which, having occurred while I was in 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 441 
 
 office, are better known to me, and the principles which governed 
 them. 
 
 "A legislature had passed the sedition law. The federal comls 
 had subjected certain individuals to its penalties, of fine and impris- 
 onment. On coming into office, I released these individuals by the 
 power of pardon committed to executive discretion, which could nev- 
 er be more properly exercised than where citizens were suffering 
 without the authority of law, or, which was equivalent, under a law 
 unauthorized by the constitution, and therefore null. In the case 
 of Marbury and Madison, the federal judges declared that commis- 
 sions, signed and sealed by the President, were valid, although not 
 delivered. I deemed delivery essential to complete a deed, which, 
 as long as it remains in the hands of the party, is as yet no deed, it 
 is in posse only, but not in esse, and I withheld delivery of the com- 
 missions. They cannot issue a mandamus to the President or le- 
 gislature, or to any of their officers.* When the British treaty of 
 180- arrived, without any provision against the impressment of our 
 seamen, I determined not to ratify it. The Senate thought I should 
 ask their advice. I thought that would be a mockery of them, when 
 I was predetermined against following it, should they advise its rati- 
 fication. The constitution had made their advice necessary to con- 
 firm a treaty, but not to reject it. This has been blamed by some ; 
 but I have never doubted its soundness. In the cases of two per- 
 sons, antenati, under exactly similar circumstances, the federal 
 court had determined that one of them (Duane) was not a citizen ; 
 the House of Representatives nevertheless determined that the other 
 (Smith of South Carolina) was a citizen, and admitted him to his 
 seat in their body. Duane was a republican, and Smith a federal- 
 ist, and these decisions were during the federal ascendency." 
 
 The opinions of the President on the subject of the Mavy, were 
 not, perhaps, such as have been generally approved ; though it is 
 certain they have been greatly misunderstood and misrepresented. 
 Great apprehensions were entertained by the federal party that Mr. 
 Jefferson would annihilate the whole marine establishment ; but 
 they were totally discredited by the event. His very first act, after 
 having executed the law passed under his predecessor, for the sale 
 of certain vessels and reducing the number of our naval officers, was 
 to fit out a squadron for the Mediterranean, to resist a threatened 
 aggression from Tripoli ; and this force, subsequently increased from 
 time to time, by his recommendations, was the means of effecting the 
 triumphant suppression of Algerine piracy. He afterwards recom- 
 mended the construction of some additional vessels of strength, to be 
 
 * The constitution controlling the common law in this particular. 
 
 38* 
 
442 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ill readiness for the first moment of war, provided they could be pre- 
 served from decay, and perpetual expense, by being kept in ordinary. 
 But the majority of the Legislature were opposed to any augmenta- 
 tion of the navy ; and none consec^uently was made. This cir- 
 cumstance is worthy of notice, as illustrative of the fact that Mr. 
 Jefferson was less hostile to " the wooden walls of Themistocles" 
 than the great body of his supporters. " I know," says a gentle- 
 man* who executed the duties of that department for some time, 
 " that no man was a greater friend to the navy than Mr. Jeffer- 
 son. His acts brought it into notice — its own gallantry and bravery 
 have done the rest — it now occupies a proud station in the eyes of 
 the world. The bravery displayedby the Mediterranean squadron, 
 in the war with Tripoli, raised the American character in Europe, 
 and gave to our officers confidence in themselves. By affording 
 tiieni much instruction and an opportunity of acquiring a practical 
 knowledge of their profession, it prepared them for a future contest, 
 in which they crowned themselves and their country with glory^ — 
 fought their way to popularity at home, to the admiration of the 
 world, and to the affections of their countrymen." It is moreover 
 generally admitted, that the efforts of Mr. Jefferson, while in Paris, 
 to fotm a perpetual alliance of the principal European powers against 
 the Barbary States, and subsequently, while Secretary of State, to 
 induce the administration to dispatch a force into the Mediterranean 
 adequate to the protection of our commerce, laid the first foundations 
 of the American navy. Upon this point, there is extant the authori- 
 ty of a gentleman, whose knowledge of the subject enabled him to 
 pronounce an opinion which will not be questioned. The following 
 letter from John Adams to Mr. Jefferson, in 1822, with the answer 
 of the latter armexed, places the history of the American navy in 
 such a light, as ought to go far towards removing the injurious mis- 
 apprehensions which have prevailed on the subject. 
 
 '^ I have long entertained scruples about writing this letter, upon 
 a subject of some delicacy. But old age has overcome them at last. 
 
 " You remember the four sliips ordered by Congress to be built, 
 and the four captains appointed by Washington, Talbot, and Trux- 
 ton, and Barry, &c. to carry an ambassador to Algiers, and protect 
 our commerce in the Mediterranean. I have always imputed this 
 
 * Samuel Smith. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 443 
 
 measure to you ; for several reason?. First, because you frequently 
 proposed it to me while we were at Paris, negotititing together lor 
 peace with the Barbary powers. Secondly, because I knew that 
 Washington and Hamilton were not only indifferent about a navy, 
 but averse to it. There was no Secretary of the Navy ; only four 
 Heads of department. You were Secretary of State ; Hamilton, 
 Secretary of the Treasury ; Knox, Secretary of War ; and I be- 
 lieve Bradford was Attorney General. I have alwa3^s suspected 
 that you and Knox were in favor of a navy. If Bradford was so, 
 the majority was clear. But Washington, I am confident, was 
 against it in his judgment. But his attachment to Knox, and his 
 deference to your opinion, for I know he had a great regard for you, 
 might induce him to decide in favor of you and Knox, even though 
 Bradford united with Hamilton in opposition to you. That Hamil- 
 ton was averse to the measure, I have personal evidence ; for while 
 it was pending, he came in a hurry and a fit of impatience to make 
 a visit to me. He said, he was likely to be called upon for a large 
 sum of money to build ships of war, to fight the Algerines, and he 
 asked my opinion of the measure. I answered him that I was clear- 
 ly in favor of it. For I had always been of opinion, from the com- 
 mencement of the Revolution, that a navy was the most powerful, 
 the safest, and the cheapest national defence for this country. My 
 advice, therefore, was, that as much of the revenue as could possibly 
 be spared, should be applied to the building and equipping of ships. 
 The conversation was of some length, but it was manliest in his 
 looks and in his air, that he was disgusted at the measure, as well as 
 at the opinion that I had expressed. 
 
 " Mrs. Knox not long since wrote a letter to Doctor Waterhouse, 
 requesting him to procure a commission for her son, in the navy ; 
 ' that navy,' says her ladyship, ' of which his father was the parent.' 
 ' For,' says she, ' I have frequently heard General Washington say 
 to my husband, the navy was your child.' I have always believed 
 it to be Jefferson's child, though Knox may have assisted in usher- 
 ing it into the world. Hamilton's hobby was the army. That 
 Washington was averse to a navy, I had full proof from his own 
 lips, in many different conversations, some of them of length, in 
 which he always insisted that it was only building and arming ships 
 for the English. ' iSi quid novisti rectius isiis, candidus imper- 
 ii ; si no?i, his titere ?necum.^" 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's reply : 
 
 " I have racked my memory and ransac|ced my papers, to enable 
 myself to answer the inquiries of your favor of October the 15th ; 
 but to little purpose. My papers furnish me nothing, my memory, 
 generalities only. I know that while 1 was in Europe, and anx- 
 ious about the fate of our seafaring men, for some of whon?, then 
 
444 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ill captivity in Algiers, we were treating, and all were in like dan- 
 ger. I formed, undoubtingly, the -opinion that our government, as 
 soon as. practicable, should provide a naval force sufficient to keep 
 the Barbary States in order ; and on this subject we communicated 
 together, as you observe. When I returned to the United States 
 and took part in the administration under General Washington, I 
 constantly maintained that opinion ; and in December, 1790, took 
 advantage of a reference to me from the first Congiess which met 
 after I was in office, to report in fayor of a force sufficient for the 
 protection of our Mediterranean commerce ; and I laid before them 
 an accia-ate statement of the whole Barbary force, public and private. 
 I think General Washington approved of building vessels of war to 
 that extent. General Knox, I know, did. But what was Colonel 
 Hamilton's opinion, I do not in the least remember. Your recollec- 
 tions on that subject are certainly corroborated by his known anxi- 
 eties for a close connection with Great Britain, to which l\e might 
 apprehend danger from collisions between their vessels and ours. 
 Randolph was then Attorney General ; but his opinion on the ques- 
 tion I also entirely forget. Some vessels of war were accordingly 
 built and sent into the Mediterranean. Tlie additions to these in 
 your time, I need not note to you, who are well known to have ev- 
 er been an advocate for the wooden walls of Themistocles. Some 
 of those you added, were sold under an act of Congress passed while 
 you were in office. I thought, afterwards, that the public safety 
 might require some additional vessels of strength, to be prepared and 
 in readiness for the first moment of a war, provided they could be 
 preserved against the decay which is unavoidable if kept in the wa- 
 ter, and clear of the expense of officers and men. With this view 
 I proposed that they should be built in dry docks, above the level of 
 the tide waters, and covered with roofs. I further advised, that pla- 
 ces for these docks should be selected where there was a command 
 of water on a high level, as that of the Tiber at Washington, by 
 which the vessels might be floated out, on the principle of a lock. 
 But the majority of the legislature was against any addition to the 
 navy, and the minority, although for it in judgment, voted against 
 it on a principle of opposition. We are now, I understand, building 
 vessels to remain on the stocks, under shelter, until wanted, when 
 they will be launched and finished. On my plan they could be in 
 service at an hour's notice. On this, the finishing, after launching, 
 will be a work of time. 
 
 " This is all I recollect about the origin and progress of our navy. 
 That of the late war, certainly raised our rank and character among 
 nations. Yet a navy is a very expensive engine. It is admitted, 
 that in ten or twelve years a vessel goes to entire decay ; or, if kept 
 in repair, costs as much as would build a new one : and that a na- 
 tion who could count on twelve or fifteen years' of peace, would gain 
 by burning its navy and building a hew one in time. Its extent, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 
 
 445 
 
 therefore, must be governed by circumstances. Since my proposi- 
 tion for a force adequate to the piracies of the Mediterranean, a sim- 
 ilar necessity has arisen in our own seas for considerable addition to 
 that force. Indeed, I wish we could have a convention with the na- 
 val powers of Europe, for them to keep down the pirates of the 
 Mediterranean, and the slave ships on the coast of Africa, and for 
 us to perform, the same duties for the society of nations in our seas. 
 In this way, those collisions would be avoided between the vessels 
 of war of different nations, which beget wars and constitute the 
 weightiest objection to navies. I salute you with constant affection 
 and respect." 
 
 It appears that the only difference of opinion between these illus- 
 trious Statesmen on the subject of a Navy, was as to the extent to 
 which it should be carried. Mr. Adams was for a heavy establish- 
 ment, ready at all times, and sufficient to compete with that of the 
 most powerful nation on the water, the moment it should become 
 our adversary. Mr. Jefferson thought that its extent should always 
 be regulated by circumstances ; and this is unquestionably the re- 
 publican doctrine. Being a very expensive engine, both in its first 
 creation, and in its maintenance against the rapid and unavoidable 
 ravages of exposure, he was for restraining it in time of peace to a 
 force sutTicient only for the protection of our commerce ; and for 
 confining all naval preparations against the contingency of war, 
 to the building of ships in dry docks, where they could be kept free 
 from decay, from the expense of officers and men, and ready at 
 any moment for actual service. 
 
 In addition to the incompetency of our resources to maintain a 
 powerful navy, other and weighty objections existed at this time, 
 which always had great influence on the mind of the President. 
 The necessary midtiplication of those habitual violations of natur- 
 al right, in the form of impressiTients, which affected him with 
 such sincere horror ; the perpetual coUisions from other sources, fit- 
 ted to embroil us continually with the nations whom we could in- 
 deed master on the land, were sensible reasons against exhausting 
 our strength on a navy, and transferring the scene of combat to a 
 theatre where the enemy were omnipotent and we were nothing. 
 To these might perhaps* be added, equality in the distribution of 
 the public burthen, a favorite principle of administration with the 
 President. One portion of the Union, whose contributions were 
 least, would be elevated to greatness and wealth, to the depression 
 
446 LIFE, WRITINGS; AND OPINIONS 
 
 oi another portion, whose contrilnitions were greatest, and pecunia- 
 ry remuneration comparatively httle. If there was error in this 
 consideration, it was founded in a tremulous anxiety for the good 
 of the whole, rather than an undue influence of sectional feeling, 
 which scarcely found a place even in the credulity of his enemies. 
 The plan for the establishment of diy docks, in pursuance of 
 his naval system, was always a fruitful theme of raillery and repro- 
 bation against the President ; and yet, it is somewhat surprising 
 that the principle should have since been sanctioned by the govern- 
 ment, and have obtained the concurrent approbation of the greatest 
 maritime powers in Europe. A plan, agreeing in its chief features 
 with that of Mr. Jefferson, though inferior to it in others, has since 
 l^een adopted, both in this country and in Europe, for preventing 
 ships from early decay, by keeping them out of the water, and 
 protecting them from the weather, The most prodigal and aristo- 
 cratic governments on the globe have now become converts to a 
 practice, which, it was alleged, originated in the extreme of parsi- 
 mony and pusillanimity. 
 
 The institution of gun-boats, which composed a part of the naval 
 system recommended by the President, has received an unlimited 
 measure of condemnation at the hands of his political opponents. 
 In this, however, as in many other cases, it is but reasonable lenity 
 to conclude, that a great proportion of the clamor and denunciation 
 originated in a wide misconception of the views of administration, 
 of which they could only command detached parts, through an 
 awfully exaggerating medium. The fundamental error of the op- 
 position, in the present case, arose from a misunderstanding of the 
 object for which this species of naval armament was designed. 
 It is evident, that the President relied on gun-boats to the exclusion 
 of ships of \Var, only in time of peace, and as supplementary to 
 them, on the occurrence of war, when they would prove an inval- 
 uable bulwark to all the vulnerable points of the country, until the 
 ships could be let down from the stocks, and put in readiness. 
 They were principally intended, in connection with land batteries, 
 as fortifications of our harbors and sea-port towns, either in time of 
 general peace, or when we were placed in the situation of neutrals ; 
 and even in time of war, they were more adequate to this purpose 
 of defence than unwieldy frigates and ships of the line. In this 
 view, they formed a necessary and ingenious part of that economi- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 447 
 
 cal system of national defence, which he designed to substitute in 
 place of the previously contemplated establishments. ' The system 
 of fortifications projected by the preceding administration, consider- 
 ing the number of harbors, which from their situation and impor- 
 tance were entitled to defence, and the estimates already made of 
 the fortifications planned for some of tliem, could not have been 
 completed on a moderate scale for less than fifty millions of dollars, 
 nor manned in time of war with less than fifty thousand men, and 
 in peace, two thousand. And when completed, they would have 
 availed little ; because all military men agree, that whenever a ves- 
 sel may pass a fort without tacking under her guns, which is the 
 .case at all our sea -port towns, she may be annoyed more or less, 
 according to the advantages of the position, but can never be pre- 
 vented. Our own experience during the revolutionary war proved 
 this on various occasions.' These Avere the views and reasons, in 
 part, which decided the President on adopting the institution of 
 gun-boats, as a substitute in peace, in war an effective auxiliary. 
 The outlines of the plan are exhibited in the following statement 
 of the President. 
 
 " If we cannot hinder vessels from entering our harbors, we 
 should turn our attention to the putting it out of their power to lie, 
 or come to, before a town, to injure it. Two means of doing this 
 may be adopted in aid of each other. 1. Heavy cannon on trav- 
 elling carriages, which m.a}^ be moved to any point on the bank 
 or beach most convenient for dislodging the vessel. A sufficient 
 number of these should be lent to each sea-port town, and their 
 militia trained to them. The executive is authorized to do this ; 
 it has been done in a smaller degree, and will now be done more 
 competently. 
 
 " 2. Having cannon on floating batteries or boats, which may be 
 so stationed as to prevent a vessel entering the harbor, or force her, 
 after entering, to depart. There are about fifteen harbors in the 
 United States, wliich ought to be in a state of substantial defence. 
 The whole of these would require, according to the best opinions, 
 two hundred and forty gun- boats. Their cost was estimated by 
 Captain Rodgers at two thousand dollars each ; but w^e had better 
 say. four thousand dollars. The whole would cost one million of 
 dollars. But we should allow ourselves ten years to complete it, 
 unless circumstances should force it sooner. There are three situa- 
 tions in which the gun-boat may be. 1. Hauled up under a shed^ 
 in readiness to be launched and manned by the seamen and mili- 
 tia of the town on short notice. In this situation she costs nothing 
 but an enclosure, or a centinel to see that no mischief is done to 
 
448 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ber. 2. Afloat, and with men enough to navigate her in harbor 
 and take care of her, but depending on receiving her crew from 
 the town on short warning. In this situation, her annual expense 
 is about two thousand dollars, as by an official estimate at the end 
 of this letter. 3. Fully manned for action. Her annual expense 
 in this situation is about eight thousand dollars, as per estimate 
 subjoined. When there is general peace, we should probably keep 
 about six or seven afloat in the second situation ; their annual ex- 
 pense twelve to fourteen thousand dollars ; the rest all hauled up. 
 When France and England are at war, we should keep, at the ut 
 most, twenty-five in the second situation, their annual expense fifty 
 thousand dollars. When we should be at war ourselves, some of 
 them would probably be kept in the third situation, at an annual 
 expense of eight thousand dollars ; but how many, must depend 
 on the circumstances of the war. We now possess ten, built and 
 building. It is the opinion of those consulted, that fifteen more 
 would enable us to put ever)'' harbor under our view into a respect- 
 able condition ; and that this should limit the views of the present 
 year. This would rec[uire an appropriation of sixty thousand dol- 
 lars, and I suppose that the best way of limiting it, without declar- 
 ing the number, as perhaps that sum would ])uild more." 
 
 So much for the bruited system of fortification contemplated by 
 the establishment of gun-boats, — the most simple, economical, and, 
 when relied on for the strict purpose of its institution only, the 
 most eflfective system of fortification ever yet devised by the wisdom 
 of man. Its efficacy for the defence of harbors, may be estimated 
 in part, from that of galleys, formerly much used, but less power- 
 ful, more costly in their construction and maintenance, and requir- 
 ing more men. In the Mediterranean, the superiority of gun-boats 
 for harbor service, has been eminently illustrated by experience. 
 Algiers is particularly known to have owed to a great supply of 
 these vessels, the safety of its city, since the epoch of their con- 
 struction. Before that, it had been repeatedly insulted and injured. 
 The effect of gun-boats in the neighborhood of Gibraltar is well 
 known, and how much they were used both in the attack and de- 
 fence of that place, during a former war. The remarkable action, 
 between the Russian flotilla of gun-boats and galleys, and a Turk- 
 ish fleet of ships of the line and frigates, in the Liman sea, in 1788, 
 is matter of historical record. The latter, commanded by their most 
 celebrated Admiral, were completely defeated, and several of their 
 ships of the line destroyed. There is not, it is believed, a maritime 
 nation in Europe, which has not adopted the same species of arma- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 4iy 
 
 ment for the defence of some of its harbors ; the English and French 
 certainly have ; by the Northern Powers of the continent, whose seas 
 are particularly adapted to them, they are still more used ; and it is 
 stated,* with much confidence, that the only occasion on which Ad- 
 miral Nelson was ever foiled, was by gun-boats at 'Boulogne. 
 
 Daring the first four years of his administration, the opposition to 
 the President was continued with unabated fury, though greatly di- 
 minished and constantly diminishing in numerical strength. The 
 measures pursued by the General government for the amelioration 
 of the public affairs, were so palpably wise and salutary, as to have 
 united in its -support, within that period, all descriptions of people 
 who v.^ere not monarchists in principle. Those v/ho were such, re- 
 mained outstanding in all the tempest uousaess of their indignation 
 against the republican ascendency. This grade of politicians, the 
 President had from the beginning abandoned, as incurables, and de- 
 clared he would never turn an inch out of his way to reconcile them. 
 He considered them as utterly irreclaimable, to be taken care of m v, 
 mad-house if necessary, and on motives of charity. They were 
 principally confined to the New England and Middle States, power- 
 ful in wealth, but feeble in numbers, and sinking daily in the pub- 
 lic estimation and influence over their satellites, from the dissonance 
 of their principles with the sentiments of the overwhelming majori- 
 iy of the nation. They were astounded at the sudtlenness and ir- 
 reslstibleness of the desertion ; but they had committed themselves 
 too far to retract, and the violence of their opposition increased with 
 its desperation. They brooded over their disappointments, liewail- 
 ed their dilapidated greatness, gave vent to their angry discontents, 
 through the newspapers under their control, and made as much 
 noise as if they composed the whole nation. The old and insane 
 aspersions of French influence, of jacobinism, of atheism, of libertin- 
 ism, of seduction, of adultery, of cowardice, of treason, of fraud, 
 robbery, &c. &c. were daily disgorged from the press and the pulpit ; 
 new calumnies, of kindred audacity, were copiously invented, anddis- 
 seminated with malignant industry. 'The clergy who had missed 
 their union with the State, the Anglomen who had missed theirunion 
 with Great Britain, the political adventurers v/ho had lost the chance 
 of swindling and plunder in the waste of public money,' and the Au- 
 
 * Soutiiern Review, February No. 1830. 
 
 39 
 
450 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 gean herd of quondam officers, who had been stript of the power to over- 
 awe and strangle the freedom of elections, kept up an interminable 
 and obstreperous bawling, Irom the moment of the breaking up of 
 their sanctuary, until the last hope of its recovery yielded to inextin- 
 guishable despair. Every measure of the administration, however 
 meritorious, and demonstratively beneficial, great and wise, was re- 
 probated with indiscriminate condemnation ; and a thousand meas- 
 ures, which were never meditated, were weekly delated to the pub- 
 lic, merely to found a text and pretext for calumniating commenta- 
 ries. " I shall take no other revenge," the President wrote to a 
 friend, " than, by a steady pursuit of economy and peace, and by 
 the estabhshment of republican principles in substance and in form, 
 to sink federalism into an abyss from which there shall be no resur- 
 rection for it." The following extract from a letter of the President 
 to Judge Sullivan, of Massachusetts, gives a forcible idea of the licen- 
 tiousness of the press, at this period, and of his remarkable firmness 
 under it. 
 
 '" You have indeed received the federal unction of lying and slan- 
 dering. But who has not ? Who will ever again come into emi- 
 nent office, unanointed with this chrism ? It seems to be fixed that 
 falsehood and calumny are to be their ordinary engines of opposi- 
 tion ; engines which will not be entirely without effect. The circle 
 of characters equal to the first stations is not too large, and will be 
 lessened by the voluntary retieat of those whose sensibilities ars 
 stronger than their confidence in the justice of public opinion. I 
 certainly have known, and still know, characters eminently quali- 
 fied for the most exalted trusts, who could not bear up against the 
 brutal hackings and hewings of these heroes of Billingsgate. I may 
 say, from intimate knowledge, that wCshould have lost the services 
 of the greatest character of our country, had he been assailed with 
 the degree of abandoned licentiousness now practised. The torture 
 he felt under rare and slight attacks, proved that under those of 
 which the federal bands have shown themselves capable, he would 
 have thrown up the helm in a burst of indignation. Yet this ef- 
 fect of sensibiUty must not be yielded to. If we suffer ourselves to be 
 frightened from our post by mere lying, surely the enemy Avill use 
 that weapon ; for what one so cheap to those of whose system of 
 politics morality makes no part ? The patriot, like the Christian, 
 must learn that to bear revilings and persecutions is a part of his 
 duty ; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it be- 
 comes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self- 
 command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for 
 its exercise are repeated. In this I am persuaded we shall have the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 451 
 
 benefit of your good example. To the other falsehoods they have 
 brought forward, should they add, as you expect, insinuations of 
 want of confidence in you from the administration generally, or my- 
 self particularly, it will, like their other falsehoods, produce in the 
 public mind a contrary inference.'^ 
 
 Driven to the last degree of desperation, and restrained by pride 
 from acquiescing under the government, the rebellious temper of the 
 opposition worked so convulsively as to force them at last into trea- 
 sonable combinations for dismembering the Union. Horrible and 
 painful as the retrospection may seem, it is the duty of impartial 
 history to record, as a solemn admonition to future ages, that there 
 were not wanting, even in this day of unexampled national pros- 
 perity, hearts to conceive and pens to advocate, a separation of the 
 Union into Northern and Southern confederacies. The reader will 
 recollect, with what severe and overpowering reasoning Mr. Jeffer- 
 son rebuked a similar suggestion from a republican quarter, druing 
 the afflicting crisis of '98 — '99, while laboring under the oppressions 
 and persecutions of the Eastern monarchical ascendency.* The 
 plan of the opposition now v.^as, to divide the republicans, join the 
 minority, and by effecting a secession of the Eastern and part of 
 the Middle States, to establish a separate government, under a he- 
 terogeneoiLs amalgamation of federalism and republicanism. Nor 
 was this stratagem 'wholly unsuccessful ; many republicans were 
 entrapped into it, which produced alarming schisms, in some States, 
 among the supporters of the government. The following extracts 
 from the correspondence of the President, in 1804, relative to this 
 subject, are pregnant with instruction not inapplicable to the present 
 generation. 
 
 To G. Grangicr. — " In our last conversation you mentioned a 
 federal scheme afloat, of forming a coalition between the federalists 
 and republicans, of what .they called the seven eastern States. The 
 idea was new to me, and after time for reflection, I had no opportuni- 
 ty of conversing with you again. The federalists know that, eo no- 
 7?iine, they are gone for ever. Their object, therefore, is, how to re- 
 turn into power under some other form. Undoubtedly they have 
 but one means, which is to divide the republicans, join the minority, 
 and barter with them for the cloak of their name. I say, joiri the 
 minority ; because the majority of the republicans, not needing 
 them, will not buy them. The minority, having no other means 
 
 *See page 380. 
 
152 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 of ruiiiiy the iiiajoiity, will give a price for auxiliaries, and that price 
 must be principle. It is true that the federalists, needing their num- 
 !:)ers also, must also give a price, and principle is the coin they must 
 pay in. TJius a bastard system of ftdero-republicanism will rise 
 oa the ruins of the true principles of our revolution. And when 
 this party is formed, who will constitute the majority of it, which ma- 
 jority is then to dictate ? Certainly the federalists. Thus their 
 proposition of putting themselves into gear with the I'cpublican mi- 
 nority, is exactly like Roger Sherman's proposition to add Connec- 
 ticut to Rhode Island. The idea of forming seven Eastern States is 
 moreover clearly to form the basis of a separation of the Union. Is 
 it possible that real republicans can be gulled by such a bait ? And 
 tor what ? What do tliey wish, that they have not ? Federal meas- 
 ures ? That is impossible. Republican measures ? Have they 
 them not? Can any one deny, that in all important questions of 
 jirinciple, republicanism prevails ? But do they want that their in- 
 tiividual will shall govern the majority'? They may purchase the 
 gratification of this unjust wish, for a little time, at a great price ; but 
 the federalists must not have the passions of otlier men, if, after get- 
 ting thus into the seat of power, they suffer themselves to be govern- 
 ed by their minority. This minority may say, that whenever they 
 relapse into their own principles, they will quit them, and draw the 
 ijcat from under them. They n)ay quit them, indeed, but, in the 
 mean time, all the venal will have become associated with them, 
 and will give them a majority suliicicnt to keep them in place, and 
 to enable them to eject the heterogeneous friends by whose aid they 
 got again into power. I cannot believe any portion of real repubU- 
 cans will entei- into this trap : and if they do, I do not believe they 
 can carry with them the mass of their States, advancing so steadih" 
 as we see them, to an union of principle with their brethren. It 
 will be found in this, as in all other similar cases, that crooked 
 schemes will end by overwhelming their authors and coadjutors in 
 disgrace, and that he alone who walks strict and upright, and who 
 in matters of opinion will be contented that others should be as free 
 as himself, and acquiesce when his opinion is fairly overruled, will 
 attain his object in the end. And that this may be the conduct of 
 us all, 1 oflin- my sincere prayers, as well as for your health and hap- 
 piness.'" 
 
 To Doctor Logan. — " I see with infinite pain the blood}' schism 
 which has taken place among our friends in Pennsylvania and New 
 York, and will prol^ably take place in other States. The main body 
 of both sections mean well, but their good intentions will produce 
 great public evil. The minority, whichever section shall be the mi- 
 nority, will end in coalition with the federalists, and some comprom 
 ise of principle ; because these will not sell their aid for nothing. 
 Republicanism will thus lose, and royalism gain, some port'on of that 
 
OF THOBIAS JEFFERSON. 453 
 
 ground which we thought we had rescued to good government. I 
 do not express my sense of our misfortunes from any idea that they 
 are remediable. I know that the passions of men will take their 
 course, that they are not to be controlled but by despotism, and that 
 this melancholy truth is the pretext for despotism. The duty of an 
 upright administration is to pursue its course steadily, to know noth- 
 ing of these family dissensions, and to cherish the good principles of 
 both parties. The war ad internecionern which we have waged 
 against federalism, has filled our latter times with strife and unhap- 
 piness. We have met it, with pain indeed, but with firmness, be- 
 cause w^e believed it the last convulsive effort of that Hydra, which 
 in earher times we had conquered in the field. But if any degener- 
 acy of principle should ever render it necessary to give ascendency to 
 one of the rising sections (of republicans) over the other, I thank my 
 God it will fall to some other to perform that operation. The only 
 cordial I w^ish to carry into my retirement, is the undivided good will 
 of all those with whom I have acted." 
 
 It had been Mr. Jefferson's fixed intention, from the moment of 
 his entering office, to have retired from the government at the ex- 
 piration of his first term ; and he continued to indidge the pleasing 
 anticipation untU the ultimate point of time allowed him for a decis- 
 ion. But the unmitigable pertinacity of the opposition, which was 
 now developing itself in threatening forms, in those inchoate divis- 
 ions among the republicans in some States, which, by opening the 
 question of a successor, their own folly and the machinations of the 
 enemy would find scope and opportunity to consummate, forced his 
 continuance in power another term, for the pubhc good ; and the 
 multitude of defamatory imputations, on which he had been solemn- 
 ly arraigned before the world, required him to appeal once more to 
 the tribunal of public opinion, for his own honor, "f sincerely re- 
 gret," he wrote to a friend in Massachusetts, " that the unbounded 
 calumnies of the federal party have obliged me to throw myself on 
 the verdict of my country for trial, my great desire having been to 
 retire at the end of the present term, to a life of tmnquillity ; and it 
 was my decided purpose when I entered into office. They force my 
 continuance. If we can keep the vessel of State as steadily in her 
 course for another four years, ray earthly purposes will be accom- 
 plished, and I shall be fi-ee to enjoy, as you are doing, my family, my 
 farm, and my books." 
 
 The President entertained no doubt of receiving a triumphant 
 justification at the hands of his grateful countrymen. The affairs 
 
 39* 
 
451 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 of the nation were progressing in an unparalleled train of prosper- 
 ity, internal and external. During the four years of the preceding 
 administration, the national debt had increased about four millions 
 of dollars, accompanied by excessive loans, on an usurious interest. 
 During the three and a half years of Mr. Jefferson's administration, 
 he Imd exting-u ished more than thirteen and a half milUons of the 
 principal of the pul)lic de!)t, with a greater sum of interest ! which 
 was a nettgain, by the republican change, of seventeen and a half 
 millions, or two and a half millions more than the whole purchase 
 money of Louisiana ! and, proceeding in the same ratio, he would 
 have discharged the whole national debt in twelve years more. That 
 done, the annual revenue, which was now thirteen millions, and 
 would then be twenty-five, would defray the expenses of any war we 
 mightbe forced into, without recurrence to new taxes or loans. This 
 irreat and fast increasina; icvenue, which had enabled the execu- 
 live to double the original possessions of the United States, to extin- 
 guish the native title to a boundless extent of soil within their limits, 
 to discharge the current expenses of the government, and to appro- 
 priate, by a fixed and permanent law, eight millions of dollars annu- 
 ally, to the extinguishment of the public debt — the whole of this 
 revenue was derived from the consumptio]i of foreign luxuries, by 
 those who could afiord to add them to domestic comforts. No far- 
 mer, no mechanic, no laborer ever saw a tax-gatherer of the United 
 States ; nor was there any borrowing of money. The fruits of this 
 golden era of the republic, were a commerce more extended, in pro- 
 portion to our population, and an industry more productive, than 
 the United States have enjoyed at any other period, before or since. 
 Republicanism was re-estabhshed in all its ancient vigor, five sixths 
 of the people being cordially aggregated in its support. In such a 
 state of things, it was scarcely in human nature to desire a change 
 of administration, or to conceive its practicability. 
 
