BliiiiiiliilllfliS^ Glass ^ -^.^ COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT ^7 9 '^^^?z^ HISTORIC AMERICANS THE LIFE OF Thomas Jefferson Third President of the United States iSoi-iSog By, -J/O-^^ EDWARD S/'feLLIS, A.M. Author of •'Tiie People's Standard History of the United States," "The Eclectic Primary History of the United States."' etc. With an Essay by (;. MERCER ADAM ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE LOUISLAX.V PURCHASE BV ISIDORE A. ZACHARIAS .AM) ANECDOTES. CHARACTERISTICS AND CHRONOLOGY Copyrighted, 1898, by The ITniversity Association Copyrighted, igi.j, by Win. 11. Lee (' H I C^ A r, o LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS ©CI. A3 4 6 6, -'i t) CONTENTS PAGE Biography T) Declaration of lnilei>eiiilon(0 49 Sketch by Ci. .MiMccr Ailain 57 Jefferson 's First Inaugural Address 77 The Louisiana Purchase S.". Anecdotes and Characteristics D.'i JeflPerson 's bridal journey; would make no [iroinises for the jiresidenry; the mould board of least resist- ance; Jeflferson as an inventor; Jefferson and the jockey; Jefferson and Patrick Henry; Washington and Jefferson; intinence of Prof. Small on JetTer son; Jefferson and the University of Vn.; financial diary of Jefferson; horseback riding to the in- auguration; cost of servants, etc.; would take no presents; indolence; titles of honor and office; the term of the presidency; the Continental Congress and lawyers; the Declaration of Independence; the Louisiana Purchase; Jefferson ami Benedict Arnold; a man of the jieople; aristocracy of mind; evil youthful companions; read little fiction; neither orator nor good talker; self-control; the influence of Jefferson's sister; Jefferson as a doctrinaire; reconciliation with John Adams; negro coloniza- tion; educating American boys abroad; the Frencdi Eevolution. Sayings of Thomas Jefferson 128 Adams and Jefferson by Daniel Webster \''t?> The Story of Jefferson for School or Club Program. ... 171 Program for a Jeffersonian Evening 17." Questions for Eeview 17.') Subjects for Special Study 1 78 Bibliogra])hy 1 7S Chronological Events 179 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Portrait and Autograph Frontispierc George Calvert, Lord Baltimore 7 Patrick Henry Ill George Washington 11 Edmund Burke 13 Washington Taking Command of the Army l'> House in which Jefferson Wrote the Declaration of Independence 16 Drafting the Declaration of Independence 17 Independence Hall as it Appeared in 177(5 18 Independence Hall as it Looks Today 19 Interior of Independence Hall where Declaration of Independence was Signed 20 The Liberty Bell 21 John Adams 24 Benjamin Franklin 27 Continental I\loney 20 The First Cabinet 32 Alexander Hamilton 34 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 36 Samuel Adams 39 James Madison 41 Robert Fulton 43 The Old Capitol in 1810 -. 45 Declaration of Independence 49 Monticello, the Home of Jefferson 93 Central College, where Jefferson had His Office 97 Patrick Henry Addressing the Virginia Assembly 104 Eotunda and Lawn, University of Virginia lOS George III, King of England During the Revolution. . . 123 Louis XVI Threatened by a Mob, 1792 126 THOMAS JEFFERSON BY EDWARD vS. ELLIvS, A. M., Author of "The I'cople's Slandard History of the United States," Etc. NO golden eagle, warm from the stamping press of the mint, is more sharply impressed with its im- age and snperscription than was the formative period of our government by the genius and personality of Thomas Jefferson. Standing on the threshold of the nineteenth century, no one who attempted to peer down the shadowy vista, saw more clearly than he the possibilities, the perils, the pitfalls and the achievements that were within the grasp of the Nation. None was inspired by purer pa- triotism. None was more sagacious, wise and prudent, and none understood his countrymen better. By birth an aristocrat, by nature he was a democrat. The most learned man that ever sat in the president's chair, his tastes were the simple ones of a farmer. Sur- rounded by the pomp and ceremony of Washington and Adams' courts, his dress was homely. He despised titles, and preferred severe plainness of speech and the sober garb of the Quakers. (Copyright 1S98, by The University Association.) 6 THOMAS JEFFERSON. "What is the date of your birth, Mr. President?" asked an admirer. "Of what possible concern is that to you?" queried the President in turn. "We wish to give it fitting celebration." "For that reason, I decline to enlighten you; noth- ing could be more distasteful to me than what you pro- pose, and, when you address me, I shall be obliged if you will omit the 'Mr.' " If we can imagine Washington doing so undignified a thing as did President Lincoln, when he first met our present Secretary of State, (John Sherman) and com- pared their respective heights by standing back to back, a sheet of paper resting on the crowns of Washington and Jefferson would have lain horizontal and been six feet two inches from the earth, but the one was magnifi- cent in physique, of massive frame and prodigious strength, — the other was thin, wiry, bou}-, active, but with muscles of steel, while both were as straight as the proverbial Indian arrow. Jefferson's hair was of sandy color, his cheeks ruddy, his eyes of a light hazel, his features angular, but glow- ing with intelligence and neither could lay any claim to the gift of oratory. Washington lacked literary ability, while in the hand of Jefferson, the pen was as masterful as the sword in the clutch of Saladin or Godfrey of Bouillon. Wash- ington had only a common school education, while Jef- ferson was a classical scholar and could express his thoughts in excellent Italian, Spanish and French, and THOMAS JEFFERSON 7 both were masters of their temper. Jefferson was an excellent violinist, a skilled mathe- matician and a profound scholar. Add to all these his spotless integrity and honor, his statesmanship, and his well curbed but aggressive patriotism, and he embodied within himself all the attributes of an ideal president of the United States. In the colonial times, Virginia was the South and Massachusetts the North. The other colonies were only appendages. The New York Dutchman dozed over his beer and pipe, and when the other New England settlements saw the Nar- raransetts bearino- down upon them with upraised tomahawks, the\- ran for cover and yelled to Mas- sachusetts to save them. Clayborne fired po])- guns at Lord Baltimore, and the Catholic and Protestant Mar^landers George Calvert. Lord Baltimore. enacted Toleration Acts, and then chased one another over the border, with some of the fugitives running all the way to the Carolinas, where the settlers were per- spiring over their efforts in installing new governors and thrusting them out again, in the hope that a half- fledged statesman would turn np sometime or other in the .shuffle. What a roystering set those Cavaliers were! Fond of 8 THOMAS JEFFERSON. horse racing, cock fighting, gambling and drinking, the soul of hospitality, quick to take offence, and quicker to forgive, — duellists, as brave as Spartans, chivalric, proud of honor, their province, their blood and their families, they envied only one being in the world and that was he who could establish his claim to the possession of a strain from the veins of the dusky daughter of Powhatan — Pocahontas. Could such people succeed as pioneers of the wilder- ness? Into the snowy wastes of New England plunged the Pilgrims to blaze a path for civilization in the New World. They were perfect pioneers down to the minu- test detail. Sturdy, grimly resolute, painfully honest, industrious, patient, moral and seeing God's hand in every affliction, they smothered their groans while writh- ing in the pangs of starvation and gasped in Inisky whispers: ''He doeth all things well ; praise to his name!" Such people could not fail in their work. And yet of the first ten presidents, New England fur- nished only the two Adamses, while Virginia gave to the nation, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and then tapered off with Tyler, In the War for the Union, the ten most prominent leaders were Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Far- ragut, Porter, Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. Johnston and Longstreet. Of these, four were the products of Virginia, while none came from New England, nor did she produce a real, military leader throughout the civil war, though she poured out treasure like water and sent THOMAS JEFFERSON. q as brave soldiers to the field as ever kept step to the drum beat, while in oratory, statesmanship and humani- tarian achievement, her sons have been leaders from the foundation of the Republic. Thomas Jefferson was born in Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va., April 2,1743. His father was the owner of thirty slaves and of a wheat and tobacco farm of nearly two thousand acres. There were ten children, Thomas being the third. His father was considered the strong- est man physically in the county, and the son grew to be like him in that respect, but the elder died while the younger was a boy. Entering William and Mary College, Thomas was shy, but his ability quickly drew attention to him. He was an irrestrainable student, sometimes studying twelve and fourteen hours out of the twenty-four. He acquired the strength to stand this terrific strain by his exercise of body. His father warned his wife just before his death not to allow their son to neglect this necessity, but the warning was superfluous. The youth was a keen hunt- er, a fine horseman and as fond as Washington of out door sports. He was seventeen years old when he entered college and was one of the "gawkiest" students. He was tall, growing fast, raw-boned, with prominent chin and cheek bones, big hands and feet, sandy-haired and freckled. His mind broadened and expanded fast under the tute- lage of Dr. William Small, a Scotchman and the pro- fessor of mathematics, who made young Jefferson his companion in his walks, and showed an interest in the 10 THOMAS JEFFERSON. talented youth, which the latter gratefully remembered throughout life. Jefferson was by choice a farmer and never lost inter- est in the management of his estate. One day, while a student at law, he wandered into the legislature and was thrilled by the glowing speech of Patrick Henry w4io replied to an interruption: "If this be treason, make the most of it. " He became a lawyer in his twenty-fourth year, and was suc- cessful from the first, his practice soon growing to nearly five hun- dred cases annually, which yield- ed an income that would be a god- send to the majority of lawyers in these days. Ere long, the mutterings of the coming Revolution drew Jefferson aside into the service of his country. At the age of twenty-six (May ii, 1769), he took his seat in the House of Burgesses, of which Washington was a member. On the threshold of his public career, he made the resolution wdiich was not once violated dur- ing his life, "never to engage, while in public office, in any kind of enterprise for the improvement of my for- tune, nor to wear any other character than that of a far- mer." Thus, during his career of nearly half a century, he was impartial in his consideration of questions of public interest. His first important speech w^as in favor of the repeal of Palrirk Hciirj-. THOMAS JEFFERSON. ii the law that compelled a master when he freed his slaves to send them out of the colony. The measure was over- whelmingly defeated, and its mover denotmced as an enemy of his country. Geort,'o Wa.slIin^'ton. It was about this time that Jefferson became interested in Mrs. Martha Wayles Skelton, a childless widow, beautiful and accomplished, and a daughter of John Wayles, a prominent member of the Williamsburg l^ar. She was under twenty years of age, when she lost her first husband, rather tall, with luxuriant auburn hair and an exceedingly graceful manner. She had many suitors, but showed no haste to lay 12 THOMAS JEFFERSON. aside her weeds. The aspirants indeed were so numer- ous that she might well hesitate whom to choose, and more than one was hopeful of winning the prize. It so happened that one evening, two of the gentlemen called at the same time at her father's house. They were friends, and were about to pass from the hall into the drawing-room, when they paused at the sound of music. Some one was playing a violin with exquisite skill, accompanied by the harpsicord, and a lady and gentleman were singing. There was no mistaking the violinist, for there was only one in the neighborhood capable of so artistic work, while Mrs. Skelton had no superior as a player upon the harpsicord, the fashionable instrument of those days. Besides, it was easy to identify the rich, musical voice of Jefferson and the sweet tones of the }oung widow. The gentlemen looked significantly at each other. Their feelings w^ere the same. "We are wasting our time," said one; "we may as well go home." They quietly donned their hats and departed, leaving the ground to him who had manifestly already pre-empt- ed it. On New Year's day, 1772, Jefferson and Mrs. Skelton were married and no union was more happy. His af- fection was tender and romantic and they were devoted lovers throughout her life. Her health and wishes were his first consideration, and he resolved to accept no post or honor that would involve their separation, while she proved one of the truest wives with which any man was THOMAS JEFFERSON. i 3 ever blessed of heaven. The death of his father-in-law doubled Jefferson's estate, a year after his marriage. His life as a gentleman farmer was an ideal one, and it is said that as a result of experimentation, Jefferson do- mesticated nearly every tree and shrub, native and for- eign, that was able to stand the Virginia winters. Jefferson's commanding ability, however, speedily thrust him into the stir- ring incidents that opened the Revolution. In Sep- tember, 1774, his "Draught of Instructions" foi Vir- ginia's delegation to the congress in Philadelphia was presented. The con- vention refused to adopt his radical views, but they were published in a pam- phlet and copies were sent to England, where Ed- mund Burke had it re- published with emenda- tions of his own. Great Britain viewed the paper as tlie extreme of inso- lence and punished the author by adding his name to the list of proscriptions enrolled in a bill of attainder. Jefferson was present as a member of the convention, which met in the parish church at Richmond, in March, 1775, to consider the course that Virginia should take in the impending crisis. It was at that meeting that Pat- Edmund Burke 14 THOMAS JEFFERSON. rick Henry electrified his hearers with the thrilling words : "Gentlemen may cry, 'Peace, peace!' bnt there is no peace! The war has actnally begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it the gentle- men wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, GIVE ME LIB- ERTY, Or GIVE ME DEATH!" Within the following month occurred the battle of Lexington. Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry were mem- bers of the committee ajDpointed to arrange a plan for preparing Virginia to act her part in the struggle. When Washington, June, 20, 1775, received his com- mission as commander-in-chief of the American army, Jefferson succeeded to the vacancy thus created, and the next day took his seat in congress. A few hours later came the news of the battle of Bun- ker Hill. Jefferson was an influential member of the body from the first. John Adams said of him; "he was so prompt, frank, explicit and decisive upon committees that he soon seized upon every heart." Virginia promptly re-elected him and the part lie took in draughting the Declaration of Independence is known to every school boy. His a.ssociates on the committee were Franklin, John Washington Taking Command of the Army. 15 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. It was by their request that he prepared the document, (see fac-simile, page -s> 49,) done on the sec- ond floor of a small building, on the cor- ner of Market and Seventh Streets. The house and the little desk, constructed by Jefferson himself, are carefully preserved. The paper was warmly debated and revised in congress on the 2d, 3d, and 4th of July, 1776. The weather was oppressively hot, and on the last day an exasperating but providential in- vasion of the hall by a swarm of flies hurried the sigu- ins: of the document. Some davs afterward, the com- mittee of which Jefferson was a member provided as r. motto of the new seal, that perfect legend, — E Plu ribiis Umuii. The facts connected with the adoption of the Declara- tion of Independence must always be of profound inter est. The public are inclined to think that our Magn: Charta was accepted and signed with unbounded enthu siasm and that scarcely any opposition to it appeared but the contrary was the fact. While Jefferson was the author of the instrument, Johi House in which Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Drafting the Declaration of Independence. The Committee— Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Livingston and Sherman. i8 THOMAS JKFFERSON. Adams, more than any one man or half a dozen men brought about its adoption. Wlien the question was af- terward asked him, whether every member of congress- cordially approved it, he replied, ''Majorities were con- stantly against it. For many days the majority depend- ed on Mr. Hewes of North Carolina. While a member Independence Hall as it Appeared in 1776. one day was reading documents to prove that public opinion was in favor of the measure, Mr. Hewes sud- denly started upright, and lifting up both hands to heaven, as if in a trance, cried out: 'It is done, and I will abide by it.' I would give more for a perfect painting of the terror THOMAS JEFFERSON. lo and horror of the faces of the old majority at that mo- ment than for the best piece of Raphaeh" Ind('r«iiilcnce Hall as it Looks To-Day. Jefferson has given a synopsis of the arguments for and against the adoption of the Declaration. It will be remembered that the hope of the colonies or new States, even after the war had continued for a considerable time, was not so much independence as to extort justice from Great Britain. Had this been granted, the separation would have been deferred and when it came, as come it must, probably would have been peaceable. At the same time, there was a strenuous, aggressive minority who was insistent 20 THOMAS Jlix'FERSON. from the first for a complete severance of the ties bind- ing us to the mother country. The debate in cono;ress showed that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina were not ready to take the irrevocable step, but it was evident that they were fast approaching that mood, and the wise leaders tarried in order to take them in their company. In the vote of July i, the Pennsylvania and South Carolina delegates still opposed, while those from New York did the same, contrary co their own convictions, Interior InOcpcndonce Hull where the Declaration was .Signed. THOMAS JEFFERSON. but ill obedience to home instructions, which later were changed. The signs of unanimity became unmistakable on the Second, and two days later, as every one knows, the adoption of the Declaration took place, though it was not until the Second of Au- gust that all the members, excepting John Dickinson had signed. Five years passed before the Articles of Confederation were formally adopted b) the states, by which time it had become clear that they must totally fail of their pur- pose, for each state decided for itself whether to respond to the demands of congress. The poison of nullification thus infused into the body politic at its birth bore baleful fruit in the years that followed. On six separate occasions, there were overt acts on the part of the States. The first occurred in 1798, when Virginia and Ken- tucky passed nullification resolutions. The second was the attempt of New England in 1S03 to form a northern confederacy, comprising five New England States, and New York and New Jersey. The third was Aaron Burr's wild scheme in the Southwest. The Liberty Bell. 22 THOMAS JEFFERSON. The fourth, the resolution of the New England States to withold cooperation in the War of 1812. The fifth, the nullification acts of South Carolina in 1832. The sixth and last, the effort of eleven states to form the SouthernConfederacy . This brought the burning issue to a head and settled the question for the ages to come. It seems incredible in these times that the country submitted for a month to the intolerable Alien and Se- dition acts. Should any congressman propose their re- enactment to-day, he would be looked upon as a crank and be laughed out of court. They were enacted when Jefferson was Vice President and were the creation of the brilliant Alexander Hamilton, whose belief was in a monarchy rather than a republic. The Sedition act made it a felony punishable with a fine of $5000 and five years imprisonment for persons to combine in order to impede the operation of any law of the Uni^^ed States, or to intimidate persons from tak- ing Federal office, or to commit or advise a riot or insur- rection or unlawful assembly. It declared further that the writing or publishing of any scandalous, malicious or false statement against the president or either house of congress should be punish- able by a fine of $ 2000 and imprisonment for two years. It will be noted that this law precluded all free dis- cussion of an act of congress, or the conduct of the pres- ident. In otlicr words, it was meant to be the death blo\^ to freedom of speech. THOMAS JKI'I'l'-KSON. 2^ But l);i(l as it was, the Alien act, wliicli congress passed at the same session, 1798, was ten fold worse. 'Jdicre had heen much unrest caused hy the intermed- dling of foreigners in the States, and it was now decided that the president might drive out of the country any alien he chose thus to banish, and to do it without as- signing any reason therefor. It was not necessary even to sue or to bring charges; if an alien receiving such no- tice from the president refused to obey, he could be im- prisoned for three years. President Adams afterward declared that he did not approve of this stern measure which was the work of Hamilton, and boasted that it was not enforced by him in a single instance. Nevertheless, the Sedition act was enforced to a farci- cal degree. When President Adams was passing through Xewark, X. J., he was saluted by the firing of cannon. One of the cannoneers, who was strongly opposed to him, ex- ])ressed the wish that he might be struck by some of the wadding. For this remark, he was arrested and com- pelled to pay a fine of one hundred dollars. Editor Frothingham printed his belief that Hamilton wished to buy the .-litrora for the purpose of suppressing it. For expressing that opinion he was fined and im- ])risoned. Thomas Cooper made the remark that in T797 President Adams w^as "hardly in the infancy of ix)litical mistakes," and these mild words cost him $400 and kept him in prison for six months. It is hard to believe that the following proceedings John Adams. