USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Independence Hall : from the earliest period to the present time : embracing biographies of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Independence, with historical sketches of the sacred relics preserved in that sanctuary of American freedom > Part 10
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CHAPTER XII.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
" Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori."-HORACE. The muse forbids the virtuous man to die.
AMONG the names indelibly impressed on the pages of undying history, or emblazoned on the scroll of Fame, perhaps there is no one more conspicuous than that of THOMAS JEFFERSON. If other names received honors in military points of view, and have chaplets of eternal laurels entwined about their memories, the great author of the "Declaration of Independence" stands equally prominent before the world-equally admired and renowned for his civic and political hero- ism. Science and Literature bear unmistakable wit- ness of his master spirit, and the development of our Nationality received its strongest supports from his pen. As Hamilton was properly designated "the Pen of the Revolution," Thomas Jefferson may, with equal propriety, be called "the Pruning- Hook of Political Economy." For it was through the instrumentality of his essays and writings that Southern chivalry re- ceived patriotic impulses, and the cause of Freedom and Independence was advanced. It was by his labors, to a great extent, that a spirit of resistance to the oppressive dictation of Great Britain was evoked in the South, and took such deep root in the senti-
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ments of the people. Thomas Jefferson was early im- bued with the principles of Liberty, and when he first heard the eloquent speech of Patrick Henry on the "Stamp Act," new and vigorous impulses lighted up his mind, and gave additional incentives to his politi- cal character. From that moment he was another man-his future course was decided; he had chosen for his guiding principles the emancipation of his countrymen from bondage, by the establishment of institutions wherein the character and dignity of American citizens, with high national prerogatives, should be respected abroad and productive of good at home. His character was that of a pure patriot, un- sullied by selfish motives for personal aggrandize- ment, and every act of his political career he consci- entiously believed to be in consonance with the im- mutable decrees of justice and truth, as expounded in the great volumes of "Revelation and Human Rights." Wherever the cause of Independence could be served, or the rights of mankind advanced, there Jefferson's influences were felt and his efforts exerted. But per- haps we cannot give, in the space allotted to us for a brief memoir of this great man, anything better than the facts employed by MR. LOSSING, in his biog- raphy of Thomas Jefferson. He says that Mr. Jeffer- son's family were among the early British emigrants to Virginia. His ancestors came from Wales, from near the great Snowdon mountains. His grandfather settled in Chesterfield, and had three sons, Thomas, Field, and Peter. The latter married Jane, daughter of Isham Randolph, of Goochland, of Scotch descent ; and on the 13th of April, 1743, she became the mother of the subject of this sketch.
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They resided at that time at Shadwell, in Albemarle County, Virginia. Thomas was the oldest child. His father died when he was fourteen years old, leaving a widow and eight children-two sons and six daughters. He left a handsome estate to his family, and the lands, which he called Monticello, fell to Thomas, where the latter always resided, when not engaged in public duty, and where he lived at the time of his death. Thomas entered a grammar-school at the age of five years, and when nine years old he commenced the study of the classics with a Scotch clergyman named Douglass. On the death of his father, the Rev. Mr. Murray became his preceptor; and in the spring of 1760 he entered William and Mary College, where he remained two years. From Dr. William Small, a professor of mathematics in the college, he received his first philosophical teachings, and the bias of his mind. concerning subjects of scientific investigation, seemed to have received its initial impetus from that gentleman. Through his influence, in 1762, young Jefferson was admitted as a student-at-law, in the office of George Wythe, the intimate friend of Gov- ernor Fauquier, at whose table our subject became a welcome guest. In 1765, while yet a student, Jeffer- son heard the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry against the Stamp Act, and fired by its doctrines, he at once stood forth the avowed champion of American Freedom. So manifest were his talents that in 1769 he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature, - and became at once active and popular there. He made strong but unsuccessful efforts in the Virginia Assembly for the emancipation of the slaves. He filled that station until the period of the Revolution,
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when he was called to the performance of more ex. alted duties in the national council. He was married in January, 1772, to Mrs. Martha Skelton, a wealthy widow of twenty-three, who was the daughter of John Wales, an eminent Virginia lawyer.
