Letters and Addresses of Thomas Jefferson (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTES ON THE TEXT 8 A Youthful Attachment. The "picture and watch- paper" was that of Rebecca Burwell, who is referred to also in the letter which follows this on page 10. She was married in 1764 to Jacqueline Amhler. 16 Declaration of Independence. The action of the Continental Congress on the Declaration of Independence was as follows. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, acting on instructions from the Virginia Assembly, introduced a resolution that "these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States." On June 11 Congress appointed to draft a Declaration a Committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert A. Livingston. Jefferson drafted the Declaration, which, after slight alteration by Adams and Franklin, was accepted by the Committee. On July 2, Congress adopted Lee's original resolution, and on July 4, Jefferson's Declaration with some omissions and changes, the most important of which were the omission of the denunciation of the British people (page 21) and of the slave-trade (pages 19-20). The Declaration was not signed by the Congress until August 2. 23 On Retiring from Public Life. This letter seems to refer to Jefferson's refusal of a reappointment to Congress in December, 1781. At that time he was being very severely criticised for his conduct as Governor of Virginia during the invasion of Cornwallis. 24 "Notes on Virginia." This, the most extensive of the separate works of Jefferson, was compiled in response to the inquiries of Marbois, the French agent, as to the resources of the states. Written during Jefferson's retirement (1781-2), the "Notes" are of a remarkable frankness and freedom of expression, which make them invaluable as a revelation of character. They were published...