Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

==Revolutionary War==
===Declaration of Independence===
{{Main|United States Declaration of Independence}}
[[File:United States Declaration of Independence.jpg|thumb|The [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which Jefferson largely wrote in isolation between June 11 and 28, 1776, from a floor he was renting in a home at 700 [[Market Street (Philadelphia)|Market Street]] in [[Center City, Philadelphia|Center City Philadelphia]],<ref name="nps.gov">[https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/independence-dechousehistory.htm "The Declaration House Through Time"], National Park Service</ref> contain "the most potent and consequential words in American history," historian [[Joseph Ellis]] later wrote.]]

Jefferson was the primary author of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].<ref>[[#Bowers45|Bowers, 1945]], p. v</ref> At age 33, he was one of the youngest delegates to the [[Second Continental Congress]], which convened in the colonial capital of [[Philadelphia]] following the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], which launched the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1775. Delegates to the Congress overwhelmingly favored authoring, ratifying, and issuing a formal declaration of independence from Britain.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 77.</ref> Jefferson was inspired by the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] ideals of the sanctity of the individual, and the writings of [[John Locke|Locke]] and [[Montesquieu]].<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 103–104.</ref>

Jefferson sought out [[John Adams]], a Continental Congress delegate from [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] and an emerging leader in the Congress.<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], p. 87.</ref> They became close friends, and Adams supported Jefferson's appointment to the [[Committee of Five]], which the Congress charged with authoring the Declaration: Adams, Jefferson, [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Robert R. Livingston]], and [[Roger Sherman]]. The committee initially thought that Adams should write the document, but Adams persuaded the committee to choose Jefferson due to Jefferson being a Virginian, popular, and a good writer by Adams.{{efn|Adams recorded his exchange with Jefferson on the question. Jefferson asked, "Why will you not? You ought to do it." To which Adams responded, "I will not—reasons enough." Jefferson replied, "What can be your reasons?" and Adams responded, "Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can." "Well," said Jefferson, "if you are decided, I will do as well as I can." Adams concluded, "Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting."<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], p. 102.</ref>}}

Jefferson consulted with his fellow committee members, but mostly wrote the Declaration of Independence in isolation between June 11 and 28, 1776.<ref name="nps.gov"/> Jefferson drew considerably on his proposed draft of the [[Constitution of Virginia|Virginia Constitution]], [[George Mason]]'s draft of the [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]], and other sources.<ref>[[#Maier|Maier, 1997]], p. 104.</ref> Other committee members made some changes, and a final draft was presented to Congress on June 28, 1776.<ref name="Meacham, 2012, p. 105">[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], p. 105.</ref> Congress began debate over its contents on Monday, July 1,<ref name="Meacham, 2012, p. 105"/> resulting in the removal of roughly a fourth of Jefferson's original draft.<ref>[[David K. Shipler|Shipler, David K.]], ''[https://shiplerreport.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-paragraph-missing-from-declaration.html The Paragraph Missing From The Declaration of Independence]'', The Shipler Report, July 4, 2020</ref><ref name="Ellis, 1996, p. 50">[[#Ellis96|Ellis, 1996]], p. 50.</ref> Jefferson resented the changes, but he did not speak publicly about them.{{efn|Franklin, seated beside the author, observed him "writhing a little under the acrimonious criticisms on some of its parts."<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], p. 90.</ref>}} On July 4, 1776, the Congress voted unanimously to ratify the Declaration, and delegates signed it on August 2. Jefferson and the other delegates knew they were committing [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]] against [[the Crown]], which was punishable by [[Hanged, drawn and quartered|torture and death]].<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], p. 110.</ref>

Following its ratification, the Declaration was released publicly. Two days after its ratification, on July 6, ''[[The Pennsylvania Evening Post]]'', was the first newspaper to publish it. On July 8 at noon, it was read publicly and simultaneously for the first time at three designated locations: [[Trenton, New Jersey]]; [[Easton, Pennsylvania]]; and Philadelphia.<ref>[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=86216 "The Declaration of Independence in Easton"], Historical Marker Datatbase</ref>

