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THE WRITINGS OF
Thomas Jefferson
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, PARLIA-
MENTARY MANUAL, OFFICIAL PAPERS,
MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES, AND OTHER
WRITINGS. OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE.
NOW COLLECTED AND
fVBIISIIEI) IS IIILIK LS7IHF.Tr FUH THF FIRST TIME
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
A COMFRF-HENSII E A N A I.Y T I Cil I. INDEX
AndRBW a. Lipscomb, Chairman Board of Gevirnun
InUED UNDER THE AUSPICE) OF
The Thomas jEFftRso\ Memorial Associatio\
OP TUB UNITED tTATES
WASHINGTON, D. C,
1904
t:
30^
449398
CopVRIOHT. 1904,
The Thomas Jkfkekson Memorial
ASSOCl AVION
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA,
AND
THOMAS JEFFERSON, ITS FATHER/
The lives of institutions, like those of human
beings, have their vicissitudes. This University
in whose honor we are gathered together to-day, has
not been an exception. It had a long struggle even
for existence. Joy and triumph followed when,
eighty years ago, its first comer-stone was laid with
pomp and ceremony in the presence of a distin-
guished company which included three illustrious
men who had filled the office of President of the
United States. A long succeeding period of growth,
prosperity and happiness was rudely interrupted by
the desolating storm of war — ^war raging with fury
around its own temples, and driving even its own
peaceful children into the grim work of destruction
and slaughter. But even war, which spares almost
nothing, yet spared the walls with their precious
contents. The heart of the soldier will still melt
before the sad pleading of the Muse.
* An Address delivered by James C. Carter, LL. D., upon the occa-
sion of the Dedication of the new Buildings of the University,
June 14, 1898.
iy The University of Virginia, and
"Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower:
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tow'r
Went to the ground; and the repeated air
Of sad Electra's poet had the pow'r
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare."
The dawn of peace found the University weak and
exhausted, but not disheartened. The people of
Virginia who had learned to cherish it, its sons who
looked back to it with fond affection, the warm-
hearted and open-handed friends of learning in dis-
tant places came forward with liberal help. The
Muses returned and re-peopled their hatmts, and a
new era of prosperity, stimtdated by the new national
life, began its course.
But another stroke of adversity awaited it, — ^this
time, not from the hostile passions of man, but from
the rage of the elements, less savage indeed, but not
less unsparing. Its very walls were laid in ruins and
their precious treasures wasted. But if any evi-
dence were needed to show the extent to which the
University had increased in power, in grandeur, in
usefulness, and in the esteem of the people of Vir-
ginia and the friends everywhere of the higher educa-
tion, it would be found in the undaunted spirit with
which this disaster was faced. There was an imme-
diate resolve that it should rise from its ashes in yet
fairer proportions, more worthy of the spirit in which
it was originally founded, better equipped for the
great work to which it was originally dedicated, and
a more glorious monument to the great name forever
associated with it.
Thomas Jefferson, its Father v
This great piirpose has now been accomplished,
and we are gathered together to-day to celebrate its
completion. The scene before me and around is the
best evidence of the interest of the occasion. The
sons of the University from near and far have
returned to the bosom of their Fair Mother to rejoice
together over her happiness. Representatives of
other seats of learning are here to offer their con-
gratulations. The diplomatic representative of the
great empire at the antipodes — an empire in which
learning has for ages been held in honor— lends to
the occasion the dignity of his presence. The vener-
able Commonwealth is here in the person of the
Chief Magistrate and principal officers of state to
manifest her own interest in an institution which her
bounty has cherished and which has given back in
return the support upon which alone a free Com-
monwealth can rest.
It is the custom on such occasions to make pro-
vision for deliberate utterance of the thoughts which
they are calculated to excite, and the authorities of
the University have thought it suitable to invite to
this office, not — I have been made to feel — ^an entire
stranger, but a friend from a distance, whose oppor-
tunities have not been such as to permit a close
observation of the history and fortunes of the insti-
tution. Profoundly sensible of the honor thus con-
ferred upon me, I cannot help feeling how inadequate
I am to its due performance. I cannot speak of the
University of Virginia with all the affection which
^ Mil
vi The University of Virginia, and ■
the graduate cherishes for his Alma Mater, nor with
the full pride which the Virginian alone can feel ; but
to those who regard- -this institution as their own,
who have control over its destinies, or have been
reared within its walls, a view of it, as it appears to
outside observers, may not be unwelcome, or wholly
uninteresting. We are sometimes enabled to correct
our own conceptions of ourselves, and qualify our-
selves in some degree for the better performance of
our own duties, by learning what is thoi:^ht of us
and what is expected of us by others.
Let me then occupy your thoughts for a brief hour
with a sketch, very rude and imperfect, of the origin
of the University and of its principal features as they
appear to the world at large, to which I may add
some allusion to its illustrious founder, and to the
political philosophy the teaching of which he so
ardently desired to promote.
Its origin offers a strong contrast with the begin-
nings of our principal seats of learning which pre-
ceded it. Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton
began as mere schools for humble colonies, with no
prevision of the great destinies which awaited them.
Their majestic proportions have been developed and
shaped, during long periods of time, by many differ-
ent hands and many varying influences. But the
University of Virginia sprang into life, in full pan-
oply, from the conception of a single man, like
Minerva from the brain of Jove. The aim of its
founder was not to supply merely local and immedi-
A
Thomas Jefferson, its Father vii
ate wants, but to make provision for the growth,
maintenance and glory of the new civilization and
the new empire with which his visions were filled.
No sketch can even be outlined of the origin and
character of this institution which does not take in as
a principal element the figure of this illustrious man.
The leading feature in the mind and character of
Thomas Jefferson was a firm and undoubting belief
in the worth and dignity of human nature, and in
the capacity of man for self government. This was
at once the conclusion of his reason and the passion
of his soul. Whence it came to him it is difficult to
discover; it was not from the sense of subjection
and oppression felt by an inferior class in society
towards those above it, for he belonged to the class
of well to do, if not wealthy, Virginia land-holders;
not from the venerable college of William and Mary,
in which he was bred, for his opinions were not the
cherished sentiments of that institution; not from
his early and familiar acquaintance, to which he has
acknowledged his great indebtedness, with Dr. Small,
the President of that College, George Wythe and
Gov. Fauquier, for their tendencies were towards
very conservative views; not even from the fiery
eloquence of Patrick Henry, to which he had often
listened with admiration, — that may have fanned
the flame in his bosom — ^but indignation at the Stamp
Act would scarcely have nerved him to his early
effort in the House of Burgesses to facilitate the
mantunission of slaves. It seems to have been
viii The University of Virginia, and
inborn; but whether inborn or communicated, it
ruled his life; it burst from him like the peal of an
anthem when he came to pen the immortal Declara-
tion ; his long residence in Europe only confirmed it ;
the excesses of the French Revolution had no effect
to abate it, and it breathes through every line of his
public utterances from his seat as President of the
United States; it was the foundation of his virtues
and the source of his errors ; and not only the source
of these, but the cause of the false imputation to him
of errors he never committed ; his friendships and
his enmities were alike due to it; he distrusted all
who were not in full sympathy with it, and they dis-
trusted him. Taught by bitter experience that the
principles of true democracy are often as distasteful
to the multitude as they are to the possessors of
wealth and privilege, that the masses of men, fas-
cinated by the splendors and force of concentrated
power, may easily be persuaded, sometimes, to sur-
render in exchange for them the sense of individual
freedom, even this did not dishearten him, and after
filling, for eight years, the highest office in the gift of
his countrymen with undeviating fidelity to the
principles of popular government, he retired to the
rest and repose of his beloved Monticello, carrying
thither convictions of the worth and dignity of
human nature, and ideals of government by the peo-
ple, as distinct and fresh as those which animated
him in the morning of his life.
Men have forever been prone to cast either a
Thomas Jefferson, its Father ix
doubt or a sneer upon the apparently beneficent
deeds of those whose principles they reject and
whose influence they fear. A large part, at least, of
the acts of Mr. Jefferson's official life still remain,
and will, perhaps, forever remain, the subjects of
dispute; but he himself has happily singled out, to
be engraven upon his tomb, three particular achieve-
ments with which he wished his name to be associ-
ated, by friend or stranger, in all future time. The
latest generation of his countrymen will not question
the justice of his claim, nor withhold any part of the
full tribute of honor and glory which belongs to the
"author of the Declaration of American Indepen-
dence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Free-
dom, and to the Father of the University of Virginia." *
Mr. Jefferson, at his retirement, was sixty-six
years of age. His intellectual faculties were unim-
paired, his bodily strength was well preserved, and
he was still conscious of the possession of a large
capacity for usefulness to his countrymen and to
mankind. His ambition for public office, never very
deeply cherished, had been fully satisfied, and he
was inwardly resolved never again to seek it. He
had cherished through life a passion for the acquisi-
tion of knowledge, and was one of the best educated
men, if not the best educated man, of his coimtry
and time, and he could have filled the remainder of
his days with a serene and tranquil enjoyment of the
pleasures of literature and science; but such a life
* Prom the inscription on his tomb.
The UmvcfsitT of Miginia, and
.•*_i
• •>>c^ii
for him the strength cc wrScr: was ace devoted to the
advancement of the Iibertv arif hapomess of men.
He had in early nsacbcod ferried a gyherrie of public
education, which, trrjci trne to trry^ had pressed
itself on his attentkci throc^boct even the busiest
years of his public Iffe. It was part of his political
phikKSOjAy. Lover d liberty as he was, firmly as
he believed that popular government was the only
form of public authority consistent with the highest
happiness of men, he yet did not bdieve that any
nation or community could permanently retain this
blessing without the benefit of the lessons of truth, and
the discipline of \Trtue to be derived only from the
intellectual and moral education of the whole people.
His general scheme appears to have embraced
three branches: (i) the division of the whole state
into districts, or wards, and the establishment in
each of a primary school in which the rudiments of
knowledge should be taught to all; (2) the estab-
lishment of a sufficient number of higher academies
or colleges, in which those exhibiting in the primary
schools superior intellectual endowments might
acquire, gratis, sl further and higher education ; and (3)
a State University, in which each science shotdd " be
taught in the highest degree it has yet attained.*'*
The length of time during which, and the intensity
with which Mr. Jefferson had devoted himself to this
great object, is well manifested by an extract from a
• See Jcffcr»r>n's Autobiography; vol. i, p. 47.
Thomas Jefferson, its Father
letter written by him in 1818, some ten years after
Kliis retirement from the presidency. "A system,"
I'Says he, " of general instruction which shall reach
I'Cvery description of our citizens, from the highest to
I the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest,
of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself
to take an interest."'
The two branches of his scheme relating respect-
ively to the primary schools and the higher acade-
mies encountered obstacles which it was impossible
for him to surmount, and they are not those features
which chiefly concern us to-day ; but I cannot resist
^the temptation to read before this audience his state-
ment of the objects of primary education contained
jn the celebrated report prepared by him for the
Commission appointed by the Governor of Virginia
under an act of the General Assembly and which
met in 1818 at the unpretending tavern at Rockfish
^Gap in the Blue Ridge. There have been held since
that day, in many parts of the United States, con-
ventions and conferences of teachers, educators and
friends and patrons of learning more numerously
attended, favored with more abundant information,
and with other advantages for the consideration and
discussion of educational questions; but none, cer-
tainly, more distinguished for the dignity and ability
of its members. Besides senators and judges, there
were among those who assembled on that occasion,
^ James Monroe, then President of the United States,
' Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell ; p. 106.
xii The University of Virginia, and
and his two predecessors, James Madison and
Thomas JefEerson. And, certainly, we may look in
vain for any public statement before that time or
since, of the objects of public education so concise,
so comprehensive and so just as that contained in
the report of this Commission written by Jefferson.
He thus defined the objects of primary education :
" I. To give to every citizen the information he
needs for the transaction of his own business.
" 2. To enable him to calculate for himself, and to
express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and
accounts in v^riting.
" 3. To improve, by reading, his morals and facul-
ties.
" 4. To understand his duties to his neighbors
and country, and to discharge with competence
the functions confided to him by either.
"5. To know his rights ; to exercise with order and
justice those he retains ; to choose with disci-etion the
fiduciary of those he delegates ; and to notice their
conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment.
"6. And, in general, to observe with intelligence
and faithfulness all the social relations under which
he shall be placed." ' ^
This statement of the objects of primary educa^J
tion will never be improved. It ought to be written
in letters of gold and hung in every primary school
throughout the land and be known by heart to every
teacher and child therein. It is, indeed, more than
' U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular No. i. p. 33.
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xiii
a statement of the elements of rudimentary educa-
tion. It is an enumeration of the duties of every
good citizen under a popular government.
The apparent impossibility, at the time he began
his effort, of impressing upon the Commonwealth his
sense of the necessity of a universal provision for
primary education, moved Mr. Jefferson to turn his
attention to the third branch of his scheme, that
which embraced a State University. This, although
not, in his democratic view, the part of his plan which
promised results of the widest utility, was the one
which offered to him the most congenial field of effort,
and held out to his hopes a better promise of success.
His conception in its main elements had been in
his mind from early manhood. He had never dis-
missed it from his thoughts. He cherished it during
the gloomy years of the Revolution. He improved
it during his long sojourn in France. He recurred
to it again and again in the midst of the perplexities
which distracted him during both his presidential
terms, and he brpught it gradually to a completion
after his retirement. He sought every aid which he
could derive from independent study, from imceas-
ing correspondence with men of learning familiar
with university education and from personal inter-
course with those interested in his project whom he
could attract to his own hospitable roof.
I have no time to recount the successive steps by
which his plan proceeded towards its realization ; its
partial embodiment in the Albemarle Academy, its
xiv The University of Virginia, and H
fuller development in the Central College, under
which name the comer-stone of the future University
was laid, and its final establishment in fact and in
name by the passage through the General Assembly,
on the 25th of January-, 1819, of the bill uniting the
Central College and the University of Virginia.
It would be no disparagement of the glory to
which Mr. Jefferson is entitled for this great achieve-
ment to say that he could never have accomplished
the work without the aid of others. The assent of
the Legislature was needed, and for this a favoring
public sentiment was necessary; but it was here
that Mr. Jefferson's task began. For forty years he
had been laboring in every form in which public
sentiment could be reached, through the press, and
by correspondence and personal influence with lead-
ing public men, to create, and he finally created, a
conviction of the importance and necessity of the
work. But, however conspicuous the place which
may be assigned to him, there was one coadjutor
whose devoted labor and effective. aid can never be
forgotten. The right arm upon which he relied in
later years, and without which it may well be doubted
whether this audience would be gathered together
to-day, was Joseph C. Cabell. The alumni and
friends of the University of Virginia may be trusted
to take care that that name shall not perish from the
grateful memory of men.
The whole work, however, was as yet by no means
accomplished. I have just said that the University
Thomas Jefferson, its Father
had become established in fact and in name; but the
fact was only the legislative fiat, and the name as yet
but a name. The conception of a University embraces
noble buildings which contain its libraries, its collec-
tions, its halls of instruction, and which, in most in-
stances prior to this time, had been the contributions
of successive generations. Of these there were as yet
none ; and in nothing does this institution more clearly
appear as the creation of Mr. Jefferson's mind than
in its material structures and their situation.
In respect to tlie situation, the presence of a sel-
fish interest may be recognized and excused. Among
the motives which stimulated his zeal was undoubt-
edly a desire, of which we have more than one exam-
ple among democratic statesmen, to spend the years
of retirement in the congenial neighborhood of a
great institution of learning and science ; and it was
the longing of his heart that the University should
have her permanent seat, " her arms and her chariot,"
in the neigliborhood of his own Monticello. To this
end he employed everj-' resource of argument, and
when this failed, of art, to persuade the body of
which he was himself a member, of the superior
claims of this locality. They were obliged to admit
that healthiness and centrality ought to be the pre-
dominating considerations; but, admitting this, they
could hardly resist the argument afforded by Mr.
Jefferson's "imposing array of octogenarians" then
still living in this region; and, as to centrality, he
was ready with a demonstration that on whatever
I
xvi The University of Virginia, and
I
theory the lines might be run " they would be found
to pass close to Charlottesville."'
The form, the architecture, and the arrangement
of the material structures seem to have been alto-
gether his own; and here he did not allow the sim-
plicity and frugality of his political philosophy to
lead him astray. His vision was of a University
which would appeal to the sentiments, and thus
attract to itself the most famous teachers, with
crowds of scholars. He knew the Muses could not
be enticed to take up their abode in mean and squalid
habitations. He wrote to his efficient helper, Cabell :
" The great object of ovir aim from the beginning has
been to make the establishment the most eminent in
the United States in order to draw to it the youth of
every State, but especially of the South and West.
We have proposed, therefore, to call to it characters
of the first order of science from Europe, as well as
our own country, and not only by the salaries and
the comforts of their situation, but by the distin-
guished scale of its structure and preparation, and
the promise of future eminence which these would
hold up, to induce them to commit their reputation
to its future fortunes. Had we built a bam for a col-
lege and log huts for accommodations, should we ever
have had the assurance to propose to an European
professor of character to come to it?"' He sought,
therefore, to reproduce on the American frontier a
tSSS.p. 37.
* U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular No.
' Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell;
J
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xvii
vision of the architecture and art of Greece and
Rome. He seems to have been his own architect
and almost his own builder. It wotild be strange,
indeed, if the restilts had altogether escaped criti-
cism, or if personal vanity had not, to some extent,
usurped the place of knowledge; but it is no mean
tribute to the merit of the original design that it has
been, after the lapse of three-quarters of a century,
reproduced and perpetuated in the principal restora-
tion which we dedicate to-day.
On the 7th of March, 1825, the University was
thrown open for the reception of students, and its
actual career began. It must have been a day of
unspeakable satisfaction to Mr. Jefferson. A long
life filled with public service and public cares had
been at last crowned by what he regarded as its most
useful achievement, at the very moment when he
had reached the botmdary which limits human
endeavor; but if he was capable of no fiirther effort
there was no further effort which he was called upon
to make. It was the very point at which, as he had
many times declared, he could with happiness pro-
nounce his " nunc dimiiiis,'' and the moment was not
long deferred. On the 4th day of July of the suc-
ceeding year, just half a century after the American
Colonies had nmg out to the world in his own
immortal language their declaration of nationality,
he closed his career on earth.
This is not the time, had I the abiUty, to make any
attempt to assign the place to which this illtistrious
I
xviii The University of Virginia, and
man is entitled on the roll of philanthropists. Com-
ing as he did upon the theatre of conspicuous life at
a period when the fundamental principles of govern-
ment were the subjects of universal discussion, sub-
jects upon which freemen are at all times inclined to
array themselves on one or the other of two opposing
sides,— one dreading the effects of popular igno-
rance, the other fearing the selfishness of the enlight-
ened,— one looking back to the supposed wisdom
and virtue of the past, and the other looking forward
with confidence to the possibilities and promise of
the future, — plunging, as he did, into these conflicts
with all the earnestness of long cherished and posi-
tive convictions, he could hardly fail to encounter
hostilities which would stop at no methods by which
his principles or his character could be discredited.
By some irony of fate the great apostle of democracy
was made to suffer in his own person all the injustice
which democratic societies can perpetrate. The
great defender of the liberty of speech and the press
was rewarded by an outpouring from the press and
the pulpit of calumny and detraction unparalleled
before or since; and the foremost champion of popu-
lar principles, faithful to them in every act of his life,
retired from the high office of President under a load
of unpopularity.
But,
"Time! the corrector where our judgineDts err,
Time, the avenger!"
Thomas Jefferson, its Father
dispelled the clouds of detraction and the mists
,of prejudice and revealed in clearer light the true
age of the statesman and the patriot. Looking at
^the denunciation poured out upon him by his con-
imporaries and the applause with which posterity
.s hailed his name, we are moved to think with the
■eat English orator " that obloquy is a necessary
igredient in the composition of all true glory," and
tjthat " it was not only in the Roman customs, but it is
the natiu-e and constitution of things that cal-
ny and abuse are essential parts of a triumph."
He had, indeed, few of the qualities which mark
lC great military chieftain, the conqueror, or the
ictator, but what figure in tlie gallery of American
lown can point to such a catalogue of pacific
;hievement? — the abolition in his native State of
;he laws of primogeniture and entail — the Virginia
Statute of religious freedom — the Declaration of
Independence — the kind and peaceful removal of
the Indian tribes to the west of the Mississippi — the
near extinction of the national debt — the acquisition
Louisiana — the University of Virginia — where are
the crimes or the vices which dim the lustre of these
deeds? Those whose ideal of the duty and destiny
of the Republic is that of a conquering nation ready
at any moment for the grim business of war, eager
to avenge an insult real or supposed, greedy of mili-
tary and naval renown, inclined to erect its own will
ito law, and enforce it against all opposition, to
;rike first and reason afterwards — these will find
XX The University of Virginia, and
little to admire in the career of Mr. Jefferson. He
knew too well the lessons of history. He knew
what visions of empire had dazzled the ambition o£j
Rome, while Rome was yet free, — I
I "Turegere iraperio populos. Romane, memento; *
Hse tibi erunt artcs: pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare Buberpos."
And he knew also the terrible penalty to Rome and
the world which an indulgence of those visions cost.
He had lived in the midst of the interesting scenes
which ushered in the emancipation of France, and
had afterwards shuddered to see how ruthlessly the
passion for extended empire and military glory
would trample upon true liberty. He was a pacific
ruler. War, except in self-defence, and as a last
alternative, he held in detestation, as the enemy
both of civilization and liberty. His patriotism
expanded into philanthropy, and permitted no other
ambitions respecting foreign nations than those of
cultivating the peaceful relations of trade and com-
merce with the whole familv of man.
Whatever abatement we may be required or dis-
posed to make from his credit as a practical states-
man, the sum of his achievements was hardly
equalled by any of his contemporaries, save one
alone, and the general features of his political phi-
losophy still remain as the nominal creed at least of
the great body of his countrymen.
But what, if any, was the particular conception of
university education which he enshrined within these
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxi
B^valls? Is it still cherished here, and will it be a
' ■worthy guide in training the intellect and directing
the aspirations of the future generations who are to
flock hither? These are questions which more
immediately concern us on this occasion,
I suppose most men who have given great atten-
tion to the subject of education have not thought it
appropriate to inquire for what it was useful ; they
would deem it useful in itself, as being the develop-
ment of the faculties of man, or, if required to assign
an ulterior object to which it should be held sub-
servient, they would point to nothing less general, or
less absolute, than human happiness.
This, however, was not Mr. Jefferson's view.
Lover as he was of the sciences, and of all learning
for their own sake, happy as he had always been
made while cultivating them, he yet would never
have expended so many years of his life in founding
this institution, if he had had no hopes other than
those of establishing a university on the ordinary
model, even though there were a promise of rivaling
the fame of Oxford or Bologna. With him, univer-
l aty education was important as being a part of gen-
I eral education, and this was important because
I necessary to the development and preservation of
that civil and political liberty which he deemed
essential to the progress and ha]3]]iness of man.
His idea of university education was, therefore, a
part of his political philosophy. He believed that
there was a system of government founded upon the
xxii The University of Virginia, and
principles of human nature under which the largest
liberty and happiness were attainable, but only
upon the condition of a wide — a universal — diffusion
of popular education, and that such education
embraced the cultivation in the highest degree of
those selected minds exhibiting the highest order of
genius. It was by means of a systematic cultivation
of the best natural geniuses in* the land that he hoped
to carry all the sciences to the highest degree of culti-
vation, and among them especially, the science of
free government.
The animating principle of his political philosophy
was a jealousy of all governmental fX)wer in whom-
soever vested. Such power is, of necessity, to be
exercised by some over others. It ma)- be WTongfully
usurped, or voluntarily entrusted, but, in either case,
is liable to be abused; and, in Jefferson's view, the
best guaranty against abuse consisted in preventing
usurpation and withholding delegation. He knew,
indeed, that government to a certain extent was
necessary, and, therefore, that it was necessary to
delegate and entrust power; but this he would do
with stingy parsimony, measuring the amounts doled
out by the rule of rigid necessity. This was the
ground of his animosity towards any concentration
of power in the hands of one, or a few; because con-
centrated power is a common form and fruit of
usiuT3ed or delegated power. Nor did his democ-
racy assume that socialistic iorm which would merge
the liberty of the individual in the equality of the
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxiii
masses. It was the natural, original freedom of man
which he sought to preserve. He was the apostle of
individualism. He lost no opportunity of incul-
cating his favorite principle, and a question as to
whether primary schools should be supported and
managed by counties, or each by the particular dis-
trict in which it was situated, led him into a very
concise and excellent statement of his whole theory :
**No, my friend," said he, "the way to have good
and safe government is not to trust it all to one ; but
to divide it among the many, distributing to every
one exactly the functions he is competent to. Let
the National government be entrusted with the
defence of the nation, and its foreign and federal rela-
tions; the State government with the civil rights,
laws, police and administration of what concerns the
State generally ; the counties with the local concerns
of the counties and each ward direct the interests
within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing
these republics, from the great national one down
through all its subordinations, until it ends in the
administration of every man's farm and affairs by
himself; by placing under every one what his own
eye may superintend, that all will be done for the
best. What has destroyed liberty and the rights of
man in every government which has ever existed
under the sun ? The generalizing and concentrating
all cares and powers into one body, no matterwhether
of the autocrats of Russia or France, or of the aristo-
crats of a Venetian Senate. And I do believe, that if
I
xxiv The University of Virginia, and
the Almighty has not decreed that man shall never
be free(and it is blasphemy to believe it) the secret
will be found in the making himself the depository of
the powers respecting himself so far as he is compe-
tent to them, and delegating only what is beyond his
competency by a synthetical process to higher and
higher orders of functionaries, so as to trust fewer
and fewer powers, in proportion as the trustees
become more and more oligarchical." '
At the present day we are so familiar with these
ideas that it is difficult to imagine that they were
ever novel; but in Mr. Jefferson's time it was far
otherwise. Not all of those who espoused the side
of the colonies against Great Britain and joined in
the struggle for independence were believers in pop-
ular government, and many even of those who sup-
ported the new constitution had but feeble faith in
democratic principles. Many even preferred mon-
archical government, and many more what they
called a strong government, that is, a government
strong enough to maintain itself even against the
popular will.
And it is difficult also to understand the partisan
hostility and bitterness engendered by these con-
flicting views. Each side seemed to believe that the
other was bent upon the destruction of everything
valuable in society. Jefferson and Marshall, two
great Virginians, incomparably the first political
geniuses in the land, utterly distrusted each other.
' Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell ; p. 54.
ach other. ^™
I
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxv
Nor could men be much blamed for withholding
assent from the poHtical ideas of Jefferson. There
was but little in the teachings of history to support
them. They were based in large degree upon a
priori conceptions. He was obliged to admit that
all previous attempts at popular government had
been failures; but this was, in his view, because of
special disfavoring conditions; the long habit of
submitting to despotic authority had enervated the
people, or the true principle of popular government
had been violated by delegating and concentrating
too much power in the hands of a few. He saw in
the conditions exhibited by the American colonies
the first real opportunity for establishing liberty.
For a century these colonies had been exempt from
the dominion of feudalism, from sectarian domina-
tion, and from nearly every form of severe govern-
mental oppression. Here was a virgin soil, an
abundance of land, no degrading poverty, a brave
and intelligent people which had just vindicated its
title to independence after a long struggle with the
mightiest of European powers. He could not help
thinking that "unless the Almighty had decreed
that man should never be free (and it would be blas-
phemy to believe this) " that the golden opportunity
was now offered; that here the free spirit of man-
kind should " put its last fetters off ; " that here should
be established no bastard, degenerate freedom, no
government affecting to be popular, but really rest-
ing upon monarchical or aristocratic contrivances:
xxvi The University of Virginia, and
I
I
but a freedom in which every man should be master
of his own destiny, in which there should be no
usurpation of power, and no delegation of power,
unless its natural possessor was unfitted to exercise
it, and consequently no concentration of power,
beyond what rigid necessity required — no great
standing armies — no powerful navies carrying the
flag in triumph over every sea, — no interference
with liberty of opinion or speech — no interference
with liberty of action, so long as the public peace
and order were not broken — this was Jefferson'sj
vision of republican freedom.
It would be a gross injustice to impute to him hos^
tility to government itself, or any indulgence of
mere license. Government was in his view the first
and most impxjrtant of human necessities; but-j
instead of regarding it, as some seemed to do,
being in itself the source of good, and therefore prt
sumably beneficent wherever its power was felt, he
looked upon it as beneficial only so far as it was
necessary to prevent one man from encroaching
upon the liberty and rights of another, and as carry-
ing with it great possibilities of mischief and wrong,
whenever its interference was pushed beyond its
just limits.
Such was Mr. Jefferson's conception of liberty and
government which he intended should be accepted
by this University, and be therein defended and
propagated. It was only through the universal
adoption of this idea that it seemed to him possible
of
St
I
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxvii
for the newly created nation to reach the glorious
destiny which the future had in store for it; and
hence the importance he attached to it, and the
unquestioning assent which he demanded for it. By
nature the most tolerant of men, upon this point he
was dogmatic, even to bigotry. A thorough believer
in the inherent power of truth to triumph ultimately
over error, he was yet unwilling to subject his favorite
dogma to the temporary hazards of a contest. In
one of his communications just before the University
was thrown open to students, he expressed to one of
his fellows upon the Board of Visitors his anxieties
in this direction. Said he: "In most public semi-
naries text-books are prescribed to each of the sev-
eral schools as the norma docendi in that school ; and
this is generally done by authority of the trustees.
I should not propose this generally in our University,
because I believe none of us are so much at the
heights of science in the several branches as to under-
take this; and, therefore, that it will better be left
to the professors, until occasion of interference shall
be given. But there is one branch in which we are
the best judges, in which heresies may be taught, of
so interesting a character to our own State, and to
the United States, as to make it a duty in us to lay
down the principles which shall be taught. It is
that of government. Mr. Gilmer being withdrawn,
we know not who his successor may be. He may be
a Richmond lawyer, or one of that school of quondam
federalism, now consolidation. It is our duty to
xxviii The University of Virginia, and
guard against the dissemination of such principles
among our youth, and the diffusion of that poison,
by a previous prescription of the texts to be foUowed
in their discourses."'
Of the fidelity heretofore of this University to the
political theory thus entrusted to it, no doubt will
be entertained. Its own convictions have concurred
with the sentiments of grateful admiration for its
father. Successive generations of the sons of the
South have become deeply imbued with it by lessons
received upon this spot and have greatly aided in
making it the unchallenged popular faith throughout
the largest part of the land.
Shall this fidelity be continued into the indefinite
future ? Shall Jefferson's theorj' of Liberty be forever
cherished around his tomb ? Has the experience of a
century vindicated its pretensions as the only sure
foundation of popular government, or stamped upon
it the discredit of an illusive impracticability?
These are not uninteresting questions and they
deserve my few remaining words.
■ If an intelligent observer removed from any par-
ticipation in our political strifes were to survey the
history of our country for a centurj' with the view of
ascertaining how far events had justified the teach-
ings of Mr. Jefferson and his followers, he would find
difficulty in reaching at first, at least, a favorable
verdict. He would impute, perhaps not unjustly.
to that peaceful policy the national hiuniliations.
' Coirespondence of Jefferson and Cabell ; p. 339.
J
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxix
"which preceded and accompanied the War of 1812
vrith Great Britain. He would see one of the sup-
posed conclusions of that political philosophy as
originally drawn and carefully expressed by the great
apostle himself in the celebrated Kentucky resolu-
tions of 1798, and afterwards re-stated and vindi-
cated by another illustrious son of the South, made
the justification for a bold and deliberate attempt
to nullify, throughout the territory' of a State, a law
of the United States. He would see this conclusion
at a still later period made the ground for a wide-
spread defiance of the entire national authority, and
the main support of a civil strife which deluged the
land with fraternal blood.
Ftuther reflection, however, would probably dispel
in part, if not altogether, the unfavorable impres-
sion. Mr. Jefferson's political system was, no doubt,
based upon the assumption of peace. He held in
abhorrence large standing armies and powerful
navies, and a nation unprovided with these will
sometimes find itself subjected to humiliation, as
we were in the era of 1 8 1 2 , either by submitting to
injury from a consciousness of unreadiness to make
good a defiance, or by being suddenly overwhelmed
by an inferior hostile force. But are nations tinpre-
pared for war the only ones likely to be subjected to
himiiliations ? Was England never humiliated, or
France, or Germany? And what can be a greater
humiliation than that of an unjust aggression upon
the rights of others and the peace of the world so
XXX The University of Virginia, and
likely to be committed by those who think them-
selves armed with resistless power? And had we
always been armed on the land and on the sea in
projwrtion to our power, should we have gained and
held the glory hitherto accorded to us by civilized
mankind of being the promoters everywhere of inter-
national law, and the advocates of peace and justice
among nations? And, even in respect to power
itself, were we called upon to exhibit our strength in
a just cause, could we under a more consolidated
government, assemble the overwhelming forces which
the emulation of rival States will now willingly place
at the service of the nation ?
For the theoretical doctrine which supported the
claims of nullification and secession, Mr. Jefferson
must, indeed, be held largely accountable; but this
was never any essential part of his philosophy of free
government, if indeed it be consistent with it. It
concerned only the interpretation and effect of the
particular constitutional instrument by which the
colonies united themselves together.
I must employ a few words here to make this more
plain. In the great political division which took
place soon after the adoption of the constitution.
men arrayed themselves on the one side or the other
according as they favored the advanced doctrines of
popular government, or, distrusting the capacity of
the people, inclined towards the principles and
methods of a constitutional monarchy. The impulse
of the movement which culminated in the French
J
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxxi
Revolution, reaching these shores, stirred the sym-
pathies and passions of both parties, the one espous-
ing the cause of Democratic France and the other of
monarchical England. The Federal party, alarmed
for the public welfare, and fearful lest the license of
the French revolutionists should be repeated on this
side of the water, sought to strengthen authority by
those acts of repressive Federal power, since gener-
ally condemned, called the Alien and Sedition laws.
The constitutional validity of these was attacked by
Jefferson, and his argument was formulated in the
celebrated Kentucky resolutions, in which he affirmed
the right of each State, under the Constitution, to
determine for itself the validity of any Federal enact-
ment. The main question was not whether under
a Federal government formed to secure the ends
which ours had in view, it would be wise to delegate
to the general government the exclusive right to
determine the extent of its own powers, but whether
in point of fact such a delegation was contained in
our own constitution. Upon this point it would be
true to say that Mr. Jefferson and his followers had
their own way, until the appearance of the scene, at
a later period, of those great protagonists in consti-
tutional debate, Webster and Calhoun. In what
condition the struggle between these renowned
champions left the dispute I will not undertake to
say,—
** Non nostrum tantas componere lites; "
xxxii The University of Virginia, and
but I may hazard the opinion that if the question
had been made, not in 1861, but in 1788, immedi-
ately after the adoption of the Constitution, whether
the Union as formed by that instrument could law-
fully treat the secession of a State as a rebellion and
suppress it by force, few of those who had partici-
pated in framing that instrument woiild have
answered in the affirmative.
Nor has that question been in any manner settled
by the result of that civil strife which has effected
such a profound revolution in the political and
social world of America. I cannot admit the efficacy
of force to settle any question of historic or scientific
truth. Truth is eternal and immutable, and the
warfare of those who seek to suppress it will forever
be in vain. The question which the result of that
strife did settle, as has been eloqviently and power-
fully shown by a distinguished statesman and jurist
of the South — shown, too, in pronouncing a glowing
eulogy upon his great teacher and master, Calhoun —
was, not whether our Constitution actually created
a consolidated nation — nations cannot be created by-
agreement — but whether the Federal Union, com-
posed originally of colonies the people of which had
been subjects of the same sovereign, and which had
never occupied the attitude of independent States
before the world, embracing, also, new States created
out of territory which was the common property of
all, could — after they had been knit together into a
nation during the life of nearly a century by the
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxxiii
thousand processes which time and nature employ
to cement and consolidate a people — ^by trade, by
commerce, by railways, by social and business alli-
ances, by common perils and sufferings in war, by
the blessings, hopes and aspirations of peace, —
could, after all this, at the will and pleasure of one
of its parts, be instantly and peacefully resolved,
not into its original elements, but into supposed
constituent parts, most of which had had no partici-
pation in its original formation. That was a ques-
tion which from its nature could be settled only by
trial, and the trial has indeed forever settled that,
and — strange thing in human history — ^neither side
would wish the decision to be reversed. Nor should
it be forgotten that, whatever the consequences, in
the form of disunion or secession, the doctrine of Mr.
Jefferson, as propoimded in the Kentucky resolu-
tions, might possibly involve, no such project was
ever suggested, or in any manner countenanced, by
him. Whatever discredit may be attached to any
suggestions, in his day, of disunion or secession
belongs altogether to his political opponents.
Are there any other respects in which it may be
plausibly suggested that the political philosophy of
Mr. Jefferson has been discredited by the teachings
of experience? Does the General Government now
need a larger delegation of power? Are there any
functions hitherto performed by the States which
should be relegated to the central authority? Do
we need a large standing army ? Must we confront
3cxxiv The University of Virginia, and
the gigantic naval armaments of the European
nations with a corresponding array? Must we
mingle in the ambitions of the great powers of the
world? Must we extend the area of our territorial
dominion ? Must we look on and behold with uncon-
cern the partitioning of Africa among the European
powers, and the dismemberment of China? Must
we assert before the world the might and majesty of
seventy millions of the most energetic and pro-
ductive people on the globe? Shall we form alli-
ances with kindred peoples, or remain in calm and
forbidding isolation among the nations? All these
questions to which, if proposed in Mr. Jefferson's
time, his teaching would have returned an answer
in the negative, are likely to press themselves, if they
are not already pressing themselves, upon the public
attention.
Time, of course, does not permit me to indulge in
any consideration of either of them; but I venture
to express my conviction that unless the answer the
American people make to them shall be consistent
with those principles of which Mr. Jefferson has
hitherto been regarded as the champion, there will
be an end of true {xjpular government among men.
There is — there can be — but one true basis of lib-
erty, and that lies in constantly cherishing the dis-
persion rather than the concentration of power.
The individual loses something of his liberty the
moment he clothes another with any power over
himself. Nothing can justify the surrender except
A
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxxv
the promise that by making it he better secures the
liberty he retains. But with every new surrender
of power there comes a peril. Power entrusted will
sometimes be abused, and the temptation to abuse
increases with the extent of the delegation. Liberty
is safe when, and only when, for each delegation of
power which is demanded a necessity is shown.
No; the fundamental political philosophy of Mr.
Jefferson has not been discredited by time or experi-
ence. It never will be discredited while men retain
a real love and a true comprehension of civil liberty.
And never more than at the present time has there
been a necessity for studying and teaching within
the walls of tiniversities the true principles of repub-
lican liberty and the practical art of applying them
to human affairs. Recreant, indeed, would this
University be to the fame of its founder, to the pur-
poses for which it was established, and to its own
obligations to present and to future times, if it
failed to continue to maintain, not in the spirit of
dogmatism, but of devotion to truth, those great
principles upon which free popular government
stands.
If anything were needed to impress upon patriotic
minds the supreme importance of cultivating anew
these principles and implanting in all hearts the
determination to maintain them, it would be sup-
plied by the extraordinary spectacle which our
country exhibits at the present moment. We have
volimtarily chosen to break the peace of the world
xxxvi The University of Virginia, and
and engage in a war which already imposes a heavy
burden upon the industry and resources of the nation,
and which may become enlarged into gigantic pro-
portions— a war undertaken not to repel aggression,
but to check the disorders and relieve the oppressions
to which a neighboring people have been subjected.
It is, indeed, true that nations have their duties not
only to themselves, but to the world; and these
must be performed at whatever hazard. If we have
not the virtue to perform them without sacrificing
cur own freedom, we have no right to be a republic.
We believe, and have solemnly avowed, that we
have taken this perilous step under the influence of
those humane motives which civilization and human-
ity enjoin us to obey. For the sincerity of that
avowal we must abide the judgment of civilized
nations, and this will largely depend upon the con-
sistency with that declaration which our future con-
duct shall exhibit. Even now the passion for
national glory, growing by what it feeds upon, stim-
ulated by the deeds of naval skill and daring on dis-
tant seas — deeds which reflect undying lustre on the
American name and excite the admiration of the
world — is indulging new visions of territorial aggran-
dizement.
But have a care, Americans! These national
duties which call upon us to raise an avenging arm
arise only in those rare alternatives when all else has
proved to be ineffectual, and when we have good
reason to know that such avenging arm will be
J
Thomas Jefferson, its Father xxxvii
effectual. Have a care that among yotir ruling
motives no place shall be allowed to the mere love of
military and naval renown. The pathway marked
out for the republic by its fathers was one of peace-
ful achievement. Its mission is peace. A free
nation can rightftilly have no other aspiration. But
there are temptations which come with the possession
of power. Men take pride in being the citizens of
powerful nations, and enjoy the consciousness of
strength. These temptations are to be resisted, for
we may be sure that for any imdue indulgence in
them the price will be exacted with the certainty of
fate; and this price is grinding taxation, the oppres-
sion of the poorer classes, the multiplication of the
official corps, the intensifying of the struggle for the
possession of governmental patronage and conse-
quent spread of corruption, the increasing power of
political bosses and chieftains, the decay of public
and civic virtue, and the resulting danger of resorts
to revolution. Let not our future confirm the sad
lament of the misanthropic poet, that history has
but one page which reads,
" First Fre6^k>m, and then Glory — when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption, — barbarism at last."
Here, then, of all places, let the true principles of
liberty and free government, as expoimded by Jeffer-
son, be forever studied and taught. Let the youth
of the land who are to resort hither here learn the true
objects of national ambition and the methods by
1
xxxviii The University of Virginia
which they are to be reached. Let them study here
the new problems arising from the prodigious growth
of the nation and its rapid matena! consohdation.
iict them be taught the true principles of legislation,
and by what methods liberty is best reconciled with
order and with law; and above all let them learn to
prefer for their countrj' that renown among the
nations which comes from the constant display of
the love of peace and justice.
And the ancient Commonwealth of Virginia, — to
what nobler object can she extend her favor and
support than the building up upoii this historic spot
of a great university which shall be at once the home
of the Sciences and the Arts and the nursery of polit-
ical freedom? Outshining all her sister colonies in
the splendor of her contribution to the galaxy of
great names which adorns our Revolutionary his-
tory, how can she better i>erpetuate that glory than,
by sending forth from her own soil a new line of
patriot statesmen? No jealousies will attend hei —
efforts to this great end, and her sister States woulA-
greet with delight her re-ascending star once morc^
blazing in the zenith of its own proper firmament.
CONTENTS.
r»E University of Virginia, and Thomas Jef- paob
PERSON, ITS Father. By James C. Carter, LL. D. iii
N'oTEs ON Virginia 1-261
An exact description of the limits and boundaries
of the State of Virginia i
A notice of its rivers, riviilets, and how far they
are navigable 3
A notice of the best Seaports of the State, and
size of the vessels they can receive 22
A notice of its Mountains 23
Its Cascades and Caverns 27
A notice of the mines and other subterraneous
riches; its trees, plants, fruits, etc ^3
A notice of all that can increase the progress of
Human Knowledge 104
The nimiber of its inhabitants 116
The number and condition of the Militia and
Regular Troops, and their Pay 125
The Marine 127
A description of the Indians established in that
State 127
A notice of the cotmties, cities, townships, and
villages 146
The constitution of the State and its several
charters 148
The administration of Justice and the descrip-
tion of the laws . . . . : 179
The Colleges and Public Establishments, the
Roads, Buildings, etc 208
xl Contents
Notes on Virginia— CofUinued.
The measures taken with regard to the estates
and possessions of the Rebels, commonly
called Tories
The different religions received into Virginia. . .
The particular customs and manners that may
happen to be received in Virginia
The present state of manufactures, commerce,
interior and exterior trade
A notice of the commercial productions par-
tictdar to the State, and of those objects
which the inhabitants are obliged to get from
Europe and from other parts of the world. . .
The weights, measures and the currency of the
hard money. Some details relating to ex-
change with Europe
The public Income and Expenses
The histories of the State, the memorials pub-
lished in its name in the time of its being a
colony, and the pamphlets relating to its
interior or exterior affairs present or ancient.
Appendix to Notes on Virginia 263
No. I. Observations by Charles Thompson . .
No. II. Draft of a ftmdamental Constitution
for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
No. III. An Act for establishing ReUgious
Freedom, passed in the Assembly
of Virginia in the beginning of year
1786
No. IV. An Appendix relative to the Mur-
dering of Logan's Family
No. V. Extract of a Letter from the Hon.
Judge Innes to Thomas Jefferson . .
Logan's speech
Contents xli
PPENDIX TO Notes on Virginia — Continued. p^oB
Affidavit of John Gibson 308
Extract of a letter from Col. Ebenezer Zane to
the Hon. John Brown 310
Certificate of William Huston 311
Certificate of Jacob Newland 312
Certificate of John Anderson 312
Deposition of James Chambers 313
Certificate of David Reddick 315
Certificate of Charles Polke 315
Declaration of the Honorable Judge Innes 316
Declaration of William Robinson 316
Deposition of Col. William M'Kee 318
Certificate of James Speed, Jr. , and J. H. Dewes . 319
Certificate of Hon. Stevens Thompson Mason . . 319
Statement of Andrew Rogers in regard to the
speech of Logan to Lord Dunmore 319
Declaration of John Heckewelder 320
Historical statement 324
Declaration of John Sappington 327
Certificate of Samuel M'Kee, Jr 329
Manual of Parliamentary Practice 331-450
Introduction ^^^
The Importance of Adhering to Rules 335
Legislattu'e 338
Privilege .' 338
Elections 346
Qualifications 347
Quorum 349
Call of the House 350
Absence 350
Speaker 351
Address 352
Committees 353
Conmiittee of the Whole 354
xlii Contents
Manual of Parliamentary Practice — Continued.
Examination of Witnesses ....
Arrangement of Btisiness • . .
Order
Order Respecting Papers
Order in Debate
Orders of the House
Petitions
Motions
Resolutions
Bills
Bills, Leave to Bring in
Bills, First Reading
Bills, Second Reading
Bills, Commitments
Report of Committee
Bill, Re-Commitment
Bill, Report Taken Up
Quasi Committee
Bill, Second Reading in the House
Reading Papers
Privileged Questions
The Previous Question
Amendments
Division of the Question
Co-existing Questions
Equivalent Questions
The Question
Bill, Third Reading
Division of the House
Title
Re-Consideration
Bills Sent to the Other House
Amendments between the Houses
Conferences
Contents
xliii
Manual op Parliamentary Practice — Continued,
Messages
Assent
Journals
Adjournment
A Session
Treaties
Impeachment
PAGB
434
435
437
439
441
444
{ •
. I
::.;'-l -'*:■. n-'r!:
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Jefferson at Forty-six Frontispiece
Photogravure reproduced from the Bust of Houdon in
the Rooms of the New York Historical Society.
FACINO PAOB
Harper's Ferry, Virginia xliv
Reproduced from an Old Engraving.
The Natural Bridge of Virginia 30
Reproduced from a Photograph.
Fac-simile Inscriptions 124
Photo-engraving of Inscriptions written by Jefferson on
the Fly-leaves of two Presentation Copies of the French
Edition of "Notes on Virginia."
James Madison 178
Reproduced from the Original Painting by Gilbert Stuart.
James Monroe 244
Reproduced from an Original Painting.
Present Monument over Jefferson's Tomb 262
Reproduced from The Monument that was put up at Mon-
ticello in place of the one taken away to Columbia, Mo.
John Adams 330
Reproduced from the Original Painting by G. P. A. Healy.
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
INTRODUCTORY NOTES.
" Notes on Virginia" was written by Jefferson in answer to inquiries
propounded to him by the Marquis de BarW-Marbois, then Secretary
of the French Legation in Philadelphia. Jefferson had aoo copies
privately printed in Paris in 1784 (dated 1782) for distribution among
*>is friends in Europe and America, No more authentic account could
he given as to the origin of the " Notes on Virginia" than the account
Jefferson gives us himself in his Autobiography. This account is as
lotiowi:
"Before I had left America, that is to say, in the year of 1781, 1
W received a letter from M. de Marbois. of the French legation in
Piiladelphia, informing me that he had been instructed by his govem-
""fnt to obtain such statistical accounts of the different States of our
''"ion, as might be useful for their information; and addressing to
'"^ a number of queries relative to the State of Virginia. I had
^vays made it a practice, whenever an opportunity occurred, of
"''ta.ining any information of our country which might be of use to
■"s in any station, public or private, to commit it to writing. These
ni^«Tioranda. were on loose papers, bundled up without order, and
(uSicull of recurrence, when I had occasion for a particular one.
' l^hought this a good occasion to embody their substance, which I
™^ in the order of M. Marbois's queries, so as to answer his wish,
sod to arrange them for my own use. Some friends, to whom they
wei-e occasionally communicated, wished for copies ; but their volume
fCTt<lering this too laborious by hand, 1 proposed to get a few printed
'"f their gratification, I was asked such a price, however, as exceeded
'"^ importance of the object. On my arrival at Paris, I found it
could be done for a fourth of what I had been asked here. I, therefore,
™»Tected and enlarged them, and had two hundred copies printed,
•"xier the title of 'Notes on Virginia.' I gave a very few copies to
^'fne particular persons in Europe, and sent the rest to my friends
'" America. An European copy, by the death of the owner, got into
'he hards of a bookseller, who engaged its translation, and, when
•^ady for the press, conmiunicated his intentions and manuscript to
"^e, suggesting that I should correct it without asking any other
permission for the publication. I never had seen so wretched an
attempt at translation. Interverted, abridged, mutilated, and often
Kvernng the sense of ttu! original, I found it a blotch of errors from
I
Introductory Notes
beginning to end. I corrected some of the most material, and, in tbaC^-^
form, it was printed in French. A London bookseller, on seeing the g
translation, requested me to permit him to print the English original
I thought it best to do so. to let the world see that it was not really
so bad as the French translation had made it appear. And this ia^a
the true history of that publication."
The English publisher referred to by Jeflerson is John Stockdale,
who published an edition of the" Notes on Virginia" in 1787. Jeffer-
son's preface to this English edition was as follows:
"The following Notes were written in Virginia in the year 1781,
and somewhat corrected and enlarged in the winter of 1782, in answer
to queries proposed to the Author, by a Foreigner of Distinction, then
residing among us. The subjects are all treated imperfectly; some
scarcely touched on. To apologize for this by developing the circum-
stances of the time and place of their composition, would be to open
wounds which have already bled enough. To these circumstances
some of their imperfections may with truth be ascribed; the great
mass to the want of information and want of talents in the writer.
He had a few copies printed, which he gave among his friends; and a
translation of them has been lately published in France, but with such
alterations as the laws of the press in that country rendered necessary.
They are now offered tothe public in their original fonn and language."
This edition included three "appendices" that Jefferson added aiter
the publication of the original edition, and it was the first edition to
announce the name of the author. It was at once reprinted in
America, and apparently without Jefferson's consent. A German
translation was issued in 1789. Another American reprint ot the
English edition seems to have been made with Jefferson's consent in
1794. During the years ot 1757 and 1798 Jefferson wrote an "Appen-
dix" relative to the murder of Logan's family, which was added to
the edition of 1800. All subsequent editions, except that of 1853, are
reprints of the text ot 1787, supplemented by the "Appendix" relating
to Logan,
Jefferson left at his death a printed copy of his "Notes on Virginia"
containing a revision ot the text and many manuscript notes. This
copy was transferred by Jefferson's literary executor, Thomas Jefferson
Randolph, to J. W. Randolph & Co., who based their edition ot 1853
on Jefferson's final revision.
In thepretaceof this edition the publishers, incontrast to Jefferson's
low estimate of his work, declared that "the beauty of style, the
accuracy of information, and the scientific research displayed in the
' Notes ' have made them a permanent part ot our national literature."
A
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
QUERY I.
n exact description of the limits and boundaries of
the State of Virginia?
Virginia is bounded on the east by the Atlantic;
fDn the north by a line of latitude crossing the east-
em shore through Watkin's Point, being about 37^
57' north latitude; from thence by a straight line to
Cinquac, near the mouth of Potomac; thence by
the Potomac, which is common to Virginia and
Maryland, to the first fotmtain of its northern
branch; thence by a meridian line, passing through
that foimtain till it intersects a line running east
and west, in latitude 39^ 43' 42.4'' which divides
Maryland from Pennsylvania, and which was marked
by Messrs. Mason and Dixon; thence by that line,
and a continuation of it westwardly to the comple-
tion of five degrees of longitude from the eastern
boundary of Pennsylvania, in the same latitude,
and thence by a meridian line to the Ohio; on the
VOL. II — I (l)
Jefferson's Works
west by the Ohio and Mississippi, to latitude 36° 30'*
north, and on the south by the line of latitude lasl
mentioned. By admeasurements through nearly
the whole of this last line, and supplying the un-
measured parts from good data, the Atlantic anc3
Mississippi are foimd in this latitude to be seven
hundred and fifty-eight miles distant, equal to 30°
38' of longitude, reckoning fifty-five miles and three
thousand one hundred and forty-four feet to the
degree. This being our comprehension of longi-
tude, that of our latitude, taken between this and
Mason and Dixon's line, is 3° 13' 42.4" equal to two
hundred and twenty-three and one-third miles,
supposing a degree of a great circle to be sixty-nine
miles, eight hundred and sixty-four feet, as com-
puted by Cassina. These boundaries include an
area somewhat triangular of one hundred and
twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-five
square miles, whereof seventy-nine thousand six
hundred and fifty lie westward of the Alleghany
mountains, and fifty-seven thousand and thirty-
four westward of the meridian of the mouth of the
Great Kanhaway. This State is therefore one-
third larger than the islands of Great Britain and
Ireland, which are reckoned at eighty-eight thou-
sand three htmdred and fifty-seven square miles.
These limits result from, i. The ancient charters
from the crown of England. 2. The grant of Mary-
land to the Lord Baltimore, and the subsequent
determinations of the British court as to the extent
1
Notes on Virginia 3
of that grant, 3. The grant of Pennsylvania to
WiUiam Penn, and a compact between the general
assemblies of the commonwealths of Virginia and
Pennsylvania as to the extent of that grant. 4.
The grant of Carolina, and actual location of its
northern boimdary, by consent of both parties. 5.
The treaty of Paris of 1763. 6. The confirmation
of the charters of the neighboring States by the
convention of Virginia at the time of constituting
their commonwealth. 7. The cession made by Vir-
ginia to Congress of all the lands to which they had
title on the north side of the Ohio.
QUERY II.
A notice of its rivers, rivulets, and how jar they are
navigable f
An inspection of a map of Virginia, will give a
better idea of the geography of its rivers, than any
description in writing. Their navigation may be
imperfectly noted.
Roanoke, so far as it lies within the State, is no-
where navigable but for canoes, or light batteaux;
and even for these in such detached parcels as to
have prevented the inhabitantSsfrom availing them-
selves of it at all.
James River, and its waters, afford navigation as
follows :
The whole of Elizabeth River, the lowest of those
which nm into James River, is a harbor, and would
Jefferson's Works
contain upwards of three hundred ships. The
channel is from one hundred and fifty to two hun-
dred fathoms wide, and at common flood tide affords
eighteen feet water to Norfolk. The Stafford, a
sixty gun ship, went there, Hghtening herself to
cross the bar at Sowel's Point. The Fier Rodrigue,
pierced for sixty-four guns, and carrying fifty, went
there without lightening. Craney Island, at the
mouth of this river, commands its channel tolerably
well.
Nansemond River is navigable to Sleepy Hole for
vessels of two hundred and fifty tons ; to Suffolk for
those of one hundred tons ; and to Milner's for those
of twenty-five. ,^^
Pagan Creek affords eight or ten feet water ^|
Smithfield, which admits vessels of twenty tons. ^H
Chickahoniiny has at its mouth a bar, on which is
only twelve feet water at common flood tide. Ves-
sels passing that, may go eight miles up the river;
those of ten feet draught may go four miles further,
and those of six tons burden twenty miles further.
Appojnaltox may be navigated as far as Broad-
ways, by any vessel which has crossed Harrison's
bar in James River; it keeps eight or ten feet water
a mile or two higher up to Fisher's bar, and four
feet on that and upwards to Petersburg, where all
navigation ceases.
James River itself affords a harbor for vessels of
any size in Hampton Road, but not in safety through
the whole winter; and there is navigable water for
Notes on Virginia 5
tlaem as far as Mulberry Island. A forty gun ship
goes to Jamestown, and, lightening herself, may
pass Harrison's bar; on which there is only fifteen
feet water. Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons
may go to Warwick; those of one hundred and
twenty-five go to Rocket's, a mile below Richmond ;
from thence is about seven feet water to Richmond ;
arid about the centre of the town, four feet and a
tialf, where the navigation is interrupted by falls,
which in a course of six miles, descend about eighty-
eight feet perpendicular; above these it is resumed
in canoes and batteaux, and is prosecuted safely
and advantageously to within ten miles of the Blue
Ridge; and even through the Blue Ridge a ton
weight has been brought; and the expense would
not be great, when compared with its object, to open
a tolerable navigation up Jackson's river and Car-
penter's creek, to within twenty-five miles of How-
ard's creek of Green Briar, both of which have then
water enough to float vessels into the Great Kanha-
way. In some future state of population I think it
possible that its navigation may also be made to
interlock with that of the Potomac, and through
that to communicate by a short portage with the
Ohio. It is to be noted that this river is called in
the maps James River, only to its confluence with
the Rivanna; thence to the Blue Ridge it is called
the Fluvanna; and thence to its source Jackson's
river. But in common speech, it is called James
River to its sotu'ce.
6 Jefferson's Works
The Rivanna, a branch of James River, is navij
ble for canoes and batteanx to its intersection wil
the South- West mountains, which is about twenty^^^^r-
two miles; and may easily be opened to na vigatio^cr *n
through these mountains to its fork above Cham^-
lottesville.
York River, at Yorktown, affords the best harbc^ir^r
in the State for vessels of the largest size. The
there narrows to the width of a mile, and is container- -d
within very high banks, close under which vessel^K
may ride. It holds four fathom water at high tid e
for twenty-five miles above York to the mouth c^f
Poropotank, where the river is a mile and a half wid^^,
and the channel only seventy-five fathom, and pass -
ing under a high bank. At the confluence of Patnufm-
key and Mattapony, it is reduced to three fathom
depth, which continues up Pamunkey to Ciunber-
land, where the width is one htmdred yards, and up
Mattapony to within two miles of Frazier's ferry,
where it becomes two and a half fathom deep, and
holds that about five miles. Pamunkey is then
capable of navigation for loaded flats to Brockman's
bridge, fifty miles above Hanover town, and Matta-
pony to Downer's bridge, seventy miles above its
mouth.
Piankatank, the little rivers making out of Mch-
jack Bay and those of the eastern shore, receive only
very small vessels, and these can but enter them.
Rappahannock affords four fathom water to Hobb's
hole, and two fathom from thence. to Fredericksburg.
Notes on Virginia
Potomac is seven and a half miles wide at the
mouth; four and a half at Nomony bay; three at
Aquia; one and a half at Hallowing point; one and
a quarter at Alexandria. Its soundings are seven
fathom at the mouth ; five at St. George's island ; four
a,nd a half at Lower Matchodic; three at Swan's
point, and thence up to Alexanderia ; thence ten feet
"Water to the falls, which are thirteen miles above
Alexandria. These falls are fifteen miles in length,
and of very great descent, and the navigation above
them for batteaux and canoes is so much interrupted
as to be little used. It is, however, used in a small
degree up the Cohongoronta branch as far as fort
Cumberland, which was at the mouth of Willis's creek
and is capable, at no great expense, of being rendered
Terv practicable. The Shenandoah branch inter-
locks with James river about the Blue Ridge, and
ma)- perhaps in future be opened.
The Mississippi will be one of the principal chan-
nels of future commerce for the country westward
of the Alleghany. From the mouth of this river
to where it receives the Ohio, is one thousand miles
by water, but only five hundred by land, passing
through the Chickasaw country. From the mouth
of the Ohio to that of the Missouri, is two himdred
^HVid thirty miles by water, and one hundred and
^pforty by land, from thence to the mouth of the Illi-
nois river, is about twenty-five miles. The Missis-
sippi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always
nmddy, and aboimding with sand bars, which
8 Jefferson's Works
frequently change their places. However, it carries
fifteen feet water to the mouth of the Ohio, to which
place it is from one and a half to two miles wide,
and thence to Kaskaskia from one mile to a mile
and a quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that it
never can be stemmed by the force of the wind alone,
acting on sails. Any vessel, however, navigated
with oars, may come up at any time, and receive
much aid from the wind. A batteau passes from
the mouth of Ohio to the mouth of Mississippi in
three weeks, and is from two to three months getting
up again. During its floods, which are periodical
as those of the Nile, the largest vessels may pass
down it, if their steerage can be insured. These
floods begin in April, and the river returns into its
banks early in August. The intmdation extends
further on the western than eastern side, covering
the lands in some places for fifty miles from its banks.
Above the mouth of the Missouri it becomes much
such a river as the Ohio, like it clear and gentle in
its current, not quite so wide, the period of its floods
nearly the same, but not rising to so great a height.
The streets of the village at Cohoes are not more
than ten feet above the ordinary level of the water,
and yet were never overflowed. Its bed deepens
every year. Cohoes, in the memory of many
people now living, was insulated by every flood of
the river. What was the eastern channel has now
become a lake, nine miles in length and one in width,
ir'w which the river at this day never flows. This
Notes on Virginia 9
river yields turtle of a peculiar kind, perch, trout,
gar, pike, mullets, herrings, carp, spatula-fish of
fifty pounds weight, cat-fish of one hundred pounds
Weight, buffalo fish, and sturgeon. Alligators or
crocodiles have been seen as high up as the Acansas.
It also abounds in herons, cranes, ducks, brant,
geese, and swans. Its passage is commanded by a
fort established by this State, five miles below the
rnouth of the Ohio, and ten miles above the Caro-
lina boundary.
The Missouri, since the treaty of Paris, the Illinois
^nd northern branches of the Ohio, since the ces-
sion to Congress, are no longer within our limits.
"Yet having been so heretofore, and still opening to
xis channels of extensive commimication with the
"western and north-western cotmtry, they shall be
aioted in their order.
The Missouri is, in fact, the principal river, con-
tributing more to the common stream than does the
Mississippi, even after its jimction with the Illinois.
It is remarkably cold, muddy, and rapid. Its over-
flowings are considerable. They happen during
the months of Jime and July- Their commence-
ment being so much later than those of the Missis-
sippi, would induce a belief that the sources of the
Missouri are northward of those of the Mississippi,
unless we suppose that the cold increases again with
the ascent of the land from the Mississippi west-
wardly. That this ascent is great, is proved by the
rapidity of the river. Six miles above the mouth,
Jefferson's Works
I
it is brought within the compass of a quarter of a
mile's width; yet the Spanish merchants at Pancore,
or St. Louis, say they go two thousand miles up it.
It heads far westward of the Rio Norte, or North
River, There is, in the villages of Kaskaskia,
Cohoes, and St. Vincennes, no inconsiderable quan-
tity of plate, said to have been plundered during
the last war by the Indians from the churches and
private houses of Santa F6, on the North river, and
brought to the villages for sale. From the mouth
of the Ohio to Santa F6 are forty days journey, or
about one thousand miles. What is the shortest
distance between the navigable waters of the Mis-
souri, and those of the North river, or how far this
is navigable above Sante F6, I could never leam.
From Santa F6 to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico
is about twelve hundred miles. The road from
New Orleans to Mexico crosses this river at the post
of Rio Norte, eight hundred miles below Santa Fe,
and from this post to New Orleans is about twelve
himdred miles; thus making two thousand miles
between Santa F^ and NewOrleans, passing down the
North river. Red river, and Mississippi; whereas it
is two thousand two hundred and thirty through
the Missouri and Mississippi. From the same post
of Rio Norte, passing near the mines of La Sierra and
Laiguana, which are between the North river, and
the river Salina to Sartilla, is three hundred and
seventy-five miles, and from thence, passing the
mines of Charcas, Zaccatecas, and Potosi, to the
^
Notes on Virginia ii
city of Mexico, is three hundred and seventy-five
miles; in all, one thousand five hundred and fifty
miles from Santa F6 to the city of Mexico. From
New Orleans to the city of Mexico is about one
thousand nine hundred and fifty miles; the roads
after setting out from the Red river, near Natchi-
toches, keeping generally parallel with the coast,
and about two htmdred miles from it, till it enters
the city of Mexico.
The Illinois is a fine river, clear, gentle, and without
rapids; insomuch that it is navigable for batteaux
to its source. From thence is a portage of two miles
only to the Chicago, which affords a batteau naviga-
tion of sixteen miles to its entrance into lake Michi-
gan. The Illinois, about ten miles above its mouth,
is three htmdred yards wide.
The Kaskaskia is one htmdred yards wide at its
entrance into the Mississippi, and preserves that
breadth to the Btiffalo plains, seventy miles above.
So far, also, it is navigable for loaded batteatix, and
perhaps much further. It is not rapid.
The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its
ctirrent gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth
and tmbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance
only excepted.
It is one-qtiarter of a mile wide at Fort Pitt, five
hundred yards at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, .
one mile and twenty-five poles at Louisville, one-
quarter of a mile on the rapids three or fotir miles
below Louisville, half a mile where the low cotmtry
12
Jefferson's Works
begins, which is twenty miles above Green river, a
mile and a quarter at the receipt of the Tennessee,
and a mile wide at the mouth.
Its length, as measured according to its meanders
by Captain Hutchins, is as follows: —
From Fort Pitt
To Log's Town i8)4
Big Beaver Creek loj^
Little Beaver Creek 13^^
Yellow Creek 1 1 3:^
Two Creeks 2 1 J^
Long Reach 53 J^
End Long Reach i6J^
Muskingum ^5}^
Little Kanhaway 1 2 J^
Hockhocking 16
Great Kanhaway ^2}^
Guiandot 4^%
Sandy Creek 14^^
Sioto 48Ji
Little Miami ia6^
Licking Creek 8
Great Miami 26?^
Big Bones 32 H
Kentucky 44 Ji
Rapids 77Ji
Low Country ^55 Ji
Buflfalo River 64}^
Wabash 97 Ji
Big Cave 42 Ji
Shawanee River S^J^
Cherokee River 13
Massac 11
Mississippi 46
1188
In common winter and spring tides it affords fif-
teen feet water to Louisville, ten feet to Le Tarte's
rapids, forty miles above the mouth of the great
Kanhaway, and a sufficiency at all times for light
batteaux and canoes to Fort Pitt. The rapids are in
latitude 38° 8'. The inundations of this river begin
about the last of March, and subside in July. Dtu"-
ing these, a first-rate man-of-war may be carried
from Louisville to New Orleans, if the sudden turns
of the river and the strength of its current will admit
a safe steerage. The rapids at Louisville descend
about thirty feet in a length of a mile and a half.
Notes on Virginia 13
The bed of the river there is a soHd r(3ck, and is
divided by an island into two branches, the south-
em of which is about two hundred yards wide, and
is dry four months in the year. The bed of the
northern branch is worn into channels by the con-
stant course of the water, and attrition of the pebble
stones carried on with that, so as to be passable for
batteaux through the greater part of the year. Yet
it is thought that the southern arm may be the most
easily opened for constant navigation. The rise of
the waters in these rapids does not exceed ten or
twelve feet. A part of this island is so high as to
have been never overflowed, and to command the
settlement at Louisville, which is opposite to it.
The fort, however, is situated at the head of the
falls. The ground on the south side rises very
gradually.
The Tennessee, Cherokee, or Hogohege river, is
six hundred yards wide at its mouth, a quarter of a
mile at the mouth of Holston, and two hundred
yards at Chotee, which is twenty miles above Hol-
ston, and three hundred miles above the mouth of
the Tennessee. This river crosses the southern
botmdary of Virginia, fifty-eight miles from the
Mississippi. Its current is moderate. It is navi-
gable for loaded boats of any burden to the Muscle
shoals, where the river passes through the Cumber-
land motmtain. These shoals are six or eight miles
long, passable downwards for loaded canoes, but
not upwards, tmless there be a swell in the river.
14 Jefferson's Works
Above these the navigation for loaded canoes and
batteaux continues to the Long island. This river
has its inundations also. Above the Chickamogga
towns is a whirlpool called the Sucking-pot, which
takes in trunks of trees or boats, and throws them
out again half a mile below. It is avoided by keep-
ing very close to the bank, on the south side. There
are but a few miles portage between a branch of this
river and the navigable waters of the river Mobile,
which nms into the Gulf of Mexico.
Cumberland, or Shawanee river, intersects the
botmdary between Virginia and North Carolina
sixty-seven miles from the Mississippi, and again
one hundred and ninety-eight miles from the same
river, a little above the entrance of Obey's river into
the Cumberland. Its Clear fork crosses the same
boundary about three hundred miles from the Mis-
sissippi. Cumberland is a very gentle stream,
navigable for loaded batteaux eight htmdred miles,
without interruption; then intervene some rapids
of fifteen miles in length, after which it is agaia
navigable seventy miles upwards, which brings yoia.
within ten miles of the Cumberland moimtains. It
is about one hundred and twenty yards wide througti.
its whole course, from the head of its navigation to
its mouth.
The Wabash is a very beautiful river, four hun.-
dred yards wide at the mouth, and three himdred at
St. Vincennes, which is a post one himdred mil^
above the mouth, in a direct line. Within th.is
Notes on Virginia 15
spa.ce there are two small rapids, which give very
little obstruction to the navigation. It is four
hixridred yards wide at the mouth, and navigable
thirty leagues upwards for canoes and small boats.
From the mouth of Maple river to that of Eel river
is about eighty miles in a direct line, the river con-
tinuing navigable, and from one to two hundred
yards in width. The Eel river is one hundred and
fifty yards wide, and affords at all times navigation
for periaguas, to within eighteen miles of the Miami
of the Lake. The Wabash, from the mouth of Eel
ri^v-er to Little river, a distance of fifty miles direct,
is interrupted with frequent rapids and shoals,
wlxich obstruct the navigation, except in a swell.
L-ittle river affords navigation during a swell to
within three miles of the Miami, which thence
afiEords a similar navigation into Lake Erie, one
hiindred miles distant in a direct line. The Wa-
l^ash overflows periodically in correspondence with
t^he Ohio, and in some places two leagues from its
banks.
Oreen River is navigable for loaded batteaux at all
tirnes fifty miles upwards; but it is then interrupted
by impassable rapids, above which the navigation
^gain commences and continues good thirty or forty
Itriiles to the mouth of Barren river.
Kentucky River is ninety yards wide at the mouth,
and also at Boonsborough, eighty miles above. It
affords a navigation for loaded batteaux one hundred
and eighty miles in a direct line, in the winter tides.
I
i6 Jefferson's Works
The Great Miami of the Ohio, is two htind
yards wide at the mouth. At the Piccawee towni
seventy-five miles above, it is reduced to thirt;
yards; it is, nevertheless, navigable for load
canoes fifty miles above these towns. The portag"^
from its western branch into the Miami of Lakre
Erie, is five miles ; that from its eastern branch into
Sandusky river, is of nine miles.
Salt River is at all times navigable for loaded
batteaux seventy or eighty miles. It is eighty
yards wide at its mouth, and keeps that width to
its fork, twenty-five miles above.
The Little Miami of the Ohio, is sixty or seventy
yards wide at its mouth, sixty miles to its source,
and affords no navigation.
The Sioto is two hundred and fifty yards wide at
its mouth, which is in latitude 38° 22', and at the
Saltlick towns, two himdred miles above the mouth,
it is yet one himdred yards wide. To these towns
it is navigable for loaded batteaux, and its eastern
branch affords navigation almost to its source.
Great Sandy River is about sixty yards wide, and
navigable sixty miles for loaded batteaux.
Guiandot is about the width of the river last men-
tioned, but is more rapid. It may be navigated by
canoes sixty miles.
The Great Kanhaway is a river of considerable
note for the fertility of its lands, and still more, as
leading towards the head waters of James river.
Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether its great and
Notes on Virginia 17
numerotis rapids will admit a navigation, but at an
expense to which it will require ages to render its
inhabitants equal. The great obstacles begin at
what are called the Great Falls, ninety miles above
the mouth, below which are only five or six rapids,
and these passable, with some difficulty, even at
low water. From the falls to the mouth of Green-
briar is one himdred miles, and thence to the lead
mines one htmdred and twenty. It is two hundred
and eighty yards wide at its mouth.
Hockhocking is eighty yards wide at its mouth,
and yields navigation for loaded batteaux to the
Press-place, sixty miles above its mouth.
The Little Kanhaway is one hundred and fifty
yards wide at the mouth. It yields a navigation of
ten miles only. Perhaps its northern branch, called
Junius' creek, which interlocks with the western
of Monongahela, may one day admit a shorter pas-
sage from the latter into the Ohio.
The Muskingum is two hundred and eighty yards
wide at its mouth, and two hundred yards at the
lower Indian towns, one himdred and fifty miles
upwards. It is navigable for small batteaux to
within one mile of a navigable part of Cuyahoga
river, which runs into Lake Erie.
At Fort Pitt the river Ohio loses its name, branch-
ing into the Monongahela and Alleghany.
The Monongahela is four hundred yards wide at
its mouth- From thence is twelve or fifteen miles
to the mouth of Yohogany, where it is three htmdred
VOL. II — 2
Jefferson's Works
yards wide. Thence to Redstone by water is fifty
miles, by land thirty. Then to the mouth of Cheat
river by water forty miles, by land twenty-eight,
the width continuing at three hundred yards, and
the navigation good for boats. Thence the width
is about two hundred yards to the western fork,
fifty miles higher, and the navigation frequently
interrupted by rapids, which, however, with a swell
of two or three feet, become very passable for boats.
It then admits light boats, except in dry seasons,
sixty-five miles further to the head of Tygart's
valley, presenting only some small rapids and falls
of one or two feet perpendicular, and lessening it its
width to twenty yards. The Western fork is navi-
gable in the winter ten or fifteen miles towards the
nothern of the Little Kanhaway, and will admit a
good wagon road to it. The Yohogany is the prin-
cipal branch of this river. It passes through the
Laurel mountain, about thirty miles from its mouth;
is so far from three hundred to one hundred and fifty
yards wide, and the navigation much obstructed in
dry weather by rapids and shoals. In its pass^e
through the mountain it makes very great falls,
admitting no navigation for ten miles to the Turkey
Foot. Thence to the Great Crossing, about twenty
miles, it is again navigable, except in dry seasons,
and at this place is two hundred yards wide. The
sources of this river are divided from those of the
Potomac by the Alleghany mountain. Prom the
falls, where it intersects the Laurel mountain, to
J
Notes on Virginia ^9
Fort Cumberland, the head of the navigation on
the Potomac, is forty miles of very motmtainous
road. Wills' creek, at the mouth of which was Fort
Cumberland, is thirty or forty yards wide, but affords
no navigation as yet. Cheat river, another con-
siderable branch of the Monongahela, is two hundred
yards wide at its mouth, and one hundred yards at
the Dunkard's settlement, fifty miles higher. It is
navigable for boats, except in dry seasons. The
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania crosses
it about three or four miles above its mouth.
The Alleghany river, with a slight swell, affords
navigation for light batteaux to Venango, at the
mouth of French Creek, where it is two htmdred
yards wide, and is practised even to Le Boeuf , from
whence there is a portage of fifteen miles to Presque
Isle on the Lake Erie.
The country watered by the Mississippi and its
eastern branches, constitutes five-eighths of the
United States, two of which five-eighths are occupied
by the Ohio and its waters ; the residuary streams
which run into the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, and
the St. Lawrence, water the remaining three-eighths.
Before we quit the subject of the western waters,
we will take a view of their principal connections
with the Atlantic. These are three; the Hudson
river, the Potomac, and the Mississippi itself. Down
the last will pass all heavy commodities. But the
navigation through the Gulf of Mexico is so danger-
ous, and that up the Mississippi so difficult and tedious,
20 Jefferson's Works
that it is thought probable that European merchan-
dise will not return through that channel. It is
most likely that flour, timber, and other heavy
articles will be floated on rafts, which will them-
selves be an article for sale as well as their loading,
the navigators returning by land, or in light batteaux.
There will, therefore, be a competition between the
Hudson and Potomac rivers for the residue , of the
commerce of all the country westward of Lake Erie,
on the waters of the lakes, of the Ohio, and upper
parts of the Mississippi. To go to New York, that
part of the trade which comes from the lakes ot
their waters, must first be brought into Lake Erie-
Between Lake Superior and its waters and Huroai
are the rapids of St. Mary, which will permit boat5
to pass, but not larger vessels. Lakes Huron and
Michigan afford communication with Lake Erie by
vessels of eight feet draught. That part of the trad^
which comes from the waters of the Mississippi must
pass from them through some portage into the
waters of the lakes. The portage from the Illinois
river into a water of Michigan is of one mile only.
From the Wabash, Miami, Muskingum, or Alleghany,
are ix)rtages into the waters of Lake Erie, of from
one to fifteen miles. When the commodities are
brought into, and have passed through Lake Erie
there is between that and Ontario an interruptior
by the falls of Niagara, where the portage is of eighi
miles; and between Ontario and the Hudson rive
are portages at the falls of Onondago, a little ahovi
Notes on Virginia 21
Oswego, of a quarter of a mile; from Wood creek
to the Mohawks river two miles; at the little falls
of the Mohawks river half a mile ; and from Schenec-
tady to Albany sixteen miles. Besides the increase
of expense occasioned by frequent change of carriage,
there is an increased risk of pillage produced by
committing merchandise to a greater number of
hands successively. The Potomac offers itself tmder
the following circumstances: For the trade of the
lakes and their waters westward of Lake Erie, when
it shall have entered that lake, it must coast along
its southern shore, on accotmt of the number and
excellence of its harbors; the northern, though
shortest, having few harbors, and these imsafe. Hav-
ing reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to New York
it will have eight hundred and twenty-five miles
and five portages; whereas it is but four hundred
and twenty-five miles to Alexandria, its emporium
on the Potomac, if it turns into the Cuyahoga, and
passes through that. Big Beaver, Ohio, Yohogany,
(or Monongahela and Cheat,) and Potomac, and
there are but two portages; the first of which, be-
tween Cuyahoga and Beaver, may be removed by
uniting the sources of these waters, which are lakes
•
in the neighborhood of each other, and in a cham-
paign coimtry; the other from the waters of Ohio
to Potomac will be from fifteen to forty miles, accord-
ing to the trouble which shall be taken to approach
the two navigations. For the trade of the Ohio, or
that which shall come into it from its own waters
22 Jefferson's Works
or the Mississippi, it is nearer through the Potomac^
to Alexandria than to New York by five himdredL
and eighty miles, and it is interrupted by one port —
age only. There is another circumstance of differ —
ence, too. The lakes themselves never freeze, but th^
communications between them freeze, and the Hud —
son river is itself shut up by the ice three months i
the year; whereas the channel to the Chesapeak
leads directly into a warmer climate. The southern,
parts of it very rarely freeze at all, and whenever
the northern do, it is so near the sources of the rivers,
that the frequent floods to which they are there
liable, break up the ice immediately, so that vessels
may pass through the whole winter, subject only to
accidental and short delays. Add to all this, that
in case of war with our neighbors, the Anglo-Ameri-
cans or the Indians, the route to New York becomes
a frontier through almost its whole length, and all
commerce through it ceases from that moment. But
the channel to New York is already known to prac-
tice, whereas the upper waters of the Ohio and the
Potomac, and the great falls of the latter, are yet to be
cleared of their fixed obstructions. See Appendix (A.)
