furnishing his house, and making every effort to
convert his little mountain, covered with primeval
forest, into an agreeable and accessible park. Af-
ter man v experiments he domesticated almost every
tree and shrub, native and foreign, that could sur-
vive the Virginia winter. The contest with the
king was soon renewed, and the decisive year, 1774,
opened. It found Thomas Jefferson a thriving and
busy young lawyer and farmer, not known beyond
Virginia ; but when it closed he was a person of
note among the patriots of America, and was pro-
scribed in England. It was he who prepared the
" Draught of Instructions " for Virginia's Delega-
tion to the Congress which met at Philadelphia
in September. That congress, he thought, should
unite in a solemn address to the king : but they
should speak to him in a frank and manly way, in-
forming him, as the chief magistrate of an empire
governed by many legislatures, that one of those
legislatures — namely, the British parliament — had
encroached upon the rights of thirteen others.
They were also to say to the king that he was no
more than the chief officer of the people, appointed
by the laws and circumscribed with definite powers.
He also spoke, in this very radical draught, of
"" the late deposition of his majesty, King Charles,
by the Commonwealth of England " as a thing ob-
viously right. He maintained that the parliament
of Virginia had as much right to pass laws for the
government of the people of England as the Brit-
ish legislature had to pass laws for the government
of the people of Virginia. " Can any one reason
be assigned," he asked, " why a hundred and sixty
thousand electors in the island of Great Britain
should give law to four millions in the states of
America?" The draught, indeed, was so radical
on every point that it seemed to the ruling British
mind of that day mere insolent burlesque. It was
written, however, by Jefferson in the most modest
and earnest spirit, showing that, at the age of
thirty-one, his radical opinions were fully formed,
And their expression was wholly unqualified by a
knowledge of the world beyond the sea. This
draught, though not accepted by the convention,
was published in a pamphlet, copies of which were
sent to England, where Edmund Burke caused it
to be republished with emendations and additions
of his own. It procured for the author, to use his
own language, " the honor of having his name in-
serted in a long list of proscriptions enrolled in
a bill of attainder." The whole truth of the con-
troversy was given in this pamphlet, without any
politic reserves.
In March, 1775, Jefferson, who had been kept at Monticello for some time by illness, was in Rich- mond as a member of the convention which assem- bled in the parish church of St. John to consider what course Virginia should take in the crisis. It was as a member of this body that Patrick Henry, to an audience of 150 persons, spoke the prophetic words in solemn tones as the key to the enigma : " We must fight ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of re- sounding arms." These sentences, spoken twenty- seven days before the affair of Lexington, con- vinced the convention, and it was agreed that Vir- ginia should arm. A committee of thirteen was •appointed to arrange a plan, among the members of which were Patrick Henry, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, the speak- er, Edmund Pendleton, and Thomas Jefferson. The plan they agreed upon was this: The popu- lous counties to raise and drill infantry compa- nies; the other counties horsemen, and both to wear the hunting-shirt, which Col. Washington told them was the best field-uniform he knew of. The last act of this convention was to appoint that, in case a vacancy should occur in the delegation of Virginia to congress, Thomas Jefferson should sup- Jly the place. A vacancy occurred, and on 20 une, 1775, the day on which Washington received his commission as commander-in-chief, Jefferson reached Philadelphia, and took his seat the next morning in congress. Before the sun set that day congress received news of the stirring battle of Bunker Hill.
Jefferson was an earnest, diligent, and useful member of the congress. John Adams, his fellow- member, describes him as "so prompt, frank, ex- plicit, and decisive upon committees and in con- versation that he soon seized upon my heart." His readiness in composition, his profound knowl- edge of British law, and his innate love of freedom and justice, gave him solid standing in the body. On his return to Virginia he was re-elected by a majority that placed him third in the list of seven members. After ten days' vacation at home, where he then had a house undergoing enlarge- ment, and a household of thirty-four whites and eighty-three blacks, with farms in three counties to superintend, he returned to congress to take his part in the events that led to the complete and formal separation of the colonies from the mother- country. In May, 1776, the news reached congress that the Virginia convention were unanimous for independence, and on 7 June Richard Henry Lee obeyed the instructions of the Virginia legislature by moving that independence should be declared. On 10 June a committee of five was appointed to prepare a draught of the Declaration — Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Rob- ert R. Livingston. Mr. Jefferson, being the chair- man of the committee, was naturally asked to write the document. He then lived near what is now the corner of Market and Seventh streets. The paper was written in a room of the second floor, upon a little writing-desk three inches high, of his own contriving, which still exists. Congress subjected his draught to a severe and prolonged revision, making many suppressions, additions, and alterations, most of which were improvements. One passage was suppressed in which he gave ex- pression to the wounded feelings of the American people in being so unworthily treated by brethren and fellow-citizens. The document was debated in congress on 2, 3, and 4 July. Thursday, the 4th, was a warm day, and the members in the af- ternoon became weary and impatient with the long strain upon their nerves. Jefferson used to relate with much merriment that the final vote upon the Declaration was hastened by swarms of flies, which came from a neighboring stable, and added to the discomfort of the members. A few days afterward he was one of a committee to devise a seal for the new-born power. Among their suggestions (and this was the only one accepted by congress) was the best legend ever appropriated, E pluribus unum, a phrase that had served as a motto on the cover of the "Gentleman's Magazine" for many years. It was originally borrowed from a humorous poem of Virgil's.
Having thus linked his name imperishably with the birthday of the nation, Jefferson resigned his seat in congress, on the ground that the health of his wife and the condition of his household made his presence in Virginia indispensable. He had also been again elected a member of the Virginia legislature, and his heart was set upon the work of purging the statute-books of unsuitable laws, and bringing up Virginia to the level of the Declara-
