Jefferson_NotesonStateofVirginia

8/7/2019 Jefferson_NotesonStateofVirginia

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wt S me ' 1'- h \ 'U X 5 if? TN ' M q 1 = f 1 f M C r ' f t ~ 'te - e t V..'dWni4'WNtetMiW*i,,(,Yy'n:itfttY,:itCWMt'-S6 eniiyn me h t t ' S tE $j'tritsit#it;'$'an much more a transter ot their powers into other hands and other rorms,witH ut consulting the people. They never admit the idea that these, li

'\ sheep r cattle, may be given from hand to hand without an appeal to t irown wi -Was it from the necessity of the case? Necessities which di lveY. . a govern ent, do not convey its authority to an oligarchy or a mo rchy.They thro back, into the hands of the people, the powers they d delegated, and I ve them as individuals to shift for themselves. A ader mayoffer, but not los himself, nor be imposed on them. Much I s can their1 t0 necks be submit d to his sword, their breath be held at his I or capric e.The necessity whi should operate these tremendous effec should at leastbe palpable and irr istible. Yet in both instances, where t was feared, oroJ ... pretended with us, it as belied by the event. It was be d too by the pre t ceding experience of 0 sister states, several of whom d grappled through greater difficulties with ut abandoning their forms government. Whenthe proposition was first ade, Massachusets had ound even the government of committees suffic] nt to carry them thro h an invasion. But we atthe time of that proposition ere under no inva on. When the second wasi\ made, there had been added 0 this example ose of Rhode-Island, NewQ York, New-Jersey, and Pennsyl nia, in all of ich the republican form had'$ ) been found equal to the task of rrying th through the severest trials. Inw this state alone did there exist so tIe vir e, that fear was to be fixed in the' 2 hearts of the people, and to beco e t motive of their exertions and theo t principle of their government? The e thought alone was treason againstlaJ j the people; was treason against man nd in general; as rivetting for ever the

to chains which bow down their nee , y giving to their oppressors a proof,which they would have trumpete hro h the universe, of the imbecility ofrepublican government, in tim of pr sing danger, to shield them fromharm. Those who assume the ght of gi 'ng away the reins of governmentin any case, must be sure tha he herd, w m they hand on to the rods andto hatchet of the dictator , will ay their necks n the block when he shall nodt to them. But if our asse ies supposed su h a resignation in the people,o r:; I hope they mistook the' character. I am of pinion, that the government,"" lu instead of being braced nd invigorated for gre ter exertions under their difficulties, would have een thrown back upon he bungling machinery ofcounty committees r administration, till a c vention could have beenZ .t called, and its whe s again set into regular moti . What a cruel momentI. \ l was this for crea g such an embarrassment, for utting to the proof theattachment of 0 countrymen to republican govern ent! Those who meantwell, of the ad ocates for this measure, (and most 0 hem meant well, for I know the personally, had been their fellow-Iabo r in the commoncause, and d often proved the purity of their principles), ad been seduced t in their ju ment by the example of an ancient republi c, w se constitutionand eire stances were fundamentally different. They had ught this precedent i the history of Rome, where alone it was to be foun , nd where ati'length 00 it had proved fatal. They had taken it from a republic, ent by themost itter factions and tumults, where the government was 0 heavytl'"..l han ed unfeeling aristocracy, over a people ferocious, and rende d despe te by poverty and wretchedness; tumults which could not be a yed der the most trying circumstances, but by the omnipotent hand of a si Ie

espot. Their constitution therefor e allowed a temporary tyrant to be erected,

, I .1 ,became perpetual. They misapplied this precedent to a people, mild in theirdispositions, patient under their trial, united for the public liberty, and affe _ate to their leaders. But if from the constitution of the Roman rn

men ere resulted to their Senate a power of submitting all the' ghts tothe will ne man, does it follow, that the assembly of Vir . ra have thesame authorl ? What clause in our constitution has s ituted that ofRome, by way 0 iduary provision, for all cases not ot ise provided for?Or if they may step a ibitum into any other form overnment for precedents to rule us by, for w oppression may not recedent be found in thisworld of the bellum omniu . omnia?3-S ching for the foundations ofthis proposition, I can find none hich pretend a colour of right or reason, but the defect before develope, t there being no barrier between thelegislative, executive, and judicia de tments, the legislature may seizethe whole: that having seized' , and posses' a right to fix their own quorum, they may reduce tha orum to one, who they may call a chairman,speaker, dictator, or by other name they please. Our situation is indeedperilous, and I hop y countrymen will be sensible it, and will apply, ata proper season e proper remedy; which is a conventi to fix the constitution, to am its defe cts, to bind up the several branch of governmentby cert ai ws, which when they transgress their acts shall come nullities; t e n d e r unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in oth words areb on, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their ace shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.

Query XIVhe administration of justice Lawsand 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 innumber, in proportion to the size of the county, of the most discreet and honest inhabitants. They are nominated by their fellows, but commissioned bythe governor, and act without reward. These magistrates have jurisdictionboth 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 combination of law andfact, it is usual for the jurors to decide the fact, and to refer the law arisingon it to the decision of the judges. But th is division of the subject lies withtheir 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 suspected of bias, the juryundertake to decide both law and fact. If they be mistaken, a decisionagainst right, which is casual only, is less dangerous to the state, and lessafflicting to the loser, than one which makes part of a regular and uniformsystem. In truth, it is better to toss up cross and pile" in a cause, than to referit to a judge whose mind is warped by any motive whatever, in that particular case. But the common sense of twelve honest men gives still a better3. A war of all against all (Latin) .4. A British term for heads or tails.


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1/chance of just decision, than the hazard of cross and pile. These judges execute their process by the sheriff or coroner of the county, or by constables oftheir own appointment. If any free person commit an offence against thecommonwealth, if it be below the degree of felony, he is bound by a justiceto appear before their court, to answer it on indictment or information. If itamount 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 jury of 24, ofwhom 13 must concur in opinion: if they find him guilty, he is then tried bya jury of 12 men of the county where the offence was committed, and bytheir 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. Inevery 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 thegeneral assembly. In civil matters these justices have jurisdiction in all casesof whatever value, not appertaining to the department of the admiralty. Thisjurisdiction is twofold. If the matter in dispute be of less value than 4lf6 dollars, a single member may try it at any time and place within his county, andmay award execution on the goods of the party cast. If it be of that or greatervalue, it is determinable before the county court, which consists of four atthe least of those justices, and assembles at the court-house of the countyon a certain day in every month. From their determination, if the matter beof 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 superior courts, to wit, the high-court of chancery, thegeneral court, and court of admiralty. The first and second of these receiveappeals from the county courts, and also have original jurisdiction where thesubject of controversy is of the value of ten pounds sterling, or where it concerns the title or bounds of land. The jurisdiction of the admiralt y is original altogether. The high-court of chancery is composed of three judges, thegeneral court of five, and the court of admiralty of three. The two first holdtheir sessions at Richmond at stated times, the chancery twice in the year,and the general court twice for business civil and criminal, and twice morefor criminal only. The court of admiralty sits at Williamsburgh whenever acontroversy arises.

