University of Virginia Library

LXXI.

LXXI. THOMAS JEFFERSON.

LXXI. Governor.

LXXI. June 1, 1779, to June, 1781.

Upon the retirement of Patrick Henry from the executive
chair, Thomas Jefferson was chosen by the General Assembly
Governor of Virginia, on June 1, 1779. He was the
son of Peter and Jane Randolph Jefferson, and was born at
"Shadwell," Albemarle County, Virginia, on April 2, 1742.
His father, a practical surveyor, had been chosen with Joshua
Fry, (Professor of mathematics at William and Mary College),
to continue the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, a work already begun by Colonel Byrd. Colonel
Jefferson and Mr. Fry were also employed together in making
a map of Virginia. This association perhaps had a controlling
influence on Thomas Jefferson's life, as it inspired
his father to bestow upon him the inestimable benefit of a liberal
education. He was sent to William and Mary College,
at Williamsburg, Virginia, in the spring of 1760, and remained
there two years. In alluding to this period, in his
autobiography, he says:

In 1769, at the age of twenty-six, Thomas Jefferson was
chosen to represent his county in the House of Burgesses,
where he at once took a stand with the opponents of parliamentary
encroachment. At this, his first session, he introduced
a bill empowering the owners of slaves to manumit
them if they thought proper; but it was defeated, and its
policy not fully embraced until 1782. It is calculated that
upwards of 10,000 slaves obtained freedom in Virginia
between 1782 and 1791, after the passage of a law, in 1782,
authorizing the manumission of slaves.[491] After serving his
term in the House of Burgesses, Jefferson returned to his
practice, and in the following year removed from "Shadwell,"
his early home, to a residence destined to be the
famous "Monticello"—the Mecca of many a pilgrim since.
On January 1, 1772, he married Martha Skelton, widow of
Bathurst Skelton and daughter of John Wayles, an influential
lawyer of Charles City. This lady was young and beautiful,
and with a handsome patrimony added largely to Mr.
Jefferson's happiness and fortune. In the spring of 1773, he
was appointed by the House of Burgesses a member of the
"Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry, for the dissemination
of intelligence between the Colonies," the plan of which
he had himself aided in devising. In 1774 he published his
defense of the Colonists in a paper entitled, "Summary View
of the Rights of British America." This document, as Jefferson
believed, procured the enrollment of his name on a Bill
of Treason introduced into Parliament. But, it had a marked
influence on the career of its author; it brought him before

the public in England and America as a bold advocate of constitutional
freedom, and as a brilliant and thoughtful writer.

On June 1, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the then "Dissolving
View" of royal authority in the Colony of Virginia, presented
to the House of Burgesses certain resolutions of the
British Parliament, to which Jefferson, as chairman of the
committee appointed for that purpose, replied in a very able
manner. This forcible response to Lord North's "conciliatory
proposition," Jefferson laid before Congress in Philadelphia,
a few days later. There it met with the warmest
approval and placed Jefferson at once among the leaders in
that important assemblage. When Congress proceeded to
act upon Lord North's proposition, Jefferson as author of the
answer of Virginia, was requested by the committee of which
he was a member, to prepare the reply. This he did in Resolutions
which were immediately adopted.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee offered in Congress
the memorable resolution from which the Declaration of
Independence was formulated. Being called suddenly home
by the illness of his wife, he left to others the work which he
had begun, returning however to his post, in time to append
his name to the historic document.

On the 9th of June, 1776, Jefferson was appointed chairman
of that committee to which was delegated the stupendous
responsibility of drawing up a paper explaining the causes of
the taking up of arms, and proposing a declaration of the
independence of the Colonies. Jefferson was "unanimously
pressed to undertake the draft" by his associates in the committee.
He yielded to their wish, and gave in that great
Instrument his name to freedom and to fame, bestowing
upon his country a state paper which rivals in renown that
"Keystone of English liberty," the Magna Charta of Runnymede.
The "Declaration of Independence" was so complete
in every detail, that only two or three verbal alterations
were made in it. It cannot be claimed, however, that this wonderful
Chart of Liberty was the result of the inspiration of the
hour. It was the product of days of questioning and nights
of study; it was the calm and sober declaration that God,

who had bestowed the blessing of human life, had also given
with that life certain inalienable rights which this people dared
maintain; it was the final protest of the chainless mind against
oppression; the high resolve of many men nobly portrayed
by one.

