1854
PASSAGES FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
by Thomas Jefferson
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
Concerning the Decleration of Independence
IT appearing in the course of these debates, that the colonies
of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South
Carolina were not yet matured for falling from the parent stem, but
that they were fast advancing to that state, it was thought most
prudent to wait a while for them, and to postpone the final
decision to July 1st; but, that this might occasion as little delay
as possible, a committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration of
Independence. The committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger
Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and myself. Committees were also
appointed, at the same time, to prepare a Plan of confederation for
the colonies, and to state the terms proper to be proposed for
foreign alliance. The committee for drawing the Declaration of
Independence desired me to do it. It was accordingly done, and
being approved by them, I reported it to the House on Friday, the
28th of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie on the table. On
Monday, the 1st of July, the House resolved itself into a committee
of the whole, and resumed the consideration of the original motion
made by the delegates of Virginia, which, being again debated
through the day, was carried in the affirmative by the votes of New
Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. South Carolina and
Pennsylvania voted against it. Delaware had but two members
present, and they were divided. The delegates from New York
declared they were for it themselves, and were assured their
constituents were for it; but that their instructions having been
drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still the
general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing which
should impede that object. They, therefore, thought themselves not
justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw
from the question; which was given them. The committee rose and
reported their resolution to the House. Mr. Edward Rutledge, of
South Carolina, then requested the determination might be put off
to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though they
disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake
of unanimity. The ultimate question, whether the House would agree
to the resolution of the committee, was accordingly postponed to
the next day, when it was again moved, and South Carolina concurred
in voting for it. In the mean time, a third member had come post
from the Delaware counties, and turned the vote of that colony in
favor of the resolution. Members of a different sentiment attending
that morning from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed, so that
the whole twelve colonies who were authorized to vote at all gave
their voices for it; and, within a few days, the convention of New
York approved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the
withdrawing of her delegates from the vote.
Congress proceeded the same day to consider the Declaration of
Independence, which had been reported and laid on the table the
Friday preceding, and on Monday referred to a committee of the
whole. The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth
keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this
reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of
England were struck out, lest they should give them offence. The
clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa
was struck out, in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who
had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who,
on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our northern brethren
also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures; for
though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had
been pretty considerable carriers of them to others. The debates,
having taken up the greater parts of the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of
July, were, on the evening of the last, closed; the Declaration was
reported by the committee, agreed to by the House, and signed by
every member present, except Mr. Dickinson.
Character of James Madison
Mr. Madison came into the House in 177 a new member and young;
which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, prevented
his venturing himself in debate before his removal to the Council
of State, in November, '77. From thence he went to Congress, then
consisting of few members. Trained in these successive schools, he
acquired a habit of self-possession which placed at ready command
the rich resources of his luminous and discriminating mind, and of
his extensive information, and rendered him the first of every
assembly afterward, of which he became a member. Never wandering
from his subject into vain declamation, but pursuing it closely, in
language pure, classical and copious, soothing always the feelings
of his adversaries by civilities and softness of expression, he
rose to the eminent station which he held in the great National
Convention of 1787; and in that of Virginia which followed, he
sustained the new constitution in all its parts, bearing off the
palm against the logic of George Mason, and the fervid declamation
of Mr. Henry. With these consummate powers were united a pure and
spotless virtue, which no calumny has ever attempted to sully. Of
the powers and polish of his pen, and of the wisdom of his
administration in the highest office of the nation, I need say
nothing. They have spoken, and will forever speak for themselves.
Congress at Annapolis
Our body was little numerous, but very contentious. Day after
day was wasted on the most unimportant questions. A member, one of
those afflicted with the morbid rage of debate, of an ardent mind,
prompt imagination, and copious flow of words, who heard with
impatience any logic which was not his own, sitting near me on some
occasion of a trifling but wordy debate, asked me how I could sit
in silence, hearing so much false reasoning, which a word should
refute? I observed to him, that to refute indeed was easy, but to
silence was impossible; that in measures brought forward by myself,
I took the laboring oar, as was incumbent on me; but that in
general I was willing to listen; that if every sound argument or
objection was used by some one or other of the numerous debaters,
it was enough; if not, I thought it sufficient to suggest the
omission, without going into a repetition of what had been already
said by others: that this was a waste and abuse of the time and
patience of the House, which could not be justified. And I believe
that if the members of deliberate bodies were to observe this
course generally, they would do in a day what takes them a week;
and it is really more questionable than may at first be thought,
whether Bonaparte's dumb legislature, which said nothing and did
much, may not be preferable to one which talks much and does
nothing. I served with General Washington in the legislature of
Virginia, before the Revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin
in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a
time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the
question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing
that the little ones would follow of themselves. If the present
Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise, in a
body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose
trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the
hour? That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business
together, ought not to be expected.
