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owever by jefferson in the most modest and earnest spirit showing that at the age of thirty one his radical opinions were fully formed an elicit expression was wholly unqualified by a knowledge of the world beyond the sea this draught though not accepted by the convention was published in a pamphlet copies of which were sent to england where edmund burke caused it to be republished with emendations and additions of his own it procured for the author to use his own language the honor of having his name inserted in a long list of proscriptions enrolled in a bill of attainder the whole truth of the controversy was given in this pamphlet without any politic reserves in march 1775 jefferson who had been kept at monticello for some time by illness was in richmond as a member of the convention which assembled in the parish church of st john to consider what course virginia should take in the crisis it was as a member of this body that patrick henry to an audience of 150 persons spoke the prophetic words in solemn tones as the key to the enigma we must fight the next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms these sentences spoken twenty seven days before the affair of lexington convinced the convention and it was agreed that virginia should arm a committee of thirteen was appointed to arrange a plan among the members of which were patrick henry george washington richard henry lee benjamin harrison the speaker edmund pendleton and thomas jefferson the plan they agreed upon was this the populous counties to raise and drill infantry companies the other counties horsemen and both to wear the hunting shirt which colonel washington told them was the best field uniform he knew of the last act of this convention was to appoint that in case a vacancy should occur in the delegation of virginia to congress thomas jefferson should supply the place a vacancy occurred and on 20 june 177 5 the day on which washington received his commission as commander in chief jefferson reached philadelphia and took his seat the next morning in congress before the sun set that day congress received news of the stirring battle of bunker hill jefferson was an earnest diligent and useful member of the congress john adams his fellow member describes him as so prompt frank explicit and decisive upon committees and in conversation that he soon seized upon my heart his readiness in composition his profound knowledge of british law and his innate love of freedom and justice gave him solid standing in the body on his return to virginia he was re elected by a majority that placed him third in the list of seven members after ten days vacation at home where he then had a house undergoing enlargement and a household of thirty four whites and eighty three blacks with farms in three counties to superintend he returned to congress to take his part in the events that led to the complete and formal separation of the colonies from the mother country in may 1776 the news reached congress that the virginia convention were unanimous for independence and on 7 june richard henry lee obeyed the instructions of the virginia legislature by moving that independence should be declared on 10 june a committee of five was appointed to prepare a draught of the declaration thomas jefferson john adams benjamin franklin robert r livingston and roger sherman mr jefferson being the chairman of the committee was naturally asked to write the document he then lived near what is now the corner of market and seventh streets the paper was written in a room of the second floor upon a little writing desk three inches high of his own contriving which still exists congress subjected his draught to a severe and prolonged revision making many suppressions additions and alterations most of which were improvements one passage was suppressed in which he gave expression to the wounded feelings of the american people in being so unworthily treated by brethren and fellow citizens the document was debated in congress on 2 3 and 4 july eilleen klos exhibits declaration of independence wet ink transfer at waldorf astoria thursday the 4th was a warm day and the members in the afternoon became weary and impatient with the long strain upon their nerves jefferson used to relate with much merriment that the final vote upon the declaration was hastened by swarms of flies which came from a neighboring state and added to the discomfort of the members a few clays afterward he was one of a committee to devise a seal for the new born power among their suggestions and this was the only one accepted by congress was the best legend ever appropriated e pluribus unum a phrase that had served as a motto on the cover of the gentleman s magazine for many years it was originally borrowed from a humorous poem of virgil s having thus linked his name imperishably with the birthday of the nation jefferson resigned his seat in congress on the ground that the health of his wife and the condition of his household made his presence in virginia indispensable he had also been again elected a member of the virginia legislature and his heart was set upon the work of purging the statute books of unsuitable laws and bringing up virginia to the level of the declaration he had formed a high conception of the excellence of the new england governments and wished to introduce into his native state the local institutions that had enabled those states to act with such efficiency during the war after some stay at home he entered upon this work at williamsburg where 8 october 1776 a messenger from congress informed him that he had been elected joint commissioner with franklin and deane to represent the united states at paris after three days of consideration he resisted the temptation to go abroad feeling that his obligations to his family and his state made it his duty to remain at home in reorganizing virginia jefferson and his friends struck first at the system of entail which after three weeks earnest debate was totally destroyed so that all property in virginia was held in fee simple and could be sold for debt he next attempted by a short and simple enactment to abolish the connection between church and state he was able to accomplish but a small portion of this reform at that session but the work was begun and nine years later the law drawn by jefferson entitled an act for establishing religious freedom completed the severance this triumph of equal rights over ancient prejudices and restriction jefferson always regarded as one of his most important contributions to the happiness of his country some of his utterances on this subject have passed into familiar proverbs government has nothing to do with opinion compulsion makes hypocrites not converts it is error alone which needs the support of government truth can stand by itself it was he who drew the bill for establishing courts of law in the state and for prescribing their powers and methods it was he also who caused the removal of the capital to richmond he carried the bill extirpating the principle of primogeniture it was the committee of which he was chairman that abolished the cruel penalties of the ancient code and he made a most earnest attempt to establish a system of public education in the state during two years he and his colleagues hamilton wythe mason and francis lightfoot lee toiled at the reconstruction of virginia law during which they accomplished all that was then possible