Leadup to July 4, part 2

Between May 27 and mid-June, Jefferson attended sessions of Congress, but gave most of his attention to his plans for the Virginia Constitution, his thoughts drifting southward to Williamsburg--and to Monticello, where his wife Patsy was suffering through a debilitating pregnancy.

On June 7, however, the focus shifted decisively to Congress. Jefferson's colleague, Richard Henry Lee, acted on instructions from the Virginia Assembly to introduce a resolution of independence. The members appointed a drafting committee to produce an instrument of independence. This included its  most passionate advocate, John Adams; the colonies' most famous figure, Benjamin Franklin; Robert Livingston, scion of one of New York's most powerful political clans; the sensible, phlegmatic Connecticut statesman, Roger Sherman, and Jefferson. His appointment was somewhat surprising: he was the youngest member of the committee, and the least experienced in continental affairs. But he had gained substantial recognition for his powerful pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British Americans, which laid out a thoughtful theoretical case for American self-government. Moreover, he had already manifested the quality that many who met him would comment on: a compelling charisma that drew men to him, and made them feel part of something larger than themselves.

John Adams was not a humble man.  But weeks of jousting with more timid and more skeptical congressmen at Philadelphia had given the canny, crusty New Englander a clear understanding of his liabilities as a spokesman for independence, as well as his strengths.  This is why he knew that the tall, taciturn, red-headed Virginian should be the one to draft the language of the Declaration.  He outlined the causes that impelled him to such a conclusion: “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.”

Adams's first reason requires some investigation. He did not need to place a Virginian figurehead as the drafter of the document for purposes of sectional balance or appearances; Washington's appointment as General in Chief had accomplished this. And anyway, outside of Congress, few would know, and fewer would care, what particular individual had penned the first draft of the Declaration, or what state he hailed from. Why, then, was it important to place a Virginian "at the head of this business?"

Leadup to July 4, part 1

On 14 May, 1776, Thomas Jefferson returned in Philadelphia to resume his duties as a member of the Continental Congress for Virginia. He did so reluctantly, since it required absenting himself from the Virginia constitutional convention, which he considered much more urgent. Nine days later, he moved to a new residence, the house of Jacob Graff, a bricklayer, on the corner of Market and 7th street, which at this time was several blocks from the center of town, located by itself in the middle of a field. Once settled, he took up what he viewed as his most important task: drafting a constitution for his country--Virginia. 

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.)

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.”