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 25 took place within the present hnndred years in the Uni- ted States of America, and yet they did. In the case against Callender, Jndge Chase denounced the accused to the jurors and forbade the marshals to place any one not a Federalist on the jury. The law- yers who defended Callender were threatened with cor- poral punishment. In Otsego, N. Y. , Judge Peck obtained signers to a petition for the repeal of the obnoxious acts. For such action he was indicted and taken to New York city for trial. That was the sacred right of petition with a vengeance. IMatthew Lyon, while canvassing his district in Ver- mont for re-election to congress, charged the president in one of his speeches with "unbounded thirst for ridicu- lous pomp, foolish adulation and a selfish avarice," cer- tainly mild expressions compared with what are heard in these times, but because of their utterance, Mr. Lyon spent four months in jail and paid a fine of $1000. When he had served out his term and been re-elected, a strong effort was made to prevent his taking his seat. It failed and in 1840, his fine was returned to him with interest. It can well be understood that the passage and enforce- ment of such iniquitous measures caused alarm and in- dignation throughout the country. Edward Livingston declared that they would "disgrace Gothic barbarism." Jefferson's soul was stirred with the profoundest indignation. Under his inspiration, the Virginia assembly adopted resolutions calling on the 26 THOMAS JEFFERSON. State to nullify within its limits the enforcement of the Sedition act. The Alien and Sedition laws were declared unconstitntional, and the sister States were invited to unite in resisting them, "in order to maintain unimpaired the authorities, rights and liberties reserved to the States respectively or to the people." These views were not only those of Jefferson, but of Patrick Henry, George Mason and nearly all leading Virginians. Kentucky, the child of her loins, seconded the action of Virginia, urged thereto by Jefferson who moulded her resolutions. The revolt against the measures was so widespread that the Alien act was repealed in 1800, and the Sedition act in the following year. Having been essentially Federal measures, they were buried in the same grave with the Federal part)'. Having rendered these invaluable services, Jefferson re- signed his seat in congress, on account of the illness of his wife and the urgent need of his presence at home. Moreover, he had been elected a member of the legisla- ture of his State and was anxious to purge its statute books of a number of objectionable laws. He had hardly entered upon the work, when he was notified of his appointment as a joint commissioner with Franklin and Dcane as representatives of the United States in France. After reflection, he declined the ap- pointment, believing his duty at home was more import- ant. That such was the fact was proven b}- his success in securing the repeal of the system of entail, thus allow- THOMAS jI':ffi;rson. 27 iiig- all property in the State to be held in fee simple, and by the abolishment of the connection between chnrcli and lienjamin Franklin. state. The latter reqnired years in order to effect com- plete snccess, bnt it was reached at last. How forceful were many of the expressions he em- ployed dnrino- that contest, snch as: "Compulsion makes 28 THOMAS JEFFERSON. hypocrites, not converts;" "•Trntli stands by itself; error alone needs the support of government." Jefferson's committee abolished the frightful penalties of the ancient code; he set on foot the movement for the improvement of public education; he drew the bill for the establishment of courts of law in the State, and pre- scribing their methods and powers; he destroyed the prin- ciple of primogeniture, and l^rought about the removal of the capital from Williamsburg to Richmond. Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of the State, at the opening of the year 1779. The two years were marked by incessant trial and the severest labor, for the war had reached Virginia soil and the State was des- olated. More than once the legislature was obliged to flee be- fore the enemy; Gates was crushed at Camden; Arnold the traitor scourged Richmond with his raiders; IMonti- cello itself was captured by cavalry, and Jefferson escaped only by a hair's breadth. His estate was trampled over, his horses stolen, his barns burned, his crops destro}-ed and many of his slaves run off. He declined a third election, and in the autumn of 1782, to his inconsolable sorrow, his wife died, leaving three daughters, the youngest a babe. In the following November, he took his scat in con- gress at Annapolis, and during that session he proposed and caused the adoption of our present system of decimal currency. In May, 1784, he was again elected plenipotentiary to France to assist Frankhn and Adams in negotiating com- THOMAS JEFFERSON. 29 mercial treaties with foreign nations. He arrived in Paris in July, and in May, sncceeding, became sole plenipoten- tiary to the king of France for three years from IMarcli 10, 1785. Jefferson's resi- dence in France prodnced a pro- found impression npon him and had , . 1 . Continental Money. mnch to do m crys- tallizing his ideas of the trne form of government. That country was groveling nnder the heel of one of the most hideons systems that the baseness of man ever conceived. Who has not read of the nobleman who, when his coachman ran over a child and crushed ont its life, was only concerned lest its blood slionld soil his car- riage, or of the poor peasants who were compelled to beat the bogs all night long, to prevent the frogs from croak- ing and thereby distnrbing the slumber of their lordly masters? The condition of no people could be more hor- rible, than that of the lower classes in France previous to the uprising, with its excesses that horrified the world, Jefferson enjoyed the music, the art and the culture of the gay capital, but could never shake off the oppression caused by the misery of the people. "They are ground to powder," he said, "by the vices of the form of government which is one of wolves over sheep, or kites over pigeons." 30 THOMAS JEFFERSON. He took many jonriic}-.s through the countiy and made it a practice to enter the houses of the peasants and talk with them upon their affairs and manner of living. He often did this, using his eyes at the same time with the utmost assiduity. All that he learned deepened the sad impression he had formed, and he saw with imerring prevision the appalling retribution that was at hand. But Jefferson was not the officer to forget or neglect his duties to his own government, during the five years spent in France. Algiers, one of the pestilent Barljar)- States, held a number of American captives which she refused to re- lease except upon the payment of a large ransom. It had been the custom for }-ears for the powerful Christian na- tions to pay those savages to let their ships alone, be- cause it was cheaper to do so than to maintain a fleet to fight them. Jefferson strove to bring about a union of several nations with his own, for the purpose of pounding some sense into the heads of the barbarians and compell- ing them to behave themselves. One reason why he did not succeed was because our own country had no navy with which to perform her part in the compact. France, with that idiotic blindness which ruled her in those fearful days, maintained a protective system which prevented America from sending cheap food to star\-ing people, nor was Jefferson able to effect more than a slight change in the pernicious law. One thing done by him made him popular with the masses. His "Notes on Vir- ginia" was published both in In-ench and Knglish. Like THOMAS J1:1'FJ:RS()X. 31 everything that emaiiatcdfrom his master hand, it was well conceived and fnll of information. In addition, it glowed with repnl^lican sentiment and delighted the ])eople. He was in Paris when his State legislatnre en- acted the act for which he had so strenuonsly worked, es- tahlishing the freedom of religion. He had nnmerons copies of it printed in F'rcnch and distributed. It struck another popular chord and received the ardent praise of the advanced Liberals. Jefferson was too deeply interested in educational work to forget it among any surroundings. All new discover- ies, inventions and scientific books were brought to the knowledge of the colleges in the United States, and he collected a vast quantity of seeds, roots and nuts for trans- planting in American soil. It need hardly be said that his loved Monticello was not forgotten, and, as stated elswhere, he grew about ev- erything of that nature that would stand the rigor of the \'irginia winters. No office or honor could take away Jeft'erson's pride as a cultivator of the soil. Returning to Virginia on leave of absence, in the aut- umn of 1789, he was welcomed with official honors and the cordial respect of his fellow citizens. On the same day he learned of his appointment by Washington as his Secretary of State. He would have preferred to return to his former post, but yielded to the wishes of the first president, and, ar- riving in New York in March, 1790, entered at once up- on the duties of his office. In the cabinet Jefferson immediately collided with the The First Cabinet. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 33 brilliant Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. The two could no more agree than oil and water. Jefferson was an intense republican-democrat, and was shocked and disgusted to find himself in an atmosphere of distrust of a republican system of government, with an unmistakable leaning toward monarchical methods. This feeling prevailed not only in society, but showed itself among the political leaders. Jefferson's political creed may be summed up in his own words: "The will of the majority is the natural law of every society and the only sure guardian of the rights of man; though this may err, yet its errors are honest, solitary and short-lived. We are safe with that, even in its deviations, for it soon returns again to the right way." Hamilton believed in a strong, centralized government^ and on nearly every measure that came before the cabi- net, these intellectual giants wrangled. Their quarrels were so sharp that Washington was often distressed. He respected both too deeply to be willing to lose either, but it required all his tact and mastering influence to hold them in check. Each found the other so intolerable, that he wished to resign that he might be freed from meeting him. Hamilton abhorred the French revolution, with its terrifying excesses, and Jefferson declared that no horror equalled that of France's old system of government. Fijially Jefferson could stand it no longer and withdrew from the cabinet January i, 1794. An equally potent cause for his resignation was the 34 THOMAS JI',FFF,RSON. meagrencss of his salary of $3500. It was wholly insuf- ficient and his estate was going to ruin. He yearned to return to his beloved pursuit, that of a farmer. Alexander Hamilton. The request by Washington to act as special envoy to Spain did not tempt him, but he allowed his name to be put forward as a candidate for the presidency in 1796. John Adams received 71 votes and Jefferson 68, which in accordance with the law at that time made him vice- president. Tiiu.MAS ji:ffi:kson. 35 President Adams ignored him in all political matters, and Jefferson fonnd the chair of presiding officer of the senate congenial. He presided with dignity and great acceptabilit}-, and his "^lannal of Parliamentary Prac- tice" is still the accepted authority in nearly all of our deliberative bodies. The presidential election of 1800 will always retain its ])lace among the most memoral)le in our history. The Federalists had controlled the national govern- ment for twelve years, or ever since its organization, and they were determined to prevent the elevation of Jeffer- son, the founder of the new Republican party. The Fed- eral nominees were John Adams for president and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for vice-president, while the Re- publican vote was divided between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. A favorite warning on the ]:>art of those who see their ideas threatened with overthrow is that our coimtry is "trembling on the verge of revolution." How many times in the past twenty-five, ten and five years have rant- ing men and women proclaimed from the housetops that we were "on the verge of revolution?" According to these wild pessimists the revolution is always at hand, but somehow or other it fails to arrive. The probabilities are that it has been permrmently side-tracked. During the campaign of 1800, Hamilton sounded the trumpet of alarm, when he declared in response to a toast: "If Mr. Pinckney is not elected, a revolution will be the consequence, and within four years I will lose my head or be the leader of a triumphant army." 36 TliO.MAS JP:11ERS0X. The Federalist clergy joined in denonncing Jefferson on the gronnd that he was an atheist. The Federalists said what they chose, but when the Republicans grew too careless they were fined and imprisoned under the Sedition law. The exciting canvas established one fact: there was no man in the United States so devotedly loved and so fiercely ha- ted as Thomas Jeffer- son. New York had twelve electoral votes, and because of the Ali- en and Sedition laws she witheld them from Adams and cast them upon the Republican side. It may not be gener- ally known that it was because of this fact that New York gained its name of the "Empire State." The presidential vote was: Jefferson, 'jy^ Burr, 73; John Adams, 65; C. C. Pinckncy, 64; Jay, i. There being a tie between the leading candidates, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, which assem- bled on the nth of February, 1801, to make choice be- tween Burr and Jefferson. It is to the credit of Hamilton that knowing the de- Cliarlcs Cotesworth PincKuey. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 37 based character of Burr, he used his utmost influeuce against him. A great snow storm descended upon the little town of Washington and the excitement became intense. On the first ballot, eight States voted for Jefferson and six for Burr, while ]\Iar}-land and Vermont were equally divided. All the Federalists voted for Burr with the single excep- tion of Huger of South Carolina, not because of any love for Burr, but because he did not hate him as much as he did Jefferson. Mr. Nicholson of Maryland was too ill to lea\-e his bed. Without his vote, his State would have been given to Burr, but with it, the result in Maryland would be a tie. It was a time when illness had to give way to the stern necessity of the case, and the in\-alid was wrapped up and brought on his bed through the driving snow storm and placed in one of the committee rooms of the house, with his wife at his side, administering medicines and stimu- lants night and day. On each vote the ballot box was brought to the bed side and his feeble hand deposited the powerful bit of paper. Day after day, the balloting went on until tliirt)-fi\-e ballots had been cast. By that time, it was clear that no break could be made in the Jefferson columns and it was impossible to elect Burr. When the thirty-sixth ballot was cast, the Feder- alists of IMaryland, Delaware and South Carolina threw blanks and the Federalists of Vermont sta)-ed awa)-, leav- ing their Republican brothers to vote those vStatcs for Jefferson. By this slender chance did the rcj^ublic escaj^e 28 THOMAS JEFFIiKSON. ci. calaniily, and secure the election of Jefferson for presi- dent with Burr for vice-president. The inauguration of the third president was made a national hohday throughout the country. The church bells were rung, the military paraded, joyous orations were delivered, and many of the newspapers printed in full the Declaration of Independence. The closeness of the election resulted in a change in the electoral law by which the president and vice-])resi- dent must of necessity belong to the same political party. Jefferson had every reason to feel |)roud of his trium])h, but one of the finest traits of his character was his mag- nanimit}'. The irascilile Adams made an exliiI)ition of himself on the 4th (if March, when in a fit of rage, he rose before day-light and set out in lu's coach for Afassachusetts, re- fusing to wait and take ])art in the inauguration of hi? successor. With the niellowness of growing years, he realized the silliness of the act. and he and Jefferson be- came fully reconciled and kept up an afifectionate corres- pondence to the end of their lives. Jefferson did all he could to soothe the violent party feeling that had been roused during the election. This spirit ran like a golden thread through his first excellent- ly conceived inaugural. Tie reminded his fellow citizens that while they difi^ered in opinion, there was no differ- ence in principle, and ]v.it forth the following happv thought : "W'c are all Rci)ublicans, we arc all Federalists. If there be any anmng us, who would wish to dissolve this THOMAS JKFFKRSON. 39 Union or to change its repuljlican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which er- ror of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." There can l)e little doubt that he had Hamilton in mind when he an- swered, as follows, in his own forceful way the radical views of that gifted statesman. "Some honest men fear that a republi- c a n government cannot be strong, that this govern- ment is not strong enough. I believe this, on the contra- ry, is the strongest govern m e n t on earth. I believe it is the only one Samuel Adams. where every man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet in\-asions of the public order as his own personal concern.'" It was characteristic of Jefferson's nobilit\' that one of his first efforts was to undo, so fcu' as he could, the mis- chief effected by the detested Sedition law. iCvery man who was in durance because of its operation was pardoned, ■p "^'#^^1 ■ ^^^^^|b^ " < \Wm^ ^M H Pte^^^H^B ^ ^^^^^^^^Hfe^^vi^ ' 1 40 THOMAS JEFFERSON. and he looked upon the law as "a nullity as obsolete and palpable, as if congTess had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden image." He addressed friendly and affectionate letters to Kos- ciusko and others, and invited them to be his guests at the White House. Samuel Adams of Massachusetts had oeen shamefully abused during the canvas, but he felt fully compensated by the touching letter from the presi- dent. Thomas Paine was suffering almost the pangs of starvation in Paris, and Jefferson paid his passage home. Everywhere that it was possible for Jefferson to extend the helping hand he did so with a delicacy and a tact, that won him multitudes of friends and stamped him as one of nature's noblemen. The new president selected an able cabinet, consisting of James ^ladison. Secretary of State; Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury; Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War; Robert Smith, Secretary of the Nav}-; Gideon Granger, Postmaster-general; Levi Lincoln, Attorney- general. This household proved a veritable "happy family," all working together in harmony throughout the two terms, and Jefferson declared that if he had his work to do over again, he would select the same advisers without exception. Although the policy, "to the victors belong the spoils," had not been formulated at that time, its spirit quickened the body politic. Jefferson's supporters expected him to turn onl a part at least of the Federalists, who held near- ly all the offices, but he refused, on the principle that a competent and honest office holder should not be removed THOMAS JEFFERSON. 41 because of his political opinions. When he, therefore, made a removal, it was as a rule, for other and sufficient reasons. But he did not hesitate to show his dislike of the cere- mony* that pre\-ailed around him. He sto])ped the week- ly levee at the White House, and the system of prece- dence in force at the present time; also the appointment of fast and thanksgi^•- ing days. He dressed with severe simplic- ity and would not permit any attention to be paid him as president w h i c h would be refused him as a private citizen. In some respects, it must be conceded that this remarkable man carried his views to an extreme point. The story, however, that he rode his horse alone to the capitol, and, tying him to the fence, entered the building, unattended, lacks confirmation. Jefferson was re-elected in 1804, by a vote of 162 to 14 for Pinckney, who carried only two States out of the sev- enteen. The administrations of Jefferson were marked not only by many important national e\ents, ])ut were acconi- James Madison. 42 THOMAS JEFFERSON. panied by great changes in the people themselves. Be- fore and for some years after the Revolution, the majority were content to leave the task of thinking, speaking and acting to the representatives, first of the crown and then to their influential neighbors. The property qualification abridged the right to vote, but the active, hustling nature of the Americans now began to assert itself. The tmi- versal custom of wearing wigs and queues was given up and men cut their own hair short and insisted that every free man should have the right to vote. Jefferson was the founder and head of the new order of things, and of the republican party, soon to take the name of democratic, which ct)ntrollcd all the country with the exception of New England. Our commerce increased enormously, for the leading nations of Europe were warring with one another; money came in fast and most of the national del)! was ])aid. Louisiana with an area exceeding all the rest of the United States, was bought from France in 1803, ^or $15,000,000, and from the territory were afterward carved the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, IMissouri, Iowa, Kan- sas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Oklahoma, the In- dian 'J\M-rilory and most of the states of Wisconsin, I\Iin- nesota, Colorado and Wyoming. The upper Missouri River and the Columbia River country to the Pacific Ocean were explored in 1804-6, by Lewis and Clarke, the first party of white men to cross the continent north of Mexico. Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1802. ]■ niton's steamboat, the Clermont, made her maiden trip from New York to Albany in 180;. The THOMAS ji:fferson. 43 first boatload of anthracite coal was shipped to Philailcl- phia, and it was a long time before the people knew what to do with it. The Tripolitan pirates were snnffed out (1801-1805). The blight of the Embar- go Act settled upon our commerce in 1807, in which year the opening gun of the War of 1812 was fired when the Leop- ard outraged the Chesa- peake. The Embargo Act was a grievous mistake of Jef- ferson, though its purpose was commendable. Un- der the plea of securing our ships against capture, its real object was to de- prive England and France of the commodities which could be secured only in the United States. This measure might have been endurable for an agricultural people, but it could not be borne bv a commercial and manufacturing one, like New England, whose goods must find their market abroad. Under the Embargo Act, the New England ships were rotting and crumbling to pieces at her wharves. It was not long before she became restless. The measure was first endorsed by the Massachusetts legislature, but the next session denounced it. Robert Fulton. 44 THOMAS JEFFERSON. Early in 1809, congress passed an act allowing the use of tlie army and navy to enforce the embargo and make sciznres. The Boston papers printed the act in mourning and, meetings were called to memorialize the legislature. That bod\- took strong gromid, justifying the coiirse of Great Britain, demanding of congress that it should re- peal the embargo and declare war against France. ]\Iore- over, the enforcement act was declared "not legally bind- ing," and resistance to it was urged. This was as clear a case of nullification as that of South Carolina in 1832. Connecticut was as hot-headed as Massachusetts. John Quincy Adams has stated that at that time the "Essex Junto" agreed upon a New England convention to consider the expediency of secession. Adams de- nounced the plotters so violently that the Massachusetts legislature censured him by vote, upon which he resigned his seat in the United States senate. The Embargo Act was passed by congress, December 22, 1807, ^^t the instance of Jefferson, and repealed Feb- ruary 28, 1809, being succeeded by the Non-Intercourse Act, which forbade French and British vessels to enter American ports. It was mainly due to Jefferson's consum- mate tact that war with Great Britain was averted after the Leopard and Chesapeake affair, and he alwa}-s main- tained that had his views been honestly carried out by the entire nation, we should have olAained all we afterward fought for, without the firing of a hostile gun. When on March 4, J809, Jefferson withdrew forevei TMOMAS [ICFFERSOX. from public life, lie was in danger of being arrested in Washington for debt. He was in great distress, but a Rich- mond bank helped him for a time with a loan. He re- turned to Monticello, where he lived with his only sur- viving daughter Martha, her husband and numerous children, and with the children of his daughter Maria, who had died in 1804, He devoted hard labor and many years to the perfec- tion of the com- ^-^^ mon school system inVir- ginia, and was so / I \ pleased with his establish- The Old Capitol in 1810. meiit of the college at Charlottesville, out of which grew the University of Virginia, that he had engraved on his tombstone, "Father of the University of Virginia," and was prouder of the fact than of being the author of the Declaration of Independence. Meanwhile, his lavish hospitality carried him lower and lower into poverty. There was a continual proces- sion of curious visitors to Monticello, and old women poked their umbrellas through the window panes to get a better view of the grand old man. Congress in 1814, paid him $23,000 for his lil^rary which was not half its AlS THOMAS JEFFERSON. value. Some time .'ifterward a neighbor obtained his name as security on a note for .