Having served actively and efficiently in Congress during
the session of 1776, Thomas Jefferson returned to his home
in Virginia. He was re-chosen a delegate to Congress, but
declined the appointment, devoting himself during the remaining
years of the Revolutionary War to the service of
his native state. He took his seat in the General Assembly
of Virginia, October, 1776, and commenced at once that vigorous
attempt at fundamental reform in the organic laws of
his state which he felt that the new era demanded. He
began by obtaining leave to bring in bills for cutting off
entails, and for a general revision of the laws of the Commonwealth.
This was a great work of reconstruction,
which had its advocates and opponents, but the reorganization
was in time complete. Jefferson in his autobiography
says:

Jefferson continued to sit in the General Assembly
during 1777 and 1778, and battled successfully for these
radical changes, the importance of which had so long
engaged his attention. On June 1, 1779, he was elected
Governor of Virginia, and ably and honorably discharged
that office.

At this time Virginia was laid under very heavy contributions
for the support of the campaign in Georgia and the

Carolinas. She had nearly 10,000 troops in the Continental
Army, and a steady drain had been made upon her resources
for men, arms, horses, and provisions, so that she was nearly
exhausted and utterly unprepared to resist the enemy upon
her own soil. Her long extent of sea-coast, and noble rivers
leading thereto, made her an easy prey to hostile fleets; therefore,
when the hour for her invasion came, General Leslie
readily took possession of Hampton Roads and Portsmouth,
and Arnold, with less than 2,000 men, quietly ascended
James River. Arnold entered Richmond, which had recently
become the capital of the state, on January 5, 1781. The
city was evacuated, the public functionaries retiring before
the foe to avoid certain capture—but Jefferson remained
until the enemy had actually possessed the lower part of
the city, and until the last moment busied himself in
attempts to protect the public stores. Arnold ravaged the
place, burned some buildings, then took to his boats and
departed.

Although the name of Benedict Arnold is almost a synonym
for "traitor," we would pause for a moment here and
recall the many noble deeds of valor, which he at an earlier
day performed for his bleeding country. He was born in
Connecticut and died in London, and the story of his chequered
life is the sad recital of that ever vain endeavor to
avenge personal wrongs at the expense of personal honor.
A distinguished officer in the patriot cause of the Revolution,
wearing the honors of a Major-General, he allowed
fancied slights on the part of Congress to turn the current of
his fealty, and in an evil hour of wild temptation he became
that fallen thing men call—a traitor. After betraying
his country, he received a commission as Major-General
in the British Army, and after the surrender of Cornwallis,
he went to England and was paid in gold the reckoning
of his infamy. But the English Crown itself could
not outweigh his sin, or hide the mark of Cain now
stamped upon his brow! Arnold was shunned by men of
honor everywhere, and died far from his native land, in want,
neglect, and fell despair. 'Tis told, that in his dying hour he

clasped an old blue coat; the remnant of a tattered flag with
here and there a silver star; and pressed to his failing heart a
parchment which bore his commission as Colonel in the Continental
Army! That coat he had worn as he planted the
American banner on Ticonderoga—it had been torn by a
bullet in the fight at Quebec—and that commission, as it lay
in his nerveless hands, seemed like a benediction to his passing
soul. Might it be, perchance, a passport to the silent
pity of his countrymen!

