NOTES ON THE TEXT 8 A Youthful Attachment. The "picture and watchpaper" was that of Rebecca Burwell, who is referred to also in the letter which follows this on page 10. She was married in 1764 to Jacqueline Ambler. 16 Declaration of Independence. The action of the Continental Congress on the Declaration of Independence was as follows. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, acting on instructions from the Virginia Assembly, introduced a resolution that "these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States." On June 11 Congress appointed to draft a Declaration a Committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert A. Livingston. Jefferson drafted the Declaration, which, after slight alteration by Adams and Franklin, was accepted by the Committee. On July 2, Congress adopted Lee's original resolution, and on July 4, Jefferson's Declaration with some omissions and changes, the most important of which were the omission of the denunciation of the British people (page 21) and of the slave-trade (pages 19-20). The Declaration was not signed by the Congress until August 2. 23 On Retiring from Public Life. This letter seems to refer to Jefferson's refusal of a reappointment to Congress in December, 1781. At that time he was being very severely criticised for his conduct as Governor of Virginia during the invasion of Cornwallis. 24 "Notes on Virginia." This, the most extensive of the separate works of Jefferson, was compiled in response to the inquiries of Marbois, the French agent, as to the resources of the states. Written during Jefferson's retire ment (1781-2), the "Notes" are of a remarkable frankness and freedom of expression, which make them invaluable as a revelation of character. They were published in French at Paris in 1784, translated, and repeatedly republished. They gave to Jefferson a place in the scientific world of Europe second only to Franklin, and are to-day the best account of Revolutionary Virginia. 24 The American Genius. The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, its chords being precisely the four lower chords of the guitar. On Slavery. Throughout his life Jefferson was outspoken in his condemnation of slavery, for its ill effects on the whites (page 26) as well as on the blacks. Like Washington and the other opponents of slavery in the South, Jefferson saw that the fundamental difficulty was to find a place for the negro in society. Slavery was one solution, but, he believed, wasteful, injurious to the whites, and unjust to the blacks. He advocated gradual emancipation (with compensation) and the colonization of the free negroes. He heartily supported the later project of transporting the free negroes to Sierra Leone. For further information as to his attitude, compare the selections on pages 26, 34, 63, 146, 258, 285, 289. 30 Martha Jefferson. Born Oct. 19, 1748, daughter of John Wayles. Married Jefferson in 1772, being at that time a widow, her first husband, Bathurst Skelton, having died several years previously. She died at Monticello in 1782. 34 Peter Carr. A nephew of Jefferson, and one of the six children of Dabney Carr. They were brought up by Jefferson after the premature death of their father. 38 Inferiority of Commerce and Manufactures to Agriculture. In letters of 1805 (page 167) Jefferson explained that he condemned manufactures and commerce because of the wretched conditions of city life in Europe, but that, as these conditions did not exist in a new country like America, the condemnation did not as yet apply there. (Compare page 191.) 41 Superiority of the United States to France. It should be noted that Jefferson's belief in the absolute dependence of a people's happiness on its political freedom inevitably darkened his pictures of European life. Compare selections on pages 43, 242. 45 On New States. The organization of the western territory into states and their admission into the Union were subjects of the deepest interest to Jefferson. In 1784, when Virginia had completed the cession of her western claims to the Confederacy, Jefferson introduced an Ordinance into Congress which (1) forbade slavery in the territory after 1800; (2) divided it into small states with geographical names-Pelisipia, Metropotamia, etc.; (3) provided for a temporary territorial government and speedy admission to the Union. The third section alone was adopted, but it became the foundation of the territorial policy of the United States. The prohibition of slavery reappears in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. 47 Force in the Barbary States. Not until Jefferson was President, in the Barbary wars 1802-6, were these pirates and blackmailers compelled by force to respect the United States. 48 The Society of the Cincinnati. The native and foreign officers of the Revolutionary Army organized this society on May 13, 1783 to "perpetuate the remembrance of this vast event [the Revolution] and . . . mutual friendship." The membership was restricted to the officers and their male heirs in direct line. The exclusive character of the membership and the hereditary element suggested to the supersensitive public opinion of the time an hereditary aristocracy and aroused widespread fear and dislike. The society still exists, with the thirteen original chapters. 53 The Navigation of the Mississippi. The claim of Spain to the control of the Mississippi furnished one of the most difficult problems of the Confederacy. The river was the only outlet for the products of the settlers in the Ohio valley, and the indifference of the Northern and Eastern States very nearly drove these to open revolt. Jefferson fully appreciated the importance of the free navigation of the Mississippi and as Minister to France and as Secretary of State (see pages 81, 92) used his utmost endeavors to secure it. 61 Congress of the Confederation. The weakness of Congress was due to the lack of a separate executive, and to its very limited power. It could not take any important action without the agreement of nine States; it could not impose a tax of any sort, or enforce its laws except through the State authorities. 62 Shay's Rebellion. After the Revolution the States passed through a time of profound economic depression. The circulating medium was in hopeless confusion, paper money nearly worthless, specie withdrawn from circulation. The markets were glutted with English goods, the taxes high, and the laws against debtors very severe. Popular risings occurred in Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, and especially in Western Massachusetts under Daniel Shay in 1786-7. The object of this rebellion was to close the courts, to stop the collection of debts and taxes, and to secure favorable legislation. The State militia put down the rising without bloodshed. 65 Adoption of the Constitution. Jefferson later (see page 227) enthusiastically adopted a modification of the absolute rejection of the Constitution by the four latest conventions, by which the States adopted the Constitution, but recommended amendments equivalent to a Declaration of Rights. These were later adopted as the first ten Amendments. Jefferson at first (see page 231) advocated a Presidential term of seven years, without reëlection, and later a term of four years, with two terms as the maximum. (See also pages 67, 279.) 72 The French Revolution. Jefferson's political theories were profoundly modified by his contact with the French Revolution in its earlier and better stages. (See page 74.) 80 Hamilton's Finance-Post-Roads. This first extract in which the opposition of Hamilton and Jefferson appears, should be read, like many of those which follow, in the light of that opposition. Jefferson was not a great financier, and his criticism, though perfectly sincere, is of minor value from a financial point of view. The apprehensions of Jefferson as to the abuse of public improvements have proved only too well founded; his attitude toward their constitutionality plainly foreshadows the strict constructionist policy. But compare pages 170, 259, 279. 85 On the Constitutionality of a National Bank. The divergence in political theory between Hamilton and Jefferson came to a head on this question. Washington asked his Cabinet to express their opinions in writing, and Jefferson's is given in the selection. It was the first definite statement of the strict constructionist view of the Constitution and served as a party platform. The practical dangers of a strong National Bank are well stated on pages 160-161. 95 Party Politics. This letter, which purports to be a petition to Washington to serve a second term, was really an attack on the Federalist policy of Hamilton. It is of great importance as outlining the specific issue between |