$2O,(X)0 and left him to ]x'.y it all. In the last year of his life, when almost on the verge of want, $16,500 was sent to him as a present from friends in New York. I'hiladelphia and Baltimore, more than one-half being raised by ^layor Hone of New York. Jef- ferson w^as moved to tears, and in expressing his gratitude said, he was thankful that not a penny had been wrung from tax])ayers. In the serene sunset of nfe, the "vSage of Alonticello" peacefully i)assed away on the afternoon of July 4, 1826, and a few hours later, John Adams, at his home in Quin- cv, Mass., breathed his last. A reverent hush fell upon the country, at the thought of these two great men, one the author of the Declaration of Independence and the other the man who brought about its adoption, dying on the fiftieth anniversary of its signing, and many saw a sacred significance in the fact. Horace (Ireeley in referring to the co-incidence, said there was as much probability of a bushel of tyj^e flung into the street arranging themselves so as to print the Declaration of Independence, as there was of Jefiferson and Adams expiring on 'the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of that instrument ; and yet one alternative of the contingency happened and the other never can hap- pen. Jefferson's liberal views have caused him to be charged with infidelity. lie profoundly respected the moral character of Christ, THOMAS ji-:Kin:R.soN. 47 bMt (lid not bclie\c in divine rc(leni])tion through Christ's work. His dearest aim was to bring down the aristocra- cy and elevate the masses. He regarded slavery as a great moral and political evil, and in referring to it said: "I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just." Xo more humane slave owner ever lived, and his ser- vants regarded him with almost idolatrous affection, while his love of justice, his hospitality, his fairness to all and his winning personality disarmed enmity and gave him many of his truest and warmest friends from among his political opponents. A peculiar fact connected with Jefferson is the dift'er- encc among his i)ortraits. This is due to the varying periods at which they were made. As we have stated, he w^as raw-boned, freckled and ungainly in his youth, but showed a luarkcd improven:ent in middle life. ^^'hcn he became old, many esteemed him good looking, though it can hardly be claimed that he was handsome. When Jeft'erson was eighty years old, Daniel Webster wrote the following description of the venerable "Sage of Mohticello :" "Never in my life did I see his countenance distorted by a single bad passion or unworthy feeling. I have seen the expression of suffering, bodily and mental, of grief, pain, sadness, disagreeable surprise and displeasure, but never of anger, impatience, peevishness, discontent, to say nothing of worse or more ignoble emotions. To the contrary, it was impossible to look on his face with- out being struck wdth the benevolent, intelligent, cheer- 48 THOMAS JEFFERSON. fill and placid expression. It was at once intellectual, good, kind and pleasant, whilst his tall, spare figure spoke of health, activity and that helpfulness, that power and will, 'never to trouble another for what he could do him- self,' which marked his character." This sketch may well be closed with Jefferson's own words regarding life and happiness. "Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to be the lot of one of his creatures in this world; but that He has very much put it in our power the nearness of our approach to it, is what I have stead- fastly believed. The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes, which may greatly afflict us; and to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and misfortunes should be one of the principal studies and endeavors of our lives. The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the Divine will, to consider that whatever does happen must haj^pen, and that by our uneasiness we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we may add to its force after it has fallen. These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way, to bear up with a tolerable degree of patience under this burden of life, and to proceed with a pious and unshaken resignation till we arrive at our jour- ney's end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of Him who gave it, and receive such reward as to Him shall seem proportionate to our merits." THOMAS JEFl'KRSON. 49 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Fac-Simile of the Original Document in the Handwriting of Thomas Jefferson. (^F'./lMERTCA. tVl ^e'>-^<^>-oX Crrv^-y<^j /"Kern •^■'^a/^' C'.^tijjt V tra^nX^f/rvC ccu^i/K^ '■ 'iryrrxaX*^ffy^taJ LcLm^^ ' U Lc^^^^jpiAiL -c /j rnAyy i^ftu^^ itrr cuXtt^^ ^a^A/y t^ttxli. wv/a. a£2. nn/rt/ <^ //uj^ u.yxn£J-^ 't^TVC^^- THOMAS JEFFERSON. ^Lry j^<^ p^y^^iju^ tru/r a\j/y^ ij^ul^^^-UTCa v cixctoy^-r^ Mj/'^N^tA-vj u*u^~caMj t^/vM ft.^u.^-u* 4J oie o^^ ^oaot-*, g, c,.wC p^aJ^*^ *^ 4^f^ •/ Ayr^A^^ Oltrr luUAi. tix. fc^A-rv. t»>-<>/»X:^ c^ cMk/rX^-r-n Lo oi.Y^i\,>k lr>c4i'v>£/r^- ic^A.aj^<_ p->-cZOr\jurrK : j-ktJy i'Lt-ts^ t-fC^K, tjji^Uia at (xt^ t^i'.fx/r.Mt- <^ m^ ffuTr^Q/^imiU frv<>A^u:^t^ U^ 4- If ■ ... . . U^'U^'^'-^''^*-'^ 54 THOMAS JEFl-ERSON. L/xtt X^h-c^^i^ -. /M'Ttxl^ ^ ^ V f\€l^>Jy^y7\*/(f^ ca ff^^-i^^io u^Uro'^ i*^<^c*/iZZ. ■ i ■ " ' ^ *^ *^ CbTUil rCo/t rt^ p-Cljy- l/yuJk*y*-y\xLck^^ ^LaLe^ '^tt '' ' II""' '* "^ ' ' U-*//'' '' ' Aa-"*- /»«"«'*'' ^ ^^^'^ "«<»-»- OTv-t-fi-t/t. i>«vtt. t^rtJna-cjC a££oa-r-c-t-<'^ e^I«JrC<^ c^mr^n-JUriJi-^ (^ tc aia oM^ t/f/u^ JKmtxr/t <^ H^ </~«uic^a'-c ■rr\L-./'- -(uM^ OU/r THUiMAS JEFFERSON. 55 ^^^•^-JL-J^ ^oc&o^ "^u^onnt^ 56 THOMAS JEFFERSON. (Jnjeyr* C^i P^^n.^^^^ _ THOMAS JEFFERSON. (1743-1826) Bv (t. Mercer Adam.* Jefferson, when lie penned the famous Declaration of Independence, which broke all hope of reconciliation with the motherland and showed England what the deeply- wronged Colonies of the New World unitedly desired and would in the last resort fight for, had then just passed his thirty-third birthday. Who was the man, and what were his upbringings and status in the then young community, that inspired the writing of this great historic document — a document that on its adoption gave these United States an ever-memorable national birthday, and seven years later, by the Peace of Versailles, wrung from Britain recognition of the independence of the country and ushered it into the great sisterhood of Nations? To his contemporaries and a later political age, Jefferson, in spite of his culture and the aristocratic strain in his blood, is known as the advocate of popular sovereignty and the champion of democracy in matters governmental, as United States minister to France between the years 1784-89, as Secretary of State under Wash- ington, and as U. S. President from 1801 to 1809. By education and bent of mind, he was, however, an idealist in politics, a thinker and writer, rather than a debater and "Historian, Biographer, nnd Essayist, Authorof a "Prodis of English History." a "Continuation of Grecian History," etc., and for many years Editor of Self- Culture Mugazine. — The Publisliers. 58 THOMAS JEFFERSON. speaker, and one who in his private letters, State papers, and pnbHc documents did much to throw light, in his era, on the origin and development of American political thought. A man of fine education and of noble, elevated character, he earned distinction among his fellows, and though opposed politically by many prominent statesmen of the day, who, like Washington, Hamilton, and Adams, were in favor of a strong centralized government, while Jefferson, in the in- terests of the masses, feared encroachments on State and in- dividual liberty, he was neverthetless paid the respect, con- sideration, and regard of his generation, as his services have earned the gratitude and his memory the endearing com- mendation of posterity. The illustrous statesman was born April 13, 1743, at "Shadwell," his father's home in the hill country of central Virginia, about 150 miles from Williamsburg, once the capital of the State, and the seat of AVilliam and Mary col- lege, where Jefferson received his higher education. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a planter, owning an estate of about 2,000 acres, cultivated, as was usual in \'irginia, by slave labor. His mother was a Miss Randolph, and well connected ; to her the future President owed his aristocratic blood aTid refined tastes, and with good looVs a fine, manly presence. By her, Thomas, who was the third of nine child- ren, was in his childhood's days gently nurtured, though himself fond of outdoor life and invigorating physical ex- ercise. His father died when his son was but fourteen, and to him he bequeathed the Roanoke River estate, after- wards rebuilt and christened ''Monticello." His studies at the time were pursued under a fairly good classical scholar; THOMAS JKFFKKSON. 59 and on passing to college he there made diligent use of his time in the study of history, literature, the sciences, and mathematics. When he left college Jefferson took up the study of law under the direction of George Wythe, afterwards Chancel- lor, then a rising professional man of high attainments, to wiiom the youth seems to have lieen greatly indebted as men- tor and warm, abiding friend. He was also fortunate in the acquaintance he was able to make among many of the best people of A'irginia, including some historic names, such as Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, and Francis Fauquier, the lieutenant-governor of the province, a gentleman with strong French ])r()cli\ilies. and a devoted student of the de- structive writings of \'oltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, that had much to do in bringing on the French Revolution. By his father's death, he accjuired a modest income, besides his little estate, and the former he added to by his legal prac- tice when, in 17(^)7. he obtained liis diploma as a lawyer. In 1769, he became a member of the House of Burgesses along with Washington and other prominent Mrginians, and with the exception of brief intervals he served with distinction until the outbreak of the Revolution. In 1772. he married a young widow in good circumstances, and this enabled him to add alike to his income and to his patrimony. About the time of the meeting of the Colonial Convention, called in 1775, to choose delegates for the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, at which Patrick Henry was present, the youthful Jefferson, now known as an able political writer, wrote his "Summary \'iew of the Rights of British Amer- ica" — a trenchant protest against English taxation of the 6o THOMAS JEFFERSON. Colonies, which had considerable influence in creating public feeling favorable to American Independence. The effect of this notable utterance was, later on, vastly increased by the draft he prepared of the Declaration of Independence, the latter immortal document being some- what of a transcript of views set forth by Jefiferson in his former paper, as well as of ideas expressed by the English philosopher, John Locke, in his "Theory of Government," and by Rosseau, in his "Discourse on the Origin of Inequal- ity Among Men;" though the circumstances of the Colo- nies at this time were of course different ; while to England and the European nations the Declaration was a startling revelation of the attitude now assumed by the great leaders of the movement for separation as well as for freedom and independence. In the passing of this great national charter John Adams, as all know, was of much service to Jefferson in the debate over it in committee, as well as in the subse- quent ratification of it by the House. Franklin was also of assistance in its revision in draft form ; and most happy was the result, not only in the ultimate passing of the great historic document, but in its affirmation of the intelligent stand taken by the Colonies against England and her mon- arch, and in its pointed definition of the theory of dem- ocratic government on which the new fabric of popular rule in the New World was founded and raised. In the autumn of 1776, Jefferson resigned his seat in Congress, or rather declined re-election to the Third Conti- nental Congress, and retired for a time to his Virginia home. He also, at this period, declined appointment to I'rance on the mission on which Franklin had set out; nevertheless, THOMAS ji-:ffkrson. 6i we presoiiLly find him a mcnibor of the leg'isilature of his own State, taking- ])arl in passing- measures in which he was particularly interested. Many of these measures are indi- cative of the breadth of mind and large, tolerant views for which Jefferson was noted, viz. : the repeal in Virginia of the laws of entail ; the abolition of primogeniture and the substitution of equal partition of inheritance ; the afifirma- tion of the rights of conscience and the relief of the people from taxation for the support of a religion not their own ; and the introduction of a general system of education, so that the people, as the author of these beneficent acts himself expressed it, "would be qualified to understand their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with inteliligence their parts in self-government." Other measures included the abolition of capital punishment, save for murder and trea- son, and an embargo placed on the importation of slaves , though Jefferson failed in his larger design of freeing all slaves, as he desired, hoping that this would be done throughout the entire country, while also beneficently ex- tending to them white aid and protection. In 1779, Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry in the gov- ernorship of Virginia. This was the period when the Eng- lish were prosecuting their campaigns in the South, checked' by General Nathaniel Greene — when South Carolina was be- '? ? I ing overrun by Cornwallis, and Virginia itscilf was invaded by expeditions from New York under Philips and Arnold. As Jefferson had no military abilities, indeed, was a re- cluse rather than a man of action, the administration of his native Province, while able and efficient, was lacking in the notable incident which the then crisis of affairs would na- 62 1 jiDM AS .1 i:i'i'i:us()N. turally call forth. Even his own \'irg'inia liomestead was at this time raided by the English cavalry officer, Colonel Tarleton, and much of his property was either desolated or stolen. This occasioned bitter resentment against the English in Jefferson's mind ; while the serious illness and early death of his loved wife, which occurred just then, led him to surrender ofBce and return for a time to the se- clusion of his home. Meanwhile, thrice was the ofifer made to the fast-budding statesman to proceed to France as ambassador ; and only on the post being pressed upon him for the fourth time did he accept its duties and responsibilities and set out, accom- panied by a daughter whom he wished to have educated abroad, for Paris in the summer of 1784. In the post now vacated by Franklin, Jefferson remained for five years, until the meeting of the French Estates-Gen- eral and the outbreak of the Revolution against absolute monarchy and the theory of the State in France upon which it rested. With French society, Jefferson, even more than his predecessor, was greatly enamored, and was on inti- mate terms with the saz-aiifs of the era. including those who by their writings had precipitated the French Revolu- tion, with all its excesses and horrors. The latter, it is true, filled Jefferson with dismay on his return to America, though dear to him were the principles which the apostles of revo- lution advocated and the wellbeing of the people, in spite of the anarchy that ensued. What diplomatic business was called for during his holding the post of minister, Jef- ferson efficiently conducted, and with the courtesy as well as sagacity which marked all his relations as a publicist and I'llOMAS j KFFKRSON. 63 man of the world. Unlike John Adams, who with h'ranklin had been his predecessor as American envoy to France, he was on g'ood terms with the h^rench minister, Count Ver- gennes ; while he shut his eyes, which Adams could not do, to the lack of disinterestedness in French friendliness toward the Colonies and remembered only the practical and timely service the nation had rendered to his country. Jefferson added to his services at this era by his elforts to suppress jMracy in the Mediterranean, on the part of corsairs belong- ing- to the Barbary States, which he further checked, later on, by the bombardment of Tripoli and the punishment ad- ministered to Alg-iers during the Tripolitan war (1801-05), for her piratical attacks on neutral commerce. After traveling considerably through Furope and inform- ing himself as to the character and condition of the people in the several countries visited. Jefferson returned to Amer- ica just at the time when Washington was elected to the Presidency. In his absence, the I*"ederal Convention had met at Philadelphia, the Constitution of the United States had been adopted and ratified, and the government had been organized with its executive de])artments, then limited to five, viz. : The State DepartnTcnt, the Treasury, the War Department, the Department of Justice, and the Post-office. The Judiciary had also been organized and the Supreme Court founded. With these organizations of the machinery of government came presently the founding of parties, es- pecially the rise of the Republican or Democratic party, as it was subsequently called, in opi)osition to the Federalist party, then led by Hamilton, Jay, and Morris. At this junc- ture, on the return of Jefferson from the French mission, and 64 THOMAS JEFFERSON. after a visit to his home in Virginia, Washington offered him the post of vSecrctary of State, which he accepted, and entered upon the duties of that office in New York in March, 1791. His chief colleague in the Cabinet, soon now to become his political opponent, was Alexander Hamilton, who had charge of the finances, as head of the Treasury department. Be- tween these two men, as chiefs of the principal departments of government, President Washington had an anxious time of it in keeping the peace, for each was insistently arrayed against the other, not only in their respective attitudes to- ward England and in the policy of the administration in the then threatening war with France, but also as to the powers the National Government should be entrusted with in relation to the legislatures of the separate states. What Jefferson specially feared, with his firmly held views as to the independence of public opinion, and especially his hatred of monarchy and all its ways, was that the conserva- tive and aristocratic influences of the envirnoment of New York, hardly as yet escaped from the era of royal and Tory dominion and submission to the English Crown, might fashion the newly federated nation upon English models and give it a complexion far removed, socially as well as politically, from Republican simplicity, coupled with a dis- position to aggress upon and dictate to the individual states of the Union, to their nullification and practical eft'acement. For this apparent tendency, Jefferson ipecially blamed Hamilton, since his tastes as well as his sympathies were known to be aristocratic, as indeed were Washington's, in his fondness for courtly dignity and the trappings and cere- monies of high office. But his antagonism to Hamilton was THOMAS J HFFERSON. n^ specially called forth by the latter's creation of a National Bank, with its tendency to aggrandize power and coerce or control votes at the expense of the separate States. He fnrther was opposed to the great financier and aristocrat for his leanings toward England and against France, in the war that had then broken out between these nations, and for his sharp criticism of the draft of the message to Con- gress on the relations of France and England, which Jefifer- son had penned, and which was afterwards to influence Washington in issuing the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793. In this attitude toward Hamilton and the administration, of which both men were members, Jefferson was neither sel- fish nor scheming, Init, on the contrary, was discreet and patriotic, as well as just and high-minded. "What he de- sired supremely," as has been well stated by a writer, ''was the triumph of democratic principles, since he saw in this triumph the welfare of the country — the interests of the many against the ascendency of the few — the real reign of the people, instead of the reign of an aristocracy of money or birth." Tn this opposition to his chief and able colleague, and feeling strongly on the matters which constantly brought him into collision with the centralizing designs of the Presi- dent and the preponderating influence in the Cabinet hostile to his views, Jefferson resigned his post in December, 1793, and retired for a time to his estate at Monticello. Jefiferson ahvays relished the period of his brief retire- ments to his Virginia home, where he could enjoy his li- brary, entertain his friends, and overlook his estates. There, toO; he took a lively interest in popular and higher education, varied by outlooks on the National situation, not always 66 THOMAS jKFFF.RSON. pleasing to him, as in tlic case of Jay's treaty with England (1794-95), which shortly afterwards proved fatal to that statesman's candidature for the Presidential office. Mean- while, the contentions and rivalries of the political parties grew apace ; and in 1797, just before the retirement of Wash- ington at the close of his second administration, the struggle between Democrats and Federalists became focussed on the prize of the Presidency — the "Father of his Country" hav- ing declined to stand for a third term. The candidates, we need hardly say, were John Adams, who had been Vice- President in Washington's administration, and Thomas Jef- ferson, the former being the standard-bearer of the Fed- eralists, and the latter the candidate of the anti-Federal Republicans. The contest ended by Adams securing the ]^residency by three votes (71 to 68) over Jefferson, who thus, according to the usage of the time, became \'ice-Presi- dcnt. The Adams' Administration, though checkered by divid- ed counsels and by the machinations of party, was on the whole beneficial to the country. It had, however, to face new complications with France, then under the Directory. These complications arose, in part, from soreness over the pass- ing of the Jay treaty with England, and in part because America could not be bled for money through its envovs, at the bidding of unscrupulous members of the Directory. The situation was for a time so grave as to incite to war- preparations in the United States, and to threatened naval demonstrations against France. Nor were matters improved by the enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), directed against those deemed dangerous to the peace and THOMAS JF.FFERSOX. (f] safety of the country, or w ho, hkc the mote violent members of the Press, pnbHslied hbels on th.e Government. The storm which these obnoxious Acts evoked led to their speedy re- ])eal. tliough not before Jefferson and ATadison had de- nounced them as fetters on the freedom of public speech and infringements of the rights of the people. They were more- over resented as not being in harmony with the Constitution as a compact to which the individual States of the Union were parties, and which Jeft'erson especially deemed to be in jeopardy from Federalist legislation. The result of these agitations of the period, and of breaches, which had now come about, between the Adams and Hamilton wings of the Federalist party, showed itself in the Presidential campaign of 1800. Washington, by this time, had passed from earthly scenes, and the coming nine- teenth century was to bring such changes and developments in the young nation as few then foresaw or even dreamed of. At this era. when the Adams Administration was about to close, Jefferson, in spite of his known liberal, democratic views, was one of the most popular of political leaders, save with the Federalists, now dwindling in numbers and influ- ence. He it was who was put forward on the Republican side for the Presidency, while Adams, still favored by the I'ederahsts and himself dc-^iring a second term of office, be- came the F'ederalist candidate. Associated with the latter in the contest was Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, who was named for the \'ice-T^'csidcncy ; while the Repul)- lican candidate for the minor post was x\aron Burr, an able but unscrupulous politician of New York. \\''hen the elec- toral votes were counted, Jefferson and Burr, it was found, 68 THOMAS JKFFKRSON. Jiad each received seventy-three votes ; while Adams secured sixty-five and Pinckney sixty-four votes. The tie between Jefferson and I'urr caused the election to be thrown into the House of Representatives, where the Federalists were still strong, and who, in their dislike of Jefferson, reckoned on finally giving the Presidency to Burr. To this, Hamil- ton, however, magnanimously objected, and in -the end Jef- ferson secured the Presidential prize, while to Burr fell the \"ice-Presidency. For the next eight years, until the coming of Madison's Administration. Jefferson was at the helm of national affairs, assisted by an able Cabinet, the chief members of which were James Madison, Secretary of State, and the Swiss financier, Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury. Aaron Burr, as we have recorded, was \'ice-President, though the rela- tions of Jefferson with him were far from cordial, owing to his political intrigues, which led the President ultimately to eschew him and distrust his character. Jefferson's atti- tude toward the man was later on shown to be well justi- fied, as the result of Burr's hateful quarrel with Alexander Hamilton, and his mortally wounding that eminent states- man in a duel, which doomed him to political and social ostracism. It was still further intensified by lUirr's treason- able attempt to seduce the West out of the Union and to found with it and Mexico a rival Republic, with the looked- for aid of Britain. These unscrupulous acts occurred in Jefferson's second term ; and, failing in his conspiracy, Burr deservedly brought upon himself national obloquy, as well as prosecution for treason, though nothing came of the lat- ter. THOMAS .1 I'LFFF.RSON. . 