which he himself was the second in office. Nevertheless he lent himself willingly to the task of organizing, in a quiet way, a systematic assault upon these laws of Congress, and at once opened a correspondence calculated to elicit the best judgment of his coadjutors and gradually drew out a programme of action.
Virginia was by no means unanimous in reprobating these laws. She had a large and influential body of Federalists, who were led by bold and able leaders, and, as is not infrequently the case with minorities largely constituted of the wealthy and cultivated, many of the Virginia Federalists were extreme in their convictions and partisanship. But the influence of Jefferson was paramount and the result of Jeffersonian principles soon appeared on every hand. Meetings were held in many of the counties upon their county court days at which were adopted addresses or series of resolutions condemning or praying for the repeal of these laws. Among these counties were Prince Edward, Goochland, Orange, Augusta, Amelia, Powhattan, Louisa, and Caroline. Except Kentucky it made the greatest show of resistance. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania sent petitions of appeal to Congress, and the latter, being especially aroused by the plain personal attack contained in these laws upon the popular Gallatin, was very active in doing what was possible to secure the repeal.
It is a matter of general regret that so few of Mr. Jefferson's letters written just at this crisis