QUERY III.
A notice of the best Seaports of the State, and how big
are the vessels they can receive ?
Having no ports but our rivers and creeks, this
Query has been answered under the preceding one.
Notes on Virginia
23
QUERY IV.
A notice of its Mountains ?
For the particular geography of our mountains I
'^iriust refer to Fry and Jefferson's map of Virginia;
^-3id to Evans' analysis of this map of America, for
^ more philosophical view of them than is to be
^ound in any other work. It is worthy of notice, that
<i>ur moimtains are not solitary and scattered con-
fusedly over the face of the country; but that they
<2»mmence at about one hundred and fifty miles from
^he sea-coast, are disposed in ridges, one behind
■snother, running nearly parallel with the sea-coast,
"though rather approaching it as they advance north-
eastwardly. To the south-west, as the tract of coun-
Llxy between the sea-coast and the Mississippi be-
»mes narrower, the mountains converge into a
ridge, which, as it approaches the Gulf of
I Mexico, subsides into plain country, and gives rise
f to some of the waters of that gulf, and particularly
I to a river called the Apalachicola, probably from
I the Apalachies, an Indian nation formerly residing
on it. Hence the mountains giving rise to that
river, and seen from its various parts, were called
the Apalachian mountains, being in fact the end or
termination only of the great ridges passing through
the continent. European geographers, however,
extended the name northwardly as far as the moun-
tains extended; some giving it, after their separa-
tion into different ridges, to the Blue Ridge, others
24 Jefferson's Works
to the North Mountain, others to the Alleghan, 3
others to the Laurel Ridge, as may be seen by th^ir
different maps. But the fact I believe is, that no«ne
of these ridges were ever known by that name 't^
the inhabitants, either native or emigrant, but as
they saw them so called in European maps. In th^
same direction, generally, are the veins of limestone,
coal, and other minerals hitherto discovered; and
so range the falls of our great rivers. But the
courses of the great rivers are at right angles with
these. James and Potomac penetrate through all
the ridges of mountains eastward of the Alleghany;
that is, broken by no water course. It is in fact the
spine of the cotmtry between the Atlantic on one
side, and the Mississippi and St. Lawrence on the
other. The passage of the Potomac through the
Blue Ridge is, perhaps, one of the most stupendous
scenes in nature. You stand on a very high f)oint
of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah,
having ranged along the foot of the moimtain an
hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left ai>-
proaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also.
In the moment of their junction, they rush together
against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off
to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries
our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been
created in time, that the mountains were formed
first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that
in this place, particularly, they have been dammed
up by the Blue Ridge of moimtains, and have formed
Notes on Virginia 25
an ocean which filled the whole valley; that con-
tinuing to rise they have at length broken over at
this spot, and have torn the mountain down from
its stimmit to its base. The piles of rock on each
hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evi-
dent marks of their disrupture and avulsion from
their beds by the most powerful agents of nature,
corroborate the impression. But the distant finish-
ing which nature has given to the picture, is of a very
different character. It is a true contrast to the
foreground. It is as placid and delightful as that is
wild and tremendous. For the mountain being
cloven asimder, she presents to your eye, through the
cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an
infinite distance in the plain coimtry, inviting you,
as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around,
to pass through the breach and participate of the
calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes
itself; and that way, too, the road happens actually
to lead. You cross the Potomac above the junction,
pass along its side through the base of the mountain
for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in
fragments over you, and within about twenty miles
reach Fredericktown, and the fine country round
that. This scene is worth a voyage across the
Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighborhood of the
Nattiral Bridge, are people who have passed their
lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been
to survey these monuments of a war between rivers
and mountains, which must have shaken the earth
itself to its centre. See Appendix (B.)
26 Jefferson's Works
The height of otir mountains has not yet been
estimated with any degree of exactness. The Alle-
ghany being the great ridge which divides the waters
of the Atlantic from those of the Mississippi, its
siimmit is doubtless more elevated above the oceaa
than that of any other mountain. But its relative
height, compared with the base on which it stands,
is not so great as that of some others, the country
rising behind the successive ridges like the steps
of stairs. The mountains of the Blue Ridge, and
of these the Peaks of Otter, are thought to be of a
greater height, measured from their base, than any
others in our country, and perhaps in North America.
From data, which may found a tolerable conjecture,
we suppose the highest peak to be about fotir thou-
sand feet perpendicular, which is not a fifth part of
the height of the mountains of South America, nor
one-third of the height which would be necessary in
our latitude to preserve ice in the open air unmelted
through the year. The ridge of mountains next be-
yond the Blue Ridge, called by us the North moun-
tain, is of the greatest extent; for which reason they
were named by the Indians the endless moimtains.
A substance supposed to be Pumice, found float-
ing on the Mississippi, has induced a conjecture that
there is a volcano on some of its waters ; and as these
are mostly known to their sources, except the Mis-
souri, our expectations of verifying the conjecture
would of course be led to the mountains which divide
the waters of the Mexican Gulf from those of the
Notes on Virginia 27
South Sea; but no volcano having ever yet been
Xmown at such a distance from the sea, we must
xather suppose that this floating substance has been
erroneously deemed Pimiice.
QUERY V.
Its Cascades and Caverns ?
The only remarkable cascade in this country is
that of the Falling Spring in Augusta. It is a water
of James' river where it is called Jackson's river,
rising in the warm spring mountains, about twenty
miles southwest of the warm spring, and flowing
into that valley. About three-quarters of a mile
from its source it falls over a rock two himdred feet
into the valley below. The sheet of water is broken
in its breadth by the rock, in two or three places, but
not at all in its height. Between the sheet and the
rock, at the bottom, you may walk across dry. This
cataract will bear no comparison with that of Nia-
gara as to the quantity of water composing it; the
sheet being only twelve or fifteen feet wide above and
somewhat more spread below; but it is half as high
again, the latter being only one htmdred and fifty-
six feet, according to the mensuration made by order
of M. Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, and one him-
dred and thirty according to a more recent account.
In the lime-stone country there are many caverns
of very considerable extent. The most noted is
called Madison's Cave, and is on the north side of
a8
Jefferson's Works
the Blue Ridge, near the intersection of the Rock-
ingham and Augusta line with the south fork of the
southern river of
Shenandoah. It
is in a hill of about
two hundred feet
perpendicular
height, the ascent
of which, on one
side, is so steep
that you may
pitch a biscuit
from its summit
into the river
which washes its
base. The en-
trance of the cave
is, in this side,
about two-thirds
of the way up. It
extends into the
earth about three
hundred feet,
branching into
sulx)rdinate cav-
erns, sometimes
ascending a little, but more generally descending,
and at length terminates, in two different places, at
basons of water of unknown extent, and which I
should judge to be nearly on a level with the water
Notes on Virginia 29
of the river ; however, I do not think they are formed
by refluent water from that, because they are never
turbid; because they do not rise and fall in corre-
spondence with that in times of flood or of drought ;
and because the water is always cool. It is probably
one of the many reservoirs with which the interior
parts of the earth are supposed to abound, and yield
supplies to the fountains of water, distinguished from
others only by being accessible. The vault of this
cave is of solid lime-stone, from twenty to forty
or fifty feet high ; through which water is continually
percolating. This, trickling down the sides of the
cave, has incrusted them over in the form of elegant
drapery; and dripping from the top of the vault
generates on that and on the base below, stalactites
of a conical form, some of which have met and
formed massive columns.
Another of these caves is near the North moimtain,
in the county of Frederic, on the lands of Mr. Zane.
The entrance into this is on the top of an extensive
ridge. You descend thirty or forty feet, as into a
well, from whence the cave extends, nearly hori-
zontally, four hundred feet into the earth, preserv-
ing a breadth of from twenty to fifty feet, and a
height of from five to twelve feet. After entering
this cave a few feet, the mercury, which in the open
air was 50°, rose to 57° of Fahrenheit's thermom-
eter, answering to 11° of Reaumur's, and it contin-
ued at that to the remotest parts of the cave. The
uniform temperature of the cellars of the observa-
;x
'- : ■ .. :..-.■■ »litn:s
■; • .r."..\]-. CtJlKl'
■■■.=■.■ . "j' till-
i.:i",;;/i:v' :
. .. .^
'.•..::
* .
• ''les
■ i ■
*
1 \
. :
.. hill
. . '
, i
I'mitr.
»
1
■ . ■ ■
■
1
■ V-vSl '
: . . ■ . « ^ • I I T I AM I
■ ■. ; .-. r ^vli'li-
I
■ I J ■ 1 • I •
1 "^ ' s.
I 1
1 •
I
:.-. :- =:
..I . t ' ■
• ■ i\ I III
1 T— ■
i
■lli'l liirtfc— IfcfcBJ. •• It ._«1
Notes on Virginia 3^
head, must not be pretermitted. It is on the ascent
of a hill, which seems to have been cloven throtigh
its length by some great convulsion. The fissure,
just at the bridge, is, by some admeasurements, two
hundred and seventy feet deep, by others only two
hundred and five. It is about forty-five feet wide
at the bottom and ninety feet at the top; this of
course determines the length of the bridge, and its
height from the water. Its breadth in the middle
is about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the
thickness of the mass, at the summit of the arch,
about forty feet. A part of this thickness is con-
stituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth to
many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both
sides, is one solid rock of lime-stone. The arch
approaches the semi-elliptical form; but the larger
axis of the ellipsis, which would be the cord of the
arch, is many times longer than the transverse.
Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some
parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men
have resolution to walk to them, and look over into
the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your hands
and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep over it.
Looking down from this height about a minute, gave
me a violent head-ache. If the view from the top
be painful and intolerable, that from below is delight-
ful in an equal extreme. It is impossible for the
emotions arising from the sublime to be felt beyond
what they are here ; so beautiful an arch, so elevated,
so light, and springing as it were up to heaven! The
32 Jefferson's Works
rapture of the spectator is really indescribable !
fissure continuing narrow, deep, and straight, for i
considerable distance above and below the bridgeT
opens a short but very pleasing view of the North
mountain on one side and the Blue Ridge on the
other, at the distance each of them of about five
miles. This bridge is in the county of Rockbridge,
to which it has given name, and affords a public and
commodious passage over a valley which cannot be
crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance. The
stream passing under it is called Cedar creek. It is
a water of James' river, and sufficient in the driest
seasons to turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not
more than two miles above.'
' Don UUoa mentions a. break, similar to this, in the province o(
Angaraea, in South America, It is from sixteen to twenty-two feet
wide, one hundred and eleven feet deep, and of 1.3 miles continuance,
English measure. Its breadth at top is not sensibly greater than at
bottom. But the following fact is remarkable, and will furnish some
light tor conjecturing the probable origin of our natural bridge. " Esta
caxa. & cauce est& cortada en p6na viva con tanta precision, que las
desig:ualdades del un lado cntrantes, correspondcn d las del otro lado
salientes, como si aquella altura se hubiese abierto expresamentc. con
BUS bueltas y tortuosidades, para darle transito a los aguas por cntre
los dos morallones que la forman ; siendo tal su igualdad, que si Uegasen
d juntarseseendentarian uno con otro sin dextar hueco." Not. Amer.
ii. { 10. Don Ulloa inclines to the opinion that this channel has been
effected by the wearing of the water which runs through it, rather than
that the mountain should have been broken open by any convulsion
of nature. But i£it had been worn by the running of water, would not
the rocks which form the sides, have been worn plain ? or if, meeting
in some parts with veins of harder stone, the water had left promi-
nences on the one side, would not the same cause have sometimes, or
perhaps generally, occasioned prominences on the other side also?
Vet Don Ulloa tells us, that on the other side there are always corre-
sponding cavities, and that these tally with the prominences so per-
Notes on Virginia
33
QUERY VI.
^^^J^M^^ebf the mines and other subterraneous riches;
^K its trees, plants, fruits, etc.
^ I knew a single instance of gold found in this
State. It was interspersed in small specks through
a lump of ore of about four pounds weight, which
yielded seventeen pennyweights of gold, of extraor-
dinary ductility. This ore was found on the north
Iside of Rappahanoc, about four miles below the
falls. I never heard of any other indication of gold
in its neighborhood.
On the Great Kanhaway, opposite to the mouth
of Cripple creek, and about twenty-five miles from
our southern boundary, in the county of Montgom-
ery, are mines of lead. The metal is mixed, some-
times with earth, and sometimes with rock, which
requires the force of gunpowder to open it; and is
accompanied with a portion of silver too small to be
"worth separation under any process hitherto at-
t tempted there. The proportion yielded is from
£fty to eighty pounds of pure metal from one hun-
Sectly, that, were the two sides to come together they would fit in all
■»heir indentures, without leaving any void. I think that this does
anot resemble the effect of running water, but looks rather as if the
■two sides had parted asunder. The sides of the break, over which is
"the natural bridge of Virginia, consisting of a veiny rock which yields
"to time, the correspondence between the salient and re-entering
inequahties, if it existed at all, has now disappeared. This break
lias the advantage of the one described by Don UUoa in its finest cir-
^rumstance; no portion in that instance having held together, during
'Khe separation of the other parts, so as to form a bridge over the abyss.
vol. II — 3
34 Jefferson's Works
dred pounds of washed ore. The most common is
that of sixty to one hundred poimds. The veins
are sometimes most flattering, at others they disap-
pear suddenly and totally. They enter the side of
the hill and proceed horizontally. Two of them are
wrought at present by the public, the best of which
is one hundred yards under the hill. These wotold
employ about fifty laborers to advantage. We
have not, however, more than thirty generally, and
these cultivate their own com. They have pro-
duced sixty tons of lead in the year ; but the general
quantity is from twenty to twenty-five tons. The
present furnace is a mile from the ore bank and on
the opposite side of the river. The ore is first wag-
oned to the river, a quarter of a mile, then laden on
board of canoes and carried across the river, which
is there about two hundred yards wide, and then
again taken into wagons and carried to the furnace.
This mode was originally adopted that they might
avail themselves of a good situation on a creek for a
pounding mill ; but it would be easy to have the fur-
nace and pounding mill on the same side of the river,
which would yield water, without any dam, by a
canal of about half a mile in length. From the
furnace the lead is transported one hundred and
thirty miles along a good road, leading through
the peaks of Otter to Lynch's ferry, or Winston's
on James' river, from whence it is carried by water
about the same distance to Westham. This land
carriage may be greatly shortened, by delivering the
Notes on Virginia 35
lead on James' river, above the Blue Ridge, from
whence a ton weight has been brought on two
canoes. The Great Kanhaway has considerable
falls in the neighborhood of the mines. About seven
miles below are three falls, of three or four feet per-
pendicular each; and three miles above is a rapid
of three mUes continuance, which has been compared
in its descent to the great falls of James' river. Yet
it is the opinion, that they may be laid open for
useful navigation, so as to reduce very much the
portage between the Kanhaway and James' river.
A valuable lead mine is said to have been lately
discovered in Cumberland, below the mouth of Red
river. The greatest, however, known in the western
country, are on the Mississippi, extending from the
mouth of Rock river one hundred and fifty miles
upwards. These are not wrought, the lead used in
that country being from the banks on the Spanish
side of the Mississippi, opposite to Kaskaskia.
A mine of copper was once opened in the county
of Amherst, on the north side of James' river, and
another in the opposite country, on the south side.
However, either from bad management or the pov-
erty of the veins, they were discontinued. We are
told of a rich mine of native copper on the Ouabache,
below the upper Wiaw.
The mines of iron worked at present are Calla-
way's, Ross's, and Ballendine's, on the south side
of James' river; Old's on the north side, in Albe-
marle; Miller's in Augusta, and Zane's in Frederic.
Jefferson's Works
These two last are in the valley between the Blue
Ridge and North mountain. Callaway's, Ross's,
Miller's, and Zane's make about one hundred and
fifty tons of bar iron each, in the year. Ross's
makes also about sixteen hundred tons of pig iron
annually; Ballendine's one thousand; Callaway's,
Miller's, and Zane's, about six hundred each. Be-
sides these, a forge of Mr. Hunter's, at Fredericks-
burg, makes about three hundred tons a year of bar
iron, from pigs imported from Maryland; and Tay-
lor's forge on Neapsco of Potomac, works in the
same way, but to what extent I am not informed.
The indications of iron in other places are numerous,
and dispersed through all the middle country. The
toughness of the cast iron of Ross's and Zane's
furnaces is very remarkable. Pots and other uten-
sils, cast thinner than usual, of this iron, may be
safely thrown into, or out of the wagons in which
they are transported. Salt-pans made of the same,
and no longer wanted for that purpose, cannot be
broken up, in order to be melted again, unless pre-
viously drilled in many parts.
In the western country, we are told of iron mines
between the Muskingum and Ohio; of others on
Kentucky, between the Cumberland and Barren
rivers, between Cumberland and Tennessee, on
Reedy creek, near the Long Island, and on Chesnut
creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway, near where
it crosses the Carolina line. What are called the
iron banks, on the Mississippi, are believed, by a
Notes on Virginia 37
good judge, to have no iron in them. In general,
from what is hitherto known of that country, it
seems to want iron.
Considerable quantities of black lead are taken
occasionally for use from Winterham in the county
of Amelia. I am not able, however, to give a partic-
ular state of the mine. There is no work established
at it; those who want, going and procuring it for
themselves.
The country on James' river, from fifteen to twenty
miles above Richmond, and for several miles north-
ward and southward, is replete with mineral coal of
a very excellent quality. Being in the hands of
many proprietors, pits have been opened, and,
before the interruption of our commerce, were
worked to an extent equal to the demand.
In the western country coal is known to be in so
many places, as to have induced an opinion, that the
whole tract between the Laurel mountain, Missis-
sippi, and Ohio, yields coal. It is also known in
many places on the north side of the Ohio. The
coal at Pittsburg is of very superior quality. A bed
of it at that place has been a-fire since the year 1765.
Another coal-hill on the Pike-nm of Monongahela
has been a-fire ten years; yet it has burnt away
about twenty yards only.
I have known one instance of an emerald found in
this country. Amethysts have been frequent, and
crystals common; yet not in such numbers any of
them as to be worth seeking.
38
Jefferson's Works
There is very good marble, and in very great
abundance, on James' river, at the mouth of Rock-
fish. The samples I have seen, were some of them
of a white as pure as one might expect to find on the
surface of the earth; but most of them were varie-
gated with red, blue, and purple. None of it has
been ever worked. It forms a very large precipice,
which hangs over a navigable part of the river. It
is said there is marble at Kentucky.
But one vein of limestone is known below the Blue
Ridge. Its first appearance, in our country, is in
Prince William, two miles below the Pignut ridge of
mountains; thence it passes on nearly parallel with
that, and crosses the Rivanna about five miles be-
low it, where it is called the South-west ridge. It
then crosses Hard-ware, above the mouth of Hud-
son's creek, James' river at the mouth of Rockfish,
at the marble quarry before spoken of, probably
runs up that river to where it appears again at
Ross's iron-works, and so passes off south-west-
wardly by Flat Creek of Otter river. It is never
more than one hundred yards wide. From the Blue
Ridge westwardly, the whole country seems to be
founded on a rock of limestone, besides infinite
quantities on the surface, both loose and fixed. This
is cut into beds, which range, as the mountains and
sea-coast do, from south-west to north-east, the
lamina of each bed declining from the horizon
towards a parallelism with the axis of the earth.
Being struck with this observation, I made, with
A
Notes on Virginia
39
xa
i:
a quadrant, a great number of trials on the angles
of their declination, and found them to vary from
22*' to 60°; but averaging all my trials, the result
was within one-third of a degree of the elevation
of the pole or latitude of. the place, and much the
greatest part of them taken separately were little
different from that; by which it appears, that
these lamina are, in the main, parallel with the
axis of the earth. In some instances, indeed, I
found them perpendicular, and even reclining
the other way; but these were extremely rare,
and always attended with signs of convulsion,
or other circumstances of singularity, which ad-
mitted a possibility of removal from their original
position. These trials were made between Madi-
son's cave and the Potomac. We hear of limestone
on the Mississippi and Ohio, and in all the moun-
tainous country between the eastern and western
"waters, not on the moimtains themselves, but occu-
tying the valleys between them.
Near the eastern foot of the North mountain are
immense bodies of Schist, containing impressions of
shells in a variety of forms. I have received petri-
fied shells of very different kinds from the first
sources of Kentucky, which bear no resemblance
to any I have ever seen on the tide-waters. It is
said that shells are found in the Andes, in South
America, fifteen thousand feet above the level of the
ocean. This is considered by many, both of the
beamed and unlearned, as a proof of an luiiversal
40 Icftciwh'sWotks
deluge. To the many consideratioiis opposing this
opinion, the following may be added: The atmos-
phere, and all its contents, whether of water, air, or
other matter, gravitate to the earth; that is to say,
they have weight. Experience tells us, that the
weight of all these together never exceeds that of a
column of mercury of thirty-one inches height,
which is equal to one of rain water of thirty-five feet
high. If the whole contents of the atmosphere,
then, were water, instead of what they are, it woidd
cover the globe but thirty-five feet deep; but as
these waters, as they fell, would nm into the seas,
the superficial measure of which is to that of the dry
parts of the globe, as two to one, the seas would be
raised only fifty-two and a half feet above their pres-
ent level, and of cotirse would overflow the lands to
that height only. In Virginia this would be a very
small proportion even of the champaign country,
the banks of our tide waters being frequently, if not
generally, of a greater height. Deluges beyond this
extent, then, as for instance, to the North mountain
or to Kentucky, seem out of the laws of nature. But
within it they may have taken place to a greater or
less degree, in proportion to the combination of
natural causes which may be supposed to have pro-
duced them. History renders probably some in-
stances of a partial deluge in the country lying rotmd
the Mediterranean sea. It has been often^ supposed,
and it is not unlikely, that that sea was once a lake.
* 2 Buffon Epoques, 96.
Notes on Virginia 4i
While such, let us admit an extraordinary collection
of the waters of the atmosphere from the other parts
of the globe to have been discharged over that and
the countries whose waters run into it. Or without
supposing it a lake, admit such an extraordinary col-
lection of the waters of the atmosphere, and an influx
from the Atlantic ocean, forced by long-continued
western winds. The lake, or that sea, may thus
have been so raised as to overflow the low lands
adjacent to it, as those of Egypt and Armenia, which,
according to a tradition of the Egyptians and He-
brews, were overflowed about two thousand three
hundred years before the Christian era; those of
Attica, said to have been overflowed in the time of
t^'ges, about five hundred years later; and those
ofThessaly, in the time of Deucalion, still three hun-
dred years posterior. But such deluges as these will
not account for the shells found in the higher lands.
A second opinion has been entertained, which is,
that in times anterior to the records either of history
Or tradition, the bed of the ocean, the principal
residence of the shelled tribe, has, by some great
convulsion of natiue, been heaved to the heights at
^'hich we now find shells and other marine animals.
The favorers of this opinion do well to suppose the
great events on which it rests to have taken place
heyond all the eras of history; for within these, cer-
tainly, none such are to be found; and we may
Venture to say farther, that no fact has taken place,
either in our own days, or in the thoiisands of veara
44
Jefferson's Works
^
recorded in history, which proves the existence m
any natural agents, within or without the bowels of
the earth, of force sufficient to heave, to the height
of fifteen thousand feet, such masses as the Andes.
The difference between the power necessary to pro-
duce such an effect, and that which shuffled together —
the different parts of Calabria in our days, is so im-
mense, that from the existence of the latter, we are
not authorized to infer that of the former.
M. de Voltaire has suggested a third solution of
this difficulty. (Quest. Encycl. Coquilles.) He cites
an instance in Touraine, where, in the space of
eighty years, a particular spot of earth had been
twice metamorphosed into soft stone, which had
become hard when employed in building. In this
stone shells of various kinds were produced, discov-
erable at first only with a microscope, but after-
wards growing with the stone. From this fact, I
suppose, he would have us infer, that, besides the
usual process for generating shells by the elabora-
tion of earth and water in animal vessels, nature
may have provided an equivalent operation, by
passing the same materials through the pores of
calcareoxis earths and stones; as we see calcareous
drop-stones generating every day, by the percolation
of water through lime-stone, and new marble form-
ing in the quarries from which the old has been taken
out. And it might be asked, whether is it more
difficult for nature to shoot the calcareous juice into
the form of a shell, than other juices into the forms
ft
Notes on Virginia 43
of crystals, plants, animals, according to the con-
struction of the vessels through which they pass ?
There is a wonder somewhere. Is it greatest on
this branch of the dilemma; on that which supposes
the existence of a power, of which we have no evi-
dence in any other case; or on the first, which
.fequires us to believe the creation of a body of water
and its subsequent annihilation ? The establish-
ment of the instance, cited by M. de Voltaire, of the
growth, of shells unattached to animal bodies, would
have been that of his theory. But he has not estab-
lished it. He has not even left it on ground so
respectable as to have rejidered it an object of in-
quiry to the literati of his own country. Abandon-
ing this fact, therefore, the three h3'potheses are
equally unsatisfactory; and we must be contented
to acknowledge, that this great phenomenon is as yet
■unsolved. Ignorance is preferable to error; and he
is less remote from the truth who believes nothing,
"than he who believes what is wrong.
There is great abundance (more especially when
you approach the mountains) of stone, white, blue.
brown, &c., fit for the chisel, good mill-stone, such
also as stands the fire, and slate stone. We are told
of fiint, fit for gun-flints, on the Meherrin in Bruns-
wick, on the Mississippi between the mouth of the
Ohio and Kaskaskia, and on others of the western
"waters. Isinglass or mica is in several places; load-
Stone also ; and an Asbestos of a ligneous texture, is
sometimes to be met with.
44 Jefferson's Works
Marie abounds generally. A clay, of which, like
the Sturbridge in England, bricks are made, which
resist long the violent action of fire, has been found
on Tuckahoe creek of James' river, and no doubt wdll
be found in other places. Chalk is said to be in
Botetourt and Bedford. In the latter county is
some earth believed to be gypseous. Ochres are
found in various parts.
In the lime-stone country are many caves, the
earthy floors of which are impregnated with nitre.
On Rich creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway,
about sixty miles below the lead mines, is a very
large one, about twenty yards wide, and entering a
hill a quarter or half a mile. The vault is of rock,
from nine to fifteen or twenty feet above the floor.
A Mr. Lynch, who gives me this account, undertook
to extract the nitre. Besides a coat of the salt
which had formed on the vault and floor, he found
the earth highly impregnated to the depth of seven
feet in some places, and generally of three, every
bushel yielding on an average three pounds of nitre.
Mr. Lynch having made about ten hundred pounds
of the salt from it. consigned it to some others, who
have since made ten thousand pounds. They have
done this by pursuing the cave into the hill, never
trying a second time the earth they have once ex-
hausted, to see how far or soon it receives another
impregnation. At least fifty of these caves are
worked on the Greenbriar. There are many of
them known on Cumberland river.
Notes on Virginia 4S
The country westward of the Alleghany abounds
with springs of common salt. The most remarkable
"we have heard of are at Bullet 's-lick, the Big-bones,
the Blue-licks, and on the north fork of Holston.
The area of Bullet's-lick is of many acres. Digging
the earth to the depth of three feet the water begins to
"boil up, and the deeper you go and the drier the
"weather, the stronger is the brine. A thousand
gallons of water yield from a bushel to a bushel and
a half of salt, which is about eighty pounds of water
to one pound of salt. So that sea-water is more
"than three times as strong as that of these springs.
Ji. salt spring has been lately discovered at the Tur-
Icey foot on Yohogany, by which river it is over-
sowed, except at very low water. Its merit is not
yet known. Dunning's lick is also as yet untried,
"but it is supposed to be the best on this side the Ohio.
The salt springs on the margin of the Onondago lake
are said to give a saline taste to the waters of the
lake.
There are several medicinal springs, some of which
indubitably efficacious, while others seem to owe
their reputation as much to fancy and change of air
and regimen, as to their real virtues. None of them
having undergone a chemical analysis in skilful
hands, nor been so far the subject of observations
as to have produced a reduction into classes of the
disorders which they relieve; it is in my power to
give little more than an enumeration of them.
The most efficacious of these are two springs in
Jak<
Hare
46
Jefferson's Works
Augusta near the first sources of James' river, where
it is called Jackson's river. They rise near the foot
of the ridge of mountains generally called the Warm
spring mountains, but in the maps Jackson's moun-
tains. The one distinguished by the name of the
Warm spring, and the other of the Hot spring. The
Warm spring issues with a very bold stream, suf-
ficient to work a grist mill and to keep the waters
of its basin, which is thirty feet in diameter, at the
vital warmth, viz. 96" of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
The matter with which these waters is allied is very-
volatile; its smell indicates it to be sulphureous, as
also does the circumstance of its turning silver black.
They relieve rheumatisms. Other complaints also
of very different natures have been removed or
lessened by them. It rains here four or five days-
in every week.
The Hot spring is about six miles from the Warm,
is much smaller, and has been so hot as to have boiled
an egg. Some believe its degree of heat to b^
lessened. It raises the mercury in Fahrenheit'^
thermometer to 1 12 degrees, which is fever heat. I't
sometimes relieves where the Warm fails. A foim. —
tain of common water, issuing within a few inches o^
its margin, gives it a singtilar appearance. Compart-
ing the temperature of these with that of the He*"!
springs of Kamschatka, of which Krachininnikov*'
gives an account, the difference is very great, tKe
latter raising the mercury to 200° which is within
12° of boiling water. These springs are i
icn IS wiuiixi I
e very much J
Notes on Virginia 47
resorted to in spite of a total want of accommoda-
tion for the sick. Their waters are strongest in the
hottest months, which occasions their being visited
in July and August principally.
The Sweet springs are in the county of Botetotu-t,
at the eastern foot of the Alleghany, about forty-
two miles from the Warm springs. They are still
less known. Having been found to relieve cases in
vphich the others had been ineffectually tried, it is
probable their composition is different. They are
different also in their temperature, being as cold as
common water; which is not mentioned, however,
as a proof of a distinct impregnation. This is among
tlrie first sources of James' river.
On Potomac river, in Berkley county, above the
I*^orth mountain, are medicinal springs, much more
frequented than those of Augusta. Their powers,
l^owever, are less, the waters weakly mineralized,
^nd scarcely warm. They are more visited, because
situated in a fertile, plentiful, and popialous country,
t>etter provided with accommodations, always saft
from the Indians, and nearest to the more populous
States.
In Louisa county, on the head waters of the South
Ami branch of York river, are springs of some medic-
inal virtue. They are not much used however.
There is a weak chalybeate at Richmond ; and many
others in various parts of the country, which are of
too little worth, or too little note, to be envunerated
after those before mentioned.
48 Jefferson's Works
We are told of a sulphur spring on Howard's creek
of Greenbriar, and another at Boonsborough on
Kentucky.
In the low grounds of the Great Kanhaway, seven
miles above the mouth of Elk river, and sixty-seven
above that of the Kanhaway itself, is a hole in the
earth of the capacity of thirty or forty gallons, from
which issues constantly a bituminous vapor, in so
strong a current as to give to the sand about its
orifice the motion which it has in a boiling spring.
On presenting a lighted candle or torch within eigh-
teen inches of the hole it flames up in a column of
eighteen inches in diameter, and four or five feet
height, which sometimes bums out within twenty
minutes, and at other times has been known to con-
tinue three days, and then has been stiU left burning.
The flame is tmsteady, of the density of that of burn-
ing spirits, and smells like burning pit coal. Water
sometimes collects in the basin, which is remarkably
cold, and is kept in ebullition by the vapor issuing
through it. If the vapor be fired in that state, the
water soon becomes so warm that the hand cannot
bear it, and evaporates wholly in a short time. This,
with the circumjacent lands, is the property of His
Excellency General Washington and of General Lewis.
There is a similar one on Sandy river, the flame of
which is a column of about twelve inches diameter,
and three feet high. General Clarke, who informs
me of it, kindled the vapor, staid about an hour,
and left it biuming.
Notes on Virginia 49
The mention of uncommon springs leads me to
that of Syphon fountains. There is one of these
near the intersection of the Lord Fairfax's boundary
with the North mountain, not far from Brock's gap,
on the stream of which is a grist mill, which grinds
two bushel of grain at every flood of the spring;
another near Cow-pasture river, a mile and a half
below its confluence with the Bull-pasture river, and
sixteen or seventeen miles from Hot springs, which
intermits once in every twelve hours ; one also near
the mouth of the north Holston.
After these may be mentioned the Natural Well,
on the lands of a Mr. Lewis in Frederick county. It
is somewhat larger than a common well ; the water
rises in it as near the surface of the earth as in the
neighboring artificial wells, and is of a depth as yet
Unknown. It is said there is a current in it tending
sensibly downwards. If this be true, it probably
feeds some fountain, of which it is the natural reser-
voir, distinguished from others, like that of Madison's
cave, by being accessible. It is used with a bucket
and windlass as an ordinary well.
A complete catalogue of the trees, plants, fruits,
&c., is probably not desired. I will sketch out those
which would principally attract notice, as being
first, Medicinal; second. Esculent; third, Ornamental;
or four, useful for fabrication ; adding the Linnjean
to the popular names, as the latter might not convey
precise information to a foreigner. I shall confine
myself, too, to native plants.
5^ Jefferson's Works
X. Senna. Cassia ligustrina.
Arsmart. Polygonum Sagittatum.
Clivers, or goose-grass. Galium spurium.
Lobelia of several spedes.
Palma Christi. Ridnus.
(3i) Jamestown weed. Datura Stramonium.
Mallow. Malva rottmdafolia.
Syrian mallow. Hibiscus moschentos.
Hibiscus Virginicus.
Indian mallow. Sida rhombifolia.
Sida abutilon.
Virginia marshmallow. Napaea hermaphrodita.
Napsea dioica.
Indian physic. Spiria trifoliata.
Euphorbia Ipecacuanhas.
Pleurisy root. Asclepias decumbens.
Virginia snake-root. Aristolochia serpentaria.
Black snake-root. Actae racemosa.
Seneca rattlesnake-root. Polygala Senega
Valerian. Valeriana locusta radiata.
Gentiana, Saponaria, Villosa & Centaurium.
Ginseng. Panax quinquefolium.
Angelica. Angelica sylvestris.
Cassava. Jatropha urens.
a. Tuckahoe. Lycoperdon tuber.
Jerusalem artichoke. Helianthus tuberosus.
Long potatoes. Convolvulas batatas.
Granadillas. Maycocks, Maracocks, Passiflora incamata.
Panic. Panicum of many spedes.
Indian millet. Holcus laxus.
Holcus striosus.
Wild oat. Zizania aquaticia.
Wild pea. Dolichos of Clayton.
Lupine. Lupinus perennis.
Wild hop. Humulus lupulus.
Wild cherry. Prunus Virginiana.
Cherokee plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu majori. Clayto
Wild plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu minori. Clayton.
Wild crab apple. Pyrus coronaria.
Red mulberry. Moms rubra.
Persimmon. Diospiros Virginiana.
Sugar maple. Acer saccarinum.
Notes on Virginia 5^
Scaly bark hiccory. Juglans albacorticesqtiamoso. Qayton.
Common hiccory. Juglans alba, fructu minore randdo. Clay-
ton.
Paccan, or Illinois nut. Not described by Linnaetis, Millar, or
Clayton. Were I to venture to describe this, speaking of the
fruit irom memory, and of the leaf from plants of two years*
growth, I should sp>ecify it as Juglans alba, foliolis lanceolatis,
acuminatis, serratis, tomentosis, fructu minore, ovato, com-
presso, vix insculpto, dulci, putamine tenerrimo. It grows
on the Illinois, Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi. It is spoken
of by Don Ulloa tmder the name of Pacanos, in his Notidas
Americanas, Entret. 6.
Black walnut. Juglans nigra.
White walnut. Juglans alba.
Chesnut. Fagus castanea.
Chinquapin. Fagus pumila.
Hazlenut. Corylus avellana.
Grapes. Vitis. Various kinds; though only three described
by Clayton.
Scarlet strawberries. Fragaria Virginiana of Millar.
Whortleberries. Vaccinium uliginosum.
Wild gooseberries. Ribes grossularia.
Cranberries. Vacdnium oxycoccos.
Black raspberries. Rubus occidentalis.
Blackberries. Rubus fructicosus.
Dewberries. Rubus csesius.
Cloudberries. Rubus Chamsemorus.
Plane tree. Platanus occidentalis.
Poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera.
Populus heterophylla.
Black poplar. Populus nigra.
Aspen. Populus tremula.
Linden, or lime. Telia Americana.
Red-flowering maple. Acer rubrum.
Horse-chesnut, or buck's-eye. iEsculus pa via.
Catalpa. Bignonia catalpa.
Umbrella. Magnolia tripetala.
Swamp laurel. Magnolia glauca.
Cucimiber-tree. Magnolia acuminata.
Portugal bay. Laurus indica.
Red bay. Laurus borbonia.
Dwarf-rose bay. Rhododendron maximum.
Jefferson's Works
^ called ivy with a
Laurel of the western country. Qu. spedes?
Wild pimento. Laurus benzoin.
Sassafras. Laurus sassafras.
Locust. Robinia pseudo- acacia.
Honey-locust, Gleditsia. i, ^,
Dogwood. Comus florida.
Fringe, or snow-drop tree. Chionanthus Virginica.
Barberry. Barberis vulgaris.
Redbud. or Judas-tree. Cercis Canadensis.
Holly. Ilex aijuifolium,
Cockspur hawthorn. Crataegus coccinea.
Spindle-tree. Euonymus EuropKua.
Evergreen spindle-tree. Euonymus Americanus.
Ilea Virginica.
Elder. SambucuE nigra.
Papaw. Annona triloba.
Candleberry myrtle. Myrica cerifera.
Dwarf laurel. Kalmia angustifoUa'
Kalmia latifolia
Ivy. Hedera quinquefolia.
Trumpet honeysuckle. Lonicera sempervirens.
Upright honeysuckle. Azalea nudiflora.
Yellow jasmine. Bignonia sempervirens.
Calycanthus floridus.
American aloe. Agave Virginica.
Sumach. Rhus, Qu. species?
Poke. Phytolacca decandra.
Long moss. Tillandsia Usneoides.
Reed. Aruudo phragmitis.
Virginia hemp, Acnida cannabina.
Flax. Linum Virginianum.
Black, or pitch-pine. Pinus t^a.
White pine. Pinus strobus.
Yellow pine. Pinus Virginica.
Spruce pine. Pinus foliis singularibus. Claytoi
Hemlock spruce Fir. Pinus Canadensis.
Arbor vitte. Thuya occidenlalis.
Juniper. Juniperus Virginica (called cedar will
Cypress. Cupressus disticha.
White cedar. Cupressus Thyoides.
Black oak. Quercua nigra.
White oak. Quercus albL
Notes on Virginia
I
Red oak, Querc.
JB rubra.
Willow oak. Qui
;rcu5 pheHos.
CbeGout oak. Qi
.ercua prinu..
Black jack oak.
Quercus aquatjca. CI a
Ground oak. Qu
ercus pumila. Clayton.
Live oak. Querc
us Virginiana. Millar.
Black birch. Betula nigra.
White birch. Betula alba.
Beach. Fagus sylvatica.
Ash. Fraxinus Americana.
Fraxinus Novse Anglia. WO*
Elm. XJlmus Americana.
Willow. Salix. Qu. species?
Sweet gum. Liquidambar styracifluE
The following were found in Vir^nia when first
visited by the English ; but it is not said whether of
Spontaneous growth, or by cultivation only. Most
probably they were nativesof more southern climates.
^nd handed along the continent from one nation to
QJiother of the savages.
Tobacco. Nicotiana.
Maize. Zea mays.
Round potatoes. Solanum tuberosum.
Pumpkins. Cucurbita pepo.
Cymlings. Cucurbita verrucosa.
Squashes, Cucurbita mdopepo.
There is an infinitude of other plants and flowers,
*or an enumeration and scientific description of
^^hich I must refer to the Flora Virginica of our great
ootanist, Dr. Clayton, published by Gronovius at
l^yden, in 1762. This accurate observer was a
Native and resident of this State, passed a long life in
exploring and describing its plants, and is supposed
Vi have enlarged the botanical catalogue as much as
almost any man who has lived.
I
54 Jefferson's Works
Besides these plants, which are native, our farms
produce wheat, rye, barley, oats, buck-wheat, broom
com, and Indian com. The climate suits rice well
enough, wherever the lands do. Tobacco, hemp,
flax, and cotton, are staple commodities. Indigo
yields two cuttings. The silk-worm is a native, and
the mulberry, proper for its food, grows kindly.
We cultivate, also, potatoes, both the long and the^
round, tumips, carrots, parsnips, pumpkins, and
ground nuts (Arachis). Our grasses are lucerne, st -^.
foin, bumet, timothy, ray, and orchard grass; rpH M_
white, and yellow clover; greensward, blue gra.sg- — ;,
and crab grass.
The gardens yield musk-melons, water-melon^^ss,
tomatoes, okra, pomegranates, figs, and the esculert: — it
plants of Europe.
The orchards produce apples, pears, cherrie:^^^^,
quinces, peaches, nectarines, apricots, almonds, am
plums.
Our quadrupeds have been mostly described 1
Linnffius and Mons. de Buffon. Of these the mair ^^i>
moth, or big buffalo, as called by the Indians, mu^ciist
certainly have been the largest. Their tradition - is,
that he was carnivorous, and still exists in the nort^^ft-
ern parts of America, A delegation of warriors frcn^vn
the Delaware tribe having visited the Governor of
Virginia, during the revolution, on matters of bii-=s/-
ness, after these had been discussed and settled
council, the Governor asked them some questioiis
relative to their country, and among others, what
Notes on Virginia 55
l-lhey knew or had heard of the animal whose bones
B-Were found at the SaltHcks on the Ohio. Their
iief speaker immediately put himself into an atti-
tude of oratory, and with a pomp suited to what he
nnceived the elevation of his subject, informed him
3iat it was a tradition handed down from their
Lthers, "That in ancient times a herd of these tre-
mendous animals came to the Big-bone licks, and
began an universal destruction of the bear, deer, elks,
buffaloes, and other animals which had been created
for the use of the Indians ; that the Great Man above,
looking down and seeing this, was so enraged that he
seized his lightning, descended on the earth, seated
himseif on a neighboring mountain, on a rock of
"which his seat and the print of his feet are still to be
seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole
■were slaughtered, except the big bull, who present-
ing his forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they
fell; but missing one at length, it wounded him in
the side; whereon, springing round, he bounded over
the Ohio, over the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally
over the great lakes, where he is living at this day."
It is well known, that on the Ohio, and in many parts
of America further north, tusks, grinders, and skele-
tons of unparalleled magnitude, are found in great
I .ntimbers, some lying on the surface of the earth, and
ne a little below it. A Mr. Stanley, taken prisoner
■ the mouth of the Tennessee, relates, that after
eing transferred through several tribes, from one
Vifi another, he was at length carried over the moun-
Jefferson's Works
tains west of the Missouri to a river which runs west-
wardly; that these bones abounded there, and that
the natives described to him the animal to which they
belonged as still existing in the northern parts of
their country; from which description he judged it
to be an elephant. Bones of the same kind have
been lately found, some feet below the surface of the
earth, in salines opened on the North Holston, a
branch of the Tennessee, about the latitude of 365^"
north. From the accoimts published in Europe, I
suppose it to be decided that these are of the same
kind with those found in Siberia. Instances are
mentioned of like animal remains found in the more
southern climates of both hemispheres ; but they are
either so loosely mentioned as to leave a doubt of
the fact, so inaccurately described as not to author-
ize the classing them with the great northern bones,
or so rare as to found a suspicion that they have
been carried thither as curiosities from the northern
regions. So that, on the whole, there seem to be
no certain vestiges of the existence of this animal
farther south than the salines just mentioned. It is
remarkable that the tusks and skeletons have been
ascribed by the naturalists of Europe to the elephant,
while the grinders have been given to the hippopota-
mus, or river horse. Yet it is acknowledged, that
the tusks and skeletons are much larger than those
of the elephant, and the grinders many times greater
than those of the hippopotamus, and essentially
different in form. Wherever these grinders are
a
Notes on Virginia 57
found, there also we find the tusks and skeleton; but
no skeleton of the hippopotamus nor grinders of the
elephant. It will not be said that the hippopotamus
and elephant came always to the same spot, the
former to deposit his grinders, and the latter his
tusks and skeleton. For what became of the parts
not deposited there ? We must agree then, that
these remains belong to each other, that they are of
one and the same animal, that this was not a hippo-
fwtamus, because the hippopotamus had no tusks,
nor such a frame, and because the grinders differ in
their size as well as in the number and form of their
points. That this was not an elephant, I think
ascertained by proofs equally decisive. I will not
avail myself of the authority of the celebrated' anat-
omist, who, from an examination of the form and
structure of the tusks, has declared they were essen-
tially different from those of the elephant; because
another" anatomist, equally celebrated, has declared,
on a like examination, that they are precisely the
same. Between two such authorities I will suppose
this circumstance equivocal. But, i. The skeleton
of the mammoth (for so the incognitum has been
called) bespeaks an animal of five or six times the
cubic volume of the elephant, as Mens, de Bufion
lias admitted. 2. The grinders are five times as
large, are square, and the grinding surface studded
with four or five rows of blunt points ; whereas those
58
Jefferson's Works
their erind^
of the elephant are broad and thin, and their grind
ing surface flat. 3. I have never heard an instance,
and suppose there has been none, of the grinder of an
elephant being found in America. 4. From the
known temperature and constitution of the elephant,
he could never have existed in those regions where
the remains of the mammoth have been found. The
elephant is a native only of the torrid zone and its
vicinities; if, with the assistance of warm apart-
ments and warm clothing, he has been preserved in
the temperate climates of Eurojje, it has only been
for a small portion of what would have been his nat-
ural period, and no instance of his multiplication in
them has ever been known. But no bones of the
mammoth, as I have before observed, have been
ever found further south than the salines of Holston,
and they have been found as far north as the Arctic
circle. Those, therefore, who are of opinion that
the elephant and mammoth are the same, must be-
lieve, I. That the elephant known to us can exist
and multiply in the frozen zone; or, 2. That an
eternal fire may once have warmed those regions,
and since abandoned them, of which, however, the
globe exhibits no imequivocal indications; or, 3. That
the obliquity of the ecliptic, when these elephants
lived, was so great as to include within the tropics
all those regions in which the bones are foimd; the
tropics being, as is before observed, the natural
limits of habitation for the elephant. But if it be
admitted that this obliquity has really decreased,
Notes on Virginia 59
rand we adopt the highest rate of decrease yet pre-
Jtended, that is, of one minute in a century, to trans-
I fer the northern tropic to the Arctic circle, would
licarry the existence of these supposed elephants two
hundred and fifty thousand years back; a period
r beyond our conception of the duration of animal
Itwnes less exposed to the open air than these are in
Siany instances. Besides, though these regions
|:Would then be supposed within the tropics, yet their
winters would have been too severe for the sensibil-
ity of the elephant. They would have had, too, but
one day and one night in the year, a circumstance to
which we have no reason to suppose the nature of
the elephant fitted. However, it has been demon-
strated, that, if a variation of obliquity in the ecliptic
takes place at all, it is vibratory, and never exceeds
the limits of nine degrees, which is not sufficient
to bring these bones within the tropics. One of
these hypotheses, or some other equally voluntary
and inadmissible to cautious philosophy, must be
adopted to support the opinion that these are the
Elbones of the elephant. For my own part. I find it
easier to believe that an animal may have existed,
resembling the elephant in his tusks, and general
anatomy, while his nature was in other respects
extremely different. From the 30th degree of
south latitude to the 30th degree of north, are nearly
the limits which nature has fixed for the existence
and multiplication of the elephant known to us.
Proceeding thence northwardly to 36J4 degrees, we
Jefferson's Works
enter those assigned to the mammoth. The farther
we advance north, the more their vestiges multiply
as far as the earth has been explored in that direction ;
and it is as probable as otherwise, that this progres-
sion continues to the pole itself, if land extends so
far. The centre of the frozen zone, then, may be
the acm6 of their vigor, as that of the torrid is of the
elephant. Thus nature seems to have drawn a belt
of separation between these two tremendous ani-
mals, whose breadth, indeed, is not precisely known,
though at present we may suppose it about 6J^ de-
grees of latitude; to have assigned to the elephant
the region south of these confines, and those north
to the mammoth, founding the constitution of the
one in her extreme of heat, and that of the other in
the extreme of cold. When the Creator has therefore
separated their nature as far as the extent of the
scale of animal life allowed to this planet would
permit, it seems perverse to declare it the same, from
a partial resemblance of their tusks and bones. But
to whatever animal we ascribe these remains, it is
certain such a one has existed in America, and that it
hasbcen the largest of all terrestrial beings. It should
have sufficed to have rescued the earth it inhabited,
and the atmosphere it breathed, from the imputa-
tion of impotence in the conception and nourishment
of animal life on a large scale; to have stifled, in its
birth, the opinion of a writer, the most learned, too,
of all others in the science of animal history, that
in the new world, " La nature vivante est beaucoup
A
Notes on Virginia 6i
moins agissante, beaucoup moins forte :"^ that
nature is less active, less energetic on one side of the
globe than she is on the other. As if both sides
were not warmed by the same genial stm; as if a
soil of the same chemical composition was less capa-
ble of elaboration into animal nutriment; as if the
fruits and grains from that soil and sun yielded a
less rich chyle, gave less extension to the solids and
fluids of the body, or produced sooner in the carti-
lages, membranes, and fibres, that rigidity which
restrains all further extension, and terminates
animal growth. The truth is, that a pigmy and a
Patagonian, a mouse and a mammoth, derive their
dimensions from the same nutritive juices. The
difference of increment depends on circumstances
unsearchable to beings with our capacities. Every
race of animals seems to have received from their
Maker certain laws of extension at the time of their
formation. Their elaborate organs were formed to
produce this, while proper obstacles were opposed
to its further progress. Below these limits they
cannot fall, nor rise above them. What interme-
diate station they shall take may depend on soil, on
climate, on food, on a careful choice of breeders.
But all the manna of heaven would never raise the
mouse to the bulk of the mammoth.
The opinion advanced by the Count de Buffon,^
is I. That the animals common both to the old and
^Btiffon, xviii. 112 edit. Paris, 1764.
'Buffon, xviii. 100, 156.
fia Jefferson's Works
new world are smaller in the latter. 2. That those
peculiar to the new are on a smaller scale. 3. That
those which have been domesticated in both have
degenerated in America; and 4. That on the whole
it exhibits fewer species. And the reason he thinks
is, that the heats of America are less; that more
waters are spread over its surface by nature, and
fewer of these drained off by the hand of man. In
other words, that heat is friendly, and moisture ad-
verse to the production and development of lar^e
quadrupeds. I will not meet this hypothesis on its
first doubtful ground, whether the climate of Amer-
ica be comparatively more humid ? Because we
are not furnished with observations sufficient to
decide this question. And though, till it be decided,
we are as free to deny as others are to affirm the
fact, yet for a moment let it be supposed. The
hypothesis, after this supposition, jjroceeds to an-
other; that moisture is unfriendly to animal growth.
The truth of this is inscrutable to us by reasonings
a priori. Nature has hidden from us her modus
agcndi. Our only appeal on such questions is to
experience; and I think that experience is against
the supposition. It is by the assistance of heat and
moisture that vegetables are elaborated from the
elements of earth, air, water, and fire. We accord-
ingly see the more humid climates produce the
greater quantity of vegetables. Vegetables are
mediately or immediately the food of every ani-
mal; and in proportion to the quantity of food, we
Notes on Virginia 63
see animals not only multiplied in their niimbers,
but improved in their bulk, as far as the laws of
their nature will admit. Of this opinion is the
Count de Buffon himself in another part of his
work;' "en general il paroit ques les pays un peu
froids conviennent mieux h. nos boeufs que Ics pays
chauds, et qu'ils sont d'autant plus gross et plus
grands que le climat est plus humide et plus abon-
dans en paturages. Les boeufs de Danemarck, de
la Podolie, de 1 'Ulkraine et de la Tartarie qu habitent
les Calniouques sont les plus grands de tous." Here
then a race of animals, and one of the largest too,
has been increased in its dimensions by cold and
moisture, in direct .opposition to the hypothesis,
which supposes that these two circumstances dimin-
ish animal bulk, and that it is their contraries heat
and dryness which enlarge it. But when we appeal
to experience we are not to rest satisfied with a
single fact. Let us, therefore, try our question on
more general ground. Let us take two portions of
the earth, Europe and America for instance, suffi-
ciently extensive to give operation to general causes;
let us consider the circumstances peculiar to each,
and observe their effect on animal natiu-e. Amer-
ica, running through the torrid as well as temperate
zone, has more heat collectively taken, than Europe.
But Europe, according to our hypothesis, is the
dryest. They are equally adapted then to animal
productions: each being endowed with one of those
causes which befriends animal growth, and with one
Jefferson's Works
which opposes it. If it be thought uneqxial to com-
pare Europe with America, which is so much larger,
I answer, not more so than to compare America with
the whole world. Besides, the purpose of the com-
parison is to try an hypothesis, which makes the
size of animals depend on the heat and moisture of
climate. If, therefore, we take a region so extensive
as to comprehend a sensible distinction of climate,
and so extensive, too, as that local accidents, or the
intercourse of animals on its borders, may not mate-
rially affect the size of those in its interior parts, we
shall comply with those conditions which the hypoth-
esis may reasonably demand. The objection would
be the weaker in the present case, because any inter-
covu^e of animals which may take place on the con-
fines of Europe and Asia, is to the advantage of the
former, Asia producing certainly larger animals
than Europe. Let us then take a comparative view
of the quadrupeds of Europe and America, present-
ing them to the eye in three different tables, in one
of which shall be enumerated those found in both
countries; in a second, those found in one only;
in a third, those which have been domesticated in
both. To facilitate the comparison, let those of each
table be arranged in gradation according to their
sizes, from the greatest to the smallest, so far as
their sizes can be conjectured. The weights of the
large animals shall be expressed in the English
avoirdupois and its decimals ; those of the smaller,
in the same ounce and its decimals. Those which
Notes on Virginia 6$
are marked thus *, are actual weights of particular
subjects, deemed among the largest of their species.
Those marked thus t» are ftimished by judicious
persons, well acquainted with the species, and say-
ing, from conjecture only, what the largest individ-
ual they had seen would probably have weighed.
The other weights are taken from Messrs. Buffon and
D'Aubenton, and are of such subjects as came casu-
ally to their hands for dissection. This circtun-
stance must be remembered where their weights and
mine stand opposed; the latter being stated not to
produce a conclusion in favor of the American
species, but to justify a suspension of opinion until
we are better informed, and a suspicion, in the mean-
time, that there is no uniform difference in favor of
either; which is all I pretend. .
A comparative view of the Quadrupeds of Europe and
of America.
I. ABORIGINALS OF BOTH .
Europe. America,
lb. lb.
Mammoth
Buflfalo. Bison
White Bear. Ours blanc
Carribou. Renne
Bear. Ours 153
Elk. Elan. Original palmated
Red deer. Cerf 288
Fallow Deer. Daim 167
Wolf. Loup 69
Roe. Chevreuil 56
Glutton. Glouton. Carcajou
Wild cat. Chat sauvage
Lyiui. Loup cervier 25
VOL. II — 5
♦1800
♦410
8 *2Tz
o ....
o • • . .
/ • • • •
t30
• • • •
Beaver. Castor
Badger, filaireau 13
Red fox. Renard 13 .
Gray £ox. Isatis
Otter. Loutre
Monax. Mannotte ..
ViBon. Fouine
Hedgehog. Herisson
Marten. Marte
Water rat. Rat d'eau
Weasel. Belette
Flying squirrel, Polatooche .
Shrew mouse, Musaraigne. . . .
ii, aboriginals of one only.
Europe. Aubkica.
Sanglter. Wild boar . . .
Mouflon, Wild sheep . .
Bouquetin. Wild goat .
Lievre, Hare .........
Lapin, Rabbit
Putois. Polecat
Genette
Desman, Muskrat
Ecureuil. Squirrel
Hermine. Errain
Rat. Rat _.
Lerot, Dormouse
Taupe. Mole
Hampster
Tapir
Elk, round homed
Jaguar
Cabi^
Tamanoir
Tammandua
Cougar of North -America ,
Cougar of South-America.
Ocelot
Jaguaret
Alco
Paco
Paca
Sloth, Unau
Saricovienne
Tatou Kabasaou
Ureon, Urchin
46.3
43-6
3'-7
Notes on Virginia
67
America.
Raccoon. Raton
Coati
Coendou
Sloth. Ai
Sapajou Ouarini
Sapajou Coaita
Tatou Encubert
Tatou Apar
Tatou Cachica
Little Coendou
Opossum. Sarigu
Tapeti
Margay
Crabier
Agouti
Sapajou S^
Tatou Cirquinjon
Tatou Tatouate
Mouffette Squash
Mouffette Chinche
Mouffette Conepate
Scunk
Mouffette. Zorilla
Whabus. Hare. Rabbit.
Aperea
Akouchi
Ondatra. Muskrat
Pilori
Great gray squirrel
Fox squirrel of Virginia, .f
Surikate
Mink
Sapajou. Sajou
Indian pig. Cochon d'Inde
Sapajou Salmiri
Phalanger
Coqualain
Lesser gray squirrel
Black squirrel
Red squirrel
lb.
16.5
• • ■ •
16.3
13.
• * • •
9.8
7.
6.5
4. a
3.5
• • •
3-3
t2.7
2.625
a.
1.8
1.6
1-5
U-S
ti-S
lO.OZ.
6$
Jefferson's Works
Ambsica.
Sagoin Saki
Sagoin Pinche
Sagoin Tamarin
Sagoin Ouistiti
Sagoin Maraldne
Sagoin Mico
Cayopollin
Founnillier
Marmose
Sarigue of Cayenne
Tucan
Red mole 02.
Ground squirrel 4
4-4
III. DOMESTICATED IN BOTH.
Cow . .
Horse.
Ass.. .
Hog .
Sheep.
Ouat .
Dog.
C^at . . .
Buropc
lb.
765
67
7
America,
lb.
♦2500
♦1366
*I200
"5
*8o
I have not inserted in the first table the Phoca,*
nor leather- winged bat, because the one living
liulf the year in the water, and the other being a
wingiHl animal, the individuals of each species may
vwit U>th continents.
Ml ii* tMiid that this animal is seldom seen above thirty miles from
^hiJf^. i*r Ujyond the 56th degree of latitude. The interjacent islands
Wiw«^ A«ia and America admit his passing from one continent to
ill^ ulHw without exceeding these bounds. And in fact, travelers
Ml mi IIkiI ihMf^ islands are places of principal resort for them, and
^9§0Mhf te ^^ weaMoa of bringing forth their yoiing.
Notes on Virginia 69
Of the animals in the first table, Monsieur de Buf-
fon himself informs us, [XXVII, 130, XXX. 213,]
that the beaver, the otter, and shrew mouse, though
of the same species, are larger in America than in
Europe. This should therefore have corrected the
generality of his expressions, XVIII. 145, and else-
where, that the animals common to the two coun-
tries, are considerably less in America than in
Europe, **et cela sans aucune exception.'' He tells
tis too, [Quadrup. VIII. 334, edit. Paris, 1777,] that
on examining a bear from America, he remarked no
difference, "dans la forme de cet ours d'Amerique
compar6 a celui d 'Europe," but adds from Bartram's
journal, that an American bear weighed four hun-
dred potmds, English, equal to three hundred and
si:xty-seven pounds French; whereas we find the
European bear examined by Mons. D'Aubenton,
PCVII. 82,] weighed but one himdred and forty-one
pounds French. That the palmated elk is larger
1^ America than in Etirope, we are informed by
Kalm,* a naturalist, who visited the former by
public appointment, for the express ptirpose of
examining the subjects of natural history. In this
Wt Pennant conctirs with him. [Barrington's Mis-
cellanies.] The same Kalm tells us' that the black
nioose, or renne of America, is as high as a tall horse;
and Catesby ,' that it is about the bigness of a middle-
*I. 233. Lon. 1772.
' lb. 233.
It ••
70
Jefferson's Works
sized ox. The same accoimt of their size has been
given me by many who have seen them. But Mon-
sieur D'Aubenton says' that the renne of Europe is
about the size of a red deer. The weasel is larger!
in America than in Europe, as may be seen by com-
paring its dimensions as reported by Monsieur D'Au-
benton' and Kalm. The latter tells us,' that the
lynx, badger, red fox, and flying squirrel, are the same
in America as in Europe; by which expression I
understand, they are the same in all material cir-
cumstances, in size as well as others ; for if they were]
smaller, they would differ from the European,
gray fox is, by Catesby's account,' little different in
size and shape from the European fox. I jjresunie
he means the red fox of Europe, as does Kalm. where
he says,' that in size "they do not quite come up to
our foxes." For proceeding next to the red fox of
America, he says, "they are entirely the same with
the European sort;" which shows he had in view
one European sort only, which was the red. So that
the result of their testimony is, that the American
gray fox is somewhat less than the European red;
which is equally true of the gray fox of Europe, as
may be seen by comparing the measures of the
Coimt de Buffon and Monsieur D'Aubenton.* The
' XXIV. 161.
■ XV. 41.
'I. 359- 1.48. "I, aS'- II- S».
MI. 78.
• I, 310.
• XXVII. 63. XIV. 1 19. Harris, II. 387. Buffon. Quad.
cir-
jveredH
OurH
I
Notes on Virginia 7^
white bear of America is as large as that of Eurcpe.
The bones of the mammoth which has been found
in America, are as large as those found in the old
world. It may be asked, why 1 insert the mam-
moth, as if it still existed? I ask in return, why I
should omit it, as if it did not exist? Such is the
economy of nature, that no instance can be produced,
of her having permitted any one race of her animals
to become extinct; of her having formed any link
in her great work so weak as to be broken. To add
to this, the traditionary testimony of the Indians,
that this animal still exists in the northern and
western parts of America, would be adding the light
of a taper to that of the meridian smi. Those parts
still remain in their aboriginal state, unexplored and
undisturbed by us, or by others for us. He may as
well exist there now, as he did formerly where we
find his bones. If he be a carnivorous animal, as
some anatomists have conjectured, and the Indians
affirm, his early retirement may be accounted for
from the general destruction of the wild game by
the Indians, which commences in the first instant
of their connection with us, for the purpose of pur-
chasing match-coats, hatchets, and fire-locks, with
their skins. There remain then the buffalo, red
deer, fallow deer, wolf, roe, glutton, wild cat, monax,
bison, hedgehog, marten, and water-rat, of the com-
parative sizes of which we have not sufficient testi-
mony. It does not appear that Messieurs de Buffon
and D'Aubenton have measured, weighed, or seen
72 Jefferson's Works
those of America. It is said of some of them, by
some travellers, that they are smaller tlian the Euro-
pean. But who were these travellers? Have they
not been men of a very different description from
those who have laid open to us the other three quar-
ters of the world? Was natural history the object
of their travels? Did they measure or weigh the
animals they speak of? or did they not judge of
them by sight, or perhaps even from report only?
Were they acquainted with the animals of their own
country, with which they undertake to compare
them? Have they not been so ignorant as often
to mistake the species ? A true answer to these
questions would probably lighten their authority,
so as to render it insufficient for the foundation of
an hypothesis. How unripe we yet are, for an accu-
rate comparison of the animals of the two countries,
will appear from the work of Monsieur de Buffon.
The ideas we should have formed of the sizes of
some animals, from the formation he had received
at his first publications concerning them, are very
different from what his subsequent commimications
give us. And indeed his candor in this can never
be too much praised. One sentence of his book
must do him immortal honor. " J'aime autant une
personne qui me releve d'une erreur, qu'une autre
qui m'apprend une verity, parce qu'en effet une
erreur corrig^e est une verity." ' He seems to have
thought the cabiai he first examined wanted little
'Quad. IX. 158.
Notes on Virginia 73
of its full growth. " II n'etoit pas encore tout-k-fait
adulte."* Yet he weighed but forty-six and a half
pKDunds, and he found afterwards,' that these ani-
mals, when full grown, weigh one hundred pounds.
He had supposed, from the examination of a jaguar,'
said to be two years old, which weighed but sixteen
pounds twelve ounces, that when he should have
acquired his full growth, he would not be larger than
a middle-sized dog. But a subsequent account*
raises his weight to two hundred pounds. Further
information will, doubtless, produce further correc-
tions. The wonder is, not that there is yet some-
thing in this great work to correct, but that there
is so little. The result of this view then is, that of
twenty-six quadrupeds common to both countries,
seven are said to be larger in America, seven of
equal size, and twelve not sufficiently examined.
So that the first table impeaches the first member
of the assertion, that of the animals common to
both countries, the American are smallest, *'et cela
sans auctme exception." It shows it is not just, in
all the latitude in which its author has advanced it,
and probably not to such a degree as to found a dis-
tinction between the two coimtries.
Proceeding to the second table, which arranges
the animals found in one of the two countries only.
Monsieur de Buffon observes, that the tapir, the
• XXV. 184.
• Quad. IX. 132.
» XIX. 2.
• Quad. IX. 41.
74
Jefferson's Works
elephant of America, is but of the size of a small cow.
To preserve our comparison, I will add, that the wild
boar, the elephant of Europe, is little more than half
that size. I have made an elk with round or cylin-
drical horns an animal of America, and peculiar to
it; because I have seen many of them myself, and
more of their horns; and because I can say, from
the best information, that, in Virginia, this kind
of elk has abounded much, and still exists in smaller
numbers; and I could never learn that the palmated
kind had been seen here at all. I suppose this con-
fined to the more northern latitudes." I have made
' The descriptions of Theodat, Denys and La Honton, cited by Mon-
sieur de BufTon. under the article Elan, authorize the supposition, that
the flat-homed elk is found in the northern parts of America. It has
not however extended to our latitudes. On the other hand. I could
never learn that the round-horned elk has been seen further north th«B
the Hudson's river. This agrees with the former elk in its general
character, being, like that, when compared with a deer, very much
larger, its ears longer, broader, and thicker in proportion, its hair much
longer, neck and tail shorter, having a dewlap before the breast {carun-
cula gutturalis Linnsei) a white spot often, if not always, of a foot
diameter, on the binder part of the buttocks round the tail; its gait
a trot, and attended with a rattling of the hoofs: but distinguished
from that decisively by its horns, which arc not palmated. but round
and pointed. This is the animal described by Catesby as the Cervus
major Americanus, the stag of America, le Cerf de TAm^rique. But
it differs from the Cervus as totally as does the palmated elk from the
dama. And in fact it seems to stand in the same relation to the
palmated elk. as the red deer docs to the fallow. It has abounded
in Virginia, has been seen, within my knowledse, on the eastern
side of the Blue Ridge since the year 1765, is now common beyond
those mountains, has been often brought to us and tamed, and its
horns are in the hands of many. I should designate it as the "Alces
Americantts comibus teredbus." It were to be wished, that natural-
ists, who are acquainted with the renne and elk of Europe, and who
A
Notes on Virginia 75
our hare or rabbit peculiar, believing it to be differ-
ent from both the European animals of those denom-
inations, and calling it therefore by its Algonquin
name, Whabus, to keep it distinct from these.
Kalm is of the same opinion,' I have enumerated
the squirrels according to our own knowledge, de-
rived from daily sight of them, because I am not
able to reconcile with that the European appellations
and descriptions. I have heard of other species,
but they have never come within my own notice.
These, I think, are the only instances in which I
have departed from the authority of Monsievir de
Buffon in the construction of this table. I take
liim for my ground work, because I think him the
may hereafter visit the northern parts of America, would examine
irdi the animals called there by the names of gray and black moose,
caribou, original and elfc. Monsieur de BuiTon has done what could
be done from the materials in his hands, toward clearing up the con-
fusion introduced by the loose application ot these names among the
animals they are meant to designate. He reduces the whole to the
renne and flat-homed elk. From all the information I have been able
to collect. I strongly suspect they will be found to cover three, if not
four distinct species of animals. I have seen skins of a moose, and
o( the caribou: they differ more from each other, and from that of the
round-horned elk. than I ever saw two skins differ which belonged to
different individuals of any wild species. These differences are in
Ihe color, length, and coarseness of the hair, and in the size, texture,
and marks ot the skin. Perhaps it will be found that there is, i, the
moose, black and gray, the former being said to be the male, and the
latter the female; a, the caribou or renne; 3, the flat-horned elk, or
original; 4, the round-homed elk. Should this last, though possessing
W nearly the characters of the elk. be found to be the same with the
Cerf d' Ardennes or Brandhitz ot Germany, still there will remain the
three species first enumerated,
' Kalm II, 340, I. 83.
76
Jefferson's Works
best informed of any naturalist who has ever written.
The result is, that there are eighteen quadrupeds
peculiar to Europe ; more than four times as many,
to wit, seventy-four, peculiar to America; that the
first' of these seventy-four weighs more than the
whole column of Europeans; and consequently this
second table disproves the second member of the
assertion, that the animals peculiar to the new
world are on a smaller scale, so far as that assertion
relied on European animals for support; and it is in
full opposition to the theorj' which makes the animal
volume to depend on the circumstances of heat and
moisture.
The third table comprehends those quadrupeds
only which are domestic in both countries. That
some of these, in some parts of America, have be-
come less than their original stock, is doubtless true;
and the reason is very obvious. In a thinly-peopled
country, the spontaneous productions of the forests,
and waste fields, are sufficient to support indiffer-
ently the domestic animals of the farmer, with a
' The Tapir is the largest of the animals peculiar to America. I
collect his weight thus: Monsieur de Buffon says, XXIII. 874, that
he is o( the size of a Zebu, or a. small cow. He gives us the measures
of a Zebu, ib. 4. as taken by himself, \iz, five feet seven inches from
the muzzle to tlie root of the tail, and five feet one inch circumference
behind the fore-legs. A bull, measuring in the same way sijc feet nine
inches and five feet two inches, weighed six hundred pounds, VIII. ijj.
The Zebu then, and of course the Tapir, would weigh about five hun-
dred pounds. But one individual of every species of European pecu-
liars would probably weigh less than tour hundred pounds. These lire
French measures and weights.
Notes on Virginia 77
very little aid from him, in the severest and scarcest
season. He therefore finds it more convenient to
receive them from the hand of nature in that indiffer-
ent state, than to keep up their size by a care and
nourishment which would cost him much labor. If,
on this low fare, these animals dwindle, it is no more
than they do in those parts of Europe where the
jxjverty of the soil, or the poverty of the owner,
reduces them to the same scanty subsistence. It is
the uniform effect of one and the same cause, whether
acting on this or that side of the globe. It would be
erring, therefore, against this rule of philosophy,
which teaches us to ascribe like effects to like causes,
should we impute this diminution of size in America
to any imbecility or want of uniformity in the oper-
ations of nature. It may be affirmed with truth,
that, in those countries, and with those individuals
in America, where necessity or curiosity has pro-
duced equal attention, as in Europe, to the nourish-
ment of animals, the horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs,
of the one continent are as large as those of the
other. There are particular instances, well attested,
where individuals of this country have imported
good breeders from England, and have improved
iheir size by care in the course of some j'ears. To
make a fair comparison between the two countries,
it will not answer to bring together animals of what
might be deemed the middle or ordinary size of
their species; because an error in judging of that
middle or ordinary size, would vary the result of
Jefferson's Works
the comparison. Thus Mons. D'Aubenton' consid-
ers a horse of 4 feet 5 inches high and 400 lb.
weight French, equal to 4 feet 8.6 inches and 436 lb.
English, as a middle-sized horse. Such a one is
deemed a small horse in America, The extremes
must therefore be resorted to. The same anatomist'
dissected a horse of 5 feet 9 inches height, French
measure, equal to 6 feet 1.7 English. This is near
6 inches higher than any horse I have seen; and
could it be supposed that I had seen the largest
horses in America, the conclusion would be, that
ours have diminished, or that we have bred from a
smaller stock. In Connecticut and Rhode Island,
where the climate is favorable to the production of
grass, bullocks have been slaughtered which weighed
2,500, 2,200, and 2,100 lbs. nett; and those of 1,800
lbs. have been frequent. I have seen a hog* weigh
1,050 lbs. after the blood, bowels, and hair had been
taken from him. Before he was killed, an attempt
was made to weigh him with a pair of steel yards,
graduated to 1,200 lbs., but he weighed more. Yet
this hog was probably not within fifty generations
of the European stock. I am well informed of
another which weighed 1,100 lbs. gross. Asses have
been still more neglected than any other domestic
animal in America. They are neither fed nor
housed in the most rigorous season of the year. Vet
' VII. 43=
• VII. 474.
* In WilUainsburg, April, 1769.
J
I
Notes on Virginia 79
they are larger than those measured by Mons. D'Au-
'benton,' of 3 feet 7J4 inches, 3 feet 4 inches, and 3
feet 2)4 inches, the latter weighing only 215.8 lbs.
These sizes, I suppose, have been produced by the
same negligence in Euroije, which has produced a
like diminution here. Where care has been taken
of them on that side of the water, they have been
raised to a size bordering on that of the horse; not
by the heat and dryness of the climate, but by good
food and shelter. Goats have been also much neg-
lected in America. Yet they are very prolific here,
bearing twice or three times a year, and from one to
five kids at a birth. Mons. de Buffon has been sen-
sible of a difference in this circumstance in favor of
America.* But what are their greatest weights, I
cannot say, A large sheep here weighs 100 lbs. I
observe Mons. D'Aubenton calls a ram of 62 lbs. one
of the middle size.' But to say what are the extremes
of growth in these and the other domestic animals
of America, would require information of which no
one individual is possessed. The weights actually
known and stated in the third table preceding will
suffice to show, that we may conclude on probable
grounds, that, with equal food and care, the climate
of America will preserve the races of domestic
animals as large as the European stock from which
Hiey are derived ; and, consequently, that the third
•VIII. 48. 55, 66.
• XVIII. 96.
Jefferson's Works
member of Mons. de Buffon's assertion that the
domestic animals are subject to degeneration from
the climate of America, is as probably wrong as the
first and second were certainly so.
That the last part of it is erroneous, which affirms
that the species of American quadrupeds are com-
paratively few, is evident from the tables taken
together. By these it appears that there are an
hundred species aboriginal in America. Mons. de
Buffon supposes about double that number existing
on the whole earth.' Of these Europe, Asia, and
Africa, furnish sup]X>se one hundred and twenty-
six; that is, the twenty-six common to Europe and
America, and about one hundred which are not in
America at all. The American species, then, are to
those of the rest of the earth, as one hundred to one
hundred and twenty-six, or four to five. But the
residue of the earth being double the extent of Amer-
ica, the exact proportion would have been but as
four to eight.
Hitherto I have considered this hypothesis as
applied to brute animals only, and not in its exten-
sion to the man of America, whether aboriginal or
transplanted. It is the opinion of Mons, de Biiffon
that the former furnishes no exception to it.'
"Quoique le sauva^e du nouvcau monde soil ^ peu pr£s de m^rne
ftatureqiie rhomme de nutre monde, cela ne suffit pas pourqu'il puisse
faire une exception au fait g^iiiral durapetisseinent dela nature vivante
dans tout cecontiD<3)ti lesauvageest foible et petit paries orsanesde
' XXX. 219-
'XVIII. 146.
i
Notes on Virginia
U gln6ra.tioti: il n'ani poi!, ni barbe, and nulle ardeur pour sa f«tielte.
Quoique plus Ifger que I'Europ^en, parce qu'il a plus d'habitude k
courir, LI est cependant beaucoup moins fort de corps; i! est aussi bien
moins sensible, et cependant plus craintif et plus lAchc; il n'a nulle
i-ii'aciti.u-iille activity dans rarpe:celleducorpH est moins un exercise, un
raouvetnent volontaire <iu'une n^cessitf d'action causae par le bcsoin;
dt«zluiIafaiaietlasaif,vousdetruirezen inline terns le principe actif de
tous sps mouvemens : il demeurera stu pi dement en repos sur ses jambes
ou coucM pendant des jours entiers. II ne faut pas aller chercher plus
loin i cause de la vie disperse des sativagcs et de leur ^loignement
pour la society; la plus prfcteuse ^tincelle du feu de la nature leur a
ftirefusee: i]snianf|ucnt d'ardeurpourteurfemelle, et par consequent
d'amaur pour leur semblables; ne connoissant pas Tattachment le
plus vif, le plus tendre de tous, leurs autres sentimens de ce genre,
mnl froids et languissans; ila aiment foiblemcnt leurs p^res et leurs
enfans: la sodfti la plus intime de toutes, celle de la m^me famille,
n'B done chez eux que de foibles liens: lasocift^ d'une famille il I'autre
n'enapmnt de tout; d^s lors nulle reunion, nulle rfpubUc|ue, nulle ^tat
(odal. La physique de I'amour fait chez eux le moral des mceurs;
lenrcnur est glac^. leur soci^-tf- et leur empire dur, lis ne regardent
leurs temmesquecomme des servantes de peine ou des bfites de somme
qn'ils chargent, sans management, du fardeau de leur chasse, et qu'ils
foTtent.sans pilii^. sans reconnaissance. 4 des ouvrages qui souvent sont
»o dessus de leurs forces; ils n'ont que pcu d'enfans; ils en ont peu de
sain; tmit se ressent de leur premier defaut ; ils sont indifff rents parce
qu'ils sont peu puissants. et cette indifFerence pour le sexe est la tache
'Tigitielle qui flftrit la nature, qui I'cmpeche de s'^panouir. et qui de-
truisant les germes de la vie, coupe en m6me temps la racine de sod£tj.
L'taijinme ne fait done point d'eiceptionici. La nature en lui reCusant
Ih puissances de ramour I'a plus maltrait^ et plus rapetissf qu'aucun
An afflicting picture, indeed, which for the honor
of human nature, I am glad to believe has no original.
Of the Indian of South America I know nothing; for,
I would not honor with the appellation of knowledge,
what I derive from the fables published of them.