There is one supreme court, called the court of appeals, composed of thejudges of the three superior courts, assembling twice a year at stated timesat Richmond. This court receives appeals in all civil cases from each of thesuperior courts, and determines them finally. But it has no original jurisdiction.If a controversy arise between two foreigners of a nation in alliance withthe United States, it is decided by the Consul for their State, or, if both parties chuse it, by the ordinary courts of justice. If one of the parties only besuch a foreigner, it is t riable before the courts of justice of the country. Butif it shall have been instituted in a county court, the foreigner may removeit into the general court, or court of chancery, who are to determine it attheir first sessions, as they must also do if it be originally commenced beforethem. In cases of life and death, such foreigners have a right to be tried bya jury, the one half foreigners, the other natives.All public accounts are settled with a board of auditors, consisting ofthree members, appointed by the general assembly, any two of whom may

act. But an individual, dissatisfied with the determination of that board,may carry his case into the proper superior court.A description of the laws.The general assembly was constituted, as has been already shewn, by

letters-patent of March the 9th, 1607, in the 4th year of the rei gn of Jamesthe First. The laws of England seem to have been adopted by consent of thesettlers, which might easily enough be done whilst they were few and livingall together. Of such adoption however we have no other proof than.theirpractice, till the year 1661, when they were expressly adopted by an act ofthe assembly, except so far as a diffe rence of condition rendered them inapplicable. Under this adoption, the rule, in our courts of judicature was, thatthe common law of England, and the general statutes previous to the 4th ofJames,5 were in force here; but that no subsequent statutes were, unless wewere n med in them said the judges and other partisans of the crown, butn med or not named said those who reflected freely. t will be unnecessaryto attempt a description of the laws of England, as that may be found in English publica tions. To those which were established here, by the adoption ofthe legislature, have been since added a number of acts of assembly passedduring the monarchy, and ordinances of convention and acts of assemblyenacted since the establishment of the republic. The following variationsfrom the British model are perhaps worthy of being specified.

Debtors unable to pay their debts, and making faithful delivery of theirwhole effects, are released from confinement, and their persons for everdischarged from restraint for such previous debts: but any property theymay afterwards acquire will be subject to their creditors.

The poor, unable to support themselves, are maintained by an assessmenton the titheable persons in their parish. This assessment is levied and administered by twelve persons in each parish, called vestrymen, originally chosenby the housekeepers of the parish, but afterwards filling vacancies in theirown body by their own choice. These are usually the most discreet farmers,so distributed through their parish, that every part of it may be under theimmediate eye of some one of them. They are well acquainted with the detailsand oeconomy of private life, and they find s ufficient inducements to executetheir charge well, in their philanthropy, in the approbation of their neighbours, and the distinction which that gives them. The poor who have neitherproperty, friends, nor strength to labour, are boarded in the houses of goodfarmers, to whom a stipulated sum is annually paid. To those who are able tohelp themselves a little, or have friends from whom they derive some succours, inadequate however to their full maintenance, supplementory aids aregiven, which enable them to live comfortably in their own houses, or in thehouses of their friends. Vagabonds, without visible property or vocation, areplaced in workhouses, where they are well c1oathed, fed, lodged, and madeto labour. Nearly the same method of providing for the poor prevails throughall our states; and from Savannah to Portsmouth you will seldom meet a beggar. In the larger towns indeed they sometimes present themselves. These areusually foreigners, who have never obtained a settlement in any parish. I neveryet saw a native American begging in the streets or highways. A subsistenceis easily gained here: and if, by misfortunes, they are thrown on the charitiesof the world, those provided by their own country are so comfortable and so5. Le., 1607, the year of Jamestow n s founding; KingJames I assumed the throne of England in 1603.


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us 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 bydescent to his heirs if he die intestate.Many of the laws which were in force during the mon archy being relativemerely to that form of government, or inculcating principles inconsistentwith republicanism, the first assembly which met after the establishment ofthe commonwealth appointed a committee to revise the whole code, toreduce it into proper form and volume, and report it to the assembly. Thiswork has been executed by three gentlemen," and reported; but probably willnot be taken up till a restoration of peace shall leave to the legislature leisureto go through such a work.

The plan of the revisal was this. The common law of England, by whichis meant, that part of the English law which was anterior to the date of theoldest statutes extant, is made the basis of the work. It was thought dangerous to attempt to reduce it to a text: it was th erefore lef t to be collectedfrom the usual monuments of it. Necessary alterations in that, and so muchof the whole body of the British statutes, and of acts of assembly, as werethought proper to be retained, were digested into 126 new acts, in whichsimplicity of stile was aimed at, as far as was safe. The following are themost remarkable alterations proposed:

To change the rules of descent, so as that the lands of any person dyingintestate shall be divisible equally among all his children, or other representatives, in equal degree.

To make slaves distributable among the next of kin, as other moveables.To have all public expences, whether of the general treasury, or of a parishor county, (as for the maintenance of the poor, building bridges, court-houses,&c.) supplied by assessments on the citizens, in proporti on to th eir property.To hire undertakers for keeping the public roads in repair, and indemnifyindividuals through whose lands new roads shall be opened.To define with precision the rules wh ereby aliens should become citizens,and citizens make themselves aliens.To establish religious freedom on the broadest bottom.To emancipate all slaves born a fter passing the act. The bill reported by therevisors does not itself contain this proposition; but an amendment containing t was prepared, to be offered to the legislature whenever the bill shouldbe taken up, and further directing, that they should continue with their parents to a certain age, then be brought up, at the public expence, to tillage, artsor sciences, according to their geniusses, till the females should be eighteen,and the males twenty-one years of age, when they should be colonized to suchplace as the circumstances of the time should render most proper, sendingthem out with arms, implements of houshold and of the handicraft arts,seeds, pairs of the useful domestic animals, &c. to declare them a free andindependant people, and extend to them our alliance and protection, till theyshall have acquired strength; and to send vessels at the same time to otherparts of the world for an equal number of white inhabitants; to induce whomto migrate hither, prope r encouragements were to be proposed. It will probably be asked, Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state, andthus save the expence of supplying, by importation of white settlers, thevacancies they will leave? Deep rooted prejudices enterta ined by the whites;7. Jefferson was one of them.

