AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1743 - 1790
by Thomas
Jefferson
At the age of 77, I begin to make some memoranda and state
some recollections of dates & facts concerning myself, for my own more
ready reference & for the information of my family.
The tradition in my father's family was that their ancestor
came to this country from
My father's education had been quite neglected; but being of
a strong mind, sound judgment and eager after information, he read much and
improved himself insomuch that he was chosen with Joshua Fry professor of
Mathem. in W. & M. college to continue the boundary line between Virginia
& N. Caroline which had been begun by Colo Byrd, and was afterwards
employed with the same Mr. Fry to make the 1st map of
In 1769, I became a member of the legislature by the choice
of the county in which I live, & continued in that until it was closed by
the revolution. I made one effort in
that body for the permission of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected:
and indeed, during the regal government, nothing liberal could expect
success. Our minds were circumscribed
within narrow limits by an habitual belief that it was our duty to be
subordinate to the mother country in all matters of government, to direct all
our labors in subservience to her interests, and even to observe a bigoted
intolerance for all religions but hers.
The difficulties with our representatives were of habit and despair, not
of reflection & conviction.
Experience soon proved that they could bring their minds to rights on
the first summons of their attention.
But the king's council, which acted as another house of legislature,
held their places at will & were in most humble obedience to that will: the
Governor too, who had a negative on our laws held by the same tenure, &
with still greater devotedness to it: and last of all the Royal negative closed
the last door to every hope of amelioration.
On
When the famous Resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp-act,
were proposed, I was yet a student of law in Wmsbg. I attended the debate however at the door of
the lobby of the H. of Burgesses, & heard the splendid display of Mr.
Henry's talents as a popular orator.
They were great indeed; such as I have never heard from any other man. He appeared to me to speak as Homer
wrote. Mr. Johnson, a lawyer & member from the
Northern Neck, seconded the resolns, & by him the learning & the logic
of the case were chiefly maintained. My
recollections of these transactions may be seen pa. 60, Wirt's life of P. H., to whom I furnished
them.
In May, 1769, a meeting of the General Assembly was called
by the Govr., Ld. Botetourt. I had then
become a member; and to that meeting became known the joint resolutions &
address of the Lords & Commons of 1768 -- 9, on the proceedings in
Nothing of particular excitement occurring for a
considerable time our countrymen seemed to fall into a state of insensibility
to our situation. The duty on tea not
yet repealed & the Declaratory act of a right in the British parl to bind
us by their laws in all cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court of inquiry held in R. Island in
1762, with a power to send persons to
The origination of these commees of correspondence between
the colonies has been since claimed for
The next event which excited our sympathies for Massachusets
was the
(* 1) See Girardin's History of Virginia, Appendix No. 12,
note.
Mr. Randolph was according to expectation obliged to leave
the chair of Congress to attend the Gen. Assembly summoned by Ld. Dunmore to
meet on the 1st day of June 1775. Ld.
North's conciliatory propositions, as they were called, had been received by
the Governor and furnished the subject for which this assembly was
convened. Mr. Randolph accordingly
attended, and the tenor of these propositions being generally known, as having
been addressed to all the governors, he was anxious that the answer of our
assembly, likely to be the first, should harmonize with what he knew to be the
sentiments and wishes of the body he had recently left. He feared that Mr. Nicholas, whose mind was
not yet up to the mark of the times, would undertake the answer, &
therefore pressed me to prepare an answer.
I did so, and with his aid carried it through the house with long and
doubtful scruples from Mr. Nicholas and James Mercer, and a dash of cold water
on it here & there, enfeebling it somewhat, but finally with unanimity or a
vote approaching it. This being passed,
I repaired immediately to
I prepared a draught of the Declaration committed to
us. It was too strong for Mr.
Dickinson. He still retained the hope of
reconciliation with the mother country, and was unwilling it should be lessened
by offensive statements. He was so
honest a man, & so able a one that he was greatly indulged even by those
who could not feel his scruples. We
therefore requested him to take the paper, and put it into a form he could
approve. He did so, preparing an entire
new statement, and preserving of the former only the last 4. paragraphs &
half of the preceding one. We approved
& reported it to Congress, who accepted it.
Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson, and
of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part of our body,
in permitting him to draw their second petition to the King according to his
own ideas, and passing it with scarcely any amendment. The disgust against this humility was
general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circumstance
which reconciled them to it. The vote
being passed, altho' further observn on it was out of order, he could not
refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction and concluded by saying
"there is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I disapprove,
& that is the word Congress," on which Ben Harrison rose and said
"there is but on word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and
that is the word Congress."