These I believe to be just as true as the fables of
.-Esop. This belief is founded on what I have seen
^H of mai
^H writtei
Jefferson's Works
of man, white, red, and black, and what has been
■written of him by authors, enlightened themselves,
and writing among an enlightened people. The
Indian of North America being more within oiir
reach, I can speak of him somewhat from ray own
knowledge, but more from the information of others
better acquainted with him, and on whose truth
and judgment I can rely. From these sources I am
able to say, in contradiction to this representation,
that he is neither more defective in ardor, nor more
impotent with his female, than the white reduced
to the same diet and exercise ; that he is brave, when
an enterprise depends on bravery; education with
him making the point of honor consist in the destruc-
tion of an enemy by stratagem, and in the preser-
vation of his own person free from injury; or, per-
haps, this is nature, while it is education which
teaches us to' honor force more than finesse; that
he will defend himself against a host of enemies,
always choosing to be killed, rather than to surren-
der,' though it be to the whites, who he knows wili
' Sol Rodomonle spre«za di venire
Senon, dove la viamenofi ficura. — AmoSTo, 14, iiy.
' In so judicious an author as Don Ulloa, and one to whom we are
indebted for the most precise information we have of South America.
I did not expect to find such assertions as the following: " Los Indios
vencidos son los mas cobardes y pusilanimea que se peuden v6r: Se
bacen nflctntes, le humillan hasta el desprecio, discuipan su idcoq-
siderado arrojo, y con las suplicas y los megos dan aeguras pruebas
de su puailanimidad, 6 lo que resieren las historias de la Conquista.
sobre BUS graiides acciones, es en un sendito ligurado, 6 el caracter <te
estas gentes uo es ahorasegun eraentonces; perolo que no tione dud»
es, que las Naciones de la parte St-ptentriona! subsislen en la
Notes on Virginia
83
treat him well ; that in other situations, also, he meets
death with more deliberation, and endures tortures
with a firmness unknown almost to religious enthu-
siasm with us; that he is affectionate to his chil-
dren, careful of them, and indulgent in the extreme;
that his affections comprehend his other connections,
weakening, as with us, from circle to circle, as they
recede from the centre; that his friendships are
strong and faithful to the uttermost' extremity;
libertad que siempre ban tenido. sin haber sido sojuzgados por algon
Principe extrano, y que viven segun su rdgimen y costumbres de toda
la vida. sin que haya habido motivo para que rauden de caracter; y
en estos se v^ lo mismo, que sucede en los Pern, y de toda la America
meridional, reduddos, y que nunca lo han estado." Noticias Amer-
icinas, Bntretcnimiento xviii. { I. Don Ulloa here admits, that the
littbors who have described the Indians of South America, before they
wre enslaved, had represented them as a bravo people, and therefore
wms to have suspected that the cowardice which he had observed in
those o( the present race might be the effect ot subjugation. But,
wppostng the Indians of North America to be cowards also, he con-
dndes the ancestors of those of South America to have been so too,
Mid, therefore, that those authors have given fictions for truth. He
*M probably not acquainted himself with the Indians of North Amer-
ica, and had formed his opinion from hearsay. Great numbers of
French, of English, and of Americans, are perfectly acciuainted with
theae people. Had he had an opportunity of imiuiring of any ot these.
iSey would have told him, that there never was an instance known of
an Indian begging his Ufe when in the power of his enemies; on the
lintrary, that he courts death by every possible insult and provoca-
iion. His reasoning, then, would have been reversed thus: "Since
the present Indian of North America is brave, and authors tell us that
'he ancestors of those of South America were brave also, it must follow
that the cowardice of their descendants is the eflect of subjugation and
'II treatment," For he observes, ib, ( 37, that "los obrages los ani-
liillan porlainhumanidadcon que se les trata,"
' A remarkable instance of this appeared in the case of the late
Colonel Byrd, who was sent to the Cherokee nation to transact some
V
&♦ Jefferson's Works
that his sensibility is keen, even the warriors weep-
ing most bitterly on the loss of their children, though
in general they endeavor to appear superior to
human events; that his vivacity and activity of mind
is equal to ours in the same situation; hence his
eagerness for hunting, and for games of chance. The
women are submitted to unjust drudgery. This I
believe is the case with every barbarous people.
With such, force is law. The stronger sex imposes
on the weaker. It is civilization alone which re-
places women in the enjoyment of their natural
equality. That first teaches us to subdue the selfish
passions, and to respect those rights in others which
we value in ourselves. Were we in equal barbarism,
our females would be equal drudges. The man with
them is less strong than with us, but their women
stronger than ours; and both for the same obvious
reason ; because our man and their woman is habit-
uated to labor, and formed by it. With both races
business with them. It happened that stime of our disorderly people
had just killed one or two of that nation. It was therefore proposed
in the council of the Cherokees that Colonel Byrd should be put to
death, in revenge for the loss of their countrymen. Among them wai
a chief named Silduee, who, on some former occasion, had contracted
an acquaintance and friendship with Colonel Byrd. He came to him
every night in hia tent, and told him not to be afraid, they should not
kill him. After many days' deliberation, however, the determination
was. contrary to Sil6uee's eipectation, that Byrd should be put to
death, and some warriors were despatched as executioners. Silduee
attended them, and when they entered the tent, he threw himself
between them and Byrd, and said to the warriors, "This man is my
friend; before you get at him. you must kill me." On which they
returned, and the council respected the principle so much as to reoeda
from their determination.
Notes on Virginia 85
the sex which is indulged with ease is the least
athletic. An Indian man is small in the hand and
\^Tist, for the same reason for which a sailor is large
and strong in the arms and shoulders, and a porter
in the legs and thighs. They raise fewer children
than we do. The causes of this are to be found, not
in a difference of nature, but of circumstance. The
women very frequently attending the men in their
parties of war and of hunting, child-bearing becomes
extremely inconvenient to them. It is said, there-
fore, that they have learned the practice of procur-
ing abortion by the use of some vegetable; and that
it even extends to prevent conception for a consid-
erable time after. During these parties they are
exposed to numerous hazards, to excessive exertions,
to the greatest extremities of hunger. Even at
their homes the nation depends for food, through a
certain part of every year, on the gleanings of the
forest; that is, they experience a famine once in
every year. With all animals, if the female be
badly fed, or not fed at all, her young perish; and if
both male and female be reduced to like want, gener-
ation becomes less active, less productive. To the
obstacles, then, of want and hazard, which nature
has opposed to the multiplication of wild animals,
for the purpose of restraining their numbers within
certain bounds, those of labor and of voluntary
abortion are added with the Indian. No wonder,
then, if they multiply less than we do. Where food
is regularly supplied, a single farm will show more
■ of cattle
H buffaloes
Jefferson's Works
of cattle, than a whole country of forests can of
buffaloes. The same Indian women, when married
to white traders, who feed them and their children
plentifully and regularly, who exempt them from
excessive drudgery, who keep them stationary and
unexposed to accident, produce and raise as many
children as the white women. Instances are known,
under these circumstances, of their rearing a dozen
children. An inhuman practice once prevailed in
this coimtr>-, of making slaves of the Indians. It is
a fact well known with us, that the Indian women
so enslaved produced and raised as numerous fani-
lies as either the whites or blacks among whom they
lived. It has been said that Indians have less hair
than the whites, except on the head. But this is a
fact of which fair proof can scarcely be had. With
them it is disgraceful to be hairy on the body. They
say it likens them to hogs. They therefore pluck
the hair as fast as it appears. But the traders who
marry their women, and prevail on them to discon-
tinue this practice, say, that nature is the same with
them as with the whites. Nor, if the fact be true,
is the consequence necessary which has been drawn
from it. Negroes have notoriously less hair than
the whites; yet they are more ardent. But if cold
and moisture be the agents of nature for diminish-
ing the races of animals, how comes she all at once
to suspend their operation as to the physical man of
the new world, whom the Count acknowledges to be
" h. peu pr6s de m^me stature que I'homme de notre
Notes on Virginia
87
monde," and to let loose tlieir influence on his moral
faculties? How has this "combination of the ele-
ments and other physical causes, so contrary to the
enlargement of animal nature in this new world,
these obstacles to the development and formation of
great germs,"' been arrested and suspended, so as
to permit the human body to acquire its just dimen-
sions, and by what inconceivable process has their
action been directed on his mind alone? To judge
of the truth of this, to form a just estimate of their
genius and mental powers, more facts are wanting,
and great allowance to be made for those circum-
stances of their situation which call for a display of
particular talents only. This done, we shall prob-
ably find that they are formed in mind as well as in
body, on the same module with the' " Homo sapiens
Europ^eus." The principles of their society for-
bidding all compulsion, they are to be led to duty
and to enterprise by personal influence and persua-
sion. Hence eloquence in council, bravery and ad-
dress in war, become the foundations of all conse-
quence with them. To these acquirements all their
faculties are directed. Of their bravery and address
in war we have multiplied proofs, because we have
"been the subjects on which they were exercised. Of
their eminence in oratory we have fewer examples,
because it is displayed chiefly in their own councils.
Some, however, we have, of very superior lustre. I
» XVIIl. 146.
* r.f'nr I Syst. Definition of a Man.
88 Jefferson's Works
may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if
Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a
single passage, superior to the speech of Logan, a
Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore, then governor of
this State. And as a testimony of their talents in
this line, I beg leave to introduce it, first stating the
incidents necessary for understanding it.
In the spring of the year 1774, a robbery was com-
mitted by some Indians on certain land-adventurers
on the river Ohio, The whites in that quarter,
according to their custom, undertook to punish this
outrage in a summary way. Captain Michael
Cresap, and a certain Daniel Greathouse, leading on
these parties, surprised, at different times, travel-
ling and hunting parties of the Indians, having their
women and children with them, and murdered
many. Among these were unfortunately the family
of Logan, a chief celebrated in peace and war, and
long distinguished as the friend of the whites. This
unworthy return provoked his vengeance. He ac-
cordingly signalized himself in the war which ensued.
In the autumn of the same year a decisive battle was
fought at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, between
the collected forces of the Shawanese, Mingoes and
Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia militia.
The Indians were defeated and sued for peace.
Logan, however, disdained to be seen among the
suppliants. But lest the sincerity of a treaty should
be disturbed, from which so distinguished a chief
J
Notes on Virginia
absented himself, he sent, by a messenger, the fol-
lowing speech, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore:
*' I app>eal to any white man to say, if ever he
I entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not
Imeat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed
Shim not. During the course of the last long and
ibloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an
■advocate for peace. Such was my love for the
I whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed,
and said, 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I
had even thought to have lived with you, but for the
injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring,
in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the
relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and
children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the
veins of any living creature. This called on me for
revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I
have fully glutted my vengeance: for my country I
cjoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a
hought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never
dt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his
Who is there to mourn for Logan? — Not one.'"
' Phi
December 3
cated to me the inquiri
797-
Dbar Sir, — Mr. Tazewell has cc
Eluve been so kind as to make, relative to a passage in the " Notes o
I Vrginia," which hai! lately excited some newspaper publications. I
foel, with great sensibility, the interest you take in this business, and
with pleasure, go into explanations with one whose objects I know to
be truth and justice alone. Had Mr. Martin thought proper to sug-
1 gest to me. that doubts might be entertained of the transaction re-
Ifapecting Logan, as staled in the " Notes on Virginia," and to inquire
lion what grounds that etatement was founded, I should have felt
Jefferson's Works
Before we condemn the Indians of this continei
as wanting genius, we must consider that letters i
myself obliged by the inquiry; have informed him candidly of the
grounds, and cordially have co-operated in every means of investi-
gating the fact, and correcting whatsoever in it should be found to
have been erroneous. But he chose to step at once into the news-
papers, and in his publications there and the letters he wrote to me,
adopted a style which forbade the respect of an answer. Sensible,
however, that no act of his could absolve me from the justice due to
others, as soon as I found that the story of Logan could be doubted,
I determined to ini|uire into it as accurately as the testimony remain-
ing, after a lapse of twenty odd years, would permit, and that the
result should be made known, either in the first new edition which
should be printed of the " Notes on Virginia." or by publishing aji
appendix. I thought that so far as that work had contributed to
impeach the memory of Cresap, by handing on an erroneous charge
it was proper it should be made the vehicle of retribution. Not that
I was at all the author of the injury ; 1 had only conciured. with thou-
sands and thousands of others, in believing a transaction on authority
which merited respect. For the story of Logan is only repeated
in the " Notes on Virginia," precisely as it had been current for mortt
than a dozen years before they were published. When Lord Dun*
more returned from the expedition against the Indians, tn i
and his officers brought the speech of Logan, and related the
stances of it. These were so affecting, and the speech itself i
morsel of eloquence, that it became the theme of every conve^raatii
in Williamsburg particularly, and generally, indeed, wheresoever any-
at the officers resided or resorted. I learned it in Williamsburg, I
believe at Lord Dunmore's ; and I find in my pocket-book of that year
([ 774) an entry of the narrative, as taken from the mouth of some per-
son, whose name, however, is not noted, nor recollected, precisely in
the words stated in the " Notes on Virginia." The speech was pub-
lished in the Virginia Gazette of that time, (I ha\'e it myself tn the
volume of gazettes of that year,) and though it was the translation
made by the common interpreter, and iq a style by no means elegant,
yet it was so admired, that it flew through all the public papers of the
continent, and through the maga/inea and other periodical publica-
tions of Great Britain; and those who were boys at that day win now.
attest, that the speech of Logon used to be given them
exercise for repetition. It was not till about thirteen
em as a schog()^^|
en or fourteeM^^H
2
Notes on Virginia
have not yet been introduced among them. Were
we to compare them in their present state with the
years after the newspaper publications, that the " Notes on Virginia"
wen; published in America. Combating, in these, the contumelious
theory of certain European writers, whose celebrity gave currency and
weight to their opinions, that our cnuntry from the combined effects
of soil and climate, degenerated animal nature, in the general, and
particularly the moral faculties of man, I considered the speech of
Logan as an apt proof of the contrary, and used it as such; and I
copied, verbatim, the narrative I had taken down in 1774, and the
speech as it had been given us in a better translation by Lord Dun-
more. I knew nothing of the Cresaps. and could not possibly have a
motive to do them an injury with design. I repeated what thousands
had done before, on as good authority as we have for most of the facts
we learn through life, and such as, to this moment, I have seen no
reason to doubt. That any body questioned it. was never suspected
by me, till 1 saw the letter of Mr. Martin in the Baltimore paper. I
endeavored then to recollect who among my contemporaries, of the
same circle of society, and consequently of the same recollections,
might still be alive; three and twenty years of death and dispersion
had left very few. I remembered, however, that General Gibson was
still living, and knew that he had been the translator of the speech.
I wrote to him immediately. He, in answer, declares to me. that he
vr&s the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town; that,
after he had delivered his message there, Logan took him out to a
neighboring wood; sat down with him, and rehearsing, with tears, the
catastrophe of his family, gave him that speech for Lord Dunmore;
that he carried it to Lord Dunmore; translated it for him; has turned
to it in the Encyclopedia, as taken from the " Notes on Virginia." and
finds that it was his translation I had used, with only two or three
verbal variations of no importance. These, I suppose, had arisen in
of successive copies. I cite General Gibson's letter by
memory, not having it with me; but I am sure I cite it substantially
right. It establishes unquestionably, that the speech of Logan is
genuine; and that being established, it is Logan himself who is author
of all the important facts. " Colonel Cresap," says he, "in cold blood
and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even
ind children; there runs not a drop of my blood in the
\s of any living creature." The person and the tact, in all its mate-
rial drcurastances, are here given by Logan himself. General Gibson,
9^ Jefferson's Works
Europeans, north of the Alps, when tiie Romaii
arms and arts first crossed those mountains, the
comparison would be unequal, because, at that trnie,
those parts of Europe were swarming with numbers;
indeed, 6a>'s, that the title was mistaken; that Cresap was a Captain,
and not a Colonel. This was Logan*s mistake. He also obserx-es, that
it was on another water of the Ohio, and not on the Kanhaway, that
his family was killed. This is an error which has crept into tbe tra-
ditionary account; but surely of little moment in tbe mond view oi
the subject. The material question is, was Logan*s family murdered,
and by whom ? That it was murdered has not, I bdieve, been denied;
that it was by one of the Cresaps, Logan affirms. This is a qnesdon
which concerns the memories of Logan and Cresap; to the issue of
which I am as indifferent as if I had never heard the name of cither.
I have begun and shall continue to inquire into the evidence additional
to Logan's, on which the fact was founded. Little, indeed, can now
be heard of, and that little dispersed and distant. If it shall appear
on inquiry, that Logan has been wrong in charging Cresap with the
murder of his family, I will do justice to the memory of Cresap. as far
as I have contributed to the injury, by believing and repeating what
others had believed and repeated before me. If, on the other hand,
I find that Logan was right in his charge, I will vindicate, as far as my
suffrage may go, the truth of a Chief, whose talents and misfortunes
have attached to him the respect and commiseration of the world.
I have gone, my dear Sir, into this lengthy detail to satisfy a mind,
in the candor and rectitude of which I have the highest confideiKe.
So far as you may incline to use the communication for rectifying the
judgments of those who are willing to see things truly as they are, 3roa
are free to use it. But I pray that no confidence which you may repose
in any one, may induce you to let it go out of your hands, so as to get
into a newspaper: against a contest in that field I am entirely decided.
I feel extraordinary gratification, indeed, in addressing this letter to
you, with whom shades of difference in political sentiment have not
prevented the interchange of good opinion, nor cut off the Mendly
offices of society and good correspondence. This political tolerance
is the more valued by me, who consider social harmony as the first of
human felicities, and the happiest moments, those which are given to
the effusions of the heart. Accept them sincerely, I pray you, from
one who has the honor to be, with sentiments of high respect and at-
tachment, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
I
Notes on Virginia 93
because numbers produce emulation, and multiply
the chances of improvement, and one improvement
begets another. Yet I may safely ask, how many
good poets, how many able mathematicians, how
many great inventors in arts or sciences, had Europe,
north of the Alps, then produced ? And it was six-
teen centuries after this before a Newton could be
formed. I do not mean to deny that there are
varieties in the race of man, distinguished by their
powers both of body and mind. I believe there are,
as I see to be the case in the races of other animals.
I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether the bulk
and faculties of animals depend on the side of the
Atlantic on which their food happens to grow, or
"which furnishes the elements of which they are com-
pounded? Whether nature has enlisted herself as
a Cis or Trans-Atlantic partisan? I am induced to
suspect there has been more eloquence than sound
xeasoning displayed in support of this theory; that
it is one of those cases where the judgment has been
seduced by a glowing pen ; and whilst I render every
tribute of honor and esteem to the celebrated zoolo-
^st, who has added, and is still adding, so many
fcrtwecious things to the treasures of science, I must
^Kdoubt whether in this instance he has not cherished
^urror also, by lending her for a moment his vivid
^imagination and bewitching language. (4)
f So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new
theory of the tendency of nature to belittle her pro-
ductions on this side the Atlantic. Its application
W
94 Jefferson's Works
to the race of whites transplanted from Europe,
remained for the AbbiS Raynal. "On doit etre
etonn^ (he says) que TAm^rique n'ait pas encore
produit un bon poete, un habile math^maticien. un
homme de g^nie dans un seul art, ou seule science."
Hist. Philos. p. 92, ed. Macstricht, 1774. "America
has not yet produced one good poet." When we
shall have existed as a people as long as the Greeks
did before they produced a Homer, the Romans a
Virgil, the French a Racine and Voltaire, the Eng-
lish a Shakespeare and Milton, should this reproach
be still true, we will inquire from what unfriendly
causes it has proceeded, that the other countries of
Europe and quarters of the earth shall not have
inscribed any name in the roll of poets.' But
neither has America produced "one able mathema-
tician, one man of genius in a single art or a single
science." In war we have produced a Washington,
whose memory wUl be adored while liberty shall
have votaries, whose name shall triumph over time,
and will in future ages assume its just station among
the most celebrated worthies of the world, when that
wretched philosophy shall be forgotten which woiUd
have arranged him among the degeneracies of nature.
In physics we have produced a Franklin, than whom
' Has the world as yet produced more than two poets, acknowledged
to be such by all nations? An Englishman only reads Milton with
delight, an Italian. Tasso. a Frenchman the Henriade; a Portuguese,
Catnoens; but Homer and Virgil have been the rapture of every age
and nation; thi-y are ri.-ad with enthusiasm in their originals by those
who can read the originals, and in translations by those who cannot.
A
Notes on Virginia 95
no one of the present age has made more important
discoveries, nor has enriched philosophy with more,
or more ingenious solutions of the phenomena of
nature. We have supposed Mr. Rittenhouse second
to no astronomer living; that in genius he must be
the first, because he is self taught. As an artist he
has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius
as the world has ever produced. He has not indeed
made a world; but he has by imitation approached
nearer its Maker than any man who has lived from
the creation to this day.* As in philosophy and
war, so in government, in oratory, in painting, in the
plastic art, we might show that America, though but
a child of yesterday, has already given hopeful
proofs of genius, as well as of the nobler kinds, which
arouse the best feelings of man, which call him into
action, which substantiate his freedom, and con-
duct him to happiness, as of the subordinate, which
serve to amuse him only. We therefore suppose,
that this reproach is as imjust as it is imkind: and
that, of the geniuses which adorn the present age,
America contributes its full share. For comparing
it with those cotmtries where genius is most culti-
vated, where are the most excellent models for art,
and scaffoldings for the attainment pf science, as
France and England for instance, we calculate thus :
* There are various ways of keeping truth out of sight. Mr. Ritten-
house's model of the planetary system has the plagiary application of
an Orrery; and the quadrant invented by Godfrey, an American also,
and with the aid of which the European nations traverse the globe, is
called Hadley's quadrant.
96
Jefferson's Works
The United States contains three millions of inhabi-
tants; France twenty millions; and the British
islands ten. We produce a Washington, a Frank-
lin, a Rittenhouse. France then should have half
a dozen in each of these lines, and Great Britain
half that number, equally eminent. It may be true
that France has; we are but just becoming ac-
quainted with her, and our acquaintance so far
gives us high ideas of the genius of her inhabitants.
It would be injuring too many of them to name
particularly a Voltaire, a Buffon, the constellation
of Encyclopedists, the Abb6 Raynal himself, etc.,
etc. We, therefore, have reason to believe she can
produce her full quota of genius. The present war
having so long cut off all communication with Great
Britain, we are not able to make a fair estimate of
the state of science in that country. The spirit in
which she wages war, is the only sample before our
eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate off-
spring either of science or of civilization. The sun
of her glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her
philosophy has crossed the channel, her freedom
the Atlantic, and herself seems passing to that
awful dissolution whose issue is not given human
foresight to scan.'
' In a later edition of the AbW Rajmal's work, he has withdrawn his
censure from that part of the new world inhabited by the Federo-,\ni*r-
icans; but haii left it still on the other parts. North America has
always been more accessible to strangers than South. If he was mis-
taken then as to the former, he may be so as to the latter. The glim-
merings which reach us from South America enable us to see that its
^
Notes on Virginia 97
Having given a sketch of our minerals, vegeta-
bles, and quadrupeds, and being led by a proud
theory to make a comparison of the latter with
those of Europe, and to extend it to the man of
America, both aboriginal and emigrant, I will pro-
ceed to the remaining articles comprehended under
the present querj'.
Between ninety and a hundred of our birds have
been described by Catesby. His drawings are bet-
ter as to form and attitude than coloring, which is
generally too high. They are the following (see
pages 98, 99 and 100) :
Besides these, we have.
The Royston crow. Corvua cor- The Ground swallow. Hirnndo
nix. riparia.
Crane. Ardea Canadensis. Greatest gray eagle.
HoQGe swallow. Hirundo Smaller turkey buzzard, with
rustica. a feathered head.
inhabitants are held under the accumulated pressure of slavery, super-
stition and ignorance. Whenever they shall be able to rise under this
"dght. and to show themselves to the rest of the world, they will prob-
acy show they are like the rest of the world. We have not yet suJli-
cioit evidence that there are more lakes and fogs in South America
than in other parts of the earth. As little do we know what would be
Ihdr operation on the mind of man. That country has been visited
by Spaniards and Portuguese chiefly, and almost exclusively. These,
going from a country of the old world remarkably dry in its soil and
climate, fancied there were more lakes and fogs in South America than
in Europe. An inhabitant of Ireland, Sweden, or Finland would have
formed the contrary opinion. Had South America then been discov-
ered and settled by a peojjle from a fenny country, it would probably
have been represented as much drier than the old world. A patient
pursuit of facts, and cautious combination and comparison of them, is
the drudgery to which man is suljected by his Maker, if he wishes to
attain sure knowledge.
VOL. II J
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Jefferson's Works
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Notes on Virginia
lOI
The Greatest ovl. or night hawk.
Wet hawk, which feeds fly-
ing.
Raven.
Water Pelican of the Missis-
sippi, whose pouch holds a
pedc.
Swan.
Loon.
Cormorant.
Duck and mallard.
Widgeon.
Sheldrach, or Canvas back.
Black head.
Ballcoot.
TheSprigtail *
Didapper', oy dopchick.
Spoon-billed duck.
Water-witch.
Water-pheasant.
Mow-bird.
Blue Peter.
Water Wagtail.
Yellow-legged Snipe.
Squatting Snipe.
Small Plover.
Whistling Plover.
Woodcock.
Red bird, with black head,
wings and tail.
And doubtless many others which have not yet
been described and classed.
To this catalogue of our indigenous animals, I will
add a short account of an anomaly of nature, taking
place sometimes in the race of negroes brought from
Africa, who, though black themselves, have, in rare
instances, white children, called Albinos. I have
known four of these myself, and have faithful ac-
counts of three others. The circimistances in which
all the individuals agree are these. They are of a
pallid cadaverous white, untinged with red, without
any colored spots or seams; their hair of the same
kmd of white, short, coarse, and curled as is that of
the negro ; all of them well formed, strong, healthy,
perfect in their senses, except that of sight, and bom
of parents who had no mixture of white blood.
Three of these Albinos were sisters, having two
other full sisters, who were black. The youngest
loa Jefferson's Works
of the three was killed by lightning, at 12 years
of age. ■ The eldest died at about 27 years of age,
in child-bed, with her second child. The middle
one, is now alive, in health, and has issue, as the
eldest had, by a black man, which issue was black.
They are uncommonly shrewd, quick in their appre-
hensions and in reply. Their eyes are in a perpetual
tremulous vibration, very weak, and much affected
by the sim; but they see much better in the night
than we do. They are of the property of Colonel
Skipwith, of Ciunberland. The fourth is a negro
woman, whose parents came from Guinea, and had
three other children, who were of their own color.
She is freckled, her eye-sight so weak that she is
obliged to wear a bonnet in the summer; but it is
better in the night than day. She had an Albino
child by a black man. It died at the age of a few
weeks. These were tlie property of Colonel Carter.
of Albemarle. A sixth instance is a woman the
property of Mr. Butler, near Petersburg. She is
stout and robust, has issue a daughter, jet black, by
a black man. I am not informed as to her eye-
sight. The seventh instance is of a male belonging
to a Mr. Lee of Cumberland. His eyes are tremu-
lous and weak. He is tall of stature, and now
advanced in years. He is the only male of the
Albinos which have come within my information.
Whatever be the cause of the disease in the skin,
or in its coloring matter, which produces this change,
it seems more incident to the female than male sex.
Notes on Virginia
103
To these I may add the mention of a negro man
within my own knowledge, bom black, and of black
parents; on whose chin, when a boy, a white spot
appeared. This continued to increase till he be-
came a man, by which time it had extended over his
I chin, lips, one cheek, the under jaw, and neck on that
I side. It is of the Albino white, without any mix-
_ ture of red, and has for several years been station-
ary. He is robust and healthy, and the change of
I color was not accomi^anied with any sensible disease,
] either general or topical.
Of our fish and insects there has been nothing like
a full description or collection. More of them are
described in Catesby than in any Other work. Many
also are to be found in Sir Hans Sloane's Jamaica,
as being common to that and this country. The
honey-bee is not a native of our continent. Marc-
grave, indeed, mentions a species of honey-bee in
Brazil. But this has no sting, and is therefore dif-
ferent from the one we have, which resembles per-
fectly that of Europe. The Indians concur with
us in the tradition that it was brought from Europe;
' but when, and by whom, we know not. The bees
I have generally extended themselves into the country,
a little in advance of the white settlers. The In-
■ dians, therefore, call them the white man's fly, and
f consider their approach as indicating the approach
' of the settlements of the whites. A question here
occurs, How far northwardly have these insects been
foimd? That they are unknown in Lapland, I infer
I04 Jefferson's Works
from Scheffer's information, that the Laplanders
eat the pine bark, prepared in a certain way, instead
of those things sweetened with sugar. "Hoc com-
edimt pro rebus saccharo conditis." ScheflE. Lapp,
c. 1 8. Certainly if they had honey, it would be a
better substitute for sugar than any preparation of
the pine bark. Kalm tells us* the honey-bee cannot
live through the winter in Canada. They furnish
then an additional fact first observed by the Count
de Buffon, and which has thrown such a blaze of
light on the field of natural history, that no animals
are fotmd in both continents, but those which are
able to bear the cold of those regions where they
probably join.
QUERY VII.
A notice of all that can increase the progress of
Human Knowledge?
Under the latitude of this query, I will presume
it not improper nor unacceptable to furnish some
data for estimating the climate of Virginia. Journals
of observations on the quantity of rain, and degree
of heat, being lengthy, confused, and too minute to
produce general and distinct ideas, I have taken five
years' observations, to wit, from 1772 to 1777, made
in Williamsburg and its neighborhood, have reduced
them to an average for every month in the year, and
stated those averages in the following table, adding
" 1. 126.
Notes on Virginia 105
an analytical view of the winds during the same
period.
F^of
™in.
L«utiind
gn:»l«l daily
h»t.byFi.h-
WWDS.
inches.
N.
N.B.
B
S.E.
S.
S.W
W.
N-W
Total.
J»...
April
Hay .
'E:
S.pt.'*.
Oct-..
Nov..
Dec. .
ToUl.
040
6&
ill
76.
6J3
617
877
38Mto„
41 10 4TM
48 to S4H
S6 to6.M
6i to joM
7lHlojB«
^^ to8.M
76-y.o8.
69Wt0 7.M
6.M to 66M
47H to sjH
43 i«*m
45
36
44
38
38
■:
78
6J
8j
?8
S6
40
JS
3S
i
47
oj8
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S.i
„,
I0«
gi6
.i.
4-.-
J.<S«8
The Tains of every month, (as of January, for in-
stance,) through the whole period of years, were
added separately, and an average drawn from them.
The coolest and warmest point of the same day in
each year of the period, were added separately, and
an average of the greatest cold and greatest heat of
that day was formed. From the averages of every
day in the month, a general average was formed.
The point from which the wind blew, was observed
two or three times in every day. These observa-
tions, in the month of January, for instance, through
the whole period, amounted to three himdred and
thirty-seven. At seventy-three of these, the wind
was from the north; forty-seven from the north-
east, etc. So that it will be easy to see in what pro-
io6 Jefferson's Works
portion each wind usually prevails in each month;
or, taking the whole year, the total of observations
through the whole period having been three thou-
sand six hundred and ninety-eight, it will be ob-
served that six hundred and eleven of them were
from the north, five hundred and fifty -eight from
the north-east, etc.
Though by this table it appears we have on an
average forty-seven inches of rain annually, which
is considerably more than usually falls in Europe,
yet from the information I have collected, I suppose
we have a much greater proix)rtion of sunshine here
than there. Perhaps it will be found, there are
twice as many cloudy days in tlie middle parts of
Europe, as in the United States of America. I men-
tion the middle parts of Europe, because my infor-
mation does not extend to its northern or southern
parts.
In an extensive country, it will of course be ex-
pected that the climate is not the same in all its parts.
It is remarkable, that proceeding on the same parallel
of latitude westwardly, the climate becomes colder
in like manner as when you proceed northwardly.
This continues to be the case till you attain the sum-
mit of the Alleghany, which is the highest land
between the ocean and the Mississippi. From
thence, descending in the same latitude to the Mis-
sissippi, the change reverses; and, if we may believe
travellers, it becomes warmer there than it is in the
same latitude on the sea-side. Their testimony is
Notes on Virginia
107
strengthened by the vegetables and animals which
subsist and multiply there naturally, and do not on
I the sea-coast. Thus Catalpas grow spontaneously
on the Mississippi, as far as the latitude of 37°, and
I reeds as far as 38°. Parroquets even winter on the
Scioto, in the 39th degree of latitude. In the sum-
mer of 1779, when the thermometer was at 90° at
Monticello, and 96° at Williamsburg, it was no" at
I Kaskaskia. Perhaps the mountain, which over-
hangs this village on the north side, may, by its re-
flection, have contributed somewhat to produce this
heat. The difference of temperature of the air at
the sea-coast, or on the Chesapeake bay, and at the
Alleghany, has not been ascertained; but contem-
porary observations, made at Williamsburg, or in
its neighborhood, and at Monticello, which is on the
most eastern ridge of the mountains, called the
] South-West, where they are intersected by the Ri-
vanna, have furnished a ratio by which that differ-
[■ence may in some degree be conjectured. These
f observations make the difference between Williams-
I burg and the nearest mountains, at the position
i before mentioned, to be on an average 6 J^° of Fahren-
heit's thermometer. Some allowance, however, is
I to be made for the difference of latitude between
these two places, the latter being 38° 8' 17*, which
t is 52' 22" north of the former. By contemporary
I observations of between five and six weeks, the
laver^ed and almost unvaried difference of the
Ifceight of mercury in the barometer, at those two
io8
Jefferson's Works
places, was .784 of an inch, the atmosphere at Monti-
cello being so much the lightest, that is to say, about
one-thirty-seventh of its whole weight. It should
be observed, however, that the hill of Monticello is of
five hundred feet perpendicular height above the
river which washes its base. This position being
nearly central between our northern and southern
boundaries, and between the bay and Alleghany,
may be considered as furnishing the best average of
the temperature of our climate. Williamsburg is
much too near the south-eastern comer to give a
fair idea of our general temperature.
But a more remarkable diflference is in the winds
which prevail in the different parts of the country.
The following table exhibits a comparative view of
the winds prevailing at Williamsburg, and at Monti-
cello. It is formed by reducing nine months' obser-
vations at Monticello to four principal points, to wit,
the north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-
west ; these points being periiendicular to. or parallel
with our coast, mountains, and rivers; and by reduc-
ing in like manner, an equal number of observations,
to wit, four hundred and twenty-one from the preced-
ing table of winds at Williamsburg, taking them
proportionably from every point:
By this it may be seen that the south-west wind
prevails equally at both places; that the north-east
Notes on Virginia
log
is, next to this, the principal wind towards the sea-
coast, and the north-west is the predominant wind
at the mountains. The difEerence between these
two winds to sensation, and in fact, is very great.
The north-east is loaded with vapor, insomuch, that
the salt-makers have found that their crystals would
not shoot while that blows; it brings a distressing
chill, and is heavy and oppressive to the spirits.
The north-west is dry, cooling, elastic, and animat-
ing. The eastern and south-eastern breezes come
on generally in the afternoon. They have advanced
into the country very sensibly within the memory of
people now living. They formerly did not pene-
trate far above Williamsburg. They are now fre-
quent at Richmond, and every now and then reach
the motmtains. They deposit most of their moisture,
however, before they get that far. As the lands
become more cleared, it is probable they will extend
still further westward.
Going out into the open air, in the temperate, and
warm months of the year, we often meet with bodies
of warm air, which passing by us in two or three
seconds, do not afford time to the most sensible ther-
mometer to seize their temperature. Judging from
my feelings only, I think they approach the ordinary
heat of the human body. Some of them, perhaps,
go a little beyond it. They are of about twenty to
thirty feet diameter horizontally. Of their height
^L we have no experience, but probably they are globu-
^M lar volumes wafted or rolled along with the wind.
I
Jefferson's Works
But whence taken, where found, or how generated?
They are not to be ascribed to volcanoes, because we
have none. They do not happen in the winter when
the farmers kindle large fires in clearing up their
grounds. They are not confined to the spring sea-
son, when we have fires which traverse whole coun-
ties, consuming the leaves which have fallen from
the trees. And they are too frequent and general
to be ascribed to accidental fires. I am persuaded
their cause must be sought for in the atmosphere
itself, to aid us in which I know but of these con-
stant circumstances: a dry air; a temperature as
warm, at least, as that of the spring or autumn ; and
a moderate current of wind. They are most fre-
quent about sun-set; rare in the middle parts of the
day; and I do not recollect having ever met with
them in the morning.
The variation in the weight of our atmosphere, as
indicated by the barometer, is not equal to two inches
of mercury. During twelve months' observation at
Williamsburg, the extremes 29 and 30.86 inches, the
difference being 1,86 of an inch ; and in nine months,
during which the height of the mercury was noted at
Monticello, the extremes were 28.48 and zg.69 inchi
the variation being 1.21 of an inch. A gentleman]
who has observed his barometer many years, assures
me it has never varied two inches. Contemporary
observations made at Monticello and Williamsburg,
proved the variations in the weight of air to be si
ultaneous and corresponding in these two places.
Notes on Virginia
Our changes from heat to cold, and cold to heat,
j are very sudden and great. The mercury in Fah-
' renheit's thermometer has been known to descend
, from 92° to 47° in thirteen hours.
It was taken for granted, that the preceding table
I of average heat will not give a false idea on this sub-
I ject, as it proposes to state only the ordinary heat
I and cold of each month, and not those which are
extraordinary. At Williamsburg, in August, 1766,
the mercur>' in Fahrenheit's thermometer was at
98°, corresponding with 29}^ of Reaumur. At the
t same place in January 1780, it was 6°, correspond-
f ing with 1 1 ^2 below zero of Reaumur, I believe'
I these may be considered to be nearly the extremes
' of heat and cold in that part of the country. The
latter may most certainly, as that time York river,
at Yorktown, was frozen over, so that people walked
across it; a circumstance which proves it to have
I "been colder than the winter of 1740-1741, usually
l called the cold winter, when York river did not freeze
over at that place. In the same season of 1 780, Chesa-
peake bay was solid, from its head to the mouth of
Potomac. At Annapolis, where it is 5 J^ miles over
b between the nearest points of land, the ice was from
l£ve to seven inches thick qmte across, so that
■loaded carriages went over on it. Those, our ex-
ftremes of heat and cold, of 6° and 98°. were indeed
' At Paris, in 1753. the mercury in Reaumur's thermometer was at
I jo}^ above zero, and in 1776.11 was at 16 below aero. The extremities
Wi-ti beat and cold therefore at Paris, are greater than at Willi amsbui^,
^whichisin the hottest part of Virginia.
112 Jefferson's Works
very distressing to us, and were thought to put th*S
extent of the human constitution to considerable 1
trial. Yet a Siberian would have considered themJ
as scarcely a sensible variation. At Jenniseitz-l
in that country, in latitude 58° 27', we are told thati"
the cold in 1735 sunk the mercury by Fahrenheit 'a J
scale to 126° below nothing; and the inhabitants!
of the same countrj' use stove rooms two or three 1
times a week, in which they stay two hours at al
time, the atmosphere of which raises the mercury toj
135° above nothing. Late experiments show thati
the human body will exist in rooms heated to i40*|
of Reaumur, equal to 347'' of Fahrenheit's, and 135**^
above boiling water. The hottest point of thtf
twenty-four hours is about four o'clock, P. M.,
the dawn of day the coldest.
The access of frost in autumn, and its recess the
spring, do not seem to depend merely on the degree
of cold; much less on the air's being at the freezing-
point. White frosts are frequent when the thermom- 1
eter is at 47°, have killed young plants of Indian
com at 48°, and have been known at 54°. Black
frost, and even ice, have been produced at 38^°,
which is 6j4 degrees above the freezing point. That
other circumstances must be combined with this cold
to produce frost, is evident from this also, on the
higher parts of mountains, where it is absolutely
colder than in the plains on which they stand, frosts
do not apjjear so early by a considerable space of time
in autumn, and go off sooner in the spring, than in
Notes on Virginia 113
the plains. I have known frosts so severe as to kill
the hickory trees roiind about Monticello, and yet
not injure the tender fruit blossoms then in bloom
on the top and higher parts of the motmtain; and
in the course of forty years, during which it had been
settled, there have been but two instances of a gen-
eral loss of fruit on it; while in the circumjacent
country, the fruit has escaped but twice in the last
seven years. The plants of tobacco, which grow
from the roots of those which have been cut oflE in the
summer, are frequently green here at Christmas.
This privilege against the frost is tmdoubtedly com-
bined with the want of dew on the motmtains. That
the dew is very rare on their higher parts, I may
say with certainty, from twelve years' observations,
having scarcely ever, during that time, seen an
imequivocal proof of its existence on them at all
during stunmer. Severe frosts in the depth of winter
prove that the region of dews extends higher in that
season than the tops of the mountains; but cer-
tainly, in the summer season, the vapors, by the
time they attain that height, are so attenuated as
not to subside and form a dew when the stm retires.
The weavil has not yet ascended the high motm-
tains.
A more satisfactory estimate of our climate to
some, may perhaps be formed, by noting the plants
which grow here, subject, however, to be killed by
otu: severest colds. These are the fig, pomegranate,
artichoke, and European walnut. In mild winters,
VOL. II — 8
114 Jefferson's Works
lettuce and endive require no shelter; but, gener-
ally, they need a slight covering. I do not know that
the want of long moss, reed, myrtle, swamp laurel,
holly, and cypress, in the upper country proceeds
from a greater degree of cold, nor that they were
ever killed with any degree of cold, nor that they
were ever killed with any degree of cold in the lower
country. The aloe lived in Williamsburg, in the
open air, through the severe winter of 1779, 1780.
A change in our climate, however, is taking place
very sensibly. Both heats and colds are become
much more moderate within the memorj- even of
the middle-aged. Snows are less frequent and less
deep. They do not often lie, below the mountains,
more than one, two, or three days, and very rarely a
week. They are remembered to have been formerly
frequent, deep, and of long continuance. The elderly
inform me, the earth used to be covered with snow
about three months in every year. The rivers,
which then seldom failed to freeze over in the course
of the winter, scarcely ever do so now. This change
has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between
heat and cold, in the spring of the year, which is
very fatal to fruits. From the year 1741 to 1769,
an interval of twenty-eight years, there was no
instance of fruit killed by the frost in the neighbor-
hood of Monticello. An intense cold, produced by
constant snows, kept the buds locked up till the sun
could obtain, in the spring of the year, so fixed an
ascendency as to dissolve those snows, and protect
Notes on Virginia ^^5
the buds, during their development, from every
danger of returning cold. The accumulated snows
of the winter remaining to be dissolved all together
in the spring, produced those overflowings of our
rivers, so frequent then, and so rare now.
Having had occasion to mention the particular
situation of Monticello for other purposes, I will
just take notice that its elevation affords an oppor-
tunity of seeing a phenomenon which is rare at land,
though frequent at sea. The seamen call it loom-
ing. Philosophy is as yet in the rear of the seamen,
for so far from having accounted for it, she has not
given it a name. Its principal effect is to make
distant objects appear larger, in opposition to the
general law of vision, by which they are diminished.
I knew an instance, at Yorktown, from whence the
water prospect eastwardly is without termination,
wherein a canoe with three men, at a great distance
was taken for a ship with its three masts. I am
little acquainted with the phenomenon as it shows
itself at sea ; but at Monticello it is familiar. There
IS a solitary mountain about forty miles off in the
South, whose natural shape, as presented to view
there, is a regular cone ; but by the effect of looming,
•
it sometimes subsides almost totally in the horizon ;
sometimes it rises more acute and more elevated;
sometimes it is hemispherical; and sometimes its
sides are perpendicular, its top flat, and as broad as
Its base. In short, it assumes at times the most
whimsical shapes, and all these perhaps successively
"6 Jefferson's Works
in the same morning. The blue ridge of mountains
comes into view, in the north-east, at about one
htmdred miles distance, and approaching in a direct
line, passes by within twenty miles, and goes off to
the south-west. This phenomenon begins to show
itself on these motmtains, at about fifty miles dis-
tance, and continues beyond that as far as they are
seen. I remark no particular state, either in the
weight, moisture, or heat of the atmosphere, neces-
sary to produce this. The only constant circum-
stances are its appearance in the morning only, and
on objects at least forty or fifty miles distant. In this
latter circiunstance, if not in both, it differs from
the looming on the water. Refraction will not
accotmt for the metamorphosis. That only changes
the proportions of length and breadth, base and
altitude, preserving the general outlines. Thus it
may make a circle appear elliptical, raise or depress
a cone, but by none of its laws, as yet developed,
will it make a circle appear a square, or a cone
a sphere.
QUERY VIII.
The number of its inhabitants f
The following table shows the number of persons
imported for the establishment of our colony in its
infant state, and the census of inhabitants at differ-
ent periods, extracted from our historians and public
records, as particularly as I have had opporttmities
Notes on Virginia
117
Yean.
Settlers Imported.
Census of Inhabitants.
Census of Tythes.
1607
xoo
• •
40
• •
lao
1608
• •••••••
130
• •
70
1609
490
• •
x6
• ■
60
x6io
150
• ■
aoo
x6ii
3 shiploads.
• •
300
X6l3
80
1617
400
I6I8
aoo
• •
40
• •
600
I6I9
x,ai6
i6ai
X.300
x6aa
3,800
• ■
a.500
i6a8
3.000
1633
a.ooo
1644
4.833
164$
S.ooo
1653
7,000
1654
7.ao9
1700
a a, 000
1748
82,100
X7S9
105,000
177a
153.000
178a
■
567,614
and leisure to examine them. Successive lines in
the same year show successive periods of time in that
year. I have stated the census in two different
colunms, the whole inhabitants having been some-
times numbered, and sometimes the tythes only.
This term, with us, includes the free males above
sixteen years of age, and slaves above that age of
both sexes. A further examination of our records
would render this history of otu: population much
more satisfactory and perfect, by ftimishing a greater
number of intermediate terms. These, however,
ii8
Jefferson's Works
which are here stated will enable us to calculate, with
a considerable degree of precision, the rate at which
we have increased. During the infancy of the col-
on)', while numbers were small, wars, importations,
and other accidental circumstances render the pro-
gression fluctuating and irregular. By the year
1654, however, it becomes tolerably uniform, im-
portations having in a great measure ceased from
the dissolution of the company, and the inhabitants
become too nimierous to be sensibly affected by
Indian wars. Beginning at that period, therefore,
we find that from thence to the year 1772, our tythes
had increased from 7,209 to 153.000. The whole
term being of one hundred and eighteen years, yields
a duplication once in every twenty-seven and a
quarter years. The intermediate enumerations
taken in 1700, 1748, and 1759, furnish proofs of the
uniformity of this progression. Should this rate of
increase continue, we shall have between six and
seven millions of inhabitants within ninety-five
years. If we suppose our country to be bounded,
at some future day, by the meridian of the mouth
of the Great Kanhaway, (within which it has been
before conjectured, are 64,461 square miles) there
will then be one hundred inhabitants for every
square mile, which is nearly the state of population
in the British Islands.
Here I will beg leave to propose a doubt. The
present desire of America is to produce rapid popu-
lation by as great imix)rtations of foreigners as pos-
A
Notes on Virginia
119
sible. But is this founded in good policy? The
advantage proposed is the multiplication of numbers.
Now let us suppose (for example only) that, in this
state, we could double our numbers in one year by
the importation of foreigners; and this is a greater
accession than the most sanguine advocate for emi-
gration has a right to expect, Then I say, begin-
ning with a double stock, we shall attain any given
degree of population only twenty-seven years, and
three months sooner than if we proceed on our single
stock. If we propose four millions and a half as a
competent poptdation for this State, we should be
fifty-four and a half years attaining it, could we at
once double our numbers; and eighty-one and three
quarter years, if we rely on natural propagation, as
may be seen by the following tablet:
our prt«nl .lock.
. dimbl. .lock.
I»I
567,614
■,"3S,»»8
»o8K
..■3S."S
■ ,.;o.4s6
«3!«
...70,.56
4.540.9"
««.«
4.540.9"
In the first column are stated periods of twenty-
seven and a quarter years; in the second are our
numbers at each period, as they will be if we proceed
on our actual stock ; and in the third are what they
would be, at the same periods, were we to set out
from the double of our present stock. I have taken
the term of four million and a half of inhabitants for
example's sake only. Yet I am persuaded it is a
greater number than the country spoken of, consid-
Jefferson's Works
ering how much inarable land it contains, can clothe
and feed without a material change in the quality of
their diet. But are there no inconveniences to be
thrown into the scale against the advantage expected
from a multiplication of numbers by the importation
of foreigners ? It is for the happiness of those united
in society to harmonize as much as possible in mat-
ters which they must of necessity transact together.
Civil government being the sole object of forming
societies, its administration mtist be conducted by
common consent. Every species of government
has its specific principles. Ours perhaps are more
peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It
is a composition of the freest principles of the Eng-
lish constitution, with others derived from natural
right and natural reason. To these nothing can be
more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarch-
ies. Yet from such we are to expect the greatest
number of emigrants. They will bring with them
the principles of the governments they leave, im-
bibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them
off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licen-
tiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to
another. It would be a miracle were they to stop
precisely at the point of temperate liberty. These
principles, with their language, they will transmit
to their children. In proportion to their numbers,
they will share with us the legislation. They will
infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its directions,
and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted
A
Notes on Virginia 121
mass. I may appeal to experience, during the pres-
ent contest, for a verification of these conjectures.
But, if they be not certain in event, are they not
possible, are they not probable? Is it not safer to
wait with patience twenty-seven years and three
months longer, for the attainment of any degree of
population desired or expected? May not our gov-
ernment be more homogeneous, more peaceable,
more durable? Suppose twenty millions of repub-
lican Americans thrown all of a sudden into France,
what would be the condition of that kingdom? If
it would be more turbulent, less happy, less strong,
we may believe that the addition of half a million
of foreigners to our present ntunbers would produce
a similar effect here. If they come of themselves
they are entitled to all the rights of citizenship ; but
doubt the expediency of inviting them by extraor-
dinary encouragements. I mean not that these
doubts should be extended to the importation of
useful artificers. The policy of that measure de-
pends on very different considerations. Spare no
expense in obtaining them. They will after a while
go to the plough and the hoe; but, in the mean time,
they will teach us something we do not know. It is
not so in agriculture. The indifferent state of that
among us does not proceed from a want of knowl-
edge merely; it is from our having such quantities
of land to waste as we please. In Europe the object
is to make the most of their land, labor being abund-
ant; here it is to make the most of our labor, land
being abundant.
Jefferson's Works
It will be projjer to explain how the numbers for
the year 1782 have been obtained ; as it was not from
a perfect census of the inhabitants. It will at the
same time develope the proportion between the free
inhabitants and slaves. The following return of
taxable articles for that year was given in: h
53,289 free males above twenty-one years of age. B
211,698 slaves of all ages and sexes.
23,76c not distinguished in the returns, but said to
be tytheable slaves.
195,439 horses. ^
609,734 cattle. ^1
5,126 wheels of riding-carriages.
191 taverns.
There were no returns from the eight counties
of Lincoln, Jefferson, Fayette. Monongalia, Yoho-
gania, Ohio, Northampton, and York. To find the
number of slaves which should have been returned
instead of the 23,766 tytheables, we must mention
that some observations on a former census had
given reason to believe that the numbers above and
below sixteen years of age were equal. The double
of this number, therefore, to wit, 47,532 must be
added to 311,698, which will give us 259,230 slaves
of all ages and sexes. To find the number of free
inhabitants we must repeat the observation that
those above and below sixteen are nearly equal.
But as the number 53,289 omits the males below six-
teen and twenty-one we must supply them from con-
jecture. On a former experiment it had appeared
A
Notes on Virginia "3
that about one-third of our militia, that is, of the
males between sixteen and fifty, were immarried.
Knowing how early marriage takes place here, we
shall not be far wrong in supposing that the un-
married part of our militia are those between sixteen
and twenty-one. If there be yoimg men who do
not marry till after twenty-one, there are many who
marry before that age. But as men above fifty
were not included in the militia, we will suppose the
immarried, or those between sixteen and twenty-
one, to be one-fourth of the whole number above
sixteen, then we have the following calculation :
53,289 free males above twenty-one years of
age.
17,763 free males between sixteen and twenty-
one.
17,052 free males under sixteen.
142,104 free males of all ages.
284,208 free inhabitants of all ages.
259,230 slaves of all ages.
543*438 inhabitants, exclusive of the eight coun-
ties from which were no returns. In these eight
counties in the years 1779 and 1780, were 3,161
militia. Say then,
3,161 free males above the age of sixteen.
3,161 free males under sixteen.
6,322 free females.
1 2,644 free inhabitants in these eight counties. To
find the ntunber of slaves, say, as 284,208 to 259,-
124 Jefferson's Works
230, so is 12,644 to 11,532. Adding the third of
these numbers to the first, and the fourth to the
second, we have,
296,852 free inhabitants.
270,762 slaves.
567,614 inhabitants of every age, sex and condi-
tion. But 296,852, the number of free inhabitants,
are to 270,762, the number of slaves, nearly as 11
to 10. Under the mild treatment our slaves expe-
rience, and their wholesome, though coarse food,
this blot in our coimtry increases as fast, or faster
than the whites. During the regal government we
had at one time obtained a law which imposed such
a duty on the importation of slaves as amoimted
nearly to a prohibition, when one inconsiderate
assembly, placed under a peculiarity of circum-
stance, repealed the law. This repeal met a joyful
sanction from the then reigning sovereign, and no de-
vices, no expedients, which could ever be attempted
by subsequent assemblies, and they seldom met
without attempting them, could succeed in getting
the royal assent to a renewal of the duty. In the
very first session held under the repubUcan gov-
ernment, the assembly passed a law for the perpet-
ual prohibition of the importation of slaves. This
will in some measure stop the increase of this great
political and moral evil, while the minds of our
citizens may be ripening for a complete emancipa-
tion of human nature.
rf ..■♦.. •/ * .
'••J"' ^-
-^-'t-./ .^' ''J-^^l^Jl '.-.i 1...
V * ■
i'. /
imije inscriptions
Photg-cngpaving of I|iscriptions that wepe written by Jefferson on the Fly
■ ' '■ ^'* fek^^/ dfT«W ^f«e^tAti(JtT' C<J*T>5" «f th«» French Edition
/ • of t)ts "Notes on Virginia"
r .«
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f. >■.
-. •;,; ).: -.i ! (.« i l.) t'l'ti.'V
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Notes on Virginia
"5
QUERY IX.
Th£ number and condition of the Militia and Regular
Troops, and their Pay ?
The following is a state of the militia, taken
from returns of 1780 and 1781, except in those coun-
ties marked with an asterisk, the rettuns from which
are somewhat older.
u.^.
Coootie..
UiUtia.
»,..^.
Countiei,
Militia.
IV
Si
»
i
i
11
r
I
1
Lincoln
JeffMwn
Payette
lift
1
i
.s
1
c
&
P
1
S
1;
1'
GmnsviUe
Dinwiddie
ChenterBeld
-1%
66s
31S
■loa
8J4
•6<»
;644
^706
\T,
436
468
8so
fi.4
•job
48}
630
•l.JoB
yooonzalia ..
Harapdiire ,-.
Berkeley
Frederick
Shenando
AuRnsU
Rockbridge ...
Boutetonrt . . .
Faquier
Culpe|>per ....
Spotsylvania ..
Orange
Louisa
Fluvanna..'";
Bedford ....'.'
Henry ......
Halitajt .-..'.
Charlotte....
Prince Edward
Powhatan . . .
Amelia
Luoenburg . .
Meckleobutg -
Bnumrick...
•81s
1.746
.,0)8
'4 Bo
•600
^6oJ
s8g
40S
'677
Southampton . . .
Isle o{ White ....
Norfolk
Henrico ....'.'.'.'-
Hanover
New Kent
Charlei aty
JamesCily
Williamsbuish . .
Warwick
EJiubeth City . .
CaroUne
KingWiniam...
King and Queen.
Middle«™
Prince WiUiam , .
Stafford
King George ....
Richmond
Westmoreland ..
fJo rth umberUnd .
Whole M
Utia of the Slate..
......
126
Jefferson's Works
Every able-bodied freeman, between the ag^ of
sixteen and fifty, is enrolled in the militia. Those
of ever)' coimty are formed into companies, and
these again into one or more battalions, according
to the numbers in the county. They are com-
manded by colonels, and other subordinate offi-
cers, as in the regular service. In every county is
a county-lieutenant, who commands the whole
militia of his county, but ranks only as a colonel in
the field. We have no general officers always ex-
isting. These are appointed occasionally, when
an invasion or insurrection happens, and their com-
mission determines with the occasion. The Gov-
ernor is head of the military, as well as civil powi
The law requires every militia-man to provide hi
self with the arms usual in the regular service. But
this injunction was always indifferently complied
with, and the arms they had, have been so frequently
called for to arm the regulars, that in the lower
parts of the country they are entirely disarmed. In
the middle country a fourth or fifth part of them
may have such firelocks as tliey had provided to
destroy the noxious animals which infest their
farms; and on the western side of the Blue Ridge
they are generally armed with rifles. The pay of
our militia, as well as of our regulars, is that of the
continental regulars. The condition of our regu-
lars, of whom we have none but continentals, and
part of a battalion of state troops, is so constantl;
on the change, that a state of it at this day
50 constantljr^^
ay would no^^l
Notes on Virginia 127
be its state a month hence. It is much the same
with the condition of the other continental troops,
which is well enough known.
QUERY X.
The Marine?
Before the present invasion of this State by the
British, imder the command of General Phillips,
we had three vessels of sixteen guns, one of fourteen,
five small gallies, and two or three armed boats.
They were generally so badly manned as seldom to
be in a condition for service. Since the perfect
possession of our rivers assumed by the enemy, I
believe we are left with a single armed boat only.
QUERY XI.
A description of the Indians established in that State ?
When the first effectual settlement of our colony
was made, which was in 1607, the country from the
seacoast to the mountains, and from the Potomac
to the most southern waters of James* river, was
occupied by upwards of forty different tribes of
Indians. Of these the Powhatans, the MannahoacSy
and Monacans, were the most powerful. Those
between the seacoast and falls of the rivers, were
in amity with one another, and attached to the
128 Jefferson's Works
Powhatans as their link of union. Those between
the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were
divided into two confederacies; the tribes inhabit-
ing the head waters of Potomac and Rappahannock,
being attached to the Mannahoacs; and those on
the upper parts of James' river to the Monacans.
But the Monacans and their friends were in amity
with the Mannahoacs and their friends, and waged
joint ai;d perpetual war against the Powhatans. We
are told that the Powhatans, Mannahoacs, and
Monacans, spoke languages so radically different,
that interpreters were necessary when they trans-
acted business. Hence we may conjecture, that
this was not the case between all the tribes, and,
probably, that each spoke the language of the na-
tion to which it was attached; which we know to
have been the case in many particular instances.
Very possibly there may have been anciently three
different stocks, each of which multiplying in a
long course of time, had separated into so many
little societies. This practice results from the circum-
stance of their having never submitted themselves
to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of
government. Their only controls are their man-
ners, and that moral sense of right and wrong,
which, like the sense of tasting and feeling in every
man, makes a part of his nature. An offence against
these is pimished by contempt, by exclusion from
society, or, where the case is serious, as that of
jsqurder, by the individuals whom it concerns. Im-
Notes on Virginia i^9
perfect as this species of coercion may seem, crimes
are very rare among them; insomuch that were it
made a question, whether no law, as among the
savage Americans, or too much law, as among the
civilized Europeans, submits man to the greatest
evil, one who has seen both conditions of existence
would pronounce it to be the last; and that the
sheep are happier of themselves, than under care
of the wolves. It will be said, the great societies
cannot exist without government. The savages,
therefore, break them into small ones.
The territories of the Powhatan confederacy,
south of the Potomac, comprehended about eight
thousand square miles, thirty tribes, and two thou-
sand four hundred warriors. Captain Smith tells
us, that within sixty miles of Jamestown were five
thousand people, of whom one thousand five him-
dred were warriors. From this we find the propor-
tion of their warriors to their whole inhabitants, was
as three to ten. The Powhatan confederacy, then,
would consist of about eight thousand inhabitants,
which was one for every square mile; being about
the twentieth part of oiu* present population in the
same territory, and the hundredth of that of the
British islands.
Besides these were the Nottoways, living on Notto-
way river, the Meherrins and Tuteloes on Meherrin
river, who were connected with the Indians of Caro-
lina, probably with the Chowanocs.
VOL. II— 9
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Notes on Virginia 131
The preceding table contains a state of these sev-
eral tribes, according to their confederacies and
geographical situation, with their numbers when
we first became acquainted with them, where these
numbers are known. The numbers of some of
them are again stated as they were in the year 1669,
when an attempt was made by assembly to enum-
erate them. Probably the enumeration is imper-
fect, and in some measure conjectural, and that a
further search into the records would furnish many
more particulars. What would be the melancholy
sequel of their history, may, however, be argued
from the census of 1669; by which we discover that-
the tribes therein enumerated were, in the space of
sixty-two years, reduced to about one-third of their
former numbers. Spirituous liquors, the small-
pox, war, and an abridgement of territory to a peo-
ple who lived principally on the spontaneous pro-
ductions of nature, had committed terrible havoc
among them, which generation, imder the obstacles
opposed to it among them, was not likely to make
good. That the lands of this country were taken
from them by conquest, is not so general a truth as
is supposed. I find in our historians and records,
repeated proofs of purchase, which cover a consid-
erable part of the lower country; and many more
would doubtless be found on further search. The
upper country, we know, has been acquired— alto-
gether acquired by purchases made in the most un-
exceptionable form.
132 Jefferson's Works
Westward of all these tribes, beyond the moun-
tains, and extending to the great lakes, were the
Alaffawomees, a most powerful confederacy, who
harassed unremittingly the Powhatans and Manna-
hoacs. These were probably the ancestors of tribes
known at present by the name of the Six Motions.
Very little can now be discovered of the sub!
quent history of these tribes severally. The Chick-
ahominies removed about the year 1661, to Matta-
pony river. Their chief, with one from each of the
Pamunkies and Mattaponies, attended the treaty
of Albany in 16S5. This seems to have been the
last chapter in their history. They retained, how-
ever, their separate name so late as 1705, and were
at length blended with the Pamunkies and Matta-
ponies, and exist at present only under their names.
There remain of the Alattaponies three or four men
only, and have more negro than Indian blood in
them. They have lost their language, have reduced
themselves, by voluntary sales, to about fifty acres
of land, which lie on the river of their own name,
and have from time to time, been joining the
Pamunkies, from whom they are distant but ten
miles. The Pamunkies are reduced to about ten
or twelve men, tolerably pure from mixture with
other colors. The older ones among them preser\'e
their language in a small degree, which are the last
vestiges on earth, as far as we know, of the Pow-
hatan language. They have about three hundred
acres of very fertile land, on Pamunkey river, so
bes
Notes on Virginia 133
encompassed by water that a gate shuts in the whole.
Of the NottowaySy not a male is left. A few women
constitute the remains of that tribe. They are
seated on Nottoway river, in Southampton countrj',
on very fertile lands. At a ver}'' early period, cer-
tain lands were marked out and appropriated to these
tribes, and were kept from encroachment by the
authority of the laws. They have usually had
trustees appointed, whose duty was to watch over
their interests, and guard them from insult and injury.
The Monacans and their friends, better known
latterly by the name of Tuscaroras, were probably
connected with the Massawomecs, or Five Nations.
For though we are told* their languages were so
different that the intervention of interpreters was
necessary between them, yet do we also learn' that
the Erigas, a nation formerly inhabiting on the
Ohio, were of the same original stock with the Five
Nations, and that they partook also of the Tusca-
rora language. Their dialects might, by long sepa-
ration, have become so unlike as to be unintelligible
to one another. We know that in 1712, the Five
Nations received the Tuscaroras into their confed-
eracy, and made them the Sixth Nation. They
received the Meherrins and Tuteloes also into their
protection; and it is most probable, that the re-
mains of many other of the tribes, of whom we
find no particular account, retired westwardly in
• Smith.
'Evans.
134 Jefferson's Works
like manner, and were incorporated with one or
the other of the western tribes. See Apj^endix (5).
I know of no such thing existing as an Indian
monument; for I would not honor with that name
arrow points, stone hatchets, stone pipes, and half
shapen images. Of labor on the large scale, I think
there is no remain as respectable as would be a
common ditch for the draining of lands; unless
indeed it would be the barrows, of which many are
to be found all over this country. These are of
different sizes, some of them constructed of earth,
and some of loose stones. That they were reposi-
tories of the dead, has been obvious to all; but on
what particular occasion constructed, was a matter
of doubt. Some have thought they covered the
bones of those who have fallen in battles fought on
the spot of interment. Some ascribed them to the
custom, said to prevail among the Indians, of col-
lecting, at certain periods, the bones of all their
dead, wheresoever deposited at the time of death.
Others again supposed them the general sepulchres
for towns, conjectured to have been on or near
these grounds; and this opinion was supported by
the quality of the lands in which they are found,
(those constructed of earth being generally in the
softest and most fertile meadow-grounds on river
sides,) and by a tradition, said to be handed down
from the aboriginal Indians, that, when they settled
in a town, the first person who died was placed
erect, and earth put about him, so as to cover and
Notes on Virginia ^35
support him; that when another died, a narrow
passage was dug to the first, the second reclined
against him, and the cover of earth replaced, and
so on. There being one of these in my neighbor-
hood, I wished to satisfy myself whether any, and
which of these opinions were just. For this piupose
I determined to open and examine it thoroughly.
It was situated on the low grotmds of the Rivanna,
about two miles above its principal fork, and oppo-
site to some hills, on which had been an Indian
town. It was of a spheroidical form, of about
forty feet diameter at the base, and had been of
about twelve feet altitude, though now reduced by
the plough to seven and a half, having been tmder
cultivation about a dozen years. Before this it was
covered with trees of twelve inches diameter, and
round the base was an excavation of five feet depth
and width, from whence the earth had been taken
of which the hillock was formed. I first dug super-
ficially in several parts of it, and came to collec-
tions of human bones, at different depths, from six
inches to three feet below the surface. These were
lying in the utmost confusion, some vertical, some
oblique, some horizontal, and directed to every
point of the compass, entangled and held together
in clusters by the earth. Bones of the most distant
parts were found together, as, for instance, the
small bones of the foot in the hollow of a scull;
many sculls would sometimes be in contact, lying
on the face, on the side, on the back, top or bottom.
13* Jefferson's Works
so as, on the whole, to give the idea of bones emptied
promiscuously from a bag or a basket, and covered
over with earth, without any attention to their
order. The bones of which the greatest numbers
remained, were sculls, jaw-bones, teeth, the bones
of the arms, thighs, legs, feet and hands. A few
ribs remained, some vertebra: of the neck and spine,
without their processes, and one instance only of
the bone' which serves as a base to the vertebral
column. The sculls were so tender, that they gen-
erally fell to pieces on being touched. The other
bones were stronger. There were some teeth which
were judged to be smaller than those of an adult ; a
scull, which on a slight view, appeared to be that of
an infant, but it fell to pieces on being taken out,
so as to prevent satisfactory examination; a rib,
and a fragment of the under-jaw of a person about
half gi"own; another rib of an infant; and a part
of the jaw of a child, which had not cut its teeth.
This last furnishing the most decisive proof of the
burial of children here, I was particular in my atten-
tion to it. It was part of the right half of the under-
jaw. The processes, by which it was attenuated to
the temporal bones, were entire, and the bone itself
firm to where it had been broken off, which, as
nearly as I could judge, was about the place of the
eye-tooth. Its upper edge, wherein would have
been the sockets of the teeth, was perfectly smooth.
Measuring it with that of an adult, by placing their
' The OS sacrum.
Notes on Virginia 137
hinder processes together, its broken end extended
to the penultimate grinder of the adult. This bone
was white, all the others of a sand color. The bones
of infants being soft, they probably decay sooner,
which might be the cause so few were found here.
I proceeded then to make a perpendicular cut
through the body of the barrow, that I might exam-
ine its internal structure. This passed about three
feet from its centre, was opened to the former surface
of the earth, and was wide enough for a man to walk
through and examine its sides. At the bottom,
that is, on the level of the circumjacent plain, ].
found bones; above these a few stones, brought
from a cliff a quarter of a mile off, and from the river
one-eighth of a mile oft ; then a large interval of earth,
then a stratum of bones, and so on. At one end of
the section were four strata of bones plainly dis-
tinguishable; at the other, three; the strata in one
part not ranging with those in another. The bones
nearest the surface were least decayed. No holes
were discovered in any of them, as if made with
bullets, arrows, or other weapons. I conjectured
that in this barrow might have been a thousand
skeletons. Every one will readily seize the circum-
stances above related, which militate against the
opinion, that it covered the bones only of persons
fallen in battle; and against the tradition also,
which would make it the common sepulchre of a
town, in which the bodies were placed upright, and
touching each other. Appearances certainly indi-
■38
Jefferson's Works
I
cate that it has derived both origin and growth
from the accustomary collection of bones, and depo-
sition of them together; that the first collection
had been deposited on the common surface of the
earth, a few stones put over it, and then a covering
of earth, that the second had been laid on this, had
covered more or less of it in proportion to the num-
ber of bones, and was then also covered with earth ;
and so on. The following are the particular circum-
stances which give it this aspect, i. The number
of bones. 2. Their confused position. 3. Their
being in different strata. 4. The strata in one part
having no correspondence with those in another.
5. The different states of decay in these strata,
which seem to indicate a difference in the time of
inhumation. 6. The existence of infant bones
among them.
But on whatever occasion they may have been
made, they are of considerable notoriety among the
Indians; for a party passing, about thirty years
ago, through the part of the country where this
barrow is. went through the woods directly to it,
\vithout any instructions or inquiry', and having
staid about it for some time, with expressions which
were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned
to the high road, which they had left about half a
dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their
journey. There is another barrow much resembling
this, in the low grounds of the south branch of Shen-
andoah, where it is crossed by the road leading
Notes on Virginia 139
from the Rockfish gap to Staunton. Both of these
have, within these dozen years, been cleared of
their trees and put under cultivation, are much
reduced in their height, and spread in width, by
the plough, and will probably disappear in time.
There is another on a hill in the Blue Ridge of moun-
tains, a few miles north of Wood's gap, which is
made up of small stones thrown together. This
has been opened and found to contain human bones,
as the others do. There are also many others in
other parts of the country.
Great question has arisen from whence came those
aboriginals of America ? Discoveries, long ago made,
were sufl&cient to show that the passage from Europe
to America was always practicable, even to the
imperfect navigation of ancient times. In going
from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Green-
land, from Greenland to Labrador, the first traject
is the widest; and this having been practised from
the earliest times of which we have any accotmt of
that part of the earth, it is not difficult to suppose
that the subsequent trajects may have been some-
times passed. Again, the late discoveries of Captain
Cook, coasting from Kamschatka to California, have
proved that if the two continents of Asia and Amer-
ica be separated at all, it is only by a narrow strait.
So that from this side also, inhabitants may have
passed into America; and the resemblance between
the Indians of America and the eastern inhabitants
of Asia, wotild induce us to conjecture, that the
U© Jefferson's Works
former are the descendants of the latter, or the latter
of the former; excepting indeed the Esquimaux,
who, from the same circumstance of resemblance,
and from identity of language, must be derived
from the Greenlanders, and these probably from
some of the northern parts of the old continent. A
knowledge of their several languages would be the
most certain evidence of their derivation which
could be produced. In fact, it is the best proof of
the affinity of nations which ever can be referred to.
How many ages have elapsed since the English, the
Dutch, the Germans, the Swiss, the Norwegians,
Danes and Swedes have separated from their com-
mon stock? Yet how many more must elapse
before the proofs of their common origin, which
exist in their several languages, will disappear? It
is to be lamented then, very much to be lamented,
that we have suffered so many of the Indian tribes
already to extinguish, without our having previously
collected and deposited in the records of literature,
the general rudiments at least of the languages they
spoke. Were vocabularies formed of all the lan-
guages spoken in North and South America, pre-
serving their appellations of the most common
objects in nature, of those which must be present to
every nation barbarous or civilized, with the inflec-
tions of their nouns and verbs, their principles of
regimen and concord, and these deposited in all the
public libraries, it would furnish opportunities to
those skilled in the languages of the old world to
Notes on Virginia 141
compare them with these, now, or at any future
time, and hence to construct the best evidence of
the derivation of this part of the htunan race.
But imperfect as is our knowledge of the tongues
spoken in America, it suffices to discover the follow-
ing remarkable fact: Arranging them under the
radical ones to which they may be palpably traced,
and doing the same by those of the red men of Asia,
there will be fotmd probably twenty in America,
for one in Asia, of those radical languages, so called
l)ecause if they were ever the same they have lost
all resemblance to one another. A separation into
dialects may be the work of a few ages only, but for
two dialects to recede from one another till they
have lost all vestiges of their common origin, must
require an immense course of time; perhaps not
less than many people give to the age of the earth.
A greater number of those radical changes of Ian*
guage having taken place among the red men of
America, proves them of greater antiquity than those
of Asia.
I will now proceed to state the nations and numbers
of the Aborigines which still exist in a respectable
and independent form. And as their undefined bound-
aries would render it difficult to specify those only
Vrhich may be within any certain limits, and it may
not be unacceptable to present a more general view
of them, I will reduce within the form of a catalogue
all those within, and circumjacent to, the United
States, whose names and numbers have come to my
142 Jefferson's Works
notice. These are taken from four different lists,
the first of which was given in the year 1759 to Gen-
eral Stanwix by George Croghan, deputy agent for
Indian affairs under Sir William Johnson ; the second
was drawn up by a French trader of considerable
note, resident among the Indians many years, and
annexed to Colonel Bouquet's printed accotmt of his
expedition in 1764. The third was made out by
Captain Hutchins, who visited most of the tribes,
by order, for the piupose of learning their numbers,
in 1768; and the fourth by John Dodge, an Indian
trader, in 1779, except the numbers marked*— which
are from other information.
Notes on Virginia
143
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Jefferson's Works
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Notes on Virginia
145
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13
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146 Jefferson's Works
s
6
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t
From the mouth of Ohio to the
mouth of Wabash.
On the Mississippi below the Shak-
ies.
4>
The following tribes are also mentioned:
Lezar 400 "S
Webings 200 "S
Ousasoys. . . ) f On White Creek, a branch of the
Grand Tuc. j 1 Mississippi.
Linways 1,000 On the Mississippi.
Les Puans 700 Near Puans Bay.
Folle Avoine 350 Near Puans Bay.
Ouanakina 300
Chiakanessou 350
Machecous 800
Souikilas 200
Conjectured to be tribes of the
Creeks.
Minneamis 2,000
Piankishas
Mascoutins.
Vermillions
800
{
North-west of Lake Michigan, to
the heads of Mississippi, and up
to Lake Suj>erior.
On and near the Wabash toward
the Illinois.
But apprehending these might be different appel-
lations for some of the tribes already enumerated,
I have not inserted them in the table, but state them
separately as worthy of further inquiry. The varia-
tions observable in numbering the same tribe may
sometimes be ascribed to imperfect information,
and sometimes to a greater or less comprehension of
settlements under the same name. See Appendix (7).
QUERY XII.
A notice of the counties, cities, townships, and villages f
The cotmties have been enumerated under Query
IX. They are seventy-four in number, of very
Notes on Virginia ^47
unequal size and population. Of these thirty-five
are on the tide waters, or in that parallel; twenty-
three are in the midlands, between the tide waters
and Blue Ridge of mountains; eight between the
Blue Ridge and Alleghany; and eight westward of
the Alleghany.
The State, by another division, is formed into
parishes, many of which are commensurate with the
counties; but sometimes a cotmty comprehends
more than one parish, and sometimes a parish more
than one cotmty. This division had relation to the
religion of the State, a portion of the Anglican
church, with a fixed salary, having been heretofore
established in each parish. The care of the poor
was another object of the parochial division.
We have no townships. Our cotmtry being much
intersected with navigable waters, and trade brought
generally to our doors, instead of our being obliged
tx) go in quest of it, has probably been one of the
causes why we have no towns of any consequence.
Williamsburg, which, till the year 1780, was the
seat of our government, never contained above
1,800 inhabitants; and Norfolk, the most popu-
lous town we ever had, contained but 6,000. Our
towns, but more properly our villages and hamlets,
are as follows :
On James' River and its waters, Norfolk, Ports-
mouth, Hampton, Suifolk, Smithfield» Williams-
burg, Petersburg, Richmond, the seat of our gov-
tttiment, Manchester, Charlottesville, New London.
148 Jefferson's Works
On York River and its waters, York, Newcastle,
Hanover.
On Rappahannock, Urbanna, Port-Royal, Fred-
ericksburg, Falmouth.
On Polmnac and its waters, Dumfries, ColchesteTjj
Alexandria, Winchester, Staunton. fl
On Ohio, Louisville. I
There are other places at which, like some of the
foregoing, the laws have said there shall be towns;
but nature has said there shall not, and they remain
unworthy of enumeration. Norfolk will probably
be the emporium for all the trade of the Chesapeake
bay and its waters; and a canal of eight or ten miles
will bring to it all that of Albemarle sound and its
waters. Secondary to this place, are the towns at
the head of the tide waters, to wit, Petersburg on
Appomattox; Richmond on James' river; Newcastle
on York river; Alexandria on Potomac, and Balti-
more on Patapsco. From these the distribution
will be to subordinate situations in the country'.
Accidental circumstances, however, may control
the indications of nature, and in no instance do they
do it more frequently than in the rise and fall of
towns.
QUERY XIII.
The constitution of the State and its several charters f
Queen Elizabeth by her letters patent, bearing
date March 25, 1584, licensed Sir Walter Raleigh to
I
^^H^ Notes on Virginia 149
search for remote heathen lands, not inhabited by
Christian people, and granted to him in fee simple,
all the soil within two hundred leagues of the places
where his people should, within six years, make
their dwellings or abidings; reserving only to her-
self and her successors, their allegiance and one-fifth
part of all the gold and silver ore they should obtain.
