THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON


Definitive Edition



CONTAINING HIS

AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, PARLIAMENTARY MANUAL, OFFICIAL PAPERS,

MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES, AND OTHER

WRITINGS, OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE,

NOW COLLECTED AND

PUBLISHED IN THEIR ENTIRETY FOR THE FIRST TIME



INCLUDING



ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND
PUBLISHED IN 1853 BY ORDER OF THE

JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

AND

A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYTICAL INDEX







ALBERT ELLERY BERGH

EDITOR





VOL. I.











ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF



THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES



WASHINGTON, D. C.

1907



COPYRIGHT, 1905,

BY

THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION





SPECIAL INTRODUCTION.





IF we want a sure proof of Thomas. Jefferson's greatness it will be found in
the fact that men of every variety of political opinion, however far asunder,
find confirmation of their doctrine in him. Every party in this country to-day
reckons Jefferson as its patron saint. In my youth the political Abolitionists
made appeals to Jefferson the burden of their song. In the late discussion,
which rent the country, about the Philippine Islands, one' side quoted what Mr.
Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, and the other what they
thought he did, in the acquisition of Louisiana. I do not know of any other
American of whom this is true, unless it be that the different schools of
theology and ethics seem inclined to do the same thing just now as to Ralph
Waldo Emerson.

I can think of no other man in history, like Jefferson, leader as he was of two
Revolutions and founder of a political party; one of which accomplished the
independence of his country from a foreign yoke, the other overthrew by
peaceful means the party at home which had been founded by Washington, and his
great companions and counselors, of whom such a thing as this can be said.
Every political sect finds its political doctrine in Jefferson, almost as every

(vii)



Viii Special Introduction



religious sect finds its doctrine in the Savior of mankind.

The friend of State rights calls attention to the fact that Jefferson spoke of
the Government of the United States as the " agency at Washington." The
Abolitionists quote the great Declaration and his famous utterance against
slavery: " I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just." The
supporter of a protective tariff claims him as the highest protectionist in our
history, appealing to his desire that there might be a " wall around our
country which should keep out all foreign manufactures." The free trader
maintains that the spirit of everything he said and everything he did teaches
the doctrine of unlimited freedom in all human conduct, except so far as may be
needful for the restraint of actual crime.

The mighty figure of Thomas Jefferson comes down in history with the
Declaration of Independence in one hand, and the title deed of Louisiana in the
other. He acquired for his country a territory of 1,171,931 square miles, now
fifteen States, to be hereafter the seat and centre of empire certainly of this
continent, and, as we confidently believe, of the world. Yet I believe, in the
estimate of mankind, that achievement is insignificant compared with the other.

The author of the Declaration of Independence stands in human history as the
foremost man who ever lived, whose influence has led men to govern themselves
in the conduct of States by spiritual laws. That was Jefferson's mission-to
teach spiritual



Special Introduction



laws. Observe that I say spiritual laws, not spiritual truths merely, not
formulae to be assented to, but rules of life to be governed by and acted upon.

It was due to Jefferson that our fathers laid deep the foundation of the State
in the moral law. They first set to mankind the great example, and exhibited
the mighty spectacle-the sublimest spectacle in the universe-of a great and
free people voluntarily governing itself by a law higher than its own desire.

The doctrine of the Declaration was by no means new or original, Much of it is
to be found in the prose writings of Milton. More than a hundred years before
Milton said: "No man who knows aught, can be so stupid as to deny that all men
were naturally born free; born to command and not to obey. They agreed by
common league to bind each other from mutual injury and jointly to defend
themselves against any that gave disturbance or opposition to such agreement.
Hence came cities, towns and commonwealths. This authority and power being
originally and naturally in every one of them, and unitedly in them all, they
communicated and derived to one or more than one. The first was called a king;
the others magistrates. Not to be their Lords and Masters, but to be their
deputies and commissioners. It follows that since the king or magistrate holds
his authority of the people, for their good in the first place, and not his
own, then may the people as oft as they shall judge it for the best either
choose him or reject him, retain him or depose him.



Special Introduction



though no tyrant, merely by the liberty and right of free-born men to be
governed as seems to them best.

" That governors are not lightly to be changed is true with respect to the
people's prudence, not to be the king's right."

" Nature teaches us to bear with oppression so long as there is a necessity for
so doing."

" What the people may lawfully do against a tyrant no man of clear judgment
need go further to be guided than by the very principles of nature in man."

Jefferson's Declaration ended by the declaration that, as our British brethren
had been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity, we must acquiesce in
the necessity that denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest
of mankind, enemies in war; in peace, friends.

Milton thus ends his lofty affirmation :

" He therefore that keeps peace with me near or remote, of whatever nation, is
to me as far as all civil and human offices an Englishman and a neighbor, but
if an Englishman forgetting all laws, human, civil and religious, offend
against life and liberty, to him offended and to the law in his behalf, he is
not better than a Turk, a Saracen, a heathen."

If we are to trust abundant tradition, indeed if we are to take Jefferson's
evidence, found in the correspondence where he poured out his heart to his
intimate friends, he was by no means free from the faults common to his
time-common to humanity in all time He was no hypocrite. He made no



Special Introduction xi

 pretense to be a saint. He liked political power and popularity. He had a
natural and honorable aspiration for the affection and good will of his
countrymen. He probably would not have said of himself as Washington did, that
he never said of a man what he would not say to him. But more than any other
statesman down to his time-more than any other statesman I can think of-save
Lincoln alone-he had a steadfast and abiding faith in justice, righteousness
and liberty as the prevailing and abiding forces in the conduct of States, and
that justice and righteousness were sure to prevail where any people bear rule
in perfect liberty. He accepted this doctrine with an unhesitating confidence.
He never failed to proclaim it on all occasions. For it he was ready to
encounter unpopularity, poverty, if need be, imprisonment and exile. Upon it,
as on a cornerstone, he laid the foundation of the Republic.

He was sometimes charged with dissimulation in the conduct of ordinary
politics. I think it will be found on thorough investigation, that that notion
took its rise from the sweet and kindly courtesy, and the affectionate nature
which liked to be on good terms with every human being. But however that might
be, he never failed to utter his opinion where freedom and justice were
concerned whoever might be hurt or whoever might be angered. In the midst of
slaveholding Virginia he was wont to speak of the cause of the abolition of
slavery as "the sacred side "and to say that he looked to the young for its
accomplishment.



xii Special Introduction



So far as appears, he took little pride in anything else that he accomplished
in his long life, great as were his other services to his country. He was
Secretary of State. He was Governor of Virginia. He was Minister to France. He
was Vice-President. He was President. He acquired Louisiana. Yet, when he gave
direction for his own epitaph, he cared to have none of these things
remembered. The simple inscription on his tomb at Monticello sums up in his
language as no other orator can, the character and career of Thomas Jefferson.

" 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."

Political freedom, religious freedom, and the education that makes these
possible and safe were the ends for which he strove, the monuments by which he
desired to be remembered. Neither power, nor honor, nor office, nor popularity,
nor fame entered into the mighty heart or stirred that mighty soul.

I remember in my youth that a brilliant writer undertook with some success to
caricature Daniel Webster, although it was a rather audacious attempt. He
represents Mr. Webster as saying: The common opinion in the eastern hemisphere
is so and so-I differ from this eastern hemisphere." That was not so
unreasonable a thing for Daniel Webster to say. But if Thomas Jefferson had
said it it would occur to no man that it was either extrava-



Special Introduction xiii



gant or presumptuous. Thomas Jefferson was one of those men who can differ from
hemispheres, from generations, from administrations and from centuries with the
perfect assurance that on any question of liberty and righteousness, if the
opinion of Thomas Jefferson stand on one side and the opinion of mankind on the
other, the world will, in the end, come around to his way of thinking.

The American people, favored beyond any other in many things, is favored
especially in its great anniversaries. There is no other nation that celebrates
such things as we do. There is no other nation that has such things to
celebrate. The landing of the Pilgrims ; the Fourth of July ; the Nineteenth of
April; the Birthday of Washington; the Birthday of Lincoln; the Birthday of
Jefferson, and, I hope hereafter, the founding of the Northwest and the
Louisiana Treaty-these are not only great events in the history of our own
people, but they are great event's in the history of liberty. I have named
eight. Six of them are already established holidays, either by law, or in a
habit of the people powerful as law. Three of those--one of them perhaps the
foremost and most generally observed of all-belong not only to the history of
the country and of universal liberty, but to the life of Thomas Jefferson.













LINCOLN'S TRIBUTE TO JEFFERSON.







TO H. L. PIERCE AND OTHERS.



SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 6, 1859.

GENTLEMEN: Your kind note inviting me to attend a festival in Boston, on the
28th instant, in honor of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, was duly received.
My engagements are such that I cannot come.

Bearing m mind that about seventy years ago two great political parties were
first formed in this country, that Thomas Jefferson was the head of one of them
and Boston the headquarters of the other, it is both curious and interesting
that those supposed to descend politically from the party opposed to Jefferson
should now be celebrating his birthday in their own original seat and empire,
while those claiming political descent from him have nearly ceased to breathe
his name everywhere.

Remembering, too, that the Jefferson party formed upon the supposed superior
devotion to the personal rights of men, holding the rights of property to be
secondary only and greatly inferior, and assuming that the so called Democracy
of to-day are the Jefferson, and their opponents the anti-Jefferson party, it
will be equally interesting to note





xvi Lincoln's Tribute to Jefferson



how completely the two have changed hands as to the principle upon which they
were originally supposed to be divided. The Democracy of to-day hold the
liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing, when in conflict with another
man's right of property; Republicans, on the contrary, are for both the man and
the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

I remember being very much amused at seeing two partially intoxicated men
engaged in a fight with their great-coats on, which fight, after a long and
rather harmless contest, ended in each having fought himself out of his own
coat and into that of the other. If the two leading parties of this day are
really identical with the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams they have
performed the same feat as the two drunken men.

But soberly, it is now no child's play to save the principles of Jefferson from
total overthrow in this nation. One would state with great confidence that he
could convince any sane child that the simpler propositions of Euclid are true,
but nevertheless he would fail, utterly, with one who should deny the
definitions and axioms.