After the abandonment of Richmond the legislators
assembled in Charlottesville, where Cornwallis determined to
attempt their capture. Tarleton was selected for this raid,
but only succeeded in dispersing the Legislature and in
driving Jefferson from his home at Monticello, from which
place he escaped on horseback just in time to avoid capture.
Jefferson's term of office had expired two days before Tarleton
entered Charlottesville, and he had determined to decline a
re-election. In his autobiography he says that he came to
this conclusion "from a belief that under the pressure of the
invasion under which we were then laboring, the public
would have more confidence in a military chief." Of course
this step gave rise to criticism, but it was silenced by a Resolution
passed "In the House of Delegates, Wednesday, 12th
December, 1781, and agreed to by the Senate, December 15,
1781," viz.:

It was during Mr. Jefferson's administration as Governor,
that Virginia, in the interests of harmony among the sister
states of the untried Republic, made an imperial gift to her
country. She had already bestowed her patriotism, intellect,
blood, and treasure, and now she laid her princely domain
of lands on the northwest side of the Ohio River at the foot
of the Union.

According to our highest authority, William Waller
Hening, Thomas Jefferson was Governor of Virginia "until
June, 1781, when he resigned, and on the twelfth day of
June, 1781, Thomas Nelson, Junior, Esquire, was elected."
In the interim, the executive functions of the government
fell upon William Fleming, of Botetourt, and the General
Assembly passed the following Resolution, indemnifying him
for the administration of the same:

William Fleming was a Scotchman by birth, but emigrated
early in life to Virginia, and was among the first
settlers in that portion of Augusta County which was formed
into Botetourt. In 1774 he raised a Regiment, which he
gallantly commanded in the battle of Point Pleasant, where
he was severely wounded. He had also served in the French
and Indian War in 1755 and 1756. He was a member of
the Council of Virginia in 1781, and represented the County
of Botetourt in the Virginia Convention of 1788, which ratified

the Federal Constitution. He was said to have been of
noble extraction, had received a liberal education, and was
of a bold and adventurous spirit.

In the close of the year 1782, Mr. Jefferson was appointed
Minister Plenipotentiary to join the representatives already
in Europe, to negotiate the terms of a treaty of peace,
but the treaty was concluded in Paris in 1783, before
he was ready to sail. As chairman of the committee
to which this matter had been referred in the Congress
of 1783, he had the pleasure of reporting a definitive
treaty of peace with England. On March 30, 1784, he was
chosen to preside in Congress, and was chiefly instrumental
in revising and perfecting the Treasury Department of the
government. On May 7, 1784, Thomas Jefferson was appointed
to join John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in Paris,
and to negotiate treaties of commerce for the United States
with foreign nations. On March 10, 1785, he was chosen by
Congress to succeed Franklin as Minister to France, and being
re-appointed in October, 1787, he remained there until October,
1789, during which time he conducted many important
negotiations for his country. Immediately upon his return
to America, Mr. Jefferson was appointed by President Washington,
Secretary of State, and filled the office with marked
ability through the four years of Washington's first administration.
The Cabinet meetings were often very stormy, and
this period is marked by the origin of an active struggle
between the two great political parties into which the Americans
had divided themselves. Alexander Hamilton was the
leader of the Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson stood at the
head of the Republicans. But, wishing at this time to retire
for a season from public life, Jefferson resigned his office as
Secretary of State, on December 31, 1793, and spent some
three years in quiet at Monticello, devoting himself to personal
affairs, which, through attention to public matters, he
had somewhat neglected.

The close of the eighteenth century should not be recorded
without allusion to one of the most afflictive events which had

yet befallen America. On the 14th of December, 1799,
GEORGE WASHINGTON died at Mount Vernon, Virginia,
aged 68 years, in favor with God and man. Said Mr.
Adams in a letter to the Senate:

In September, 1796, Washington had announced that he
would not again be a candidate for the presidency, and thereupon
the political parties of the country settled upon John
Adams, of Massachusetts, as the candidate of the Federalists,
and Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, as the standard bearer of
the Republicans. Mr. Adams was elected President, and
Mr. Jefferson, as was then the law, became the Vice-President
of the United States.

