cP- .V^^- - o^y ^^A V^' oo^ a> - ^. ^^^ %,^ii ■0- , '-AV^^ '-J^,. .-^^ C^K^'^., ^"^ ^^>- v^ ^\^.. r- < •&' ^ > /">/ "%. ' ■ 1 A - -w -1^^ .^'' ■ .^^ % * 0^' ■> . V • O /- -». 9^ eP" : /' . ,. . , . .^^ ^ . ,v-^.. . "oo^ .0 o v^^"^ \^ /:o ^^ -i^, ^^- <^ From Scharf (^ W'estcoWs " History of Philadelphia:' The House in Which Thomas Jefferson Wrote the Declara- tion OF Independence, 1776. The house No. 230 High street, afterwards No. 7C0 Market street, and located oil the southwest corner of Seventh and Market streets, Philadelphia, in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, in June, 1776. --.,^,J APR 1 1898 The House in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence BY THOMAS DONALDSON i\ Privately Printed WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 1898 AVIL PRINTING COMPANY Market and Fortieth Streets Philadelphia Co>s 1 n- ^v^^'se '_C/ ^''' Copyright by THOMAS DONALDSON, 1897. \\' To the memory of an old friend, EDWARD T. STEEL, who long since went to his rest, after showing in his life and by his work that he was in all things AN AMERICAN. (3) lv\ PREFACE. THIS book is the requiem of a most historic and sacred house, for within its walls Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and thus dedicated it to earthly immortality — on the pages of the art preser- vative ; but this was not sufficient to save it in the sub- stance. This house stood one hundred and eight years — beyond the period when was fixed by law and at a fearful cost of patriotic life and treasure, the mighty thought written out within it by Mr. Jefferson, that "All Men Are Created Equal." No comment upon the character or condition of the period in which it was destroyed is necessary other than to record the fact that it was torn down to make way for trade and commerce. (5) CONTENTS. PAGE Dedication - Preface c List of Illustrations q Thomas Jeflferson— The Man. His Public Life and Acts and Private Life and Character x 1-49 The House in which Thomas Jefferson Wrote the Declara- tion of Independence 51-93 Thomas Jefferson's Account of the Origin and Adoption of the Declaration of Independence 95-119 (7) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. OPPOSITE The Declaration House, June, 1776. {Frontispiece) paob Thomas Jeflferson, aged 33 years 12 Thomas Jefferson, aged 58 years 14 Diagram of J. Graff, Jr.s', Landholding at Seventh and Market Streets in 1773 and the same in 1883 54 Declaration Claimant House, Nos. 8 and 10 South Seventh Street, Philadelphia, 1890 62 Declaration House and Claimant Houses Adjoining in 1852 . . 66 Declaration House and Claimant Houses Adjoining in 1854 . . 68 Declaration House and Claimant Houses Adjoining in 1857 . . 70 Claimant House No. 702 Market Street in February, 1883 ... 74 Declaration House and Claimant Houses Adjoining in Feb- ruary, 1883, the Time of Their Destruction 76 Fac-Simile of Receipt from Mr. Thomas Little for Material from the Declaration House 80 Actual Position of the Declaration House Relative to the Penn National Bank Building 90 Penn National Bank Building, Showing Error in Locating Site of Declaration Building 92 The Declaration House, January, 1898. Its remains 94 The Committee of the Continental Congress Reading the Declaration of Independence, June, 1776, in Mr. Jeffer- son's Room in the Declaration House, 230 High Street, afterwards No. 700 Market Street, Philadelphia 98 (9) Thomas Jefferson— The Man. His Public Life and Acts and His Private Life and Character. His Birth and Death. Thomas JeflFerson was born at Shadwell, Albermarle County, Va., April 13, 1743. On his tomb at Monticello is, "bom April 2d, 1743,0. S."* He died at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Va., at about one o'clock p. m., July 4, 1826, at more than eighty-three years of age. On the same day John Adams, ex-President, a member of the Continental Congress, and a colleague on the Committee to report the Declaration of Independence, fifty years before, died at Quincy, Mass., aged ninety-one years. His last words were " Thomas Jef- ferson still survives." James Monroe, an ex-President, also died on a fourth of July. Mr. Jefferson wrote the epitaph for his own tombstone. For many years his grave was neglected and the original tombstone was finally destroyed by relic hunters and the elements. In the eigh- ties, Congress ordered a monument erected over his grave, and this, * Mr. Jefferson was a graduate of William and Mary College, Virginia. He read law with George Wythe, at Williamsburgh, Va. John Marshall and Henry Clay were also pupils of Mr. Wythe. He practiced law successfully, but chiefly as a counsellor, from 1767 to 1775. He married Martha Skelton, a rich and childless young widow, in 1772; she died in 1782. leaving three daugh- ters living ol the six children that she bore him. (") 12 THOMAS JEFFERSON. including an iron fence about the grave lot, was duly placed in position under the direction of General Thomas L. Casey, of the Engineer Department, U. S. A. The inscription on the monument is: "Here was Buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence— OF the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, AND Father of the University of Virginia." On the gate is: "Ab Eo Libertas, A Quo Spiritus." The government seems to have added this. Mr. Jefferson's best monument is the fact that mankind recog- nizes him as a statesman, a patriot, a scholar, and a benefactor. THOMAS JEFFERSON. Aged 33 years, and at the time he wrote the Declaration of IndependencCc Mr. Jefferson's Chief Public Positions. Member of House of Burgesses, Virginia, several times. Member of the Continental Congress. Member of Congress after the Declaration was adopted. Governor of Virginia. Minister to France. Secretary of State, United States, during President "Washing- ton's first term. Vice-President of the United States, with President John Adams. President of the United States, two terms, from 1801 to 1809. He took public ofiace at twenty-six years of age, in 1769. He retired from public life at sixty-five years of age, in 1809. In public life for forty years. He entered public life rich. Died very poor. Mr.Jefierson has received recognition for his public services in the naming of eight of our cities and towns, twenty-three counties and one hundred and forty townships for him, besides many post- offices. Several colleges, schools and institutions have also honored him. His name is a favorite one for children, for asso- ciations, for military and fire companies, for steamboats and other public conveyances. Mr. JeflFerson, while living in the laws, literature and liberty of this Republic has not been a favorite subject for the sculptor's art. He was foremost in the breach in the battle for our liberty, and (13) 14 THOMAS JEFFERSON. is among the last to receive a national monument. There is a bronze, full figure of him, by " David of Angers," in the Capitol at Washington, — a superb piece of art. It at one time stood in the grounds in front of the White House. It came to the gov- ernment through Commodore U. P. Levy, U. S. N., who pur- chased Monticello, Mr, Jefferson's home, and whose heirs now own it. Mr. Jefferson, while Vice-President, was the author of "Jeffer- son's Manual of Parliamentary Proceedings " — an invaluable work — and still in use. Gilbeyt Stuart PixL THOMA.S JEFFERSON. Aged 58. Mr. Jefferson's Chief Public Acts. Before 1767, in Virginia, he began to agitate against the misrule of King George, and joined Patrick Henry, George Wythe and others in determined opposition to tyranny. He advocated common schools and the abolishment of slavery. / He caused the passage of a law prohibiting the impor- tation of slaves into Virginia. With George Wythe and James Madison in the Virginia Legislature, after September, 1776, he spent three years in revising and adapting the laws of Virginia to the new conditions under liberty. He drew and caused to be enacted the statute for reli- gious liberty in Virginia, the first one ever enacted by a legislature and the first by any government. He suggested the dollar as a unit of value. He was largely responsible for the location of the capi- tal at Washington. In Congress in 1783-84, he voted to ratify the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain— settling the war his Declara- tion of Independence had helped make — and presented to Congress the Virginia deed of cession of her lands, (15) 1 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON. northwest of the river Ohio, to the United States for public domain. March i, 1784, in Congress, he reported from a com- mittee, and all in his handwriting, a plan for the temporary government of the Northwestern Territory, with a clause prohibiting slavery therein. This plan became the basis and was, in fact, embraced in the ordi- nance of July 13, 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States Northwest of the river Ohio. After he retired from public life in 1809, he founded the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Va., was its Rec- tor, and devoted his remaining years to its development. In 1821 Mr. Jefferson wrote: " I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is the better for my having lived at all. I do not know that it is. I have been the instrument of doing the following things; but they would have been done by others, some of them, perhaps, a little better." Then follows his account of what he did. Abridged they are: He improved the navigation of the Rivanna River. •^ He wrote the Declaration of Independence. He disestablished the established church in Virginia and secured the freedom of religion. He was the father of the act putting an end to entails; and, as noted, of the act prohibiting the importation of slaves; THOMAS JEFFERSON. 