69 vSonic two years after Jefferson's assumption of office, Ohio was admitted as a State into the Union. The next year (1803) saw. however, an enormous extension of the national domain, thanks to the President's far-seeing-, if at the time unconstitutional, policy. This was the purchase from France, at the cost of $15,000,000, of Louisiana, a vast ter- ritory lying between the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande, which had been orio^inally settled by the French, and by their government ceded in i/C)^ to S])ain as a set-oft' for l^'lorida. while the French Kir.^ it the same time ceded his other possessions on this continent to Eng- land. In 1800, Napoleon had forced Spain to re-cede Lou- isiana to France, as the price of the First Consul's uncertain goodwill and other intangible or elusive favors. At this pe- riod, France desired to occupy the country, or at least to form a great seaport at New Orleans, the entrepot of the Mississippi, that might be of use to her against English warships in the region of the West Indies. When news of the transfer of Louisiana to France reached this side of the water, Jefferson was greatly exercised over it, and had no- tions of oft'-setting it by some joint action with Great Brit- ain. His inducement to this unwonted course, considering his hatred of luigland and love for France, was his knowledge of the fact that French occupation of Louisiana meant the closing of the Mississippi to American commerce. The purchase of Louisiana, which at one stroke more than doubled the existing area of the nation, was at first hotly opposed, especially by the h^ederalisls. It was deemed by them an unwarrantable stretch of the Constitution on Jef- ferson's part, both in negotiating for it as a then foreign 70 THOIMAS JEI'FliKSON. possession without authority from Congress, and in pledg- ing the country's resources in its acquisition. 'Jlie Presi- dent Tvas. however, sustained in his act, not (inly by the Senate, which ratified the purchase, hut by the hearty ap- proval and acclaim of the people. Happily at this time the nalit)!! was readv for the ac(|uisition and in good shape financially to pay for it, since the country was prospering, and its finances, thanks to the President's policy of econ- omy and retrenchment, were adequate to assume the bur- den involved in the ])urchase. The national debt at this ])eri()d was being materially reduced, and with its reduction came, of course, the saving on the interest charge; while the national income and credit were encouragingly rising. Though the economical condition o^ the United States was thus favorable at this era, the state of trade, hampered by tlic ])olicy of commercial restriction against foreign com- merce, then prevailing, was not as satisfactory as the ship- ]K'rs of the East and the commercial classes desired. The reason of this was the unsettled relations of the United States with foreign countries, .and especially with England, whose ])olicy had been and still was to thwart the New World re- public and harass its commerce and trade. To this Eng- land was incited by the bitter memories of the Revolutionary war and her opposition to rivalr}' as mistiess of the seas. Hence followed, on the i)art of the United States, the non- Imi)ortation Act, the bjiibargo Act of 1807-08, and other retaliatory measures of Jefferson's administration, coupled with rejirisals at sea and other expedients to ofif-set British empressment of American sailors and the riglit of search, so ruthlessly and annoyingly \m{ in force against the new- THOMAS JEFFMRSON. 7I born nation and her niarilinic people. The Enghsh people themselves, or a large proportion of them at least, were as strongly opposed to these aggressions of their government as were Americans, and while their voice effected little in the way of amelioration, it brought the two peoples once more distinctly nearer to the resort to war. Meanwhile, the Embargo Act had become so irritating to our own peo- ple that the Jefferson administration was compelled to re- peal it, though saving its face, for the time being, by the enforcement of the non-intercourse law, which imposed strin- gent restrictions upon British and French ships entering American harl)ors. Such are the principal features of the Jefferson admin- istration and the more important questions with which it had to deal. Among other matters which we have not noted were the organization of the United States Courts; the re- moval of the seat of government from l^hiladelphia to Wash- ington ; the party complexion of Jefferson's appointments to tlie civil service, in spite of his ex]:)ressed design to be non- ])artisan in the selection to office; and the naming of men for the foreign embassies, such as James Alonroe as pleni- potentiar)- to France, assisted at the P>ench Court by Robert R. Livingston, and at the Spanisli Court by Charles C. Pinckney. Other matters to which Jefferson gave interested attention include the dispatch of the explorers, Lewis and Clarke, to report on the features of the Far Western coun- try, then in reality a wilderness, and to reclaim the vast mi- kiK)wn region for civilization. The details of this notable expedition up the .Missouri to its source, then on through the Lidian country across the Rockies to the Pacific, need 72 THOMAS JEFFERSON. not detain us, since the story is familiar to all. With the Louisiana purchase, it opened up great tracts of the continent, later on to become habitable and settled areas, and make a great and important addition to the public domain. In the appointment of the expedition and the interest taken in it, Jefferson showed his intelligent appreciation of what was to become of high value to the country, and ere long result in a land of beautiful homes to future generations of its hardy people. At the close of his second term in the Presidential chair (1809) Jefferson retired once more, and finally, to "Monti- cello," after over forty years of almost continuous public ser- vice. His career in this high office was entirely worthy of the man, being that of an honorable and public-spirited, as well as an able and patriotic, statesman. If not so astute and sagacious as some who have held the presidency, especi- ally in failing to see where his political principles, if car- ried out to their logical conclusions, would lead, his con- scientiousness and liberality of mind prevented him from falling gravely into error or making any very fatal mistakes. Though far from orthodox, — indeed, a freethinker he may be termed, in matters of religious belief, his personal life was most exemplary, and his relations with his fellowmen were ever just, honorable, and upright. He had no gifts as a speaker, but was endowed highly as a writer and thinker; and, generally, was a man of broad intelligence, unusual culture for his time, and possessed a most alert and enlightened mind. His interest in education and the liberal arts was great, and with his consideration for the deserving poor and those in class servitude, was indulged in at no in- THOMAS JEFFERSON. "] % considerable cost to his pocket. His hospitality was almost a reproach to him, as his impoverished estates and dimin- ished fortunes in the latter part of his life attest. TTis faith in democracy as a form of government was unbounded, as was his loyalty to that beneficent political creed summed up in the motto — "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." "As a president," writes the lecturer, Dr. John Lord, "he is not to be compared with Washington for dignity, for wisdom, for consistency, or executive ability. Yet, on the whole, he has left a great name for giving shape to the institutions of his country, and for intense patriotism." "JelTerson's manners," records the same entertaining writer, "were simple, his dress was plain, he was accessible to everybody, he was boundless in his hospitalities, he cared little for money, his ojMuions were liberal and progressive, he avoided quarrels, he had but few prejudices, he was kind and generous to the poor and unfortunate, he exalted agri- cultural life, he hated artificial splendor, and all shams and lies. In his morals he was irreproachable, unlike Hamilton and Burr ; he never made himself ridiculous, like John Adams, by egotism, vanity, and jealousy ; he was the most domestic of men, worshipped by his family and admired by his guests ; always ready to communicate knowledge, strong in his convictions, perpetually writing his sincere sentiments and beliefs in letters to his friends, — as upright and honest a man as ever filled a public station, and finally retiring to private life with the respect of the whole nation, over which he continued to exercise influence after he had parted with power. And when he found himself poor and embarrassed in consequence of his unwise hospitality, he 74 THOMAS JKFFERSON. sold his library, the best in the country, to pay his debts, as well as tlic most valual)le part of his estate, yet keeping up his cheerfulness and serenity of temper, and rejoicing in the general prosperity, — which was produced by the ever- expanding energies and resources of a great country, rather than l)v the political theories which he advocated with so much ability.'' In Jefferson's own mind, just what was the essence of his political gospel we ascertain from a succinct yet com- prehensive passage in his able First Inaugural Address. In that address President Jeft'erson sets forth instructively what he terms the essential ])rinciples of government, and those upon which, as he conceives, his own administration was founded and by which it was guided. The governing principles it affirms are : — "Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, and honest friendshij) with all nations, entangling alliances with none : the sup]K)rt of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domes- tic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-repul)lican tendencies: the ])reservation of the general government in its wdiole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad ; a jealous care of the right of election by the people ; a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided ; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital ])rinci])le of repub- lics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined THOMAS ji:ffi:rso.\. 75 militia, our best reliance in i)eace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve tliem ; the suprem- acy of the ci\il over the military authority — economy in the public exijenditure. that labor may be lightly l)ur(lene(l ; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred ])reservation of the public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaiden ; the diffusion of information and arraign- ment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason ; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person, under the protection of the Habeas Corpus; and trial by juries im])artially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us. and guided our stei)s through an age of revolution and reformati(jn. The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment ; they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust ; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety." Jefferson had completed his sixty-sixth year when he relinquished the presidency to his friend and pupil. James Madison, and retired to his loved \'irginia home. There he lived on for seventeen years, enjoying the esteem and respect of the nation, and taking active interest in his favorite schemes on behalf of education in his native state and his helpful work in founding the college which was afterwards expanded into the Tniversity of X'irginia. His interest in national affairs, u]) to the last, remained keen and fervid, as the vast collection of his published corres- 76 THOMAS JEFFERSON. pondence show, as well as his many visiting contemporaries attest. In the winter of 1825-6, his health began to fail, and in the following spring he made his will and prepared for posterity the original draft of his great historic achieve- ment as a writer and patriot — the Declaration of Indepen- dence. As the year (1826) wore on, he expressed a wish to live until the fiftieth anniversary of the nation's inde- pendence, a wish that, as in the case of his distinguished con- temporary, John Adams, was granted by the favor of Heaven, and he died on the 4th of July, mourned by the whole country. In numberless quarters, funeral honors were paid to his memory, the more memorable orations be- ing that of Daniel Webster, delivered in Boston. To his tomb still come annually many reverent worshippers ; while, among the historic shrines of the nation, his home at Mon- ticello attracts ever-increasing hosts of loving and admiring pilgrims. THOMAS JEFFERSON'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1801. Friends and fcUow-citizcns: — Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow- citizens which is here assmbled. to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me. to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, tra- versing all the seas with the rich productions of their indus- try, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye — when I contemplate these transcendent ob- jects, and see the honor, the ha])pincss, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation and humble my- self before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, in- deed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I here see, remind me that in the other high authorities pro- vided by our Constitution, I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support, which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel ° in 78 riKJ.MAS j I'I'J' F.R.SOX. which \vc are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world. During the contest of opinions through which we have passed, the animation of tliscussions and exertions has some- times worn an aspect which might im])ose on strangers un- used to think freely, and to speak and to write as they think. But this being now decided by the voice of the nation, enounced " according to the rules of the constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All. too, will bear in mind this sacred principle that, though the will of the majority is in all cases to ])revail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their e(jual rights, which equal laws must ])rotect, and to violate which would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind ; let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and aft'ection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things. Let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we coun- tenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and ca- pable of as bitter and bloody per.secution. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonized si)asms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and ])caccful shore ; that this slionld be more felt and feared by some, and should divide opinion as to meas- ures of safety. But every dift'erence of opinion is not a dif- THOMAS ji:ffi£kson. 79 ference of princii)Ie. W'c have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans; we are all federalists. If there be any among us who wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undistin-bed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men have feared that a republican government cannot be strong; that this govern- ment is not strong enough. But would not the honest pa- triot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may I)y i)ossibility want energy to pre- serve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, tlie strongest government on earth. I believe it is the only one where every man. at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law ; would meet invasions of public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes, it is said, that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him ? Let history answer this c[ues- tion. Let us. then. ])ursuc witli courage and confidence our own federal and republican principle, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature, and a wide ocean, from the exterminating" havoc of one quarter of the globe, too high- minded to endure the degradation of the others ; possessing a chosen countrv with room enough for all to the hundredth 8o THOMAS JEFFERSON. and thousandth generation ; cnlertaining a dull sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fel- low-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them, enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratutude and the love of man, acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it de- lights in the happiness of man here and in his greater hap- piness hereafter. With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people ? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens : a wise and frugal gov- ernment which shall restrain men from injuring one another shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pur- suits of industry and improvement, and shall not take ° from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of this government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them in the narrowest limits they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations: Equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights as the most competent THOMAS JEFFERSON. 81 administrations for our (lomcstic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies ; the preserva- tion of the general government, in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad ; a jealous care of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are un- provided ; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the ma- jority, the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism ; a well-disciplined militia, our best re- liance in peace, and for the first moments of war till regu- lars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; economy in public expense that labor may be lightly burdened ; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid ; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason ; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus '^ ; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revo- lution and reformation : the wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment ; they should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust ; and should we wander from them in error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. 82 THOMAS JEFFERSON. I repair then, fellow-citizens, to the post which you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate sta- tions to know the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of im- perfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and great- est revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love, and had destined for him ihc fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and eft'ect to the legal administration of your afifairs. T shall often go wrong through defect of judgment ; when right, I shall often be tliought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your in- dulgence for my errors, which will never l)e intentional ; and your support against the errors of others, who may contemn Vvhat they would not, if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great con- solation to me for the past ; and my future solicitude will be to retain the good ojMuion of those who have bestowed it in advance to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happin'jss and freedom of all. Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, 1 advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much bet- ter choice it is in your power to make. And may that in- finite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.* Ih ImIidKI a. /..\< ll.\KIA>. \() Mirer of more laslin}; ^.•al1^c• condiuc'd lm "fttlf.Cullurr" Mngnzlnr, for .I.in.. ISOfi, l).v kind porniL-^Hiuu of thf i>iil.lLs|H'r8, Till- WiTiific'o., .\kiiiii. n. 84 THOMAS JEFFERSON. trances to the heart of America. They sought to connect Canada and Louisiana by a chain of armed towns and forti- fied posts, which were sparsely though grachially erected. In 1722 New Orleans was made the capital of the French possessions in the Southwest. I'rance hoped to build in this colony a kingdom rich and lucrative, and this hope the early conditions, the stretch of fertile and easily traversable coun- try, stimulated. The French and Indian wars came on. The I'jigli.sh forces, aided by American colonists of Fng- lish descent, captured the French forts, destroyed their towns, and took dominion of their territory. The Seven Years' War. ending in America in the capture of Quebec by the immortal Wolfe, completed the downfall of French- America. The treaty of Paris ceded to Spain the territory of Louisiana. The Government at Madrid now- assumed control of the region ; settlers became more numerous, the planting of sugar was begun, the province flourished. While Spain in 1782-83 occupied both sides of the Mississippi from 31* north latitude to its mouth, the United States and Great Britian declared in the Treaty oi Paris that the navigation of that river from its source to its outlet should be free to both nations. Spain denied that such provisions were bind- ing on her. She sought to levy a duty on merchandise transported on the river. She denied the right of our citi- zens to use the Mississippi as a highway, and compli- cations ensued. The Americans claimed the free navigation of the river and the use of Xew Orleans for a place of de- posit as a matter of right. However, the unfriendly policy of Spain continued for some years. In 1795 the Spanish THOMAS JEFFKRSON. 85 Government became involved in a war with France. Weak- ened by loss of forces and fcarinp hostilities from this coun- try, Spain consented to sip;n a treaty of friendship, boundar- ies and navigation with our envoy, Thomas Pinckney. Its most imi)ortant article was to this effect, that "Ilis Catholic Majesty likewise agrees that the navigation of the said river (Mississippi), in its whole breadth, from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and to the sub- jects of the United States." On October i, 1800, by the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain pave back to France that province of Louisiana which in 1762 I'Vance had given her. The consideration for its retrocession was an assurance by I'Vance that the Duke of Falma, son-in-law of the King of Spain, should be raised to the dignity oi King and have his territory enlarged bv the addition of Tuscany. Rumors of this treaty reached Amer- ica in the spring of 1801, though its e.xact terms were not known until the latter part of that year. Immediate! \ upon the reception of this information, our Ciovernment an I its citizens were aroused. The United States found lier- self hemmed in between the two i)rofessional belligerents of luirojK? — a perilous position for the \oung power. 'Jhe ex- citement increased when, in (October, 1802, the Spanish In tendant declared that New Orleans could no longer be used as a place of deposit. Xor was any other place designated for such purpose, although in the treaty of 1795 it was stipu- lated that in the event of a withdrawal of the right to use New Orleans, some other point would be named. It was now a subject of extreme importance to the Republic into whose control the highway of traffic should pass. President >0 THOMAS I 111 I U.SdN. JclTcrsoti called the attoiuioii of Coiij^ress to this retroces- sion. He anticipated the I'icikIi designs, lie justly feared that Napoleon llonaparte wouKl >eek (o renew the old colon- ial i;lorics oi iMance, and (he warlike i;enius and ambitions spirit of the "hirst Consul" aui;nienteil this fear. Word came in Xovemher. 