Nor should we wonder at the pressure [for a fixed Constitution in France in 1788-9] , when we consider the monstrous abuses of power under which this people were ground to powder, when we pass in review the weight of their taxes, and inequality of their distribution: the oppressions of the tithes, of the tailles,

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 86.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 118.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I have ever considered that establishment as of major importance to our country, and in whatever I could do for it, I viewed myself as performing a duty only. [* * *] The real debt of the institution is to its able and zealous professors. --

TITLE: To Jared Mansfield.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 203.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

I think [* * *] that there should be a school of instruction for our Navy as well as artillery; and I do not see why the same establishment might not suffice for both. Both require the same basis of general mathematics, adding projectiles and fortifications for the artillery exclusively, and astronomy and theory of navigation exclusively for the naval students. Berout conducted both schools in France, and has left us the best book extant for their joint and separate instruction. It ought not to require a separate professor. ³ --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 218.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

How easily we prescribe for others a cure for their difficulties, while we cannot cure our own. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 201.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 187.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

Man, like the fruit he eats, has his period of ripeness. Like that, too, if he continues longer hanging to the stem, it is but an useless and unsightly appendage. --

TITLE: To Henry Dearborn.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 214.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 191.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

[The] encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid, I deem [one of the] essential principles of our government and, consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration. --

TITLE: First Inaugural Address.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 4.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 5.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

With respect to the plan of a Prison, requested [by the Virginia authorities] in 1785, (being then in Paris), I had heard of a benevolent society, in England, which had been indulged by the government, in an experiment of the effect of labor, in solitary confinement, on some of their criminals: which experiment had succeeded beyond expectation. The same idea had been suggested in France, and an architect of Lyons had proposed a plan of a well-contrived edifice, on the principle of solitary confinement. I procured a copy, and as it was too large for our purposes, I drew one on a scale less extensive, but susceptible of additions as they should be wanting. This I sent to the directors, instead of a plan of a common prison, in the hope that it would suggest the idea of labor in solitary confinement, instead of that on the public works, which we had adopted in our Revised Code. Its principle, accordingly, but not its exact form, was adopted by Latrobe in carrying the plan into execution, by the erection of what is now called the Penitentiary, built under his direction. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 46.
EDITION: Ford ed., 64.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I was written to in 1785 (being then in Paris) by directors appointed to superintend the building of a Capitol in Richmond, to advise them as to a plan, and to add to it one of a Prison. Thinking it a favorable opportunity of introducing into the State an example of architecture, in the classic style of antiquity, and the Maison quarrée of Nismes, an ancient Roman temple, being considered as the most perfect model existing of what may be called Cubic architecture, I applied to M. Clerissault, who had published drawings of the Antiquities of Nismes, to have me a model of the building made in stucco, only changing the order from Corinthinan to Ionic, on account of the difficulty of the Corinthian capitals. I yielded, with reluctance, to the taste of Clerissault, in his preference of the modern capital of Scamozzi to the more noble capital of antiquity. This was executed by the artist whom Choiseul Gouffier had carried with him to Constantinople, and employed, while ambassador there, in making those beautiful models of the remains of Grecian architecture which are to be seen at Paris. To adapt the exterior to our use, I drew a plan for the interior, with the apartments necessary for legislative, executive, and judiciary purposes; and accommodated in their size and distribution to the form and dimensions of the building. These were forwarded to the directors, in 1786, and were carried into execution, with some variations, not for the better, the most important of which, however, admit of future correction. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 45.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 63.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The [French] aristocracy [in 1788-9] was cemented by a common principle of preserving the ancient régime, or whatever should be nearest to it. Making this their Polar star, they moved in phalanx, gave preponderance on every question to the minorities of the Patriots, and always to those who advocated the least change. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 104.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 144.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I considered four of these bills [of the Revised Code of Virginia] [* * *] as forming a system by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican. The repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and preserve the soil of the country from being daily more and more absorbed in mortmain. The abolition of primogeniture, and equal partition of inheritances removed the feudal and unnatural distinctions which made one member of every family rich, and all the rest poor, substituting equal partition, the best of all Agrarian laws. The restoration of the rights of conscience relieved the people from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs; for the Establishment was truly of the religion of the rich, the dissenting sects being entirely composed of the less wealthy people; and these, by the bill for a general education, would be qualified to understand their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts in self-government; and all this would be effected without the violation of a single natural right of any one individual citizen. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 49.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 68.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Nature has wisely provided an aristocracy of virtue and talent for the direction of the interests of society, and scattered it with equal hand through all its conditions. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 36.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 49.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

An aristocracy of wealth [is] of more harm and danger than benefit to society. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 36.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 49.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

From a belief that, under the pressure of the [British] invasion under which we [Virginia] were then [1781] laboring, the public would have more confidence in a military chief, and that the military commander, being invested with the civil power also, both might be wielded with more energy, promptitude and effect for the defence of the State, I resigned the administration [the Governorship] at the end of my second year, [1781] and General Nelson was appointed to succeed me. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 50.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 70.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

All authority belongs to the people. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 213.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 190.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

I find you are to be harassed again with a bankrupt law. Could you not compromise between agriculture and commerce by passing such a law which like the by-laws of incorporate towns, should be binding on the inhabitants of such towns only, being the residence of commerce, leaving the agriculturists, inhabitants of the country, in undisturbed possession of the rights and modes of proceedings to which their habits, their interests and their partialities attach them? This would be as uniform as other laws of local obligation. --

TITLE: To James Pleasants.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 198.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

