Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

our winds and waters should not combine to rescue their shores from slavery, and General Howe's reinforcement should arrive in safety, we have hopes he will be inspirited to come out of Boston and take another drubbing; and we must drub him soundly, before the sceptred tyrant will know we are not mere brutes, to crouch under his hand, and kiss the rod, with which he deigns to scourge us. Yours, &c.

Mr. Jefferson was re-elected to Congress in August, 1775, and again in June, '76; continuing a member of that body, without intermission, until he resigned his seat in September, "76.

During his absence however, at Philadelphia, he was not inattentive to the affairs of his native State. He maintained a constant correspondence with the patriot leaders in that Province, particularly Mr. Wythe, and stimulated them, if any stimulus was wanting, to the strongest measures of political enfranchisement. Having headed the principal movements in Virginia, of a civil character, he exercised a preponderating influence in her councils, That State also, he was aware, constituted so important a link in the Union, that it would be difficult for any part to go wrong, if she went right. She had given birth to the most prominent measures in the Continent, of a general character; and her precedent was deemed authority in the Federal Council. The examples with which she was now about to arouse their attention, were more decisive, than any she had hitherto presented; and he felt an invincible anxiety to participate in bringing them forward, to the best advantage.

The dissolution of the regal, and substitution of the popular, administration in Virginia, was unattended by a single spasm. But as yet, no settled form of government had been established. There was no Constitution, and no distinct Executive head. The legislative, judiciary, and executive functions, were all lodged in one body-the Colonial Convention. This was the grand depository of the whole political power in the Province. Although confined to his station in Congress, and oppressed with the cares of the general administration, Mr. Jefferson could not overlook, in silence, the dangers to be apprehended from so jarring a combination of fundamental powers, in the political establishment of Virginia; and he exerted his influence to procure a more perfect organization, at the meeting of the next Convention.

The Convention assembled at Williamsburg, on the 6th of May, 1776, when the vices of the existing system were removed, by the adoption of a DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, and a CONSTITUTION, which have existed, without alteration, from that day until within a few years past. The subject was brought forward on the 15th of May, by Colonel Archibald Cary, a man of herculean stature, and force of character, who moved the appointment of a committee 'to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of government, to maintain peace and order in the Colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to the people.' Whereupon a committee of thirty-four persons was appointed, consisting of the wisest heads and firmest hearts of Virginia; of whom, that veteran republican, George Mason, who was himself a host, was one.

The question now arises which has been so often agitated— What particular agency, if any, had Mr. Jefferson, in the formation of the Virginia Constitution? He was distant from the scene of the Convention, and immersed in the complicated duties of his official station. This question has, within a few years, been put to rest by Mr. Girardin, in his Continuation of Burke's History of Virginia. This gentleman had free access to Mr. Jefferson's papers, while compiling his history, and has presented the matter in a clear light.

It appears that the entire Preamble, and some portions of the body of the instrument, are the production of Mr. Jefferson; but the bulk of the Constitution, including the Declaration of Rights, is the work of George Mason. Eager upon the great work of Political Reformation, the former had composed, at Philadelphia, and transmitted to his friend Mr. Wythe, the draught of an entire system of government, comprehending a Preamble, Declaration of Rights, and Constitution. But his plan was not received until the previous one had gone through a Committee of the whole, and been submitted to the Convention for their final sanction. It was then too late to adopt it entire. "Mr. Jefferson's valuable communication," says Mr. Girardin," reached the Convention, just at the moment when the plan originally drawn up by Colonel George Mason, and afterwards discussed and amended, was to receive the final sanction of that venerable body. It was now too late to retrace previous steps; the session had already been uncommonly la

[ocr errors]

borious; and considerations of personal delicacy hindered those,* to whom Mr. Jefferson's ideas were imparted, from proposing or urging new alterations. Two or three parts of his plan, and the whole of his Preamble, however, were adopted; and to this circum stance, must be ascribed the strong similitude between the Preamble, and the Declaration of Independence, subsequently issued by the Continental Congress, both having been traced by the same pen." In the Life of Patrick Henry, it is also stated:† 'There now exists among the archives of this State, an original rough draught of a Constitution for Virginia, in the hand writing of Mr. Jefferson, containing this identical Preamble. The body of the Constitution had been adopted by the committee of the whole, before the ar rival of Mr. Jefferson's plan: his Preamble, however, was prefixed to the instrument; and some of the modifications proposed by him, introduced into the body of it.'

The Constitution was adopted unanimously, on the 29th of June, 1776; and to that date may be referred the first establishment of self-government, by a written compact, in the western continent, and probably in the whole world. It formed the model for all the other States, as they successively recovered themselves from the parent monarchy; and they were not slow in doing this. The example of Virginia was soon followed by the other Provinces, and the popular administrations succeeded to the regal, with astonishing rapidity.