ten thousand recoll ections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained;new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and manyother circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsionswhich will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the otherrace. -To these objections, which are political, may be added others, whichare physical and moral. The first differ ence which strikes us is that of colour.Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane betweenthe skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it procee!ls fromthe colour of the blood, the co lour of the bile, or from that of some othersecretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat andcause were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is itnot the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races? Arenot the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion bygreater or less suffusions of colour in the one, preferable to that eternalmonotony, which reigns in the countenances, that immoveable veil of blackwhich covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, amore elegan t symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites,declared by their preference of th em, as uni formly as is the preference of theOranootan for the black women over those of his own species. The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought worthy attention in the propagation ofour horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man?Besides those of colour, figure, and hair, there are other physical distinctionsproving a difference of race. They have less hair on the face and body. Theysecrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skill, which givesthem a very strong and disagreeable odour. 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 alate ingenious experimentalistS has discovered to be the principal regulator ofanimal 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 require less sleep. A black, after hardlabour through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements to sit uptill midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the first dawn ofthe morning. They are at least as brave, and more adventuresome. But thismay perhaps proceed from a want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be pres ent. When present, they do not go through it withmore coolness or steadiness than the whites. They are more ardent after theirfemale: but love seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a tenderdelicate mixture of sentiment and sensation. Their griefs are transient. Thosenumberless afflictions, which render it doubtful whether heaven has givenlife 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 thanreflection. To this must be ascribed thei r disposition to sleep when abstractedfrom th eir diversions, and unemployed in labour. An animal whose body is atrest, and who does not reflect, must be disposed to sleep of course. Compar

ing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears tome, that in memo ry they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, asI think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending8. Crawford [Jefferson's note]. Jefferson' s note refers to British scienti stAda ir Crawford (1748-1795),who published his xperiments and Observations on nimal Heat in 1779.

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2--0 the investigationsof Euclid;and that inimaginationtheyare dull,tasteless,and anomalous.t wouldbeunfair tofollow them toAfricaforthisinvestigation.Wewillconsiderthem here, on the samestagewith the whites,andwhere the facts are not apocryphalonwhich ajudgment istobeformed.twillberighttomakegreatallowancesfor the differenceof condition,ofeducation,ofconversation,of the sphere in which theymove.Manymillionsofthem havebeen brought to,and born inAmerica. Most of them indeed havebeen confinedtotillage, totheirownhomes,and their ownsociety:yetmanyhave been sosituated,that they might have availedthemselvesof the conversationoftheirmasters;manyhave been brought uptothe handicraft arts,and from that circumstance have alwaysbeen associatedwith the whites.Somehavebeen liberallyeducated, and allhavelivedincountries where theartsand sciencesare cultivatedtoaconsiderabledegree,and havehad beforetheireyes samples of the best works from abroad. The Indians,with noadvantagesof this kind,willoften carvefigureson theirpipes not destituteof designand merit. They willcrayonout ananimal,aplant,oracountry,soastoprove the existenceofa germ in theirmindswhich onlywants cultivation. They astonishyouwithstrokesof the most sublimeoratory; such asprove their reasonand sentiment strong,their imaginationglowingand elevated.ButneveryetcouldIfind that ablack had uttered athoughtabove thelevelofplain narration;never see even an elementary traitof painting orsculpture.Inmusicthey are moregenerallygiftedthan the whiteswith accurateearsfortune and time, and theyhave been foundcapableofimagininga small catch. Whether theywillbe equalto the compositionofa moreextensiverun ofmelody,orofcompl icat edharmony,isyettobeproved.Miseryisoften the parent ofthe most affectingtouchesin poetry.-Among theblacksismiseryenough, God knows, but no poetry. Loveis the peculiarrestrum ofthe poet.Their loveis ardent, but itkindles the sensesonly, notthe imagination. Religion indeed has produced a PhyllisWhately;l but itcouldnot produce apoet.The compositionspublished under her name arebelow the dignityofcriticism. The heroes ofthe Dunciad are toher,asHerculesto the author of that poem.' IgnatiusSancho!has approached nearertomeritincomposition;yethisletters domore honour to the heart than thehead. They breathe the puresteffusionsoffriendship and generalphilanthropy, and shewhowgreatadegreeofthe latter maybecompounded withstrongreligiouszeal. He isoften happy in the turn ofhis compliments, andhisstile iseasyand familiar, exceptwhen heaffectsaShandean fabricationofwords. But his imagination iswild and extravagant, escapesi ncessantlyfromeveryrestraint of reasonand taste, and, in the courseof itsvagaries,leaves atractofthoughtasincoherent and eccentric, asis the courseof ameteorthrough the sky.Hissubjectsshouldoften haveled him toaprocessof soberreasoning:yetwefindhim alwayssubstituting sentiment fordemonstration.Upon the whole, though weadmit him to the firstplaceamong those9. The instrument proper tothem isthe Banjar,which they brought hither fromAfrica, and which istheoriginalofthe guitar,itschordsbeingpreciselythe fourlowerchordsofthe guitar[Jefferson's

note].\. PhillisWheatley (c. 1753-1784), born inAfrica and brought asaslave toAmerica,publishedherPoems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral in1773.2. AlexanderPopepublishedthefirstversionofthe Dunciad asatireondulllit erature,in 1728.3. CharlesIgnatiusSancho (c. 1729-1780), born ona slaveship and brought to England inhisinfancy,laterbecame thefriendofLaurence Sterne, the author ofTristram Sh andy (1760-67),andother literaryfigures.His Letters appearedin London in 1782.

of hisowncolourwhohave presented themselvestothe publicjudgment, yet IZwhen wecompare him withthe writersof theraceamong whom helived,andparticularlywith the epistolaryclass,inwhich he has takenhisownstand,weare compelledtoenroll himat the bottom of the column. This criticismsupposesthe letterspublishedunder his name to be genuine,and to havereceivedamendment from noother hand; pointswhich would not beof easyinvestigation.The improvementof the blacksinbodyand mind,in the firstinstanceof theirmixturewiththe whites,hasbeenobservedbyevery andproves that their inferiorityis not the effectmerelyof their condition oflife.We knowthat among the Romans, about the Augustan age especially, thecondition of their slaveswas much moredeplorable than that of the blackson the continent of America.The twosexes were confinedinseparate apartments,because toraiseachildcostthe master morethan tobuy one.Cato,fora veryrestrictedindulgenceto his slaves in this particular, took' fromthem acertainprice.Butinthis country the slavesmultiplyasfastasthefreeinhabitants. Their situationand manners place the commercebetween thetwosexesalmostwithoutrestraint.-The sameCato, onaprincipleofceconomy,alwayssoldhissickand superannuated slaves. He givesitasastandingprecept toamaster visitinghis farm, tosellhis old oxen,old waggons, oldtools,old and diseasedservants,and everythingelse becomeuseless."Vendat bovesvetulos,plaustrumvetus,ferramentavetera,servumsenem,servummorbosum,& siquidaliudsupersit vendat."Cat0 5dererustics. c. 2. The American slaves cannot enumerate Suet. Cloud.25.this among the injuriesand insultstheyreceive. t was the common practicetoexpose in the islandof JEsculapius,in the Tyber, diseasedslaves,whosecurewasliketo becometedious. The Emperor Claudius, byan edict,gavefreedomtosuch ofthem asshouldrecover,and firstdeclared,that ifanypersonchosetokill rather than toexposethem, itshouldbe deemed homicide."The exposingthem isacrimeof which no instance has existedwithus; andwere ittobefollowedbydeath, itwouldbepunished capitally.Weare toldofacertai nVediusPollio,who, inthe presence ofAugustus,wouldhavegivenaslaveasfoodto hisfish,forhavingbroken aglass.With the Romans,the regular methodof takingthe evidenceof their slaves wasunder torture. Here ithas been thoughtbetter nevertoresortto their evidence.When amaster wasmurdered,allhis slaves, in the samehouse, or withinhearing,were condemned to death. Here punishment falls on the guiltyonly, and as preciseproof isrequiredagainsthim asagainstafreeman.Yet notwithstanding theseand other discouragingcircumstancesamong the Romans, their slaveswereoftentheirrarestartists.They excelledtooinscience, insomuch astobeusuallyemployed as tutors to their master'schildren.Epictetus,Terence,andPheedrus,were slaves. But they wereof the raceof whites. It is not theircondition then, but nature, which has produced the distinction.-Whether