On the 22d of July Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, R. H. Lee, &
myself, were appointed a commee to consider and report on Ld. North's
conciliatory resolution. The answer of
the
On
In Congress, Friday June 7. 1776. The delegates from Virginia moved in
obedience to instructions from their constituents that the Congress should
declare that these United colonies are & of right ought to be free &
independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British
crown, and that all political connection between them & the state of Great
Britain is & ought to be, totally dissolved; that measures should be
immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a
Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.
The house being obliged to attend at that time to some other
business, the proposition was referred to the next day, when the members were
ordered to attend punctually at
Saturday June 8. They
proceeded to take it into consideration and referred it to a committee of the
whole, into which they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day
& Monday the 10th in debating on the subject.
It was argued by Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge,
Dickinson and others
That tho' they were friends to the measures themselves, and
saw the impossibility that we should ever again be united with Gr.
That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise &
proper now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the people
drove us into it:
That they were our power, & without them our declarations
could not be carried into effect;
That the people of the middle colonies (Maryland, Delaware,
Pennsylva, the Jerseys & N. York) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu to
British connection, but that they were fast ripening & in a short time would
join in the general voice of America:
That the resolution entered into by this house on the 15th
of May for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the crown, had
shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown these middle colonies, that they
had not yet accommodated their minds to a separation from the mother country:
That some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates to
consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instructions, &
consequently no powers to give such consent:
That if the delegates of any particular colony had no power
to declare such colony independant, certain they were the others could not
declare it for them; the colonies being as yet perfectly independant of each
other:
That the assembly of
That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these
delegates must retire & possibly their colonies might secede from the
That such a secession would weaken us more than could be
compensated by any foreign alliance:
That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would
either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so much in
their power as that desperate declaration would place us, they would insist on
terms proportionably more hard and prejudicial:
That we had little reason to expect an alliance with those
to whom alone as yet we had cast our eyes:
That
That it was more likely they should form a connection with
the British court, who, if they should find themselves unable otherwise to
extricate themselves from their difficulties, would agree to a partition of our
territories, restoring Canada to France, & the Floridas to Spain, to
accomplish for themselves a recovery of these colonies:
That it would not be long before we should receive certain
information of the disposition of the French court, from the agent whom we had
sent to
That if this disposition should be favorable, by waiting the
event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be successful, we
should have reason to expect an alliance on better terms:
That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid
from such ally, as, from the advance of the season & distance of our
situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance during this
campaign:
That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on
which we should form alliance, before we declared we would form one at all
events:
And that if these were agreed on, & our Declaration of
Independance ready by the time our Ambassador should be prepared to sail, it
would be as well as to go into that Declaration at this day.
On the other side it was urged by J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and
others
That no gentleman had argued against the policy or the right
of separation from
That the question was not whether, by a declaration of
independance, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether we should
declare a fact which already exists:
That as to the people or parliament of England, we had
alwais been independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriving
efficacy from our acquiescence only, & not from any rights they possessed
of imposing them, & that so far our connection had been federal only &
was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities:
That as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance,
but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of
parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his levying
war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection; it being
a certain position in law that allegiance & protection are reciprocal, the
one ceasing when the other is withdrawn:
That James the IId. never declared the people of
No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of
declaring an existing truth:
That the delegates from the Delaware counties having
declared their constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies
Pennsylvania & Maryland whose delegates are absolutely tied up, and that
these had by their instructions only reserved a right of confirming or
rejecting the measure:
That the instructions from
That within that time it had become apparent that
That the people wait for us to lead the way:
That they are in favour of the measure, tho' the instructions
given by some of their representatives are not:
That the voice of the representatives is not always
consonant with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case in
these middle colonies:
That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has
proved this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the colonies of Pennsylvania
& Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer part of the
people, & proved them to be the majority, even in these colonies:
That the backwardness of these two colonies might be
ascribed partly to the influence of proprietary power & connections, &
partly to their having not yet been attacked by the enemy:
That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as
there seemed no probability that the enemy would make either of these the seat
of this summer's war:
That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for
perfect unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever become of
one sentiment on any question:
That the conduct of some colonies from the beginning of this
contest, had given reason to suspect it was their settled policy to keep in the
rear of the confederacy, that their particular prospect might be better, even
in the worst event:
That therefore it was necessary for those colonies who had
thrown themselves forward & hazarded all from the beginning, to come
forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard:
That the history of the Dutch revolution, of whom three
states only confederated at first proved that a secession of some colonies
would not be so dangerous as some apprehended:
That a declaration of
That till this they would not receive our vessels into their
ports, nor acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admiralty to be
legitimate, in cases of capture of British vessels:
That though France & Spain may be jealous of our rising
power, they must think it will be much more formidable with the addition of
Great Britain; and will therefore see it their interest to prevent a coalition;
but should they refuse, we shall be but where we are; whereas without trying we
shall never know whether they will aid us or not:
That the present campaign may be unsuccessful, &
therefore we had better propose an alliance while our affairs wear a hopeful
aspect:
That to await the event of this campaign will certainly work
delay, because during this summer France may assist us effectually by cutting
off those supplies of provisions from England & Ireland on which the
enemy's armies here are to depend; or by setting in motion the great power they
