CHAPTER II

Mr. Jefferson came of age in 1764. He had scarcely arrived at his majority, when he was placed in the nomination of Justices for the county in which he lived; and at the first election following, was chosen one of its Representatives to the Legislature.

He took his seat in that body in May, 1769, and distinguished himself at once, by an effort of philanthropy, to which the steady liberalization of sixty years has not brought up the tone of public sentiment; at least, so far as to reconcile the major will to the personal sacrifices which it involves. The moral intrepidity that could prompt him, a new member, and one of the youngest in the House, to rise from his seat, with the composure of a martyr, and propose, amidst a body of inexorable planters, a bill "for the permission of the Emancipation of Slaves," gave an earnest of his future career, too unequivocal to be misunderstood.

It was an act of self immolation, worthy the best model of Sparta or Rome. He was himself a slave holder, and from the immense inheritance to which he had succeeded, probably one of the largest in the House. He knew too, that it was a measure of peculiar odium, running counter to the strongest interests, and most intractable prejudices of the ruling population; that it would draw upon him the keenest resentments of the wealthy and the great, who alone held the keys of honor and preferment at home, besides banishing forever, all hope of a favorable consideration with the government. In return for this array of sacrifices, he saw nothing await him but the satisfaction of an approving conscience, and the distant commendation of an impartial posterity. He could have no possible motive but the honor of his country, and the gratification of a warm and comprehensive benevolence.

The bare announcement of the proposition gave a shock to the aristocracy of the House, which aroused their inmost alarms. It touched their sensibilities at a most irritable point, and was rejected by a sudden and overwhelming vote. Yet the courteous and conciliatory account which Mr. Jefferson has left of the transaction, ascribes the failure of the bill to the vicious and despotic influence of the government, which, by its unceasing frown, overawed every attempt at reform, rather than to any moral depravation of the members themselves.

This was Mr. Jefferson's first measure of reform; and although rendered abortive by the immature state of things, it was but the inception, as the reader will in due time perceive, of a long series of efforts, partly successful, partly not, in the same benevolent cause. It was the first public movement which he had the honor to originate, and the one, in all probability, whose spirit and object were most congenial to his heart. Indeed, it was but the glimmering of that principle, which constituted the polar star of his whole destiny, and which afterwards burst with such astonishing magnificence upon the world, in that immortal manifesto of his country, which proclaimed, that "all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights."

It was the primary development of the workings of a mind which comprehended, within the mantle of its benignity, every color and condition of human existence; and which saw, beyond the "rivers of blood" and "years of desolation" which intervened, that enchanting vision, which flashed upon his earliest musings, and kindled his expiring energies-- the vision of emancipated man throughout the world.

But the business of ordinary legislation was drawing to a close in Virginia. The fatal collision between Great Britain and her Colonies had waxed to a crisis, which suspended the regular action of government, and summoned the attention of its functionaries to more imperious concerns.

Patrick Henry, who was seven years older than Mr. Jefferson, and three or four ahead of him in public life, had hitherto been the master-spirit of the Revolution at the South, and, by his superior boldness, had sustained its principal brunt. The time had now arrived, when he was to divide the burthen and the glory of the distinction, with one who was his junior only in years and eloquence, his equal in moral courage, but in everything else his superior, at an immeasurable distance.

The same session of the Legislature that first saw Mr. Jefferson a member·.also (1769) witnessed the adoption of a new mode of resistance to British tyranny, which he acted a conspicuous part in promoting; to wit, the system of non-intercourse, by which the Colonies gradually dissolved all commercial connection with the mother country. Happily, Mr. Jefferson became a member of the Legislature soon after the adoption of the system in Massachusetts; he foresaw its operation, if acted upon generally and in concert; and immediately conceived the design of bringing Virginia up to a line with her northern sister.

The bold and unequivocal attitude into which Virginia had thrown herself by the opposition, which she headed in '65, against the Stamp Act, was imitated with infectious rapidity by all the other Colonies. The Stamp Act was repealed; but its repeal was soon followed by a series of parliamentary and executive acts, equally unconstitutional and oppressive. Among these, were the Declaratory Act of a right in the British Parliament, to tax the Colonies in all cases whatsoever; the quartering of large bodies of British soldiery in the principal towns of the Colonies, at the expense and incessant annoyance of the inhabitants; the dissolution in rapid succession, of the Colonial Assemblies, and the total suspension of the legislative power in New York; the imposition of duties on all teas, glass, paper, and other articles of the most necessary use, imported into the Colonies, and the appointment of Commissioners, armed with unlimited powers, to be stationed in the several ports for the purpose of exacting the arbitrary customs.

These resolutions of the Lords and Commons arrived in America in May, 1769. The House of Burgesses of Virginia was then in session, and Mr. Jefferson, as we have seen, was for the first time a member. The doctrines avowed in these menacing papers, although they were directed principally against the people of Massachusetts, were too extraordinary to be overlooked in any assembly which contained a Jefferson. They were no sooner made known to the House, than he proposed the adoption of counter resolutions, and advocated warmly, the propriety of making common cause with Massachusetts, at the hazard of every sacrifice.