Sir Walter immediately sent out two ships, which
visited Wococon island in North Carolina, and the
next year despatched seven with one hundred and
seven men, who settled in Roanoke island, about
latitude 35° 50'. Here Okisko, king of the Weopo-
meiocs, in a full council of his people is said to have
acknowledged himself the homager of the Queen of
England, and, after her, of Sir Walter Raleigh. A
supply of fifty men were sent in 1586, and one hun-
dred and fifty in 1587. With these last Sir Walter
sent a governor, appointed him twelve assistants,
gave them a charter of incorporation, and instructed
them to settle on Chesapeake bay. They landed,
however, at Hatorask. In 1588, when a fleet was
ready to sail with a new supply of colonists and
necessaries, they were detained by the Queen to
assist against the Spanish armada. Sir Walter
having now expended £40,000 in these enterprises,
obstructed occasionally by the crown without a
shilling of aid from it, was under a necessity of en-
gaging others to adventure their money. He, there-
fore, by deed bearing date the 7th of March, 1589,
by the name of Sir Walter Raleigh, Chief Governor
15° Jefferson's Works
of Assam^cbmoc, (probably Acomkc.) alias Winga-
dacoia, alias Virginia, granted to Thomas Smith
and others, in consideration of their adventuring
certain sums of money, liberty to trade to this new
country free from all customs and taxes for seven
years, excepting the fifth part of the gold and silver
ore to be obtained; and stipulated with them and
the other assistants, then in Virginia, that he would
confirm the deed of incorporation which he had
given in 1587, with all the prerogatives, jurisdic-
tions, royalties and privileges granted to him bv
the Queen. Sir Walter, at different times, sent
five other adventurers hither, the last of which
was in 1602; for in 1603 he was attainted and put
into close imprisonment, which put an end to his
cares over his infant colony. What was the par-
ticular fate of the colonists he had before sent and
seated, has never been known; whether they were
murdered, or incorporated with the savages.
Some gentlemen and merchants, supposing that
by the attainder of Sir Walter Raleigh the grant to
him was forfeited, not inquiring over carefully
whether the sentence of an English court could
affect lands not within the jurisdiction of that court,
^letitioned king James for a new grant of Virginia
to them. He accordingly executed a grant to Sir
Thomas Gates and others, bearing date the 9th of
March, 1607, under which, in the same year, a set-
tlement was effected at Jamestown, and ever after
maintained. Of this grant, however, no particular
Notes on Virginia iS^
notice need be taken, as it was superseded by letters
patent of the same king, of May 23, 1609, to the
Earl of Salisbury and others, incorporating them
by the name of "The Treasurer and company of
Adventurers and Planters of the City of London
for the first colony in Virginia," granting to them
and their successors all the lands in Virginia from
Point Comfort along the sea-coast, to the northward
two hundred miles, and from the same point along
the sea-coast to the southward two hundred miles,
and all the space from this precinct on the sea-coast
up into the land, west and north-west, from sea to
sea, and the islands within one htmdred miles of it,
with all the commtmities, jurisdictions, royalties,
privileges, franchises, and pre-eminencies, within
the same, and thereto and thereabouts, by sea and
land, appertaining in as ample manner as had be-
fore been granted to any adventurer; to be held of
the king and his successors, in common soccage,
yielding one-fifth part of the gold and silver ore to
be therein fotind, for all manner of services; estab-
lishing a counsel in England for the direction of the
enterprise, the members of which were to be chosen
and displaced by the voice of the majority of the
company and adventurers, and were to have the
nomination and revocation of governors, officers,
and ministers, which by them should be thought
needful for the colony, the power of establishing
laws and forms of government and magistracy, ob-
ligatory not only within the colony, but also on the
Jefferson's Works
I
seas in going and coming to and from it; authori*
ing them to carry thither any persons who should.!
consent to go, freeing them forever from all taxejfJ
and impositions on any goods or merchandise on*
importations into the colony, or exportation out oim
it. -except the five per cent, due for custom on a&v
goods imported into the British dominions, accord-4^
ing to the ancient trade of merchants; which fiw
per cent, only being paid they might, within thirtei
months, re-export the same goods into foreign parts,'
without any custom, tax, or other duty, to the king
or any of his officers, or deputies; with powers of
waging war against those who should annoy them ;
giving to the inhabitants of the colony all the right&J
of natural subjects, as if bom and abiding in Eng->|
land; and declaring that these letters should
construed, in all doubtful parts, in such manner t
should be most for the benefit of the grantees.
Afterwards on the 12th of March, 1612, by otha
letters patent, the king added to his former granti
all islands in any part of the ocean between the 3otl
and 41st degrees of latitude, and within three hu
dred leagues of any of the parts before granted ■
the treasurer and company, not being possessed (
inhabited by any other Christian prince or statCj
nor within the limits of the northern colony.
In pursuance of the authorities given to the coin-4
pany by these charters, and more especially of thav
part in the charter of 1609, which authorized them
to establish a form of government, they on the 24th
I
^^^1^ Notes on Virginia ^53
of July. 1621. by charter under their common seal,
declared that from thenceforward there should be
two supreme councils in Virginia, the one to be called
the council of state, to be placed and displaced by the
treasurer, council in England, and company from
time to time, whose office was to be that of assist-
ing and advising the governor; the other to be called
the general assembly, to be convened by the gov-
ernor once yearly or of tencr, which was to consist of
the council of state, and two burgesses out of every
town, hundred, or plantation, to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants. In this all matters were
to be decided by the greater part of the votes present ;
reserving to the governor a negative voice; and they
■were to have power to treat, consult, and conclude
all emergent occasions concerning the public weal,
and to make laws for the behoof and government of
the colony, imitating and following the laws and
policy of England as nearly as might be; providing
that these laws should have no force till ratified in a
general court of the company in England, and re-
turned under their common seal; and declaring
that, after the government of the colony should be
well framed and settled, no orders of the council in
England should bind the colony unless ratified in the
said general assembly. The king and company quar-
relled, and by a mixture of law and force, the latter
were ousted of all their rights without retribution,
after having expended one hundred thousand pounds
in establishing the colony, without the smallest aid
S54 Jefferson's Works
from government. King James suspended their
powers by proclamation of July 15, 1624, and Charles
I. took the government into his own hands. Both
sides had their partisans in the colony, but, in truth,
the people of the colony in general thought them-
selves little concerned in the dispute. There being
three parties interested in these several charters,
what passed between the first and second, it was
thought could not affect the third. If the king
seized on the powers of the company, they only
passed into other hands, without increase or dimi-
nution, while the rights of the people remained as
they were. But they did not remain so long. The
northern parts of their country were granted away
to the lords Baltimore and Fairfax ; the first of these
obtaining also the rights of separate jurisdiction and
government. And in 1650 the parliament. considering
itself as standing in the place of their deposed king,
and as having succeeded to all his powers, without
as well as within the realm, began to assume a right
over the colonies, passing an act for inhibiting their
trade with foreign nations. This succession to the
exercise of kingly authority gave the first color for
parliamentary interference with the colonies, and
produced that fatal precedent which they continued
to follow, after they had retired, in other respects,
within their proper functions. When this colony,
therefore, which still maintained its opposition to
Cromwell and the parliament, was induced in 1651
to lay down their arms, they previously secured
Notes on Virginia iS5
their most essential rights by a solemn convention,
which, having never seen in print, I will here insert
literally from the records.
"ARTICLES agreed on and concluded at James Cittie in Virginia
for the surrendering and settling of that plantation under the obedi-
ence and government of the commonwealth of England by the com-
missioners of the Councill of State by authoritie of the parliamt of Eng-
land, and by the Grand assembly of the Govemour, Councill, and
Burgesses of that countrey.
** First it is agreed and consted that the plantation of Virginia, and
all the inhabitants thereof, shall be and remain in due obedience and
subjection to the Commonwealth of England, according to the laws
there established, and that this submission and subscription bee ac-
knowledged a voluntary act not forced nor constrained by a conquest
upon the countrey, and that they shall have and enjoy such freedoms
and priviledges as belong to the free borne people of England, and
that the former government by the Commissions and Instructions be
void and null.
"aly. That the Grand assembly as formerly shall convene and
transact the affairs of Virginia, wherein nothing is to be acted or done
contrairie to the government of the Commonwealth of England and
the lawes there established.
**3ly. That there shall be a full and totall remission and indempnitie
of all acts, words, or writeings done or spoken against the parliament
of England in relation to the same.
"4ly. That Virginia shall have and enjoy the anticnt bounds and
lymitts granted by the charters of the former kings, and that we shall
seek a new charter from the parliament to that purpose against any
that have intrencht upon the rights thereof.
** 5ly. That all the pattents of land granted under the colony seal
by any of the precedent govemours shall be and rcmainc in their full
force and strength.
**6ly. That the priviledge of haveing Hiftie acres of land for every
person transported in that collonie shall continue as formerly granted.
** 7ly. That the people of Virginia have free trade as the pe^rplc of
England do enjoy to all places and with all nations accr^rding U) the
lawes of that commonwealth, and that Virginia shall enjoy all privi-
ledges eqtiall with any English plantatif>ns in America.
"8ly. That Virginia shall be free (rfftn all taxes, cusUjms and impo-
sitions whatsoever, and none to be imposed on them without consent
iS6
Jefferson's Works
of the Grand assembly; and soe that neither fforts nor caatla
erected or garrisons maintained without their consent.
"gly. That noe charge shall be required from this country in ro»
spect of this present flieet.
"loly. That for the future settlement of the countrey in their due
obedience, the engaKement shall be tendred to all the inhabitants ac-
cording to act of parliament made to that purpose, that all persons
who shall refuse to subscribe the said engagement, shall have a yeare's
time if they please to remove themselves and their estates out of Vir-
ginia, and in the meantime during the said ycare to have equall justice
as formerly,
" I ily. That the use of the bookc of common prayer shall be pet-.
mitled for ore yeare ensueinge with referrence to the consent of tlwl
major part of the parishes, provided that those which relate to kiny
shipp or that government be not used publiquely. and the continuance
of ministers in their places, they not misdemeaning themselves, and
the payment of their accustomed dues and agreements made with
them respectively shall be left as they now stand durrang this ensue-
ing yeare.
" Illy, That no man's cattell shall be questioned as the compami^^
unless such as ha.ve been entrusted with them or have disposed
them without order,
" I jly. That all ammunition, powder and armes, other than for
vate use. shall be delivered up, securitie being given to make satii
tion for it,
"i4ly. That all goods allreadie brought hither by the Dutch or
others which are now on shoar shall be free from surpriaall.
" isly. That the quittrenta granted unto us by the late kinge for
seaven yeares bee confirmed.
" i61y. That the commissioners for the parliament subscri being these
articles engage themselves and the honour of parliament for the full
performance thereof; and that the present govemour, and the councill,
and the burgesses do likewise subscribe and engage the whole coUony
on their parts.
Richard Bennett, — Scale.
isfael^l
Edmond Curtis. — Seale.
" Thcise articles were signed and sealed by the Commissioners of tlie
Councill of state for the Commonwealth of England the twelvetb day
of March 1651."
Notes on Virginia ^57
Then follow the articles stipulated by the governor
and council, which relate merely to their own per-
sons and property, and then the ensuing instrument:
"An act of indetnpnilie made att the surrender of the counlrey.
"Whereas, by the authoritie of the parliament wee the cotnniis-
Stoners appointed by the council] of state authorized thereto, having
brought a ffleet and force before James dttie in Virginia to reduce that
collonie under the obedience of the commonwealth of England, and
finding force raised by the Govemour and countrey to make opposition
against the said ffleet, whereby assured danger appearinge of the ruine
and destruction of the plantation, for prevention whereof the bur-
gesses of all the several! plantations being called to advise and assist
therrin, uppon long and serious debate, and in sad contemplation of
the great miseries and certain destruction which were soe neerely hov-
ering over the whole countrey; Wee the said Commissioners have
thought fitt and condescending and granted to stgne and confirme
under our hands, scales and by our oath, Articles bearinge date with
theise presents, and do further declare that by the authoritie of the
parliament and commonwealth of England derived unto us their com-
missioners, that according to the articles in general! wee have granted
an act of indempniticandobhvion toall the inhabitants of this collonie
from all words, actions, or writings that have been spoken acted or
wfritt against the parliament or commonwealth of England or any
other person from the beginning of the world to this daye. And this
■we have done that all the inhabitants of the collonie may live quietly
and securely under the commonwealth of England. And we do prom-
ise that the parliament and commonwealth of England shall confirm
and make good all those transactions of ours. Witness our hands and
scales this 13th of March 1651.
Richard Bbnnbtt. — Seale.
William Claibornb. — Seale.
Eduomd Curtis. — Seale."
The colony supposed, that, by this solemn con-
vention, entered into with arms in their hands, they
had secured the ancient limits' of their country, its
free trade,' its exemption from taxation' but by
' Art. 4. • Art. j. 'Art. 8.
iss
Jefferson's Works
their own assembly, and exclusion of military fora
from among them. Yet in every of these points wa
this convention violated by subsequent kings and-l
parliaments, and other infractions of their constitu-,,
tion, equally dangerous committed. Their general!
assembly, which was composed of the council
state and burgesses, sitting together and decidin^'l
by plurality of voices, was split into two houses, by-J
which the council obtained a sejiarate negative otf
their laws. Appeals from their supreme court, whicllfl
had been fixed by law in their general assembly,^
were arbitrarily revoked to England, to be the
heard before the king and council. Instead of fou
hundred miles on the seacoast, they were reduced^
in the space of thirty years, to about one hundn
miles. Their trade with foreigners was totally
suppressed, and when carried to Great Britain, was
there loaded with imposts. It is unnecessary, how-
ever, to glean up the several instances of injury,
scattered through American and British historyj
and the more especially as, by passing on to '
accession of the present king, we shall find specimei
of them all, aggravated, multiplied and crowd©
within a small compass of time, so as to evince i
fixed design of considering our rights natural, con*1
ventional and chartered as mere nullities. The '
following is an epitome of the first sixteen years of
his reign: The colonies were taxed internally and
externally; their essential interests sacrificed
Lcrificed to^H
Notes on Virginia i59
individuals in Great Britain; their legislatures sus-
pended; charters annulled; trials by jiuies taken
away; their persons subjected to transportation
across the Atlantic, and to trial before foreign
judicatories ; their supplications for redress thought
beneath answer; themselves published as cowards
in the coimcils of their mother coimtry and courts
of Europe ; armed troops sent among them to enforce
submission to these violences ; and actual hostilities
commenced against them. No alternative was
presented but resistance, or unconditional submission.
Between these could be no hesitation. They closed
in the appeal to arms. They declared themselves
independent states. They confederated together
into one great republic; thus securing to every
State the benefit of an union of their whole force.
In each State separately a new form of government
was established. Of ours particularly the following
are the outlines: The executive powers are lodged
in the hands of a governor, chosen annually, and
incapable of acting more then three years in seven.
He is assisted by a coimcil of eight members. The
judiciary powers are divided among several courts,
as will be hereafter explained. Legislation is exer-
cised by two houses of assembly, the one called the
house of Delegates, composed of two members from
each coimty, chosen annually by the citizens, pos-
sessing an estate for life in one hundred acres of
uninhabited land, or twenty-five acres with a house
on it, or in a house or lot in some town : the other
*6o Jefferson's Works
called the Senate, consisting of twenty-four mem-
bers, chosen quadrenially by the same electors, who
for this purpose are distributed into twenty-four
districts. The concurrence of both houses is neces-
sary to the passage of a law. They have the ap-
pointment of the governor and council, the judges
of the superior courts, auditors, attorney-general,
treasurer, register of the land office, and delegates
to Congress. As the dismemberment of the State
had never had its confirmation, but, on the con-
trary, had always been the subject of protestation
and complaint, that it might never be in our own
power to raise scruples on that subject, or to disturb
the harmony of our new confederacy, the grants
to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the two Carolinas,
were ratified.
This constitution was formed when we were new
and unexperienced in the science of government. It
was the first, too, which was formed in the whole
United States. No wonder then that time and trial
have discovered very capital defects in it.
1. The majority of the men in the State, who pay
and fight for its support, are unrepresented in the
legislature, the roll of freeholders entitled to vote
not including generally the half of those on the roll
of the mihtia, or of the tax-gatherers.
2. Among those who share the representation, the
shares are very unequal. Thus the county of War-
wick, with only one hundred fighting men, has an
equal representation with the county of Loudon,
A
Notes on Virginia i6i
which has one thousand seven hundred and forty-
six. So that every man in Warwick has as much
influence in the government as seventeen men in
Loudon. But lest it should be thought that an
equal interspersion of small among large counties,
through the whole State, may prevent any danger
of injury to particular parts of it, we will divide it
into districts, and show the proportions of land, of
fighting men, and of representation in each :
Between the sea-coast and falls of
the rivers '11,205 x9tOza 7: za
Between the falls of the rivers and
Blue Ridge of mountains iS»759 i8,8a8 46 8
Between the Blue Ridge and the
Alleghany 11.91X 7>673 '^ *
Between the Alleghany and Ohio '79,650 4,458 z6 a
Total 121,525 49.971 149 «4
An inspection of this table will supply the place
of commentaries on it. It will appear at once that
nineteen thousand men, living below the falls of the
rivers, possess half the senate, and want four mem-
bers only of possessing a majority of the house of
delegates ; a want more than supplied by the vicinity
of their situation to the seat of government, and of
course the greater degree of convenience and punc-
tuality with which their members may and will
' Of these 542 are on the eastern shore.
' Of these, 22,616 are eastward of the meridian of the north of the
Great Kanhaway.
VOL. n — 1 1
l69
Jefferson's Works
I
attend in the legislature. These nineteen thousand,
therefore, living in one part of the coiintr>% give law
to upwards of thirty thousand living in another,
and appoint all their chief officers, executive and
judiciary. From the difference of their situation
and circumstances, their interests will often be
very different.
3, The senate is, by its constitution, too homo-
geneous with the house of delegates. Being chosen
by the same electors, at the same time, and out of
the same subjects, the choice falls of course on men
of the same description. The purpose of estab-
lishing different houses of legislation is to introduce
the influence of different interests or different prin-
ciples. Thus in Great Britain it is said their con-
stitution relies on the house of commons for honesty,
and the lords for wisdom; which would l>e a rational
reliance, if honesty were to be bought with money,
and if wisdom were hereditary. In some of the
American States, the delegates and senators are so
chosen, as that the first represent the persons, and
the second the property of the State. But with us,
wealth and wisdom have equal chance for admission
into both houses. We do not, therefore, derive
from the separation of our legislature into two
houses, tliose benefits which a proper complication
• of principles are capable of producing, and those
which alone can compensate the evils which may
be produced by their dissensions.
4. All the powers of government, legislative,
Notes on Virginia 163
executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative
body. The concentrating these in the same hands
is precisely the definition of despotic government.
It will be no alleviation that these powers will be
exercised by a pliu'ality of hands, and not by a single
one. One himdred and seventy-three despots would
surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who
doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice.
As little will it avail us that they are chosen by oiu"-
selves. An elective despotism was not the govem-
nient we fought for, but one which should not only
be foimded on free principles, blit in which the pow-
ers of government should be so divided and balanced
among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one
could transcend their legal limits, without being
effectually checked and restrained by the others.
For this reason that convention which passed the
ordinance of government, laid its foundation on this
basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary
departments should be separate and distinct, so that
no person should exercise the powers of more than
one of them at the same time. But no barrier was
provided between these several powers. The judi-
ciary and executive members were left dependent
on the legislative, for their subsistence in office, and
some of them for their continuance in it. If, there-
fore, the legislatiu'e assiunes executive and judiciary
powers, no opposition is likely to be made; nor, if
niade, can it be effectual ; because in that case they
may put their proceedings into the form of an act
'M Jefferson's Works
of assembly, which will render them obligatory on
the other branches. They have, accordingly, in
many instances, decided rights which should have
been left to judiciary controversy; and the direc-
tion of the executive, during the whole time of their
session, is becoming habitual and familiar. And
this is done with no ill intention. The views of the
present members are perfectly upright. When they
are led out of their regular province, it is by art in
others, and inadvertence in themselves. And this
will probably be the case for some time to come.
But it will not be a very long time. Mankind soon
learn to make interested uses of every right and
power which they possess, or may assume. The
public money and public liberty, intended to have
been deposited with three branches of magistracy,
but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one
only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth
and dominion to those who hold them ; distinguished,
too, by this tempting circumstance, that they are
the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition.
With money we will get men, said Cjesar, and with
men we will get money. Nor should our assembly
be deluded by the integrity of their own purposes,
and conclude that these unlimited powers will never
be abused, because themselves are not disposed to
abuse them. They should look forward to a time,
and that not a distant one, when a corruption in
this, as in the country from which we derive our
origin, will have seized the heads of government,
Notes on Virginia 165
and be spread by them through the body of the
people; when they will purchase the voices of the
people, and make them pay the price. Human
nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic,
and will be alike influenced by the same catises.
The time to guard against corruption and tyranny,
is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is
better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust
to drawing his teeth and claws after he shall have
entered. To render these considerations the more
cogent, we must observe in addition :
S- That the ordinary legislature may alter the
constitution itself. On the discontinuance of assem-
blies, it became necessary to substitute in their
place some other body, competent to the ordinary
business of government, and to the calling forth the
powers of the State for the maintenance of our
opposition to Great Britain. Conventions were
therefore introduced, consisting of two delegates
from each county, meeting together and forming
one house, on the plan of the former house of bur-
gesses, to whose places they succeeded. These were
at first chosen anew for every particular session.
But in March 1775, they recommended to the people
to choose a convention, which should continue in
office a year. This was done, accordingly, in April
1775, and in the July following that convention
passed an ordinance for the election of delegates in
the month of April annually. It is well known,
that in July 1775, a separation from Great Britain
i66 Jefferson's Works
and establishment of republican government, had
never yet entered into any person's mind. A con-
vention, therefore, chosen under that ordinance,
cannot be said to have been chosen for the purposes
which certainly did not exist in the minds of those
who passed it. Under this ordinance, at the annual
election in April 1776, a convention for the year was
chosen. Independence, and the establishment of
a new form of government, were not even yet the
objects of the people at large. One extract from
the pamphlet called Common Sense had appeared
in the Virginia papers in February, and copies of
the pamphlet itself had got in a few hands. But
the idea had not been opened to the mass of the
people in April, much less can it be said that they
had made up their minds in its favor.
So that the electors of April 1776, no more than
the legislators of July 1775, not thinking of inde-
pendence and a pennanent republic, could not mean
to vest in these delegates powers of establishing
them, or any authorities other than those of the
ordinary legislature. So far as a temporary organi-
zation of government was necessary to render our
opposition energetic, so far their organization was
valid. But they received in their creation no powers
but what were given to every legislature before and
since. They could not, therefore, pass an act trans-
cendent to the powers of other legislatures. If the
present assembly pass an act, and declare it shall
be irrevocable by subsequent assemblies, the decla-
Notes on Virginia '67
ration is merely void, and the act repealable, as other
acts are. So far, and no farther authorized, they
organized the government by the ordinance entitled
a constitution or form of government. It pretends
to no higher authority than the other ordinances of
the same session; it does not say that it shall be
perpetual; that it shall be unalterable by other
legislatures; that it shall be transcendent above
the powers of those who they knew would have equal
power with themselves. Not only the silence of the
instrument is a proof they thought it would be
alterable, but their own practice also; for this very
convention, meeting as a house of delegates in gen-
eral assembly with the Senate in the autumn of that
year, passed acts of assembly in contradiction to
their ordinance of government; and every assembly
from that time to this has done the same. I am
safe, therefore, in the position that the constitution
itself is alterable by the ordinary legislature. Though
this opinion seems founded on the first elements of
common sense, yet is the contrary maintained by
some persons, r. Because, say they, the conven-
tions were vested with every power necessary to
make effectual opposition to Great Britain. But
to complete this argument, they must go on, and
say further, that effectual opposition could not be
made to Great Britain without establishing a form
of government perpetual and unalterable by the
legislature; which is not true. An opposition which
at some time or other was to come to an end, could
i68
Jefferson's Works
not need a perpetual institution to carry it on; i
a government amendable as its defects should
discovered, was as likely to make effectual resist-
ance, as one that should be unalterably wrong.
Besides, the assemblies were as much vested with
all powers requisite for resistance as the conventions
were. If, therefore, these powers included that of
modelling the form of government in the one case,
they did so in the other. The assemblies then as
well as the conventions may model the government;
that is, they may alter the ordinance of government.
2. They urge, that if the convention had meant that
this instrument should be alterable, as their other
ordinances were, they would have called it an ordi-:
nance; but they have called it a constitution, which,'
ex vi termini, means "an act above the power of
the ordinary legislature." I answer that consti-
tutio, constilutium, statutum, lex, are convertible
terms. "Constitutio dicitur jus quod a principe
conditure." " Constitutium, quod ab imperatoribus
rescriptum statutumve est." "Statutum, idem quod
lex." Calvini Lexicon juridicum. Constitution and
statute were originally terms of the' civil law, and
from thence introduced by ecclesiastics into the Enj
lish law. Thus in the statute 35 Hen. VIII. c. 19, §
"Constitutions and ordinances" are used as synony
mous. The term constitution has many other sig-
nifications in physics and politics; but in jurispru-
he ancient le^slative word of the E
LI. Inse. LI. Efulwerdi. LI. AathelstanL 1
nd
e Engltsh. l<d^|
AathelstuiL ^^H
Notes on Virginia 169
dence, whenever it is applied to any act of the legis-
lature, jt invariably means a statute, law, or ordinance
which is the present case. No inference then of a
different meaning can be drawn from the adoption
of this title; on the contrary, we might conclude
that, by their affixing to it a term synonymous with
ordinance or statute. But of what consequence is
their meaning, where their power is denied? If
they meant to do more than they had power to do,
did this give them power? It is not the name, but
the authority that renders an act obligatory. Lord
Coke says, "an article of the statute, 11 R. II. c. 5,
that no person shoidd attempt to revoke any ordi-
nance then made, is repealed, for that such restraints
is against the jurisdiction and power of the parlia-
ment." 4. Inst. 42. And again, "though divers
parliaments have attempted to restrain subsequent
parliaments, yet could they never effect it; for the
latter parliament hath ever power to abrogate,
suspend, qualify, explain, or make void the former
in the whole or in any part thereof, notwithstanding
any words of restraint, prohibition, or penalty, in
the former ; for it is a maxim in the laws of the par-
liament, qiwd leges posteriores priores contrarias
abrogant.'' 4. Inst. 43. To get rid of the magic
supposed to be in the word constitution, let us trans-
late it into its definition as given by those who
think it above the power of the law; and let us
suppose the convention, instead of saying, "We
the ordinary legislature, establish a constitution,''
ijo
Jefferson's Works
had said, "We the ordinary legislature, establish
an act above tlie power of the ordinary legislature."
Does not this expose the absurdity of the attempt ?
3. But, say they, the people have acquiesced, and
this has given it an authority superior to the laws.
It is true that the people did not rebel against it;
and was that a lime for the people to rise in rebellion ?
Should a prudent acquiescence, at a critical time, be
construed into a confinnation of every illegal thing
done during that period? Besides, why should they
rebel? At an annual election they had chosen dele-
gates for the j^ear, to exercise the ordinary powers
of legislation, and to manage the great contest in
which the)' were engaged. These delegates thought
the contest would be best managed by an organized
government. They therefore, among others, passed
an ordinance of government. They did not pre-
sume to call it perpetual and unalterable. They
well knew they had no power to make it so; that
our choice of them had been for no such purpose,
and at a time when we could have no such purpose
in contemplation. Had an unalterable form of
government been meditated, perhaps we should
have chosen a different set of people. There was no
cause then for the people to rise in rebellion. But
to what dangerous lengths will this argument lead?
Did the acquiescence of the colonies under the
various acts of fwwer exercised by Great Britain in
our infant State, confirm these acts, and so far invest
them with the authority of the people as to render
Notes on Virginia 171
them unalterable, and our present resistance wrong?
On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the
l^islature must the people rise in rebellion, or their
silence be construed into a siurender of that power
to them? If so, how many rebellions should we
have had already? One certainly for every session
of assembly. The other States in the imion have
been of opinion that to render a form of government
imalterable by ordinary acts of assembly, the people
must delegate persons with special powers. They
have accordingly chosen special conventions to
form and fix their governments. The individuals
then who maintain the contrary opinion in this
country, should have the modesty to suppose it
possible that they may be wrong, and the rest of
America right. But if there be only a possibility
of their being wrong, if only a plausible doubt re-
mains of the validity of the ordinance of govern-
ment, is it not better to remove that doubt by plac-
ing it on a bottom which none will dispute ? If they
be right we shall only have the unnecessary trouble
of meeting once in convention. If they be wrong,
they expose us to the hazard of having no funda-
mental rights at all. True it is, this is no time for
deliberating on forms of government. While an
enemy is within our bowels, the first object is to
expel him. But when this shall be done, when
peace shall be established, and leistire given us for
intrenching within good forms, the rights for which
we have bled, let no man be found indolent enough
172
Jefferson's Works
to decline a little more trouble for placing them i
beyond the reach of question. If anything more he-
requisite to produce a conviction of the expediency '
of calling a convention at a proper season to fix our
form of government, let it be the reflection:
6. That the assembly exercises a power of deter-
mining the quorum of their own body which may' j
legislate for us. After the establishment of the ,
new form they adhered to the Lex majoris partis,
founded in common law' as well as common right.
It is the natural law' of every assembly of men,
whosenumbersarenotfixedby any other law. They |
continued for some time to require the presence of
a majority of their whole number, to pass an act.
But the British parliament fixes its own quorum;
our former assemblies fixpd their own quorum ; and
one precedent in favor of power is stronger than an
hundred against it. The house of delegates, there-
fore, have lately' voted that, during the present!
dangerous invasion, forty members shall be a house 1
to proceed to business. They have been moved to
this by the fear of not being able to collect a house.
But this danger could not authorize them to call
that a house which was none; and if they may fix ■
it at one number, they may at another, till it loses!
its fundamental character of being a representati\
body. As this vote expires with the present inva-
' Bro. abr. Corporations, ji,
* Puff. Off. horn. 1. X, c. 6, ( 1
■Jui«4.«78i.
,14. Hakcwell, gj,
Notes on Virginia 173
sion, it is probable the former rule will be permitted
to revive; because at present no ill is meant. The
power, however, of fixing their own quorum has
been avowed, and a precedent set. From forty it
may be reduced to four, and from four to one; from
a house to a committee, from a committee to a chair-
man or speaker, and thus an oligarchy or monarchy
be substituted under forms supposed to be regular.
"Omnia mala exempla ex bonis orta sunt; sed ubi
imperium ad ignaros aut minus bonos pervenit,
novum illud exemplum ab dignis et idoneis adin-
dignos et non idoneos fertur." When, therefore, it
is considered, that there is no legal obstacle to the
assumption by the assembly of all the powers legis-
lative, executive, and judiciary, and that these
may come to the hands of the smallest rag of
delegation, surely the people will say, and their
representatives, while yet they have honest repre-
sentatives, will advise them to say, that they will
not acknowledge as laws any acts not considered
and assented to by the major part of their delegates.
In enumerating the defects of the Constitution,
it would be wrong to count among them what is
only the error of particular persons. In December
1776, our circtunstances being much distressed, it
was proposed in the house of delegates to create a
dictator, invested with every power legislative, exec-
utive, and judiciary, civil and military, of life and of
death, over our persons and over our properties;
and in Jtme 1781, again under calamity, the same
174 Jefferson's Works
proposition was repeated, and wanted a few votes
only of being passed. One who entered into this
contest from a pure love of liberty, and a sense of
injured rights, who determined to make every sacri-
fice, and to meet ever;' danger, for the re-establish-
ment of those rights on a firm basis, who did not
mean to expend his blood and substance for the
wretched purpose of changing this matter for that,
but to place the powers of governing him in a plural-
ity of hands of his own choice, so that tlie corrupt
will of no one man might in future oppress him, must
stand confounded and dismayed when he is told, that
a considerable portion of that plurality had medi-
ated the surrender of them into a single hand, and,
in lieu of a limited monarchy, to deliver him over
to a despotic one! How must we find his efforts and
sacrifices abused and baffled, if he may still, by a
single vote, be laid prostrate at the feet of one man!
In God's name, from whence have they derived this
power? Is it from our ancient laws? None such
can be produced. Is it from any principle in our
new Constitution expressed or implied? Every
lineament expressed or implied, is in full opposition to
it. Its fundamental principle is, that the State
shall be governed as a commonwealth. It provides
a republican organization, proscribes under the
name of prerogative the exercise of all powers unde-
fined by the laws; places on this basis the whole
system of our laws; and by consolidating them to-
gether, chooses that they should be left to stand or
Notes on Virginia i7S
fall together, never providing for any circumstances,
nor admitting that such could arise, wherein either
should be suspended; no, not for a moment. Our
ancient laws expressly declare, that those who are
but delegates themselves shall not delegate to others
powers which require judgment and integrity in their
exercise. Or was this proposition moved on a sup-
posed right in the movers, of abandoning their posts
in a moment of distress? The same laws forbid the
abandonment of that post, even on ordinary occa-
sions ; and much more a transfer of their powers into
other hands and other forms, without consulting the
people. They never admit the idea that these, like
sheep or cattle, may be given from hand to hand
without an appeal to their own will. Was it from
the necessity of the case? Necessities which dis-
solve a government, do not convey its authority to
an oligarchy or a monarchy. They throw back,
into the hands of the people, the powers they had
delegated, and leave them as individuals to shift for
themselves. A leader may offer, but not impose him-
self, nor be imposed on them. Much less can their
necks be submitted to his sword, their breath to be
held at his will or caprice. The necessity which
should operate these tremendous effects should at
[least be palpable and irresistible. Yet in both
instances, where it was feared, or pretended with us.
it was belied by the event. It was belied, too, by
the preceding experience of our sister States, several
of whom had grappled through greater difficulties
17^ Jefferson's Works
without abandoning their forms of government.
When the proposition was first made, Massachusetts
had found even the government of committees suffi-
cient to carry them through an invasion. But we
at the time of that proposition, were under no inva-
sion. When the second was made, there had been
added to this example those of Rhode Island, New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in all of which
the republican form had been found equal to the
task of carr>'ing them through the severest trials.
In this State alone did there exist so little virtue,
that fear was to be fixed in the hearts of the people,
and to become the motive of their exertions, and
principle of their government? The very thought
alone was treason against the people; was treason
against mankind in general ; as riveting forever the
chains which bow down their necks, by giving to
their oppressors a proof, which they would have
trumpeted through the universe, of the imbecility of
republican government, in times of pressing danger,
to shield them from harm. Those who assume the
right of giving away the reins of government in any
case, must be sure that the herd, whom they hand on
to the rods and hatchet of the dictator, will lay their
necks on the block when the shall nod to them. But
if our assemblies supposed such a recognition in the
people, I hope they mistook their character. I am
of opinion, that the government, instead of being
braced and invigorated for greater exertions under
their difficulties, would have been thrown back upon
I
Notes on Virginia i77
the bungling machinery" of county committees for
administration, till a convention could have been
called, and its wheels again set into regular motion.
What a cruel moment was this for creating such an
embarrassment, for putting to the proof the attach-
ment of our countrymen to republican government!
Those who meant well, of the advocates of this meas-
ure, (and most of them meant well, for I know ttiem
personally, had been their fellow-laborer in the com-
mon cause, and had often proved the purity of their
principles,) had been seduced in their judgment
by the example of an ancient republic, whose consti-
tution and circumstances were fundamentally differ-
ent. They had sought this precedent in the history
of Rome, where alone it was to be found, and where
at length, too, it had proved fatal. They had taken
it from a republic rent by the most bitter factions
and tumults, where the government was of a heavy-
handed unfeeling aristocracy, over a people ferocious,
and rendered desperate by poverty and wretchedness ;
tumults which could not be allayed under the most
trying circumstances, but by the omnifxitent hand
of a single despot. Their constitution, therefore,
allowed a temporary tyrant to be erected, under the
name of a dictator; and that temporary tyrant, after
a few examples, became perpetual. They misap-
plied this precedent to a people mild in their dispo-
sitions, patient under their trial, united for the public
liberty, and affectionate to their leaders. But if from
the constitution .of the Roman government there
178
Jefferson's Works
»
resulted to their senate a power of submitting all
their rights to the will of one man, does it follow
that the assembly of Virginia have the same author-
ity? What clause in our constitution has substi-
tuted that of Rome, by way of residuary provision,
for all cases not otherwise provided for? Or if they
may step ad libitum into any other form of govern-
ment for precedents to rule us by, for what oppression
may not a precedent be found in this world of the
ballum omnium in omnia ? Searching for the founda-
tions of this proposition, I can find none which may
pretend a color of right orreason, but the defect before
developed, that there being no barrier between the
legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, the
legislature may seize the whole; that having seized
it, and possessing a right to fix their own quorum,
they may reduce that quorum to one, whom they
may call a chairman, speaker, dictator, or by any other
name they please. Our situation is indeed perilous,
and I hope my countrymen will be sensible of it. and
will apply, at a proper season, the proper remedy;
which is a convention to fix the constitution, to
amend its defects, to bind up the several branches of
government by certain laws, which, when they trans-
gress, their acts shall become nullities; to render
imnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other
words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights,
on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed
into an intention to surrender those rig!
rights. ^m
.James Madison
t-e'i; «-<i^«
fi ,;^:r.i:f/ -.onnril
.■^
■ • ■ I '
I ■
Notes on Virginia i79
QUERY XIV.
The administration of justice and the description of
the laws ?
The State is divided into counties. In every
county are appointed magistrates, called justices of
the peace, usually from eight to thirty or forty in
number, in proportion to the size of the county, of
the most discreet and honest inhabitants. They
are nominated by their fellows, but commissioned
by the governor, and act without reward. These
magistrates have jurisdiction both criminal and
civil. If the question before them be a question of
law only, they decide on it themselves; but if it be
of fact, or of fact and law combined, it must be
referred to a jury. In the latter case, of a combi-
nation of law and fact, it is usual for the jurors to
decide the fact, and to refer the law arising on it to
the decision of the judges. But this division of the
subject lies with their discretion only. And if the
question relate to any point of public liberty, or if
it be one of those in which the judges may be sus-
pected of bias, the jury undertake to decide both
law and fact. If they be mistaken, a decision against
right, which is casual only, is less dangerous to the
State, and less afflicting to the loser, than one which
makes part of a regular and uniform system. In
truth, it is better to toss up cross and pile in a cause,
than to refer it to a judge whose mind is warped by
any motive whatever, in that particular case. But
x8o Jefferson's Works
the common sense of twelve honest men gives still
a better chance of just decision, than the hazard of
cross and pile. These judges execute their process
bj' the sheriff or coroner of the county, or by consta-
bles of their own appointment. If any free person
commit an offence against the commonwealth, if it
be below the degree of felony, he is bound b)' a justice
to appear before their court, to answer it on an
indictment or infonnation. If it amount to felony,
he is committed to jail; a court of these justices is
called; if they on examination think him guilty,
they send him to the jail of the general court, before
which court he is to be tried first by a grand jur>^ of
twenty-four, of whom thirteen must concur in opin-
ion; if they find him guilty, he is then tried by a
jury of twelve men of the county where the oftence
was committed, and by their verdict, which must be
unanimous, he is acquitted or condemned without
appeal. If the criminal be a slave, the trial by the
county court is final. In every case, however, except
that of high treason, there resides in the governor a
power of pardon. In high treason the pardon can
only flow from the general assembly. In civil mat-
ters these justices have jurisdiction in all cases of
whatever value, not appertaining to the department
of the admiralty. This jurisdiction is twofold. If
the matter in dispute be of less value than four
dollars and one-sixth, a single member may try it
at any time and place within his county, and may
award execution on the goods of the party cast. K
Notes on Virginia i8i
it be of that or greater value, it is determinable
before the county court, which consists of four at
the least of those justices and assembles at the court-
house of the county on a certain day in every month.
From their determination, if the matter be of the
value of ten pounds sterling, or concern the title or
bounds of lands, an appeal lies to one of the superior
courts.
There are three or four superior courts, to wit, the
high court of chancery, the general court, and the
court of admiralty. The first and second of these
receive appeals from the county courts, and also have
original jurisdiction, where the subject of contro-
versy is of the value of ten pounds sterling, or where
it concerns the title bounds or lands. The juris-
diction of the admiralty is original altogether. The
high court of chancery is composed of three judges,
the general court of five, and the court of admiralty
of three. The two first hold their sessions at Rich-
mond at stated times, the chancery twice in the
year, and the general court twice for business, civil
and criminal, and twice more for criminal only.
The court of admiralty sits at Williamsburg when-
ever a controversy arises.
There is one supreme court, called the court of
appeals, composed of the judges of the three superior
courts, assembling twice a year at stated times at
Richmond. This court receives appeals in all civil
cases from each of the superior courts, and deter-
mines them finally. But it has no original juris-
diction.
i8a Jefferson's Works
If a controversy arise between two foreigners of a
nation in alliance with the United States, it is de-
cided by the Consul for their State, or, if both parties
choose it, by the ordinary courts of justice. K one of
the parties only be such a foreigner, it is triable
before the courts of justice of the country. But if it
shall have been instituted in a county court, the
foreigner may remove it into the general court, or
court of chancery, who are to determine it at their
first sessions, as they must also do if it be originally
commenced before them. In cases of life and death,
such foreigners have a right to be tried by a jur^',
the one-half foreigners, the other natives.
All public accounts are settled with a board of
auditors, consisting of three members appointed by
the general assembly, any two of whom may act.
But an individual, dissatisfied with the determina-
tion of that board, may carr>- his case into the proper
superior court.
A description of the laws.
The general assembly was constituted, as has been
already shown, by letters-patent of March the 9th,
1607, in the fourth year of the reign of James the
first. The laws of England seem to have been
adopted by consent of the settlers, which might
easily enough be done whilst they were few and
living all together. Of such adoption, however, we
have no other proof than their practice till the year
1661, when they were expressly adopted by an act
of the assembly, except so far as " a difference of con-
Notes on Virginia
183
I
dition" rendered them inapplicable. Under this
adoption, the rule, in our courts of judicature was,
that the common law of England, and the general
statutes previous to the fourth of James, were in
force here; but that no subsequent statutes were.
■unless we were named in them, said the judges and
other partisans of the crown, but named or not named,
said those who reflected freely. It will be unnecessary
to attempt a description of the laws of England, as
that may be found in English publications. To
those which were established here, by the adoption
of the legislature, have been since added a number of
acts of assembly passed during the monarchy, and
ordinances of convention and acts of assembly
enacted since the establishment of the republic.
The following variations from the British model are
I>erhaps worthy of being specified:
Debtors unable to pay their debts, and making
faithful delivery of their whole effects, are released
from confinement, and their persons forever dis-
charged from restraint for such previous debts ; but
any property they may afterwards acquire will be
subject to their creditors.
The poor unable to support themselves, are main-
tained by an assessment on the tytheable persons in
their parish. This assessment is levied and admin-
istered by twelve persons in each parish, called
vestrymen, originally chosen by the housekeepers of
the parish, but afterwards filling vacancies in their
own body by their own choice. These are usually
i84 Jefferson's Works
the most discreet fanners, so distributed through
their parish, that every part of it may be under the
immediate eye of some one of them. They are well
acquainted with the details and economy of private
life, and they find sufficient inducements to execute
their charge well, in their philanthropy, in the appro-
bation of their neighbors, and the distinction which
that gives them. The poor who have neither prop-
erty, friends, nor strength to labor, are boarded in
the houses of good fanners, to whom a stipulated
sum is annually paid. To those who are able to
help themselves a little, or have friends from whom
they derive some succors, inadequate however to
their full maintenance, supplementary aids are
given which enable them to live comfortably in their
own houses, or in the houses of their friends. Vaga-
bonds without visible jiroperty or vocation, are
placed in work houses, where they are well clothed,
fed, lodged, and made to labor. Nearly the same
method of providing for the poor prevails through
all our States; and from Savannah to Portsmouth
you will seldom meet a beggar. In the large towns,
indeed, they sometimes present themselves. These
are usually foreigners, who have never obtained a
settlement in any parish. I never yet saw a native
American begging in the streets or highways. A
subsistence is easily gained here; and if, by misfor-
tunes, they are thrown on the charities of the
world, those provided by their own country are so
comfortable and so certain, that they never think of
Notes on Virginia 185
relinqtiishing them to become, strolling beggars.
Their situation too, when sick, in the family of a
good farmer, where every member is emulous to do
them kind offices, where they are visited by all the
neighbors, who bring them the little rarities which
their sickly appetites may crave, and who take by
rotation the nightly watch over them, when their
condition requires it, is without comparison better
than in a general hospital, where the sick, the dying
and the dead are crammed together in the same
rooms, and often in the same beds. The disadvant-
ages, inseparable from general hospitals, are such as
can never be counterpoised by all the regularities of
medicine and regimen. Nature and kind nursing
save a much greater proportion in our plain way,
at a smaller expense, and with less abuse. One
branch only of hospital institution is wanting with
us; that is, a general establishment for those labor-
ing tmder difficult cases of chirurgery. The aids of
this art are not equivocal. But an able chirurgeon
cannot be had in every parish. Such a receptacle
should therefore be provided for those patients ; but
no others should be admitted.
Marriages must be solemni2sed either on special
license, granted by the first magistrate of the county,
on proof of the consent of the parent or guardian
of either party under age, or after solemn publica-
tion, on three several Sundays, at some place of
religious worship, in the parishes where the parties
reside. The act of solemnization may be by the
186
Jefferson's Works
minister of any society of Christians, who shall have
been previously licensed for this purpose by the
court of the county. Quakers and Menonists, how-
ever, are exempted from all these conditions, and
marriage among them is to be solemnized by the
society itself.
A foreigner of any nation, not in open war w^ith
us, becomes naturalized by removing to the State
to reside, and taking an oath of fidelity; and there-
upon acquires every right of a native citizen; and
citizens may divest themselves of that character,
by declaring, by solemn deed, or in open court, that
they mean to expatriate themselves, and no longer
to be citizens of this State,
Conveyances of land must be registered in the
court of the county wherein they lie, or in the gen-
eral court, or they are void, as to creditors, and
subsequent purchasers.
Slaves pass by descent and dower as lands do.
Where the descent is from a parent, the heir is bound
to pay an equal share of their value in money to
each of their brothers and sisters.
Slaves, as well as lands, were entailable during
the monarchy ; but, by an act of the first republican
assembly, all donees in tail, present and future, were
vested with the absolute dominion of the entailed
subject.
Bills of exchange, being protested, carry ten per
cent, interest from their date.
No person is allowed, in any other case, to take
^
Notes on Virginia 187
more than five per cent, per annum simple interest
for the loan of moneys.
Gaming debts are made void, and moneys actually
paid to discharge such debts (if they exceed forty
shillings) may be recovered by the payer within
three months, or by any other person afterwards.
Tobacco, flour, beef, pork, tar, pitch, and turpen-
tine must be inspected by persons publicly ap-
ix)inted, before they can be exported.
The erecting iron-works and mills is encouraged
l^y many privileges; with necessary cautions how-
ever to prevent their dams from obstructing the
Tiavigation of the water-courses. The general assem-
T)ly have on several occasions shown a great desire
ix) encourage the opening the great falls of James
^nd Potomac rivers. As yet, however, neither of
i;hese have been effected.
The laws have also descended to the preservation
^nd improvement of the races of useful animals,
^uch as horses, cattle, deer; to the extirpation of
i;hose which are noxious, as wolves, squirrels, crows,
l)lackbirds ; and to the guarding our citizens against
infectious disorders, by obliging suspected vessels
coming into the State, to perform quarantine, and
lyy regulating the conduct of persons having such
<iisorders within the State.
The mode of acquiring lands, in the earliest times
of our settlement, was by petition to the general
assembly. If the lands prayed for were already
cleared of the Indian title, and the assembly thought
"88 Jefferson's Works
the prayer reasonable, they passed the property by
their vote to the petitioner. But if they had not
yet been ceded by the Indians, it was necessary that
the petitioner should previously purchase their
right. This purchase the assembly verified, by
inquiries of the Indian proprietors ; and being satis-
fied of its reality and fairness, proceeded further to
examine the reasonableness of the petition, and its
consistence with policy; and according to the result,
either granted or rejected the petition. The com-
pany also sometimes, though very rarely, granted
lands, independently of the general assembly. As
the colony increased, and individual applications
for land multiplied, it was found to give too much oc-
cupation to the general assembly to inquire into and
execute the grant in every sjjecial case. They there-
fore thought it better to establish general rules,
according to which all grants should be made, and to
leave to the governor the execution of them, imder
these rules. This they did by what have been
usually called the land laws, amending them from
time to time, as their defects were developed. Ac-
cording to these laws, when an individual wished a
portion of unappropriated land, he was to locate
and survey it by a public officer, appointed for that
purpose; its breadth was to bear a certain propor-
tion to its length: the grant was to be executed
by the governor; and the lands were to be improved
in a certain manner, within a given time. From
these regulations there resulted to the State a sole
Notes on Virginia 189
and exclusive power of taking conveyances of the
Indian right of soil; since, according to them an
Indian conveyance alone could give no right to an
individual, which the laws would acknowledge. The
State, or the crown, thereafter, made general pur-
chases of the Indians from time to time, and the
governor parcelled them out by special grants, con-
formable to the rules before described, which it was
not in his power, or in that of the crown, to dispense
with. Grants, unaccompanied by their proper legal
circumstances, were set aside regularly by fieri
facias, or by bill in chancery. Since the establish-
ment of our new Government, this order of things
is but little changed. An individual, wishing to
appropriate to himself lands still unappropriated
by any other, pays to the public treasurer a sum of
money proportioned to the quantity he wants. He
carries the treasurer's receipt to the auditors of
public accounts, who thereupon debit the treasurer
with the sum, and order the register of the land-
office to give the party a warrant for his land. With
this warrant from the register, he goes to the sur-
veyor of the county where the land lies on which he
has cast his eye. The surveyor lays it off for him,
gives him its exact description, in the form of a cer-
tificate, which certificate he returns to the land-
office, where a grant is made out, and is signed by
the governor. This vests in him a perfect dominion
in his lands, transmissible to whom he pleases by deed
or will, or by descent to his heirs, if he die intestate.
1 9©
Jefferson's Works
I
Many of the laws which were in force during the
monarchy being relative merely to that form of gov-
ernment, or inculcating principles inconsistent with
republicanism, the first assemlily which met after
the establishment of the commonwealth a])ix)inted
a committee to revise the whole code, to reduce it
into proper fonn and volume, and report it to the
assembly. This work has been executed by three
gentlemen, and reported; but probably will not be
taken up till a restoration of peace shall leave to the
legislature leisure to go through such a work.
The plan of the revisal was this. The common
law of England, by which is meant, that part of the
English law which was anterior to the date of
oldest statutes extant, is made the basis of the worl
It was thought dangerous to attempt to reduce it
to a text; it was therefore left to be collected from
the usual monuments of it. Necessary alterations
in that, and so much of the whole body of the Bril
ish statutes, and of acts of assembly, as were thoughl
proper to be retained, were digested into one hun^
dred and twenty-six new acts, in which simplicity;
of style was aimed at, as far as was safe. The fol-
lowing are the most remarkable alterations proposed :
To change the rules of descent, so as that the lands
of any person dying intestate shall be divisible
equally among all his children, or other
tives, in equal degree.
To make slaves distributable among
kin, as other movables.
the^
ns
I
r representa^^l
; the next o^^|
Notes on Virginia 19^
To have all public expenses, whether of the gen-
eral treasury, or of a parish or county, (as for the
maintenance of the poor, building bridges, court-
houses, &c.,) supplied by assessment on the citizens,
in proportion to their property.
To hire undertakers for keeping the public roads
in repair, and indemnify individuals through whose
lands new roads shall be opened.
To define with precision the rules whereby aliens
should become citizens, and citizens make them-
selves aliens.
To establish religious freedom on the broadest
bottom.
To emancipate all slaves bcm after the passing
the act. The bill reported by the revisers does not
itself contain this proposition; but an amendment
containing it was prepared, to be offered to the
legislature whenever the bill should be taken up,
and farther directing, that they should continue with
their parents to a certain age, then to be brought
up, at the public expense, to tillage, arts, or sciences,
according to their geniuses, till the females should be
eighteen, and the males twenty-one years of age,
when they should be colonized to such place as the
circumstances of the time should render most proper,
Sending them out with arms, implements of house-
liold and of the handicraft arts, seeds, pairs of the
Toseful domestic animals, &c., to declare them a free
and independent people, and extend to them our
alliance and protection, till they have acquired
i9» Tefferson's Works
strength; and to send vessels at the same time to
other parts of the world for an equal number of
white inhabitants ; to induce them to migrate hither
proper encouragements were to be proposed. It
will probably be asked, Why not retain and incor-
porate the blacks into the State, and thus save the
expense of supplying by importation of white set-
tlers, the vacancies they will leave? Deep-rooted
prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand
recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have
sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions
which nature has made; and many other circum-
stances, will divide us into parties, and produce con-
vulsions, which will probably never end but in the
extermination of the one or the other race. To these
objections, which are political, may be added others,
which are physical and moral. The first difference
which strikes us is that of color. Whether the black
of the negro resides in the reticular membrane be-
tween the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin
itself; whether it proceeds from the color of the
blood, the color of the bile, or from that of some
other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and
is as real as if its seat and cause were better known
to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is
it not the foundation of a greater or less share of
beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures
of red and white, the expressions of every passion
by greater or less suffusions of color in the one, prefer-
able to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the
Notes on Virginia ^93
cotintenances, that immovable veil of black which
covers the emotions of the other race? Add to
these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form,
their own judgment in favor of the whites, declared
by their preference of them, as uniformly as is the
preference of the Oran-fltan for the black woman
over those of his own species. The circumstance
of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in
the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domes-
tic animals; why not in that of man? Besides those
of color, figure, and hair, there are other physical
distinctions proving a difference of race. They
have less hair on the face and body. They secrete
less by the kidneys, and more by the glands of the
skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable
odor. This greater degree of transpiration, renders
them more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold than
the whites. Perhaps, too, a difference of structure
in the pulmonary apparatus, which a late ingenious
experimentalist' has discovered to be the principal
regulator of animal heat, may have disabled them
from extricating, in the act of inspiration, so much
of that fluid from the outer air, or obliged them in
expiration, to part with more of it. They seem to
''equire less sleep. A black after hard labor through
the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements
^ sit up tUl midnight, or later, though knowing he
iriust be out with the first dawn of the morning.
^Tiey are at least as brave, and more adventuresome.
Crawford,
I
194
Jefferson's Works
I
But this may perhaps proceed from a want of fore-
thought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it
be present. When present, they do not go through
it with more coolness or steadiness than the whites.
They are more ardent after their female; but love
seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a
tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation.
Their griefs are transient. Those numberless afflic-
tions, which render it doubtful whether heaven has
given life to us in mercy or in wrath, are less felt, and
sooner forgotten with them. In general, their
existence appears to participate more of sensation
than reflection. To this must be ascribed their
disposition to sleep when abstracted from their
diversions, and unemployed in labor. An animal
whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect
must be disposed to sleep of course. Comparing
them by their faculties of memory, reason, and im-
agination, it appears to me that in memory they are
equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as I
think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing
and comprehending the investigations of Euclid;
and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and
anomalous. It would be unfair to follow them to
Africa for this investigation. We will consider them
here, on the same stage with the whites, and where
the facts are not apocr>'phal on which a judgment
is to be formed. It will be right to make great allow-
ances for the difference of condition, of education, of
conversation, of the sphere in which they move.
A
Notes on Virginia i9S
Many millions of them have been brought to, and
bom in America, Most of them, indeed, have been
confined to tillage, to their own homes, and their
own society; yet many have been so sittiated, that
they might have availed themselves of the conver-
sation of their masters; many have been brought
up to the handicraft arts, and from that circtmi-
stance have always been associated with the whites.
Some have been liberally educated, and all have
lived in cotmtries where the arts and sciences are
cultivated to a considerable degree, and all have
had before their eyes samples of the best works from
abroad. The Indians, with no advantages of this
kind, will often carve figures on their pipes not desti-
tute of design and merit. They will crayon out an
animal, a plant, or a cotmtry, so as to prove the
existence of a germ in their minds which only wants
cultivation. They astonish you with strokes of the
most sublime oratory; such as prove their reason
and sentiment strong, their imagination glowing and
elevated. But never yet could I find that a black
had uttered a thought above the level of plain
narration; never saw even an elementary trait of
painting or sculpture. In music they are more
generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears
^or tune and time, and they have been found capable
of imagining a small catch.* Whether they will be
* The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought
^ther from Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, its chords
^^^bg precisely the four lower chords of the guitar.
19* Jefferson's Works
equal to the composition of a more extensive run of
melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be
proved. Misery is often the parent of the most
affecting touches in poetry. Among the blacks is
misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love
is the peculiar cestrum of the poet. Their love is
ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the imagi-
nation. Religion, indeed, has produced a Phyllis
Whately; but it could not produce a poet. The
compositions published under her name are below
the dignity of criticism. The heroes of the Dunciad
are to her, as Hercules to the author of that poem.
Ignatius Sancho has approached nearer to merit in
composition; yet his letters do more honor to the
heart than the head. The}^ breathe the purest effu-
sions of friendship and general philanthropy, and
show how great a degi-ee of the latter may be com-
pounded with strong religious zeal. He is often
happy in the turn of his compliments, and his style
is easy and familiar, except when he affects a Shan-
dean fabrication of words. But his imagination
is wild and extravagant, escapes incessantly from
every restraint of reason and taste, and, in the
course of its vagaries, leaves a tract of thought as
incoherent and eccentric, as is the course of a meteor
through the sky. His subjects should often have
led him to a process of sober reasoning; yet we find
him always substituting sentiment for demonstra-
tion. Upon the whole, though we admit liim to the
first place among those of his own color who have
Notes on Virginia i97
presented themselves to the public judgment, yet
when we compare him with the writers of the race
among whom he lived and particularly with the
epistolary class in which he has taken his own stand,
we are compelled to enrol him at the bottom of the
column. This criticism supposes the letters pub-
lished under his name to be genuine, and to have
received amendment from no other hand; points
which would not be of easy investigation. The im-
provement of the blacks in body and mind, in the
first instance of their mixture with the whites, has
been observed by every one, and proves that their
inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition
of life. We know that among the Romans, about
the Augustan age especially, the condition of their
slaves was much more deplorable than that of the
blacks on the continent of America. The two sexes
were confined in separate apartments, because to
raise a child cost the master more than to buy one.
Cato, for a very restricted indulgence to his slaves
in this particular,* took from them a certain price.
But in this coimtry the slaves multiply as fast as
the free inhabitants. Their situation and manners
place the commerce between the two sexes almost
without restraint. The same Cato, on a principle of
economy, always sold his sick and superannuated
slaves. He gives it as a standing precept to a master
visiting his farm, to sell his old oxen, old wagons,
' Tous douloiis etaxen drismenou nomesmatos homilein tais ther-
8painsiii. — Plutazx;h. Cato.
19* Jefferson's Works
old tools, old and diseased servants, and everything
else become useless. " Vendat boves vetulos, plaus-
trum vetus, feranienta Vetera, servum senem, ser-
vum morbosum, et si quid aliud sup>ersit vendat,"
Cato de re rustica. c. 2. The American slaves can-
not enumerate this among the injuries and insults
they receive. It was the common practice to expose
in the island .^culapius, in the Tyber, diseased
slaves whose cure was like to become tedious,' The
emperor Claudius, by an edict, gave freedom to such
of them as should recover, and first declared that if
any person chose to kill rather than to expose them,
it should not be deemed homicide. The exposing
them is a crime of which no instance has existed
with us; and were it to be followed by death, it
would be punished capitally. We are told of a cer-
tain Vedius Pollio, who. in the presence of Augustus,
would have given a slave as food to his fish, for hav-
ing broken a glass. With the Romans, the regular
method of taking the evidence of their slaves was
under torture. Here it has been thought better
never to resort to their evidence. When a master
was murdered, all his slaves, in the same house, or
within hearing, were condemned to death. Here
punishment falls on the guilty only, and as precise
proof is required against him as against a freeman.
Yet notwithstanding these and other discouraging
circumstances among the Romans, their slaves were
often their rarest artists. They excelled too in
' Suet. Claud. 35.
Notes on Virginia 199
science, insomuch as to be usually employed as
tutors to their master's children. Epictetus, Ter-
ence, and Phaedrus, were slaves. But they were
of the race of whites. It is not their condition then,
but nature, which has produced the distinction.
Whether further observation will or will not verify
the conjecture, that nature has been less bountiful
to them in the endowments of the head, I believe
that in those of the heart she will be found to have
done them justice. That disposition to theft with
which they have been branded, must be ascribed
to their situation, and not to any depravity of the
moral sense. The man in whose favor no laws of
property exist, probably feels himself less bound to
respect those made in favor of others. When argu-
ing for ourselves, we lay it down as a fundamental,
that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of
right; that, without this, they are mere arbitrary
rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in con-
science; and it is a problem which I give to the mas-
ter to solve, whether the religious precepts against
the violation of property were not framed for him
as well as his slave? And whether the slave may
not as justifiably take a little from one who has taken
all from him, as he may slay one who would slay
him? That a change in the relations in which a
man is placed should change his ideas of moral right
or wrong, is neither new, nor peculiar to the color
of the blacks. Homer tells us it was so two thou-
sand six hundred years ago.
Jefferson's Works
'Emisu, ger t' aretes apoainutai ^uniopa Zeus
Haneros. cut' an min kata doulion etna, elesin.
Odd.
Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.
But the slaves of which Homer speaks were whites.1
Notwithstanding these considerations which must I
weaken their respect for the laws of property, we fmdl
among them numerous instances of the most rigid!
integrity, and as many as among their better in-i
structed masters, of benevolence, gratitude, and'l
unshaken fidelity. The opinion that they are in-
ferior in the faculties of reason and imagination.^
must be hazarded with great diffidence. To justify!
a general conclusion, requires many observations,!
even where the subject may be submitted to ihgm
anatomical knife, to optical glasses, to analysis by
fire or by solvents. How much more then whereS
it is a faculty, not a substance, we are examining;!
where it eludes the research of all the senses ; whei
the conditions of its existence are various and '
variously combined; where the effects of those
which are present or absent bid defiance to calcula-
tion; let me add too, as a circumstance of <
tenderness, where our conclusion would i
whole race of men from the rank in the scale (
beings which their Creator may perhaps have giva
them. To our reproach it must be said,
though for a century and a half we have had unda
our eyes the races of black and of red men, they havi
Notes on Virginia 201
never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural
history. I advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only,
that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race,
or made distinct by time and circimistances, are
inferior to the whites in the endowments both of
body and mind. It is not against experience to
suppose that different species of the same genus, or
varieties of the same species, may possess different
qualifications. Will not a lover of natural history
then, one who views the gradations in all the races
of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse an
effort to keep those in the department of man as
distinct as nature has formed them? This vmfortu-
nate difference of color, and perhaps of faculty, is a
powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these
people. Many of their advocates, while they wish
to vindicate the liberty of htmian nature, are anx-
ious also to preserve its dignity and beauty. Some
of these, embarrassed by the question, " What fur-
ther is to be done with them?*' join themselves in
opposition with those who are actuated by sordid
avarice only. Among the Romans emancipation
required but one effort. The slave, when made free,
might mix with, without staining the blood of his
master. But with us a second is necessary, un-
known to history. When freed, he is to be removed
beyond the reach of mixture.
The revised code f tuther proposes to proportion
crimes and punishments. This is attempted on the
following scale:
Jefferson's Works
Dvath by hajieingr
Forfeiture of landi and ^oods to tbe cofnin
. DcBthbyhansing. Dissection.
Porfdtun u( half the landi and goodi to
of the p«rt¥ >lain.
^y poison. Death by poison.
Porfeituic ol one-half, as before
[nduel. Death by hantting. CibbetinE. if thechatkninr.
Forfeiture of one-half as twfore, unless it ' --■
party chiJIenged. then the fnrfdtu™ i<
Sodomy . . . / "'™»™
,. Maiming . . i Betalial
. Dinfiguring.J the bu
he forfdtun of half of the lands and goods M
^Il.yearsforlhepubtic. Porteilure of h»tf.
I
\. Asportation of vr
i, Boislary.
r. House-bresidng.
1. none-stealing.
). Giand larceny.
1. Petty Urceny.
14- Apostasy, lien
ney. Labor VI. yrairs
} Labor IV. ynn
I Ubor III. yean
Labor II . yean
Reparalion double.
jDucldne.
I—
Rcparatton , raiory.
Pardon and privilege of clerg>- are proposed to be
abolished ; but if the verdict be against the defend-
ant, the court in their discretion may allow a new
trial. No attainder to cause a corruption of blood,*
or forfeiture of dower. Slaves guilty of offencefta
punishable in others by labor, to be transported to
Africa, or elsewhere, as the circumstances of the
time admit, there to be continued in slavery. A
rigorous regimen proposed for those <
labor.
)se condemned tO^H
Notes on Virginia 203
Another object of the revisal is to diffuse knowl-
edge more generally through the mass of the people.
This bill proposes to lay off every cotmty into small
districts of five or six miles square, called htmdreds,
and in each of them to establish a school for teach-
ing, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The tutor to
be supported by the hundred, and every person in
it entitled to send their children three years gratis,
and as much longer as they please, paying for it.
These schools to be under a visitor who is annually
to choose the boy of best genius in the school, of
those whose parents are too poor to give them
further education, and to send him forward to one of
the grammar schools, of which twenty are proposed
to be erected in different parts of the country, for
teaching Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher
branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus
sent in one year, trial is to be made at the grammar
schools one or two years, and the best genius of the
whole selected, and continued six years, and the
residue dismissed. By this means twenty of the
best geniuses will be raked from the rubbish annually,
and be instructed, at the public expense, so far as
the grammar schools go. At the end of six years'
instruction, one half are to be discontinued (from
among whom the grammar schools will probably be
supplied with future masters) ; and the other half,
who are to be chosen for the superiority of their
parts and disposition, are to be sent and continued
three years in the study of such sciences as they shall
Jefferson's Works
choose, at William and Marj' college, the plan of''
which is proposed to be enlarged, as will be hereafter
explained, and extended to all the useftil sciences.
The ultimate result of the whole scheme of education
would be the teaching all the children of the State'
reading, writing, and common arithmetic; tumii^'
out ten annually, of superior genius, well taught in
Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher branches
of arithmetic; turning out ten others annually, of
still superior parts, who, to those branches of learn-
ing, shall have added such of the sciences as their
genius shall have led them to; the fumisliing to
the wealthier part of the people convenient schools
at which their children may be educated at theit
own expense. The general objects of this law are,
to provide an education adapted to the years,
the capacity, and the condition of every one, i
directed to their freedom and happiness. Speci:
details were not proper for the law. These must be
the business of the visitors entrusted with its execu-
tion. The first stage of this education being the
schools of the hundreds, wherein the great mass of
the people will receive their instruction, the principal
foundations of future order will be laid here. In-3
stead, therefore, of putting the Bible and Testari|
ment into the hands of the children at an age when
their judgments are not sufficiently matured for
religious inquiries, their memories may here be stored
with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman,
European and American history. The first elemenl
10
Notes on Virginia ^05
of morality too may be instilled into their minds;
such as, when further developed as their judgments
advance in strength, may teach them how to work
out their own greatest happiness, by showing them
that it does not depend on the condition of life in
which chance has placed them, but is always the
result of a good conscience, good health, occupation,
and freedom in all just pursuits. Those whom
either the wealth of their parents or the adoption of
the State shall destine to higher degrees of learning,
will go on to the grammar schools, which constitute
the next stage, there to be instructed in the lan-
guages. The learning Greek and Latin, I am told, is
going into disuse in Europe. I know not what their
manners and occupations may call for ; but it would
be very ill-judged in us to follow their example in
this instance. There is a certain period of life, say
from eight to fifteen or sixteen years of age, when
the mind like the body is not yet firm enough for
laborious and close operations. If applied to such,
it falls an early victim to premature exertion; ex-
hibiting, indeed, at first, in these yoimg and tender
subjects, the flattering appearance of their being
men while they are yet children, but ending in
reducing them to be children when they should
be men. The memory is then most susceptible
and tenacious of impressions; and the learning of
langu£^es being chiefly a work of memory, it seems
precisely fitted to the powers of this period, which is
long enough, too, for acquiring the most useful Ian-
2o6
Jefferson's Works
guages, ancient and modem. I do not pretend that?
language is science. It is only an instrument f(
the attainment of science. But that time is not lostj
which is employed in providing tools for future oper-'
ration ; more especially as in this case the books put
into the hands of the youth for this purpose may be
such as will at the same time impress their minds
with useful facts and good principles. If this period
be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind becomes
lethargic and impotent, as would the body it inhabits
if unexercised during the same time. The sjTnpathy
between body and mind during their rise, progress
and decline, is too strict and obvious to endangw
our being missed while we reason from the one
the other. As soon as they are of sufficient age,
is supposed they will be sent on from the grammar
schools to the university, which constitutes our
third and last stage, there to study those sciences
which may be adapted to their views. By that f>art
of our plan which prescribes the selection of the
youths of genius from among the classes of the poor,
we hope to avail the State of those talents which
nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the
rich, but which perish without use, if not sought iar;
and cultivated. But of the views of this law none
is more important, none more legitimate, than that
of rendering the people the safe, as they are the
ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For this
purpose the reading in the first stage, where they
receive their whole education,
ii
Notes on Virginia 207
been said, to be chiefly historical. History, by
apprizing them of the past, will enable them to
judge of the future; it will avail them of the experi-
ence of other times and other nations ; it will qualify
them as judges of the actions and designs of men;
it will enable them to know ambition under every
disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat
its views. In every government on earth is some
trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption
and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and
wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve.
Every government degenerates when trusted to
the rulers of the people alqne. The people them-
selves therefore are its only safe depositories. And
to render even them safe, their minds must be im-
proved to a certain degree. This indeed is not all
that is necessary, though it be essentially necessary.
An amendment of our constitution must here come
in aid of the public education. The influence over
government must be shared among all the people.
If every individual which composes their mass par-
ticipates of the ultimate authority, the government
will be safe ; because the corrupting the whole mass
will exceed any private resotu-ces of wealth; and
public ones cannot be provided but by levies on the
people. . In this case every man would have to pay
his own price. The government of Great Britain
has been corrupted, because but one man in ten has
a right to vote for members of parliament. The
sellers of the government, therefore, get nine-tenths
aoft
Jefferson's Works
of their price clear. It has been thought that cor-
ruption is restrained by confining the right of suffrage
to a few of the wealthier of the people ; but it would
be more effectually restrained by an extension of
that right to such members as would bid defiance to
the means of corruption.
Lastly, it is proposed, by a bUl in this revisal, to
begin a public library and gallery, by laying out a
certain sum annually in books, paintings, and statues.
QUERY XV.
The Colleges and Public Establishmenls, the Roads,
Buildings, &c.
The college of William and Mary is the only public
seminary of learning in this State. It was founded
in the time of king William and queen Mar\-, who
granted to it twenty thoui^and acres of land, and a
penny a pound duty on certain tobaccoes exported
from Virginia and Mai"yland, which had been levied
by the statute of 25 Car. II. The assembly also
gave it, by temporary laws, a duty on liquors im-
ported, and skins and furs exported. From these
resources it received upwards of three thousand
pounds communibus annis. The buildings are of
brick, sufficient for an indifferent accommodation
of perhaps an hundred students. By its charter it
was to be under the government of twenty visitors.
who were to be its legislators, and to have a presi-
dent and six professors, who were incorporated. It
Notes on Virginia 209
was allowed a representative in the general assem-
bly. Under this charter, a professorship of the Greek
and Latin languages, a professorship of mathematics,
one of moral philosophy, and two of divinity, were
established. To these were annexed, for a sixth
professorship, a considerable donation by Mr. Boyle,
of England, for the instruction of the Indians, and
"their conversion to Christianity. This was called
^he professorship of Brafferton, from an estate of
^hat name in England, purchased with the monies
^ven. The admission of the learners of Latin and
<jreek filled the college with children. This render-
ing it disagreeable and degrading to yotmg gentlemen
.already prepared for entering on the sciences, they
^^vere discouraged from resorting to it, and thus the
^schools for mathematics and moral philosophy,
^^hich might have been of some service, became of
^%^ery little. The revenues, too, were exhausted in
^accommodating those who came only to acquire the
idiments of science. After the present revolution,
;he visitors, having no power to change those circum-
stances in the constitution of the college which were
"^fixed by the charter, and being therefore confined
:iai the number of the professorships, undertook to
^i^hange the objects of the professorships. They
^^xcluded the two schools for divinity, and that for
"tlie Greek and Latin languages, and substituted
►thers ; so that at present they stand thus :
A Professorship for Law and Police ;
Anatomy and Medicine;
VOL. II — 14
;ha^^
JeHerson's Works
A Natural Philosophy and Mathenaatics
Moral Philosophy, the Law of Nature and
Nations, the Fine Arts;
Modem Languages;
For the Brafferton.
And it is proposed, so soon as the legislature si
have leisure to take up this subject, to desire author-
ity from them to increase the number of jjrofessor-
ships, as well for the purpose of subdividing those
already instituted, as of adding others for other
branches of science. To the professorships usually
established in the universities of Europe, it would
seem proper to add one for the ancient languages and
literature of the north, on account of their connec-
tion with our own language, laws, customs, and his-
tory. The purposes of the Brafferton institution
would be better answered by maintaining a perpet-
ual mission among the Indian tribes, the object of
which, besides instructing them in the principles of
Christianity, as the founder requires, should be to
collect their traditions, laws, ctistoms, languages,
and other circumstances which might lead to a dis-
covery of their relation with one another, or descent
from other nations. When these objects are ac-
complished with one tribe, the missionary might
pass on to another.
The roads are under the government of the county
courts, subject to be controlled by the general court.
They order new roads to be opened wherever they
think them necessary. The inhabitants of the
Notes on Virginia ^ii
cotinty are by them laid off into precincts, to each of
which they allot a convenient portion of the public
roads to be kept in repair. Such bridges as may be
built without the assistance of artificers, they are
to build. If the stream be such as to require a bridge
of regular workmanship, the court employs workmen
to build it, at the expense of the whole county. If it
be too great for the county, application is made to
the general assembly, who authorize individuals
to btiild it, and to take a fixed toll from all passen-
gers, or give sanction to such other proposition as to
them appears reasonable.
Ferries are admitted only at such places as are
{particularly pointed out by law, and the rates of
ferriage are fixed.
Taverns are licensed by the coiuts, who fix their
rates from time to time.
The private buildings are very rarely constructed
of stone or brick, much the greatest portion being of
scantling and boards, plastered with lime. It is
impossible to devise things more ugly, uncomfort-
able, and happrily more perishable. There are two
or three plans, on one of which, according to its
size, most of the houses in the State are built. The
poorest people build huts of logs, laid horizontally
in pens, stopping the interstices with mud. These
are warmer in winter, and cooler in summer, than
the more expensive construction of scantling and
plank. The wealthy are attentive to the raising of
vegetables, but very little so to fniits. The poorer
Jefferson's Works
people attend to neither, living principally on milk
and animal diet. This is the more inexcusable, as
the climate requires indispensably a free use of
vegetable food, for health as well as comfort, and is
very friendly to the raising of fruits. The only pub-
lic buildings worthy of mention are the capitol, the
palace, the college, and the hospital for lunatics,
all of them in Williamsburg, heretofore the seat of
our government. The capitol is a light and air;-
structure, with a portico in front of two orders, the
lower of which, being Doric, is tolerably just in its
proportions and ornaments, save only that the inter-
colonations are too large. The upper is Ionic, much
too small for that on which it is mounted, its orna-
ments not proper to the order, nor proportioned
within themselves. It is crowned with a pediment,
which is too high for its span. Yet, on the whole,
it is the most pleasing piece of architecture we have.
The palace is not handsome without, but it is spa-
cious and commodious within, is prettily situated,
and with the grounds annexed to it, is capable of
being made an elegant seat. The college and hos-
pital are rude, misshapen piles, which, but that they
have roofs, would be taken for brick-kilns. There
are no other public buildings but churches and court-
houses, in which no attempts are made at elegance.
Indeed, it would not be easy to execute such an at-
tempt, as a workman could scarcely be found capa-
ble of drawing an order. The genius of architecture
seems to have shed its maledictions over this land.
Notes on Virginia 213
Btiildings are often erected, by individuals, of consid-
erable expense. To give these symmetry and taste,
would not increase their cost. It would only change
the arrangement of the materials, the form and com-
bination of the members. This would often cost
less than the burthen of barbarous ornaments with
which these buildings are sometimes charged. But
the first principles of the art are unknown, and there
exists scarcely a model among us sufficiently chaste
to give an idea of them. Architectiu-e being one of
the fine arts, and as such within the department of a
professor of the college, according to the new arrange-
ment, perhaps a spark may fall on some young sub-
jects of natural taste, kindle up their genius, and pro-
duce a reformation in this elegant and useful art.
But all we shall do in this way will produce no per-
manent improvement to oiu* country, while the
unhappy prejudice prevails that houses of brick or
stone are less wholesome than those of wood. A dew
is often observed on the walls of the former in rainy
^weather, and the most obvious solution is, that the
rain has penetrated through these walls. The fol-
lowing facts, however, are sufficient to prove the
error of this solution: i. This dew upon the walls
appears when there is no rain, if the state of the
atmosphere be moist. 2. It appears upon the par-
tition as well as the exterior walls. 3. So, also, on
pavements of brick or stone. 4. It is more copious
in proportion as the walls are thicker ; the reverse of
^hich ought to be the case, if this hypothesis were
314 Jefferson's Works
just. If cold water be poured into a vessel of stone,
or glass, a dew forms instantly on the outside; but
if it be poured into a vessel of wood, there is no such
appearance. It is not supposed, in the first case,
that the water has exuded through the glass, but
that it is precipitated from the circumambient air;
as the humid particles of vapor, passing from the
boiler of an alembic through its refrigerant, are pre-
cipitated from the air, in which they are suspended.
on the internal surface of the refrigerant. Walls of
brick and stone act as the refrigerant in this instance.
They are sufficiently cold to condense and precipitate
the moisture suspended in the air of the room, when
it is heavily charged therewith. But walls of wood
are not so. The question then is, whether the air in
which this moisture is left floating, or that which is
deprived of it, be most wholesome? In both cases
the remedy is easy. A little fire kindled in the room,
whenever the air is damp, prevents the precipitation
on the walls ; and this practice, found healthy in the
warmest as well as coldest seasons, is as necessary in
a wooden as in a stone or brick house. I do not mean
to say that the rain never penetrates through walls
of brick. On the contrary, I have seen instances
of it. But with us it is only through the northern
and eastern walls of the house, after a north-
easterly storm, this being the only one which con-
tinues long enough to force through the walls. This,
however, happens too rarely to give a just character
of unwholesomeness to such houses. In a house, the
Notes on Virginia 215
walls of which are of well-burnt brick and good mor-
tar, I have seen the rain penetrate through but twice
in a dozen or fifteen years. The inhabitants of
Europe, who dwell chiefly in houses of stone or brick,
are surely as healthy as those of Virginia. These
liouses have the advantage, too, of being warmer in
lyinter and cooler in summer than those of wood;
of being cheaper in their first construction, where
lime is convenient, and infinitely more durable. The
latter consideration renders it of great importance
"to eradicate this prejudice from the minds of our
<x)untrymen. A country whose buildings are of
"wood, can never increase in its improvements to any
<x)nsiderable degree. Their duration is highly esti-
xnated at fifty years. Every half century then our
<x)untry becomes a tabula rasa^ whereon we have to
set out anew, as in the first moment of seating it.
