University of Virginia Library

Thomas Jefferson.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, descended
from a family which
had been long settled in his native
State, was born at Shadwell,
Albemarle county, Va., on
the 2d of April, 1743. After finishing
his collegiate course of education
at William's and Mary's College, he
commenced the study of the law with
the celebrated George Wythe, afterwards
Chancellor of the State. He
was called to the bar in 1766; and in
1769 was a member of the Legislature
of Virginia. On the 12th of March,
1773, he was appointed a member of
the first committee of correspondence
established by the Colonial Legislatures;

and the next year he wrote and
published his Summary View of the
Rights of British America. It was a
bold and manly document, ably setting
forth our own rights, and pointing
out clearly the various ways in
which they had been violated by the
British Government. On the 27th of
March, 1775, he was elected one of the
members to represent Virginia in the
General Congress of the Confederated
Colonies, already assembled at Philadelphia,
and took his seat in this assembly
on the 21st of June. So early
did he become known for his ability,
that, in a few days after his arrival,
he was made a member of a committee
appointed to draw up a declaration
setting forth the causes and necessity
of resorting to arms.

In September, 1796, when General
Washington announced his determination
to renounce public life, the two
parties into which the nation was
divided—the Federalists and Republicans—brought
forward their favorite
candidates. John Adams was supported
by the former, and Thomas
Jefferson by the latter. Mr. Adams
was elected, and entered upon the
duties of his office the 4th of March,
1797. Such, however were the changes
in public sentiment, that after four
years Mr. Jefferson was elected President.
Mr. Jefferson was always
greatly in favor of the emancipation
of the colored brother and often spoke
of the inconsistency of holding men
in slavery while we ourselves were
contending for liberty at the peril of
everything dear, could not but strike
the minds of reflecting persons. No
sooner, therefore, was independence
declared, than several of the States
took measures gradually to put an
end to slavery, by enacting laws that
all children born of slaves, after a certain
date, should be free when they
arrived at a certain age. But the
obstacles were of two kinds. First, the
opposition of the slave holders themselves,
and that which rendered the
thing inexpedient, even with the
more enlightened and benevolent, who
were the sincere friends of right and
emancipation, was the difficulty of
disposing of them when liberated.
The sentiment was almost universal,

among all classes of people in the
Southern States that it would never
do to emancipate the slaves, and permit
them to remain in the country.

The chief glory of Mr. Jefferson's
character was his ardent love of liberty
for all men, irrespective of color.
This is clearly evinced in the preamble
of the Declaration of Independence,
which he wrote; in the principles
of the Ordinance of 1787, which
he originated; and in several passages
in his Notes on Virginia, wherein he
pictures, in his own nervous language,
the demoralizing influences of
slavery.

In person Mr. Jefferson was six feet
two inches high, erect and well formed,
though thin; his eyes were
light, and full of intelligence; his
complection fair, and hiscountenance
remarkably expressive. In conversation
he was cheerful and enthusiastic,
and his language was remarkable for
vivacity and correctness. His manners
were simple and unaffected, combined,
however, with much native
but unobtrusive dignity.