I was very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation of paying a tribute to those [* * *] pirates, and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 65.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 91.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Nothing was now wanting to bring it into direct and formal consideration but the assent of our government, and their authority to make the formal proposition. I communicated to them the favorable prospect of protecting our commerce from the Barbary depredations, and for such a continuance of time as, by an exclusion of them from the sea, to change their habits and characters from a predatory to an agricultural people: towards which however it was expected they [Col 2] would contribute a frigate, and its expenses to be in constant cruise. But they were in no condition to make any such engagement. Their recommendatory powers for obtaining contributions were so openly neglected by the several States that they declined an engagement which they were conscious they could not fulfil with punctuality; and so it fell through. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 93.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Spain had just concluded a treaty with Algiers, at the expense of three millions of dollars, and did not like to relinquish the benefit of that until the other party should fail in their observance of it. Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta, Denmark and Sweden were favorably disposed to such an association; but their representatives at Paris expressed apprehensions that France would interfere, and, either openly or secretly support the Barbary powers; and they required that I should ascertain the dispositions of the Count de Vergennes on the subject. I had before taken occasion to inform him of what we were proposing, and therefore did not think it proper to insinuate any doubt of the fair conduct of his government; but stating our propositions, I mentioned the apprehensions entertained by us that England would interfere in behalf of those piratical governments. “She dares not do it,” said he. I pressed it no further. The other Agents were satisfied with this indication of his sentiments. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 67.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 3.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Lord Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine were alike in making bitter enemies of the priests and pharisees of their day. Both were honest men; both advocates for human liberty. Paine wrote for a country which permitted him to push his reasoning to whatever length it would go. Lord Bolingbroke in one restrained by a constitution, and by public opinion. He was called indeed a tory; but his writings prove him a stronger advocate for liberty than any of his countrymen, the whigs of the present day. Irritated by his exile, he committed one act unworthy of him, in connecting himself momentarily with a prince rejected by his country. But he redeemed that single act by his establishment of the principles which proved it to be wrong. These two persons differed remarkably in the style of their writing, each leaving a model of what is most perfect in both extremes of the simple and sublime. No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language. In this he may be compared with Dr. Franklin; and indeed his Common Sense was, for awhile, believed to have been written by Dr. Franklin, and published under the borrowed name of Paine, who had come over with him from England. Lord Bolingbroke's, on the other hand, is a style of the highest order. The lofty, rythmical, fullflowing eloquence of Cicero; periods of just measure their members proportioned, their close full and round. His conceptions, too, are bold and strong, his diction copious, polished and commanding as his subject. His writings are certainly the finest samples in the English language of the eloquence proper for the senate. His political tracts are safe reading for the most timid religionist, his philosophical, for those who are not afraid to trust their reason with discussions of right and wrong. --

TITLE: To Francis Eppes.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 197.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 183.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

Some few years ago when the tariff was before Congress, I engaged some of our members of Congress to endeavor to get the duty repealed, and wrote on the subject to some other acquaintances in Congress, and pressingly to the Secretary of the Treasury. The effort [* * *] failed. [* * *] There is a consideration going to the injustice of the tax [* * *] . Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital. Now there is no other form of capital which is first taxed 18 per cent. on the gross, and the proprietor then left to pay the same taces in detail with others whose capital has paid no tax on the gross. Nor is there a description of men less proper to be singled out for extra taxation. --

TITLE: To James Madison.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 194.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Sep. 1821

To prohibit us from the benefit of foreign light, is to consign us to long darkness. --

TITLE: To -- -- .
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 221.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

The government of the United States, at a very early period, when establishing its tariff on foreign importations, were very much guided in their selection of objects by a desire to encourage manufactures within ourselves. Among other articles then selected were books, on the importation of which a duty of fifteen per cent. was imposed, which, by ordinary custom house charges, amounts to about eighteen per cent., and adding the importing booksellers' profit on this, becomes about twenty-seven per cent. This was useful at first, perhaps, towards exciting our printers to make a beginning in that business here. But it is found in experience that the home demand is not sufficient to justify the reprinting any but the most popular English works, and cheap editions of a few of the classics for schools. For the editions of value, enriched by notes, commentaries, &c., and for books in foreign living languages, the demand here is too small and sparse to re-imburse the expense of reprinting them. None of these, therefore, are printed here, and the duty on them becomes consequently not a protecting, but really a prohibitory one. It makes a very serious addition to the price of the book and falls chiefly on a description of persons little able to meet it. Students who are destined for professional callings, as most of our scholars are, are barely able for the most part to meet the expenses of tuition. The addition of eighteen or twenty-seven per cent. on the books necessary for their instruction, amounts often to a prohibition as to them. For want of these aids, which are open to the students of all other nations but our own, they enter on their course on a very unqual footing with those of the same professions in foreign countries, and our citizens at large, too, who employ them, do not derive from that employment all the benefit which higher qualifications would give them. It is true that no duty is required on books imported for seminaries of learning, but these, locked up in libraries, can be of no avail to the practical man when he wishes a recurrence to them for the uses of life. Of many important books of reference there is not perhaps a single copy in the United States; of others but a few, and these too distant often to be accessible to scholars generally. It is believed, therefore, that if the attention of Congress could be drawn to this article, they would, in their wisdom, see its impolicy. Science is more important in a republican than in any other government. And in an infant country like ours, we must much depend for improvement [Col 2] on the science of other countries, longer established, possessing better means, and more advanced than we are. To prohibit us from the benefit of foreign light, is to consign us to long darkness. The northern seminaries following with parental solicitude the interest of their elevès in the course for which they have prepared them, propose to petition Congress on this subject, and wish for the cooperation of those of the south and west, and I have been requested, as more convenient in position than they are, to solicit that cooperation. Having no personal acquaintance with those who are charged with the direction of the college of -- -- , I do not know how more effectually to communicate these views to them, than by availing myself of the knowledge I have of your zeal for the happiness and improvement of our country. I take the liberty, therefore, of requesting you to place the subject before the proper authorities of that institution, and if they approve the measure, to solicit a concurreat proceeding on their part to carry it into effect. Besides petitioning Congress, I would propose that they address, in their corporate capacity, a letter to their delegates and senators in Congress, soliciting their best endeavors to obtain the repeal of the duty on imported books. I cannot but suppose that such an application will be respected by them, and will engage their votes and endeavors to effect an object so reasonable. A conviction that science is important to the preservation of our republican government, and that it is also essential to its protection against foreign power, induces me, on this occasion, to step beyond the limits of that retirement to which age and inclination equally dispose me.-

TITLE: To -- -- .
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 220.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