 Though conducted with gieat animosity, the contest hardly de- 
 served the name of one, so overwhelming was the majority in favor 
 of the existing order of things. Mr. Jefferson was re-elected by a 
 vote of one hundred and sixty-two against fourteen. The only 
 States which voted for his opponent, Pinckney, were Connecticut 
 and Delaware, with two districts in Maryland. George Clinton 
 was elected Vice President_ by the same majority over Rufus King. 
 The amendment of the Constitution, which in the mean time had 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 455 
 
 taken place, debated the minority from an attempt of the scandalous 
 scenes of Febiuaiy, 1801. The unanimity of the vote on the pre 
 sent occasion, while it pronounced an incomparixble judgment of ap- 
 probation on the character ot the administration, is really unexam- 
 pled in the history of the United States, considering the circum- 
 stances of the times. The vote subsequently given to Mr. Mom'oe, 
 though more nearly unanimous, was much less extraordinary. 
 The latter vote was given in a season of dead calm ; the former, 
 amid the raging fury of the tempest. Every other Chief Magistrate, 
 also, except General Jackson, has rode into office on the same tide of ■ 
 opinion that sustained his predecessor. They alone on an opposing 
 one ; and in four years Mr. Jefferson amalgamated both currents in 
 his favor, in defiance of every obstruction which the ingenuity of 
 man could devise. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1805, Mr. Jefferson re-entered upon the 
 duties of the Chief Magistracy, for another term. The same ab- 
 sence of all parade and ostentation, which characterized the former 
 inauguration, was rigorously observed on the present occasion. As 
 the first inaugural address of the restorer of republican government, 
 had been appropriately all promise and profession, so the second was 
 triumphantly all performance, being a niodest recapitulation, in 
 very succinct form, of the prominent transactions of his administra- 
 tion, in pursuance of the principles which he had inculcated from 
 the beginning. How rarely does it happen to civil rulers to exhibit 
 a faithful exemplification in office, of the professions which carried 
 them into it ! And what an unanswerable commentary does this 
 rare occurrence pronounce, on the honesty and conscientious devo- 
 tion to principle of the republican party of the United States. For 
 the first time, perhaps, in the history of the world, was seen a body 
 of men raised to power, steadily and scrupulously abiding by the 
 principles they had professed during their exclusion ; and, in self- 
 denying obedience to this purpose, laboring to diminish the amount 
 of patronage and influence, which they received from their predeces- 
 sors.* 
 
 To the general character above stated of the second inaugural 
 address of the President, there were two exceptions, in which addi- 
 tional principles were inculcated. The crusade preached against 
 
 * Warden's History of the United States. 
 
^ 
 
 456 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 philosophy hy the disciples of steady habits, at that em, induced 
 him to dwell at considerable length in illustrating its effects with 
 the Indians. The craft and iniluence of these seditious intruders,, 
 operating upon the prejudices and ignorance of the Indians, had al- 
 ways embarrassed the general government in its efforts to change- 
 their pursuits, and ameliorate their unhappy condition. " These 
 persons," said he, "inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for the cus- 
 toms of their ancestors ; that whatsoever they did must be done 
 through all time ; that reason is a false guide, and to advance un- 
 der its council in their physical, moral, or political condition, is per- 
 ilous innovation ; that their duty is to remain as their Creator 
 made them, ignorance being safety, and knowledge full of dan-, 
 ger ; in short, my friends, among them is seen the action and 
 counteraction of good sense and bigotry ; they too, have their anti- 
 philosophers, who iind an interest in keeping things in Uieir pres- 
 ent state, who dread reformation, and exert all their faculties to 
 maintain the ascendency of habit over the duty of improving our 
 reason and obeying its mandates." 
 
 The other exception aboveraentioned, in which new principles 
 were advanced, regarded the appropriation of the surplus revenue 
 of the nation, after the final redemption of the public debt. The 
 epoch being not far distant, when that propitious event might be 
 safely calculated to happen, the President thought it a fit occasion 
 to suggest his views on the most eligible arrangement and disposal 
 of the public contributions, upon the basis which would then be 
 presented. Should the impost duties be suppressed, and that ad» 
 vantage given to foreign over domestic manufactures ? Should they 
 be diminished, and upon what principles? Oi" should they be con- 
 tinued, and applied to the purposes of internal improvement, educa- 
 tion &c. ? were questions which he submitted to the consideration 
 of the people, and subsequently urged upon the attention of the 
 Legislature in his official communications. They are questions 
 which agitate the present authorities of the government, to a pecu- 
 liar degree, and are becoming extremely interesting to the nation.. 
 The President did not hesitate to recommend, that the revenue,, 
 when liberated by the redemption of the public debt, should, by a 
 just repartition among the States, and a corresponding amendment 
 of the constitution, be applied, in time of peace, to livers, canals,, 
 roads, arts, manufactures, education, and other great objects of pub- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFEliSON. 457 
 
 4 
 
 lie utility within each State ; and in time of war, should injustice 
 by ourselves oi others ever produce war, to meet the accumulated 
 expenses of such a crisis from year to year, to w^hich th.e superabun- 
 dant and current resources would be fully adequate, without en- 
 croaching on the rights of future generations by burthening them 
 with the debts of the past. War would then be but a suspension, 
 for the time being, of useful works; and the restoi ation . of peace, a 
 return to the progress of improvement, luitrammeled by pecimiary 
 embarrassments. Instead, therefore, of reducing the revenue aris- 
 ing from the consumption of foreign articles, to the actual amount 
 necessary for the current expenses of the government, the President 
 recommended its continuance, wntli certain modifications, and ap- 
 plication to works of internal improvement. On some articles of 
 more general and necessary use, he advised a suppression of the 
 impost ; but the great mass of the articles on which duties were 
 paid, were foreign luxuries, purchased by those who were rich 
 enough to use them without feeling the tax. Their patriotism cer- 
 tainly, he thought, would prefer a continuance of the general s)'s- 
 tem, which, while not oppressive to themselves, would prove im- 
 mensely advantageous to the nation, by furnishing the means of 
 public education, roads, rivers, canals, and such other objects of 
 public improvement as it might be thought proper to add to the con- 
 stitutional enumeration of federal powers. By these operations, 
 new channels of communication would be opened between the 
 States, the lines of separation be made to disappear, their interests 
 be identified, and their union cemented by new and indissoluble ties. 
 Impressed with tiie eternal and inseparable connection betvreen lib- 
 erty and knowledge, he placed education among the first and wor- 
 thiest of the objects of public care ; ' not with a view to take its or- <- ^ 
 dinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which man- / 
 aged so much better all the concerns to v;l)ich it was equal : but . 
 for the purpose of enlarging its sphere, by supplying those sciences, S 
 which, though rarely called for, were yet necessary to complete the ' 
 circle, all the parts of which contributed to the improvement of the / 
 nation, and some of them to its preservation.' In pursuance of this 
 idea, he recommended to the consideration of Congress the estab- 
 lishment of a National University, with such an extension of the 
 federal powers as should bring it legitimately within their jurisdic- 
 tion. He believed an amendment of the constitution, bv consent 
 
45S LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 of the States, necessary, as well for this, as for the other objects of 
 pubhc improvement, which he recommended ; because they were 
 not among those enumerated in the constitution, and to which it 
 permitted the public money to be applied. So early as 1806, he in- 
 formed Congress, that by the time the State Legislatures should have 
 deliberated upon the appropriate amendment to the constitution, the 
 necessary laws be passed, and arrangements made for their execu- 
 tion, tlie requisite amount of funds would be on hand, and without 
 employment. He contributed liberally to the establishment of the 
 proposed institution, permitted his name to be placed at the head of 
 it, and used every exertion to carry it into operation ; but the germ 
 was unhappily blighted by sectional jealousies. 
 
 The pre-eminently happy and advantageous train in which the 
 affairs of the nation were established, within the President's first 
 term, left little for the residue of his administration to accomplish, 
 except to maintain peace and neutrality amidst the agitating con- 
 vulsions of a warring world ; and to rescue the Union from one of 
 the most nefarious and gigantic conspiracies recorded in mod- 
 ern history. The measures called into action by these two for- 
 midable dilliculties, developed two opposite extremes of character in 
 the government, which were so admirably adapted each to its 
 respective exigency, as to have worked out for the country an al- 
 most supernatural deliverance. The extraordinary forbearance and 
 moderation manifested under the pressure of the external crisis, 
 were as necessary to our safety, as the energy and promptitude with 
 which the inteinal enemy was crushed, and laid prostrate at the feet 
 of government, with all the embryo honm's of rebellion on his head. 
 
 The traitorous conspiracy of Burr would scarcely have fallen with- 
 in tile purview of these outlines, were it not for the strong case pre- 
 sented in his acquital, in addition to many others that have since 
 occurred, in which the predominance of federalism in the Judiciary, 
 covered and emboldened Ijy its irresponsibility, has set at deiiaucB 
 the Executive, the Legislature, and the general sense of the nation. 
 ]Never was there an occurrence in which the innate force of (his gov- 
 ernment was so eminently proved, as in the sudden suppression of 
 this gigantic treason, nor in which its avenging powers were so com- 
 pletely battled, as in the protection from condign punishment, of the 
 arch mover and perpetrator. The conspiracy was one of the most 
 flasritious of which history will ever furnish an example ; and there 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. ^ 459 
 
 was probably not a peison in the United States who entertained a 
 doubt of the real guilt of the accused. His purpose was to separate 
 the western States from the Union, annex Mexico to them, estab- 
 lish a monarchical government, with himself at the head, and thus 
 provide an example and an instrument for the subversion of our 
 liberties. The American Cataline, cool, sagacious and wary, like 
 his ancient prototype, had probably engaged one thousand men to 
 follow his fortunes, without letting them know his projects, further 
 Uian by assurances that the government approved of them. The 
 great majority of his adherents took his assertion for this, but with 
 those who would not, and were unwilling to embark in his enter- 
 prises without the approbation of the government, the following 
 stratagem was practised. A forged letter, purporting to be from the 
 Secretary of War, was made to express his approbation, and to say 
 that the President was absent at Monticello, but that, on his return, 
 the enterprise would be sanctioned by him without hesitation. This 
 letter was spread open on Burr's table, so as to invite the eye of all 
 who entered his room ; and he contrived occasions of sending up 
 into his room, those whom he wished to become witnesses of his act- 
 ing under sanction. By this means, he avoided exposing himself 
 to any liability to prosecution for forgery, while he proved himself a 
 master in the arts of the conspirator. The moment the proclama- 
 tion of the President appeared, undeceiving his deluded partisans, 
 Burr found himself stript of his surreptitious influence, and left with 
 about thirty desperadoes only. The people rose in mass, wherever 
 he appeared or was suspected to be, and by their energy, the rebel- 
 lion was crushed in an instant, without the necessity of employing 
 a detachment of the military, except to guard their respective sta- 
 tions. His first enterprise was to have seized New Orleans, which 
 he supposed would effectually bridle the upper country, reduce it in 
 subjection to him, and plant him at the door of Mexico without an 
 enemy in the rear. But, on the unfiu4ing the ensigns of the Union 
 there was not a single native Creole, and only one American, of 
 tliose settled there before we received the possession, but that aban- 
 doned his standard, and rallied under the sacred banners of the con- 
 stitution. His real partisans were the new emigrants from the Uni- 
 ted States and elsewhere, fugitives from justice, disaffected politi- 
 cians, and desperate adventurers of all descriptions. The event was 
 a happy one. It was always a source of exultation to the President, 
 
460 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 inasmuch as it realized his prophetic declaration on assuming the 
 helm of public affairs — ' that a republican government was the 
 strongest one on earth, and the only one, where every man at the 
 call of the law, would fiy to the standard of the law, and would meet 
 infractions of the public order, as his own personal concern.' The 
 atrocity of the crime, however, and the existence of the most con-* 
 elusive proof, compelled him, as it did every other reflecting mind, to 
 seek in some other hypothesis than the jealous provisions of the laws 
 in favor of the accused, the acquital of this, the greatest of modern 
 parricides. The result of the trial astonished the world, and con- 
 founded the spectators, from whose minds every doubt had vanish- 
 ed, when the investigation was suddenly arrested by the decision of 
 the Comt. 
 
 The truth is, the monarchical federalists made Burr's case 
 their own, as they did his moral treason in February, 1801, as they 
 did the enterprise of Miranda, in 1805, and the insurrectionary plot 
 of Henry in 1809, mortified only that he did not succeed in over- 
 turning the republic, and introducing their favorite establish- 
 ment of a monarchy. The plainest principles of law were perverted 
 to rescue the accused from condemnation. The trial was at first 
 pressed on rather precipitately, without allowing the requisite time 
 and facihties for procuring witnesses, and afterwards arrested, before 
 one half of those in actual attendance were examined. Of the one 
 hundred and thirty witnesses collected at Richmond, only fifteen 
 were examined ; and of these fifteen but a few were permitted to 
 disclose any thing implicating the direct agency of Burr. The 
 most material testimony was suppressed. All revealments were 
 evaded by the accomplices, who betrayed a wonderful peculiarity of 
 confidence in ulterior security, by the contemptuous rejection of 
 pardons from the Executive. The very verdict of the jury, ' that 
 the accused was not proved guilty hy any evidence submitted to 
 thern^ was a virtual acknowledgement, that the defect was in 
 the application of the law, or the law itself, not in the evidence 
 of guilt ; and this verdict was ordered to be recorded simply, 
 '■ Not guilty.' Indeed, all the abuses and despotic consequences of 
 tlie immovable tenure of the Judiciary — except by process of im- 
 peachment — and their consequent irresponsibility to any practicable 
 control, were conspicuously demonstrated on the present memorable 
 occasion. They were so palpably enormous, and exposed to the pub- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 461 
 
 lie eye, as to excite a deep sensibility through the republican body 
 of the nation. No further confirmation was wanting to fix the 
 President unalterably in the opinion, long entertained by him, that , \ 
 
 in this defect of the Constitution lurked the germ, which, unless \? 
 
 timely eradicated, was destined to destroy the happy equilibrium of 
 powers in the General government, and between the General and 
 State governments. In a letter to Wm. B. Giles, he writes : — 
 " If there ever had been an instance in this or the preceding 
 administrations, of federal judges so applying principles of law 
 as to condemn a federal or acquit a republican offender, I should 
 have judged them in the present case with more charity. All 
 this, however, will work well. The nation will judge both the 
 offender and judges for themselves. If a member of the executive " 
 
 or legislature does wrong, the day is never far distant when the 
 people will remove him. They will see then, and amend the error 
 in our constitution, which makes any branch independent of the . 
 
 nation. They will see that one of the great co-ordinate branches of 
 the government, setting itself in opposition to the other two, and tC' / 
 the conniion sense of the nation, proclaims impunity to that class of 
 offenders which endeavors to overturn the constitution, and are \ 
 themselves protected in it by the constitution itself : for impeach- . 
 ment is a farce which will not be tried again. If their protection of 
 Burr produces this amendment, it will do more good than his con- 
 demnation would have done. Against Burr, personally, I never 
 had one hostile sentiment. I never, indeed, thought him an honest; 
 frank-dealing man, but considered him as a crooked gun, or other 
 perverted machine, whose aim or shot you could never be sure of 
 Still, while he possessed the confidence of the nation, I thought it my 
 duty to respect in him their confidence, and to treat him as if he de 
 served it : and if his punishment can be commuted now for an use- 
 ful amendment of the constitution, I shall rejoice in it." 
 
 While on the subject of the independence of the Judiciary, it may 
 be proper to examine the opinions of Mr. Jefferson at a subsequent 
 date, in a more general sense, and under a more dispassionate con- 
 templation of the question, than was practicable in the state of sen- 
 sibility excited by the particular case of Burr. The tenure of good 
 behavior allotted to the federal Judges, was a defect in the Con- 
 stitution, of which no one thought at the time of its adoption, nor 
 until the abusive tendencies of the principle had begun to develope 
 themselves in action. The monstrous amplitude of jurisdiction as- 
 sumed during the federal ascendency, nearl)'^ co-extensive with the 
 common law, the arrogance and severity of the Judges against of 
 
 40 
 
462 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 fenders under the Sedition Law, and the subsequent failure of the 
 impeachment of Judge Chase for the most flagrant irregularities of 
 official conduct, seem fust to have awakened the thinking part of 
 the pubhc in general, and Mr. Jeflerson in particular, to a sense of 
 the dangerous error which made one of the three branches of gov- 
 ernment so effectually independent of the nation. His solicitudes 
 upon this important subject appeared to increase every 5^ear after- 
 wards, following him steadily into his retirement, as new occasions 
 of usurpation administered new ahment to his alarms, and superad- 
 ded materials for anxious political reflection. The following ex- 
 tract of a letter to William T. Barry, in 1S22, evinces the state of his 
 convictions at that period, and the earnestness of his endeavors to 
 procure the necessary amendment of the Constitution. 
 
 " Very many and very meritorious were the ^^■orthy patriots who 
 assisted in bringing Ijack oar government to its republican tack. 
 To preserve it in that will require unremitting vigilance. Whether 
 the surrender of our opponents, their reception into our camp, their 
 assumption of our name, and apparent accession to our objects, may 
 strengthen or weaken the genuine principles of republicanism, may 
 be a good or an evil, is yet to be seen. I consider the party division 
 of whig and tory the most wholesome which can exist in any gov- 
 ernment, and well worthy of being nourished, to keep out those of a 
 more dangerous character. We already see the power, installed for 
 life, responsible to no authority (for impeachment is not even a scare- 
 crow,) advancing with a noiseless and steady pace to the great ob- 
 ject of consohdation. The foundations are already deeply laid by 
 their decisions, for the annihilation of constitutional State rights, and 
 the removal of every check, every counterpoise to the ingulphing 
 power of which themselves are to make a sovereign part. If ever 
 this vast country is brought under a single government, it will be 
 one of the most extensive corruption, indift'erent and incapable of a 
 / wholesome care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be 
 « borne, and you will have to choose between reformation and revolu- 
 -, tion. If I know the spirit of this country, the one or the other is in- 
 evitable. Before the canker is become inveterate, before its venom 
 \ has reached so much of the body politic as to get beyond control, 
 remedy should be apphed. Let the future appointments of judges 
 be for four or six years, and renewable by the President and Sen- 
 ate. This will bring their conduct, at regular periods, under revis- 
 ion and probation, and may k^ep them in equipoise between the 
 general and special governments. We have erred in this point, by 
 copying England, where certainly it is a good thing to have the 
 judges independent of the King. But we have omitted to copy 
 their caution also, which makes a judge removable on the address 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 46c5 
 
 of both legislative Houses. That there should be public functiona- 
 ries independent of the nation, whatever may be their demerit, is a 
 solecism in a republic, of the first order of. absurdity and inconsis- 
 tency." 
 
 At the Revolution in England it was considered a great point 
 gained in favor of liberty, that the commissions of the Judges, which 
 had hitherto been during the pleasure of the King, should thence- 
 forth be given during good behavior ; and that the question of good 
 behavior should be left to the vote of a simple majority in the two 
 Houses of Parliament. A Judiciary, dependant on the will of the 
 King, could never have been any other than a most oppressive in- 
 strument of tyranny ; nothing, then, could be more salutary than a 
 change to the tenure of good behavior, with the concomitant re- 
 straint of impeachment by a simple majority. The founders of the 
 American Republic were more cordial in their jealousies of the Ex- 
 ecutive than either of the other branches ; so true was this of Mr. 
 Jelferson in particular, that he at first thought the qualified negative 
 given to that magistrate on all the laws, should have been much 
 further restricted. They, therefore, very properly and consistently 
 adopted the English reformation of making the Judges independ- 
 ent, 'of tlie Executive. But in doing this, they as little suspected 
 they had mad^ them independent of the nation, by requiring a vote 
 of two thirds, in the Senatorial branch, to effect a removal. Expe- 
 rience has proved such a majority impracticable, where any defence 
 is made, in a body of the strong political partiahties and antipathies 
 which ordinarily prevail. In the impeachment of Judge Pickering 
 of New Hampshire, no defence was attempted, otherwise the party 
 vote of more than one third of the Senate would have acquitted him. 
 The Judiciary of the United States, then, is an irresponsible body; 
 and history has established, if reason could not have foreseen, the 
 ' slow and noiseless' despotism of its career, under the sanctuary of 
 such a tenure. If the mischief is acknowledged, the only question 
 should be, not when, but what should be the remedy ? "I would 
 not, indeed," says Mr. Jeflferson, " make the Judges dependant on 
 the Executive authority, as they formerly were in England ; but I 
 deem it indispensable to the continuance of this government, that 
 they should be submitted to some practical and impartial control ; 
 and that this, to be impartial, must be compounded of a mixture of 
 State and Federal authorities. It is not enough that honest men 
 
464 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 are appointed Judges. All know the intluence of interest on the 
 mind of man, and how vmconsciously his judgment is warped by 
 that influence. To this bias add that of the esprit de corps, of 
 their peculiar maxim and creed, that ' it is the office of a good Judge 
 to enlarge his jurisdiction,' and the absence of responsibihty ; and 
 how can we expect impartial decision between the General govern- 
 ment, of which they are so eminent a part, and an individual State, 
 from which they have nothing to hope or fear. We have seen too, 
 that, contrary to all correct example, they are in the habit of going 
 out of the question before them, to throw an anchor ahead, and 
 grapple further hold for future advances of power. They are then, 
 in fact, the corps of sappers and miners, steadily working to under- 
 mine the independent rights of the States, and to consolidate all 
 power in the hands of that government, in which they have so im- 
 portant a freehold estate. But it is not by the consohdation or con- 
 centration of powers, but by their distribution, that good govern- 
 ment is eflfected." " I repeat," he adds, '' that I do not charge the 
 Judges with willful and ill-intentioned error ; but honest error must 
 be arrested, when its toleration leads to public ruin. As, for the 
 safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam, so Judges 
 should be withdrawn from the bench, whose erroneous biases are 
 leading us to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them in fame or in 
 fortune ; but it saves the Republic, which is the first and supreme 
 law." 
 
 The latter part of Mr. Jefferson's administration was afflicted by 
 a crisis in our foreign relations, which demanded the exercise of all 
 that fortitude and emulous self-denial, which particularly immortal- 
 ized the introductory stages of the Revolution, and charged the 
 entire responsibility of the war upon Great Britain. Unfortunately, 
 the fierce political passions and animosities engendered by the ter- 
 rible contests of opinion, which had distracted the nation, and the 
 demorahzing mania of commercial cupidity and avarice engendered 
 by a twenty-four year's interval of peace, greatly interrupted on the 
 present occasion, that spirit of indissoluble cohesion between the 
 States, which, and which alone, carried us triumphantly through 
 the crisis of emancipation, and of revolution from monarchism to 
 republicanism. The generous enthusiasm of the spirit of 76 had, 
 in a considerable measure, evaporated. Every description of em- 
 bargo, and every degree of commercial deprivation, which was then 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 465 
 
 too little to satisfy the voluntary rivalry of self-immolation in the 
 cause of country, was now too great to be endured, though clothed 
 with the authority of law, and mercifully ordained for averting the 
 otherwise inevitable and overwhelming calamities of a war, not 
 with England alone, but Avith nearly the whole continent of Europe. 
 
 The memorable embargo of Mr. Jefferson was one of (hose ex- 
 traordinary measiu'es, which are occasionally indispensable to coun- 
 teract extraordinary emergencies. There never was a situation of 
 the world, which rendered the measure more imperative with Amer- 
 ica, than on the present occasion ; nor is if probable there will ever 
 exist a parallel situation. The causes which coml^ined to produce 
 such a phenomenon in our foreign relations, are too substantially 
 understood to require dilatation. From the renewal of hostilities 
 between Great Britain and France, in 1803, down to the period at 
 which the embargo was enacted, the commerce of the United States 
 was subjected to a steady, deliberate and progressive accumulation 
 of rival depredations by tiie belligerents, until it was effectually an- 
 nihilated with nearly all the world. In the tremendous struais-le 
 for ascendency, which animated these powerful competitors, and 
 convulsed the European world to its centre, the laws of nature, 
 and of nations, were utterly disregarded by both. The mar- 
 itime interests of the United States constituted the desecra- 
 ted medium through which the antagonists vied in the attempt 
 to crush and overpower each other, — the injuries inflicted on our 
 commerce by the one, being retaliated by the other, not on the ag- 
 gressor, but en the innocent and peaceable victim to their united 
 ferocity. 
 
 Anterior to the above named epoch, however. Great Britain had 
 commenced her system of desolating interpolations upon the estab- 
 lished law of nations. She first forbade to neutrals all trade with 
 her enemies in time of war, which they had not in time of peace. 
 This deprived them of their trade from port to port of the same nation. 
 Then she forbade them to trade from the port of one nation to that 
 of any other at war with her, although a right fully exercised in 
 time of peace. And these prohibitions she liad the audacity to as- 
 sert, by declaring places blockaded, before which she had not a sin- 
 gle vessel of war, contrary to all reason and the usages of civilized 
 nations ; nay, she declared even places blockaded which her united 
 forces would be incompetent to effect, such as entire coasts, and 
 
 40* 
 
466 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 whole empires. Next, instead of taking vessels only entering a 
 blockaded port, she took them over the whole ocean, if destined to 
 that port, ulthoagh ignorant of the blockade, and with no intention 
 to violate it. Then came the celebrated Berlin decree of the French 
 Emperor, in November, 1806, which declared the British Islands in a 
 \ slate of blockade, and consequently interdicted our navigation to 
 j England and her dependencies. Then thundered forth the coun- 
 ' tervailing orders in council, on the part of Great Britain, which de- 
 clared all France and her allies in a state of blockade, and conse- 
 quently interdicted our navigation to France and her dependencies, 
 comprehending nearly the whole continent of Europe. And these 
 decrees and orders were followed by the famous Milan lejoinder of 
 Bonaparte, and tlie surrejoinders of England, too numerous to men- 
 tion, and more and more aggressive on the rights of unoffending, 
 neutral America. 
 
 Under the joint operation of these antagonist edicts and procla- 
 mations, there was not a single port in Europe, or her dependencies, 
 to which American vessels could navigate, without being exposed 
 to capture and condemnation. In this situation what were the 
 United States to do ? To have made reprisals on both the belliger- 
 ents, though rigorously and impartially just, would have been to 
 commit us in a war with both and their respective allies, which would 
 have been certain destruction. To have made reprisals on one and 
 not on the other, under the existing circumstances, would have been 
 a departure from just and impartial neutrality, and involved us, as 
 a party, in the European conflagration. But to submit to the fero- 
 cious and unrestrained spoliations of the belligerents, without resis- 
 tance and reprisal, was impossible ; it would have amounted to a 
 surrender, at once, of our independence as a nation, besides soon 
 \ annihilating ovn- property on the ocean. More than nine hundred 
 '^^ American vessels were captured by the British, under their orders 
 in council, at a time of profound peace between the two nations. 
 American property, to the amount of thirty millions of dollars, was 
 placed at the discretion of the Admiralty courts of Great Britain ; 
 and a still greater amount was submitted to the French council of 
 prizes or council of State. In such a state of things, the only alter- 
 natives v/ere : 1st, "War with all Europe. 2d, Submission to univer 
 .sal and unrestrained piracy, 3d, Embargo, as a powerfully coercive 
 peace measure, and a preparation for war. The President wisely 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. * 467 
 
 preferred the last, as the least of the three evils ; and in pursuance 
 of his recommendation, the measure was adopted by Congress, on 
 the 22d day of December, 1807, by overwhelming majorities in 
 both Houses. 
 
 In addition to the joint aggressions on our neutral rights, under 
 the sweeping paper blockades of both belligerents, Great Britain 
 was in the distinct habit of daily violations of our sovereignty, in 
 the form of impressments. The injuries perpetually rising from 
 this source alone, constituted an abundant cause of war, and con- 
 sequently of embargo, as to that nation. At no period since the 
 commencement of the French revolution, had there been the want 
 of a sufficient cause of war with Great Britain, in her vexations 
 and lawless asportations of our seamen ; which ought to have si- 
 lenced forever the ungenerous imputation that the present measure 
 was the dictate of a fraudulent neutrality, favorable to Bonaparte. 
 Denying the right of expatriation, the British ministry authorized 
 the seizure of naturalized Americans wherever they could be 
 found, under color of their having been born within the British do- 
 minions. From the abuses of this practice, sufficiently enormous 
 in its rightful exercise, thousands of Araeiican citizens, native horn. 
 as well as naturalized, were subjected to the petty despotism of 
 naval officers, acting as judges, juries, and executioners, and doom- 
 ed by them to slavery, and death, or to become the instruments of 
 destruction to thek own countrymen. 
 
 Minor provocations and injuries were, in June 1807, absorbed in 
 the audacity of an aggression, which is without a parallel in the 
 history of independent nations at peace. By order of the British 
 Admiral, Berkley, the ship Leopard of fifty guns, ffied on the Uni- 
 ted States frigate Chesapeake, of thirty-six guns, within the waters 
 of the United States, in order to compel the delivery of part of her 
 crew, claimed as British subjects. After several broadsides from the 
 Leopard, and four men killed on board the Chesapeake, the latter 
 struck ; was boarded by the British ; and had four men taken from 
 her, three of them native American citizens, one of whom was hang- 
 ed as a British deserter. Never since the battle of Lexington had 
 there existed such a state of universal exasperation in the public 
 mind, as was produced by this enormity. Popular assemblies w^ere 
 convened in every considerable place, at which resolutions were 
 passed, expressive of unqualified indignation at the outrage, and 
 
A68 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 pledging the lives, fortunes, and sacred honors of the people, to 
 procure ' indemnity for the past, security for tlie future.' 
 
 Now was the time, above all others, when, if Mr. Jefferson was 
 really actuated by undue partiality to France and hostility to Eng- 
 land, as was always alleged against him, he might have effectually 
 gratified his political passions, and have been justified by the whole 
 nation. But, instead of convening Congress instantly upon the oc- 
 currence, when war would have been declared against England al- 
 ihost unanimously, he prudently deferred that measure until the 
 extraordinary ebullition of the public mind had sirbsided. Main- 
 taining a v»^ise and discriminating moderation, however, as far re- 
 moved from pusillanimity as rashness, he forthwitii issued an ener- 
 getic proclamation, interdicting British armed vessels from enteriiig 
 the waters of the United States, and commanding all those therein 
 immediately to depart. In this manner, peace was judiciously pro- 
 longed, without any compromise of the national honor, and saving 
 the right to declare v.- ar, imder better auspices, on failure of an ami- 
 cable reparation of the injury. By the time Congress assembled, 
 the affair of the Chesapeake was hopefully committed to negotia- 
 tion, with the additional constraint which it imposed on the British 
 government to settle the whole subject of impressments. And the 
 depredations on our r.eutral rights by the rival belligerents, under 
 their orders in council and imperial decrees, were put together _^on 
 an equal footing, and made the occasion of an embargo operating 
 equally and impartially against both. 
 
 This was the only act of Mr. Jefferson's administration, which 
 received the avowed approbation of the federahsts as a party ; and 
 the second one in his whole political life which attained to that rare 
 distinction — his correspondence with Genet being the first. • It is 
 obvious that they were actuated by the same principle, on both oc- 
 casions, in bestowing their commendations — viz. that of subservi- 
 ence to England and inveterate enmity to France, the reverse of 
 which they had always so copiously charged upon the President. 
 Alluding to the transaction some years after, Mr. Jefferson wrote to 
 a friend : " Had I been personally hostile to England, and biased 
 in favor of either the character or views of her great antagonist, the 
 affair of the Chesapeake put war into my hand. I had only to open 
 it, and let havoc loose. But if ever I was gratified with the posses- 
 sion of power, and of the confidence of those who had entrusted me 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFRSON. 
 
 409 
 
 with it, it was on tliat occasion, when I was enabled to use both for 
 the prevention of war, towards which the torrent of passion was di- 
 rected almost irresistibly, and when not another person in the Uni- 
 ted States, less supported by authority and favor, could have resisted 
 it." Again, in writing to Elbridge Gerry, in 1812, he says: " The 
 vote of your opponents is the most honorable mark by which the 
 soundness of your conduct coald be stamped. I claim the same 
 honorable testimonial. There was but a single act of my whole 
 administration of which that party approved. That was the proc- 
 lamation on the attack of the Chesapeake. And when I found 
 they approved of it, I confess I began strongly to apprehend I had 
 done wrong, and to exclauu with the Psalmist, ' Lord, what have I 
 done that the wicked should praise me !' " 
 
 No measure adopted by the government of the United States, un- 
 der every variety of difficulty through which it has struggled, has 
 encountered so great a measure of odium, and of treasonable resist- 
 ance, as the embargo of Mr. Jefferson. It was during its continu- 
 ance, to wit, in the beginning of the 5'ear 1809, that the Essex de- 
 nomination of federalists, availing themselves of the feverish discon- 
 tents in the Eastern States to foiuent insurrection and rebellion, en- 
 gaged in the diabolical conspiracy of John Henry, secret agent of 
 the British Goverrniient, to accomplish the ancient purpose of a dis- 
 solution of the Union, by a detachment of the disafiected section, 
 and its organization into a political connection with Great Britain. 
 This was the last convulsive effort of the hydra of monarchy, An- 
 glomany, hieocracy, &.c. (fee, prolonged indeed and pertinaciously 
 sustained, until the victory of New Orleans, fortified by the restora- 
 tion of peace, smothered it in the death-bed dehberations of its party 
 at Hartford. '' I doubt," says Mr. Jefferson in 182.5, '• whether a 
 single fact, known to the world, will carry as clear conviction to it, of 
 the correctness of our knowledge cf the treasonable views of the 
 federal party of that day, as that disclosed by this, the most nefari- 
 ous and daring attempt to dissever the Union, of which the Hait- 
 ford Convention was a subsequent chapter." The knowledge of 
 this detestable and extensive conspiracy, revolted from the federal 
 party, one* of its most magnanimous leaders, whose prompt and pa- 
 triotic disclosure of it to the President, identified him in principle with 
 
 * J. Q. Adams. 
 
470 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 the republican l)ody of his fellow-citizens, and occasioned the imme- 
 diate substitution of non-intercourse with France and England, in 
 place of the general embargo. The substance of th» disclosures of 
 tliis gentleman, confirmed by the subsequent divulgation of Henry 
 himself, with its important influence on the revolution of measures 
 adopted by tlic administration, is contained in the following extract 
 of a letter to William B. Giles, written by Mr. Jefferson in 1825. 
 