4 Toe; SoMe; E l a ~ t : v wplaJ Evo vouioucao; O/lIAlV Cale; eeooxcavunv -Plutarch. Cato [Jefferson'snote].5. Marcus PorciusCato (234-149 B.C.E.),a farmer'sson who became aRo manpoliticalfigure andmoralleader, wrote De Re Rustica asa tough-nosedguidetothe profitable running ofa farm.Jefferson himself translates his quotation from Cato in the sentence preceding it.The quotationinJefferson's footnote (no. 4)from the lifeofCato bythe Greek historian Mestrius Plutarchus(c.46-120 C.E.)maybetranslatedasfollows:"Heprovidedthat hismale slavesshouldconsort with thefemalesforasetprice." 6.Jefferson'smarginal note refersto the life of Emperor Claudius in the Lives of the Caesars byRomanhistorian Suetonius Tranquillus(c. 70-c. 140 C.E).


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- . . , , .. , ,"'10' , Y , , , ; , y ' n,,, ep "l"Z'W",""W""liMt""'Hf ' 'd' W? ..t IP ' (l iO'petS'", ''''''' m 'W ' w7 1 - furtherobservationwillorwillnotverifytheconjecture,thatnaturehas beenlessbountifultotheminthe endowmentsoftheh ead, Ibelievethatinthoseoftheheartshewillbefoundtohavedonethemjustice.Thatdispositionto

theftwithwhichtheyhave beenbranded,mustbeascribedto theirsituation,andnottoanydepravityofthemor alsense.Theman,inwhosefavournolawsofprope rtyexist,pro bablyfeelshi mself lessboundtorespectthosemadeinfavour ofothers.Whenarguingforourselves,welayitdownasafundamental, thatlaws,tobejust,mustgiveareciprocationofright:that,withoutthis,theyare merearbitraryrulesofconduct,foundedin force, andnotinconscience:anditisaproblemwhichIgivetothemastertosolve,whetherthereligiouspreceptsagainsttheviolationofpropertywerenotframedforhimaswellashis slave?Andwhethertheslavemay notasjustifiablytakealittlefrom one, who has takenallfrom him, ashe mayslayonewho wouldslayhim? Thatachangein therelationsin whichamanisplacedshouldchangehisideasofmoral rightandwrong,isneithernew,norpeculiartothecolourof theblacks.Homertellsusitwasso 2600yearsago.

'Huiou, 't' apE tlJC; unouLvulat eupu9nu Zeuc;.AVEpOC;, EU t < iv !ltv KU tCt. OtlAlOV EATlffiV.

Od. 17.323.Jovefix'ditcertain, thatwhateverday Makesmanaslave, takeshalfhis worthaway.

But the slaves ofwhichHomer speaks were whites. Notwithstandingtheseconsiderationswhichmustweakentheirrespect for thelawsof property,we find amongthemnumerousinstancesof themostrigid integrity,andasmanyasamongtheirbetterinstructedmasters,of benevolence,gratitude,andunshakenfidelity.-Theopinion,thattheyarein ferio rinthefacultiesof reasonandimagination, mustbe hazardedwithgreatdiffidence.To justifyageneralconclusion,requiresmanyobservations,evenwherethesubjectmay be submittedto theAnatomical knife, to Opticalglasses, toanalysisbyfire, orbysolvents.Howmuchmorethenwhereitis afaculty,nota substance,weare examining;whereit eludes theresearchofall thesenses;wheretheconditionsofitsexistencearevariousandvariouslycombined;wheretheeffectsofthosewhicharepresentorabsentbiddefiancetocalculation;letmeaddtoo,asacircumstanceofgreattenderness,whereourconclusionwoulddegrade awholeraceof men fromthe rankin thescaleofbeingswhichtheirCreatormay perhapshavegiven them.Toourreproachit mustbesaid, thatthoughforacenturyandahalfwehavehadunderoureyes theracesofblackandof redmen,theyhaveneveryetbeenviewedbyusassubjectsof naturalhistory.Iadvanceitthereforeasa suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originallya distinct race, or madedistinctbytime andcircumstances, areinferiorto thewhitesin theendowmentsbothofbodyandmind.It isnotagainstexperiencetosuppose, that

." ....."_'"""." .,. ,",' ow .. , he . . 'n . , '.... '.nature,areanxiousalsotop reserveitsdignityandbeauty. Someof these, I Z-jembarrassedby thequestion"Whatfurther istobe donewiththem?"join themselvesinoppositionwiththosewhoareactuatedbysordidavariceonly. AmongtheRomansemancipationrequiredbutoneeffort.Theslave, when madefree, mightmixwith,withoutstainingthebloodof hismaster. But withusasecondisnecessary,unknowntohistory.Whenfreed,he istobe removedbeyondthereach of mixture. ,_

Therevisedcodefurtherproposestoproportioncrimesandpunishmenrs. Thisisattemptedon thefollowingscale. - . I. Crimeswhosepunishmentextendsto Life.1. Hightreason. Deathbyhanging.

Forfeiture of lands and goods to thecommonwealth.2. Pettytreason. Deathbyhanging. Dissection.

Forfeitureof halfthelandsandgoodsto therepresentativesof thepartyslain.3. Murder. 1. bypoison. Deathbypoison.