The part which Mr. Jefferson took in this important transaction, cannot be sufficiently admired. It happened on the eve of the momentous proceedings upon Independence, in Congress; and in the midst of the busy preparation for that all-absorbing question. But the freedom and prosperity of his native State lay nearest to his heart. His watchful spirit hovered over her, with the protecting care

* The historian here alludes to Mr. Wythe, and cites his answer to Mr. Jefferson, as follows:

"When I came here the plan of Government had been committed to the whole House. To those who had the chief hand in forming it, the one you put into my hands was shewn. Two or three parts of this, were, with little alteration, inserted in that; but such was the impatience of sitting long enough to discuss several important points in which they differ, and so many other matters were necessarily to be dispatched before the adjournment, that I was per. suaded the revision of a subject the members seemed tired of, would at that time have been unsuccessfully proposed.-The system agreed to, in my opinion, requires reformation. In October, I hope you will effect it."

+ Page 196, Note.

of a tutelary genius. When, therefore, he saw her righting herself into the noble attitude of Independence, he strove to reach forth a helping arm and to throw the whole weight which his situation allowed him to command, into that scale of her power which should embody the greatest amount of republicanism in the operation. He saw, that the step she was then about to take, would decide everlastingly her political course; perhaps, too, the everlasting political course of the whole country. He was anxious, therefore, that it should partake as thoroughly of the popular spirit, as the state of public opinion would admit. The system which was adopted, was more aristocratical in its features, than the one which he proposed, and less perfect as a whole. But the merits of his plan will be more particularly discussed in a future chapter. Meanwhile, the following paragraph, in a letter to Major John Cartwright, in 1824, will suffice to show the general light in which he viewed the first republican charter, as well as the extent to which he carried his democratic theory, in 1776.

"Virginia, of which I am myself a native and resident, was not only the first of the States, but, I believe I may say, the first of the nations of the earth, which assembled its wise men peaceably together, to form a fundamental constitution, to commit it to writing, and place it among their archives, where every one should be free to appeal to its text. But this act was very imperfect. The other States, as they proceeded successfully to the same work, made successive improvements; and several of them, still further corrected by experience, have, by conventions, still further amended their first forms. My own State has gone on so far with its premiere ebauche; but it is now proposing to call a convention for amendment. Among the other improvements, I hope they will adopt the subdivision of our counties into wards. The former may be estimated at an average of twenty-four miles square; the latter should be about six miles square each, and would answer to the hundreds of your Saxon Alfred. In each of these might be, 1. An elementary school. 2. A company of militia, with its officers. 3. A justice of the peace and constable. 4. Each ward should take care of their own poor. 5. Their own roads. 6. Their own police. 7. Elect within themselves one or more jurors to attend the courts of justice. And, 8. Give in at their Folk-house, their votes for all functionaries reserved to their election. Each ward would thus be a small républic within itself, and every man in the State would thus become an acting member of the common government, transacting in person a great portion of its rights and duties, subordinate indeed, yet impor tant and entirely within his competence. The wit of man cannot

devise a more solid basis for a free, durable, and well-administered Republic."

This was the remarkable extent to which Mr. Jefferson carried his theory of representative government at the first 'leap.' That he had imbibed these doctrines so early as "76, is evident; for in his celebrated Revisal of the Laws of Virginia, commenced in the autumn of that year, he introduced a proposition for dividing the whole State into wards of six miles square, and for imparting to each, those identical portions of self-government above described. This curious fact will be more fully developed in the sequel.

But this Convention aspired to a higher agency in directing the course of the Revolution. The same hour which gave birth to the proposition for establishing the new government, was signalized by the adoption of a recommendation, which pointed directly to the grand object of the struggle. The resolution containing it, was conceived in the following terms:

"Resolved, unanimously, That the Delegates appointed to represent this Colony in General Congress, be instructed to propose to that respectable body, to DECLARE THE UNITED COLONIES FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependance upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this Colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress, for forming foreign alliances, and A CONFEDERATION OF THE COLONIES, at such time, and in the manner, as to them shall seem best. Provided, that the power of forming government for, and the regulation of, the internal concerns of each Colony, be left to the respective Colonial Legislatures."

The intelligence of this auspicious denouement, was received with a general feeling of approbation throughout the country, and in many places, with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. It was the signal for corresponding manifestations in most of the Provincial Legislatures, and in the course of a short period, a great majority of the Representatives in Congress, were instructed to the same effect. The burning theme of Independence was thus echoed and re-echoed from one Colony to another, and thundered upon the attention of the people, in unremitting peals.

At this propitious moment, the gallant author of 'Common Sense' lighted his fiercest torch, and discharged a tremendous battery into the public mind; animating the torpid reins of the loyalist, and instilling new phrensy into the aching bosom of the patriot. The

« PředchozíPokračovat »