Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/610

590 THOMAS JEFFERSON in March, 1775, and was placed upon the com- mittee to report a plan of defence, which was soon drawn up. The convention then proceed- ed to elect delegates to congress, and Jefferson was chosen as the alternate of Peyton Ran- dolph, who might be retained hy his office of president of the house in Virginia. This was the case when Gov. Dnnmore summoned the burgesses to meet on June 1 . Jefferson was pres- ent, and at the request of his associates drew up before leaving Williamsburg the reply of the Virginia assembly to Lord North's " conciliatory proposition." This bold and forcible paper he carried with him to Philadelphia soon after- ward. Eight days before his arrival Washing- ton had been appointed by congress com- mander-in-chief of the armies of the colonies. America was thus in open resistance against the crown. Jefferson's arrival was anxiously expected, as he was known to be the bearer of the reply of Virginia to Lord North's pro- posal ; and when the reply was delivered to congress, it met with the warmest approbation. As the author of the paper, and of the " Sum- mary View " in the preceding year, Jefferson took his position among the leaders of the body. He had " the reputation of a masterly pen," says John Adams, and " writings of his were handed about, remarkable for the peculiar felicity of expression." He was silent upon the floor, but in committee was so "prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive," says the same authority, that he won the cordial regard as well as respect of his associates. He was at once placed upon the committee to draw up the declaration of the cause of taking up arms, and aided John Dickinson in drafting the paper, of which congress approved. The body then proceeded to act upon Lord North's proposi- tion ; and Jefferson, as author of the answer of Virginia, was requested by the committee, of which he was a member, to prepare that of congress. He did so, nearly in the words of the former paper. Congress adopted it, and then adjourned. In November the news ar- rived of the rejection of the last petition. On May 15, 1776, Virginia instructed her delegates to propose a declaration of the independence of the colonies; and congress now solemnly approached that great event. Early in June a committee to draw up the declaration was appointed, with Jefferson for its chairman. He was "unanimously pressed to undertake the draft " by his associates of the committee, and did so, Franklin and Adams only making two or three verbal alterations in it. It was laid before congress on June 28. On July 2, the resolution to declare the colonies indepen- dent, which had been introduced by Richard Henry Lee, in accordance with the Virginia instructions, passed the body, and the draft of the declaration was taken up. The debate upon the paper, as to its tone, its statements, and the propriety of adopting at that time a measure so extreme, lasted for nearly three days, and was very hot. It was so powerfully opposed by some of the members, that Jeffer- son compared the opposition to " the ceaseless action of gravity, weighing upon us by night and by day." Its supporters, however, were the leading minds, and urged its adoption with masterly eloquence and ability. On July 4 the declaration with the amendments was agreed to ; and thus commenced the republic of the United States of America. The paper has just- ly secured a renown more extended perhaps than that of any other state paper in existence. Two questions have however arisen as to its originality : the first upon the substance of the document ; the second in regard to its phrase- ology, in connection with the alleged Mecklen- burg declaration of May, 1775. It is more than probable that Jefferson made use of some of the ideas expressed in newspapers, conversa- tion, and by public speakers at the time ; and that his study of the great English writers upon constitutional freedom was of service to him. But an impartial criticism will not base upon the fact a charge of want of originality. It should rather be regarded as the peculiar merit of the writer that he thus collected and em- bodied the conclusions upon government of the leading thinkers of the age in Europe and America, rejecting what was false, and com- bining his material into a production of so much eloquence and dignity. The " Summary View " of 1774 will however be found to con- tain the complete germ of the " Declaration ;" and as the originality of the former has not been impeached, the merit of the latter is in every fair sense due to Jefferson. The second charge, that he made use of the alleged Meck- lenburg paper, has excited volumes of contro- versy. Jefferson distinctly denied that he had ever seen it at the time, and John Adams de- clared that he had not himself met with it. Jefferson was rechosen a delegate to congress, but resigned the appointment. " The laboring oar," he wrote, was at home in Virginia. His aim now was to carry out radical changes in the laws of his native state. The new era could not commence there until fundamental reforms had taken place, and the practicability of such reforms had long engaged his attention. The first movement in the proposed direction had been the formation by the convention of a constitution for the commonwealth. Just be- fore the composition of the declaration, Jeffer- son had drawn up a preamble-- and outline sketch of the proposed instrument, and sent it to Edmund Randolph, president of the conven- tion then sitting. George Mason had however framed a constitution upon which the final vote was about to be taken. Jefferson's draft was not proposed, but his preamble was pre- fixed to the work of Mason. The great reforms in the organic laws were still unattained, and to these Jefferson ardently addressed himself. He was elected to represent his county, and declining the appointment by congress to be- come one of the commissioners to negotiate the now important treaties of commerce and