June 1, 1781: Visit of Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, chief of the Kaskaskias, to Monticello

On Friday, June 1, 1781, Jefferson welcomed Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, chief of the Kaskaskias, to his mountaintop home at Monticello. Here is part of the text of his address to Ducoigne:

We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the same interests….You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation. Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little island beyond the great water, and, being distressed for land, they came and settled here. As long as we were young and weak, the English whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth to their country, to enrich them; and, not satisfied with this, they at length began to say we were their slaves, and should do whatever they ordered us. We were now grown up and felt ourselves strong; we knew we were free as they were, that [60] we came here of our own accord and not at their biddance, and were determined to be free as long as we should exist. For this reason, they made war on us. They have now waged that war six years, and have not yet won more land from us than will serve to bury the warriors they have lost. Your old father, the King of France, has joined us in the war, and done many good things for us. We are bound forever to love him, and wish you to love him, brother, because he is a good and true friend to us. The Spaniards have also joined us, and other powerful nations are now entering into the war to punish the robberies and violences the English have committed on them. The English stand alone, without a friend so support them, hated by all mankind, because they are proud and unjust. This quarrel, when it first began, was a family quarrel between us and the English, who were then our brothers. We, therefore, did not wish you to engage in it at all… 

The end of Jefferson's governorship, June 1-12, 1781

The original version of Notes on the State of Virginia was composed during the most difficult period of Jefferson's life, 1780-1782. The first two weeks of June, 1781, marked the chaotic close of his administration as governor, his family's desperate escape from Monticello from the raiding party of Col. Banastre Tarleton, and the Virginia House of Delegates' call for an investigation of his conduct over the previous year. "Jefferson's Country" will commemorate those painful days in a series of posts.

Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress

The first person to whom Jefferson showed the original version of Notes on the State of Virginia after François Barbé-Marbois, the secretary to the French legation, for whom they were written, was Charles Thomson. Thomson was an intriguing figure for Jefferson to confide in. The tall Scotch-Irishman, some fourteen years older than Jefferson, had served as secretary for the Delaware Indians, who adopted him into the tribe and gave him the name “Man of Truth.” As secretary of Congress, his name became a byword for veracity: “When a man reported anything in the way of news, which seemed to be doubted, he sought to confirm it by saying, ‘It’s as true as if Charles Thomson’s name was to it.’” (Life of Ashbel Green, V.D.M., 48.)

May 29, 1781: Va House of Delegates demands that Jefferson call out the militia

With the state under attack by the British, the House of Delegates calls on Gov. Jefferson to activate the militia: “Resolved, That the Governor be desired immediately, and with all possible expedition, to order into service such a number of Militia as will enable the Commander of the army to oppose the enemy with effect, and that they bring with them such arms and ammunition as they can procure.

“Resolved, That the Governor be desired to order into service from time to time, the necessary members of Militia to relieve such as may be on duty, so as to make the service as little burthensome as possible to our fellow-citizens at large.” (Virginia House of Delegates Journal 1781 p. 5)

Washington: "Unless Congress...act[s] with more energy...our case is lost."

On May 31, 1780, General Washington wrote Joseph Jones, Virginia congressional representative and James Monroe's uncle, about his fears of the weakness of the American government: 

“Certain I am, unless Congress speak in a more decisive tone, unless they are vested with powers by the several States competent to the great purposes of war, or assume them as matter of right, and they and the States respectively act with more energy than they have hitherto done, that our case is lost. We can no longer drudge on in the old way. By ill timing the adoption of measures, by delays in the execution of them, or by unwarrantable jealousies, we incur enormous expenses and derive no benefit from them. One State will comply with a requisition of Congress ; another neglects to do it; a third executes it by halves ; and all differ either in the manner, the matter, or so much in point of time, that we are always working up hill ; and, while such a system as the present one or rather want of one prevails, we shall ever be unable to apply our strength or resources to any advantage.

"This, my dear Sir, is plain language to a member of Congress; but it is the language of truth and friendship. It is the result of long thinking, close application, and strict observation. I see one head gradually changing into thirteen.” 

Welcome to Jefferson's Country

This blog will look at one of the most important periods in Thomas Jefferson's life, during which he wrote and published one of the most important books in American history: Notes on the State of Virginia. The year 2015 is the 230th anniversary of its first private printing in Paris; the 230th anniversary of its formal publication will take place in 2017. I intend to prepare the first annotated edition of Notes made from Jefferson's original manuscript.