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but in a few pithy, characteristic sentences, thereby avoiding the tricks of the fluent speaker. His nephew once asked an old man, who in youth had heard Mr. Jefferson often plead at court, how his grandfather ranked as a speaker, and received this reply: "Well, it is hard to tell, because he always took the right side." In the first year he had before the General Court of Virginia alone sixty-eight cases; in the second year one hundred and fifteen; in the third one hundred and ninetyeight, and so it continued throughout the eight years he practiced, until August 11, 1773, when he passed over his legal business to Edmund Randolph. In addition to the higher court practice, each year he was retained as attorney or counsel for three to five hundred cases-his clients coming from the most reputable and aristocratic of his own and mother country, including the Blands, Burwells, Carters, Harrisons, Careys, Lees, Nelsons, Pages, Randolphs, etc. Mr. Jefferson, soon after reaching majority, became vestryman of his parish church, and justice of the county court, as had his father before him. In 1769 he was elected to the House of Burgesses, which he entered amidst foreboding clouds, as public sentiment throughout the colonies was drifting from the mother country, owing to increased distrust in George III and Parliament. Virginia had already caught the contagion, so that her legislative body echoed loud the spirit of revolution, containing as it did so many formidable advocates-especially three of towering strength: Washington, its sword; Henry, its tongue; Jefferson, its pen.

Early in the session Mr. Jefferson prepared resolutions and an address in reply to Governor Botetourt's inaugural message, but only the former were accepted. Shortly thereafter he introduced a bill making the emancipation of slaves lawful, which was rejected promptly and emphatically, but adopted twelve years later (1782). It was during this absence from home that the family mansion at Shadwell was destroyed by fire (February 1, 1770), with all of its valuable historic contents of furniture, books, legal papers, etc.-his "fiddle" being saved by the servants as the only thing they considered of special value. Fortunately Monticello had been begun the year before and was advanced sufficiently to shelter the family by enduring numerous inconveniences. Two years later, Jan

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John's church, Richmond, during which Patrick Henry made his second world renown speech, "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death," resulting in the appointment of a committee, of which he was a member, "to devise plans for putting the colony upon a military basis." That body also previous to adjournment selected him its representative in the Continental Congress, as the successor to Peyton Randolph, who was to be recalled to preside over the House of Burgesses. Before leaving for his new position Mr. Jefferson enthusiastically prepared a firm, courageous and rebellious reply to Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition," which had been referred to the Burgesses by the Governor for their consideration. It was in this belligerent frame of mind, at the age of thirty-two, that he went to Philadelphia and took his seat in Congress, June 1775. He could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate. read many languages, tie an artery, plan an edifice, plead a case, break a horse, dance a minuet and play the violin-a reputation that had preceded him and of which John Adams, then also a member of that body, wrote in 1822: "Mr. Jefferson came to Congress bringing with him a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent for composition. Writings of his were handed about, remarkable for the peculiar felicity of expression." Shortly after entering upon duties, Congress, feeling an explanation to the world necessary of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, appointed a committee for drafting suitable declarations, which, when finished, proved unsatisfactory. Immediately Mr. Jefferson and John Dickinson were added to the committee, and their personal efforts soon produced something thoroughly acceptable.

Congress appointed, July 1775, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams and Lee a committee to report on Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition," but Mr. Jefferson's colleagues at once requested him to draft the reply, which he did with signal satisfaction. Thus in a few weeks his aggressive and fearless nature brought him to the front of that honorable body, eliciting kindly expressions from every turn-that of the great Adams being a striking compliment: "He was so prompt, frank, explicit and decisive upon committees and in convention that he soon seized upon my heart." Congress adjourned August 1775, when

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