Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/158

 124 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS been again elected a member of the Virginia legis lature, and his heart was set upon the work of purg ing the statute-books of unsuitable laws, and bring ing up Virginia to the level of the Declaration. He had formed a high conception of the excellence of the New England governments, and wished to introduce into his native state the local institutions that had enabled those states to act with such efficiency during the war. After some stay at home he entered upon this work at Williamsburg, where, October 8, 1776, a messenger from congress in formed him that he had been elected joint commis sioner, with Franklin and Deane, to represent the United States at Paris. After three days of con sideration, he resisted the temptation to go abroad, feeling that his obligations to his family and his state made it his duty to remain at home. In re organizing Virginia, Jefferson and his friends struck first at the system of entail, which, after three weeks earnest debate, was totally destroyed, so that all property in Virginia was held in fee simple and could be sold for debt. He next at tempted, by a short and simple enactment, to abolish the connection between church and state. He was able to accomplish but a small portion of this reform at that session, but the work was begun, and nine years later the law drawn by Jefferson, entitled &quot;An Act for establishing Religious Free dom,&quot; completed the severance. This triumph of