On March 4, 1797, Jefferson took the oath of office as presiding
officer in the Senate, and delivered before that body a
short address, in which he expressed in a masterly way his
attachment to the laws and his desire to fulfill his duty.
This he did amply, and when the time rolled around for
another presidential election, he was again the candidate of
his party for that high office. Aaron Burr was the Democratic
nominee for Vice-President. The Federalists supported
Adams and Pinckney. When the votes were opened,
it was found that Jefferson and Burr were elected by an equal
number of voices. This threw the election upon the House
of Representatives, where, after thirty-five ineffectual ballots,
a member from Maryland, authorized by Mr. Burr, withdrew
that gentleman's name, and on the thirty-sixth ballot Mr.
Jefferson was elected President, and Colonel Burr became
Vice-President.

Jefferson delivered his inaugural address in Washington
(to which City the Capital had been removed some months
before), on March 4, 1801, in the presence of both Houses of
Congress.

A new social as well as political era had burst upon
the country. Jefferson, the philosopher of democracy, who

had proclaimed and extolled its principles, was now, as
the political head of the country, about to apply them. A
change in dress and manners appeared; the old régime had
suddenly passed away, and the stately dignity and ceremony
of Washington's administration were supplanted by a republican
simplicity. Jefferson himself headed the movement, and
sent his message to Congress by a common messenger; before
his day, the President had in person made the communication,
to which the Speaker, in behalf of Congress, had at once replied
in a formal address.

This term of Mr. Jefferson was distinguished by the
purchase from France of the entire territory of Louisiana, in
1803, for the sum of $15,000,000.

In 1803, Commodore Preble vindicated American rights in
the Mediterranean against the Emperor of Morocco. With an
American fleet he bombarded the town and forts of Tripoli.
The United States, it has been remarked, set the first example
to the world, of obliging the Barbary powers to respect its
flag by the force of arms, instead of a disgraceful tribute. In
1803, the frigate Philadelphia, belonging to Preble's squadron
and commanded by Captain Bainbridge, struck on a
rock in the harbor of Tripoli, and was taken by the
Tripolitans; her officers and crew, amounting to 300 men,
were made prisoners. In 1804, Stephen Decatur, a lieutenant
in the American navy, with Preble's approval sailed from
Syracuse in a small schooner, with seventy men, accompanied
by the brig Syren, with the design of retaking or destroying
the captured frigate Philadelphia, at Tripoli. He succeeded
in setting fire to her, February 16, 1804, amidst a tremendous
assault from two corsairs and the batteries on shore.
Having accomplished his mission, he retired with his brave
and daring companions. Tripoli was afterwards bombarded,
in August, by the Americans, compelled to sue for peace, and
the treaty for same was concluded June 3, 1805.

The acquisition of Louisiana, the naval victories, and
general prosperity of the country added no little to the
popularity of the new order of things, and Jefferson was
reëlected President, with George Clinton, of New York, as

Vice-President, for the term commencing March 4, 1805. The
Democratic majority was 148, out of 176 electoral votes.

In 1806 the President was called upon to arrest Aaron
Burr for suspected treasonable operations in the Southwest.
He was accused of prosecuting a scheme for the separation
of the Western States from the Union, was brought
to trial in Richmond, Virginia, but no overt act of treason
could be proved, and the jury rendered the verdict,
"Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under the indictment
by any evidence submitted to us." This trial,
on account of the high position of the accused, became a
matter of national concern. The people trembled to see a
man who had been a distinguished soldier and statesman, and
candidate for the Presidency (which high office he came
within one vote of obtaining, and then voluntarily withdrew
from the contest); a man who had been Vice-President of the
United States for four years, and whose name had become
identified with the honor of the nation—the people trembled
to see this man arrested for high treason, and the country
felt relieved when the great trial was at an end.

