On 2 January 1781 Governor Thomas Jefferson and his Council learned
that a powerful fleet of ships had arrived to invade Virginia, and on that day
Jefferson wrote to General Thomas Nelson:
It happened unfortunately that from the Tenor of
Mr. Wray’s Letter which gave us the first Intelligence
of the Appearance of an Enemy we had reason
to expect more precise Information within a few Hours.
None such having come within fifty Hours,
the first Intelligence had become totally disbelieved.
At 10 o’clock this morning I first received Confirmation of it.
Orders go out by the members of Assembly
to call together Half the Militia of the most
convenient Counties for present Opposition
and one fourth from more distant Counties.
We mean to have four thousand six hundred
Militia in the Field.
In this Number is not included any below this County.
Hanover, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Sussex and Southampton,
all below these Counties we have left uncalled on to be
drawn by you (or such of them as you think proper) into
such Parts of the lower Country as you shall think best.
Mr. Brown the Commissary has Orders to send
a Deputy to furnish you with Provisions.
I do myself the Pleasure of sending you a Commission.
I pray you to send us as frequent Intelligence as possible,
Expresses being in readiness for this Purpose
at Williamsburg and New Kent Courthouse.
Be pleased to give the same Notice to the Militia
as formerly that no Man will be ever discharged
till he shall have returned whatever Public Arms
or Accoutrements he shall have received; be also
particular in noting what is delivered to every Man.
We mean to appoint the Field Officers on the same
Plan as in the former Invasion from the resigned and
supernumerary, preserving the Ranks of those
Gentlemen accurately as among themselves.1
On January 4 they knew British troops were
at Westover on their way to Richmond.
Jefferson called all the militia from the counties
and fled from Richmond to Westham.
He corresponded with the Marquis de Lafayette who
left Richmond to escape from the army of Cornwallis.
General Henry Clinton and the traitor Benedict Arnold led an attack
with 1,600 British troops against about 200 Virginia militia,
and they looted and burned the capital at Richmond on January 6 and 7.
The British captured many slaves including ten owned by Jefferson
who summoned the Assembly to a special session to begin on March 1.
On 17 January 1781 Governor Jefferson wrote in
a letter to the Congress President Samuel Huntington,
I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excellency
a resolution of the General assembly of this Commonwealth
entered into in consequence of the resolution of Congress
of September 6th 1780 on the subject of the confederation.
I shall be rendered very happy if the other
States of the Union, equally impressed with
the necessity of that important convention,
shall be willing to sacrifice equally to its completion.
This single event, could it take place shortly,
would overweigh every success which the enemy
have hitherto obtained and render desperate the
hopes to which those successes have given birth.2
Jefferson wrote to General Muhlenburg on January 31 offering a reward
of 5,000 guineas for the capture of Arnold alive or 2,000 if he was dead.
In February 1781 General Washington sent troops led by Lafayette
to Virginia and ordered him to hang Arnold if he was caught.
Steuben became upset when Jefferson did not provide everything he wanted.
The Assembly gathered on March 2,
and Jefferson proposed more stringent laws.
In a letter to Lafayette on March 10 Jefferson wrote,
Intending that this shall await your arrival in this State,
I with great joy welcome you on that Event.
I am induced to it from the very great Esteem I bear
your Personal Character, and the Hopes I entertain of
your relieving us from our Enemy within this State.
Could any Circumstance have rendered your Presence
more desirable or more necessary, it is the unfortunate
one which obliges me to transmit you the enclosed Papers.
I trust that your future Acquaintance with the Executive
of the State will evince to you that among their faults
is not to be counted a want of disposition to second the
Views of the Commander against our common Enemy.
We are too much interested in the present Scene and
have too much at Stake to leave a doubt on that Head.
Mild Laws, a People not used to war and prompt obedience,
a want of the Provisions of War and means of procuring
them render our orders often ineffectual,
oblige us to temporize and when we cannot accomplish
an object in one way to attempt it in another.
Your knowledge of the Circumstances with a
temper accommodated to them ensure me your
Cooperation in the best way we can when we
shall not be able to pursue the Way we would wish.
I still hope you will find our Preparations not far
short of the Information I took the Liberty of
giving you in my Letter of the 8th instant.
I shall be very happy to receive your freest
Applications for whatever may be necessary
for the Public Service, and to convince you of our
Disposition to promote it as far as the abilities of
the State and Powers of the Executive will enable us.3
Also on April 16 James Madison in Philadelphia wrote this letter to Jefferson:
The enclosed paper is a copy of a report
from a Committee now lying on the table
of Congress for Consideration.
The delicacy and importance of the subject
makes me wish for your judgment on it before
it undergoes the final decision of Congress.
The necessity of arming Congress with coercive
powers arises from the shameful deficiency of some
of the States which are most capable of yielding
their apportioned supplies, and the military exactions
to which others already exhausted by the enemy
and our own troops are in consequence exposed.
Without such powers too in the general government,
the whole confederacy may be insulted and
the most salutary measures frustrated by
the most inconsiderable State in the Union.
At a time when all the other States were submitting to the
loss and inconveniency of an embargo on their exports,
Delaware absolutely declined coming into the measure,
and not only defeated the general object of it, but enriched
herself at the expense of those who did their duty.
The expediency however of making the
proposed application to the States will depend
on the probability of their complying with it.
If they should refuse, Congress will be in a worse situation
than at present: for as the confederation now stands, and
according to the nature even of alliances much less intimate,
there is an implied right of coercion against the delinquent
party, and the exercise of it by Congress whenever a
palpable necessity occurs will probably be acquiesced in.
It may be asked perhaps by what means Congress
could exercise such a power if the States
were to invest them with it?
As long as there is a regular army on foot a small
detachment from it, acting under Civil authority,
would at any time render a voluntary contribution
of supplies due from a State, an eligible alternative.
But there is a still more easy and efficacious mode.
The situation of most of the States is such, that
two or three vessels of force employed against
their trade will make it their interest to yield
prompt obedience to all just requisitions on them.
With respect to those States that have little
or no foreign trade of their own it is provided that
all inland trade with such states as supply them
with foreign merchandize may be interdicted
and the concurrence of the latter may be enforced
in case of refusal by operations on their foreign trade.
There is a collateral reason which interests the States
who are feeble in maritime resources in such a plan.
If a naval armament was considered as the proper
instrument of general Government, it would be
both preserved in a respectable State in time of peace,
and it would be an object to man it with Citizens
taken in due proportions from every State.
A Navy so formed and under the orders of the general
Council of the States, would not only be a guard against
aggression & insults from abroad; but without it what is to
protect the Southern States for many years to come against
the insults & aggressions of their Northern Brethren.4
On April 26 Jefferson in a letter to Steuben offered this
explanation of his current policy for the militia:
One half the Cumberland militia and
of those of Amelia were ordered down.
Some of the former are come in.
I have ordered them to go to you, but what should be
done with such of them as have no arms I think doubtful.
We have found by experience that the men of those
counties where the enemy are, cannot be kept in the field.
They desert and carry off their arms.
It also seems reasonable that such should be
permitted to go to their homes, to withdraw
or otherwise take care of their families and property.