When the system of committees of correspondence was established, in 1773, Mr. Jefferson was a member of the first committee in Virginia, and was very active with his pen. In 1774 his powerfully-written pamph- let was published, called " A Summary View of the Rights of British America." It was addressed to the king, and was published in England under the auspi- ces of Edmund Burke. This pamphlet gave great offense to Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, who threatened to prosecute him for high treason. And because his associates in the Virginia Assembly sustained Jefferson, Dunmore dissolved it. They assembled in a private capacity, and drew up a remonstrance, which had a powerful effect upon the people. The Governor perceived that his acts were futile, and he allowed the matter to rest. He was elected a delegate to represent Virginia in the Conti- nental Congress of 1775, and for several years he was one of the most efficient members of that body. He soon became distinguished among the men of talents there, although comparatively young; and when, in the succeeding year, a committee was appointed to draft a DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, he was chosen one of the members. Although the youngest member of the committee, he was appointed Chairman, and was requested by the others to draw up the instrument, which he did, and his draft was adopted, with very few verbal amendments, on the 4th of July, 1776.
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This instrument forms a more lasting monument to his talent and patriotism than eloquent panegyric or sculptured epitaph.
During the summer of 1776, he was elected to a seat in the Virginia Assembly, and desirous of serving his own State, he resigned his seat in Congress and re- turned to Virginia. He was soon afterward appointed a joint commissioner, with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, for negotiating treaties with France; but cir- cumstances caused him to decline the acceptance of the proffered honor, and he continued in Virginia during the remaining period of the Revolution, actively engaged in the service of his State. He received a third election to Congress, but declined it, and was succeeded by Benjamin Harrison, the father of Presi- dent Harrison. From the early part of 1777 to the middle of 1779, Mr. Jefferson was assiduously em- ployed, conjointly with George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a commission for revising the laws of Virginia. The duty was a most arduous one; and to Mr. Jefferson belongs the imperishable honor of being the first to propose, in the Legislature of Virginia, the laws. forbidding the importation of slaves; converting estates tail* into fee simple; annulling the rights of
* A law entitled fee tail was adopted in the time of Edward I. of England, and at the period in question extended to all the English Colonies. It restrained the alienation of land and tene- ments by one to whom they had been given, with a limitation to a particular class of heirs. A fee simple estate is one in which the owner has absolute power to dispose of it as he pleases ; and if in his possession when he dies, it descends to his heirs in general.
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primogeniture ;* establishing schools for general edu- cation ; and confirming the rights of freedom in reli- gious opinions.
Congress having resolved not to suffer the prisoners captured at Saratoga, under Burgoyne, to leave the United States until the conditions entered into by Gates and Burgoyne should be ratified by the British government, they were divided and sent to the differ- ent States, to be provided for during the interval. A division of them was sent, early in 1779, into the in- terior of Virginia, near the residence of Mr. Jefferson, and his benevolent feelings were strongly exhibited by his sympathy for these enemies of his country. The prisoners were in great distress, and Mr. Jeffer- son and his friends did all in their power to alleviate their sufferings. An apprehended scarcity of pro- visions determined Governor Patrick Henry to re- move them to another part of the State, or out of it entirely. Mr. Jefferson interceded with the Governor in their behalf, disapproving of the measure. At this the officers and men were allowed to remain. The soldiers were very grateful to Mr. Jefferson, and when they were about to depart for England they united in a vote of thanks to him. Mr. Jefferson, in reply, dis- claimed the performance of any great service to them, and said: "Opposed as we happen to be in our senti- ments of duty and honor, and anxious for .contrary events, I shall, nevertheless, sincerely rejoice in every circumstance of happiness and safety which may attend you personally."
* This right belongs to the eldest son, who succeeds to the estates of his ancestors to the exclusion of his brothers and sisters. This is still the law in England.