It is with extreme reluctance that I permit myself to usurp the office of an adviser of the public, what books they should read, and what not. I yield, however, on this occasion to your wish and that of Colonel Taylor, and do

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 212.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 189.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

This book [“ Constructions Construed”] is the most effectual retraction of our government to its original principles which has ever yet been sent by heaven to our aid. Every State in the Union should give a copy to every member they elect, as a standing instruction, and ours should set the example. --

TITLE: To Archibald Thweat.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 199.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 184.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

The Legislature of Virginia happened to be in session, in Williamsburg, when news was received of the passage by the British Parliament of the Boston Port [Col 2] Bill, which was to take effect on the first day of June [1774] then ensuing. The House of Burgesses thereupon passed a resolution, recommending to their fellow citizens, that that day should be set apart for fasting and prayer to the Supreme Being, imploring Him to avert the calamities then threatening us, and to give us one heart and one mind to oppose every invasion of our liberties. The next day, May 20, 1774, the Governor dissolved us. --

TITLE: Jefferson Papers.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 122.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821
See Fast Days.

Whatever may be the merit or demerit of the acquisition of Louisiana, I divide it with my colleagues, to whose counsels I was indebted for a course of administration which, notwithstanding this late coalition of clay and brass, will, I hope, continue to receive the approbation of our country. --

TITLE: To Henry Dearborn.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 215.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 192.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Aug. 1821

The seat of government [in Virginia] had been originally fixed in the peninsula of Jamestown, the first settlement of the colonists; and had been afterwards removed a few miles inland to Williamsburg. But this was at a time when our settlements had not extended beyond the tide waters. Now they had crossed the Alleghany; and the centre of population was very far removed from what it had been. Yet Williamsburg was still the depository of our archives, the habitual residence of the Governor and many other of the public functionaries, the established place for the sessions of the legislature, and the magazine of our military stores; and its situation was so exposed that it might be taken at any time in war, and, at this time particularly, an enemy might in the night run up either of the rivers, between which it lies, land a force above, and take possession of the place, without the possibility of saving either persons or things. I had proposed its removal so early as October, '76; but it did not prevail until the session of May, '79. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 40.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 55.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Our government is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. The engine of consolidation will be the Federal judiciary; the two other branches the corrupting and corrupted instruments. --

TITLE: To Nathaniel Macon.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 223.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

States and. -- I' fear our eastern associates wish for consolidation, in which they would be joined by the smaller States generally. --

TITLE: To Nathaniel Macon.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 223.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 194.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

It has long been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression (although I do not choose to put it into a newspaper, nor like a Priam in armor to offer myself as its champion), that the germ of dissolution of our Federal Government is in the constitution of the Federal Judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow), working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little to-day and a little to-morrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidatee into one. To this I am opposed; because, when all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. It will be, as in Europe, where every man must be either pike or gudgeon, hammer or anvil. Our functionaries and theirs are wares from the same workshop; made of the same materials and by the same hand. If the States look with apathy on this silent descent of their government into the gulf which is to swallow all, we have only to weep over the human character formed uncontrollable but by a rod of iron, and the blasphemers of man, as incapable of self-government, become his true historians. --

TITLE: To C. Hammond.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 216.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

It is not by the consolidation, or concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected.

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 82.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 113.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I fear an explosion in our State Legislature. I wish they may restrain themselves to a strong but temperate protestation. Virginia is not at present in favor with her co-States. An opposition headed by her would determine all the anti-Missouri States to take the contrary side. She had better lie by, therefore, till the shoe shall pinch an eastern State. --

TITLE: To Nathaniel Macon.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 223.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 194.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Oct. 1821

-- Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 82.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 113.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated. --

TITLE: To C. Hammond.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 216.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

A Fourth of July oration, delivered in the town of Milford, in your State, gives to Samuel Chase the credit of having “first started the cry of Independence in the ears of his countrymen”. Do you remember anything of this? I do not. I have no doubt it was uttered in Massachusetts even before it was by Thomas Paine. But, certainly, I never considered Samuel Chase as foremost, or even forward in that hallowed cry. I know that Maryland hung heavily on our backs, and that Chase, although first named, was not most in unison with us of that delegation. --

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 218.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their king and church, and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws “should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England”. As soon as the state of the colony admitted, it was divided into parishes, in each of which was established a minister of the Anglican church, endowed with a fixed salary, in tobacco, a glebe house and land with the other necessary appendages. To meet these expenses, all the inhabitants of the parishes were assessed, whether they were or not, members of the established church. Towards Quakers who came here, they were most cruelly intolerant, driving them from the colony by the severest penalties. In process of time, however, other sectarisms were introduced, chiefly of the Presbyterian family; and the established clergy, secure for life in their glebes and salaries, adding to these, generally, the emoluments of a classical school, found employment enough, in their farms and school-rooms, for the rest of the week, and devoted Sunday only to the edification of their flock, by service, and a sermon at their parish church. Their other pastoral functions were little attended to. Against this inactivity, the zeal and industry of sectarian preachers had an open and undisputed field; and by the time of the Revolution, a majority of the inhabitants had become dissenters from the established church, but were still obliged to pay contributions to support the pastors of the minority. This unrighteous compulsion, to maintain teachers of what they deemed religious errors, was grievously felt during the regal government, and without a hope of relief. But the first republican legislature, which met in '76, was crowded with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyranny. [Col 2] These brought on the severest contests in which I have ever been engaged. Our great opponents were Mr. Pendleton and Robert Carter Nicholas; honest men, but zealous churchmen. The petitions were referred to the “committee of the Whole House on the State of the Country”; ⁷³ and, after desperate contests in that committee, almost daily from the 11th of October to the 5th of December, we prevailed so far only, as to repeal the laws which rendered criminal the maintenance of any religious opinions, the forbearance of repairing to church, or the exercise of any mode of worship; and further, to exempt dissenters from contributions to the support of the established church; and to suspend, only until the next session, levies on the members of that church for the salaries of their own incumbents. For although the majority of our citizens were dissenters, as has been observed, a majority of the legislature were churchmen. Among these, however, were some reasonable and liberal men, who enabled us, on some points, to obtain feeble majorities. But our opponents carried, in the general resolutions of the committee of Nov. 19, a declaration that religious assemblies ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made for continuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending their conduct. And, in the bill, now passed, ⁷⁴ was inserted an express reservation of the question, whether a general assessment should not be established by law, on every one, to the support of the pastor of his choice; or whether all should be left to voluntary contributions; and on this question, debated at every session, from '76 to '79 (some of our dissenting allies, having now secured their particular object, going over to the advocates of a general assessment), we could only obtain a suspension from session to session until '79, when the question against a general assessment was finally carried, and the establishment of the Anglican church entirely put down. In justice to the two honest but zealous opponents, who have been named, I must add, that although, from their natural temperaments, they were more disposed generally to acquiesce in things as they are, than to risk innovations, yet whenever the public will had once decided, none were more faithful or exact in their obedience to it. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 38.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 52.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The restoration of the rights of conscience relieved the people from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs; for the [Church of England] Estab

