CHAPTER III.

MR. JEFFERSON ELECTED A MEMBer of conGRESS-HIS APPOINTMENT ON I PORTANT COMMITTEES- HIS REPORTS-MR. DICKINSON OF PENNSYLVANIA-MR. JEFFERSON PREPARES A CONSTITUTION AND DECLARATION OF RIGHTS FOR VIRGINIA-THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA RECOMMENDS A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-MR. JEFFERSON'S INFLUENCE IN CONGREYS RESOLUTION OF RICHARD HENRY LEE-MR. JEFFERSON DRAFTS THE ORIGINAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-STATE OF PARTIES IN CONOCESS ADOPTION AND PROMULGATION OF THE DECLARATION-EXCITEMENT THROUGHOUT THE COLONIES ON THE SUBJECT-LITERARY MERITS OF THE DECLARATION-ITS HISTORIC INFLUENCE AND IMPORTANCE-R. JEFFERSON'S OPINION RESPECTING IT-ITS FUTURE INFLU

ENCE.

BEFORE the adjournment of the second session of the popular convention of Virginia, it became necessary for them to elect a delegate to the Continental Congress in place of Peyton Randolph, who, as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, would soon be required to return to his native State. Accordingly in May, 1775, Mr. Jefferson was elected to fill the place of Mr. Randolph; and on the 21st of June he took his seat in the Continental Congress. He was then thirty-two years of age; and he brought to this high sphere in which he was destined afterward to act so eminent and distinguished a part, very considerable reputation for

abilities, industry, and devotion to the cause of freedom and progress.

This reputation procured him an appointment on the committee instructed to prepare a report on the "Cause of taking up Arms against England," five days after his entrance into Congress. The portion of the report of this committee which Mr. Jefferson was requested to prepare, has been frequently quoted and admired for its beauty of style, and for the clearness and boldness with which it treats the subject.* On the 22d of July he was again honored with an appointment on a committee with Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, and R. H. Lee, to prepare an answer to Lord North's resolutions. Mr. Jefferson penned this important document. It sets forth in powerful language the fundamental doctrine that the colonies alone have the privilege of granting or

* Mr. Dickinson of Pennsylvania was a member of this committee, and he seems to have been the croaking owl of the Continental Cougress. He opposed all expressions of vigorous resistance, or of open denunciation, in the reports of the committees; and it was he who, alone of all the members of Congress, subsequently refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. When the committee on the "Cause of taking up Arms against England" reported, their report had been softened down so completely by the trembling appeals of Mr. Dickinson, as scarcely to amount to any thing. On its passage he remarked, that there was only one word in it of which he yet disapproved, and that word was "Congress." Mr. Harrison instantly rose and said, that there was but one word in the document of which he did approve, and that was Congress."

withholding their own money; and that this also involves the right of inquiry into its application, of determining its amount, and of applying it to proper uses; and it condemns the propositions of Lord North, because they do not propose the repeal of the oppressive statutes which had been passed. The tone and spirit of this report differ very essentially from those of the report of the committee to which Mr. Dickinson belonged. They were bold, resolute and defiant, and marked clearly an important step in advance among that immortal band of patriots who were destined to achieve the freedom of the nation. It was the passage of this report, written by Mr. Jefferson, then the youngest member of Congress save one, which cut off forever all hope of conciliation and union between the colonies and Great Britain. From that moment a desperate conflict was inevitable.

Mr. Jefferson had been elected to Congress by the Legislature of Virginia in August, 1775, and subsequently was re-elected in June, 1776. During his absence from his native State, he was not forgetful of her interests. The regal authority had been already dissolved in that colony. A popular government had been quietly substituted. But no settled form for the administration of the government had been adopted. This then was the first task which

demanded the attention of her patriots. A conven tion accordingly assembled at Williamsburg, on the 6th of May, 1776, for the purpose of adopting a declaration of rights and a constitution. On the 15th of May, after previous deliberations, a commit. tee was appointed to report on the subject. Mr. George Mason was the leading member of that committee. On the 29th of June the constitution which they reported, after ample discussion, was adopted. But during this interval Mr. Jefferson had not been idle. He himself had prepared a form of constitution for the consideration of the house, together with a preamble, declaration of rights, and an entire plan of government. These important documents he sent to Mr. Wythe, but they arrived too late for the consideration of the house. They had already discussed and adopted a complete form of government, and had agreed upon a declaration of rights. Nevertheless some use was made of the valuable labors of Mr. Jefferson. Two or three parts of his plan were added to that already passed, and the entire preamble which accompanied his own form of government was adopted and added to that which had already received the legislative sanction. George Mason was the author of the declaration of rights. This constitution and declaration were unanimously adopted on the 29th of June, 1776, and thus was

established the first institution of free government, by a written compact, which existed in the new world. Virginia "was the first of the nations of the earth," says Mr. Jefferson, speaking of this event, "which assembled its wise men peaceably together to form a fundamental constitution, to commit it to writing, and place it among their archives, where every one should be free to appeal to its text."

But this session of the convention in Virginia is rendered remarkable by another act, which possesses a national and not a local interest. They passed a resolution "that the delegates appointed to represent Virginia in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to or dependence on the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the colonies, at such time and in the manner as to them shall seem best: provided that the power of forming governments for, and the regulation of, the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures."

Thus rapidly and steadily were the representatives of the nation approaching the decisive moment and