of affairs without. They saw it was only left to them to declare a war that public sentiment had already declared. Necessity demanded an ally, and wistful eyes were cast towards England's historic foe. An agent of France was in Philadelphia charged with the mission of offering the good services of his government to the colonies. Congress deputed Jay, Franklin and Jefferson as a committee to confer with the envoy. The conference was successful, and was the first in a chain of events that led to the French alliance and to Jefferson's diplomatic career in France. Jefferson remained in Congress for three months serving on numerous committees and taking an active part in all proceedings. In December he left Philadelphia for Monticello. During this absence from Congress Jefferson's mother died, and it is generally thought that it was her illness that called him away from his post of duty. In May, 1776, he returned to Philadelphia and entered energetically into the work of Congress. He found all things tending to revolution. On the day of his return Congress passed resolutions advising the colonies to form governments for themselves; five days after his return news came that the Virginia Convention had passed a resolution instructing its delegates in Congress to support a motion declaring the "United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain." This resolution was reported by Archibald Cary, a kinsman of Jefferson and the man who reported for him the reply to the "Conciliatory Proposition" of Lord North. This circumstance, and the additional fact that Jefferson was in Virginia, and probably at the capital at the time of the passage of the resolution, have been used as the basis of a conjecture that he had a hand in the drafting and passing of this most important act of the Convention. If it should ever be proved that Jefferson was the author of that resolution, there will be no occasion for surprise, for it was his custom never to appear himself in a legislative measure when he could get some one else to appear for him.

Congress promptly took up the question presented to it by the Virginia resolution. On June 7th R. H. Lee moved that

the colonies be declared independent. The debate on the motion continued for two days; it was then deemed wise to postpone action for twenty days. The reason given by Jefferson for the delay was that "the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Maryland and South Carolina were not yet mature for falling from the parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state." Delay, it was thought, would give public opinion in these lukewarm colonies time to crystallize in favor of independence. The form of the declaration was deemed highly important, and in order that there might be no haste, Congress at once (June 10th) appointed a committee consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to draft the instrument. Upon Jefferson devolved the agreeable task of writing the declaration. He had three weeks to spend upon it, and it appears that he bestowed upon its composition the greatest pains. While he was thus engaged his name came up before the Virginia Convention for re-election, and he barely escaped defeat, being next to the lowest upon the list of successful delegates. On the 28th of June he brought the Declaration before Congress. He had previously submitted it to the committee, who adopted it after two or three slight alterations had been made by John Adams and one or two by Franklin. It was read and laid on the table. On the first of July the original motion of the Virginia delegation for independence was carried by the vote of nine colonies. New York and Pennsylvania were against independence on this vote; Delaware was divided, and South Carolina wanted time. Time was granted, and when the question was put to a vote on the next day, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Delaware threw their votes for independence. New York did not consent until July 9th. Having resolved upon independence Congress at once took up Jefferson's form of declaration.*

The document was roughly handled, the criticism sometimes being so acrimonious as to cause Jefferson to wince. During the overhauling some of Jefferson's fine phrases were expunged;

*See Independence, Declaration of, page 257.

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which was, of course, a good thing. At the same time, some of his finest sentiments were expunged; which, perhaps, was not so fortunate. Jefferson hated slavery, and he had inserted in the declaration a round denunciation of George III. for his part in the encouragement of the slave trade. Congress regarded this in bad taste, inasmuch as the colonies, north and south, profited by their participation in that trade. So, through shame, the noblest paragraph in the declaration was omitted. In the original draft was an expression of hatred for the English, whose inhuman act of securing mercenaries of other countries to send against their American brethren "gave the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends." This was expunged as being uncalled for. Congress made several interpolations, but did not in this way materially alter the document. It is generally conceded that the few changes made by Congress, both those of addition and omission, improved the Declaration.