The principles. of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society and
yet they are denied and evaded, with no small show of success. One dashingly
calls them "glittering generalities." Another bluntly calls them " self-evident
lies " and others insidiously argue that they apply to " superior



Lincoln's Tribute to Jefferson xvii



races." These expressions, differing in form, are identical in object and
effect-the supplanting the principles of free government, and restoring those
of classification, caste, and legitimacy. They would delight a convocation of
crowned heads plotting against the people. They are the vanguard, the miners
and sappers of returning despotism. We must repulse them, or they will
subjugate us. This is a world of compensation ; and he who would be no slave
must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not
for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. All honor to
Jefferson-to the man, who in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national
independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecaste, and sagacity to
introduce into a merely revolutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to
all men and all times, and so embalm it there that to-day and in all coming
days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of
reappearing tyranny and oppression.

Your obedient servant,

A. LlNCOLN.




CONTENTS.







                                                                               
                                    PAGE



DEDICATION                                                                     
                         111



OFFICERS OF THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

ASSOCIATION                                                                    
                         V





INTRODUCTION BY SENATOR GEORGE F. HOAR                               VII





ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S TRIBUTE TO JEFFERSON                                 XV





AUTOBIOGRAPHY                                                                  
                 1-164

History and Form of the Declaration of Inde-

pendence, with facsimile of Jefferson's

original draft                                                                 
                               17-39



Proposals for Concerted Operation among

Powers at war with the piratical States of

Barbary                                                                        
                                   97



Extracts from a Despatch of the Count de

Vergennes to the Marquis de Verac                                              
                 110





APPENDIX TO AUTOBIOGRAPHY                                                  
165-262



(Note A) Letter to John Saunderson, Esq                                        
              165

Note for the Biography of Geo.

Wythe                                                                          
                                 166

(Note B) Letter to Samuel A. Wells, Esq                                        
               170

(Note C) On the Instructions given to the first

Delegation of Virginia to Congress

in August, 1774                                                                
                             181

(Note D) Instructions for the Deputies ap

pointed to meet in General Con-

gress On the part of Virginia                                                  
                        211





XX Contents







                                                                               
PAGE

(Note E) Letter to George Wythe, Esq                                           
             216

A Bill for proportioning Crimes

and Punishments in Cases here-

tofore Capital                                                                 
                             218

(Note F) Notes on the Establishment ,of a

Money Unit and of a Coinage for

the United States.                                                             
                           239

Supplementary Explanations                                                     
                   251

(Note G) Thomas Jefferson's Summary of his

own Achievements..                                                             
                       256

(Note H) Letters of George Washington to

Thomas Jefferson                                                               
                259--261



THE ANAS                                                                       
                 265-492

Explanation of the Three Volumes Bound in

Marbled Paper                                                                  
                         265

Conversation with Alexander Hamilton.                                          
             283

Conversations with President Washington                                        
            285

                                                                               
                    315, 327,330

Cabinet Meetings                                         358, 360, 361, 373,
377, 379,380

                                                                    383, 389,
393, 397, 400, 401,402

                                                                    406, 409,
410, 453, 481, 490,491

Memorandum of Meeting at the State House,

Philadelphia, relative to the case of the Little

Sarah                                                                          
                               363

Reasons for Secretary of State's Dissent                                       
              365

Copy of a Minute given to President Washington                                 
       370

A Recapitulation of Questions whereupon Mem-

bers of the Cabinet have given opinions                                        
              371

Conference with President Washington                                           
           384

Conversation with John Adams                                                   
               413

Dinner with President (John) Adams                                             
             420

Conversation with Aaron Burr                                                   
                443

Conversation with the British Minister                                         
               485




JEFFERSON'S WORKS.



AUTOBIOGRAPHY, WITH APPENDIX.



 JANUARY 6; 1821. At the age of 77, I begin to make some memoranda, and state
some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself, for my own more ready
reference, and for the information of my family. The tradition in my father's
family was, that their ancestor came to this country from Wales, and from near
the mountain of Snowdon, the highest in Great Britain. I noted once a case from
Wales, in the law reports, where a person of our name was either plaintiff or
defendant; and one of the same name was secretary to the Virginia Company.
These are the only instances in which I have met with the name in that country.
I have found it in our early records; but the first particular information I
have of any ancestor was of my grandfather, who lived at the place in
Chesterfield called Ozborne's, and owned the lands afterwards the glebe of the
parish. He had three sons; Thomas who died young, Field who settled on the
waters of Roanoke and left numerous descendants, and Peter, my father, who
settled on



 VOL. I-I



Jefferson's Works 2



the lands I still own, called Shadwell, adjoining my present residence. He was
born February 29,1707-8, and intermarried 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. They trace their pedigree far back
in England and Scotland, to which let every one ascribe the faith and merit he
chooses. My father's education had been quite neglected; but being of a strong
mind, sound judgment, and eager after information, he read much and improved
himself, insomuch that he was chosen, with Joshua Fry, Professor of Mathematics
in William and Mary college, to continue the boundary line between Virginia and
North Carolina, which had been begun by Colonel Byrd; and was afterwards
employed with the same Mr. Fry, to make the first map of Virginia which had
ever been made, that of Captain Smith being merely a conjectural sketch. They
possessed excellent materials for so much of the country as is below the Blue
Ridge ; little being then known beyond that ridge. He was the third or fourth
settler, about the year 1737, of the part of the country in which I live. He
died, August 17th, 1757, leaving my mother a widow, who lived till 1776, with
six daughters and two sons, myself the elder. To my younger brother he left his
estate on James River , called Snowdon, after the supposed birth-place of the
family: to myself, the lands on which I was born and live.



Autobiography 3



He placed me at the English school at five years of age; and at the Latin at
nine, where I continued until his death. My teacher, Mr. Douglas, a clergyman
from Scotland, with the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, taught me
the French; and on the death of my father, I went to the Reverend Mr. Maury, a
correct classical scholar, with whom I continued two years; and then, to wit,
in the spring of 1760, went to William and Mary college, where I continued two
years. It was my great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies of
my life, that Dr. William 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 his 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 Letters. He returned to Europe in 1762, having previously
filled up the measure of his goodness to me, by procuring for me, from his most
intimate friend, George Withe, a reception as a student of law, under his
direction, and introduced 


4                                   Jefferson's Works



me to the acquaintance and familiar table of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man
who had ever filled that office. With him, and at his table, Dr. Small and Mr.
Withe, his amici omnium horarum, and myself, formed a partie quarrel, and to
the habitual conversations on these occasions I owed much instruction. Mr.
Withe continued to be my faithful and beloved mentor in youth, and my most
affectionate friend through life. In 1767, he led me into the practice of the
law at the bar of the General court, at which I continued until the Revolution
shut up the courts of justice.(l) In 1769, I became a member of the legislature
by the choice of the county in which I live, and so continued until it was
closed by the Revolution. I made one effort in that body for the permission of
the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected: and indeed, during the regal
government, nothing liberal could expect success. Our minds were circumscribed
within narrow Iimits, by an habitual belief that it was our duty to be
subordinate to the mother country in all matters of government, to direct all
our labors in subservience to her interests, and even to observe a bigoted
intolerance for all religions but hers. The difficulties with our
representatives were of habit and despair, not of reflection and conviction.
Experience soon proved that they could bring their minds to rights, on the
first summons of their attention. But the King's Council, which acted as
another house







        _______________



 [(1) See Appendix, note A.] 







Autobiography 5



of legislature, held their places at will, and were in most humble obedience to
that will: the Governor too, who had a negative on our laws, held by the same
tenure, and with still greater devotedness to it : and, last of all, the Royal
negative closed the last door to every hope of amelioration.



On the 1st of January, 1772, I was married to Martha Skelton, widow of Bathurst
Skelton, and daughter of John Wayles, then twenty-three years old. Mr. Wayles
was a lawyer of much practice, to which he was introduced more by his great
industry, punctuality, and practical readiness, than by eminence in the science
of his profession. He was a most agreeable companion, full of pleasantry and
good humor, and welcomed in every society. He acquired a handsome fortune, and
died in May, 1773, leaving three daughters : the portion which came on that
event to Mrs. Jefferson, after the debts should be paid, which were very
considerable, was about equal to my own patrimony, and consequently doubled the
ease of our circumstances.



When the famous Resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp-act, were proposed, I
was yet a student of law in Williamsburg. I attended the debate, however, at
the door of the lobby of the House of Burgesses, and heard the splendid display
of Mr. Henry's talents as a popular orator. They were great indeed; such as I
have never heard from any other man. He appeared to me to speak as Homer wrote.
Mr. Johnson, a lawyer, and member from



6 Jefferson's Works the Northern Neck, seconded the resolutions, and by him the
learning and the logic of the case were chiefly maintained. My recollections of
these transactions may be seen page 60 of the life of Patrick Henry, by Wirt,
to whom I furnished them. In May, 1769, a meeting of the General Assembly was
called by the Governor, Lord Botetourt. I had then become a member; and to that
meeting became known the joint resolutions and address of the Lords and
Commons, of 1768-9, on the proceedings in Massachusetts. Counter-resolutions ,
and an address to the King by the House of Burgesses, were agreed to with
little opposition, and a spirit manifestly displayed itself of considering the
cause of Massachusetts as a common one. The Governor dissolved us: but we met
the next day in the Apollo(l) of the Raleigh tavern, formed ourselves into a
voluntary convention, drew up articles of association against the use of any
merchandise imported from Great Britain, signed and recommended them to the
people, repaired to our several counties, and were re-elected without any other
exception than of the very few who had declined assent to our proceedings.
Nothing of particular excitement occurring for a considerable time, our
countrymen seemed to fall into a state of insensibility to our situation; the
duty on tea, not yet repealed, and the declaratory act of a right in the
British Parliament to bind us







        _______________



 [(1) The name of a public room in the Raleigh.] 