17 Of the act concerning citizens, and establishing the natural right of man to expatriate himself at will; Of the act changing the course of descents, and giving the inheritance to all the children, etc. , equally, and Of the act for apportioning crimes and punishments. The above, except the first two, related to Virginia, but their principles were adopted over the entire Union. Mr. Jefferson notes that he introduced the olive tree or plant into South Carolina, from France, in 1789-90, and brought upland rice into South Carolina from Africa in 1790. Mr. Jefferson's memoranda end with the above. He evidently contemplated finishing them, but never did. It will be observed that he makes no mention of his services in Congress, or his acts while President, and does'not mention his having founded the University of Virginia. He was a modest man in respect to his public acts. While President, he purchased the Province of Louis- iana from France in 1803. He sent Lewis and Clark and Pike to explore the western country. He tried to enforce national rights by ' ' embargo ' ' instead of by war. He reduced the public debt and aided trade and com- merce, and provided a system of sea coast and tide water defences. v^ Mr. Jefferson as President. Before entering on its duties he declared the Presidency to be "a splendid misery." While President, he turned the Federalists out of ofl5ce as fast as he properly could, and put RepubHcans, men of his own party, in their places. He knew the danger of the insidious entrance of forms, customs, and accessories of monarchy into the life of a republic, such as titles, vulgar display; ceremonials ex- alting self in robes of office; and cheap clap- trap surround- ing officials. He abolished useless forms in official etiquette, and observed simplicity in his official conduct. There was no class of vulgar rich in his time, such as is apparent in our day. It is to be regretted that there was not, for it is probable that he would have thrust it so hard that he would have killed it in our body politic and for all time. Of his efforts to establish simplicity while in the Presi- dency, he wrote: "We have suppressed all these public forms and ceremonies which tended to familiarize the public eye to the harbinger of another form of govern- ment," i. e., monarchy. (19) 20 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Mr. Jeflferson's early conclusions as to the best form of government for the people of the United States, were that the states (lately colonies) ought to remain a league, for foreign relations and international questions, but should be separate and independent governments in domestic and internal affairs. This was about the plan adopted in the Articles of Confederation. In practice it was a monotonous failure. It was followed by the government under the Constitution. Mr. Jefferson, while President, discovered that only under a constitution, which tied a people to cer- tain general principles, could a government only be suc- cessfully administered by liberal and equitable acts — neces- sity, or incident forcing the exercise of common sense to meet emergencies. He did some extraordinary things in the way of assuming powers, while President, and made some precedents for the liberal construction of the consti- tution still followed and enlarged upon. Mr. Jefferson held tenaciously to the idea that it was best to have the citizen unrestrained or uncontrolled, save for the general welfare. The citizen should create business and develop resources, in fact, attend to his own private business. Like most Americans, Jefferson was opposed to the government's conducting or interfering in private business; when of a quasi public nature, he believed that it should be regu- lated by law and not by the mere whim of ofl5cials. Strange to note, while President, he urged internal improvements and education, which might be paid for with the surplus money from impost duties. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 21 Before retiring from the Presidency Mr. Jefferson had also reached the conclusion that his view of the necessity, at stated times, for blood and revolution to change our rulers or policy was wrong. He had written of such ne- cessity for revolution from France, and, moreover, when he held these views, the states were under the ill- formed confederation. Rewrote, in 1805, "That should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceful exercise of their elective rights." While President, he was absolute in command of his party and blindly followed by the people. His second election to the Presidency — an almost unani- mous one (as he received 162 electoral votes to 14 to two Federal candidates) — was due to the abuse and villiiSca- tions of him by the Federalists. It vindicated him. He retired from the Presidency in 1809, with the country at peace, and grown prosperous, and with a popu- lation of seven millions of people. Although he could have had a third term, he declined it and established the University of Virginia, It is amazing in the present period of vast private for- tunes that some rich person loving liberty and who ad- mires Mr. Jefferson, does not endow the University of Virginia with money enough to give it life to accomplish the work Mr. Jefferson expected it would do, and which it could do if properly aided. Mr. Jefferson's Principles of Government. In Mr. Jefferson's time the nation was rural and agri- cultural. All the present methods of rapid transporta- tion and interstate commerce, and the multifarious results of steam and electricity, were practically unknown; and the citizen was then more self-reliant and depended less upon Congress than now; so Jefferson and many other statesmen of his time necessarily had a narrow view of the Republic, and hoped much from the states. The government of the United States, as designed by the Fathers and exemplified in the Constitution, and which had the Declaration of Independence for its Bill of Rights, was created for three millions of people. Still, it was and is expansive, and in more than one hundred years, we have amended it but six times. Twelve of the amendments — almost all relating to the rights of the citizen or states — were adopted during Mr. Jefferson's lifetime. The other three amendments, including that giving freedom to the slaves, grew out of the results of the War of the Rebellion. The possibility of a large immigration does not seem to have come within the vision of the Fathers. Mr. Jeffer- (23) 24 THOMAS JEFFERSON. son was not well disposed towards it, and so the evils that now exist in this Republic in consequence of almost unlimited immigration were not then suspected. Mr. Jefferson's political views have been the subject of much discussion. His state sovereignty ideas were largely a consequence of the activity of Mr. Hamilton and his followers towards a strongly centralized govern- ment. The resolutions which he drew — now famous — as to state sovereignty, or the rights of the states against the nation, are obsolete, because the War of the Rebellion crushed state sovereignty as Mr. Jefferson knew it, but preserved states rights as the Nationalists now under- stand them. "* Mr. Jefferson wrote: "If the happiness of the mass of the people can be secured at the expense of a little tem- pest, now and then, or even of a little blood, it will be a precious purchase. ... A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. ... It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. . . . What signify a few lives lost in a century or two ? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." This view he changed in 1805. Mr. Jefferson's republic rested always upon " the basis of our government's (colonies) being the opinion of the people. The very first object should be to keep that THOMAS JEFFERSON. 