Third
President of the
United States; born in
Shadwell, Va., April 2, 1743; was educated at the College of William and Mary; studied law under
George Wythe; and was admitted to the bar in 1767.
From 1769 to 1775 he was an active member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses.
In that body he introduced a bill empowering masters to manumit their slaves.
On Jan. 1, 1771,
he married
Martha Skelton, a rich and beautiful young widow of twenty-three.
He was a member of the committee of correspondence of
Virginia, which he assisted in forming, and was engaged in active public life until his retirement from the Presidency of the
United States.
In 1774 he wrote his famous
Summary view of the rights of British America, which, it is believed, procured for him a place in the list of American traitors denounced by the British Parliament.
He had taken an active part against the
Boston port bill.
Mr. Jefferson took his seat in the Continental Congress in June, 1775, when he was thirty-two years of age. In that body he served on the most important committees, and in drawing up state papers.
On the committee to draft the
Declaration of Independence, to
Mr. Jefferson was assigned the duty of writing that important paper, which he advocated and signed.
True to the proclivities of his nature in favor of human liberty, he introduced a clause censuring slavery, which was stricken out. In October, 1776, he retired from Congress to take part in his own State affairs, and for two years and a half was employed in revising the laws of
Virginia and procuring some wise enactments, such as abolishing the laws of primogeniture, giving freedom to convicts, etc. During the entire Revolutionary War
Jefferson was very active in his own State, serving as its governor from June, 1779, to 1781.
At the time of his retirement from the chair, Cornwallis, invading
Virginia, desolated
Jefferson's estate at Elk
Hill, and he and his family narrowly escaped capture.
Mr. Jefferson was again in Congress in 1783, and, as chairman of a committee, reported to that body the definite treaty of peace with
Great Britain.
Assisting the suggestions of
Gouverneur Morris, he proposed and carried a bill establishing the decimal system of currency.
In 1785 he succeeded
Dr. Franklin as minister at the French Court, where he remained until 1789, when he returned and took a seat in
Washington's cabinet as
Secretary of State.
In
France he had published his
Notes
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on Viriginia, and he had there become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the
French revolutionists previous to the bloody era of 1793.
Not finding at home the same enthusiastic admiration of the
French people in their struggle against “the conspiracy of the kings,” he became morbidly suspicious of a monarchical party in the
United States that might overthrow the government.
He formed and led an active party called “Republican” or “Democratic,” and there was much acrimonious feeling soon engendered between that and the Federal party, of which
Alexander Hamilton was the active leader.
Mr. Jefferson was an able leader of the Democratic party, and secured so large a following that in 1800 he was elected
President, and served eight years, retiring in March, 1809, when he withdrew from public life and retired to his seat at
Monticello, near
Charlottesville, Va. Among the important events of his administration were the purchase of
Louisiana, an exploration of the continent from the
Mississippi River to the
Pacific Ocean, and difficulties with
France and
Great Britain on account of their violation of the rights of neutrals.
Mr. Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia (1819) at
Charlottesville, Va., and was its rector until his death, which occurred on the same day, and almost at the same hour, as that on which
John Adams died, who was his associate in drafting the
Declaration of Independence, and signing it, just fifty years before (July 4, 1826).
Jefferson was a keen politician, though no speaker; a man of great learning and fine scholarly as well as scientific attainments, and in conversation extremely attractive.
His house was the resort of learned men of his own country and of
Europe.
In person he was tall and slender, with sandy hair, florid complexion in his youth, and brilliant gray eyes, a little inclining to brown.
He was buried in a family
cemetery near his house at
Monticello, and over his grave is a granite monument, bearing the inscription, written by himself, and found among his papers after his death, “Here lies buried
Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of
Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia.”
Mr. Jefferson regarded slavery as a moral and political evil, and did much to alleviate its hardships.
His correspondence with men of all classes was voluminous, for he was a fluent writer and had a very wide acquaintance.
Few men have exerted as much influence in establishing the free institutions of the
United States as
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Thomas Jefferson.
He adopted for the motto of his private seal that of
Oliver Cromwell— “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
See
Lewis, Meriwether.