Forfeitureof one-halfasbefore. 2. in Duel. Death by hanging. Gibbeting, if thechallenger.Forfeitureofone-halfasbefore,unlessit be thepartychallenged,thentheforfeitureisto thecommonwealth.3. inanyotherway. Deathbyhanging.

Forfeitureof one-halfasbefore.4. Manslaughter. Thesecondoffenceismurder.II. Crimeswhosepunishmentgoesto Limb.1. Rape, } D' bismern erment.2. Sdomy, 3. Maiming, }Reta liat ion,andtheforfeitureofhalfthelands4. Disfiguring, andgoodsto thesufferer.III. CrimespunishablebyLabour.1. Manslaughter,1stoffence. LabourVII. years Forfeiture

ofhalfasfor thepublic.in murder.2. Counterfeitingmoney. LabourVI.years. Forfeiture of landsand goods to the

commonwealth.3. Arson. } L b V Reparation three. a our . e ar s.4. A sportationofvessels. y fold.5. BRobblery }Labou rIV.years. Reparation double.6 . urgary.7. Housebreaking. } .8. H 1 LabourIII.years. Reparation.orse-steamg.differentspeciesof thesamegenus,orvarietiesof thesamespecies,may 9. GrandLarcency. LabourII.years. Reparation. Pillory.possessdifferentqualifications.Willnotaloverofnaturalhistorythen,one 10. PettyLarcency. LabourI. year.r Reparation. Pillory.whoviews thegradationsinall theracesofanimalswith theeyeofphilos 11. Pretensionstowitch- Ducking. Stripes.ophy,excuseanefforttokeepthosein thedepartmentof manasdistinctas craft,&c.i

naturehasformedthem?Thisunfortunate difference ofcolour,andper 12. Excusablehomicide.}hapsoffaculty, isapower fulobstacleto theemancipationof thesepeople. 13. S uicide. to bepitied,notpunished.Manyof theiradvocates,whiletheywishtovindicatethelibertyofhuman 14. Apostacy,Heresy.


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I Z.i Pardon and privilege of clergy are proposed to be abolished; but if the verdict be against the defendant, the court in their discretion, may allow a newtrial. No attainder to cause a corruption of blood, or forfeiture of dower.Slaves guilty of offences punishable in others by labour, to be transported toAfrica, or elsewhere, as the circumstances of the time admit, there to be continued in slavery.A rigorous regi men propos ed for those condemned to labour.

Another object of the revisal is, to diffuse knowledge more generallythrough the mass of the people. This bill proposes to layoff every county intosmall districts of five or six miles square called hundreds and in each ofthem to establish a school for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thetutor to be supported by the hundred and every person in it entitled to sendtheir children three years gratis, and as much longer as they please, payingfor it. These schools to be under a visitor, who is annually to chuse the boy,of best genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to give themfurther 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 numericalarithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in anyone year, trial is to be made at thegrammar schools one or two years, and the best genius of the whole selected,and continued six years, and the residue dismissed. By this means twentyof the best geniusses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and beinstructed at the public expence, so far as the grammer schools go. At theend of six years instruction, one half are to be discontinued (from amongwhom the grammar schools will probably be supplied wit h future masters);and the other half, who are to be chosen for the superiority of their parts anddisposition, are to be sent and continued three years in the study of such sciences as they shall chuse, at William and Mary college, the plan of which isproposed to be enlarged, as will be hereafter explained, and extended to allthe useful sciences. The ultimate result of the whole scheme of educationwould be the teaching all the children of the state reading, writing, and common arithmetic: turning out ten annually of superior genius, well taught inGreek, Latin, geography, and the higher branches of arithmetic: turning outten others annually, of still superior parts who, to those branches of learning, shall have added such of the sciences as their genius shall have led themto: the furnishing to the wealthier part of the people convenient schools, atwhich their children may be educated at their own expence.-The generalobjects of this law are to provide an education adapted to the years, to thecapacity, and the condition of everyone and directed to their freedom andhappiness. Specific details were not proper for the law. These must be thebusiness of the visitors entrusted with its execution. The first stage of thiseducation being the schools of the hundreds w herein the great mass of thepeople will receive their instruction the principal foundations of futureorder will be laid here. Instead therefore of putting the Bible and Testamentinto the hands of the children, at an age when their judgments are not sufficiently matured for religious enquirie s, their memories may here be storedwith the most useful facts from Grecian Roman European and Americanhistory. The first elements of morality too may be instilled into their minds;such as, when further developed as their judgments advance in strengthmay teach them how to work out their own greatest happiness, by shewingthem that it does not depend on the condition of life in which chance hasplaced them but is always the result of a good conscience, good health

occupation and freedom in all just pursuits.-Those whom either the , 2 >wealth of their parents or the adoption of the state shall destine to higherdegrees of learning, will go on to the grammar schools, which constitute thenext stage, there to be instructed in the languages. The learning Greek andLatin, I am told, is going into disu se 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 fromeight to f ifteen or sixteen years of age, when the mind like the bogy, is notyet firm enough for laborious and close operations. If applied to such it fallsan early victim to premature exertion; exhibiting indeed at first, in theseyoung and tender subjects, the flattering appearance of their being menwhile they are yet children, but ending in reducing them to be childre n whenthey should be men. The memory is then most susceptible and tenacious ofimpressions; and the learning of languages being chiefly a work of memory,it seems precisely fitted to the powers of this period, which is long enoughtoo for acquiring the most useful languages antient and modern. I do notpretend that language is science. t is only an instrument for the attainmentof science. But that time is not lost which is employed in providing tools forfuture operation: more especially as in this case the books put i nto the handsof the youth for this purpose may be such as will at the same time impresstheir minds with useful facts and good principles. If this period be sufferedto pass in idleness, the mind becomes lethargic and impotent as would thebody it inhabits if unexercised during the same time. The sympathy betweenbody and mind during their rise, progr ess and decline, is too strict and obvious to endanger our being misled while we reason from the one to theother.-As soon as they are of sufficient age, it is supposed they will be senton from the grammar schools to the university, which constitutes our thirdand last stage, there to study those sciences which may be adapted to theirviews.-By that part of our plan which prescribes the sel ection of the youthsof genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the state ofthose talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich,but which perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated.-But of allthe views of this law none is more important none more legitimate, thanthat of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate guardians oftheir own liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where th ywill receive their whole education is proposed, as has been said, to be chieflyhistorical. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judgeof the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and othernations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; itwill enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; andknowing it, to defeat its views. In every government on earth is some traceof 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 peoplealone. The people themselves therefo re are its only safe depositories. And torender even them safe their minds must be improved to a certain degree.This indeed is not all that is necessary, though it be essentially necessary. Anamendment 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 participates of the ultimateauthority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting the whole


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tew N 'dtrrr 1Wi, a21 FMFtCPtttWr:tWtr f?fdyyw,nftNY'iifa '@WfJ;Ji'tU'{'1;' -i ri,:' - - ~ ; ( t w k ~ ~ l l i 1 I ~ i j j

rU mass will exceed any private resources of wealth: and public ones cannot beprovided but by levies on the people. In this case every man would have topay 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 theref ore get nine-tenths of their price clear.t has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right ofsuffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people: but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension of that right to such numbers as would biddefiance to the means of corruption.Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to begin a public library andgallery, by laying out a certa in sum annually in books, paintings, and statues.