25 right." From his own statement Mr. Jefferson's idea of revolution was modified when he saw the Constitution in full operation, and the changes that followed. Outbreaks and riots are now numerous enough, however, to satisfy- even Mr. Jefferson's longing for revolutions, and our fre- quent elections, following strong agitation, are our best safeguards for liberty. Any non-essential curtailment of the liberty or the rights of persons met Mr. Jefferson's violent opposition. This spirit of opposition he breathed in the air of Virginia, and it became his second nature. And this spirit of personality and individuality permeates the South to-day, and had much to do with their part in the War of the Rebellion. Mr. Jefferson created a party, the Republican, in our politics; Mr. Hamilton, as much as any other man, the Federalist party. Mr. Jefferson insisted on full powers in the people; the Federalists favored the delegation of the people's powers to bureau or other officers. Mr. Jefferson became the idol of the masses, and declined election for a third term. He retired while in favor with the people, Mr. Jefferson's ideas or principles of government — the outgrowth of his zeal for the welfare of mankind — have in some instances proved inadequate or false. Still, his purpose was honest and his hopes manly. However, the basic proposition of his political creed, ' ' All men are 26 THOMAS JEFFERSON. created equal," though departed from in localities, is the bed-rock of the foundation of this Republic. He has been abused, misquoted, his memory libelled, his words questioned, and some of his opinions declared fallacious; but spite of all these he is present in each second of the nation's existence, and will continue to be. His views in the main were: All men are created equal and with certain inalienable rights; ' ' that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ' * A republic whose executive enforces, whose legislature enacts, and whose courts administer law. The rights of man are inviolable. Personal liberty, con- sistent with law and order, is to be rigidly maintained, and the weaker are to be always protected from the stronger. I^aws are to be made without coercion, purchase of legis- lators or law-making bodies, and not to be procured by undue influence. When ascertained to have been made through corruption, then there should follow immediate repeal and protest by the people. Courts and judges thereof should be on terms with the people and their privileges. Laws must be impartially administered. Taxes must be evenly laid and collected. No great standing army. A free press. Public meetings of the people and discussion of all public matters whenever and wherever they please. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 27 The nation's lands should be held by its citizens, and agriculture to be fostered as the basis of wealth, comfort, and happiness. No king, potentate, or ruler other than the people. No classes or orders of men. Arrogance, assumption, and pretension of the vulgar of whatever station must be checked. Government is in fact necessity; wisdom meets exigen- cies as they arise, and promptly overcomes them. Make homogeneous the people of the nation by pro- moting the general welfare. Educate the people to govern themselves and regulate their rulers. Education to be fostered and aided by all means possible. A government must keep abreast of the developments of science and growth of the arts. Economy must prevail in national expenditures, with the largest possible proper private outgo consistent with means. The Republic ought always to be a partisan one, with fre- quent changes in ofl&cials after limited service, because long continuance in power by one set of men or party is, in effect, monarchy. As few officials should be created or maintained as is possible, so as not to create an office-holding class. Merit, not competition, to be the test of capacity. The man as much if not more than his acquirements. 28 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Right of private judgment in matters of faith must be respected in all men. Rights of property, like the rights of man, to be pre- served. Principle (that which is best for the people having been ascertained) to be pushed with vigor for the common good. The nation's word, once given, to be sacredly preserved, and faith always kept. Eternal and constant vigilance in maintaining liberty, with frequent elections which, while costly and wearing on a people, are absolutely essential to the maintenance of liberty. A free field for brains, energy and manhood, and one man as good as the other. First, last, and all the time, public opinion, the will of the people, to be supreme. Still, always law and never license, but protest to be heeded. Thomas Jefferson's Career. — A Review. No book with Thomas Jefferson's public acts or deeds as the theme, or in any wise bringing any of them into view, can be considered even fairly well done without containing some account of the man, his appearance and characteristics. Mr. Jefferson from earliest manhood united the search for knowledge with untiring energy in its acquisition and almost ceaseless labor while in public positions. A mediocre man in talent, with his energy, would have suc- ceeded in life. Mr. Jefferson's reputation for having that knowledge, coupled with the force and weight of his personal charac- ter and his constant care for the personal liberty of his fellow men, were his chief claims for the affection and support of his fellow citizens. The acts he accomplished are brave illustrations of the value and effects of a moral life in obtaining and hold- ing the love of his fellow beings. Even the aristocratic (29) 30 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Virginians of his day, while despising Mr. Jefferson's political principles and suffering socially from the laws passed through his efforts, were as proud of the deeds of " our Tom Jefferson " as were other Virginians who held to him with the clutch of a set vise. By his associates in private life and his colleagues in public life Mr. Jefferson was known as a useful man, ready with his pen and quick of thought and action. When he came to the Continental Congress at Phila- delphia, in 1776, the reputation of possessing these quali- ties had preceded him, and the fact that he was selected by ballot, unanimously and first of the committee of five to prepare the Declaration of Independence by Congress, is an evidence of the position he held with the Fathers. When the committee met, Mr. Jefferson was requested by them to prepare the document, and he did so. Chance played no part in selecting him to write the Declaration . He was qualified to do it from years of though t and preparation. Many of its sentences had run through his mind for years; they had been formulated while at the bar, on the hustings, in church, and some of them when he was sleeping. It was written in seventeen days. Blue pencil men of the present day might write it differ- ently, and can criticise its construction; but, save the Ser- mon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments — it con- tinues to be the most frequentl}^ read or quoted composi- tion iu this Republic. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 31 Every line of it bears the sign manual of Thomas Jef- ferson — and when he sat down to write it out in Graff's house, at Seventh and Market Streets, Philadelphia, in June, 1776, he was merely putting on paper his own reflections and thoughts on the subject for a decade. Such a document could not be produced by any man without long thought and preparation. It was, in fact, finished when it was begun, and Mr. Jefferson, at about thirty-three years of age, in writing the Declaration of Independence, reached earthly immortality. His lack of the power of public speaking was made up by a marvelous aptitude with his pen, and in the power to convey by his writings the force of personal appeal usual in impressive oratory. That without this gift of oratory he should have reached the high station that he did in Virginia seems at this dis- tance of time little less than a marvel. Prolific in oratory and valuing it highly as an essential in political life, a people earnest in their patriotism and vigorous in the assertion of the right of individuality — the Virginians of Jefferson's day were chiefly impressed by his character, patriotism, and his knowledge. Considering the lack of newspapers and the slow methods of securing or con- veying news, the power of the orator over the people can be easily understood. The hustings and other popular meetings were then the chief places to obtain the news of the colony, state or nation. Oratory then in a public man 32 THOMAS JEFFERSON. was almost as essential as life itself, and a public man in that time who was not a speaker was a rare excep- tion. Mr. Jefferson never was a speaker. Save with his pen, his friends and neighbors never called upon him to speak, because when he attempted to he blushed, hesitated, and stammered. On the contrary, in private conversation, with his low musical voice, earnestness, pleasant face, knowledge and purpose, he was one of the best and most convincing of talkers ; probably no man in Vir- ginia or in the colonies excelled him as a convincing con- versationalist. Sometimes he wrote a speech for an occasion and a friend read it for him. When the Declaration of Independence was under fire in Congress during the debate before its adoption, Mr. Jefferson sat by never speaking a word and heard weighty John Adams, whom he denominated a ' * colossus, ' ' defend and explain it. Mr. Jefferson was an ardent Democrat or Republican. This was born in him, although living as a man of high station and fine quality; he was a Republican in principle and practice. He had unbounded hope for the future of the Republic and also faith in its people. His experience and observation in Europe convinced him of the correctness of his views for the government of men, and he wrote: * ' With all the defects of our Constitution . . . the com- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 33 parison of our governments with those of Europe is like a comparison of heaven and hell. England, like the earth, may be allowed to take the intermediate station." In his battle for the rights of man, he was like a steel- clad knight of old, with the unusual feature that he was a Prince Rupert fighting on Cromwell's side. He dealt death blows at the interests and privileges of the aristocratic class of which he was one by association, and never flinched in this work as a duty. He hung his armor and rested his spear when the privileged class, by law, in Virginia was unhorsed, and when the good purpose of his example in leveling arrogance over mankind had per- meated the