AVhereas when buildings are of durable materials,
^very new edifice is an actual and permanent acquisi-
tion to the State, adding to its value as well as to its
ornament.
QUERY XVI.
The measures taken with regard to the estates and
possessions of the Rebels ^ commonly called Tories f
A tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in
thought but not in deed. The only description, by
which the laws have endeavored to come at them,
was that of non-jurprs, or persons refusing to take
I
2i6 Jefferson's Works
the oath of fidelity to the State. Persons of this
description were at one time subjected to double
taxation, at another to treble, and lastly were al-
lowed retribution, and placed on a level with good
citizens. It may be mentioned as a proof, both of
the lenity of our government, and unanimity of its
inhabitants, that though this war has now raged
near seven years, not a single execution for treason
has taken place.
Under this query I will state the measures which
have been adopted as to British property, the own-
ers of which stand on a much fairer footing than the
tories. By our laws, the same as the English as in
this respect, no alien can hold lands, nor alien enemy
maintain an action for money, or other movable
thing. Lands acquired or held by aliens become
forfeited to the State; and, on an action by an
alien enemy to recover money, or other movable
property, the defendant may plead that he is an
alien enemy. This extinguishes his right in the
hands of the debtor or holder of his movable prop-
erty. By our separation from Great Britain, Brit-
ish subjects became aliens, and being at war, they
were alien enemies. Their lands were of course for-!*
feited, and their debts irrecoverable. The asseiiM
bly, however, passed laws at various times, for sav-
ing their property. They first sequestered their
lands, slaves, and other property on their farms in
the hands of commissioners, who were mostly the
confidential friends or agents of the owners, and
A
Notes on Virginia 217
directed their clear profits to be paid into the treas-
ury ; and they gave leave to all persons owing debts
to British subjects to pay them also into the treas-
ury. The monies so to be brought in were declared
to remain the property of the British subject, and
if used by the State, were to be repaid, unless an
improper conduct in Great Britain should render a
detention of it reasonable. Depreciation had at
that time, though tmacknowledged and unperceived
by the whigs, begim in some small degree. Grreat
sums of money were paid in by debtors. At a later
period, the assembly, adhering to the political prin-
ciples which forbid an alien to hold lands in the
State, ordered all British property to be sold; and,
become sensible of the real progress of depreciation,
and of the losses which would thence occur, if not
guarded against, they ordered that the proceeds of the
sales should be converted into their then worth in
tobacco, subject to the future direction of the legis-
lature. This act has left the question of retribution
move problematical. In May, 1780, another act
^took away the permission to pay into the public
treasury debts due to British subjects.
QUERY XVII.
The different religions received into that State?
The first settlers in this country were emigrants
<rom England, of the English Church, just at a point
of time when it was flushed with complete victory
Jefferson's Works
over the religious of all other persuasions. Pos-
sessed, as they became, of the powers of making,
administering, and executing the laws, they showed
equal intolerance in this country with their Presby-
terian brethren, who had emigrated to the northern
government. The poor Quakers were flying from
persecution in England. They cast their eyes on
these new coimtries as asylums of civil and religious
freedom; but they found them free only for the
reigning sect. Several acts of the Virginia assembly
of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made it penal in parents
to refuse to have their children baptized; had pro-
hibited the unlawftil assembling of Quakers; had
made it penal for any master of a vessel to bring a
Quaker into the State; had ordered those already
here, and such as should come thereafter, to be im-
prisoned till they should abjure the country; pro-
vided a milder punishment for their first and second
return, but death for their third; had inhibited all
persons from suffering their meetings in or near
their houses, entertaining them individually, or
disposing of books which supported their tenets.
If no execution took place here, as did in New Eng-
land, it was not owing to the moderation of the
church, or spirit of the legislature, as may be inferred
from the law itself; but to historical circumstances
which have not been handed down to us. The An-
glicans retained full possession of the country aliout
a century. Other opinions began then to creep in,
and the great care of the government to support their ,
Notes on Virginia 219
own church, having begotten an equal degree of
indolence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people had
become dissenters at the commencement of the
present revolution. The laws, indeed, were still
oppressive on them, but the spirit of the one party
had subsided into moderation, and of the other had
risen to a degree of determination which commanded '
v__£esDect.
le present state of our laws on the subject of
religion is this. The convention of May 1 7 76, in their
declaration of rights, declared it to be a truth, and
a natural right, that the exercise of religion should
be free; but when they proceeded to form on that
declaration the ordinance of government, instead
of taking up every principle declared in the bill of
rights, and guarding it by legislative sanction, they
passed over that which asserted our religious rights,
leaving them as they found them. The same con-
vention, however, when they met as a member of the
general assembly in October, 1776, repealed all acts
of Parliament which had rendered criminal the main-
taining any opinions in matters of religion, the for-
bearing to repair to church, and the exercising any
mode of worship; and suspended the laws giving
salaries to the clergy, which suspension was made
perpetual in October, 1779. Statutory oppressions
in religion being thus wiped away, we remain at
present under those only imposed by the common
law, or by our own acts of assembly. ' At the com-
mon law, heresy was a capital offence, punishable
220 Jefferson's Works
by burning. Its definition was left to the eccle-
siastical judges, before whom the conviction was, till
the statute of the i El. c. i circumscribed it, by de-
claring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but
what had been so determined by authority of the
canonical scriptures, or by one of the four first gen-
eral councils, or by other council, having for the
grounds of their declaration the express and plain
words of the scriptures. Heresy, thus circumscribed,
being an offence against the common law, our act of
assembly of October 1777, c. 17, gives cognizance of it
to the general court, by declaring that the jurisdic-
tion of that court shall be general in all matters at
the common law. The execution is by the writ De
hcnretico comburendo. By our own act of assembly
of 1 705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian
religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or
asserts there are more gods than one, or denies the
Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be
of divine authority, he is punishable on the first
offence by incapacity to hold any office or employ-
ment ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second
by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be
guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three
years' imprisonment without bail. A father's right
to the custody of his own children being founded
in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken
away, they may of course be severed from him, and
put by the authority of a court into more orthodox
hands. This is a. summary view of that religious
^
Notes on Virginia ^^i
slavery under which a people have been willing to
remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes
for the establishment of their civil freedom. The
error* seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the
operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the
body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But
our rulers can have no authority over such natural
rights, only as we have submitted to them. The
rights of conscience we never submitted, we crnild
not submit. We are answerable for them U) rmr
God. The legitimate powers of government extend
to such acts only as are injurious to r/thers. But it
does me no injiuy for my neighbor to say there arc
twenty gods, or no God. It neither j^cks my j xx'ket
nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testinv/ny in
a court of justice cannot be relied on, rcj^^ct it tbim^
and be the stigma on him. Constraint may tnake
him worse by making him a hyprx:riif% f/ut it will
never make him a truer man. It may ftx him of/-
stinately in his errors, but will wA cttre th^rrn, K/ra-
son and free inquiry are the only «f-f?/:)Ct«At ajffttrt*
against error. Give a Wjejt Xf* th/rm, fi^r/ will imp-
port the true r^d%ioa by brir.j^rr;;^ ^/^y f^:^ ^Kye
to their tnbcn^ to tfce teat ^A tfi^w ir}rV^:^ti^A//r..
Thcv are the natttral erj^^nrJie^ ^4 ^r^/r, i%xA ^4 ^r^/r
only. Had ox the Rr.rr.ar. jfov'rrr^rr>rrv* ^y^rrrrri-t^/irf
free icqarry, Chr^a^^.r:/ cr/^;>I r^r/"*t' r^-/^ ''/^^^i.
mtrcfdacetL Ha*! rx.n fr^?^ :r^'i;r / 'r'y^ji'ir. :^r.4':;i^*^
at the era -cf tEe Btefr>rrr.a:tu'>r., ti-^i^ ^/^rrr/Ajcx.^ ^4
aaa Jefferson's Works
Christianity could not have been purged away. If
it be restrained now, the present corruptions will
be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was the
government to prescribe to us our medicine and
diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our
souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once
forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article
of food. Government is just as infallible, too, when
it fixes systems in physics, Galileo was sent to the
Inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere;
the government had declared it to be as flat as a
trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error.
This error, however, at length prevailed, the earth
became a globe, and Descartes declared it was
whirled round its axis by a vortex. The govern-
ment in which he lived was wise enough to see that
this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we
should all have been involved by authority in vor-
tices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded.
and the Newtonian principle of gravitation is now
more firmly established, on the basis of reason,
than it would be were the government to step
in. and to make it an article of necessary faith.
Reason and experiment have been indulged, and
error has fied before them . It is error alone
which needs the support of government. Truth
can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion :
whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible
men; men governed by bad pa,ssions, by private
as well as public reasons. And why subject it to
Notes on Virginia 225
coercion? To produce uniformity. But is unif ormlliy
of opinion desirable? No more than of face and
stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and
as there is danger that the large men may beat the
small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former
and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is
advantageous in religion. The several sects per-
form the office of a censor morum over such other.
Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men,
women, and children, since the introduction of
Christianity, have been btmit, tortured, fined,
imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch
towards uniformity. What has been the effect of
coercion ? To make one half the world fools, and the
other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error
all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhab-
ited by a thousand millions of people. That these
profess probably a thousand different systems of
religion. That ours is but one of that thousand.
That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we
should wish to see the nine hundred and ninety-nine
wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But
against such a majority we cannot effect this by
force. Reason and persuasion are the only prac-
ticable instruments. To make way for these, free
inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish
others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves. But
every State, says an inquisitor, has established some
religion. No two, say I, have established the same.
Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?
^ 222 / Jefferson's Works
* ""•"^Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New York,
however, have long subsisted without any estab-
lishment at all. The experiment was new and
doubtful when they made it. It has answered
beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Re-
ligion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed,
but all good enough ; all sufficient to preserve peace
and order; or if a sect arises, whose tenets would
subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons
and laughs it out of doors, without suffering the
State to be troubled with it. They do not hang
more malefactors than we do. They are not more
disturbed with religious dissensions. On the con-
trary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be
ascribed to nothing but their imbounded tolerance,
because there is no other circumstance in which
they differ from every nation on earth. They have
made the happy discovery, that the way to silence
religious disputes, is to take no notice of them. Let
us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid,
while we may, of those tyrannical laws. It is true,
we are as yet secured against them by the spirit of
the times. I doubt whether the people of this coun-
try would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three
years' imprisonment for not comprehending the
mysteries of the Trinity. . But is the spirit of the
people an infallible, a permanent reliance? Is it
government? Is this the kind of protection we
receive in return for the rights we give up ? Besides,
the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our
Notes on Virginia 225
rtilers will become cx)rrupt, our people careless. A
single zealot may commence persecutor, and better
men be his victims. It can never be too often re-
peated, that the time for fixing every essential right
on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and
otirselves united. From the conclusion of this war
we shall be going down hill. It will not then be
necessary to resort every moment to the people
for support. They will be forgotten, therefore,
and their rights disregarded. They will forget them-
selves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and
will never think of uniting to effect a due respect
for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which
shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this
war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier
and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in
a convulsion.
QUERY XVIII.
The particular customs and manners that may happen
to be received in that State ?
It is difficult to determine on the standard by
which the manners of a nation may be tried, whether
catholic or particular. It is more difficult for a
native to bring to that standard the manners of his
own nation, familiarized to him by habit. There
must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the
manners of our people produced by the existence
of slavery among us. The whole commerce be-
TOL. II — 15
9a6 Jefferson's Works
tween master and slave is a perpetual exercise of
the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting
despotism on the one part, and degrading submis-
sions on the other. Our children see this, and
learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal.
This quality is the germ of all education in him.
From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do
what he sees others do. If a parent could find no
motive either in his philanthropy or his self-love,
for restraining the intem])erance of passion towards
his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that
his child is present. But generally it is not suffi-
cient. The parent storms, the child looks on,
catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same
airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to
the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated,
and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be
stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man
must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and
morals undepraved by such circumstances. And
with what execration should the statesman be
loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus
to trample on the rights of the other, transforms
those into despots, and these into enemies, destroys
the morals of the one part, and the amor patrite of
the other. For if a slave can have a country in this
world, it must be any other in preference to that
in which he is bom to live and labor for another; in
which he must lock up the faculties of his nature
contribute as far as depends on his individual eat-
*■■ -
Notes on Virginia 227
deavors to the evanishment of the human race, or
entail his own miserable condition on the endless
generations proceeding from him. With the morals
of the people, their industry also is destroyed. For
in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself
who can make another labor for him. This is so
true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small
proportion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can
the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in
the minds of the people that these liberties are of
the gift of Gk)d? That they are not to be violated
but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my
cotintry when I reflect that Gk)d is just; that his
justice cannot sleep forever; that considering num-
bers, nature and natural means only, a revolution
of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is
among possible events; that it may become prob-
able by supernatural interference! The Almighty
has no attribute which can take side with us in such
a contest. But it is impossible to be temperate and
to pursue this subject through the various consider-
ations of policy, of morals, of history natural and
civil. We must be contented to hope they will
force their way into every one's mind. I think a
change already perceptible, since the origin of the
present revolution. The spirit of the master is
abating, that of the slave rising from the dust, his
condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing,
under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipa-
o
228 Jefferson's Works
tion, and that this is disposed, in the order of events,
to be with the consent of the masters, rather than
by their extirpation.
QUERY XIX.
The present state of manufactures ^ commerce^ interior
and exterior trade?
We never had an interior trade of any importance.
Our exterior commerce has suffered very much from
the beginning of the present contest. During this
time we have manufactured within otir families the
most necessary articles of clothing. Those of cotton
will bear some comparison with the same kinds of
manufacture in Etirope; but those of wool, flax
and hemp are very coarse, unsightly, and unpleas-
ant; and such is otir attachment to agriculture,
and such our preference for foreign manufactures,
that be it wise or unwise, otir people will certainly
return as soon as they can, to the raising raw mate-
rials, and exchanging them for finer manufactures
than they are able to execute themselves.
The political economists of Europe have estab-
lished it as a principle, that every State shoul(3
endeavor to manufacture for itself; and this prin-
ciple, like many others, we transfer to America^
without calculating the difference of circumstance
which should often produce a difference of result.
In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or locked
Notes on Virginia 229
up against the cultivator. Mantifacture must there-
fore be resorted to of necessity not of choice, to sup-
port the surplus of their people. But we have an
immensity of land courting the industry of the
husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens
should be employed in its improvement, or that
one half should be called off from that to exercise
nianufactures and handicraft arts for the other?
Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people
of God, if ever He had a chosen people, whose breasts
He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial
and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he
ke^ps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might
esoape from the face of the earth. Corruption of
mox^s in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon
of "Which no age nor nation has furnished an example.
It is the mark set on those, who, not looking up to
he^^ven, to their own soil and industry, as does the
husbandman, for their subsistence, depend for it
otx casualties and caprice of customers. Depend-
eaoe begets subservience and venality, suffocates
the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the
designs of ambition. This, the natural progress
and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps
been retarded by accidental circtimstances ; but,
generally speaking, the proportion which the aggre-
gate of the other classes of citizens bears in any
State to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion
of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good
enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of
230 Jefferson's Works
corruption. While we have land to labor then, let
us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-
bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons,
smiths, are wanting in husbandry; but, for the
general operations of manufacture, let our work-
shops remain in Europe. It is better to carry pro-
visions and materials to workmen there, than bring
them to the provisions and materials, and with them
their manners and principles. The loss by the
transportation of commodities across the Atlantic
will be made up in happiness and permanence of
government. The mobs of great cities add jxist
so much to the support of pure government, as sores
do to the strength of the htiman body. It is the
manners and spirit of a people which preserve a
republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker
which soon eats to the heart of its laws and con-
stitution.
QUERY XX.
A notice of the commercial productions particular to
the State, and of those objects which the inhabitants
are obliged to get from Europe and from other parts
of the world. ?
Before the present war we exported, communibus
annis, according to the best information I can get,
nearly as follows:
Notes on Virginia
331
Abticlbs.
Tobacco
Wheat
Indian com
Shipping
MasU, planks, scant- 1
ling, shingles, staves/
Tar, xntch, turpentine .
Peltry, viz., sldns of
deer, beavers, otters,
musk rats, raccoons,
foxes
Pork
Flax-seed, hemp, cotton
IHt coal, pig iron
Beef
Stuxgeon, white shad,
herring
Brandy from peaches
and i4>ples, and whis-
key
Horses
Quantity.
55,000 hhds. of x,ooo lbs.
800,000 bushels.
600,000 **
30,000 barrels.
x8o hhds. of 600 lbs.
4,000 barrels.
5,000 bushels,
z.ooo barrels.
Price in
Dollars.
at 3od. per hhd.
at 5-6d. per bush,
at id. j>er bush.
at lid. j>er bbl.
at 5- z ad. per lb.
at lod. i>er bbl.
at }d. per bush,
at aid. per bbl.
Amount in
Dollars.
$1,650,000
666,6661
aoo,ooo
100,000
66,666f
40,000
4a,ooo
40,000
8,000
6,666}
3t333i
3t333i
z,666f
1,660}
?$3t833.333i
In the year 1758 we exported seventy thousand
hogsheads of tobacco, which was the greatest quan-
tity ever produced in this country in one year. But
its culture was fast declining at the commencement
of this war and that of wheat taken its place; and
it must continue to decline on the return of peace.
I suspect that the change in the temperature of our
climate has become sensible to that plant, which
to be good, requires an extraordinary degree of
heat. But it requires still more indispensably an
uncommon fertility of soil; and the price which it
commands at market will not enable the planter to
produce this by manure. Was the supply still to
^'nu9 stun is equal to ;£85o,ooo; Virginia money, 607,14a guineas.
232
Jefferson's Works
depend on Virginia and Maryland alone as its culti
becomes more difficult, the price would rise so
to enable the planter to surmount those difficultii
and to live. But the western country on the Mi
sissippi, and the midlands of Georgia, having fresh
and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter sun
will be able to undersell these two States, and will
oblige them to abandon the raising of tobacco al'
gcther. And a happy obligation for them it will
It is a culture productive of infinite wretchedness.
Those employed in it are in a continual state of
exertion beyond the power of nature to support.
Little food of any kind is raised by them; so that
the men and animals on these farms are badly fed,
and the earth is rapidly impoverished. The culti-
vation of wheat is the reverse in every circumstance.
Besides clothing the earth with herbage, and pre-
serving its fertility, it feeds the laborers plentifully,
requires from them only a moderate toil, except
the season of harvest, raises great numbers of ani-
mals for food and service, and diffuses plenty and
happiness among the whole. We find it easier to
make an hundred bushels of wheat than a thousand
weight of tobacco, and they are worth more when
made. The weavil indeed is a formidable obstacle
to the cultivation of this grain with us. But prini
pies are already known which must lead to a remed;
Thus a certain degree of heat, to wit. that of the"
common air in summer, is necessary to hatch the
eggs. If subterranean granaries, or others, there-
iviu
ItoJI
b&H
cle ^^
Notes on Virginia 233
fore, can be contrived below that temperature, the
evil will be cured by cold. A degree of heat beyond
that which hatches the egg we know will kill it. But
in aiming at this we easily run into that which pro-
duced putrefaction. To produce putrefaction, how-
ever, three agents are requisite, heat, moisture, and
the external air. If the absence of any one of these
be secured, the other two may safely be admitted.
Heat is the one we want. Moisture then, or external
air, must be excluded. The former has been done
by exposing the grain in kilns to the action of fire,
which produces heat, and extracts moisture at the
same time; the latter, by putting the grain into
hogsheads, covering it with a coating of lime, and
heading it up. In this situation its bulk produced
a heat sufficient to kill the eggs; the moisture is
suffered to remain indeed, but the external air is
excluded. A nicer operation yet has been attempted ;
that is, to produce an intermediate temperature of
heat between that which kills the egg, and that
which produces putrefaction. The threshing the
grain as soon as it is cut, and laying it in its chaff in
large heaps, has been found very nearly to hit this
temperature, though not perfectly, nor always. The
heap generates heat sufficient to kill most of the
^ggs, whilst the chaff commonly restrains it from
rising into putrefaction. But all these methods
abridge too much the quantity which the farmer
can manage, and enable other coim tries to undersell
him, which are not infested with this insect. There
334 Jefferson's Works
is still a desideratum then to give with us decisive
triumph to this branch of agriculture over that of
tobacco. The culture of wheat by enlarging our
pasture, will render the Arabian horse an article of
very considerable profit. Experience has shown
that ours is the particular climate of America where
he may be raised without degeneracy. South-
wardly the heat of the sun occasions a deficiency of
pasture, and northwardly the winters are too cold
for the short and fine hair, the particular sensibility
and constitution of that race. Animals transplanted
into unfriendly climates, either change their nature
and acquire new senses against the new difficulties
in which they are placed, or they multiply poorly
and become extinct. A good foimdation is laid for
their propagation here by our possessing already
gp-eat numbers of horses of that blood, and by a
decided taste and preference for them established
among the people. Their patience of heat without
injury, their superior wind, fit them better in this
and the more southern climates even for the drudg-
eries of the plough and wagon. Northwardly they
will become an object only to persons of taste and
fortune, for the saddle and light carriages. To those,
and for these uses, their fleetness and beauty mil
recommend them. Besides these there will be
other valuable substitutes when the cultivation of
tobacco shall be discontinued such as cotton in the
eastern parts of the State, and hemp and flax tn the
w^tem.
Notes on Virginia 235
It is not easy to say what are the articles either
of necessity, comfort, or luxury, which we cannot
raise, and which we therefore shall be under a neces-
sity of importing from abroad, as everything hardier
than the olive, and as hardy as the fig, may be raised
here in the open air. Sugar, coffee and tea, indeed,
are not between these limits; and habit having
placed them among the necessaries of life with the
wealthy part of our citizens, as long as these habits
remain we must go for them to those coimtries which
axe able to furnish them.
QUERY XXI.
ZThe weights, measures and the currency of the hard
money? Some details relating to exchange with
Europe f
Our weights and measures are the same which are
£xed by acts of parliament in England. How it
Ilias happened that in this as well as the other Amer-
:Scan States the nominal value of coin was made to
differ from what it was in the country we had left,
a,nd to differ among ourselves too, I am not able to
^ay with certainty. I find that in 1631 our house
^f burgesses desired of the privy council in England,
a coin debased to twenty-five per cent.; that in
1645 they forbid dealing by barter for tobacco, and
established the Spanish piece of eight at six shillings,
as the standard of their currency; that in 1655 they
changed it to five shillings sterling. In 1680 they
»i6
Jefferson's Works
sent an address to the king, in consequence of which,
by proclamation in 1683, he fixed the value of
French crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, at
six shiUings, and the coin of New England at one
shilling. That in 1710, 1714, 1727. and 1762. other
regulations were made, which will be better presented
to the eye stated in the form of a table as follows :
„.o.
.,...
.,.,.
.,6,.
S.- dwt.
s.. d-t. .. .
6..jd.
4d. dwt.
aid. d-i.
4. jd. dwl.
Dritiih Bold coin not
milled, gold «rin of
Spun and France, che-
qiiins, Arabian gold,
Enslish milled nlver
money, ia proportion lo
Pieces of ciBht ol Mexico.
Seville ft Pillar, duca-
toon» of Planden.
French *ciui. or nlver
Louli. cniiad™ o[ Pot-
j»d. d«t,
jH.dwl-
Peru piece., c™. dollora.
«id old ri. dollar, of the
Old Britidi nlver coin not
jid-dwt.
The first symptom of the depreciation of our pres-
ent paper money, was that of silver dollars selling
at six shillings, which had before been worth but five
shiUings and ninepence. The assembly thereupon
raised them by law to six shillings. As the dollar
is now likely to become the money-unit of America,
as it passes at this rate in some of our sister States,
and as it facilitates their computation in pounds
and shillings, &c., converso, this seems to be more
Notes on Virginia ^37
convenient than its former denomination. But as
this particular coin now stands higher than any
other in the proportion of one hundred and thirty-
three and a half to one hundred and twenty-five,
or sixteen to fifteen, it will be necessary to raise the
others in proportion.
QUERY XXII.
The public Income and Expenses?
The nominal amount of these varying cpnstantly
and rapidly, with the constant and rapid deprecia-
tion of our paper money, it becomes impracticable
to say what they are. We find ourselves cheated in
every essay by the depreciation intervening between
the declaration of the tax and its actual receipt. It
will therefore be more satisfactory to consider what
our income may be when we shall find means of
collecting what our people may spare. I should
estimate the whole taxable property of this State at
an hundred millions of dollars, or thirty millions of
pounds, oiu- money. One per cent, on this, com-
pared with anything we ever yet paid, would be
deemed a very heavy tax. Yet I think that those
who manage well, and use reasonable economy,
could pay one and a half per cent., and maintain
their household comfortably in the meantime, with-
out aliening any part of their principal, and that
the people would submit to this willingly for the
^3^ Jefferson^s Works
purpose of supporting their present contest. We
may say, then, that we could raise, from one million
to one million and a half of dollars annually, that
is from three hundred to four hundred and fifty
thousand pounds, Virginia money.
Of our expenses it is equally difficult to give an
exact state, and for the same reason. They are
mostly stated in paper money, which varying con-
tinually, the legislature endeavors at every session,
by new corrections, to adapt the nominal simis to
the value it is wished they would bear. I will state
them, therefore, in real coin, at the point at which
they endeavor to keep them:
DoUan.
The annual expenses of the general assembly are about . . 20,000
The governor 3*333}i
The council of state 10,666^
Their clerks 1,166^
Eleven judges 11 ,000
The clerk of the chancery 666^4
The attorney general i ,000
Three auditors and a solicitor 5*333}^
Their clerks 2,000
The treasurer 2.000
His clerks 2,000
The keeper of the public jail i ,000
The public printer i ,666^
Clerks of the inferior coiu*ts 43.333^
Public levy; this is chiefly for the expenses of criminal . . .
justice 40,000
County levy, for bridges, court-houses, prisons, &c 40,000
Members of Congress 7 ,000
Quota of the federal civil list, supposed one-sixth of about
$78,000 13,000
Expenses of collecting, six per cent, on the above 12,310
Notes on Virginia ^39
Dollan.
The clergy receive only voluntary contributions; sup-
pose them on an average one-eighth of a dollar a tythe
on 200,000 tythes 25,000
Contingencies, to make round ntunbers not far from
truth 7»S^3^
$250,000
or 53,571 guineas. This estimate is exclusive of the
military expense. That varies with the force actu-
ally employed, and in time of peace will probably be
little or nothing. It is exclusive also of the public
debts, which are growing while I am writing, and
cannot therefore be now fixed. So it is of the main-
tenance of the poor, which being merely a matter of
charity cannot be deemed expended in the admin-
istration of government. And if we strike out the
$25,000 for the services of the clergy, which neither
makes part of that administration, more than what
is paid to physicians, or lawyers, and being volim-
tary, is either much or nothing as every one pleases,
it leaves $225,000, equal to 48,208 guineas, the real
cost of the apparatus of government with us. This
divided among the actual inhabitants of our countr>%
comes to about two-fifths of a dollar, twenty-one
pence sterling, or forty-two sols, the price which
each pays annually for the protection of the residue
of his property, and the other advantages of a free
government. The public revenues of Great Britain
divided in like manner on its inhabitants would be
sixteen times greater. Deducting even the double
of the expenses of government, as before estimated,
240 Jefferson's Works
from the million and a half of dollars which we
before supposed might be annually paid without
distress, we may conclude that this State can
contribute one million of dollars annually towards
supporting the federal army, paying the federal
debt, building a federal navy, or opening roads,
clearing rivers, forming safe ports, and other useful
works.
To this estimate of our abilities, let me add a word
as to the application of them. If, when cleared of
the present contest, and of the debts with which
that will charge us, we Come to measure force here-
after with any European power. Such events are
devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and
with such a country before us to fill with ^leople and
with happiness, we should point in that direction
the whole generative force of nature, wasting none
of it in efforts of mutual destruction. It should
be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friend-
ship of every nation, even of that which has injured
us most, when we shall have carried our point against
her. Our interest will be to throw open the doors
of commerce, and to knock off all its shackles, giving
perfect freedom to all persons for the vent of what-
ever they may choose to bring into our ports, and
asking the same in theirs. Never was so much
false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that
which has been employed to persuade nations that
it is their interest to go to war. Were the money
which it has cost to gain, at the close of a long war,
Notes on Virginia 241
a little town, or a little territory, the right to cut
wood here, or to catch fish there, expended in im-
proving what they already possess, in making roads,
opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts,
and finding employment for their idle poor, it would
render them much stronger, much wealthier and
happier. This I hope will be our wisdom. And,
perhaps, to remove as much as possible the occa-
sions of making war, it might be better for us to
abandon the ocean altogether, that being the element
whereon we shall be principally exposed to jostle
with other nations ; to leave to others to bring what
we shall want, and to carry what we can spare.
This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by
offering none of our property to their prize, and
would turn all our citizens to the cultivation of the
earth; and, I repeat it again, cultivators of the
earth are the most virtuous and independent citi-
zens. It might be time enough to seek employment
for them at sea, when the land no longer offers it.
But the actual habits of our countrymen attach
them to commerce. They will exercise it for them-
selves. Wars then must sometimes be our lot; and
all the wise can do, will be to avoid that half of them
which would be produced by our own follies and our
own acts of injustice; and to make for the other
half the best preparations we can. Of what nature
should these be ? A land army would be useless for
offence, and not the best nor safest instrument of
defence. For either of these purposes, the sea is
VOL. 11 — 16
843 Jefferson's Works
the field on which we should meet an European
enemy. On that element it is necessary we should
possess some power. To aim at such a navy as the
greater nations of Europe possess, would be a fool-
ish and wicked waste of the energies of our country-
men. It would be to pull on our own heads that
load of military expense which makes the European
laborer go supperless to bed, and moistens his bread
with the sweat of his brows. It will be enough if
we enable ourselves to prevent insults from those
nations of Europe which are weak on the sea, be-
cause circumstances exist, which render even the
stronger ones weak as to us. Providence has placed
their richest and most defenceless possessions at our
door; has obliged their most precious commerce to
pass, as it were, in review before us. To protect
this, or to assail, a small part only of their naval
force will ever be risked across the Atlantic. The
dangers to which the elements expose them here are
too well known, and the greater dangers to which
they would be exposed at home were any general
calamity to involve their whole fleet. They can
attack us by detachment only; and it will suffice
to make ourselves equal to what they may detach.
Even a smaller force than they may detach will be
rendered equal or superior by the quickness with
which any check may be repaired with us, while
losses with them will be irreparable till too late. A
small naval force then is sufficient for us, and a small
one is necessary. What this should be. I will not
Notes on \^rgmia M3
tmdertake to say. I will only say. it shotdd by no
means be so great as we are able to make it. Sup-
pose the milliofi erf dollars, or three hundred thou-
sand pounds, which Viiginia could annually spare
without distress, to be applied to the creating a na\*\\
A single year's contribution woidd build, equip, man,
and send to sea a force which shotdd carry three
himdred guns. The rest of the confederacy, exert-
ing themselves in the same proportion, woidd equip
in the same time fifteen hundred guns more. So
that one year's contributions would set up a navy
of eighteen hundred guns. The British ships of
the line average seventy-six guns; their frigates
thirty-eight. Eighteen hundred guns then would
form a fleet of thirty ships, eighteen of which might
be of the line, and twelve frigates. Allowing eight
men, the British average, for ever>^ gun, their annual
expense, including subsistence, clothing, pay, and
ordinary repairs, would be about $1,280 for every
gun, or $2,304,000 for the whole. I state this only
as one year's possible exertion, without deciding
whether more or less than a year's exertion should
be thus applied.
The value of our lands and slaves, taken con-
junctly, doubles in about twenty years. This arises
from the mtiltiplication of our slaves, from the ex-
tension of culture, and increased demand for lands.
The amount of what may be raised will of course
rise in the same proportion.
^44 Jefferson's Works
QUERY XXIII.
The histories of the State ^ the memorials published in
its name in the time of its being a colony y and the
pamphlets relating to its interior or exterior affairs
present or ancient?
Captain Smith, who next to Sir Walter Raleigh
may be considered as the fotmder of our colony, has
written its history, from the first adventures to it, till
the year 1624. He was a member of the council, and
afterwards president of the colony ; and to his efforts
principally may be ascribed its support against the
opposition of the natives. He was honest, sensible,
and well informed ; but his style is barbarous and
uncouth. His history, however, is almost the only
source from which we derive any knowledge of the
infancy of our State.
The reverend William Stith, a native of Virginia,
and president of its college, has also written the
history of the same period, in a large octavo volume
of small print. He was a man of classical learning,
and very exact, but of no taste in style. He is
inelegant, therefore, and his details often too minute
to be tolerable, even to a native of the country, whose
history he writes.
Beverley, a native also, has nm into the other
extreme, he has comprised our history from the
first propositions of Sir Walter Raleigh to the year
1700, in the hundredth part of the space which Stith
employs for the foiuth part of the period.
( 1
• ■ : v
t«
. , .V
,.,..■'" "^"^^
•iTM
■•■l
■:»
.S'-yr-x
■ ..-r' »■' •
^t%.
. -i^'
.M
-«
b * ■
• V
. t
Notes on Virginia 245
Sir Walter Keith has taken it up at its, earliest
period, and continued it to the year 1725. He is
agreeable enough in style, and passes over events
of little importance. Of course he is short and
would be preferred by a foreigner.
During the regal government, some contest arose
on the exaction of an illegal fee by Governor Din-
widdie, and doubtless there were others on other
occasions not at present recollected. It is supposed
that these are not sufficiently interesting to a for-
eigner to merit a detail.
The petition of the council and burgesses of Vir-
ginia to the king, their memorials to the lords, and
remonstrance to the commons in the year 1764,
began the present contest ; and these having proved
ineffectual to prevent the passage of the stamp-act,
the resolutions of the house of burgesses of 1765
were passed declaring the independence of the peo-
ple of Virginia of the parliament of Great Britain,
in matters of taxation. From that time till the Dec-
laration of Independence by Congress in 1776, their
jotUTials are filled with assertions of the public rights.
The pamphlets published in this State on the
controverted question, were:
1766, An Inquiry into the rights of the British
Colonies, by Richard Bland.
1769, The Monitor's Letters, by Dr. Arthur Lee.
1774, A stmimary View of the rights of British
America.*
* By the author of these " Notes."
246 Jefferson's Works
1774, Considerations, &c., by Robert Carter Nich-
olas.
Since the Declaration of Independence this State
has had no controversy with any other, except with
that of Pennsylvania, on their common boimdary.
Some papers on this subject passed between the
executive and legislative bodies of the two States,
the result of which was a happy accommodation of
their rights.
To this accotmt of our historians, memorials, and
pamphlets, it may not be unuseful to add a chrono-
logical catalogue of American state-papers, as far
as I have been able to collect their titles. It is far
from being either complete or correct. Where the
title alone, and not the paper itself, has come under
my observation, I cannot answer for the exactness
of the date. Sometimes I have not been able to find
any date at all, and sometimes have not been satis-
fied that such a paper exists. An extensive collec-
tion of papers of this description has been for some
time in a course of preparation by a gentleman*
fully equal to the task, and from whom, therefore,
we may hope ere long to receive it. In the mean-
time accept this as the result of my labors, and as
closing the tedious detail which you have so unde-
signedly drawn upon yourself.
' Ebenezer Hazard.
Notes on Virginia 247
Pro Johanne Caboto et filiis suis super terra incognita in- *496, Mar. 5*
vestiganda. 12. Ry. 595. 3. Hakl. 4. 2. Mem. A. 409. " ' ^*
Billa signata anno 13. Henrid septimi. 3. Hakluyt's voi- 1498. Feb. 3-
ages 5. • '^ "• ^*
De potestatibtis ad terras incognitas investigandiun. 13. ^soa, Dec. xp.
Rymer. 37. '^^^''^
Commission de Francois I. k Jacques Catier pour Testabr x54o, Oct. 17.
lissement du Canada. L'Escarbot. 397. 2. Mem. Am.
416.
An act against the exaction of money, or any other thing, »S48, a. E. 6.
by any officer for license to traffique into Iseland and
New-foundland, made in An. 2. Edwardi sexti. 3. Hakl.
The letters-patent granted by her Majestic to Sir Hum- '578. June n.
phrey Gilbert, knight, for the inhabiting and planting
of our people in America. 3. Hakl. 135.
Letters-patent of Queen Elizabeth to Adrian Gilbert and '^83. Feb. 6.
others to discover the northwest passage to China. 3.
Hakl. 96.
The letters-patent granted by the Queen's majestic to M. ^584. Mar. as.
Walter Raleigh, now Knight, for the discovering and
planting of new lands and countries, to continue the
space of six years and no more. 3. Hakl. 243.
An assignment by Sir Walter Raleigh for continuing the Mar. 7. 3x. El.
action of inhabiting and planting his people in Virginia.
Hakl. ist. ed. publ. in 1589. p. 815.
Lettres de Lieutenant General de TAcadie et pays circon- 1603, Nov. 8.
voisins poiir le Sieur de Monts. L'Escarbot. 417.
Letters-patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers 1606, Apr. 10.
and others of America. Stith. Apend. No. i. 4j«c. i.
An ordinance and constitution enlarging the council of '^7. Mar. 9.
the two colonies in Virginia and America, and augment-
ing their authority, M. S.
The second charter to the treasurer and company for 1609. May 23.
Virginia, erecting them into a body politick. Stith. ^J**^***
Ap. 2.
Letters-patent to the E. of Northampton, granting part »6io. April 10.
of the island of Newfotmdl and. i. Harris. 861. jac. i.
A third charter to the treasvirer and company for Virginia. *^J'; **""• ***
Stith. Ap. 3. ^^^^^ j^ ^
A commission to Sir Walter Raleigh. Qu.
ol*'"
..,5. '*"■' '■ ^y^"- ^^Sir Ed^^^
-»?S>^ri-"
^gf'
tiooe'
^ioS""
,exftt"
,•»<■»'
Beon"
con«^'
.«^tV 8^^
cn«*w*"
641-
demiss.
I.]*'-,
So"-
De
,. NV
i
°'*°Sie»'* . ... RV».- ''of ^>«"'
^yny.
Q. Ptod!
^ova"'
,„d.l
,,ool»«"'"
.UO*'
lot «
ddonva''
..olH-"* ,
-'^5^£rs^:=-^""""
^yto.
Notes on Virginia 249
Dc proclamatione de signatione de tobacco. i8. Rym. 886 »6a7. Mar. 30.
De proclamatione pro ordinatione de tobacco. 18. Rym. ^^ ' '*
*^ ^ -^ i6a7, Aug. 9.
920. 3 Car. X.
A confirmation of the grant of Massachusetts bay by the x6a8. Mar. 4.
crown. ^ ^^' '•
The capittdation of Quebec. Champlain pert. 2. 316. 1619, Aug. 19.
2. Mem. Am. 489.
A proclamation concerning tobacco. 19. Rym. 235. 1630, Jan. 6.
Conveyance of Nova Scotia (Port-royal excepted) by Sir * ^^- '•
William Alexander to Sir Claude St. Etienne Lord of la «<i3o, April 30.
Totir and of Uarre and to his son Sir Charles de St.
Etienne Lord of St. Denniscourt, on condition that they
continue subjects to the king of Scotland under the
great seal of Scotland.
A proclamation forbidding the disorderly trading with the 1630-^3 z, Nov.
savages in New England in America, especially the '** ^ ^^* '*
furnishing the natives in those and other parts of Amer-
ica by the English with weapons and habiliments of
warre. 19. Ry. 210. 3. Rushw. 82.
A proclamation prohibiting the selling arms, &c. to the 1630, Dec. s-
savages in America. Mentioned 3. Rtishw. 75. 6 Car. x.
A grant of Connecticut by the council of Plymouth to the 1630, Car. x.
E. of Warwick.
A confirmation by the crown of the grant of Connecticut X630, Car. x.
[said to be in the petty-bag office in England].
A conveiance of Connecticut by the E. of Warwick to 1631, Mar. X9.
Lord Say, and Seal, and others. Smith's examination, '*
Appendix No. i.
A special commission to Edward, Earle of Dorsett. and 1631, June br-
others, for the better plantation of the colony of Vir- ' ' '*
ginia. 19. Ry. 301.
X.«itere continentcs promissionem regis ad tradenum cas- 163 a. June •9-
trum et habitationem de Kebec in Canada ad regem ^ '*
Franconim. 19. Ry. 303.
Traits entre Ic roy Louis XIII. et Charles roi d'Angleterre 163a, Mar. 99-
pour la restitution de la nouvelle France, la Cadie et * * '*
Canada et des navires et merchandises pris de part et
d'autre. Fait a St. Germain. 19. Ry. 361. 2. Mem. Am.
S-
A grant of Maryland to Caecilius Calvert, baron of Balti- 163a. Juno ao.
more in Ireland, * ^^' **
A petition of the planters nf Virginia against the gntat to
lord Baltimore.
Order of council upon the dispute between the Virgini*
planters and lord Baltimore. Votes of repres. Penn-
sylvania. V.
A proclamation to prevent abuses growing by the unor-
dered retailing o£ tobacco. Mentioned j. Rushw.
A special commission to Thomas Young to search, dis-
cover and find out what ports are not yet inhabited in
Virginia and America and other parts thereunto adjoin-
ing, ig. Ry. 473.
A proclamation for preventing of the abuses growing by
the unordered retailing of tobacco. 19. Ry. 474.
A proclamation restraining the abusive venting of
tobacco, ig, Rym. s>s.
A proclamation concerning the landing of tobacco, and
also forbidding the planting thereof in the king's do-
Ry- 553
to the Archbishop of Canterbury «nd 1
others, for governing the American colonies,
concerning tobacco, M. S.
from Lord Say, and Seal, and othen to 1
John Winthrop to be governor of Connecticut. Smith*! |
App.
A grant to Duke Hamilton,
De comraissione spedali Johanni Harvey militi to pro
meliori regeminc coloniac in Virginia. 20. Ry. 3,
A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title in 3. Rush.
617.
ipeciali Georgio domino Goring et aliis
venditionem de tobacco absque
10. Ry. 116,
against disorderly transporting his Majes-
ty's subjects to the pi antations within the parts of Amer-
ica. 10. Ry. 143. 3, Rush. 409.
An order of the privy council to stay 8 ships
Thames from going to New England. 3. Rush. 409.
A warrant of the Lord Admiral to stop unconformable
ministers from going beyond the sea. 3, Rush. .
Order of council upon Claiborne's petition against Lord
Baltimore. Votes of representatives of Pennsylvi
eoncessi
licentia 1
Notes on Virginia 251
An order of the king and council that the attorney general ^^38. Apr. 6
draw up a proclamation to prohibit transportation of '^ "' ''
passengers to New England without license. 3. Rush.
718.
-A proclamation to restrain the transporting of passengers x6.i8. May. i.
and provisions to New England without license. 20. Ry. '4 Car. 1.
223.
-A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title 4. Rush. 1060. 1639. Mar. as.
-A proclamation declaring his majesty's pleasure to con- ''
tinue his commission and letters patents for licensing Jjcir. "* '^
retailers of tobacco. 20. Ry. 348.
^e commissione speciali Henrico Ashton armigero et aliis 1630. Dec. 16.
ad amovendum Henricum Hawley gubematorem de '^ ' ''
Barbadoes. 20. Rym. 357.
-A proclamation concerning retailers of tobacco. 4. Rush. i639t Car. 1.
966.
X)e constitutione gubematoris et concilii pro Virginia. 20. 1641, Aug. 9.
Ry. 484. 17 Car. 1.
-Articles of union and confederacy entered into by Massa- 1643. Car. i.
chusetts, Pljrmouth, Connecticut and New-haven, i.
Neale. 223.
Deed from George Fenwick to the old Connecticut juris- 1644, Car. x.
diction.
An ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in par-
liament, for exempting from custom and imposition
all commodities exported for, or imported from New
England, which has been very prosperous and without
any public charge to this State, and is likely to prove
very happy for the propagation of the gospel in those
parts. Tit. in Amer. library 90. 5. No date. But
seems by the neighbouring articles to have been in 1644.
An act for charging of tobacco brought from New Eng- 1644. June ao.
land with custom and excise. Title in American library ^^' '*
99. 8
An act for the advancing and regulating the trade of this 1644. Aug. 1.
commonwealth. Tit. in Amer. libr. 99. 9. ' **
Grant of the Northern neck of Virginia to Lord Hopton, Sep. 18.
Lord Jermyn, Lord Culpepper, Sir John Berkley, Sir * ^^' *•
William Moreton, Sir Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Cul-
pepper.
An act prohibiting trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, 1650, Oct. 3.
Bermudas and Antego Scobell's Acts. 1027. " * *'
252 Jefferson's Works
1650, Car. a. A declaration of Lord Willoughby, governor of Barbadoes,
and of his council, against an act of parliament of 3d of
hist, of the Puri. Polit. register. 2. cited from 4 Neal.
final settlementtans. App. No. 12 but not there.
i6so. Car. a A October, 1650. of botmdaries between the Dutch New
Netherlands and Connecticut.
1651. Sept. a6. Instructions for Captain Robert Dennis, Mr. Richard
3. Car. a. Bennet, Mr. Thomas Stagge, and Captain William Clai-
boum, appointed commissioners for the reducing of
WiTgimsL and the inhabitants thereof to their due obe-
dience to the commonwealth of England, i Thurloe's
state papers, 197.
x6si, Oct. 9. An act for increase of shipping and encotu'agement of the
8 Car. a. navigation of this nation. Scobell's Acts, 1449.
165 i-a, Mar. Articles agreed on and concluded at James citie in Virginia
1 a. 4 Car. a. ^^^ ^^ siurendering and settling of that plantation under
the obedience and government of the commonwealth
of England, by the commissioners of the council of
state, by authoritie of the parliament of England, and
by the grand assembly of the governor, council, and
burgesse of that state. M. S. [Ante. p. ao6.]
x6s i-a, Mar. An act of indempnitie made at the surrender of the country
la. 4 Car. i. [of Virginia.] [Ante p. 206.]
1654, Aug. x6. Capittilation de Port Royal. Mem. Am. 507.
x6ss, Car. a. A proclamation of the protector relating to Jamaica. 3
Thurl. 75.
i6ss, Sep. a6. The protector to the commissioners of Maryland. A
f^^*' letter. 4 Thurl. 55.
x6ss. Oct. 8. An instrument made at the council of Jamaica, Oct. 8,
7 Car. a. 1655, for the better carrying on of affairs there. 4 Thurl.
17.
i6ss. Nov. 3. Treaty of Westminster between France and England. 6.
corps diplom. part 2. p. 121. 2. Mem. Am. 10.
1656. Mar. 27. The assembly at Barbadoes to the protector. 4 Thurl.
8 Car. a. ^
651.
1656, Aug. 9- A grant by Cromwell to Sir Charles de Saint Etienne, a
baron of Scotland, Crowne and Temple. A French
translation of it. a Mem. Am. 511.
1656, Car. a. A paper concerning the advancement of trade, 5 Thurl. 80—
1656, Car. a. A Srief narration of the English rights to the Northem.
parts of America. 5 Thurl. 81.
Notes on Virginia 253
Mr. R. Bennet and Mr. S. Matthew to Secretary Thurlow. >6s6, Oct. lo.
- Tu 10 "^8 Car. a.
5 Thurl. 482.
Objections against the Lord Baltimore's patent, and rea- 1656, Oct. 10.
sons why the government of Maryland shoiild not be * *'
put into his hands. 5 Thurl. 483.
A paper relating to Maryland. 5 Thurl. 483. 1656. Oct. 10.
A breviet of the proceedings of the lord Baltimore and his ® ^^- *•
officers and compilers in Maryland, against the author- J^ ^* ***'
ity of the parliament of the commonwealth of England
and against his highness the lord protector's authority,
laws and government. 5 Thurl. 486.
The assembly of A^rginia to secretary Thurlow. 5 Thurl. '^56, Oct. 15.
497.
The governor of Barbadoes to the protector. 6 Thurl. 69. 1657, Apr. 4.
Petition of the general court at Hartford upon Connecti- ' **
cut for charter. Smith's exam. App. 4. 11,..
Charter of the colony of Connecticut. Smith's exam. x66a, Apr. 23.
App. 6. '^^'''
The first charter granted by Charles II. to the proprie- i662-3,Mar.24.
taries of CaroHna, to wit, to the Earl of Clarendon, Duke ^^^' ^' '* ^* **
of Albemarle, Lord Craven, Lord Berkeley, Lord Ash-
ley, Sir George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and Sir
John Colleton. 4 Mem. Am. 554.
The concessions and agreement of the lords proprietors of 1664. Feb. 10.
the province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey, to and
with all and every of the adventurers and all such as
shall settle or plant there. Smith's New Jersey. App. i.
A grant of the colony of New York to the Duke of York. '^^clr^*'' '**
A commission to Colonel Nichols and others to settle dis- ^^^ ^ '^ ^^
putes in New England. Hutch. Hist. Mass. Bay, App. x6 Car. 2.
537.
The commission to Sir Robert Carre and others to put the "664, Apr. 26.
Duke of York in possession of New York, New Jersey,
and all other lands thereunto appertaining.
Sir Robert Carre and others proclamation to the inhabi-
tants of New York, New Jersey, &c. Smith's N. J. 36.
Deeds of lease and release of New Jersey by the Duke of 1664. June 23.
24. xo iJar. 2.
York to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.
A conveiance of the Delaware counties to William Penn. ^ ^^^^^ ^^
Letters between Stuyvesant and Colonel Nichols on the ! ^^ • ***"^*''
English right. Smith's N. J. 37 — 42. ] Aug. 25.
I Sept. 4.
Jefferson's Works
Treaty between the English and Dutch tor the surrender 16*4, Anr-^
of the New Netherlands Sm. N. J. 42.
Nicoll's commission to Sir. Robert Carre to reduce the Sept. j.
Dutch on Delaware bay. Sm. N. J. 47.
Instructions to Sir Robert Carre for reducing of Delaware
bay and settling the people there under bis majesty's
obedience, Sm. N. J. 47.
Articles of capitulation between Sir Robert Carre and the i66*, 1
Dutch and Swedes on Delaware bay and Delaware
river, Sm. N. J. 49.
The determination of the commissioners of the boundary '664,
between the Duke of York and Connecticut. Sm. Ex, " "^"^
Ap. 9.
The New Haven case. Smith's Ex. Ap. 30. tM*.
The second charter granted by Charles II, to the same 1**5. J
proprietors of Carolina. 4. Mem, Am. 586. '*' ''
Declaration de guerre par la France contre I'Angleterre. 16M, J
3 Mem. Am. 123.
Declaration of war by the Idng of England against the '***.
king of France. ''
The treaty of peace between France and England made
at Breda. ; Corps. Dipl, part i. p. 511. Mem. Am. 3:
The treaty of peace and alliance between England and the
United Provinces made at Breda. 7. Cor. Dip. p.
i66r. July
.657, July
. Mer
I. 40.
I
roi de France.
Acte de la cession de I'Acadie
Directions from the governor and council of New York for
a better settlement of the government on Delaware.
Sm. N. J. 51.
Lovelace's order for customs at the Hoarkills. Sm. N. J
55-
A confirmation of the grant of the northern neck of Vir
ginia to the Earl of St. Albans, Lord Berkeley, Sir
William Moreton and John Tretheway,
Incorporation of the town o( Newcastle or Amstell.
A demise of the colony of Virginia to the Earl of Arlington
and Lord Culpepper tor 31 years. M, S.
Treaty at London between king Charles II, and the Dutch.
Article VI,
Remonstrance against the two grants of Charles II. of
Northern and Southern Virginia. Ment<l. Beverley 65.
e6]-a, Pcb.
00s, April 11.
Notes on Virginia ^55
Sir George Carteret's instructions to Governor Cateret. 1674, July 13.
Governor Andros's proclamation on taking possession of 1674. Nov. o-
Newcastle for the Duke of York. Sm. N. J. 78.
A proclamation for prohibiting the importation of com- 167s, Oct. i.
modities of Europe into any of his majesty's plantations '^ ' *'
in Africa, Asia, or America, which were not laden in
England; and for putting all other laws relating to the
trade of the plantations in effectual execution.
The concessions and agreements of the proprietors, free- 1676. Mar. 3.
holders and inhabitants of the province of West New
Jersey in America. Sm. N. J. App. 2.
A deed quintipartite for the division of New Jersey. 1676. July i.
Letter from the proprietors of New Jersey to Richard 1676, Au«. 18.
Hartshome. Sm. N. J. 80.
Proprietors instructions to James Wasse and Richard
Hartshome. Sm. N. J. 83.
The charter of king Charles II. to his subjects of Virginia. 1676, Oct. 10.
M.S. '* ^' '•
Cautionary epistle from the trustees of Byllinge's part of 1676.
New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 84.
Indian deed for the lands between Rankokas creek and 1677, Sept. xo.
Timber creek, in New Jersey.
Indian deed for lands from Oldman's creek to Timber 1677, Sept. ay.
creek, in New Jersey.
Indian deed for the lands from Rankokos creek to Assun- ,677, Oct. 10.
pink creek, in New Jersey.
The will of Sir George Cateret, sole proprietor of East "678, Dec. 5.
Jersey ordering the same to be sold.
-An order of the king in council for the better encourage- 1680, Feb. x6.
ment of all his majesty's subjects in their trade to his
majesty's plantations, and for the better information of
all his majesty's loving subjects in these matters —
Lond. Gaz. No. 1596. Title in Amer. library. 134. 6.
-Arguments against the customs demanded in New West 1680.
Jersey by the governor of New York, addressed to the
Duke's commissioners. Sm. N. J. 117.
Extracts of proceedings of the committee of trade and f 1680, June 14.
plantations; copies of letters, reports, &c., between 23.as.Oct.16.
the board of trade, Mr. Penn, Lord Baltimore and Sir jg. ao. 23.
John Werden, in the behalf of the Duke of York and the Dec- ^^^
settlement of the Pennsylvania boundaries by the L. C. [^ ,// peb!
J. North. Votes of Repr. Pennsyl. vii.-xiii. ^u-
2s6 Jefferson's Works
163 1, Mar. 4- A grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn. Votes of Rep-
^^* *• resen. Pennsyl. xviii.
x68i, Apr. a. The king's declaration to the inhabitants and planters of
the province of Pennsylvania. Vo. Repr. Penn. xxiv.
x68x, July II. Certain conditions or concessions agreed upon by li^^iam
Penn, proprietary and governor of Pennsylvania, and
those who are the adventurers and purchasers in the
same province. Votes of Rep. Pennsyl. xxiv.
1681, Nov. 9. Ptindamental laws of the province of West New Jersey.
Sm. N. J. 126.
x68x-3,Jan.x4. The methods of the commissioners for settling and regu-
lation of lands in New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 1 30.
i68x-a,P. X. a. Indentures of lease and release by the executors of Sir
George Carteret to William Penn and 1 1 others, convey-
ing East Jersey.
i68a, Mar. 14. The Duke of York's fresh grant of East New Jersey to the
34 proprietors.
x68a, Apr. as. The frame of the government of the province of Pennsyl-
vania, in America. Votes of Repr. Penn. xxvii.
x68a, Aug. ax. The Duke of York's deed for Pennsylvania. Vo. Repr.
Penn. xxxv.
x68a, Aug. a4. The Dtike of York's deed for the feoffment of Newcastle
and twelve miles circle to William Penn. Vo. Repr.
Penn.
1 68a, Aug. a4. The Duke of York's deed of feoffment of a tract of land
12 miles south from Newcastle to the Whorekills, to
William Penn. Vo. Repr. Penn. xxxvii.
x68a, Nov. a? A conunission to Thomas Lord Culpepper to be lieutenant
^* * and governor-general of Virginia. M. S.
x68a,xothinon. An act of tmion for annexing and uniting of the counties
6th day. q£ Newcastle, Jones's and Whorekill's, alias Deal, to the
province of Pennsylvania, and of naturalization of afl
foreigners in the province and cotmties aforesaid.
x68a, Dec. 6. An act of settlement.
X683, Apr. a. The frame of the government of the province of Penn-
sylvania and territories thereunto annexed in America.
x68s. Mar. n. Proceedings of the com-
S^t. a.* ' mittee of trade and Plan-
Oct. 8, x7. 3x. tations in the dispute be-
^ov.f. tween Lord Baltimore
and Mr. Penn. Vo. R.
P. xm — xvm.
' 1683, Apr. X7.a7. 1684, Feb. i«.
May 30. July a, 16, ty
Jiine xa. Sept. 30.
Dec. 9.
Notes on Virginia ^57
A commission by the proprietors of East New Jersey to i68j, July 17.
Robert Barclay to be governor. Sm. N. J. 166.
An order of council for issuing a quo warranto against the 1683, July a6.
charter of the colony of the Massachusetts bay in New ^^ ^^' "•
Bngland, with his majesty's declaration that in case the
said corporation of Massachusetts bay shall before pros-
ecution had upon the same quo warranto make a full
submission and entire resignation to his royal pleasure,
he will then regulate their chareter in such a manner as
shall be for his service and the good of that colony.
Title in American library. 139, 6.
A commission to Lord Howard of Effingham to be lieu- x68j, Sep« sa.
tenant and governor general of Virginia. M. S. ^^ ^'"' '•
The humble address of the chief governor, council and 1684, May 1.
representatives of the island of Nevis, in the West
Indies, presented to his majesty by Colonel Netheway
and Captain Jefferson, at Windsor, May 3, 1684. Title
in Amer. libr. 143. 3. cites Lond. Gaz. No. 1937.
A treaty with the Indians at Albany. 1684. ^uf- ••
A treaty of neutrality for America between France and 1686. Nov. 16.
England. 7 Corps Dipl. part 2, p. 44. 2. Mem. Am. 40.
By the king, a proclamation for the more effectual reduc- 1687, Jan. 10.
ing and suppressing of pirates and privateers in America,
as well on the sea as on the land in great numbers, com-
mitting frequent robberies and piracies, which hath
occasioned a great prejudice and obstruction to trade
and commerce, and given a great scandal and disturb-
ance to otu* government in those parts. Title Amer.
libr. 127. 2. cites Lond. Gaz. No. 2315.
Constitution of the cotmcil of proprietors of West Jersey. 1687, P-b. \9,
Smith's N. Jersey. 199.
A confirmation of the grant of the Northern neck of Vir- 16^7. a«. Sept.
ginia to Lord Culpepper. ''* ^ ^'^' '*
Governor Coxe's declaration to the council of proprietors i^sj, Sept. s-
of West Jersey. Sm. N. J. 190.
Provisional treaty of Whitehall concerning America be- 1687, Dec. x6.
tween France and England. 2 Mem. de TAm. 89.
Governor Coxe*s narrative relating to the division line, ,687.
directed to the council of proprietors of West Jersey.
Sm. App. No. 4.
The representation of the council of proprietors of West 1687.
Jersey to Governor Burnet. Smith. App. No. 5.
YOL. II — 17
»58
Jefferson's Works
I
The remonstrance and petition ot the inhabitants of
New Jersey tti the king Sm, App. No. 8.
The memorial of (he proprietors of East New Jersey to the
Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. g.
s Agreement of the line of partition between East and West
New Jersey. Smith's N. J. 196.
Conveyance of the government of West Jersey and tern.
toriea, by Dr. Coxe. to the West Jersey society.
}■ A charter granted by King William and Queen Mary to
the inhabitants of the province ot Massachusetts bay.
in New England, a Mem. de I'Am. 593.
f. The frame of government ot the province of Pennsylvania
and the territories thereunto belonging, passed by Gov.
Markham. Nov. 7, 1696.
' The treaty of peace between France and England, made
at Ryewick. 7 Corps Dipl. part a. p. 399. > Hem.
Am. 89.
(' The opinion and answer of the Lords of trade to the memo^
rial of the proprietors o( East N. Jersey. Sm. App.
No. 10.
s- The memorial of the proprietors of East New Jersey to
the Lords ot trade. Sm. App. No. ii.
The petition of the proprietors of East and West Nrw
Jersey to the Lords justices of England. Sm. App.
No. I J,
A confirmation of the boundary between the colonies of
New York and Connecticut, by the crown.
■■ The memorial of the proprietors of East and West New
Jersey to the king. Sm. App. No. 14,
>. Representations of the Lords of trade to the Lords jusi
Sm. App. No. 18.
A treaty with the Indians.
s. Report of Lords of trade to king William, of draughts 1
commission and instructions tor a governor ot N, Jer-
sey. Sm. N. J- 161,
*- Surrender from the proprietors of E. and W. N. Jersey, of
their pretended right of government to her majesty
Queen Anne Sm. N J. 111.
'• The Queen's acceptance of the surrender of gov
soJy
East and West Jersey. Sm. N. J. :
19.
1. Instructions to lord Combury. Sm. N. J, »30.
Notes on Virginia 259
A commission from Queen Anne to Lord Combury, to be iTost Dec. 5.
captain general and governor in chief of New Jersey.
Sm. N. J. 320.
Recognition by the cotmcil of proprietors of the true «703. June »?.
boundary of the deeds of Sept. 10. and Oct. 10, 1677
(New Jersey). Sm. N. J. 96.
Indian deeds for the lands above the falls of the Delaware 1703.
in West Jersey.
Indian deed for the lands at the head of Rankolcus river,
in West Jersey.
A proclamation by Queen Anne, for settling and ascer- 1704, June xS.
taining the current rates of foreign coins in America.
Sm. N. J. a8i.
Additional instructions to Lord Combury. Sm. N. S. 235. 1705* May 3.
Additional instructions to Lord Combury. Sm. N. J. 258. 1707, May 3.
Additional instructions to Lord Combury. *Sm. N.J. 259. 1707, Nov. ao.
An answer by the cormcil of proprietors for the western 1707.
division of N. Jersey, to questions proposed to them by
Lord Combury. Sm. N. J. 285.
Instructions to Colonel Vetch in his negotiations with the 1708-9. Feb.
governors of America. Sm. N. J. 364.
Instructions to the governor of New Jersey and New » 708-9, Feb
York. Sm. N. J. 361. '*•
^arl of Dartmouth's letter to governor Htmter. 1710, Aug.
Verniers propositions de la Prance. 6. Lamberty, 669, 1771. Apr. ai.
2 Mem. Am. 341.
I^^ponses de la France aux demandes preliminaries de la '7'*» ^*- *•
Grande Bretagne. 6 Lamb. 681. 2 Mem. Amer. 344.
r>eniandes preliminaries plus particulieres de la Grande- Sept. 27.
Bretagne, avec les r^ponses. 2 Mem. de I'Am. 346. '^"* oct. 8.
^'acceptation de la part de la Grande-Bretagne. 2 Mem. Sept. 37.
Am. 356. '^"*Ort~8~
t^e Queen's instructions to the Bishop of Bristol and Earl j^^, i>e^. ,3
of Stafford, her plenipotentiaries, to treat for a general
peace. 6 Lamberty, 744. 2 Mem. Am. 358.
A memorial of Mr. St. John to the Marquis de Torci, with May 24-
regard to North America, to commerce, and to the sus- '^"' ,^^
pension of arms. 7. Recueil de Lamberty 161, 2 Mem.
de I'Amer. 376.
R^ponse du roi de France au mdmoire de Londres. 7. «7xa» June »o.
Lamberty, p. 163. 2 Mem. Am. 380.
26o Jefferson^s Works
171a, Aug. 19- Traits pour une suspension d'armes entre Lotiis XIV. roi
de Prance, and Anne, reine de la Grande-Bretagne.
fait k Paris. 8. Corps Diplom. part i. p. 308. a MeoL
d'Am. 104.
171 3. Sept. 10. Offere of Prance to England, demands of England, and
the answers of Prance. 7. Rec. de Lamb. 461. 2 Mem.
Am. 390.
Mar. 31 Traits de paix et d'amiti6 entre Louis XIV. roi de Prance,
Apr. II. ®* Anne, reine de la Grande-Bretagne, fait k Utrecht.
15 Corps Diplomatique de Dumont, 339. id. Latin. 2
Actes et memoires de la pais d' Utrecht, 457. id. Lat.
Pr. a Mem. Am. 113.
Mar 31. Traits de navigation et de commerce entre Louis XIV. roi
"''^* April II ^® Prance, et Anne, reine de la Grande-Bretagne. Pait
k Utrecht. 8 Corps Dipl. part i. p. 345. a Mem. de V
Am. 137.
1736. A treaty with the Indians.
1728, Jan. The petition of the representatives of the province of New
Jersey, to have a distinct governor. Sm. N. J. 431.
173a, G a. Deed of release by the government of Connecticut to that
of New York.
173a. June 9. The charter granted by George II. for Georgia. 4 Mem.
20. 5 Uco. a. J t. A ^
de 1 Am. 617.
* 7 33 . Petition of Lord Pairf ax , that a commission might issue for
running and marking the dividing line between his dis-
trict and the province of Virginia.
1733. Nov. ap. Order of the king in council for commissioners to sur\'ey
and settle the said dividing line between the proprietar>'
and royal territory.
1736. Auk- 5 Report of the Lords of trade relating to the separating the
government of the province of New Jersey from New
York. Sm. N. J. 423.
1737, Au«. 10 Survey and report of the commissioners appointed on the
part of the crown to settle the line between the crown
and Lord Fairfax.
1737. Aug. II. Survey and report of the commissioners appointed on the
part of Lord Pairf ax to settle the line between the crown-
and him.
1738, Dec. ai. Order of reference of the surveys between the crown an<^
Lord Pairfax to the council for plantation affairs.
1744. June. Treaty with the Indians of the six nations at Lancaster.
Notes on Virginia 261
Report of the council for plantation affairs, fixing the x745t Apr. 6.
head springs of Rappahanoc and Potomac, and a com-
mission to extend the line.
Order of the king in council confirming the said report of ''^5» ^p*" '*•
the council for plantation affairs.
Articles preliminaries pour parvenir k la paix, sign^s k Aix- ''48, Apr. 30.
la-Chapelle entre les ministres de France, de la Grande-
Bretagne, et des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas. 2 Mem.
de TAm. 159.
Declaration des ministres dc France, de la Grande-Bre- 1748, May ai.
tagne, et des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas, pour recti-
fier les articles I. et II. des preliminaries. 2 Mem. Am.
165.
The general and definitive treaty of peace concluded at 1748. Oct. 7-
Aix-la-Chapelle. Lon. Mag. 1748. 503. French. 2 '*' " * "*
Mem. Am. 169.
A treaty with the Indians. *'^*'
A conference between governor Bernard and Indian '7S8. Aug. 7.
nations at Burlington. Sm. N. J. 449.
A conference between governor Denny, governor Bernard, '7s8. Oct. 8.
and others, and Indian nations at Easton. Sm. N. J.
455.
The capitulation of Niagara. nsQ. July 25.
The king's proclamation promising lands to soldiers. ,y^_
The definitive treaty concluded at Paris. Lon. Mag. 1763. ,763, Feb. 10.
149. 30.3.
A proclamation for regulating the cessions made by the 1763. Oct. 7.
last treaty of peace. Guth. Geogr. Gram. 623. ^'
The king's proclamation against settling on any lands on 1763.
the waters westward of the Alleghany.
Deed from the six nations of Indians to William Trent, and «768, Nov. 3.
others, for lands betwixt the Ohio and Monongahela.
View of the title to Indiana. Phil. Steiner and Cist.
1776.
Deed from the six nations of Indians to the crown for cer- »768, Nov. s.
tain lands and settling a boundary. M. S.
APPENDIX
The preceding sheets have been submitted to my
friend Mr. Qiarles Thompson, Secretary of Congress;
he has furnished me with the following observations,
which have too much merit not to be commimicated :
(A.) p. 22. Besides the three channels of com-
mtmication mentioned between the western waters
and the Atlantic, there are two others to which the
Pennsylvanians are turning their attention; one
from Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, to Le Bceuf , down
the Alleghany to Kiskiminitas, then up the Kliski-
minitas, and from thence, by a small portage, to
Jimiata, which falls into the Susquehanna; the
other from Lake Ontario to the East Branch of the
Delaware, and down that to Philadelphia. Both
these are said to be very practicable; and, consider-
ing the enterprising temper of the Pennsylvanians,
and particularly of the merchants of Philadelphia,
whose object is concentred in promoting the com-
merce and trade of one city, it is not improbable but
one or both of these commimications will be open
and improved.
(B.) p. 25. The reflections I was led into on
viewing this passage of the Potomac through the
Blue Ridge were, that this cotmtry must have suf-
fered some violent convulsion, and that the face of it
must have been changed from what it probably was
«64 Jefferson's Works
some centuries ago; that the broken and ragged
faces of the mountain on each side the river; the
tremendous rocks, which are left with one end fixed
in the precipice, and the other jutting out, and seem-
ingly ready to fall for want of support, the bed of the
river for several miles below obstructed, and filled
with the loose stones carried from this mound; in
short, ever\-thing on which you cast your eye evi-
dently demonstrates a disrujjture and breach in the
mountain, and that, before this happened, what is
now a fruitful vale, was formerly a great lake or col-
lection of water, which possibly might have here
formed a mighty cascade, or had its vent to the
ocean by the Susquehanna, where the Blue Ridge
seems to terminate. Besides this, there are other
parts of this country which bear evident traces of a
like convulsion. From the best accounts I have been
able to obtain, the place where the Delaware now
flows through the Kittatinney mountain, which is
a continuation of what is called the North Ridge, or
mountain, was not its original course, but that it
passed through what is now called " the Wind-gap,"
a place several miles to the westward, and about a
hundred feet higher than the present bed of the
river. This Wind-gap is about a mile broad, and the
stones in it such as seem to have been washed for ages
by water running over them. Should this have been
the case, there must have been a large lake behind
that mountain , and by some uncommon swell in the
waters, or by some convulsion of nature, the river ,
Appendix 265
must have opened its way through a different part
of the mountain, and meeting there with less ob-
struction, carried away with it the opposing mounds
of earth, and deluged the country below with the
immense collection of waters to which this new pas-
sage gave vent. There are still remaining, and daily
discovered, innumerable instances of such a deluge
on both sides of the river, after it passed the hills
above the falls of Trenton, and reached the Cham-
paign. On the New Jersey side, which is flatter than
the Pennsylvania side, all the cotmtry below Cros-
wick hills seems to have been overflowed to the dis-
tance of from ten to fifteen miles back from the river,
and to have acquired a new soil by the earth and
clay brought down and mixed with the native sand.
The spot on which Philadelphia stands evidently
appears to be made ground. The different strata
through which they pass in digging to water, the
acorns, leaves, and sometimes branches, which are
found above twenty feet below the surface, all seem
to demonstrate this. I am informed that at York-
town in Virginia, in the bank of York river, there are
different strata of shells and earth, one above an-
other, which seem to point out that the country
there has imdergone several changes; that the sea
has, for a succession of ages, occupied the place
where dry land now appears; and that the ground
has been suddenly raised at various periods. What
a change would it make in the country below, should
the moxmtains at Niagara, by any accident, be cleft
266
asunder, and a passage suddenly opened to drain off
the waters of Erie and the upper lakes ! While rumi-
nating on these subjects, I have often been hurried
away by fancy, and led to imagine, that what is
now the bay of Mexico, was once a champaign
country; and that from the point or cape of Florida,
there was a continued range of mountains through
Cuba, Hispaniola. Porto Rico, Martinique, Guada-
loupe, Barbadoes, and Trinidad, till it reached the
coast of America, and formed the shores which
bounded the ocean, and guarded the country' behind;
that by come convulsion or shock of nature, the sea
had broken through these mounds, and deluged that
vast plain, till it reached the foot of the Andes; that
being there heaped up by the trade winds, always
blowing from one quarter, it had found its way back,
as it continues to do, through the Gulf between
Florida and Cuba, carrying with it the loam and
sand it may have scooped from the country it had
occupied, part of which it may have deposited on the
shores of North America, and with part formed the
banks of Newfoundland. But these are only the
visions of fancy.
(3) P- 5^- There is a plant, or weed, called the
Jamestown weed,' of a very singular quality. The
late Dr. Bond informed me, that he had under his
care a patient, a young girl, who had put the seeds
of this plant into her eye, which dilated the pupil
to such a degree, that she could see in the dark, but
' Datura [>ericarpiia erectis ovatis, Linn.
Appendix 267
in the light was almost blind. The effect that the
leaves had when eaten by a ship's crew that arrived
at Jamestown, are well known/
(4.) p. 93. Monsieur Btiffon has indeed given an
aflSicting picture of human nature in his description
of the man of America. But sure I am there never
was a picture more tmlike the original. He grants
indeed that his stature is the same as that of the man
of Europe. He might have admitted, that the Iro-
quois were larger, and the Lenopi, or Delawares,
taller than people in Europe generally are. But he
says their organs of generation are smaller and
weaker than those of Europeans. Is this a fact ? I
believe not; at least it is an observation I never
heard before. — "They have no beard." Had he
known the pains and trouble it costs the men to
pluck out by the roots the hair that grows on their
faces, he would have seen that nature had not been
deficient in that respect. Every nation has its cus-
toms. I have seen an Indian beau, with a looking-
glass in his hand, examining his face for hours to-
gether, and plucking out by the roots every hair he
could discover, with a kind of tweezer made of a
piece of fine brass wire, that had been twisted round
a stick, and which he used with great dexterity. —
"They have no ardor for their females." It is true
they do not indulge those excesses, nor discover that
fondness which is customary in Europe; but this is
* An instance of temporary imbecility produced by them is men-
tioned, Beverl. H. of Virg: b. 2, c. 4.
afiS Jefferson's Works
not owing to a defect in nature but to manners.
Their soul is wholly bent upon war. This is what
procures them glory among the men, and makes
them the admiration of the women. To this they
are educated from their earliest youth. When they
pursue game with ardor, when they bear the fatigues
of the chase, when they sustain and suffer patiently
hunger and cold ; it is not so much for the sake of the
game they pursue, as to convince their parents and
the council of the nation that they arc fit to be en-
rolled in the number of the warriors. The songs of
the women, the dance of the warriors, the sage coun-
sel of the chiefs, the tales of the old, the triumphal
entry of the warriors returning with success from
battle, and the respect paid to those who distinguish
themselves in war, and in subduing their enemies;
in short, everything they see or hear tends to inspire
them with an ardent desire for military fame. If a
young man were to discover a fondness for women
before he has been to war, he would become the con-
tempt of the men, and the scorn and ridicule of the
women. Or were he to indulge himself with a cap-
tive taken in war, and much more were he to offer
violence in order to gratify his lust, he would incur
indelible disgrace. The seeming frigidity of the men,
therefore, is the effect of manners, and not a defect
of nature. Besides, a celebrated warrior is oftener
courted by the females, than he has occasion to court;
and this is a point of honor which the men aim at.
Appendix 269
Instances similar to that of Ruth and Boaz* are not
uncommon among them. For though the women
are modest and diffident, and so bashftil that they
seldom lift up their eyes, and scarce ever look a man
full in the face, yet, being brought up in great sub-
jection, custom and manners reconcile them to
modes of acting, which, judged of by Europeans,
would be deemed inconsistent with the rules of female
decorum and propriety. I once saw a young widow,
whose husband, a warrior, had died about eight days
before, hastening to finish her grief, and who, by
tearing her hair, beating her breast, and drinking
spirits, made the tears flow in great abundance, in
order that she might grieve much in a short space of
time, and be married that evening to another young
warrior. The manner in which this was viewed by
the men and women of the tribe, who stood round,
silent and solemn spectators of the scene, and the
indifference with which they answered my question
respecting it, convinced me that it was no unusual
custom, I have known men advanced in years,
whose wives were old and past child-bearing, take
young wives, and have children, though the practice
of polygamy is not common. Does this savor of
frigidity, or want of ardor for the female? Neither
do they seem, to be deficient in natural affection. I
have seen both fathers and mothers in the deepest
* When Boaz had eaten and drank, and his heart was merry, he went
to lie down at the end of the heap of com ; and Ruth came softly, and
uncovered his feet, and laid her down. Ruth, iii. 7.
27° Jefferson's Works
affliction, when their children have been danger-
ously ill; though I believe the affection is stronger
in the descending than the ascending scale, and
though custom forbids a father to grieve immoder-
ately for a son slain in battle, "That they are tim-
orous and cowardly," is a character with which there
is little reason to charge them, when we recollect the
manner in which the Iroquois met Monsieur ,
who marched into their country; in which the old
men, who scorned to fly, or to survive the capture of
their town, braved death, like the old Romans in the
time of the Gauls, and in which they soon after re-
venged themselves by sacking and destroying Mon-
treal. But above all, the unshaken fortitude with
which they bear the most excruciating tortures and
death when taken prisoners, ought to exempt them
from that character. Much less are they to be
characterized as a people of no vivacity, and who
are excited to action or motion only by the calls of
hunger and thirst. Their dances in which they so
much delight, and which to an European would be
the most severe exercise, fully contradict this, not to
mention their fatiguing marches, and the toil they
voluntarily and cheerfully undergo in their military
expeditions, It is true, that when at home, they
do not employ themselves in labor or the culture of
the soil; but this again is the effect of customs and
manners, which have assigned that to the province
of the women. But it is said, they are averse to
society and a social life. Can anything be more
Appendix 271
inapplicable than this to a people who always live in
towns or clans? Or can they be said to have no
"republic," who conduct all their aflfairs in national
councils, who pride themselves in their national
character, who consider an insult or injury done to
an individual by a stranger as done to the whole,
and resent it accordingly? In short, this picture is
not applicable to any nation of Indians I have ever
known or heard of in North America.
(S-) P- 134- As far as I have been able to learn,
the country from the sea coast to the Alleghany, and
from the most southern waters of James river up to
Patuxen river, now in the State of Maryland, was
occupied by three different nations of Indians, each
of which spoke a different language, and were under
separate and distinct governments. What the orig-
inal or real names of those nations were, I have not
been able to learn with certainty; but by us they
are distinguished by the names of Powhatans, Man-
xiahoacs, and Monacans, now commonly called Tus-
caroras. The Powhatans, who occupied the country
from the sea shore up to the falls of the rivers, were
a powerful nation, and seem to have consisted of
seven tribes, five on the western and two on the
eastern shore. Each of these tribes was subdivided
into towns, families, or clans, who lived together.