A Glimpse of the French Revolution
The King was now completely in the hands of men, the principal
among whom had been noted, through their lives, for the Turkish
despotism of their characters, and who were associated around the
King, as proper instruments for what was to be executed. The news
of this change began to be known at Paris, about one or two
o'clock. In the afternoon, a body of about one hundred German
cavalry were advanced, and drawn up in the Place Louis XV., and
about two hundred Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear.
This drew people to the spot, who thus accidentally found
themselves in front of the troops, merely at first as spectators;
but, as their numbers increased, their indignation rose. They
retired a few steps, and posted themselves on and behind large
piles of stones, large and small, collected in that place for a
bridge, which was to be built adjacent to it. In this position,
happening to be in my carriage on a visit, I passed through the
lane they had formed, without interruption. But the moment after I
had passed, the people attacked the cavalry with stones. They
charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and the
showers of stones, obliged the horse to retire, and quit the field
altogether, leaving one of their number on the ground, and the
Swiss in the rear not moving to their aid. This was the signal for
universal insurrection, and this body of cavalry, to avoid being
massacred, retired toward Versailles. The people now armed
themselves with such weapons as they could find in armorers' shops,
and private houses, and with bludgeons; and were roaming all night,
through all parts of the city, without any decided object. . The
next day (the 13th) the Assembly pressed on the King to send away
the troops, to permit the Bourgeoisie of Paris to arm for the
preservation of order in the city, and offered to send a deputation
from their body to tranquillize them; but their propositions were
refused. A committee of magistrates and electors of the city were
appointed by those bodies, to take upon them its government. The
people, now openly joined by the French guards, forced the prison
of St. Lazare, released all the prisoners, and took a great store
of corn, which they carried to the corn-market. Here they got some
arms, and the French guards began to form and train them. The city-
committee determined to raise forty-eight thousand Bourgeoisie, or
rather to restrain their numbers to forty-eight thousand. On the
14th, they sent one of their members (Monsieur de Corny) to the
Hotel des Invalides, to ask arms for their Garde Bourgeoise. He was
followed by, and he found there, a great collection of people. The
Governor of the Invalids came out, and represented the
impossibility of his delivering arms, without the orders of those
from whom he received them. De Corny advised the people then to
retire, and retired himself; but the people took possession of the
arms. It was remarkable, that not only the Invalids themselves made
no opposition, but that a body of five thousand foreign troops,
within four hundred yards, never stirred. M. de Corny, and five
others, were then sent to ask arms of M. de Launay, Governor of the
Bastile. They found a great collection of people already before the
place, and they immediately planted a flag of truce, which was
answered by a like flag hoisted on the parapet. The deputation
prevailed on the people to fall back a little, advanced themselves
to make their demand of the Governor, and in that instant, a
discharge from the Bastile killed four persons of those nearest to
the deputies. The deputies retired. I happened to be at the house
of M. de Corny, when he returned to it, and received from him a
narrative of these transactions. On the retirement of the deputies,
the people rushed forward, and almost in an instant, were in
possession of a fortification of infinite strength, defended by one
hundred men, which in other times had stood several regular sieges,
and had never been taken. How they forced their entrance has never
been explained. They, took all the arms, discharged the prisoners,
and such of the garrison as were not killed in the first moment of
fury; carried the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor to the Place de
Grve (the place of public execution), cut off their heads, and
sent them through the city, in triumph, to the Palais royal. About
the same instant, a treacherous correspondence having been
discovered in M. de Flesselles, Prevt des Marchands, they seized
him in the Hotel de Ville, where he was in the execution of his
office, and cut off his head. These events, carried imperfectly to
Versailles, were the subject of two successive deputations from the
Assembly to the King, to both of which he gave dry and hard
answers; for nobody had as yet been permitted to inform him, truly
and fully, of what had passed at Paris. But at night, the Duke de
Liancourt forced his way into the King's bed chamber, and obliged
him to hear a full and animated detail of the disasters of the day
in Paris. He went to bed fearfully impressed. The decapitation of
de Launay worked powerfully through the night on the whole
Aristocratic party; insomuch, that in the morning, those of the
greatest influence on the Count d'Artois, represented to him the
absolute necessity that the King should give up everything to the
Assembly. This according with the dispositions of the King, he went
about eleven o'clock, accompanied only by his brothers, to the
Assembly, and there read to them a speech, in which he asked their
interposition to re-establish order. Although couched in terms of
some caution, yet the manner in which it was delivered made it
evident that it was meant as a surrender at discretion. He returned
to the Chateau afoot, accompanied by the Assembly. They sent off a
deputation to quiet Paris, at the head of which was the Marquis de
La Fayette, who had, the same morning, been named Commandant en
chef of the Milice Bourgeoise; and Monsieur Bailly, former
President of the States General, was called for as Prevt des
Marchands. The demolition of the Bastille was now ordered and
begun. A body of the Swiss guards, of the regiment of Ventimille,
and the city horse guards joined the people. The alarm at
Versailles increased. The foreign troops were ordered off
instantly. Every minister resigned. The King confirmed Bailly as