great Republic. He made it possible for the Hebrew, the Catholic, the Dissenter, the Quaker, the Unitarian, the Orthodox, and the Unorthodox, to live in peace in Virginia, and receive the even protection and benefit of the laws. Mr. Jefferson lived so long that he saw many changes in the government and in the personal character of our people. Still, amid all of these weaknesses and changes he never saw or heard a Senator of the United States rise up and charge a President of the United States with being a jobber and participating in illegal exactions of money from the government, and the charge aided by no Senator's attempting to deny the accusation. Charges of improper oflBcial conduct in legislation are now more openly and frequently made than ever before 8 34 THOMAS JEFFERSON. in our history and are laughed at in some quarters, as only an incident of office-holding, and elections are fre- quently considered commercial propositions. High officials call their fellows robbers and jobbers and political thugs, and it is stated and believed that laws are unblushingly passed at the behest of interests inimical to the welfare of the people. These things are no fault of the plans laid down for government by the Fathers. They are merely the idiosyncrasies or habits of wretches by nature, walking in the covering of men, found in all nations and whose open crimes generally overreach and recoil upon themselves. These debauched creatures will inevitably meet the force of outraged public opinion and receive the punishment they deserve. While we have moved upward on Mr. Jefferson's lines in charity, love of home and family, and love of country, we have widely departed from them in much of our gov- ernmental and public policy and now are largely ruled by personal power directed to personal ends. Getting wealthy through laws is a modern means of acquiring wealth; how the laws are passed is not a question, and doubt- ful privileges under grants from unpaid legislators, are now the too frequent sources of gain. This will end when the public get the exact bearings of it, and benefi- ciaries from and authors of these schemes will be promptly unhorsed and may be compelled to disgorge their ill-gotten gains. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 35 As water is more dangerous than fire, so public opinion rightfully directed to a proper finality is the most danger- ous revolution that corruption has to meet. A political revolution on Jeffersonian lines directed against some of the present methods of legislation would be beneficial, and the pretentious incropping and officiousness of the vulgar and debauching rich who frequently rule publicly in legislation or in ofiBce, because barred socially, by respectable people, would be of priceless value to the future of this Republic. These vulgarians with their dis- play unsettle the minds and repose of good citizens. Mr, Jefferson's rule as to public officers : " Is he honest? Is he competent ? Is he an American ?" is now frequently widely departed from. In many instances these compre- hensive and essential qualifications are now condensed into "Is he rich ? " "What's he got?" and then when he is offered as a candidate for office, the management inquires "How's he giving down ?" An age of vulgarity always gives way to an age of gentility, in which the well-bred and honest man whether of wealth, or not, is the superior of the vulgarian with it. Mr. Jefferson was the enemy of the vulgar rich, for he believed in simplicity in government, and battled against the aristocracy, the venal wealthy who revel in ill-gotten gains, and the monarchist wherever found; consequently he was the enemy of the grasping parvenues, who are always applicants for orders, decorations, rank and titles 36 THOMAS JEFFERSON. and such purchasable things with which to lord it over their fellows, instead of the acceptable and essential ele- ments of brains, culture, cultivating love of country and consideration for their fellow-men. It is a misfortune that Mr. JeflFerson is not alive to-day to assist in stifling our present vulgar wealthy class. Mr. Jefferson, were he now alive in this Republic, would, in many instances, be forced to move with fraudulent finan- ciers, speculative robbers, skinners of the poor and defence- less, characterless vagabonds, gilded in the possession of dishonorably obtained wealth. He would see legislators bow down as corruptors pass through their halls, and blackguards in evening dress received in houses, where they should be lackies waiting at back doors. Mr. Jeffer- son would also hear " The laws must be obeyed," and in many cases the people under duress compelled to submit to government of laws some of which they know have been corruptly enacted. Mr. Jefferson would find, were he alive to-day, while in many cases character is considered but an incident, and the possession of money, no matter how obtained, the virtue, the most of our people yet esteem character as a virtue and decency as an honor; and were he alive he would also see that the people of his Republic are awake to this condition, and that while the cities may be hot- beds of corruption, the country with its free and inspiring life is our hope, and with his experienced eye he would THOMAS JEFFERSON. 37 observe that the corrective time is coming when unworthy- men will reach their true level, and that all men will yet be equal in this Republic. Mr. Jefiferson, were he alive at this date, and keeping abreast of the times, would be classed, as he protested, and urged correction of public evils — as he was denominated in his day and time — as one who excites to revolt and is ready to overturn. The vulgar and vicious reveling in vast privileges, who now flaunt their possessions with Babylonish freedom in the faces of decent people, and get power by fraud or treachery and sap the foundations of morality and liberty in so doing, would denounce Mr. Jefferson for insisting on the sacredness of one man's rights as well as the privileges of a class. Mr. Jefferson's views of the rights of the individual were given in his letter to Mr. Weightman, of June 24, 1826, when invited to come to Washington and take part in the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of American Independence. Declining on account of advanced age he wrote: "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 been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God. ' ' Mr. Jefferson was the broadest exponent of the doctrine of individual and personal rights that has thus far 38 THOMAS JEFFERSON. appeared in our political system. Were he alive now and a witness of the criminal punishment of persons without jury trial, for civic offence, his pen that invigorated quiescent personal liberty into life on this continent, and challenged the world with the new and broad doctrine of " all men are created equal," would go to work again as potently as ever and force judges to go back to the rule and to respect the people's ancient right of personal liberty, and to give them the equal protection of the law, unfortunate though they may be. Mr. Jefferson's life and deeds are now the best text- books to be studied and restudied by Americans old and young. The preservation of individual liberty in this Republic is the only assurance we can have of our nation's permanence. Mr. Jefferson's writings and deeds are redolent with the odor of personal liberty. Personal lib- erty was the essential in 1776; in the rush of combination and the centralizing of interests it is more of an essential now. The tendency to a consolidation of interests in this Republic can be dangerous only as it stifles individualism or throttles personal liberty. With the death of personal liberty comes monarchy and then empire. Will the present reign of the greed for the dollar land this Republic in monarchy ? or will Jeflfersonian doctrines, exemplified by individual actions, guide it into the harbor of permanency ? The answer is, The people will correct all of this when aroused and charlatans and political vam- pires go to the rear. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 39 Mr. Jefferson, could he come back to us for a time, with all of the doubt now hanging about us, with all of our present disagreements, after sounding the American heart, would find that, clouded as matters are now, the people are sound to the core, and he could go back to his rest at Monticello, knowing that watchers are awake on the ramparts of the citadel of Hberty and that, thanks to him and like copatriots, liberty is so firmly founded that when the watchers give the signal of supreme danger the people will respond. It would be difficult from the printed contemporaneous record of Mr. Jefferson's time to arrive easily at a fair conclusion as to the exact value of him as a man or as a statesman. The period of his political activity was a heated one, and during it and long after, he was an object of sharp attack by enemies and of earnest defence by friends. Still, on investigation, his life and deeds are his best defence, and are vouchers for him on the side of right. Mr. Jefferson was many sided in argument, while steadfast in love of principle. He was not a disputant. The practice of law with its wrangles, was distasteful to him. His method of fighting a plan or a proposition to a conclusion was to propose it, back it up with all of his logic, knowledge and reason with the pen and by conversation, answer nothing, observe all, and meet criti- cism by attacking the points urged without mentioning 40 THOMAS JEFFERSON. the author. This plan was peculiar to him, and he scarcely, if ever, failed in it. Mr. Jefferson believed that the virtuous poor man was as good as the virtuous rich man, and both better than a bad man of any condition. He battled for the rights of the individual man as against the many. He despised monarchy in any form. Born in a leading circle of Virginian society, a gentleman by birth, instinct, educa- tion and culture, he was the marvel of his time in the fact that he attacked the aristocratic classes who were over- riding the poor in the colonies, and aided in leveliag them to their proper condition. "All men are created equal," he believed, and by the laws would make it so. He was a man of tact, and while ready and anxious to make friends of enemies, and to call the disgruntled friend back and compromise, he was cunning and strate- gic, and while ostensibly yielding, he held on like death to his views and principles. He was hated by the domi- nant church faction in Virginia, and despised by the rich who were then anxious to retain control of affairs. He was denounced by his enemies and many unreasoning persons as an infidel, while at all times he boldly pro- claimed his belief and faith in God. His name was used as a bugaboo the land over, and to this day he is fre- quently held up as an ungodly man. I^iving a life as pure as was possible for a man to live, he was decried as a menace to law and order. A leveler of men and of THOMAS JEFFERSON. 41 customs he stood in the breach for the rights of the people, who at times are too lazy or indolent to ask what is going on in public afifairs. Meantime their liberties are stolen. Why did the people love him ? In office or out of it their happiness and comfort were his study. He was a farmer and agriculturist in the most comprehensive term. He believed that the one who made two blades of grass grow where but one had grown was a hero; that he who brought forth a new product of husbandrj' was worthy of fame. Whether in office or in retirement at Monticello, he watched and increased the usefulness of the earth. His hands and pen were constantly at work at and at the ser- vice of his fellows. Trees, vines, vegetables, flowers and fruits were his pride. His industry in teaching or advising his fellow men to become self-sustaining by tilling the soil was continual and thousands profited by it. He knew that the safest occupation for a nation is the cultivation of lands owned in severalty by the people. If Mr. Jefferson had done nothing else save to aid man's knowledge of agriculture, he would have been a benefactor. In addition to his contributions to the science of agriculture, he founded the University of Virginia as a teacher of his views on education and gave it his time and attention for many years. He was never an idler or drone. 42 THOMAS JEFFERSON. He anchored his faith in government to laws properly- made and administered by an educated and intelligent people over themselves, and he assisted in making laws whereby the people could peacefully assemble and partici- pate in making their own government. Many of the personal characteristics of Mr, Jefferson will always remain a question. His enemies proclaimed him an immoral man ; his friends held him up as a model of the virtues. I arrived at my conclusion of Mr. Jefferson's personality from talking with people who knew him, and those who were his blood relations, who, in addition to their personal recollections of him, had the opportunity of almost constant chats with his oldest daughters. He was decent in his life and habits, correct in his views of humanity, charitable, kind to the poor and un- fortunate, and he believed in the moral and physical progress of mankind, and aided them by all means in his power. Careful reading of many of the books published about him, conversation with those who knew him and who lived near him and with him, and weighing the attacks of his enemies at their worth, lead one to the conclusion that Mr. JejBFerson was an honest and just man, and a patriot at all times; that he loved his fellow men on a principle and not as a mere sentiment; that he was a moral man and strictly preserved his manhood. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 43 Mr. Jeflferson's acquirements were as marked as his personality, he was the most copious letter writer of his time. His letters illumine all subjects that he mentions and show careful observation and research. His "Notes on Virginia" went through many editions, and are fresh and readable at this day. He was unrelenting in his opposition to tyranny, aristocracy and the reign of mere wealth, and to acts of oppression of man or of a class. He was iron in blood and fibre. At this distance from our Revolutionary War and its events, and after the almost constant research and discussion as to the leading men of that period and their qualities, it is not diflScult to assign their places. George Washington — to mention his name even is to find him at the front of the Revolu- tionary War, its conduct and its success, and also to place him as the one man destined to complete it. Nathaniel Greene, of Rhode Island, by the rules of war was the best soldier of our revolutionary army. Benjamin Frank- lin, seventy years and more of age at the breaking out of the war, and with the experience of a long residence in Europe, was the wisest man on the civic side of the con- test. Alexander Hamilton, the most versatile in high duties ; John Adams, the most forcible, deliberate, and sedate; while Thomas Jefferson, the student and scholar, was the most useful. The three most scholarly Presidents of the United States to the present time are John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Rutherford B. Hayes. 44 THOMAS JEFFERSON. The reader may inquire after reading the enumerations of and conclusions as to Mr. Jefferson's virtues as given in this book — had this man no faults, in public or private life ? Yes, he had plenty of them, but mainly of a minor kind. His chief fault was his voluminous letter writing. He wrote well upon almost any subject. He had views on almost every subject, and so was frequently wrong. He was a scholar, a student, an agriculturist, a naturalist, an observer, a lawyer, publicist, and a statesman. He wrote on all of these subjects, and so armed his enemies with ammunition to be used against himself The scandals of a personal nature charged against him would fill a book. Investigations prove that they were almost all false, and the inventions of his political enemies. He was sometimes weak before public opinion, and at times misjudged men and their motives, and his expecta- tions for the future in politics were sometimes not realized, because he had too much faith in men. He several times showed a lack of judgment because misled by enthusiasm or by excess of zeal. These were the chief things seriously charged against him in his lifetime, but they are now forgotten. Con- sidering and weighing all of his faults against his char- acter and his services for mankind, they are as an atom against a mountain, " He was the friend of liberty and he wrote the Decla- ration of Independence." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 45 The bibliography of Jefferson is now some six hundred volumes, and incidentally reaches thousands more. From the records, from the testimony of his fellows and family, from the results of his public acts and private virtues he stands in the front line of American immortals. He was useful to his period, and his life and deeds are valuable as an example to posterity; he was the chief founder of the Republic of the United States. Lovers of liberty and the rights of man are partial to the name and fame of Thomas Jefferson ; in our Re- public he is the sweetest flower that blossoms in liberty's garden. The man at the wheel several times in periods of National danger, he always brought the Ship of State into port with banners flying. In public matters he kept his temper; he pushed onward for the liberty and rights of mankind, and he never failed to succeed. He made more notches on the column of progress of human rights in the years of his political life and power than any other five American statesmen — Thomas Jefferson, the publicist; the forceful man in the formative period of our Republic; the statesman and leader, was always in the forefront of the battle for humanity, giving and taking blows. May the people preserve the Republic and thereby his memory! This great man of affairs was as humane and lovable as a woman. This man who reached the highest possi- ble altitude of human glory was one of the softest by 46 THOMAS JEFFERSON. nature in private life, and beloved of children and brutes. He walks through history in public matters as the icono- clast. In his family and domestic life he was as gentle as the Master, and his presence as sweet as the voice of lovnng song. Along in the eighties it was my privilege and honor to be a guest at the house of the last person living who was with Mr. Jefferson at his death. Stately, with Jeffer- son's features, even to his nose and his reddish-brown hair; queenly in manner and with a memorj- for family matters and events, as tenacious and retentive as that of a gossipy society woman on personal scandals. This grand-daughter of Thomas Jefferson* was a link con- necting one epoch in our nationality with the other. Fomrteen years of age at his death, she recalled vi\'idly events that had happened eight years prior to that event. She recalled the home life at Monticello, and the habits and manners of her grandfather. She was bom at Monticello; she saw James Madison, James Monroe and the Marquis De Lafayette sit at table with Mr. Jefferson. Incidents and events of our revolutionary' epoch were chatted over in her presence as freely as cur- rent gossip is spoken of now in the family circle. She said that she then seemed almost a part of the revolution and its period, although long passed, because she heard it so frequently spoken about. *Mrs. Septima Randolph Meiklebam, born Septima Ann Carey Randolph. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 47 General Washington and the heroes of the Revolution, by reason of this table chat, seemed to her to be friends and almost at hand. For Mr. Jeflferson, whom she called "grandfather," she had unbounded affection. His tall* figure, with narrow shoulders; reddish-brown hair, parted in the middle; turned up nose; perfect teeth, even at eighty-three years of age; kindly blue-gray eyes, the eyes of genius; his freckles; quiet, musical, hesitating, slowly used voice were constantly before her. His suit of gray, which he commonly wore, with clerical cut, tall collar and wide white necktie, and his low, black slouch hat im- pressed her; but all did not in any way convey to her any impression of greatness or an unusual mentality. She recalled him as a gentle loving person, without temper, attentive to the poor, kindly to the lowly, and the equal of any man who ever lived. Their long rides in the country about Monticello; their journeys to Mr. Madison's and Mr. Monroe's homes in the vicinage; the noonday halt, with lunch at a roadside spring, half-way on the journey from Monticello to Mr. Madison's at Montpelier she loved to talk about. She vividly recalled and described "Eagle," Mr. Jefferson's favorite saddle horse; she had often been placed upon him for a ride by Mr. Jefferson himself. She recalled the day when Mr. Jeflferson was thrown from "Eagle's" back and his wrist broken. She sat day after day and heard Mr. Jefferson play the violin; one which *He was six feet two and one-half inches high. 48 THOMAS JEFFERSON. lie had made himself, and so constructed that he could place it in his trunk when he traveled; and she recounted his efforts at carpentering. Visitors overran them at Monticello. Mr. JefiFerson was bankrupt, but the lodgers and consumers multiplied each year until his death. Fifty guests and their horses were once there at one time. She pictured to me a delightful old man whose chief aim was to make every- body about him happy. Never a harsh word, never a growl — patience and forbearance instead. Of course, she never knew how great her grandfather was until after his death, and even then recalling his mildness she would for herself wonderingly measure the grandeur of his acts. The simplicity of his character, in his later life, seemed to her to preclude greatness — and she used to say ' ' and he wrote the Declaration of Independence." And then her description of his death. Of the long days of patient wait- ing; of his calling the members of the household to him and saying good-bye to each ; of the awful grief of her mother, and of the vast assemblage of citizens who came to lay him away. As she concluded this she said: "I peeped over the gallery in the hall at Monticello (women and small children did not then go to the grave at funerals in Virginia) as I heard the men coming in to carry my poor old grandfather out, and then I saw the bearers lift him, and as they went through the doorway it seemed that my heart and life and the sunlight went with them. As they THOMAS JEFFERSON. 4^ disappeared I fancied I could hear his sweet voice of but three days before (I was the last person who spoke to him) as I said, * Good morning, grandfather, do you know me?' and as he moved his hand a bit I thought he said, * Yes, dear. ' And now, after more than fifty years, when I recall that hot July morning in 1826, and think I see that tall pure figure waiting for the touch of the angel, I can still hear faintly those sweet words, ' Yes, dear.' " After his death, tied with a bit of faded blue ribbon about it, in a gold locket, on a chain around his neck, they found, where it had rested for more than forty years^ a lock of his wife's brown hair. THE HOUSE IN WHICH THOMAS JEFFERSON WROTE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. In Philadelphia, prior to March, 1883, four diflferent houses were pointed out or named to me as the exact and only place where Mr. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. I visited three of the claimant houses existing in 1876, and afterwards set about to identify and locate the house in which Mr. Jefferson did write the Declaration of Independence. The Indian Queen Inn, or hotel, which was in Fourth street, above Chestnut street, west side, was one of these houses. It was torn down in May, 1851, so, of course, I could not visit it. After investigation it seems almost incredible that there should ever have been any doubt as to which was the house or where it was located, especially so when the fact is taken into consideration that Philadelphia has changed (50 52 THE JEFFERSON HOUSE. as little in customs, buildings, people and traditions, as any American city existing in 1776. The city had but few incomers, and only a nominal tran- sient population. The outside world has had but small influence on her customs or local environment, so that her local history should be thoroughly preserved. Philadel- phia is, in a measure, by reason of lack of a large transient population, cut off from the rushing activities of some of the other large American cities, and so changes are slowly made. While Philadelphia's people have a pride in her history, and in the city with its comforts and ease, only a few earnest men have devoted themselves to its his- torical features. Among these Ferdinand J. Dreer and Charles S. Keyser (also the late Thompson Westcott) have devoted time and money to this object, and their chief reward has been the consciousness of a useful work well done. The investigator or student of history can well be astonished in view of these facts, that doubt could ever have arisen as to the house in which Mr. Jefferson wrote the Declaration, and it seems more strange that, after this doubt was settled and the house fixed by irrefragible proof, the doubt should be revived and perpetuated in bronze in the year 1897. Still, when one considers that the Board of City Trusts of Philadelphia, in charge of the Girard Estate, as late as September 9, 1897, found difficulty in locating the house where Stephen Girard THE JEFFERSON HOUSE. 53 lived and died, one need not wonder at doubt respecting the Jefferson house. The expert reported as to Mr. Girard's residence (and there are people living in Phila- delphia who saw Mr. Girard and saw him come and go to and from his house, and saw his funeral from it), "that from these facts, I judge that the residence of Mr. Girard in which he died was . . ." The statement is not made, "The residence of Mr. Girard was No. ." From the language used the doubt is still in force. The details of this investigation were given in the papers of the day. There was also, sometime about 1857, ^ claim that the Declaration of Independence was written in a house on the north side of Chestnut street, between Third and Fourth streets, and that it was not a corner house: an indefinite claim only and not important enough, in the light of facts, to more than notice. This house was never identified. The claim arose from a statement published in the ' ' Life of Daniel Webster, ' ' by George Ticknor Curtis. In the winter (December) of 1824, Daniel Webster, in company with Mr. and Mrs. George Ticknor, who were his close friends, made a visit to Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. The visit was a social one and with an eye to completing a plan to regulate the course of studies at the University of Virginia. While on their return to Washington, and while stopping one night at an inn, Mr. Webster and Mr. Ticknor told Mrs. Ticknor of their conversations 54 THE JEFFERSON HOUSE. with Mr. Jefferson during their four or five days' visit at Monti cello. Mrs. Ticknor wrote them out. These data have been questioned. In relation to the Declaration of Independence Mrs. Ticknor' s memoranda give the fol- lowing: " The Declaration of Independence was written in a house on the north side of Chestnut street, between Third and Fourth, — not a corner house. Heiskell's Tav- ern (The Indian Queen Tavern or Inn) in Fourth street has been shown for it to Mr. (Daniel) Webster; but this is not the house." All of the above is set aside by the letter of Mr. Jeffer- son to Doctor James Mease, written September 25, 1825. Some one was mistaken in the matter of the above loca- tion of the Declaration house, — either Mr. Jefferson who made it in December, 1824, and recanted it in September, 1825, or the gentlemen who gave the statement to Mrs. Ticknor to write down. Mr. Jefferson's biographer, however, questioned the accuracy of many of the state- ments written out by Mrs. Ticknor. 1 6 feet. NORTH. Market Street. 