Under this view it would seem right that as unarmed militia
come in from other counties we should discharge those
of Prince George, Dinwiddie and Chesterfield;
next to these the militia of Powhatan;
and lastly Henrico, Hanover, Goochland.
Indeed those of Amelia and Cumberland were only meant to
be kept in the field till those whom I formerly stated to you
as intended for the service of May and June should come in.
I would observe to you that Prince George, Dinwiddie,
Chesterfield, Powhatan, Amelia and Cumberland
have not got through the raising their new levies.
These observations will suffice to possess you
of the general views of the Executive,
and you will be pleased to regulate by them the
discharges of militia as far as circumstances will admit.5
Lafayette led 900 regulars who arrived at Richmond on April 29.
The British also made several attacks in the area around Williamsburg in June
and July, and they would burn the Governor’s Palace on December 22.
On May 10 Jefferson had written this to the delegates in Congress:
A small Affair has taken Place between the British
commanding Officer in this State (General Phillips)
& the Executive which as he may endeavor to
get Rid of through the medium of Congress,
I think it necessary previously to apprise you of it.
General Scott obtained Permission from the Commandant
at Charlestown for vessels with necessary Supplies to go
from hence to them, but instead of sending the Original sent
only a Copy of the Permission taken by his Brigade Major.
I applied to General Phillips to supply this Omission
by furnishing a Passport for the vessel.
Having just before taken great Offense at a Threat of
Retaliation in the Treatment of Prisoners he enclosed
his answer to my Letter under this Address “To
Thomas Jefferson Esqr. American Governor of Virginia.”
I paused on receiving the Letter & for some time would
not open it, however when the miserable Condition of
our Brethren at Charlestown occurred to me,
I could not determine that they should be left without the
necessaries of Life while a Punctilio should be discussing
between the British General & myself; & knowing that I had
an opportunity of returning the Compliment to Mr. Phillips
in a Case perfectly corresponding, I opened the Letter.
Very shortly after I received as I expected
the Permission of the Board of War for the
British Flag vessel then in Hampton Road with
Clothing & Refreshments to proceed to Alexandria.
I enclosed & addressed it “To William Phillips Esqr.
commanding the British Forces
in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Personally knowing Phillips to be the proudest man of the
proudest Nation on Earth I well know he will not open this
Letter; but having Occasion at the same Time to write to
Captain Gerlach the Flag master, I informed him that the
Convention Troops in this State should perish for want of
necessaries before any should be carried to them through
this State till General Phillips either swallowed this Pill
of Retaliation or made an Apology for his rudeness.
And in this should the matter come ultimately
to Congress we hope for their Support.
He has the less right to insist on the expedition
of his Flag because his Letter instead of enclosing
a Passport to expedite ours, contained only an Evasion
of the Application by saying he had referred it to
Sir Henry Clinton & in the meantime he has come up the
river & taken the vessel with her Loading which we had
chartered & prepared to send to Charlestown & which
wanted nothing but the Passport to enable her to depart.
I would further observe to you that this Gentleman’s letters
to Baron Steuben first & afterwards to the Marquis Fayette
have been in a style so intolerably insolent & haughty,
that both these Gentlemen have been obliged to inform
him that if he thinks proper to address them again in
the same spirit, all Intercourse shall be discontinued.6
The Virginia Assembly did not have a quorum in 1781 until May 28.
Those there on May 24 voted to give Gov. Jefferson extraordinary powers.
On May 28 he wrote this letter to General Washington:
I make no doubt you will have heard before this
shall have the honor of being presented to Your Excellency
of the junction of Lord Cornwallis with the force at
Petersburg under Arnold who had succeeded to the
command on the death of Major General Philips.
I am now advised that they have evacuated Petersburg,
joined at Westover a Reinforcement of 2000 Men just
arrived from New York, crossed James River, and on the
26th Instant were three miles advanced on their way
towards Richmond; at which place Major General the
Marquis Fayette lay with 3000 Men, regulars and militia,
that being the whole number we could Arm till the arrival of
the 1100 Arms from Rhode Island which are about this time
getting to the place where our public Stores are deposited.
The whole force of the Enemy within this State from the
best intelligence I have been able to get, I think, is about
7000 Men, Infantry and Cavalry, including also the small
Garrison left at Portsmouth, a number of Privateers and
small Vessels which are consistently ravaging the Shores
of our Rivers prevent us from receiving any aid from
the Counties lying on Navigable Waters, and powerful
Operations meditated against our Western Frontier
by a joint force of British and Indian Savages have,
as your Excellency before knew, obliged us to embody
between two and three thousand Men in that quarter.
Your Excellency will judge from this state of things,
and from what you know of your own Country, what
it may probably suffer during the present Campaign.
Should the Enemy be able to produce no opportunity
of annihilating the Marquis’s Army a small proportion
of their force may yet restrain his movements effectually
while the greater part is employed in detachment to
waste an unarmed Country and to lead the minds
of the people to acquiescence under those events
which they see no human power prepared to ward off.
We are too far removed from the other scenes of War,
to say whether the main force of the Enemy be within
this State, but I suppose they cannot anywhere spare
so great an Army for the Operations of the field.
Were it possible for this Circumstance to justify in your
Excellency a determination to lend us your personal aid,
it is evident from the universal voice that the presence of
their beloved Countryman, whose talents have been so
long successfully employed in establishing the freedom of
kindred states, to whose person they have still flattered
themselves they retained some right, and have ever looked
up as their dernier resort in distress, that your appearance
among them I say would restore full confidence of salvation
and would render them equal to whatever is not impossible.
I cannot undertake to foresee and obviate the difficulties
which stand in the way of such a resolution; the whole
Subject is before you of which I see only detached parts;
and your judgment will be formed on view of the whole.
Should the danger of this State and its consequence
to the Union be such as to render it best for the whole
that you should repair to its assistance, the difficulty
would then be how to keep men out of the field.
I have undertaken to hint this matter to your Excellency
not only on my own sense of its importance to us, but at the
solicitations of many members of weight in our legislature
which is not yet assembled to speak their own desires.
A few days will bring to me that period of relief which
the Constitution has prepared for those oppressed with
the labors of my office, and a long declared resolution
of relinquishing it to abler hands has prepared my way
for retirement to a private station: still however as an
individual citizen I should feel the comfortable effects of
your presence, and have (what I thought could not
have been), an additional motive for that gratitude,
esteem & respect with which I have the honor to be Your
Excellency’s Most Obedient & Most humble servant.7
On June 3 Jefferson wrote to the Virginia commissioners,
the President of Pennsylvania, and the Surveyor of Monongalia County
accepting the postponing of the boundary
settlement between Virginia and Pennsylvania.
He agreed temporarily to extend the Mason-Dixon line by 23 miles.
The next day the House of Delegates agreed that forty members was a quorum.
They elected Thomas Nelson the next Governor of Virginia.
On June 8 George Washington wrote this letter to Jefferson:
I have had the honor of receiving your
Excellency’s favors of the 9th & 28th of May.
The progress which the enemy are making in
Virginia is very alarming not only to the State
Immediately invaded but to all the rest,
as I strongly suspect, from the most recent European
intelligence, that they are endeavoring to make as large
seeming conquests as possible that they may urge
the plea of uti possidetis in the proposed mediation.
