1830.] [ 81 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Memoir of Thomas Jefferson, 2 vols., 

 8vo. ; 1830. Next to Franklin, Washing- 

 ton, and Adams, though the first was near 

 forty years older, and the others ten or 

 twelve next to those foremost men of the 

 American revolution, stands the respectable 

 name of Jefferson, inferior to none of the 

 leading agents of that stirring event, in ac- 

 tivity, and superior, perhaps, to all of them 

 in the prosecution of the general rights^ of 

 freedom a man, moreover, from profes- 

 tional and favourite pursuits, better ac- 

 quainted with the changes, legal and politi- 

 cal, demanded by the fresh condition of 

 things ; and, from his free and philosophi- 

 cal turn, better enabled to shake off old pre- 

 judices, and make way for new experiments, 

 with a full reliance on the soundness of his 

 views, and with resolution enough to go 

 thorough-stitch with the undertaking. To 

 Jefferson belongs the honour of drawing up 

 ,^e Declaration of Independence; but that 

 others might have done, perhaps, as effec- 

 tively his best titles to the gratitude of 

 America are, probably, the breaking up of 

 the system of entails, and the repealing of 

 church establishments. 



Descended from an old colonist family 

 in Virginia, and born in the year 1744, he 

 went through the usual course of education 

 at William and Mary College, and in 

 1767 was called to the bar of the General 

 Court, where he continued to practise till 

 judicial business was wholly suspended by 

 the outbreak of the revolution. So early as 

 1769, he was returned for his native county 

 a member of the Virginian legislature, in 

 which he became quickly conspicuous for 

 energy and promptitude; and dissatisfied with 

 the general apathy of the older members, 

 he, in concurrence with some half-a-dozen 

 others, Henry, the two Lees, and others, 

 clubbed their efforts together for the pur- 

 pose of rousing up a more effective opposi- 

 tion to the claims of the British government 

 especially after the declaration of right 

 on the part of the House of Commons to 

 tax the Colonies as they pleased. The 

 chief aim of their first exertions was union 

 among the colonies, and the establishment 

 of a correspondence for the discussion of 

 grievances. 



When the Boston Port-Bill passed, the 

 Virginian legislature, prompted by Jefferson 

 and his associates, were forward in express- 

 ing their own sympathy, and in promoting 

 a general expression of the colonies against 

 the intolerable oppression. They, too, were 

 the parties who got up a fast, in all its so- 

 lemnities, on the day on which the Boston 

 Port-Bill was to be carried into execution 

 the effects of which were astounding and 

 decisive through the country. The next 

 measure of this active body was the assem- 

 bling of a General Congress; and to this 

 Congress was Jefferson, with Washington, 



M. M. New Series VoL.IX. No. 49. 



and others, deputed from Virginia. In that 

 assembly of patriots, mixed up, however^ 

 of many irresolute and, perhaps, of some 

 treacherous persons, Jefferson's ardour and 

 industry gave him considerable influence 

 the best proof of which is, that to him was 

 consigned the task of preparing the celebrated 

 Declaration of Independence, and such as 

 finally passed with but few alterations, which 

 rather softened the tone than essentially 

 changed the sense. In the latter part of the 

 same year, when again a member of the 

 Virginian legislature, the revision of the 

 whole body of the laws was voted by that 

 assembly, and the commission placed in the 

 hands of Jefferson and four others, two of 

 whom eventually declined acting from a feel- 

 ing of in competency, arising out of a want of 

 legal education. To the share of Jefferson fell 

 the common law and the statutes to 4 James 

 I., the year, that is, in which the govern- 

 ment of Virginia was incorporated. This, 

 of course, comprised the law of descents, 

 and the criminal law, in both of which 

 Jefferson ventured upon important changes, 

 in principle. The bills brought in in con- 

 sequence of this commission, with one or 

 two exceptions, were not, however, passed 

 till after the general peace. During the 

 war, he was elected Governor of Virginia, 

 but on the expiration of his government 

 became again a member of Congress. He 

 was appointed one of the managers for con- 

 cluding the general peace, but did not act, 

 owing to some domestic circumstance ; but 

 in 1785, he was named Ambassador to 

 France, and at Paris he resided till he so- 

 licited his recal, and on his return to 

 America, in 1790, was appointed Secretary 

 of State. 



At this point terminates the memoir, and 

 to this point also is brought up the portion 

 of the correspondence now published, con- 

 sisting of his public and private letters, but 

 his private ones are in fact public, for he was 

 absorbed in the interests of his country, and 

 was not a man to prattle about common 

 occurrences. The leading point of interest 

 in his memoirs are the history of the first 

 steps of the revolution, and the debates inCon- 

 gress on the Declaration of Independence. 

 The next are his details relative to the 

 assembling of the States General in France, 

 and the commencement of the revolution, 

 which occurred during his embassy. His 

 prominent situation, of course, brought him 

 in contact with all the eminent men of the 

 day, on the liberal side of politics, especially 

 through Fayette, the idol-Frenchman of the 

 Americans. His account is valuable, a$ 

 coining from an eye-witness and associate 

 of the principal actors yet new facts are 

 very scarce. We do not remember to have 

 seen it stated any where, that Louis drank 

 so deeply Jefferson represents him as in a 

 state of constant stupefaction, or excitement, 