32 feet. 16 feet .9 a 03 X tn . tic c^ v a Ui V 2 ■5 u C a 5 a i a SB CO M u •133J k£ •xaaHiS aaaaia Hxnos 1— 1 bt >. a a UD u .M V tS j; 1; >, CO 0. g p. a V W in Q o ^ — 1 v m fnay be credited: and,"] we (have) [ ] appealed to their native justice and magnanimity (and we have conjured them by) [as well as to'\ the ties of our common kindred to dis- avow these usurpations which (would inevitably) [were likely to'\ interrupt our connection and correspond- ence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, (We must therefore) [and when oc- casions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of 07ir harmony, they have, by their free election, re-established them ift power. At this very time too, they are permittijig their chief magistrate to se?id over not only soldiers of otcr common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to invade and de- stroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, a7id m,anly spirit bids us to renounce for ever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget oiir former love for them,, and hold them as we hold the rest ofinankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 107 free and a great people together; but a communication 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 open to us too. We will tread it apart from them, and'\ acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our \eternal'\ separation (and hold them as we hold THE REST OP MANKIND, ENEMIES IN WAR, IN PEACE FRIENDS.) [ ] ! We therefore the repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Gen- eral Congress assembled, do in the name, and by the au- thority of the good people of these \states reject and re- nounce all allegiayice aiid sub- jection to the kings of Great Britaiii and all others who may hereafter claim, by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve all political connection which may hereto- fore have subsisted between us and the people or parlia- ment of Great Britain: and finally we do assert and de- clare these colonies to be free We therefore the repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Gen- eral Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and de- clare, that these united colo- nies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are ab- solved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection be- tween them and the state io8 THE DECLARATION and indepeyident states, 1 and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, we mutual- ly pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. OF INDEPENDENCE. of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dis- solved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract al- liances, establish commerce, and to 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 the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. The declaration thus signed on the 4th, [of July, 1776] on paper, was engrossed on parchment, and signed again on the 2nd of August. [Some erroneous statements of the proceedings on the Declaration of Independence having got before the public in latter times, Mr. Samuel A. Wells asked explanations of me, which are given in my letter to him of May 12, '19, before and now again referred to. I took notes in my place while these things were going on, and at their close wrote them out in form and with correctness, and from i THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 109 to 7 of the two preceding sheets, are the originals then written; as the two following are of the earlier debates on the Confederation, which I took in like manner.*] Mr. Jeflferson's letter to Mr. Wells was as follows: Letter to Samuel A. Wells, Esq. MoNTiCELLO, May 12, 1819. Sir, An absence of some time, at an occasional and distant residence, must apologize for the delay in acknowledging the receipt of your favor of April 12th; and candor obliges me to add, that it has been somewhat extended by an aversion to writing, as well as to calls on my memory for facts so much obliterated from it by time, as to lessen my own confidence in the traces which seem to remain. One of the enquiries in your letter, however, may be answered without an appeal to the memory. It is that respecting the question. Whether committees of correspondence originated in Virginia, or Massachusetts ? on which you suppose me to have claimed it for Virginia; but certainly I have never made such a claim. The idea, I suppose, has been taken up from what is said in Wirt's history of Mr. Henry, page 87, and from an inexact attention to its precise terms. It is there said, [• The above note of the author is on a slip of paper, pasted in at the end ot the Declaration. Here is also sewed into the MS. a slip of newspaper con- taining, under the head ' Declaration of Independence,' a letter from Thomas M'Kean to Messrs. William M'Corkle & Son, dated ' Philadelphia, June 16, 1817.' This letter is to be found in the Port Folio, Sept. 1817, p. 249.— T. J. R.J no THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. * This House [of Burgesses, of Virginia] had the merit of originating that powerful engine of resistance, corre- sponding committees between the legislatures of the different colonies.^ That the fact, as here expressed, is true, your letter bears witness, when it says, that the resolutions of Virginia, for this purpose, were transmitted to the speakers of the different assemblies, and by that of Mas- sachusetts was laid, at the next session, before that body, who appointed a committee for the specified object: adding, ' Thus, in Massachusetts, there were two com- mittees of correspondence, one chosen by the people, the other appointed by the House of Assembly; in the former, Massachusetts preceded Virginia; in the latter, Virginia preceded Massachusetts.' To the origination of com- mittees for the interior correspondence between the counties and towns of a state, I know of no claim on the part of Virginia; and certainly none was ever made by myself. I perceive, however, one error, into which memory had led me. Our committee for national corre- spondence was appointed in March, '73, and I well remember, that going to Williamsburg in the month of June following, Peyton Randolph, our chairman, told me that messengers bearing despatches between the two states had crossed each other by the way, that of Virginia carrying our propositions for a committee of national cor- respondence, and that of Massachusetts, bringing, as my memory suggested, a similar proposition. But here I THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. in must have misremembered; and the resolutions brought us from Massachusetts were probably those you mention of the town-meeting of Boston, on the motion of Mr. Samuel Adams, appointing a committee ' to state the rights of the colonists, and of that province in particular, and the infringements of them; to communicate them to the several towns, as the sense of the town of Boston, and to request, of each town, a free communication of its sentiments on this subject.' I suppose, therefore, that these resolutions were not received, as you think, while the House of Burgesses was in session in March, 1773, but a few days after we rose, and were probably what was sent by the messenger, who crossed ours by the way. They may, however, have been still different. I must, therefore, have been mistaken in supposing, and stating to Mr. Wirt, that the proposition of a committee for national correspondence was nearly simultaneous in Vir- ginia and Massachusetts. A similar misapprehension of another passage in Mr. Wirt's book, for which I am also quoted, has produced a similar reclamation on the part of Massachusetts, by some of her most distinguished and estimable citizens. I had been applied to by Mr. Wirt, for such facts respecting Mr. Henry, as my intimacy with him and participation in the transactions of the day, might have placed within my knowledge. I accordingly committed them to paper; and Virginia being the theatre of his action, was the only 112 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. subject within my contemplation. While speaking of him, of the resolutions and measures here, in which he had the acknowledged lead, I used the expression that ' Mr. Henry certainly gave the first impulse to the ball of revolution.' [Wirt, page 41.] The expression is indeed general, and in all its extension would comprehend all the sister states; but indulgent construction would restrain it, as was really meant, to the subject matter under contemplation, which was Virginia alone; according to the rule of the lawyers, and a fair canon of general criti- cism, that every expression should be construed secundum subjedam matetiam. Where the first attack was made, there must have been of course, the first act of resistance, and that was in Massachusetts. Our first overt act of war, was Mr. Henry's embod5dng a force of militia from sev- eral counties, regularly armed and organized, marching them in military array, and making reprisal on the King's treasury at the seat of government, for the public powder taken away by his Governor, This was on the last days of April, 1775. Your formal battle of Lexington was ten or twelve days before that, and greatly overshadowed in importance, as it preceded in time, our little aflfray, which merely amounted to a levying of arms against the King; and very possibly, you had had military affrays before the regular battle of lycxington. These explanations will, I hope, assure you, Sir, that so far as either facts or opinions have been truly quoted THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 113 from