Your Excellency will be able to judge of the
probability of this conjecture from the Circular
letter of the President of Congress of the 1st Inst.
Were it prudent to commit a detail of our plans
and expectations to paper I could convince
Your Excellency by a variety of Reasons, that
my presence is essential to the operations which
have lately been concerted between the French
commanders and myself and which are to open in this
quarter provided the British keep possession of New York.
There have lately been rumors of an evacuation
of that place, but I do not place confidence in them.
Should I be supported by the Neighboring States
in the manner which I expect, the enemy will, I hope,
be reduced to the necessity of recalling part of their force
from the Southward to support New York or they will run
the most eminent risk of being expelled with a great
loss of Stores from that Port which is to them invaluable,
while they think of prosecuting the War in America,
and should we, by a lucky coincidence of Circumstances,
gain a naval superiority their ruin would be inevitable.
The prospect of giving relief to the Southern States
by an operation in this quarter, was the principal
inducement for undertaking it.
Indeed we found upon a full consideration of our affairs
in every point of view, that without the command of the
Water it would be next to impossible for us to transfer
the Artillery–Baggage–and Stores of the Army to so great
a distance and besides, that we should lose at least
one third of our force by desertion–sickness–and the
heat of the approaching season even if it could be done.
Your Excellency may probably ask whether
we are to remain here for the above reasons
should the enemy evacuate New York and
transfer the whole War to the Southward?
To that I answer that we must, in such a case, follow them
at every expense and under every difficulty and loss;
but that while we remain inferior at Sea, and there is a
probability of giving relief by diversion (and that perhaps
sooner than by sending reinforcements immediately to the
point in distress) good policy dictates the trial of the former.
Give me leave before I take leave of your Excellency
in your public capacity to Express the obligations
I am under for the readiness and Zeal with which
you have always forwarded & supported every
measure which I have had occasion to recommend
through you, and to assure you that I shall esteem
myself honored by a continuation of your friendship
& correspondence should your country permit you
to remain in the private walk of life.8
On June 12 Jefferson’s longtime friend Thomas Nelson
became Governor of Virginia.
That month Jefferson smoked a peace pipe with Brother
John Baptist de Coigne and made this speech:
I am very much pleased with the visit you have made us,
and particularly that it has happened when the wise men
from all parts of our country were assembled
together in council, and had an opportunity
of hearing the friendly discourse you held to me.
We are all sensible of your friendship and of the services
you have rendered, and I now for my countrymen return
you thanks, and most particularly for your assistance to
the garrison which was besieged by the hostile Indians.
I hope it will please the Great Being above to continue
you long in life in health and in friendship to us;
and that your son will afterwards succeed you in wisdom,
in good disposition, and in power over your people.
I consider the name you have given as particularly
honorable to me, but I value it the more
as it proves your attachment to my country.
We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land
and having the same interests.
I have carefully attended to the figures represented
on the skins and to their explanation,
and shall always keep them hanging on the walls
in remembrance of you and your nation.
I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the pipe
of peace; it is a good old custom handed down
by your ancestors, and as such I respect
and join in it with reverence.
I hope we shall long continue
to smoke in friendship together.
You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation.
Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little
island beyond the great water, and being distressed
for land, they came and settled here.
As long as we were young and weak, the English
whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth
to their country to enrich them; and not satisfied with this,
they at length began to say we were their slaves,
and should do whatever they ordered us.
We were now grown up and felt ourselves strong;
we knew we were free as they were, that we came
here of our own accord and not at their biddance,
and were determined to be free as long as we should exist.
For this reason they made war on us.
They have now waged that war six years,
and have not yet won more land from us
than will serve to bury the warriors they have lost.
Your old father, the King of France, has joined us
in the war and done many good things for us.
We are bound forever to love him and wish you to love him,
brother, because he is a good and true friend to us.
The Spaniards have also joined us, and other powerful
nations are now entering into the war to punish the
robberies and violence the English have committed on them.
The English stand alone without a friend to support them,
hated by all mankind because they are proud and unjust.
This quarrel, when it first began, was a family quarrel
between us and the English who were then our brothers.
We, therefore, did not wish you to engage in it at all.
We are strong enough of ourselves
without wasting your blood in fighting our battles.
The English, knowing this, have been always
suing to the Indians to help them fight.
We do not wish you to take up the hatchet.
We love and esteem you.
We wish you to multiply and be strong.
The English on the other hand wish to set you
and us to cutting one another’s throats,
that when we are dead they may take all our land.
It is better for you not to join in this quarrel,
unless the English have killed any of your warriors
or done you any other injury.
If they have, you have a right to go to war with them,
and revenge the injury, and we have none to restrain you.
Any free nation has a right to punish
those who have done them an injury.
I say the same, brother, as to the Indians who treat you ill.
While I advise you, like an affectionate friend,
to avoid unnecessary war, I do not assume the right
of restraining you from punishing your enemies.
If the English have injured you, as they have injured the
French and Spaniards, do like them and join us in the war.
General Clarke will receive you
and show you the way to their towns.
But if they have not injured you,
it is better for you to lie still and be quiet.
This is the advice which has been always given
by the great council of the Americans.
We must give the same, because we are but one of thirteen
nations who have agreed to act and speak together.
These nations keep a council of wise men always sitting
together, and each of us separately follow their advice.
They have the care of all the people and the lands
between the Ohio and Mississippi,
and will see that no wrong be committed on them.
The French settled at Kaskaskias, St. Vincennes,
and the Cohos, are subject to that council,
and they will punish them if they do you any injury.
If you will make known to me any just cause of
complaint against them, I will represent it to the great
council at Philadelphia and have justice done you.
Our good friend, your father, the King of France,
does not lay any claim to them.
Their misconduct should not be imputed to him.
He gave them up to the English the last war,
and we have taken them from the English.
The Americans alone have a right to maintain justice
in all the lands on this side the Mississippi,—
on the other side the Spaniards rule.
You complain, brother, of the want of goods
for the use of your people.
We know that your wants are great,
notwithstanding we have done everything in our power
to supply them and have often grieved for you.
The path from hence to Kaskaskias is long and dangerous;
goods cannot be carried to you in that way.
New Orleans has been the only place
from which we could get goods for you.
We have bought a great deal there; but I am afraid
not so much of them have come to you as we intended.
Some of them have been sold of necessity
to buy provisions for our posts.
Some have been embezzled by
our own drunken and roguish people.
Some have been taken by the Indians
and many by the English.
The Spaniards, having now taken all the English posts
on the Mississippi, have opened that channel free
for our commerce, and we are in hopes of
getting goods for you from them.
I will not boast to you, brother, as the English do,
nor promise more than we shall be able to fulfil.
I will tell you honestly, what indeed your own
good sense will tell you, that a nation at war
cannot buy so many goods as when in peace.
We do not make so many things to send over
the great waters to buy goods, as we made
and shall make again in time of peace.
When we buy those goods, the English take many of them,
as they are coming to us over the great water.
What we get in safe, are to be divided among many,
because we have a great many soldiers,
whom we must clothe.
The remainder we send to our brothers the Indians,
and in going, a great deal of it is stolen or lost.
These are the plain reasons why you cannot
get so much from us in war as in peace.
But peace is not far off.
The English cannot hold out long,
because all the world is against them.