 " That interview I reraeml)er well ; not indeed in the very words 
 which passed between us, but in their substance, which was of a 
 character too awful, too deeply engraved in my mind, and influenc- 
 ing too materially the course I had to pursue, ever to be forgotten. 
 Mr. Adams called on me pending the eml^argo, and while endeav- 
 ors were making to obtain its repeal. He made some apologies for 
 the call, on the ground of our not being then in the habit of confi- 
 dential communications, but that that which he had then to make, 
 involved too seriously the interest of our country not to overrule all 
 other considerations with him, and make it his duty to reveal it to 
 mvself particidarly. I assured him there was no occasion for any 
 apology for his visit ; that, on the contrary, his communications 
 would be thankfully received, and would add a confirmation the 
 more to my entire confidence in the rectitude and patriotism of his 
 conduct and principles. He spoke then of the dissatisfaction of the 
 eastern portion of oui- confederacy with tlie restraints of the embargo 
 then existing, and their restlessness under it. That there was 
 nothing which might not be attempted, to rid themselves of it. 
 That he had information of the most unquestionable certainty, that 
 certcyn citizens of the Eastern States (I think he named Massachu- 
 setts particularly) were in negotiation with agents of the British gov- 
 ernment, the object of which wfts an agreement that the New 
 England $tates should take no further part in the war then going 
 on"""; that, without formally declaring their separation from the Un- 
 ion of the States, they should withdraw from all aid and obedience 
 to them ; that their navigation and commerce should be free from 
 restraint and interruption by the British ; that they should be con- 
 sidered and treated by them as neutrals, and as such might conduct 
 themselves towards both parties ; and, at the close of the war, be at 
 liberty to rejoin the confederacy. He assured me that there was im- 
 
 * The apparent anaclironism of this expression has since been expLained by 
 Mr. T. J. Randolph, grand-son of Mi. Jefferson, who says, that in frequent con- 
 versations with his grand-father on the subject, the words " war then going on," 
 v/ere used figuratively and familiarly by him, to denote the ' war of commercial 
 restrictions,' or the war waged by the belligerents on our commerce ; and that 
 they should be so understood in the letter. The subsequent phrase, " close of 
 the war," was meant to apply to the war then apprehended by him, and by oth- 
 ers, as imminent and unavoidable. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 471 
 
 miiient danger that the convention would take place ; that the 
 temptations were such as might debauch many from their fidehty 
 to the Union ; and that, to enable its friends to make head against 
 it, the repeal of the embargo was absolutely necessary. I expressed 
 a just sense of the merit of tliis information, and of the importance 
 of the disclosure to the safety and even the salvation of our country : 
 and however reluctant I was to abandon the measure (a measure 
 which persevered in a little longer, we had subsequent and satisfac- 
 tory assurance would have elfectcd its object completely,) from that 
 moment, and influenced by that information, I saw the necessity of 
 abandoning it, and instead of effecting our purpose by this peaceful 
 weapon, we must fight it out, or break the Union. I then recom- 
 mefided to my friends to yield to the necessity of a repeal of the em- 
 bargo, and to endeavor to supply its place by the best substitute, in 
 which they could procure a general concurrence." 
 
 A further attention to history renders it still more problematical, 
 whether the paramount objection to the embargo originated in an ap- 
 prehension of its effects upon this country, or upon Great'Britain — 
 whether it was the dictate of genuine patriotism, or of sj^stematic op- 
 position to republican men and measures. The indentical descrip- 
 tion of characters who reprobated the course of administration on 
 the present occasion, advocated and applauded a similar course, un- 
 der both the antecedent Presidents. When the advocates of com- 
 mercial discrimination, in the Congress of '94, exasperated to a 
 bolder tone by a fresh infliction of maritime atrocities, were upon 
 the point of passing a non- importation law against Great Britain, 
 and a law for the sequestration of British debts, the federalists, in- 
 order to avert so heavy a calamity from their patron nation, became 
 the zealous supporters of embargo, as a powerful incentive to nego- 
 tiation, and a preventative of war. The embargo was carried by 
 the federal vote ; and Mr, Jay was armed with it as a weapon for 
 procuring a peaceable accommodation of difficulties at the Court of 
 St. James. In February, 1800, an embargo was laid, under the 
 auspices of Mr. Adams, prohibiting all intercourse between the Uni- 
 ted States, and France and her dependencies. This act was also 
 passed by a federal Congress ; and not a murmur of discontent was 
 heard among the merchants or politicians. On both these occasions 
 France was injured, and England benefitted by the measure ! nor 
 should it be forgotten that the very individuals, who were loudest in 
 denouncing the embargo of Mr. Jefferson, and most clamorous for 
 war, were the first to engage in turbulent and treasonable opposi- 
 
472 LIFE, AVRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tion to the war subsequently brought on us by accumulated aggres- 
 sions from the same quarter. The mind can scarcely conceive a 
 grosser series of pohtical inconsistencies. The present crisis was in- 
 finitely more imperious for a general embargo, than either of the 
 two former for a special one ; and the measure itself, though at- 
 tended with much individual distress, was a blessing to those very 
 individuals, on whom it pressed the heaviest. It only required them 
 to do with their property what every prudent man would have done, 
 of his own free will. As a substitute of war, it was the choice of a 
 less evil for a greater, and at the same time annoyed the belligerent 
 Powers more than could have been done by the most direct and 
 open warfare. England felt it in her manufactures, by privations 
 of the raw material, in her maritime interests, by the loss of her na- 
 val stores, and above all in the discontinuance of supplies essential 
 to her colonies. France felt it in the deprivation of all those luxu- 
 ries which she had been accustomed to receive through our neutral 
 commerce, and in the still more distressing deprivation of necessa- 
 ries for her colonies. Our commerce was the second in the world, 
 our carrying trade the very first, and had the restraint upon them 
 been sacredly observed, it could not have failed to have coerced the 
 European nations into justice. But the resistance was so great, so 
 determined, and so darmg, that it was found impracticable to enforce 
 obedience, without provoking violence and insurrection. The con- 
 sequence was, that the practical efhcacy of the embargo, as an en- 
 gine of coercion, proved greatly disproportioned to the reasonable ex- 
 pectations of its friends. But on whom shoidd this imputation bear ? 
 on the pacific author of the measure ? on its innate inaptitude and 
 inefficiency ? or on those rather who were engaged in a regular 
 course of thwarting its execution, by covert evasion under every ex- 
 tent and variety of smuggling, by open resistance, to the awful ex- 
 tremity of setting up the constituted authorities of the individual 
 States in nullification of the powers of the General government, by 
 exaggerated misrepresentations to England of its ruinous and disor- 
 ganizing effects upon this country, and by treasonable correspond- 
 ence and combination with the emissaries of Britain, for making it 
 the instrument of breaking up the foundations of the republic. 
 
 But as a preparation for war, the utility of the embargo was con- 
 fessedly inestimable. It gained a most desirable interval for our 
 merchants to call home their property ; for our seamen to retire with- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 473 
 
 in the limits of secuiity ; and for the government to place the na- 
 tion in a firm attitude of offence as well as defence. From the 
 moment of the attack on the Chesapeake, and especially after the 
 passage of the embargo, every faculty was exerted by the President 
 to be prepared for the last resort ; for he believed that the time would 
 come, when war would be preferable to a continuance of the embar- 
 go, and that the latter should never be abandoned except for the for- 
 mer, so long as the British orders in council continued unrepealed. 
 Nothing was omitted in the way of providing arms and military 
 stores, detaching the militia, raising regiments, enlarging and ecjuip- 
 ping the navy, and placing the country completely hors (Tinsulte 
 from any maritime force. During the whole time, also, negotiation 
 was plyed unremittingly, and with all the potency, which the coer- 
 cive tendency of its measures threw into the scale of our govern- 
 ment. In order to single out an enemy, since to make war on both 
 belligerents would have be'en ridiculous, instructions were given to 
 our Minister at London, exphcitly to declare, that in case Great Brit- 
 ain would rescind her hostile decrees in relation to us, our trade 
 should be opened with her and remain shut to her enemy, in case 
 he should refuse to rescind his decrees also. Authority was given 
 to our Minister at Paris to make the same overture to France, ex- 
 cept that, instead of giving a direct pledge, it was left to that govern- 
 ment to "presume a sufficient inducement with ours, on the revoca- 
 tion of their decrees, to repeal the embargo as to them, and continue 
 it against England. France accepted the offer, and revoked her de- 
 crees against the United States ; though it was not until the embar- 
 go had been removed, except as to her and Great Britain, and Mr. 
 Jefferson had retired from the government. England not only re- 
 jected the proposal, but declared by a solemn proclamation of her 
 Prince Regent, that she would not rescind her orders even as to us, 
 until those of France should be annulled as to the lohole world. 
 The United States thereupon declared war, adding the old account 
 of impressments to the new account of commercial despotisms, and 
 the avowed determination to pursue them. In this war, it was the 
 glory of the United States to consummate the work of independence, 
 by achieving the emancipation of the ocean, bearing off the palm of 
 the contest with the overshadowing eclat of the battle of Orleans. 
 
 Among the distinguishing ornaments of the administrative policy 
 of Mr. Jefferson, none was more conspicuous, none more congenial 
 
 41 
 
474 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 to the distinctive nature of republicanism, than his scrupulous ad- 
 hesion to the constitutional in\dolability of the freedom of speech, 
 freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. The various, bold, 
 and arbitrary entrenchments upon these sacred rights, under the 
 previous dynasties, in silencing by intimidation every expression of 
 disapprobation a,t the government authorities ; in characterizing 
 with the legal appellation of seditious, incurring the penalties of a 
 high misdemeanor, every printed exposition of their ruinous princi- 
 ples and practices ; and in artfully confounding republicanism with 
 Anti-Christ, to arouse, and sharpen, and concentrate upon the two- 
 fold victim, the tremendous visitations of the priesthood ; these 
 despotic weapons, with other expedients and artifices, constituted a 
 material part of the machinery employed by the terrorists of that 
 day, for beating down the votaries of the real principles of the consti- 
 tution, — the firm preservers of the 1 iberties of the revolution . A gener- 
 al disband ment from the government, of these artifixial supports, suc- 
 ceeded the elevation of Mr. Jefferson ; and a system of rule entirely 
 the reverse in all points, was rigorously substituted. Public opinion 
 constituted its sole foundation, and private morality its invariable 
 guide. The utmost latitude of discussion was not only tolerated, 
 but invited and protected, as a fundamental ingredient in the com- 
 position of republican government, indispensable to preserve it from 
 deterioration. The celebrated traveller. Baron Humboldt, calhng 
 on the President one day, was received into his cabinet. On tak- 
 ing up one of the public journals which lay upon the table, he was 
 shocked to ' find its columns teeming with the most wanton abuse 
 and licentious calumnies of the President. He threw it down with 
 indignation, exclaiming, " Why do you not have the fellow hung 
 who dares to write these abominable lies ?" The President smiled 
 at the warmth of the Baron, and replied — " What ! hang the guar- 
 dians of the public morals ? No sir, — rather would I protect the 
 spirit of freedom which dictates even that degree of abuse. Put 
 that paper into your pocket, my good friend, carry it with you to 
 Europe, and when you hear any one doubt the reaUty of American 
 freedom^ show them that paper, and tell them where you found it." 
 " Butis it not shocking that virtuous characters should be defamed ?" 
 replied the Baron. " Let their actions refute such hbels. Believe 
 mc," continued the President, " virtue is not long darkened by the 
 clouds of calumny ; and the temporary pain which it causes is in- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. " 475 
 
 finite! 3' ovevweighed by the safety it iasuves against- degeneracy in 
 the principles and conduct of pubUc functionaries. When a man 
 assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public prop- 
 erty."* 
 
 In pursuance of this principle, he discharged, immediately on 
 coming into office, all those who were suffering persecution for 
 opinion's sake under the operation of the Sedition Law. He inter- 
 posed the executive prerogative in every instance, by ordering the 
 prosecutions to be arrested at the threshold ; or, if judgment and ex- 
 ecution had passed, by remitting the fines of the sufferers, and re- 
 leasing them from imprisonment. The grounds on which he rest- 
 ed his right to act in these cases, are forcibly stated in answer to a 
 correspondent m Massachusetts, who questioned the constitutionali- 
 ty of his interference. 
 
 "But another fact is, that I 'liberated a wretch who was sufier- 
 ing for a libel against Mr. Adams.' I do not know who was the 
 particular wretch alluded to ; but I discharged every person under 
 punishment or prosecution under the sedition law, because I consid- 
 ered, and now consider, that law to be a nullity, as absolute and 
 as palpable as if Congress had ordered us to fall down and worship 
 a golden image ; and that it was as much my duty to arrest its ex- 
 ecution in every stage, as it would have been to have rescued from 
 the fiery furnace those who should have been cast into it for refus- 
 ing to worship the image. It was accordingly done in every in- 
 stance, without asking what the oflenders had done, or against 
 whom they had offended, but whether the pains they were suffer- 
 ing were inflicted under the pretended sedition law. It was certain- 
 ly possible that my motives for contributing to the rehef of Callen- 
 dar, and liberating sufferers under the sedition law, might have 
 been to protect, encourage, and reward slander ; but they may also 
 have been those which inspire ordinary charities to objects of dis- 
 tress, meritorious or not, or the obligation of an oath to protect the 
 constitution, violated by an unauthorized act of Congress. Which 
 of these were my motives, must be decided by a regard to the gen- 
 eral tenor of my hfe. On this I am not afraid to appeal to" the na- 
 tion at large, to posterity, and still less to that Being who sees him- 
 self our motives, who will judge us from his own knowledge of 
 them, and not on the testimony of Porcupine or Fenno." 
 
 The President not only liberated all those under persecution by 
 his enemies, but refused to permit a single prosecution in retahation, 
 even in the State courts, where they might have been rightfully 
 
 * Winter in Washington. 
 
■l/e LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 sustained on common law principles. This was at a time, too, 
 when all the mounds of truth, reason and decency, were prostrated 
 before the torrents of private and public vituperation, — when, during 
 nearly the whole administration, the treasonable doctrine of a dis- 
 solution of the Union was openly advocated in the gazettes, and 
 preached from the pulpit, with such incendiary vehemence and per- 
 tinacity, as imperiously demanded, in the opinion of many republi- 
 cans even, a re-enactment and rigorous execution of the Sedition 
 Law, to save the republic. Availing themselves of this state of 
 things, the federal Judges in Connecticut made an attempt to se- 
 duce the administration into an acknowledgement of a common 
 law jurisdiction in the federal court over libels. They instigated 
 prosecutions in a multitude of instances, and in one particularly, 
 went so far as actually to institute proceedings against a clergyman, 
 for calunmies uttered against the Chief Magistrate from the pulpit. 
 On the first intelligence of the prosecution, the President wrote to Mr. 
 Granger, then in Connecticut, stating ' that he had laid it down as 
 a law to himself, to take no notice of the thousand calumnies issued 
 against him, but to trust his character to his own conduct, and the 
 good sense and candor of his fellow citizens ; that he had found no 
 reason to be dissatisfied with that course, and was unwilling it should 
 be violated by others as to any matter concerning himself;' and 
 therefore requested him to desire the district attorney to dismiss the 
 prosecution. Some time after, hearing of subpoenas being served 
 on several gentlemen, as witnesses to attend the trial, he again 
 wrote to require an immediate dismission of the prosecution. The 
 answer of Mr. Huntington, the district attorney, was, that the pro- 
 ceeding had been instituted, and the subpoenas issued by the de- 
 fendant, without his knowledge ; that it had been his intention, be- 
 fore receiving the President's directions, to dismiss all the prosecu- 
 tions at the first opening of the court, and to accompany it with an 
 avowal of his opinion that they could not be maintained, because the 
 federal court possessed no jurisdiction over libels. This was accord- 
 ingly done ; and the clergyman expressed his gratification at the 
 discontinuance of the prosecution, accompanied by a disavowal of 
 the alleged libel. The attorney acted on the same ground on which 
 the President had, in the cases instituted under the preceding ad- 
 ministration ; to wit, ' that the Sedition Law, being in the face of 
 the constitution, was an absolute nuUity, and that his obligation to 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 477 
 
 execute what was law, involved that of not suffering rights secured 
 by valid laws, to be prostrated by what was no law.' 
 
 On the subject of religion, it was the unalterable policy of the 
 President to maintain the freedom of thought and speech in all the 
 latitude of which the human mind is susceptible, and as justly cir- 
 cumscribable by no human authority ; to recognize, in his official 
 capacity, no preference for the opinion of one man over that of an- 
 other, whether he believed iii one God, or twenty, or none at all ; 
 and to discountenance, by all the means in his power, every tendeii 
 cy to predominance and persecution in any sect, by proscription of 
 the least degree, even in public opinion. The dogmas of a partic- 
 ular faith were no longer made a stalking-horse of political ambi- 
 don, or a buttress of support to the authorities in power. Equal 
 and universal toleration was the golden motto of the new order of 
 things. The prospect of introducing a hierarchy in the United 
 States, which had been a favorite idea with the royalists and reli- 
 gionists, from the establishment of the government, may be said to 
 have received its annihilation, on the republican restoration in 1 800. 
 Rapid approaches to such an establishment had evidently been 
 made, before that epoch, and indirectly, perhaps ignorantly, coun- 
 tenanced by the administration, in the general tendency of meas- 
 ures pursued by the supreme functionaries. The constant intro- 
 duction of politics into the pulpits of the dominant order, in exag- 
 gerated commendation of the existing dynasty, and in equal defam- 
 ation of the characters and principles of the opposition ; the open 
 avowal of the doctrine in the federal gazettes, that it was the ' sa- 
 cred duty of clergymen to intermeddle in the concerns of the tem- 
 poral power ;' and the assumption of authority by the General gov- 
 ernment to prescribe religious exercises for the nation, were not 
 among the least of the advances to a meretricious union of Church 
 and State. Among the last struggles of the exploded oligarchy, 
 was the appointment by the President of a grand National Fast, to 
 be observed by all the States, and by all the people in each State. 
 This was undoubtedly the darkest day for Christianity that the 
 United States ever saw. The sacerdotal character was completely 
 merged in that of the political zealot. The pulpit resounded with 
 inflammatory denunciations of infidel democracy, French illumin- 
 ism, &c. &c., and with overstrained eulogiums of the legitimacy and 
 strait-laced sanctity of the ascendant party. Many now living may 
 
 41* 
 
478 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 recollect the degree of proscription, even to the deprivation of pubUc 
 office, which was visited on some of those who refused to observe 
 the unconstitutional fast of the President. 
 
 It will ever be accounted one of the chief glories of Mr. Jefferson's 
 succession, that he arrested the destructive career of these heresies ; 
 and hnpressed upon the General government the same broad stamp 
 of religious freedom and liberality, which he had formerly done on 
 the special governments, first of Virginia, and thence by example, of 
 the other States of the Union, in beautiful rotation. In doing this, 
 he had to encounter all those fierce and intractable prejudices, which 
 drew upon his dissolution of Church and State in Virginia, the ter- 
 lible and lasting resentments of the privileged order. Such eviden- 
 ces are indeed rare, of the superiority of principle to the allurements 
 of power and popularity. He not only discarded the aid of the 
 Church, by disclaiming all right of interference in spiritual concerns, 
 but dared to array the Church against him, by denying all right in 
 the clergy to participate in temporal concerns. In truth, the hfe of 
 Mr. Jeflerson is a continued history of unremitting labors in the glo- 
 rious -work of achieving the emancipation of the conscience ; in con 
 signing the bigotry of Protestantism to the tomb of the inquisition of 
 Romanism, and the Juggernauts of Paganism ; in liberahzing the 
 sentiments of opposing sectaries, and protecting the rights of the 
 weaker against the persecutions of the stronger ; in liberating from 
 the fetters of priestcraft, from the gloomy and ferocious mysteries of 
 fanaticism, and the phantasies of superstition, " the most sublime, 
 the most benevolent, yet most perverted system that ever shone on 
 man ;" in advancing progressively, with the progress of light and 
 liberty in the secular, the reformation of speculative opinions in the 
 religious world, and in drawing an impassable line of separation 
 between the two ; in inculcating a " firm adherence to justice, 
 moderation, temperance, christian forbearance, brotherly love and 
 charity." It is chiefly by his labors that the United States are pla- 
 ced centuries in advance of every other nation on the globe, in the 
 possession of the rights of conscience ; and to him, more than to 
 any other individual, is the world at large indebted for the amount 
 of religious liberty which it enjoys. 
 
 In reply to the solicitation of a very respectable clergyman, for the 
 appointment of a National Fast, in conformity to the practice of his 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. i79 
 
 predecessors, he assigns the reasons of his departure from their ex- 
 ample, in measured terms. 
 
 " I consider the government of the United States as interdicted 
 by the constitution from intermeddUng with rehgious institutions, 
 their doctrines, disciphne, or exercises. This results not only from 
 the provision that no law shall be made respecting the estabhsh- 
 ment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves 
 to the States the powers not delegated to the United States. Cer- 
 tainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume au- 
 thority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the General 
 government. It must then rest with the States, as far as it can be 
 in any human authority. But it is only proposed that I should re- 
 co7?wiend, not prescribe, a day of fasting and prayer. That is, that 
 I should indirectly assume to the United States an authority over 
 religious exercises, which the constitution has directly precluded 
 them from. It must be meant, too, that this reconmiendation is to 
 carry some authority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those 
 w^ho disregard it ; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some 
 degree of proscription, perhaps in public opinion. And does the 
 change in the nature of the penalty make the recommendation less 
 a laiv of conduct for those to whom it is directed? I do not believe 
 it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct 
 its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines ; nor of the religious soci- 
 eties, that the General government should be invested with the pow- 
 er of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fast- 
 ing and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of 
 discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for it- 
 self the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, 
 according to their own particular tenets ; and this right can never 
 be safer tlian in theii- own hands, where the constitution has depos- 
 ited it. 
 
 " I am aware that the practice of my predecessors may be quoted. 
 But I have ever believed, that the example of State executives led 
 to the assumption of that authority by the General government, 
 without due examination, which would have discovered that what 
 might be a right in a State government, was a violation of that 
 right when assumed by another. Be this as it may, every one 
 must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells 
 me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the 
 United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of 
 his constituents." 
 
 Many credulous persons were overwhelmed with feverish appre- 
 hensions of the doleful consequences to rehgion, which would result 
 from the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to power. They really believ- 
 ed in the gossipping forebodings of the politico-rehgious mounte- 
 
480 LtFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 banks of the day, that he would introduce a wild system of govern- 
 ment, which sliould overthrow all the temples of devotion, burn all 
 the Bibles in the land, abolish the institution of the Sabbath, 
 and bring all the clergy to the guillotine. Humorous legends enliv- 
 en the traditionary annals of many a country village in New Eng- 
 land, of sundry old women being so haunted and tormented with 
 these spectres, as to have hid their bibles and prayer-books, with 
 most scrupulous and reverential precaution against the awful con- 
 flaoration in expectancy. Such ideas were in reality quite preva- 
 lent at that period, and were so artfully impressed on the multitude 
 by ' those who had mounted themselves on their fears,' as to influ- 
 ence a respectable portion of the elective population, in the less free- 
 minded and enlightened districts of the Union. How this seven-fold 
 refinement of Gothic delusion was dissipated by the event, it is al- 
 most needless to narrate. None of the sinister dreams and vaga- 
 ries of the political soothsayers, were realized. Under the mild and 
 pacific sway of Jefferson, religion flourished infinitely ; not indeed, 
 wrapped in the armour of spurious and artificial terrors, but in all 
 the cogency of its native loveliness, embracing under its benignant 
 and comprehensive mantle, all sects and denominations without 
 partiality. It is an historical fact, that religion prevailed more ex- 
 tensively, and with a greater degree of purity, because more free 
 from extraneous constraints and adulterations, than during any 
 former period of the government. The clergy were respected ; but 
 in proportion only as they respected the sacred character of their 
 office, and became sensible of their dependance for reputation and 
 influence, upon the rectitude of their conduct — not upon the pomp, 
 power, and patronage of the government. The institution of the 
 Sabbath was mercifully permitted to continue as before ; and if the 
 Bibles did not remain as securely on their shelves, and the Meeting- 
 houses on their foundations, it was because the former were in 
 greater requisition for devotional exercises, and the latter were com- 
 pelled to give place to more extensive and magnificent edifices, to 
 accommodate the increasing throngs of a tax-relieved, prosperous, 
 grateful and rejoicing people. With regard to the personal piety of 
 the President, if external observances are of any account, it is well 
 known that he was a constant and exemplary attendant upon public 
 worship ; hberal in contributions to the support of the simple, un- 
 dogmatized religion of Jesus ; but frowning and inflexible on all secta- 
 
OF THOMAS? JEFFERSON. 
 
 481 
 
 rian, aggrandizing, or visionary projects It is stated with much- con- 
 fidence by a living^chronicle* of those times, whose personal intima- 
 cy with the President enabled him to speak with authority on the 
 subject, that ' he contributed to found more temples for religion and 
 education than any other man of that age.' 
 
 The minor traits of Mr. Jefferson's administration open a range 
 of topics, on which the historian might dwell and expatiate with ever- 
 renewing delight His simplicity was only equalled by his econo- 
 my, of which he presented an example, in the extinguishment of 
 more than thirty-three millions of the public debt, which is unparal- 
 leled in any previous history of the world. The diplomatic agents 
 of foreign governments, on their introduction to him, were often 
 embarrassed, and sometimes mortified, at the entire absence of eti 
 quette with which they were received ; but the awkwardness of the 
 moment was soon lost in admiration of a character, and a scene, so 
 congenial to the spirit of republican government. His arrivals at 
 the Seat of Government, and departures therefrom, were so studious- 
 ly timed and conducted, as to be unobserved and unattended. His 
 inflexibility upon this point, so variant from the practice of his pred- 
 ecessors, could never be overcome ; and he was finally permitted to 
 pursue his own course, undisturbed by any manifestations of popu- 
 lar feeling. His uniform mode of riding was on horseback, which 
 was daily, and always unattended. In one of these solitary excur- 
 sions, while passing a stream of water, he was accosted by a feeble 
 l^eggar, who implored his assistance to transport him and his bag- 
 gage. He immediately mounted the beggar behind him, and car- 
 ried him over ; on perceiving he had neglected his wallet, he as 
 good humoredly recrossed the stream and brought it over to him. 
 
 Although repeatedly and warmly solicited by liis friends to make 
 a tour to the North, he never could reconcile it to his obhgations of 
 propriety as a Chief Magistrate. In a private answer to Governor 
 Sullivan of Massachusetts, on the subject, he wrote : '• The course 
 of hfe which General Washington had run, civil and mihtary, the 
 services he had rendered, and the space he therefore occupied in the 
 affections of his fellow citizens, tgike from his examples the weiglit of 
 precedents for others, because no others can arrogate to themselves 
 tlie claims which he had on the public homage. To myself, therc- 
 
 ■^■S.H. Smith. 
 
482 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 fore, it comes as a new question, to be viewed under all the phase? 
 it may present. I confess, that I am not reconciled to the idea of a 
 Chief Magistrate parading himself through the several States as an 
 object of public gaze, and in quest of an applause, which, to be val- 
 uable, should be purely voluntary. I had rather acquire silent good 
 will by a faithful discharge of my duties, than owe expressions of it 
 to ray putting myself in the way of receiving them." 
 
 He cari'ied his ideas of simplicity to such an extent as to deprecate 
 the size of the house allotted to the Chief Magistrate. He thought 
 it should have been turned into a Universit)^ Nor was it from any 
 sordidness of disposition, any constitutional insensibihty to the 
 charms of elegance, that his extraordinary frugality, simplicity, and 
 plainness proceeded ; l)ut purely from an exquisite sense of his ob- 
 ligations as a public man, and a determination to leave an exam- 
 ple which should long counteract the natural tendency of nations to 
 luxury, dissipation and extravagance. Had it been otherwise, 
 he might with less contestable propriety, have deprecated the size 
 and magnificence of his own Monticello, which, in the various 
 buildings and rebuildings it underwent at his hands, to suit the 
 progress of his taste in the arts, is believed to have cost more than 
 the mansion of the Chief Magistrate. In his j^rivate expenditures, 
 he was indeed liberal, to a fault. Humane and compassionate to- 
 wards his fellow man, on a scale of benevolence which comprehend- 
 ed every distinction of color and condition, no feasible object of phi- 
 lanthropy was probably ever presented to him, which he did not en- 
 courage b}' the most generous assistance. But in the immediate 
 circle of his friends, to whom, from the warmth of his feelings, he 
 was ever devoted, his liberality appeared to know no limits. In the 
 profusion of expensive presents which he lavished upon them, in 
 the extensive accommodations of money with which he succored 
 them under embarrassment, in the exuberant hospitality with 
 which he entertained strangers and visitors from every country, 
 and in his ordinary habits of living, which embraced all the enjoy- 
 ments of a refined taste, such evidences of a private munificence 
 appeared, as contrasted wonderfully with his frugality and simplici- 
 ty as a public man. 
 
 One other trait of Mr. Jefferson, in the discharge of his official du- 
 ties, deserves a conspicuous mention,— to wit, his disinterestedness. 
 The distinguishable eminence of this quality is evidenced by the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 483 
 
 fact that in all the splendid stations which he occupied, he accumu- 
 lated nothing ; but retired from each of them much poorer than he 
 entered, and from the last and greatest station, " with hands," to 
 use his own expression, " as clean as they were empty," — indeed, on 
 the very verge of bankruptcy. While, in the short interval of eight 
 years, he had saved to his country millions 'and millions of dollars, 
 enough to make her rich and free, who was before poor and op- 
 pressed with taxation ; he, of the immense fortune with which he set 
 out in life, had added nothing, and lost almost every thing. If any 
 further testimony were wanting on this brilliant theme, it might be 
 drawn from the fact of his having refrained from appointing a sin- 
 gle relation to office. This was not only true of him, while Presi- 
 dent, but in every pubhc station which he j&Ued. Writing to a friend 
 in 1824, he says: "In the course of the trusts I have exercised 
 through hfe with powers of appointment, I can say with truth, and 
 with unspeakable comfort, that I never did appoint a relation to of- 
 fice, and that merely because I never saw the case in which some 
 one did not offer, or occur, better qualified." Nor, in the multiplied 
 removals and replacements which he was compelled to make, did he 
 eject a jiersonal eneviy, ov appoint vl jtersonal friend. He felt it 
 his duty to observe these rules, for reasons expressed in answer to an 
 application for office by a relative : "That my constituents may be 
 satisfied, that, in selecting persons for the management of their af- 
 fairs, I am influenced by neither personal nor family interests, 
 and especially, that the field of public office will not be perverted by 
 me into a family property. On this subject, I had the benefit of use- 
 ful lessons from my predecessors, had I needed them, marking what 
 was to be imitated and what avoided. But, in truth, the nature of 
 our government is lesson enough. Its energy depending mainly on 
 the confidence of the people in their Chief Magistrate, makes it his 
 duty to spare nothing which can strengthen him with that confi- 
 dence." 
 
 In the crowd of official (Occupations which devolve on the Exec- 
 utive Magistrate, Mr. Jefferson found time to accomplish a succes- 
 sion of private labors and enterprises, which would have been 
 enough of themselves, to have exhausted the ordinary measure of 
 application and talent. A simple enumeration of the topics on 
 which his leisure moments were employed, will suffice to exhibit 
 the extent of his voluntary efforts for the improvement and happi- 
 
484 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ness of the nation. Regular Essays abound in his conespondence 
 during this period, on Physics, Law, and Medicine ; on Natural His- 
 tory, particularly as connected Avith the aborigines of America ; on 
 maxims for ihe regulation and improvement of our Moral Conduct, 
 addressed to young men ; on Agriculture, Navigation, and Manu- 
 factures ; on Politics and Political Parties, Science, History and Re- 
 ligion. In some of those intervals when he could justifiably ab- 
 stract himself from the public affairs, his meditations turned upon 
 the subject of Christianity. He had some years before promised 
 his views of the Christian religion to Dr. Rush, with whom, and 
 with Dr. Priestly, he was in habits of harmonious and delightful in- 
 tercommunication on the subject. The more he reflected upon it, 
 the more, he confessed, ' it expanded beyond the measure of either 
 his time or information.' But he availed himself of a day or two, 
 while on the road to Monticello, in 1803, to digest in his mind a re- 
 markably comprehensive outline, entitled "A Syllabus of an estimate 
 of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus, compared with those of others." 
 This he afterwards wrote out and forwarded to Dr. Rush, in dis- 
 charge of his promise, but under a strict injunction of secrecy, to 
 avoid the torture of seeing it " disembowelled by the Aruspices of 
 Modern Paganism." It embraced a comparative view of the Eth- 
 ics of Christianity with those of Judaism, and of ancient Philosophy 
 under its most esteemed authors ; particularly Pythagoras, Socrates, 
 Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, Antoninus. The result was, 
 such a development of the immeasurable superiority of the doc- 
 trines of Christianity, that he declared ' its Author had presented 
 to the world a system of morals, which, if filled up in the style and 
 spirit of the rich fragments he has left us, would be the most perfect 
 and sublime that has ever been taught by man.' Space can only 
 be spared for the conclusions he arrived at, which were all on the 
 side of Christianity. " They are the result," says he, " of a life of 
 inquiry and reflection, and very different frona that anti-Christian 
 system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions." 
 The question of the Divinity, or Inspiration of Christ, being foreign 
 to his purpose, did not enter into the estimate. 
 
 "1. He [Jesus] corrected the Deism of the Jews, confirming them 
 in their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions of 
 his attributes and government. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 485 
 
 • 2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were 
 more pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philoso- 
 phers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews ; and they went 
 far beyond both in inculcating universal philanthropy, not only to 
 kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all man- 
 kind, gathering all into one family, under the bonds of love, charity, 
 peace, common wants, and cominon aids. A development of this 
 head will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of .Tesus over 
 all others. 
 
 •' 3. The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid 
 liold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart of 
 man ; erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and puri- 
 fied the waters at the fountain head. 
 
 " 4. He taught, emphatically, the doctrine of a future state, which 
 was either doubted, or disbelieved by the Jews ; and wielded it with 
 efficacy, as an important incentive, supplementary to the other mo- 
 lives to moral conduct." 
 