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In June, 1779, Mr. Jefferson succeeded Mr. Henry as Governor of Virginia, and the close of his adminis- tration was a period of great difficulty and danger. His State became the theatre of predatory warfare; the infamous Arnold having entered it with British and tory troops, and commenced spreading desolation with fire and sword along the James River. Rich- mond, the capital, was partly destroyed, and Jefferson and his council narrowly escaped capture. He tried, but in vain, to get possession of the person of Arnold, but the wily traitor was too cautious for him. Very soon after his retirement to private life, Tarleton, who attempted to capture the members of the Legislature convened at Charlottesville, a short distance from Jefferson's residence, came . very near taking him prisoner. Jefferson had sent his family away in his carriage, and remained to attend to some matters in his dwelling, when he saw the cavalry ascending a hill toward his house. He mounted a fleet horse, dashed through the woods, and reached his family in safety.
M. De Marbois, Secretary of the French Legation in the United States, having questioned Mr. Jefferson respecting the resources, etc., of his native State, he wrote, in 1781, his celebrated work entitled "Notes on Virginia." The great amount of information which it contains, and the simple perspicuity of its style, made its author exceedingly popular in Europe as a writer and a man of science, in addition to his cha- racter as a statesman. In 1782 he was appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary to assist others in negotiating a treaty of peace with Great Britain. He was soon after elected a delegate to Congress, and was chair-
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man of the committee, in 1783, to whom the treaty with Great Britain was referred. In 1784, he wrote an essay on coining and currency for the United States, and to him we are indebted for the convenient denomination of our federal money, the dollar as a unit, and the system of decimals. In May of that year, he was appointed, with Adams and Franklin, a minister to negotiate treaties of commerce with foreign nations. Dr. Franklin having obtained leave to re- turn home, Mr. Jefferson was appointed to succeed him as Minister at the French Court, and he remained in France until October, 1789. While there, he be- came popular among the literati, and his society was courted by the leading writers of the day. During his absence the Constitution had been formed, and under it Washington had been elected and inaugurated President of the United States. His visit home was under leave of absence, but Washington offered him a seat in his Cabinet as Secretary of State, and gave him his choice to remain in that capacity, or return to France. He chose to remain, and he was one of the most efficient aids to the President during the stormy period of his first administration. He differed in opinion with Washington respecting the kindling revolution in France, but he agreed with him on the question of the neutrality of the United States. His bold avowal of democratic sentiment, and his ex- pressed sympathies with the struggling populace of France in their aspirations for republicanism, made him the leader of the democratic party, then opposed to the federal administration of Washington, and in 1793 he resigned his seat in the Cabinet.
In 1796 he was the republican candidate for Presi-
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dent, in opposition to John Adams. Mr. Adams suc- ceeded, and Mr. Jefferson was elected Vice-President. In 1800 he was again nominated for President, and received a majority of votes over Mr. Adams. Two of Aaron Burr's friends withdrew, and Mr. Jefferson was elected. Mr. Jefferson's administration continued eight years, he having been elected for a second term. The most prominent measures of his administration, were the purchase of Louisiana from France ; the em- bargo on the commerce and ocean-navigation of the United States; the non-intercourse and non-importa- tion system ; the gunboat experiment ; the suppression of Burr's expedition down the Mississippi River; and the sending of an exploring company to the regions of the Rocky Mountains, westward to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Jefferson also introduced the practice of commu- nicating with Congress by message, instead of by a personal address; a practice followed by all the Presi- dents since his time. At the close of his second Presi- dential term, Mr. Jefferson retired to private life, and amid the quiet scenes of Monticello, he spent the re- maining seventeen years of his being, in philosophical and agricultural pursuits. Through his instrumen- tality, a University was founded in 1818, at Char- lottesville, near Monticello, of which he was Rector until his death, and a liberal patron as far as his ineans would allow. Toward the close of his life his pecuniary affairs became embarrassed and he was obliged to sell his library, which Congress purchased for thirty thousand dollars. A short time previous to his death he received permission from the Legislature of Virginia to dispose of his estate by lottery, to pre-
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vent it being sacrificed to pay his debts. He did not live to see it consummated.
