What happened on July 4?

Well, not this:

Jefferson met the young American painter John Trumbull in London in 1786 and invited him to visit him in Paris. He arrived that summer and took up Jefferson's invitation to stay with him at his lodgings. Jefferson was much impressed with Trumbull's first two studies for a series of paintings of great events of the Revolution: the Battle of Bunker Hill and the death of General Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec. He suggested another theme for Trumbull: the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It compressed into a single dramatic moment a process that in fact took place, a signature at a time, through most of the summer of 1776, as members of Congress found the time to put their signatures to the document. The original painting was given by Trumbull as one of the founding works of the Yale Art Gallery, where it is to this day.

Leadup to July 4, part 3

Why did John Adams believe Jefferson was the right person to write the Declaration of Independence? Why did he insist that "a Virginian should be at the head of this business," and not a New Englander?

The second question is relatively easy to answer. Adams and his fellow New Englanders descended from a Puritan stock that had been in more or less constant revolt against church and crown since the 1610s, and had already fought two revolutions--in the 1640s, and in 1688. To the rest of the states, Massachusetts in particular was pugnacious, intolerant, and chronically rebellious. It was their incapability of living within the Anglican establishment that brought them to America in the first place. It passed as a truism with these zealous folk that "resistance to tyranny is obedience to God."

The southern states, by contrast, were far more lax about religious practice and belief, but they adhered to the Established Church--that is to say, the Church of England. To them, King George III was not merely the head of the state, but the head of the Church as well; and rebellion against his rule could look very much like rebellion against God.

There was really only one way that loyal Anglicans could be persuaded to take up arms against their King: they must be made to feel that, like his Stuart predecessors, he had placed himself in opposition to the true Church and to God. And that, paradoxically enough, is where Jefferson came in.

(To be continued)

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.