me, they liave never been meant to intercept the just fame of Massachusetts, for the promptitude and per- severance of her early resistance. We willingly cede to her the laud of having been (although not exclusively) •the cradle of sound principles,' and, if some of us believe she has deflected from them in her course, we retain full confidence in her ultimate return to them. I will now proceed to your quotation from Mr. Gallo- way's statement of what passed in Congress, on their Declaration of Independence; in which statement there is not one word of truth, and where bearing some resem- blance to truth, it is an entire perversion of it. I do not charge this on Mr. Galloway himself; his desertion having taken place long before these measures, he doubtless received his information from some of the loyal friends whom he left behind him. But as yourself, as well as others, appear embarrassed by inconsistent accounts of the proceedings on that memorable occasion, and as those who have endeavored to restore the truth, have themselves committed some errors, I will give you some extracts from a written document on that subject; for the truth of which, I pledge myself to heaven and earth; having, while the question of Independence was under considera- tion before Congress, taken written notes, in my seat, of what was passing, and reduced them to form on the final conclusion. I have now before me that paper, from which the following are extracts. ' Friday, June 7th, 8 114 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 1776. The delegates from Virginia moved, in obedience to instructions from their constituents, that the Congress should declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance 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 procuring 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 referred to the next day, when the members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock. Saturday, June 8th. They proceeded to take it into consideration, and referred it to a committee of the whole, into which they immediately resolved them- selves, and passed that day and Monday, the loth, in debating on the subject. ' It appearing, in the course of these debates, that the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, Maryland, and South Carolina, were not yet matured for falling from the parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, it was thought most prudent to wait a while for them, and to postpone the final decision to July ist. But, that this might occasion as little delay as possible, a Committee was appointed* to * "Appointed" — elected by Congress by ballot. Mr. Jefferson, witli char- acteristic modesty, neglects to state that he was the first man elected, and by a unanimous vote. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 115 prepare a Declaration of Independence. The Committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Ivivingston, and myself. This was reported to the House on Friday the 28th of June, when it was read and ordered to lie on the table. On Monday, the ist of July, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole, and resumed the consideration of the original motion made by the delegates of Virginia, which, being again debated through the day, was carried in the affirmative by the votes of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. South Carolina and Penn- sylvania voted against it, Delaware had but two members present, and they were divided. The delegates from New York declared they were for it themselves, and were assured their constituents were for it; but that their in- structions having been drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still the 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 given them. The Committee rose, and reported their resolution to the House. Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, then requested the determination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity. ti6 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. The ultimate question, whether the House would agree to the resolution of the Committee, was accordingly post* poned to the next day, 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. Members of a different sentiment attending that morning from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed; so that the whole twelve colonies, who were authorized to vote at all, gave their votes for it; and within a few days [July 9th] the convention of New York approved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the withdrawing of their delegates from the vote.' [Be careful to observe, that this vacillation and vote were on the original motion of the 7th of June, by the Virginia delegates, that Congress should declare the colonies independent.] ' Congress proceeded, the same day, to consider the Declaration of Independence, which had been reported and laid on the table the Friday pre- ceding, and on Monday referred to a Committee of the whole. The pusillanimous idea, that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offence. The debates having taken up the greater parts of the second, third, and fourth days of July, were, in the THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 117 evening of the last, closed: the Declaration was reported by the Committee, agreed to by the House, and signed by every member present except Mr. Dickinson.' So far my notes. Governor M'Kean, in his letter to M'Corkle of July 1 6th, 18 1 7, has thrown some lights on the transactions of that day: but, trusting to his memory chiefly, at an age when our memories are not to be trusted, he has con- founded two questions, and ascribed proceedings to one which belonged to the other. These two questions were, ist, the Virginia motion of June the 7th, to declare Inde- pendence; and 2nd, the actual Declaration, its matter and form. Thus he states the question on the Declaration itself, as decided on the ist of July; but it was the Vir- ginia motion which was voted on that day in committee of the whole; South Carolina, as well as Pennsylvania, then voting against it. But the ultimate decision in the House, on the report of the Committee, being, by request, postponed to the next morning, all the states voted for it, except New York, whose vote was delayed for the reason before stated. It was not till the 2nd of July, that the Declaration itself was taken up; nor till the 4th, that it was decided, and it was signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson. The subsequent signatures of members who were not then present, and some of them not yet in office, is easily explained, if we observe who they were; to wit, that they Ii8 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. were of New York and Pennsylvania. New York did not sign till the i5tli, because it was not till the 9th, (five days after the general signature,) that their Convention authorized them to do so. The Convention of Pennsyl- vania, learning that it had been signed by a majority only of their delegates, named a new delegation on the 20th, leaving out Mr. Dickinson, who had refused to sign, Willing and Humphreys, who had withdrawn, reappoint- ing the three members who had signed, Morris, who had not been present, and five new ones, to wit, Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor, and Ross: and Morris and the five new members were permitted to sign, because it manifested the assent of their full delegation, and the express will of their Convention, which might have been doubted on the former signature of a minority only. Why the signa- ture of Thornton, of New Hampshire, was permitted so late as the 4th of November, I cannot now say; but undoubtedly for some particular reason, which we should find to have been good, had it been expressed. These were the only post-signers, and you see, sir, that there were solid reasons for receiving those of New York and Pennsylvania, and that this circumstance in no wise affects the faith of this Declaratory Charter of our rights, and of the rights of man. With a view to correct errors of fact before they be- come inveterate by repetition, I have stated what I find THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 119 essentially material in my papers, but with that brevity which the labor of writing constrains me to use With the assurances of my great respect. Th: Jefferson. P. S. August 6th, 1822. Since the date of this letter, to wit, this day, August 6, '22, I have received the new publication of the Secret Journals of Congress, wherein is stated a resolution of July 19th, 1776, that the Declara- tion passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment, and when engrossed, be signed by every member; and another of August 2nd, that being engrossed and compared at the table, it was signed by the members; that is to say, the copy engrossed on parchment (for durability) was signed by the members, after being compared at the table with the original one signed on paper, as before stated. I add this P. S. to the copy of my letter to Mr. Wells, to prevent confounding the signature of the original with that of the copy engrossed on parchment. x^^ °- S I 1 X^^ '7'- ^ s\^ .^■ '^ ^'i';.«^V .v\' .^^^' ^^^ -^^^ "°^. *->no> ^\^^ < '' I ^''- .<^''' s •\" v- .^v ->. A^ , * ' » * .\0 ■ C o '^ f' » "O. A^ s ^ ' ■i^ -r- 0> s^ ,.j^:.X>f^v // C^ ^0^ ■7-^ \^ ^'i'^' ^^^'^^. ^/. * N O ^ <>' o>- ^^. 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