When that takes place, brother, there will not be
an Englishman left on this side the great water.
What will those foolish nations then do,
who have made us their enemies, sided with the English,
and laughed at you for not being as wicked as themselves?
They are clothed for a day, and will be naked forever after;
while you, who have submitted to short inconvenience,
will be well supplied through the rest of your lives.
Their friends will be gone and their enemies left behind;
but your friends will be here,
and will make you strong against all your enemies.
For the present you shall have a share
of what little goods we can get.
We will order some immediately
up the Mississippi for you and for us.
If they be little, you will submit to suffer a little
as your brothers do for a short time.
And when we shall have beaten our enemies and forced
them to make peace, we will share more plentifully.
General Clarke will furnish you with ammunition
to serve till we can get some from New Orleans.
I must recommend to you particular attention to him.
He is our great, good, and trusty warrior; and we have
put everything under his care beyond the Alleghanies.
He will advise you in all difficulties,
and redress your wrongs.
Do what he tells you, and you will be sure to do right.
You ask us to send schoolmasters
to educate your son and the sons of your people.
We desire above all things, brother,
to instruct you in whatever we know ourselves.
We wish to learn you all our arts
and to make you wise and wealthy.
As soon as there is peace we shall be able to send you
the best of school-masters; but while the war is raging,
I am afraid it will not be practicable.
It shall be done, however, before your son
is of an age to receive instruction.
This, brother, is what I had to say to you.
Repeat it from me to all your people, and to our friends,
the Kickapous, Piorias, Piankeshaws and Wyattanons.
I will give you a commission to show them
how much we esteem you.
Hold fast the chain of friendship which binds us together,
keep it bright as the sun, and let them,
you and us, live together in perpetual love.9
On June 30 Jefferson suffered a serious fall
from his horse that broke an arm.
While he was resting at Monticello, his political enemies
were blaming him for his handling of the war.
On July 28 he wrote this short letter to delegate George Nicholas:
I am informed that a resolution on your motion
passed the House of Delegates requiring me to
render account of some part of my administration
without specifying the act to be accounted for.
As I suppose that this was done under the impression
of some particular instance or instances of ill conduct, and
that it could not be intended just to stab a reputation by a
general suggestion under a bare expectation that facts might
be afterwards hunted up to bolster it, I hope you will not
think me improper in asking the favor of you to specify to
me the unfortunate passages in my conduct which you mean
to adduce against me, that I may be enabled to prepare to
yield obedience to the house while facts are fresh in my
memory and witnesses and documents are in existence.10
General Washington’s army with support from the French army and navy
trapped and besieged the army of General Cornwallis on the Yorktown peninsula,
and on October 19 about 7,500 British and Germans surrendered to the Americans.
The capitulation signed that day had 14 articles.
On October 25 Washington ordered his army to recapture the fugitive slaves.
The Virginia General Assembly met on 12 December 1781,
and the former Gov. Jefferson was a delegate from Albemarle County.
The delegates unanimously approved this resolution:
Resolved, That the sincere thanks of the General Assembly
be given to our former Governor, Thomas Jefferson, Esq.
for his impartial, upright, and attentive administration of the
powers of the Executive, whilst in office; popular rumors
gaining some degree of credence, by more pointed
accusations, rendered it necessary to make an inquiry into
his conduct, and delayed that retribution of public gratitude,
so eminently merited; but that conduct having become the
object of open scrutiny, tenfold value is added to an
approbation, founded on a cool and deliberate discussion.
The Assembly wish therefore, in the strongest manner,
to declare the high opinion which they entertain of
Mr. Jefferson’s ability, rectitude and integrity, as Chief
Magistrate of this Commonwealth, and mean by thus
publicly avowing their opinion, to obviate all future,
and to remove all former, unmerited censure.11
Jefferson had been appointed to negotiate peace in June 1781
along with John Adams, Ben Franklin, John Jay, and John Laurens,
but this was delayed for a year and a half.
In his Autobiography Jefferson wrote about the
difficulties of establishing a government.
On the 15th of June 1781 I had been appointed
with Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, and
Mr. Laurens a Minister plenipotentiary for
negotiating peace, then expected to be effected
through the mediation of the Empress of Russia.
The same reasons obliged me still to decline;
and the negotiation was in fact never entered on.
But in the autumn of the next year 1782 Congress
receiving assurances that a general peace would be
concluded in the winter and spring, they renewed my
appointment on the 13th of November of that year.
I had two months before that lost the cherished companion
of my life, in whose affections unabated on both sides
I had lived the last ten years in unchequered happiness.
With the public interests, the state of my mind concurred
in recommending the change of scene proposed;
and I accepted the appointment and left Monticello
on the 19th of December 1782 for Philadelphia,
where I arrived on the 27th.
The Minister of France, Luzerne, offered me a passage
in the Romulus frigate, which I accepting.
But she was then lying a few miles below Baltimore
blocked up in the ice.
I remained therefore a month in Philadelphia,
looking over the papers in the office of State
in order to possess myself of the general state
of our foreign relations, and then went to Baltimore
to await the liberation of the frigate from the ice.
After waiting there nearly a month, we received
information that a Provisional treaty of peace
had been signed by our Commissioners on the
3rd of September 1782 to become absolute on the
conclusion of peace between France and Great Britain.
Considering my proceeding to Europe as now of no utility
to the public, I returned immediately to Philadelphia
to take the orders of Congress, and was excused
by them from further proceeding.
I therefore returned home, where I arrived
on the 15th of May 1783.
On the 6th of the following month I was appointed
by the legislature a delegate to Congress, the
appointment to take place on the 1st of November ensuing,
when that of the existing delegation would expire.
I accordingly left home on the 16th of October arrived
at Trenton, where Congress was sitting, on the 3rd of
November and took my seat on the 4th, on which day
Congress adjourned to meet at Annapolis on the 26th.
Congress had now become a very small body, and
the members very remiss in their attendance on its duties
insomuch that a majority of the states, necessary
by the Confederation to constitute a house even for minor
business did not assemble until the 13th of December.
They as early as January 7, 1782 had turned their
attention to the monies current in the several states,
and had directed the Financier, Robert Morris,
to report to them a table of rates at which the
foreign coins should be received at the treasury.
That officer, or rather his assistant, Gouverneur Morris,
answered them on the 15th in an able and elaborate
statement of the denominations of money current
in the several states, and of the comparative value
of the foreign coins chiefly in circulation with us.
He went into the consideration of the necessity
of establishing a standard of value with us,
and of the adoption of a money-Unit….
Each Unit containing a quarter of a grain of fine silver.
Congress turning again their attention to this subject the
following year, the financier, by a letter of April 30, 1783
further explained and urged the Unit he had proposed;
but nothing more was done on it until the ensuing year,
when it was again taken up, and referred to
a committee of which I was a member.
The general views of the financier were sound,
and the principle was ingenious on which
he proposed to found his Unit.
But it was too minute for ordinary use, too laborious
for computation either by the head or in figures….
Such a system of money-arithmetic would be entirely
unmanageable for the common purposes of society.
I proposed therefore, instead of this, to adopt the Dollar
as our Unit of account and payment, and that its divisions
and sub-divisions should be in the decimal ratio.