1802, of an e.xpedition being fitted out under i^ench command to take possession of Louisiana, all protests of our Minister to the transfer having proved futile. Our nation then realized fully the peril of the situ- ation. Congress directed the ( iovernors of the States to call out So,cx)0 militia, if necessary, and it a]>])ropriatcd $j.(K^\(X^(-) for the purchase of the Island of Xew Orleati^ and the adjacent lands. I'-arly in jamiary, i8(\^. the President decided to hasten matters by sending James Monroe to l-'rance, to be associ- ated with Robert R. Livingston, our minister to that coun- try, as ciMumissioners {or the purchase of Xew Orleans and the IMorida^. Livingston had been previously work- ing on the same line, but without success. Instructions were given them that if h>ancc was obstinate about selling the de- sired territory, to open negotiations with the British dov- crnment, with a view to iircventing l^-ancc from taking possession of Louisiana. European complications, however, worked in favor of this country more than did our own ef- forts. h:re Monroe arrived at his destination dispute>^ arose between l^ngiand and l>ance concerning the Lland of Malta. The clouds of war began to gather. Xapoleon dis- cerned that England's powerful navy would constantly menace and im^bably cai)(rrc Xew (^rlcan<. if it were pn<- sessed by him. and fearing a frustration of his design^ of TIKIMAS |i:i IIKSON. 87 coiK|iicst l)y loo ifiiiolo accessions, Xajx^Iccjii, at this junc- ture, made uverluies for a sale to the L'.iiled States not only of the Island of Xew Orleans hut of the whole area of the proNJuce, The money demanded would he helpful to France, and the wily I'Venchman probably saw in such a transfer an opportunity of embroiling the Government at Washington in boundary disputes with the FVitish and Span- ish sovereigns. These considerations served to precipitate Frencli action. Marbois, who had the confidence of Xapolcon, and who had been in the diplomatic service in America, was now at the head of the b'rench Treasury, lie was put f(jrward to negotiate with our re|)resentatives with respect to the proposed sale. C)n April lo, 1803, news came from Lon- don that the peace of Amiens was at an end ; war imjjcnded. Bonaparte at once sent for Marbois and ordered him to push the negotiations with Livingston, without awaiting the arrival of Monroe, of whose appointment the "h'irst Consul" was aware. Monroe reached Paris on the 12th of April, and the negotiations, already well under way, pro- gressed rapidly. A treaty and two conventions were signed by Barlx'-Marbois for the I'Vench, and by Livingston and Monroe for the United States, on A|)ril 30th, less than three weeks after the commission had begun its w'oVk. The price agreed upon for the cession of Louisiana was 75.000,- 000 francs, ami for the satisfying of I'rench spoliation claims due to Americans was estimated at $3,750,000. The treaty was ratified by Bonaparte in May, 1803. and by the United States Senate in the following October. The cession of the territory was contained in one paper, another fixed the 88 THOMAS Ji:i FERSON. amount to be paid and the mndc of payment, a third ar- ranged the method of setthng the claims due to Americans. The treaty did not attempt a precise description or boun- dary of the territory ceded. In the treaty of San Ildefonso general terms only are used. It speaks of Louisiana as of "the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when Fratice possessed it, and such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into be- tween Spain and the other States." The treaty with the United States describes the land as "the said territory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner as have been acquired by the French Re- public, in virtue of the above-mentioned treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty." The Court at Madrid was astounded when it heard of the cession to the United States. Florida was left hemmed in and an easy prey in the first hostilities. Spain filed a pro- test against the transfer, claiming that by express provision of the articles of cession to her, France was prohibited from alienating it without Spanish consent. The protest being ignored, Spain began a course of unfriendly proceedings against the United States. Hostile acts on her part were continued to such an extent that a declaration of war on the part of this country would have been justified. We relied upon the French to protect our title. At length, with- out an}' measures of force, the cavilling of Spain ceased and she acquiesced in the transfer. Upon being confronted with the proposition of sale by Marbois, our Ministers were dazzled. They recognized the vast importance of an acceptance, yet felt their want oi' THOMAS J I.FFFRSON. 89 authority. With a political prescience and broad patriotism they overstepped all authority and concluded the treaty for the purchase of this niapnificent domain. Authorized to purchase a small island and a coaling-place, they con- tracted for an empire. The treaty of settlement was looked upon by our representatives as a stroke of state. When the negotiations were consummated and the treaties signed and delivered, Mr. Livingston said: "W^e have lived long. and this is the fairest work of our lives. The treaty we have just signed will transform a vast wilderness into a flourishing country. From this day the United States be- . comes a first-class power. The articles we have signed will produce no tears, but ages of happiness for countless human beings." Time has verified these expressions. At the same period, the motives and sentiment of Bonaparte were botlied forth in the sentence: "I have given to Eng- land a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride." The acquisition was received with merited and general applause. Few objections were made. The only strenuous opposition arose from .some Federalists, who could see no good in any act of the Jeffersonian administration, how- ever meritorious it might be. Out of the territory thus ac- quired have been carved Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Ar- kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mon- tana, and the largest portion of Minnesota, Wyoming, and Colorado. They now form the central section of the United States, and are the homes of millions and the sources of countless wealth. It is possible here to notice but briefly the vast ami 90 1 llDMAS ji;i-l-l.KS(».N. poiniaiicnt political aiul cconoiiiical consequences to the United Stales of this purchase. The party which perform- ed this service came into pt)\\ir a^ the niaintainer of vol- untary union. The soul of the strict construction i)arty was Thomas Jefferson. Inclined to l-Vench ideas, he hail hcen for several \ears previous to the founding of our Constitution imhihin*«'«SS;«_ a 11 ' "r" Montircllo, thr H2 d for seeing the lion, and 25 cents the dwarf. WOULD TAKE NO PRESENTS. The Rev. Mr. Leland sent him a great cheese, pre- sumably as a present. IVIr. Jefferson was not in the habit "of deadheading at hotels," nor of receiving pres- ents, however inconsiderable in value, which would place him under any obligation to the donor. The diary contains the following minute regarding the cheese: 1802. Gave Rev'd Mr. Leland, bearer of the cheese of 1235 lbs weight, 200 D. So the monster article cost the President sixteen cents a pound. It will be a surprise to those who have been educated to associate ]\Ir. Jefferson's name with indifference, if not open hostility, to revealed religion, to find among his expenses — some entered as charity, l)ut most of them, exclusive of what is reported under the charity rubric — entries like the following: '792 , , Nov 27 Pd Mr B a Subscription for missionaries 15D. 1798 Feby 26 pd 5D in part of 20D Subscription for a hot-press bible 114 THOMAS JEFFERSON. i8oi lune 25 Gave order on J Barnes for 25D towards fitting up a chapel. Sept 23 pd Contribution at a Sermon 7.20 1802 April 7 Cave order on J Barnes for 50D charity in favor of the Revd Mr Partcinson towards a Baptist meeting house. 9 Gave order on J. Barnes in favf the Revd Docf Smith to- wards rebuilding Princeton College looD 1802 July II Subscribed to the Wilmington Academy looD 1803 Febv 25 Gave Hamilton & Campbell ord. on J. Barnes for looD charity to Carlisle College. " 28 Gave Geni Winn ord. on J. Barnes for looD charity to Jef- ferson Monticello Academy in S. Carolina. March i. Gave in charity to the Revtl' Mr Chambers of Alexandria for his church an order on J. Barnes for 50D Nov 18 Gave order on J. Barnes for looD in favor of Rev»>-»vXXt ■^(Tm. Un^ Cuj-e^ u^^z-fi^ 2 ^KASf TAa^ lyl a. JLtMi^'rii^Zn-^ J'xrm J1\aA~ *-i^i/-'- f^yk-iiA / un^h La /-e*_ ■y^x-t, tyg\j-e^ry^^ mtJuJK -rrurr^. /-Ira^^rv "Zf /a«- TriA/n^ Is C-9. ~J-j y a- CtUt(jL -wwxt fj\ji/r^ dt^CAT^XJ^, [n^ iL.*~p/l\j ~te -rr^^ f^P'f*^ -/%<— JngyUtf ImMtX^ '^/^«— t-n^^^ji. A- ■>r^-rOkf^^<. l-rC^t< lA' Mjti At^nV Cn-ej^Xi^ fK^H) --i,^|j,,rv-. Those desirous of seeing the arguments /ro and con^ put in their latest and best form, will find them in two articles in \\\^'-''Magasi7ie of American History ^'^ in the January and March num- bers of 1 889. "It is suf^cient here to say that there was found among, the British State papers, as well as in contempor- aneous newspapers in this country, the original Meck- lenburg paper, which was not a Declaration of Indepen- dence at all, but simply patriotic resolutions similar to those which were published in most of the Colonies at that time. "And so the Mecklenburg Declaration takes its place with the stories of Pocahontas and of William Tell." — Boutell. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. In effecting the purchase of Louisiana, Mr. Jefferson has thus been eulogized by James G. Blaine, in his '•'■Twenty Years of Congress :^^ "Mr. Jefferson made the largest conquest ever peace- fully achieved, at a cost so small that the sum expended for the entire territory docs not equal the revenue which has since been collected on its soil in a single month, in time of great public peril." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 19 JKKKKRSON AND BKXKDICT ARNOLD. Benedict Arnold, with the British troops, had entered the Chesapeake in Jannary, 1781, and sailed up the James River. He captnred Richmond, the capital, then a town of less than two thousand people, and des- troyed everything- upon which he could lay his hands. Jefferson summoned the militia, who came by thous- ands to oppose the traitor. Arnold, however, sailed down to Portsmouth and escaped. Jefferson then urged upon General Muhlenburg the importance of picking out a few of the best men in his command "to seize and bring ofT the greatest of all traitors." "I will undertake," he said, "if they are successful in bringing him off alive, that they shall receive five thousand guineas reward among them." The effort was not made. A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. Jefferson mingled a great deal with the common peo- ple, especially with mechanics. Often, when President, he would walk down to the -Navy Yard early on a summer's morning, and sitting down upon an anchor or spar, would enter into conver- sation with the surprised and delighted shipwrights. He asked many questions of these artisans, who would take the utmost pains to satisfy his enquiries. His political opponents believed unjustly that he did this simply for effect. They would say, "There, see the demagogue!" I20 THOMAS JEFFERSON. "There's long Tom, sinking the dignity of his station to get votes and court the mob." ARISTOCRACY OF MIND. Although Jefferson was an ardent democrat, in some sense he was also an aristocrat. He firmly believed in an aristocracy of mind, and told John Adams tliat he rejoiced that nature had creat- ed such an aristocracy. He unmistakably gave his preference to men of learn- ing and refinement, at least he put these above other recommendations. Mr. Jefferson, however, was not consistent with him- self, for he frequently called General Washington "Your Excellenc)-,'' during the war, and also when he was a private citizen at ]\It. Vernon. EVIL YOUTHFUL COMPANIONS. Just after his college days Mr. Jefferson fell into com- pany, as so many young men do, of a most undesirable sort. According to his own statements it was a source of amazement even to himself that he ever escaped to be worth anything to the world. He realized in later years what a dangerous risk he had run. READ LITTLE FICTION. While he was an extensive reader in his early days, going into almost every field of literature, including Doetry, he read very little fiction. In fact, there was comparatively but little fiction THOMAS JEFFERSON. 121 then worth the name. Not from any sentiment of duty or moral impropriety, but from simple aversion lie let it alone. NEITHER ORATOR NOR GOOD TALKER. Jefferson was neither an orator nor a good talker. He could not make a speech. His voice would sink downwards instead of rising upwards out of his throat. But as regards legal learning he was in the front rank. No one was more ready than he in ably written opin- ions and defenses. It was in what John Adams termed "the divine sci- ence of politics" that Jefferson won his immortal and resplendent fame. SELF-CONTROL. , With all his apparent tolerance and good humor, there was a great deal of the arbitrary and despotic in Mr. Jefferson's nature. Stern principle alone enabled him to keep his native imperiousness within proper bounds. THE INFLUENCE OF JEFFERSON'S SISTER. Among those who exerted a marked influence on Jef- ferson's early years was his oldest and favorite sister Jane. She was three years his senior, and was a woman of superior standing and great elevation of character. She was his constant companion when he was at home, and a sympathi/cing friend to whom he unlocked his heart. She was a "singer of uncommon skill and sweet- ness, and both were particularly fond of the solemn mu- sic used by the Church of England in the Psalms." She ,22 THOMAS JEFFERSON. died ill tlic fall of 1765, at the age of twenty-five. Ke cherished her memory with the warmest affection to the close of his life. JEFFERSON A DOCTRINAIRE. J^ewis Henry Boutell, in his "Jefferson as a j\Ian of Letters," says: "That Jefferson, in j'ustiiying- the action of the colon- ists, shonld have thonght more of the metaphysical risrhts than historical facts, illnstrates one of the marked featnres of his character. He was often more of a doc- trinaire than a practical statesman. He reminds us of the words which Burke applied on a certain occasion to Chatham: 'For a wise man he seemed to me at that time to be governed too much by general maxims.' " RECONCILIATION WITH JOHN ADAMS. For many }-ears the friendship between Jefferson and John Adams had been broken off. Mrs. Adams had become decidedly hostile, in feeling towards Jefferson. But through a mutual friend, Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, a reconciliation was fully established between them. It was a spectacle in which the whole country greatly rejoiced, to see the intimacy restored between the two venerable men, once Presidents of the United States, and brothers, in helping secure the independence of their beloved land. Although they did not see each other face to face again, a continuous, instructive and affectionate corres- pondence was kept up between them. Their topics c\ THOMAS JEFFERSON. 12. discourse were those relatint;- to Revolutionary times, but especially to religion. George III, Kinj^ of England during the Revolution. 124 THOMAS JEFFERSON. NKGRO COLONIZATION. Mr. JefTcrsoii bclic\'ed in the colonization of negroes to Afri<:a, and the substitution of free white labor in their ])lace. He wrote to John Lynch, of Virginia, in 1811, as fol- lows: "Having long ago made up my mind on this sub- ject (colonization), I have no hesitation in saying that I have ever thought it the most desirable measure which could be adopted, for gradually drawing off this part of our pojDulation most advantageously for themselves as as well as for us. "Going from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might be the means of transplanting them among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus carry back to the country of their origin, the seeds of civilization, which might render their sojournment and sufferings here a blessing in the end to that country." Many other eminent men have shared the same opin- ion, and not a few prominent leaders among the Afro- American people. But it is now an impossibility. The American negro is in America to stay. The ever pressing problem of his relationship to the white man involves questions of education, labor, politics and religion, which will take infinite patience, insight, forbearance and wisdom to settle justly. EDUCATING AMERICAN BOWS ABROAD. Mr. Jefferson was a strong opponent of the practice of sending boys abroad to be educated. He says: THOMAS JEFFERSON. 125 "The boy sent to Europe acquires a fondness for Ku- ropean luxury and dissipation, and a contempt for the simplicity of his own country. "He is fascinated with the privileges of the European aristocrats, and sees with abhorrence the lovely equality which the poor enjoy with the rich in his own countr\-. "He contracts a partiality for aristocracy or monarchy. "He forms foreign friendships which will never be useful to him. "He loses the seasons of life for forming in his own conntr)' those friendships which of all others are the most faithful and permanent. "He returns to his own country a foreigner, nnac- quainted with the practices of domestic economy neces- sary to preserve him from ruin. "He speaks and writes his native tongue as a foreign- er, and is therefore unqualified to obtain those distinc- tions which eloquence of the tongue and pen insm'es in a free country. "It appears to me then that an American going to Europe for education loses in his knowledge, in his morals, in his health, in his habits and in his happiness." These utterances of Jefferson apply of course only to boys in the formative period of their lives, and not to mature students who go abroad for higher culture. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ]\Ir. Jefferson always believed the cause of the French Revolution to be just. Its horrors and excesses were the necessary evils attendant upon the death of tyranny Louis XVI Threatened by the Mob on their Visit to the Tuilerics. June -JO. 1792. THOMAS JEFFERSON, ,2- and the birth of liberty. Louis the XVI was thorou^^hly conscientious. At - the age of twenty he ascended the throne, and strove to present an example of morality, justice and econonn-. P>ut he had not firmness of will to support a «-ood minis- ter or to adhere to a good policy. In the course of events a great demonstration of the French populace was made against the king. Thous- ands of persons carrying pikes and other weapons marched to the Tuileries. For four hours Louis was mobbed. He then put on a red cap to please his un- welcome visitors, who afterwards retired. Long after the "Days of Terror" Jefferson wrote in his autobiography: "The deed which closed the mortal course of these sovereigns (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette), I shall neither approve nor condemn. "I am not prepared to say that the first magistrate of a nation cannot commit treason against his country or is not amenable to its punishment. Nor yet, that where there is no written law, no regulated tribunal, there is not .a law in our hearts and a power in our hands given for righteous employment in maintaining right and re- dressing wrong. "I should have shut the queen up in a convent, put- ting her where she could do no harm." Mr. Jefferson then declared that he would have per- mitted the King to reign, believing that with the re- straints thrown around him, he would have made a suc- cessful monarch. i28 THOMAS JEFFERSON. SAYINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. From the Life of Jefferson, by Dr. Irelan. MARRIAGE. Harmony in the marriage state is the very first object to be aimed at. Nothing can preserve affections uninterrupted but a firm resolution never to differ in will, and a determina- tion in each to consider the love of the other as of more value than an\^ object whatever on which a wish had been fixed. How light, in fact, is the sacrifice of any other wish when weighed against the affections of one with whom we are to pass our whole life! KDITORS AND NEWSPAPERS. Perhaps an editor might begin a reformation in some such way as this: Divide his paper into four chapters, heading the ist. Truths; 2d, Probabilities; 3d, Possibili- ties; 4th, Ivies. The first chapter would be very short, as it would contain little more than authentic papers, and information from such sources as the editor would be willing to risk his own reputation for their truth. The second would contain what, from a mature consid- eration of all circumstances, he would conclude to be probably true. This, however, should rather contain too little than too much. The third and fourth should be professedly for those readers who would rather have lies for their money than the blank paper they would occupy. THOMAS J I'.i'FKKSOX. I29 Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an im- moral act. Whenever yon are to do anything, though it can never he known hut to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accord- ingly. From the practice of the purest virtue, you may he assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death. Though you cannot see when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth in the nearest manner possible. An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second. Nothing is so mistaken as the supposition that a per- son is to extricate himself from a difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by untruth, by injustice. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attend- ing too much liberty than those attending a too small degree of it. Yet it is easy to foresee, from the nature of things, that the encroachments of the State governments will tend to an excess of liberty which will correct itself, while those of the General Government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself from day to day. Responsibility is a tremendous engine in a free govern- ment. 130 THOMAS ii:iT'1:rs(>.\. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people (the slaves) are to be free. When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone th.rough. it is best to make up our minds to it. meet it witli firmness, and accommodate every thing to it in the best way practicable. The errors and misfortunes of others should be a school for our own instruction. The article of dress is, perha])s, that in which economy is the least to be recommended. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the \\ill of the luajority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, luust be reasonable; that the minoritv ])ossess their equal rights, which equal laws nnist protect, and to violate which would be oppression. A good cause is often injured more by ill-timed efforts of its friends than by the arguments of its enemies. Persuasion, perseverance, and patience are the best ad- vocates on questions depending on the will of others. I hold it. that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. An observation of this truth should render honest re])ublicau governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. Tt is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. No race of kings has ever presented above one man of com.mon sense in twenty generations. With rdl the defects in our Constitution, whether gen- eral or particular, the comparison of our government with iiioMAS ji:rKF.RSON. 131 those of Europe, is like a comparison of Heaven with Hell. England, like the earth, may he allowed to take the intermediate station. I have a right to nothing, which another has a right to tcike away. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. En- ahle them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe, and go to eating one another as they do there. Health, learning, and virtue will insure your happiness; they will give you a (luiet conscience, private esteem and public honor. If I were to decide between the pleasures derived from the classical education which my father gave me. and the estate left me, I should decide in favor of the former. Good humor and politeness never introduce into mixed society a question on which they foresee there will be a difference of opinion. The general desire of men to live by their heads rather than their hands, and the strong allurements of grcc t cities to those who have any turn for dissipation, threaten to make them here, as in Europe, the sinks of voluntary misery. T have often thought that if Heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupa- tion is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and 132 THOMAS JEFFERSON. no culture comparal)le to that of the garden. I sincerely, then, believe with you in the general ex- istence of a moral instinct. I think it is the brightest gem with which the human character is studded, and the want of it as more degrading than the most hideous of the bodily deformities. I must ever believe that religion substantially good, which produces an honest life, and we have been authorized by one (One) whom you and I equally respect, to judge of the tree by its fruit. Where the law of majority ceases to be acknowdedged there government ends, the law of the strongest takes its place and life and property are his who can take them. Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever lie has a chosen ])eople, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue, it is the focus in which He keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. The wise know their w^eakness too well to assume in- fallibility; and he who knows most knows best how little he knows. TEN CANONS FOR PRACTICAL LIFE. 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never 1)uy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 33 5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 6. We never repent of having eaten too Httle. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened. 9. Take things always by tlicir smooth handle. 10. When angry count ten Ijcfore you sjicak ; if very angr}-, a hundred. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. By Daniel Webster. Discourse in Commemoration of the Lives and Services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Delivered in Faneuil Hall, August 2, 1826. This is an unaccustomed spectacle. For the first time, fellow-citizens, badges of mourning shroud the columns and overhang the arches of this hall. These walls, which were consecrated, so long ago, to the cause of American liberty, which witnessed her infant struggles, and rung with the shouts of her earliest victories, proclaim, now, that distin- guished friends and champions of that great cause have fallen. It is right that it should be thus. The tears which flow, and the honors that are paid, when the founders of the republic die, give hope that the republic itself may be im- mortal. It is fit that, by public assembly and solemn ob- servance, by anthem and by eulogy, we commemorate the services of national benefactors, extol their virtues, and ren- der thanks to God for eminent blessings, early given and long continued, to our favored country. Adams and Jefferson are no more ; and we are assem- bled, fellow-citizens, the aged, the middle-aged, and the young, by the spontaneous impulse of all, under the authority of the municipal government, with the presence of the chief- magistrate of the commonwealth, and others, its official rep- resentatives, the university, and the learned societies, to bear our part in those manifestations of respect and gratitude which universally pervade the land. Adams and Jeft'erson 134 THOMAS JKFFKRSON. are no more. On o.ir fiftieth anniversary, the great day of national jubilee, in the very hour of public rejoicing, in the midst of echoing and re-echoing voices of thanksgiving, while their own names were on all tongues, they took their flight together to the world of spirits. If it be true that no one can safely be pronounced happy while he lives, if that event which terminates life can alone crown its honors and its glory, what felicity is here ! The great epic of their lives, how happily concluded ! Poetry it- self has hardly closed illustrious lives, and finished the career of earthly renown, by such a consummation. If we had the power, we could not wish to reverse this dispensation of the Divine Providence. The great objects of life were accom- plished, the drama was ready to be closed. It has closed; our patriots have fallen; but so fallen, at such age, with such coincidence, on such a da}', that we cannot rationally lament that that end has come, which we know could not long be deferred. Neither of these great men, fellow-citizens, could have died, at any time, without leaving .an immense void in our American society. They have been so intimately, and for so long a time, blended with the history of the country, and especially so united, in our thoughts and recollections, with the events of the revolution, that the death of either would have touched the strings of public sympathy. We should have felt that one great link, connecting us with former times, was broken ; that we had lost something more, as it were, of the presence of the revolution itself, and of the act of independence, and were driven on, by another great re- move, from the days of our country's early distinction, to meet posterity, and to mix with the future. Like the ma- riner, whom the ocean and the winds carry along, till he sees the stars which have directed his course and lighted his path- less way descend, one by one, beneath the rising horizon, we should have felt that the stream of time had borne us on- ward till another luminary, whose light had cheered us and wliose guidance we had followed, had sunk awav from our sight. "Hut the concurrence of tlieir dealh on the anniversarv of THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 1 35 indcpentlence has naturally awakened stronger emotions. Both had been presidents, both had lived to great age, both were early patriots, and both were distinguished and ever honored by their immediate agency in the act of independ- ence. It cannot but seem striking and extraordinary, that these two should live to see the fiftieth year from the date of that act; that they should complete that year; and that then, on the day which had fast linked forever their own fame with their country's glory, the heavens should open to receive them both at once. As their lives themselves were the gifts of Providence, wdio is not willing to recognize in their happy termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its benefactors are objects of His care? Adams and Jefferson, I have said, are no more. As human beiiigs, indeed they are no more. Thev are no more, as in 1776. bold and fearless advocates of independence ; no more, as on subsequent periods, the head of the government ; no more, as we have recently seen them, aged and venerable objects of admiration and regard. Tiiey are no more. Thev are dead. But how little is there of the great and good which can die! To their country they yet live, and live for- ever. They live in all that perpetuates the remembrance of men on earth ; in the recorded proofs of their own great ac- tions, in the offspring of their intellect, in the deep-engraved lines of public gratitude, and in the respect and homage of mankind. 11iey live in their example ; and they live, em- l)hatically, and will live, in the influence which their lives and efforts, their principles and opinion, now exercise, and will continue to exercise, on the affairs of men, not only in their own country, but throughout the civilized world. A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so i\ :e a gift, is not a temporary flame, burning bright for a while, and then expiring, giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind; so that when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out in dcalli, n^ nii^lit fol- lows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the 136 THOMAS JIMTF.KSON. potent contact of its own spirit. Bacon died ; but the human understanding roused by tiic touch of his miraculous wand to a perception of the true philosophy and the just mode of inquiring after truth, has kept on its course successfully and gloriously. Newton died ; yet the courses of the spheres are still known, and they yet move on in the orbits which he saw, and described for them, in the infinity of space. No two men now live, fellow-citizens, perhaps it may be doubted whether any two men have ever lived in one age, who, more than those we now commemorate, have impressed their own sentiments, in regard to politics and government, on mankind, infused their own opinions more deeply into the opinions of others, or given a more lasting direction to the current of human thought. Their work doth not perish with them. The tree which they assisted to plant will flour- ish, although they water it and protect it no longer; for it has struck its roots deep, it has sent them to the very center ; no storm, not of force to burst the orb, can overturn it ; its branches spread wide ; they stretch their protecting arms broader and broader, and its top is destined to reach the heavens. We are not deceived. There is no delusion here. No age will come in which the American revohuion will a])- pear less than it is, one of the greatest events in human his- tory. No age will come in which it will cease to be seen and felt, on either continent, that a mighty step, a great advance, not only in American affairs, but in human affairs, was made on the 4th of July, 1776. And no age will come we trust, so ignorant or so unjust as not to see and acknowledge the efficient agency of these w^e now honor in producing that momentous event. We are not assembled, therefore, fellow-citizens, as men overwhelmed with calamity by the sudden disru])tion of the ties of friendship or affection, or as in despair for the re- public by the untimely blighting of its hopes. Death has not surprised us by an unseasonable blow. We have, indeed, seen the tomb close, but it has closed only over mature years, over long-protracted public service, over the weakness of age, and over life itself only when the ends of living had THOMAS JEFFERSON. 137 been fulfilled. These suns, as they rose slowly and steadily, amidst clouds and storms, in their ascendant, so they have not rushed from their meridian to sink suddenly in the west. Like the mildness, the serenity, the continuing benignity of a summer's day, they have gone down with slow-descending, grateful, long-lingering light ; and now that they are beyond the visible margin of the world, good omens cheer us from "the bright track of their fiery car 1" There were many points of similarity in the lives and fortunes of these great men. They belonged to the same profession, and had pursued its studies and its practice, for unequal lengths of time indeed, but with diligence and efifect. Both were learned and able lawyers. They were natives and inhabitants, respectively, of those two of the colonies which at the revolution were the largest and most powerful, and wdiich naturally had a lead in the political affairs of the times. When the colonies became in some degree united, by the assembling of a general congress, they were brought to act together in its deliberations, not indeed at the same time, but both at early periods. Each had already mani- fested his attachment to the cause of the country, as well as his ability to maintain it, by printed addresses, public speeches, extensive correspondence, and whatever other mode could be adopted for the purpose of exposing the en- croachments of the British parliament, and animating the people to a manly tesistance. Both, were not only decided, but early, friends of independence. While others yet doubted, they were resolved ; where others hesitated, they pressed for- ward. They were both members of the committee for pre- paring the declaration of independence, and they constituted the sub-committee ap]X)intcd by the other members to make the draft. They left their seats in congress, being called to other public employment, at periods not remote from each other, although one of them returned to it afterward for a short time. Neither of them was of the assembly of great men which formed the present constitution, and neither was at any time member of congress under its provisions. Both have been public ministers abroarl, both vice-presidents and both presidents. Idiese coincidences are now singularly 138 TUO.MAS JEi'FliKSON. crowned and completed. Tliey have died together; and they cHed on the anniversary of liberty. When many of ns were last in this place, fellow-citizens, it was on the day of tliat anniversary. We were met to en- joy the festivities belonging to the occasion, and to manifest our grateful homage to our political fathers. We did not, we could not here forget our venerable neighbor of Ouincy. We knew that we were standing, at a time of high and palmy prosperity, where he had stood in the hour of utmost peril ; that we saw nothing but liberty and security, where he had met the frown of power ; that we were enjoying everything, where he had hazarded everything; and just and sincere plaudits rose to his name, from the crowds which filled this area, and hung over these galleries. He whose grateful duty it was to speak to us,"- on that day. of the virtues of our fathers, had, indeed, admonished us that time and years were about to level his venerable frame with the dust. But he bade us hope that "the sound of a nation's joy, rushing from our cities, ringing from our valleys, echoing from our hills, might yet break the silence of his aged ear ; that the rising blessings of grateful millions might yet visit with glad light his decaying vision." Alas! that vision was then closing forever. Alas! the silence which was then settling on that aged ear was an everlasting silence ! For, lo ! in the very moment of our festivities, his freed spirit ascended to God who gave it ! Human aid and human solace terminate at the grave ; or we would gladly have borne him upward, on a nation's outspread hands; we would have accompanied him, and with the blessings of millions and the prayers of mil- lions, commended him to the Divine favor. While still indulging our thoughts, on the coincidence of the death of this venerable man with the anniversary of in- dependence, we learn that Jefferson, too, has fallen ; and that these aged patriots, these illustrious fellow-laborers, have left our world together. May not such events raise the suggestion that they are not undesigned, and that Heaven does so order things, as sometimes to attract strongly the •Hon. Josiali Quincv. THOMAS JEFFEKSU-X. 13^ attention and excite the thotights of men? The occurrence has added new interest to our anniversary, arid will be re- membered in all time to come. The occasion, fellow-citizens, requires some account of the lives and services of John Adams and Thomas Jef- ferson. This duty nuist necessarily be performed with great brevity and in the discharge of it I shall l)e obliged to confine myselT, principally, to those parts of their his- tory and character which belonged to them as public men. John Adams was born at Quincy, then part of the ancient town of Braintree, on the 19th of October, (old style,) 1735. He was a descendant of the Puritans, his ancestors having early emigrated from England, and set- tled in Massachusetts. Discovering early a strong love of reading and of knowledge together with the marks of great strength and activity of mind, proper care was taken by his worthy father to provide for his education. He pur- sued his youtliful studies in Braintree, under Mr. Marsh, a teacher wdiose fortune it was that Josiah Quincy, Jr., as well as the subject of these remarks, should receive from him his instruction in the rudinients of classical literature. Having been admitted, in 1751, a member of Harvard Col- lege, Mr. Adams was graduated, in course, in 1755 ; and" on the catalogue of that institution, his name, at the time of his death, was second among the living alumni, bein^ preceded only l)y that of the venerable Holyoke. With what degree of reputation he left the university is not now i^re- cisely known. We know only that he was a distinguished in a class which numliered Locke and Hcmmenway among its members. Choosing the law for his profession, he com- menced and prosecuted its studies at Worcester, under the direction of Samuel Putnam, a gentleman whom he has himself described as an acute man, an able and learned lawyer, and as in large professional practice at that time. In 1758 he was admitted to the bar, and com- menced business in Braintree. He is understood to have made his first considerable efifort, or to have attained his first signal success, at Plymouth, on one of those occa- sions which furnish the earliest opportunity for distinction 140 THOMAS JEFFERSON. to many you'ig men of the profession, a jury trial, and a criminal cause. His business naturally grew with his reputation, and his residence in the vicinity afforded the opportunity, as liis growing eminence gave the power, of entering on the large field of practice which the capital pre- sented. In \j(.6 he removed his residence to Boston, still continuing his attendance on the neighboring circuits, and not un frequently called to remote parts of the prov- ince. In 1/7'"' his professional firmness was brought to a test of some severity, on the application of the British officers and soldiers to undertake their defense, on the trial of the indictments found against them on account of the transactions of the memorable 5th of March. He seems to have thought, on this occasion, that a man can no more abandon the proper duties of his profession, than he can abandon other duties. The event proved, that, as he judged well for his own reputation, he judged well, also, for th.e interest and permanent fame of his country. The result of that trial proved, that notwithstanding the high degree of ex'^itement then existing in consequence of the measures of the British government, a jury of Massachu- setts would not deprive the most reckless enemies, even the officers of that standing army quartered among them, which they so perfectly abhorred, of any part of that pro- tection which the law, in its mildest and most indulgent interpretation, afforded to persons accused of crimes. \\^ithout pursuing Mr. Adams's professional course further, suffice it to say, that on the first establishment of the judicial tribunals under the authority of the state, in 1776, he received an offer of the high and responsible station of chief-justice of the supreme court of his state. But he was destined for another and a different career. From early life, the bent of his mind was toward politics; a propensity which the state of the times, if it did not create, doubtless very much strengthened. Public sub- jects must have occupied the thonglits and filled up the conversation in the circles in which he then moved ; and the interesting questions at that time just arising could not but seize on a mind like his, ardent, sanguine, and THOMAS J i:1'1'I:ks()N. 141 IKitriolic. The Idler, iorlunalel)' i)reserve(l, written by him at Worcester, so early as the 12th of October, 1755, is a proof of very comprehensive views, and uncommon depth of reflection, in a young man not yet quite twenty. In tliis letter he predicted the transfer of power, and the establishment of a new seat of empire in America; he predicted, also, the increase of population in the colonies; and anticipated their naval distinction, and foretold that all Europe combined could not subdue them. All this is said not on a public occasion or for effect, but in the style of sober and friendly correspondence, as the result of his own thoughts. "I sometimes retire," said he, at the close of the letter, ''and, laying things together, form some reflections pleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries you have read above."''"' This prognosti- cation so early in his own life, so early in the history of the country, of independence, of vast increase of numbers, of naval force, of such augmented power as might defy all Europe, is remarkable. It is more remarkable that its author should have lived to see fulfilled to the letter what could have seemed to others, at the time, but the extrav- agance of youthful fancy. His earliest political feelings were thus strongly American, and from this ardent at- tachment to his native soil he never departed. ♦Extract of a letter written by John Adams, dated at Worcester, Massachusetts, October 12, 1755: "Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World, for conscience' sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America. It looks likely to me; for, if wo can remove the turbulent Gallios, our people, according to the exactest computations, will, in anothrr century, become more nu- merous than England itself. Should this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain a mastery of the seas; and then the united force of all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us. "Be not surprised that I am turned politician. This whole town is immersed in politics. The interests of nations, and all the dira of war, make the subject of every conversation. I sit and hear, and after hav- ing been led through a maze of sage observations, I sometimes retir''. and, laying things together, form some rctioctions pleasing to myself. The produce of one cf these reveries you have read above." 142 THOMAS JRFFF.RSON. Wlii'e still living at Quincv. and at the age of twenty- l\)ur. Mr. Adams was present, in this town, on the argu- ment before the supreme eourt respeeting Writs of .Is- sistaiicc, and heard the eelebrated and ])atriotic speech of James Otis. Unquestionably, that was a masterly per- formance. No llighty declamation about liberty, no super- ficial discussion of popular topics, it was a learned, pene- trating, convincing, constitutional argument, expressed in a strain of high and resolute patriotism. He grasped the (|uestion then pending between luigland and her colonies with the strength of a lion; and if he sometimes sported, it was only because the lion himself is sometimes play- ful. Its success a])])ears to have been as great as its merits, and its im])ression was widelv felt. .Mr. Adams himself seems never to have lost the feeling it i)ro(luced, and to have entertained constantl}' the fullest conviction of its im])ortant effects. "I do saw" he observes, "in the most solemn manner, that Air. C^lis's Oration against Writs of Assistance breathed into tliis nation the breath of Hfe." In 1765 Mr. Adams laid before the ])ublic. what T sup- pose to be his first ])rinted ])erformancc, except essavs for the periodical ])rcss. A Dissertation on the Canon and I-'eudal Law. The object of this work was to show that our Xew England ancestors, in consenting to exile them- selves from their native land, were actuated mainly bv the desire of delivering themselves from the ])owcr of the hierarchy, and from the monarchial and aristocratical political systems of the other continent, and to make this truth bear with effect on the politics of the times. Its tone is imcommonly bold and animated for that period. Tie calls on the people, not only to defend, l)ut to studv and understand, their rights and privileges ; urges ear- nestly the necessity of diffusing general knowledge; in- vokes the clergy and the bar. the colleges and academies, and all others who have the ability and the means to expose the insidious designs of arbitrary power, to resist its approaches, and to be persuaded that there is a settled design on foot to enslave all America. "Be it remem- THOMAS ji-:i-"fi:ks()x. 143 bered," says llic aiUiior, "ihal H])crt_\- mn>l, at all hazards, be supporte^l. W'c lia\c a ri^i^lit to it. derived from our Maker. Hut if we had u^t, our fathers ha\e earned it and bought it for us, at the ex])ense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood. And liberty can- not be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings and a desire to know. L>ut, besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible right, to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers. Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees of the people ; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously be- trayed or wantonly trilled away, the peo])le have a right to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and to constitute other and better agents, attor- neys, and trustees." The citizens of this town conferred on AFr. Adams his first political distinction, and clothed him with his first political trust, by electing him one of their representatives, in 1770. Before this time he had become extensively known throughout the province, as well by the part he had acted in relation to public afl^airs, as by the exercise of his professional ability. He was among those who took the deepest interest in the controversy with England. and whether in or out of the legislature, his time and talents were alike devoted to the cause. In the years 1773 and 1774 he was chosen a councilor by the members of the general court, but rejected by Governor Hutchinson in the former of those years, and by Governor Gage in the latter. The time was now at hand, however, when the affairs of the colonies urgently demanded united counsels. An open rupture with the parent state appeared inevitable, and it was but the dictate of prudence that those who were united by a common interest and a common danger, should protect that interest and guard against that danger. 