Counter resolutions, and an address to the King, were accordingly agreed to, with little opposition; and the pregnant determination was then and there formed, of considering the cause of any one Colony as a common one. The seed of the American union was here first sown.

The tone of these resolutions was so strong, as to excite, for the first time, the displeasure of the Governor, the amiable Lord Bottetourt. The House had scarcely adopted, and ordered them to be entered into their journals, when they were summoned to his presence, to receive the sentence of dissolution. "Mr. Speaker," said he, "and gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects; you have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are accordingly dissolved."

But the interference of the Executive had no other effect, than to encourage the holy feeling it attempted to repress. The next day, led on by the young spirits, Jefferson, Henry, and the two Lees, the great body of the members retired to a room, called the Apollo, in the Raleigh tavern, the principal hotel in Williamsburg. They there formed themselves into a voluntary Convention, drew up Articles of Association against the use of any merchandise imported from Great Britain, signed, and recommended them to the people. They repaired to their several counties, circulated the Articles of the League among their constituents, and, to the astonishment of all, so popular was the measure, that at the call of another Legislature, themselves were re-elected without a single exception.

The dissolution of the House of Burgesses, was not attended with any change in the popular representation; except only in the very few instances of those who had declined assent to the patriot proceedings. The next meeting of the Legislature, of any permanent interest, which was not until the spring of 1773, saw Mr. Jefferson again at his post, and intent upon the great business of substituting just principles of government, in the room of those which unjustly prevailed.

On the evening of the eleventh of March, 1773, we find this little band of Virginia patriots, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Patrick Henry, R.H. Lee, F.L Lee, and Dabney Carr, assembled together in a private room of the Raleigh tavern, to deliberate on the momentous concert of all British America. The minds of these bold statesmen were in perfect unison; and the concurrence of such minds, upon such an occasion, could scarcely fail to educe results, which should mark an era in the history of our nation. Nor did it so fail. This little conclave at the Raleigh tavern in Williamsburg, had the distinguishing merit of originating the most formidable engine of Colonial resistance, that had ever been devised; to wit, the "Committees of Correspondence," between the Legislatures of the different Colonies; and the first visible offspring of this measure, was a movement of inconceivably more consequence, not only to America, but to the world--- the call of a general Congress of all the Colonies.

As was predicted by Mr. Jefferson and his confederates in the scheme, the establishment of Corresponding Committees resulted in the convocation of a General Congress; which event followed, indeed, the ensuing year.

(The British ministry the following year) resorted to a measure which fixed the irrevocable sentence of dismemberment upon the British empire. This was the famous Boston Port Bill, by which the harbor of that great commercial emporium was closed against the importation of any goods, wares or merchandise whatsoever, from and after the first day of June, 1774.

The Legislature of Virginia was in session when the news of this tyrannical interdict was received, to wit, in May, 1774. Mr. Jefferson was still a member, and his sympathies for the bleeding partizans of liberty at the North, now rose to a point unequalled at any previous stage of their sufferings. Mr. Jefferson, with a keensighted perception of human nature, that would have honored the wisdom of age, proposed the appointment of "a day of general fasting and prayer throughout the Colony."

The solemn example of Virginia was the signal for a general movement among the Colonies. The same religious observance was ordered to be kept, on the same day, in all the principal towns; and the first day of June was a day of general mourning throughout the continent. Business was suspended; the bells all sounded a funeral knell; the pulpits reverberated with incendiary discourse; and every engine of popular terror was put in requisition. "The people," says Mr. Jefferson, "met generally, with anxiety and alarm in their countenances, and the effect of the day, through the whole Colony, was like a shock of electricity, arousing every man, and placing him erect and solidly on his centre."

The powers of government had become completely paralyzed in that contumacious Colony (Virginia); and its Executive decrees were regarded as idle ceremonies. Disrobed of their official capacity only, not disheartened, nor disunited in purpose, the whole body of the members (House of Burgesses)headed by the bold chiefs whom we have so often designated, repaired in a mass to the Apollo, the consecrated seat of their former deliberations.

They immediately organized themselves into an independent Convention, agreed to an association, more solemnly than ever, against the calamitous revenue system; declared, boldly, that an attack on any one Colony, to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, should be considered an attack on all British America; and instructed their Committee of Correspondence to propose to the corresponding committees of the other Colonies, the expediency of appointing Deputies to meet in Congress, annually, as such place as should be convenient, to direct, from time to time, the measures required by the general interest.

That no time might be lost in carrying into effect their own recommendation of a Congress, they did not leave their seats without first having arranged the preliminary meeting for the choice of their own Deputies. They passed a resolution soliciting the people of the several counties, to elect Representatives, to meet at Williamsburg, the first of August ensuing, to take into further consideration the state of the Colony; and particularly to appoint Delegates to the General Congress, should that measure be acceded to by the Corresponding Committees of the other Colonies. The meeting then dissolved; and the members, on returning to their respective counties, were universally greeted with the plaudits and congratulations of their countrymen.

END OF CHAPTER TWO. TO BE CONTINUED.