Query XVThe colleges and public establishmentsthe roads buildings &c.?

The colle of William and Mary is the only public seminary of arning inthis state. It w o u n e in the time of king William and qu Mary, whogranted to it 20,0 cres of land, and a penny a pound duty certain tobaccoes exported from . inia and Maryland, which had een levied by thestatute of 25 Car. 2. TIl ssembly also gave it, by tern rary laws, a duty onliquors imported, and skin nd firs exported. From t se resourc es it receivedupwards of 3000 I. commun us armis. The buil . gs are of brick, sufficientfor an indifferent accommod 'on of perhap n hundred students. By itscharter it was to be under the go rnment 0 wenty visitors, who were to beits legislators, and to have a presid t an ix professors, who were incorporated. It was allowed a representativ . the general assembly. Under thischarter, a professorship of the Gree atin languages, a professorship ofmathematics, one of moral philos y,an wo of divinity, were establ ished.To these were annexed, for a si professors' , a considerable donation byMr. Boyle of England, for t instruction of t Indians, and their conversion to Christianity. This w called the professo ip of Brafferton, from anestate of that name in En and, purchased with the onies given. The admission of the learners of atin and Greek filled the colI e with children. Thisrendering it disagree Ie and degrading to young gentle n already preparedfor entering on th sciences, they were discouraged from sorting to it, andthus the schoo or mathematics and mora l philosophy, w . h might havebeen of some rvice, became of very little. The revenues too e exhaustedin accomm ating those who came only to acq uire the rudiment f science.After the esent revolution, the visitors, havi ng no powe r to chang hose circumsta ces in the constitution of the college which were fixed by t charter, a being therefore confined in the number of professorships, un tookto ange the objects of the profess orship s. They excluded the two sc olsf divinity, and that for the Greek and Latin languages, and substituted 0 rs; so that at present they stand thus:

7. I.e., three thousand pounds in an av erage year.8. Robert Boyle (1627-1691), born in Ireland, was a celebrated scientist who promoted missionarywork among Native Americans

A Professorship for Law and Police:atomy and Medicine:

Na ral Philosophy and Mathematics:Mor Philosophy, the Law of Nature

and ations, the Fine Arts:Modern anguages:For the B fferton. ._

And it is propos d, so soon as the legislature shall have leisure to,this subject, to desi authority from them to increase the number 0 rofessorships, as well for e purpo se of subdividi ng those already inst it ed, as ofadding others for oth r branches of science. To the professors ps usuallyestab lish ed in the univ sities of Europ e, it would seem proper add one forthe antient languages a d literatur e of the North, on accou of their connection with our own la uage, laws, custo ms, and history. e purpo ses ofthe Brafferton institution would be better answered by intainin g a perpetual mission among the I d ian tribes, the objec t of whi ,besides instructing them in the principles 0 Christianity, as the found requires, should beto collect their traditions, la customs, languages, a other circumstanceswhich might lead to a discover of their relation wit ne another, or descentfrom other nations. When thes objects are accom ished with one tribe, themissionary might pass on to ano er.

The roads are under the gover ent of the unty courts, subject to becontroul ed by the general court. ey order roads to be opened wherever they think them necessary. The inhabit ts of the county are by themlaid off into precincts, to each of whic the)l llot a convenient portion of thepublic roads to be kept in repair. Such ges as may be built without theassistance of artificers, th ey are to build the stream be such as to requirea bridge of regular workmanship, the ur employs workmen to build it, atthe expence of the whole county. If i e too eat for the county, applicationis made to the general assembly, w author iz individua ls to build it, and totake a fixed toll from all passen s, or give sa tion to such other proposition as to them appears reason Ie.

Ferries are admitted only such places as are p'rticularly pointed out bylaw, and the rates of ferria are fixed.Taverns are licensed b the courts, who fix their ra s from time to time.The private building are very rarely constructed of one or brick; much

the greatest proporti being of scantling? and boards, p istered with lime.It is impos sible to d .se thin gs more ugly, uncomfortab le, d happily moreperishable. There re two or three plans, on one of which, ccording to itssize, most of th ouses in the state are built. The poorest pe Ie buil d hutsof logs, laid h izontal ly in pens, stopping the interstices with ud. Theseare warmer i winter, and cooler in summer, than the more exp sive constructions scantling and plank. The wealthy are attentive to the aising ofvegetable , but very little so to fruits. The poorer people attend to either,living p cipally on milk and animal diet. This is the more inexcus le, asthe eli ate requires indispensably a free use of vegetable food, for hea h aswell comfort, and is very friendly to the raising of fruits.-The only blie ildings worthy mention are the Capitol, the Palace, the College, at Hospital for Lunatics, all of them in Williamsburg, heretofore the sea9. Timber framing.


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II Query XVReligion he different religions receivedinto that state?

The first sett lers in this country were emigrants from England, of the English church, just at a point of time when it was flushed with complete victory over the religious of all other persuasions. Possessed, as they became,of the powers of making, administering, and executing the laws, theyshewed equal intolerance in this country with their Presbyterian brethren,who had emigrated to the northern government. The poor Quakers wereflying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom; but they found them freeonly 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 prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; hadmade 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 beimprisoned till they should abjure the country; provided 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 theirtenets. If no capital execution took place here, as did in New-England, itwas 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 whichhave not been handed down to us. The Anglicans retained full possessionof the country about a century. Other opinions began then to creep in, andthe great care of the government to support their own church, having begotten an equal degree of indolence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people hadbecome dissenters at the commencement of the present revolution. Thelaws indeed were still oppressive on them, but the spirit of the one party hadsubsided into moderation, and of the other had risen to a degree of determination which commanded respect.1 Le., the Puritans of New England.

