Mr. Adams possessed a vigorous and polished intellect, and was one of the most upright of men. His character was one to command respect, rather than to win affection. There was a certain lack of warmth in his stately courtesy which seemed to forbid approach. Yet nobody, we are told, could know him intimately without admiring the simplicity and truth which shone in all his actions.

T

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

HOMAS JEFFERSON, who succeeded Adams as President, was born at Shadwell, Albermarle County, Va., April 2d, 1743. Peter Jefferson, his father, was a man of great force of character and of remarkably powerful physique. His mother, Jane Randolph, was from a most respectable English family. He was the eldest of eight children. He became a classical student when a mere boy, and entered college in an advanced class when but seventeen years of age. Having passed through college, he studied law under Judge Wythe, and in 1767 commenced practice. In 1769, he was elected to the Virginia Legislature. Three years later, he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a rich, handsome, and accomplished young widow, with whom he went to reside in his new mansion at Monticello, near to the spot where he was born. His practice at the bar grew

rapidly and became very lucrative, and he early engaged in the political affairs of his own State.

For years the breach between England and her Colonies had been rapidly widening. Jefferson earnestly advocated the right of the latter to local self-government, and wrote a pamphlet on the subject which attracted much attention on both sides of the Atlantic. By the spring of 1775 the Colonies were in revolt. We now find Jefferson in the Continental Congress-the youngest member save one. His arrival had been anxiously awaited. He had the reputation "of a matchless pen." Though silent on the floor, in committee "he was prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive,” Early in June, 1776, a committee, with Jefferson as chairman, was appointed to draw up a " Declaration of Independence." Unanimously urged by his associates to write it, he did so, Franklin and Adams, only, making a few verbal alterations. Jefferson has been charged with plagiarism in the composition of this ever-memorable paper. Volumes have been written on the subject; but those who have investigated the closest, declare that the Mecklenburg Declaration, from which he was charged with plagiarism, was not then in existence. Jefferson distinctly denies having seen it. Probably, in preparing it, he used many of the popular phrases of the time; and hence it was that it seized so quickly and so irresistibly upon the public heart. It was the crystallized expression

of the spirit of the age. Edward Everett pronounced this Declaration "equal to anything ever born on parchment or expressed in the visible signs of thought." Bancroft declares, "The heart of Jefferson in writing it, and of Congress in adopting it, beat for all humanity."

Chosen a second time to Congress, Jefferson declined the appointment, in order that he might labor in re-organizing Virginia. He therefore accepted a seat in the Legislature, where he zealously applied himself to revising the fundamental laws of the State. The abolition of primogeniture and the Church establishment was the result of his labors, and he was justly proud of it. No more important advance could have been made. It was a step from middle-age darkness into the broad light of modern civilization.

In 1778, Jefferson procured the passage of a law prohibiting the further importation of slaves. The following year he was elected Governor, succeeding Patrick Henry in this honorable position, and at the close of his official term he again sought the retirement of Monticello. In 1782, shortly after the death of his beloved wife, he was summoned to act as one of the Commissioners to negotiate peace with England. He was not required to sail, however; but, taking a seat in Congress, during the winter of 1783, he, who had drawn up the Declaration of Independence, was the first to officially announce its final triumph.