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 49.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 69.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

In the ancient feudal times of our good old forefathers, when the seigneur married his daughter, or knighted his son, it was the usage for his vassals to give him a year's rent extra in the name of an aid. I think it as reasonable when our pastor builds a house, that each of his flock should give him an aid of a year's contribution. I enclose mine as a tribute of justice, which of itself indeed is nothing, but as an example, if followed, may become something. In any event, be pleased to accept it as an offering of duty. --

TITLE: To The Rev. Mr. Hatch.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 197.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821
See Church, Church and State, Ministers, Religion.

Before the commencement of hostilities I never had heard a whisper of disposition to separate from Great Britain. And after that, its possibility was contemplated with affliction by all. --

TITLE: To George A. Otis.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

On Friday, July 12 [1776] , the committee appointed to draw the Articles of Confederation reported them, and, on the 22d, the House resolved themselves into a committee to take them into consideration. On the 30th and 31st of that month, and 1st of the ensuing,

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 26.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 38.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Our body [the Confederation Congress] was little numerous, but very contentious. Day after day was wasted on the most unimportant questions. My colleague [John F.] Mercer, was one of those afflicted with the morbid rage of debate, of an ardent mind, prompt imagination, and copious flow of words, who heard with impatience any logic which was not his own. Sitting near me on some occasion of a trifling but wordy debate, [Col 2] he asked how I could sit in silence, hearing so much false reasoning, which a word should refute? I observed to him, that to refute was easy, but to silence was impossible; that in measures brought forward by myself, I took the laboring oar, as was incumbent on me; but that in general, I was willing to listen; that if every sound argument or objection was used by some one or other of the numerous debaters, it was enough; if not, I thought it sufficient to suggest the omission, without going into a repetition of what had been already said by others; that this was a waste and abuse of the time and patience of the House, which could not be justified. And I believe, that if the members of deliberative bodies were to observe this course generally, they would do in a day what takes them a week; and it is really more questionable, than may at first be thought, whether Bonaparte's dumb legislature which said nothing and did much, may not be preferable to one which talks much and does nothing. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 58.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 81.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821
See Congress.

The fundamental defect of the Confederation was that Congress was not authorized to act immediately on the people, and by its own officers. Their power was only requisitory, and these requisitions were addressed to the several Legislatures, to be by them carried into execution, without other coercion than the moral principle of duty. This allowed in fact a negative to every Legislature, on every measure proposed by Congress; a negative so frequently exercised in practice as to benumb the action of the Federal Government, and to render it inefficient in its general objects, and more especially in pecuniary and foreign concerns. The want, too, of a separation of the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary functions, worked disadvantageously in practice. Yet this state of things afforded a happy augury of the future march of our confederacy, when it was seen that the good sense and good dispositions of the people, as soon as they perceived the incompetence of their first compact, instead of leaving its correction to insurrection and civil war, agreed with one voice to elect deputies to a general Convention, who should peaceably meet and agree on such a Constitution as “would ensure peace, justice, liberty, the common defence and general welfare.” --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 108.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Our first essay, in America, to establish a federative government had fallen, on trial, very short of its object. During the war of Independence, while the pressure of an external enemy hooped us together, and their enterprises kept us necessarily on the alert, the spirit of the people, excited by danger, was a supplement to the Confederation, and urged them to zealous exertions, whether claimed by that instrument, or not; but, when peace and safety were restored, and every man became engaged in useful and profitable occupation, less attention was paid to the calls of Congress. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 78.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 107.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Mr. Adams, while residing at the Hague, had a general authority to borrow what sums might be requisite for ordinary and necessary expenses. Interest on the public debt, and the maintenance of the diplomatic establishment in Europe, had been habitually provided in this way. He was now elected Vice-President of the United States, was soon to return to America, and had referred our bankers to me for future counsel on our affairs in their hands. But I had no powers, no instructions, no means, and no familiarity with the subject. It had always been exclusively under his management, except as to occasional and partial deposits in the hands of Mr. Grand, banker in Paris, for special and local purposes. These last had been exhausted for some time, and I had frequently pressed the Treasury Board to replenish this particular deposit, as Mr. Grand now refused to make further advances. They answered candidly that no funds could be obtained until the new government should get into action, and have time to make its arrangements. Mr. Adams had received his appointment to the court of London while engaged at Paris, with Dr. Franklin and myself, in the negotiations under our joint commissions. He had repaired thence to London, without returning to the Hague to take leave of that government. He thought it necessary, however, to do so now, before he should leave Europe, and accordingly went there. I learned of his departure from London by a letter from Mrs. Adams received on the very day on which he would arrive at the Hague. A consultation with him, and some provision for the future was indispensable, while we could yet avail ourselves of his powers; for when they would be gone, we should be without resource. I was daily dunned by a Company who had formerly made a small loan to the United States, the principal of which was now become due; and our bankers in Amsterdam had notified me that the interest on our general debt would be expected in June; that if we failed to pay it, it would be deemed an act of bankruptcy and would effectually destroy the credit of the United States and all future prospect of obtaining money there; that the loan they had been authorized to open, of which a third only was filled, had