Prevt des Marchands, wrote to M. Necker, to recall him, sent his
letter open to the Assembly, to be forwarded by them, and invited
them to go with him to Paris the next day, to satisfy the city of
his dispositions; and that night, and the next morning, the Count
d'Artois, and M. de Montesson, a deputy connected with him, Madame
de Polignac, Madame de Guiche, and the Count de Vaudreuil,
favorites of the Queen, the Abbe de Vermont her confessor, the
Prince of Conde, and Duke of Bourbon fled. The King came to Paris,
leaving the Queen in consternation for his return. Omitting the
less important flgures of the procession, the King's carriage was
in the centre; on each side of it, the Assembly, in two ranks
afoot; at their head the Marquis de La Fayette, as Commander-in-
chief, on horseback, and Bourgeois guards before and behind. About
sixty thousand citizens, of all forms and conditions, armed with
the conquests of the Bastille and Invalids, as far as they would
go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, pruning-hooks, scythes,
etc., lined all the streets through which the procession passed,
and with the crowds of people in the streets, doors, and windows,
saluted them everywhere with the cries of "vive la nation," but not
a single "vive le Roi" was heard. The King stopped at the Hotel de
Ville. There M. Bailly presented, and put into his hat, the popular
cockade, and addressed him. The King being unprepared, and unable
to answer, Bailly went to him, gathered from him some scraps of
sentences, and made out an answer, which he delivered to the
audience, as from the King. On their return, the popular cries were
"vive le Roi et la nation." He was conducted by a garde Bourgeoise
to his palace at Versailles, and thus concluded an "amende
honorable," as no sovereign ever made, and no people ever received.
And here, again, was lost another precious occasion of sparing
to France the crimes and cruelties through which she has since
passed, and to Europe, and finally America, the evils which flowed
on them also from this mortal source. The King was now become a
passive machine in the hands of the National Assembly, and had he
been left to himself, he would have willingly acquiesced in
whatever they should devise as best for the nation. A wise
constitution would have been formed, hereditary in his line,
himself placed at its head, with powers so large as to enable him
to do all the good of his station, and so limited, as to restrain
him from its abuse. This he would have faithfully administered, and
more than this) I do not believe, he ever wished. But he had a
Queen of absolute sway over his weak mind and timid virtue, and of
a character the reverse of his in all points. This angel, as
gaudily, painted in the rhapsodies of Burke, with some smartness of
fancy, but no sound sense, was proud, disdainful of restraint,
indignant at all obstacles to her will, eager in the pursuit of
pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her desires, or perish in
their wreck. Her inordinate gambling and dissipations, with those
of the Count d'Artois, and others of her clique, had been a
sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury, which called into
action the reforming hand of the nation; and her opposition to it,
her inflexible perverseness, and dauntless spirit, led herself to
the Guillotine, drew the King on with her, and plunged the world
into crimes and calamities which will forever stain the pages of
modern history. I have ever believed that, had there been no Queen,
there would have been no revolution. No force would have been
provoked, nor exercised. The King would have gone hand in hand with
the wisdom of his sounder counsellors, who, guided by the increased
lights of the age, wished only, with the same pace, to advance the
principles of their social constitution. The deed which closed the
mortal course of these sovereigns, I shall neither approve nor
condemn. I am not prepared to say that the first magistrate of a
nation cannot commit treason against his country or is unamenable
to its punishment; nor yet, that where there is no written law, no
regulated tribunal, there is not a law in our hearts, and a power
in our hands, given for righteous employment in maintaining right,
and redressing wrong. Of those who judged the King, many thought
him wilfully criminal; many, that his existence would keep the
nation in perpetual conflict with the horde of Kings who would war
against a generation which might come home to themselves, and that
it were better that one should die than all. I should not have
voted with this portion of the Legislature. I should have shut up
the Queen in a convent, putting harm out of her power, and placed
the King in his station, investing him with limited powers, which,
I verily believe, he would have honestly exercised, according to
the measure of his understanding. In this way, no void would have
been created, courting the usurpation of a military adventurer, nor
occasion given for those enormities which demoralized the nations
of the world, and destroyed, and are yet to destroy, millions and
millions of its inhabitants.
A Tribute to France
And here, I cannot leave this great and good country without
expressing my sense of its pre-eminence of character among the
nations of the earth. A more benevolent people I have never known,
nor greater warmth and devotedness in their select friendships.
Their kindness and accommodation to strangers is unparalleled, and
the hospitality of Paris is beyond anything I had conceived to be
practicable in a large city. Their eminence, too, in science, the
communicative dispositions of their scientific men, the politeness
of the general manners, the ease and vivacity of their
conversation, give a charm to their society, to be found nowhere
else. In a comparison of this, with other countries, we have the
proof of primacy, which was given to Themistocles, after the battle
of Salamis. Every general voted to himself the first reward of
valor, and the second to Themistocles. So, ask the travelled
inhabitant of any nation, in what country on earth would you rather
live? Certainly, in my own, where are all my friends, my relations,
and the earliest and sweetest affections and recollections of my
life. Which would be your second choice? France.
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