have collected in the West Indies, & calling our enemy to the defence of the
possessions they have there:
That it would be idle to lose time in settling the terms of
alliance, till we had first determined we would enter into alliance:
That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for
our people, who will want clothes, and will want money too for the paiment of
taxes:
And that the only misfortune is that we did not enter into
alliance with
It appearing in the course of these debates that the
colonies of N. 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 1. but that this might
occasion as little delay as possible a committee was appointed to prepare a
declaration of independence. The commee were J. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger
Sherman, Robert R. Livingston & 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
Congress proceeded the same day to consider the declaration
of Independance which had been reported & lain on the table the Friday
preceding, and on Monday referred to a commee of the whole. The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in
A Declaration by
the Representatives of the
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate & equal
station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with *inherent and*
[certain] inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, & the
pursuit of happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
right of the people to alter or abolish it, & to institute new government,
laying it's foundation on such principles, & organizing it's powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.
Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be
changed for light & transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath
shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses &
usurpations *begun at a distinguished period and* pursuing invariably the same
object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their
right, it is their duty to throw off such government, & to provide new
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these
colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to *expunge*
[alter] their former systems of government.
The history of the present king of
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome &
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate
& pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent
should be obtained; & when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend
to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, &
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly *&
continually* for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of
the people.
He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of
annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the
state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
without & convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states;
for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners,
refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, & raising the
conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has *suffered* [obstructed] the administration of justice
*totally to cease in some of these states* [by] refusing his [assent to laws
for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made *our* judges dependant on his will alone, for
the tenure of their offices, & the amount & paiment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices *by a self assumed
power* and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out
their substance.
He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies *and
ships of war* without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independant of, &
superior to the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitutions & unacknowledged by our laws, giving his
assent to their acts of pretended legislation for quartering large bodies of
armed troops among us; for protecting them by a mock-trial from punishment for
any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; for
cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; for imposing taxes on us
without our consent; for depriving us [ ] [in many cases] of the benefits of
trial by jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended
offences; for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging it's
boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule into these *states* [colonies]; for taking
away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering
fundamentally the forms of our governments; for suspending our own
legislatures, & declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for
us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here *withdrawing his governors,
and declaring us out of his allegiance & protection*. [by declaring us out of his protection, and
waging war against us.]
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our
towns, & destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign
mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation & tyranny already
begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy [ ] [scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, & totally] unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the
high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of
their friends & brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has [excited domestic insurrection among us, & has]
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian
savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes, & conditions *of existence.*
*He has incited treasonable insurrections of our
fellow-citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our
property.*
*He has waged cruel war against human nature itself,
violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a
distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into
slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their
transportation thither. This piratical
warfare, the opprobium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king
of
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for
redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered
only by repeated injuries.
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which
may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a [ ] [free] people *who mean
to be free. Future ages will scarcely
believe that the hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve
years only, to lay a foundation so broad & so undisguised for tyranny over
a people fostered & fixed in principles of freedom.*
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature
to extend *a* [an unwarrantable] jurisdiction over *these our states*
[us]. We have reminded them of the
circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, *no one of which could
warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our
own blood & treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great
Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had
adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league &
amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our
constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and*, we [ ] [have]
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity *as well as to* [and we have
conjured them by] the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations
which *were likely to* [would inevitably] interrupt our connection and
correspondence. They too have been deaf
to the voice of justice & of consanguinity, *and when occasions have been
given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their
councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election,
re-established them in power. At this
very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only
soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries to invade
& destroy us. These facts have given
the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce
forever these unfeeling brethren. We
must [We must therefore] endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold
them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free and a great people
together; but a communication of grandeur & of freedom it seems is below
their dignity. Be it so, since they will
have it. The road to happiness & to
glory is open to us too. We will tread
it apart from them, and* acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our
*eternal* separation [ ] [and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies
in war, in peace friends.]!