besides proposing many measures that were passed at a later day he could write to dr franklin in 1777 theft the people of virginia had laid aside the monarchical and taken up the republican government with as much ease as would have attended their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit of clothes it was jefferson and his friends who wrought this salutary change and they were able to effect it because during the first three years of the war virginia was almost exempt from disturbance in the spring of 1779 when burgoyne s army as prisoners of war were en camped near monticello jefferson was assiduous in friendly attentions both to the british and the hessians throwing open his house and grounds to them and arranging many agreeable concerts for their entertainment a british captain himself a good violinist who played duets with jefferson at this time told the late general john a dix of new york that thomas jefferson was the best amateur he had ever heard in january 1779 the virginia legislature elected jefferson governor of the state to succeed patrick henry whose third term ended on 1 june the two years of his governorship proved to be the severest trial of his life with slender and fast diminishing resources he had to keep up the virginia regiments in the army of washington and at the same time to send all possible supplies to the support of gen gates in his southern campaign the western indians were a source of constant solicitude and they were held in check by that brave and energetic neighbor of governor jefferson george rogers clarke the british and hessian prisoners also had to be supplied and guarded in the midst of his first anxieties he began the reorganization that he had long desired of the college of william and mary soon however his attention was wholly absorbed by the events of the war on 16 august 1780 occurred the disastrous defeat of gates at camden which destroyed in a day all that jefferson had toiled to accumulate in warlike material during eight agonizing weeks on the last day of 1780 arnold s fleet of twenty seven sail anchored in chesapeake bay and arnold with nine hundred men penetrated as far as richmond but jefferson had acted with so much promptitude and was so ably seconded by the county militia that the traitor held richmond but twenty three hours and escaped total destruction only through a timely change in the wind which bore him down the river with extraordinary swiftness in five days from the first summons twenty five hundred militia were in pursuit of arnold and hundreds more were coming in every hour for eighty four hours governor jefferson was almost continuously in the saddle and for many months after arnold s first repulse not only the governor but all that virginia had left of manhood resources and credit were absorbed in the contest four times in the spring of 1781 the legislature of virginia was obliged to adjourn and fly before the approach or the threat of an enemy monticello was captured by a troop of horse and jefferson himself narrowly escaped cornwallis lived for ten days in the governor s house at elk hill a hundred miles down the james where he destroyed all the growing crops burned the barns carried off the horses killed the colts and took away twenty seven slaves during the public disasters of that time there was the usual disposition among a portion of the people to cast the blame upon the administration and jefferson himself was of the opinion that in such a desperate crisis it was best that the civil and the military power should be entrusted to the same hand he therefore declined a re election to a third term and induced his friends to support general thomas nelson commander in chief of the militia who was elected the capture of cornwallis in november 1781 atoned for all the previous suffering and disaster a month later jefferson rose in his place in the legislature and declared his readiness to answer any charges that might be brought against his administration of the government but no one responded after a pause a member offered a resolution thanking him for his impartial upright and attentive discharge of his duty which was passed without a dissenting voice on 6 september 1782 jefferson s wife died to his unspeakable and lasting sorrow leaving three daughters the youngest four months old during the stupor caused by this event he was elected by a unanimous vote of congress and as madison reports without a single adverse remark plenipotentiary to france to treat for peace he gladly accepted but before he sailed the joyful news came that preliminaries of peace had been agreed to and he returned to monticello in june 1783 he was elected to congress and in november took his seat at annapolis here as chairman of a committee on the currency he assisted to give us the decimal currency now in use the happy idea originated with gouverneur morris of new york but with details too cumbrous for common use jefferson proposed our present system of dollars and cents with dimes half dimes and a great gold coin of ten dollars with subdivisions such as we have now jefferson strongly desired also to apply the decimal system to all measures when he traveled he carried with him all odometer which divided the miles into hundredths which he called cents i find said he that every one comprehends a distance readily when stated to him in miles and cents so he would in feet and cents pounds and cents on 7 may 1784 congress elected jefferson for a third time plenipotentiary to france to join franklin and adams in negotiating commercial treaties with foreign powers on 5 july he sailed from boston upon this mission and thirty two days later took up his abode in paris on 2 may 1785 he received from mr jay his commission appointing him sole minister plenipotentiary to the king of france for three years from 10 march 1785 you replace dr franklin said the count de vergennes to him when he announced his appointment jefferson replied i succeed no one can replace him the impression that france made upon jefferson s mind was painful in the extreme while enjoying the treasures of art that paris presented and particularly its music fond of the people too relishing their amiable manners their habits and tastes he was nevertheless appalled at the cruel oppression of the ancient system of government the people said he are ground to powder by the vices of the form of government and he wrote to madison that government by hereditary rulers was a government of wolves over sheep or kites over pigeons beaumarchais s marriage of figaro was in its first run when jefferson settled in paris and the universal topic of conversation was the defects of the established regime upon the whole he enjoyed and assiduously improved his five years residence in europe his official labors were arduous and constant he strove though in vain to procure the release of american captives in algiers without paying the enormous ransom demanded by the day with little more success he endeavored to break into the french protective system which kept from the kingdom the cheap food that america could supply and for want of which the people were perishing and the monarchy was in peril he kept the american colleges advised of the new inventions discoveries and books of europe he was particularly zealous in sending home seeds roots and nuts or trial in american soil during his journey to italy he procured a quantity of the choicest rice for the planters of south carolina and he supplie...