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Britain, and how viewed. His justification, in a letter to a friend. Opinions of

the President on the Navy. Letter of John Adams to him, and reply. Insti-

tution of Gun Boats; outlines of the system, and historical instances of

its efficacy, pp. 436: 450. Character of the opposition to the administration.

Letter of the President to Judge Sullivan on the licentiousness of the press.

Disunion machinations of the monarchical federalists. Extracts from his pri-

vate correspondence. His anxiety to decline a re-election; reasons for his

submitting to another trial. Character of the second contest; unanimity of

the result, pp. 450: 455. Second inaugural address. His censure upon the fan-

atical intruders among the Indians. His views on the most eligible arrange-

ment of the Tariff after the discharge of the public debt, and on the distribution

of the surplus revenue. Conspiracy of Burr; his designs, and trial. Immovable

tenure of the Judiciary. Correspondence of Jefferson on the subject; his subse-

quent opinions, and proposed remedy, pp. 455 : 464. Foreign relations of the U.

States. Embargo; historical review of its causes. Berlin and Milan decrees.

Impressment of American scamen. Outrage on the Chesapeake. Popular in-

dignation. Moderation of the President; approved by the federalists. Trea-

sonable opposition to the embargo. Plot of John Henry. Disclosures of

J. Q. Adams. Causes of opposition to, and utility of the Embargo, pp. 464: 473.

Policy of the President on the Freedom of Speech, and the Press --Anccdote.

He discharges those suffering under the Sedition law. Refuses to permit pros-

ecutions for libels against himself. Dismissal of certain prosecutions in Conn.

His policy on Freedom of Religion. Letter to a clergyman. Ridiculous elec-

tioneering prophecies of his infidel intentions. His personal religious observan.

ces. Review of the minor traits of his administration. Examples of his simpli-

city, and disinterestedness, pp 473:483. Private labors &c. of the President.

His syllabus of the doctrines of christianity. Correspondence with literary men,

and different societies in Europe. Efforts for the introduction of Vaccination.

Correspondence with the Emperor Alexander. His labors on colonization Im-

provements bestowed on the city of Washington. Oracular authority of his ad-

ministrative policy. Anecdote of Bonaparte. Urgency of the people for his

second re election; his anxiety for retirement. Extracts from his letters. Re-

tires to private life. Gratulations of the people. His reply to the citizens of

Washington. Proceedings of his native county. He declines all ceremony.

Address of the citizens of his native county.... His affecting reply. Farewell

address of the Virginia Legislature. Remarks on the termination of his polit-

ical career, pp. 483: 496.

Remarks on the nature of his retirement. His principal objects of employ-

ment. Selections from his Correspondence, showing his OPINIONS on the Relative

Powers of the General and State governments...On the Relative Powers of the

three branches of the General government...On the Tendencies to Consolidation

and mode of resistance...On Internal Improvement, constructive powers, &c...

On Domestic Manufactures...On the Laboring Classes, Agriculture... On the Na-

tional Bank...On Political Parties. His character of the Sovereigns of Europe.

His portraiture of General Washington. His opinions of Progressive Improve-

ment and Popular Rights....On the Missouri Question...On the Being of a God...

On Religion. Loss of Friends. His advice on the Studies of young men....On

Rules for the regulation of their moral conduct. His Physical Habits, pp.

496: 520. His system of employment in retirement. Description of Monticello.

Portraiture of Mr. Jefferson, by a guest. Number of letters received by him.

Treachery of correspondents. His efforts to revive ancient affections between

Mr. Adams and himself; reminiscence of his great regard for him. Cor-

respondence with Mrs. Adams. Engages the mediation of Dr. Rush. Receives

a friendly opening from Mr. Adams. Letter to Dr. Rush. Subsequent corres-

pondence between himself and Adams. Extracts, pp. 520: 536. University of

Virginia-His agency, and leading object in its establishment. Distinguish-

ing features of his public life and private character. Distressing state of his

finances--Letter to his grandson-- Last letter to Madison. Lottery granted him.

Private liberality of the nation. Alarming state of his health. Letter to the

Mayor of Washington. Particulars of his last hours. Extraordinary circum-

stances of his death. Epitaph by himself, pp. 536 : 556.

LIFE,

WRITINGS, AND OPINIONS

OF

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

CHAPTER 1.

THOMAS JEFFERSON was born April 2d, 1743, on the farm called Shadwell, adjoining Moncello, in the county of Albemarle, Virginia. The date of his nativity was unknown until his decease. It had been a subject of speculation and eager scrutiny among the votaries of liberty, for a long series of years, with a view to its special commemoration. Repeated attempts had been made to ascertain it, by formal applications to him personally, on various occasions, by individuals, and public bodies; but from scruples of a patriotic nature, he always declined revealing it, and enjoined the same privacy upon his family. The principles which determined him on this subject, were, the great indelicacy and impropriety in permiting himself to be made the recipient of an homage, so incompatible with the stanch dignity and independence of the republican character; the still greater repugnance which he should feel, to seeing the birth-day honors of the Republic transferred, in any degree, to any individual; and the paramount importance over all, of suppressing, at the first blush, every tendency to familiarize the moral sense of freemen to the artificial forms and ceremonies of royalty. He thought he discovered in the birth-day celebrations of particular persons, a germ of aristocratical distinction, which it was incumbent upon all such persons, by a timely concert of example, to crush in the bud. Soon after his inauguration in 1801, he was waited on by the Mayor and Corporation of the city of Washington, with the request that he would communicate the anniversary of his birth, as they were desirous of commemorating an event

which had conferred such distinguished excellence upon their country. He replied, in a style of Roman heroism, "The only birthday which I recognize, is that of my country's liberties." In August, 1803, he received a similar communication from Levi Lincoln, in behalf of a certain association in Boston, to which he replied: Disapproving myself of transferring the honors and veneration for the great birth-day of our Republic, to any individual, or of di viding them with individuals, I have declined letting my own birthday be known, and have engaged my family not to communicate it. This has been the uniform answer to every application of the kind."