Autobiography 7



by their laws in all cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court of
inquiry held in Rhode Island in 1762, with a power to send persons to England
to be tried for offences committed here, was considered, at our session of the
spring of 1773, as demanding attention. Not thinking our old and leading
members up to the point of forwardness and zeal which the times required, Mr.
Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr and myself agreed to meet in
the evening, in a private room of the Raleigh, to consult on the state of
things. There may have been a member or two more whom I do not recollect. We
were all sensible that the most urgent of all measures was that of coming to an
understanding with all the other colonies, to consider the British claims as a
common cause to all, and to produce a unity of action : and, for this purpose,
that a committee of correspondence in each colony would be the best instrument
for intercommunication : and that their first measure would probably be, to
propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at some central place, who
should be charged with the direction of the measures which should be taken by
all. We, therefore, drew up the resolutions which may be seen in Wirt, page 87.
The consulting members proposed to me to move them, but I urged that it should
be done by Mr. Carr, my friend and brother-in-law, then a new member, to whom I
wished an opportunity should be given of making known to the house his great



8 Jefferson's Works



worth and talents. It was so agreed; he moved them, they were agreed to nem.
con. and a committee of correspondence appointed, of whom Peyton Randolph, the
speaker; was chairman. The Governor (then Lord Dunmore) dissolved us, but the
committee met the next day, prepared a circular letter to the speakers of the
other colonies, inclosing to each a copy of the resolutions, and left it in
charge with their chairman to forward them by expresses. The origination of
these committees of correspondence between the colonies has been since claimed
for Massachusetts, and Marshall' has given into this error, although the very
note of his appendix to which he refers, shows that their establishment was
confined to their own towns. This matter will be seen clearly stated in a
letter of Samuel Adams Wells to me of April 2nd, 1819, and my answer of May
12th. I was corrected by the letter of Mr. Wells in the information I had given
Mr. Wirt, as stated in his note, page 87, that the messengers of Massachusetts
and Virginia crossed each other on the way, bearing similar propositions; for
Mr. Wells shows that Massachusetts did not adopt the measure, but on the
receipt of our proposition, delivered at their next session. Their message,
therefore, which passed ours, must have related to something else, for I well
remember Peyton Randolph's informing me of the crossing of our messengers.(2)



         _______________



[ (1) Life of Washington, vol. ii., p, 151, [(2) See Appendix, note B.] 



Autobiography 9



The next event which excited our sympathies for Massachusetts, was the Boston
port bill, by which that port was to be shut up on the 1st of June, 1774. This
arrived while we were in session in the spring of that year. The lead in the
House, on these subjects, being no longer left to the old members, Mr. Henry,
R. H. Lee, Fr. L. Lee, three or four other members, whom I do not recollect,
and myself, agreeing that we must boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line
with Massachusetts, determined to meet and consult on the proper measures, in
the council-chamber, for the benefit of the library in that room. We were under
conviction of the necessity of arousing our people from the lethargy into which
they had fallen, as to passing events; and thought that the appointment of a
day of general fasting and prayer would be most likely to call up and alarm
their attention. No example of such a solemnity had existed since the days of
our distresses in the war of '55, since which a new generation had grown up.
With the help, therefore, of Rushworth, whom we rummaged over for the
revolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by
him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing their phrases, for
appointing the 1st day of June, on which the portbill 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



10                                                     Jefferson's Works



the King and Parliament to moderation and justice. To give greater emphasis to
our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose
grave and religious character was more in unison with the tone of our
resolution, and to solicit him to move it. We accordingly went to him in the
morning. He moved it the same day; the 1st of June was proposed; and it passed
without opposition. The Governor dissolved us, as usual. We retired to the
Apollo, as before, agreed to an association, and instructed the committee of
correspondence to propose to the corresponding committees of the other
colonies, to appoint deputies to meet in Congress at such place, annually, as
should be convenient, to direct, from time to time, the measures required by
the general interest: and we declared that an attack on any one colony, should
be considered as an attack on the whole. This was in May. We further
recommended to the several counties to elect deputies to meet at Williamsburg,
the 1st of August ensuing, to consider the state of the colony, and
particularly to appoint delegates to a general Congress, should that measure be
acceded to by the committees of correspondence generally. It was .acceded to ;
Philadelphia was appointed for the place, and the 5th of September for the time
of meeting. We returned home, and in our several counties invited the clergy to
meet assemblies of the people on the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of
the day, and to address



Autobiography 



to them discourses suited to the occasion. The people 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. They chose, universally, delegates for the
convention. Being elected one for my own county, I prepared a draught of
instructions to be given to the delegates whom we should send to the Congress,
which I meant to propose at our meeting.(1) In this I took the ground that,
from the beginning, I had thought the only one orthodox or tenable, which was,
that the relation 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 necessary political connection ; and that our
emigration from England to this country gave her no more rights over us, than
the emigrations 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. Withe. He concurred in it from the
first dawn of the question, What was the political relation between us and
England? Our other patriots, Randolph, the Lees, Nicholas, Pendleton, stopped
at the half-way house of John







        _______________



[(1) See Appendix, note C.] 



11                                              Jefferson's Works



Dickinson, who 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 natural right,
and acted on as such, by all nations, in all ages. I set out for Williamsburg
some days before that appointed for our meeting, but was taken ill of a
dysentery on the road, and was unable to proceed. I sent on, therefore, to
Williamsburg two copies of my draught, the one under cover to Peyton Randolph,
who I knew would be in the chair of the convention, the other to Patrick Henry.
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. Peyton Randolph informed the convention he had
received such a paper from a member, prevented by sickness from offering it in
his place, and he laid it on the table for perusal. It was read generally by
the members approved by many, though thought too bold for the present state of
things ; but they printed it in pamphlet form, under the title of "A Summary
View of the Rights of British America." It found its way to England, was taken
up by the opposition, interpolated a little by Mr. Burke so as to make it
answer opposition purposes, and in that form ran rapidly through several
editions. This information



Autobiography                                           13



I had from Parson Hurt, who happened at the time to be in London, whither he
had gone to receive clerical orders; and I was informed afterwards by Peyton
Randolph, that it had procured me the honor of having my name inserted in a
long list of proscriptions, enrolled in a bill of attainder commenced in one of
the Houses of Parliament, but suppressed in embryo by the hasty step of events,
which warned them to be a little cautious. Montague, agent of the House of
Burgesses in England, made extracts from the bill, copied the names, and sent
them to Peyton Randolph. The names, I think, were about twenty, which he
repeated to me, but I recollect those only of Hancock, the two Adamses, Peyton
Randolph himself, Patrick Henry, and myself.(1) The convention met on the 1st
of August, renewed their association, appointed delegates to the Congress, gave
them instructions very temperately and properly expressed, both as to style and
matter;(2) and they repaired to Philadelphia at the time appointed. The
splendid proceedings of that Congress, at their first session, belong to
general history, are known to every one, and need not therefore be noted here.
They terminated their session on the 26th of October, to meet again on the 10th
of May ensuing. The convention, at their ensuing session of March, ' approved
of the proceedings of Congress, thanked







         _______________



[(1) See Girardin's History of Virginia, Appendix No. 12. note. (2) See
Appendix, note D.] 



14                                      Jefferson's Works



their delegates, and reappointed the same persons to represent the colony at
the meeting to be held in May: and foreseeing the probability that Peyton
Randolph, their president, and speaker also of the House of Burgesses, might be
called off, they added me, in that event, to the delegation. Mr. Randolph was,
according to expectation, obliged to leave the chair of Congress, to attend the
General Assembly summoned by Lord Dunmore, to meet on the 1st day of June,
1775. Lord North's conciliatory propositions, as they were called, had been
received by the Governor, and furnished the subject for which this assembly was
convened. Mr. Randolph accordingly attended, and the tenor of these
propositions being generally known, as having been addressed to all the
governors, he was anxious .that the answer of our Assembly, likely to be the
first, should harmonize with what he knew to be the sentiments and wishes of
the body he had recently left. He feared that Mr. Nicholas, whose mind was not
yet up to the mark of the times, would undertake the answer, and therefore
pressed me to prepare it. I did so, and, with his aid, carried it through the
House, 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. This being passed, I repaired
immediately to Philadelphia, and conveyed to Congress the first notice they had
of it. It was entirely



Autobiography                              15



 approved there. I took my seat with them on the 21st of June. On the 24th, a
committee which had been appointed to prepare a declaration of the causes of
taking up arms, brought in their report (drawn I believe by J. Rutledge) which,
not being liked, the House recommitted it, on the 26th, and added Mr. Dickinson
and myself to the committee. On the rising of the House, the committee having
not yet met, I happened to find myself near Governor W. Livingston, and
proposed to him to draw the paper. He excused himself and proposed that. I
should draw it. On my pressing him with urgency,



" we are as yet but new acquaintances, sir," said he," why are you so earnest
for my doing it? " " Because," said I, " I have been informed that you drew the
Address to the people of Great Britain, a production, certainly, of the finest
pen in America."



" On that," says he, " perhaps, sir, you may not have been correctly informed."
I had received the information in Virginia from Colonel Harrison on his return
from that Congress. Lee, Livingston, and Jay had been the committee for that
draught. The first, prepared by Lee, had been disapproved and recommitted. The
second was drawn by Jay, but being presented by Governor Livingston, had led
Colonel Harrison into the error. The next morning, walking in the hall of
Congress, many members being assembled, but the House not yet formed, I
observed Mr. Jay speaking to R. H. Lee, and leading him by the button of his
coat to me. " I



16                                            Jefferson's Works



understand, sir," said he to me, " that this gentleman informed you, that
Governor Livingston drew the Address to the people of Great Britain." I assured
him, at once, that I had not received that information from Mr. Lee, and that
not a word had ever passed on the subject between Mr. Lee and myself; and after
some explanations the subject was dropped. These gentlemen had had some
sparrings in debate before, and continued ever very hostile to each other. , I
prepared a draught of the declaration committed to us. It was too strong for
Mr. Dickinson. 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, and so able a one, that he was greatly indulged even by
those who could not feel his scruples. We therefore requested him to take the
paper, and put it into a form he could approve. He did so, preparing an entire
new statement, and preserving of the former only the last four paragraphs and
half of the preceding one. We approved and reported it to Congress, who
accepted it. Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson,
and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part of our
body, in permitting him to draw their second petition to the King according to
his own ideas, and passing it with scarcely any amendment. The disgust against
this numility was general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight



Autobiography                              17



at its passage was the. only circumstance which reconciled them to it. The vote
being passed, although further observation on it was out of order, he could not
refrain 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 Harrison rose and said, " There is but one
word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word
Congress." On the 22d of July, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, R. H. Lee, and myself,
were appointed a committee to consider and report on Lord North's conciliatory
resolution. The answer of the Virginia Assembly on that subject having been
approved, I was requested by the committee to prepare this report, which will
account for the similarity of feature in the two instruments. On the l5th of
May, 1776, the convention of Virginia instructed their delegates in Congress,
to propose to that body to declare the colonies independent of Great Britain,
and appointed a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of
government. `In Congress, Friday, June 7, 1776. The dele







        _______________



 [(1) Here, in the original manuscript, commence the "two preceding sheets"
referred to by Mr. Jefferson, page 26, as containing "notes" taken by him
"whilst these things were going on." They are easily distinguished from the
body of the MS. in which they were inserted by him, being of a paper very
different in size, quality and color, from that in which the latter is
written.) 



vol..1-a.