We therefore the representatives of the United States of
America in General Congress assembled do in the name & by authority of the
good people of these *states reject & renounce all allegiance &
subjection to the kings of Great Britain & all others who may hereafter
claim by, through or under them: we utterly dissolve all political* *connection
which may heretofore have subsisted between us & the people or parliament
of Great Britain: & finally we do assert & declare these colonies to be
free & independent states,* & that as free & independent states,
they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish
commerce, & to do all other acts & things which independent states may
of right do. And for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honor.
We therefore the representatives of the United States of
America in General Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the name, & by the
authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish & declare
that these united colonies are & of right ought to be free &
independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British
crown, and that all political connection between them & the state of Great
Britain is, & ought to be, totally dissolved; & that as free &
independent states they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract
alliances, establish commerce & to do all other acts & things which independent states may of right do. And
for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of
divine providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes,
& our sacred honor.
The Declaration thus signed on the 4th, on paper was
engrossed on parchment, & signed again on the 2d. of August.
Some erroneous statements of the proceedings on the
declaration of independence having got before the public in latter times, Mr.
Samuel A. Wells asked explanations of me, which are given in my letter to him
of May 12. 19. before and now again referred to. I took notes in my place while these things
were going on, and at their close wrote them out in form and with correctness
and from 1 to 7 of the two preceding sheets are the originals then written; as
the two following are of the earlier debates on the Confederation, which I took
in like manner.
On Friday July 12. the Committee appointed to draw the
articles of confederation reported them, and on the 22d. the house resolved
themselves into a committee to take them into consideration. On the 30th. & 31st. of that month &
1st. of the ensuing, those articles were debated which determined the
proportion or quota of money which each state should furnish to the common treasury,
and the manner of voting in Congress.
The first of these articles was expressed in the original draught in
these words. "Art. XI. All charges
of war & all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence,
or general welfare, and allowed by the United States assembled, shall be
defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several
colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex &
quality, except Indians not paying taxes, in each colony, a true account of
which, distinguishing the white inhabitants, shall be triennially taken &
transmitted to the Assembly of the United States."
Mr. [Samuel] Chase moved that the quotas should be fixed,
not by the number of inhabitants of every condition, but by that of the
"white inhabitants." He admitted that taxation should be alwais in
proportion to property, that this was in theory the true rule, but that from a
variety of difficulties, it was a rule which could never be adopted in
practice. The value of the property in
every State could never be estimated justly & equally. Some other measure for the wealth of the
State must therefore be devised, some standard referred to which would be more
simple. He considered the number of
inhabitants as a tolerably good criterion of property, and that this might
alwais be obtained. He therefore thought
it the best mode which we could adopt, with one exception only. He observed that negroes are property, and as
such cannot be distinguished from the lands or personalities held in those
States where there are few slaves, that the surplus of profit which a Northern
farmer is able to lay by, he invests in cattle, horses, &c. whereas a
Southern farmer lays out that same surplus in slaves. There is no more reason therefore for taxing
the Southern states on the farmer's head, & on his slave's head, than the
Northern ones on their farmer's heads & the heads of their cattle, that the
method proposed would therefore tax the Southern states according to their
numbers & their wealth conjunctly, while the Northern would be taxed on
numbers only: that negroes in fact should not be considered as members of the
state more than cattle & that they have no more interest in it.
Mr. John Adams observed that the numbers of people were
taken by this article as an index of the wealth of the state, & not as
subjects of taxation, that as to this matter it was of no consequence by what
name you called your people, whether by that of freemen or of slaves. That in some countries the labouring poor were
called freemen, in others they were called slaves; but that the difference as
to the state was imaginary only. What
matters it whether a landlord employing ten labourers in his farm, gives them
annually as much money as will buy them the necessaries of life, or gives them
those necessaries at short hand. The ten
labourers add as much wealth annually to the state, increase it's exports as
much in the one case as the other. Certainly
500 freemen produce no more profits, no greater surplus for the paiment of
taxes than 500 slaves. Therefore the state in which are the labourers called
freemen should be taxed no more than that in which are those called
slaves. Suppose by any extraordinary
operation of nature or of law one half the labourers of a state could in the
course of one night be transformed into slaves: would the state be made the
poorer or the less able to pay taxes?