I wrote some Notes on the subject,
which I submitted to the consideration of the financier.
I received his answer and adherence to his general system,
only agreeing to take for his Unit 100 of those
he first proposed, so that a Dollar should be
14 40 100 and a crown 16 units.
I replied to this and printed my notes and reply
on a flying sheet, which I put into the hands of
the members of Congress for consideration,
and the Committee agreed to report on my principle.
This was adopted the ensuing year
and is the system which now prevails.
I insert here the Notes and Reply, as showing the different
views on which the adoption of our money system hung.
The division into dimes, cents & mills is now so well
understood, that it would be easy of introduction
into the kindred branches of weights & measures.
I use, when I travel, an Odometer of Clarke’s invention
which divides the mile into cents, and I find everyone
comprehends a distance readily when stated to them
in miles & cents; so they would in feet and cents,
pounds & cents, &c.
The remissness of Congress and their permanent
session began to be a subject of uneasiness and
even some of the legislatures had recommended
to them intermissions and periodical sessions.
As the Confederation had made no provision for a visible
head of the government during vacations of Congress,
and such a one was necessary to superintend the executive
business, to receive and communicate with foreign ministers
& nations, and to assemble Congress on sudden and
extraordinary emergencies, I proposed early in April 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; a Committee
appointed, who entered on duty on the subsequent
adjournment of Congress, quarreled very soon, split into
two parties, abandoned their post, and left the government
without any visible head until the next meeting in Congress.
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.
I was in France when we heard of this schism,
and separation of our Committee and speaking
with Dr. Franklin of this singular disposition
of men to quarrel and divide into parties,
he gave his sentiments as usual by way of Apologue….
But to return to our Congress at Annapolis,
the definitive treaty of peace which had been signed
at Paris on the 3rd of September 1783 and received here,
could not be ratified without a House of 9 states.
On the 23rd of December therefore we addressed letters to
the several governors, stating the receipt of the definitive
treaty, that 7 states only were in attendance, while 9 were
necessary to its ratification, and urging them to press on
their delegates the necessity of their immediate attendance.
And on the 26th to save time I moved that the Agent of
Marine (Robert Morris) should be instructed to have ready
a vessel at this place at New York & at some Eastern port
to carry over the ratification of the treaty when agreed to.
It met the general sense of the house, but was opposed
by Dr. Lee on the ground of expense which it would
authorize the agent to incur for us; and he said it would
be better to ratify at once & send on the ratification.
Some members had before suggested that
7 states were competent to the ratification.
My motion was therefore postponed and another
brought forward by Mr. Read of South Carolina
for an immediate ratification.
This was debated the 26th and 27th.
Reed, Lee, Hugh Williamson & Jeremiah Chace urged that
ratification was a mere matter of form, that the treaty was
conclusive from the moment it was signed by the ministers;
that although the Confederation requires the assent of
9 states to enter into a treaty, yet that its conclusion could not
be called entrance into it; that supposing 9 states requisite,
it would be in the power of 5 states to keep us always
at war; that 9 states had virtually authorized the ratification,
having ratified the provisional treaty and instructed their
ministers to agree to a definitive one in the same terms,
and the present one was in fact substantially and almost
verbatim the same; that there now remain but 67 days for
the ratification, for its passage across the Atlantic, and its
exchange; that there was no hope of our soon having
9 states present; in fact that this was the ultimate point
of time to which we could venture to wait; that if the
ratification was not in Paris by the time stipulated,
the treaty would become void; that if ratified by 7 states,
it would go under our seal without its being known to Great
Britain that only 7 had concurred; that it was a question
of which they had no right to take cognizance, and we were
only answerable for it to our constituents; that it was like
the ratification which Great Britain had received from the
Dutch by the negotiations of Sir William Temple.
On the contrary, it was argued by Monroe, Gerry, Howel,
Ellery & myself that by the modern usage of Europe
the ratification was considered as the act which gave
validity to a treaty, until which it was not obligatory.
That the commission to the ministers reserved the
ratification to Congress; that the treaty itself stipulated
that it should be ratified; that it became a 2nd question
who were competent to the ratification?
That the Confederation expressly required 9 states to enter
into any treaty; that by this that instrument must have
intended that the assent of 9 states should be necessary
as well to the completion as to the commencement of the
treaty, its object having been to guard the rights of the Union
in all those important cases where 9 states are called
for; that by the contrary construction 7 states, containing
less than one third of our whole citizens, might rivet on us
a treaty, commenced indeed under commission and
instructions from 9 states, but formed by the minister
in express contradiction to such instructions, and
in direct sacrifice of the interests of so great a majority;
that the definitive treaty was admitted not to be a verbal
copy of the provisional one, and whether the departures
from it were of substance or not, was a question on which
9 states alone were competent to decide; that the
circumstances of the ratification of the provisional articles
by 9 states, the instructions to our ministers to form a
definitive one by them, and their actual agreement in
substance, do not render us competent to ratify in the
present instance; if these circumstances are in themselves
a ratification, nothing further is requisite than to give
attested copies of them in exchange for the British
ratification; if they are not, we remain where we were,
without a ratification by 9 states, and incompetent ourselves
to ratify; that it was but 4 days since the seven states
now present unanimously concurred in a resolution to be
forwarded to the governors of the absent states, in which
they stated as a cause for urging on their delegates, that
9 states were necessary to ratify the treaty; that in the case
of the Dutch ratification, Great Britain had courted it,
and therefore was glad to accept it as it was; that they
knew our constitution, and would object to a ratification
by 7 that if that circumstance was kept back, it would be
known hereafter & would give them ground to deny the
validity of a ratification into which they should have been
surprised and cheated, and it would be a dishonorable
prostitution of our seal; that there is a hope of 9 states;
that if the treaty would become null if not ratified in time,
it would not be saved by an imperfect ratification;
but that in fact it would not be null, and would be placed
on better ground, going in unexceptionable form,
though a few days too late, and rested on the small
importance of this circumstance, and the physical
impossibilities which had prevented a punctual compliance
in point of time; that this would be approved by all nations,
& by Great Britain herself, if not determined to renew the
war, and if determined, she would never want excuses,
were this out of the way.
Mr. Reade gave notice he should call for the yeas & nays;
whereon those in opposition prepared a resolution
expressing pointedly the reasons of the dissent
from his motion.
It appearing however that his proposition could not be
carried, it was thought better to make no entry at all.
Massachusetts alone would have been for it;
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Virginia against it,
Delaware, Maryland & North Carolina,
would have been divided.
Our body was little numerous, but very contentious.
Day after day was wasted
on the most unimportant questions.
My colleague Mercer was one of those afflicted with the
morbid rage of debate, of an ardent mind, prompt
imagination, and copious flow of words, he heard
with impatience any logic which was not his own.
Sitting near me on some occasion of a trifling but
wordy debate, 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 indeed was easy,
but to silence 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.
If every sound argument or objection was used by someone
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.
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.
If the present Congress errs in too much talking,
how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people
send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question
everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour?
That 150 lawyers should do business together
ought not to be expected.
But to return again to our subject.
Those who thought 7 states competent to the
ratification being very restless under the loss of their
motion, I proposed, on the 3rd of January to meet them
on middle ground, and therefore moved a resolution
which premising that there were but 7 states present,
who were unanimous for the ratification, but that
they differed in opinion on the question of competency.