About this time, trouble with Great Britain again threatened
the tranquility of the United States. England was
engaged in war with France, and was contending with a
nation stimulated by the ambition of the Emperor Napoleon.
She needed men for her navy, and she allowed her naval officers
to impress British seamen from merchant vessels, and
force them to serve on men-of-war. She also claimed the
right to impress her own subjects when found on ships of
other nations. This led to the conflict between the American
frigate Chesapeake, sailing from Hampton Roads, and
the British ship Leopard, one of a squadron then at anchor
within the limits of the United States, in which the Chesapeake,
unprepared for armed resistance to the arbitrary
demand of the commander of the Leopard, was compelled to
surrender. She remained under fire twenty or thirty minutes,
suffered much damage, lost three men killed and eighteen
wounded, when Commodore Barron ordered his colors to
be struck and handed over his ship to the enemy. The commander

of the Leopard sent an officer on board, who took
possession of the Chesapeake, mustered her crew, and carrying
off four of her men, abandoned the ship, which Commodore
Barron took back to Hampton Roads. On receiving
information of this outrage, Jefferson, by proclamation, interdicted
the harbors and waters of the United States to all
armed British vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and
made such other preparations as the occasion appeared to
require. An armed vessel of the United States was dispatched
with instructions to the American minister at London
to call on the British government for the satisfaction and
security which the outrage demanded.

Whilst now the war between England and France was agitating
the Old World, America sought to preserve a proper
neutrality. But England, all-powerful on the seas, tried to
interrupt our trade with France or her dependencies, and Napoleon
issued orders to prevent our trade with England. In
this trying situation, Jefferson thought that the United States
might get the offensive decrees repealed, by stopping all its
trade with the outside world. In pursuance of these views an
Act was passed in December, 1807, forbidding the departure of
vessels from American ports; it was known as "Jefferson's
Embargo." This law gave great offence to the Federalists, but
it was only intended as a temporary resort, and was repealed in
February, 1809, by Congress, who substituted for it an Act
of non-intercourse with France and England.

At this interesting point in the history of his country,
Jefferson retired from public life and terminated his political
career. But a long period of varied and extended usefulness
was yet in store for this distinguished son of Virginia.
Though personally removed from the turmoil of public life,
his interest in the affairs of his country was undiminished.
From his home at Monticello, he still, through others, largely
controlled the direction of events at the Capital, and the
sovereignty of his intellect was still as decisive as when he
himself held office. In matters of internal concern he now
busied himself, and directed his talents and influence to the
promotion of University education in his native state. He

was largely instrumental in establishing the "University of
Virginia," near Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1817, and in
1819 superintended the erection of the buildings himself.
His connection with this institution of learning was a source
of pleasure and of pride to him, and when he drew up
the epitaph to be inscribed upon his tomb, he added to the
words, "Author of the Declaration of Independence, and of
the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom," these others:
"and father of the University of Virginia." What a canopy
to cover a single grave!

It should be here noted that Jefferson's first desire in
connection with University education in Virginia, was to
transform William and Mary College, his alma mater, into a
state university. For this he struggled long and well, but
insurmountable objections to this plan turned his views to
the establishment of a separate institution. It is deeply interesting
to observe how keenly alive were both Washington
and Jefferson to the importance of higher education at home.
Washington, in a letter to Governor Brooke, of Virginia, says:

These views were substantiated by the generous endowment
of a National University made in Washington's last Will
and Testament. So, with eyes cast upon the future of this
unfolding empire of freedom, both Washington and Jefferson
hoped and planned for University education.

But the story of Jefferson's life is drawing to a close. A
little past noon on July 4, 1826, his spirit passed from earth
and left a great void in his home, and state, and country. At
almost the same hour, John Adams, the venerable and distinguished
son of Massachusetts, breathed his last, and this
double blow was deeply felt through the length and breadth
of the Union.

Among Jefferson's valuable written contributions to his
state may be cited his "Notes on Virginia," his "Manual
of Parliamentary Practice," and his manuscripts, under the
title of "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson; being his Autobiography,
Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses,
and other writings." With his own hand he wrote what
men should read upon his urn—but, as the years roll by, the
scope of his life-work broadens. The forces which he helped to
set in motion have in their onward progress, "unhasting, yet
unresting," borne his name, with those of the patriot fathers,
to a pinnacle of fame—to that high point of greatness won by
a country which was their nursling once, but which, through
their endeavor and the grace of God, stands one of the first
powers of the Christian world.