All the nations of Indians in North America lived in
the hunter state, and depended for subsistence on
htmting, fishing, and the spontaneous fruits of the
earth, and a kind of grain which was planted and
272
Jefferson's Works
gathered by the women, and is now known by the
name of Indian com. Long potatoes, pumpkins of
various kinds, and squashes, were also found in use
among them. They had no flocks, herds, or tamed
animals of any kind. Their government is a kind
of patriarchal confederacj'. Every town or family
has a chief, who is distinguished by a particular title,
and whom we commonly call "Sachem." The sev-
eral towns or families that compose a tribe, have a',
chief who presides over it, and the several tribes
composing a nation have a chief who presides over
the whole nation. These chiefs are generally men
advanced in years, and distinguished by their pru-
dence and abilities in council. The matters which
merely regard a town or family are settled by the
chief and principal men of the town; those which
regard a tribe, such as the appointment of head war-
riors or captains, and settling differences between
different towns and families, are regulated at a meet^,
ing or council of the chiefs from the several towns;
and those which regard the whole nation, such as tl
making war, concluding peace, or forming alliant
with the neighboring nations, are deliberated on and'
determined in a national council composed of the
chiefs of the tribe, attended by the head warriors and
a number of the cliiefs from the towns, who are his
counsellors. In every town there is a council hoi
where the chief and old men of the town assemblt
when occasion requires, and consult what is pro]
to be done. Every tribe has a fixed place for
I
een
rns;^H
4
Appendix 273
chiefs of the towns to meet and constdt on the busi-
ness of the tribe; and in every nation there is what
they call the central cotincil house, or central council
fire, where the chiefs of the several tribes, with the
principal warriors, convene to consult and determine
on their national affairs. When any matter is pro-
posed in the national coimcil, it is common for the
chiefs of the several tribes to consult thereon apart
with their cotmsellors, and when they have agreed, to
deliver the opinion of the tribe at the national coun-
cil; and, as their government seems to rest wholly
on persuasion, they endeavor, by mutual conces-
sions, to obtain unanimity. Such is the government
that still subsists among the Indian nations border-
ing upon the United States. Some historians seem
to think that the dignity of office of Sachem was
hereditary. But that opinion does not appear to be
well foxmded. The sachem or chief of the tribe
seems to be by election. And sometimes persons
who are strangers, and adopted into the tribe, are
promoted to this dignity, on account of their abili-
ties. Thus on the arrival of Captain Smith, the
first founder of the colony of Virginia, Opechanca-
nough, who was Sachem or chief of the Chickahom-
inies, one of the tribes of the Powhatans, is said to
have been of another tribe, and even of another na-
tion, so that no certain account could be obtained of
his origin or descent. The chiefs of the nation seem
to have been by a rotation among the tribes. Thus
ij^hen Captain Smith, in the year 1609, questioned
VOL. II — 18
aji
Jefferson's Works
I
Powhatan (who was the chief of the nation, and
whose proper name is said to have been Wahun-
sonacock) respecting the succession, the old chief
informed him, "that he was very old, and had seen
the death of all his people thrice;' that not one of
these generations were then living except himself;
that he must soon die, and the succession descend
in order to his brothers Opichapan,0pechancanough,
and Catataugh, and then to his two sisters, and
their two daughters." But these were appellations
designating the tribes in the confederacy. For the
persons named are not his real brothers, but the
chiefs of different tribes. Accordingly in 1618, when
Powhatan died, he was succeeded by Opichapan,
and after his decease, Opechancanough became chief
of the nation. I need only mention another in-
stance to show that the chiefs of the tribes claimed
this kindred with the head of the nation. In 1622,
when Raleigh Crashaw was with Japazaw, the
Sachem or chief of the Potomacs, Opechancanough,
who had great power and influence, being the second
man in the nation, and next in succession to Opicha-
' This is one generation more than the poet ascribes to the hie of
Nestor:
T6 d' ede duo men geneai meropfi anthr&p6n
Epbthiath oi oi prosthen ama traphen ed' egneonto
En PulO egatbee, meta de tritatoisin anassen.
II. Horn. II. 15a
Two generations now had passed away,
Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway;
Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd,
And now th' example of the third remained. PoH
Appendix 275
pan, and who was a bitter but secret enemy to the
English, and wanted to engage his nation in a war
with them, sent two baskets of beads to the Potomac
chief, and desired him to kill the Englishman that
was with him. Japazaw replied, that the English
were his friends, and Opichapan his brother, and that
therefore there shotdd be no blood shed between
them by his means. It is also to be observed, that
when the English first came over, in all their con-
ferences with any of the chiefs, they constantly heard
him make mention of his brother, with whom he
must consult, or to whom he referred them, meaning
thereby either the chief of the nation or the tribes
in confederacy. The Manahoacks are said to have
been a confederacy of fotir tribes, and in alliance
with the Monacans, in the war which they were car-
rying on against the Powhatans.
To the northward of these there was another pow-
erftil nation which occupied the country from the
head of the Chesapeake bay up to the Kittatinney
mountain, and as far eastward as Connecticut river,
comprehending that part of New York which lies
between the Highlands and the ocean, all the State
of New Jersey, that part of Pennsylvania which is
watered, below the range of the Kittatinney moun-
tains, by the rivers or streams falling into the Dela-
ware, and the county of Newcastle in the State of
Delaware, as far as Duck creek. It is to be observed,
that the nations of Indians distinguished their coun-
tries one from another by nattiral boundaries, such
276 Jefferson's Works
as ranges of moxmtains or streams of water. But as
the heads of rivers frequently interlock, or approach
near to each other, as those who live upon a stream
claim the country watered by it, they often en-
croached on each other, and this is a constant source
of war between the different nations. The nation
occupying the tract of country last described, called
themselves Lenopi. The French writers call them
Loups; and among the English they are now com-
monly called Delawares. This nation or confed-
eracy consisted of five tribes, who all spoke one
language, i. The Chihohocki, who dwelt on the
west side of the river now called Delaware, a name
which it took from Lord De la War, who put into
it on his passage from Virginia in the year ,
but which by the Indians was called Chihohocki.
2. The Wanami, who inhabit the country called New
Jersey, from the Rariton to the sea. 3. The Mun-
sey, who dwelt on the upper streams of the Dela-
ware, from the Kittatinney mountains down to the
Lehigh or western branch of the Delaware. 4, The
Wabinga, who are sometimes called River Indians,
sometimes Mohickanders, and who had their dwell-
ing between the west branch of Delaware and Hud-
son's river, from the Kittatinney Ridge down to the
Rariton; and 5. The Mahiccon, or Manhattan, who
occupied Staten Island, York Island (which from its
being the principal seat of their residence was form-
erly called Manhattan), Long Island, and that part
of New York and Connecticut which lies between
Appendix ^77
Hudson and Connecticut rivers, from the highland,
which is a continuation of the Kittatinney Ridge
down to the Sound. This nation had a close alliance
with the Shawanese, who lived on the Susquehanna
and to the westward of that river, as far as the Alle-
ghany mountains, and carried on a long war with
another powerful nation or confederacy of Indians,
which lived to the north of them between the Kit-
tatinney motmtains or highlands, and the Lake On-
tario, and who call themselves Mingoes, and are
called by the French writers Iroquois, by the English
the Five Nations, and by the Indians to the south-
ward; with whom they were at war, Massawomacs.
This war was carrying on in its greatest fury, when
Captain Smith first arrived in Virginia. The Mingo
warriors had penetrated down the Susquehannah to
the mouth of it. In one of his exctirsions up the
bay, at the mouth of Susquehannah, in 1608, Cap-
tain Smith met with six or seven of their canoes full
of warriors, who were coming to attack their enemies
in the rear. In an excursion which he had made a
few weeks before, up the Rappahannock, and in
which he had a skirmish with a party of the Mana-
hoacs, and taken a brother of one of their chiefs
prisoner, he first heard of this nation. For when he
asked the prisoner why his nation attacked the
English? the prisoner said, because his nation had
heard that the English came from tmder the world to
take their world from them. Being asked, how many
worlds he knew ? he said, he knew but one, which was
178
Jefferson's Works
I
under the sky that covered him, and which con-
sisted of Powhatans, the Manakins, and the Massa-
womacs. Being questioned concerning the latter,
he said, they dwelt on a great water to the North,
that they had many boats, and so many men, that
they waged war with all the rest of the world. The
Mingo confederacj' then consisted of five tribes;
three who are the elder, to wit, the Senecas, who live
to the West, the Mohawks to the East, and the
Onondagas between them; and two who are called
the younger tribes, namely, the Cayugas and Oneidas.
All these tribes speak one language, and were then
united in a close confederacy, and occupied the tract
of country from the east end of Lake Erie to Lake
Champlain, and from the Kittatinney and High-
lands to the Lake Ontario and the river Cadaraqui,
or St. Lawrence. They had some time before that.
carried on a war with a nation, who lived beyond the
lakes, and were called Adirondacks. In this war
they were worsted; but having made a peace with
them, through the intercession of the French who
were then settling Canada, they turned their arms
against the Lenopi; and as this war was long and
doubtful, they, in the course of it, not only exerted
their whole force, but put in practice every measure
which prudence or policy could devise to bring it to
a successful issue. For this ptupose they bent their
course down the Susquehannah, and warring with
the Indians in their way, and having penetrated as
far as the mouth of it, they, by the terror of their
Appendix 279
arms, engaged a nation, now known by the name of
Nanticocks, Conoys, and Tuteloes, and who lived
between Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and border-
ing on the tribe of Chihohocki, to enter into an alli-
ance with them. They also formed an alliance with
the Monicans, and stimtilated them to a war with the
Lenopi and their confederates. At the same time
the Mohawks carried on a f xirious war down the Hud-
son against the Mohiccons and River Indians, and
compelled them to ptirohase a temporary and pre-
carious peace, by acknowledging them to be their
superiors, and paying an annual tribute. The
Lenopi being surrotmded with enemies, and hard
pressed, and having lost many of their warriors, were
at last compelled to sue for peace, which was granted
to them on the condition that they should put them-
selves under the protection of the Mingoes, confine
themselves to raising com, hunting for the sub-
sistence of their families, and no longer have the
power of making war. This is what the Indians call
making them women. And in this condition the
Lenopi were when William Penn first arrived and
began the settlement of Pennsylvania in 1682.
(6.) p. 135. From the figurative language of the
Indians, as well as from the practice of those we are
still acquainted with, it is evident that it was and
still continues to be, a constant custom among the
Indians to gather up the bones of the dead, and de-
posit them in a particular place. Thus, when they
make peace with any nation with whom they have
aSo Jefferson's Works
been at war, after burying the hatchet, they take up
the belt of wampum, and say, " We now gather up
all the bones of those who have been slain, and bury
them," &c. See all the treaties of peace. Besides,
it is customarj' when any of them die at a distance
■ from home, to bury them, and afterwards to come
and take up the bones and carry them home. At a
treaty which was held at Lancaster with the Ss
Nations, one of them died, and was buried in the
woods a little distance from the town. Some time
after a party came and took up the body, separated
the flesh from the bones by boUing and scraping
them clean, and carried them to be deposited in the
sepulchres of their ancestors. The operation was so
offensive and disagreeable, that nobody could come
near them while they were performing it,
(7.) p. 146. The Oswektchies. Connosedk,goes and
Cohunnegagoes, or, as they are commonly called,
Caghnewkgos, are of the Mingo or Six Nation In-
dians, who, by the influence of the French mission-
aries, have been separated from their nation, and
induced to settle there.
I do not know of what nation the Augqukgahs are,
but suspect they are a family of the Senecas.
The Nanticocks and Conoies were formerly of a
nation that lived at the head of Chesapeake bay, and
who, of late years, have been adopted into the Mingo
or Iroquois confederacy, and make a seventh nation.
The Monacans or Tuscaroras, who were taken into
the confederacy in 1712, making the sixth.
Appendix 281
The Saponies are families of the Wanamies, who
removed from New Jersey, and with the Mohiccons,
Munsies, and Delawares, belonging to the Lenopi
nation. The Mingos are a war colony from the Six
Nations; so are the Cohunnewagos.
Of the rest of the Northern tribes I never have been
able to learn anything certain. But all accounts
seem to agree in this, that there is a very powerful
nation, distingtiished by a variety of names taken
from the seyeral towns or families, but commonly
called Tkwas or Ottawas, who speak one language,
and live rotmd and on the waters that fall into the
western lakes, and extend from the waters of the
Ohio qtiite to the waters falling into Hudson's bay.
No. II.
In the summer of the year 1783, it was expected that the assembly
of "N^rginia would call a Convention for the establishment of a Consti-
tution. The following draught of a fundamental Constitution for the
Commonwealth of Virginia was then prepared, with a design of being
proposed in such Convention had it taken place.
To the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia,
and all others whom it may concern, the delegates for
the said commonwealth in Convention assembled,
send greeting:
It is known to you and to the world, that the gov-
ernment of Great Britain, with which the American
States were not long since connected, asstmied over
them an authority tmwarrantable and oppressive;
that they endeavored to enforce this authority by
382 Jefferson's Works
arms, and that the States of New Hampshire, MaJ
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia, considering resistance, with all its train of
horrors, as a lesser evil than abject submission,
closed in the appeal to arms. It hath jileased the
Sovereign Disposer of all human events to give to this
appeal an issue favorable to the rights of the States;
to enable them to reject forever all dependence on a
government which had shown itself so capable of
abusing the trusts reposed in it; and to obtain from
that government a solemn and explicit acknowledg-
ment that they are free, sovereign, and independent
States. During the progress of that war, through
which we had to labor for the establishment of ourJ
rights, the legislature of the commonwealth of Vir«
ginia found it necessary to make a temporary organi- '
zation of government for preventing anarchy, and
pointing our efforts to the two important objects of
war against our invaders, and peace and happiness
among ourselves. But this, like all other acts of leg-
islation, being subject to change by subsequent legis-
latures, possessing equal powers with themselves ; i^
has been thought expedient, that it should receive^
those amendments which time and trial have sug-
gested, and be rendered permanent by a power supe-
rior to that of the ordinary legislature. The general
assembly therefore of this State recommend it to the
good people thereof, to choose delegates to meet in
Appendix 283
general convention, with powers to form a con-
stitution of government for them, and to declare
those fundamentals to which all our laws present
and future shall be subordinate ; and, in compliance
with this recommendation, they have thought proper
to make choice of us, and to vest us with powers for
this purpose.
We, therefore, the delegates, chosen by the said
good people of this State for the purpose aforesaid,
and now assembled in general convention, do in exe-
cution of the authority with which we are invested,
establish the following constitution and ftmdamen-
tals of government for the said State of Virginia :
The said State shall forever hereafter be governed
as a commonwealth.
The powers of government shall be divided into
three distinct departments, each of them to be con-
fided to a separate body of magistracy ; to wit, those
which are legislative to one, those which are judici-
ary to another, and those which are executive to
another. No person, or collection of persons, being
of one of these departments, shall exercise any power
properly belonging to either of the others, except in
the instances hereinafter expressly permitted.
The legislature shall consist of two brancjies, the
one to be called the House of Delegates, the other the
Senate, and both together the General Assembly.
The concurrence of both of these, expressed on three
several readings, shall be necessary to the passage
of a law.
284
Jefferson's Works
Delegates for the general assembly shall be chosen
on the last Monday of November in every year. But
if an election cannot be concluded on that day, it
may be adjourned from day to day till it can be con-
cluded.
The number of delegates which each county ma]
send shall be in proportion to the number of its qu!
fied electors ; and the whole number of delegates for
the State shall be so proportioned to the whole num-
ber of qualified electors in it, that they shall never
exceed three hundred, nor be fewer than one hun-
dred. Whenever such excess or deficiency shall take
place, the House of Delegates so deficient or excessive
shall, notwithstanding this, continue in being during
its legal term; but they shall, during that term, re-
adjust the proportion, so as to bring their number
within the limits before mentioned at the ensuing
election. If any county be reduced in its qualified
electors below the number authorized to send one
delegate, let it be annexed to some adjoining county.
For the election of senators, let the several counties
be allotted by the senate, from time to time, into
such and so many districts as they shall find best
and let each county at the time of electing its d(
gates, choose senatorial electors, qualified as thi
selves are. and four in number for each delegate their
county is entitled to send, who shall convene, and
conduct themselves, in such manner as the legisla-
ture shall direct, with the senatorial electors from the
other counties of their district, and then choose, by
lelMM
Appendix 285
ballot, one senator for every six delegates which their
district is entitled to choose. Let the senatorial dis-
tricts be divided into two classes, and let the mem-
bers elected for one of them be dissolved at the first
ensuing general election of delegates, the other at the
next, and so on alternately forever.
All free male citizens, of full age, and sane mind,
who for one year before shall have been resident in
the cotmty, or shall through the whole of that time
have possessed therein real property of the value of
; or shall for the same time have
been enrolled in the militia, and no others, shall have
a right to vote for delegates for the said cotmty, and
for senatorial electors for the district. They shall
give their votes personally, and viva voce.
The general assembly shall meet at the place to
which the last adjournment was, on the forty-second
day after the day of election of delegates, and thence-
forward at any other time or place on their own ad-
journment, till their office expires, which shall be on
the day preceding that appointed for the meeting of
the next general assembly. But if they shall at any
tinie adjourn for more than one year, it shall be as if
they had adjourned for one year precisely. Neither
house, without the concurrence of the other, shall
adjourn for more than one week, nor to any other
place than the one at which they are sitting. The
governor shall also have power, with the advice of
the coimcil of State, to call them at any other
time to the same place, or to a different one, if that
a86 Jefferson's Works
shall have become, since the last adjournment, dan-
gerous from an enemy, or from infection.
A majority of either house shall be a quorum, and
shall be requisite for doing business; but any smaller
proportion which from time to time shall be thought
expedient by the respective houses, shall be sufficient
to call for, and to punish, their non-attending mem-
bers, and to adjourn themselves for any time not
exceeding one week.
The members, during their attendance on the gen-
eral assembly, and for so long a time before and after
as shall be necessary for travelling to and from the
same, shall be privileged from all personal restraint
and assault, and shall have no other privilege what-
soever. They shall receive during the same time,
daily wages in gold or silver, equal to the value of two
bushels of wheat. This value shall be deemed one
dollar by the bushel till the year 1790, in which, and
in every tenth year thereafter, the general court, at
their- first sessions in the year, shall cause a special
jury, of the most respectable merchants and farmers,
to be summoned, to declare what shall have been the
averaged value of wheat during the last ten years;
which averaged value shall be the measure of wages
for the ten subsequent years.
Of this general assembly, the treasurer, attorney
general, register, ministers of the gospel, officers of
the regular armies of this State, or of the United
States, persons receiving salaries or emoluments from
any power foreign to our confederacy, those who are
Appendix 287
not resident in the county for which they are chosen
delegates, or districts for which they are chosen sena-
tors, those who are not qualified as electors, persons
who shall have committed treason, felony, or such
other crime as would subject them to infamous ptm-
ishment, or who shall have been convicted by due
course of law of bribery or corruption, in endeavoring
to procure an election to the said assembly, shall be
incapable of being members. All others, not herein
elsewhere excluded, who may elect, shall be capable
of being elected thereto.
Any member of the said assembly accepting any
office of profit tmder this State, or the United States,
or any of them, shall thereby vacate his seat, but
shall be capable of being re-elected.
Vacancies occasioned by such disqualifications,
by death, or otherwise, shall be supplied by the elect-
ors, on a writ from the speaker of the respective
house.
The general assembly shall not have power to in-
fringe this constitution; to abridge the civil rights
of any person on accotmt of his religious belief; to
restrain him from professing and supporting that
belief, or to compel him to contributions, other than
those he shall have personally stipulated for the sup-
port of that or any other; to ordain death for any
crime but treason or mtirder, or military offences ; to
pardon, or give a power of pardoning persons duly
convicted of treason or felony, but instead thereof
they may substitute one or two new trials, and no
a88 Jefferson's Works
more ; to pass laws for punishing actions done before
the existence of such laws; to pass any bill of at-
tainder of treason or felony; to prescribe torture in
any case whatever; nor to permit the introduction
of any more slaves to reside in this State, or the con-
tinuance of slavery beyond the generation which
shall be living on the thirty-first day of December,
one thousand eight hundred; all persons bom after
that day being hereby declared free.
The general assembly shall have power to sever
from this State all or any parts of its territory west-
ward of the Ohio, or of the meridian of the mouth of
the Great Kanhaway, and to cede to Congress one
hundred square miles of territory in any other part
of this State, exempted from the jurisdiction and
government of this State so long as Congress shall
hold their sessions therein, or in any territory adja-
cent thereto, which may be tendered to them by any
other State.
They shall have power to appoint the sp)eakers of
their respective houses, treasurer, auditors, attorney
general, register, all general officers of the militarj'
their own clerks and sergeants, and no other officers,
except where, in other parts of this constitution, si
appointment is expressly given them.
The executive powers shall be exercised by a Gffo^
ernor, who shall be chosen by joint ballot of both
houses of assembly, and when chosen shall remain in
office five years, and be ineligible a second time.
During his term he shall hold no other office or emol-
;erSi
Appendix 280
ument under this State, or any other State or power
whatsoever. By executive powers, we mean no refer-
ence to those powers exercised under our former
government by the crown as of its prerogative, nor
that these shall be the standard of what may or may
not be deemed the rightful powers of the governor.
We give him those powers only, which are necessary
to execute the laws (and administer the government),
and which are not in their nature either legislative or
judiciary. The application of this idea must be left
to reason. We do however expressly deny him the
prerogative powers of erecting courts, offices, bor-
oughs, corporations, fairs, markets, ports, beacons,
Hght-houses, and sea-marks; of laying embargoes, of
establishing precedence, of retaining within the State,
or recalling to it any citizen thereof, and of making
denizens, except so far as he may be authorized from
time to time by the legislature to exercise any of
those powers. The power of declaring war and con-
cluding peace, of contracting alliances, of issuing let-
ters of marque and reprisal, of raising and introduc-
ing armed forces, of building armed vessels, forts, or
strongholds, of coining money or regulating its value,
of regulating weights and measures, we leave to be
exercised under the authority of the confederation;
but in all cases respecting them which are out of the
said confederation, they shall be exercised by the
governor, under the regulation of such laws as the
legislatiire may think it expedient to pass.
The whole military of the State, whether regidar,
VOL. II — 19
•9® Jefferson's Works
or of militia, shall be subject to his directions; but
he shall leave the execution of those directions to
the general officers appointed by the legislature.
His salary shall be fixed by the legislature at the
session of the assembly in which he shall be appointed,
and before such appointment be made; or if it be
not then fixed, it shall be the same which his next
predecessor in office was entitled to. In either case
he may demand it quarterly out of any money which
shall be in the public treasury; and it shall not be
in the power of the legislature to give him less or
more, either during his continuance in office, or after
he shall have gone out of it. The lands, houses, and
other things appropriated to the use of the governor,
shall remain to his use during his continuance in
office.
A Council of State shall be chosen by joint ballot
of both houses of assembly, who shall hold their
offices seven yeais, and be ineligible a second time,
and who, while they shall be of the said council, shall
hold no other office or emolument under this State,
or any other State or power whatsoever. Their
duty shall be to attend and advise the governor
when called on by him, and their advice in any case
shall be a sanction to him. They shall also have
power, and it shall be their duty, to meet at their
own will, and to give their advice, though not re-
quired by the governor, in cases where they shall
think the public good calls for it. Their advice Eind
proceedings shall be entered in books to be kept for
Appendix 391
that purpose, and shall be signed as approved or
disapproved by the members present- These books
shall be laid before either house of assembly when
called for by them. The said cotmcil shall consist
of eight members for the present; but their ntmi-
bers may be increased or reduced by the legislattire,
whenever they shall think it necessary; provided
such reduction be made only as the appointments
become vacant by death, resignation, disqualifica-
tion, or regular deprivation. A majority of their
actual number, and not fewer, shall be a quorum.
They shall be allowed for the present each by
the year, payable quarterly out of any money which
shall be in the public treasury. Their salary, how-
ever, may be increased or abated from time to time,
at the discretion of the legislature; provided such
increase or abatement shall not, by any ways or
means, be made to affect either then, or at any
future time, any one of those then actually in office.
At the end of each quarter their salary shall be
divided into equal portions by the ntmiber of days
on which, during that quarter, a council has been
held, or required by the governor, or by their own
adjournment, and one of those portions shall be
withheld from each member for every of the said
days which, without cause allowed good by the
board, he failed to attend, or departed before ad-
journment without their leave. If no board should
have been held during that qtiarter, there shall be
no deduction.
29^ Jefferson's Works
They shall annually choose a President, who shall
preside in council in the absence of the governor,
and who, in case of his office becoming vacant by
death or otherwise, shall have authority to exercise
all his functions, till a new appointment be made,
as he shall also in any interval during which the
governor shall declare himself unable to attend to
the duties of his office.
The Judiciary powers shall be exercised by county
courts and such other inferior courts as the legisla-
ture shall think proper to continue or to erect, by
three superior courts, to wit, a Court of Admiralty,
a general Court of Common Law, and a High Court
of Chancery; and by one Supreme Court, to be
called the Court of Appeals.
The judges of the high court of chancery, general
court, and court of admiralty, shall be four in num-
ber each, to be appointed by joint ballot of both
houses of assembly, and to hold their offices during
good behavior. While they continue judges, they
shall hold no other office or emolument, under this
State, or any other State or power whatsoever,
except that they may be delegated to Congress,
receiving no additional allowance.
These judges, assembled together, shall consti-
tute the Court of Appeals, whose business shall be
to receive and determine appeals from the three
superior courts, but to receive no original causes,
except in the cases expressly permitted herein.
A majority of the members of either of these courts,
Appendix 293
and not fewer, shall be a quortim. But in the Cotirt
of Appeals nine members shall be necessary to do
business. Any smaller ntmibers however may be
authorized by the legislature to adjourn their re-
spective courts.
They shall be allowed for the present each
by the year, payable quarterly out of any money
which shall be in the public treasury. Their sala-
ries, however, may be increased or abated, from
time to time, at the discretion of the legislature,
provided such increase or abatement shall not by
any ways or means, be made to affect, either then,
or at any future time, any one of those then actually
in office. At the end of each quarter their salary
shall be divided into equal portions by the number
of days on which, during that quarter, their respec-
tive courts sat, or should have sat, and one of these
portions shall be withheld from each member for
every of the said days which, without cause allowed
good by his court, he failed to attend, or departed
before adjournment without their leave. If no
court should have been held during the quarter,
there shall be no deduction.
There shall, moreover, be a Court of Impeachments,
to consist of three members of the Cotmcil of State,
one of each of the superior courts of Chancery, Com-
mon Law, and Admiralty, two members of the
house of delegates and one of the Senate, to be
chosen by the body respectively of which they are.
Before this court any member of the three branches
394 Jefferson's Works
of government, that is to say, the governor, any
member of the council, of the two houses of l^is-
lature, or of the superior courts, may be impeached
by the governor, the council, or either of the said
houses or courts, and by no other, for such misbe-
havior in office as would be sufficient to remove him
therefrom; and the only sentence they shall have
authority to pass shall be that of deprivation and
future incapacity of office. Seven members shall
be requisite to make a court, and two-thirds of those
present must concur in the sentence. The offences
cognizable by this court shall be cognizable by no
other, and they shall be triers of the fact as well as
judges of the law.
The justices or judges of the inferior courts already
erected, or hereafter to be erected, shall be appointed
by the governor, on advice of the council of State,
and shall hold their offices during good behavior, or
the existence of their courts. For breach of the
good behavior, they shall be tried according to the
laws of the land, before the Court of Appeals, who
shall be judges of the fact as well as of the law. The
only sentence they shall have authority to pass shall
be that of deprivation and future incapacity of office.
and two-thirds of the members present must concur
in this sentence.
All courts shall appoint their own clerks, who
shall hold their offices during good behavior, or the
existence of their coiu^; they shall also appoint all
other attending officers to continue during their
Appendix 295
pleasure. Clerks appointed by the supreme or
superior cotirts shall be removable by their respec-
tive courts. Those to be appointed by other courts
shall have been previously examined, and certified
to be duly qualified, by some two members of the
general court, and shall be removable for breach
of the good behavior by the Court of Appeals only,
w6o shall be judges of the fact as well as of the law.
Two-thirds of the members present must concur in
the sentence.
The justices or judges of the inferior courts may
be members of the legislature.
The judgment of no inferior court shall be final,
in any civil case, of greater value than fifty bushels
of wheat, as last rated in the general court for setting
the allowance to the members of the general assem-
bly, nor in any case of treason, felony, or other crime
which should subject the party to infamous pun-
ishment.
In all causes depending before any court, other
than those of impeachments, of appeals, and mili-
tary courts, facts put in issue shall be tried by jury,
and in all courts whatever witnesses shall give testi-
mony viva voce in open court, wherever their attend-
ance can be procured ; and all parties shall be allowed
counsel and compulsory process for their witnesses.
Fines, amercements, and terms of imprisonment
left indefinite by the law, other than for contempts,
shall be fixed by the jury, triers of the offence.
The governor, two councillors of State, and a
3p6 Jefferson's Works
judge from each of the sup>erior Courts of Chancery,
Common Law, and Admiralty, shall be a council to
revise all bills which shall have passed both houses
of assembl}-. in which council the governor, when
present, shall preside. Every bill, before it becomes
a law, shall be represented to this council, who shall
have a right to advise its rejection, returning the
bill, with their advice and reasons in writing, to the
house in which it originated, who shall proceed to
reconsider the said bill. But if after such recon-
sideration, two-thirds of the house shall be of opin-
ion that the bill should pass finally, they shall pass
and send it, with the advice and written reasons of
the said Council of Revision, to the other house,
wherein if two-thirds also shall be of opinion it
should pass finally, it shall thereupon become law;
otherwise it shall not.
If any bill, presented to the said council, be not,
within one week (exclusive of the day of presenting
it) returned by them, with their advice of rejection
and reasons, to the house wherein it originated, or to
the clerk of the said house, in case of its adjournment
over the expiration of the week, it shall be law from
the expiration of the week, and shall then be de-
mandable by the clerk of the House of Delegates,
to be filed of record in his office.
The bills which they approve shall become law
from the time of such approbation, and shall then
be returned to, or demandable by, the clerk of the
House of Delegates, to be filed of record in his office.
Appendix ^97
A bill rejected on advice of the Council of Revision
may again be proposed, dtiring the same session of
assembly, with such alterations as will render it con-
formable to their advice.
The members of the said Council of Revision shall
be appointed from time to time by the board or court
of which they respectively are. Two of the execu-
tive and two of the judiciary members shall be
requisite to do business ; and to prevent the evils of
non-attendance, the board and courts may at any
time name all, or so many as they will, of their
members, in the particular order in which they
wotild choose the duty of attendance to devolve
from preceding to subsequent members, the preced-
ing failing to attend. They shall have additionally
for their services in this council the same allowance
as members of assembly have.
The confederation is made a part of this consti-
tution, subject to such future alterations as shall be
agreed to by the legislature of this State, and by
all the other confederating States.
The delegates to Congress shall be five in nximber ;
any three of whom, and no fewer, may be a repre-
sentation. They shall be appointed by joint ballot
of both houses of assembly for any term not exceed-
ing one year, subject to be recalled, within the term,
by joint vote of both the said houses. They may
at the same time be members of the legislative or
judiciary departments, but not of the executive.
The benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall be
998 Jefferson's Works
extended, by the legislature, to every person withm
this State, and without fee, and shall be so facilitated
that no person may be detained in prison more
than ten days after he shall have demanded and
been refused such writ by the judge appointed by
law. or if none be appointed, then by any judge of a
superior court, nor more than ten days after such
writ shall have been served on the person detaining
him, and no order given, on due examination, for
his remandment or discharge.
The military shall be subordinate to the civil power.
Printing presses shall be subject to no other re-
straint than liableness to legal prosecution for false
facts printed and published.
Any two of the three branches of government con-
curring in opinion, each by the voice of two- thirds of
their whole existing number, that a convention is
necessary for altering this constitution, or correcting
breaches of it, they shall be authorized to issue writs
to every county for the election of so many delegates
as they are authorized to send to the general assem-
bly, which elections shall be held, and writs returned,
as the laws shall have provided in the case of elec-
tions of delegates of assembly, mutatis mutandis,
and the said delegates shall meet at the usual place
of holding assemblies, three months after date of
such writs, and shall be acknowledged to have equal
powers with this present convention. The said writs
shall be signed by all the members approving the
same.
Appendix 299
To introduce this government, the following special
and temporary provision is made.
This convention being authorized only to amend
those laws which constituted the form of govern-
ment, no general dissolution of the whole system of
laws can be supposed to have taken place; but all
laws in force at the meeting of this convention, and
not inconsistent with this constitution, remain in
full force, subject to alterations by the ordinary
legislature.
The present general assembly shall continue till
the forty-second day after the last Monday of Novem-
ber in this present year. On the said last Monday
of November in this present year, the several coim-
ties shall by their electors qualified as provided by
this constitution, elect delegates, which for the
present shall be, in number, one for every
militia of the said county, according to the latest
returns in possession of the governor, and shall also
choose senatorial electors in proportion thereto,
which senatorial electors shall meet on the four-
teenth day after the day of their election, at the
court house of that county of their present district
which would stand first in an alphabetical arrange-
ment of their counties, and shall choose senators in
the proportion fixed by this constitution. The
elections and returns shall be conducted, in all cir-
cumstances not hereby particularly prescribed, by
the same persons and under the same forms as pre-
scribed by the present laws in elections of senators
300
Jefferson's Works
and delegates of assembly. The said senators and
delegates shall constitute the first general assembly
of the new government, and shall specially apply
themselves to the procuring an exact return from
every county of the number of its qualified electors,
and to the settlement of the number of delegates to
be elected for the ensuing general assembly.
The present governor shall continue in office to
the end of the term for which he was elected.
All other officers of every kind shall continue in
office as they would have done had their appoint-
ment been under this constitution, and new ones,
where new are hereby called for, shall be appointed
by the authority to which such appointment is
referred. One of the present judges of the general
court, he consenting thereto, shall by joint ballot of
both houses of assembly, at their first meeting, be
transferred to the High Court of Chancery,
No. III.
1 tibS
tenb^l
An Act for establishing Religious Freedom, passed in the Assemblf <
Virginia in the beginning of the year 1786.
Well aware that Almighty God hath created
mind free ; that all attempts to influence it by
poral punishments or burdens, or by civil incapaci-
tations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and
meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the
Holy Author of our relig[ion, who being Lord both
of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by
Appendix 301
coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power
to do; that the impious prestimption of legislators
and riders, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being
themselves but fallible and tminspired men have
assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up
their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only
true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose
them on others, hath established and maintained
false religions over the greatest part of the world,
and through all time ; that to compel a man to furnish
contributions of money for the propagation of opin-
ions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical;
that even the forcing him to support this or that
teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving
him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contri-
butions to the particular pastor whose morals he
wotild make his pattern, and whose powers he feels
most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdraw-
ing from the ministry those temporal rewards, which
proceeding from an approbation of their personal
conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest
and unremitting labors for the instruction of man-
kind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our
religious opinions, more than our opinions in physics
or geometry; that, therefore, the proscribing any
citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying
upon him an incapacity of being called to the offices
of trust and emoltmient, imless he profess or re-
nounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving
him injiuiously of those privileges and advantages
302
Jefferson's Works
to which in common with his fellow citizens he has
a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the
principles of that very religion it is meant to en-
courage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly
honors and emoluments, those who will externally
profess and conform to it; that though indeed these
are criminal who do not withstand such temptation,
yet neither are those innocent wlio lay the bait in
their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to
intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to
restrain the profession or propagation of principles,
on the supposition of their ill tendency, is a danger-
ous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious
liberty, because he being of course judge of that
tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judg-
ment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of
others only as they shall square with or differ from
his own ; that it is time enough for the rightful pur-
poses of civil government, for its offices to interfere
when principles break out into overt acts against
peace and good order; and finally, that truth is
great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is
the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has
nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human
interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free
argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous
when it is permitted freely to contradict them.
Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That
no man shall be compelled to frequent or support
any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever,
Appendix 303
nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or btir-
•
thened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise
suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by
argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of
religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish,
enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
And though we well know this Assembly, elected
by the people for the ordinary purposes of legisla-
tion only, have no power to restrain the acts of suc-
ceeding assemblies, constituted with the powers
equal to otu* own, and that therefore to declare this
act irrevocable, would be of no effect in law, yet we
are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights
hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind,
and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal
the present or to narrow its operation, such act will
be an infringement of natural right.
Jefferson's Works
I
an appendix relative to the murder op
Logan's family.'
The " Notes on Virginia " were written, in Vii
in the years 1781 and 1782, in answer to cei
queries proposed to me by Monsieur de Marbois, then
secretary of the French legation in the United States;
and a manuscript copy was delivered to him. A few
copies, with some additions, were afterwards, in
1784, printed in Paris, and given to particular
friends. In speaking of the animals of America, the
theory of M. de BufEon, the Ahhi Raynal, and others
presented itself to consideration. They have sup-
posed there is something in the soil, climate, ana
other circumstances of America, which occasions aiU'^
mal nature to degenerate, not excepting even the
man, native or adoptive, physical or moral. This
theory, so unfounded and degrading to one-third of
the globe, was called to the bar of fact and reason.
Among other proofs adduced in contradiction of
this hypothesis, the speech of Logan, an Indian
chief, delivered to Lord Dunmore in 1774, was pro-
duced, as a specimen of the talents of the aboriginals
of this country, and particularly of their eloquence;
and it was believed that Europe had never produced
anything superior to this morsel of eloquence. In
order to make it intelligible to the reader, the trans-
action, on which it was founded, was stated, as it
' In connectioD with this appendix
printed as Note in p. 8g.
stter to Governor Hetujf^^H
Appendix 3^5
had been generally related in America at the time,
and as I had heard it myself, in the circle of Lord
Dtmmore, and the officers who accompanied him;
and the speech itself was given as it had, ten years
before the printing of that book, circtilated in the
newspapers through all the then colonies, through
the magazines of Great Britain, and periodical pub-
lications of Europe. For three and twenty years it
passed uncontradicted; nor was it ever suspected
that it even admitted contradiction. In 1797, how-
ever, for the first time, not only the whole transac-
tion respecting Logan was affirmed in the public
papers to be false, but the speech itself suggested to
be a forgery, and even a forgery of mine, to aid
me in proving that the man of America was equal
in body and in mind, to the man of Europe.
But wherefore the forgery; whether Logan's
or mine, it would still have been American. I
should indeed consult my own fame if the sugges-
tion, that this speech is mine, were suffered to be
believed. He would have just right to be proud
who could with truth claim that composition. But
it is none of mine; and I yield it to whom it is
due.
On seeing then that this transaction was brought
into question, I thought it my duty to make particu-
lar inquiry into its foundation. It was the more my
duty, as it was alleged that, by ascribing to an indi-
vidual therein named, a participation in the murder
of Logan's family, I had done an injtiry to his char-
VOL. II — 20
3o6 Jefferson's Works
acter, which it had not deserved. I had no knowl-
edge personally of that individual. I had no reason
to aim an injury at him. I only repeated what I had
heard from others, and what thousands had heard
and believed as well as myself; and which no one
indeed, till then, had been known to question.
Twenty-three years had now elapsed, since the trans-
action took place. Many of those acquainted with
it were dead, and the living dispersed to very dis-
tant parts of the earth. Few of them were even
known to me. To those however of whom I knew,
I made application by letter; and some others,
moved by a regard for truth and justice, were kind
enough to come forward, of themselves, with their
testimony. These fragments of evidence, the small
remains of a mighty mass which time has consumed,
are here presented to the public, in the form of let-
ters, certificates, or affidavits, as they came to me.
I have rejected none of these forms, nor required
other solemnities from those whose motives and
characters -were pledges of their truth. Historical
transactions are deemed to be well vouched by the
simple declarations of those who have borne a part
in them ; and especially of persons having no interest
to falsify or disfigure them. The world will now see
whether they, or I, have injured Cresap, by believing
Logan's charge against him; and they will decide
between Logan and Cresap, whether Cresap was
innocent, and Logan a calumniator?
In order that the reader may have a clear concep-
Appendix 3^7
tion of the transaxrtions, to which the different parts
of the following declarations refer, he must take
notice that xhey establish four different murders, i.
Of two Indians, a little above Wheeling. 2. Of
others at Grave Creek, among whom were some of
Logan's relations. 3. The massacre at Baker's bot-
tom, on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow
Creek, where were other relations of Logan. 4. Of
those killed at the same place, coming in canoes to
the relief of their friends. I place the numbers 1,2,
3, 4, against certain paragraphs of the evidence, to
indicate the particular mtirder to which the para-
graph relates, and present also a small sketch or map
of the principal scenes of these butcheries, for their
more ready comprehension.
Extract of a letter from the Honorable Judge Innes, of Frankfort in Ken--
tucky, to Thomas Jefferson, dated Kentucky, near Frankfort, March
2d, 1799.
I recollect to have seen Logan's speech in 1775, in one of the public
prints. That Logan conceived Cresap to be the author of the murder
at Yellow Creek, it is in my power to give, perhaps, a more particular
information, than any other person you can apply to.
In 1774 I lived in Fincastle cotmty, now divided into Washington,
Montgomery and part of Wythe. Being intimate in Col. Preston's
family, I happened in July to be at his house, when an express was sent
to him as Cotmty Lieut, requesting a guard of the militia to be ordered
out for the protection of the inhabitants residing low down on the
north fork of Holston river. The express brought with him a War
Qub, and a note which was left tied to it at the house of one Robertson,
whose family were cut off by the Indians, and gave rise for the applica-
tion to Col. Preston, of which the following i* a copy, then taken by
me in my memorandvim book.
3o8
Jefferson's Works
"Captain Cresap, — What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek
for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great while ago:
and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again, on Yel-
low Creek, and took my Cousin Prisoner. Then I thought I must kill
too; and I have been three times to war since: hut the Indians are not
angT-y: only myself.
Captain JOHN LOGAN.
I, Dear Sir, your most obedient ser%-ant,
HARRY INNE9J
■■July 2
With great respect, I a
I
Before me, the subscriber, a justice of the peace in and for »aid
county, personally appeared John Gibson, Esquire, an a&sociate Judge
of same county, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saJth that h»
traded with the Shawanese and other tribes of Indians then settled on
the Siotain the year 1773. and in the beginning of the year 1774, and
that in the month of April of the same year, he left the same Indian
towns, and came to this place, in order to procure some goods and pro-
visions, that he remained here only a few days, and then set out in
company with a certain Alexander Blaine and M. Elliot by water to
return to the towns on the Siota. and that one evening as they were
drifting in their canoes near the Long Reach on the Ohio, they were
hailed by a number of white men on the South West shore, who re-
quested them to put ashore, as they had disagreeable news to intonn
them of; that we then landed on shore; and found amongst the party,
a Major Angus M'Donald from West Chester, a Doctor Woods frOB
same place, and a party as they said of one hundred and fifty mo-
We then asked the news. They informed us that some of the partjr
who had been taken up, and improving lands near the Big Kanhkin
river, had seen another party of white men, who informed them tint
they and some others had fell in with a party of Shawanese. who brf
been hunting on the South West side of the Ohio, that they had kilM
the whole of the Indian party, and that the others had gone across the
country to Cheat nver with the horses and plunder, the consequeUM
of which they apprehended would be an Indian war, and thai llief
were flying away. On making imjuiry of them when this murder
should have happened, we found that it must have been some con-
siderable time before we left the Indian towns, and that there w
Appendix
the smallest foundation for the report, as there was not a single man
of the Shawanese, but what returned from hunting long before this
should have happened.
We then informed them that it they would agree to remain at the
place we then were, one of us would go to Hock Hocking river with
some of their party, where we should find some of our people making
canoes, and that if wc did not find them there, we might conclude that
everything was not right. Doctor Wood and another person then
proposed going with me; the rest of the party seemed to agree, but
said they would send and consult Captain Cresap, who was about two
miles from that place. They sent off for him. and during the greatest
part of the night they behaved in the most disorderly manner, threat-
ening to kill us. and saying the damned traders were worse than the
Indians and ought to be killed. In the morning Captain Michael
Cresap came to the camp. I then gave him the information as above
related- They then met in council, and after an hour or more Captain
Cresap returned to me, and informed that he could not prevail on them
to adopt the proposal I had made to them, that as he had a great regard
for Captain R. Callender. a brother-in-law of mine, with whom I was
connected in trade, he advised me by no means to think of proceeding
any further, as he was convinced the present party would fall on and
kill every Indian they met on the river, that for his part he should not
continue with them, but go right across the country to Red-Stone to
avoid the consequences. That we then proceeded to Hocking and
went up the same to the canoe place where we found our people at
work, and after some days we proceeded to the towns on Siota by land.
On our arrival there, we heard of the different murders committed by
the party on their way up the Ohio.
This Deponent further saith that in the year 1774. he accompanied
Lord Dtmmore on the expedition against the Shawanese and other
Indians on the Siota, that on their arrival within fifteen miles of the
towns, they were met by a flag, and a white man of the name of Elliot,
who informed Lord Dunmore that the Chiefs of the Shawanese had sent
10 request his Lordship to halt his army and send in some person, who
understood their language; that this Deponent, at the request of Lord
Dunmore and the whole of the officers with him, went in; that on his
arrival at the towns, Logan, the Indian, came to where the deponent
was sitting with the Com-Stalk. and the other chiefs of the Shawanese.
and asked him to walk out with him; that they went into a copse of
wood, where they sat down, when Logan, after shedding abundance
of tears, delivered to him the speech, nearly as related by Mr. Jefferson
in his Not«s on the State of Virginia; that he the deponent told him
k
Jefferson's Works
that it was not Col. Cresap who had murdered his relations, and that
although his son Captain Michael Cresap was with the party who killed
a Shawanese chief and other Indians, yet he was not present when his
■ relations were killed at Baker's, near the mouth of Yellow Creek on the
I Ohio; that this Deponent on his return to camp delivered the speech
to Lord Dunmore; and that the murders perpetrated as above wcn>
isidered as ultimately the cause of the war of 1774, commonly called
CrcEap'swar. JOHN GIBSON
Sworn and subscribed the 4th April, iSoo, at Pittsburg, before me.
JER. BARKER.
Extract of a Utter front Col. Ebeneztr Zone, to the konorabU yokn Bi\tw%',
one of the Senators in Congress from Kentucky; dated Wkteling. Fib.
4th, 1800.
I was myself, with many others, in the practice of making; improve-
ments on lands upon the Ohio, for the purpose of acquiring rights to
the same. Being on the Ohio at the mouth of Sandy Creek, in com-
pany with many others, news circulated that the Indiana had fobbed
some of the Land jobbers. This news induced the people generally
I to ascend the Ohio. I was among the number. On our arrival at
the Wheeling, being informed that there were two Indians with
some traders near and above Wheeling, a proposition was made by the
then Captain Michael Cresap to waylay and kill the Indians upon the
river. This measure I opposed with much violence, alleging that
the kiUing of those Indians might involve the country in a war.
But the opposite party prevailed, and proceeded up the Ohio with
Captain Cresap at their head.
In a short time the party returned, and also the traders, in a canoe:
but there were no Indians in the company. I inquired what liad
become of the Indians, and was informed by the traders and Cresap 's
party that they had fallen overboard. I examined the canoe, and saw
much fresh blood and some bullet holes in the canoe. This fully con-
^■i^ced me that the party had killed the two Indians, and throivn them
into the river.
On the afternoon of the day this action happened, a report prevailed
3 that there was a camp, or party of Indians on the Ohio belo»r and
near the Wheeling. In consequence of this information. Captain
Cresap with his party, joined by a number of remits, proceeded imme-
diately down the Ohio for the purpose, as was then generally uader-
Appendix
stood, of destroying the Indians above mentioned. On the succeeding
day. Captain Cresap and his party returned to Wheeling, and it was
generally reported by the party that they had killed a number of
Indians. Of the truth of this report 1 had no doubt, as one of Cresap 's
party was badly wounded, and the party had a fresh scalp, and a
quantity of property, which they called Indian plunder. At the time
of the last -mentioned transaction, it was generally reported that the
party of Indians down the Ohio were Logan and his family; but I have
reason to believe that this report was unfounded.
Within a few days after the transaction above mentioned, a party
of Indians were killed at Yellow Creek. But I must do the memory 3
of Captfun Cresap the justice to say that I do not believe that he
was present at the killing of the Indians at Yellow Creek. But there
is not the least doubt in my mind, that the massacre at Yellow Creek
_ was brought on by the two transactions first stated.
W All the transactions, which I have related happened in the latter end
frf April 1774; and there can scarcely be a doubt that they were the
cause of the war which immediately followed, commonly called Dun-
more's War.
I am with much esteem, yours. &c, ,
EBENEZER ZANE.
i
:trtificaU of William Huston oj Washington county, in the State of
Pennsylvania, communicated by David Riddtck, Esquire, Prolkonotary
of Washington county, Pennsylvania; who in the letter enclosing it says
William Huston is a man of established reputation in point of
integrity."
I William Huston of Washington county, in the State of Pennsyl-
vania, do hereby certify to whom it may concern, that in the year 1774,
I resided at Catiishes camp, on the main path from Wheeling to Red-
stone; that Michael Cresap. who resided on or near the Potomac river,
on his way up from the river Ohio, at the head of a party of armed men,
lay some time at my cabin.
I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed a
some Indians, said to be the relations of " Logan " an Indian Chief.
In a variety of conversations with several of Cresap's party, they
boasted of the deed; and that in the presence of their chief. They
acknowledged they had fired first on the Indians. They had with
them one man on a Utter, who was in the skirmish.
k.
313
Jefferson's Works
I do further certify that, from what I learned from the party them-
selves, I then formed the opinion, and have not had any reason to
change the opinion since, that the killing, on Ihe part o£ the whites, was
what I deem the grossest murder. 1 further certify that some of
3 the party, who afterwards killed some women and other Indians at
Baker's bottom, also lay at my cabin, on their march to the interior
part of the country; they had with them a little girl, whose life had
- been spared by the interference of some more humane than the rest.
If necessary I will make affidavit to the above to be true. Certified at
Washington, this i8th day of April, Anno Domini. 1798.
WILLIAM HUSTON. ^
The eeriificale of Jacob Newland, of Shelby County, Kentucky, evmitamf^
cated by Ike Honorable Judge Inncs. of Kentucky.
In the year 1774, I lived on the waters of Short Creek, a branch of
the Ohio, twelve miles above Wheehng. Some time in June or in July
of that year. Capt. Michael Cresap raised a party of men. and came out
tinder Col. M'Daniel, of Hampshire County, Virginia, who commanded
a detachment against the Wappotommaka towns on the Muskinghiim.
1 met with Capt. Cresap. at Redstone fort, and entered his company.
Being very well acquainted with him, we conversed freely; and he.
among other conversations, informed me several limes of falling in
3 with some Indians on the Ohio some distance below the mouth of
Yellow Creek, andkilled two or three of them; and that this murder
3 was before that of the Indians by Great-house and others, at Yellon
Creek, I do not recollect the reason which Capt. Cresap assigned
for committing the act. but never understood that the Indians gave
any offence. Certified under my hand this 15th day of November.
1799, being an inhabitant of Shelby county, and State of Kentucky.
JACOB NEWLAND.
The Ceiiificate of John Anderson, a merchant in Frtdericksburg. Vir-
ginia; communicated by Mann Page, Esquire, of Mansfield, near
Fredericksburg, uiko in Ihe letter accompanying it. says, "Mr, John
Andtrson has for many years past been settled in Fredericksburg, in
the mercantile line, I have known him in prosperous and advent
situations. He lias always shown thr greatest degree ii/ Etfuantrntty,
his honesty and veracity are unimpeachable. These things can be
attested by all Ihe respectable part of the town and neighborhood of
Fredericksbu rg."
>
Appendix 313
Mr. John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, says, that in the
year 1774, being a trader in the Indian country, he was at Pittsburg,
to which place he had a cargo brought up the river in a boat navigated
by a Delaware Indian and a white man. That on their return
down the river, with a cargo belonging to Messrs. Butler, Michael i
Cresap Heed on the boat, and killed the Indian, after which two
men of the name of Gatewood, and others of the name of Tumble-
stone.' who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, 3
with whom they were on the most friendly terras, invited a party
of them to come over and drink with him; and that, when the Indiana
were drunk, they murdered them to the number of six, among whom
was Logan's mother. That five other Indiana uneasy at the absence 4
of their friends, came over the river to inquire after them; when
they were fired upon, and two were killed, and the others wounded.
This was the origin of the war.
I certify the above to be true to the best of my recollection,
L Attest David Blub, 30th June, 179S. JOHN ANDERSON.
The Deposition of yames Chainbgrs, comtnunicaltd by David Riddieh,
Esquire, Prolhonolary of Washington county. Pennsylvania, who, in
the letter enclosing it, shows that he entertains the most perfect confidence
in the truth of Mr. Chambers.
Washington County, ss.
PersoDally came before me Samuel Shannon, Esquire, one of the
Commonwealth Justices for the County of Washington in the State of
Pennsylvania, James Chambers, who, being sworn according to law,
deposeth and saith that in the spring of the year 1774. he resided on
the frontier near Baker's bottom on the Ohio; that he had an intimate
companion, with whom he sometimes lived, named Edward King;
that a report reached them that Michael Cresap had killed some i
Indians near Grave Creek, friends to an Indian, known by the name 3
of "Logan;" that other of his friends, following down the river,
having received intelligence, and fearing to proceed, lest Cresap might
fall in with them, encamped near the mouth of Yellow Creek, opposite
Baker's bottom; that Daniel Great-house had determined to kill them;
bad made the secret known to the deponent's companion. King; that
the deponent was earnestly solicited to be of the party, and. as an
inducement, was told that they would get a great deal of plunder; and
The proper prontinciation of Tomlinson, which was the real n
3^4 Jefferson's Works
further, that the Indians would be made drunk by Baker, and thai
little danger would follow the expedition. The deponent refused
having any hand in killing unoffending people. His companion. King,
went with Great-house, with divers others, some of whom had been
collected at a considerable distance under an idea that Joshua Baker's
family was in danger from the Indians, as war had been commenced
between Cresap and them already; that Edward King, as well as others
of the party, did not conceal from the deponent the most minute cii'
curastances of this aSair; they informed him that Great-house, con-
cealing his people, went over to the Indian encampments and counted
their number, and found that they were too large a party to attack
with his strength; that he then requested Joshua Baker, when any
of them came to his house, (which they had been in the habit of.) to
give them what rum they could drink, and to let him know when Ibey
were in a proper train, and that he would then fall on them; that
accordingly they found several men and women at Baker's house; that
one of these women had cautioned Great-house, when over in the
Indian camp, that he had better return home, as the Indian men were
drinking, and that having heard of Cresap's attack on their relations
down the river, they were angry, and. in a friendly manner, told him
to go home. Great-house, with his partly, fell on them, and killed
4 all except a little girl, which the deponent saw with the party after
the slaughter; that the Indians in the camp hearing the firing.
manned two canoes, supposing their friends at Baker's to be attacked,
as was supposed: the party under Great-house prevented their landing
by a well-directed fire, which did execution in the canoes; that Edward
King showed the depionent one of the scalps. The deponent further
saith, that the settlements near the river broke up. and he the depo-
nent immediately repaired to Catfish's camp, and lived some time with
Mr. William Huston; that not long after his arrival, Cresap, with his
party, returning from the Ohio, came to Mr. Huston's and tarried
a some time; that in various conversations with the party, and in
particular with a Mr. Smith, who had one arm only, he was told
that the Indians were acknowledged and known to be Logan's friends
which they had killed, and that he heard the party say. that Logan
would probably avenge their deaths.
They acknowledged that the Indians passed Cresap's encampment
on the bank of the river in a peaceable manner, and encamped below
him: that they went down and fired on the Indians and killed several;
that the survivors flew to their arms and fired on Cresap, and
3 wounded one man, whom the deponent saw carried on a Utter by
3 the part)'; that the Indians killed by Cresap were not only Logan's
Appendix
relations, but of the women killed at Baker's one was sakl and gen-
erally believed to be Logan's sister. The deponent further saith, that
on the relation of the attack by Cresap on the unoffending Indians, he
exclaimed in their hearing, that it was an atrocious murder: on which
[ Mr. Smith threatened the deponent with the tomahawk; so that he
t was obliged to be cautious, fearing an injury, as the party appeared
to have lost, in a great degree, sentiments of humanity as well as the
effects of civilization. Sworn and subscribed at Washington, the aoth
day of April, Anno Domini 1798.
Before Sauubl Shannon. JAMES CHAMBERS.
\ "Wasbington Countt, ss.
I. David Reddick, prothonotary of the court of c
iSbal. for the county of Washington in the State of Pennsylvania, do
certify that Samuel Shannon, Esq., before whom the within
affidavit was made, was, at the time thereof, and still is, a justice of the
peace in and for the county of Washington aforesaid; and that full
credit is due to all his judicial acts as such as well in courts of justice
as thereout.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the
seal of my office at Washington, the »6th day of April. Anno Dom. 1798.
DAVID REDDICK.
TA» c^rtifeate of Charles Polke, of Shelby Coutity. in Kentucky, c
nicated by the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentucky, who in the letter enclosing
ii, together with Newland's certificate, and his own declaration of the
informalion given him by Baker, says, "I atn well acquainted with Johr.
Newland, ke is a man of integrity. Charles Polke and Joshua Baker
both sup fort respectable characters. ' '
About the latter end of April or beginning of May. 1774, I lived on
the waters of Cross creek, about sixteen miles from Joshua Baker, who
lived on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. A number
of persons collected at my house, and proceeded to the said Baker's
and murdered several Indians, among whom was a woman said to ,;
be the sister of the Indian chief, Logan, The principal leader of
the party was Daniel Great-house. To the best of my recollection the
k
3i6
Jefferson's Works
cause which gave rise to the murder was a general idea that the Indiaiu
were meditating an attack on the frontiers, Capt. Michael Cresap was
not of the party; but I recollect that some time before the perpe-
7 tration of the above fact it was currently reported that Capt. Cresap
had murdered some Indians on the Ohio, one or two, some distance
below Wheeling.
Certified by me. an inhabitant of Shelby county and State of Ken-
tucky, this isth day of November. 1795. CHARLES POLKE. I
The Declaration of Ike Hon. Jwige Innes, 0/ Frankfort, in Kentucky.
On the 14th of November, 1799. I accidentally met upon the road
Joshua Baker, the person referred to in the certificate signed by
3 Polke. who informed me that the murder of the Indians in 1774.
opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, was perpetrated at his house
by thirty-two men, led on by Daniel Great-house; that twelve were
killed and six or eight wounded ; among the slain was a sister and other
relations of the Indian chief. Logan. Baker says. Captain Michael
Cresap was not of the party; that some days preceding the murder
I at his house two Indians left him and were on their way home; that
they fell in with Capt. Cresap and a party of land improvers on the
Ohio, and were murdered, if not by Cresap himself, with his approha-
tion; he being the leader of the party, and that he had this information
from Cresap. HARRY INNES.
The Declaration of William Robinson.
William Robinson, of Clarksburg, in the county of Harrison, and
State of Virginia, subscriber to these presents, declares that he was, in
the year 1774, a resident on the west fork of Monongahcla river, in the
county then called West Augusta, and being in his field on the nth of
July, with two other men. they were surprised by a party of eight
Indians, who shot down one of the others and made himself and the
remaining one prisoners; this subscriber's wife and four children ha\*inE
been previously conveyed by him for safety to a fort about twenty-four
miles off; that the principal Indian of the party which took them was
Captain Logan; that Logan spoke English well, and very soon mani-
fested a friendly disposition to this subscriber, and told him to be of
good heart, that he would not be killed, but must go with him to his
■ Appendix 3^7
town, where he would probably be adiiptcd in some of thdr faini1ie!>;
but above all things, that he must not attempt to run away: that in
the course of the journey to the Indian town he generally endeavored
to keep close to Logan, who had a great deal of conversation with him,
always encouraging him to be cheerful and without fear; for that he
would not be killed, but should become one of them; and constantly
impressing on him not to attempt to run away: that in these conversa-
tions he always charged Capt. Michael Cresap with the murder of his
family ; that on his arrival in the town, which was on the 1 8th of July.
he was tied to a slake and a great debate arose whether he should not
be burnt; Logan insisted on having him adopted, while others con-
tended to bum him; that at length Logan prevailed, tied a belt of
wampum round him as the mark of adoption, loosed him from the post
and carried him to the cabin of an old squaw, where Logan pointed out
a person who he said was this subscriber's cousin; and he afterwards
understood that the old woman was his aunt, and two others his
brothers, and that he now stood in the place of a warrior of the family
who had been killed at Yellow Creek; that about three days after this
Logan brought him a piece of paper, and told him he must write a
letter for him, which he meant to carry and leave in some house where
he should kill somebody; that he made ink with gun powder, and the
subscriber proceeded to write the letter by his direction, addressing
KOtptain Michael Cresap in it. and that the purport of it was. to ask
"why he had killed his people? That some time before they had
l^ed his people at some place, (the name of which the subscriber
forgets,) which he had forgiven ; but since that he had killed his people
again at Yellow Creek, and taken his cousin, alittle girl, prisoner; that
therefore he must war against the whites; but that he would exchange
the subscriber for his cousin." And signed it with Logan's name,
which letter Logan took and set out again to war; and the contents
of this letter, as recited by the subscriber, calling to mind that stated
by Judge Innea to have been left, tied to a war club, in a house where
a family was murdered, and that being read to the subscriber, he recog-
niaes it. and declares he verily believes it to have been the identical
letter which he wrote, and supposes he was mistaken in stating as he has
done before from memory, that the offer of exchange was proposed in
the letter; that it is probable that it was only promised him by Logan,
but not put in the letter; while he was with the old woman, she repeat-
edly endeavored to make him sensible that she had been of the party
at Yellow Creek, and, by signs, showed him how they decoyed her
friends over the river to drink, and when they were reeling and tum-
bling about, tomahawked them all. and that whenever she entered on
3^8
Jefferson's Works
this subject she was thrown into the most violent agitfttions, and that
he afterwards understood that, amongst the Indians killed at Yellow
Creek, was a sister of Logan, very big with child, whom they ripped
open, and stuck on a pole; that he continued with the Indians till the
month of November, when he was released in consequence of the peace
madeby them with Lord Dunmore; that, while he remained with them,
the Indians in general were very kind to him; and especially those who
were his adopted relations; but above all, the old woman and family
in which he lived, who served him with everything in their power, and
never asked, or even suffered him to do any labor, seeming in truth to
consider andrespect him as the friend they had lost. All which several
matters and things, so far as they are stated to be of his own knowledge.
this subscriber solemnly declares to be true, and so far as they are staled
on information from others, he believes them to be true. Given and
declared under his hand at Philadelphia, this sSth day of February,
1800. WILLIAM ROBINSON.
The deposition of Colonel William M'Kee. of Lincoln County, Kentucky,
communicated by ikc Hon. John Brown, one of the Senaiori in Congress
from Kentucky.
Colonel William M'Kee of Lincoln county, declareth, that in autumn,
1774. he commanded as a captain in the Bottetourt Regiment under
Colonel Andrew Lewis, afterwards General Lewis; and fought in the
battle at the mouth of Kanhaway, on the loth of October in that year.
That after the battle. Colonel Lewis marched the militia across the
Ohio, and proceeded towards the Shawnee towns on Sciota; but before
they reached the towns. Lord Dunmore, who was Commander-in-Chief
of the army, and had, with a large part thereof, been up the Ohio about
Hockhockin, when the battle was fought, overtook the militia, and
informed them of his having since the battle concluded a treaty with
the Indians; upon which the whole army returned.
And the said William declareth that, on the evening of that day 00
which the junction of the troops took place, he was in company with
Lord Dunmore and several of his officers, and also conversed with
several who had been with Lord Dunmore at the treaty; said William,
on that evening, heard repeated conversations concerning an extra-
ordinary speech at the treaty, or sent there by a chieftain of the Indians
named Logan, and heard several attempts at a rehearsal of it. The
speech as rehearsed excited the particular attention of said Williani,
and the most striking members of it were impressed on his memory.
Appendix 3^9
And he declares that when Thomas Jefferson's " Notes on Virginia'*
^were published, and he came to peruse the same, he was struck with
"the speech of Logan as there set forth, as being substantially the same,
and accordant with the speech he heard rehearsed in the camp as afore-
said. Signed, WILLIAM M'KEE.
Danville, December i8th, 1799.
We certify that Colonel William M'Kee this day signed the original
certificate, of which the foregoing is a true copy, in our presence.
JAMES SPEED, Junior.
J. H. DEWEES.
Th€ Certifkaie of tks Honorable Stevens Thompson Mason, one of the
Senators in Congress from the State of Virginia.
"Logan's Speech, delivered at the Treaty, after the battle in which
Colonel Lewis was killed in 1774."
[Here follows a copy of the speech agreeing verbatim with that
printed in Dixon and Hunter's A^rginia Gazette of February 4, 1775,
under the Williamsburg head. At the foot is this certificate.]
"The foregoing is a copy taken by me, when a boy, at school, in the
year 1775, or at farthest in 1776, and lately found in an old pocket^
book, containing papers and manuscripts of that period.
"January aoth, 1798. STEVENS THOMPSON MASON,"
A copy of Logan*s speech, ghen by the late General Mercer, who fell in the
battle of Trenton^ Jamuny ijy6, to Lewis Willis, Esquire, of Preder'
icksburg, in Virginia, upmfords of twenty years ago, (from ihe date of
F^yruary 1798,) communicated through Mann Page, Esquire.
"The qicech of hogam, a Shawanese chief, to Lord Uunmf/re/*
[Here follows a copy of the speech, stgrtttng yet^rtittm with that in
the Notes on Vxrgmia.]
A copy o€ Logam's speech from the Notes on Virgxnta having 1^*^
sent to Captain Andrew Rodgen, ol Kentucky, he subjoined the PAl^yw-
In the year 1774 I was out w:*>b th* Virj^r^U V^/J«r»t>Mrf ♦. *nd wa» in
tlie battle at the month of Canhaw««, urA taiXf^ft^'U i^uf^^^^U^ '/'/«r
Jefferson's Works
the Ohio to the Indian towns. I did not hear Logan make the aho^
speech; but from the unanimous accounts of those in camp, I hai
reason to think that said speech was delivered to Dunmore. I
ber to have heard the very things contained in the above
related by some of our people in camp at that time.
ANDREW RODGER&I
Tkt declaration of Mr. Jokrt Heckewelder. for several years
from the society of Moravians, among the tveslem Indians.
In the spring of the year 1774. at a time when the interior part of
the Indian country all seemed peace and tranquil, the villagers on the
M-Jsldngum were suddenly alarmed by two runners (Indians), who
reported "that the Big Knife (Virginians) had attacked the Mingo
settlement, on the Ohio, and butchered even the women with their
children in their arms, and that Logan's family were among the slain."
A day or two after this several Mingoes made their appearance; amonf;
whom were one or two wounded, who had in this manner effected their
escape. Exasperated to a high degree, after relating the particular
of this transaction, (which for humanity's sake I forbear to mention,)
after resting some time on the treachery of the Big Knives, of thdr
barbarity to those who are their friends, they gave a figurative
description of the perpetrators; named Cresap as having been at the
head of this murderous act. They made mention of nine being killed,
and two wounded; and were prone to take revenge on any person of
a white color; for which reason the missionaries had to shut theia-
selves up during their stay. From this time terror daily increased.
The exasperated friends and relations of these murdered women and
children, with the nations to whom they belonged, passed and repassed
through the villages of the quiet Delaware towns, in search of white
people, making use of the most abusive language to these (the Dela-
wares), since they would not join in taking revenge. Traders had
either to hide themselves, or try to get out of the country the best way
they could. And even at this time, they yet found such true frieoda
among the Indians, who. at the risk of their own lives, conducted them,
with the best part of their property, to Pittsburg; although, (shamehil
to relate!) these benefactors were, on their return from this mission,
waylaid, and iired upon by whites, while crossing Big Bea%-er in a
canoe, and had one man. a Shawanese. named Silverheels. (a man <rf
note in his nation.) wounded in the body. This exasperated the Shaw>
appendix
omuch, that they, oral least a great par( of them, immediately
took an active part in the cause; and the Mingoes, (nearest connected
^''ith the former.) became unbounded in their rage. A Mr. Jones, son
to a respectable family of this neighborhood (Bethlehem), who was
t«en on his passage up Muskinghum. with two other men, was fortu-
*>a.tely espied by a friendly Indian woman, at the falls of Muskinghum;
w^lio through motives of humanity alone, informed Jones of the nature
of the times, and thai he was running right in the hands of the enraged;
and put him on the way, where he might perhaps escape the vengeance
'^f the strolling parties. One of Jones's men, fatigued by travelling in
the woods, declared he would rather die than remain longer in this
si tualion; and hitting accidentally on a path, he determined to follow
tHe same. A few hundred yards decided his fate. He was met by a
pa.rty of about fifteen Mingoes. (and as it happened, almost WTthio
si ght of While Eyes town.) murdered, and cut lo pieces; and his limbs
a.T»d flesh stuck up on the bushes. White Eyes, on hearing the scalp
a^Uoo. ran immediately out with his men, to see what the matter was;
*rid finding the mangled body in this condition, gathered the whole
^rid buried it. But next day when some of the above party found on
tH«r return the body interred, they instantly lore up the ground, and
E^i^deavored to destroy or scatter about, the parts at a greater distance.
'V'hile Eyes, with the Delawarcs, watching Iheir motions, gathered and
"^terred the same a second time. The war party finding this out, ran
'Uriouj^ly into the Delaware village, exclaiming against the conduct
'^f these people, setting forth the cruelty of Cresap towards women and
c^Jlildren, and declaring at the same time, that they would, in conse-
■^tience of this cruelty, serve every white man they should meet with
"1 the same manner. Times grew worse and worse, war parties went
'^*Ul and took scalps and prisoners, and the latter, in hopes it might be
'^'' .wrvice in saving their lives, exclaimed against the barbarous act
^^hich gave rise to these troubles and against the perpetrators. The
^ame of Great-house was mentioned as having been accomplice lo
'-^'TJsap. So detestable became the latter name among the Indians,
'■"at 1 have freijuently heard them apply it to the worst of things;
*lsoin quieting or stilling their children. I have heard them say, hush!
Cresap will fetch you; whereas otherwise, they name the Owl. The
Warriors having afterwards bent their course more toward the Ohio,
snd down the same, peace seemed with us already on the return; and
this became the case soon after the decided battle fought on the Kan-
ksway. Traders, returning now into the Indian country again, related
the ttory of the above-mentioned massacre, alter the sawe matter. o«d
Vilh ike same words, we have heard it related hitherto. So the report
3a» Jefferson's Works
remained, and was believed by all who resided in the Indian country
So it was represented numbers of times, in the peaceable Delaware
towns, by the enemy. So the Christian Indians were continually told
they would one day be served. With this impression, a petty chid
hurried all the way from Wabash in 1779. to take his relations (who
werehving with the peaceable Del aw ares near Coshachking) outof tbe
reach of the Big Knives, in whose friendship he never more would plwe
any conlidence. And when this man found that his numerous rdatioM
would not break friendship with the Americans, nor be removed, be
took two of his relations (women) off by force, saying. "The wholecrop
should not be destroyed; I will have seed out of it for a new crop:"
alluding to, and repeatedly reminding those of the family of Login,
who he said had been real friends to the whites, and yet were cniell)'
murdered by them.
In Detroit, where I arrived the same Spring, the report respectin|
the murder of the Indians on the Ohio (amongst whom was Logsn'i
family) was the same as related above; and on my return to the UoiUd
States in the fall of 1786, and from that time, whenever and whereVtr
in my presence, this subject was the topic of conversation, I found lb(
report still the same: viz. that a person, bearing the name of Cres^,
was the author, or perpetrator of this deed.
Logan was the second son of Shikellemus, a celebrated chief of iht
Cayuga nation. This chief, on account of his attachment to the Eng-
lish government, was of great service to the country, having the con-
fidence of all the Six Nations, as well as that of the English, he was vfij
useful in settUng disputes, &c., Sec, He was highly esteemed by Con-
rad Wdsser, Esq,, (anofficer for government in fhe Indian department),
with whom he acted conjunctly, and was faithful unto his death. Hi*
residence was at Shamokin. where he took great delight in acts of hi«-
pitality to such of the white people whose business led them that wjy.
His name and fame were so high on record, that Count Zinzendorf.
when in this country in 174a, became desirous of seeing him. W*
actually visited him at his house in Shamokin,' About the year i;;'i
Logan was introduced to me by an Indian friend, as son to the Itw
reputable chief Shikellemus, and as a friend to the while people. In
the course of conversation I thought him a man of superior lilciu
' The preceding account of Shikellemus, (Logan's father,) is copinl
from manuscripts of the Rev. C. Pyrlceus, written between the ytin
1741 and 1748.
' See G. H. Hoskiel's history of the Mission of the United Brellil«.
&c. Part II. Chap. 11, Page 31,
Appendix
than Indians gmierally w«re. The subject turning on vice and immo-
rality, he confessed his too great share of this, especially his fondness
for liquor. He exclaimed against the white peopla for imposing liquors
upon the Indians; he otherwise admired their ingenuity: spoke of
gentlemen, but observed the Indians unfortunately had but tew of
these as their neighbors, &c. He spoke of his friendship to the white
fjeople, wished always to be a neighbor to them, intended to settle on
the Ohio, below Big Beaver; was (to the best of my recollection) then
encamped at the mouth of this river, (Beaver,) urged me to pay him
a visit. &c. Note. I was then living at the Moravian town on this
river, in the neighborhoed of Cuskuskee, In April, 1773, while on my
passage down the Ohio for Muskinghum. I called at Logan's settle-
ment; where I received every civility I could expect from such of the
family as were at home.
Indian reports concerning Logan, after the death of his family, ran
to this: that he exerted himself during the Shawanese war. (then so
called,) to take all the revenge he could, declaring he had lost all con-
fidence in the white people. At the time of negotiation, he declared
his reluctance in laying down the hatchet, not having (in his opinion)
yet taken ample satisfaction: yet. for the sake of the nation, he would
doit. His expressions, from time to time, denoted a deep melancholy.
Life (said he) had become a torment to him; he knew no more what
pleasure was: he thought it had been better if he had never existed,
&c.. &c. Report further states, that he became in some measiu"e
delirious, declared he would kill himself, went to Detroit, drank very
freely, and did not seem to care what he did, and what became of
himself. In this condition he left Detroit, and on his way between
that place and Miami was murdered. In October, 1781, (while as
prisoner on my way to Detroit,) I was shown the spot where this should
have happened. Having had an opportunity since last June of seeing
the Rev. David Zeisberger. senior, missionary to the Delaware nation
of Indians, who had resided among Che same on Muskinghum, at the
time when the miu-der was committed on the family of Logan, I put
the following questions to him: first, who he had understood it was
that had committed the murder on Logan's family? and secondly.
whether he had any knowledge of a speech sent to Lord Dtmmore by
Logan, in consequence of this affair. &c. To which Mr. Zeisberger's
answer was: That he had, from that lime when this murder was com-
mitted to the present day, firmly believed the common report (which
be had never heard contradicted) viz., that one Cresap was the author
of the massacre; or that it was committed by his orders; and that he
bad known Logan as a boy, had frequently seen him from that time.
Jefferson's Works
and doubted not in the least, that Logan had sent such a speech to
Lord Dunmore on this occasion, as he understood from me had been
published; that expressions o! that kind from Indians were familisr
to hira; that Logan in particular was a man of quick comprehension,
gcKid judgment and talents, Mr. ZeJsberger has been a missionary
upwards of fifty years; his age is about eighty: speaks both the lan-
guage of the Onondagoes and the Delawarcs, resides at present cm
the Muskinghum. with his Indian congregation; and is beloved and
respected by all who are acqtiainted with him.
JOHN HECKEW ELDER.
From this leslimoity the following hisloricitl statemenl rfsuUt: ^H
In April or May. i J74. a number of people being engaged in looking
out tor settlements on the Ohio, information was spread among them,
that the Indians had robbed some of the land-jobbers, as those adven-
turers were called. Alarmed for their safety, they collected together
at Wheeling Creek. 'Hearing there that there were two Indians and
some traders a little above Wheeling, Captain Michael Cresap, one of
the party, proposed to waylay and kill them. The proposition, thougb
opposed, was adopted. A party went up the river, with Cresap at their
head, and killed the two Indians.
'The same afternoon it was reported that there was a party of
Indians on the Ohio, a little below Wheeling. Cresap and his party
immediately proceeded down the river, and encamped on the bank.
The Indians passed him peaceably, and encamped at the mouth of
Grave Creek, a little below. Cresap and his party attacked them, and
killed several. The Indians returned the fire, and wounded one ol
Cresap's party. Among the slain of the Indians were some of Logan'*
family. Colonel Zane indeed expresses a doubt of it; but it is affirmed
by Huston and Chambers. Smith, one of the murderers, said thcj
were known and acknowledged to be Logan's friends, and the party
themselves generally said so; boasted of it in presence of Cresap; pre-
tended no provocation; and expressed their expectations that Logan
would probably avenge their deaths.
Pursuing these examples. 'Daniel Great-house, and one Tomlinsoo,
* First murder of the two Indians by Cresap.
' Second murder on Grave Creek,
'Massacre at Baker's Bottom, opposite Yellow Creek, by Great-
Appendix 325
who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, and were
in habits of friendship with them, collected, at the house of Polke, on
Cross Creek, about i6 miles from Baker's Bottom, a party of 3a men.
Their object was to attack a hunting encampment of Indians, consist-
ing of men, women, and children, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, some
distance above Wheeling. They proceeded, and when arrived near
Baker's Bottom, they concealed themselves, and Great-house crossed
the river to the Indian camp. Being among them as a friend, he
counted them, and found them too strong for an open attack with his
force. While here, he was cautioned by one of the women not to stay, for
that the Indian men were drinking, and having heard of Cresap's murder
of their relations at Grave Creek, were angry, and she pressed him in a
friendly manner, to go home; whereupon, after inviting them to come
over and drink, he returned to Baker's, which was a tavern, and desired
that when any of them should come to his house he would give them
as much rtmi as they would drink. When his plot was ripe, and a
sufficient ntunber of them were collected at Baker's, and intoxicated,
he and his party fell on them and massacred the whole, except a little
girl, whom they preserved as a prisoner. Among these was the very
woman who had saved his life, by pressing him to retire from the
drunken wrath of her friends, when he was spying their camp at Yellow
Creek. Either she herself, or some other of the murdered women, was
the sister of Logan, very big with child, and inhumanly and indecently
butchered; and there were others of his relations who fell here.
The party on the other side of the river,' alarmed for their fricmds
at Baker's, on hearing the report of the guns, manned two canoes and
sent them over. They were received, as they approached the shore,
by a well-directed fire from Great-house's party, which killed some,
wounded others, and obliged the rest to put back. Baker tells us
there were twelve killed, and six or eight wounded.
