CHAPTER XX
The Declaration of Separation—The Declaration of Independence—Washington Commander-in-Chief—John Paul Jones Raises the First Flag—He was First to Raise the Stars and Stripes—Fredericksburg Furnishes the Head of the Armies and Navy—The Constitution of the United States, &c.
As stated in the last chapter, we continue in this references to the great deeds of the great men of Virginia that should be grouped, as we are here endeavoring to do, in the smallest possible space, and preserved to perpetuate their memory and honor their descendants through all coming time. It was Thomas Jefferson, of Albemarle county, a Virginian, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, that struck the shackles of servitude from the people of this country, and proclaimed the United Colonies a new-born nation, free and independent.
JEFFERSON AND THE DECLARATION.
A lineal descendant of Thomas Jefferson, three generations removed, Judge John E. Mason, thus writes on these subjects, for this publication:
“Some years before the Revolutionary war, the colony of Virginia had become restless under British dominion. There had been, here and there, open expressions of discontent, and a growing resentment, if not positive hostility, against the mother country. In fact, nowhere more than in Virginia, and especially in this section, had the spirit of independence more steadily grown; and when the time came for decision and concert of action by the colonies, public opinion here was ripe to break down the old barriers, and to resist, with force, the power of England.
“Among those who had taken a most active part in moulding public sentiment was Thomas Jefferson, who, because of his extreme views in antagonizing every element of English ideas, and its government as based upon an aristocracy, has sometimes been called the ‘Great Commoner.’ Whether he, more than others, who were upon the stage of action at that time, is entitled to the name, those who know his history must be the judge; but certain it is, he was in advance of many of his contemporaries in developing antagonism to ancient ideas and ancient customs, which were the pride of the British people.
“On the 6th of May, 1776, the delegates from the counties and cities of the Colony of Virginia, met in convention at its capitol in Williamsburg, Edmund Pendleton presiding. During this convention certain resolutions were reported from committee by Archibald Cary, which were unanimously adopted by the one hundred and twelve members present. The first of these resolutions—said to have been proposed by Thomas Nelson, and drawn as reported by Edmund Pendleton, but no doubt the work of both—after reciting certain grievances against the mother country, declared that the ‘delegates appointed to represent the colony in the General Congress, be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain.’
“In Congress, on the 7th day of June, 1776, the gifted Richard Henry Lee, from this section, in obedience to instructions, offered the same resolution, which had been adopted by the Virginia Convention—that Congress should ‘declare that the United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.’ This resolution was the precursor of the formal declaration. It was offered by a Virginian, acting under instructions given by Virginians, and its answer was the Declaration of Independence.