I had prepared an estimate showing that:

There would be necessary for the year '88	531.937-10 Florins
There would be necessary for the year '89	538.540 Florins
There would be necessary for the year '90	473.540 Florins
Total	1.544.017-10 Florins
To meet this the bankers had in hand	79.268-2-8 florins
And the unsold bonds would yield	542.800 florins
	622.068-2-8 florins
Leaving a deficit of	921.949-7-4 florins
We proposed then to borrow a million, yielding	920.000 florins
Which would leave a small deficiency of	1.949-7-4 florins

Mr. Adams accordingly executed 1000 bonds, for 1000 florins each and deposited them in the hands of our bankers, with instructions, however, not to issue them until Congress should ratify the measure. [* * *] I had the satisfaction to reflect that by this journey our credit was secured, the new government was placed at ease for two years to come and that, as well as myself, relieved from the torment of incessant duns, whose just complaints could not be silenced by any means within our power. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 83.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 114.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Among the debilities of the government of the Confederation, no one was more distinguished or more distressing than the utter impossibility of obtaining, from the States, the moneys necessary for the payment of debts, or even for the ordinary expenses of the government. Some contributed a little, some less, and some nothing, and the last furnished at length an excuse for the first to do nothing also. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 82.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 114.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

As the Confederation had made no provision for a visible head of the government during the vacations of Congress, and such a one was necessary to superintend the executive business, to receive and communicate with foreign ministers and nations, and to assemble Congress on sudden and extraordinary emergencies, I proposed early in April [April 14, 1784] the appointment of a committee, to be called the Committee of the States, to consist of a member from each State, who should remain in session during the recess of Congress: that the functions of Congress should be divided into executive and legislative, the latter to be reserved, and the former by a general resolution to be delegated to that Committee. This proposition was afterwards agreed to. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 54.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 75.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

A Committee [of the States] was appointed who entered on duty on the subsequent adjournment of Congress [in 1784] , quarrelled very soon, split, into two parties, abandoned their post, and left the government without any visible head until the next meeting in Congress. ⁹² We have since seen the same thing take place in the Directory of France; and I believe it will forever take place in any Executive consisting of a plurality. Our plan best, I believe, combines wisdom and practicability, by providing a plurality of Counsellors, but a single Arbiter for ultimate decision. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 54.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 75.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Nor should we wonder at [* * *] [the] pressure [for a fixed constitution in 1788-9] when we consider the monstrous abuses of power under which * * * the [French] people were ground to powder; when we pass in review [* * *] the shackles on the freedom of conscience. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 86.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 118.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The restoration of the rights of conscience [in the Revised Code of Virginia] relieved the people from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs: for the [Church of England] Establishment was truly of the religion of the rich, the dissenting sects being entirely composed of the less wealthy people. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 49.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 69.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

How the good [in the new Constitution] should be secured and the ill brought to right was the difficulty. To refer it back to a new Convention might endanger the loss of the whole. My first idea was that the nine States, first acting, should accept it unconditionally, and thus secure what in it was good and that the four last should accept on the previous condition, that certain amendments should be agreed to; but a better course was devised of accepting the whole and trusting that the good sense and honest intentions of our citizens would make the alterations which should be deemed necessary. Accordingly, all accepted, six without objection and seven with recommendations of specified amendments. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 79.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 109.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I received a copy [of the new Federal Constitution] early in November [1787] and read and contemplated its provisions with great satisfaction. As not a member of the Convention, however, nor probably a single citizen of the Union had approved it in all its parts, so I, too, found articles which I thought objectionable. The absence of express declarations ensuring freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of the person under the uninterrupted protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by jury in civil as well as in criminal cases excited my jealousy; and the re-eligibility of the President for life I quite disapproved. I expressed freely in letters to my friends and most particularly to Mr. Madison and General Washington my approbations and objections. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 79.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 108.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

May you and your cotemporaries meet them [attacks on the Constitution] with the same determination and effect, as your father and his did the Alien and Sedition laws, and preserve inviolate a constitution, which, cherished in all its chastity and purity, will prove in the end a blessing to all the nations of the earth. --

TITLE: To Mr. Nicholas.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 230.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

The [National] Assembly [* * *] proceeded to arrange the order in which they would take up the heads of their constitution as follows: First, and as preliminary to the whole, a general Declaration of the Rights of Man. Then, specifically, the Principles of the Monarchy; Rights of the Nation; Rights of the King; Rights of the Citizens; organization and rights of the National Assembly; forms necessary for the enactment of Laws; organization and functions of the Provincial and Municipal Assemblies; duties and limits of the Judiciary power; functions and duties of the Military power. A Declaration of the Rights of Man, as the preliminary of their work, was accordingly prepared and proposed by the Marquis de Lafayette. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 96.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 132.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The Assembly appointed a committee for the “reduction of a projet” of a constitution, at the head of which was the Archbishop of Bordeaux. I received from him, as chairman of the committee, a letter of July 20th [1789] , requesting me to attend and assist at their deliberations; but I excused myself, on the obvious considerations that my mission was to the King as Chief Magistrate of the nation, that my duties were limited to the concerns of my own country, and forbade me to intermeddle with the internal transactions of that in which I had been received under a specific character only. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 103.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 143.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The plan of a constitution was discussed in sections, and so reported from time to time, as agreed to by the committee. The first respected the general frame of the government; and that this should be formed into three departments, Executive Legislative and Judiciary, was generally agreed. But when they proceeded to subordinate developments, many and various shades of opinion came into conflict, and schism, strongly marked, broke the Patriots into fragments of very discordant principles. The first question: Whether there should be a King? met with no open opposition; and it was readily agreed that the government of France should be monarchical and hereditary. Shall the King have a negative on the laws? Shall that negative be absolute or suspensive only? Shall there be two Chambers of Legislation, or one only? If two, shall one of them be hereditary? or for life? or for a fixed term? and named by the King? or elected by the people? These questions found strong differences of opinion, and produced repulsive combinations among the Patriots. The Aristocracy was cemented by a common principle of preserving the ancient régime, or whatever should be nearest to it. Making this their polar star, they moved in phalanx, gave preponderance on every question to the minorities of the Patriots, and always to those who advocated the least change. The features of the new constitution were thus assuming a fearful aspect, and great alarm was produced among the honest Patriots by these dissensions in their ranks. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 103.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 144.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

[Col 2] -- CONSTITUTION (French), Jefferson's Bill of Rights for. -- See Bill of Rights.

