led; but if we trace them, we shall discover that they all originally flow from one abundant fountain.

IN THIS CONSTITUTION all authority is derived from the PEOPLE.

THE ANTI-SLAVERY CHARACTER OF THE CONSTITUTION.

With respect to the clause' restricting Congress from prohibiting the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, prior to the year 1808, the honorable gentleman says, that this clause is not only dark, but intended to grant to Congress, for that time, the power to admit the importation of slaves. No such thing was intended; but I will tell you what was done, and it gives me high pleasure that so much was done. Under the present confederation, the States may admit the importation of slaves as long as they please; but by this article, after the year 1808 the Congress will have power to prohibit such importation, notwithstanding the disposition of any State to the contrary. I consider this as laying the foundation for banishing slavery out of this country; and though the period. is more distant than I could wish, yet it will produce the same kind, gradual change, which was pursued in Pennsylvania. It is with much satisfaction I view this power in the general government whereby they may lay an interdiction on this reproachful trade: but an immediate advantage is also obtained; for a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person; and this, sir, operates as a partial prohibition: it was all that could be obtained. I am sorry it was no more; but from this I think there is reason to hope that yet a few years, and it will be prohibited altogether; and, in the mean time, the new States which are to be formed, will be under the control of Congress in this particular, and slaves will never be introduced amongst them.

So far, therefore, as this clause operates, it presents us with the pleasing prospect that the rights of mankind will be acknowledged and established throughout the Union.

Yet

If there was no other lovely feature in the constitution but this one, it would diffuse a beauty over its whole countenance. the lapse of a few years, and Congress will have power to exterminate slavery from within our borders.

1 Article I., Section IX. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1743-1826.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, descended from a family which had been long settled in his native State, was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 2d of April, 1743. After finishing his collegiate course of education at William's and Mary's College, he commenced the study of the law with the celebrated George Wythe, afterwards Chancellor of the State. He was called to the bar in 1766; and in 1769 was a member of the Legislature of Virginia. On the 12th of March, 1773, he was appointed a member of the first committee of correspondence established by the Colonial Legislatures; and the next year he wrote and published his Summary View of the Rights of British America. It was a bold and manly document, ably setting forth our own rights, and pointing out clearly the various ways in which they had been violated by the British Government. On the 27th of March, 1775, he was elected one of the members to represent Virginia in the General Congress of the Confederated Colonies, already assembled at Philadelphia, and took his seat in this assembly on the 21st of June. So early did he become known for his ability, that, in a few days after his arrival, he was made a member of a committee appointed to draw up a declaration setting forth the causes and necessity of resorting to arms.

With the year 1776, the affairs of the colonies began to assume an aspect of more energy, with aims more definite. When, therefore, the subject of our independence was brought before Congress in June, it met with a hearty response in that body, and a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and R. R. Livingston; and to Mr. Jefferson, the chairman, was assigned the important duty of preparing the draft of the document. On the 28th of June, the Declaration of Independence (the report of the committee) was presented to Congress and read; on the first, second, and third of July, it was fully discussed in committee of the whole; and on the fourth it was adopted in its present form, many alterations having been made in the draft as it was first presented by the committee.

During the summer of this year, (1776,) Mr. Jefferson took an active part in the deliberations and business of Congress; but in the fall, owing to his ill health, the situation of his family, and the embarrassed condition of things in Virginia, he felt it his duty to return to his own State, and devote himself to her service. Though his public duties were arduous, he found time to write, in 1781, his Notes on Virginia,―the work by which, next to the Declaration of Independence, he is most favorably known. In June, 1783, Mr. Jefferson was again elected a delegate to Congress from Virginia, and of course took a prominent part in the deliberations of that body. An opportunity soon offered itself of expressing again, as he had already so frequently done, his detestation of slavery, and his earnest desire for the entire abolition of it in the United States. Being appointed, in April, 1784, chairman of a committee to which was assigned the task of forming a plan for the temporary government of the Western Territory, he introduced into it the

llowing clause:-"That, after the year 1800, there shall be neither slavery rr involuntary servitude in any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been convicted to have been personally guilty." When the report of the committee was presented to Congress, these words were stricken out.1

Having been chosen by Congress commissioner to negotiate treaties with the states of Europe, in conjunction with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, he sailed in July, 1784, and joined his colleagues at Paris. They were not, however, very successful, treaties having been formed with but two governments, Morocco and Prussia. On the 10th of March, 1785, Mr. Jefferson was unanimously appointed by Congress to succeed Dr. Franklin as minister-plenipotentiary at the court of Versailles. He remained in France until the latter part of 1789, when he returned, and was, upon the formation of the new government, nominated by President Washington as Secretary of State. Finding, however, the views of Washington and the greater portion of his cabinet essentially different from his own, he resigned this position, and retired into private life, devoting himself to the education of his family, the cultivation of his estate, and the pursuit of his philosophical studies. In September, 1796, when General Washington announced his determination to renounce public life, the two parties into which the nation was divided the Federalists and Democrats,2 or "Republicans," as then calledbrought forward their favorite candidates. John Adams was supported by the former, and Thomas Jefferson by the latter. Mr. Adams was elected, and entered upon the duties of his office the 4th of March, 1797. Such, however, were the changes in public sentiment, that, after four years, Mr. Jefferson was elected President.