18                                          Jefferson's Works



gates 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 8.
They proceeded to take it into consideration, and referred it to a committee of
the whole, into which .they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that
day and Monday, the loth, in debating on the subject. It was argued by Wilson,
Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge, Dickinson, and others that, though they were
friends to the measures themselves, and saw the impossibility 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 proper now,
of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the people drove us
into it :



Autobiography                                     19



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 ripening, and, in a short
time, would join in the general voice of America : That the resolution, entered
into by this House on the l5th 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 consent to such a declaration, and others had
given no instructions, 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 Delaware counties would meet on the Monday following, and it was
probable these bodies would



20                                          Jefferson's Works



take up the question of Independence, and would declare to their delegates the
voice of their state : That if such a declaration should now be agreed to,
these delegates must retire, and possibly their colonies might secede from the
Union : That such a secession would weaken us more than could be 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 prejudicial : That we had little reason
to expect an alliance with those to whom alone, as yet, we had cast our eyes :
That France and Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising power, which
would one day certainly strip them of all their American possessions : That it
was more likely' 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 partition of our territories, restoring Canada
to France, and the Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery
of these colonies : That it would not be long before we should receive certain
information of the disposition of the French court, from the agent whom we had
sent to Paris for that purpose:



Autobiography                                     21



That if this disposition should be favorable, by waiting the event of the
present campaign, which we all hoped would be successful, we should have reason
to expect an alliance on better terms : That this would in fact work no delay
of any effectual aid from such ally, as, from the advance of the season and
distance of our situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance
during this campaign : That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on
which we should form alliance, before we declared we would form one at all
events: And that if these were agreed on, and our Declaration of Independence
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. On the other side, it was
urged by J. Adams, Lee, Withe, and others, that no gentleman had argued against
the policy or the right of separation from Britain, nor had supposed it
possible we should ever renew our connection ; that they had only opposed its
being now declared : That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of
Independence, 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 efficacy from our acquiescence only, and not from any rights they



22                                 Jefferson's Works



possessed of imposing them, and that so far, our connection had been federal
only, and was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities : That, as to
the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now
dissolved by his assent to the last 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
withdrawn : That James the Second never declared the people of England out of
his protection, yet his actions proved it, and the Parliament declared it : No
delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of declaring an existing
truth : That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared their
constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies, Pennsylvania 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



Autobiography                                       23



the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council 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 consonant 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 l5th of May has proved this, which, raising the murmurs
of some in the colonies of Pennsylvania 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 seemed 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



24                               Jefferson's Works



suspect it was their settled policy to keep 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
forward and hazarded all from the beginning, to come forward now also, and put
all again to their own hazard : That the history of the Dutch Revolution, of
whom three states only confederated at first, proved that a secession of some
colonies would not be so dangerous as some apprehended: That a Declaration of
Independence alone could render it consistent with European delicacy, for
European powers to treat with us, or even to receive an Ambassador from us :
That till this, they would not receive our vessels into their ports, nor
acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admiralty to be legitimate, in
cases of capture of British vessels : That though France and Spain may be
jealous of our rising power, they must think it will be much more formidable
with the addition of Great Britain; and will therefore see it their interest 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 the present campaign may be unsuccessful, and therefore we had better
propose an alliance while our affairs wear a hopeful aspect : That to wait the
event of this campaign will



Autobiography                                     25



certainly work delay, because, during the 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 defense of the possessions they have there : That it would be idle
to lose time in settling the terms of alliance, till we had first 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
payment of taxes: And that the only misfortune is, that we did not enter into
alliance 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 selling their unhappy subjects to
subdue us. It appearing in the course of these debates, that the colonies of
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 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 1st ; but, that this might occasion
as little delay as possible, a committee was appointed to



26                                       Jefferson's Works



prepare a Declaration of Independence. The committee were John Adams, Dr.
Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and myself. Committees were also
appointed, at the same time, to prepare a plan of confederation for the
colonies, and to state the terms proper to be proposed for foreign alliance.
The committee for drawing the Declaration of Independence, desired me to do it.
It was accordingly done, and being approved by them, I reported it to the House
on Friday, the 28th of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie on the table.
On Monday, the 1st 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, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. South
Carolina and Pennsylvania 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 instructions 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



Autobiography                               27



from the question; which was given them. The committee rose and reported their
resolution to the House. Mr. Edward 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. The ultimate question, whether the House would agree
to the resolution of the committee, was accordingly postponed to the next day,
when it was again moved, and South Carolina concurred in voting for it. In the
meantime, 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 voices for it; and, within a few days,(l) the convention of New York
approved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the withdrawing of her
delegates from the vote. Congress proceeded the same day to consider the
Declaration of Independence, which had been reported and lain on the table the
Friday preceding, 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







        _______________



[ (1) July 9.] 



28                            Jefferson's Works



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, who had never attempted to restrain
the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue
it. Our northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those
censures; for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had
been pretty considerable carriers of them to others. The debates, having taken
up the greater parts of the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of July, were, on the 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. As the
sentiments of men are known not only by what they receive, but what they reject
also, I will state the form of the Declaration as originally reported. The
parts struck out by Congress shall be distinguished by a black line drawn under
them;(l) and those inserted by them shall be placed in the margin, or in a
concurrent column.



A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in
General Congress assembled. When, in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected







        _______________



 [1 In this publication, the parts struck out are printed in Italics and
inclosed in brackets.]  




Autobiography                             29



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 requires

that they should declare the causes which

impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self evident:

that all men are created equal; that they

are endowed by their Creator with [inherent                       (certain)

and] inalienable rights ; that among these

are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-

ness ; that to secure these rights, govern-

ments are instituted among men, deriving

their just powers from the consent of the

governed ; that whenever any form of gov-

ernment becomes destructive of these ends,

it is the right of the people to alter or to

abolish it, and to institute new govern-

ment, laying its foundation on such prin-

ciples, and organizing its powers in such

form, as to them shall seem most likely to

effect their safety and happiness. ' Pru-

dence, indeed, will dictate that governments

long established should not be changed for

light and transient causes ; and accord-

ingly all experience hath shown that man

kind are more disposed to suffer while evils

are sufferable, than to right themselves by

abolishing the forms to which they are



30                     Jefferson's Works





customed. But when a long train of

abuses and usurpations, [begun at a dis-

tinguished period and] pursuing invariably

the same object, evinces a design to reduce

them 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 these colonies;

and such is now the necessity which con

strains them to [expunge] their former sys-                          (alter)

tems of government. The history of the

present king of Great Britain is a history

of [unremitting] injuries and usurpations,                           
(repeated)

[among which appears no solitary fact to                            (all
having)

contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, but

all have] in direct object the establishment

of an absolute tyranny over these states.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a

candid world [ for the truth of which we

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 immediate 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.



Autobiography                            31



He has refused to pass other laws for the

accommodation of large districts of people,

unless those people would relinquish 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 unusual, uncomfortable, and dis

tant from the depository of their public

records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 

them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses

repeatedly [and continually] for opposing

with manly firmness his invasions 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 powers, incapable

of annihilation, have returned to the people

at large for their exercise, the state remain-

ing, in the meantime, exposed to all the

dangers of invasion from without and con-

vulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the popu-

lation of these states; for that purpose

obstructing the laws for naturalization of

foreigners, refusing to pass others to en

courage their migrations hither, and raising

the conditions of new appropriations of

lands.



32                        Jefferson's Works



He has [suffered] the administration of                                      
(obstructed)

justice [totally to cease in some of these states]                         
(by)

refusing his assent to laws for establishing

judiciary powers.

He has made [our] judges dependent on

his will alone for the tenure of their offices,

and the amount and payment 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 our people

and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us in times of peace

standing armies [and ships of war] without

the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military

independent of, and superior to, the civil

power.

He has combined with others to subject

us to a jurisdiction foreign to our consti-

tutions 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 punishment 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 con

sent; for depriving us [ ] of the benefits                         (in many
cases)



Autobiography                         33



of trial by jury ; for transporting us beyond

seas to be tried for pretended offences; for

abolishing the free system of English laws

in a neighboring province; establishing

therein an arbitrary government, and en-

larging its boundaries, so as to render it at

once an example and fit instrument for

introducing the same absolute rule into

these [states]; for taking away our charters,                               
(colonies)

abolishing our most valuable laws, and

altering fundamentally the forms of our

governments; for suspending our own legis-

latures, and declaring themselves invested

with power to legislate for us in all cases

whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here [with-                                   (by
declaring us)

drawing his governors, and declaring us out                               (out
of his protection)

of his allegiance and protection.]                                             
  ( and waging war)

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our                                     
(against us.)

coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the

lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large

armies of foreign mercenaries to complete

the works of death, desolation and tyranny

already begun with circumstances of cruelty

and perfidy [ ] unworthy the head of a                                         
(scarcely paralleled)

civilized nation.                                                              
             (in the most barbarous)

He has constrained our fellow citizens                                         
(ages, and totally)

taken captive on the high seas, to bear

arms against their country, to become the



VOL. I-3



34                                 Jefferson's Works



executioners of their friends and brethren,

or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has [ ] endeavored to bring on the                              (excited
domestic)

inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless                       (
insurrection)

Indian savages, whose known rule of war                      (among us and has)

fare is an undistinguished destruction of all

ages, sexes and conditions [of existence].

[He has incited treasonable insurrections of

our fellow citizens, with the allurements of

forfeiture and confiscation of our property.

He has waged cruel way against human

nature itself, violating its most sacred nights

of life and liberty in the persons of a distant

people who never offended him, captivating

and carrying them into slavery in another

hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in

their transportation thither. This piratical

wayfare, the Opprobium of INFIDEL powers, is

the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great

Britain.. Determined to keep open a market

where men should be bought and sold, he has

prostituted his negative for suppressing every

legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain

this. execrable commerce. And that this as-

semblage of horrors might want no fact of

distinguished die, he is now exciting those

very people to rise in arms among us, and

to purchase that liberty of which he has

deprived them, by murdering the people on

whom he also obtruded them: thus paying



Autobiography                            35



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 petitioned 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 a [ ] people [who                                   
(free)

mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely

believe that the hardiness of one man adven-

tured, within the short compass of twelve

years only, to lay a foundation so broad and 

so undisguised for tyranny over a people 

fostered and fixed in principles of freedom].



