The Writings of Thomas Jefferson | Page 6

erudite lawyer, and yet the registry of the courts before which he
practised showed that in the fourth year, after he became a barrister, he
was employed in four hundred and thirty important cases. No one but a

tactful man, however great his learning, in so short a period of time,
could make a record of that exalted grade. He was, therefore, at the
beginning of his career as a public man, frank, earnest, cordial,
sympathetic in his manner, full of confidence in men, and sanguine in
his views of life, which gave him a grip upon those about him, as a
leader equipped by nature for achievements of the highest and most
important possibilities.
As a delegate to the Second Continental Congress Mr. Jefferson had a
leading share in its deliberations, although that body embraced many of
the most distinguished men of that period. The most important act of
that assembly was the adoption of the Declaration of Independence,
which, as I have already stated, he himself drafted. It is said, however,
that he was most valuable in committee work, because of the aptness of
his sensible and methodical mind, and the ingenuity he possessed in
putting his ideas upon paper, and doing it in such a way as to create but
little, if any, antagonisms. In all of the official stations in which he was
placed by his fellow citizens, by means of his talents for constructive
statesmanship, and his persuasive and conciliatory spirit, he invariably
displayed a remarkable talent for tact in parliamentary leadership.
Military chieftains often win immortal renown as the result of a single
important battle, and often flash like rush-light stars across the sky of
history. But this is not true of men like Jefferson and others of his class.
They grow into great characters, and they build monuments to their
memories which the tooth of time cannot destroy. There is nothing
ephemeral or evanescent in the makeup of their records. They build not
for a day nor a year, but for the centuries. Indeed, it may be said that
they build for eternity, and thus many of them have builded wiser than
they knew. The following is a summary of Jefferson's achievements:
1. Jefferson, although eight years at the bar, became a lawyer of renown,
and an acknowledged leader in the profession.
2. For many years he was a member of the House of Burgesses of
Virginia, and possessed therein an influence almost supreme.
3. He was a member of different conventions, selected by the people of

Virginia, to consider the state of the colony, to provide against taxation
without representation, and to secure greater liberties for the people,
and was a leader in them all.
4. He was chairman of the three committees appointed in 1774 by the
Virginia Convention, (1) to provide for the better education of the
people; (2), for the arming of the militia of the colony; and (3), to draw
up a statement of the causes which had impelled the colonies to take up
arms against the mother country.
5. He was a member of the Continental Congress which adopted the
Declaration of American Independence, and was the writer of that
immortal document, which of itself entitles him to enduring fame. For
more than a century and a quarter it has been read every year in all
parts of the Republic to assembled multitudes on the anniversary of its
ratification, and it has been used as a model by all peoples since its
adoption, who have sought to secure for themselves freedom and
self-government.
6. He was Governor of Virginia during the latter part of the Revolution,
and at the end of his term of office, the House of Burgesses publicly
thanked him for the able and patriotic services rendered by him during
his administration of that exalted station.
7. He, while a member of the American Congress after the adoption of
our present Constitution, was the author of the system of coinage which,
with some amendments, is still in vogue in the United States.
8. He was, in the early years of the Republic, twice commissioned by
Congress as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties of commerce
with European States, and in this, as in all other public undertakings, he
exhibited the highest character of tact and diplomacy.
9. He was five years Minister to France, was exceedingly popular, and
secured several important modifications of the French tariff in the
interests of American commerce.
10. As the first Secretary of State under Washington, he handled, with

consummate skill, the perplexing international questions which grew
out of the war declared by France in 1793, against Holland and Great
Britain.
11. In 1796 he became Vice-President, and was elevated to the
Presidency in 1800, and was reelected in 1804. In this great office