 The President was in habits at frequent communication with the 
 fraternity of literary men spread over the whole earth ; and with vari- 
 ous societies in Europe, instituted for benevolent or useful purposes. — 
 particularly the Agricultural Society of Paris, and the Board of Agri- 
 culture of London, of both of which he was a member. He was in- 
 defatigable in endeavoring to obtain the useful discoveries of these 
 Societies, as they occurred, and in communicating to them, in re- 
 turn, those of the western hemisphere. He imported from France, 
 at his own expense, two parcels of Merino sheep, among the first intro- 
 duced into this country, with a variety of new inventions in the ag- 
 ricultural and mechanic arts, and new articles of culture, which have 
 since become of general use in the United States. He transmitted 
 to the Society of Paris, in return, several tierces of South Carolina 
 rice, for cultivation in France ; and to the Board of Agriculture of 
 London, several barrels of the genuine May wheat, of Virginia. 
 Some of these exportations happened during the restraints of the 
 embargo, and, on its getting into the newspapers, excited a furiou? 
 and most ridiculous uproar against the President. His correspond 
 ence with the eminent philanthropists of Europe, particularly on 
 the subject of Vaccination, at the epoch of the first intelligence of 
 that momentous discovery ; his persevering efiforts for introducing 
 it into this country, against the weight of scepticism and ridicule 
 which it encountered ; and his subsequent correspondence with Dr. 
 
 Waterhouse and others, mingled with eltperimental exertions for 
 
 42 
 
486 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 establishing and propagating its efficacy, are among the standing 
 monuments of his indefetigableness in the general cause of human- 
 ity and usefulness, while at the head of the nation. Nor would it 
 be justice to omit distinguishing among these disinterested services, 
 his eloquent correspondence with the Emperor Alexander, who 
 held the bcilance of power in Europe, for the purpose of engaging 
 his intercession with the belhgerent nations, to procure a restoration 
 and liberalization of neutral rights, under the violations of which 
 America was then laboring so critically. The following extract 
 from one of his communications to the Emperor, written in the 
 spring of 1806, in view of a general pacification then expected to 
 be near, displays the ardor of his private endeavours, in aid of the 
 public operations, to meliorate the condition of neutral nations. 
 
 "It will be among the latest and most soothing comforts of my 
 life, to have seen advanced to the government of so extensive a 
 portion of the earth, and at so early a period of his life, a sovereign, 
 whose ruling passion is the advancement of the happiness and pros- 
 perity of his people ; and not of his own people only, but who can 
 extend his eye and his good will to a distant and infant nation^ un- 
 offending in its course, unambitious in its views. 
 
 " The events of Europe come to us so late, and so suspiciously, 
 that ol^servations on them would certainly be stale, and possibly 
 wide of their actual state. From their general aspect, however, I 
 collect that your Majesty's interposition in them has been disinter- 
 ested and generous, and having in view only the general good of 
 the great European family. When you shall proceed to the pacifi- 
 cation which is to reestp.blish peace and commerce, the same dis- 
 positions of mind will lead you to think of the general intercourse 
 of nations, and to make that provision for its future maintenance, 
 which in times past, it has so much needed. The northern nations 
 of Europe, at the head of which your Majesty is distinguished, are 
 habitually peaceable. The United States of America, like them, 
 are attached to peace. We have then with tliem a common interest 
 in the neutral rights. Every nation, indeed, on the continent of 
 Europe, belligerent as well as neutral, is interested in maintaining 
 these rights, in liberalizing them progressively with the progress of 
 .science and refinement of morality, and in relieving them from re- 
 strictions which the extension of the arts has long since rendered 
 unreasonable and vexatious. 
 
 " Two personages in Europe, of which your Majesty is one, have 
 it in their power, at the approaching pacification, to render eminent 
 service to nations in general, by incorporating into the act of pacifi- 
 ♦•/ation, a correct definition of the rights of neutrals on the high seas. 
 rSuch a definition, declared by all the powers lately or still belliger- 
 
'of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 487 
 
 ent. woukl give to those rights a precision and notoriety, and cover 
 them with an authority, which would protect them in an important 
 degree against future violation ; and should any further sanction be 
 necessary, that of an exclusion of the violating nation from com- 
 mercial intercourse with all the others, would be preferred to war, 
 as more analogous to the oirence, more easy and hkeiy to be execu 
 ted with good faith. The essential articles of these rights, too, are 
 so few and simple as easily to be defined. 
 
 '• Having taken no part in the past or existing troubles of Europe, 
 we have no pait to act in its pacification. But as principles may 
 then be settled in which we have a deep interest, it is a great happi- 
 ness for us that they are placed under the protection of an umpire, 
 who, looking beyond the narrow bounds of an individual nation, 
 will take under the cover of his equity the rights of the absent and 
 unrepresented. It is only by a happy concurrence of good charac- 
 ters and good occasions, that a step can now and then be taken to 
 advance the well being of nations. If the present occasion be good, 
 I am sure your Majesty's character will not be wanting to avail the 
 world of it. By monuments of such good offices may your life be- 
 come an epoch in the history of the condition of man, and may He 
 . who called it into being for the good of the human family, give it 
 length of days and success, and have it always in his holy keeping." 
 
 The plan of colonizing the free people of color, in some place re- 
 mote ficm the United States, originated with Mr. Jefferson, at an 
 early period ; and on coming into the office of President, he prose- 
 cuted the enteiprise with renewed energy. A correspondence was 
 opened between him and Mr. Monroe, then Governor of Virginia ; 
 and the first formal proceeding on the subject was made in the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature, soon after, to wit, about the year 1803. The 
 purpose of his correspondence with Mr. Monroe, is explained in a 
 letter from him about ten years afterwards, and published in the 
 first annual report of the Colonization Society. He proposed to gain 
 admittance to the free people of color, into the establishment at 
 Sierra Leone, which then belonged to a private company in Eng- 
 land ; or, in failure of that, to procure a situation in some of the 
 Portuguese settlements in South America. He wrote to Mr. King, 
 then our Minister in London, to apply to the Sierra Leone Compa- 
 ny. The application was made, but without success, on the ground 
 that the Company was about to dissolve, and reUnquish its posses- 
 sions to the government. An attempt to negotiate with the Portu- 
 guese Governor, Avas equally abortive, which suspended all active 
 measures for a time. But the enterprise was kept ahve by Mr. Jef- 
 
iS8 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ferson, who, by his impressive admonitions of its importance, held 
 the Legislature of Virginia firm to its purpose. The subject was 
 from time to time discussed, till in the year 1816 a formal resolu- 
 tion was passed almost unanimously, being but a repetition of cer- 
 tain resolutions which had been adopted in secret session at three 
 distinct antecedent periods. It was truly the feeling and voice of 
 Virginia, which was followed by the States of Maryland, Tennes- 
 see and Georgia. Colonization societies were then for the first 
 time formed.* 
 
 In the catalogue of unoflicial services, the improvements and eni- 
 heilishments which he showered upon the National Metropolis, are 
 not among the least engaging. Almost every thing that is beauti- 
 ful in the artificial scenery of Washington, is due to the taste and 
 industry of Mr. Jefferson, He planted its walks with trees, and 
 strewed its gardens with flowers. He was rarely seen returning 
 from his daily excursions on horseback, without bringing some 
 branch of tree, or shrub, or bunch of flowers, for the embellishment 
 of the infant Capital. He was familiar with every tree and plant- 
 from the oak of the forest, to the meanest flower of the valley. The 
 willow-oak was among his favoiite trees; and he viJ'as often seen 
 standing on his horse gathering the acorns from this tree. Ke had 
 it in view to raise a nursery of tiietii, which, when large enough to 
 give shade, should be made to adorn the walks of all the avenues 
 in the city. In the mean time, he planted them with the Lombar- 
 dy poplar, being of the most sudden growth, contented that, though 
 he could not enjoy their shade, his successors would. Those who 
 have stood on the western portico of the Capitol, and looked down 
 the long avenue of a mile in length to the President's house, have 
 been struck with the beautiful colonnade of trees which adorns the 
 whole distance, on either side. These were all planted under the 
 direction of Mr. Jefferson, who often joined in the task with his own 
 hands. He always lamented the spirit of extermination which had 
 swept off the noble forest trees that overspread Capitol Hill, extend- 
 ing down to the banks of the Tiber, and the shores of the Potomac. 
 He meant to have converted the grounds into extensive parks and 
 gardens. " The loss is irreparable," said he to an European traveller. 
 " n9r can the evil be prevented. When I have seen such depreda- 
 
 * N. A, Review, vol. 18, page 41, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 489 
 
 tions, I have wished for a moment to be a despot, that, in the posses- 
 sion of absoUite power, I might enforce the preservation of these val- 
 uable groves. Washington might have boasted one of the noblest 
 parks, and most beautiful malls, attached to any city in the world." 
 
 Such are a few of the private efforts and enterprises which Mr. 
 Jefferson intermingled in the discharge of his public avocations. 
 They were performed, too, without any dereliction of the sweets of 
 social intercourse, or of literary occupation, which ever constituted 
 the predominant passions of his soul. A regular portion of every 
 day was devoted to the acquisition of science ; and the most liberal 
 portions, to the reception of company, whom he entertained, not 
 with the constrained formality inspired by a mere sense of duty, 
 but with a cordiality, amenity, and exhilaration, which betokened 
 the highest gratification. The brilliancy of his diversified fame 
 made Washington the peculiar attraction of strangers, of every de- 
 scription and country, during his administration ; which, with the 
 irrepressible enthusiasm of partisans and political admirers, wlio 
 thronged to pay him their homage, subjected him to extraordinary 
 interruptions on the score of company. The facility with which he 
 discharged these draughts upon his attention, amidst the complica- 
 tion of public and necessary duties, was wont to excite the astonish- 
 ment of those who visited him. The impression produced by his 
 notice of a remark of a visiter, dropped in the freedom of conver- 
 sation, and expressive of surprise at his lacing able to transact the 
 public business, amidst such numerous interruptions, is well remem- 
 bered to this day by those who heard it. "Sir," said Mr. Jefferson, 
 "I have made it a rule, since I have been in public life, never to let 
 the sun rise before me, and, before I breakfasted, to transact all the 
 business called for by the day." Much of the ease and fidelity with 
 which he acquitted himself, under such an accumulation of engage- 
 ments, is ascribable to his extraordinary industry and versatility of 
 practical talent, but more, perhaps, to system, and a methodical ar- 
 rangement of time. So exact were his habits of order, that, in a 
 cabinet overflowing with papers, every one was so labelled and ar- 
 ranged, as to be capable of access in a moment. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had long contemplated with eagerness the ap- 
 proach of the happy day, which was to relieve him from the "dis- 
 tressing burthen of power," and restore him to the enjoyment of his 
 
 family, his books, and his farm. Soon after the commencement of 
 
 42* 
 
490' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPirHONS 
 
 iiis second teim, he had requested his fellow citizens to think of a 
 successor for him, to whom he declared 'he should deliver the pub- 
 lic concerns with greater joy than he received them.' Mr. Madison 
 was evidently his first choice, Mr. Monroe his second ; but as the 
 public sentiment appeared at first to show some symptoms of vaccil- 
 lation between them, he abstained from any agency in deciding its 
 final direction ; not only from a principle of duty, but from a desire 
 to carry into his retirement the equal cordiality of those, whom he 
 fondly cho.racterized as "two principal pillars of his happiness." 
 His wishes were successively ratified by the nation, in its successive 
 choices ; and their respective administrations, particularly that of 
 Mr. Madison, were so nicely conformable to his own, in principle 
 and in spirit, that they seemed but a continuation of power in the 
 same hands. No higher eulogy could be affixed to the origination 
 of a course of administrative policy, than that its authority should 
 have been deemed so oracular with the nation, as to have made its 
 strict observance by all succeeding Presidents, not only essential to 
 their popularity, but absolutely conditional to their continuance be- 
 yond the four year's term of probation . When a distinguished French 
 citizen, who had visited our country under the golden sway of this 
 poMcy, returned to France, one of the first questions which Bonaparte 
 asked him, was, ' What kind of a government is that of the United 
 States V 'It is one, Sir,' he replied, 'which you can neither feel nor 
 see.'' The First Consul asked no more questions ; feeling, that such 
 a panegyric on this government, was the severest satire on his. 
 
 '^fhe voice of the nation, under the influence of, a misguided partial- 
 ity, was strong and importunate for a re election of him who had 
 developed the genius of their government so truly, and modelled its 
 character so exquisitely ; but he rejecJed the allurement, in dignified 
 and inflexible adherence to a principle which he wished to become 
 as inviolable as if incorporated into the Constitution. Not only 
 principle, but the strongest of inclinations dictated to him such a 
 course. If there was any one sentiment, next to the love of coun- 
 try, which was now uppermost in the breast of Mr. Jefierson, it was 
 that of his familiar assertion, 'that he never felt so happy as when 
 shifting power from his own shoulders upon those of another.' He 
 had lived to conduct the vessel of State eight years steadily in her 
 course ; to establish and carry through a system of administration 
 which he liad originally proposed for the restoration of the govern^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 491 
 
 menl lo ils 'republican tack ;' to witness the wiiole body of tiie na- 
 tion, except the leaders of the antagonist faction, cordially amalga- 
 mated in its support ; and to see in his successor, a guarrantee of 
 continued prosperity, order, and maintenance of sound principles. 
 What more could he desire l His earthly purposes were answered : 
 and he resolved to make the rich consummation the date of his final 
 retirement from all public employments. The early impatience 
 with which he anticipated the appointed epoch, and the lively satis- 
 faction with which he saluted its arrival, as dispersed through his 
 private correspondence, realize all that has been written or fancied 
 on the moral sublimity of the spectacle of a great nmn voluntarily 
 resigning power. 
 
 " I have tired you, my friend, with a long letter. But your tedi- 
 um will end in a few lines more. Mine has yet two. years to indure. 
 I am tired of an office where I can do no more good than manv 
 others, who would be glad to be employed in it. To mvself, per- 
 sonally, it brings nothing but unceasing drudgery, and daily loss of 
 friends. Every office becoming vacant, every appointment made, 
 7ne donne un ingrat, et cent enncniis. My only consolation is in 
 the belief, that my fellow citizens at large give me credit for good 
 intentions. I will certainly endeavor to merit the continuance of 
 that good will which follows well intended actions, and their appro- 
 bation wnll be the dearest reward I can carry into retirement.'- 
 
 "At the end of my present term, of which two years are yet to 
 come, I propose to retire from public life, and to close n}y da3i's on 
 my patrimony of Monticello, in the bosom of my family. I have 
 hitherto enjoyed uniform health ; but the weight of public business 
 begins to be too heavy for me, and I long for the enjoyment of ru- 
 ral hfe, among my books, my farms, and my family. Having per- 
 formed my quadragena stipendia, I am entitled to my discharge. 
 and should be sorry, indeed, that others should be sooner sensible 
 than myself when I ought to ask it." 
 
 " Within a few days I retire to my family, my books, and farms : 
 and having gained the harbor myself, I shall look on my friends still 
 bufteting the' storm, v/ith anxiety indeed, but not with envy. ]Nev- 
 er did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall 
 on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the 
 tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. 
 But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced 
 me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the 
 boisterous ocean of pohtical passions. I thank God for the oppor- 
 tunity of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me 
 the most consoling proofs of public approbation. I leave every thing 
 
492 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 in the hands of men so able to take care of them, that if we are des- 
 tined to meet misfortunes, it will be because no human wisdom could 
 avert them. Should you return to the United States, perhaps your 
 curiosity may lead you to visit the hermit of Monticello. He will re- 
 ceive you with affection and delight ; hailing you in the mean time 
 Avith his affectionate salutations, and assurances of constant esteem 
 and respect." 
 
 In the spring of 1809, Mr. Jefferson made his last and gladsome 
 retreat to the hermitage of Monticello. He retired from a forty 
 years' possession of accumulative honors, and from the summit of 
 human popularity, with a mind untainted in its principles, unsophis- 
 ticated in its views and feehngs, with the same jealousy of power, 
 the same love of equality and abhorrence of aristocracy, and the 
 same unbounded confidence in the people. He was sixty-six years 
 old. At the same age, singular coincidence, have all the other 
 Chief Magistrates retired from office — Washington, Adams, Mad- 
 ison, Monroe — except the younger Adams, who wanted but the 
 ordinary term of service to complete the same number of years. 
 
 He was accompanied into retirement with the overflowing plau- 
 dits and benedictions of his grateful countrymen. Addresses up- 
 on addresses, public and private, by political assemblies, religious 
 associations, and literary institutions, were showered upon him, ex- 
 pressive of enthusiastic approbation of his conduct in the adminis- 
 tration of the government, and beaming with affectionate prayers 
 for his future tranquillity and happiness. To the citizens of Wash- 
 ington who assembled to pay him a farewell tribute of their affection, 
 he replied, in a style which betrayed the engrossing sentiments of 
 his heart : " I receive with peculiar gratification the affectionate ad- 
 dress of the citizens of Washington, and in the patriotic sentiments 
 it expresses, I see the true character of the National Metropolis. 
 The station which we occupy among the nations of the earth, is 
 honorable, but awful. Trusted with the destinies of this soUtary re- 
 public of the world, the only monument of human rights, and the 
 sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self government, 
 from hence it is to be lighted up in other regions of the earth, if 
 other regions of the earth shall ever become susceptible of its genial 
 influence. All mankind ought, then, with us, to rejoice in its pros- 
 perovis, and sympathize in its adverse fortunes, as involving every 
 thing dear to man. And to what sacrifices of interest, or conven- 
 ience, ought not these considerations to animate us ! To what 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 493 
 
 compromises of opinion and inclination, to maintain harmony and 
 union among ourselves, and to preserve from all danger this hal- 
 lowed ark of human hope and happiness ! That differences of 
 opinion should arise among men, on politics, on religion, and on 
 every other topic of human enquiry, and that these should be freely 
 expressed in a country where all our faculties are free, is to be ex 
 pected. But these valuable privileges are much perverted when 
 permitted to disturb the harmony of social intercourse, and to lessen 
 the tolerance of opinion. To the honor of society here it has been 
 characterized by a just and generous liberality : and an indulgence 
 of those affections, which, without regard to political creeds, consti- 
 tute the happiness of life."' 
 
 The inhabitants of his native county, Albemarle, were eager of 
 the occasion to testify those peculiar emotions of gratitude and ven- 
 eration, which they felt for their 'illustrious neighbor and friend ;' 
 and to welcome hin), in a distinguished manner, 'to those sweets of 
 retirement for which he had so often sighed.' With this view, the\' 
 formed the determination at a pubhc meeting, to receive him in a 
 body ,at the extremity of the county, and conduct him home. 
 Fearful, however, lest the zeal of friendship might inflict a wound 
 on his characteristic niouesty, they previously submitted to him 
 their intention, in reply, he expressed in the most affectionate 
 terms his wish, that ' his neighbors would not take so much trouble 
 on his account." The idea was accordingly rehnquished. But at a 
 subsequent meeting of the inhabitants of the county, an Address 
 was unanimously adopted and ordered to be presented to him, in 
 which they added to the general gratulations of the nation, their 
 particular sensations of love and reverence, in the most afl'ecting 
 terms. " As individuals," it concluded, "among whom you were 
 raised, and to whom you have at all times been dear, we again wel- 
 come your return to your native county, to the bosom of your fami- 
 ly, and to tiie affections of those neighbors who have long known, 
 aad have long revered you in private life. We assure you. Sir, we 
 are not insensible to the many sacrifices you have already made, to 
 the various stations which have been assigned you by yom- country ; 
 we have witnessed your disinterestedness, and while we feel the 
 benefits of your past services, it would be more than ingratitude in 
 us, did we not use our best efforts to make your latter days as tran- 
 quil and as happy, as your former have been bright and glorious." 
 
494 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 To this Address Mr. Jefferson returned the following answer. 
 
 " Returning to the scenes of my birth and early life, to the socie- 
 ty of those with whom I was raised, and who have been ever dear 
 to me, I receive, fellow citizens and neighbors, wdth inexpressible 
 pleasure, the cordial welcome you are so good as to give me. Long 
 absent on duties which the history of a wonderful era made incum- 
 bent on those called to them, the pomp, the turmoil, the bustle, and 
 splendor of office, have drawn but deeper sighs for the tranc|uil and 
 irresponsible occupations of private life, for the enjoyment of an af- 
 fectionate intercourse with you, my neighbors and friends, and the 
 endearments of family love, which nature has given us all, as the 
 sweetener of every hour. For these I gladly lay down the distress- 
 ing burthen of power, and seek, with my fellow citizens, repose and 
 safety under the watchful cares, the labors, and perplexities of 
 younger and abler minds. The anxieties you express to administer 
 to my happiness, do, of themselves, confer that happiness; and the 
 measure will be complete, if my endeavors to fulfil my duties in the 
 several public stations to which I have been called, have obtained 
 for me the approbation of my country. The part which I have 
 acted on the theatre of public life, has been before them ; and to 
 their sentence I submit it : but the testimony of my native county, 
 of the individuals who have known me in private life, to my con- 
 duct in its various duties and relations, is the more grateful, as pro- 
 ceeding from eye witnesses and observers, from triers of the vicinnge. 
 Of you, then, my neighbors, 1 may ask, in the face of the world, 
 ' Whose ox have I taken, or whom have I defrauded '? Whom have 
 I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received a bribe to blind mine 
 eyes therewith ?' On your verdict I rest with conscious security. 
 Your Avishes for my happiness are received with just sensibility, and 
 I offer sincere prayers for your own welfare and prosperity." 
 
 Among the numerous testimonials of the public gratitude, elicited 
 on this gratifying occasion, the ' valedictory address of the General 
 Assembly of Virginia,' is deservedly the most distinguished. It is 
 too rich a docimient intrinsically, and too proudly associated with 
 the reputation of him whose merits it was intended to commemo- 
 rate, not to require an insertion. It was agreed to by both Houses, 
 on the 7th of February, 1S09. 
 
 " Sir, — The General x\ssembly of your native State cannot close 
 their session, without acknowledging your services in the office 
 which you are just about to lay down, and bidding you a respectful 
 and affectionate farewell. 
 
 "We have to thank you for the model of an administration con- 
 ducted on the purest principles of republicanism ; for pomp and 
 state laid aside ; patronage discarded ; internal taxes abolished ; a 
 host of superfluous officers disbanded ; the monarchic maxim that 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 495 
 
 'a national debt is a national blessing,' renounceci, and more than 
 thirty-three millions of our debt discharged ; the native right to 
 nearly one hundred millions of acres of our national domain extin- 
 guished ; and, without the guilt or calamities of conquest, a vast 
 and fertile region added to our country, far more extensive than her 
 original possessions, bringing along with it the Mississippi and the 
 port of Orleans, the trade of the West to the Pacific ocean, and in 
 the intrinsic value of the land itself, a source of permanent and al- 
 most inexhaustible revenue. These are points in your administra- 
 tion which the historian will not fail to seize, to expand, and teach 
 posterity to dwell upon with delight. Nor will he forget our peace 
 with the civilized world, preserved through a season of vmcommon 
 difficulty and trial ; the good will cultivated with the unfortunate 
 aborigines of our country, and the civilization humanely extended 
 among them ; the lesson taught the inhabitants of the coast of Bar- 
 bary, that we have the means of chastising their piratical encroach- 
 ments, and awing them into justice; and that theme, on which, 
 above all others, the historic genius will hang with rapture, the hb- 
 erty of speech and of the press, preserved inviolate, without which 
 genius and science are given to man in vain. 
 
 " In the principles on which you have administered the govern- 
 ment, we see only the continuation and maturity of the same vir- 
 tues and abilities, which drew upon you in your youth the resent- 
 ment of Dunmore. From the first brilliant and happy moment of 
 your resistance to foreign tyranny, until the present day, we mark 
 with pleasure and with gratitude the same uniform, consistent char- 
 acter, the same warm and devoted attachment to hberty and the re- 
 public, the same Roman love of your country, her rights, her peace, 
 her honor, her prosperity. 
 
 "How blessed will be the retirement into which you are about to 
 go ! How deservedly blessed will it be ! For you carry with you the 
 richest of all rewards, the recollection of a life well spent in the ser- 
 vice of your country, and proofs the most decisive, of the love, the 
 gratitude, the veneration of your countrymen. 
 
 " That your retirement may be as happy as your life has been 
 virtuous and useful ; that our youth may see, in the blissful close 
 of your days, an additional inducement to form themselves on your 
 model, is the devout and earnest prayer of your fellow-citizens who 
 compose the General Assembly of Virginia." 
 
 Thus terminated the political career of one who had been a prin- 
 cipal agent of two Revolutions, and an eye-witness of a third, gener- 
 ated in the prolific womb of the first ; of one who, from his entrance 
 into manhood, had continued the unyielding advocate of princi- 
 ciples, which, first discarded, next endured, then embraced, had 
 eventually swayed the destinies of his country through the perilous 
 
496 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 and successive convulsions of transformation from a monarchical to a 
 free structure of government, and of deliverance from the fatal catas- 
 trophe of a counter-revolution, in the last extremities of exhaustion, 
 despair, and self-abandonment ; who had lived to see the potent en- 
 ergies of those principles so extensively transfused into the very syc- 
 ophants of the tyrants of the old world, temporal and spiritual, as 
 that the earth was every where shaking under their feet ; and who, 
 at last, enjoyed the ineffable consummation of seeing his name be- 
 come the synonym of political ortliodoxy at home, and the watch- 
 word of the isolated aspirants for its attainment, in all parts of the 
 civiHzed world. 
 
 " Bright are the memories linkM with thee, 
 Boast of a glory-hallowed land, 
 Hope o? the valiant and the free." 
 
 Thus had he performed his wonderful course, and thus, full of 
 years, and covered with glory, in the rich fruition of his earliest and 
 sweetest aspirations, he was ready, as to all political affairs, to utter 
 his favorite invocation : Nunc cUmittas, Domine — '*Lord, now let- 
 test thou thy servant depart in peace.' 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 In repairing with so much eagerness to the shades of his native 
 mountains, it seems not to have entered the mind of Mr. Jefferson 
 to relax his efforts for the benefit and happiness of mankind, but to 
 divert them into a channel more analogous to his disposition. His 
 whole hfe, he was in the habit of remarking, had been at war with 
 his natural taste, feeUngs and wishes. Circumstances had led him 
 . along, step by step, the path he had trodden, and like a bow long 
 bent, when unstrung, he resumed with delight the character and 
 pursuits for which nature designed him. His was not the retire- 
 ment of one who sought refuge from the pangs of disappointed 
 ambition, and the world's mockery of them, in the vain, though 
 vaunted resource of obhvion and stoical insensibility ; or who cov- 
 eted repose from the giddy turbulence of the scene, to indulge in 
 inglorious indolence and inanity. No, his was the voluntary seclu- 
 sion of one, "who," as it has been beautifully said, "had well filled 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. -497 
 
 a noble part in public life, from which he was prepared and anxious 
 to withdraw ; who sought retirement to gratify warm affections, 
 and to enjoy his well earned fame ; who desired to turn those 
 thoughts which had been necessarily restrained and hmited, to the 
 investigation of all the sources of human happiness and enjoyment ; 
 who felt himself surrounded, in his fellow citizens, by a circle of af- 
 fectionate friends, and had not to attribute to a rude expulsion from 
 the theatre of ambition, his sincere devotion to the pursuits of agri- 
 culture and philosophy ; and who, receiving to the last moment of 
 his existence continued proofs of admiration and regard, which pen- 
 etrated his remote retirement, devoted the remainder of his days to 
 record those various reflections for which the materials had been 
 collected and treasured up, unknown to himself, on the long and 
 various voyage of his life." 
 
 To do justice to the remaining portion of Mr. Jefferson's life. 
 which is fitly described as having been appropriated ' to the investi- 
 gation of all the sources of human happiness and enjoyment,' would 
 exceed the competency of any one not conversant with his daily 
 avdcations, and admitted into all the mysteries of his mighty cabi- 
 net. In the possession of undecayed intellectual powers, and a 
 physical strength unsubdued by the labors which ' the history of a 
 wonderful era had made incumbent on him,' he devoted the rem- 
 nant of his days to the precious employment of unlocking all the 
 store-houses of human knowledge, and dispensing their rich treas- 
 ures to the generation who had succeeded him*on the theatre 
 of public affairs ; and to laying the foundations for the still greater 
 extension of science, and indigenous political philosophy, for the ben- 
 efit of the still succeeding generations who should rise up, in per- 
 pehmm, and assume the direction of the interests of society, by the 
 establishment of a Colossean Seminary of learning, which should 
 rival the institutions of Cambridge and Oxford. These were his 
 wisest, if not his happiest, days. The streams of oracular wisdom 
 which flowed from his consecrated retreat, have continued to nour- 
 ish the principles of the noble fabric which he reared, and to pre- 
 serve from degeneracy those who have successively been constitu- 
 ted the depositories of its sacred functions. May the time never ar- 
 rive when they shall cease to maintain their ascendency in the couu- 
 cils of the nation, and to exert their healthful and restraining inflji 
 ence over its authorities. To give place for a series of selection- 
 
 43 
 
498 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 from his cabinet, developing the opinions of the Monticellean phi- 
 losopher, on questions the most interesting and important to man- 
 kind, and which have not yet been brought into special review ; 
 liis observations on the distinguished characters with whom he act- 
 ed, or came in contact, in the course of his various career : on the 
 parties and pohticai occurrences of the passing day ; his daily oc- 
 cupations and habits of Uving, &.c. — expressed in the freedom of pri- 
 vate and unrestrained confidence, seems the most satisfactory meth- 
 od of supplying that portion of his history, for which the materials 
 are of too abstract a nature to be adapted to historical narrative. 
 The quotations must be necessarily limited, broken, and in some 
 ruses, perhaps, insufficient to convey a perfect idea of the writer's 
 opinions. 
 
 Relative powers of the General and State govern- 
 ments. — " With respect to our State and Federal governments, J 
 do not think their relations correctly understood by foreigners. 
 They generally suppose the former subordinate to the lattei. But 
 this is not the case. They are co-ordinate departments of one sim- 
 })lc and integral whole. To the State governments are reserved all 
 le-^islation and administration, in affairs which concern their own 
 citizens only, and to the Federal government is given whatever con- 
 cerns foreigners, or the citizens of other States ; these functions alone 
 heinf made federal. The one is the domestic, the other the for- 
 eign%ranch of the same government ; neither having control over 
 the other, but within its own department. There are one or twt) 
 exceptions only to this partition of power. Bat you may ask, if the 
 two "departments should claim each the same subject of power, 
 ^vherc is the common umpire to decide ultimately between them? 
 ]n cases of little importance or urgency, the prudence of both parties 
 will keep them aloof from the questionable ground : but if it can 
 neither be avoided nor compromised, a convention of the States 
 nmst be called, to ascribe the doubtful power to that department 
 which they may think best." 
 
 Relative powers of each branch in the General gov- 
 ernment. — '-You seem to think it devolved on the judges to de- 
 cide on the validity of the sedition law. But not,hing in the con- 
 stitution has given them a right to decide for the executive, more 
 than to the executive to decide for them. Both magistracies are 
 equally independent in the sphere of action assigned to them. 
 The fudges, believing the law constitutional, had a right to pass a 
 sentence'of fine and imprisonment ; because the power was placed 
 in their hands by the constitution. But the executive, believing the 
 law to be unconstitutional, w^ere bound to remit the execution of it; 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 49& 
 
 bsc^ause that power has been confided to them by the constitution. 
 That inatruin^iit meant that its co-ordinate branches should be 
 checks on each other. But the opinion which gives to the judges? 
 the right to decide what laws are constitutional, and what not, not 
 only for themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the legisl.-i- 
 ture and executive also in their spheres, would make the judiciary a 
 despotic branch." 
 
 "If this opinion be sound j then indeed is our constitution a com- 
 plete felo de se. For intending to establish three departments, co- 
 ordinate and independent, that they might check and balance one 
 another, it has given, according to this opinion, to one of them alone, 
 the right to prescribe rules for the gov^ernmant of the others, and to 
 that one too, which is unelected by, and independent of the nation. 
 For experience has already shown that the impeachment it has pro- 
 vided is not even a scare-crow ; that such opinions as the one you 
 combat, sent cautiously out, as you observe also, by detachment, not 
 belonging to the case often, but sought for out of it, as if to rally 
 the public opinion beforehand to their views, and to indicate the line 
 they are to v/alk in, have been so quietly passed over as never to 
 have excited animadversion, even in a speech of any one of the 
 body entrusted with impeachment. The constitution, on this hy- 
 pothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which 
 they may twist and shape into any form they please. It should be 
 remembered, as an axiom of eternal truth in politics, that whatever 
 power in any govermnent is independent, is absolute also ; in theo- 
 ry only, at first, while the spirit of the people is up, but in practice, 
 as fast as that relaxes. Independence can be trusted no where but 
 with the people in mass. They are inherently independent of all 
 but moral law." 
 