Contemporary historians generally view the Declaration of Independence as one of the most significant and influential written documents in world history, and Jefferson's preamble is regarded as an enduring statement on [[Individual and group rights|individual]] and [[human rights]]. Jefferson's phrase "[[all men are created equal]]" has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language". [[Harvard University]] history chairman [[David Armitage (historian)|David Armitage]] has written that, "No American document has had a greater global impact than the Declaration of Independence",<ref>[https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/declaration-independence-global-perspective "The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective"], [[Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History]]</ref> and historian [[Joseph Ellis]] has written that the Declaration includes "the most potent and consequential words in American history".<ref name="Ellis, 1996, p. 50"/><ref>[[#Ellis2008|Ellis, 2008]], pp. 55–56.</ref>

===Virginia state legislator and governor===
[[File:Colonial Williamsburg Governors Palace Front Dscn7232.jpg|thumb|alt=Governor's Palace|[[Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Governor's Palace]], Jefferson's residence in [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]] during his term as Virginia's governor from 1779 to 1781]]
At the start of the American Revolution, [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] Jefferson was named commander of the [[Albemarle County, Virginia|Albemarle County]] Militia on September 26, 1775.<ref>[[#Brodie|Brodie, 1974]], p. 112.</ref> He was then elected to the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] for Albemarle County in September 1776, when finalizing the state constitution was a priority.<ref name="Peterson pp. 101">[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], pp. 101–102, 114, 140.</ref><ref name=Fer26>[[#Ferling04|Ferling, 2004]], p. 26.</ref> For nearly three years, Jefferson assisted with the constitution and was especially proud of his Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which prohibited state support of religious institutions or enforcement of religious doctrine.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 102; [[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], p. 42.</ref> The bill failed to pass, as did his legislation to disestablish the [[Anglican Church]], but both were later revived by [[James Madison]].<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], pp. 134, 142; [[#Bernstein03|Bernstein, 2003]], pp. 68–69.</ref>

In 1778, Jefferson was given the task of revising the state's laws. He drafted 126 bills in three years, including laws to streamline the judicial system. He proposed statutes that provided for general education, which he considered the basis of "republican government".<ref name="Peterson pp. 101"/> Jefferson also was concerned that Virginia's powerful landed gentry were becoming a hereditary aristocracy and took the lead in abolishing what he called "feudal and unnatural distinctions."<ref name = Brewer>{{cite journal | last1 = Brewer | first1 = Holly | year = 1997 | title = Entailing Aristocracy in Colonial Virginia: 'Ancient Feudal Restraints' and Revolutionary Reform | journal = William and Mary Quarterly | volume = 54 | issue = 2| pages = 307–346 | jstor=2953276 | doi=10.2307/2953276|issn=0043-5597 }}</ref> He targeted laws such as [[entail]] and [[primogeniture]] by which a deceased landowner's oldest son was vested with all land ownership and power.<ref name = Brewer/>{{efn|The [[Fee tail|entail]] laws made it perpetual: the one who inherited the land could not sell it, but had to bequeath it to his oldest son. As a result, increasingly large plantations, worked by white tenant farmers and by black slaves, gained in size, wealth, and political power in the eastern ("[[Tidewater (region)|Tidewater]]") tobacco areas.<ref name = Brewer/> During the Revolutionary era, all such laws were repealed by the states that had them.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1113540|title = Primogeniture and Entailed Estates in America|journal = Columbia Law Review|volume = 27|issue = 1|pages = 24–51|last1 = Morris|first1 = Richard B.|year = 1927|doi = 10.2307/1113540}}</ref>}}

Jefferson was elected [[Governor of Virginia|governor]] for one-year terms in 1779 and 1780.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 134.</ref> He transferred the state capital from Williamsburg to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], and introduced additional measures for public education, religious freedom, and inheritance.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 137.</ref>