The features of the new Constitution were thus assuming a fearful aspect, and great alarm was produced among the honest Patriots in their ranks. In this uneasy state of things, I received one day a note from the Marquis de Lafayette, informing me that he should bring a party of six or eight friends to ask a dinner of me the next day. * * * When they arrived, they were Lafayette himself, Duport, Barnave, Alexander La Meth, Blacon, Mounier, Maubourg and Dagout. These were leading Patriots, of honest but differing opinions, sensible of the necessity of effecting a coalition by mutual sacrifices, knowing each other, and not afraid, therefore, to unbosom themselves mutually. This last was a material principle in the selection. With this view, the Marquis had invited the conference, and had fixed the time and place inadvertently as to the embarrassment under which it might place me. The cloth being removed, wine set on the table, after the American manner, the Marquis introduced the objects of the conference, by summarily reminding them of the state of things in the Assembly, the course which the principles of the Constitution were taking, and the inevitable result unless checked by more concord among the Patriots themselves. He observed, that although he also had his opinion, he was ready to sacrifice it to that of his brethren of the same cause; but that a common opinion must now be formed, or the Aristocracy would carry everything and that, whatever they should now agree on, he, at the head of the National force, would maintain. The discussions began at the hour of four and were continued till ten o'clock in the evening; during which time I was a silent witness to a coolness and candor of argument, unusual in the conflicts of political opinion; to a logical reasoning and chaste eloquence, disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation, and truly worthy of being placed in parallel with the finest dialogues of antiquity, as handed to us by Xenophon, by Plato and Cicero. The result was an agreement that the King should have a suspensive veto on the laws, that the legislature should be composed of a single body only, and that to be chosen by the people. This Concordat decided the fate of the Constitution. The Patriots all rallied to the principles thus settled, carried every question agreeably to them, and reduced the Aristocracy to insignificance and impotence. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 104.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 144.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

But duties of exculpation were now incumbent on me. I waited on Count Montmorin the next morning, and explained to him with truth and candor how it had happened that my house had been made the scene of conferences of such a character. He told me he already knew everything which had passed, that so far from taking umbrage at the use of my house on that occasion, he earnestly wished I would habitually assist at such conferences, being sure that I should be useful in moderating the warmer spirits, and promoting a wholesome and practicable reformation only. I told him I knew too well the duties I owed to the King, to the nation and to my own country, to take any part in councils concerning their internal government, and that I should persevere, with care, in the character

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 105.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 146.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Nor should we wonder at the pressure, [for a fixed constitution] when we consider the monstrous abuses of power under which [* * *] the [French] people were ground to powder; when we pass in review the weight of their taxes, and the inequality of their distribution; the oppressions of the tithes, the tailles, the corvées, the gabelles, the farms and barriers; the shackles on commerce by monopolies; on industry by guilds and corporations; on the freedom of conscience, of thought, and of speech; on the freedom of the press by the Censure; and of the person by Lettres de Cachet; the cruelty of the Criminal code generally; the atrocities of the Rack; the venality of the judges, and their partialities to the rich; the monopoly of Military honors by the Noblesse; the enormous expenses of the Queen, the Princes and the Court; the prodigalities of pensions; and the riches, luxury, indolence and immorality of the Clergy. Surely under such a mass of misrule and oppression, a people might justly press for a thorough reformation, and might even dismount their roughshod riders, and leave them to walk on their own legs. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 86.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 118.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

A consular convention had been agreed on in 1784, between Dr. Franklin and the French government, containing several articles, so entirely inconsistent with the laws of the several States, and the general spirit of our citizens, that Congress withheld their ratification, and sent it back to me with instructions to get those articles expunged, or modified, so as to render them compatible with our laws. The Minister unwillingly released us from these concessions, which, indeed, authorized the exercise of powers very offensive in a free State. After much discussion, the convention was reformed in a considerable degree, and was signed by the Count Montmorin and myself, on the 14th of November, 1788; not, indeed, such as I would have wished, but such as could be obtained with good humor and friendship. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 85.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 117.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I have been, above all things, solaced by the prospect which opened on us [in the Presidential contest in 1801] in the event of a non-election of a President;

TITLE: To Joseph Priestley.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 374.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 22.
PLACE: Washington
DATE: March 21, 1801

Consolidation first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence. --

TITLE: To Nathaniel Macon.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 223.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 193.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

Time indeed changes manners and notions, and so far we must expect institutions to bend to them. But time produces also corruption of principles, and against this it is the duty of good citizens to be ever on the watch, and if the gangrene is to prevail at last, let the day be kept off as long as possible. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 211.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

Every State is divided into counties, each to take care of what lies within its local bounds; each county again into townships or wards, to manage minuter details. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 82.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 113.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

In that one of the bills for organizing our [Va.] judiciary system, which proposed a court of Chancery, I had provided for a trial by jury of all matters of fact, in that as well as in the courts of law. Edmund Pendleton defeated it by the introduction of four words only, “if either party choose.” The consequence has been, that as no suitor will say to his judge, “Sir, I distrust you, give me a jury,” juries are rarely, I might say, perhaps, never seen in that court, but when called for by the Chancellor of his own accord. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 37.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 50.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