 Tendencies to consolidation, and mode of resistance. 
 — " I see as you do, and with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides 
 with which the federal branch of our government is advancing to- 
 wards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and 
 the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic ; and 
 that too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave no limits to their 
 power. Take together the decisions of the federal court, the doctrines 
 of the President, [1825] and the misconstructions of the constitution- 
 al compact acted on by the legislature of the federal branch, and it is 
 but too evident, that the three ruling branches of that department are 
 in combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of the 
 powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves all functions, for- / 
 eign and domestic. Under the power to regulate commerce, they as- 
 sume indefinitely that also over agriculture and manufactures, and 
 call it regulation to take the earnings of one of these branches of in- 
 dustry, and that too the most depressed, and put them into the pock- 
 els of the other, the most flourishing of all. Under the authority to 
 
50(1 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 establish post roads, they claim that of cutting down mountains for the 
 construction of roads, of digging canals, and aided by a little sophis- 
 try on the words ' general welfare,' a right to do, not only the acts to 
 effect that, which are specifically enumerated and permitted, but 
 whatsoever they shall think or pretend will be for the general wel- 
 fare. And what is our resource for the preservation of the constitu- 
 tion ? Reason and argument ? You might as well reason and 
 argue with the marble columns encircling them. The representa- 
 tives chosen by ourselves ? They are joined in the combination, 
 some from incorrect views of government, some from corrupt ones, 
 sufficient, voting together, to outnumber the sound parts ; and with 
 majorities only of one, two, or three, bold enough to go forward in 
 defiance. Are we then to stand to our arms, with the hot-headed 
 Georgian ? No. That must be the last resource, not to be thought 
 of until much longer and greater sufferings. If every infraction of 
 a compact of so many parties is to be resisted at once, as a dissolu- 
 tion of it, none can ever be formed which would last one year. 
 We must have patience and longer endurance then wath our breth- 
 ren while under delusion ; give them time for reflection and expe- 
 rience of consequences : keep ourselves in a situation to profit by 
 the chapter of accidents ; and separate from our companions onl}- 
 when the sole alternatives left, are the dissolution of our Union with 
 them, or submission to a government without limitation of powers. 
 Between these two evils, when we must make a choice, there can 
 be no hesitation. But in the mean while, the States would be 
 watchful to note every material usurpation on their rights ; to de- 
 nounce them as they occur in the most peremptory terms ; to pro- 
 test against them as wrongs to which our present submission shall 
 be considered, not as acknowledgments or precedents of right, but 
 as a temporary yielding to the lesser evil, until their accumulation 
 shall overweigh that of separation. I would go still further, and 
 give to the federal member, by a regular amendment of the consti 
 tution, a right to make roads and canals of intercommunication be- 
 tween the States, providing sufficiently against corrupt practices in 
 Congress, (log rolling, 6cc.) by declaring that the federal proportion 
 of each State of the monies so employed, shall be in works within 
 the State, or elsewhere with its consent, and with a due salvo of 
 jurisdiction. This is the coiu-se which I think safest and best as 
 yet." 
 
 Internal improvement, constructive interpretation.s, 
 &c. — " You will have learned that an act for internal improvement. 
 after passing both Houses, was negatived by the President [1817.] 
 The act was founded, avowedly, on the principle that the phrase in 
 the constitution, which authorizes Congress 'to lay taxes, to pay the 
 debts and provide for the general welfare,' was an extension of the 
 powers specifically enumerated to whatever would promote the gen- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 501 
 
 eral welfare ; and this, you know, was the federal doctrine. Where- 
 as, our tenet ever was, and, indeed, it is almost the only land-mark 
 which now divides the federalists from the republicans, that Con- 
 gress had liot unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, 
 but were restrained to those specifically enumerated ; and that, as 
 it was never meant they should provide for that welfare but by the 
 exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant 
 they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not 
 place under their action : consequently, that the specification of 
 powers is a limitation of the purposes for which they may raise 
 money. I think the passage and rejection of this bill a fortunate in- 
 cident. Every State will certainly concede the power ; and this 
 will be a national confirmation of the grounds of appeal to them, 
 and will settle for ever the meaning of this phrase, which, by a mere 
 grammatical quibble, has countenanced the General government 
 in a claim of universal power." 
 
 "I have for some time considered the question of internal im- 
 piovement as desperate. The torrent of general opinion sets so 
 strongly in favor of it as to be irresistible. And I suppose that even 
 the opposition in Congress will hereafter be feeble and formal, unless 
 something can be done which may give a gleam of encouragement 
 to our friends, or alarm their opponents in their fancied security. 1 
 learn from Richmond, that those who think with us there, are in a 
 state of perfect dismay, not knowing what to do, or what to propose. 
 Mr. Gordon, our representative, particularly, has written to me in 
 very desponding terms, not disposed to yield, indeed, but pressing 
 for opinions and advice on the subject. I have no doubt you are 
 pr(issed in the same way, and I hope you have devised and recom- 
 nKjnded something to them. If you have, stop here and read no 
 more, but consider all that follows as non avenue. I shall be better 
 satisfied to adopt implicitly any thing which you may have advised, 
 than any thing occurrir.g to myself. For I have long ceased to 
 think on subjects of this kind, and pay little attention to puljhc pro- 
 ceedings. But if you have clone nothing in it, then I risk for your 
 consideration what has occurred to me, and is expressed in the en- 
 closed paper. Bailey's. propositions, which came to hand since 1 
 wrote the paper, and which I suppose to have come from the Presi- 
 dent Iiimself, show a little hesitation in the purposes of his party: 
 'and in that state of mind, a bolt shot critically may decide the con- 
 test, by its effect on the less bold. The olive-branch held out tc» 
 them at this moment me^y be accepted, and the constitution thus 
 saved at a moderate sacrifice. I say nothing of the paper, v/hich 
 will explain itself. The following heads. of consideration, or some 
 of them, may weigh in its favor : It may intimidate the wavering. 
 It may break the western coalition, by offering the same thing in a 
 different form. It will be viewed with favor in contrast' with the 
 Georgia opposition and fear of strengthening that. It will be aa 
 
 43* 
 
502 LIFE, "WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 example of a temperate mode of opposition in future and similar ca- 
 ses. It will delay the mea:5ure a year at least. It will give us the 
 chance of better times and of intervening- accidents ; and in noway 
 place us in a worse than olu- present situation. I do not dwell on 
 these topics ; your mind will develope them."* 
 
 Domestic Manufactures. — " I have now thirty -five spindles 
 a going, a hand carding-machine, and looms with the Hying shut- 
 tie, for the supply of my own farms, which v/ill never be relinquish- 
 ed in my time. The continuance ol^ the war will fix tlie habit gen 
 erally, and out of the evils of impressment and of the oVders of coun- 
 cil, a great blessing for us will grow. I have not formerly been an 
 advocate for great manufactories. I doubted whether pur labor, em- 
 ployed in agriculture, and aided by* the spontaneou,s dnergies of the 
 earth, would not procure us more than we could make ourselves of 
 other necessaries. But other considerations entering into the ques- 
 tion, have settled my doubts." 
 
 " You tell me I am quoted by those who wish to continue our de- 
 pendance on England for manufactures. There was a time when 
 I might liave been so quoted with more candor. But within the 
 thirty years which have since elapsed, how are circumstances chang- 
 ed ! We were then in peace ; our independent place among na- 
 tions was acknowledged. A commerce which ofiered the raw ma- 
 terial, in exchange for the san^e material after receiving the last 
 touch of industry, v/as worthy of welcome to all nations. It was 
 expected, that those especially to whom manufacturing industiy 
 was important, would cherish the friendship of such customers by 
 every favor, and particularly cultivate their peace by every act ot 
 justice and friendship. Under this proa-pcct, the question seemed 
 legitimate, whether, with such an iimnensity of unimproved land. 
 i-o-urting the hand of husbandry, the industry of agriculture, or that 
 i)f manufactures, would add most to the national wealth. And the 
 doubt on the utility of the American manufactures was entertained 
 on. this consideration, chiefly, that to the labor of the husbandman a 
 vast addition is .made by the spontaneous energies of the earth on 
 which it is employed. For one grain \of wheat committed to the 
 oarth, she renders twenty, thirty, and tn'en fifty fold ; whereas to 
 the labor of the manufacturer nothing is\added. Pounds of llax, in 
 his hands, on the contrary, yield but pei-iny weights of lace. This 
 exchange, too, laborious as it might seem, what a field did it prom 
 ise for the occupation of the ocean ; what a nursery for that class of 
 
 * Appended to tlie above letter, is a luminous and powerful instrument, in- 
 tended to be submitted to the Leffislature of Virg-inia for their adoption, enti- 
 tlpd, " The Solemn Declaration and Protest of 'lie Commonweallli of Virginia, 
 on tlie Principles of tiie Constitution of the United States of America, and on 
 the Violations of them." The mode of redress recommended was equally op- 
 posed to " nullification," and to passive acquiescence. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 503 
 
 citizens who were to exercise and maintain our equal rights on that 
 element ! This was the state of things in 1785, when the NotCoon 
 Virginia were first pubhshed ; when, the ocean being open to all 
 nations, and their common right in it acknowledged and exercised 
 under regulations sanctioned by the assent and usage of ail, it was 
 thought tliat the doulit might, claim some consideration. 
 
 " But who, in 1785, could foresee the ra.pid depravity wliich was 
 to render the close of that century a disgrace to the history of man ? 
 Who could have imagined that the two most distinguished in the 
 rank of nations, for science and civilization, would have suddenly 
 descended from that honorable eminence, and setting at defiance all 
 those moral laws established by the Author of Nature between na- 
 tion and nation, as between man and man, would cover earth and^ 
 sea with robberies and piracies, merely because strong enough to do 
 it mth temporal impunity, and that under this disbandment of na- 
 tions from social order, we should have been despoiled of a thousand 
 ships, and have thousands of our citizens reduced to Algerine slav- 
 ery. Yet all this has taken place. The British interdicted to our 
 vessels all harbors of the globe, without having first proceeded to 
 someone of hers, there paid a tribute proportioned to the cargo, and 
 obtained her license to proceed to the port of destination. The 
 French declared them to be lawful prize if they had touched at the 
 port, or been visited by a ship of the enemy nation. Thus were we 
 completely excluded from the ocean. Compare this state of things 
 with that of '85, and say whether an opinion founded in the circum- 
 stances of that day, can be fairly applied to those of the present. We 
 have experienced, what we did not then believe, that there exist 
 both profligacy and power.enough to exclude us from the field of in- 
 terchange with other nations. That to be independent for the com- 
 forts of life, we must fabricate them ourselves. We must now place 
 the manufacturer by the side of the agriculturalist. The former 
 question is suppressed, or rather assumes a new form. The grand 
 inquiry now is. Shall we make our own comforts, or go without 
 them at the will of a foreign nation ? He, therefore, who is now 
 against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us either to de- 
 pendence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed in skins, and to 
 live like wild beasts in dens and caverns. I am not one of these. 
 Experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary 
 to our independence as to our comfort ; and if those who quote me 
 as of a different opinion, will keep pace Vv-ith me in purchasing 
 nothing foreign, where an equivalent of domestic fabric can be ob- 
 tained, without regard to difierence of price, it will not be our fault 
 if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand, and 
 wrest that weapon of distress from the hand which has so long wan- 
 tonly wielded it. If it shall be proposed to go beyond our own sup- 
 ply, the question of '85 will then recur. Will our surplus labor be 
 then more beneficially employed, in the culture of the earth, or in 
 
504 LIFE, M'^RITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 the fabrications of ait ? We have time yet for consideration, before 
 that question will press upon us ; and the axiom to be applied will 
 depend on the circumstances which shall then exist. For in so 
 complicated a science as political economy, no one axiom can be 
 laid down as wise and expedient for all times and circumstances, 
 inattention to this is what has called for this explanation, which 
 reflection would have rendered unnecessary with the candid, while 
 nothing w^ill do it with those who use the former opinion only as a 
 stalking-horse to cover their disloyal propensities to keep us in eter- 
 nal vassalage to a foreign and unfriendly people." 
 
 Laboring Classes, Agriculture. — " These circum.stances 
 iiave long since produced an overcharge in the class of competitors 
 for learned occupation, and great distress among the supernumerary 
 candidates ; and the more, as their habits of life have disquahfied 
 them for re-entering into the laborious class. The evil cannot be 
 suddenly, nor perhaps ever entirely cured ; nor should I presume to- 
 say by what means it may be cured. Doubtless there are many 
 engines which the nation might bring to bear on this object. Pub • 
 lie opinion and public encouragement are among these. The class 
 principally defective is that of agriculture. It is the first in utility, 
 and ought to be the first in respeet. The same artificial means 
 which have been used to produce a competition in learning, may 
 be equally successful in restoring agriculture to its primary dignity 
 in the eyes of men. It is a science of the very first order. It counts 
 among its handmaids the mpst respectable sciences, such as Chem- 
 istry, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Mathematics generally, Nat- 
 ural History, Botany. In every College and University, a profes- 
 sorship of agriculture, and the class of its students, might be honor- 
 ed as the first. Young men closing their academical education 
 with this, as the crown of all other sciences, fascinated with its solid 
 charms, and at a time when they are to choose an occupation, in- 
 stead of crowding the other classes, would return to the farms of 
 their fathers, their own, or those of others, and replenish and invig- 
 orate a calling, now languishing under contempt and oppression. 
 The charitable schools, instead of storing their pupils with a lore 
 which the present state of society does not call for, converted into 
 schools of agriculture, might restore them to that branch, qualified 
 to enrich and honor themselves, and to increase the productions of 
 the nation instead of consuming them. A gradual abolition of the 
 useless offices, so much accumulated in all governments, might 
 close this drain also from the labors of the field, and lessen the bur- 
 thens imposed on them. By these, and the better means which 
 will occur to others, the surcharge of the learned, might in time be 
 drawn off to recruit the laboring class of citizens, the sum of indus- 
 try be increased, and that of misery diminished." 
 
 National Bank. — " From a passage in the letter of the Presi- 
 dent, I observe an idea of estabhshiug a branch bank of the United 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 505 
 
 States ill New Orleans. This institution is one of the most deadly 
 hostility existing, against the principles and form of our constitu- 
 tion. The nation is, at this time, so strong and united in its senti- 
 ments, that it cannot be shaken at this moment. But suppose a se- 
 ries of untoward events should occur, sufficient to bring into doubt 
 the competency of a republican government to meet a crisis of great 
 danger, or to unhinge the confidence of the people in the public 
 functionaries ; an institution like this, penetrating by its branches 
 every part of the Union, acting by command and in phalanx, may, 
 in a critical moment, upset the government. I deem no govern- 
 ment safe which is under the vassalage of an}' self-constituted au- 
 thorities, or any other authority than that of the nation, or its regu- 
 lar functionaries. What an obstruction could not this bank of the 
 United States, with all its branch banks, be in time of war 1 It 
 might dictate to us the peace we should accept, or withdraw its aids. 
 Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so {powerful,, 
 so hostile ? That it is so hostile we know, 1. from a knowledge of 
 the principles of the persons composing the body of directors in ev- 
 ery bank, principal or branch ; and those of most of the stock-hold- 
 ers : 2. from their opposition to the measures and principles of the 
 government, and to the election of those friendly to them : and, 3^ 
 from the sentiments of the newspapers they support. Nov*\ while 
 we are strong, it is the greatest duty we owe to the safetyof our con- 
 atitution, to bring this powerful enemy to a perfect subordination un- 
 der its authorities. The first measure would be to reduce them to 
 an equal footing only with other banks, as to the favors of the gov- 
 ernment. But, in order to be able to meet a general combination 
 ol the banks against us, in a critical emergency, could we not make 
 a beginning towards an independent use of our own money, to- 
 wards holding our own bank in all the deposits where it is received^ 
 and letting the Treasurer give his draft or note for payment at any 
 particular place, which, in a well conducted governmeni:,. ought tO' 
 have as much credit as any private draft, or bank note, or bill, and 
 would give us the same facilities which Ave derive from the banks ? 
 I pray you to turn this subject in your mind, and give it the benefit 
 of your knowledge of details; whereas, I have only very geaeral 
 views of the subject." 
 
 Political Parties. — " I know too well the vreaknes-s and nn 
 certainty of human reason, to wonder at its different results. Both 
 of our political parties, at least the honest part of them, agree con- 
 scientiously in the same object, the public good : but they diifer es- 
 sentially in what they deem the means of promoting that good. 
 One side believes it best done by one composition of the governing 
 powers ; the other, by a diflferent one. One fears most the ignor- 
 ance of the people ; the other, the selfishness of rulers independent 
 of them. Which is right, time and experience will prove. We 
 think that one side of this experiment has been long enough tried, 
 
506 
 
 LIFE, WRITINGS. AND OPINIONS 
 
 and proved not to promote the good of tlie many : and that the 
 other has not been fairly and sufficiently tried. Our opponents 
 think the reverse. With whichever opinion the body of the na- 
 tion concurs, that must prevail. My anxieties on this subject 
 will never carry me beyond the use of fair and honorable means 
 of truth and reason ; nor have they ever lessened my esteem 
 for moral worth, nor aUenated my affections from a single friend, 
 who did not first withdraw liimself. Wherever this has happened. 
 J confess I have not been insensible to it : yet have ever kept my- 
 self open to a return of their justice." 
 
 " I learn from that with great pleasure, that you have resolved 
 on continuing your history of parties. Our opponents are far ahead 
 of us in preparations for placing their cause favorably before poster 
 ity. Yet I hope even from some of them the escape of precious 
 truths, in angry explosions or eflTiisions of vanity, which will betray 
 the genuine monarchism of their principles. They do not them- 
 selves believe what they endeavor to inculcate, that we were an op- 
 position party, not on principle, but merely seeking for office. The 
 fact is, that at the formation of our government, many had formed 
 their political opinions on European writings and practices, believ- 
 ing the experience of old countries, and especially of England, abu- 
 sive as it was, to be a safer guide than mere theory. The doctrines 
 of Europe were, that men in numerous associations cannot be re- 
 strained within the limits of order and justice, but by forces physic- 
 al and moral, wielded over them by authorities independent of their 
 will. Hence their organization of kings, hereditary nobles, and 
 priests. Still further to constrain the brute force of the people, they 
 deem it necessary to keep them down by hard laboi', poverty, and 
 ignorance, and to take from them, as from bees, so much of their 
 earnings, as that unremitting labor shall be necessary to obtain a 
 sufficient surplus barely to sustain a scanty and miserable life. And 
 these earnings they apply to maintain their privileged orders in splen- 
 dor and idleness, to fascinate the eyes of the people, and excite in 
 them an humble adoration and submission, as to an order of supe- 
 rior beings. Although few among us had gone all these lengths of 
 oj)inion, yet many had advanced, some more, some less, on the way. 
 And in the convention which formed our government, they endeav- 
 ored to draw the cords of power as tight as they could obtain them, 
 to lessen the dependence of the general functionaries on their con- 
 stituents, to subject to them those of the States, and to weaken their 
 means of maintaining the steady equilibrium which the majority of 
 the convention liad deemed salutary for both branches, general and 
 local. To recover, therefore, in practice, the powers which the na- 
 tion had refused, and to warp to their own wishes those actually 
 given, was the steady object of the federal party. Ours, on the con- 
 trary, was to maintain the will of the majority of the convention, 
 and of the people themselves. We believed, with them, that man 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 507 
 
 was a rational animal, endowed Iv/ nature with rights, and with an 
 innate sense of justice ; and that he could be restrained fiom wrong 
 and protected in right, by moderate powers, confided to persons of 
 his own choice, and held to their duties by dependence on his own 
 will. We believed that the complicated organization of kings, np- 
 bles, and priests, was not the wisest nor best to effect the happiness 
 of associated man ; that wisdom and virtue were not hereditary ; 
 that the trappings of such a machinery consumed, by their expense, 
 tliose earnings of industry they were meant to protect, and, by the 
 inequalities they produced, exposed liberty to sufferance. We be- 
 Ueved that men, enjoying in ease and security the full fruits of their 
 own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the side of law and 
 order, habituated to think for themselves, and to follow their rea- 
 son as their guide, would be more easily and safely governed, than 
 with minds nourished in error, and vitiated and debased, as in Eu- 
 rope, by ignorance, indigence, and oppression. The cherishment 
 of the people then was our principle, the fear and distrust of them, 
 that of the other part}'. Composed, as we v/ere, of the landed and 
 laboring interests of the country, we could not be less anxious for a 
 government of law and order than were the inhabitants of the cities, 
 the stiong holds of federalism. And whether our efforts to save 
 the principles and form of our constitution have not been salutary, 
 let the present republican freedom, order, and prosperity of our coun- 
 try determine. History may distort truth, and will distort it for a 
 time, by the superior efforts at justification of those who are conscious 
 of needing it most. Nor will tlie opening scenes of our present 
 government be seen in their true aspect, until the letters of the day, 
 now held in private hoards, shall be broken up and laid open to 
 public view. What a treasure will be found in General Washing- 
 ton's cabinet, when it shall pass into the hands of as candid a friend 
 to truth as he was himself ! When no longer, hke Csesar's notes 
 and memorandums in the hands of Anthony, ii shall be open to the 
 high priests of federalism only, and garbled to say so much, jmd no 
 more, as suits their views !" 
 
 " The Hartford Convention, the victory of Orleans, the peace of 
 Ghent, prostrated the name of federalism. Its votaries abandoned 
 it through shame and mortification ; and now call themselves re- 
 publicans. But the name alone is changed, the principles are the 
 same. For in truth, the parties of Whig and Tory are those of na- 
 ture. They exist in ail countries, whether called by these names, 
 or by those of Aristocrats and Democrats, Cote Droite and Cote 
 Gauche, Ultras and Radicals, Serviles and Liberals. The sickly, 
 weakly, timid man, fqars the people, and is a tory by nature. The 
 healthy, strong, and bold, cherishes them, and is formed a whig by 
 , nature. On the eclipse of federalism with us, although not its ex- 
 tinction, its leaders got up the Missouri question, under the false 
 front of lessening the measure of slavery, but with the real view of 
 
608 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 producing a geographical division of parties, which might insure 
 them the next President. Tlie people of the north went bUndfold 
 into the snare, followed their leaders for a while with a zeal truly 
 moral and laudable, until they became sensible that they were in- 
 juring instead of aiding the real interests of the slaves, that they 
 had been used merely as tools for electioneering purposes ; and that 
 trick of hypocrisy then fell as quickly as it had been got up. To 
 that is now succeeding a distinction, which, like that of republican 
 and federal, or whig and tory, being equally intermixed through ev- 
 ery State, threatens none of those geographical schisms which go 
 immediately to a separation. The line of division now is the pre- 
 servation of State rights as reserved in the constitution, or by strain- 
 ed constructions of that instrument, to merge all into a consolidated 
 government. The tories are for strengthening the executive and 
 General government ; the Avhigs cherish the representative branch, 
 and the rights reserved by the States, as the bulwark against con- 
 solidation, which must immediately generate monarchy." 
 
 Sovereigns of Europe, — "When I observed, however, that the 
 King of England was a cipher, I did not mean to confine the observa- 
 tion to the mere individual now on that throne. The practice of 
 Kings marrying only into the families of Kings, has been that of Eu- 
 rope for some centuries. Now, take any race of animals, confine them 
 in idleness and inaction, whether in a sty, a stable, or a state-room, 
 pamper them with high diet, gratify all their sexual appetites, im- 
 merse them in sensualities, nourish their passions, let every thing 
 bend before them, and banish whatever might lead them to think, 
 and in a few generations they become all body, and no mind : and 
 this, too, by a law of nature, by that very law by which we are in 
 the constant practice of changing the characters and propensities of 
 the animals we raise for our own purposes. Such is the regimen 
 in raising Kings, and in this way they have gone on for centuries. 
 While in Europe, I often amused myself with contemplating the 
 characters of the then reigning sovereigns of Europe. Louis the 
 XVI. was a fool, of my owm knowledge, and in despite of the an- 
 swers made for him at his trial. The King of Spain was a fool, 
 and of Naples the same, They passed their lives in hunting, and 
 despatched two couriers a week, one thousand miles, to let each oth- 
 er know what game they had killed the preceding days. The 
 King of Sardinia was a fool. All these were Bourbons. The 
 Queen of Portugal, a Braganza, was an idiot by nature. And so 
 was the King of Denmark. Their sons, as regents, exercised the 
 powers of government. The King of Prussia, successor to the great 
 Frederick, was a mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gustavus 
 of Sweden, and Joseph of Austria, were really crazy, and George 
 of England you know was in a straight waistcoat. There remain- 
 ed, then, none but old Catharine, who had been too lately picked 
 up to have lost her common sense. In this state Bonaparte found 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 509- 
 
 Europe ; and it was this state of its rulers wliich lost it with scarce 
 a struggle. These animals had become without mind and power- 
 less ; and so will every hereditary monarch be after a few genera- 
 lions. Alexander, the grandson of Catherine, is as yet an excep- 
 tion. He is able to hold his own. But he is only of the third gen- 
 eration. His race is not yet worn out. And so endeth the book of 
 Kings, from all of whom the Lord deliver us, and have you, my 
 friend, and all such good men and true, in his holy keeping." 
 
 Portraiture OF Washington. — "You say that in taking 
 General Washington on your shoulders, to bear him harmless 
 through the federal coalition, you encounter a perilous topic. I do 
 not think so. You have given the genuine history of the course of 
 his mind through the trying scenes in which it was engaged, and of 
 the seductions by which it was deceived, but not depraved. I think 
 I knew General Washington intimately and thoroughly ; and were 
 I called on to delineate his character, it should be in terms like 
 these. 
 
 " His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very 
 first order ; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a 
 INewton, Bacon, or Locke ; and as far as he saw, no judgment was 
 ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by inven- 
 tion or imagination, but sure in conclusion. Hence the common 
 remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of 
 war, where, hearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best ; 
 an 1 certainly no General ever planned his battles more judiciously. 
 But if deranged during the course of the action, if any member of 
 his plan was dislocated by sudden circumstances, he was slow in a 
 re-adjustment. The consequence was, that he often failed in the 
 field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York. 
 He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calm 
 est imconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was 
 prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every considera- 
 tion, was maturely weighed ; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when 
 once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles 
 opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexi 
 ble I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of 
 friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, in- 
 deed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great 
 man. His temper was naturally irritable and high-toned ; but re- 
 flection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual ascendancy 
 over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was jnost tremen- 
 dous in his wrath. In his expenses he was honorable, but exact ; 
 liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility ; but frowning 
 and unyielding on all visionary projects, and all unworthy calls on 
 his charity. His heart was not warm in its aflfections ; but he ex- 
 actly calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem 
 
 44 
 
olO LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 pioportioned to it. His person, you know, was fine, his stature ex- 
 actly what one would wish, his deportment easy, erect, and noble ; 
 the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure thc\t 
 could be seen on horseback. Although in the circle of his friends, 
 where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in 
 conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, pos- 
 sessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluenc}'^ of words. In pub- 
 lic, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short, 
 and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather diff"usely, in an ea- 
 sy and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with 
 the world, for his education was merely reading, writing, and com- 
 mon arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day. His 
 time was employed in action chiefly, reading little, and that only in 
 agriculture and English history. His correspondence became ne- 
 cessarily extensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural proceed- 
 ings, occupied most of his leisure hours within doors. On the 
 whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in 
 few points indifferent ; and it may truly be said, that never did na- 
 ture and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and 
 to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have 
 merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the 
 singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his countiy suc- 
 cessfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its inde- 
 pendence ; of conducting its councils through the birth of a govern- 
 ment, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into 
 a quiet and orderly train ; and of scrupulously obeying the laws 
 through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the 
 liistory of the world furnishes no other example. 
 
 " How^, then, can it be perilous for you to take such a man on 
 your shoulders ? I am satisfied the great body of repubhcans think 
 of him as I do. We were, indeed, dissatisfied with him on his rati- 
 fication of the British treaty. But this was short-lived. We knew 
 his honesty, the wiles with which he was encompassed, and that age 
 had already began to relax the firmness of his purposes ; and I am 
 convinced he is more deeply seated in the love and gratitude of the 
 republicans, than in the Pharisaical homage of the federal monar- 
 chists. For he was no monarchist from preference of his judgment. 
 The soundness of that gave him correct views of the rights of man, 
 and his severe justice devoted him to them. He has often declared 
 •to me that he considered our new constitution as an experiment on 
 the practicability of republican government, and with what dose, of 
 liberty man could be trusted for his own good ; that he was deter- 
 mined the experiment should have a fair trial, and Avould lose the 
 last drop of his blood in support of it. * * I felt on his death 
 with my countrymen, that ' verily a great man hath fallen this day 
 in Israel.' 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 511 
 
 / 
 
 Progressive improvement, popular rights. — " Some 
 men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem 
 thein, like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They 
 ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than hu- 
 man, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew 
 that age v/eli: I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved 
 well of its country. It was very hke the present, but without the 
 experience of the present ; and forty years of experience in govern- 
 ment is worth a century of book-reading : and this they would say 
 themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an 
 advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. 
 I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with ; because, 
 when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find 
 practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know, also, 
 that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress 
 of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more en- 
 lightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and 
 manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, 
 institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We 
 might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitte.d him 
 when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen 
 of their barbarous ancestors. ^ It is this preposterous idea which has 
 lately deluged Europe in blood. Their monarchs, instead of wise- 
 ly yielding to the giadual changes of circumstances, of favoring pro- 
 gressive accommodation to progressive improvement, have clung to 
 old abuses, entrenched themselves behind steady habits, and obliged 
 their subjects to seek through blood and violence, rash and ruinous 
 innovations, which, had they been referred to the peaceful deliber- 
 ations and collected wisdom of the nation, would have been put into 
 acceptable and salutary forms. Let us follow no such examples, 
 nor weakly believe that one generation is not as capable as anoth- 
 er of taking care of itself, and of ordering its own affairs. Let us, 
 as our sister States have done, avail ourselves of our reason and ex- 
 perience, to correct the crude essays of our first and unexperienced, 
 although wise, virtuous, and well-meaning councils. And, lastly, 
 let us provide in our constitution for its revision at stated periods. 
 What these periods should be, nature herself indicates. By the Eu- 
 ropean tables of mortality, of the adults living at any one moment 
 of time, a majority will be dead in about nineteen years. At the 
 end of that period, then, a new majority is come into place ; or, in 
 other words, a new generation. Each generation is as independent 
 of the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before. It 
 has, then, like them, a right to choose for itself the form of govern- 
 ment it believes most promotive of its own happiness ; consequent- 
 ly, to accommodate to the circumstances in which it finds itself, that 
 received from its predecessors : and it is for the peace and good of 
 mankind, that a solemn opportunity of doing this every nineteen 
 
512 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 or twenty years, should be provided by the constitution ; so that it 
 may be handed on, with periodical repair^«. from generation to gen- 
 eration, to the end of time, if any thing human can so long endure. 
 It is now forty years since the constitution of Virginia was formed. 
 The same tables inform us, that, within that period, two thirds of 
 the adults then living are now dead. Have then the remaining 
 third, even if they had the wish, the right to hold in obedience to 
 their will, and to laws heretofore made by them, the other two 
 thirds, who, with themselves, compose the present mass of adults ? 
 If they have not, who has? The dead 'I But the dead have no 
 rights. They are nothing ; and nothing cannot own something. 
 Where there is no substance, there can be no accident. This cor- 
 poreal globe, and every thing upon it, belong to its present corpore- 
 al inhabitants, during their generation. They alone have a right 
 to direct what is the concern of themselves alone, and to declare the 
 law of that diiection : and this declaration can only be made by 
 their majority. That majority, then, has a right to depute repre- 
 sentatives to a convention, and to make the constitution what they 
 think will be best for themselves. * * If this avenue be shut to 
 the call of sufferance, it will make itself heard through that of force, 
 and we shall go on, as other nations are doing, in the endless circle 
 of oppression, rebellion, reformation; and oppression, rebellion, re- 
 formation, again ; and so on, for ever." 
 
 Missouri question. — " I had for a long time ceased to read 
 newspapers, or pay any attention to public affairs, confident they 
 were in good hands, and content to be a passenger in our bark to 
 the shore from which I am not distant. But this momentous ques- 
 tion, hke a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with ter- 
 ror. I considered it at once as the kn^ll of the Union. It is hush- 
 ed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final 
 sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, 
 moral and pohtical, once conceived and held up to the angry pas- 
 sions of men, will never be obliterated ; and every new irration will 
 mark it deeper and deeper. I can say, with conscious trutli, that 
 there is not a man on earth who would sacrifice more than 1 would 
 to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in any jnacticahle way. 
 The cession of that kind of property (for so it is misnamed) is a bag- 
 atelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a 
 general emancipation and expatriation could be effected : and, 
 gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might be. But as it is, 
 we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor 
 safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in 
 the other. Of one thing I am certain, that as the passage of slaves 
 from one State to another, would not make a slave of a single human 
 being who would not be so without it, so their diffusion over a great - 
 er surface would make them individually happier, and proportion- 
 ally facilitate the accomplishment of their emancipation, by divid- 
 
 L^ h h-^^-^ /ii, -5.*^ A^v q ^^ A^ 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON-. 513 
 
 itig the burthen on a greater number of coadjutors. An abstinence, 
 too, froai this act of power, would reniov^e the jealousy excited by 
 the undertaking of Congress to regulate the condition of the differ- 
 ent descriptions of men composing a State. This certainly is the 
 exclusive right of every State, which nothing in the constitution 
 has taken from them, and given to the General government. 
 Could Congress, for example, say, that the non-freemen of Connec- 
 ticut shall be freemen, or that they shall not emigrate into any oth- 
 er State? 
 
 " I regret that I am now to die in the belief, that the useless sac- 
 rifice of themselves by the generation of 1776, to acquire self-gov- 
 ernment and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the 
 unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only con- 
 solation is to be, that I live not to weep over it. If they would but 
 dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away, against 
 an abstract principle more likely to be effected by union than by 
 scission, they wouk^ pause before they would perpetrate this act of 
 suicide on themselves, and of treason against the hopes of the world. 
 To yourself, as the faithful advocate of the Union, I tender the of- 
 fering of my high esteem and respect." 
 