That those however in the negative were unwilling that any
powers which it might be supposed they possessed should
remain unexercised for the restoration of peace, provided it
could be done saving their good faith, and without importing
any opinion of Congress that 7 states were competent, and
resolving that treaty be ratified so far as they had power;
that it should be transmitted to our ministers with
instructions to keep it uncommunicated; to endeavor
to obtain 3 months longer for exchange of ratifications;
that they should be informed that so soon as 9 states shall
be present a ratification by 9 shall be sent them;
if this should get to them before the ultimate point of time
for exchange, they were to use it, and not the other;
if not, they were to offer the act of the 7 states in exchange,
informing them the treaty had come to hand while Congress
was not in session, that but 7 states were as yet assembled,
and these had unanimously concurred in the ratification.
This was debated on the 3rd and 4th and on the 5th,
a vessel being to sail for England from this port
(Annapolis) the House directed the President
to write to our ministers accordingly.12
Peace negotiations began in Paris in April 1782.
Col. James Monroe admired Thomas Jefferson.
He was a member of the House of Delegates, and he wrote to Jefferson
warning him that people were murmuring about his conduct.
In response Jefferson on 20 May 1782 wrote to Monroe in this
rather long letter of self-confession about his public service:
I have been gratified with the receipt of
your two favors of the 6th and 11th inst.
It gives me pleasure that your county has been
wise enough to enlist your talents into their service.
I am much obliged by the kind wishes you express of
seeing me also in Richmond, and am always mortified
when anything is expected from me which I cannot fulfill,
and more especially if it relate to the public service.
Before I ventured to declare to my countrymen my
determination to retire from public employment,
I examined well my heart to know whether it were
thoroughly cured of every principle of political ambition,
whether no lurking particle remained which might leave me
uneasy when reduced within the limits of mere private life.
I became satisfied that every fiber of
that passion was thoroughly eradicated.
I examined also in other views my right to withdraw.
I considered that I had been thirteen years engaged
in public service, that during that time I had so totally
abandoned all attention to my private affairs as to permit
them to run into great disorder and ruin, that I had now a
family advanced to years which require my attention and
instruction, that to this was added the hopeful offspring of
a deceased friend whose memory must be forever dear to
me who have no other reliance for being rendered useful to
themselves and their country, that by a constant sacrifice of
time, labor, loss, parental and friendly duties, I had been so
far from gaining the affection of my countrymen which was
the only reward I ever asked or could have felt, that I had
even lost the small estimation I before possessed:
that however I might have comforted myself under the
disapprobation of the well-meaning but uninformed people
yet that of their representatives was a shock on which I
had not calculated: that this indeed had been followed by
an exculpatory declaration, but in the mean time I had been
suspected and suspended in the eyes of the world without
the least hint then or afterwards made public which might
restrain them from supposing I stood arraigned for treasons
of the heart and not mere weaknesses of the head.
And I felt that these injuries, for such they have been
since acknowledged, had inflicted a wound on my spirit
which will only be cured by the all-healing grave.
If reason and inclination unite in justifying my retirement,
the laws of my country are equally in favor of it.
Whether the state may command the political services of
all its members to an indefinite extent, or if these be among
the rights never wholly ceded to the public power, is a
question which I do not find expressly decided in England.
Obiter dictums on the subject I have indeed met with,
but the complexion of the times in which these have dropped
would generally answer them, and besides that, this
species of authority is not acknowledged in our profession.
In this country however since the present government
has been established the point has been settled
by uniform, pointed, and multiplied precedents.
Offices of every kind, and given by every power,
have been daily and hourly declined and resigned
from the declaration of independence to this moment.
The General assembly has accepted these
without discrimination of office, and without
ever questioning them in point of right.
If a difference between the office of a delegate and
any other could ever have been supposed, yet in the
case of Mr. Thompson Mason who declined the office
of delegate and was permitted by the house so to
do that supposition has been proved to be groundless.
But indeed no such distinction of offices can be admitted;
reason and the opinions of the lawyers putting all on a
footing as to this question and giving to the delegate
the aid of all the precedents of the refusal of other offices,
the law then does not warrant the assumption of
such a power by the state over its members.
For if it does, where is that law?
Nor yet does reason, for though I will admit that
this does subject every individual if called on to
an equal tour of political duty, yet it can never go
so far as to submit to it his whole existence.
If we are made in some degree for others,
yet in a greater are we made for ourselves.
It were contrary to feeling and indeed ridiculous
to suppose a man had less right in himself than
one of his neighbors or all of them put together.
This would be slavery and not that liberty which
the bill of rights has made inviolable and for the
preservation of which our government has been changed.
Nothing could so completely divest us of that liberty
as the establishment of the opinion that the state has
a perpetual right to the services of all its members.
This to men of certain ways of thinking
would be to annihilate the blessing of existence;
to contradict the giver of life who gave it for
happiness and not for wretchedness, and certainly
to such it were better that they had never been born.
However with these I may think public service and
private misery inseparably linked together; I have not
the vanity to count myself among those whom the state
would think worth oppressing with perpetual service.
I have received a sufficient memento to the contrary.
I am persuaded that having hitherto dedicated to them
the whole of the active and useful part of my life
I shall be permitted to pass the rest in mental quiet.
I hope too that I did not mistake the mode any more than
the matter of right when I preferred a simple act of
renunciation to the taking sanctuary under those many
disqualifications (provided by the law for other purposes
indeed but) which afford asylum also for rest to the wearied.
I dare say you did not expect by the few words you
dropped on the right of renunciation to expose
yourself to the fatigue of so long a letter;
but I wished you to see that if I had done wrong,
I had been betrayed by a semblance of right at least.
I take the liberty of enclosing to you a letter
for General Chattlux for which you will
readily find means of conveyance.
But I meant to give you more trouble with the one
to Pelham who lives in the neighborhood of Manchester
and to ask the favor of you to send it by your servant
express, which I am in hopes may be done without
absenting him from your person but during those
hours in which you will be engaged in the house.
I am anxious that it should be received immediately.
Mrs. Jefferson has added another daughter to our family.
She has been ever since and still
continues very dangerously ill.
It will give me great pleasure to see you here
whenever you can favor us with your company.
You will find me still busy but in lighter occupations.12
Jefferson had written his Notes on the State of Virginia in 1781 and 1782.
He would have 200 copies printed in French in 1785.
He did not like the translation, and at London he had it published in English in 1787.
Jefferson’s wife Martha gave birth for the sixth time in early 1782.
After that she suffered from diabetes and poor health
until her death on 6 September 1782.
On 1 November 1782 the Congress unanimously reappointed Jefferson
as a Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate the peace treaty.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Robert Livingston brought him the news
on November 13, and this time he accepted.
The commissioners had signed a provisional peace treaty on 3 November 1782,
and the final treaty would be signed on 3 September 1783.
Jefferson in a letter to Washington on 22 January 1783 wrote,
Having lately received a call from Congress to pass
the Atlantic in the character of one of their ministers
for negotiating peace, I cannot leave the Continent
without separating myself for a moment from the
general gratitude of my country to offer my
individual tribute to your Excellency for all you
have suffered and all you have effected for us.