144 THOMAS ii:FFi:kSox. by united efforts. A general congress of delegates from all the colonies having been proposed and agreed to, the house of representatives, on the 17th of June, 1774, elected James liowdoin, Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat I'aine, delegates from Massa- chusetts. This appointment was made at Salem, where the general court had been convened Idv Governor Gage, in the last hour of the existence of a house of represen- tatives under the provincial charter. While engaged in this important business, the governor, having been in- formed of what was passing, sent his secretary with a message dissolving the general court. The secretary, finding the door locked, directed the messenger to go in and inform the speaker that the secretary was at the door with a message from the governor. The messenger re- turned, and informed the secretary that the orders of the house were that the doors should be kept fast ; where- upon the secretary soon after read a proclamation, dissolv- ing the general court, upon the stairs. Thus terminated, forever, the actual exercise of the political power of Eng- land in or over Massachusetts. The four last named delegates accepted their appointments, and took their seats in congress the first day of its meeting, September 5th, 1774, in Philadelphia. The proceedings of the first congress are well known, and have been universally admired. It is in vain that we would look for superior proofs of wisdom, talent, and patriotism. Lord Chatham said that, for himself, he must declare that he had studied and admired the free states of antiquity, the master states of the world, but that, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of con- clusion, no body of men could stand in preference to this congress. It is hardly inferior praise to say that no pro- duction of that great man himself can be pronounced superior to several of the papers, published as the pro- ceedings of this most able, most firm, most patriotic as- sembly. There is. indeed, nothing superior to them in the range of political disquisition. They not only embrace, illustrate and enforce everything whicli political pliiloso- THOMAS JKKFERSON. 145 pliy, the love of liberty, and the spirit of free inciuiry had antecedently produced, but they add new and striking views of their own, and apply the whole, with irresistible force, in support of the cause which had drawn them to- gether. Mr. Adams was a constant attendant on the deliberations of this body, and bore an active part in its important meas- ures. He was of the committee to state the rights of the colonies, and of that, also, which reported the Address to the King. As it was in the continental congress, fellow-citizens, that those whose deaths have given rise to this occasion were first brought together, and called on to unite their industry and their ability in the service of the country, let us now turn to the other of these distinguished men, and take a brief notice of his life up to the period when lie appeared within the walls of congress. Thomas Jefferson descended from ancestors who had been settled in \'irginia for some generations, was born near the spot on which he died, in the county of Albemarle, on the 2d of April, (old style,) 1743. His youthful studies were pursued in the neighborhood of his father's residence, until he was removed to the college of Williani and Mary, the highest honors of which he in due time received. Hav- ing left the college with reputation, he applied himself to the study of the law under the tuition of George Wythe, one of the highest judicial names of which that state can boast. At an early age, he was elected a member of the legislature, in which he had no sooner a])peared than he distinguished himself by knowledge, capacity, and promptitude. Mr. Jefferson appears to have been imbued with an early love of letters and science, and to have cherished a strong disposition to pursue these objects. To the physical sci- ences, especially, and to ancient classic literature, he is understood to have had a warm attachment, and never en- tirely to have lost sight of them in the midst of the busiest occupations. P.ut the times were times for action, rather than for contemplation. The country was to he defended, and to be saved, before it could be enjoyed. Philoso])hic 146 TIIO.MAS JliFFERSON. leisure and literary pursuits, and even the objects of pro- fessional attention, were all necessarily postponed to the urgent calls of the public service. The exigency of the country made the same demand on Mr. Jefferson that it made on others who had the ability and the disposition to serve it ; and he obeyed the call ; thinking and feeling in this respect with the great Roman orator: "Quis enim est tarn cupidus in perspicienda cognoscendaque rerum natura, ut, si, ei tractanti contemplantique, res cognitione dignissmas subito sit allatum periculum discrimenque patriae, cui subvcnire opitularique jiossit, non ilia omnia relinquat atque al)jiciat, ctiam si dinumerare se Stellas, aut meliri mundi magnitudinem posse arbitretur?" Entering with all his heart into the cause of liberty, his aljility, patriotism, and power with the pen, naturally drew upon him a large participation in the most important con- cerns. Wherever he was, there was found a soul devoted to the cause, power to defend and maintain it, and willing- ness to incur all its hazards. In 1774 he published a Sum- mary \'iew of the Rights of British America, a valuable pro- duction among those intended to show the dangers which threatened the liberties of the coimtry, and to encourage the people in their defense. In June. T775, he was elected a member of the continental Congress, as successor to Peyton Randolph, who had retired on account of ill health, and took his seat in that body on the 21st of the same month. And now, fellow-citizens, without pursuing the biography of these illustrious men further, for the present, let us turn our attention to the most prominent act of their lives, their participation in the Declaration of Indepence. Preparatory to the introduction of that important meas- ure, a committee, at the head of which was Mr. Adams, had reported a resolution, which congress adopted the loth of IMay, recommending, in substance, to all the colo- nies which had not already established governments suited to the exigencies of their affairs, to adopt such govern- ment as 7,'ould, ill the opinion of the representatives of the THOMAS ji:i'1'1:rson. 147 people, best conduce to the luil^/^iitcss and safety of their constituents in particuhir, and /linerica in general. This signiticant vole was soon followccl by the direct proposition which Richard Henry Lee had the honor to snbmit to Congress, by resohition, on the 7th day of June. The pnbHshed journal does not expressly state it, but there is no doubt, I suppose, that this resolution was in the same words when originally submitted by Mr. Lee, as w^hen finally passed. Having been discussed on Saturday, the 8th, and Monday, the loth of June, this resolution was on the last mentioned day postponed for further consideration to the first day of July ; and at the same time, it was voted that a committee be appointed to prepare a Declaration to the ef- fect of the resolution. This committee was elected by bal- lot, on the following day, and consisted of Thomas Jeffer- son, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. It is usual when committees are elected by ballot, that their members are arranged in order, according to the num- ber of votes which each has received. Mr. Jefferson, there- fore, had received the highest, and Mr. Adams the next high- est number of votes. The difference is said to have been but of a single vote. Mr. Jeft'erson and Mr. Adams, stand- ing thus at the head of the committee, were requested by the other members to act as a sub-committee to prepare the draft ; and Mr. Jefferson drew up the paper. The original draft, as brought by him from his study, and submitted to. the other members of the committee, with interlinea- tions in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, and others in that of Mr. AdauT^s, was in Mr. Jefferson's possession at the time of his death. The merit of this paper is Mr. Jefferson's. Some changes were made in it on the suggestion of other members of the committee, and others by congress while it was under discussion. But none of them altered the tone, the frame, the arrangement, or the general character of the instrument. As a composition, the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson's. It is the production of his mind, and the high honor of it belongs to him, clearly and absolutely. It has sometimes been said, as if it were a derocfation I4(S THOMAS jliFFKKSOX. from the i lerits of this paper; that it contains nothing new; that it only states grounds of proceeding, and presses topics of argument, which had often been stated and pressed be- fore. But it was not the object of the Declaration to produce anything new. It was not to invent reasons for independ- ence, but to state those which governed the congress. For great and sufficient causes it was proposed to declare in- dei)en(lence ; and the i)roper business of the paper to be drawn was to set forth those causes, and justify the authors of the measure, in any event of fortune, to the country, and to posterity. The c.'ise of American independence, moreover, was now to be presented to the world in such manner, if it might so be, as to engage its sympathy, to command its respect, to attract its admiration ; and in an assembly of most able and distinguished men, Thomas Jef- ferson had the high honor of being the selected advocate of this cause. To say that he performed his great work well, would be doing him injustice, "i'o say that he did it ex- cellently well, admirably well, would be inadequate and halt- ing praise. Let us rather say that he so discharged the duty assigned him, that all Americans may well rejoice that the work of drawing the title-deed of their liberties devolved on his hands. With all its merits, there are those who have thought that there was one thing in the declaration to be regretted : and that is. the asperity and apparent anger with which it speaks of the person of the king ; the industrious ability with which it accumulates and charges upon him all the injuries which the colonies had suffered from the mother country. Possibly some degree of injustice, now or here- after, at home or abroad, may be done to the character of ATr. Jefferson, if this part of the declaration be not placed in its proper light. Anger or resentment, certainly much less personal reproach and invective, could not properly find place in a composition of such high dignity, and of such lofty and permanent character. A single reflection on the original ground of dispute be- tween England and the colonies, is sufficient to remove any unfavorable impression in this respect. THOMAS JiCin-ia^SON. I49 The inhabitants of all the colonies, while colonies, ad- mitted themselves bound by their allegiance to the king; but they disclaimed altogether, the authority of parliament ; holding themselves, in this respect, to resemble the condition of Scotland and Ireland before the respective unions of those kingdoms with England, when they acknowledged al- legiance to the same king, but each had its separate legisla- ture. The tie, therefore, which our revolution was to break, did not subsist between us and the British parliament, or be- tween us and the British government, in the aggregate, but directly between us and the king himself. The colonists had never admitted themselves subject to parliament. That was precisely the point of the original controversy. They had uniformly denied that parliament had authority to make laws for them. There was, therefore, no subjection to parliaments to be thrown off.* I>ut allegiance to the king did exist, and had been uniformly acknowledged; and down to 1775, the most solemn assurances had been given that it was not in- tended to break that allegiance, or to throw it off. Therefore, as the direct object and only effect of the declaration, accord- ing to the i)rinciples on which the controversy had been main- tained on our part, were to sever the tie of allegiance which bound us to the king, it was properly and necessarily found- ed on acts of the crown itself, as its justifying causes. Parlia- ment is not so much as mentioned in the whole instrument. When odious and opj^ressive acts are referred to, it is done by charging the king with confederating with others, "in pre- tended acts of legislation ;"' the object being constantly to hold the king himself directly responsible for those meas- ures which were the grounds of separation. Even the *This5 question, of the power of parliamont over tlic colonies, wns discussed with singular ability, by Governor Hutchinson on the one side, and the house of representatives of Massachusetts on the other, in 1773. The argument of the house is in the form of an answer to the gover- nor's message, and was reported l)y Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Hancock, JTr. Hawley, Mr. Bowers, Mr. Hobson, Mr. Poster, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Thayer. As the power of the parliament had been aclvnowledi^cd, so far, at least, as to affect us by laws of trade, it wns not easy to settle the line of distinction. It was thought, however, to be very clear that the charters of the colonus had exempted them from the general legis- lation of the Eritish parliament. See .Mass.achusetts .state T'ap<'rs, p. 351. 1^0 THOMAS jkffi:rson. precedent of the Englisli revcjlution was not overlooked, and in this case as well as in that, occasion was fonnd to say that the king had abdicated the government. Consistency with the principles upon which resistance began, and with all the previous state papers issued by congress, required that the declaration should be bottomed on the misgovern- nient of the king; and therefore it was properly framed with that aim and to that end. The king was known, in- deed, to have acted, as in other cases, by his ministers, and with his parliament ; but as our ancestors had never admitted themselves subject either to ministers or to parliament, there ■were no reasons to be given for now refusing obedience to their authority. This clear and obvious necessity of found- ing the declaration on the misconduct of the king himself, gives to that instrument its personal application, and its character of direct and jKjintcd accusation. The declaration having been rei)orted to congress by the committee, the resolution itself was taken up and de- bated on the first day of July, and again on the second, on which last day, it was agreed to and adopted, in these words : "Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are ab- solved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Having thus passed the main resolution, congress pro- ceeded to consider the reported draft of the declaration. It was discussed on the second, and third, and fourth days of the month, in committee of the whole ; and on the last of those days, being reported from that committee, it received the final approbation and sanction of congress. It was ordered, at the same time, that copies be sent to the several states, and that it be proclaimed at the head of the army. The declaration thus pul)lished did not bear the names of the members, for as yet. it had not been signed by them. It was authenticated like other papers of the congress, by the signatures of the President and secretary. On the iQtli of July, as a]-)pears by the secret journal,^ congress "Re- THOMAS JKFFKRSON. I5I soI-i.-cd, That the (Icclaralioii. ]xissc(l on the fourth, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and style of 'The Unanimous Dkclaration of the Thirteen United States of America;' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of congress." And on the sixoND day of August following, "the declaration being en- grossed, and compared at the table, was signed by the mem- bers." So that it happens, fellow-citizens, that we pay these h(^nors to their memory on the anniversary of that day, on which these great men actually signed their names to the declaration. The declaration was thus made, that is, it ])assed and was adopted as an act of congress, on the fourth of July ; it was then signed, and certified by the President and secretary, like other acts. The Fourth of July, there- fore, is the anniversary of the declaration. But the signa- tures of the members present were made to it, being then en- grossed on parchment, on the second day of August. Absent members afterward signed, as they came in; and indeed it bears the signatures of some who were not chosen members of congress until after the fourth of July. The interest be- longing to the subject will be sufficient, I hope, to justify these details. The congress of the revolution, fellow-citizens, sat with closed doors, and no report of its debates was ever taken. The discussion, therefore, which accompanied this great measure, has never been- preserved, except in memory and by tradition. But it is, I believe, doing no injustice to others to say that the general opinion was, and uniformly has been, that in debate, on the side of independence, John Adams had no equal. The great author of the declaration himself has expressed that opinion uniformly and strongly. "John Adams," said he, in the hearing of him who has now the honor to address you, "John Adams was our colos- sus on the floor. Not graceful, not elegant, not always fluent, in his public adaresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and of expression, which moved us from our scats." For the part which he was here to perform, Mr. Adams doubtless was eminently fitted. He possessed a bold spirit, 152 TllO.MAS JEFFERSON. which disregarded danger, and a sanguine reliance on the goodness of the cause, and the virtues of the people, which led him to overlook all obstacles. His character, too, had been formed in troubled times. He had been rocked in the early storms of the controversy, and had acquired a decision and a hardihood proportioned to the severity of the disci- pline which he had undergone. He not only loved the American cause devoutly, but had studied and understood it. It was all familiar to him. He had tried his powers on the questions which it involved, often and in various ways ; and had brought to their consid- eration whatever of argument or illustration the history of his own country, the history of England, or the stores of an- cient or of legal learning could furnish. Every grievance enumerated in the long catalogue of the declaration had been the subject of his discussion, and the object of his remonstrance and reprobation. I'rom 1760, the colonies, the rights of the colonies, the liberties of the colonies, and the wrongs inflicted on the colonies, had engaged his constant attention; and it has surprised those who have had the op- portunity of observing, with what full remembrance and with what prompt recollection he could refer, in his extreme old age, to every act of parliament affecting the colonies, distin- guishing and stating their respective titles, sections, and provisions ; and to all the colonial memorials, remonstrances and petitions, with whatever else belonged to the intimate and exact history of the times from that year to 1775. It was, in his own judgment, between these years that the American people came to a full understanding and thorough knowledge of their rights, and to a fixed resolution of maintaining them; and bearing, himself, an active part in all important transactions, the controversv with England be- ing then in efifect the business of his life, facts, dates and particulars, made an impression which was never efifaced. He was prepared, therefore, by education and discipline, as well as ])y natural talent and natural temperament, for the part which he v/as now to act. The eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled liis general char- acter, anEUS(;)N the cause of general knowledge and of a popular education, had no warmer friends, nor more powerful advocates, than Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson. On this foundation they knew the whole republican system rested ; and this great and all-important truth they strove to impress, by all the means in their power. In the early publication already referred to, Mr. Adams expresses the strong and just sentiment, that the education of the poor is more important, even to the rich themselves, than all their own riches. On this great truth, indeed, is founded that unrivaled, that invaluable political and moral institution, our own blessing and the glory of our fathers, the New England sxstem of free schools. As the promotion of knowledge had been the object of their regard through life, so these great men made it the sub- ject of their testamentary, bounty. Mr. Jefferson is under- stood to have bequeathed his library to the university of his native state, and that of ]\lr. Adams is bestowed on the inhaliitants of Ouincy. Mr. Adams and ]\Ir. Jefferson, fellow-citizens, were suc- cessively presidents of the United States. The compara- tive merits of their respective administrations for a long time agitated and divided public opinion. They were rivals, each supported by numerous and powerful portions of the peo- ple, for the highest office. This contest, partly the cause and partly the consequence of the long existence of two great political parties in the country, is now part of the history of our government. We may naturally regret that anything shoukl have occurred to create difference and dis- cord between those who had acted harmoniously and effici- ently in the great concerns of the revolution. But this is not the time, nor this the occasion, for entering into the grounds of that difference, or for attempting to discuss the merits of the questions which it involves. As practical questions, they were canvassed when the measures which thcv regarded were acted on and adopted ; and as belonging to history, the time has not come for their consideration. It is, perhaps, not wonderful, that, when the constitution oftlie United States went first into operation, different opinions should be entertained as to the extent of the powers Tiio:\iAs .[i;fki:rs()n. 167 conferred by it. Here was a natural source of diversity of sentiment. It is still less wonderful, that that event, aliout contemporary with our government under the present con- stitution, which so entirely shocked all Europe, and disturbed our relations with her leading powers, should be thought, by different men, to have different bearings on our own pros- perity ; and that the early measures adopted by our govern- ment, in consequence of this new state of things, should be seen in opposite lights. It is for the future historian, when what now remains of prejudice and misconception shall have passed away, to state these dift'erent opinions, and pronounce impartial judgment. In the mean time, all good men re- joice, and well may rejoice, that the sharpest differences sprung out of measures which, whether right or wrong, have ceased with the exigencies that gave them birth, and have left no permanent effect, either on the con- stitution or on the general prosperity of the country. This remark, I am aware, may be supposed to have its exception in one measure, the alteration of the constitution as to the mode of choosing President ; but it is true in its general application. Thus the course of pol- icy pursued toward France in 1798, on the one band, and the measures of commercial restriction commenced in 1807, on the other, both subjects of warm and severe opposition, have passed away and left nothing behind them. They were temporary, and whether wise or tmwise, their consequences were limited to their respective occasions. It is equally clear, at the same time, and it is equally gratifying, that those meas- ures of both administrations which were of durable im- portance, and which drew after them interesting and long remaining consequences, have received general aj^probation. Such was the organization, or rather the creation, of the navy, in the administration of Mr. Adams ; such the acquisi- tion of Louisiana, in that of Mr. Jefferson. The country, it may safely be added, is not likely to be willing either to ap- prove, or to reprobate, indiscriminately, and in the aggre- gate, all the measures of either, or of any, administration. The dictate of reason and justice is, that, holding each one his own sentiments on the points in difference, we imitate i08 THOMAS jki"ki:kson. the great men themselves in the forbearance and modera- tion which they have cherished, and in the mutual respect and kindness which they have been so much inclined to feel and to reciprocate. No men, fellow-citizens, ever served their country with more entire exemption from every imi)utation of selfish and mercenary motives, than those to whose memory we are l)aying these proofs of respect. A suspicion of any disposi- tion to enrich themselves, or to profit by their employ- ments, never rested on either. No sordid motive approach- ed them. The inheritance which they have left to their children is of their character and their fame. ]'\dlow-citizens, I will detain you no longer by this faint and feeble tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead. Even in other hands, ade(|uate justice could not be perform- ed, within the limits of this occasion. Their highest, their best praise, is your deep conviction of tlieir merits, your afifectionate gratitude for their labors and services. It is not my voice, it is this cessation of ordinary pursuits, this arresting of all attention, these solenui ceremonies, and this crowded house, which speak their eulogy. Their fame, in- deed, is safe. That is now treasured u]) beyond the reach of accident. Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone l)ear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. i\Iarl)le columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase all impress from the crumbling stone, but their fame remains ; for with American liberty it rose, and with American liberty oxev can it perish. It was the last swelling peal of yonder choir, "Their bodies are buried IN PEACE, BUT THEIR NAME LIVETIT EVERMORE." T catcll that Sf)lemn song, I echo that lofty strain of funeral triumph, "Their name livetii evermore." Of the illustrious signers of the declaration of indepen- dence there now remains only Charles Carroll. He seems an aged oak, standing alone on the jilain, which time has spared a little longer after all its contemporaries have been leveled with the dust. \^encral object! we delight to gather round its trunk, while it stands, and io dwell beneath its THOMAS Jl-.I'M-I'.RSON'. IO9 shadow. Sole survivor of an assembly of as great men as the world has witnessed, in a transaetion one of the most im- portant that history records, what thoughts, what interesting reliections, must fill his elevated and devout soul! If he dwell on the past, how touching its recollections; if he sur- vey the present, how happy, how joyous, how full of the fruition of that hope, which his ardent patriotism indulged; if he glance at the future, how does the prospect of his coun- try's advancement almost bevv'ilder his weakened conception! Fortunate, distinguished patriot! Interesting relic of the past ! Let him know that, while we honor the dead, we do not forget the living; and that there is not a heart here which does not fervently pray that Heaven may keep him }et back from the society of his companions. And now, fellow-citizens, let us not retire from this oc- casion without a deep and solemn conviction of the duties which have devolved upon us. This lovely land, this glori- ous liberty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fathers, are ours ; ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit. Generations past and generations to come hold us responsible for this sacred trust. Our fathers, from be- hind, admonish us, with their anxious paternal voices ; pos- terity calls out to us, from the bosom of the future, the world turns hither its solicitous eyes ; all, all conjure us to act wise- ly, and faithfully, in the relation which we sustain. We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us ; but by vir- tue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good .]irinciple and every good habit, we may ho]:)e to enjoy the blessing, through our day, and to leave it unimpaired to our children. Let us feel deeply how much of what we are and of what we possess we owe to this liberty, and to these in- stitutions of government. Nature has indeed given us a soil which yields bounteously to the hands of industry, the mighty and fruitful ocean is before us, and the skies over our heads shed health and vigor. But what are lands, and seas, and skies to civilized man, without society, without knowl- edge, without morals, without religious culture ; and how can these be enjoyed, in all their extent and all their excellence, but under the protection of wise institutions and a free gov- 170 THOMAS JKFFKRSON. crnment ? Fellow-citizens, there is not one of us, there is not one of us here present, who does not, at this moment, and at every moment, experience in his own condition, and in the condition of these most near and dear to him, the influence and the henefits of this liherty and these institutions. Let us then acknowledge the blessing, let us feel it deeply and powerfully, let us cherish a strong affection for it, and re- solve to maintain and perpetuate it. The blood of our fathers, let it not have been shed in vain; the great hope of posterity, let is not be blasted. The striking attitude, too, in which we stand to the world around us, a topic to which, I fear, I avert too often, and dwell on too long, cannot be altogether omitted here. Neither individuals nor nations can perform their part well, until they understand and feel its importance, and compre- hend and justly appreciate all the duties belonging to it. It is not to inflate national vanity, nor to swell a light and empty feeling of self-importance, but it is that we may judge justly of our situation, and of our own duties, that I earnest- ly urge this consideration of our position and our charac- ter among the nations of the earth. It cannot be denied, but by those who would dispute against the sun, that wMth Amer- ica, and in America, a new era commences in human af- fairs. This era is distinguished by free representative gov- ernments, by entire religious liherty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly awakened and unconquer- able sjiirit of free in(|uiry and by a diffusion of knowledge through the community, such as has been before altogether unknown and unheard of. America, America, our country, connected, fast bound up, in fortune and by fate, with these fellow-citizens, our own dear and native land, is inseparably great interests. If they fall, we fall with them ; if they stand, it will be because we have upholden them. Let us con- template, then, this connection, which binds the prosperity of others to our own ; and let us manfully discharge all the du- ties which it imposes. If we cherish the virtue's and princi- ples of our fathers, Heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human liberty and human happiness. Auspicious omens cheer us. Great examples are before us. Our own firma- riiuMAs jia'FiiRSON. 171 ment now shines brightly upon our path. Washington is in the clear, upper sky. These other stars have now joined the American constellation ; they circle round their center, and the heavens beam with new light. Beneath this illu- mination let us walk the course of life, and at its close de- voutly commend our beloved country, the common parent of us all, to the Divine Benignity. THE STORY OF JEFFERSON. FOR A SCHOOL OR CLUU PROGRAMME. Each numbered paragraph is to be given to a pupil or member to read, or to recite in a clear, distinct tone. If the school or club is small, each person may take three or four paragraphs, but should not be required to recite them in succession. 1. Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743. His home was among the mountains of Central Virginia on a farm, called Shadwell, 150 miles northwest of Williamsburg. 2. His father's name was Peter Jefferson. His ancestors were Welsh people. Like George Washington, he learned the art of surveying. He was a superb specimen of a Vir- ginia landholder, being a giant in frame, and having the strength of three strong men. -3. One of his father's favorite maxims was, "Never ask another to do for you what you can do for yourself." 4. His mother's name was Jane Randolph. She was a noble woman. Thomas Jefferson derived his temper, his dis- position, his sympathy with living nature from his mother. 5. He was very fond of the violin, as were a great many of the Virginia people. During twelve years of his life, he practiced on that instrument three hours a day. 6. He early learned to love the Indians from his ac(|uaint- ance with many of their best chiefs. He held them in great regard during his life. 7. His father died in 1757, wlien Thomas was but fourteen ij2 THOMAS ji:ffi:kson. years of age. The son always spoke of his father with pride and veneration. 8. He entered WiUiam and Mary College in the spring of 1760, when he was seventeen years old. 9. After two vears of eollege life he began the study of law in 1763. 10. When he came of age in A[)ril, 1764, he signalized the event by planting a beautiful avenue of trees near his house. 11. While studying law he carried on the business of a farmer, and showed by his examj)le, that the genuine culture of the mind is the best preparation for the common, as well as the higher, duties of life. 12. When he was elected to the Virginia Assembly, and thus entered upon the pul)lic service, he avowed afterwards to Madison, that "the esteem of the world was, perhaps, of higher value in his eyes than everything in it." 13. His marriage was a very happy one. His wife was a beautiful woman, her countenance being brilliant with color and expression. 14. Six children blessed their marriage, hve girls and a boy. Only two of them, Martha and Mary, lived to mature life. 15. Monticello, the home of Jefferson, was blessed at every period of his long life with a swarm of merry children whom, although not his own, he greatly loved. 16. Mrs. Jefferson once said of her husband, who had done a generous deed for w'hich he had received an ungrateful return, "He is so good himself that he cannot understand how bad other people may be." 17. In his draft of instructions for Virginia's delegates to the Congress which was to meet in Philadeli^hia in Septem- ber, 1774, he used some plain language to George HI. icS. The stupid, self-willed and conceited monarch did not follow his advice, and so lost the American Colonies, the brightest jewels in i^ngland's crown. 19. Sixty gentlemen, in silk stockings and pigtails, sitting in a room of no great size in a plain brick building up a nar- row alley in Philadelphia, composed the Continental Con- gress. THOMAS JliFFERSON. I73 20. Thomas Jefferson was one of the members most wel- come in that body, lie brought with him a "reputation," as John Adams records, "for Hterature, science, and a happy talent for composition." 21 As late as Mov. 29. T775, Jefferson clung to the idea of connection with Great Britain. 22. He wrote his kinsman, John Randolph, that there was not a man in the British Empire who more cordially loved a union with Great Britain than he did. 23. lie said: "It is an immense misfortune to the whole empire to have such a king at such a time. We are tokl, and everything proves it true, that he is the bitterest enemy we have." 24. When tlie draft of the Declaration was submitted to the Congress it made eighteen suppressions, six additions and ten alterations ; and nearly every one was an improvement. 25. It should be a comfort to students who have to wit- ness the corrections of their compositions to know, that this great work of Jefferson, which has given him immortal fanie, had to be pruned of its crudities, redundancies and impru- dences. 26. They should be as ready as he was to submit to criti- cisms and to profit by them as he did, in their future eft'orts. 27. Daniel Webster shall tell in his own language the re- mainder of this history of Jefferson's life. 28. "In 1 78 1 he published his notes on Virginia, a work which attracted attention in Europe as well as America, dis- pelled many misconceptions respecting this continent, and gave its author a ])lace among men distinguished for science. 29. "With Dr. ErankHn and Mr. Adams, in 1874, he pro- ceeded to France, in execution of liis mission as Minister plenipotentiary, to act in the negotiation of commercial treaties. 30. "In 1785 he was appointed Minister to i^'rance. 31. "Mr. Jefferson's discharge of his diplomatic duties was marked l^y great ability, diligence and patriotism. 32. "While he resided in Paris, in one of tlie most inter- esting periods, his love of knowledge, and of the society of 174 TIIO.MAS JKFFl^KSON. learned men, distinguished him in the highest circles of the French capital. 2,^. "Immediately on his return to his native country he was placed t)y Washington at the head of the department of State. 34. "In this situation, also, he manifested conspicuous ability. 35. "His correspondence with the ministers of other pow- ers residing here, and his instructions to our own diplomatic agents abroad, are among our ablest State papers. 36. "In 1797 he was chosen Vice President. In 1801 he was elected President in opposition to Mr. Adams, and re- elected in 1805, by a vote approaching towards unanimity. 37. "From the time of his final retirement from public life ]\Ir. Jefferson lived as becomes a wise man. 38. ".Surrounded by affectionate friends, his ardor in the pursuit of knowledge undiminished, with uncommon health and unbroken spirits, he was able to enjoy largely the ra- tional pleasures of life, and to partake in that public pros- perity which he had so much contributed to produce. 39. "His kindness and hospitality, the charm of his conver- sation, the ease of his manners, and especially the full store of revolutionary incidents which he possessed, and which he knew when and how to dispense, rendered liis abode in a high degree attractive to his admiring countrymen. 40. "His high public and scientific character drew towards him every intelligent and educated traveler from abroad. 41. "P>oth Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson had the pleasure of knowing that the respect which they so largely received was not ])aid to their official stations. 42. "They were not men made great by ofiKe ; but great men, on whom the country for its own benefit had conferred office. 43. "There was that in them which oftice did not give, and which the relinquishment of office did not and could not take away. 44. "In their retirement, in the midst of their fellow citi- zens, themselves private citizens, they enjoyed as high regard THOMAS I i:i--i--|'.KS()N. 175 and esteem as wiicu lllling the inosl important places of pul:)lie trust. 45. "Thus useful and thus respected passed the old age of Thomas Jefferson. 46. "But time was on its cver-ceaseless wing, and was now bringing the last hour of this illustrious man. 47. "He saw its approach with undisturl)ed serenity. He counted the moments as they passed, and beheld that his last sands were falling. 48. That day, too, was at hand which he had helped make immortal. One wish, one hope — if it were not presumptuous — beat in his fainting breast. 49. "Could it be so — might it please God — he would desire once more to see the sun — once more to look abroad on the scene around him, on the great day of liberty. 50. "Heaven in its mercy fulfilled that prayer. He saw that sun — he enjoyed that sacred light-r-he thanked God for this mercy, and bowed his aged head to the grave." PROGRAMME FOR A JEFFERSONIAN EVENING. 1. Vocal Solo — "Star Spangled Banner." 2. Recitation — One of Jefferson's Speeches. 3. Description of Jefferson's Home, Illustrated by Pic- tures. 4. Recitation — Declaration of Independence. 5. Recitation — "Battle of the Kegs," by Francis Hopkin- son, ("Progress," Vol. 2, page 761). 6. Instrumental Music — "Yankee Doodle." 7. Home Life of the Statesman. (Paper or Address.) 8. Anecdotes of Jefferson. 9. Question Box Concerning the Politics of the Time. 10. Vocal Solo — "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW- lllioi and zcJtcrc 7^'as Thomas Jefferson horn? What zvas his height? What zvas the color of Jiis hair and eyes? What ]j6 THOMAS ji:i-fi:ksox. can yon say of his literary ability/ What of his scholarship f What of his moral character/ To zohich of his teachers zoas he especially indebted/ When luas his public career begun/ What resolution zvas then taken/ What effect ivould this resolution have upon modern politicians, if it -ivere made and faithfully kept/ Upon ichat subject zeas his first important speech made/ With what result/ IVhoni did Jefferson marry/ What zvas the reception given Jefferson and his bride/ What important public document did he prepare in connection zvith the Revolution/ When did he take his seat in Congress/ In zdiat zvay zvas he connected zvith the Dec- laration of Independence/ Who zvere his associates on the Committee/ Give a brief history of the events connected zeith the signing of the Declaration of Independence/ Hozv much time passed before the Articles of Confederation zvere formally signed by the States/ What zvere the overt acts of opposition by the various States/ What zvas the Alien act/ What zvas the Sedition act/ What instances can you give of the prompt punishment of seditious utterances/ When zvere the Alien and Sedition acts repealed/ What important measures did Jefferson succeed in passing in his ozvn State/ WJien did he become Goz'crnor of the State/ What zvere his duties in relation to foreign treaties/ What zvere his impres- sions concerning the French government/ 11^ hat zvas his inlluence upon educational zvork/ What zvas the character of the Barbary States/ Why zvere they permitted to hold Americans as captives/ What zvas Jefferson's opinion on the subject/ When did he enter Washington's Cabinet, and zvhat position did he fill/ What zvas his relation to Alexan- der Hamilton/ Who zvere the other members of the Cabi- net/ What led JeUerson to resign from the Cabinet/ When did he become Vice President/' Hozv did President Adams treat him/ What have you to say about Jefferson's "Manual of Parliamentary Prac'tice/" iflw zvere the Federal nomi- nees for President and Vice President in 1800/ JVhat zvas the note of alarm sounded by Hamdton/ What zvas the atti- tude of the clergy tozvards Jefferson, and zvhy/ IJlw zvere the Federalists/ Who zvere the Republicans/ Uliat name did the Republicans afterzvards take/ What rvrre some of THOMAS j!:ffi:rson. 177 the exciting i)icidcuts c ounce ted i^'itli the vote for President? What was the nnnibcr of ballots cast for President? U'lio ivas the Vice President elected zuith Jefferson? What zvas the character of his administration? ]Vho zvere the members of his Cabinet? Did Jefferson turn men in a zvholesale zvay out of office? What zvas his attitude toivards ceremonies? IIozv did he dress? When zvas he re-elected? What zvas^ the most important result of his influence? IVhat great pur- chase of territory zi'as made? What States and Territories Jiave been carved out of it? Who explored the upper Mis- souri and Columbia River country, and zvhen? What steam- boat made her maiden trip, and zvhen? When zvas the first boat load of anthracite coal shipped to Philadelphia? JVhat pirates zvcre snuffed out, and zvhen? JJ^hy did John Quincy Adams resign his seat in the United States Senate? JVhat zvas the Non-Intercourse act? What zvas the condition of our commerce at this time? JVhat Act proz'cd to be one of his greatest mistakes? JVhen zvas it passed? JJ^hen re- pealed? JVhat zvas his financial condition? JJliaf zvere the results of Jiis efforts for education? JJliat did Congress pay for his library? JJHien did he die? JJ'ho died on the same day that Jefferson did? JJJtat did Horace Greeley say about the coincidence? JVhat zvas the character of Jeiferson as a slave-holder? IV hy is there a difference in Jefferson's por- traits? JJ^'hat zvas Daniel JJ^ebster's statement regarding his countenance? JJliat zvas his opinion of slavery? JJ^hai zvas Jefferson's opinion concerning happiness? Jjiiat did he say of resignations? JJHiat is the epitaph on Jefferson's tomb? What zvas Jefferson's statement regarding promises for the Presidency? JVhat is the story of the Mould Board of I^cast Resistance? JVhat is the story of Jefferson as an in- ventor? JJ'^hat is the story of Jefferson and the horse jockey? JJ^hat zvas the peculiar relationship betzveen Jefferson and Patrick Henry? JJlio zvcre some of the brilliant members of the Virginia Assembly? JVhat are the main features of Plenry's famous speech before that Assembly? JVhat zvere the treasures Jefferson bequeathed to his countrv and his State? JVhat did Jefferson say of titles of honor and office? 178 THOMAS jr:FFi-:RSON. JVhat was his opinion of a third tcnnF What ivcre his viezvs regarding hrn'ycrs in Congress? What is the true history of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence? What were Jefferson's oratorical pozvers? SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY. 1. The Declaration of Independence as a literary produc- tion. 2. The Declaration of Independence as apparently founded in Acts xvii, 26. 5. General condition of the country at the time of Jeffer- son's election to the Presidency. 4. Leading events connected zvith his administration. 5. General results of his political influence. 6. Leading characteristics of the man. 7. Jefferson and Hamilton. Littell's Age, Vol. St, p. 613. 8. College Days of Jefferson. Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 2p, p. 16. p. Family of Jefferson. Harper's Mag., Vol 75, p. ^66. JO. Jefferson in Continental Congress. Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 2Q, p. 676. 11. Jefferson in the War of the Revolution. Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 2p, p. ji/. 12. Jefferson and nullification. See Lives of Jefferson. /J. Jefferson and Patrick Henry. See Lives of Jefferson. 14. Pecuniary Embarrassments of Thomas Jefferson. See Lives of Jefferson. 75. Religious Opinions of Jefferson. See Lives of Jef- ferson. 16. Jefferson a Reformer of Old Virginia. Atlantic Monthly, Vol. jo, p. J2. BIBLIOGRAPHY. For those who read to read extensively, the following works are especially commended : Life of Thomas Jefferson. By James Parton. Jas. R. Os- good & Co., Boston, 1874. THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1 75 Life of Thomas Jefferson. By Henry S. Randall, LL. D. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. Life of Thomas Jefferson. John Robert Irclan, M. D., Chicago. Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jeft"erson, the Man of Letters. Lewis Henry Bou- tell, Chicago. Privately printed. Biography of Thomas Jefferson. Cyclopedia of American Biography. D. Appleton & Co. History of the People of the United States. John Bach ]\Ic- Master. Vols. I and H. D. Appleton & Co. Lives of the Presidents. John Frost, LL. D. Phillips & Sampson, Boston. Eulogv on Adams and Jeft'erson. Daniel Webster, Fancuil Hall, Aug. 2, 1826. Character of Thomas Jefferson. North American Review, Vol. 91, p. 107. Jefferson's Opinions on Slavery. Andrew D. White, At- lantic Mag., Vol. 9, p. 29. Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Littell's Living Age, Vol. 81, p. 273. \\'ar of Independence. John Mske. Houghton. ]\lift'lin &. Co., Boston and New York. The Critical Period of American History. John Fislce, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., I'oston and New York. CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS In the Life of Jefferson. 1743 Born Albemarle County, Virginia, April 2. 1760 Entered William and Mary College. 1764 Admitted to the bar of the General Court of Virginia when 21 years of age. 1769 Chosen Representative in the Provincial Legislature. 1772 Married ]\Irs. Martha Skelton, January 21st. 1773 Appointed ]\Ieml)er of the First Committee of Corre- i8o THOMAS ji:fferson. spondencc estaljlislicd by the Colonial Lcgislatuii., March 1 2th. 1774 Published the "Summary Mew of the Rights of Brit- ish America." 1776 Chosen to a Seat in the Continental Congress. Ap- pointed Chairman of the Committee to prepare tl". Declaration of Independence. 1779 Elected to the Virginia Legislature. Helped allevia the condition of the British Prisoners sent fro: Saratoga to Charlottesville, Va. Elected by the Legislature to succeed Patrick LIenr\ as Governor of Virginia, June i. 1781 Elected to the Legislature of Virginia after serving i. Governor two years. "Notes of Virginia" written. 1782 Appointed by Congress to serve with the American Negotiators for Peace. 1783 Elected Delegate to Congress. Wrote Notes on the Establishment of a Coinage c. the United States. 1784 Appointed by Congress as Minister Plenipotentiary, with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, to ne- gotiate Treaties of Commerce with Foreign Nc tions. May. 1785 Succeeded Franklin as Minister to France. 1789 Appointed Secretary of State by Washington. 1793 Resigned the position of Secretary of State, Decem- ber 31. 1796 Elected Vice-President of the United States. 1800 Elected President of the United States. 1803 Louisiana Purchase. 1804 Northwestern Exploring Expedition under Lewis am' Clark. Re-Elected President of the United States. 1807 Passage of The Em])argo Act, December 22. 1818 University of Virginia founded, of which Jefferson was Rector until his death. 1826 Died on the same day that John Adams expired July 4th. \■..^^