The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is this. The con rfvention of May 1776, in their declaration of rights, declared it to be a truth,and a natural right, that the exercise of religion should be free; but whenthey 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 .c;,.onvention,however, when they met as a member of the general assemblyin October1776, repealed all acts of parliament which had rendered criminal themaintaining any opinions in matters of religion, the forbearing to repair tochurch, and the exercising any mode of worship; and suspended the lawsgiving salaries to the clergy, which suspension was made perpetual in October 1779. Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away, weremain at present under those only imposed by the common law, or by ourown acts of assembly. At the common law, heresy was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its definition was left to the ecclesiasticaljudges, beforewhom the convicti on was, till the statute of the 1 El. c. 1. circumscribed it,by declaring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but what had been sodetermined by authority of the canonical scriptures, or by one of the fourfirst general councils, or by some other council having for the grounds oftheir declaration the express and plain words of the scriptures. Heresy, thuscircumscribed, being an offence at the common law, our act of assembly ofOctober 1777, c. 17. gives cognizance of it to the general court, by declaring, that the jurisdiction of that court shall be general in all matters at thecommon law. The execution is by the writ De heeretico comburendo. By ourown act of assembly of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christianreligion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are moreGods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the scripturesto be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offence by incapacityto hold any office or employment 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 sright to the custody of his own children being founded in law on his rightof guardianship, this being taken away, they may of course be severed fromhim, and put, by the authority of a court, into more orthodox hands. This isa summary view of that religious slavery, under which a people have beenwilling 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, aresubject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority oversuch natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable forthem to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such actsonly as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbourto say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket norbreaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be

2. Furneaux passim [Jefferson s note]. Jefferson here refers to Philip Fur neaux (1726-1783), an English dissenting minister, who published Letter; to the Honourable Mr. Justice Blackstone concernedwith religious toleration, in 1770.

_ _ e t ' Z t 1 I f V H ' j w = n t P ' t r ' 1 t M W @ ' U I l ' t , W ' ~ ~ , . } ; - , , - ~ ~


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:j Z- relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may makehim worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truerman. t may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Rea-son and free enquiry are the only effectual ag ents agains t error. Give a looseto them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one totheir tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural ene-mies of error, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permittedfree enquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not freeenquiry been indulged, at the sera of the reformation, the corruptions ofChristianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, thepresent corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was thegovernment to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would bein such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was onceforbidden as a medicine, and the potatoe as an article of food. Governmentis just as infallible too when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent tothe inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere: the governmenthad declared it to be as flat as a trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjurehis 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 gov-ernment in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no ques-tion of civil jurisdict ion, or we should all have been involved by authority invortices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian prin-ciple 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 articleof necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and errorhas fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of govern-ment. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will youmake your inquisit ors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by pri-vate as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produceuniformity. But is uniformit y of opinion desireable? No more than of faceand stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is dangerthat the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping theformer and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous inreligion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over eachother. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and chil-dren, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, 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, andthe other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. Thatthese profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That oursis but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours thatone, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the foldof truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reasonand persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these,free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge itwhile we refuse it ourselves. But every state, says an inquisitor, has esta-blished some religion. No two, say I have established the same. Is this aproof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister states of Pennsylva-nia and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishmentat all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. t has

answered beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion is well s up- 3;ported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all sufficient to pre-serve 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 suf-fering the state to be troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactorsthan we do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions. On thecontrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed to nothing buttheir unbounded tolerance, because there is no other circumstance inwhich they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happydiscovery, that the way to silence religious disputes, is to take no notice ofthem. Let us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may,of those tyrannical laws. t is true, we are as yet secured against them bythe spirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of this country wouldsuffer an execution for heresy, or a three years imprisonment for not com-prehending the mysteries of the Trinity. But is the spirit of the people aninfallible, a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of pro-tection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit ofthe times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our peoplecareless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and better men be hisvictims. It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing everyessential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselvesunited. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It willnot then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support.They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will for-get themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will neverthink of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, there-fore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, willremain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shallrevive or expire in a convulsion.

Query XVIIIhe particular customs and manners Mannersthat may happen to be receivedin that state?

t is difficult to determine on the standard by which the manners of anation may be tried, whether catholic or particular. It is more difficult fora native to bring to that standard the manners of his own nation, famil-iarized to him by habit. There must doubtless be an unhappy influence onthe manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us.The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise ofthe most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the onepart, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, andlearn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germof all education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do

3. Jefferso n had the Virginia Act for establish ing Religious Freedom pri nted as a pamphlet in Parisin 1786 and included it as Appendix No. III in the Stockdale edition of Notes on the State of Vir-ginia the next year. It is printed as Appendix No. III herein (p. 176).


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I

what he sees others do. f a parent could find no motive either in his phiJIf lanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passiontowards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child lookson, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle ofsmaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it withodious 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 thecitizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those intodespots, and these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, andthe amor patrise of the other. For if a slave can have a country in thisworld, it must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to liveand labour for another: in which he must lock up the faculties of hisnature, contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavours to theevanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition onthe endless generations proceeding from him. With the morals of thepeople, their industry also is destroyed. For in a warm climate, no manwill labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is sotrue, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed areever seen to labour. And can the liberties of a nation be thought securewhen we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds ofthe people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not tobe violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when Ireflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of thewheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: thatit may become probable by supernatural interference The Almighty hasno attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.-But it isimpossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject through the variousconsiderations of policy, of morals, of history natural and civil. We mustbe contented to hope they will force their way into everyone's mind. Ithink a change already perceptible, since the origin of the present revolution. The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from thedust, his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed, in theorder of events, to be with the consent of the masters, rather than by theirextirpation.

Query XIX

same kinds of manufacture in Europe; but those of wool, flax and hemp arevery coarse, unsightly, and unpleasant: and such is our attachment to agricu ure, and such our preference for foreign manufactures, that be it wiseun [se, our people will certainly return as soon as they can, to the raisinmate Is, and exchanging them for finer manufactures than they areexecut hemselves.

The p 'tical ceconornists of Europe have established it s rinciplethat every ate should endeavour to manufacture for itself: ar thiS principle, like ny others, we transfer to America, without ca ulating thedifference of ircumstance which should often produce difference ofresult. In Euro the lands are either cultivated, or lock up against thecultivator. Manu cture must therefore be resorted to necessity not ofchoice, to support e surplus of their people. But w v e an immensityof land courting the [ndustry of the husbandman. it best then that allour citizens should employed in its improve nt, or that one halfshould be called off fr that to exercise man actures and handicraftarts for the other? Thos who labour in the e th are the chosen peopleof God, if ever he had a osen people, wh e breasts he has made hispeculiar deposit for subst tial and gen . e virtue. It is the focus inwhich he keeps alive that sa ed fire, whi otherwise might escape fromthe face of the earth. Corrupt n of mo Is in the mass of cultivators is apheenomenon of which no age rna on has furnished an example, It isthe mark set on those, who not 1 . g up to heaven, to their own soil andindustry, as does the husbandman or their subsistance, depend for it onthe casualties and caprice of cus m s. Dependance begets subservienceand venality, suffocates the ge of V ue, and prepares fit tools for thedesigns of ambition. This, t natural gress and consequence of thearts, has sometimes perhap een retarde y accidental circumstances:but, generally speaking, t proportion whi the aggregate of the otherclasses of citizens bears' any state to that of husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound 0 its healthy parts, and i good-enough barometer whereby to meas e its degree of corruption. hile we have land tolabour then, let u never wish to see our citizens ccupied at a workbench, or twirlin a distaff. Carpenters, masons, srru s, are wanting inhusbandry: but or the general operations of manufac re, let our workshops remain' Europe. It is better to carry provisions d materials toworkmen th e, than bring them to the provisions and mat ials , and withthem their anners and principles. The loss by the transport ion of commodities cross the Atlantic will be made up in happiness d permanence 0 government. The mobs of great cities add just so m h to thesuppo of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the umanbody. t is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a repuvig r. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heits aws and constitution.