That the condition of the laboring poor in most countries, that of the
fishermen particularly of the Northern states, is as abject as that of
slaves. It is the number of labourers
which produce the surplus for taxation, and numbers therefore indiscriminately,
are the fair index of wealth. That it is
the use of the word "property" here, & it's application to some
of the people of the state, which produces the fallacy. How does the Southern farmer procure
slaves? Either by importation or by
purchase from his neighbor. If he
imports a slave, he adds one to the number of labourers in his country, and
proportionably to it's profits & abilities to pay taxes. If he buys from his neighbor it is only a
transfer of a labourer from one farm to another, which does not change the
annual produce of the state, & therefore should not change it's tax. That if a Northern farmer works ten labourers
on his farm, he can, it is true, invest the surplus of ten men's labour in
cattle: but so may the Southern farmer working ten slaves. That a state of one hundred thousand freemen
can maintain no more cattle than one of one hundred thousand slaves. Therefore they have no more of that kind of
property. That a slave may indeed from
the custom of speech be more properly called the wealth of his master, than the
free labourer might be called the wealth of his employer: but as to the state,
both were equally it's wealth, and should therefore equally add to the quota of
it's tax.
Mr. [Benjamin]
Mr. [James]
Mr. Payne urged the original resolution of Congress, to
proportion the quotas of the states to the number of souls.
Dr. [John] Witherspoon was of opinion that the value of
lands & houses was the best estimate of the wealth of a nation, and that it
was practicable to obtain such a valuation.
This is the true barometer of wealth.
The one now proposed is imperfect in itself, and unequal between the
States. It has been objected that
negroes eat the food of freemen & therefore should be taxed. Horses also eat the food of freemen;
therefore they also should be taxed. It
has been said too that in carrying slaves into the estimate of the taxes the
state is to pay, we do no more than those states themselves do, who alwais take
slaves into the estimate of the taxes the individual is to pay. But the cases are not parallel. In the Southern colonies slaves pervade the
whole colony; but they do not pervade the whole continent. That as to the original resolution of
Congress to proportion the quotas according to the souls, it was temporary
only, & related to the monies heretofore emitted: whereas we are now
entering into a new compact, and therefore stand on original ground.
Aug 1. The question being put the amendment proposed was
rejected by the votes of N. Hampshire,
The other article was in these words. "Art. XVII. In determining questions each colony shall
have one vote."
July 30. 31. Aug 1.
Present 41. members. Mr. Chase observed that this article was the most
likely to divide us of any one proposed in the draught then under
consideration. That the larger colonies
had threatened they would not confederate at all if their weight in congress
should not be equal to the numbers of people they added to the confederacy;
while the smaller ones declared against a union if they did not retain an equal
vote for the protection of their rights.
That it was of the utmost consequence to bring the parties together, as
should we sever from each other, either no foreign power will ally with us at
all, or the different states will form different alliances, and thus increase
the horrors of those scenes of civil war and bloodshed which in such a state of
separation & independance would render us a miserable people. That our importance, our interests, our peace
required that we should confederate, and that mutual sacrifices should be made
to effect a compromise of this difficult question. He was of opinion the smaller colonies would
lose their rights, if they were not in some instances allowed an equal vote;
and therefore that a discrimination should take place among the questions which
would come before Congress. That the smaller states should be secured in all
questions concerning life or liberty & the greater ones in all respecting
property. He therefore proposed that in
votes relating to money, the voice of each colony should be proportioned to the
number of its inhabitants.
Dr. Franklin thought that the votes should be so
proportioned in all cases. He took notice
that the
Dr. Witherspoon opposed every alteration of the
article. All men admit that a
confederacy is necessary. Should the
idea get abroad that there is likely to be no union among us, it will damp the
minds of the people, diminish the glory of our struggle, & lessen it's
importance; because it will open to our view future prospects of war &
dissension among ourselves. If an equal
vote be refused, the smaller states will become vassals to the larger; &
all experience has shown that the vassals & subjects of
John Adams advocated the voting in proportion to numbers. He said that we stand here as the representatives of the people. That in some states the people are many, in others they are few; that therefore their vote here should be proportioned to the numbers from whom it comes. Reason, justice, & equity never had weight enough on the face of the earth to govern the councils of men. It is interest alone which does it, and it is interest alone which can be trusted. That therefore the interests within doors should be the mathematical representatives of the interests without doors. That the individuality of the colonies is a mere sound. Does the individuality of a colony increase it's wealth or numbers. If it does, pay equally. <