The debate continued for three days, with the prospect at times of it being interminable and fruitless. Jefferson became gloomy and anxious. At last, in the afternoon of the fourth of July, a comical circumstance brought the discussion to an end. Near the hall in which Congress sat was a livery stable (the story is Jefferson's), from which on that afternoon a swarm of vicious flies issued, and, entering through the open windows, attacked the thinly-covered legs of the members. Resistance was made with handkerchief and fan, but to little effect. The biting became unendurable, and the dignified body, goaded to distraction, hurried on to a swift and ridiculous conclusion of the momentous question. To escape the flies a vote was taken! The Declaration was adopted, four members voting against it and New York withholding its vote. It was signed at once by John Hancock, the President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary. The remaining signatures that appear upon the engrossed copy which is to be seen in old Independence Hall, Philadelphia, were affixed on August 2nd, 1776. Of the

fifty-six signers of the declaration, seven were not members of Congress when it passed.

On July 5th Congress adopted a resolution ordering that the Declaration be sent to the several assemblies, conventions, and councils of safety, and to all the officers of the continental armies. In this way it was soon proclaimed throughout the United States. It met with the most enthusiastic ratification and adoption. From New Hampshire to Georgia there were bonfires, torchlight processions, the firing of guns, and ringing of bells. "The people," said Samuel Adams, "seemed to recognize this resolution as though it was a decree promulgated from heaven."

The Declaration of Independence has been severely criticised both for its style and for the principles it enunciates, but its place among the great papers of history is secure, and criticism of it is becoming idle and uninteresting. That it contained nothing new was perhaps the feature that won for it the affection of the world. Jefferson claimed nothing new for it. When charged with rehashing old sentiments and copying from Locke and Otis when he wrote it, he denied the charge of plagiarism, but acknowledged that there were no new ideas or new sentiments in it. Nevertheless, the declaration is no servile imitation. It was written from the shoulder. "I turned to neither book nor pamphlet while writing it," says Jefferson. How peculiarly it was an embodiment of his own ideas is seen in a sentence in a letter to his friend Fleming, written three days before the Declaration was passed. "If any doubts has (sic) arisen as to me, my country will have my political creed in the form of the declaration which I was lately directed to draw." Jefferson was brimful of ideas of reform when he wrote the Declaration, and he aimed to make it a profession of his political faith. His faith was that of a democrat, and the Declaration of Independence is a formal expression of the beliefs and aspirations of the democracy of his time. It is a remarkable paper, because it so successfully proclaims the spirit of the age in which it was written.

JEFFERSON AS A LAW-GIVER.

Jefferson's interest in the affairs of Congress could not crowd out his interest in the affairs of his own State. Virginia, and not the United States, was as yet his country. When the Convention declared for independence it took steps to provide for a form of government for the new order of things. While Jeffer son was in Philadelphia working on the great document that has secured his fame, he found time to prepare outlines of a Constitution for the new Virginia. He sent his plan to the President of the Convention, but it arrived too late. The construction of a new Constitution had already proceeded so far that it was not deemed wise to go back and open up for debate matters that had been agreed upon by the assembly after long discussion. Jefferson's preamble, however, written in the spirit of, and bearing a strong similitude to, the Declaration of Independence, was adopted as an amendment and prefixed to the new Constitution.

We have seen that Jefferson was re-elected to Congress in June, 1776, but in September he resigned his seat, claiming at the time that the situation of his domestic affairs demanded this step. In the memoir of his life, written in 1820, he gives an entirely different reason for leaving Congress. He there says: "A meeting of the (Virginia) legislature was to be held in October and I had been elected a member by my county. I knew that our legislation under the regal government had many very vicious points which urgently required reformation, and I thought I could be of more use in forwarding that." Whatever his motives have been, whatever the true reason was, he vacated his seat in Congress and entered the Virginia legislature.

About this time (October, 1776) Jefferson was selected by Congress to go to France with Franklin and Silas Deane, for the purpose of effecting a treaty of alliance. It was the dream of his youth to visit Europe. The cause of his ill-success in his first love affair has been attributed to the fact that he asked