The leading events of Mr. Jefferson's administration were the purchase of Louisiana3 from France; the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, west of the Rocky

1 I may say that it is a good thing that this clause was stricken out; because three years after, when the subject of the government of the Territories was under discussion, and when Mr. Jefferson was in France, the celebrated "Ordinance of 1787" was presented by Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, in which a similar proviso was introduced and carried, TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY, AND NOT TO BE PUT OFF TO THE YEAR 1800. While, therefore, great credit is due to Mr. Jefferson for being the first to assert the noble principle of freedom, it is an undoubted historical fact that Nathan Dane has the honor of being the author of the "Ordinance of 1787," and that to Rufus King, of New York, and indirectly to Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, belongs the suggestion of the provisos contained in that "Ordinance" against slavery, and for aids to religion and knowledge. For a full account of this interesting subject, read "Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, by his Son, Charles King, LL.D."

2 Of the Democratic party Jefferson was the efficient promoter at the beginning, and may be considered its founder. Washington, as the head of the Federalists, became the object of hatred to the Democrats, and upon him all the vials of their wrath were poured. Jefferson, as is now known, gave too much encouragement to some of these defamers, the most prominent of whom were Genet, the impudent French minister, Freneau, the poet and editor, and Thomas Paine, whose name is synonymous with infamy.

3 From this territory, bought for fifteen millions of dollars, three new slave States have been formed. Had the principles of the Ordinance of 1787 been applied to this region, what untold blessings would have accrued to our country! The further extension of slavery would have been arrested, and that anomaly in our system would probably have died out before the death of Jefferson.

Mountains, to the mouth of Columbia River, and the "Embargo" But comment upon these measures would here be out of place. At the close of his second term, 1809, Mr. Jefferson withdrew from public affairs, and resided at Monticello, his country-seat in Virginia. He did not, however, lead an idle life; he took a deep interest in the cause of education in his native State, and was the means of establishing its celebrated university. It is painful to add that, in the latter years of his life, he suffered from pecuniary embarrassments. In 1815 he sold his library, of about 7000 volumes, to Congress, for twenty thousand dollars. His last days were passed in rural enjoyments, and with powers unimpaired for the enjoyment of mental pleasures; and he passed away calmly on the 4th of July, 1826, just fifty years from the date of his signing the Declaration of Independence.

In person Mr. Jefferson was six feet two inches high, erect and well formed, though thin; his eyes were light, and full of intelligence; his complexion fair, and his countenance remarkably expressive. In conversation, he was cheerful and enthusiastic, and his language was remarkable for vivacity and correctness. His manners were simple and unaffected, combined, however, with much native but unobtrusive dignity.

The chief glory of Mr. Jefferson's character was his ardent love of liberty for all men, irrespective of color. This is clearly evinced in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, which he wrote; in the principles of the Ordinance of 1787, which he originated; and in several passages in his Notes on Virginia, wherein he pictures, in his own nervous language, the demoralizing influences of slavery.1

THE RIGHTS OF MAN.2

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and 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 to abolish it, and to institute a new government,

1 Read articles on Jefferson in N. Am. Rev., xxx. 511, xxxix. 238, xl. 170; Am. Quarterly, vi. 494, vii. 123: also Biographies by Lee, Tucker, and Randolph. A new life, by Henry S. Randall, in three volumes, has lately been published; but it is of a character so thoroughly partisan, that it never can be regarded by unprejudiced minds as of authority. It quietly assumes that the "Democratic" party of modern times is identical with the old "Republican" party led by Jefferson; than which nothing could be more erroneous. For whatever may have been the errors of Jefferson, and some other leaders of the "Republican" party of that day, they were thoroughly and avowedly anti-slavery. The young men of our country who desire to have a full view of Mr. Jefferson's character should read what is said of him in such works as Fisher Ames's Life and Letters; Goodrich's Recollections; Griswold's Republican Court; Hildreth's United States; Sullivan's Works, &c. &c.

2 From the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and 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 and usurpations, 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, and to provide new guards for their future security.

PASSAGE OF THE POTOMAC THROUGH THE BLUE RIDGE.

The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You stand on á very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac, seeking a passage also. In the moment of their junction, they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance at this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time; that the mountains were formed first; that the rivers began to flow afterwards; that, in this place particularly, they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at length broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which Nature has given to the picture is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the foreground. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For, the mountain being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass through the breach, and participate of the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Potomac above its junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the fine country round that. This scene is worth a