Nor have we been wanting in attentions

to our British brethren. We have warned

them from time to time of attempts by

their legislature to extend  [a ] jurisdiction                               
(an unwarrantable)

over [these our states]. We have reminded

them of the circumstances of our emigra-

tion and settlement here, [no one of which

could warrant so strange a pretension: that

these were effected at the expense of our own

blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth

or the strength of Great Britain: that in

constituting indeed our several forms of gov-

ernment, we had adopted one common king,



36                          Jefferson's Works



thereby Laying a foundation for perpetual

league and amity with them: but that sub

mission to their parliament was no part of

our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history

may be credited: and,] we [ ] appealed to                                (have)

their native justice and magnanimity [as                                   (and
we have)

well as to] the ties of our common kindred                              
(conjured them by)

to disavow these usurpations which [were                                (would
inevitably)

likely to] interrupt our connection and cor-

respondence. They too have been deaf to

the voice of justice and of consanguinity,

[and when occasions have been given them,

by the regular course of their laws, of removing 

from their councils the disturbers of our har-

mony, they have, by their free election, re

established them in power. At this very time

too, they are permitting their chief magistrate

to send over not only soldiers of our common

blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to

invade and destroy us. These facts have

given the last stab to agonizing affection, and

manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these

unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to

forget our former love for them, and hold

them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies

in war in peace friends. We might have

been a 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 happi-



Autobiography 37



ness and to glory is open to us, too. We will

tread it apart from them, and] acquiesce in                             (We
must therefore)

the necessity which denounces our [eternal]                           (and hold
them as we)

separation [ ]!                                                                
        (hold the rest of mankind,)

                                                                               
               (enemies in war, in peace friends)



We therefore the representatives of        ³We, therefore, the representatives
of

the United States of America in        ³the United States of America in

General Congress assembled, do in        ³General Congress assembled,

the name, and by the authority of        ³appealing to the supreme judge of

the good people of these [states        ³the world for the rectitude of our

reject and renounce all allegiance        ³intentions, do in the name, and by

and subjection to the kings of Great        ³the authority of the good people
of

Britain and all others who may        ³these colonies, solemnly publish and

hereafter claim by, through or under        ³declare, that these united
colonies

them; we utterly dissolve all political        ³are, and of right ought to be
free

connection which may heretofore        ³and independent states ; that they

have subsisted between us and the        ³are absolved from all allegiance to

people or parliament of Great Britain:        ³the British crown, and that all

and finally we do assert and declare        ³political connection between them
and

these colonies to be free and        ³the state of Great Britain is, and

independent states,] and that as free        ³ought to be, totally dissolved;
and

and independent states,        ³that as free

they have full power to levy war,        ³and independent states, they have

conclude peace, contract alliances,        ³full power to levy war, conclude

establish commerce, and to do all        ³peace, contract alliances, establish

other acts and things which        ³commerce, and to do all other acts

independent states may of right do.        ³and things which independent states

And for the support of this        ³may of right do.

declaration, we mutually pledge to        ³And for the support of this

each other our lives, our fortunes,        ³declaration, with a firm reliance
on

and our sacred honor.        ³the protection of divine providence,

        ³we mutually pledge to each other our

        ³lives, our fortunes, and our sacred

        ³honor.



38 Jefferson's Works







The Declaration thus signed on the 4th, on paper, was engrossed on parchment,
and signed again on the 2d 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 1 to 7 of the two preceding sheets, are the originals then written; as



 [(1) See Appendix, note B.] 



Autobiography                  39



the two following are of the earlier debates on the Confederation, which I took
in like manner.(1)]



On Friday, July 12, the committee appointed to

draw the articles of Confederation reported them, and, on the 22d, the House
resolved themselves into a committee to take them into consideration. On the
30th and 31st of that month, and 1st of the ensuing, those articles were
debated which determined the proportion, or quota, of money which each state
should furnish to the common treasury, and the manner of voting in Congress.
The first of these articles was expressed in the original draught in these
words. " Art. XI. All charges of war and all other expenses that shall be
incurred for the common defense, or general welfare, and allowed by the United
States assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be
supplied by the several colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of
every age, sex, and quality, except Indians not paying taxes, in each colony, a
true account of which, distinguishing the white inhabitants, shall be
triennially taken and transmitted to the Assembly of the United States."

Mr. Chase moved that the quotas should be fixed, not by the number of
inhabitants of every condition,



 [(1) The above note of the author is on a slip of paper, pasted in at the end
of the Declaration. Here is also sewed into the MS. a slip of newspaper
containing, 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. l817, p. 249.] 



40                     Jefferson's Works



but by that of the "white inhabitants." He admitted that taxation should be
always in proportion to property, that this was, in theory, the true rule but
that, from a variety of difficulties, it was a rule which could never be
adopted in practice. The value of the property in every State, could never be
estimated justly and equally. Some other measure for the wealth of the State
must therefore be devised, some standard referred to, which would be more
simple. He considered the number of inhabitants as a tolerably good criterion
of property, and that this might always be obtained. He therefore thought it
the best mode which we could adopt, with one exception only : he observed that
negroes are property, and as such, cannot be distinguished from the lands or
personalities held in those States where there are few slaves; that the surplus
of profit which a Northern farmer is able to lay by, he invests in cattle,
horses, &c., whereas a Southern farmer lays out the same surplus in slaves.
There is no more reason, therefore, for taxing the Southern States on the
farmer's head, and on his slave's head, than the Northern ones on their
farmer's heads and the heads of their cattle; that the method proposed would,
therefore, tax the Southern States according to their numbers and their wealth
conjunctly, while the Northern would be taxed on numbers only : that negroes,
in fact, should not be considered as members of the State, more than cattle,
and that they have no more interest in it.




Autobiography 41



Mr. John Adams observed; that the numbers of people were taken by this article,
as an index of the wealth of the State, and not as subjects of taxation; that,
as to this matter, it was of no consequence by what name you called your
people, whether by that of freemen or of slaves; that in some countries the
Iaboring poor were called freemen, in others they were called slaves ; but that
the difference as to the state was imaginary only. What matters it whether a
landlord, employing ten laborers on his farm, gives them annually as much money
as will buy them the necessaries of life, or gives them those necessaries at
short hand? The ten laborers add as much wealth annually to the State, increase
its exports as much in the one case as the other. Certainly five hundred
freemen produce no more profits, no greater surplus for the payment of taxes,
than five hundred slaves. Therefore, the State in which are the laborers called
freemen, should be taxed no more than that in which are those called slaves.
Suppose, by an extraordinary operation of nature or of law, onehalf the
laborers of a State could in the course of one night be transformed into
slaves; would the State be made the poorer or the less able to pay taxes ? That
the condition of the laboring poor in most countries, that of the fishermen
particularly of the Northern States, is as abject as that of slaves. It is the
number of laborers which produces the surplus for taxation, and numbers,
therefore, indiseriminately, are the fair index of wealth; that it is



42 Jefferson's Works



the use of the word " property " here, and its application to some of the
people of the State, which produces the fallacy. How does the Southern farmer
procure slaves? Either by importation or by purchase from his neighbor. If he
imports a slave, he adds one to the number of laborers in his country, and
proportionably to its profits and abilities to pay taxes; if he buys from his
neighbor, it is only a transfer of a laborer from one farm to another, which
does not change the annual produce of the State, and therefore, should not
change its tax : that if a Northern farmer works ten laborers on his farm, he
can, it is true, invest the surplus often men's labor in cattle ; but so may
the Southern farmer, working ten slaves; that a State of one hundred thousand
freemen can maintain no more cattle, than one of one hundred thousand slaves.
Therefore, they have no more of that kind of property; that a slave may indeed,
from the custom of speech, be more properly called the wealth of his master,
than the free laborer might be called the wealth of his employer; but as to the
State, both were equally its wealth, and should, therefore equally add to the
quota of its tax. Mr. Harrison proposed, as a compromise, that two slaves
should be counted as one freeman. He affirmed that slaves did not do as much
work as freemen, and doubted if two effected more than one; that this was
proved by the price of labor; the hire of a laborer in the Southern colonies
being from



Autobiography 43



#L8 to #L12, while in the Northern it was generally #L24. Mr. Wilson said, that
if this amendment should take place, the Southern colonies would have all the
benefit of slaves, whilst the Northern ones would bear the burthen : that
slaves increase the profits of a State, which the Southern States mean to take
to themselves ; that they also increase the burthen of defense, which would of
course f all so much the heavier on the Northern : that slaves occupy the
places of freemen, and eat their food. Dismiss your slaves, and freemen will
take their places. It is our duty to lay every discouragement on the
importation of slaves ; but this amendment would give the just trium liberorum
to him who would import slaves : that other kinds of property were pretty
equally distributed through all the colonies : there were as many cattle,
horses and sheep, in the North as the South, and South as the North; but not so
as to slaves : that experience has shown that those colonies have been always
able to pay most, which have the most inhabitants, whether they be black or
white ; and the practice of the Southern colonies has always been to make every
farmer pay poll taxes upon all his laborers, whether they be black or white. He
acknowledges, indeed, that freemen work the most; but they consume the most
also. They do not produce a greater surplus for taxation. The slave is neither
fed nor clothed so expensively as a freeman. Again, white women, are exempted
from labor gen-



44 Jefferson's Works



erally, but negro women are not. In this, then, the Southern States have an
advantage as the article now stands. It has sometimes been said, that slavery
is necessary, because the commodities they raise would be too dear for market
if cultivated by freemen; but now it is said that the labor of the slave is the
dearest. Mr. Payne urged the original resolution of Congress, to proportion the
quotas of the States to the number of souls. Dr. Witherspoon was of opinion,
that the value of lands and houses was the best estimate of the wealth of a
nation, and that it was practicable to obtain such a valuation. This is the
true barometer of wealth. The one now proposed is imperfect in itself, and
unequal between the States. It has been objected that negroes eat the food of
freemen, and therefore, should be taxed; horses also eat the food of freemen;
therefore they also should be taxed. It has been said too, that in carrying
slaves into the estimate of the taxes the State is to pay, we do no more than
those States themselves do, who always take slaves into the estimate of the
taxes the individual is to pay. But the cases are not parallel. In the Southern
colonies slaves pervade the whole colony; but they do not pervade the whole
continent. That as to the original resolution of Congress, to proportion the
quotas according to the souls, it was temporary only, and related to the moneys
heretofore emitted: whereas we are now entering into



