In this excerpt from Query XIV of Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), Thomas Jefferson outlines his plan for the gradual abolition of slavery in Virginia. Jefferson’s views about racial inequality shaped his plan to slowly end slavery and separate Black and white people through colonization.
In this document from August 12, 1776, Continental Congress delegate Thomas Jefferson provides his arguments regarding Congress’s investigation of Continental Navy commander in chief Esek Hopkins. Congress was debating the consequences Hopkins would face for disobeying orders to engage the fleet of royal governor John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore, in the Chesapeake Bay in early 1776. In part I, Jefferson summarizes the defense Hopkins presented to the committee investigating his conduct. In part II, Jefferson lists his rebuttals to Hopkins’ arguments. Congress voted to censure Hopkins on August 16, 1776.
In this first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson outlines a justification for the colonies’ break from Britain, declares the colonies to be free and independent states, and asserts that “all men are created equal” with the rights to “life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.” A committee appointed to draft the declaration revised Jefferson’s draft before submitting the document to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. Congress approved the official declaration on July 4, 1776.
In this letter to François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, dated November 26, 1782, Thomas Jefferson expresses his grief after the death his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson.
In this November 26, 1780, letter to General George Washington, Governor Thomas Jefferson reports the need to move the prisoners at Albemarle Barracks out of Virginia to prevent them from deserting to the encroaching British forces.
In this letter from November 29, 1775, Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, tells Loyalist John Randolph about the Patriots’ victory in the Battle of Hampton. Jefferson argues that the battle, which marked the first Revolutionary conflict south of Massachusetts, strengthened support for the Patriots in Virginia.
In this letter from July 13, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson informs Rufus King, United States Minister to the United Kingdom, that the Haitian Revolution has inspired insurgency among some enslaved people in Virginia, and suggests they be moved to Sierra Leone. Jefferson’s letter demonstrates how white Virginians feared the influence of the Haitian Revolution on Black Virginians as it unfolded.
In this letter dated December 20, 1787, minister to France Thomas Jefferson informs James Madison of his thoughts on the U.S. Constitution during the ratification process. Madison was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention and an architect of the proposed document. Jefferson emphasizes the omission of a bill of rights clearly affirming the rights and freedoms of the people. The ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution in 1791.
In this letter written on July 3, 1780, Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson informs William Campbell that he is needed to defend lead mines in Montgomery County against renewed Loyalist attacks instead of his assignment to lead militias against the Cherokee.
In this letter to linguist Peter S. Du Ponceau written on July 7, 1820, Thomas Jefferson shares a vocabulary of the Nottoway language. This was the first written compilation of the language, compiled in March 1820 by Professor John Wood from the College of William and Mary. Wood created the list based on conversations with Edith “Edy” Turner (also known as Wané Roonseraw), chief of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe.
This document features lines from the novel Tristram Shandy copied by Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson and Thomas Jefferson, likely written weeks before her death on September 6, 1782. This document is the only known writing exchanged between the Jeffersons that survives. Everything preceding “presses on” is written by Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson and the lines that follow were copied by Thomas Jefferson.
In this document submitted to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776, the committee appointed to craft a declaration of independence presents its draft for approval. The committee, which included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, had revised a draft written by Jefferson. After further revisions, Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
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