In the spring of 1826 his bodily infirmities greatly increased, and in June he was confined wholly to his bed. About the first of July he seemed free from dis- ease, and his friends had hopes of his recovery ; but it was his own conviction that he should die, and he gave directions accordingly. On the 3d he expressed an ardent desire to live until the next day, to breathe the air of the 50th anniversary of his country's inde- pendence. His wish was granted, and on the morn- ing of the 4th, after having expressed his gratitude to his friends and servants for their care, he said, with a distinct voice, "I resign myself to my God, and my child* to my country." These were his last words, and about noon on that glorious day he expired. It was a most remarkable coincidence, that two of the committee (Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson) who drew up the Declaration of Independence-who signed it- who successively held the office of Chief Magistrate- should have died at nearly the same hour, on the 50th anniversary of that solemn act. He was a little over eighty-three years of age at the time of his death. Mr.
* Mrs. Randolph, whom he tenderly loved. Just before he died he handed her a morocco case, with a request that she would not open it until after his decease. It contained a poet- ical tribute to her virtues, and an epitaph for his tomb, if any should be placed upon it. He wished his monument to be a small granite obelisk, with this inscription :
Here was buried THOMAS JEFFERSON. . Author of the Declaration of Independence ; Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom : And Father of the University of Virginia.
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Jefferson's manner was simple but dignified, and his conversational powers were of the rarest value. He was exceedingly kind and benevolent, an indulgent master to his servants, liberal and friendly to his neighbors. He possessed remarkable equanimity of temper, and it is said he was never seen in a passion. His friendship was lasting and ardent and he was con- fiding and never distrustful. Such is a brief outline of the history and character of this remarkable man. Politicians looked upon him as a most thoroughly qualified teacher of political science, and every way worthy to be regarded as authority on all points of governmental policy. Even at the present day the principles promulgated by him are regarded as the basis of correct political economy, by many distin- guished patriots, and would be productive of great service to the progress of our institutions, were they not distorted and abused by interested individuals for sinister motives and personal aggrandizement.
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CHAPTER XIII.
RICHARD STOCKTON.
" Integra mens augustissima possessio." A mind fraught with integrity is the noblest possession.
ALTHOUGH one of the most prominent and influen- tial characters who figured in the Colonial struggles of our country, the portrait of RICHARD STOCKTON is not among those representing his distinguished col- leagues, which grace the Hall of and add to the hal- lowed associations connected with the "Old State House." There are many endearing recollections clustering around the history of this interesting build- ing which have no pictorial representation to please the inspection of strangers, or impress the lover of freedom and national honor with thoughts of patriot- ism. And among these is the memory of brave, bold patriots, who signed the Declaration, whose portraits have not been placed in this holy edifice-but whose biographies teem with valorous and undying fame. Such is the case with reference to Richard Stockton. As a signer of that great instrument which led to_the emancipation of the United Colonies from the op- pressive control of Great Britain; as a jurist, a states- man, and a man of talent; as a soldier and sufferer in the cause of his country, he should have the same deference extended to his memory, by placing his por-
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trait among the glorious galaxy of heroes, whose like- nesses illustrate the walls of Independence Hall. Reminiscences of such men come up before us while contemplating the scenes of our country's exaltation, and we feel that the shrines where such relics ought to be preserved are incomplete without them. It is. true, history will keep their memories bright, but their forms should be preserved on living canvas, or made immortal in sculptured marble. We feel a holy rev- erence come over us while meditating on the places where deeds of valor have been performed by chival- rous and noble men, and although their achievements glow brilliantly on the scroll of Fame, and forbid their names to die, yet there is something needed to intensify our thoughts and keep them more vividly concentrated on the history of the past. In no way can this be done more effectually than by painting in hues of glory, or representing in sculptured figures life-like portraitures of such patriots. Every signer of the " Declaration of Independence" belongs to In- dependence Hall. Their faces should glow within its sacred precincts with as much brightness as their fame graces and glorifies the pages of history. The City Councils could confer no greater blessing to posterity and to the archives of the country than by placing such representations there, together with all interest- ing relics which may be associated with their names. Upon such, future generations, as they visit this Mecca of our nation, can look with rapt admiration, and realize that they behold the actual representations of those who periled their "lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" for the cause of Freedom, and nobly discharged their duties with a price set upon
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their heads. Such men knew no fear-were unac. quainted with hesitation in the cause of political and social liberty, and they set themselves about the work they had to do with that unyielding determination which could not fail of success. And they did succeed.