They [the members of the Revision Committee of the Virginia Code] were agreed [* * *] that for other felonies [than treason and murder] hard labor in the public works should be substituted, and in some cases, the lex talionis. How this last revolting principle came to obtain our ¹¹³ approbation, I do not remember. There remained, indeed, in our laws, a vestige of it in a single case of a slave; it was the English law, in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, copied probably from the Hebrew Law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and it was the law of several ancient people; but the modern mind had left it far in the rear of its advances. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 43.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 60.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Beccaria, and other writers on crimes and punishments, had satisfied the reasonable world of the unrightfulness and inefficacy of the punishment of crimes by death; and hard labor on roads, canals and other public works, had been suggested as a proper substitute. The Revisors [of the Virginia laws] had adopted these opinions; but the general idea of our country had not yet advanced to that point. The bill, therefore, for proportioning crimes and punishments, was lost in the House of Delegates by a majority of a single vote. I learned afterwards, that the substitute of hard labor in public, was tried (I believe it was in Pennsylvania) without success. Exhibited as a public spectacle, with shaved heads and mean clothing. working on the high roads, produced in the criminals such a prostration of character, such an abandonment of self-respect, as instead of reforming, plunged them into the most desperate and hardened depravity of morals and character. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 45.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 62.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 58.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 82.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I served with General Washington in the Legislature of Virginia before the Revolution and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 58.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 82.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The growth and entailment of a public debt is an indication soliciting the employment of the pruning knife. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 212.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

There are two measures which if not taken we are undone. [* * *] [The second ¹²³ is] to cease borrowing money, and to pay off the national debt. If this cannot be done without dismissing the army, and putting the ships out of commission, haul them up high and dry, and reduce the army to the lowest point at which it was ever established. There does not exist an engine so corruptive of the government and so demoralizing of the nation as a public debt. It will bring on us more ruin at home than all the enemies from abroad against whom this army and navy are to protect us. What interest have we in keeping ships in service in the Pacific Ocean? To protect a few speculative adventurers in a commerce dealing in nothing in which we have an interest. As if the Atlantic and Mediterranean were not large enough for American capital! As if commerce and not agriculture was the principle of our association. --

TITLE: To Nathaniel Macon.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 193.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Aug. 1821

The divisions into dimes, cents and mills is now so well understood that it would be easy of introduction into the kindred branches of weights and measures. I use, when I travel, an odometer of Clarke's invention, which divides the mile into cents, and I find every one comprehends a distance readily, when stated to him in miles and cents; so he would in feet and cents, pounds and cents, &c. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 53.
EDITION: Ford ed., i. 75.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

On the 15th of May, 1776, the Convention of Virginia instructed their delegates in Congress, to propose to that body to declare the Colonies independent of Great Britain, and appointed a committee to prepare a declaration of rights, and plan of government.

“In Congress, Friday, June 7, 1776. The delegates ¹²⁹ from Virginia moved, in obedience to instructions from their constituents that the Congress should declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the Colonies more closely together. The House being obliged to attend at that time to some other business, the proposition was referred to the next day, when the members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock.

Saturday, June 8. They proceeded to take it into consideration, and referred it to a committee of the whole, into which they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day and Monday, the 10th, in debating on the subject. ”* --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 12.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 18.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821 ¹³⁰

It appearing in the course of these debates [on Independence] , that the Colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina were not yet matured for falling from the parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, it was thought most prudent to wait a while for them, and to postpone the final decision to July 1st; but, that this might occasion as little delay as possible, a committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 17.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 24.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

On Monday, the 1st of July, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and resumed the consideration of the original motion [to declare the Colonies independent States] made by the delegates of Virginia, which, being again debated through the day, was carried in the affirmative by the votes of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland. Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. Delaware had but two members present and they were divided. The delegates from New York declared they were for it themselves, and were assured their constituents were for it; but that their instructions having been drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still the general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing which should impede that object. They, therefore, thought themselves not justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the question, which was given them. The committee rose and reported their resolution to the House. Mr. Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, then requested the determination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity. The ultimate question, whether the House would agree to the resolution of the committee, was accordingly postponed to the next day, when it was again moved, and South Carolina concurred in voting for it. In the meantime, a third member had come post from the Delaware counties, and turned the vote of that Colony in favor of the resolution. Members of a different sentiment attending that morning from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed, so that the whole twelve Colonies, who were authorized to vote at all, gave their voices for it; and within a few days (July 9) the convention of New York approved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the withdrawing of her delegates from the vote. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 18.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 24.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and myself. [* * *] . The committee [* * *] desired me to do it. ¹³¹ It was accordingly done, and being approved by them, I reported

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 17.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 24.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821
See 2119.

Congress proceeded [* * *] on July 1st to consider the Declaration of Independence, which had been reported and laid on the table the Friday preceding, and on Monday referred to a committee of the whole. [* * *] The debates, having taken up the greater parts of the 2d, 3d and 4th days of July, were, on the evening of the last, closed; the Declaration was reported by the committee, agreed to by the House, and signed by every member present, except Mr. [John] Dickinson. ¹³² --

TITLE: Autiobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 19.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 28.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821
See 2122.

The pusillanimous idea that we had any friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which conveyed censure on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offence. --

TITLE: Autopiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 19.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 28.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I think Mr. Adams will outlive us all, I mean the Declaration-men, although our senior since the death of Colonel Floyd. It is a race in which I have no ambition to win. --

TITLE: To Henry Dearborn.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 214.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 191.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Aug. 1821

The clause [in the draft] reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures, for though their people had very [Col 2] few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 19.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 28.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

He was so honest a man, and so able a one that he was greatly indulged even by those who could not feel his scruples. ¹⁴⁴ --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 11.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 17.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson, and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part of our body, in permitting him to draw their second petition to the King according to his own ideas, and passing it with scarcely any amendment. The disgust against this humility was general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circumstance which reconciled them to it. The vote being passed, although further observation on it was out of order, he could not refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded by saying, “there is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I disapprove, and that is the word Congress”; on which Ben. Harrison rose and said, “there is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word Congress.” --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 11.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 17.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I should not shrink from the post of duty, had not the decays of nature withdrawn me from the list of combatants. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 211.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

Nobody can doubt my zeal for the general instruction of the people. Who first started that idea? I may surely say, myself. Turn to the bill in the Revised Code, which I drew more than forty years ago, and before which the idea of a plan for the education of the people, generally, had never been suggested in this State. There you will see developed the first rudiments of the whole system of general education we are now urging and acting on: and it is well known to those with whom I have acted on this subject, that I never have proposed a sacrifice of the primary to the ultimate grade of instruction. Let us keep our eye steadily on the whole system. --

TITLE: To General Breckenridge.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 205.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821
See People.