During General [[Benedict Arnold]]'s 1781 [[Raid on Richmond|invasion of Virginia]], Jefferson escaped Richmond just ahead of the British forces, which razed the city.<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], pp. 234–238.</ref><ref>[[#Ellis96|Ellis, 1996]], p. 66; [[#Gordon08|Gordon-Reed, 2008]], pp. 136–137; [[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 133–135.</ref> He sent emergency dispatches to Colonel [[Sampson Mathews]] and other commanders in an attempt to repel Arnold's efforts.<ref>{{cite web |title=From Thomas Jefferson to Sampson Mathews, 12 January 1781 |via=Founders Online, National Archives |access-date=July 10, 2019|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-04-02-0417 |work=The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 4, October 1, 1780 – February 24, 1781 |editor-first=Julian P. |editor-last=Boyd |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1951 |page=343}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Bryan|first= Charles|date= October 25, 2014|title= Richmond's Benedict Arnold |url= https://www.richmond.com/richmond-s-benedict-arnold/article_2b881762-185f-57c3-919c-548d7a8061e1.html |work= Richmond Times Dispatch |access-date= July 11, 2019 }}</ref> [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|General Charles Cornwallis]] that spring dispatched a cavalry force led by [[Banastre Tarleton]] to capture Jefferson and members of the Assembly at Monticello, but [[Jack Jouett]] of the [[Virginia militia]] thwarted the British plan. Jefferson escaped to [[Poplar Forest]], his plantation to the west.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 157.</ref> When the General Assembly reconvened in June 1781, it conducted an inquiry into Jefferson's actions which eventually concluded that Jefferson had acted with honor, but Jefferson was not reelected.<ref>[[#Meacham|Meacham, 2012]], pp. 140–142.</ref>

In April of the same year, his daughter Lucy died at age one. A second daughter of that name was born the following year, but she died at age two.<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 263.</ref>

In 1782, Jefferson refused a partnership offer by North Carolina Governor [[Abner Nash]], in a profiteering scheme involving the sale of confiscated Loyalist lands.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Founders and the Pursuit of Land |url= https://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/founders-land.html|publisher=The Lehrman Institute|ref=The Founders and the Pursuit of Land |access-date=March 25, 2022}}</ref> Unlike some Founders, Jefferson was content with his Monticello estate and the land he owned in the vicinity of Virginia's [[Shenandoah Valley]]. Jefferson thought of Monticello as an intellectual gathering place for [[James Madison]], [[James Monroe]], and other friends.<ref>[[#The Founders and the Pursuit of Land|The Founders and the Pursuit of Land]]</ref>

===''Notes on the State of Virginia''===
{{Main|Notes on the State of Virginia}}

In 1780, Jefferson received a letter of inquiry from French diplomat [[François Barbé-Marbois]] into the geography, history, and government of Virginia, as part of a study of the United States. Jefferson organized his responses in a book, ''Notes on the State of Virginia'' (1785).<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, pp. 165–166.</ref> The book explores what constitutes a good society, using Virginia as an exemplar. Jefferson included extensive data about the state's natural resources and economy and wrote at length about slavery and [[miscegenation]]; he articulated his belief that blacks and whites could not live together as free people in one society because of justified resentments of the enslaved.<ref>[[#Jeff Notes|Notes on the State of Virginia]], p. 149; [[#Burstein2006|Burstein, 2006]], p. 146.</ref> He also wrote of his views on the American Indians, equating them to European settlers.<ref>[[#Jeff Notes|''Notes on the State of Virginia'', 1853, Query XI]]</ref><ref>[[#TJFEnlightenment|TJF: Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment and American Indians]]</ref>

''Notes'' was first published in 1785 in [[French (language)|French]] and appeared in English in 1787.<ref>[[#Bernstein2004|Bernstein, 2004]], p. 78.</ref> Biographer [[George Tucker (author)|George Tucker]] considered the work "surprising in the extent of the information which a single individual had been thus far able to acquire, as to the physical features of the state";<ref>[[#Tucker37|Tucker, 1837]], v. 1, p. 166.</ref> [[University of Virginia]] historian [[Merrill D. Peterson]] described it as an accomplishment for which all Americans should be grateful.<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], ch. 5.</ref>