This commenced the war, of which Logan's war-club and note left
in the house of a murdered family, was the notification. In the course
of it, during the ensuing summer, a great number of innocent men,
women, and children, fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife
of the Indians, till it was arrested in the autumn following by the battle
at Point Pleasant, and the pacification with I»rd Ehinmore, at which
the speech of Logan was ddivered.
Of the gentiiiieness of that speech nothing need be said. It was
known to the camp where it was d<f:I;verc'd; it was given out Yjy Lr/rd
Danmore and his officers; it ran through the yfafMc papers of these
^ Fourth mttrder, by Great-house.
326
Jefferson's Works
States; was rehearsed as an exercise at schools; pubtisbed in the
papers and periodical works of Europe; and all this, a dozen years
before it was copied into the Notes on Virginia. In line. General Gibson
concludes the question for ever, by declaring that he received it from
Logan's band, delivered it to Lord Dunmore, translated it f«r him. and
that the copy in the Notes on Virginia is a faithful copy.
The popular account of these transactions, as stated in the Notes on
Virginia, appears, on collecting exact information, imperfect and
erroneous in its details. It was the belief of the day; but how far its
errors were to the prejudice of Cresap, the reader will now judge. That
he, and those under him, murdered two Indians above Wheeling; that
they murdered a large number at Grave Creek, among whom were a
part of the family and relations of Logan, cannot be questioned; and
as little that this led to the massacre of the rest of the family at Yellow
Creek, Logan imputed the whole to Cresap, in his war-note and peace-
speech: the Indians generally imputed it to Cresap; Lord Dunmore
and his officers imputed it to Cresap; the country, with one accord,
imputed it to him: and whether he were innocent, let the univenal
verdict now declare.
Appendix
Tke dtclaratioH of yokn Sapfitigton, received ajter the publication of the
preceding Appendix.
I. JOHN SAPPINGTON. declare myself to be intimately acquainted
with all the circumstances respecting the destruction of Logan's
family, and do give in the following narrative, a true statement of
that aflair;
" Logan's family (it it was his family) was not killed by Cresap, nor
with his knowledge, nor by his consent, but by the Great-houses and
their associates. They were killed 30 miles above Wheeling, near the
mouth of Yellow Cre*k, Logan's camp was on one side o£ the river
Ohio, and the house, where the murder was committed, opposite to it
on the other side. They had encamped there only four or five days,
and during that time had lived peaceably and neighbourly with the
whites on the opposite side, until the very day the affair happened, A
little before the period alluded to, letters had been received by the
inhabitants from a man of great influence in that country, and who
was then, I believe, at Captcener, informing them that war was at
hand, and desiring them to be on their guard. In consequence of those
letters and other rumors of the same import, almost all the inhabitants
fied for safety into the settlements. It was at the house of one Baker
Ihe murder was committed. Baker was a man who sold rum, and the
Indians had made frequent visits at his house, induced, probably, by
Iheir fondness for that liquor. He had been particularly desired by
Cresap to remove and take away his rum. and he was actually prepar-
ing to move at the time of the murder. The evening before, a squaw
eame over to Baker's house, and by her crying seemed to be in great
distress. The cause of her uneasiness being asked, she refused to tell;
but getting Baker's wife alone, she told her that the Indians were going
to kill her and all her family the next day. that she loved her, did not
wish her to be killed, and therefore told her what was intended, that she
inight save herself. In consequence of this information, Baker got a
number of men, to the amount of twenty-one, to come to his house,
and they wre all there before morning, A council was held, and it
■was det^ ..ned that the men should lie concealed in the back apart-
ment; tJiatif the Indians did come, and behaved themselves peaceably,
they should not be molested ; but if not, the men were to show them-
selves, and act accordingly. Early in the morning, seven Indians,
(our men and three squaws, came over. Logan's brother was one of
them. They immediately got rum. and all, except Logan's brother,
b«came very much intoxicated. At this time all the men were con-
3^8 Jefferson's Works
cealed. except the man of the house, Baker, and two others who star'd
out with him. Those Indians came unarmed. After some lime
Logan's brother took down a coat and hat, belonging to Baker's
brother-in-law, who Hved with him, and put them on, and setting his
«rms a-kimbo, began to strut about, till at length coming up to one
of the men, he attempted to strike him, saying, " White man, son of a
bitch." The white man, whom he treated thus, kept out of his way
for some time; but growing irritated, he jumped to his gun. and shot
the Indian as he was making to the door with the coat and hat on him.
The men who lay concealed then rushed out, and killed the whole of
them, excepting one child, which I believe is alive yet. But before
this happened, one with two, the other with five Indians, all naked.
painted, and armed completely for war, were discovered to start from
the shore on which Logan's camp was. Had it not been for this cir-
cumstance, the white men would not have acted as they did; but this
confirmed what the squaw had told before. The white men, having
killed, as aforesaid, the Indians in the house, ranged themselves along
the bank of the river, to receive the canoes. The canoe with the two
Indians came near, being the foremost. Our men fired upon them
and killed them both. The other canoe then went back. After this,
two other canoes started, the one containing eleven, the other seven,
Indians, painted and armed as the first. They attempted to land
below our men. but were fired upon; had one killed, and relrealcd.
at the same time firing back. To the best of my recollection there
were three of the Great-houses engaged in this business. This is a
true representation of the affair from beginning to end. 1 was inti-
mately acquainted with Cresap, and know he had no hand in that.
transaction. He told me himself afterwards, at Redstone Old Fort,
that the day before Logan's people were killed, he, with a small party,
had an engagement with a party of Indians on Captcener, about forty-
four miles lower down, Logan's people were killed at the mouth of
Yellow Creek, on the 14th of May, 1774; and the 33d. the day before,
Cresap was engaged as already slated, I know, likewise, that he was
generally blamed for it, and believed by all who were not acquainted
with thedrcumstanccs to have been the perpetrator of it. I know that
he despised and hated the Great-houses ever afterwards on account
of it. I was intimately acquainted with General Gibson, and served
tmder him during the late war. and I have a discharge from him now
lying in the land-office at Richmond, to which I refer any person for
my character, who might be disposed to scruple my veracity. I was
likewise at the treaty held by Lord Dunmore with the Indians, at
Chelicothc. As for the speech said to have been dchvered by Logan
ApjDfbndix 3^9
f
on that occasion, it might have been, or might not, for anything I
know, as I never heard of it till long afterwards. I do not believe that
Logan had any relations killed, except his brother. Neither of the
squaws who were killed was his wife. Two of them were old women,
and the third, with her child, which was saved, I have the best reason
in the world to believe was the vnte and child of General Gibson. I
know he educated the child, and took care of it, as if it had been his
own. Whether Logan had a wife or not, I can't say ; but it is probable
that as he was a chief, he considered them all as his people. All this I
am ready to be qualified to at any time.
Attest, Samuel M'Kbb, Jimr.
JOHN SAPPINGTON.
Madison County, Feb. 13th, 1800.
I do certify further, that the above-named John Sappington told
me, at the same time and place at which he gave me the above narra*
tivc, that he himself was the man who shot the brother of Logan in the
house, as above related, and that he likewise killed one of the Indians
in one of the canoes, which came over from the opposite shore.
He likewise told me, that Cresap never said an angry word to him
about the matter, although he was frequently in company with Cresap,
and indeed had been, and continued to be, in habits of intimacy with
that gentleman, and was always befriended by him on every occasion.
He further told me, that after they had perpetrated the murder, and
were flying into the settlement, he met with Cresap (if I recollect right,
at Redstone Old Fort) ; and gave him a scalp, a very large fine one, as
he expressed it, and adorned with silver. This scalp, I think he told
me, was the scalp of Logan's brother; though as to this I am not abso-
lutely certain.
Certified by
SAMUEL M'KEE, Junr.
i
1
f
<:rnfjhA ndoL
A MANUAL
OF
PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
INTRODUCTION.
Tes Constituti<wi of the United States, establishing a Legislature for
the Union under certain forms, authorizes each branch of it " to deter-
mine the niles of its own proceedings." The Senate have accordingly
formed some rules for its own government: but those going only to few
cases, they have referred to the decision of their President, without
debate and without appeal, all questions of order arising either under
their own rules, or where they have provided none. This places under
the discretion of the President a very extensive 6dd of decision, and
one which, irregularly exercised, would have a powerful eftcct on the
proceedings and determinations of the House, The President must
feel, wdghtily and seriously, this confidence in his discretion: and the
necessity of recurring, for its government, to some known system of
rules, that he may neither leave himself free to indulge caprice or pas-
sion, nor open to the imputation of them. But to what system of
rules is he to recur, as supplementary to those of the Senate? To this
there can be hut one answer: to the systems of regulations adopted by
the government of some one of the parliamentary bodies within
these States, or of that which has served as a prototype to most of
them. This last is the model which we have studied; while we are
little acquainted with the modifications of it in our several Stales. It
is deposited, too. in publications possessed by many, and open to all.
Its rules are probably as wisely constructed for governing the debates
of a considerative body, and obtaining its true sense, as any which can
become known to us; and the acquiescence of the Senate hitherto
under the references to them, has given them the sanction of their
approbation.
Considering, therefore, the law of proceedings in the Senate as com-
posed of the precepts of the Constitution, the regulations of the Senate,
and where these are silent, of the rules of Parliament, I have here en-
deavored to collect and digest so much of these as is called for in ordi-
nary practice, collating the parliamentary with the senatorial rules,
both where they agree and where they vary. 1 have done this, as well
to have them at hand for my own government, as to deposit with the
Senate the standard by which I judge and am willing to be judged.
I could not doubt the necessity of quoting the sources of my intorma-
Introduction
4
tion; among which Mr. Hatsel's moat valuable book is
but as he haa only treated some general beads. [ have been obliged to
recur to other authorities, in support of a number of common ru3es of
practice to which his plan did not descend. Sometimes each authority
cited supports the whole passage. Sometimes it rests on all taken
together. Sometimes the authority goes only to a part of the text.
the residue rules and principles. For some
of the most 1 authority is or can be quoted:
no writer t cy to repeat what all were pre-
stuned to k. ese must rest on their notoriety.
I am aw xa be produced in opposition to
the rules 1 JBnlary, An attention to dates
will geticTt- ?he proceedings of Parliament in
ancient tin le crude, multitonn, and embar-
rassing. ' constantly advancing towards
uniformit) nr obtained a degree of aptitude
to their dt O be desired or expected.
Yet I an rfbelieving. that I may not have
mistaken tne paruameiitary pratvite in some cases; and especially in
those minor forms, which, being practised daily, are supposed known
to everybody, and therefore have not been committed to writing. Our
resources in this quarter of the globe, for obtaining information on that
part of the subject, are not perfect. But I have begun a sketch, which
those who come after me will successively correct and (ill up. till a code
of rules shall be formed for the use of the Senate, the effects of which
may be accuracy in business, economy of time, order, imiformity. and
impartiality.
The rules and practices peculiar to the Senate are printed in small
type. Those of Parliament are in large.
^
a manual of parliamentary
practice;
IMPORTANCE OF RULES.
THE IMPORTANCE OP ADHERING TO RULES,
Mr. Onslow, the ablest among the Speakers of the
House of Commons, used to say, " It was a maxim
he had often heard when he was a young man,
from old and experienced members, that nothing
tended more to throw power into the hands of admin-
istration and those who acted with the majority of
(JVDCB Wythe] ' Pheladblphia, February 28, 1800.
Mv Dbah Sir: — I know how precious your time is, and how exdu-
Mvely you devote it to the duties of your ofRce, yet I venture to ask a
few hours or minutes of it on motives of public service, as well as
private friendship. I will explain the occasion of the application.
You recollect enough of the old Congress to remember that their mode
of managing the business of the House was not only unparliamentary,
but that the forms were so awkward and inconvenient that it was
impossible sometimes to get at the true sense of the majority. The
House of Representatives of the United Slates are now pretty much
in the same situation. In the Senate it is in our power to get into a
better way; our ground is this: The Senate have estabhshed a few
rules for their government, and have subjected the decisions on these
and on all other potnti of order without debate, and without appeal, to
the judgment of their President, he. for his own sake, as well as theirs,
must prefer recurring to some system of rules ready formed ; and there
can be no question that the Parliamentary rules are the best known
33^
Jefferson's Works
I
the House of Commons, than a neglect of, or depari
ture from, the rules of proceeding; that these fon
to us for managing the debates, and obtaining the sense of a deliber-
ative body. 1 have therefore made them my rule of decision, rejecting
those of the old Congress altogether, and it gives entire satisfaction to
the Senate: insomuch that we shall not only have a good system there,
but probably, by the example of its effects, produce a conformity in
the other branch. But in the course of this business I find perjilex-
ities, having for twenty years been out of dehberativc bodies, and
become rusty as to many points of proceeding; and so little has
Parliamentary branch of the law been attended to, that I nt
find no person here, but not even a book to aid me. I had,
early period of life, read a good deal on the subject, and common-
placed what I read. This common-place has been my pillar; but
there are many questions of practice on which that is silent, some of
them are so minute indeed, and belong too much to every-day's prac-
tice, that they have never been thought worthy of being written down,
yet from desuetude they have slipped my memory. You will see by
the enclosed paper what they are. I know ivith what pain you 'write;
therefore I have left a margin in which you can write a simple negatii
oraifirmative opposite every position, or perhaps, with as little troul "
correct the text by striking out or interlining. This is what I
earnestly to solicit from you, and I would not have given you
trouble it I had had any other resource. But you are, in fact, the onljr'
spark of Parliamentary science now remaining to us. 1 ani the more
anxious, because I have been forming a manual of Parliamentary law
which 1 mean to deposit with the Senate as the standard by which I,
judge, and am willing to be judged. Though I should be opposed
its being printed, yet it may be done perhaps without my
and in that case I should be sorry indeed should it ^o out with ei
that a Tyro should not have committed. And yet it is precisely th(
to which I am most exposed. I am less afraid as to important matters.
because for them I have printed authorities; but it is those small
matters of daily practice, which twenty years ago were familiar to me.
but have in that time escaped my memory. I hope under these cir-
cumstances you will pardon the trouble I propose to you in the enclosed
paper. I am not pressed in time, so that your leisure will be sufBcient
for me. Accept the salutations of grateful and sincere frienc
and attachment, and many prayers for your
from. Dear Sir, Yours affectionately.
; but
tie of
ou t^^l
leonlf
■hich I^^
>scdU^H
'tho«^^
and sincere friendGhi^^^_
: health and happiiiq|^^|
Parliamentary Manual 337
as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check,
and control, on the actions of the majority ; and that
they were, in many instances, a shelter and protec-
tion to the minority, against the attempts of power.'*
So far the maxim is certainly true, and is foimded
in good sense, that as it is always in the power of the
majority, by their nimibers, to stop any improper
measures proposed on the part of their opponents,
the only weapons by which the minority can defend
themselves against similar attempts from those in
power, are the forms and rules of proceeding, which
have been adopted as they were found necessary
from time to time, and are become the law of the
house; by a strict adherence to which, the weaker
party can only be protected from those irregularities
and abuses which these forms were intended to check,
and which the wantonness of power is but too often
apt to suggest to large and successful majorities. — 2
Hats. 171, 172.
And whether these forms be in all cases the most
rational or not, is really not of so great importance.
It is much more material that there should be a rule
to go by, than what that rule is ; that there may be a
imiformity of proceeding in business, not subject to
the caprice of the Speaker, or captiousness of the
members. It is very material that order, decency,
and regularity be preserved in a dignified public
body. — 2 Hats. 149. And in 1698 the Lords say the
reasonableness of what is desired is never considered
by us, for we are boimd to consider nothing but what
VOL. II — 22
338 Jefferson's Works
is usual. Matters of form are essential to govern-
ment, and 'tis of consequence to be in the right. All
the reason for forms is custom, and the law of forms
is practice; the reason is quite out of doors. Some
particular customs may not be groimded on reason,
and no good account can be given of them ; and yet
many nations are zealous for them ; and Englishmen
are as zealous as any others to pursue their old forms
and methods. — 4 Hats, 258.
SECTION II.
LEGISLATURE.
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress
of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of
Representatives. — Constitution of the United StcUes, Article I., Sec-
tion I.
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for
their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury
of the United States. — Const. U. 5., Art. I. Sec. 6.
For the powers of Congress, see the following Articles and Sections
of the Constitution of the United States: — Art. I., Sec. 4, 7, 8, 9.—
Art. II., Sec. i, 2. — Art. III., Sec. 3. — Art. IV., Sec. i, 3, 5. — And all
the Amendments.
SECTION III.
PRIVILEGE.
The privileges of the members of Parliament,
from small and obscure beginnings, have been ad-
vancing for centuries, with a firm and never-yielding
pace. Claims seem to have been brought forward
from time to time, and repeated till some example
of their admission enabled them to build law on that
Parliamentary Manual 339
example. We can only, therefore, state the point
of progression at which they now are. It is now
acknowledged, ist. That they are at all times ex-
empted from question elsewhere, for anything said
in their own house : that during the time of privilege,
2d. Neither a member himself, his wife,* or his ser-
vants, Ifamiliares sui\ for any matter of their own,
may be' arrested on mesne process, in any civil suit :
3d. Nor be detained under execution, though levied
before the time of privilege: 4th. Nor impleaded,
cited or subpoenaed, in any court: sth. Nor sum-
moned as a witness or juror: 6th. Nor may their
lands or goods be distrained : 7th. Nor their persons
assaulted, or characters traduced. And the period
of time, covered by privilege, before and after the
session, with the practice of short prorogations under
the connivance of the Crown, amounts in fact to a
perpetual protection against the course of justice.
In one instance, indeed, it has been relaxed by 10 G.
3, c. 50, which permits judiciary proceedings to go
on against them. That these privileges must be
continually progressive, seems to result from their
rejecting all definition of them; the doctrine being,
that " their dignity and independence are preserved
by keeping their privileges indefinite ;" and that " the
maxims upon which they proceed, together with the
method of proceeding, rest entirely in their own
breast, and are not defined and ascertained by any
particular stated laws." — i Blackstone, 163, 164.
* Order of the House of Commons, 1663, July 16.
• Elsynge, 217; i Hats. 21; i Grey's Deb. 133.
340
Jefferson's Works
It was probably from this view of the encroaching character o{
prii'ilege, that the framers of our Constitution, in their care to providt
that the laws shall bind equally on all, and especially that those who
make them shall not be exempt themselves from their operation, have
only privileged "Senators and Representatives" themselves from the
single act of arrest in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of
the peace, during their attendance at the session of their respective
Houses, and in going to and reluming from the same, and from being
questioned in any other place for any speech or debate in either House.
— CoHsl. U. S., Art, I. Sec. 6. Under the general authority "to make
all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers
given them," Const. U. S., Art. II., Sec. 8, they may provide by law
the details which may be necessary for giving full effect to the enjoy-
ment of this privilege. No such law being as yet made, it seems to
stand at present on the following ground: — i. The act of arrest is void.
ab initio, i Stra. 989. — j. The member arrested may be discharged on
motion, i Bl. 166. ». Stra. 990; or by Habeas Corpus under the Federal
or State authority, as the case may be; or by a writ of privilege out of
the Chancery. 1 Stra. 989, in those States which have adopted that
part of the laws of England. — Orders of the House of Com. 1 350, Feb
»o. — 3. The arrest being unlawful, is a trespass for which the officer
and others concerned are liable to action or indictment in the ordinary
courts of justice, as in other cases of unauthorized arrest. — 4. The
court before which the process is returnable, is bound to act as in
other cases of unauthorized proceeding, and liable also, as in other
similar cases, to have their proceedings stayed or corrected by the
Superior Courla.
The time necessary for going to and returning from Congress not
being defined, it will of course be judged of in every particular case bj
those who will have to decide the case.
While privilege was understood in England to ex-
tend, as it does here, only to exemption from arrest
eundo, morayido, et redeundo, the House of Commons
themselves decided that " a convenient time was to
be understood." — 1580 — i Hats. 99, 100, Nor is the
law so strict in point of time as to require the party
to set out immediately on his return, but allows him
time to settle his private affairs, and to prepare for
Parliamentary Manual 34i
his journey; and does not even scan his road very
nicely, nor forfeit his protection for a little deviation
from that which is most direct ; some necessity per-
haps constraining him to it. — 2 Stra. 986, 987.
This privilege from arrest, privileges of course
against all process, the disobedience is punishable by
an attachment of the person ; as a subpcena ad
respondendum, or testificandum, or a summons on
a jury ; and with reason, because a member has supe-
rior duties to perform in another place.
When a Representative is withdrawn from his seat by summons,
the 47,700 people whom he represents lose their voice in debate and
vote, as they do in his voluntary absence: when a Senator is with-
drawn by summons, his State loses half its voice in debate and vote,
as it does in his voluntary absence. The enormous disparity of evil
admits no comparison.
So far there will probably be no difference of opinion as to the priv-
ileges of the two Houses of Congress; but in the following cases it is
otherwise. In Dec. 1795, the House of Representatives committed
two persons of the names of Randall and Whitney, for attempting to
corrupt the integrity of certain members, which they considered as
a contempt and breach of the privileges of the House; and the facts
being proved. Whitney was detained in confinement a fortnight, and
Randall three weeks, and was reprimanded by the Speaker. In
March, 1756. the House of Representatives voted a challenge given
to a member of their House, to be a breach of the privileges of the
House; the satisfactory apologies and acknowledgments being made,
no further proceedings were had. The Editor of the Aurora having
in his paper of Feb. 19. 1800, inserted some paragraphs defamatory
to the Senate, and failed in his appearance, he was ordered to be
committed. In debating the legality of this order, it was insisted
in support of it, that every man, by the law of nature, and every
body of men, possesses the right of self-defence; that all public
functionaries are essentially invested with the powers of self-pre-
servation; that they have an inherent right to do all acts necessary
to keep themselves in a condition to discharge the trusts confided
to them; that whenever authorities are given, the means of carrying
Jefferson's Works
them into execution are given by necessary implication; that thus we
see the British Parliament exercise the right of punishing contempts,
all the State Legislatures exercise the same power; and ev«ry
Court does the same; that if we have it not. we sit st the mercy
of every intruder who may enter our doors or gallery, and by noise and
tumult render proceeding in business impracticable; that if our tran-
quillity is to be perpetually disturbed by newspaper defamation, it
will not be possible to exercise our functions with the requisite coolness
and deliberation; and that we must therefore have a power to pun-
ish these disturbers of our peace and proceedings. To this it was an-
swered, that the Parliament and Courts of England have cognisance of
contempts by the express provisions of their law; that the State Legis-
latures have equal authority, because their powers are plenary; they
represent their constituents completely, and possess all their powers,
except such as their Constitutions have expressly denied them; that
the Courts of the several States have the same powers by the laws of
their States, and those of the Federal Government by the some State
laws, adopted in each State by a law of Congress; that none of these
bodies, therefore, derive those powers from natural or necessary right,
but from express law; that Congress have no such natural or necessary
power, nor any powers but such as are given them by the Constitution;
that that has given them directly exemption from personal arrest,
exemption from question elsewhere for what is said in the House, and
power over their own members and proceedings; for these, no further
law is necessary, the Constitution being the law; that, moreover, by
that article of the Constitution which authorizes them "to make all
laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers
vested by the Constitution in them," they may provide by law for an
undisturbed exercise of their functions, e. g. for the punishment of
contempts, of affrays or tumults in their presence, &c.; but, till the
law be made, it does not exist; and does not exist, from their own
neglect; that in the meantime, however, they are not unprotected,
the ordinary magistrates and courts of law being open and competent
to punish all unjustifiable disturbances or defamations, and even thdr
own sergeant, who may appoint deputies ad libitum to aid him, 3 Grey,
59, 147, 355, is equal to the smallest disturbances; that, in requiring
a previous law, the Constitution had regard to the inviolability of the
citizen as well as of the member; as, should one House, in the regular
form of a bill, aim at too broad privileges, it may be checked by the
other, and both by the President; and also as. the law being promul-
gated, the citizen will know how to avoid offence. But if one branch
may assume its own privileges without control; if it may do it on the
I.
Parliamentary Manual 343
spur of the occasion, conceal the law in its own breast, and after the
fact committed make its sentence both the law and the judgment on
that fact; il the offence is to be kept undefined, and to be declared
only ex re nata, and according to the passions of the moment, and there
be no limitation either in the manner or measiire of the punishment
the condition of the citizen will be perilous indeed. Which of these
doctrines is to {Prevail, time will decide. Where there is no fixed law,
the judgment on any particular case is the law of that single case only,
and dies with it. When a new and even a similar case arises, the
judgment which is to make, and at the same time apply, the law, is
open to question and consideration, as are all new laws. Perhaps
Congress, in the meantime, in their care for the safety of the citizens,
as well as that for their own protection, may declare by law what is
necessary and proper to enable them to carry into execution the
powers vested in them, and thereby hang up a rule for the inspection
of all, which may direct the conduct of the citizen, and at the same
time test the judgments they shall themselves pronounce in their
own case.
Privilege from arrest takes place by force of the
election; and before a return be made, a member
elected may be named of a committee, and is to
every intent a member, except that he cannot vote
until he is sworn. — Memor. 107, 108. — D'Ewes, 642.
col. 2. 653. col. I. — Pet. Miscel. Pari. 119; Lex. Pari.
c. 23; 2 Hats. 22. 62.
Every man must, at his peril, take notice who are
members of either House returned of record. — Lex.
Pari. 23, 4 — Inst. 24.
On complaint of a breach of privilege, the party
may either be summoned, or sent for in custody of
the sergeant. — i Grey, 88, 95.
The privilege of a member is the privilege of the
House. If the member waive it without leave, it is
a ground for pimishing him, but cannot in effect
waive the privilege of the House. — Grey, 140. 222.
344 Jefferson's Works
For any speech or debate in either House, they
shall not be questioned in any other place. — Const.
U. S.. Art. I. Sec. 6. 5. P. protest of Commons lo
yames I. 1621. 2 Rapin. No. 54. p. 211, 212. But
this is restrained to things done in the House in a
Parliamentary course, 1 Rush, 663. — For he is not
to have privilege contra morern parliamentariiini, to
exceed the bounds and limits of his place and duty.
— Com. p.
If an offence be committed by a member in the
House, of which the House has cognizance, it is an
infringement of their right for any person or court
to take notice of it, till the House has punished the
offender, or referred him to a due course. — Lex.
Pari. 63.
Privilege is in the power of the Hoiise, and is a
restraint to the proceeding of inferior courts; but
not of the House itself. — 2 Nalson, 450; 2 Grey^ 399.
For whatever is spoken in the House, is subject to
the censure of the House; and offences of this kind
have been severely punished, by calling the person
to the bar to make submission, committing him to
the Tower, expelling the House, &c. — Scob. 72; Lex.
Pari. c. 22.
It is a breach of order, for the Speaker to refuse
to put a question which is in order. — Hats. 175, 176;
5 Grey, 133.
And even in cases of treason, felony, and breach
of the peace, to which privilege does not extend as
to substance ; yet, in Parliament, a member is privi-
Parliamentary Manual 345
leged as to the mode of proceeding. The case is
first to be laid before the House, that it may judge
of the fact, and of the groimds of the accusation,
and how far forth the manner of the trial may
concern their privilege. Otherwise it would be in
the power of other branches of the government, and
even of every private man, under pretences of
treason, &c., to take any man from his service in
the House; and so as many, one after another, as
would make the House what he pleaseth. — Decision
of the Commons on the King's declaring Sir John
Hotham a traitor — 4 Riishw, 586. So when a member
stood indicted of felony, it was adjudged that he
ought to remain of the House till conviction. For
it may be any man's case, who is guiltless, to be
accused and indicted of felony, or the like crime. —
23 EL 1580. — D'Ewes, 283, col. i. — Lex. Pari. 133.
When it is foimd necessary for the public service
to put a member under arrest, or when, on any
public inquiry, matter comes out which may lead to
affect the person of a member, it is the practice
immediately to acquaint the House, that they may
know the reasons for such a proceeding, and take
such steps as they think proper. — 2 Hats. 259. Of
which, see many examples. — 2 Hats. 256, 257, 258.
But the commimication is subsequent to the arrest.
— I Blackst. 167.
It is highly expedient, says Hatsell, for the due
preservation of the privileges of the separate branches
of the Legislature, that neither should encroach on
346
Jefferson's Works
the other, or interfere in any matter depending before
them, so as to precUide, or even influence, that
freedom of debate, which is essential to a free council.
They are, therefore, not to take notice of any bills
or other matters depending, or of votes that have
been given, or of speeches that have been held, by
the members of either of the other branches of the
Legislature, until the same have been communicated
to them in the usual Parliamentary manner. — 2 Hats.
252, 4 Inst, 15; Seld. Jiid. 63. Thus the King's
taking notice of the bill for suppressing soldiers
depending before the House, his proposing a pro-
visional clause for a bill before it was presented to
him by the two Houses, his expressing displeasure
against some persons for matters moved in Parlia-
ment during the debate and preparation of a bill
were breaches of privilege. — 2 Nalson, 743. And in
1783, December 17, it was declared a breach of
fundamental privileges, &c., to report any opinion or
pretended opinion of the King, on any bill or pro-
ceeding depending in either House of Parliament.
with a view to influence the votes of the members.—
2 Hats. 251, 6.
SECTION IV.
ELECTIONS.
The times, places, and manner of holding elections (or Senators «nd
Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislituft
thereof: but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter sticb
regulations, except as to the place of choosing Senators. — Const. V. S.
Art. I. Sec. 4.
Parliamentary Manual 347
Each Hotise shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and quali-
fications of its own members. — Const. U. 5. Art. I. Sec. 5.
SECTION V.
QUALIFICATIONS.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legis- '
lature thereof, for six years ; and each Senator shall
have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled, in con-
sequence of the first election, they shall be divided
as eqtially as may be into three classes. The seats
of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at
the end of the second year; of the second class, at
the expiration of the fourth year; and of the third
class, at the expiration of the sixth year; so that
one-third may be chosen every second year; and if
vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise,
dtiring the recess of the Legislature of any State, the
Executive thereof may make temporary appoint-
ments, imtil the next meeting of the Legislature,
which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator, who shall not have
attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine
years a citizen of the United States, and who shall
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for
which he shall be chosen. — Const. U. 5., Art. I. Sec. 3.
The House of Representatives shall be composed
of members chosen every second year by the people
of the several States ; and the electors in each State
34S Jefferson's Works
shall have the qualifications requisite for electors oi
the most numerous branch of the Stale Legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not
have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and
been seven years a citizen of the United States, and
who sha be an inhabitant of that
State in bosen.
Repn Ct taxes shall be appor-
tioned States which may be
incKidea Ki, according to their
respecti" flhall be determined by
adding 1 r of free persons, includ-
ing thof for a term of years, and
excluding ., three-fifths of all other
persons. The actual enumeration shall be made
within three years after the first meeting of Congress
of the United States, and within every subsequent
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by
law direct. The number of Representatives shall
not exceed one for every thirty thousand ; but each
State shall have at least one Representative. — Const.
U. S. Art. I. Sec. 2.
The provisional apportionments of Representatives made in the
Constitution in 1787, and afterwards by Congress, were as follows: —
1787 1793 1801 1813
New Hampshire 3 4 5 6
Massachusetts. 8 14 17 so
Rhode Island i a a a
Connecticut 5 7 7 7
Vermont a 6 6
New York 6 10 17 a;
New Jersey, 4 5 6 6
Parliamentary Manual 349
1787 1793 1801 1813
Pennsylvania, 8 13 18 23
Delaware, i i i 2
Maryland, 6 8 9 9
Virginia, 10 19 22 23
Kentucky, 2 3 10
Tennessee, . . i 6
North Carolina 5 10 12 13
South Carolina, 5 6 8 9
Georgia, 3 2 4 6
Ohio, . . . . 6
When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the
executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies.— Cim5/. U, S. Art. I. Sec. 2.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he
'was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of
the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoltunents
whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person
holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either
house during his continuance in office. — Const. U. S. Art. I. Sec. 6.
SECTION VI.
QUORUM.
A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business;
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be
authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such
manner, and under such penalties, as each house may provide.^-Cofw/.
U. S, Art. I. Sec. 5.
In general, the chair is not to be taken till a
quorttm for business is present; unless, after due
waiting, such a quorum be despaired of, when the
chair may be taken, and the House adjourned. And
whenever, during business, it is observed that a
quorum is not present, any member may call for
the House to be coimted ; and being found deficient,
business is suspended. — 2 Hats. 125, 126.
3SO
The Pti i3ent having taken the chair, and a t(uonun being p
■the journ of the preceding day shall be read to the end. that a
mistake m y be corrected that shall have been made in the entries.
Rules of a SfnaUf. i.
fZT?r^Trf\] VII.
ich person rises up as he
; absentees are then only
made till the House be
2 absentees are called a
isent, excuses are to be
S HOUSE.
On a
is called
noted,
fully a
second
heard.-
They ons may be recognized;
the voice, in such a crowd, being an inefficient veri-
fication of their presence. But in so small a body
as the Senate of the United States, the trouble of
rising cannot be necessary.
Orders for calls on different days may subsist at
the same time. — 2 Hats. 72.
SECTION VIII.
ABSENCE.
No member shall absent himself from the service of the Senate with-
out leave of the Senate first obtained. And in case a less number than
a quorum of the Senate shall convene, they are hereby authorized to
send the sergeant-at-anns, or any other person or persons by them
authorized, for any or all absent members, as the majority of such
members present shall agree, et the expense of such absent members
respectively, unless such excuse for non-attendance shall be made, as
the Senate, when a quorum is convened, shall judge sufficient, and in
that case the expense shall be paid out of the contingent fund. And
liiis rule shall apply as well to the lirsl con^'ention of the Senate, at the
Parliamentary Manual 35 ^
l«gal time of meeting, as to each day of the session, after the hour is
^UTived to which the Senate stood adjourned. — Rule 19.
SECTION IX.
SPEAKER.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. — Const.
U. S. Art. I. Sec. 3.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President
pro tempore in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall
exercise the office of President of the United States. — Const, U. S. Art.
I. Sec. 3.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other
officers. — Const. U. S. Art. I. Sec. 3.
When but one person is proposed, and no objection
made, it has not been usual in Parliament to put
any question to the House; but without a question,
the members proposing him, conduct him to the
chair. But if there be objection, or another pro-
posed, a question is put by the clerk. — 2 Hats. 168.
As are also questions of adjournment. — 6 Grey, 406.
Where the House debated and exchanged messages
and answers with the King for a week, without a
Speaker, till they were prorogued. They have done
it de die in diem for 14 days. — i Chand. 331, 335.
In the Senate, a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-
President, is proposed and chosen by ballot. His office is understood
to be determined on the Vice-President's appearing and taking the
chair, or at the meeting of the Senate after the first recess. — Vide
Rule 23.
Where the Speaker has been ill, other Speakers
pro tempore have been appointed. Instances of this
}S' Jefferson's Works
1
are, i H. 4, Sir John Cheney, and for Sir William
Sturton, and in 15 H. 6, Sir John Tyrrell, in 1656,
Jan. 27; 1658, Mar. 9; 1659, Jan. 13.
Sir Job Charlton ill, Seymour chosen, ]
1673, Feb. 18. Notmerely
Seymour being ill, Sir Robert Sawyer [ ^*^
chosen, 1678, April 15. i6g, *74
Sawyer being ill, Seymour chosen.
Thorpe in execution, a new Speaker chosen — 31
H. VI. — 3 Grey, n; and March 14, 1694, Sir John
Trevor chosen. There have been no later instances.
— 2 Hats. 161. — 4 Inst. — 8 Lex. Pari. 263.
A Speaker may be removed at the will of the
House, and a Speaker pro tempore appointed.
2 Grey, 186; 5 Grey, 134.
SECTION X.
ADDRESS.
1
Const.
•i
The President shall, from time to time, give to the Congress iofor-
mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to iheir coasider~
ation such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. — Court.
U. S. Art. II. Sec. 3.
A joint address from both Houses of Parliament
read by the Speaker of the House of Lords. It r
be attended by both Houses in a body, or by a com-
mittee from each House, or by the two Speakers
only. An address of the House of Commons only
may be presented by the whole House, or by the
Speaker, — 9 Grey, 473; i Cliandler, 298, 301; or 1
such particular members as are of the Privy (
— 2 Hats. 278.
Parliamentary Manual 353
SECTION XI.
COMMITTEES.
Standing conMnittees, as of privileges and elec-
ticns, &c., are usiially appointed at the first meeting,
to continue through the session. The person first
J^amed is generally permitted to act as chairman,
^ut this is a matter of courtesy; every committee
tiaving a right to elect their own chairman, who
p>Tesides over them, puts questions, and reports their
E>Toceedings to the House. — 4 Inst. 11, 12; Scob. 7;
x: Grey, 112.
At these committees the members are to speak
standing, and hot sitting, though there is reason to
Conjecture it was formerly otherwise. — D'Ewes, 630,
^€)l. i; 4 Pari. Hist. 440; 2 Hats. 77.
Their proceedings are not to be published, as they
^jc of no force till confirmed by the House. — Rushw.
t>art 3, vol. 2, 74; 3 Grey, 401; Scoh. 39. Nor can
tJiey receive a petition but through the House. — 9
Grey, 412.
When a committee is charged with an inquiry, if
a member prove to be involved, they cannot pro-
ceed against him, but must make a special report to
the House; whereupon the member is heard in his
place, or at the bar, or a special authority is given
to the committee to inqtiire concerning him. — 9 Grey,
523-
So soon as the House sits, and a committee is
notified of it, the chairman is in duty bound to rise
VOL. II — 23
354
Jefferson's Works
instantly, and the members to attend the service of
the House. — 2 Nals. 19.
It appears, that on joint committee of the Lords
and Commons, each committee acted integrally in
the following instances: — 7 Grey, 261, 278. 286, 33B;
I Chandler, 357, 462. In the following instances it
does not appear whether they did or not: — 6 Grey,
129; 7 Grey, 213, 229, 321.
SECTION XII.
COMMITTEE OP THE WHOLE.
iis^^^n
The speech, messages, and other matters
concernment, are usually referred to a committee of
the whole House— 6 Grey, 311, where general prin-
ciples are digested in the form of resolutions, which
are debated and amended till they get into a shape
which meets the approbation of a majority. These
being reported and confirmed by the House, are then
referred to one or more select committees, accordii^
as the subject divides itself into one or more bills.—
Scab. 36, 44. Propositions for any charge on the
people are especially to be first made in a committee
of the whole. — 3 Hats. 127. The sense of the whole
is better taken in committee, because in all com-
mittees every one speaks as often as he pleases.—
Scob. 49. They generally acquiesce in the ch^rman
named by the Speaker; but, as well as all other
committees, have a right to elect one, some member,
by consent, putting the question. — Scob. 36; 3 Grey,
Parliamentary Manual 355
301. The form of going from the House into com-
mittee, is for the Speaker, on motion, to put the
question that the House do now resolve itself into a
committee of the whole, to take under consideration
such a matter, naming it. If determined in the
affirmative, he leaves the chair, and takes a seat
elsewhere, as any other member; and the person
appointed chairman seats himself at the clerk's
table. — Scob. 36. Their quorum is the same as that
of the House ; and if a defect happens, the chairman,
on a motion and question, rises, the Speaker resumes
the chair, and the chairman can make no other
report than to inform the House of the cause of their
dissolution. If a message is announced during a
committee, the Speaker takes the chair, and receives
it, because the committee cannot. — 2 HatSj 125, 126.
In a conmiittee of the whole, the tellers, on a
division, differing as to numbers, great heats and
confusion arose, and dangers of a decision by the
sword. The Speaker took the chair, the mace was
forcibly laid on the table; whereupon, the members
retiring to their places, the Speaker told the House
" he had taken the chair without an order, to bring
the House into order." Some excepted against it;
but it was generally approved as the only expedient
to suppress the disorder. And every member was
required, standing up in his place, to engage that he
would proceed no further, in consequence of what
had happened in the grand committee, which was
done. — 3 Grey, 139.
3S6
Jefferson's Works
1
A committee of the whole being broken up in
disorder, and the chair resumed by the Speaker
without an order, the House was adjoiuned. The
next day the committee was considered as thereby
dissolved, and the subject again before the House;
and it was decided in the House, without returning
into committee. ~3 Grey, 130,
No previous question can be put in a conimittee;
nor can this committee adjourn as others may; but
if their business is unfinished, they rise on a question,
the House is resumed, and the chairman reports that
the committee of the whole have, according to order,
had under their consideration such a matter, and
have made progress therein ; but not having time to
go through the same, have directed him to ask leave
to sit again. Whereupon, a question is put on their
having leave, and on the time when the House will
again resolve itself into a committee.- — Scoh. 38.
But if they have gone through the matter referred
to them, a member moves that the committee may
rise, and the chairman repwrt their proceedings to
the House; which being resolved, the chairman
rises, the Speaker resumes the chair, the chairman
informs him that the committee have gone through
the business referred to them, and that he is ready
to make report when the House shall think proper
to receive it. If the House have time to receive it,
there is usually a cry of " Now, Now," whereupon he
makes the report; but if it be late, the cry 14
"To-morrow, To-morrow," or, "On Monday," etc..
Parliamentary Manual 357
or a motion is made to that effect, and a question
put, that it be received to-morrow, etc. — Scob. 38.
In other things the rules of proceedings are to be
the same as in the House. — Scob. 39.
SECTION XIII.
*
EXAMINATION OP WITNESSES.
Common fame is a good ground for the House to
proceed by inquiry, and even to accusation. — Reso-
lution of the House of Commons, 1 Car. i, 1625 ; Rush.
Lex. Pari. 115; i Grey, 16. 22. 92; 8 Grey, 21. 23.
^7- 45.
Witnesses are not to be produced but where the
House has previously instituted an inquiry, 2 Hats.
102, nor then are orders for their attendance given
blank. — 3 Grey, 51. The process is a stimmons from
the House. — 4 Hats. 255. 258.
When any person is examined before a committee,
or at the bar of the House, any member wishing to
ask the person a question, must address it to the
Speaker or chairman, who repeats the question to
the person, or says to him, '* You hear the question,
answer it." But if the propriety of the question be
objected to, the Speaker directs the witness, counsel,
and parties to withdraw; for no question can be
moved, or put, or debated, while they are there. — 2
Hats. 108. Sometimes the questions are previously
settled in writing before the witness enters. — 2 Hats.
106, 107; 8 Grey, 64. The questions asked must be
358
Jefferson's Works
entered in the journals. — 3 Grey, 81. But the
mony given in answer before the House is nev<
written down; but before a committee it must be
for the information of the House, who are not present
to hear it. — 7 Grey, 52, 334.
If either House have occasion for the presence
a person in custody of the other, they ask the 01
their leave that he may be brought up to them
custody. — 3 Hats. 52.
A member, in his place, gives information to
House of what he knows of any matter under hi
at the bar. — Jour. H. of C, Jan. 22, 1744, 5.
Either House may request, but not command, the
attendance of a member of the other. They are to
make the request by message to the other House,
and to express clearly the purpose of attendance,
that no improper subject of examination may be
tendered to him. The House then gives leave to the
member to attend, if he choose it; waiting first to
know from the member himself whether he chooses
to attend, till which they do not take the message
into consideration. But when the Peers are sitting
as a court of Criminal Judicature, they may order
attendance; unless where it be a case of impeach-
ment by the Commons. There it is to be a request. —
3 Hats. 17; 9 Grey, 306. 406; 10 Grey, 133.
Counsel are to be heard only on private, not
public bills; and on such points of law only as
House shall direct. — 19 Grey, 61.
Parliamentary Manual 359
SECTION XIV.
ARRANGEMENT OP BUSINESS.
The Speaker is not precisely bound to any rules
as to what bills or other matter shall be first taken
up, but is left to his own discretion, unless the House
on a question decide to take up a particular subject.
— Hakew. 136.
A settled order of btisiness is, however, necessary
for the government of the presiding person, and to
restrain individual members from calling up favorite
measures, or matters under their special patronage,
out of their just turn. It is useful also for directing
the discretion of the House, when they are moved
to take up a particular matter, to the prejudice of
others having a priority of right to their attention
in the general order of business.
In Senate, the bills and other papers which are in possession of the
House, and in a state to be acted upon, are arranged every morning,
and brought on in the following order:
I. Bills ready for a second reading are read, that they may be re-
ferred to committees, and so be put under way. But if, on their being
read, no motion is made for commitment, they are then laid on the
table in the general file, to be taken up in their just turn.
a. After twelve o'clock, bills ready for it are put on their passage.
3. Reports in possession of the House which offer grounds for a bill,
are to be taken up, that the bill may be ordered in.
4. Bills or other matters before the House, and unfinished on the
preceding day, whether taken up in turn, or on special order, are
entitled to be resumed and passed on through their present stage.
5. These matters being despatched, for preparing and expediting
business, the general file of bills and other papers is then taken up, and
each article of it is brought on according to its seniority, reckoned by
the date of its first introduction to the House. Reports on bills belong
to the dates of their bills.
3fio
Jefferson's Works
In this way we do not waste our time in debating what shall be taken
lap: we do one thing at a time, follow up a subject while it is fresh, and
till it is done with; dear the House of business, gradation as it ii
brought on, and prevent, to a certain degree, its immense accumula'
tion towards the close of the session.
Arrangement, however, can only take hold of matt«rs in posscsoon
of the House. New matter may be moved at any time, when no
question is before the House. Such are original motions, and reports
on bills. Such are, bills from the other House, which are received al
all times, and receive their first reading as soon as the question then
before the House is disposed of; and bills brought in on leave, which
are read first whenever presented. So, messages from the other Houf
respecting amendments to bills, are taken up as soon as the House li
clear of a question, unless they require to be printed for belter consid-
eration. Orders of the day may be called for, even when anolha'
question is before the House.
SECTION XV.
Each House may determine the rules of its prcKeedings; pnlliill
its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of twff-
thirds, expel a member, — Const. I. 5.
In Parliament, " instances make order," pif
Speaker Onslow, 2 Hats. 144; but what is done ot
by one Parliament, cannot be called custom
Parliament: by Prynne, i Grey, 52.
SECTION XVI.
ORDER RESPECTING PAPERS.
pr
only
ad
The Clerk is to let no journals, records, accounts,
or papers, be taken from the table, or out of his
custody.- — 2 Hats. 193, 194.
Mr, Prynne having, at a committee of the whole,
Parliamentary Manual 361
amended a mistake in a bill, without order or
knowledge of the committee, was reprimanded. — i
Chand. 77.
A bill being missing, the House resolved, that a
protestation should be made and subscribed by the
members, " before Almighty God and this honorable
House, that neither myself nor any other, to my
knowledge, have taken away, or do at this present
conceal a bill entitled," &c. — 5 Grey, 202,
After a bill is engrossed, it is put into the Speaker's
hands, and he is not to let any one have it to look
into. — Town. col. 209.
SECTION XVII.
ORDER IN DEBATE.
When the Speaker is seated in his chair, every
member is to sit in his place. — Scob. 6; Grey, 403.
When any member means to speak, he is to stand
up in his place, uncovered, and to address himself,
not to the House, or any particular member, but to
the Speaker, who calls him by his name, that the
House may take notice who it is that speaks. — Scob.
6; D'Ewes, 487, col. i; 2 Hats. 77; 4 Grey, 66; 8
Grey, 108. But members who are indisposed may
be indulged to speak sitting. — 3 Hats. 75, 77; i
Grey, 195.
In Senate, every member, when he speaks, shall address the chair,
standing in his place ; and when he has finished, shall sit down. — Rule 3 .
3<Sa
Jefferson's Works
When a member stands up to speak, no question
is to be put; but he is to be heard, unless the House
overrule him. — 4 Grey, 390; 5 Grey, 6, 143.
If two or more rise to speak nearly together, the
Speaker determines who was first up, and calls him
by name; whereupon he proceeds, unless he volun-
tarily sits down, and gives way to the other. But
sometimes the House does not acquiesce in the
Speaker's decision; in which case, the question is
put, "which member was first up?" — 2 Hats. 76;
Scab. 7; D'Ewes, 434, col. 1, 2,
In the Senate of the Utiited States, the President's decision is with-
out appeal. Their rule is in these words: — IVIten two members riie
at the same time, the President shall name the person to speak; but in all
cases, the member who shall first rise and address the chair, shall speak
first, — Rule ;.
No man can speak more than once to the same bill,
on the same day; or even on another day, if the
debate be adjourned. But if it be read more than
once, in the same day, he may speak once at every
reading. — Co. 12, 116; Hakew. 148; Scab. 58; 2
Hals. 75. Even a change of opinion does not give a
right to be heard a second time. — Smyth. Comw. L.
2. c. 3; Arcan. Pari. 17.
The corresponding rule of the Senate is ia these words; — No mem-
ber shall speak more than twice in any one debate on the same day,
without leave of the Senate. — Rule 4,
But he may be permitted to speak again to clear a
matter of fact. — 3 Grey, 357, 416. Or merely to
explain himself, 3 Hats. 73, in some material part of
Parliamentary Manual 363
his speech, ib. 75; or to the manner or words of the
question, keeping himself to that only, and not trav-
elling into the merits of it, Memorials in Hakew. 29;
or to the orders of the House, if they be transgressed,
keeping within that line, and falling into the matter
itself. — Mem. Hakew. 30, 31,
But if the Speaker rises to speak, the member
standing up ought to sit down, that he may be first
heard. Town. col. 205; Hale, Pari. 133; Mem. in
Hakew. 30, 31. Nevertheless, though the Speaker
may of right speak to matters of order, and be first
heard, he is restrained from speaking on any other
subject, except where the House have occasion for
facts within his knowledge : then he may, • with their
leave, state the matter of fact. — 3 Grey, 38.
No one is to speak impertinently or beside the
question, superfluously or tediously. — Scob. 31, 33;
2 Hats. 166, 168; Hale, Pari. 133.
No person is to use indecent language against the
proceedings of the House, no prior determination of
which is to be reflected on by any member unless he
means to conclude with a motion to rescind it. — 2
Hats. 169, 170; Rushw. p. 3. v. i. fol. 42. But while
a proposition is under consideration, is still in fieri,
though it has even been reported by a committee,
reflections on it are no reflections on the House. — 9
Grey, 308.
No person in speaking, is to mention a member
then present by his name; but to describe him by
his seat in the House, or who spoke last or on the
364
Jefferson's Works
other side of the question, &c. Mem. in Hakew. j
Smyth's Comw. L. 2. c. 3; nor to digress from tlie
matter to fall upon the person.— Scob. 31; Hale.
Pari. 133; 2 Hats. 166, by speaking, reviling, nip-
ping, or unmannerly words against a particular mem-
ber. Smyth's Comw. L. 2. c. 3. The consequence
of a measure may be reprobated in strong terms; but
to arraign the motives of those who propose or advo-
cate it, is a personality, and against order. Qui
digreditur a materia ad personam, Mr. Speaker ought
to suppress. — Ord. Com. 1604, Apr. 19.
When a member shall be called to order he shall sit down, until the
President shall have determined whether he is in order or net.—
Rule 16.
No member shall speak to another, or otherwise interrupt the hori-
ness of the Senate, or read any printed paper while the Joumalt or
public papers are reading, or when any member is speaking in anjr
dehate.^Rule i.
No one is to disturb another in his speech, by hiss-
ing, coughing, spitting.- — -6 Grey, 332; Scob. 8;
D'Ewes, 332, col. I ; nor stand up to interrupt him,—
Town. col. 205; Mem. in Hakew. 31; nor to pass
between the Speaker and the speaking member; nor
to go across the House, — Scab, 6; or to walk up and
down it; or to take books or papers from the table,
or write there. — 2 Hats. 171.
Nevertheless, if a member finds it is not the indi-
nation of the House to hear him, and that, by con-
versation or any other noise, they endeavor to
drown his voice, it is the most prudent way to sub-
Parliamentary Manual 3<^5
mit to the pleasure of the House, and sit down ; for
it scarcely ever happens that they are guilty of this
piece of ill manners without sufficient reason, or inat-
tentive to a member who says anything worth their
bearing. — 2 Hats. 77, 78.
If repeated calls do not produce order, the Speaker
may call by his name any member obstinately per-
sisting in irregularity; whereupon the House may
require the member to withdraw. He is then to be
heard in exculpation and to withdraw. Then the
Speaker states the offence committed, and the House
considers the degree of punishment they will inflict.
— 2 Hats. 169, 7, 8, 172.
For instances of assaults and affrays in the House
of Commons, and the proceedings thereon, see i Pet.
Misc. 82; 3 Grey, 128; 4 Grey, 328; 5 Grey, 38; 26
Grey, 204; 10 Grey, 8. Whenever warm words or
an assault have passed between the members, the
Hotise, for the protection of their members, requires
them to declare in their place not to prosecute any
quarrel, — 3 Grey, 128, 293; 5 Grey, 289; or orders
them to attend the Speaker, who is to accommodate
their differences, and to report to the House, — 3
Grey, 419; and they are put under restraint, if they
refuse, or until they do. — 9 Grey, 234, 312,
Disorderly words are not to be noticed till the
member has finished his speech. — 5 Grey, 356; 6
Grey, 60. Then the person objecting to them, and
desiring them to be taken down by the clerk at the
table, must repeat them. The Speaker then may
3*6 Jefferson's Works
direct the clerk to take them down in his minute.
But if he thinks them not disorderly, he delays the
direction. If the call becomes pretty general, he
orders the clerk to take them down, as stated by the
objecting member. They are then part of his min-
utes, and when read to the offending member, he
may deny they were his words, and the House must
then decide by a question, whether they are his words
or not. Then the member may justify them, or ex-
plain the sense in which he used them, or apologize.
If the House is satisfied, no further proceeding is
necessary. But if two members still insist to take
the sense of the House, the member must withdraw
before that question is stated, and then the sense of
the House is to be taken. — 2 Hats. 199; 4 Grey, 170;
6 Grey, 59. When any member has spoken, or other
business intervened, after offensive words spoken.
they cannot be taken notice of for censure. And
this is for the common security of all, and to prevent
mistakes, which must happen, if words are not taken
down immediately. Formerly, they might be taken |
down at any time the same day. — 2 Hats. 196; Mwt.
in Hakew. 71:3 Grey, 48; 9 Grey, 514.
Disorderly words spoken in a committee, must be
written down as in the House; but the committee
can only report them to the House for animadver-
sion.— 6 Grey, 46.
The rule of the Senate says, — If a member be called to order f*
words spoken, the exceptionable words shall be immediatety taken
down in writing, that the President may be better enabled to judg«.—
RmU 17.
Parliamentary Manual 3^7
*
In Parliament, to speak irreverently or seditiously
against the King, is against order. — Smyth's Comw.
L. 2, c. 3; 2 Hats. 170.
It is a breach of order in debate to notice what has
been said on the same subject in the other House, or
the particular votes or majorities on it there; be-
cause the opinion of each House should be left to its
own independency, not to be influenced by the pro-
ceedings of the other; and the quoting them might
b^et reflections leading to a misunderstanding
between the two Houses. — 8 Grey, 22.
Neither House can exercise any authority over a
member or officer of the other, but should complain
to the House of which he is, and leave the punish-
ment to them. Where the complaint is of words
disrespectfully spoken by a member of another
House, it is difficult to obtain punishment, because
of the rules supposed necessary to be observed
(as to the immediate noting down of words) for the
security of members. Therefore it is the duty of
the House, and more particularly of the Speaker,
to interfere immediately, and not to permit expres-
sions to go tmnoticed, which may give a ground of
complaint to the other House, and introduce pro-
ceedings and mutual accusations between the two
Houses, which can hardly be terminated without
difficulty and disorder. — 3 Hats. 51.
No member may be present when a bill, or any
business concerning himself, is debating; nor is any
member to speak to the merits of it till he with-
368
Jefferson's Works
1
draws. — 2 Hats. 219. The rule is, that if a chai^
against a member arise out of a report of a commit-
tee, or examination of witnesses in the House, as the
member knows from that to what points he is 1
direct his exculpation, he may be heard to thoi
points before any question is moved or stat*
against them. He is then to be heard, and witl
draw before any question is moved. But if
question itself is the charge, as for breach of order,-!
or matter arising in debate, then the matter mm
be stated, that is, the question must be movei
himself heard, and then to withdraw. — 2 Hoi
121, 122.
Where the private interests of a member are con- '
cemed in a bill or question, he is to withdraw. And
where such an interest has appeared, his voioe has
been disallowed, even after a division. In a case so
contrary not only to the laws of decency, but to the
fundamental principles of the social compact, which
denies to any man to be a judge in his own cause, it
is for the honor of the House that this rule of imme-
morial observance should be strictly adhered to. — 2
Hats, 119, 121; 6 Grey, 368.
No member is to come into the House with his
head covered, nor to remove from one place to the
other with his hat on, nor is to put on his hat in
coming in, or removing, until he be sit down i
place. — Scab. 6.
A question of order may be adjourned to give t
to look into precedents. — 2 Hats. 118.
Parliamentary Manual 3^9
In the Senate of the United States, every question of order is to be
decided by the President, without debate; but if there be a doubt in
his mind, he may call for the sense of the Senate. — Rule z6.
In Parliament, all decisions of the Speaker may
be controlled by the House. — 3 Grey, 319.
SECTION XVIII.
ORDBRS OF THE HOUSB.
Of right, the door of the House ought not to be
shut, but to be kept by porters, or sergeants-at-
arms, assigned for that purpose. — Mod. ten. Pari. 23.
By the rule of the Senate, on motion made and seconded to shut
the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may
in the opinion of a member, require secrecy, the President shall direct
the gallery to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion
the door shall remain shut. — Rule 38.
No motion shall be deemed in order, to admit any person or persons
whatever within the doors of the Senate-chamber, to present any
petition, memorial, or address, or to hear any such read. — Rule 39.
The only case where a member has a right to
insist on anything, is where he calls for the execu-
tion of a subsisting order of the House. Here, there
having been already a resolution, any member has
a right to insist that the Speaker, or any other whose
duty it is, shall carry it into execution; and no
debate or delay can be had on it. Thus any mem-
ber has a right to have the House or gallery cleared
of strangers, an order existing for that purpose; or
to have the House told when there is not a quorum
present. — 2 Hats, 87, 129. How far an order of the
House is binding, see Hakew. 392.
VOL. II — 24
37°
Jefferson's Works
But where an order is made that any particular
matter be taken up on a particular day, there a
question is to be put when it is called for. Whether
the House will now proceed to that matter? Where
orders of the day are on important or interesting
matter, they ought not to be proceeded on till an
hour at which the House is usually full — (wkich in
Senate is at noon).
Orders of the day may be discharged at any time,
and a new one made for a different day. — 3 Grey,
48, 313-
When a session is drawing to a close, and the
important bills are all brought in, the House, in
order to prevent interruption by further unimpor-
tant bills, sometimes come to a resolution, that no
new bill be brought in, except it be sent from the
other House. — 3 Grey, 156.
All orders of the House determine with the ses-
sion ; and one taken under such an order may, after
the session is ended, be discharged on a Habeas
Corpus. — Raym. 120; Jacob's L. D. by Ruffhead]
Parliament, i Lev. 165. Prichard's case.
Where the Constitution authorizes each House to determine tbS!
of its proceedings, it must mean in those cases, le^slati
or judiciary, submitted to them by the Constitution, or in something
relating to these, and necessary towards their execution. But ordere
and resolutions are sometimes entered in their joiuTials, having no
relation to these, such as acceptances of invitations to attend oratioDs,
to take part in processions, &c. These must be understood to be
merely conventional among those who are willing to participate in
the ceremony, and are therefore, perhaps, improperly placed a
tiie records of the Hou«e.
i
Parliamentary Manual 37 1
SECTION XIX-
PRTITIONS.
A petition prays something. A remonstrance has
no prayer. — i Grey^ 58.
Petitions must be subscribed by the petitioners,
Scob. 87; L. Pari. c. 22; 9 Grey, 362, unless they are
attending, i Grey, 401 , or tmable to sign, and averred
by a member. — 3 Grey, 418. But a petition not
subscribed, but which the member presenting it
affirmed to be all in the handwriting of the petitioner,
and his name written in the beginning, was, on the
question, (March 14, 1800,) received by the Senate.
The averment of a member, or somebody without
doors, that they know the handwriting of the peti-
tioners, is necessary, if it be questioned. — 6 Grey, 36.
It must be presented by a member, not by the peti-
tioners, and must be opened by him, holding it in
his hand. — 10 Grey, 57.
Before any petition or memorial, addressed to the Senate, shall be
received and read at the table, whether the same shall be introduced
by the President or a member, a brief statement of the contents of the
petition or memorial shall verbally be made by the introducer. —
Rule 9Z.
Regularly a motion for receiving it must be made
and seconded, and a question put, Whether it shall
be received? But a cry from the House of "Re-
ceived," or even its silence, dispenses with the for-
mality of this question : it is then to be read at the
table, and disposed of.
373
Jefferson's Works
SECTION XX.
When a motion has been made, it is not to be put
to the question, or debated, until it is seconded. —
Scab. 21.
It is then, and not till then, in possession of the
House. It is to be put into writing, if the Hoiise or
Speaker require it, and must be read to the House
by the Speaker, as often as any member desires
for his information. — 2 Hats. 82.
i
The rule of the Senate is. When a motion shall be made andsecoiit
it shall be reduced to writing, if desired by the President or any mem-
ber, delivered in at the table, and read by the President before the
same shall be debated. — Rule 7.
It might be asked, whether a motion for adjourn-
ment, or for the orders of the day, can be made by
one member while another is speaking? It cannot.
When two members offer to speak, he who rose first
is to be heard, and it is a breach of order in another
to interrupt him, unless by calling him to order if he
departs from it. And the question of order being
decided, he is still to be heard through. A call for
adjournment, or for the order of the day, or for the
question, by gentlemen from their seats, is not a
motion. No motion can be made without arising
and addressing the chair. Such calls are themselves
Parliamentary Manual 373
breaches of order, which, though the member who
has risen may respect as an expression of impatience
of the House against farther debate, yet, if he
chooses, he has a right to go on.
SECTION XXI.
RESOLUTIONS.
When the House commands, it is by an "order."
But facts, principles, their own opinions and pur-
ix>ses, are expressed in the form of resolutions.
A resolution for an allowance of money to the clerks being moved.
it "was objected to as not in order, and so ruled by the chair. But on
appeal to the Senate, (i. e., a call for their sense by the President, on
account of doubt in his mind, according to Rule i6), the decision was
overruled. — Joum, Sen., June i, 1796. I prestune the doubt was,
^whether an allowance of money could be made otherwise than by bill.
SECTION XXII.
BILLS.
Every bill shall receive three readings previous to its being passed;
and the President shall give notice at each, whether it be the first,
second, or third; which readings shall be on three different days, unless
the Senate unanimously direct otherwise, or unless by a joint vote of
both Houses, or the expiration of their term, the session is to be closed
within three days. — Rule 13.
SECTION XXIII.
BILLS, LEAVE TO BRING IN.
One day's notice, at least, shall be given of an intended motion for
leave to bring in a bill. — Rule 12.
374 Jefferson's Works
When a member desires to bring a bill on any sub-
ject, he states to the Hotise, in general terms, the
causes for doing it, and concludes by moving for
leave to bring in a bill, entitled, etc. Leave being
given, on the question, a committee is appointed to
prepare and bring in the bill. The mover and
seconder are always appointed on this committee,
and one or more in addition. — Hakew. 132 ; Scob. 40.
It is to be presented fairly written, without any
erasure or interlineation ; or the Speaker may refuse
it. — Scob. 31; I Grey, 82, 84.
SECTION XXIV.
BILLS, FIRST READING.
When a bill is first presented, the clerk reads it
at the table, and hands it to the Speaker, who, rising,
states to the House the title of the bill; that this is
the first time of reading it ; and the question will be,
Whether it shall be read a second time ? Then, sit-
ting down, to give an opening for objections ; if none
be made, he rises again, and puts the question,
Whether it shall be read a second time? — Hakew.
137, 141. A bill cannot be amended at the first
reading, — 6 Grey, 286; nor is it usual for it to be
opposed then, but it may be done and rejected.—
D'Ewes, 335, col. i; 3 Hats. 198.
Parliamentary Manual 375
SECTION XXV.
BILLS, SECOND READING.
The second reading must regularly be on another
day. — Hakew. 143. It is done by the clerk at the
table, who then hands it to the Speaker. The
Speaker, rising, states to the House the title of the
bill, that this is the second time of reading it, and
that the question will be. Whether it shall be com-
mitted, or engrossed and read a third time? But if
the bill came from the other House, as it always
comes engrossed, he states that the question will be.
Whether it shall be read a third time ? And before
he has so reported the state of the bill, no one is to
speak to it. — Hakew. 143, 146.
In the Senate of the United States, the President reports the title
of the bill, that this is the second time of reading it, that it is now to
be considered as in a committee of the whole, and the question will
be. Whether it shall be read a third time ? or, that it may be referred
to a special committee.
SECTION XXVI.
BILLS, COMMITMENT.
If, on motion and question, it be decided that the
bill shall be committed, it may then be moved to be
referred to a committee of the whole House, or to a
special committee. If the latter, the Speaker pro-
ceeds to name the committee. Any member also
may name a single person, and the clerk is to write
him down as of the committee. But the House
37^ Jefferson's Works
have a :ontrolling power over the names and num.
ber, if a question be moved against any one; and
may in any case put in and put out whom they
please.
Those: who take exceptions to some particulars in
■ the bill, runittee. But none who
speak d ody of the bill. For he
that w< would not amend it. —
Hakew. i8; D'Ewes, 634, col. 3;
Scab. 4; y, 145, the child is not to
be put not for it. — 6 Grey, 373.
It is thi b, " that no man is to be
employ ho has declared himsdf
against n.. ^. ... .*../ member who is against
the bill, hears himself named of its committee, he
ought to ask to be excused. Thus, March 6, 1606,
Mr. Hadley was, on the question being put, excused
from being of a committee, declaring himself to be
against the matter itself. — Scab. 48.
No bill shall be committed or amended until it shall have been twice
read, after which it may be referred to a committee. — RuU 14.
All committees shall be appointed by ballot, and a plurality of
voices shall make a choice. — Rule 15.
The clerk may deliver the bill to any member of
the committee. — Town. col. 138. But it is usual to
dehver it to him who is first named.
In some cases, the House has ordered the com-
mittee to withdraw immediately into the committee-
chamber, and act on and bring back the bill, sitting
the House.—Scob. 48.
Parliamentary Manual 377
A committee meets when and where they please,
if the House has not ordered time and place for
them. — 6 Grey, 370. But they can only act when
together, and not by separate consultation. and con-
sent; nothing being the report of the committee,
but what has been agreed to in committee, actually
assembled.
A n^iajority of the conmiittee constitutes a quorum
for btisiness. — Elsynge's method of passing bills, 11.
Any member of the House may be present at any
select committee, but cannot vote, and must give
place to all of the committee, and must sit below
them. — Elsynge, 12; Scob. 49.
But in 1626, April 24th, the House of Commons
resolved that though any members may be present
at the examination of witnesses, they may not be at
the debate, disposition, or penning of the business
by the select committee. — 4 Hats. 124.
The committee have full power over the bill, or
other paper committed to them, except that they
cannot change the title or subject. — 8 Grey, 228.
The paper before a committee, whether select or
of the whole, may be a bill, resolutions, draught of
an address, &c., and it may either originate with
them, or be referred to them. In every case, the
whole paper is read first by the clerk, and then by
the chairman, by paragraphs, Scob. 49, pausing at
the end of each paragraph, and putting questions,
for amending, if proposed. In the case of resolutions
on distinct subjects, originating with themselves, a
378
Jefferson's Works
question is put on each separately, as amended, or
unamended, and no final question on the whole. — 3
Hats. 276. But if they relate to the same subject,
a question is put on the whole. If it be a bill,
draught of an address, or other paper originating
with them, they proceed by paragraphs, putting
questions for amending, either by inserting or
striking out, if proposed; but no question on
agreeing to the paragraphs separately. This is
reserved to the close, when a question is put on the
whole for agreeing to it as amended or imamended.
But if it be a paper referred to them, they proceed
to put questions of amendment, if proposed, but no
final question on the whole; because all parts of the
paper having been adopted by the House, stand, of
course, unless altered, or struck out by a vote.
Even if they are opposed to the whole paper, and
think it cannot be made good by amendments, they
cannot reject it, but must report it back to the
House without amendments, and there make their
opposition.
The nattiral order in considering and amending
any paper is, to begin at the beginning, and proceed
through it by paragraphs ; and this order is so
strictly adhered to in Parliament, tliat, when a
latter part has been amended, you cannot recur
back and make any alteration in a former part. — a
Hats. 90. In numerous assembhes, this restraint is,
doubtless, important.
I
Parliamentary Manual 379
But in the Senate of the United States, though in the main we con-
sider and amend the paragraphs in their natural order, yet recurrences
are indulged; and they seem, on the whole, in that small body, to
produce advantages overweighing their inconveniences.
To this natural order of beginning at the beginning,
there is a single exception found in Parliamentary
usage. When a bill is taken up in cjommittee, or on
its second reading, they postpone the preamble, till
the other parts of the bill are gone through. The
reason is, that on consideration of the body of the
bill, such alterations may therein be made, as may
also occasion the alteration of the preamble. — Scob.
so; 7 Grey, 4^1.
On this head, the following case occurred in the
Senate, March 6, i8oo. A resolution which had no
preamble, having been already amended by the
House, so that a few words only of the original
remained in it, a motion was made to prefix a
preamble, which, having an aspect very different
from the resolution, the mover intimated that he
should afterwards propose a correspondent amend-
ment in the body of the resolution. It was objected
that a preamble could not be taken up till the body
of the resolution is done with. But the preamble
was received; because we are in fact through the
body of the resolution, we have amended that as
far as amendments have been offered, and indeed
till little of the original is left. It is the proper time,
therefore, to consider [a preamble ; and whether the
one offered be consistent with the resolution, is for
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Parliamentary Manual 381
whom was referred such a bill, have, according to
order, had the same under consideration, and have
directed him to report the same without any amend-
ment, or with sundry amendments, (as the case
may be,) which he is ready to do when the House
pleases to receive it. And he, or any other, may
move that it be now received. But the cry of **now,
now," from the House, generally dispenses with the
formality of a motion and question. He then reads
the amendments, with the coherence in the bill, and
opens the alterations, and the reasons of the com-
mittee for sudi amendment, until he has gone
through the whole. He then delivers it at the
clerk's table, where the amendments reported are
read by the derk, without the coherence; where-
upon the papers lie upon the table, till the House,
at his convenience, shall take up the report. — Scab.
52; Hakew. 148.
The report being made, the committee is dissolved^
and can act no more without a new power. — Scab. 51.
But it may be revived by a vote, and the same matt^
itted to them. — 4 Grey, 361.
VVtJillll
SECTION XXVIII.
BILL, RECOMMITHE)rr.
After a biU has been committed and reported^ it
oug^t not, in an ordinary course, to be recommitted*
But in cases of importance, and for special reasons,
it is sometimes recommitted, and usually to the
382 Jefferson's Works
same committee. — Hakew. 151. If a report be com-
mitted before agreed to in the House, what has
passed in the committee is of no validity ; the whole
question is again before the committee, and a new
resolution must be again moved, as if nothing had
passed. — 3 Hats. 131, note. .
In Senate, January, 1800, the salvage bill was
recommitted three times after the commitment.
A particular clause of a bill may be committed
without the whole bill, — 3 Hats. 131 ; or so much of
a paper to one, and so much to another committee.
SECTION XXIX.
BILL, REPORT TAKEN UP.
When the report of a paper, originating with a
committee, is taken up by the House, they proceed
exactly as in committee. Here, as in committee,
when the paragraphs have, on distinct questions,
been agreed to seriatim, — 5 Grey, 365; 6 Grey, 368;
8 Grey, 47, 104, 360; i Torbuck's deb. 124; 3 Hats,
348, — ^no question need be put on the whole report.
—5 Grey, 381.
On taking up a bill reported with amendments,
the amendments only are read by the clerk. The
Speaker then reads the first, and puts it to the
question, and so on till the whole are adopted or
rejected, before any other amendment be admitted,
except it be an amendment to an amendment. —
Elsynge's Mem. 23. When through the amendments
Parliamentary Manual 3^3
of the committee, the Speaker pauses, and gives
time for amendments to be proposed in the House
to the body of the bill ; as he does also if it has been
reported without amendments ; putting no question
but on amendments proposed; and when through
the whole, he puts the question. Whether the bill
shaU be read the third time ?
SECTION XXX.
QUASI-COMMITTEE.
If, on the motion and question, the bill be not
committed, or if no proposition for commitment be
made, then the proceedings in the Senate of United
States and in Parliament are totally diflEerent. The
former shall be first stated.
The soth rule of the Senate sa3rs, "All bills, on a second reading,
shall first be considered by the Senate in the same manner as if the
Senate were in a committee of the whole, before they shall be taken
up and proceeded on by the Senate agreeably to the standing rules,
unless otherwise ordered;" that is to say, unless ordered to be referred
to a special committee.
The proceeding of the Senate, as in conmiittee of the whole, or in
quasi-committee, are precisely as in a real committee of the whole,
taking no questions but on amendments. When through the whole,
they consider the quasi-conmiittee as risen, the House restmied, with-
out any motion, question, or resolution to that effect, and the Presi-
dent reports, that "the House, acting as in committee of the whole,
have had imder consideration the bill entitled, &c., and have made
sundry amendments, which he will now report to the House. ' * The bill
is then before them, as it would have been if reported from a committee,
and questions are regularly to be put again on every amendment:
which being gone through, the President pauses to give time to the
House to propose amendments to the body of the bill, and when
through, puts the question, whether it shall be read a third time?
3*4 Jefferson's Works
After progress in amending a bill in quasi -committee, a motion may
be made to refer it to a special committee. If the motion prevails,
it is equivalent in effect to the several votes that the committee rise,
the House resume itself, discharge the committee of the whole, and
refer the bill to a special committee. In that case, the amendments
already made fall. But if the motion, fails, the quasi -committee stands
iaslalu qua.
How far does this 20th rule subject the House,
when in quasi-committee, to the laws whicli regulate
the proceedings of a committee of the whole ? The
particulars, in which these differ from proceedings
in the House, are the following:—!. In a committee,
every member may speak as often as he pleases. —
2. The votes of a committee may be rejected or
altered when reported to the House. — 3. A com-
mittee, even of the whole, cannot refer any matter
to another committee. — 4. In a committee, no pre-
vious question can be taken: the only means to
avoid an improper discussion, is to move that the
committee rise; and if it be apprehended that the
same discussion will be attempted on returning into
committee, the House can discharge them, and pro-
ceed itself on the business, keeping down the
improper discussion by the previous question. — 5. A
committee cannot punish a breach of order, in the
House, or in the gallery, — 9 Grey, 113; it can only
rise and report it to the House, who may pn
to punish.
ocee^^
The ist and 3d of these peculiarities attach to the quasi-commttS
of the Senate, as every day's practice proves ; and seem to be the only
ones to which the joth rule meant to subject them: for it continues to
be a House, and therefore, though it acts in some respects as a (oni-
Parliamentary Manual 385
xmttee, in others it preserves its character as a House. — Thus, 3d, It
is in the daily habit of referring its business to a special committee. —
4th. It admits the previous question: if it did not, it would have no
means of preventing an improper discussion; not being able, as the
committee is, to avoid it by returning into the House: for the moment
it would restmie the same subject there, the 20th rule declares it again
a quasi-committee. — 5th. It would doubtless exercise its powers as a
House on any breach of order. — 6th. It takes a question by Yea and
Nay, as the House does. — 7th. It receives messages from the Presi-
dent and the other House. — 8th. In the midst of a debate, it receives
a motion to adjourn, and adjourns as a House, not as a committee.
SECTION XXXI.
BILL, SECOND READING IN THE HOUSE.
In Parliament, after the bill has been read a
second time, if, on the motion and question, it be
not committed, or if no proposition for commitment
be made, the Speaker reads it by paragraphs, pausing
between each, but putting no questions but on
amendments proposed; and when through the
whole, he puts the question, Whether it shall be
read the third time? if it came from the other
House. Or, if originating with themselves. Whether
it shall be engrossed and read a third time? The
Speaker reads sitting, but rises to put a question.
The clerk stands while he reads.
But the Senate of the United States is so much in the habit of mak-
ing many and material amendments at the third reading, that it has
become the practice not to engross a bill till it has passed. An irregu-
lar and dangerous practice; because, in this way, the paper which
passes the Senate is not that which goes to the other House; and that
which goes to the other House as the act of the Senate, has never been
seen in Senate. In reducing ntimerous, difficiilt, and illegible amend-
VOL. II — 25
Jefferson's Works
ments into the tejct. the secretary may, with the n
tions, commit errors which can never again be corrected.
The bill being now as perfect as its friends can
make it, this is the proper stage for those, funda-
mentally opposed, to make their first attack. All
attempts at other periods are with disjointed efforts;
because many who do not expect to be in favor of
the bill, ultimately, are willing to let it go on to its
perfect state, to take time to examine it themselves,
and to hear what can be said for it; knowing that,
after all, they have sufficient opportunities of giving
it their veto. Its two last stages, therefore, are
reserved for this, that is to say, on the question.
Whether it shall be engrossed and read a third time?
and, lastly, Whether it shall pass ? Tlie first of these
is usually the most interesting contest; because
then the whole subject is new and engaging, and the
minds of the members having not yet been declared
by any trying vote, the issue is the more doubtful.
In this stage, therefore, is the main trial of strength
between its friends and opponents; and it behooves
every one to make up his mind decisively for this
question, or he loses the main battle; and accident
and management may, and often do, prevent a
successful rallying on the next and last question.
Whether it shall pass?
When the bill is engrossed, the title is to be en-
dorsed on the back, and not within the bill. — Hakem.
350.
Parliamentary Manual 387
SECTION XXXII.
READING PAPERS.
Where papers are laid before the House, or
referred to a committee, every member has a right
to have them once read at the table, before he can
be compelled to vote on them. But it is a great,
though common error, to suppose that he has a
right, toties quoties, to have acts, journals, accounts,
or papers, on the table, read independently of the
will of the House. The delay and interruption
which this might be made to produce, evince the
impossibility of the existence of such a right. There
is indeed so manifest a propriety of permitting every
member to have as much information as possible
on every question on which he is to vote, that when
he desires the reading, if it be seen that it is really
for information, and not for delay, the Speaker
directs it to be read without putting a question, if
no one objects. But if objected to, a question
must be put. — 2 Hats. 117, 118.
It is equally an error to suppose, that any member
has a right, without a question put, to lay a book or
paper on the table, and have it read, on suggesting
that it contains matter infringing on the privileges
of the House. — 2 Hats. 117, 118.