 On the existence of a Supreme Being. — " I think that ev- 
 ery Christian sect gives a great handle to atheism by their general 
 dogma, that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof 
 of the being of a God. Now one sixth of mankind only are sup- 
 posed to be Christians : the other five sixths then, who do not be- 
 lieve in the Jewish and Christian revelation, are without a knowl- 
 edge of the existence of a God ! This gives completely a gain de 
 cause to the disciples of Ocellus, Timaeus, Spinosa, Diderot, and 
 D'Holbach. The argument which they rest on as triumphant and 
 unanswerable is, that in every hypothesis of cosmogony, you must 
 admit an eternal pre-existence of something ; and according to the 
 rule of sound philosophy, you are never to employ two principles to 
 solve a difficulty when one will suffice. They say then, that it is 
 more "simple to believe at once in the eternal preexistence of the 
 world, as it is now going on, and may for ever go on by the princi- 
 ple of reproduction which we see and witness, than to believe in the 
 eternal pre-existence of an ulterior cause, or creator of the world, a 
 being whom we see not and know not, of whose form, substance, 
 and mode, or place of existence, or of action, no sense informs us, 
 no power of the mind enables us to delineate or comprehend. Or; 
 the contrary, I hold (without appeal to revelation,) that when we 
 take a view of the universe, in its parts, general or particular, it is 
 impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction 
 of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of 
 its composition. The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exact- 
 ly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal 
 
 44* 
 
514 LIFE, WRITiNGS, AND OPtNIONS 
 
 foiceg ; the structine of our eailh itself, with its distribution of lands^ 
 waters, and atmospheie ; animal and vegetable bodies, examined in 
 all their minutest particles ; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as per- 
 fectly organized as man or mammoth ; the mineral substances, 
 their generation and uses ; it is impossible, I say, for the human 
 mind not to believe, that there is in all this, design, cause, and effect, 
 up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and 
 motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in 
 their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms.. 
 We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending pow- 
 er, to maintain the universe in its course and order. Starfe, well 
 known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view ; comets, 
 in their incalculable courses, nmy run foul of suns and planets, and 
 require renovation under other laws ; certain races of animals are 
 become extinct; and were there no restoring power, all existences 
 might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be redu- 
 ced to a shapeless chaos. So irresistible are these evidences of an 
 intelligent and powerful agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men 
 who have existed through all time, they have believed, in the pro- 
 portion of a million at least to a unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal 
 pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent uni- 
 verse. Surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more proba- 
 ble, than that of the few in the other hypothesis. Some early- 
 Christians, indeed, have believed in the co-eternal pre-existence of 
 both the creator and the world, without changing their relation of 
 cause and effect."' 
 
 Religious. — " The result of ji^our fifty or sixty years of reli- 
 gious reading in the four words, ' Be just and good,' is tliat in which 
 all our inquiries must end ; as the riddles of all the priesthoods 
 end in four more, ' Ubi panis, ihi deus.'' What all agree in, is 
 probably right, what no two agiee in, most probably wrong. One 
 of our fan-coloring biographers, who paints small men as verygreat^ 
 inquired of me lately, with teal affection too, whether he might con- 
 sider as aulhentic, the change in my religion much spoken of in 
 .some circles. Now this supposed that they knew what had been 
 my religion before, taking for it the word of their priests, whom I 
 certainly never made the c^nlidanti! of my creed. My answer was, 
 ' Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my God and myself 
 alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life ; if 
 that has been koiiest and duiijul to society., the religion which 
 has regulated it cannot be a bad one.' 
 
 " Your recommandations are alv-'ays welcome, for, indeed, the 
 subjects of them always merit that welcome, and some of them in 
 an extraordinary degree. They make us acquainted with what 
 there is excellent in our ancient sister State of Massachusitts, once 
 venerated and beloved, and still hanging on our hopes, for what need 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 515 
 
 we despair of after the resurreclion of Coanecticut to light and lib- 
 erality. I ha 1 believed that the last retreat of inonkish darkness, 
 bigotry, and abhorrence of those advances of the mind which had 
 carried the other States a century ahead of them. They seemed 
 still to bs exactly where their fori^fathers were when they schisma- 
 lized from the covenant of works and to consider as dangerous her- 
 esies all innovations good or bad. [join you, therefore, in sincere 
 congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken 
 up, and that a Protestant Popedom is no longer to disgrace the 
 American history and character. If by religion, we are to under- 
 stand sectarian dogmas, in which no two of them agree, then 
 your exclamation on that hypothesis is just, ' that this w^uld be 
 the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.' But 
 if the moral precepts, innate in man, and made a part of his physi- 
 cal constitution, as necessary for a social being, if the subhme doc- 
 trines of philanthropism and deism taught us by Jesus of Nazareth, 
 in which all agree, constitute true religion, then, without it, this 
 would be, as you again say, ' something not fit to be named, even 
 indeed, a hell.' 
 
 " I believe that he who observes the moral precepts, in which all 
 religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven, as 
 to the dogmas in which all diflisr ; that, on entering there, the Aris- 
 tides and Catos, the Penns and Tillotsons, Presbyterians and Bap- 
 tists, will find themselves united in all the principles which are in 
 concert with the Supreme mind. Of all the systems of morahty, an- 
 cient and modern, which have come under my observation, none 
 appears to me as pure as that of Jesus." 
 
 On the loss of friends. — When you and I look back on the 
 country ovei which we have passed, what a field of slaughter does 
 it exhibit. Where are all the friends who entered it with us, under 
 all the inspiring energies of health and hope? As if pursued by the 
 havoc of war, they are strewed by the way, some earher, some later, 
 and scarce a few stragglers remain to count the numbers fallen, and 
 to mark yet, by their own fall, the last footsteps of their party. Is it 
 , a desirable thing to bear up through the heat of the action to witness 
 the death of all our companions, and merely be the last victim? I 
 doubt it. We have, however, the traveller's consolation. Every 
 step shortens the distance we have to go ; the end of our journey is 
 in sight, the bed wherein we are to rest, and to rise in the midst of 
 the friends we have lost. ' We sorrow not, then, as others who have 
 no hope' ; but look forward to the day which 'joins us to the great 
 majority.' But whatever is to be our destiny, wisdoin, as well as du- 
 ty, dictates that we should acquiesce in the will of Him whose it is 
 to give and take away, and be contented in the enjoyment of those 
 who are still permitted to be with us. Of those connected by blood, 
 the number dees not de|;end on us. But friends we have, if we have 
 
510 LIFE, WRITINGS, AN'D OPINIONS 
 
 merited them. Those of our earhest years stand nearest in our af- 
 ipctions. But in this too, you and I have been unluck}'. Of our 
 college friends (and they are the dearest) how few have stood with 
 us in the great pohtical questions which have agitated our country ; 
 and these were of a nature to justify agitation. I did not believe the 
 Lilliputian fetters of that day strong enough to have bound so many."- 
 
 Advice on the studies of young men. — ''Moral Pliiloso- 
 phy- I think it lost time to attend lectures on this branch. He 
 who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made 
 the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man 
 of science, there are thousands who are not. What would have 
 become of them ? Man was destined for society. His morality, 
 therefore, was to be formed to this object.' He was endowed with 
 a sense of right and wrong, merely relative to this. This sense 
 is as much a part of his nature, as the sense of hearing, seeing, feel- 
 ing ; it is the true foundation of morality, and not the to kalou, truth, 
 &c., as fanciful writers have imagined. The moral sense, or con- 
 science, is as much a part of man, as his leg or arm. It is given 
 to all human beings, in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of 
 members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be 
 strengthened by exercise, as may any particular limb of the body. 
 This sense is submitted, indeed, in some degree, to the guidance of 
 reason ; but it is a small stock which is required for this ; even a 
 less one than what we call common sense. State a moral case to 
 a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, 
 and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astra\ 
 by ,^rtificial rules. In this branch, therefore, read good books, be- 
 cause they will encourage, as well as direct your feelings. The 
 writings of Sterne, particularly, form the best course of morality 
 that ever was written. Besides these, read the books mentioned in 
 the enclosed paper : and, above all things, lose no occasion of ex- 
 ercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be char- 
 itable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, ifec. 
 Consider every act of this kind, as an exercise which will strength- 
 en your moral faculties, and increase your v/orth. 
 
 "Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine 
 
 this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of 
 
 novelty and singularity of opinion. Indulge them in any other 
 
 subject rather than that of religion. It is too important, and the 
 
 consequences of error may be too serious. On the other hand, 
 
 shake off all the fears and servile prejudices, under which weak 
 
 minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and 
 
 call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with bold- 
 
 1 ness even the existence of a God ; because, if there be one, he must 
 
 v] more approve the lioitiage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. 
 
 \ * * Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its 
 
 ■ V 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 5lT 
 
 consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will 
 find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel 
 in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you. If 
 you find reason to believe there is a God, a consciousness that you 
 are acting under his eye, and that he approves you, will be a vast 
 ndditional incitement : if that there be a future state, the hope of a 
 happy existence in that, increases the appetite to deserve it : if that 
 Jesus was also a God, you will be comforted by a belief of his aid 
 and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on 
 both sides, and neither believe nor reject any thing, because any 
 other person, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. 
 Your own reason is the oracle given you by Heaven, and you are 
 answerable not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision. 
 I forgot to observe, when speaking of the New Testament, that 
 you should read all the histories of Christ, as well of those whom 
 a council of ecclesiastics have decided for us to be Pseudo-evangel- 
 ists, as those they named Evangelists. Because these Pseudo- 
 evangelists pretended to inspiration as much as the others, and you 
 are to judge their pretensions by your own leason, and not by the 
 reason of those ecclesiastics. Most of these are lost. There are 
 some, however, still extant, collected by Fabricus, which I Avill en- 
 deavor to get and send you. 
 
 '• Travelling. This makes men wiser, but less happy. When 
 men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge, which they may 
 apply usefully for their country ; but they are subject ever after to 
 recollections mixed with regret ; their affections are weakened by 
 being extended over more objects ;. and they learn new habits, which 
 cannot be gratified when they return home. Young men \^o 
 travel are exposed to all these inconveniences in a higher degree, to 
 others still more serious, and do not acquire that wisdom for wdiich a 
 previous foundation is requisite, by repeated and just observations 
 at home. The glare of pomp and pleasure is analogous to the mo- 
 tion of the blood ; it absorbs all their affection and attention ; they 
 are torn from it as from the only good in this world, and return to 
 their home as to a place of exile and condemnation. Their 
 eyes are forever turned back to the object they have lost, and its re- 
 collection poisons the residue of their lives, l^heir first and most 
 delicate passions are hackneyed on unw^orthy objects here, and they 
 carry home the dregs, insufficient to make themselves or any body 
 else happy. Add to this, that a liabit of idleness, an inabihty to ap- 
 ply themselves to business is acqiuredJ^iTcTrenoers them useless to 
 themselves and their country. ' These observations are founded in 
 experience. There is no place where your pursuit of knowledge 
 will be so little obstructed by foreign objects, as in your own country, 
 nor any, wherein the virtues of the heart will be less exposed to be 
 weakened. Be good, be learned, and be industrious, and you will 
 not want tha aid ol travelling, to render you precious to your coun- 
 
518 LIFE, WRITINGS; AND OPINIONS 
 
 try, dear to your iViends, liappy within youiself. I repeat my ad- 
 vice, to take a great deal of exercise and on foot. Health is the 
 first requisite after morality."* 
 
 Rules for the regulation of moral conduct. — "This 
 letter will, to you, be as one from the dead. The writer will be in 
 the grave before you can vreigh its councils. Your affectionate 
 and excellent father has Vequestcd tha.t I would address to you 
 something which might possibly have a favorable influence on the 
 course of life you have to run, and I too, as a namesake, feel an 
 interest in that course. Few words will be necessary, with good 
 dispositions on your part. Adore God. Reverence and cherish 
 your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country 
 more than yourself. . Be just. Be true. Murmer not at the ways 
 of Providence. So shall the life, into which you have entered, be 
 the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss. And if to the dead 
 it is permitted to take care for the things of this Avorld, every action 
 of your life will be under my regard. Farewell."! 
 " The Portrait of a Good Man, by the most sublime of Poets, 
 for your iimtation. 
 
 Lor.x>, who's the happy man that may to thy blest courts repair. 
 Not strangor like to visit them, but to inhabit there '' 
 'Tis he, whose every thought and deed by rules of virtue moves ; 
 Whose generous tongue disdains to speak the thing his heart disproves. 
 Who never did a slander forge, his neighhor's fame to wound ; 
 Nor hearken to a false report, by malice whispered round. 
 Who vice, in all its pomp and power, can treat with just neglect; 
 And piety, though clothed in rags, rcl'giously respect. 
 Who to his plighted vows and trust lias ever fimly stood ; 
 And though he promise to his loss, he makes his promise good. 
 • Whose soul in usury disdains his treasure to employ ; 
 
 Whom no rewards can ever bribe the guiltless to destroy. 
 
 The man, who, by his steady course, has happiness insured, 
 
 Wlien earth's foundations shake, shall stand, by Providence secured." 
 
 " .4 Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life. 
 
 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 
 
 2. Never trouble another for w^hat you can do yourself. 
 
 3. Never spend your money before you can have it. 
 
 4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap : it will 
 be dear to you. 
 
 5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 
 
 6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 
 
 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 
 
 8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never hap- 
 pened. 
 
 9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 
 
 10. When angry, count ten 'before you speak; if very angry, 
 an hundred." 
 
 * Addressed to Peter Carr. t To T. Jefferson Smith. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 510 
 
 Habits of living. — " Yoiu- letter came to hand on the 1st in- 
 stant ; and the request of tlie history of ray physical habits would 
 have puzzled me not a little, had it not been for the model with 
 which you accompanied it, of Doctor Rush's answer to a simila.r 
 inquiry. I live so much like other people, that I might refer to or- 
 dinary life as the history of my own. Like my friend the Doctor, 
 I have lived temperately, eating Uttle animal food, and that not as 
 an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which con- 
 stitute my principal diet. I double, however, the Doctor's glass and 
 a half of wine, and even treble it with a friend ; but halve its ef- 
 fect by drinking the weak wines only. The ardent wines I can- 
 not drink, nor do I use ardent spirits irt any form. Malt liquors 
 and cider are my table drinks, and my breakfast, like that also of 
 my friend, is of tea and coffee. I have been blest with organs of 
 digestion, which accept and concoct, without ever nurrmuring, 
 whatever the palate chooses to consign to them, and I have not yet 
 lost a tooth by age. I v.^as a hard student until I entered on the 
 business of life, the duties of which leave no idle time to those dis- 
 posed to fulfil them ; and now, retired, and at the age of seventy- 
 six, I am again a hard student. Indeed my fondess for reading 
 and study revolts me from the drudgery of letter-writing. And a 
 stiff wrist, the consequence of an early dislocation, makes writing 
 Ijoth slow and painful. I am not so tegular in my sleep as the 
 Doctor says he was, devoting to it from five to eight hours, accord- 
 ing as my company or the book I, am reading interests me ; and I 
 never go to bed without an hour, or a half hour's previous reading 
 of something moral, whereon to ruminate in the intervals of sleep. 
 But whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise Avith the sun. I 
 use spectacles at night, but not necessarily in the day, unless in 
 reading small print. My hearing is distinct in particular conver- 
 sation, but confused when several voices cross each other, which 
 unfits me for the society of the table. I have been more fortunate 
 than my friend in the article of health. So free from catarrhs 
 that I have not had one (in the breast, I mean) on an average of 
 eight or ten years through life. I ascribe this exemption partly to 
 the habit of bathing my feet in cold water every morning for sixty 
 years past. A fever of more than twenty-four hours I have not 
 had above two or three times in my life. A periodical headache 
 has afflicted me occasionally, once, perhaps, in six or eight years, 
 for two or three weeks at a time, which seems now to have left 
 me ; and, except on a late occasion of indisposition, I enjoy good 
 health ; too feeble, indeed, to walk much, but riding without fa- 
 tigue six or eight miles a day, and sometimes thirty or forty. I 
 may end these egotisms, therefore, as I began, by saying that my 
 hfe has been so much -ko that of other people, that I might say 
 with Horace, to everv one. ^Nomine mutato, 7iarratur fahula de 
 ie: 
 
520 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 The limits to vvhicli we are confined, arc a warning against an 
 extension of the interesting catalogue, or it might be pursued indefi- 
 nitely, and with unvarying gratification. The cabinet of the illus- 
 trious recluse, besides exhibiting a faithful portrait of himself, con- 
 tains the sublimated wisdom of a long life of wonderful experience 
 and opportunities, accumulated by a mind eminently original and 
 contemplative ; and opens an inexhaustible store of materials for 
 the Historian, the Philosoj)her, the Moralist, Patriot, Philanthropist, 
 and Statesman. His course of life, while in retirement, was filled 
 with untiring activity, and unrestrainedly indulged in those occupa- 
 tions, which were the master passions of every portion of it, read- 
 ing, science, correspondence, the cultivation of his farm, the endear 
 ments of family, and delights of social intercourse. He carried in- 
 to his retirement the same neatness and severity of system, which 
 had enabled him to surmount with ease the greatest complication of 
 duties in public hfe. He rose with the sun. From that time to 
 breakfast, and often until noon, he was in his cabinet, chiefly em- 
 ployed in epistolary correspondence. From breakfast, or noon at 
 latest, to dinner, he was engaged in his work-shops, his garden, or 
 on horseback, among his farms. From dinner to dark, he gave to 
 society and recreation with his neighbors and friends ; and from 
 candle-light to bed-time, he devoted himself to reading and study. 
 
 /Gradually, as he grew older, he became seized with a canine appe- 
 tite for reading, as he termed it, and he indulged it freely, as prom- 
 ising a relief against the tedium senectutis, a ' lamp to lighten his 
 path through tlie dreary wilderness of time before him, whose 
 bourne he saw not.' His reading was of the most substantial kind, 
 chiefly historical and classical; his studies, philosophical and math- 
 ematical. Thucydides, Tacitus, Horace, Newton, and Euclid, were 
 his constant companions. When young, mathematics was the pas- 
 sion of his life. The same passion returned upon him, in his old 
 
 . age, but probably with unequal powers. ' Processes, he complain- 
 ed, which he could then read off with the facility of common dis- 
 course, now cost him labor and time, and slow investigation.' Yet 
 no one but himself was sensible of any decay in his intellectual 
 energies. He possessed an uncommon health, with a constitutional 
 buoyancy unbroken, and improved by the salubrity of his mount- 
 ain residence ; and his strength, which was yielding under the 
 weight of years, w^as considerably re-inforced by the activity of the 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 521 
 
 the course he pursued. " I talk of ploughs and harrows," he wrote 
 to a friend, " of seeding and harvesting, with m)^ neighbors, and of 
 politics too, if they choose, with as little reserve as the rest of my 
 fellow citizens, and feel, at length, the blessing of being free to say 
 and do what I please, without being responsible for it to any mor- 
 tal." A part of his occupation, and one in which he took great de- 
 hght, was the direction of the studies of young men ; multitudes of 
 whom resorted to him, as to an Oracle, to imbibe the inspirations of 
 his councils, and listen to the incantations of his genius. They lo- 
 cated themselves in the neighboring village of Charlottesville, where 
 they v/ere invited to a free access to his hbrary, enjoyed the benefit 
 of his counsel, participated of his cordial hospitality, and made an 
 interesting part of his daily society. " In advising the course of 
 their reading" said he, " I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on 
 the main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. 
 So that coming to bear a share in the councils and government of 
 their country, they will keen, ever in view the sole objects of all le- 
 gitimate government."' * • ' / 
 
 The agricultural operations of Mr. Jefferson were conducted upon 
 an extensive scale, and consequently engaged a great share of his 
 attention, by no means the least pleasantly. The domains at Mon- 
 ticello, including the adjoining estateSj'contained about eleven thou- 
 sand acres, of which about fifteen hundred were cleared. In addi- 
 tion to this, he owned a large estate in Bedford county, by right of 
 his wife, from which he raised annually about 40,000 weight of to- 
 bacco, and grain sufficient to maintain the plantation. He visited 
 this estate, about seventy miles distant, once every 5'ear, which kepi 
 him from home six or seven weeks at a time. He had about two 
 hundred negroes on his farms, who required a constant superinten- 
 dance ; more especially, under the peculiar system of agriculture 
 pursued by Mr. Jefferson, of which some notice has. heretofore been 
 taken. But his choicest labors, in this department, were bestowed 
 on that delightful and beloved spot, where all his labors were to 
 end, as they had been begun. He had reclaimed its awful rugged - 
 ness, when a very young man, and of its wilderness made a gar- 
 den ; and now, in his old age, he returned, with all the enthusiosni 
 of his early efforts, to the further development and improvemeiU of 
 the natural beauties of a site, whose bold and gigantic features, 
 whose far-reaching prospects, whose tranquil and immovable brow 
 
 45 
 
522 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 amidst the agitations of the storm below, were eminently in unison 
 with the elements of his character. A more particular description 
 of this celebrated seat may not be unedifying to the majority of read- 
 ers. 
 
 MoNTicELLo is derived from the Italian, and announces the 
 owner's attachment, at once, to that beautiful language, and to the 
 fine arts, of which Italy is both the cradle, and the favorite abode. 
 It signifies 'little mountain,' — modest title for a bold and isolated em- 
 inence, wliich rises six hundred feet above the suirounding country, 
 and commands one of the most extensive and variegated prospects 
 in the world. The base of the mountain, which is washed by the 
 Ravanna, exceeds a mile in diameter ; and its sides are encompass- 
 ed by four parallel roads, sweeping round it at equal distances, and 
 so connected with each other by easy ascents, as to afford, when com- 
 pleted, a level carriage-way of almost seven miles. The whole 
 mountain, with the exception of the summit, is covered with a dense 
 and lofty forest. On the top is an elliptic plain, of about ten acres, 
 formed by the hand of art cutting down the apex of the mountain ; 
 and, in its richly cultivated aspect, contrasting powerfully with the 
 unreclaimed and wild magnificence of the subjacent world. This 
 extensive artificial level is laid out in a beautiful lawn, broken only 
 by lofty weeping willows, poplars, acacias, catalpas and other trees 
 of foreign growth, distributed at such distances, as not to obstruct 
 the view from the centre in any direction. On the West, stretching 
 away to the North and the South, the. prospect is bounded only by 
 the Alleganies, — a hundred miles distant in some parts, — overreach- 
 ing all the intervening mountains, commanding a view of the Blue 
 Ridge for a hundred and fifty miles, and looking down upon an en- 
 chanting landscape, broad as the eye can compass, of intermingling 
 villages and deserts, forest and cultivation, mountains, vallies, rocks 
 and rivers. On the East is a literal immensity of prospect, bound- 
 ed only by the rotundity of the Earth, in which ' nature seems to 
 sleep in eternal repose, as if to form one of her finest contrasts with 
 the rude and rolling grandeur on the West.' From this grand point, 
 bringing under the eye a most magnificent panorama, are overlook- 
 ed, hke pigmies, all the neighboring mountains as far as the Chesa- 
 peake ; and the Atlantic itself might be seen were it not for the 
 greatness of the distance. Hence it was, that the youthful philoso- 
 pher, before the Revolution, was wont to scrutinize the motions of 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 523 
 
 the planets, with the mightier revohitjons of the celestial sphei'e ; and 
 to witness that phenomenon so interestingly described in his Notes 
 on Virginia, as among the subliniest of Nature's operations, the 
 looming of the distant momitains. From this elevated seat he was 
 wont to enjoy those scenes to which he reverted with so much fond- 
 ness and enthusiasm, while in France : "And our own dear Mon- 
 ticello ; where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye ? 
 — mountains, forests, rocks, rivers. With what majesty do we 
 there ride above the storms ! How sublime to look down into the 
 Avork-house of Nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, 
 all fabricated at our feet ! and the glorious sun when rising as if 
 out of a distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and 
 giving life to all nature." From this proud summit, too, ' the Patri- 
 ot,' in the language of a visiter, 'could look down, with uninterrupt- 
 ed vision, upon the wide expanse of the world around, for which he 
 considered himself born ; and upward, to the open and vaulted 
 heavens which he seemed to approach, as if to keep him continual- 
 ly in mind of his high responsibility. It is indeed a prospect in 
 which you -see and feel, at once, that nothing mean or little could 
 live. It is a scene fit to nourish those great and high-souled princi- 
 ples which formed the elements of his character, and was a most 
 noble and appropriate post for such a sentinel over the rights &.nd 
 liberties of man.' 
 
 v' In the centre of the summit of this chosen eminence, rose the 
 magnificent Mansion of the secluded Patriarch. It was erected and • 
 furnished in the days of his affluence ; and was such an one, in all 
 respects, as comported with the character and fortune of the man. 
 The main structure is one hundred feet in length, hom east to west. 
 and above sixty in depth, from north to south, presenting a front in 
 every direction. The basement story is raised five or six feet above 
 the ground, from which springs the principal story, above twenty 
 feet in height, whereon rests an attic of about eight feet. The 
 whole is surmoimted by a lofty dome, of twenty eight feet in diam- 
 eter, rising from the centre of the building. The principal front 
 faces the east, and is adorned with a noble portico, ballancing a 
 corresponding one on the west. The north and south fronts pre- 
 sent arcades, or piazzas, under which are cool recesses that open in 
 both cases on a floored terrace, projecting a hundred feet in a 
 straight line, and tljen another hundred feet at right angles, until 
 
524 LIFE, WRITINGS, A]^D OPINIOKS 
 
 teriiiinated by pavilions of two stones high. Under the whole 
 length of these terraces is a range of one story buildings, in which 
 are the offices requisite for dontfestic purposes, and the lodgings of 
 the household servants. The external of the structuie is finish- 
 ed in the Doric order complete, with balustrades on the top of it; 
 the internal, contains specimens of all the diflerent orders, except the 
 composite which is not introduced. The hall is in the Ionic, the 
 dining room in the Doric, the parlor in the Corinthian, and the 
 dome in the Attic. Improvements and additions, both useful and 
 ornamental, were continually going on, as they were suggested by 
 the taste and ingenuity of the owner. Indeed, the whole building 
 had been almost in a constant state of re edification, from its ante- 
 revolutionary form, wdiich was highly finished, to the present time ; 
 "and so I hope it will remain during my life," said he to a visiter, 
 "as architecture is my dehght, and putting up, and pulling downj 
 one of my favorite amusements." > ♦ 
 
 On the declivities of the mountain are arranged the dwellings of 
 artificers and mechanics of every description, and their work shops ; 
 for it was the study of the illustrious proprietor to make himself per- 
 fectly independent. He had his carpenter's shop, his blacksmith's 
 shop, cabinet shop, &c. &c. with a complete suit of manufactories 
 for cottons and woollens, grain mills, sawing mills, and a nail facto- 
 ry conducted by boys. His' carriage was made by his own work- 
 men, as were also many articles of his fine furniture. The fabrica- 
 tion with his own hands of curious implements and models, was one 
 of his favorite amusements. 
 
 On entering the Mansion by the east front, the visiter is ushered 
 into a spacious and lofty hall, Avhose hangings announce at once 
 the character land ruling passions of the man. On the right, on the 
 left, and around, his eye is struck with objects of science and taste, 
 whose arrangement is so curious and admirable as to produce a dra- 
 matic effect. On one side are specimens of sculpture, in the form 
 of statues and busts, disposed in such order, as to exhibit at a coup 
 d'ceil, the historical progress of the art ; from the first rude attempts 
 of the aborigines of our country, to the most finished models of Eu- 
 ropean masters, particularly a bust of the great Patriot himself, 
 from the hand of Caracci. Among others are noticed the bust of a 
 male and female sitting in the Indian position, supposed to be very 
 ancient, having been ploughed up in Tennessee; a full length 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 525 
 
 figure of Cleopatra, in a reclining position, after she had applied the 
 asp ; the busts of Voltaire and Turgot, in plaister. His own bust 
 stands on a truncated column, on the pedestal of which are repre- 
 sented the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve signs ol the Zodiac. 
 On the other side are displayed a vast collection of specimens of In- 
 dian art, their paintings, engravings, weapons, ornaments, manu- 
 factures, statues, and idols ; and on another, a profusion of natural 
 curiosities, prodigies of ancient art, fossil productions of every de- 
 scription, mineral and animal, &c. (fcc. Among others are particu- 
 larly noticed a perfect model of the great pyramid of Egypt ; the 
 upper and lower jaw bones and tusks of the mammoth, advanta- 
 geously contrasted with those of an elephant along side of them. 
 
 From the hall the visitor enters a spacious saloon, through im- 
 mense folding doors, whose portals seem indicative of the disposition 
 of the master. In this apartment, the walls are covered with the 
 modern productions of the pencil, of the finest workmanship ; histor- 
 ical paintings of the most striking subjects from all countries, and all 
 ages ; scriptural paintings, among which are the Ascension, the 
 Holy Family, the Scourging of Christ, and the Crucifixion, by 
 their respective masters ; the portraits of distinguished characters, 
 both of Europe and America ; with engravings, coins, and medal- 
 lions in endless profusion, — all so blended with the singular ele- 
 gance and variety of the furniture of the room, as to produce an 
 enchanting effect. Here, and in the other rooms, are the portraits 
 of Bacon, Newton, and Locke, his 'trinity of the three greatest 
 meri the world had ever produced ;' of Columbus, Vespucius, Cor- 
 tez, Magellan, Raleigh ; of Franklin, Washington, ha, Fayette, 
 Adams, Madison, Rittenhouse, Paine, and many other remarkable 
 men. Here, too, are the busts of Alexander and Napoleon, plac- 
 ed/on pedestals, each side of the door of entrance. 
 » The whole of the southern wing is occupied by the Library, Cab- 
 inet, and chamber of Mr. Jefferson. The library is divided into 
 three apartments, opening into each other, the walls of which are 
 covered with books and maps. It contained, at one time, the great- 
 est private collection of books ever known in the United States, and 
 incomparably the most valuable, from the multitude of rare works, 
 and the general superiority of the editions. He had been fifty 
 years enriching and perfecting his assortment, omitting no pains, 
 opportunities, or expense. While in Paris he devoted every after- 
 
 45* 
 
526 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 noon he was disengaged, for a summer or two, in examining the 
 principal bookstores, and putting by every thing which related to 
 America, with whatever was valuable in the sciences. Besides this 
 he had standing orders, during the M^iole time he was in Europe, 
 in its principal bookmarts, for all such works as could not be found 
 in Palis. After the conflagration of Washington in the last war, 
 and the destruction of the library, he sold about ten thousand vol- 
 umes to the government, "to replace the devastations of British 
 vandalism," as he indignantly characterised the licentious transac- 
 tion. Confiding in the honor of Congress, he made a tender of 
 them to the government, at their own price. The consequence 
 was, that he obtained but about twenty four thousand dollars for 
 what was worth more than three times that sum, at the London pri- 
 ces. In his cabinet, he is surrounded with several hundred of his 
 favorite authors, lying near at hand, with every accommodation and 
 luxury which ease or taste could require. This apartment opened 
 into a green-house, filled with a collection of the most rare plants ; 
 and he was seldom without some geranium or other plant beside 
 liim. Connected with his study were extensive apparatuses for 
 mathematical, philosophical, and optical purposes. It was suppos- 
 ed there was no private gentleman in the world in possession of so 
 perfect and complete a scientific, useful, and ornamental collection 
 as Mr. Jeflerson. i- 
 
 Such is an imperfect representation of a patriarchal Seat and 
 appendages, whose just celebrity has attracted the wayfarer of every 
 land, and left him in wonder on retiring from it. But who shall 
 describe its great architect and occupant ? No one surely, who 
 has not met in person his outstretched hand, and felt the warm and 
 eiager welcome of his grasp, and thrilled at the intonations of his me- 
 lodious voice, and gazed upon the mellow enthusiasm of his counte- 
 nance, waving with the light of a boundless benevolence, and the 
 chaste corruscations of a mighty, refined, and well-ballanced in- 
 tellect. Let this dehcate duty, therefore, be discharged by adopting 
 the record of a distinguished guest, whose genius had been touched 
 by the influence of his presence : 
 
 " While the visiter was yet lost in the contemplation of these 
 treasures of the arts and sciences, he was startled by the approach 
 of a strong and sprightly step, and turning with instinctive rever- 
 ence to the door of entrance, he was met by tlie tall, and animated, 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 527 
 
 and stately figure of the patriot himself — his countenance beaming 
 with intelligence and benignity, and his outstretched hand, with its 
 strong and cordial pressure, confirming the courteous welcome of 
 his lips. And then came that charm of manner and conversation 
 that passes all description — so cheerful — so unassuming — so free, 
 and easy, and frank, and kind, and gay — that even the young, and 
 overawed, and embarrassed visitw at once forgot his fears, and felt 
 himself by the side of an old and familiar friend. There was no 
 effort, no ambition in the conversation of the philosopher. It was 
 as simple and unpretending as nature itself And while in this easy 
 manner he was pouring out instruction, like light from an inex- 
 haustible solar fountain, he seemed continually to be asking, instead 
 of giving information. The visiter felt himself hfted by the con- 
 tact, into a new and nobler region of thought, and became surprised 
 at his own buoyancy and vigor. He could not, indeed, help being 
 astounded, now and then, at those transcendant leaps of the mind, 
 which he saw made without the slightest exertion, and the ease with 
 which this wonderful man played with subjects which he had been 
 in the habit of considering among the argumenta crncis of the in- 
 tellect. And then there seemed to be no end to his knowledge. 
 He was a thorough master of every subject that was touched. 
 From the details of the humblest mechanic art, up to the highest 
 summit of science, he was perfectly at his ease, and every where at 
 home. There seemed to be no longer any terra incognita of the 
 human understanding : for, what the visiter had thought so, he 
 now found reduced to a familiar garden walk ; and all this carried 
 off so lightly, so playfully, so gracefully, so engagingly, that he won 
 every heart that approached him, as certainly as he astonished every 
 mind." 
 