When, in the early summer of 1781, Cornwallis was overrunning a portion of
Virginia, he sent
Tarleton with his cavalry to capture the Virginia Assembly siting at
Charlottesville, and also
Governor Jefferson, who lived 2 miles from that place.
On the way
Tarleton destroyed twelve wagon-loads of clothing intended for
Greene's army in
North Carolina.
Within 10 miles of
Charlottesville Tarleton detached
Captain McLeod, with a party of horsemen, to capture
Governor Jefferson at
Monticello, while he pressed forward.
On his way he captured some members of the legislature, but when he arrived at
Charlottesville the remainder, forewarned, had fled and escaped.
McLeod's expedition to
Monticello was quite as unsuccessful.
Jefferson was entertaining several members of the legislature, including the presiding officers of both houses, when the
British cavalry were seen coming up the winding road towards the mansion.
Jefferson immediately sent his family away, while he and the others escaped on horseback.
Jefferson had not been gone ten minutes when
McLeod rode up and found the house deserted.
The leaders of the two great parties
nominated their respective candidates for the Presidency in 1800, the Federalists choosing to be voted for
John Adams and
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney; the Democrats,
Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr.
There was a breach in the Federal party, owing to extended dislike of
Adams, and the Democrats used the Alien and Sedition Laws with powerful effect against him. The Federalists were defeated.
Jefferson and
Burr had each seventy-three votes in the electoral college, and, according to the provisions of the
Constitution, the election was carried into the House of Representatives.
There exciting scenes occurred.
Two or three members, too
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Jefferson's seal.
Motto: “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
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sick to appear otherwise, were brought to the
House on beds.
For seven days the balloting went on. After it was ascertained that a Democrat was elected, the Federalists all voted for
Burr, as being less objectionable than
Jefferson; but the friends of the latter were stronger than all opposition, and he was elected.
The whole Federal party were mortified and humiliated by the triumph of
Jefferson, their arch-enemy.
He was inaugurated March 4, 1901.
See
cabinet, President's.
Inaugural Address>head>
the following is the principal part of the inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1801:
friends and fellow-citizens,—Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive officer of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire.
A rising nation, spread over a wide and
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fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking.
Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I see
here remind me that, in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution, I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties.
To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked, amid the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
during the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the
Constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good.
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression.
Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.
And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and as capable of bitter and
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bloody persecutions.
During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some, and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
We have called by different names brethren of the same principle.
We are all republicans; we are all federalists.
If there be any among us who wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough.
But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear
that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself?
I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth.
I believe it is the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern.
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.
Can he then be trusted with the government of others?
or have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern him?
let history answer this question.
let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to union and representative government.
Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradation of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and practised in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to
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make us a happy and prosperous people?
still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to
regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, upon the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape its administration.
I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the
general principle, but not all its limitations.
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the
State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press; and freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected.
These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment; they should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which leads alone to peace, liberty, and safety. . . .
The Jeffersonian policy.
Soon after his inauguration,
Jefferson indicated his policy in a letter to
Nathaniel Macon, in Congress, as follows: “1.
Levees are done away with.
2. The first communication to the next Congress will be, like all subsequent ones, by message, to which no answer will be expected.
3. Diplomatic establishments in
Europe will be reduced to three ministers.
4. The compensation of collectors depends on you [Congress], and not on me. 5.
The army is undergoing a chaste reformation.
6. The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment by the last of this month
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[May, 1801]. 7.
Agencies in every department will be revived.
8. We shall push you to the uttermost in economizing.
9. A very early recommendation
has been given to the
Postmaster-General to employ no traitor, foreigner, or Revolutionary Tory in any of his offices.”
Three days after his inauguration he wrote to
Monroe: “I have firmly refused to follow the counsels of those who have desired the giving of offices to some of the Federalist leaders in order to reconcile them.
I have given, and will give, only to Republicans under existing circumstances.”
The doctrine, “To the victor belong the spoils,” which has been accepted as orthodox in the politics of our republic ever since, was then first promulgated.