On the paternal side, Mr. Jefferson could number no titles to high or ancient lineage. His ancestors, however, as far back as they can be traced, were of solid respectability, and among the first settlers of Virginia. They migrated to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowden, the highest in GreatBritain. His grand-father was the first of whom we have any particular information. He lived in Chesterfield county, at the place called Ozborne's, and owned the lands, afterwards the glebe of the parish. He had three sons; Thomas, who died young; Field, who resided on the waters of the Roanoke, and left numerous descendants; and Peter, the father of the subject of these Memoirs, who settled in Albemarle county, on the lands called Shadwell. He was the third or fourth settler in that region of the country. They were all gentlemen of property and influence in the Colony.

But the chief glory of Mr. Jefferson's genealogy was the sturdy contempt of hereditary honors and distinctions, with which the whole race was imbued. At a period when birth was the principal circumstance which decided rank, such a raciness and unsophisticated tone of character, in an influential family, whose wealth alone was sufficient to identify them with the aristocracy, could not but be regarded as a novel and decisive peculiarity. It was a strong genealogical feature, pervading all the branches of the primitive stock, and forming a remarkable head and concentration in the individual who was destined to confer immortality upon the name. With him, indeed, if there was any one sentiment which predominated in early life,. and which lost none of its rightful ascendency through a long career of enlightened and philanthropic effort, it was that of the natural equality of all men, in their rights and wants; and of the nothingness of those pretensions which 'are gained without merit and

forfeited without crime.' The boldness with which, on his first entrance into manhood, he attacked and overthrew the deep rooted institutions of Primogeniture and Entails, the parent sources of those artificial inequalities in society which have caused so much misery and oppression in the world, is an indestructible commentary upon this attribute of his character. An anecdote is related by Mr. Madison, which is no less apposite and striking. During the infant stages of our separate sovreignty, the wheels of the republican machine moving rather tardily and awkward, forms of government were the uppermost topics every where, more especially at the convivial board. On one of these occasions, at which Mr. Jefferson was present, the question being started as to the best mode of providing the executive chief, it was, among other opinions, gravely advanced that a hereditary designation was preferable to any elective process that could be devised. At the close of an eloquent effusion against the agitations and animosities of a popular choice, and in favor of birth, as on the whole affording a better chance for a suitable head of the government, Mr. Jefferson, with a smile, remarked, that he had heard of a University somewhere in which the Professorship of Mathematics was hereditary! The reply, received with acclamation, was a coup de grace to the anti-republi

can orator.

His father, Peter Jefferson, was born February 29th, 1707-8; and intermarried in 1739, with Jane Randolph, of the age of 19, daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and family, settled at Dungeoness, in Goochland county, who trace their pedigree far back in England and Scotland; "to which" says Mr. Jefferson, "let every one ascribe the faith and merit he chooses." He was a self-educated man; but endowed by nature, with strong intellectual powers, and a constant thirst for information, he rose steadily by his own exertions, and acquired considerable distinction in the Colony. He was commissioned, jointly with Joshua Fry, professor of mathematics in William and Mary College, to designate the boundary line between Virginia and NorthCarolina; and was afterwards employed, with the same gentleman, to construct the first regular map of Virginia. He died August 17, 1757, leaving a widow, with six daughters, and two sons, of whom Thomas was the elder. To both the sons he left large estates; to Thomas the Shadwell lands, where he was born, and which inclu

ded Monticello; to his brother the estate on James river, called Snowden, after the reputed birth-place of the family. The mother of Mr. Jefferson survived to the fortunate year of 1776, the most memorable epoch, alike in the annals of her country, and the life of her son.

At the age of five, Thomas was placed by his father at the English school, where he continued four years; at the expiration of which, he was transferred to the Latin, where he remained five years, under the tuition of Mr. Douglass, a clergyman from Scotland. With the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, he acquired, at the same time, a knowledge of the French. At this period his father died, leaving him an orphan, only fourteen years of age, and without a relative or friend competent to direct or advise him.

An interesting reminiscence of this critical period of his boyhood, and of the simple moral process by which he subdued, and wrought into instruments of the greatest good, the perilous circumstances of his position, is contained in an affectionate letter, written more than fifty years afterwards, to his grandson, in Philadelphia. It is replete with sound admonition, applicable to every condition of youth, besides affording a choice insight into the juvenile mind and habits of the writer. His tastes were not so etherial, it appears, as to exclude him altogether from the wild and boisterous joys of the chase, and the turf; but the basis of his moral composition must have been strongly intellectual, to have reasoned with such precocity of judgment "in the enthusiastic moment of the death of a fox ;" and to have caught the first impulses of a future ambition so chastened and elevated, amidst the engrossing transports of "the victory of a favorite horse."

"Your situation, thrown at such a distance from us and alone, cannot but give us all great anxieties for you. As much has been secured for you, by your particular position and the acquaintance to which you have been recommended, as could be done towards shielding you from the dangers which surround you. But thrown on a wide world, among entire strangers, without a friend or guardian to advise, so young, too, and with so little experience of mankind, your dangers are great, and still your safety must rest on yourself. A determination never to do what is wrong, prudence, and good humour, will go far towards securing to you the estimation of the world. When I recollect that at fourteen years of age, the whole care and direction of myself was thrown on myself entirely, without a relation or friend qualified to advise or guide me, and recollect the

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