Autobiography 45



a new compact, and therefore stand on original ground. August 1. The question
being put, the amendment proposed was rejected by the votes of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, against those of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South
Carolina. Georgia was divided. The other article was in these words. " Art.
XVII. In determining questions, each colony shall have one vote." July 30, 31,
August 1. Present forty-one members. . Mr. Chase observed this article was the
most likely to divide us, of any one proposed in the draught then under
consideration : that the larger colonies had threatened they would not
confederate at all, if their weight in Congress should not be equal to the
numbers of people they added to the confederacy; while the smaller ones
declared against a union, if they did not retain an equal vote f or the
protection of their rights. That it was of the utmost consequence to bring the
parties together, as, should we sever from each other, either no foreign power
will ally with us at all, or the different States will form different
alliances, and thus increase the horrors of those scenes of civil war and
bloodshed, which in such a state of separation and independence, would render
us a miserable people. That our importance, our interests, our peace required
that we should confederate, and that mutual sacrifices should be made



46 Jefferson's Works



to effect a compromise of this difficult question: He was of opinion, the
smaller colonies would lose their rights, if they were not in some instances
allowed an equal vote; and, therefore, that a discrimination should take place
among the questions which would come before Congress. That the smaller States
should be secured in all questions concerning life or liberty, and the greater
ones, in all respecting property. He, therefore, proposed, that in votes
relating to money, the voice of each colony should be proportioned to the
number of its inhabitants. Dr. Franklin thought, that the votes should be so
proportioned in all cases. He took notice that the Delaware counties had bound
up their delegates to disagree to this article. He thought it a very
extraordinary language to be held by any State, that they would not confederate
with us, unless we would let them dispose of our money. Certainly, if we vote
equally, we ought to pay equally; but the smaller States will hardly purchase
the privilege at this price. That had he lived in a State where the
representation, originally equal, had become unequal by time and accident, he
might have submitted rather than disturb government ; but that we should be
very wrong to set out in this practice, when it is in our power to establish
what is right. That at the time of the Union between England and Scotland, the
latter had made the objection which the smaller States now do ; but experience
had proved



Autobiography 47



that no unfairness had ever been shown them : that their advocates had
prognosticated that it would again happen, as in times of old, that the whale
would swallow Jonas, but he thought the prediction reversed in event, and that
Jonas had swallowed the whale; for the Scotch had in fact got possession of the
government, and gave laws to the English. He reprobated the original agreement
of Congress to vote by colonies, and, therefore, was for their voting, in all
cases, according to the number of taxables. Dr. Witherspoon opposed every
alteration of the article. All men admit that a confederacy is necessary.
Should the idea get abroad that there is likely to be no union among us, it
will damp the minds of the people, diminish the glory of our struggle, and
lessen its importance ; because it will open to our view future prospects of
war and dissension among ourselves. If an equal vote be refused, the smaller
States will become vassals to the larger ; and all experience has shown that
the vassals and subjects of free States. are the most enslaved. He instanced
the Helots of Sparta, and the provinces of Rome. He observed that foreign
powers, discovering this blemish, would make it a handle for disengaging the
smaller States from so unequal a confederacy. That the colonies should in fact
be considered as individuals; and that, as such, in all disputes, they should
have an equal vote ; that they are now collected as individuals making a



48 Jefferson's Works



bargain with each other, and, of course, had a right to vote as individuals.
That in the East India Company they voted by persons, and not by their
proportion of stock. That the Belgic confederacy voted by provinces. That in
questions of war the smaller States were as much interested as the larger, and,
therefore, should vote equally; and indeed, that the larger States were more
likely to bring war on the confederacy, in proportion as their frontier was
more extensive. He admitted that equality of representation was an excellent
principle, but then it must be of things which are co-ordinate; that is, of
things similar, and of the same nature: that nothing relating to. individuals
could ever come before Congress; nothing but what would respect colonies. He
distinguished between an incorporating and a federal union. The union of
England was an incorporating one; yet Scotland had suffered by that union; for
that its inhabitants were drawn from it by the hopes of places and employments:
nor was it an instance of equality of representation; because, while Scotland
was allowed nearly a thirteenth of representation, they were to pay only
onefortieth of the land tax. He expressed his hopes, that in the present
enlightened state of men's minds we might expect a lasting confederacy, if it
was founded on fair principles. John Adams advocated the voting in proportion
to numbers. He said that we stand here as the representatives of the people :
that in some States



Autobiography



the people are many, in others they are few ; that therefore, their vote here
should be proportioned to the numbers from whom it comes. Reason, justice and
equity never had weight enough on the face of the earth, . to govern the
councils of men. It is interest alone which does it, and it is interest alone
which can be trusted: that therefore the interests within doors, should be the
mathematical representatives of the interests without doors : that the
individuality of the colonies is a mere sound. Does the individuality of a
colony increase its wealth or numbers? If it does, pay equally. If it does not
add weight in the scale of the confederacy, it cannot add to their rights, nor
weigh' in argument. A. has #L50, B. #L500, C. #Ll000 in partnership. Is it just
they should equally dispose of the moneys of the partnership ? It has been
said, we are independent individuals making a bargain together. The question is
not what we are now, but what we ought to be when our bargain shall be made.
The confederacy is to make us one individual only ; it is to form us like
separate parcels of metal, into one common mass. We shall no longer retain our
separate individuality, but become a single individual as to all questions
submitted to the confederacy. Therefore, all those reasons, which prove the
justice and expediency of equal representation in other assemblies, hold good
here. It has been objected that a proportional vote will endanger the smaller
States. We answer that an equal vote will endanger



vol. 1-4



Jefferson's Works



the larger. Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, are the three greater
colonies. Consider their distance, their difference of produce, of interests
and of manners, and it is apparent they can never have an interest or
inclination to combine for the oppression of the smaller: that the smaller will
naturally divide on all questions with the larger. Rhode Island, from its
relation, similarity and intercourse, will generally pursue the same objects
with Massachusetts; Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, with Pennsylvania. Dr. Rush
took notice, that the decay of the liberties of the Dutch republic proceeded
from three causes. 1. The perfect unanimity requisite on all occasions. 2.
Their obligation to consult their constituents. 3. Their voting by provinces.
This last destroyed the equality of representation, and the liberties of Great
Britain also are sinking from the same defect. That a part of our rights is
deposited in the hands of our legislatures. There, it was admitted, there
should be an equality of representation. Another part of our rights is
deposited in the hands of Congress : why is it not equally necessary there
should be an equal representation there ? Were it possible to collect the whole
body of the people together, they would determine the questions submitted to
them by their majority. Why should not the same majority decide when voting
here, by their representatives ? The larger colonies are so providentially
divided in situation, as to



Autobiography 51



render every fear of their combining visionary. Their interests are different,
and their circumstances dissimilar. It is more probable they will become
rivals, and leave it in the power of the smaller States to give preponderance
to any scale they please. The voting by the number of free inhabitants, will
have one excellent effect, that of inducing the colonies to discourage slavery,
and to encourage the increase of their free inhabitants. Mr. Hopkins observed,
there were four larger, four smaller, and four middle-sized colonies. That the
four largest would contain more than half the inhabitants of the confederated
States, and therefore, would govern the others as they should please. That
history affords no instance of such a thing as equal representation. The
Germanic body votes by States. The Helvetic body does the same; and so does the
Belgic confederacy. That too little is known of the ancient confederations, to
say what was their practice. Mr. Wilson thought, that taxation should be in
proportion to wealth, but that representation should accord with the number of
freemen. That government is a collection or result of the wills of all : that
if any government could speak the will of all, it would be perfect; and that,
so far as it departs from this, it becomes imperfect. It has been said that
Congress is a representation of States, not of individuals. I say, that the
objects of its care are all the individuals of the States. It is strange that



52 Jefferson's Works



annexing the name of " State" to ten thousand men should give them an equal
right with forty thousand. This must be the effect of magic, not of reason. As
to those matters which are referred to Congress, we are not so many States; we
are one large State. We lay aside our individuality, whenever we come here. The
Germanic body is a burlesque on government ; and their practice, on any point,
is a sufficient authority and proof that it is wrong. The greatest imperfection
in the constitution of the Belgic confederacy is their voting by provinces. The
interest of the whole is constantly sacrificed to that of the small States. The
history of the war in the reign of Queen Anne sufficiently proves this. It is
asked, shall nine colonies put it into the power of four to govern them as they
please ? I invert the question, and ask, shall two millions of people put it in
the power of one million to govern them as they please ? It is pretended, too,
that the smaller colonies will be in danger from the greater. Speak in honest
language and say, the minority will be in danger from the majority. And is
there an assembly on earth, where this danger may not be equally pretended ?
The truth is, that our proceedings will then be consentaneous with the
interests of the majority, and so they ought to be. The probability is much
greater, that the larger States will disagree, than that they will combine. I
defy the wit of man to invent a possible case, or to suggest any one thing on
earth, which shall be for the interests of Virginia,



Autobiography 53



Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and which will not also be for the interest of
the other States.(1) These articles, reported July 12, '76, were debated from
day to day, and time to time, for two years, were ratified July 9, '78, by ten
States; by New Jersey on the 26th of November of the same year, and by Delaware
on the 23d of February following. Maryland alone held off two years more,
acceding to them March 1, ' 81, and thus closing the obligation. Our delegation
had been renewed for the ensuing year, commencing August 11; but the new
government was now organized, a meeting of the legislature was to be held in
October, and I had been elected a member by my county. I knew that our
legislation, under the regal government, had many very vicious points which
urgently required reformation, and I thought I could be of more use in
forwarding that work. I therefore retired from my seat in Congress on the 2d of
September, resigned it, and took my place in the legislature of my State, on
the 7th of October. On the llth, I moved for leave to bring in a bill for the
establishment of courts of justice, the organization of which was of
importance. I drew the bill; it was approved by the committee, reported and
passed, after going through its due course.



On the 12th, I obtained leave to bring in a bill declaring, tenants in tail to
hold their lands in fee







         _______________



 [(1) Here terminate the author's notes of the " earlier debates on the
confederation," and recommences the MS. begun by him in l821.]