 Although reposing in the bosom of his native mountains, and 
 happy in the indulgence of those pursuits and enjoyments, from 
 which nothing but revolutionary duties would ever have separated 
 liim, his remote seclusion did not shield him from those annoyan- 
 ces, which are inseparable from great and virtuous jenown. He 
 was persecuted with a perpetual deluge of letters, of which every 
 mail brought a fresh accumulation ; not those from his intimate 
 ■ friends, with whom he deUghted to interchange sentiments, but 
 from strangers and others, " who" as he said " oppressed him, in the 
 most friendly dispositions, with their concerns, their pursuits, their 
 
528 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 projects, inventions, and speculations, political, moral,* religious, me- 
 chanical, mathematical, historical, &c. &c." This drew upon him 
 a burden, which formed a great obstacle to the delights of retire- 
 ment ; for it was a sacred rule with Mr. Jefferson, never to omit an- 
 swering any respectful letter received by him, however obscure the 
 individual, or insignificant the object. Happening, on one occasion, 
 to turn to his letter-list, his curiosity was excited to ascertain the 
 number received in the course of a single year ; and on counting, it 
 appeared there were one thousand two hundred and sixty seven, 
 ' many of them requiring answers of elaborate research, and all to 
 be answered with due attention and consideration.' Taking an 
 average of this number for a week or a day, and he might well 
 compare his drudgery at the writing-table to ' the life of a mill- 
 horse, who sees no end to his circle but in death,' or to 'the life of a 
 cabbage, which was a paradise in contrast.' For these distressing 
 intrusions, however, not a murmur or a querulous expression escap- 
 ed from him in public ; and when compelled to allude to them in 
 his letters of friendship, as apologies for his apparent remissness in 
 this department, he would lament them only, as ' the kind indis- 
 cretions which were so heavily oppressing the departing hours of 
 life.' 
 
 To his persecutions from this source, was occasionally super- 
 added the treachery of correspondents, in the piiljlication of his let- 
 ters ; which embroiled him with the partisans of the adversary 
 opinion, and subjected him to much mortification and uneasiness, 
 when his strongest desire w^as that of dying in the good- will of all 
 mankind. Conscious of his ov/n singleness and honesty, he boldly 
 and habitually trusted his fellow-man ; and, though often betrayed, 
 he would never surrender the happiness of this confidence but with 
 the desire of existence. To the possession of this felicitous attri- 
 bute, are to be ascribed, in great part, the firmness and enthusiasm 
 of that phalanx, which, under every pressure of injustice, in every 
 tempest of pohtical dissension, supported him unharmed and tri- 
 umphant through the focus of its violence. He, who so fondly 
 trusted others, was sure to be trusted himself. " Thus am I situa- 
 ted," he wrote to a friend — " I receive letters from all quarters, some 
 from known friends, some from those who write like friends, on va- 
 rious subjects. What am I to do ? Am I to button myself .up in 
 Jesuitical reserve, rudely dechning any answer, or answering in 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 529 
 
 terms so unmeaning-, as only to piove my distrust? Must I with- 
 draw myself from all interchange of sentiment with the world ? 
 I cannot do this. It is at war with my habits and temper. I can- 
 .not act as if all men are unfaithful, because some are so ; nor be- 
 lieve that all will betray me because some do. I had rather be the 
 victim of occasional infidelities, than relinquish ray general confi- 
 dence in the honesty of man." 
 
 There is nothing more tender and beautiful in the history of the 
 retirement of this great man, than his exertions to revive revolution- 
 ry affections between Mr. Adams and hhnself, which had been in- 
 terrupted by the intermediate contlicts of political opinion. They 
 had ceased in expression only, not in their existence or cordiality, 
 on the part of Mr. Jelierson; who regarded the discontinuance of 
 friendly correspondence between them, as ' one of the most painful 
 occurrences in his life' ; with Mr. Adams, they had been afTected, 
 though neyer destroyed, partly by the sanguine cast of his consti- 
 tution, but principally hy the artful and imposing suggestions of 
 the busy inft-iguers, that Mr. Jefferson perhaps participated in the 
 electioneering activity and licentiousness of the contest which was 
 overthrowing his administration. The injustice of this imputation 
 is apparent from the fact, that in his most confidential letters, he 
 never alluded to Mr. Adams with personal disrespect, and even 
 charged the errors of his administration upon his ministers and ad- 
 visers, not upon him. An affecting instance of magnanimity to- 
 wards his competitor, has been recorded of him by a political oppo- 
 nent, who vv"as an eye-witness of the scene. In Virginia, where 
 the opposition to the federal ascendency ran high, the younger spir- 
 its of the day, catcliing their tone from the public journals, imputed 
 to Mr. Adams, on various occasions, in the presence of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, a concealed design to overturn the Repyblic, and supply its 
 place with a Monarchy on the British model. The uniform an- 
 swer of Mr. Jefferson to this charge, will never be forgotten by those 
 who heard it, of whom there are many still living, besides the par- 
 ticular narrator. It was this : " Gentlemen, you do not know that 
 man : there is not upon this earth a more perfectly honest man 
 than John Adams. Concealment is no part of his character ; of 
 that he is utterly incapable : it is not in his nature to meditate any 
 thing that he would not publish to the world. The measures of 
 the General govermnent are a fair subject for difiei'ence of opinion. 
 
S30 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 But do not found your opinions on the notion, that there is the 
 smallest spice of dishonesty, moral or political, in the character of 
 John Adams : for I know him tvell^ and I repeat it, that a man 
 more perfectly honest never issued from the hands of his Creator."* 
 ^Vhen the nation, at length, passed sentence of condemnation on 
 the federal administration, the sulDsequent intrigues that were used to 
 discomfit the popular will, by the elevation of Burr ; the unmanly 
 attempt to extort capitulary terms from Mr. Jefferson ; and the 
 scenes of midnight appointment which ensued, compelling him to 
 act by hostile instruments, or incur the ocliimi of removing them, 
 produced in his mind a momentary dissatisfaction with Mr. Adams, 
 who had been a promoter of some of the proceedings, and the os- 
 tensible agent of others. A very little time and reflection, however, 
 obliterated every sentiment of displeasure from his mind, and restor- 
 ed him to that just estimate of Mr. Adams' virtues, which a long 
 acquaintance had enabled him to establish. And hid- first wish, 
 "on coming into power, was to render easy and dignified the retire- 
 ment of his venerable rival, by the gift, either directly or indirectly, 
 of the most lucrative office in Massachusetts, should it not be deem- 
 ed affrontive. But on suggesting it to some republican members 
 ol the delegation from that State, they were 'of opinion he would 
 take great offence at the offer ; and, moreover, that the body of re- 
 publicans would consider such a step at the outset, as auguring very 
 ill of the course he intended to pursue. He therefore, abandoned 
 the idea, but did not cease wishing for some opportunity to renew 
 their friendly understanding. 
 
 Two or three years after, to wit, in 1804, having had the misfor- 
 tune to lose a daughter, between whom and Mrs. Adams there had 
 been considerable intimacy, she made it the occasion of writing Mr. 
 Jefferson a letter of Qondolence ; in which, with the tenderest senti- 
 ments of concern for the event, she avoided a single expression of 
 friendship towards himself, and even concluded it with the wishes 
 ' of her who once took pleasure in subscribing herself your fi lend,' &c. 
 Unpromising as was the complexion of this letter, he seized the par- 
 tial opening which it offered, to make an effort towards removing 
 the clouds from between them. The answer of Mr. Jefferson ex- 
 pressed the warmest sensibilites foi" the kindness manifested towards 
 
 "^ Wirt's Eulogy. 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 531 
 
 his departed daughter ; went largely into explanations of the cir- 
 cumstances which had seemed to draw a hne of separation between 
 them ; and breathed the most fervent wishes for a reconciliation 
 with herself and Mr. Adams. In conchlsion, he said : " I have 
 thus, my dear madam, opened myself to you without reserve, which 
 I have long wished an opportunity of doing ; and without know- 
 ing how it will be received, I feel relief from being unbosomed.. 
 And I have now only to entreat your forgiveness for this transition 
 from a subject of domestic affliction, to one which seems of a differ- 
 ent aspect. But though connected with political events, it has been 
 viewed by me most strongly in its unfortunate bearings on my 
 private friendships. The injury these have sustained has been a 
 heavy price for what has never given me equal pleasure. That 
 you both may be favored with health, tranquillity and long life, is 
 the prayer of one who tenders you the assurance of his highest con- 
 sideration and esteem." This letter was followed by a further cor- . 
 respondence between the parties, from which soon finding that con- 
 ciliation was desperate, he yielded to an intimation in the last letter 
 of Mrs. Adams, and ceased from further explanations. 
 
 Being now retired horn all connection with the political world, 
 with every ground of jealousy removed, his determination, with his 
 hopes, revived to make another effort towards restoring a friendly 
 understanding with his worthy revolutionary colleague. To this 
 end he opened a correspondence with Dr. Rush, a mutual friend, 
 upon the subject ; to wliom he gave a history of all that had hap- 
 pened between them ; enclosed to him the late unsuccessful cor- 
 respondence ; and expressed his undiminished attachmerit to Mr. 
 Adams, with the wish that he would use his endeavors to re- estab- 
 lish ancient dispositions between them. A short time after, two of 
 Mr. Jefferson's neighbors and friends, while on a tour to the north- 
 ward, fell in company with Mr. Adams at Boston, and by his invi- 
 tation passed a day with him at Braintree. In the freedom and en- 
 thusiasm of the occasion, he spoke out every thing which came 
 uppermost, without reserve ; dwelt particularly upon his own ad- 
 ministration, and alluded to his masters^ as he called his Heads of 
 _ Department, representing them as having acted above his control, 
 and often against his opinions. Among other topics, he adverted 
 to the unprincipled licentiousness of the press against Mr. Jefferson,' 
 adding, ' I always loved Jefferson, and still love him.' 
 
532 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 The moment Mr. Jefferson received this intelhgence lie again 
 wrote to his friend Rush : 
 
 "This is enough for me. I only needed this knowledge to revive 
 towards him all the affections of the most cordial moments of our 
 lives. Changing a single word only in Dr. Franklin's character of 
 him, I knew him to be always an honest man, often a great one, 
 but sometimes incorrect and precipitate in his judgments : and it is 
 known to those who have ever heard me speak of Mr.. Adams, that 
 I have ever done him justice myself, and defended him when assail- 
 ed by others, with the single exception as to his political opinions. 
 But with a man possessing s(nTiahy other estimable qualities, why 
 should we be dissocialized by mere differences of opinion in politics, 
 in religion, in philosophy, or any thing else. His opinions are as 
 honestly formed as my own. Our different views of the same sub- 
 ject are^the result of a difference in our organization and experience. 
 I never withdrew from the society of any man on this account, al ■ 
 though many have done it from me ; much less should I do it from 
 one with whom I had gone through, with hand and heart, so many 
 trying* scenes. I wish, therefore, but for an apposite occasion to ex- 
 press to Mr. Adams my unchanged affections for him. There is an 
 awkwardness which hangs over the resuming a correspondence so 
 long discontinued, unless something could arise which should call 
 for a letter. Time and chance may perhaps generate such an oc- 
 casion, of which I shall not be wanting in promptitude to avail my- 
 self. From this fusion of mutual affections, Mrs. Adams is of course 
 separated. It will only be necessary that I never name her. In 
 your letters to Mr. Adams, you can, perhaps, suggest my continued 
 cordiality towards him, and knowing this, should an occasion of 
 writing first present itself to him, he will perhaps avail himself of it, 
 as I certainly will, should it first occur to me. No ground for jeal- 
 ousy now existing, he will certainly give fair play to the natural 
 warmth of his heart. Perhaps I may open the way in some letter 
 to my old friend Gerry, who I know is in habits of the greatest inti- 
 macy with him. 
 
 " I have thus, my friend, laid open my heart to you, because you 
 were so kind as to take an interest in healing again revolutionary 
 affections, which have ceased in expression only, but not in their 
 existence. God ever bless you, and preserve you in life and health." 
 
 In the course of another month, these two innnortal Patriarchs of 
 the Revolution were affectionately brought together, after a ten 
 years' suspension of all friendly intercommunication. The corres- 
 pondence which passed between them, on the restitution of their an- 
 cient cordiality, is one of the most interesting and affecting legacies 
 ever bequeathed to the world. It has been well described, as re- 
 sembling more than any thing else, one of those conversations in 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 533 
 
 •ibe Elysium of the ancients which the shades of (he departed great 
 were supposed to hold, witli regard to the affairs of the world they 
 had left. That correspondence was a great sweetener of their 
 departing years, blending the apothegms of Science, Morality and 
 Rehgion, and the warmest eifusions of reciprocal love and admira- 
 tion, with sportive reminiscencies on their past agitations, rivalries, 
 mutual follies, mistakes, and misconceptions. And coming, as it 
 did, from the Chiefs of the antagonist parties which have divided 
 the nation fiom its birth, it reads an awful lesson of reprehension 
 on that fellness of party spirit, which has overspread the land with a 
 scourge of dissocialization, splitting neighborhoods into repulsive co- 
 teries and combinations, and rending asunder families and friends. 
 Mr. Jefferson's part, or probably the greatest portion of it, has already 
 been given to the world, and would make a volume of itself. A 
 few disjointed fragments, of the personal and desultory kind, taken 
 promiscuously from his letters of different dates, are all that can be 
 expected to enter into this general view of the correspondence. 
 
 " A letter from you calls up recollections very dear to my mind. 
 It carries me back to the times when, beset with dif!iculties and dan- 
 gers, wo were fellow-laborers in the same cause, struggling for what 
 is most valuable to man, his right of self-government. Laboring 
 always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to 
 overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless under our bark, we knew 
 not how, we rode through the storm with heart and hand, and 
 made a happy port. Still we did not expect to be without rubs and 
 difficulties ; and we have had them. First the detention of the 
 western posts : then the coalition of Pilnitz, outlawing our com- 
 merce with France, and the British enforcement of the outlawry. 
 In your day, French depredations : in mine, English, and the Ber- 
 lin and Milan decrees : now, the .English orders of council, and 
 the piracies they authorise. When these shall be over, it will be the 
 impressment of our seamen, or something else : and so we have 
 gone on, and so we shall go on, puzzled and prospering beyond ex- 
 ample in the history of man. And I do believe we shall continue 
 to growl, to multiply and prosper, until we exhibit an association, 
 powerful, wise, and happy, beyond what has yet been seen by men." 
 
 "I have thus stated my opinion on a point on Avhich we differ, 
 not with a view to controversy, for we are both too old to change 
 opinions which are the result of a long life of enquiry and reflection ; 
 but on the suggestion of a foimer letter of j^ours, that Ave ought not 
 to die before we have explained ourselves to each other. We acted 
 in perfect harmony, through a long and perilous contest for our hb- 
 erty and independence. A constitution has been acquired, which, 
 
 46 
 
534 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 though neither of us thinks perfect, yet both consider as competent to 
 render our fellow citizens the happiest and the securest on whom 
 the sun has ever shone. If we do not think exactly alike as to its 
 imperfections, it matters little to our country, which, after devoting 
 to it long lives of disinterested labor, we have delivered over to our 
 successors in life, who will be able to take care of it and of them- 
 selves." 
 
 "I learned with great regret the serious illness mentioned in your 
 letter ; and I hope Mr. Rives will be able to tell me you are entirely 
 restored. But our machines have now been running seventy or 
 eighty years, and we must expect that, worn as the)?^ are, here a 
 pivot, there a wheel, now a pinion, next a spring, will be giving 
 way ; and however we may tinker them up for a while, all will at 
 length surcease motion. Our watches, with works of brass and 
 steel, wear out within that period. Shall you and I last to see the 
 course the seven-fold wonders of the times will take? The Attila 
 of the age dethroned, the ruthless destroyer of ten millions of the hu- 
 man race, whose thirst for blood appealed unquenchable, the great 
 oppressor of the rights and hberties of the world, shut up within the 
 circuit of a little island of the Mediterranean, and dwindling to the 
 condition of an humble and degraded pensioner on the bounty of 
 those he has most injured. How miserably, how meanly, has he 
 closed his inflated career ! What a sample of the bathos will his 
 history present ! He should have perished on the swords of his 
 enemies under the walls of Paris." 
 
 " You ask, if I would agree to live my seventy or rather seventy- 
 three years over again ? To which I say, yea. I think with you, 
 that it is a good world on the whole ; that it has been fiamed on a 
 principle of benevolence, and more pleasure than pain dealt out to 
 us. There are, indeed, (who might say nay) gloomy and hypo- 
 chondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the 
 present, and despairing of the future ; always counting that the 
 worst will happen, because it may happen. To these I say, how 
 much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened ! My 
 tem])erament is sanguine. I steer my bark with Hope in the head, 
 leaving Fear astern. My hopes, indeed, sometimes fail ; bat not of- 
 tener than the forebodings of the gloomy. There are, I acknowl- 
 edge, even in the happiest life, some terrible convulsions, heavy set- 
 of!"s against the opposite page of the account. I have often won- 
 dered for what good end the sensations of grief could be intended. 
 All our other passions, within proper bounds, have an useful object. 
 And the perfection of the moral character is, not in a stoical apathy, 
 so hypocritically vaunted, and so untruly too, because impossible, 
 but in a just equilibrium of all the passions. I wish the patholo- 
 gists then would tell us what is the use of grief in the economy, and 
 of what good it is the cause, proximate or i-emote." 
 
v_ 
 
 OF THOMAS .JEFFERSON. 535 
 
 " The public papers, my dear friend, announce the fatal event of ^ 
 
 which your letter of October the 20th, had given me ominous fore- '^ 
 
 boding. Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the loss of ev- ^ i 
 ery form of connection which can rive the human heart, I know \ 
 
 well and feci what you have lost, what you have suffered, are suf- 
 fering, and have yet to endure. The same trials have taught me \ ^ 
 that, for ills so immeasurable, time and silence are the only medi- ^ - 
 cine. I will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh the 
 sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling sincerely my tears with 
 yours, will I say a word more where words are vain, but that it is 
 of some comfort to us both, that the term is not very distant, at 
 which we are to deposite in the same cerement our sorrows and suf- 
 fering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an extatic meeting with 
 the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love, 
 and never lose again. *God bless you, and support you under your i * 
 heavy afiliction." 
 
 " Putting aside these things, however, for the present, I write this 
 letter as due to a friendship coeval with our government, and now X ^ 
 
 attempted to be poisoned,* when too late in life to be replaced by "^J 
 
 new affections. I had for some time observed, in the public papers, O 
 
 ^^rk hints and mysterious inuelKlQe^' of a correspondence of yours 
 ^^■'Svith a friend, to'''''wTttm»--yoir hail 'jjunetl your bosom u'ithout re- 
 serve, and which was to be made public by that friend or his repre- ]:^ 
 sentative. And now it is said to be actually published. It has not y ^ 
 y£t reached us, but extracts have been given, and such as seemed 
 . mostiiireTyTo draw a curtain of separation between you and myself. 
 /<^\ Were there no other motive than that of indignation against the 
 \ \iuthor of this outrage on private confidence, whose shaft seems to 
 \ have been aimed at yourself more particularly, this would make it "^ 
 \ the duty of every honorable mind to disappoint that aim, by oppos- ^f 
 ^ ing to its impression a seven-fold shield of apathy and insensibility. ' ) 
 With m.e, however, no such armor is needed. The circumstances 
 of the times in which we have happened to live, and the partiality 
 t*, t^of our friends at a particular period, placed us in a state of apparent 
 ^opposition, which some might suppose to be personal also: and 
 fc >ihere might not be wanting those w"ho wished to make it so, by 
 \ vfilling our ears with malignant falsehoods, by dressing up hideous 
 \~'phantoms of their own cretuion, presenting them to you under my 
 X O liame, to me under yours, and endeavoring to instil into our minds 
 J things concerning each other the most destitute of truth. And if 
 vlijere had been, at any time, a moment when we were off our guard. 
 '^ and in a temper to let the whispers of these people make us forget 
 P ,^ what we had known of each other for so many years, and years of 
 ^ so much trial, yet all men, who have attended to the workings of 
 the human mind, who have seen the false colors under which pas- 
 
 * Alluding to the Cunningham Correspondence. 
 
536 LIF, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 sion sometimes dresses the actions and motives of others, have seenf 
 also those passions subsiding with time and reflection, dissipating^ 
 like mists before tiie rising sun, and restoring to us the sight of all 
 things in their true shape and colors. It would be strange, indeed, 
 if, at our years, we were to ^o an age back to hunt up imaginary or 
 forgotten facts, to disturb me repose of affections so sweetening to 
 the evening of our lives. Be assured, ray dear Sir, that I am inca- 
 pable of receiving the slightest impression from the effort now made 
 to plant thorns on the pillow of age, worth, and wisdom, and to sow 
 tares between friends who have been such for near half a century. 
 Beseeching you, then, not to suffer your mind to be disquieted by 
 this wicked attempt to poison its peace, and praying you to throw it 
 by among the things which have never happened, I add sincere as- 
 surances of my unabated and constant attachment, friendship and 
 respect." 
 
 But the cultivation of the affections, social and domestic, and the 
 delights of philosophical and agricultural occupation, were subjects 
 which engaged only a subordinate share of the attention of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson in retirement. One other enterprise, of public and vast utili- 
 ty, which it was reserved for him to accomplish, constituted the en- 
 grossing topic of his mind, from the moment of his return to private 
 hfe, to the day and hour of his death. This was the establishment 
 of the University of Virginia, — a most genial employment for his 
 old age, and, very appropriately, the crowning act of the long and 
 wonderful drama of his hfe. Having assisted in achieving for his 
 country the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty, he 
 considered the work but half complete, without securing to posterity 
 the means of preserving that condition of moral culture, on which 
 the perpetuation of those blessings forever depends. It was one of 
 the first axioms to which he attained, that the liberties of a nation 
 could never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and 
 that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. A sys- 
 tem of education, therefore, which should leach every description of 
 citizens, from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so it 
 was the latest of public concerns in which he permitted himself to 
 take an interest. 
 
 The opinions of Mr. Jefferson on the subject of Education were 
 given in detail, while the Revised Code of Virginia was under con- 
 sideration ; of which the ' Bill for the General Diffusion of Knowl- 
 edge,' drafted by him, v/as a distinguishing feature. The system 
 marked out in that Bill, proposed three distinct grades of instruction; 
 the sum total of whose objects may be explained by adopting a sin- 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 537 
 
 gle expression of the author, — ' to give the highest degrees of edu- 
 cation to the higher degrees of genius, and to all degrees of it, so 
 much as may enable them to read and understand what is going on 
 in the world, and to keep their part of it going on right.' No part 
 of this expansive system had been carried into effect by the Legis- 
 lature, except that proposing the elementary grade of instruction ; 
 and the intention of this was completely defeated by the option giv- 
 en to the County Courts. The University composed the ultimate 
 grade of the system, and was the one which pecuharly enlisted the 
 zeal of the founder, without, however, subtracting from his devotion 
 to the W'hole scheme. In this Institution, like those of the universi- 
 ty rank in Europe, it was his intention to have taught every branch 
 of Science, useful to mankind, and in its highest degree ; wath such 
 a classification of the sciences into particular groups, as to require so 
 many Professors only, as might bring them within the views of a 
 just but enlightened economy. 
 
 The plan of the University w^as unique, in its superstructure, in 
 its intellectual regime, and its general organization. It w^as origin- 
 al with Mr. Jefferson, — the offspring of his genius, aided by his ex- 
 tensive observations w^hile in Europe. The University of Virginia 
 is emphatically his w'ork. His was the first conception, having 
 been started by him more than forty years ago ; his, the subsequent 
 impulse and direction wdiich finally brought it to maturity ; his, the 
 whole scheme of its studies, organization and government ; and his, 
 the beautiful and varied architecture of its buildings, in which he 
 improved the occasion to present a specimen of each of the orders 
 of the art, founded on Grecian and Roman models. He did this 
 last with a view to inspire the youth who resorted thither, with 'the 
 imposing associations of antiquity,' and to retrieve, as far as he could, 
 the character of his country from that pointed sarcasm in his Notes 
 on Virginia, that '•' the genius of architecture seems to have shed its 
 maledictions over this land." Being located, in gratitude to its 
 founder, within four miles of Monticello, he superintended its erec- 
 tion daily, and with the purest satisfaction. The plan of the build- 
 ings embraced : 1st. Pavilions, arranged on either side of a lawn, 
 indefinite in length, to contain each a lecture room, and private 
 apartments sufficient to accommodate a Professor and his family. 
 2d. A range of Dormitories, connecting the Pavilions, of one sto- 
 ry high, sufficient each for the accommodation of two sfudents 
 
 46* 
 
538 ' LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 only, — as the most advantageous to morals, order and uninterrupt- 
 ed study, — with a passage under cover from the weather, giving a 
 communication along the whole range. 3d. Hotels, for the diet- 
 ing of the students, to contain each a single room for a refectory, 
 and accommodations sufficient for the tenants charged with this de- 
 partment. 4th. A Rotunda, or large circular building, in which 
 were rooms for religious worship, under such regulations as the 
 Visitors should prescribe, for public examinations, for a library, for 
 schools of music, drawing, and other associated purposes. The 
 principal novelties in the scheme of its studies, were a Professorship 
 of the principles of government, " to be founded in the rights of 
 man," to use the significant language of the originator ; a Profess- 
 orship of agriculture ; one of modern languages, among which the 
 Anglo-Saxon was included, that the learner might imbibe, with 
 their language, their free principles of government ; and the absence 
 of a Professorship of Divinity, 'to give fair play to the cultivation of 
 reason,' as well as to avoid the constitutional objection against a pub- 
 lic establishment of any religious instruction. A Rector and Board 
 of Visitors, appointed by the Legislature, composed the government 
 of the Institution ; and their first meeting was in August, 1818, at 
 RockfishGap,on the Blue Ridge, at which Mr. JefTerson presided, and 
 drafted the first annual report to the Legislature. He was also ap- 
 pointed Rector of the University, in which office he continued until 
 his death, when he was succeeded by Mr. Madison. The estabhsh- 
 ment went into operation in the spring of 1825, and is now in a 
 flourishing condition. 
 
 The weight and vehemence of opposition which this institution 
 encountered, through every stage of its progress, were such as would 
 have been insurmountable to any person possessing less persever- 
 ance, or less ascendency of personal character than Mr. JefTerson. 
 Besides the ordinary circumstances of resistance, common to every 
 enterprise of the kind in this country, it was met at the outset, 
 by a combination of religious jealousies, probably never equalled. 
 Hostile as they were, in every other point, to one another, all the re- 
 ligious sects in the State cordially co-operated in the effort to fixis- 
 trate an institution, which, from the circumstance of its favoring no 
 particular school of divinity, to the exclusion of another, was presum- 
 ed to be inimical to all religion, in all its forms. These formidable 
 antipathies, with the host of sectional rivalries, the steady counter- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 539 
 
 action of William and Mary, and the taidy pace of the public pat- 
 ronage, produced an array of difficulties of so frightful a character, 
 as to cloud the brow of Mr. Jefferson with an occasional anxiety, to 
 which he was a stranger under the most afflicting occurrences of 
 his political career ; yet he never despaired, resolving to ' die in the 
 last ditch rather than give way.' After a most impressive exhorta- 
 tion to one of his colleagues of the Visitation, to exert all his facul- 
 ties towards allaying the opposition, and arousing the Legislature, 
 of which he was a member, to a sense of their distresses, he says : 
 
 " I have brooded, perhaps with fondness, over this establishment, as 
 it held up to me the hope of continuing to be useful while I contin- 
 ued to live. I had believed that the course and circumstances of 
 my life had placed vvithin my power some services favorable to the 
 outset of the institution. But this may be egotism ; pardonable, 
 perhaps, when I express a consciousness that my colleagues and 
 successors will do as well, whatever the Legislature shall enable 
 them to do." 
 
 Again he writes to another friend of the University in the Legisla- 
 ture: 
 
 "When I retired from the administration of public affairs, I 
 thought I saw some evidence that I retired with a good degree 
 of public favor, and that my conduct in office had been consid- 
 ed, by the one party at least, with approbation, and with acquies- 
 ence by the other. But the attempt, in which I have embarked so 
 earnestly, to piocure an improvement in the moral condition of my 
 native State, although, perhaps, in other States it may have strength- 
 ened good dispositions, it has assuredly weakened them in our own. 
 The attempt ran foul of so many local interests, of so many person- 
 al views, and so much ignorance, and I have been considered as so 
 particularly its promoter, that I see evidently a great change of sen- 
 timent towards myself. I cannot doubt its having dissatisfied with 
 myself a respectable minority, if not a majority of the House of Del- 
 egates. I feel it deeply and very discouragingly ; yet I shall not 
 give way. I have ever found in my progress through life, that act- 
 ing for the public, if we do always what is right, the approbation de- 
 nied in the beginning will surely follow us in the end. It is from 
 posterity we are to expect remuneration for the sacrifices we are 
 making for their service, of time, quiet, and good will." 
 
 At another time he bursts forth, in a letter to one of his colleagues. 
 in a strain of despondency mingled with affectionate supplication, 
 strongly portraying the difficulties in the way, and the almost over- 
 whelming solicitude which he felt for the result : 
 
540 LIFE, AVRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " But the gloomiest of all prospects, is in the desertion of the best 
 friends of the institution, for desertion I must call it. I know not 
 the necessities which may force this on you. General Cocke, you 
 say, will explain them to me ; but I cannot conceive them, nor per- 
 suade myself they are uncontrollable. I have ever hoped, that 
 yourself, General Breckenridge, and Mr. Johnson, would stand at 
 your posts in tiie Legislature, until every thing was effected, and 
 the institution opened. If it is so difficult to get along with all the 
 energy and influence of our present colleagues in the Legislature, 
 how can we expect to proceed at all, reducing our moving power ? 
 I know well your devotion to your country, and your foresight of 
 the awful scenes coming on her, sooner or later. With this fore- 
 sight, what service can we ever render her equal to this? What 
 object of our lives can we propose so important ? What interest of 
 our own which ought not to be postponed to this? Health, time, 
 labor, on what in the single life which nature has given us, can 
 these be better bestowed than on this hnmortal boon to our country ? 
 The exertions and the mortifications are temporary ; the benefit 
 eternal. If any member of our college of Visitors could justifiably 
 withdraw from this sacred duty, it would be myself, who quadra- 
 gents stipendiis jamdndum jieractis, have neither vigor of body 
 nor mind left to keep the field : but I will die in the last ditch, and 
 sol hope you will, my friend, as well as our firm-breasted brothers 
 and colleagues, Mr. Johnson and General Breckenridge. Nature 
 will not give you a second life wherein to atone for the omissions of 
 this. Pray then, dear and very dear Sir, do not think of deserting 
 us, but view the sacrifices which seem to stand in your way, as the 
 lesser duties, and such as ought to be postponed to this, the greatest 
 of all. Continue with us in these holy labors, until, having seen 
 their accomplishment, we may say with old Simeon, ' Nunc dimit- 
 tas, Dominey 
 
 The enthusiasm with which the aged patriarch embarked in this 
 great undertaking, arose in a principal degree, fi-om its contemplated 
 bearing on the future destinies of his country, in a 'political sense. 
 This is apparent in all his letters. He intended it as a school for the 
 future pohticians and statesmen of the Republic — of that Republic at 
 whose birth he officiated, and in whose service he had worn out 
 his life. The illustrious man who succeeded him in its Rector- 
 ship, has said : " This temple, dedicated to science and liberty, was, 
 after Mr. Jefferson's retirement from the political sphere, the object 
 nearest his heart, and so continued to the end of his life. His devo- 
 tion to it was intense, and his exertions unceasing. It bears the 
 stamp of his genius, and will be a noble monument to his fame. 
 His general view was to make it a nursery of republican patriots, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFI'ERSON. 541 
 
 as well as genuine scholars." The same idea is continually enforc 
 ed in his impressive appeals to the members of the Legislature, and 
 other individuals. 
 
 I To General Breckenridge. — "The reflections that the boys of 
 this age are to be the men of the next ; that they should be prepar- 
 ed to receive the holy charge wliich we are cherishing to deliver 
 over to them ; that in establisliing an institution of wisdom for 
 them, we secure it to all our future generations ; that in fulfilling 
 this duty, we bring home to our own bosoms the sweet consolation 
 of seeing our sons rising under a luminous tuition, to destinies of 
 high promise ; these are considerations which will occur to all ; 
 but all, I fear, do not see the speck in our horizon which is to burst 
 on us as a tornado, sooner or later. The line of division lately 
 marked out between different poitions of our confederacy, is such 
 as wnll never, I fear, be obliterated, and we are now trusting to 
 those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to 
 their own form the minds and affections of our youth. If, as has 
 been estimated, we send three hundred thousand dollars a year to 
 the northern seminaries, for the instruction of our own sons, then 
 we must have there five hundred of our sons, imbibing opinions and 
 principles in discord with those of their own country. This canker 
 is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, 
 will be beyond remedy. We are now certainly furnishing recruits 
 to their school." 
 
 To J. Madison. — "In the selection of our Law Professor,^we 
 must be rigorousl}'^ attentive to his political principles. You will 
 recollect, that, before the Revolution, Coke Littleton was the uni- 
 versal elementary book of law students, and a sounder whig never 
 wrote, nor of profounder learning in the orthodox doctrines of the 
 British constitution, or in what are called English -liberties. You 
 remember also that our lawyers were then all whigs. But when 
 his black-letter text, and uncouth but cunning learning got out of 
 fashion, and the honied Mansfield ism of Blackstone became the stu- 
 dents' hornbook, from that moment, that profession (the nursery of 
 our Congress) began to slide iniotoryism, and nearty all the young 
 brood of lavt'yers now are of that hue. They suppose themselves, 
 indeed, to be whigs, because they no longer know w^hat whigism 
 or republicanism means. It is in our seminary that that vestal 
 flame is to be kept alive ; it is thence it is to spread anew over our 
 own and the sister States. If we are true and vigilant in our trust, 
 within a dozen or twenty years a majority of our own Legislature 
 will be from our school, and many disciples will have carried its 
 doctrines home with them to tlreir several States, and will have 
 leavened thus the whole mass." 
 
 The profound and unalloyed satisfaction with which he reflected 
 on the success of his labois, is expressed with a noble pride in a per- 
 
542 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 sonal communication to the Legislature, a little before his death, 
 Avrunj^ from him by the pressing hand of poverty. 
 