For the same reason, a member has not a right to
read a paper in his place, if it be objected to, with-
out leave of the House. But this rigor is never
exercised but where there is an intentional or
gross abuse of the time and patience of the House.
A member has not a right even to read his own
speech, committed to writing, without leave. Thisi
also is to prevent an abuse of time; and therefore i
not refused, but where that is intended. — 2 Grey, 227.
A report of a committee of the Senate on a bill |
from the House of Representatives being luideTi
consideration, on motion that the report of the |
committee of the House of Representatives on the!
same bill be read in the Senate, it passed in theJ
negative. — Feb. 28, 1793.
Formerly, when papers were referred to a com-
mittee, they used to be first read; but of late, only~
the titles; unless a member insists they shall b&
read, and then nobody can oppose it. — 2 Hats. 117.
SECTION XXXHI.
PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS.
While a question is before the Senate, no motion shall be received
unless for an amendment, (or the previous question, or for postponin£
the main question, or to commit it, or to adjourn. — Rvit S.
It is no possession of a bill, unless it be delivered
to the clerk to be read, or the Speaker reads the
title. — Lex. Pari, 274; Elsynge, Mem. 85 ; Ord. House
Commons, 64.
It is a general rule, that the question first movaij
and seconded shall be first put. — Scob. 28, 22;
Hats. 81. But this rule gives way to what md
be called privileged questions; and the privile)
questions are of different grades among themselvd
Parliamentary Manual 389
A motion to adjourn, simply takes place of all
others ; for otherwise the House might be kept sitting
against its will, and indefinitely. Yet this motion
cannot be received after another question is actually
put, and while the House is engaged in voting.
Orders of the day take place of all other questions,
except for adjournment. That is to say, the ques-
tion which is the subject of an order, is made a
privileged one, pro hoc vice. The order is a repeal
of the general rule as to this special case. When
any member moves, therefore, for the orders of the
day to be read, no further debate is permitted on
the question which was before the House; for if
the debate might proceed, it might continue through
the day, and defeat the order. This motion, to
entitle it to precedence, must be for the orders gen-
erally, and not for any particular one; and if it be
carried on the question, "Whether the House will
now proceed to the orders of the day?" they must
be read and proceeded on in the course in which
they stand. — 2 Hats. 83. For priority of order
gives priority of right, which cannot be taken away
but by another special order.
After these there are other privileged questions,
which will require considerable explanation.
It is proper that every Parliamentary assembly
should have certain forms of questions, so adapted
as to enable them fitly to dispose of every propo-
sition which can be made to them. Such are, i.
The previous question: 2. To postpone indefinitely:
39° Jefferson's Works
3. To adjourn to a definite day: 4. To lie on the
table: 5. To commit: 6. To amend. The proper
occasion for each of these questions should be under-
stood.
1. When a proposition is moved, which it is use-
less or inexpedient now to express or discuss, the
previous question has been introduced for suppress-
ing, for that time, the motion and its discussion. —
3 Hats. 188, 189.
2. But as the previous question gets rid of it only
for that day, and the same proposition may recur
the next day, if they wish to suppress it for the
whole of that session, they postpone it indefinitely. —
3 Hats. 183. This quashes the proposition for that
session, as an indefinite adjournment is a dissolu-
tion, or the continuance of a suit sine die is a discon-
tinuance of it.
3. When a motion is made which it will be proper
to act on, but information is wanted, or something
more pressing claims the present time, the question
or debate is adjourned to such a day within the
session as will answer the views of the House. — 3
Hats. 81. And those who have spoken before, may
not speak again when the adjourned debate is
resumed.— 2 Hats. 73, Sometimes, however, this
has been abusively used, by adjourning it to a day
beyond the session, to get rid of it altogether, as
would be done by an indefinite postponement.
4. When the House has something else which
claims its present attention, but would be willing
Parliamentary Manual 39 1
to reserve in their power to take up a proposition
whenever it shall stiit them, they order it to lie on
their table. It may then be called for at any time.
5. If the proposition will want more amendment
and digestion than the formalities of the House will
conveniently admit, they refer it to a committee.
6. But if the proposition be well digested, and
may need but few and simple amendments, and
especially if these be of leading consequence, they
then proceed to consider and amend it themselves.
The Senate, in their practice, vary from this regu-
lar gradation of forms. Their practice, compara-
tively with that of Parliament, stands thus :
For the Parliamentary, The Senate uses,
Pbstmt . indefinite. — Postmt . to a day beyond the session .
Adjournment, — Postmt. to a day within the session.
_ . ^. ^ ^, ( Postponement indefinite.
Laying on the table. -< - . ^i. ^ 1.1
•^ ** ( Lajnng on the table.
In their 8th Rule, therefore, which declares, that
while a question is before the Senate, no motion
shall be received, unless it be for the previous ques-
tion, or to postpone, commit or amend the main
question, the term postponement must be tmder-
stood according to their broad use of it, and not in
its Parliamentary sense. Their rule then estab-
lishes as privileged questions, the previous question,
postponement, commitment, and amendment.
But it may be asked. Have these questions any
privilege among themselves? or are they so equal
that the common principle of the " first moved, first
Jefferson's Works
put," takes place among them? This will need ex-
planation. Their competitions may be as follows:
. Prev. Qu. and Postpor
, Postpone a
Commit
Amend
rnd Prtv, Qu.
Commit
Amend
3. Commit and Prev
Postpone
n the jst, ad. and 3d classes, and
the 1st member of the 4th class,
the rule "first moved, first put,"
takes plac
. Amend i
id Prev. Qu.
Postpor
Commit
it J
d
In the ist class, where the previous question is first
moved, the effect is peculiar ; for it not only prevents
the after motion to postpone or commit from being
put to question before it. but also from being put
after it. For if the previous question be decided
affirmatively, to wit, that the main question shall
lurw be put, it would of course be against the decision
to postpone or commit. And if it be decided nega-
tively, to wit, that the main question shall not now
be put, this puts the House out of possession of the
main question, and consequently there is nothing
before them to postpone or commit. So that neither
voting for nor against the previous question will
enable the advocates for postponing or committing
to get at their object. Whether it may be amended,
shall be examined hereafter.
2d class. — If postponement be decided affirma-
tively, the proposition is removed from before the
House, and consequently there is no ground for the
Parliamentary Manual 393
previotis question, commitment, or amendment.
But if decided negatively, that it shall not be post-
poned, the main question may then be suppressed
by the previous question, or may be committed or
amended.
The 3d class is subject to the same observations as
the 2d.
The 4th class. — ^Amendment of the main question
first moved, and afterwards the previous question,
the question of amendment shall be first put.
Amendment and postponement competing, post-
ponement is first put, as the equivalent proposition to
adjourn the main question would be in Parliament.
The reason is, that the question for amendment is not
suppressed by postponing or adjourning the main
question, but remains before the House whenever
the main question is resumed ; and it might be that
the occasion for other urgent business might go by,
and be lost by length of debate on the amendment,
if the House had it not in their power to postpone the
whole subject.
Amendment and commitment. The question for
committing, though last moved, shall be first put;
because in truth it facilitates and befriends the
motion to amend. Scobell is express: — **0n a
motion to amend a bill, any one may, notwithstand-
ing, move to commit it, and the question for com-
mitment shall be first put." — Scob. 46.
We have hitherto considered the case of two or
more of the privileged questions contending for privi-
394 Jefferson's Works
lege between themselves, when both were moved on
the original or main question; but now let us sup-
pose one of them to be moved, not on the original
primary question, but on the secondary one, e. g.
Suppose a motion to postpone, commit, or amend
the main question, and that it be moved to suppress
that motion by putting the previous question on it.
This is not allowed, because it would embarrass ques-
tions too much to allow them to be piled on one
another several stories high; and the same result
may be had in a more simple way, by deciding against
the postponement, commitment, or amendment. —
2 Hats. 8i, 2, 3, 4.
Suppose a motion for the previous question, or
commitment or amendment of the main question,
and that it be then moved to postpone the motion
for the previous question, or for commitment or
amendment of the main question: i. It would be
absurd to postpone the previous question, commit,
ment. or amendment, alone, and thus separate the
appendage from its principal; yet it must be post-
poned separately from the original, if at all, because
the 8th rule of the Senate says, that when a main
question is before the House, no motion shall be
received but to commit, amend, or pre-question the
original question, which is the parUamentary doc-
trine; therefore, the motion to postpone the secon-
dary motion for the previous question, or for com-
mitting or amending, cannot be received: 2. This
is a piling of questions one on another, which, to
Parliamentary Manual 395
avoid embarrassment, is not allowed: 3. The same
restilt may be had more simply, by voting against
the previous question, commitment, or amendment.
Suppose a commitment moved, of a motion for the
previous question, or to postpone, or amend.
The ist, 2d, and 3d reasons before stated, all hold
good against this.
Suppose an amendment moved to a motion for the
previous question ? Answer : The previous question
cannot be amended. Parliamentary usage, as well
as the 9th rule of the Senate, has fixed its form to be,
"Shall the main question be now put?" i. e,, at this
instant. And as the present instant is but one, it
can admit of no modification. To change it to to-
morrow, or any other moment, is without example
and without utility. But suppose a motion to
amend a motion for postponement, as to one day
instead of another, or to a special instead of indefi-
nite time. The useful character of amendment gives
it a privilege of attaching itself to a secondary privi-
leged motion. That is, we may amend a postpone-
ment of a main question. So we may amend a com-
mitment of a main question, as by adding, for exam-
ple, " with instruction to inquire, *' &c. In like man-
ner, if an amendment be moved to an amendment,
it is admitted. But it would not be admitted in
another degree, to wit, to amend an amendment to
an amendment of a main question. This would lead
to too much embarrassment. The line must be
drawn somewhere ; and usage has drawn it after the
396
Jefferson's Works
I
amendment to the amendment. The same result
must be sought by deciding against the amendment
to the amendment, and then moving it again as itd
was wished to be amended. In this form it becomes|
only an amendment to an amendment.
In filling a blank with a sum, the largest sum shaUt
be first put to ike question, by the i8lh Rule of tlu\
Senate, contrary to the rule of Parliament, which
privileges the smallest sum and longest time. — 5
Grey, 179; 2 Hats. 8, 83; 3 Hats. 132, 133. And
this is considered to be not in the form of an amend-
ment to the question, but as alternative or successive
originals. In all cases of time or number, we must
consider whether the larger comprehends the lesser,
as in a question to what day a postponement shall
be, the number of a committee, amount of a fine,
term of an imprisonment, term of irredeemabih'ty of
a loan, or the terminus in qucm in any other case.
Then the question must begin a maxima. Or whether J
the lesser includes the greater, as in question on the
limitation of the rate of interest, on what day the
session shall be closed by adjournment, on what day
the next shall commence, when an act shall com-
mence, or the terminus a quo in any other case, where
the question must begin o minima. The object being
not to begin at that extreme, which, and more, being:a
within every man's wish, no one could negative it,l
and yet, if we should vote in the affirmative, every '
question for more would be precluded; but at that
extreme which would unite few, and then to advance
Parliamentary Manual 397
^^ recede till you get to a number which will tinite a
^are majority. — 3 Grey, 376, 384, 385. "The fair
question in this case is not that to which and more all
vrill agree, whether there shall be addition to the
question." — i Grey, 365.
Another exception to the rule of priority is, when
a motion has been made to strike out or agree to a
paragraph. Motions to amend it are to be put to the
question, before a vote is taken on striking out, or
agreeing to the whole paragraph.
But there are several questions, which, being inci-
dental to every one, will take place of every one, priv-
ileged or not; to wit, a question of order arising out
of any other question, must be decided before that
question. — 2 Hats. 88.
A matter of privilege arising out of any question,
or from a quarrel between two members, or any other
cause, supersedes the consideration of the original
question, and must first be disposed of. — 2 Hats. 88.
Reading papers relative to the question before the
House. This question must be put before the prin-
cipal one. — 2 Hats. 88.
Leave asked to withdraw a motion. The rule of
Parliament being, that a motion made and seconded
is in possession of the House, and cannot be with-
drawn without leave, the very terms of the rule imply
that leave may be given, and, consequently, may be
asked and put to the question.
I
398 Jefferson's Works
SECTION XXXIV.
THE PREVIOUS QUESTION.
When any question is before the House, any mem- '
bar may move a previous question, " Whether that ,
question (called the main question) shall now be ^
put?" If it pass in the affirmative, then the main.^
question is to be put immediately, and no man may^
speak anything further to it, either to add or alter.
Memor. in Hakew. 28; 4 Grey, 27.
The previous cjuestion being moved and seconded. Ihe question fi
the chair shall be, "Shall the main question be now put V and if tl^h. «
nays prevail, the main question shall not then be put, — Rttie 5.
This kind of question is understood by Mr. Hatse-T/
to have been introduced in 1604. — 2 Hats. 80. Sir
Henry Vane introduced it. — 2Grcy, 113. 114; ^Grey,
384. When the question was put in this form. "ShaB
the main question be put?" a determination in the
negative suppressed the main question during the
session; but since the words "now put" are used,
they exclude it for the present only. Formerly, ,
indeed, only till the present debate was over; 4 Grey, J
43 ; but now for that day and no longer. — 2 Grey, 113, J^
114.
Before the question, " Whether the main ques
shall now be put?" any person might formerly hail
spoken to the main question, becaiase otherwise j
would be precluded from speaking to it at all. — M%
in Hakew. 28.
Parliamentary Manual 399
The proper occasion for the previous question is,
^When a subject is brought forward of a delicate nature
as to high personages, etc., or the discussion of which
may call forth observations which might be of inju-
rious consequences. Then the previous question is
proposed, and, in the modem usage, the discussion
of the main question is suspended, and the debate
confined to the previous question. The use of it has
been extended abusively to other cases ; but in these,
it is an embarrassing procedure : its uses would be as
well answered by other more simple Parliamentary
forms, and therefore it should not be favored, but
restricted within as narrow limits as possible.
Whether a main question may be amended after
the previous question on it has been moved and
seconded? 2 Hatsell, 88, says, If the previous ques-
tion had been moved and seconded, and also pro-
posed from the chair, (by which he means, stated by
the Speaker for debate,) it has been doubted whether
an amendment can be admitted to the main question.
He thinks it may, after the previous question moved
and seconded; but not after it has been proposed
from the chair.
In this case he thinks the friends to the amend-
ment must vote that the main question be not now
put, and then move their amended question, which
being made new by the amendment, is no longer the
same which has been just suppressed, and therefore
may be proposed as a new one. But this proceeding
certainly endangers the main question, by dividing
400 Jefferson's Works
its friends, some of whom may choose it imamended,
rather than lose it altogether; while others of them
may vote, as Hatsell advises, that the main question
be not now put, with a view to move it again in an
amended form. The enemies of the main question
by this manoeuvre to the previous question, get the
enemies to the amendment added to them on the first
vote, and throw the friends of the main question
under the embarrassment of rallying again as they
can. To support his opinion, too, he makes the
deciding circumstance, whether an amendment may
or may not be made, to be, that the previous ques-
tion has been proposed from the chair. But as the
rule is, that the House is in possession of a question
as soon as it is moved and seconded, it cannot be
more than possessed of it by its being also proposed
from the chair. It may be said, indeed, that the
object of the previous question being to get rid of a
question, which it is not expedient should be dis-
cussed, this object may be defeated by moving to
amend, and, in the discussion of that motion, involv-
ing the subject of the main question. But so may
the object of the previous question be defeated by
moving the amended question, as Mr. Hatsell pro-
poses, after the decision against putting the original
question. He acknowledges, too, that the practice
has been to admit previous amendment, and only
cites a few late instances to the contrary. On the
whole, I should think it best to decide it a6 incon-
venienti; to wit, Which is most inconvenient, to put
Parliamentary Manual 401
it in the pcwer of one side of the House to defeat a
proposition by hastily moving the previous ques-
tion and thus forcing the main question to be put
amended ? or to put it in the power of the other side
to force on, incidentally at least, a discussion which
would be better avoided ? Perhaps the last is the
least inconvenience; inasmuch as the Speaker, by
confining the discussion rigorously to the amend-
ment only, may prevent their going into the main
question; and inasmuch also, as so great a propor-
tion of the cases, in which the previous question is
called for, are fair and proper subjects of public
discussion, and ought not to be obstructed by a
formality introduced for questions of a peculiar
character.
SECTION XXXV.
AMENDMENTS.
On an amendment being moved, a member who
has spoken to the main question may speak again to
the amendment. — Scob. 23.
If an amendment be proposed inconsistent with
one already agreed to, it is a fit groxmd for its rejec-
tion by the House ; but not within the competence of
the Speaker to suppress, as if it were against order.
For, were he permitted to draw questions of consist-
ence within the vortex of order, he might usurp a
negative on important modifications, and suppress
instead of subserving the legislative will.
VOL. II — 26
402 Jefferson's Works
Amendments may be made so as totally to alter
the nature of the proposition ; and it is a way of get-
ting rid of a proposition, by making it bear a sense
different from what was intended by the movers, so
that they vote against it themselves. — 2 Hats. 79;
4, 82, 84. A new bill may be ingrafted, by way of
amendment, on the words, " Be it enacted,'* &c.—
I Grey, 190, 192.
If it be proposed to amend by leaving out certain
words, it may be moved as an amendment to this
amendment, to leave out a part of the words of the
amendment, which is equivalent to leaving them in
the bill. — 2 Hats. 80, 9. The ParUamentary question
is always. Whether the words shall stand part of the
biU?
When it is proposed to amend by inserting a para-
graph, or part of one, the friends of the paragraph
may make it as perfect as they can, by amendments,
before the question is put for inserting it. If it be
received, it cannot be amended afterwards, in the
same stage, because the House has, on a vote, agreed
to it in that form. In Hke manner, if it is proposed
to amend by striking out a paragraph, the friends of
the paragraph are first to make it as perfect as they
can by amendments, before the question is put for
striking it out. If, on the question, it be retained, it
cannot be amended afterwards; because a vote
against striking out is equivalent to a vote agreeing
to it in that form.
When it is moved to amend, by striking out certain
Parliamentary Manual 403
words and inserting others, the manner of stating the
question is, first to read the whole passage to be
amended, as it stands at present ; then the words pro-
posed to be struck out; next those to be inserted;
and lastly, the whole passage, as it will be when
amended. And the question, if desired, is then to
be divided, and put first on striking out. If carried,
it is next on inserting the words proposed. If that
be lost, it may be moved to insert others. — 2 Hats.
80, 7.
A motion is made to amend by striking out certain
words, and inserting others in their place, which is
negatived. Then it is moved to strike out the same
words, and to insert others of a tenor entirely differ-
ent from those first proposed. It is negatived. Then
it is moved to strike out the same words and insert
nothing, which is agreed to. All this is admissible;
because to strike out and insert A, is one proposition.
To strike out and insert B, is a different proposition.
And to strike out and insert nothing is still differ-
ent. And the rejection of one proposition does not
preclude the offering a different one. Nor would it
change the case were the first motion divided by put-
ting the question first on striking out, and that nega-
tived. For as putting the whole motion to the ques-
tion at once would not have precluded, the putting
the half of it cannot do it.'
^ In a case of division of the question, and a decision against striking
out, I advance, doubtingly, the opinion here expressed. I find no
authority either way; and I know it may be viewed under a different
404
Jefferson's Works
But if it had been carried affirmatively to strike
out the words and to insert A, it could not afterwards
be permitted to strike out A and insert B. The
mover of B should have notified, while the insertion '
of A was under debate, that he would move to insert
B. In whicli case, those who preferred it would jan
in rejecting A.
After A is inserted, however, it may be moved to
strike out a portion of the original paragraph, com-
prehending A, provided the coherence to be struck
out be so substantial as to make this effectively a dif-
ferent proposition. For then it is resolved into the
common case of striking out a paragraph after
amending it. Nor does anything forbid a new insff-
tion, instead of A and its coherence.
In Senate, January 25, 1798, a motion to postpone,
until the second Tuesday in February', some amend-
ments proposed to the Constitution. The words,
" until the second Tuesday in February," were struck
out by way of amendment. Then it was moved to
add, " imtil the first day of June." Objected, that it
was not in order, as the question should first be put
on the longest time ; therefore, a shorter time decided
against, a longer cannot be put to question. It was
answered, that this rule taies place only in filling
aspect. It may be thought, that having decided separaldy not to
strike out the passage, the same question for strikinE out cannot be put
over again, though with a view to a different insertion. Still I thick
it more reasonable and convenient to consider the striking out and
insertion as forming oni- proposition; but should readily yield to aaj
cadence that the contrary is the practice in Parliament.
Parliamentary Manual 405
blanks for time. But when a specific time stands
part of a motion, that may be struck out as well as
any other part of the motion ; and when struck out,
a motion may be received to insert any other. In
fact, it is not till they are struck out, and a blank for
the time thereby produced, that the rule can begin to
operate, by receiving all the propositions for different
times, and putting the questions successively on the
longest. Otherwise, it would be in the power of the
mover, by inserting originally a short time, to pre-
clude the possibility of a longer. For, till the short
time is struck out, you cannot insert a longer; and
if, after it is struck out, you cannot do it, then it can-
not be done at all. Suppose the first motion has been
to amend by striking out "the second Tuesday in
February," and inserting, instead thereof, "the first
of June." It would have been regular then to divide
the question, by proposing first the question to strike
out and then that to insert. Now, this is precisely
the effect of the present proceeding ; only, instead of
one motion and two questions, there are two motions
and two questions to effect it; the motion being
divided as well as the question.
When the matter contained in two bills might be
better put into one, the manner is to reject the one,
and incorporate its matter into another bill by way
of amendment. So, if the matter of one bill would
be better distributed into two, any part may be
struck out by way of amendment, and put into a new
bill. If a section is to be transposed, a question must
4o6 Jefferson's Works
be put on striking it out where it stands, and another
for inserting it in the place desired.
A bill passed by the one House, with blanks.
These may be filled up by the other, by way of
amendments, returned to the first, as such, and
passed. — 3 Hats. 83.
The number prefixed to the section of a bill being
merely a marginal indication, and no part of the text
of the bill, the clerk regulates that; the House or
committee is only to amend the text,
SECTION XXXVI.
DIVISION OF THE QUESTION.
If a question contain more parts than one, it may
be divided into two or more questions. — Mem. in
Hakew. 29. But not as the right of an individual
member, but with the consent of the House. For
who is to decide whether a question is complicated
or not? where it is comphcated? into how many
propositions it may be divided? The fact is, that
the only mode of separating a complicated question
is by moving amendments to it ; and these must be
decided by the House on a question, unless the House
orders it to be divided: as on the question, Dec 2.
1640, making void the election of the Knights of
Worcester, on a motion it was resolved to make two
questions of it, to wit, one on each Knight. — 3 Hois.
85, 86. So, wherever there are several names in a
question, they may be divided, and put one by one.—
Parliamentary Manual 407
9 Greyy 444. So, 1729, April 17, on an objection that
a question was complicated, it was separated by
amendment. — 2 Hais. 79. 5.
The soundness of these observations will be evident from the embar-
rassments produced by the loth rule of the Senate, which says, "If
the question in debate contain several points, any member may have
the same divided.
1798, May 30, the alien bill in quasi-committee.
To a section and proviso in the original, had been
added two new provisos by way of amendment. On
a motion to strike out the section as amended, the
question was desired to be divided. To do this, it
must be put first on striking out either the former
proviso, or some distinct member of the section.
But when nothing remains but the last member of
the section, and the provisos, they cannot be divided
so as to put the last member to question by itself;
for the provisos might thus be left standing alone as
exceptions to a rule when the rule is taken away : or
the new provisos might be left to a second question,
after having been decided on once before at the same
reading; which is contrary to rule. But the question
must be on striking out the last member of the section
as amended. This sweeps away the exceptions with
the rule, and relieves from inconsistence. A question
to be divisible, must comprehend points so distinct
and entire, that one of them being taken away, the
other may stand entire. But a proviso or exception,
with an enacting clause, does not contain an entire
point or proposition.
Jefferson's Works ^
May 31. The same bill being before the Senate.
There was a proviso, that the bill should not extend.
I. To any foreign minister; nor, 2. To any person
to whom the President should give a passjrart; nor,
3. To any alien merchant, conforming himself to
such regulations as the President shall prescribe;
and division of the question into its simplest ele-
ments was called for. It was divided into four
parts, the fourth taking in the words "conforming
himself," etc. It was objected, that the words
"any alien merchant" could not be separated from
their modifying words "conforming," etc., because
these words, if left by themselves, contain no sub-
stantive idea, will make no sense. But admitting
that the divisions of a paragraph into separate
questions must be so made as that each part may
stand by itself, yet the House having, on the ques-'
tion, retained the first two divisions, the words
"any alien merchant" may be struck out, and their
modifying words will then attach themselves to
the preceding description of persons, and become a
modification of that description.
When a question is divided, after the question on
the first member, the second is open to debate and
amendment: because it is a known rule, that a
person may rise and speak at any time before the
question has been completely decided by putting
the negative, as well as the afBrmative side. But
the question is not completely put when the vote
has been taken on the first member only. One half
Parliamentary Manual 409
of the question, both affirmative and negative, still
remains to be put. — See Executive Journ,, Jtme 25,
1795. The same decision by President Adams.
SECTION XXXVII.
CO-EXISTING QUESTIONS.
It may be asked whether the House can be in pos-
session of two motions or propositions at the same
time ? So that, one of them being decided, the other
goes to question without being moved anew? The
answer must be special. When a question is inter-
rupted by a vote of adjournment, it is thereby re-
moved from before the House ; and does not stand
ipso facto before them at their next meeting, but
must come forward in the usual way: so, when it is
• interrupted by the order of the day. Such other
privileged questions also as dispose of the main ques-
tion {e. g. the previous question, the postponement,
or commitment) remove it from before the House.
But it is only suspended by a motion to amend, to
withdraw, to read papers, or by a question of order
or privilege, and stands again before the House when
these are decided. None but the class of privileged
questions can be brought forward while there is
another question before the House; the rule being,
that when a motion has been made and seconded no
other can be received except it be a privileged one.
4IO Jefferson's Works
SECTION XXXVIII.
EQUIVALENT QUESTIONS.
If, on a question for rejection, a bill be retained,
it passes of course to its next reading. — Hakew, 141.
Scob. 42, and a question for a second reading deter-
mined negatively, is a rejection without farther ques-
tion.— 4 Grey, 149. And see Elsynge's Mentor. 42,
in what case questions are to be taken for rejection.
Where questions are perfectly equivalent, so that
the negative of the one amounts to the affirmative of
the other, and leaves no other alternative, the deci-
sion of the one concludes necessarily the other. —
4 Grey, 157. Thus the negative of striking out
amoimts to the affirmative of agreeing; and there-
fore to put a question on agreeing after that on strik-
ing out, would be to put the same question in effect
twice over. Not so in questions of amendments
between the two Houses. A motion to recede being
negatived, does not amount to a positive vote to
insist, because there is another alternative, to wit,
to adhere.
A bill originating in one House, is passed by the
other with an amendment. A motion in the orig-
inating House, to agree to the amendment, is nega-
tived. Do these result from this vote of disagree-
ment? or must the question on disagreement be
expressly voted? The questions respecting amend-
ments from another House are, ist. To agree: 2d.
Disagree: 3d. Recede: 4th. Insist: 5th. Adhere,
Parliamentary Manual 411
I St. To agree. f Either of these concludes the
2d. To disagree. 1 other necessarily, for the posi-
tive of either is exactly the
equivalent of the negative of
the other, and no other alterna-
tive remains. On either motion,
amendments to the amendment
may be proposed; e. g. if it be
moved to disagree, those who
are for the amendment have a
right to propose amendments,
and to make it as perfect as they
can, before the question of dis-
agreeing is put.
3d. To recede. f You may then either insist or
4th. To insist. < adhere. You may then either
Sth. To adhere. ( recede or adhere. You may
then either recede or insist.
Consequently, the negative of
these is not equivalent to a
positive vote the other way.
It does not raise so necessary
an implication as may authorize
the secretary by inference to
enter another vote; for two
alternatives still remain, either
of which may be adopted by
the House.
412 Jefferson's Works
SECTION XXXIX.
THE QUESTION.
The question is to be put first on the affirmative,
and then on the negative side.
After the Speaker has put the affirmative part of
the question, any member who has not spoken before
the question, may rise and speak before the n^ative
be put. Because it is no full question till the nega-
tive part be put. — Scob. 23; Hats. 73.
But in small matters, and which are of course, such
as receiving petitions, reports, withdrawing motions,
reading papers, etc., the Speaker most commonly
supposes the consent of the House, where no objec-
tion is expressed, and does not give them the trouble
of putting the question formally. — Scob. 22; 2 Hats.
87. 2. 87; s Greyy 129; 9 Grey, 301.
SECTION XL.
BILL, THIRD READING.
To prevent bills from being passed by surprise, the
House, by a standing order, directs that they shall
not be put on their passage before a fixed hour,
naming one at which the House is commonly full.—
Hakew. 153.
The usage of the Senate is. not to put bills on their passage till noon.
A bill reported and passed to the third reading,
cannot on that day be read the third time and passed.
Parliamentary Manual 413
Because this wotild be to pass on two readings on the
same day. At the third reading, the clerk reads the
bill, and delivers it to the Speaker, who states the
title, that it is the third time of reading the bill, and
that the question will be. Whether it shall pass?
Formerly, the Speaker, or those who prepared a bill,
prepared also a breviate or summary statement of
its contents, which the Speaker read when he declared
the state of the bill at the several readings. Some-
times, however, he read the bill itself, especially on
its passage. — Hakew. 136, 137, 153; Coke, 22, 115.
Latterly, instead of this, he, at the third reading,
states the whole contents of the bill, verbatim ; only
instead of reading the formal parts, **be it enacted,"
etc., he states that "the preamble recites so and so;
the first section enacts, that, etc. ; the second section
enacts," etc.
But in the Senate of the United States, both of these formalities are
dispensed with; the breviate presenting but an imperfect view of the
bill, and being capable of being made to present a false one; and the
ftdl statement being a useless waste of time, immediately after a full
reading by the clerk; and especially as every member has a printed
copy in his hand.
A bill, on the third reading, is not to be committed
for the matter or body thereof; but, to receive some
particular clause or proviso, it hath been sometimes
suffered, but as a thing very unusual. — Hakew. 156;
thus, 27 El. 1584, a bill was committed on the third
reading, having been formerly committed on the
second; but it is declared not usual. — D'Ewes, 137,
col. 2. 4x4. col. 2.
414 Jefferson's Works
When an essential provision has been omitted,
rather than erase the bill, and render it suspicious,
they add a clause on a separate paper, engrossed and
called a rider, which is read, and put to the question
three times. — Elsynge's Memorials ^ 59; 6 Grey, 335;
I Blackst. 183. For examples of riders, see 3 Hats.
121, 122, 124, 126. Every one is at liberty to bring
in a rider without asking leave. — 10 Grey, 52.
It is laid down as a general rule, that amendments
proposed at the second reading shall be twice read,
and those proposed at the third reading thrice read ;
as also all amendments from the other House. —
Town. col. 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
It is with great, and almost invincible reluctance,
that amendments are admitted at this reading, which
occasion erasures or interlineations. Sometimes the
proviso has been cut off from a bill; sometimes
erased. — 9 Grey, 513.
This is the proper stage for filling up blanks; for
if filled up before, and now altered by erasure, it
would be peculiarly unsafe.
At this reading, the bill is debated afresh, and for
the most part is more spoken to, at this time, than
on any of the former readings. — Hakew. 153.
The debate on the question. Whether it should be
read a third time? has discovered to its friends and
opponents the arguments on which each side relies,
and which of these appear to have influence with the
House ; they have had time to meet them with new
arjT^uments, and to put their old ones into new shapes.
Parliamentary Manual 415
The former vote has tried the strength of the first
opinion, and f timished grounds to estimate the issue ;
and the question now offered for its passage, is the
last occasion which is ever to be offered for carrying
or rejecting it.
When the debate is ended, the Speaker, holding
the bill in his hand, puts the question for its passage,
by saying, " Gentlemen, all you who are of opinion
that this bill shall pass, say ay;" and after the
answer of ayes, '*A11 those of the contrary opinion,
say no." — Hakew. 154.
After the bill has passed, there can be no further
alteration of it in any point. — Hakew. 159.
SECTION XLI.
DIVISION OP THE HOUSE.
The affirmative and negative of the question
having been both put and answered, the Speaker
declares whether the yeas or nays have it by the
sound, if he be himself satisfied, and it stands as the
judgment of the House. But if he be not himself
satisfied which voice is the greater, or if, before any
other member comes into the House, or before any
new motion is made, (for it is too late after that,)
any member shall rise and declare himself dissatis-
fied with the Speaker's decision, then the Speaker
is to divide the House. — Scoh. 24; 2 Hats. 140.
When the House of Commons is divided, the one
party goes forth, and the other remains in the House.
4i<5 Jefferson^s Works
This has made it important which go forth, and
which remain; because the latter gain all the indo-
lent, the indifferent, and inattentive. Their general
rule, therefore, is, that those who give their vote for
the preservation of the orders of the House shall stay
in, and those who are for introducing any new mat-
ter, or alteration, or proceeding contrary to the estab-
lished course, are to go out. But this rule is subject
to many exceptions and modifications. — 2 Rush. p.
3, fol. 92; Scob. 43, 52; Co. 12, 116; D'EweSy 505,
col. I ; Mem. in Hakew. 25, 29; as will appear by the
following statement of who go forth.
Petition that it be received* . . ) a,, ^
Read P^^-
Lie on the table
Rejected after refusal to lie on
the table
Referred to a committee, or) *
farther proceeding J ^^^^
Bill, that it be brought in ... .
Read ist or 2d time
Engrossed or read 3d time . . .
Proceeding on every other
stage
Committed
To a committee of the whole . Noes.
To a select committee Ayes.
Report of a bill to lie on table Noes.
*Noes. — 9 Grays, 365.
Noes.
Ayes.
Parliamentary Manual
417
}
Be now read
Be taken into consideration
three months hence
Amendments be read a 2d |
time J
Clatise offered on report of bill
be read 2d time
For receiving a clause
With amendments be en-
grossed
That a bill be now read a 3d
time
Receive a rider
Pass
Be printed
Committees. That A take
the chair
To agree to the whole or any
^ part of report
That the House do now re-
solve into a committee ....
Speaker. That he now leave
the chair, after order to go
into committee
That he issue warrant for a
new visit
Member. That none be ab-
sent without leave
Witness. That he be farther 1
examined j
▼OL. II — 27
Ayes.
SO P. J
Noes.
Ayes. 334
Noes. 398
260
Ayes. 259
291
Noes.
Ayes. 344
Jefferson's Works
Previous questions
Blanks. That they be filled
with the largest sum
Amendments. That words
stand part of
Lords. That their amend-
ments be read a 2d time . . .
Messenger be received
Orders of the day to be now
read, if before 2 o'clock. . . .
If after 2 o'clock
Adjournment till the next sit-
ting day, if before 4 o'clock,
If after 4 o'clock
Over a sitting day, (unless a
previous resolution)
Over the 30th January
For sitting on Simday, or any
other day, not being a sit-
ting day
Noes.
Ayes.
Ayes.
Ayes,
Noes.
Ayes.
Noes.
Ayes.
Noes.
Ayes.
The one party being gone forth, the Speaker
names two tellers from the affirmative, and two
from the negative side, who first count those sitting
in the House, and report the number to the Speaker.
Then they place themselves within the door, two on
each side, and count those who went forth, as they
come in, and report the number to the Speaker.—
Mem. in Hakcw. 26.
A mistake in the report of the tellers may be recti-
fied after the report made. — 2 Hats. 145. Note.
Parliamentary Manual 419
But, in both Houses of Congress, all those intricacies are avoided.
«l^e ayes first rise, and are counted, standing in their places, by the
^Vcsident or Speaker. Then they sit, and the noes rise, and are
Counted in like manner.
In Senate, if they be equally divided, the A^ce-President announces
^s opinion, which decides.
The Constitution, however, has directed that *'the yeas and najrs
>f the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire
>f one- fifth of those present, be entered on the journal." And again,
-hat in all cases of re-considering a bill disapproved by the President,
ind returned with his objections, '*the votes of both Houses shall be
ietermined by the yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting
'Or and against the bill, shall be entered on the journals of each House
:'espectively.**
By the nth rule of the Senate, when the yeas and nays shall be
-ailed for by one-fifth of the members present, each member called
:tpon shall, unless for sp>ecial reasons he be excused by the Senate,
leclare openly, and without debate, his assent or dissent to the ques-
:ion. In taking the yeas and nays, and upon the call of the House, the
lames of the members shall be taken alphabetically.
When it is proposed to take a vote by yeas and nays, the President
>r Speaker states that ''The question is whether, e. g., the bill shall
;>ass ? That it is proposed that the yeas and nays shall be entered on
;he journal. Those, therefore, who desire it will rise.** If he finds
%nd declares that one-fifth have risen, he then states, that "those who
ire of opinion that the bill shall pass, are to answer in the affirmative,
those of the contrary opinion, in the negative.** The clerk then calls
>ver the names alphabetically, notes the yea or nay of each, and gives
the list to the President or Speaker, who declares the result. In
Senate, if there be an equal division, the Secretary calls on the Vice-
EVesident, who notes his affirmative or negative, which becomes the
iecision of the House.
In the House of Commons, every member mtist
§^ve his vote the one way or the other. — Scob. 24.
As it is not permitted to any one to withdraw who
IS in the House when the question is put, nor is any
3ne to be told in the division who was not in when
the question was put, — 2 Hats. 140.
4«o Jefferson's Works
This last position is always true when the vote is
by yeas and nays ; where the negative as well as the
affirmative of the question is stated by the President
at the same time, and the vote of both sides begins
and proceeds pari passu. It is true, also, when the
question is put in the usual way, if the negative has
also been put. But if it has not, the member enter-
ing, or any other member may speak, and even pro-
pose amendments, by which the debate may be
opened again, and the question greatly deferred.
And, as some who have answered ay, may have
been changed by the new arguments, the affirmative
must be put over again. If, then, the member enter-
ing may, by speaking a few words, occasion a rqje-
tition of the question, it would be useless to deny it
on his simple call for it.
While the House is telling, no member may speak,
or move out of his place; for, if any mistake be sus-
pected, it must be told again. — Mem. in Hakew. 36;
2 Hats. 143.
If any difficulty arises in point of order, during
the division, the Speaker is to decide peremptorily,
subject to the future censure of the House, if irr^-
lar. He sometimes permits old experienced mem-
bers to assist him with their advice, which they do
sitting in their seats, covered to avoid the appear-
ance of debate; but this can only be with the Speak-
er's leave, else the division might last several hours.—
2 Hats. 143.
The voice of the majority decides. For the Us
Parliamentary Manual 421
majoris partis is the law of all councils, elections,
etc., where not otherwise expressly provided. —
Hakew. 93. But if the House be equally divided,
'* semper presufnatur pro negante:'* that is, the
former law is not to be changed but by a majority. —
Towns, col. 134.
But, in the Senate of the United States, the Vice-President decides,
when the House is divided.^-Const. U, 5. Art. I. Sec. a.
When, from counting the House, on a division, it
appears that there is not a quorum, the matter con-
tinues exactly in the state in which it was before the
division, and must be restimed at that point on any
future day. — 2 Hats. 126.
1606, May I, on a question whether a member
having said Yea, may afterwards sit and change his
opinion? a precedent was remembered by the
Speaker, of Mr. Morris, attorney of the wards, in
39 Eliz.y who in like case changed his opinion. —
Mem. in Hakew. 27.
SECTION XLII.
TITLE.
After the bill has passed, and not before, the title
may be amended, and is to be fixed by a question;
and the bill is then sent to the other House.
422 Jefferson's Works
SECTION XLIII.
RE-CONSIDERATION.
When a question has been once made and carried in the affirmative
or negative, it shall be in order for any member of the majority to move
for the re-consideration thereof. — Rule 22.
1798, Jan. A bill on its second reading, being amended, and on the
question, whether it shall be read a third time negatived, was restored
by a decision to re-consider the question. Here the votes of negative
and re-consideration, like positive and negative quantities in equation,
destroy one another*, and are as if they were expunged from the jour-
nals. Consequently the bill is open for amendment, just so far as it
was the moment preceding the question for the third reading. That is
to say, all parts of the bill arc open for amendment, except those on
which votes have been already taken in its present stage. So also may
it be re-committed.
The rule permitting a re-consideration of a question affixing to it no
limitation of time or circumstance, it may be asked whether there is
no limitation ? If, after the vote, the paper on which it has passed has
been parted with, there can be no re-consideration: as if a vote has
been for the passage of a bill, and the bill has been sent to the other
House. But where the paper remains, as on a bill rejected, when, or
under what circtunstances, does it cease to be susceptible of re-con-
sideration ? This remains to be settled, unless a sense that the right
of re-consideration is a right to waste the time of the House in repeated
agitations of the same question, so that it shall never know when a
question is done with, shovdd induce them to reform this anomalous
proceeding.
In Parliament, a question once carried, cannot be
questioned again, at the same session; but must
stand as the judgment of the House. — Toivns. col
67 ; Mentor, in Hakew. 33. And a bill once rejected,
another of the same substance cannot be brought
in again the same session. — Hakew, 158; 6 Grey, 392.
But this does not extend to prevent putting the
same questions in different stages of a bill ; because
every stage of a bill submits the whole and every
Parliamentary Manual 423
part of it to the opinion of the House, as open for
amendment, either by insertion or omission, though
the same amendment has been accepted or rejected
in a former stage. So in reports of committees,
e. g. report of an address, the same question is before
the House, and open for free discussion. — Towns,
col. 26; 2 Hats. 98, 100, loi. So, orders of the
House, or instructions to committees may be dis-
charged. So a bill begun in one House, sent to the
other, and there rejected, may be renewed again in
that other, passed, and sent back. — lb. 92 ; 3 Hats.
161. Or if, instead of being rejected, they read it
once, and lay it aside, and put it off a month, they
may offer in another to the same effect, with the
same or a different title. — Hakew. 97, 98.
Divers expedients are used to correct the effects of
this rule; as, by passing an explanatory act, if any-
thing has been omitted or ill-expressed, 3 Hats. 278;
or an act to enforce, and make more effectual an act,
&c., or to rectify mistakes in an act, &c.; or a com-
mittee on one bill may be instructed to receive a
clause to rectify the mistakes of another. Thus,
June 24, 1685, a clause was inserted in a bill for recti-
fying a mistake committed by a clerk in engrossing
a bill of reply. — 2 Hats. 194. 6. Or the session may
be closed for one, two, three, or more days, and a
new one commenced. But then all matters depend-
ing must be finished, or they fall, and are to begin
de novo. — 2 Hats. 94, 98. Or a part of the subject
484 Jefferson's Works
may be taken up by another bill, or taken i
different way. — 6 Grey, 316.
And in cases of the last magnitude, this rule has
not been so strictly and verbally observed as to stop
indispensable proceedings altogether. — 2 Hais. 92.
98. Thus, when the address on the preliminaries of
peace, in 1782, had been lost by a majority of one;
on account of the importance of the question, and
smallness of the majority, the same question in sub-
stance, though with words not in the first, and which
might change the opinions of some members, was
brought on again and carried: as the motives for it
were thought to outweigh the objections of form. —
2 Hats. 99, 100.
A second bill may be passed, to continue an act of
tiie same session ; or to enlarge the time limited for
its execution. — 2 Hats. 95, 98. This is not in con-
tradiction to the first act.
SECTION XLIV.
BILLS SENT TO THE OTHER HOUSE.
I
All bills passed in the Senate, shall before they are sent to the Hi
of Representatives, be examined by the committees respectividy
brought in such bills, or to whom the same have been last committed
in Senate. — Ruie 33.
A bill from the other House is sometimes ordered
to lie on the table. — 2 Hats. 97.
When bills, passed in one House and sent to the
other, are grounded on special facts requiring proof.
it is usual, either by message, or at a conference, to
Parliamentary Manual 4^5
ask the grounds and evidence; and this evidence,
whether arising out of papers, or from the examina-
tion of witnesses, is immediately commtmicated. —
3 Hats. 48.
SECTION XLV.
AMENDMENTS BETWEEN THE HOUSES.
When either House, e. g. the House of Conmions,
sends a bill to the other, the other may pass it with
amendments. The regular progression in this case
is, that the Conunons disagree to the amendment;
the Lords insist on it; the Commons insist on their
disagreement; the Lords adhere to their amend-
ment; the Commons adhere to their disagreement.
The term of insisting may be repeated as often as
they choose, to keep the question open. But the
first adherence by either renders it necessary for the
other side to recede or adhere also ; when the matter
is usually suffered to fall. — 10 Grey, 148. Latterly,
however, there are instances of their having gone to
a second adherence. There must be an absolute
conclusion of the subject somewhere, or otherwise
transactions between the Houses would be endless. —
3 Hats. 268, 270. The term of insisting, we are told
by Sir John Trevor, was then [1679] newly intro-
duced into Parliamentary usage, by the Lords. — 7
Grey, 94. It was certainly a happy innovation, as it
multiplies the opportimities of trying modifications
which may bring the House to a concurrence.
426 Jefferson's Works
Either House, however, is free to pass over the term
of insisting, and to adhere in the first instance. — lo
Grey, 146. But it is not respectful to the other. In
the ordinary Parliamentary course, there are two
free conferences at least before adherence. — 10
Greyy 147.
Either House may recede from its amendment,
and agree to the bill; or recede from their disagree-
ment to the amendment, and agree to the same abso-
lutely, or with an amendment. For here the disa-
greement and receding destroy one another, and the
subject stands as before the disagreement. — Elsynge,
23» 27; 9 Grey, 476.
But the House cannot recede from or insist on, its
own amendment with an amendment, for the same
reason that it cannot send to the other House an
amendment to its own act after it has passed the act.
They may modify an amendment from the other
House by ingrafting an amendment on it, because
they have never assented to it; but they cannot
amend their own amendment, because they have,
on the question, passed it in that form; 9 Grey, 353;
10 Grey, 240. In Senate, March 29, 1798. Nor
where one House has adhered to their amendment,
and the other agrees with an amendment, can the
first House depart from the form which they have
fixed by an adherence.
In the case of a money bill, the Lords' proposed
amendments become, by delay, confessedly neces-
sary. The Commons, however, refused them, as
Parliamentary Manual 427
infringing on their privilege as to money bills, but
they offered themselves to add to the bill a proviso
to the same effect, which had no coherence with the
Lords' amendments, and urged, that it was an expe-
dient warranted by precedent, and not unparlia-
mentary in a case become impracticable, and irre-
mediable in any other way. — 3 Hats. 256, 266, 270,
271. But the Lords refused and the bill was lost,
I Chand. 288. A like case, i Chand, 311. So the
Commons resolve, that it is unparliamentary to strike
out at a conference anything in a bill which hath
been agreed and passed by both Houses, 6 Grey, 274;
I Chand. 312.
A motion to amend an amendment from the other
House, takes precedence of a motion to agree or
disagree.
A bill originating in one House, is passed by the
other with an amendment.
The originating House agrees to their amendment
with an amendment. The other may agree to their
amendment with an amendment; that being only
in the second and not the third degree. For, as to
the amending House, the first amendment with
which they passed the bill is a part of its text; it is
the only text they have agreed to. The amendment
to that text by the originating House, therefore, is
only in the first degree, and the amendment to that
again by the amending House is only in the second,
to wit, an amendment to an amendment, and so admis-
sible. Just so when, on a bill from the originating
House, the other, at its second reading, makes j
amendment; on the third reading, this amendnienfrJ
is become the text of the bill, and if an amendments
to it be moved, an amendment to that amendment*
may also be moved, as being only in the second!
degree.
SECTION XLVI.
CONFERENCES.
It is on the occasion of amendments between thfffl
Houses that conferences are usually asked; but]
they may be asked in all cases of difference of opinioiM
between the two Houses on matters dependingj
between them. The request of a conference, how-"
ever, must always be by the House which is possessed
of the papers. — ^Hais.^i; iGrey,^^^; 4 Hats. ^.^^.
Conferences may be either simple or free. At a
conference simply, written reasons are prepared by
the House asking it, and they are read and delivered
without debate, to the managers of the other House
at the conference ; but are not then to be answered.
— 3 Grey, 144. The other House then, if satisfied,
vote the reasons satisfactory, or say nothing; if not
satisfied, they resolve them not satisfactory, and ask 1
a conference on the subject of the last conference, ,
where they read and deliver in like manner written!
answers to those reasons. — 3 Grey, 183. They are
meant chiefly to record the justification of each Hon:
to the nation at large, and to jxjsterity, and in pit
that the miscarriage of a necessary measure is nl
Parliamentary Manual 4^9
imputable to them. — 3 Grey, 255. At free confer-
ences, the managers discuss viva voce and freely, and
interchange propositions for such modifications as
may be made in a Parliamentary way, and may
bring the sense of the two Houses together. And
each party reports in writing to their respective
Houses the substance of what is said on both sides,
and it is entered in their journals. — 6 Grey^ 220;
3 Hats. 280. {yide Joint Rules, 1 .) This report cannot
be amended or altered as that of a committee may
be. — Journ. Senate, May 24, 1796.
A conference may be asked, before the House ask-
ing it has come to a resolution of disagreement, insist-
ing or adhering. — 3 Hats. 269, 341. In which case
the papers are not left with the other conferees, but
are brought back to be the foundation of the vote to be
given. And this is the most reasonable and respect-
ful proceeding. For, as was urged by the Lords on
a particular occasion, " it is held vain, and below the
wisdom of Parliament, to reason or argue against
fixed resolutions, and upon terms of impossibility to
persuade." — 3 Hats. 226. So the Commons say ** an
adherence is never deUvered at a free conference,
which implies debate." — 10 Grey, 147. And on
another occasion, the Lords made it an objection
that the Commons had asked a free conference after
they had made resolutions of adhering. It was then
affirmed, however, on the part of the Commons,
that nothing was more Parliamentary than to pro-
ceed with free conferences after adhering; 3 Hats.
43° Jefferson's Works
269; an we do in fact see instances of conference or
of free ( inference, asked after the resolution of dis-
agreeing — 3 Hats. 251, 253. 260. 286, 291, 316, 349,
of insist: ig, ib. 280, 296, 299, 319, 322, 355, of adher-
ing, 269, 270, 28.'?, .100; and even of a second or final
adheren* ind in all cases of con-
ference { ' disagreement, &c., the
conferees ing it are to leave the
papers ■" ' the other; and in one
case wh eceive them, they were
left on t 'ence chamber.^3 Hats.
271, 31 y, 146, The Commons
affirm, 1 ; two free conferences or
more bt-iui v. v.. v..^ ..J proceeds to adhere,
because, before that time, the Houses have not had
the full opportunity of making replies to one
another's arguments, and, to adhere so suddenly and
unexpectedly, excludes all possibility of offering
expedients. — 4 Hats. 330.
After a free conference the usage is to proceed
with free conferences, and not to return again to a
conference. — 3 Hats. 270; 9 Grey, 229.
After a conference denied, a free conference may
be asked. — 1 Grey, 45.
When a conference is asked, the subject of it must
be expressed, or the conference not agreed to. — Ord.
H. Com. 89; I Grey, 425; 7 Grey, 31. They are
sometimes asked to inquire concerning an offence or
default of a meml^r of the other House. 6 Grey, 181 ;
I Chand. 304; or the failure of the other House to
Parliamentary Manual 431
present to the King a bill passed by both Houses, 8
Grey, 302; or on information received, and relating
to the safety of the nation, 10 Grey, 711, or when the
methods of Parliament are thought by the one
House to have been departed from by the other, a
conference is asked to come to a right understand-
ing thereon. — 10 Grey. 148. So, when an unparlia-
mentary message has been sent, instead of answer-
ing it, they ask a conference. — 3 Grey, 155. For-
merly, an address, or articles of impeachment, or a
bill with amendments, or a vote of the House, or
concurrence in a vote, or a message from the King,
were sometimes communicated by way of confer-
ence.— 7 Grey, 128, 300, 387; 7 Grey, 80; 8 Grey,
210, 255; I Torbuck's Deb. 278; 10 Grey, 293;
I Chandler, 49, 287. But this is not modem
practice. — 8 Grey, 255.
A conference has been asked after the first read-
ing of a bill. I Grey, 194. This is a singular
instance. During the time of a conference, the
House can do no business. As soon as the oames
of the managers are called over, and they are gone
to the conference, the Speaker leaves the chair, with-
out any question, and resumes it in the return of the
managers. It is the same while the managers of an
impeachment are at the House of Lords. — 4 Hats.
47, 209, 288.
432 Jefferson's Works
SECTION XLVII.
MESSAGES.
Messages between the Houses are to be sent only
while both Houses are sitting. — 3 Hats. 15. They
are received during a debate, without adjotuning
the debate. — 3 Hats. 22.
In Senate, the messengers are introduced in any state of business,
except — I. While a question is putting. 2. While the yeas and nays
are calling. 3. While the ballots are calling. The first case is short:
the second and third are cases where any interruption might occasion
errors difficult to be corrected. — So arranged, June 15th, 1798.
In the House of Representatives, as in Parliament, if the House be
in a committee when a messenger attends, the Speaker takes the chair
to receive the message, and then quits it to return into a committee,
without any question or interruption. — 4 Grey, 226.
Messengers are not saluted by the members, but
by the Speaker, for the House. — 2 Grey, 253, 274.
If messengers commit an error in delivering their
messages, they may be admitted, or called in, to cor-
rect their message. — 4 Grey, 41 . Accordingly, March
13, 1800, the Senate having made two amendments to
a bill from the House of Representatives, their secre-
tary, by mistake, delivered one only; which being
inadmissible by itself, that House disagreed, and
notified the Senate of their disagreement. This
produced a discovery of the mistake. The secre-
tary was sent to the other House to correct his mis-
take, the correction was received, and the two
amendments acted on de novo.
As soon as the messenger, who has brought bills
Parliamentary Manual 433
from the other House, has retired, the Speaker holds
the bills in his hand, and acquaints the House,
"That the other House have, by their messenger,
sent certain bills," and then reads their titles, and
delivers them to the clerk to be safely kept till they
shall be called for to be read. — Hakew. 178.
It is not the usage for one House to inform the
other by what numbers a bill has passed. — 10 Grey,
150. Yet they have sometimes recommended a bill
as of great importance to the consideration of the
House to which it is sent. — 3 Hats. 25. Nor when
they have rejected a bill from the other House, do
they give notice of it; but it passes sub silentio to
prevent unbecoming altercation. — i Black. 133.
But in Congress the rejection is notified by message to the House
in which the bill originated.
A question is never asked by the one House of the
other by way of message, but only at a conference;
for this is an interrogatory, not a message. — 3 Grey,
iSif 181.
When a bill is sent by one House to the other, and
is neglected, they may send a message to remind
them of it. — 3 Hats. 25; 5 Grey, 154. But if it be
mere inattention, it is better to have it done infor-
mally, by communications between the Speakers, or
members of the two Houses.
Where the subject of a message is of a nature that
it can properly be communicated to both Houses of
Parliament, it is expected that this commimication
VOL. XX — a 8
434 Jefferson's Works
shotild be made to both on the same day. But
where a message was accompanied with an original
declaration, signed by the party, to which the mes-
sage referred, its being sent to one House was not
noticed by the other, because the declaration, being
original, could not possibly be sent to both Houses
at the same time. — 2 Hats. 260, 261, 262.
The King having sent original letters to the Com-
mons, afterwards desires they may be returned,
that he may communicate them to the Lords. — i
Chandler^ 303.
SECTION XLVIII.
ASSENT.
The House which has received a bill, and passed
it, may present it for the King's assent, and ought
to do it, though they have not by message notified
to the other their passage of it. Yet the notifying
by message is a form which ought to be observed
between the two Houses, from motives of respect
and good understanding. — 3 Hats. 242. Were the
bill to be withheld from being presented to the King,
it would be an infringement of the rules of Parlia-
ment.— 2 Hats. 242.
When a bill has passed both Houses of Congress, the House Isit
acting on it notifies its passage to the other, and delivers the bill to
the joint committee of enrolment, who see that it is truly enrolled in
parchment. When the bill is enrolled, it is not to be written in para-
graphs, but solidly and all of a piece, that the blanks within the para-
graphs may not give room for forgery.-^ Orey, 143. It is then put
in the hands of the clerk of the House of Representatives, to have it
Parliamentary Manual 435
signed by the Speaker. The clerk then brings it by way of message
to the Senate, to be signed by their President. The secretary of the
Senate returns it to the committee of enrolment, who present it to the
President of the United States. If he approves, he signs and deposits
it among the rolls in the office of the Secretary of State, and notifies
by message the House in which it originated, that he has approved
and signed it; of which that House informs the other by message. If
the President disapproves, he is to return it, with his objections, to
the House in which it shall have originated; who are to enter the
objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If,
after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the House shall agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent, together with the President's objections, to
the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if
approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. If any
bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be
a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by
their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a
law. — Const, U. 5., Art. I. Sec. 7.
SECTION XLIX.
JOURNALS.
Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the
Senate and the House of Representatives may be necessary, (except
on a question of adjournment,) shall be presented to the President of
the United States, and before the same shall take effect, shall be
approved by him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed
by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according
to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. — Const.
U. 5., Art. I. Sec. 7.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judg-
ment, reqtiire secrecy.— Con^/., I. 5, 3.
Every vote of Senate shall be entered on the journal, and a brief
statement of the contents of each petition, memorial, or paper, pre-
sented to the Senate, be also inserted on the journal. — Rule 24.
The proceedings of the Senate, when not acting as in a committee
of the House, shall be entered on the jotimals, as concisely as possible,
care being taken to detail a true accotmt of the proceedings. — RuU 26.
The titles of bills, and such part thereof only as shall be affected by
proposed amendments, shall be inserted on the journals. — RuU 27.
43^
Jefferson's Works
If a question is interrupted by a vote to adjourn,
or to proceed to the orders of the day, the original
question is never printed in the journal, it never
having been a vote, nor introductory to any vote;
but when suppressed by the previous question, the
first question must be stated, in order to introduce,
and make inteUigible, the second. — 2 Hals. 83.
So also, when a question is postponed, adjourned,
or laid on the table, the original question, though
not yet a vote, must be expressed in the journals;
because it makes part of the vote of postponement,
adjourning, or laying on the table.
Where amendments are made to a question, those
amendments are not printed in the journals, sepa-
rated from the question; but only the question as
finally agreed to by the House. The rule of enter-
ing in the journals only what the House has agreed
to, is founded in great prudence and good sense; as
there may be many questions proposed which it may
be improper to pubHsh to the world, in the form in
which they are made. — 2 Hois. 85.
In both Houses of Congress, all questions whereon the yeas and na^i
sre desired by one-fifth of the members present, whether decided
aflirmatively or negatively, must be entered on the jounuls.^-C^wt,
I S. 3-
The first order for printing the votes of the House
of Commons, was October 30, 1685. — i Chandler, 387.
Some judges have been of opinion, that the jour-
nals of the House of Commons are no records, but
remembrances. But this is no law.— C06. 110, iii;
Parliamentary Manual 437
Lex. Pari. 114, 115; Jour. H. C. Mar. 17, 1592; Hale,
Pari. 105. For the Lords, in their House, have
power of judictaure ; the Commons, in their House,
have power of judicature ; and both Houses together
have power of judicatiure ; and the book of the clerk
of the House of Commons is a record, as is affirmed
by act of Parliament. — 6 H. &. c. i6\ Inst. 23, 24;
and every member of the House of Commons has a
judicial place. — 4 Inst. 15. As records, they are
open to every person; and a printed vote of either
House is sufficient ground for the other to notice it.
Either may appoint a committee to inspect the
journals of the other, and report what has been done
by the other in any particular case. — 2 Hats. 261 ; 3
Hats. 27, 30. Every member has a right to see the
journals, and to take and publish votes from them.
Being a record, every one may see and publish
them. — 6 Grey, 118, 119.
On information of a mis-entry or omission of an
entry in the journal, a committee may be appointed
to examine and rectify it, and report it to the
House. — 2 Hats. 194, 5-
SECTION L,
ADJOURNMENT.
The two Houses of Parliament have the sole,
separate, and independent power of adjourning,
each their respective Houses. The King has no
438 Jefferson's Works
authority to adjotim them ; he can only signify his
desire, and it is in the wisdom and prudence of
either House to comply with his requisition, or
not, as they see fitting. — 2 Hats. 332; i Blackstone,
186; 5 Grey, 122.
By the Constitution of the United States, a smaller number than a
majority may adjotun from day to day. — I. 5. But neither House,
during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in
which the two Houses shall be sitting. — I. 5. The President may on,
extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and
in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think
proper. — Const, II. 3.
A motion to adjourn simply, cannot be amended
as by adding, " To a particular day." But must be
put simply, "That this House do now adjourn?"
and if carried in the affirmative, it is adjourned to
the next sitting day, unless it has come to a previous
resolution, "That at its rising, it will adjourn to a
particular day," and then the House is adjourned
to that day. — 2 Hats. 82.
Where it is convenient that the business of the
House be suspended for a short time, as for a con-
ference presently to be held, &c., it adjourns during
pleasure. — 2 Hats. 305. Or for a quarter of an hour.
—5 Grey, 331.
If a question be put for adjournment, it is no
adjotimment till the Speaker pronounces it. — 5 Grey,
137. And from courtesy and respect, no member
leaves his place till the Speaker has passed on.
Parliamentary Manual 439
SECTION LI.
A SESSION.
Parliament have three modes of separation, to
wit, by adjotimment, by prorogation, by dissolution
by the King, or by the efflux of the term for which
they were elected. Prorogation or dissolution con-
stitutes there what is called a session; provided
some act has passed. In this case, all matters
depending before them are discontinued, and at
their next meeting are to be taken up de novo, if
taken up at all. — i BUickstone, i86. Adjournment,
which is by themselves, is no more than a continu-
ance of the session from one day to another, or for a
fortnight, a month, etc., ad libitum. All matters
depending remain in statu quo, and when they meet
again, be the term ever so distant, are resumed with-
out any fresh commencement, at the point at which
they were left. — i Lev. 165; Lex. Pari. c. 2; 1 Ro.
Rep. 29; 4 Inst. 7, 27, 28; Hut. 61; i Mod. 152;
Ruffh. Jac. L. Diet. Parliaments', Blackstone, 186.
Their whole session is considered in law but as one
day, and has relation to the first day thereof. — Bro.
Abro. Parliament, 86.
Committees may be appointed to sit during a
recess by adjournment, but not by prorogation. —
5 Grey, 374; 9 Grey, 350; i Chandler, 50. Neither
House can continue any portion of itself in any Par-
liamentary function, beyond the end of the session,
without the consent of the other two branches.
440 Jefferson's Work^
When done, it is by a bill constituting them com-
missioners for the particular purpose.
Congress separate in two ways only, to wit, by adjournment or dis-
solution by the efflux of their time. What then constitutes a session
with them ? A dissolution certainly closes one session, and the meet-
ing of the new Congress begins another. The Constitution authorizes
the President, "On extraordinary occasions, to convene both Houses,
or either of them." — Art. I. Sec. 3. If convened by the President's
proclamation, this must begin a new session, and of course determine
the preceding one to have been a session. So, if it meets under the
clause of the Constitution, which says, "The Congress shall assemble,
at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Mon-
day in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day,*' —
I. 4, — ^this must begin a new session. For even if the last adjourn-
ment was to this day, the act of adjotamment is merged in the higher
authority of the Constitution, and the meeting will be tmder that, and
not under their adjournment. So far we have fixed landmarks for
determining sessions. In other cases, it is declared by the joint vote
authorizing the President of the Senate and the Speaker to close the
session on a fixed day, which is usually in the following form, "Re-
solved, by the Senate and House of Representatives, that the Presi-
dent of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
be authorized to close the present session, by adjotiming their respec-
tive Houses on the day of ."
When it was said above, that all matters depend-
ing before Parliament were discontinued by the
determination of the session, it was not meant for
judiciary cases, depending before the House of
Lords, such as impeachments, appeals, and writs of
error. These stand continued of course to the next
session. — Raym. 120, 381; Ruffh. Jac. L. D. Parlia-
tnent.
Impeachments stand in like manner continued before the Senate of
the United States.
Parliftipi^nUry M^Qual 44^
SECTION LII.
TREATIES.
The President of the United States luts power, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-
thirds of the Senators present concur. — Const, U. 5., Art. II. Sec. a.
Resolved, That all confidential communications, mafle by ^he Presi-
dent of the United States to the Senate, shall be, by the members
thereof, kept inviolably secret; and that all treaties, which may here-
after be laid before the Senate, shall also be kept secret, until the
Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the injunction pf sepr^y.-r-
Dec, lid, 1804.
Treaties are legislative acts. A treaty is a law of
the land. It diflfers from other laws only as it mtjst
have the consent of a foreign nation, being but a
contract with respect to that nation. In all coun-
tries, I believe, except England, treaties are made
by the legislative power; and there, also, if they
touch the laws of the land, they must be approved
by Parliament. Ware vs. Hilton. — 3 Dallas's Rep.
199. It is acknowledged, for instance, that the
King of Great Britain cannot, by a treaty, make a
citizen of an alien. — Vattel, b. i, c. 19, sec. 214. An
act of Parliament was necessary to validate the
American treaty of 1783. And abundant examples
of such acts can be cited. In the case of the treaty
of Utrecht, in 17 12, the commercial articles required
the concurrence of Parliament. But a bill brought
in for that purpose was rejected. France, the other
contracting party, suffered these articles, in practice,
to be not insisted on, and adhered to the rest of the
442 Jefferson's Works
treaty. — 4 Russell's Hist. Mod. Europe, 457 ; 2
Smollet, 242, 246.
By the Constitution of the United States, this department of legis-
lation is confined to two branches only, of the ordinary Legislature:
the President originating, and Senate having a negati\'e. To what
subject this power extends, has not been defined in detail by the Con-
stitution; nor are we entirely agreed among ourselves, i. It is ad-
mitted that it must concern the foreign nation, party to the contract,
or it would be a mere nullity res inter alias acta, s. By the general
power to make treaties, the Constitution must hav-e intended to com-
prehend only those objects which are usually regulated by treaty, and
cannot be otherwise regulated. 3. It must have meant to except out
of these the rights reserved to the States; for surely the President and
Senate cannot do by treaty what the whole government is Interdicted
from doing in any way. 4. And also to except those subjects of legis-
lation in which it gave a participation to the House of Representatives.
This last exception is denied by some, on the ground that it would
leave very little matter for the treaty power to work on. The less the
better, say others. The Constitution thought it wise to restrain the
Executive and Senate from entangling and embroiling our affairs with
those of Europe. Besides, as the negotiations are carried on by the
Executive alone, the subjecting to the ratification of the Representa-
tives such articles as are within their participation, is no more incon-
venient than to the Senate. But the ground of this exemption is
denied as unfounded. For examine, e. g.. the treaty of commence
with France, and it will be found that out of thirty-one articles, there
are not more than small portions of two or three of them which would
not still remain as subjects of treaties, untouched by these exceptions.
Treaties being declared, equally with the laws of the United Slates,
to be the supreme law of the land, it is understood that an act of thi
Legislature alone can declare them infringed and rescinded. This wm
accordingly the process adopted in the case of France, 1798,
It has been the usage of the Executive, when ii
treaty to the Senate for their ratification, to communicate also thi
correspondence of the negotiations. This having been omitted in
the case of the Prussian treaty, was asked by a vote of the House o(
February 11, 1800, and was obtained. And in December. i3oo, the
Convention of that vear, between the United Slates and France, with
Parliamentary Manual 443
the report of the negotiations by the Envoys, but not their instruc-
tions, being laid before the Senate, the instructions were asked for»
and communicated by the President.
The mode of voting on questions of ratification is by nominal call.
Resolved, as a standing rule, That whenever a treaty shall be laid
before the Senate for ratification, it shall be read a first time for infor-
mation only; when no motion to reject, ratify, or modify the whole
or any part, shall be received.
That its second reading shall be for consideration; and on a subse-
quent day, when it shall be taken up as in a committee of the whole,
and every one shall be free to move a question on any particular
article in this form: "Will the Senate advise and consent to the rati-
fication of this article?" or to propose amendments thereto, either by
inserting or leaving out words, in which last case the question shall be,
" Shall the words stand part of the article ? " And in every of the said
cases, the conctirrence of two-thirds of the Senators present shall be
required to decide affirmatively. And when through the whole, the
proceedings shall be stated to the House, and questions be again sev-
erally put thereon for confirmation, or new ones proposed, requiring
in like manner a concurrence of two-thirds for whatever is retained or
inserted.
That the votes so confirmed shall, by the House or a committee
thereof, be reduced into the form of a ratification with or without
modifications, as may have been decided, and shall be proposed on a
subsequent day, when every one shall again be free to move amend-
ments, either by inserting or leaving out words; in which last case the
question shall be, "Shall the words stand part of the resolution.?"
And in both cases the concurrence of two- thirds shall be requisite to
carry the affirmative; as well as on the final question to advise and con-
sent to the ratification in the form agreed to. — Rule of Jan. 6, 1801.
Resolved, That when any question may have been decided by the
Senate, in which two-thirds of the members present are necessary to
carry the affirmative, any member who voted on that side which pre-
vailed in the question may be at liberty to move for a reconsideration;
and a motion for reconsideration shall be decided by a majority of
votes. — Rule of Feb. 3, 1801.
444 Jefferson's Works
SECTION LIII.
IMPEACHMENT.
These are the provisions of the Constitution of
the United States on the subject of impeachments.
The following is a sketch on some of the principles
and practices of England on the same subject.
The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeach'
nent.—Consl. U. S.. Art. I. Sec. 3.
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The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachmetiUi
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirnwtion.
When the President of the United Slates is tried, the Chief Jvkstic«
shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the
rence of two-thirda of the members present. Judgment, in 1
impeachment, shall not extend further than to remo^'al from of&ottt
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust.
profit, under the United States. But the parly convicted shall never —
theless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and pun
ishment, according to law. — Const. U . S.. Art. I, Sec. 3.
The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the Unitev^
States, shall be removed from office on inipeachraent for. and conv
tioa of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Const. U. S., Art. II. Sec. 4.
The trial of crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be 1
jury.— Ci>HJ(. U. S., Art. III. Sec. a.
Jurisdiction. — ^The Lords cannot impeach any to
themselves, nor join in the accusation, because they
are judges. — Seld. Judic. in Pari. 12, 63. Nor can
they proceed against a commoner, but on complaint
of the Commons. — 7b. 84. The Lords may not. b
the law, try a commoner for capital offence, on the
information of the King, or a private person ; because
the accused is entitled to a trial by his peers gener-
Parliamentary Manual 445
ally; but on accusation by the House of Commons,
they may proceed against the delinquent, of what-
soever degree, and whatsoever be the nature of the
offence; for there they do not asstmie to themselves
trial at common law. The Commons are then
instead of a jury, and the judgment is given on their
demand, which is instead of a verdict. So the
Lords do only judge but not try the delinquent. —
lb. 6, 7. But Wooddeson denies that a commoner
can now be charged capitally before the Lords, even
by the Commons; and cites Fitzharris's case, 1681,
impeached of high treason, where the Lords remitted
the prosecution to the inferior court. — 8 Grey's Deb.
325, 6, 7; 2 Wooddeson, 601, 576; 3 Seld. 1610, 1619,
1641; 4 Black. 257; 3 Seld. 1604, 1618, 9. 1656.
Accusation. — ^The Commons, as the grand inquest
of the nation, become suitors for penal justice. — 2
Woodd. 597; 6 Grey, 356. The general course is to
pass a resolution, containing a criminal charge
against the supposed delinquent, and then to direct
some member to impeach him by oral accusation,
at the bar of the House of Lords, in the name of the
Commons. The person signifies, that the articles
will be exhibited, and desires that the delinquent
may be sequestered from his seat, or be committed,
or that the Peers will take order for his appearance.
— Sachev. Trial. 325; 2 Woodd. 602, 605; Lords'
Jour. 3 June, 1701; i Wms. 616; Grey, 324.
Process. — If the party do not appear, proclama-
tions are to be issued giving him a day to appear.
446 Jefferson's Works
On their return they are strictly examined. If any
error be found in them, a new proclamation issues,
giving a short day. If he appear not, his goods
may be arrested, and they may proceed. — Seld.
Jud. 98, 99.
Articles. — The accusation (article) of the Com-
mons, is substituted in place of an indictment.
Thus, by the usage of ParUament, an impeachment
for writing or speaking the particular words, need
not be specified. — Sack. Tr. 325; 2 Woodd. 602, 605;
Lords' Journ. 3 June, 1701 ; i Wms. 616.
Appearance. — If he appears, and the case be cap-
ital, he answers in custody; though not if the accu-
sation be general. He is not to be committed but
on special accusations. If it be for a misdemeanor
only, he answers a Lord in his place, a Commoner
at the bar, and not in custody, unless, on the answer,
the Lords find cause to commit him till he find
sureties to attend, and lest he should fly. — Seld.
Jud. 98, 99. A copy of the articles is given him,
and a day fixed for his answer. — T. Ray; i Rushw,
268; Post. 232. I Clar. Hist, of the Reb. 379. On
a misdemeanor, his appearance may be in person,
or he may answer in writing, or by attorney. — Seld.
Jud. 100. The general rule on accusation for a mis-
demeanor is, that in such a state of liberty or
restraint as the party is when the Commons com-
plain of him, in such he is to answer. — Seld. Jud. loi.
If previously conmiitted by the Conmions, he
answers as a prisoner. But this may be called, in
Parliamentary Manual 447
some sort, judicium parium suorum. — Seld. Jud.
In misdemeanors, the party has a right to cotmsel
by the common law; but not in capital cases. — Jtid.
Seld. 102-5.
Answer. — The answer need not observe great
strictness of form. He may plead guilty as to part,
and defend as to the residue; or, saving all excep-
tions, deny the whole, or give a particular answer to
each article separately. — i Rush. 247; 2 Ru^h. 1374;
12 Pari. Hist. 442; 3 Lords' Jaurn. 13 Nov., 1643; 2
Woodd. 607. But he cannot plead a pardon in bar
to the impeachment. — 2 Woodd. 618; 2 St. Tr. 735.
Replication, rejoinder, &c. — ^There may be a repli-
cation, rejoinder, &c. — Seld. Jud. 114; 8 Grey's Deb.
233; Sack. Tr. 15; Joum. House of Commons^ 6
March, 1640, i.
Witnesses. — ^The practice is to swear the witnesses
in open Hotise, and then examine them there: or a
committee may be named, who shall examine them
in committee either on interrogatories agreed on in
the House, or such as the committee, in their dis-
cretion, shall demand. — Seld. Jud. 120, 123.
Jury. — In the case of Alice Pierce, i /?. 2. a jury
was empannelled for her trial before a committee. —
Seld. Jud. 123. But this was on a complaint, not
an impeachment by the Commons. — Seld. Jud. 163.
It mtist also have been for a misdemeanor only, as
the Lords Spiritual sat in the case, which they do on
misdemeanors, but not in capital cases. — Seld. Jud.
148. The judgment was a forfeiture of all her lands
448 Jefferson's Works
and goods. — Seld. Jud. i88. This, Selden says, is
the only jury he finds recorded in Parliament for
misdemeanors; but he makes no doubt if the delin-
quent doth put himself on the trial of his country,
a jury ought to be empannelled: and he adds, that
it is not so on impeachment by the Commons; for
they are in oco propria, and here no jury ought to be
empannelled. — lb. 124. The Lord Berkeley, 6 E. 3,
was arraigned for the murder of , L. 2, on an informa-
tion on the part of the King, and not on impeach-
ment of the Commons; for then they had been
patria sua. He waived his peerage, and was tried
by a jury of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. —
76. 125. In one, i //. 7, the Commons protest that
they are not to be considered as parties to any judg-
ment given, or hereafter to be given in Parliament.
— lb. 133. They have been generally, and more
justly considered, as is before stated, as the grand
jury. For the conceit of Selden is certainly not
accurate, that they are the patria sua of the accused,
and that the Lords do only judge, but not try. It
is undeniable that they do try. For they examine
witnesses as to the facts, and acquit or condemn
according to their own belief of them. And Lord
Hale says, " the Peers are judges of law as well as of
fact." — 2 Hale, P. C. 275. Consequently of fact as
well as of law.
Presence of Commons. — ^The Commons are to be
present at the examination of witnesses. — Seld. Jud.
124. Indeed, they are to attend throughout, either
Parliamentary Manual 449
as a committee of the whole House ; or otherwise, at
discretion, appoint managers to conduct the proofs.
— Rushw. Tr. of Straff. 37 ; Com. Journ. 4 Feb., 1709,
10; 2 Wood. 614. And judgment is not to be given
till they demand it. — Seld. Jud. 124. But they are
not to be present on impeachment when the Lords
consider of the answer or proofs, and determine of
their judgment. Their presence, however, is neces-
sary at the answer and judgment in cases capital-
lb. 58, 159; as well as not capital, 162. The Lords
debate the judgment among themselves. Then the
vote is first taken on the question of guilty or not
guilty; and if they convict, the question, or partic-
ular sentence, is out of that which seemeth to be
most generally agreed on. — Seld. Jud. 167; 2 Wood.
612.
Ji4dgment. — ^Judgments in Parliament, for death,
have been strictly guided per legem terra, which
they cannot alter; and not at all according to their
discretion. They can neither admit any part of the
legal judgment, nor add to it. Their sentence mtist
be secundum, non ultra legem. — Seld. Jud. 168, 169,
170, 171. This trial, though it varies in external
ceremony, yet differs not in essentials from criminal
prosecutions before inferior courts. The same rules
of evidence, the same legal notions of crimes and
punishments, prevail. For impeachments were not
framed to alter the law, but to carry it into more
effectual execution against too powerful delinquents.
The judgment, therefore, is to be such as is war-
VOL. II — 29
45* Jefferson's Works
ranted by legal principles or precedents. — 6 Stra. Tr,
14; 2 Wood. 611. The Chancellor gives judgments
in misdemeanors; the Lord High Steward, formerly,
in cases of life and death. — Seld. Jud. 180. But now
the Steward is deemed not necessary. — Fost, 144; i
Woodd. 613. In misdemeanors, the greatest cor-
poral pimishment hath been imprisonment. — Sold.
Ji4d. 184. The Bang's assent is necessary in capital
judgments, (but 2 Woodd. 614. contra.) but not in
misdemeanors. — Seld. Jud. 136.
Contimuince. — ^An impeachment is not discon-
tinued by the dissolution of Parliament; but may
be resumed by the new Parliament. — T. Ray. 383;
5 Com. Jour. 23 Dec, 1790; Lords' Jour. May 16,
1791; 2 Wood. 618.
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