54 Jefferson's Works



simple. In the earlier times of the colony, when lands were to be obtained for
little or nothing, some provident individuals procured large grants; and,
desirous of founding great families for themselves, settled them on their
descendants in fee tail. The transmission of this property from generation to
generation, in the same name, raised up a distinet set of families, who, being
privileged by law in the perpetuation of their wealth, were thus formed into a
Patrician order, distinguished by the splendor and luxury of their
establishments. From this order, too, the king habitually selected his
counselors of State ; the hope of which distinction devoted the whole corps to
the interests and will of the crown. To annul this privilege, and instead of an
aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to
make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has
wisely provided for the direction of the interests of society, and scattered
with equal hand through all its conditions, was deemed essential to a
well-ordered republic. To effect it, no violence was necessary, no deprivation
of natural right, but rather an enlargement of it by a repeal of the law. For
this would authorize 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. But this repeal was
strongly opposed by Mr. Pendleton, who was zealously attached to ancient
establishments; and who,



Autobiography 55



taken all in all, was the ablest man in debate I have ever met with. He had not
indeed the poetical fancy of Mr. Henry, his sublime imagination, his lofty 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, he returned upon
you, and regained so much of it as to make it a drawn one, by dexterous
maneuvers, skirmishes in detail, and the recovery of small advantages which,
little singly, were important all 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 favorable reception to whatever came
from him. Finding that the general principle of entails could not be
maintained, he took his stand on an amendment which he proposed, instead of an
absolute abolition, to permit the tenant in tail to convey in fee simple, if he
chose it; and he was within a few votes of saving so much of the old law. But
the bill passed finally for entire abolition. In that one of the bills for
organizing our judiciary system, which proposed a court of Chancery, I had
provided for a trial by jury of all matters of fact in that as well as in the
courts of law. He defeated



Jefferson's Works



it by the introduction of four words only, " if either party choose." The
consequence has been, that as no suitor will say to his judge, " Sir, I
distrust you, give me a jury," juries are rarely, I might say, perhaps, never,
seen in that court, but when called for by the Chancellor of his own accord.
The first establishment in Virginia which became permanent, was made in 1607. I
have found no mention of negroes in the colony until about 1650. The first
brought here as slaves were by a Dutch ship; after which the English commenced
the trade and continued it until the revolutionary war. That suspended, ipso
facto, their further importation for the present, and the business of the war
pressing constantly on the legislature, this subject was not acted on finally
until the year '78, when I brought in a bill to prevent their further
importation. This passed without opposition, and stopped the increase of the
evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication. The first
settlers of this colony were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their king and
church, and the grant to 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." As soon as the state of the colony admitted, it was
divided into parishes, in each of which was established a minister of the
Anglican church, endowed with a fixed salary, in tobacco, a glebe house and
land with 'the other necessary



Autobiography 57



appendages. To meet these expenses, all the inhabitants of the parishes were
assessed, whether they were or not, members of the established church. Towards
Quakers who came here, they were most cruelly intolerant, driving them from the
colony by the severest penalties. In process of time, however, other sectarisms
were introduced, chiefly of the Presbyterian family; and the established
clergy, secure for liúe in their glebes and salaries, adding to these,
generally, the emoluments of a classical school, found employment enough, in
their farms and schoolrooms, for the rest of the week, and devoted Sunday only
to the edification of their flock, by service, and a sermon at their parish
church. Their other pastoral functions were little attended to. Against this
inactivity, the zeal and industry of sectarian preachers had an open and
undisputed field ; and by the time of the revolution, a majority of the
inhabitants had become dissenters from' the established church, but were still
obliged to pay contributions to support the pastors of the minority. This
unrighteous 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 republican legislature; which met in '76; was crowded
with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyranny. These brought on the severest
contests in which I have ever been engaged. Our great opponents were Mr.
Pendleton and Robert Carter Nicholas; honest men, but zealous



58 Jefferson's Works



churchmen. The petitions were referred to the committee of the whole house on
the state of the country; and, after desperate contests in that committee,
almost daily from the llth of October to the 5th of December, we prevailed so
far only, as to repeal the laws which rendered criminal the maintenance of any
religious opinions, the forbearance of repairing to church, or the exercise of
any mode of worship; and further, to exempt dissenters from contributions to
the support of the established church ; and to suspend, only until the next
session, levies on the members of that church for the salaries of their own
incumbents. For although the majority of our citizens were dissenters, as has
been observed, a majority of the legislature were churchmen. Among these,
however, were some reasonable and liberal men, who enabled us, on some points,
to obtain feeble majorities. But our opponents carried, in the general
resolutions of the committee of November 19, a declaration that religious
assemblies ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made for
continuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending their conduct. And,
in the bill now passed, was inserted an express reservation of the question,
Whether a general assessment should not be established by law, on every one, to
the support of the pastor of his choice; or whether all should be left to
voluntary contributions; and on this question, debated at every session, from
'76 to '79, (some of our dissenting allies, having now secured their



Autobiography



particular object, going over to the advocates of a general assessment,) we
could only obtain a suspension from session to session until '; g, when the
question against a general assessment was finally carried, and the
establishment of the Anglican church entirely put down. In justice to the two
honest but zealous opponents who have been named, I must add, that although,
from their natural temperaments, they were more disposed generally to acquiesce
in things as they are, than to risk innovations, yet whenever the public will
had once decided, . none were more faithful or exact in their obedience to it.
The seat of our government had originally been fixed in the peninsula of
Jamestown, the first settlement of the colonists; and had been afterwards
removed a few miles inland to Williamsburg. But this was at a time when our
settlements had not extended beyond the tide waters. Now they had crossed the
Alleghany ; and the centre of population was very far removed from what it had
been. Yet Williamsburg was still the depository of our archives, the habitual
residence of the Governor and many other of the public functionaries, the
established place for the sessions of the legislature, and the magazine of our
military stores ; and its situation was so exposed that it might be taken at
any time in war, and, at this time particularly, an enemy might in the night
run up either of the rivers, between which it lies, land a force above, and
take possession of the place, without the possibility of



60 Jefferson's Works



saving either persons or things. I had proposed its removal so early as
October, '76; but it did not prevail until the session .of May, '79. Early in
the session of May, '79, I prepared, and obtained leave to bring in a bill,
declaring who should be deemed citizens, asserting the natural right of
expatriation, and prescribing the mode of exercising it. This, when I withdrew
from the House, on the 1st of June following, I left in the hands of George
Mason, and it was passed on the 26th of that month. In giving this account of
the laws of which I was myself the mover and draughtsman, I, by no means, mean
to claim to myself the merit of obtaining their passage. I had many occasional
and strenuous coadjutors in debate, and one, most steadfast, able and zealous ;
who was himself a host. This was George Mason, a man of the first order of
wisdom among those who acted on the theater 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. Wythe, while speaker in the two sessions of
1777, between his return from Congress and his appointment to the Chancery, was
an able and con



Autobiography 61



stant associate in whatever was before a committee of the whole. His pure
integrity, judgment and reasoning powers, gave him great weight. Of him, see
more in some notes inclosed in my letter of August 31, 1821, to Mr. John
Saunderson.(l) Mr. Madison came into the House in 1776, a new member and young;
which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, 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 successive schools, he acquired a habit of
self-possession, which placed at ready command the rich resources of his
luminous and discriminating mind, and of his extensive information, and
rendered him the first of every assembly afterwards, of which he became a
member. Never wandering from his subject into vain declamation, but pursuing it
closely, in language pure, 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 followed, he sustained the new constitution in all its
parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George Mason, and the fervid
declamation of Mr. Henry. With these consummate powers, were united a pure and
spotless virtue, which no calumny has ever attempted to sully. Of the powers [1
See Appendix, note A.]



62 Jefferson's Works



and polish of his pen, and of the wisdom of his administration. in the highest
office of the nation, I need say nothing. They have spoken, and will forever
speak for themselves. So far we were proceeding in the details of reformation
only ; selecting points of legislation, prominent in character and principle,
urgent, and indicative of the strength of the general pulse of reformation.
When I left Congress, in '76, it was in the persuasion that our whole code must
be reviewed, adapted to our republican form of government; and, now that we had
no negatives of Councils, Governors, and Kings to restrain us from doing right,
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. Early, therefore, in the
session of ' 76, to which I returned, I moved and presented a bill for the
revision of the laws, which was passed on the 24th of October; and on the 5th
of. November, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, George Mason, Thomas L. Lee, and
myself, were appointed a committee to execute the work. We agreed to meet at
Fredericksburg to settle the plan of operation, and to distribute the work. We
met there accordingly, on the 13th of January, 1777. The first question was,
whether we 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



Autobiography 63



favor of ancient things, was for the former proposition, in which he was joined
by Mr. Lee. To this it was objected, that to abrogate our whole system would be
a bold measure, and probably far beyond the views of the legislature; that they
had been in the practice of revising, from time to time, the laws of the
colony, omitting the expired, the repealed, and the obsolete, amending only
those retained, and probably meant we should now do the same, only including
the British statutes as well as our own: that to compose a new Institute, like
those of Justinian and Bracton, or that of Blackstone, which was the model
proposed by Mr. Pendleton, would be an arduous undertaking, of vast research,
of great consideration and judgment; and when reduced to a text, every w ord of
that 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; and this would involve us
for ages in litigation, and render property uncertain, until, like the statutes
of old, every word had been tried and settled by numerous decisions, and by new
volumes of reports and commentaries; and that no one of us, probably, would
undertake such a work, which to be systematical, must be the work of one hand.
This last was the opinion of Mr. Wythe, Mr. Mason, and myself. When we
proceeded to the distribution of the work, Mr. Mason excused himself, as, being
no lawyer, he felt himself unqualified for 


64 Jefferson's Works



the work, and he resigned soon after. Mr. Lee excused himself on the same
ground, and died, indeed, in a short time. The other two gentlemen, therefore,
and myself divided the work among us. The common law and statutes to the (4)
James I. (when our separate legislature was established) were assigned to me ;
the British statutes, from that period to the present day, to Mr. Wythe; and
the Virginia laws to Mr. Pendleton. As the law of Descents, and the criminal
law fell of course within my portion, I wished the committee to settle the
leading principles of these, as a guide for me in framing them; and, with
respect to the first, I proposed to abolish the law of primogeniture, and to
make real estate descendible in parcenary to the next of kin, as personal
property is, by the statute of distribution. Mr. Pendleton wished to preserve
the right of primogeniture, but seeing at once that that could not prevail, he
proposed we should adopt the Hebrew principle, and give a double portion to the
elder son. I observed, that if the eldest' son could eat twice as much, 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, with his brothers and sisters, he
should be on a par also in the partition of the patrimony; and such was the
decision of the other members. On the subject of the Criminal law, all were
agreed, that the punishment of death should be abolished, except for treason
and murder; and that, for other



