Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/86

 JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON

CO/MCRESS HALL. PHILAMUTHIA, PA 1774- '763

John's church, Richmond, and listened with about one hundred and fifty other Virginia legis- lators to the famous oration of Patrick Henry, and in the house of burgesses at Williamsburg in the same year he drew up the instructions from the Virginia deputies to the delegates from Virginia to the Continental congress at Philadelphia, and he was elected an alternate delegate with John Randolph to that body. He took liis seat as a dele- gate in the second congress upon reaching Phila-

'delphia Pa., June 20, 17- 75, and af- ter taking the oath of office he was at once rec- ognized as a leader and placed on

the defence committee of tliirteen, the other members from Virginia being Washington, Henry and Lee. Before leaving for Philadel- phia he transferred his law business to his kins- man, Edmund Randolph, and this transfer closed his career as a lawyer. He served in congress until Christmas, 1775, when he re- turned to Virginia, and after giving attention to the business of his estates he returned to Pliiladelpliia, May 13, 1776, and again took his seat in the session of the Continental congress. He was appointed, June 11, 1776, with Franklin, Adams, Sherman and Livingston, a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. Jeffer- son was residing at a house in the neighborhood of Market and Seventh streets, Philadelphia, when he drew up a rough draft of the instru- ment. The desk on which he wrote it was inher- ited by his granddaughter, Eleanor Wayles Ran- dolph, on her marriage to Joseph Coolidge, of Boston, Mass., and was in her custody until her death, when it was placed in the state depart- ment at Washington, where the instrument itself was preserved. The connnittee reported, June 28, 1776, and meantime Massachusetts, in January, South Carolina in March, Georgia and North Car- olina in April, Virginia in May, and New Hamp- shire, New Jersey and Maryland early in June, had instructed their delegates to vote for independ- ence. As New York and Pennsylvania had de- layed action, congress also deferred, to hear from these states, and it was not until July 2 that it came before congress and was debated for three days. It came up for final vote, slightly modified from the original draft, July 4, and late in the afternoon of that day it received the unani- mous vote of the delegates from all the colonies. Thomas Jefferson's great work was done, and he resigned his seat in congress soon after, having

been re-elected a meml>er of the Virginia house of burgesses, in which body he served on the committee to revise the Virginia statutes. In October, 1776, he was appointed, with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, a U.S. commissioner to Paris, but his duties at home, and principally the ill-health of his wife, deterred him from ac- cepting the mission. The legislature of Virginia, in January, 1779, elected Mr. Jefferson governor of the state, as successor to Patrick Henry, and he was re-elected in 1780, serving 1779-81. Dur- ing his administration the state supplied its quota of troops to sustain the army in its opera- tions in the Carolinas and Virginia, and through his instigation and influence the capital was removed from Williamsburg to Richmond. In December, 1780, the British fleet under Arnold entered the Chesapeake, and with 900 men cap- tured Richmond, which place it held, and burned, when the Virginia militia, summoned by Gov- ernor Jefferson, who had made the temporary capital at Charlottesville, drove the troops out of the city. A favorable wind enabled Arnold and his men to escape capture. The fleet, however, remained down the bay, waiting the movements of Cornwallis, who, on his arrival in June, 1781, sent Colonel Tarleton with the British cavalry to Charlottesville, hoping to captui'e the governor

THE /VORTH FROAJT OF AAO/MTI CELLO.

and legislature. Jefferson was at Monticello at breakfast with the speaker and several members of the legislature, and while Tarleton was en- camped on the field between the Rivanna river and Charlottesville preparing to capture the latter place, Governor Jefferson and his guests escaped over Carter's mountain. After capturing seven members of the legislature, Tarleton rode to the gate at Monticello, hoping to find the governor. On taking possession of the house he ordered that nothing be disturbed, and with his own hand he turned the lock, fastening Jefferson's private apartment from the curiosity of his men. In striking contrast to this, Cornwallis occupied Elk Hill, Jefferson's James river place, as his headquarters for ten days, and wlien he left de- stroyed the barns and crops, the furnishings of the house, including the library, and carried