 " Tlie effect," says he, "of this institution on the future fame, for- 
 tune, and prosperity of our country, can as yet be seen but at a dis- 
 tance. But an hundred well educated youths, which it will turn 
 out annually, and ere long, will fill all its offices with men of supe- 
 rior qualifications, will raise it from its humble state to an eminence 
 among its associates which it has never yet known; no, not in its 
 brightest days. That institution is now qualified to raise its 5^outh 
 to an order of science unequalled in any other State ; and this supe- 
 riority will be the greater from the free range of mind encouraged 
 there, and the restraint imposed at other seminaries by the shackles 
 of a domineering hierarchy, and a bigoted adhesion to ancient hab- 
 its. Those now on the theatre of affairs will enjoy the ineffable 
 happiness of seeing themselves succeeded by sons of a grade of sci- 
 ence beyond their own ken. Our sister States will also be repair- 
 ing to the same fountains of instruction, will bring hither their gen- 
 ius to be kindled at our fire, and will carry back the fraternal af- 
 fections which, nourished by the same Alma Mater, will knit us to 
 them by the indissoluble bonds of early personal friendships. The 
 good Old Dominion, the blessed mother of us all, will then raise 
 her head with pride among the nations, will present to them that 
 splendor of genius which she has ever possessed, but has too long 
 suffered to rest uncultivated and unknown, and will become a cen- 
 tre of ralliance to the States whose youths she has instructed, and, 
 as it were, adopted. I claim some share in the merits of this great 
 w^ork of regeneration. My whole labors, now for many years, have 
 been devoted to it, and I stand pledged to follow it up through the 
 remnant of life remaining to me." 
 
 Such were the concluding labors of one who had nimibered more 
 than four score years, and devoted sixtj^ of them, uninterruptedly, to 
 the service of his country. A more extraordinary life was never 
 commemorated in history. The single feature of a sixty years' 
 service, as no other instance of it has yet occuricd among mankind, 
 so it probably never will again. And should a parallel instance 
 occur, even once and again, will it ever be as boldly, as beautifully, 
 as wonderfully characterized? Will their course have been marked 
 by the same transcendent consistency, through every stage of life, 
 and revolution of fortune ? A theme on which we need not, dare 
 not venture to dilate. Long after the most of those who were his 
 original adherents or opponents had disappeared from the world, he 
 continued the cool, grey-haired champion of the same political doc- 
 trines which he espoused in the fire of green youth ; nay, upon the 
 
OF TH03IAS JEFFERSON. 543 
 
 verge of the grave he stood, as it were, the embodied spirit of the Rev- 
 ohition, in all its purity and power, nourishing with its wholesome in- 
 fluence the acting generation of his country, and distributing its revo- 
 lutionary energies among the nations of the earth which still slumber- 
 ed in despotism. Will that service have been distinguished, nniform- 
 ly, by the same holy disinterestedness) The pen of inspiration 
 would alone be appropiiate to a development of this ecstatic head. 
 Will it ever be a service so diversified in its features, and of such 
 equal pre-eminence in all, as to have left the world in doubt, wheth- 
 er it is most indebted to him as a Patriot, a Philosopher, a Scholar, 
 a Philanthropist, a Moralist, a Statesman, a Diplomatist, an Au- 
 thor, a Writer, or a Social being ? Will the times of their service 
 have been as trying as those which embraced the stupendous 
 achievments of our Revolution, our transition from colonial vassal- 
 age to the triumphant, secure, and blessed enjoyment of self-gov- 
 ernment, theretofore deemed an Utopian state ? Will their agency 
 have been as prominent in the erection and modification of this hal- 
 lowed political structure, and in holding it to its genuine principles, 
 against the fatal errors and catastrophes which have overruled the 
 issues of every other struggle for its attainment ? Above all, that 
 topic on which the lover of human nature will ever hang with rap- 
 ture, must we not look in vain among the records of the political 
 actors of the world, for an example of that spotless sincerity^ which 
 never harbored a sentiment, a wish, or a feeling, in private, differ- 
 ent from what it uttered in public, — of that chaste honor, which 
 always asserted the just characters of his opponents, in the circle 
 of his most confidential companions ? Let the hoards of the private 
 letters of the most illustrious men of their day be broken up, and 
 display to view, as in the present case, the very sanctuary of their 
 inmost thoughts and feelings, and see if they present the same 
 beautiful mirror of their actions and professions. The same fidel- 
 ity to friends, and magnanimity to opponents, the same repugnance 
 to the noisy honors of the w^orld, and devotion to philosophic re- 
 tirement, the same absence of all intrigue, selfishness, and personal 
 ambition, the same unbounded sacrifices in the cause of liberty and 
 philanthropy, the same sleepless, Roman love of countr}", her rights, 
 her interests, her honor, her prosperity. 
 
 But why should we attempt coolly to particularize the distinguish- 
 ing ornaments of a public character, whose developments in the ag- 
 
344 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 gregate, were so extraordinary, and have given so powerful, and 
 glorious, and lasting a direction to the current of human thought? 
 Adopting a humble imitation of liis masterly deUneation of General 
 Wasiiington, may it not be summarily represented as 'in the mass 
 perfect, in many points unrivalled, in nothing bad, in few points indif- 
 ferent.' And never, since the age of miraculous interposition in the 
 aflairs of men, has there existed such an astonishing example of the 
 silent, steady, and irresistible triumph of unobtrusive greatness over 
 the confederated resistance of the temporal and spiritual principalities 
 of the earth; for, with a world in arms against him, he succeeded in 
 erecting a reputation whose base is the broad empire of Civil and 
 Religious Liberty, and whose towering grandeur will never reach 
 its culmination until this glorious empire shall have become as uni- 
 versal as the abode of humanity. 
 
 Shall we follow him into the walks of private life, into the tem- 
 ple of his hallowed seclusion, and view him under all the relations 
 of husband, father, friend, companion, and man ? Here, never did 
 the Virtues and the Graces mingle their magic influences more po- 
 tently to produce a model of the perfection w^hich nature can cover 
 under the human form. His heart was most fervent in its affec- 
 tions ; and as confiding as innocence itself, never harboring a suspi- 
 cion of the depository of its trust ; and, what is more uncommon, as 
 tenacious as it was ardent and confiding, holding on to its object 
 without decay under every vicissitude. His friendships were of 
 course indissoluble, those contracted earliest continuing forever, and 
 existing the strongest. His justice was most severe, sacrificing the 
 claims of the closest ties of affection, to avoid the contamination of 
 dishonor ; and his virtue, the most unbridled licentiousness of ca- 
 lumny has left without a taint. His temper was proverbially even, 
 serene, and buoyant, thrusting fear always astern, and cherishing 
 habitually the fond incitements of hope. Of domestic life he was at 
 once the adorer and the idol, ever anxious to forego worldly honors 
 and emoluments for its enjoyment ; and such was the influence 
 of his affection upon those around him, heightened by a sense of 
 the respect of the world for him, that he was almost worshipped by 
 his family. He delighted in the society of children, with whom 
 he was accustomed, in his old age, to practice feats of agility which 
 few could imitate. Being taken by surprise on one of these occa- 
 sions, by the entrance of a stranger, he grasped his hand, smihng 
 
OF TH03IAS JEFFERSON. 545 
 
 and saying : " I will make no other apology than the good Henry 
 the Fourth did, when he was caught by an ambassador playing 
 horse, and riding one of his children on his back, by asking, are you 
 a father ? — if you are no apology is necessary." His powers of 
 conversation were of the highest order ; which, heightened by the 
 charms of modesty, and an habitual show of equality in the pres- 
 ence of everyone, and carried off with ' a voice of pure and delicate 
 affection, Vvhich ran with brilliancy and effect through the whole 
 compass of colloquial music, now bright with wit, now melting with 
 tenderness,' made him the soul and centre of the social circle. Of 
 the warmth of his social dispositions, the range of his private cor- 
 respondence affords the most ennobling proofs. Even in the angry 
 period of '98, so memorable for its dissocializing spirit, he wrote to 
 a distinguished political opponent : " I feel extraordinary gratifica- 
 tion in addressing this letter to you, with whom shades of differ- 
 ence in political sentiment have not prevented the interchange of 
 good opinion, nor cut off the friendly offices of society (and good 
 correspondence. This political tolerance is the more valued by me, 
 who consider social harmony as the first of human felicities, and 
 the happiest moments those which are given to the effusions of 
 the heart." 
 
 But the most interesting fragment of this nature, is found in 
 a letter of friendship while in France, of which the following are 
 extracts : 
 
 " I hope in God, no circumstance may ever make either seek an 
 asylum from grief ! With what sincere sympathy I would open 
 every cell of my composition, to receive the effusion of their woes ! 
 I would pour my tears into their wounds ; and if a drop of balm 
 could be found on the top of the Cordilleras, or at the remotest 
 sources of the Missouri, I would go thither myself to seek and to 
 bring it. Deeply practised in the school of affliction, the human 
 heart knows no joy which I have not lost, no sorrow of which I 
 have not drank ! Fortune can present no grief of unknown form 
 to me ! Who, then, can so softly bind up the wound of another, as 
 he who has felt the same wound himself?" 
 
 " And what more sublime delight, than to mingle tears with one 
 whom the hand of Heaven hath smitten ! to watch over the bed 
 of sickness, and to beguile its tedious and its painful moments ! 
 to share our bread with one to whom misfortune has left none ! 
 This world abounds indeed with misery : to lighten its burthen, 
 we must divide it with one another. But let us now try the virtue 
 of your mathematical balance, and as you have put into one 
 
 47 
 
546 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 scale the burthens of friendship, let me put its comforts into the 
 other. When languishing then under disease, how grateful is the 
 solace of our friends ! how are we penetrated with their assiduities 
 and attentions ! how much are we supported by their cncourag- 
 ments and kind offices ! When Heaven has taken from us some 
 object of our love, how sweet is it to have a bosom whereon to re- 
 cline our heads, and into which we may pour the torrent of our 
 tears ! Grief, with such a comfort is almost a luxury ! In a life 
 where we are perpetually exposed to want and accident, yours is a 
 wonderful proposition, to insulate ourselves, to retire from all aid, 
 and to wrap ourselves in the mantle of self-sufficiency ! For as- 
 suredly nobody will care for him, who cares for nobody. But 
 friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine 
 of life : and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the 
 greater part of hfe is sunshine. * * Let the gloomy monk, 
 sequestered from the world, seek unsocial pleasures in the bottom 
 of his cell ! Let the sublimated philosopher grasp visionary hap- 
 piness, while pursuing phantoms dressed in the garb of truth ! 
 Their supreme wisdom is supreme folly: and they mistake for 
 happiness the mere absence of pain. Had the}'^ ever felt the solid 
 pleasure of one generous spasm of the heart, they would exchange 
 for it all the frigid speculations of their hves, which you have been 
 vaunting in such elevated terms. Believe me, then, my friend, 
 that that is a miserable arithmetic, which could estimate friendship 
 at nothing, or at less than nothing." 
 
 How pure, and grateful, and animating the sensations with which 
 every American must contemplate so rare an assemblage of virtues, 
 in one of the most distinguished of their benefactors. But is there 
 no circumstance to detract from this just national pride and exulta- 
 tion 1 I Alas ! there is one. All the latter years of Mr. Jefferson 
 were overshadowed with gloom. He was permitted to languish in 
 poverty and distress during the most helpless and hopeless peiiod 
 of his existence. If it be asked why he fell a victim to penury and 
 want ? the answer is inscribed on every page of his country's his- 
 tory. It beams from the surface of every thing that is peculiar 
 and admirable in the principles of our government. What institu- 
 tion is there in the United States which does not bear ihc impress of 
 his genius and his labors ? W hat charitable establishment, promis- 
 ing real utility, that has not profitted of his patronage. What son 
 or daughter of affliction, that has sohcited aid, who has not shared 
 his bounty ? What nation, clime, or kindred that has not partici- 
 pated of his generous hospitality ? He sacrificed the bulk of his 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 547 
 
 inheritance, immense as it was, upon the altar of all the virtues ; 
 and the general prostration of the farming business, the calamitous 
 fluctuations of the paper medium, which doubled and trebled his 
 debts, by reducing in that proportion the value of landed property, 
 and the bankruptcy of individuals for whom he had largely under- 
 written, carried away the remainder. In this hopeless condition, 
 with his estate overloaded with incumbrances, his health daily sink- 
 ing under age and disease, and harrowed by the prospect of leav- 
 ing a numerous family in wretchedness, he threw himself, as a last 
 and painful resource, not upon the gratitude — no, he could not do 
 that — but upon the naked justice of his native State, as it had been 
 frequently, though discretionally; exercised. He asked not a far- 
 thing from the treasury. He simply requested permission of the 
 Legislature, by the aid of a Lottery, to sell his own property freely 
 to pay his own debts ; and not to sacrifice it, as would have been 
 unavoidable, if forced into a market without bidders, to enhance the 
 fortunes of speculators merely, leaving those unpaid who had trust- 
 ed to his good faith. This was the only form in which he would 
 accept assistance from the public. His principles would not permit 
 him to receive a donation from the State or General Government, 
 and he forbade his friends from asking or receiving it. The fol- 
 lowing letter to his grandson, written in February, 1826, during 
 the pendency of his application, presents an affecting picture of the 
 state of his mind under the pressure of his multiplied adversities. 
 
 " My dear Jefferson — I duly received }'^our affectionate letter of 
 the 3d, and perceive there are greater doubts than I had apprehend- 
 ed whether the Legislature will indulge me in my request to them. 
 It is a part of my mortification to perceive that I had so far over- 
 valued myself as to have counted on it, with too much confidence. 
 I see, in the failure of this hope, a deadly blast of all my peace of 
 mind, during my remaining days. You kindly encourage me to 
 keep up my|spiiits — but oppressed with 'disease, debility, age, and 
 embarrassed all'airs, this is difficult. For myself, I should not re- 
 gard a prostration of fortune. But I am overwhelmed at the 
 prospect of the situation in which I may leave my family ; my dear 
 and beloved daughter, the cherished companion of my early life, 
 and nurse of my age, and her children, rendered as dear to me as 
 if my own, from having lived with them from their cradle, left in a 
 comfortless situation, hold up to me nothing but future gloom — and 
 I should not care were hfe to end with the line I am writing, were 
 it not that I may be yet of some avail to the family. Their affec- 
 
548 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 tionate devotion to me makes a willingness to endure life a duty, 
 so long" as it can be of any use to them. Yourself particularly, 
 dear Jefferson, I consider as the greatest of the Godsends which 
 heaven has granted to me ! — Without you, what could I do under 
 the difficulties that now environ me ? These have been produced in 
 some degree by my own unskilful management, and devoting my 
 time to the service of my country ; but much also by the unfortu- 
 nate fluctuations in the value of our money, and the long continued 
 depression of farming business. But for the last, I am confident 
 niy debts might be paid, leaving me Monticello and the Bedford 
 estate. But where there are no bidders, property, however great, is 
 no resource for the payment of debts — all may go for little or noth- 
 ing. Perhaps, however, even in this case, I may have no right to 
 complain, as these misfortunes have been held back for my last 
 days when few remain to me. I duly acknowledge that I have 
 gone through a long life, with fewer circumstances of affliction 
 than are the lot of most men.^ — Uninterrupted health, a compe- 
 tence for every reasonable want, usefulness to my fellow-citizens, 
 a good portion of their esteem, no complaint against the world 
 which has sufficiently honored me, and above all, a family which 
 has blessed me by their affection, and never by their conduct given 
 me a moment's pain. And should this my last request be granted, 
 I may yet close with a cloudless sun, a long [and serene day of 
 life. Be assured, my dear Jefferson, that I have a just sense of 
 the part you have contributed to this, and that I bear to you un- 
 measured affection." 
 
 The following extract of a letter to Mr. Madison, written about 
 a week afterwards, is not without great interest from its concluding 
 sentiments, and from the circumstance of its having been the last 
 he ever addressed to his old and well-tried bosom friend. After 
 leaving him a warm exhortation on the subject of the University, 
 in view of its political importance to the cor<ntiy, and detailing 
 the distressing situation of his finances, with the causes that led to 
 it, he says : 
 
 "Reflecting on these things, the practice occurred to me, of sell- 
 ing, on fair valuation, and by way of lottery, often resorted to before 
 the Revoluion to effect large sales, and still in constant usage in 
 every State for individual as well as corpcration purposes. If it is 
 permitted in my case, ray lands here alone, with the mills, &c., 
 will pay every thing, and leave me Monticello and a farm free. If 
 refused, I must sell every thing here, perhaps considerably in Bed- 
 lord, move thither with my family, where I have not even a log 
 hut to put my head into, and vyhether ground for burial, will de- 
 pend on the depredations which, under the form of sales, shall have 
 iDeen committed on my property. The question then with me was, 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 549 
 
 Utrutn honmiJ But why afflict you with these details? Indeed, 
 1 cannot tell, unless pains are lessened by communication with a 
 fiiend. The friendship which has subsisted between us, now half 
 a century, and the harmony of our political principles and pursuits, 
 have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long 
 period. And if I remove beyond the reach of attentions to the 
 University, or beyond the bourne of hfe itself, as I soon must, it is a 
 comfort to leave tliat institution under your care, and an assurance 
 that it will not be wanting. It has also been a great solace to me, 
 to believe that you are engaged in vindicating to posterity the 
 course we have pursued for preserving to (hem, in all their purity, 
 the blessings of self-government, which we had assisted, too, in ac- 
 quiring for them. If ever the earth has beheld a system of admin- 
 istration conducted with a single and steadfast eye to the general 
 interest and happiness of those committed to it, one which, protected 
 by truth, can never know reproach, it is that to which our lives 
 have been devoted. To myself you have been a pillar of support 
 through life. Take care of me when dead, and be assured that I 
 shall leave with you my last affections." 
 
 But a few days after, to wit, on the 20th of February. 1826, his 
 application for a Lottery passed the Legislature of Virginia, by un- 
 expectedly great majorities in both Houses. This honorable issue 
 imparted the purest consolation to the heart of the venerable Patri- 
 arch, and gave a spring to emotions which were almost dead before. 
 "The necessity which dictated this expedient," he wrote to a friend, 
 "cost me, in its early stage, unspeakable mortification. The turn 
 it has taken, so much beyond what I could have expected, has coun- 
 tervailed all I suffered, and become a source of felicity which I 
 should otherwise never have known." The scheme of the Lottery 
 embraced three great prizes, to wit, the Monticello estate, valued at 
 71,000 dollars ; the Shadwell mills adjoining it, valued at 30,000 ; 
 and the Albemarle estate, at 11,-500. The Bedford tract was not 
 thrown in, because, being derived from his wife, Mr. Jefferson had 
 only a life estate in it, with power to convey it to their descendants 
 in such portions as he chose. Otherwise this estate would have 
 gone in with the rest. 
 
 Simultaneously with the proceedings in the Virginia Legislature, 
 and as soon as it became known that Mr. Jefferson was in a state 
 of pecuniary distress, a spontaneous and noble feeling of gratitude 
 burst forth in every section of the Union. That the great, the good, 
 the revered character, who had been the chosen champion of the 
 people under every opnression, foreign and internal, who had cover- 
 
 47* 
 
550 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 ed the wide empire with a solid and sparkling glory, should be per- 
 mitted to pine in indigence, and be exiled, in his old age, from the 
 haunt of his happier days, was too revolting to the spirit of Amer- 
 ica, not, to awaken the liveliest sensibilities for his situation. The 
 paltry expedient of a Lottery was considered too cold and calculating 
 a remedy for a case which addressed itself to all the nobler sympa- 
 thies of the human heart, Public meetings were called in all the 
 considerable cities of tlie Union, at which feeling and high-spirited 
 resolutions were passed, and subscriptions opened, which were as 
 suddenly filled with emulous contributions to the relief of the suffer- 
 ing Apostle of human liberty. The Legislature of Louisiana, actu- 
 ated by a peculiar sense of indebtedness to the author of their ad- 
 mission into the Republic, immediately passed an act appropriating 
 ten thousand dollars to be placed at his disposal. The Legislature 
 of South Carolina, it is believed, did the same. Various schemes 
 were proposed, in different places, in'all which the leading object ap- 
 peared to be, how to bestow their bounty so as to give least pain to 
 the delicacy of his feeUngs. 
 
 But Mr. Jefferson Hved to derive very little benefit from these vol- 
 untary offerings of a grateful people, and none, from the legislative 
 provision of his native State. His health had been impaired by a 
 too free use of the Hot Spring Bath in 1818. From that time his 
 indisposition steadily increased until the spring of 1826, when it at- 
 tained a troublesome and alarming violence, giving certain indica- 
 tions of a gradual approach of dissolution. Of the issue he early 
 seemed perfectly aware. On the 5th of June, he observed to a friend 
 that ' he doubted his weathering the present sunf.mer.' On the 
 24th of June, his disorder and weakness having reached a distress- 
 ing point, he yielded to the entreaties of his family and saw his phy- 
 sician — Dr. Dungleson of the University. On this occasion he 
 warned a friend, who came to see him on private business, that 
 " there was no time to be lost ;" and expressed with regret his only 
 apprehension, that " he could not hold out to see the blessed Fourth 
 of July ;" that he had called in a physician, and to gratify his fam 
 ily, would follov/ his prescriptions, but that it would prove unavail 
 ing — " the machine had worn out and would go on no longer.' 
 On the same day, he addressed that most remarkable letter to the 
 Mayor of Washington, copies of which, elegantly printed and fram 
 ed, adorn the mantle-pieces of many of the private dweUings in that 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. ODl 
 
 City, and the walls of its public edifices. This was the last letter 
 he ever wrote, and surely none was better fitted to be the last, for it 
 is clearly one of the most extraordinary among those of its extraor- 
 dinary author. 
 
 " Respected Sir, — ^The kind invitation I receive from you, on the 
 part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with 
 them at their celebration on the fiftieth anniversary of American In- 
 dependence, as one of the surviving signers of an instrument preg- 
 nant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to 
 myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniinent proposed 
 for the comfort of such a journey. It adds sensibly to the sufferings 
 of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the re- 
 joicings of tiiat day. But acquiescence is a duty, under circumstan- 
 ces not placed among those we are permitted to control. I should 
 indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there con- 
 gratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that 
 host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and 
 doubtful election we were to make .'or our country, between submis- 
 sion or the sword ; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory 
 fact, that our fellow-citizens, after half a century of experience and 
 prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to 
 the world, v^hat I beheve it will be (to some parts sooner, to others 
 later, but Anally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the 
 chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persua- 
 ded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and secu- 
 rity of self-government. That form which we have substituted, re- 
 stores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and free- 
 dom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of 
 man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid 
 open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind 
 has not 1 een born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few 
 booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of 
 God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let 
 the annual return of this day for ever refresh our recollections of 
 these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them. 
 
 " I wall ask permission here to express the pleasure wnth which I 
 should have met my ancient neighbors of the city of Washington 
 and its vicinities, with whom I passed so many years of a pleasing 
 social intercourse ; an intercourse which so much relieved the anx- 
 ieties of the public cares, and left impressions so deeply engraved in 
 my aflfections, as never to be forgotten. With my regret that ill 
 health forbids me the gratification of an acceptance, be pleased to re- 
 ceive for yourself, and those for whom you write, the assurance of 
 my highest respect and friendly attachments." 
 
 On the 28th of June, a friend from a distance visited him on pri- 
 vate business, and has left an affecting account of his interview. 
 
552 LIFE, WRITING;?, AND OPINIONS 
 
 " As I approached the house," says he, " the anxiety and distress 
 visible in the countenance of the servants, increased the gloom of 
 iny own forebodings, and I entered it under no little agitation. Af- 
 ter the object of my call was made known to Mrs. Randolph, she 
 told me that, although her father had been expecting to see me, he 
 was then too unwell to receive any one. It was but too evident, 
 that the fears of his daughter overballanced her hopes ; and while 
 sympathising in her distress, I could not help sighing to think that, 
 although separated from him only by a thin wall, I was never more 
 to behold the venerable man, who had entered all the walks of pol- 
 itics and philosophy, and in all was foremost — and to whom the 
 past, present and all future ages are, and will be so much indebted. 
 However, Mrs. Randolph having left me, to attend to her father, soon 
 returned, and observed that she had taken it for granted that he 
 could not see me ; but upon her casually mentioning my arrival, he 
 had desired I should be invited into his chamber. My emotions at 
 approaching Jefferson's dying bed, I cannot describe. You re- 
 member the alcove in which he slept. There he was extended — 
 feeble, prostrate ; but the fine and clear expression of his counten- 
 ance not at all obscured. At the first glance he recognized me. 
 and his hand and voice at once saluted me. The energy of his 
 ffrasp, and the spirit of his conversation, were such as to make me 
 hope he would yet rally — and that the superiority of mind over mat- 
 ter in his composition, would preserve him yet longer. He regret- 
 ted that I should find him so helpless, talked of the freshet then pre- 
 vailing in James river, and said he had never known a more de- 
 structive one. He soon, however, passed to the University, expa- 
 tiated on its future utility, commended the professors, and expressed 
 satisfaction at the progress of the students. A sword was suspend- 
 ed at the foot of his bed, which he told me was presented to him by 
 an Arabian Chief, and that the blade was a true Damascus. At 
 this time he became so cheerful as to smile, even to laughing, at a 
 remark I made. He alluded to the probability of his death, as a 
 man would to the prospect of being caught in a shower, as an event 
 not to be desired, but not to be feared. Upon proposing to with- 
 draw, I observed that I would call to see him again. He said, 
 ' well do, but you will dine here to day.' To this I replied, ' I 
 proposed deferring that pleasure until he got better.' He v.^aved 
 his hand and shook his head with some impatiencej saying, emphat- 
 
OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 653 
 
 ically, ' you must dine here, my sickness makes no difference.' I 
 consented, left him, and never saw him more." 
 
 During the four or five days remaining to him, his decay was 
 gradual, but visible. Of this no one was more conscious than him- 
 self ; ^'et he retained, to the last moment of his existence, the same 
 serene, decisive, and cheerful temper, which had marked his event- 
 ful history. He often recurred with spirit and animation to the Uni- 
 versity, and expressed his hope that " the State would not now 
 abandon it." He spoke of the changes which he feared would be 
 made in it ; of his probable successor as Rector ; of the services he 
 had rendered to his native State ; and counselled and advised as to 
 his private affairs: Upon being unusually ill for a short time, lie ob- 
 served very cheerfully, " Well Doctor, a few hours more and the 
 struggle will be over." Ho called in his family, and conversed 
 calmly and separately with each of them. To his daughter he pre- 
 sented a small morocco case which he requested her to open imme- 
 dia,tely after his decease. On opening the case it was found to con- 
 tain an elegant and affectionate strain of poetry " on the virtues of 
 his dutiful and incomparable daughter." When the 3d of July ar- 
 rived, upon enquiring with some solicitude the day of the month, 
 he expressed a fervent desire to live till the next day, that "he might 
 breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary, when he would joyfully 
 sing, with old Simeon, Nunc Di?nittas, Do7nine." In the few 
 short intervals of delirium which occurred, his mind relapsed to the 
 age of tiie Revolution, with all the enthusiasm of that period. He 
 talked, in broken sentences, of the Committees of Safety, and the 
 rest of that great machinery, which he imagined to be still in mo- 
 tion. One of his exclamations was, " Warn the Committee to be 
 on their guard," and he instantly rose in his bed, with the help of 
 his attendants, and went through the act of writing a hurried note. 
 But his reason was almost constantly in her seat, when the great 
 topics on which he dwelt, vvere the happiness of his oidy and belov- 
 ed child, the University of Virginia, and the advent of the approach- 
 ing anniversary. 
 
 When the morning of that day came, he appeared to be thor- 
 oughly impressed, as if preternatu rally, that he shoukl not live 
 through it, and only expressed a desire that he might survive until 
 mid- day. He seemed perfectly at ease, being willing to die. When 
 tlie Doctor entered his room, he said, " Well Doctor, you see I am 
 
554 LIFE, WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS 
 
 here yet.*' His disorder being checked, a friend expressed a hope 
 of amendment. His reply was, " that the powers of nature were 
 too much exhausted to be raUied." On a member of his family ob- 
 serving that he was better, and that the Doctor thought so, he hs- 
 lened with evident impatience, and said, "Do not imagine for 'a mo- 
 ment that / feel the smallest solicitude as to the result." He then 
 calmly gave directions for his funeral, expressly forbidding all pomp 
 and parade, when, being answered by a hope that it would be long 
 ere the occasion would require their observance, he asked, with a 
 smile, '• Do you think I fear to die ?" A few moments after, he 
 called his family and friends around his bed-side, and uttered dis- 
 tinctly the following sentence : " I have done for my country, and 
 for all mankind, all that I could do, and I now resign my soul, 
 without fear, to my God, my daughter to my country." These 
 were the last words he articulated — his last solemn declaration to 
 the world — his dying ^vill and testament, bequeathing his most 
 precious gifts, to his God, and to his country. All that was heard 
 from him afterwards, was a hurried repetition, in indistinct and 
 scarcely audible accents, of his favorite ejaculation. Nunc Diniit- 
 tas, Domine — Nunc Dimittas, Domine. He sunk away imper- 
 ceptibly, and breathed his last, without a struggle or a murmur, at 
 ten minutes before one o'clock, on the great Jubilee of American 
 Liberty — the day, and hour too, on which the Declaration of In- 
 dependence received its final reading, and the day, and hour, on 
 which he prayed to Heaven that he might be permitted to depart. 
 Astonishing coincidence \ wonderful euthanasia ! Was not the 
 hand of God most affectingly displayed in this event, as if to add 
 another, and a crowning one, to the multiplied proofs of His special 
 superintendence over this bappy country? On the anniversarjr of 
 a day the most distinguished in the annals of mankind — on the 
 fiftieth anniversary of that momentous day — on a day, too, which 
 his own great work had rendered thus momentous — at the identi- 
 cal moment, when, fifty years before, he was engaged in repeating 
 its sublime and eternal truths, for the final adoption of his country, 
 — and in merciful fulfilment of his last earthly prayer, he closed his 
 eyes in patriot ecstacy, amidst the thunders of artillery, and the 
 lightnings of impassioned declamation, flashing from every temple, 
 and the hosannas of a congregated nation, uniting with one voice 
 in proclaiming the assurances of his immortality! The like feli 
 
 % 
 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 555 
 
 ous coiiibination has never happened in the world— no, nor can it 
 ever happen, may be ahnost said with certainty. Few of the mir 
 acles recorded in the sacred writings, are more conspicuous or impos- 
 ing. Mark again — what did^ot escape the wonder a nd the record of 
 the anxious spectators of the scene — the extraordinary protraction 
 of physical existence, manifested in the last moments of Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, as if to render the coincidence more strikingly and beautiful- 
 ly complete. At 8 o'clock, P. M. on the 3d of July, his physician, 
 of whose eminence it would be superfluous to speak, pronounced 
 that he might be expected to cease to live, every quarter of an hour 
 from that time. Yet he Hved seventeen hours longer, without any 
 evident pain, or suffering, or restlessness; with sensibility, con- 
 sciousness, and intelligence, for much more than twelve hours of 
 the time ; and at last gradually subsided into inanimation like a 
 lamp which had shone throughout a long, dark night, spreading far 
 its beneficent rays, and had continued to burn enough to usher in 
 broad day light upon mankind. His desire to see the noon-tide of 
 the National Jubilee was thus wonderfully fulfilled, contrary to the 
 expectations of all around him. Surely, a life so precious and il- 
 lustrious, should, if possible, be rendered more estimable, more sa- 
 cred, in contemplation of the incomprehensible felicity of his death. 
 Never was this nation more profoundly impressed than by the 
 occurrence of this event. When the first shock of the intelligence 
 was over, the silent emotions of amazement yielded to interjection- 
 al exclamations from every tongue, of mingled surprise, admiration, 
 and awe. Instead of being viewed in the light of a calamity, there 
 was not a heart which did not feel a thrill of rapture at the miracu- 
 lous beauty of such a death. Friend met friend in mournful pleas- 
 ure, and interchanged felicitations, broken with ejaculations of won- 
 der, on the signal manifestation of the hand of heaven in our affairs. 
 Business was suspended, from town to town, as the intelligence 
 spread through the country; the minute guns were fired, the bells all 
 sounded a funeral note, the flags of the shipping fell half mast, and 
 every demonstration of profound feehng, spontaneously co-operated 
 in marking with reverence the impressive occasion. Yet, while the 
 nation was heaving with the first agitations of the shock, the report 
 of the death of his venerable co-adjutor of Quincy, but five hours 
 after, on the same day, came Uke a second bolt from the same Super- 
 intending Hand, to confirm and redouble the awful solemnity of the 
 
556 LIFE, &C. OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 moment. Dying also in the same mighty spirit, with the last words, 
 " Independence forever^'' and " Jefferson survives" — the one the 
 Author of the Declaration of Independence, the other its great 
 champion and defender on the floor of /Congress, and both the only 
 two survivors of the committee appointed to prepare that instru- 
 ment, — another and powerful confirmation was added, that 'Heav- 
 en itself mingled visibly in the jubilee celebration of American Lib- 
 erty, hallowing anew the day by a double apotheosis.' They were 
 amiable and glorious in their lives ; in death they could not be di- 
 vided. It was indeed a fit occasion for the deepest public feeling 
 Happening singly, each of these events was felt as supernatural ; 
 happening together, the astonishment, with the evidence, was ren- 
 dered two fold, and almost overwhelming. 
 
 In a private memorandum, found among some other obituary pa- 
 pers of Mr. Jefferson, was the suggestion, that in case any memori- 
 Itt of him should ever be thought of, a small granite obelisk should 
 be erected, with the following inscription : 
 Here hes buried 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 Author of the Declaration of Independence, 
 Of the Statutes of Virginia for Religious Freedom, 
 And Father of the University of Virginia. 
 
 Volumes of panegyric could never convey so adequate an idea of 
 unpretending greatness, as is contained in this brief and modest 
 epitome of all the splendid achievments of a long, and arduous, and 
 incessantly useful life ! 
 
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