Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, the third President of the United States, and
the author of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Albemarle
County, Virginia. He received most of his early education under private
tutors, and at the age of seventeen entered William and Mary College,
where he remained two years. At college, where he studied industriously,
he formed the acquaintance of several distinguished men, among them was
George Wythe, with whom he entered on the study of law. At the age of
twenty-four he was admitted to the bar, and soon rose to high standing in
his profession. In 1775 he entered the Colonial Congress, having
previously served ably in the legislature of his native state. Although
one of the youngest men in Congress, he soon took a foremost place in that
body. He left Congress in the fall of 1776, and, as a member of the
legislature, and later as Governor of Virginia, he was chiefly
instrumental in effecting several important reforms in the laws of that
state,--the most notable were the abolition of the law of primogeniture,
and the passage of a law making all religious denominations equal. From
1785 to 1789 he was Minister to France. On his return to America he was
made Secretary of State, in the first Cabinet. While in this office, he
became the leader of the Republican or Anti-Federalist party, in
opposition to the Federalist party led by Alexander Hamilton. From 1801 to
1809 he was President. On leaving his high office, he retired to his
estate at "Monticello," where he passed the closing years of his life, and
died on the 4th of July, just fifty years after the passage of his famous
Declaration. His compatriot, and sometimes bitter political opponent, John
Adams, died on the same day.
Mr. Jefferson, who was never a ready public speaker, was a remarkably
clear and forcible writer; his works fill several large volumes. In
personal character, he was pure and simple, cheerful, and disposed to look
on the bright side. His knowledge of life rendered his conversation highly
attractive. The chief enterprise of his later years was the founding of
the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville.
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During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation
of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might
impose on strangers, unused to think freely and to speak and to write what
they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation,
announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will, of course,
arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts
for the common good.
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that, though the will
of the majority is, in all cases, to prevail, that will, to be rightful,
must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which
equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. Let us
then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind.
Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, without
which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us
reflect, that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance
under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have gained little if we
countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of
as bitter and bloody persecutions.
During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world; during the
agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking, through blood and slaughter,
his long-lost liberty; it was not wonderful that the agitation of the
billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this
should be more felt and feared by some, and less by others, and should
divide opinions as to measures of safety.
But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have
called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all
Republicans; we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would
wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them
stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion
may be tolerated when reason is left free to combat it.
I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can
not be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the
honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a
government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and
visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may, by
possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not; I believe this,
on the contrary, the strongest government on earth.
I believe it to be the only one where every man, at the call of the law,
would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the
public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man
can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be
trusted with the government of others, or have we found angels, in the
form of kings, to govern him? Let history answer this question. Let us,
then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican
principles; our attachment to union and representative government.
NOTE.--At the time of Jefferson's election, party spirit ran very high. He
had been defeated by John Adams at the previous presidential election, but
the Federal party, to which Adams belonged, became weakened by their
management during difficulties with France; and now Jefferson had been
elected president over his formerly successful rival. The above selection
is from his inaugural address.