The subject of this chapter was a man of sterling integrity, intensely devoted to the cause of his country, the interests of its institutions, and was a shining ornament to the legal profession of his day. His fore- parents were natives of England, and emigrated to the New World some time between the years 1660 and 1670. Soon after they arrived here they purchased a large tract of land at Princeton, in New Jersey, and erected on it a fine mansion, and in it Richard Stock- ton was first ushered into the world. Richard was the grandfather of Com. ROBERT FIELD STOCKTON, whose versatility of talent and patriotic impulses have made him so popular and highly esteemed. But in the scope of an article like this, we are unable to dwell minutely on incidents in the life of Richard Stockton -enough that we know he was a signer of the " Declaration of Independence," and aided with his talents, his physical exertions, and his fortune, the cause of American Freedom. We will, therefore, permit a short biography to suffice, as we wish to advert hereafter to all the noble heroes who partici- pated in declaring the Colonies free.
Richard Stockton was born upon the Morven Estate, on the first of October, 1730. He pursued his studies preparatory to a collegiate course, at an academy in Maryland, and after two years thus spent, he entered New Jersey College, then located at New-
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ark. He graduated in 1748, and was placed as a student-of-law under the Hon. David Ogden, of New- ark. Mr. Stockton was admitted to the bar in 1754. and rose so rapidly in his profession, that in 1763 he received the degree of sergeant-at-law, a high dis- tinction in the English Courts, and then recognized in the Colony of New Jersey. In June, 1766, Mr. Stockton embarked for London, and during the fifteen months he remained in England, he was treated with flattering distinction by the most eminent men in the realm. While there he was not unmindful of his alma mater, and he obtained considerable patronage for New Jersey College. His services were afterward grate- fully acknowledged by that institution.
At the time Mr. Stockton was in England, American affairs had assumed so much importance that partisan feelings had sprung up there, and as a consequence, the opinions of so distinguished an American were sought for. By invitation, Mr. Stockton spent a week at the country seat of the Marquis of Rockingham, and on his making a tour to Edinburg, he was enter- tained by the Earl of Leven, and other noblemen. At Edinburg he was received by the Lord Provost, in the name of the citizens, and by a unanimous vote, the freedom of the city was conferred upon him. During his stay there he visited Doctor Witherspoon, at Paisley, who afterward became a resident in the Colonies, and a signer of the instrument declaring their emancipation from British rule. Improvement in his profession being his chief object in visiting Great Britain, Mr. Stockton was a constant attendant upon the higher courts, when in London, and often visited the theatre, to witness the eloquence of Garrick.
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He returned home in September, 1767, and was greeted with universal esteem by his countrymen.
In 1768 Mr. Stockton was chosen a member of the Royal Executive Council of New Jersey, and in 1774 he was placed upon the bench of the Supreme Court of that Province. Having been honored by the per- sonal regard of the king, and possessing an ample fortune, it would have seemed natural for him to have remained loyal; but like Lewis Morris, his principles could not be governed by self-interest, and he espoused the cause of the patriots. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey elected him a delegate to the General Congress in 1776, and he took his seat in time to par- ticipate in the debate upon the proposition for Inde- pendence. At first he seemed doubtful of the expe- diency of an immediate Declaration of Independence, but after hearing the sentiments of nearly all, and the conclusive arguments of John Adams, he voted in favor of the measure, and cheerfully signed the Declaration.
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