Autobiography 65



felonies, should be substituted hard labor in the public works, and in some
cases, the Lez talionis. How this last revolting Principle 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 English 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. These points, however,
being settled, we repaired to our respective homes for the preparation of the
work. In the execution of my part, I thought it material not to vary the
diction of the ancient statutes by modernizing it, nor to give rise to new
questions by new expressions. The text of these statutes had been so fully
explained and defined, by numerous adjudications, as scarcely ever now to
produce a question in our courts. I thought it would be useful, also, in all
new draughts, to reform the style of the later British statutes, and of our own
acts of Assembly ; which, from their verbosity, their endless tautologies,
their involutions of case within case, and parenthesis within parenthesis, and
their multiplied efforts at certainty, by saids and a foresaids, by ors and by
ands, to make them more plain, are really rendered more perplexed and
incomprehensible, not only to common readers, but to the lawyers themselves. We
were employed in this work from that



 V O L. 1-5



66 Jefferson's Works



time to February, 1779, when we met at Williamsburg, that is to say, Mr.
Pendleton, Mr. Wythe and myself; and meeting day by day, we examined critically
our several parts, sentence by sentence scrutinizing and amending, until we had
agreed on the whole. We then returned home, had fair copies made of our several
parts, which were reported to the General Assembly, June 18, 1779, by Mr. Wythe
and myself, Mr. Pendleton's residence being distant, and he having authorized
us by letter to declare his approbation. We had, in this work, brought so much
of the Common law as it was thought necessary to alter, all the British
statutes from Magna Charta to the present day, and all the laws of Virginia,
from the establishment of our legislature, in the 4th Jac. 1. to the present
time, which we thought should be retained, within the compass of one hundred
and twenty-six bills, making a printed folio of ninety pages only. Some bills
were taken out occasionally, from time to time, and passed; but the main body
of the work was not entered on by the legislature until after the general
peace, in 1785, when, by the unwearied exertions of Mr. Madison in opposition
to the endless quibbles, chicaneries perversions, vexations and delays of
lawyers and dedi-lawyers, most of the bills were passed by the legislature,
with little alteration. The bill for establishing religious freedom, the
principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn
in all the latitude of



Autobiography 67



reason and right. It still met with opposition ; but, with some mutilations in
the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that its
protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares,
that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word " 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
they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the
Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every
denomination. Beccaria, and other writers on crimes and punishments, had
satisfied the reasonable world of the unrightfulness and inefficacy of the
punishment of crimes by death ; and hard labor on roads, canals and other
public works, had been suggested as a proper substitute. The Revisors had
adopted these opinions ; but the general idea of our country had not yet
advanced to that point. The bill, therefore, for proportioning crimes and
punishments, was lost in the House of Delegates by a majority of a single vote.
I learned afterwards, that the substitute of hard labor in public, was tried (I
believe it was in Pennsylvania) without success. Exhibited as a public
spectacle with shaved heads and mean clothing, working on the high roads,
produced in the criminals such a prostration of character, such an



68 Jefferson's Works



abandonment of self-respect, as, instead of reforming, plunged them into the
most desperate and hardened depravity of morals and character. To pursue the
subject of this law.-I was written to in 1785 (being then in Paris) by
directors appointed to superintend the building of a Capitol in Richmond, to
advise them as to a plan, and to add to it one of a Prison. Thinking it a
favorable opportunity of introducing into the State an example of architecture,
in the classic style of antiquity, and the Maison Quarree of Nismes, an ancient
Roman temple, being considered as the most perfect model existing of what may
be called Cubic architecture, I applied to M. Clerissault, who had published
drawings of the Antiquities of Nismes, to have me a model of the building made
in stucco, only changing the order from Corinthian to Ionic, on account of the
difficulty of the Corinthian capitals. I yielded, with reluctance, to the taste
of Clerissault, in his preference of the modern capital of Scamozzi to the more
noble capital of antiquity. This was executed by the artist whom Choiseul
Gouffier had carried with him to Constantinople, and employed, while Ambassador
there, in making those beautiful models of the remains of Grecian architecture
which are to be seen at Paris. To adapt the exterior to our use, I drew a plan
for the interior, with the apartments necessary for legislative, executive,
and. judiciary purposes; and accommodated in their size and distribution to the
form and dimensions of the building.



Autobiography 69



These were forwarded to the Directors, in 1786, and were carried into
execution, with some variations, not for the better, the most important of
which, however, admit of future correction. With respect to the plan of a
Prison, requested at the same time, I had heard of a benevolent society, in
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 had succeeded beyond expectation. The same idea had been suggested
in France, and an Architect of Lyons had proposed a plan of a well-contrived
edifice, on the principle of solitary confinement. I procured a copy, and as it
was too large for our purposes, I drew one on a scale less extensive, but
susceptible of additions as they should be wanting. This I sent to the
Directors, instead of a plan of a common prison, in the hope that it would
suggest the idea of labor in solitary confinement, instead of that on the
public works, which we had adopted in our Revised Code. . Its principle,
accordingly, but not its exact form, was adopted by Latrobe in carrying the
plan into execution, by the erection of what is now called the Penitentiary,
built under his direction. In the meanwhile, the public opinion was ripening,
by time, by reflection, and by the example of Pennsylvania, where labor on the
highways had been tried, without approbation, from 1786 to 89, and had been
followed by their Penitentiary system on the principle of confinement and
labor, which was



70 Jefferson's Works



proceeding auspiciously. In 1796, our legislature resumed the subject, and
passed the law for amending the Penal laws of the commonwealth. They adopted
solitary, instead of public, labor, established a gradation in the duration of
the confinement, approximated the style of the law more to the modern usage,
and, instead of the settled distinctions of murder and manslaughter, preserved
in my bill, they introduced the new terms. of murder in the first and second
degree. Whether these have produced more or fewer questions of definition, I am
not sufficiently informed of our judiciary transactions to say. I will here,
however, insert the text of my bill, with the notes I made in the course of my
researches into the subject.' The acts of Assembly concerning the College of
William and Mary, were properly within Mr. Pendleton's portion of our work; but
these related. chiefly to its revenue, while its constitution, organization and
scope of science, were derived from its charter. We thought that on this
subject, a systematical plan of general education should be proposed, and I was
requested to undertake it. I accordingly prepared three bills for the Revisal,
proposing three distinct grades of education, reaching all classes. lst.
Elementary schools, for all children generally, rich and poor. 2d. Colleges,
for a middle degree of instruction, calculated for the common purposes of life
and such as would be desirable for all who were in



         _______________



[1 See Appendix, note E.]



Autobiography 71



easy circumstances. And, 3d, an ultimate grade for teaching the sciences
generally, and in their highest degree. The first bill proposed to lay off
every county into Hundreds, or Wards, of a proper size and population for a
school, in which reading, writing, and common arithmetic should be taught; and
that the. whole State should be divided into twenty-four districts, in each of
which should be a school for classical learning, grammar, geography, and the
higher branches of numerical arithmetic. The second bill proposed to amend the
constitution of William and Mary college, to enlarge its sphere of science, and
to make it in fact a University. The third was for the establishment of a
library. These bills were not acted on until the same year, '96, and then only
so much of the first as provided for elementary schools. The College of William
and Mary was an establishment purely of the Church of England; the Visitors
were required to be all of that Church; the Professors to subscribe its
thirty-nine Articles ; its 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 all the dissenters, took alarm lest
this might give an ascendancy to the Anglican sect, and refused acting on that
bill. Its local eccentricity, too, and unhealthy autumnal climate, lessened the
general inclination towards it. And in the Elementary bill, they inserted a
provision which completely defeated it; for they left it to the court



72 Jefferson's Works



of each county to determine for itself, when this act should be carried into
execution, within their county. One provision of the bill was, that the
expenses of these schools should be borne by the inhabitants of the county,
every one in proportion to his general tax rate. This would throw on wealth the
education of the poor; and the justices, being generally of the more wealthy
class, were unwilling to incur that burden, and I believe it was not suffered
to commence in a single county. I shall recur again to this subject, towards
the close of my story, if I should have life and resolution enough. to reach
that term; for I am already tired of talking about myself. The bill on the
subject of slaves, was a mere digest of the existing laws respecting them,
without any intimation of a plan for a future and general emancipation. It was
thought better that this should be kept back, and attempted only by way of
amendment, whenever the bill should be brought on. The principles of the
amendment, however, were agreed on, that. is to say, the freedom of all born
after a certain day, and deportation at a proper age. But it was found that the
public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at
this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse
will follow. Nothing is more certainly 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 gov



Autobiography 73



ernment. 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
off insensibly, and their place be, pari passu, filled up by free white
laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself 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. 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 republican. The
repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and perpetuation of
wealth, in select families, and preserve the soil of the country from being
daily more and more absorbed in mortmain. The abolition of primogeniture, and
equal partition of inheritances, removed the feudal and unnatural distinctions
which made one member of every family rich, and all the rest poor, substituting
equal partition, the best 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 establishment was truly of the religion of the rich, the
dissenting sects being entirely composed of the less wealthy people; and these,
by the bill for a general education, would be qualified to understand



74 Jefferson's Works



their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts
in self-government; and all this would be effected, without the violation of a
single natural right of any one individual citizen. To these, too, might be
added, as a further security, the introduction of the trial by jury, into the
Chancery courts, which have already ingulfed, and continue to ingulf, so great
a proportion of the jurisdiction over our property. On the 1st of June,1779, I
was appointed Governor of the Commonwealth, and retired from the legislature.
Being elected, also, one of the Visitors of William and Mary college, a
self-electing body, I effected, during my residence in Williamsburg that year,
a change in the organization of that institution, by abolishing the Grammar
school, and the two professorships of Divinity and Oriental languages, and
substituting a professorship of Law and Police, one of Anatomy, Medicine and
Chemistry, and one of Modern languages; and the charter confining us to six
professorships, we added the Law of Nature and Nations, and the Fine Arts to
the duties of the Moral professor, and Natural History to those of the
professor of Math