Were I to indulge myself in those warm effusions which this
subject for ever prompts, they would wear an appearance
of adulation very foreign to my nature: for such is become
the prostitution of language that sincerity has no longer
distinct terms in which to express her own truths.
Should you give me occasion during the short mission
on which I go to render you any service beyond the water,
I shall for a proof of my gratitude appeal from
language to the zeal with which I shall embrace it.
The negotiations to which I am joined may perhaps be
protracted beyond our present expectation; in which case,
though I know you must receive much better intelligence
from the gentlemen whose residence there has brought
them into a more intimate acquaintance with the characters
and views of the European courts, yet I shall certainly
presume to add my mite, should it only serve to convince
you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect
& esteem with which I have the honor to be your
Excellency’s most obedient & most humble servant.13
Washington replied on February 10 with this short letter:
I have been honored with your favor of
the 22d of January from Philadelphia.
I feel myself much flattered by your kind remembrance
of me in the hour of your departure from this Continent
and for the favorable Sentiments you are pleased to
entertain of my Services for this our common Country.
To merit the approbation of good and virtuous Men
is the height of my ambition and will be a full
compensation for all my toils and sufferings in
the long and painful contest we have been engaged.
It gave me great pleasure to hear that, the call upon you
from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the Character of one
of their Ministers for Negotiating Peace, had been repeated.
But I hope you will have found the business already done.
The speech of his Britannic Majesty is strongly
indicative of the Olive branch; and yet as he observes,
unforeseen events may place it out of reach.
At present the prospect of Peace absorbs or seems to
do so every other consideration among us; and would,
it is to be feared, leave us in a very unprepared state
to continue the War if the Negotiation at Paris should
terminate otherwise than in a general pacification.
But I will hope that it is the dearth of other News that
fills the Mouths of every person with Peace, while
their Minds are employed in contemplating on the Means
for prosecuting the War if necessity should drive us to it.
You will please accept my grateful thanks for your
obliging offer of Services during your stay in France.
To hear frequently from you will be an honor
and very great satisfaction.14
On February 14 Jefferson wrote this letter to Madison
with substantial portions in cipher, which are indicated below by italics:
Yours of the 11th came to hand last night.
From what you mention in your letter I suppose the
newspapers must be wrong when they say that Mr. Adams,
had taken up his abode with Dr. Franklin.
I am nearly at a loss to judge
how he will act in the negotiation.
He hates Franklin; he hates Jay;
he hates the French; he hates the English.
To whom will he adhere?
His vanity is a lineament in his character
which had entirely escaped me.
His want of taste I had observed.
Notwithstanding all this he has a sound head
on substantial points, and I think he has integrity.
I am glad therefore that he is of the commission
and expect he will be useful in it.
His dislike of all parties and all men by balancing
his prejudices may give the same fair play to his
reason as would a general benevolence of temper.
At any rate honesty may be extracted
even from poisonous weeds.
My stay here has given me opportunities of
making some experiments on my amanuensis Franks,
perhaps better than I may have in France.
He appears to have a good enough heart,
an understanding somewhat better than
common but too little guard over his lips.
I have marked him particularly in the
company of women where he loses all power
over himself and becomes almost frenzied.
His temperature would not be proof
against their allurements were such to be
employed as engines against him.
This is in some measure the vice of his age,
but it seems to be increased also
by his peculiar constitution.I wrote to the Chevalier de Ville Brun proposing his
falling down to York or Hampton which was one of the
measures I suggested in my letter to you, and was the
most eligible except that of the flag, in my own opinion.
His answer, dated February 12 is in these words.
‘Je serois bien de l’avis proposé a votre Excellence
d’aller mouiller a York ou Hampton pour etre a
portee de profiter des premiers vents de Nord Ouest
qui me mettroient loin de la côte dans la nuit,…
Peut etre conviendroit-il autant d’attendre,
comme le propose M. de la Luzerne, jusqu’au Mois prochain,
des nouvelles d’Europe, ou l’arrivée d’une division des Antilles
promise par M. de Vaudreuil, ou bien encore quel’ennemi fatigué
ne fut obligé de rentrer a New-York.’
The last basis is 681.25, and furnishes matter for doubt
how far the departure of the Romulus is a decided measure.
It seems not 540. Ing 895. tion so for a purpose
wherein time is the most pressing circumstance.
The idea of getting in her is to be abandoned,
to go to Boston would be the most economical plan.
But it would be five weeks from my leaving this place
before I could expect to sail from thence.
Of course I may from here be in France by the time
I should be sailing from Boston.15
On 7 May 1783 Jefferson wrote this letter to Madison with
underlined words in his manuscript to indicate what was to be put in cipher.
Here those words are indicated by italics:
I received your favor of April 22 and am not a
little concerned at the alterations which took place
in the Report on the impost &c. after I left you.
The article which bound the whole together I fear was
essential to get the whole passed; as that which proposed
the conversion of state into federal debts was one
palatable ingredient at least in the pill we were to swallow.
This proposition being then hopeful, I never consulted you
whether the payment of our Western expenditures,
annexed as a condition to our passing the articles
recommended, would not be acceded to by Congress,
more especially when one of those articles is the
cession of that very territory for the acquisition and
defense of which these expenditures have been incurred.
If I recollect rightly, Congress offered this
in their first proposition for a cession.
I beg your sentiments however on this subject
by return of the first post.
Notwithstanding the unpromising form of these articles
I have waited a fortnight in the neighborhood
of Richmond that I might see some of the members.
I passed yesterday in associating and conversing
with as many of them as I could.
The Attorney has cooperated in this work.
This is the view I form at present of the leaders.
Dr. Arthur Lee, R. H. Lee, Mr. Page, Taylor
will be against them.
So will Thruston & White if elected, and even an
- Campbell is thought worthy of being named with these
as having some influence in the South Western quarter.
In their favor will probably be Tyler, Tazewell,
General Nelson, W. Nelson, Nicholas & a Mr. Archibald
Stewart a young man of good talents from the Westward.
Henry as usual is involved in mystery: should the popular
tide run strongly in either direction, he will fall in with it.
Should it not, he will have a struggle between
his enmity to the Lees and his enmity to everything
which may give influence to Congress.
Thomson Mason is a meteor
whose path cannot be calculated.
All the powers of his mind seem at present
concentrated on one single object, the producing
a Convention to new model the State Constitution.
This is a subject much agitated, and seems
the only one they will have to amuse themselves
with till they shall receive your propositions.
These should be hastened;
as I think the session will be short.
I have seen Mr. Wythe.
He has none of his amendments
or notes on the Confederation.
Mr. Short has desired me to suggest his name
as that of a person willing to become a legatine
secretary should these offices be continued.
I have apprised him of the possibility that they may not.
You know my high opinion of his abilities and merits;
I will therefore only add that a peculiar talent
for prying into facts seems to mark his
character as proper for such a business.
He is young & little experienced in business,
though well prepared for it.
These defects will lessen daily.
Should persons be proposed less proper on the whole, you
would on motives of public good, knowing his willingness to
serve, give him a nomination and do justice to his character.
I rejoice at the information that 1832. 164.928.36.323
& yourself concur in sentiments.
I rejoice as it will render you happier and give
to me a neighbor on whom I shall set high value.