The Legislative and executive branches may sometimes err, but elections and dependence will bring them to rights. --

TITLE: To Archibald Thweat.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 199.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 184.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

On the 12th of October, 1776, I obtained leave (in the Virginia Legislature) to bring in a bill declaring tenants in tail to hold their lands in fee-simple. In the earlier times of the colony, when lands were to be obtained for little or nothing, some provident individuals procured large grants; and, desirous of founding great families for themselves, settled them on their descendants in fee-tail. The transmission of this property from generation to generation, in the same name, raised up a distinct set of families, who, being privileged by law in the perpetuation of their wealth, were thus formed into a Patrician order, distinguished by the splendor and luxury of their establishments. From this order, too. the King habitually selected his Counsellors of State; the hope of which distinction devoted the whole corps to the interests and will of the crown. To annul this privilege, and instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of the interests of Society, and scattered with equal hand through all its conditions, was deemed essential to a well-ordered republic. To effect it, no violence was necessary, no deprivation of natural right, but rather an enlarge [Col 2] ment of it by a repeal of the law. For this would authorize the present holder to divide the property among his children equally, as his affections were divided; and would place them, by natural generation on the level of their fellow citizens. But this repeal was strongly opposed by Mr. Pendleton, who was zealously attached to ancient establishments. [* * *] Finding that the general principle of entails could not be maintained, he took his stand on an amendment which he proposed, instead of an absolute abolition, to permit the tenant in tail to convey in fee-simple, if he chose it; and he was within a few votes of saving so much of the old law. But the bill passed finally for entire abolition. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 36.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 49.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and preserve the soil of the country from being daily more and more absorbed in mortmain. ¹⁷¹ --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 49.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 69.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Even among our citizens who participate in the representative privilege, the equality of political rights is entirely prostrated by our [Virginia] Constitution. Upon which principle of right or reason can any one justify the giving to every citizen of Warwick as much weight in the government as to twenty-two equal citizens in London, and similar inequalities among the other counties? If these fundamental principles are of no importance in actual government, then no principles are important, and it is as well to rely on the dispositions of administration, good or evil, as on the provisions of a constitution. --

TITLE: To John Hambden Pleasants.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 344.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 303.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821
See Rights.

I repeat that I do not charge the judges with wilful and ill-intentioned error, but honest error must be arrested where its toleration leads to public ruin. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 82.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 113.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Expatriation [is] a natural right, [* * *] acted on as such by all nations, in all ages. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 8.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 13.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Early in the session [of the Virginia Assembly] of May, 1799, I prepared and obtained leave to bring in a bill declaring who should be deemed citizens, asserting the natural right of expatriation, and prescribing the mode of exercising it. This, when I withdrew from the House, on the 1st of June following, I left in the hands of George Mason, and it was passed on the 26th of that month. ¹⁸⁴ --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 40.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 55.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

The increase of expense beyond income is an indication soliciting the employment of the pruning knife. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 212.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

The ablest man who had ever filled that office [Governor of Virginia] . ¹⁸⁷ --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 3.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 4.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

I still believe that the Western extension of our confederacy will ensure its duration, by overruling local factions, which might shake a smaller association. --

TITLE: To Henry Dearborn.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 215.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 192.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821
See Territory.

It is a fatal heresy to suppose that either our State governments are superior to the Federal, or the Federal to the States. The people, to whom all authority belongs, have divided the powers of government into two distinct departments, the leading characters of which are foreign and domestic; and they have appointed for each a distinct set of functionaries. These they have made coordinate, checking and balancing each other, like the three cardinal departments in the individual States; each equally supreme as to the powers delegated to itself, and neither authorized ultimately to decide what belongs to itself, or to its coparcener in government,

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 213.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 190.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

The flames kindled on the Fourth of

TITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 218.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: Sep. 1821

[In the negotiation of commercial treaties with France] I must say, in justice, that I found the government entirely disposed to befriend us on all occasions, and to yield us every indulgence not absolutely injurious to themselves. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 64.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 90.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821
See Treaties.

The venerable and beloved Franklin.

TITLE: -- .
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 108.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 150.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

Nor should we wonder at [* * *] [the] pressure [for a fixed constitution in 1788-9] when we consider the monstrous abuses of power under which [* * *] [the French] people were ground to powder; when we pass in review the shackles on [* * *] the freedom of thought and of speech. --

TITLE: Autobiography.
EDITION: Washington ed. i, 86.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 118.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1821

It is a law of nature that the generations of men should give way, one to another, and I hope that the one now on the stage will preserve for their sons the political blessings delivered into their hands by their fathers. --

TITLE: To Spencer Roane.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 211.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 188.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

I yield the concerns of the world with cheerfulness to those who are appointed in the order of nature to succeed to them. --

TITLE: To General Breckendridge.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 206.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

A geographical division [* * *] is a most fatal of all divisions, as no authority will submit to be governed by a majority acting merely on a geographical principle. --

TITLE: To Samuel H. Smith.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 191.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821
See Missouri.

It is a misnomer to call a government republican, in which a branch of the supreme power is independent of the nation. --

TITLE: To James Pleasants.
EDITION: Ford ed., x, 199.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

I never suffered a political to become a personal difference. I have been left on this ground by some friends whom I dearly loved, but I was never the first to separate. With some others, of politics different from mine, I have continued in the warmest friendship to this day, and to all, and to yourself particularly, I have ever done moral justice. --

TITLE: To Timothy Pickering.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 210.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1821

When the famous resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp Act, were proposed, I was yet a student of law in Williamsburg. I attended the debate, however, at the door of the lobby of the House of Burgesses and heard the splendid display of Mr. Henry's talents as a popular orator. They were great, indeed; such as I