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176 NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIAovemberin thispres entyear,the severalco unties shall, bytheir electors,alifiedasprovidedbythisconstit ution,electdelegates,whichforthepres

ent hall be, in n umbe r, one for e very militia ofthe said couaccor . gto the latestreturnsinpossessionofthe governor,and sh tsochuses torialelectorsinproportionthereto,whichsenatorialele rsshallmeeton t 14thdayafterthedayoftheirelection,attheC t-houseofthatcounty heirpresentdistrictwhichwouldstand firs an a lphabe ti calarrangemen ftheircounties,andshallchusesenat inthe proportionfixedbythiscon st tion The electionsand return allbeconducted,inallcircumstancesnot rebyparticularlyprescrib ,bythesamepersonsandunderthe sameforms,a rescribedbythe ent lawsinelectionsofSenators andDelegatesofAsse bly.The sai natorsand Delegatesshallconstitutethe firstGeneralAssem oft ewgovernment,andshallspeciallyapplythemselvestothe procurin exact return from everycoun tyofthenumberofitsqualifiedelectors dt esettlementofthe numberofDelegatestobeelectedforthee ingGene Assembly.The presentGoverno all continue in ceto the end of the termforwhichhewaselecteAllotheroffice ofeverykindshallcontinuein ficeastheywouldhavedone had thei ppointmentbeen under this consti ion, and new ones,wherenew herebycalledfor,shallbeappointedbyth uthoritytowhich

suchap ntment isreferred.Oneofthepresentjudgesoft eneralcourt,heco entingthereto,shallbyjoint ballotofbothhousesofassefir meeting,betransferredtothe HighCourt ofChancery.

AppendixNo. IIIAnACT for establishing RELIGIOUS FREEDOM passed in theAssembly of Virginia in the beginning of the year 1786. 5

WellawarethatAlmightyGodhath createdthemindfree;thatallattemptstoinfluenceitbytemporalpunishmentsorburthens,orbycivilincapacitations, tend onlytobegethabitsofhypocrisyandmea nness,and areadeparturefrom theplanof theHolyAuthorofourreligion,who, beingLordb othofbodyandmind,yetchosenottopropagateitbycoercionsoneither,aswasinhisAlmightypowertodo;that theimpiouspresump tionoflegislatorsandrulers,civilaswellas ecclesiastical,who,being themselvesbut fallible anduninspired menhaveassumeddominion overthe faith ofothers, settinguptheirownopinionsandmodesofthinkingasthe onlytrueand infallible,andassuchendeavouringtoimposethemonothers,hath establishedand maintainedfalsereligionsoverthe greatestpartofthe world,and throughalltime;That tocompelaman tofurnishcontrib utionsofmoneyforthe propagationofopinionswhichhedisbelieves,issinfuland tyrannical;that eventhe forcing him tosupportthisor that teacherofhis own religious persuasion,isdeprivinghimofthecomfortablelibertyofgivinghiscontributionstothe ticularpastorwhosemoralshewouldmakehispatter n,and whosepowershefeelsmostpersuasivetorighteousness,andiswithdrawingfrom theministry5. Separatelyprinted asapamphlet inParisinspr ing178 6,thisdocument wasincludedbyJeffersonasthethirdand lastappe ndixinStockdale 's1787 editionofNotes on the State of Virginia. The act

ApPENDIX No. III 177those temporalrewardswhich,proceedingfrom anapp robationoftheirpersonal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremittinglaboursforthe instructionofmankind;thatourcivilrightshavenodependenceonourreligiousopinions,more than onouropinionsinphysicsorgeometry; that therefore the proscribingany citizen as unworthy the -publicconfidencebylayingupon himanincapacityofbeingcalledtoofficesoftrtrstandemolument,unlessheprofessorrenouncethisorthatreligiousopinion,isdeprivinghim injuriouslyofthose privilegesand advantagestowhich incommon withhisfellowcitizenshe hasa natura lright;that ittendsalsotocorruptthe principlesofthat veryreligionitismeanttoencourage,bybribing,withamonopolyofworldlyhonorsandemoluments,thosewhowillexternallyprofessandconformtoit; thatthoughindeedthesearecriminalwhodonot withstandsuch temptation,yetn eitherare thosein nocentwholaythebaitintheirway;that tosufferthe civilmagistratetointrude hispowersintothefieldofopinion,and torestra inthe professionorpropag ationofprinciples,onsuppositionoftheirll tendency,isadangerous fallacy,which atoncedestroysallreligious liberty,becausehe beingof coursejudgeof thattendency,willmakehisopinions the ruleofjudgment,andapproveorcondemnthesentimentsofothersonlyastheyshallsquarewithordifferfromhisown;thatitistimeenoughforthe rightfulpurposesofcivilgovernmentforitsofficerstointerfere whenprinciples breakoutinto overtactsagain stpeaceandgoodorder;andfinally,that tru thisgreat andwillprevailiflefttoherself, that she isthe properandsufficientantagonisttoerror, and has nothingtofearfrom the conflict,unless byhuman interpositiondisarmedofher naturalweapons,freear gument anddeba te,errorsce asingtobedangerouswhen itispermittedfreelytocontradictthem.Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shallbecompelledtofrequent orsupport anyreligiousworship,placeorministrywhatsoever,norshallbeenforced,restrained,molested,orburthened inhisbodyorgoods, nor shallotherwisesuffer onaccount ofhis religiousopinionsorbelief;but that allmen shallbefree toprofess,andbyargument tomaintain,their opinionsinmattersof religion,and that the same shallinnowisediminish,enlarge,oraffecttheircivilcapacities.And though wewellknow that thisAssembly,ele cted bythe peopleforthe ordinarypurposesoflegislationonly,havenopowertorestrainthe actsofsucceeding Assemblies,constituted withpowersequaltoour own,andthatthereforetodeclarethisact irrevocable,would beofnoeffectinlaw,yetwearefree todeclare,and dodeclare,that the ifanyact shallbehereafter passedtorepealthe present ortonarrowrightsherebyassertedareofthe naturalrightsofmankind,and that itsoperation,such act willbeaninfringementofnatural right.

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