You will be continued in your delegation till the end
of three years from the completion of the Confederation.
You will therefore model your measures accordingly.
You say nothing of the time when
you shall pay your visit to Virginia.
I hope you will let me know of your arrival
as soon as it happens.
Should the call be made on me, which was sometimes
the subject of our conversation, and be so timed with your
visit as that you may be the bearer of it, I shall with great
pleasure accommodate my movements to yours so as
to accompany you on your return to Philadelphia.16
Jefferson in June showed Madison his version of the state constitution
for his review, comments, and help in getting it approved.
Jefferson returned to Congress and worked for its ratification.
On June 17 Jefferson wrote this to Madison:
I am informed the assembly determined against
the capacity of reelection in those gentlemen of the
delegation who could not serve a complete year.
I do not know on what this decision could be founded.
My hopes of the success of the Congressional
propositions here have lessened exceedingly.
Mr. Henry had declared in favor of the impost:
but when the question came on, he was utterly silent.
I understand it will certainly be lost if it be not already.
Instead of ceding more lands to the U.S.
a proposition is made to revoke the former cession.
Mr. Henry is for bounding our state reasonably enough,
but instead of ceding the parts lopped off,
he is for laying them off into small republics.
What further his plan is I do not hear.
However you get the parliamentary news
so much more directly from Richmond that
it is idle for me to give it you from hence.
A Convention for the amendment of our Constitution
having been much the topic of conversation for some time,
I have turned my thoughts to the amendments necessary.
The result I enclose to you.
You will have opportunities during your stay in Philadelphia
of inquiring into the success of some of the parts of it
which though new to us have been tried in other states.
I shall only except against your communicating it
to any one of my own country, as I have found
prejudices frequently produced against propositions
handed to the world without explanation or support.
I trust that you will either now or in some future
situation turn your attention to this subject in time
to give your aid when it shall be finally discussed.
The paper enclosed may serve as a basis
for your amendment, or may suggest
amendments to a better groundwork.
I further learn that the assembly are excluding
members of Congress from among them.
Whether the information they may derive from their
presence, or their being marked by the confidence of
the people, is the cause of this exclusion, I cannot tell.17
Jefferson wrote this to Virginia’s Governor
Benjamin Harrison on 18 July 1783:
I am sorry you have been at the trouble of sending an
express to me for information as to the transactions
between the Executive and Nathan as I am satisfied I do not
recollect a single fact that you are not already possessed of.
In the winter of 1779 1780 Mr. Nathen presented
us some bills drawn by General Clarke, Col. Todd
and perhaps others, which he said he had taken up
at New Orleans or the Havana and paid a hard dollar
for everyone named in the bill.
At that time I think we had been made to believe
that depreciation had not reached Kaskaskia,
and the bills appearing fair, we considered them in the
nature of many others taken up by Pollock and wrote
acceptances on the greatest part of them undertaking
to pay them in tobacco at 4 ⅙ dollars the hundred.
I believe we rejected some of them,
perhaps as drawn by subordinate officers,
till we could write to General Clarke and Col. Todd.
We wrote to them and desired a description of the bills
we were to pay fully, and the rates of depreciation
if depreciation had affected any.
They sent us a description of the hard money bills,
to wit all drawn on New Orleans, and a table
of depreciation for the others.
This showed we had written acceptances for hard money on
some bills whereon depreciation should have been allowed.
We laid the case before Mr. Pendleton and Wythe
intending if they thought us bound by our
erroneous acceptances that we would pay them.
They differed in opinion.
We then informed Nathan of Clarke and Todd’s marks to
distinguish the bills, that this had proved we had accepted
some in hard money on which depreciation should have
been allowed, told him as it was a case in which every man
in the state was interested we did not wish to be judges
in it ourselves, nor to refer it to any persons within the state
but we would refer it to lawyers in Philadelphia whither
we knew he was going, and therefore that it would be
convenient for him to have it decided there, as it would
to us our delegates being on the spot to act for us.
He agreed to it.
I wrote a state of the case, read it to him at the
Council Board; he agreed every article was right;
we enclosed it to our delegates, and that is the last part
of the transaction which happened within my knowledge.
Our delegates have told me since that he tergiversated
a little there, disputing facts, declining the reference,
but that he had finally come to; but of this
they can give more certain information.
In every part of the transaction with us
he acted candidly enough as far as we could see;
and we should certainly have thought ourselves
bound to pay the money agreeable to the award.
There was another transaction with him.
Col. Gibson (I believe it was) came
for clothing for the troops at Fort Pitt.
We were distressed how to procure them.
Nathan offered to go with Gibson to Baltimore and buy
them, and to wait a considerable time for the money.
Perhaps he might name a year or some such term.
We agreed.
He went, bought them and drew on us immediately
for the money which we did not like.18
Jefferson on 16 December 1783 wrote this Report on the Definitive Treaty:
The Committee to whom were referred the
Definitive treaty of peace between the United States
of America and his Britannic Majesty and the joint
letter from Mr. Adams, Mr. Franklin and Mr. Jay
have agreed to the following report.
Resolved that the said Definitive treaty be ratified
by the United States in Congress assembled.
That a Proclamation should be immediately
issued notifying the said definitive treaty &
ratification to the several states of the Union,
& requiring their observance thereof.
That Congress should immediately and earnestly
recommend to the legislatures of the respective States,
to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights &
properties, which have been confiscated, belonging
to real British subjects and also of the estates, rights
& properties of persons resident in districts which
were in the possession of his Britannic majesty’s arms
at any time between the 30th day of November 1782
and the 14th day of January 2 1784, and who have not
borne arms against the said United States and that persons
of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any
part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, & therein
to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to
obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights &
properties as may have been confiscated;
and that Congress should also immediately & earnestly
recommend to the several States a reconsideration &
revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises so as to
render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only
with justice & equity, but with that spirit of conciliation
which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should
universally prevail; and that Congress should also
immediately & earnestly recommend to the several states,
that the estates, rights & properties of such last mentioned
persons should be restored to them, they refunding to any
persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price
(where any has been given) which such person may
have paid on purchasing any of the lands,
rights or properties since the confiscation.19
Notes
1. From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Nelson, 2 January 1781 (Online)
2. From Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Huntington, 17 January 1781, enclosing
Resolution of Assembly concerning the Cession of Lands, 2 January 1781 (Online)
3. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 774-775.
4. From Thomas Jefferson to Steuben, 26 April 1781 (Online)
5. Madison Writings, p. 13-14.
6. Thomas Jefferson to Virginia Delegates, 10 May 1781 (Online)
7. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 775-777.
8. From George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, 8 June 1781 (Online)
9. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 551-554.
10. From Thomas Jefferson to George Nicholas, 28 July 1781 (Online)
11. Thomas Jefferson: A Biography by Nathan Schachner, p. 220.
12. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 46-54.
13. Ibid., p. 777-780.
14. From Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 22 January 1783 (Online)
15. To Thomas Jefferson from George Washington, 10 February 1783 (Online)
16. The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Volume IV ed. Paul Leicester Ford,
p. 136-138.
17. Ibid., p. 144-146.
18. Ibid., p. 166-167.
19. Ibid., p. 168-170.
20. Ibid., p. 183-184.
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