Answer.—In Congressional apportionments before the war, five negroes were counted as equal to three whites. Of course the slaves were not permitted to vote, but the voting power of the whites was plainly magnified over that of an equal number of whites in the free States. For example, the first Congressional apportionment allowed one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants; but in the South 21,000 whites owning 15,000 slaves counted the same as 30,000 whites in the North where there were no slaves, or 15,000 whites holding 25,000 slaves were granted the same representation in Congress and the electoral college as double the number of Northern whites.
JEFFERSON AND JEFFERSONIANISM.
Belle Plaine, Iowa.
Please give a brief biography of Thomas Jefferson.
A Son of Vulcan.
Answer.—“Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia,” is the inscription upon Jefferson’s tombstone. He was born April 2, 1743, in the county of Albemarle, in the interior of Virginia, then a desolate forest. His diligence and study was encouraged by his parents, who placed him under the care of a talented Scottish clergyman. When he was 17 he entered William and Mary College, and after graduation studied law. In 1759 he was chosen to represent his county in the House of Burgesses, where he continued with but little interruption until the days of the revolution. Like George Washington, disappointed in his first love, he married a widow, in 1772. Three years later he was sent as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. As Chairman of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, he is said to have written the whole of that document, which, with a few minor amendments, was adopted by Congress and sent to the King of England. In October he resigned and retired to his farm, but only again to be forced into civil life by his election to the State Legislature. During the war he was not only busy in originating and advocating measures to aid the cause of liberty but also he began a thorough revision of the statutes of Virginia. From 1779 to 1781 he served as Governor. After a short term in the House of Burgesses he was sent to the Confederate Congress, which, in 1784, thought fit to appoint him as one of the three commissioners to negotiate treaties with European nations. Upon Franklin’s return Jefferson was made Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Louis XVI. He watched with eager interest the progress of the French Revolution, and when given a leave of absence in 1789 returned filled with democratic ideas from the new republic. Upon his landing he was immediately tendered by Washington a position in his Cabinet as Secretary of State. Soon it became evident to Jefferson that among the President’s advisers there existed a radical difference of opinion on nearly every important subject. Hamilton was regarded by the Secretary of State as a man in favor of a constitutional monarchy, and the latter’s ideas of centralization were construed to mean the destruction of the existing Constitution and the formation of a government like that of England. The Secretary of the Treasury, on the other hand, believed Jefferson to be infused with the socialistic democracy of France, and one whose principles if put in practice would overthrow the Constitution and produce anarchy. To Jefferson the financial policy of Hamilton was very aggravating. The recommendations of the Treasurer to Congress he believed to be in the interest of the speculators and the moneyed classes. On New Year’s Day, 1794, he resigned his office, greatly to the annoyance of Washington, who was reluctantly compelled to acquiesce, and returned to his farm. The position occupied by the first President was a peculiarly embarrassing one. He had in his Cabinet Jefferson and Randolph, the leaders of the Republican, or Anti-Federal party, and Hamilton and Knox prominent Federalists. With such associations the administration as a whole was comparatively little criticised, although Hamilton and Jefferson were the targets for the denunciations of their respective opponents. In 1800 Jefferson and Burr each received 73 electoral votes to Adams’ 65, which threw the election into the House. According to the decision of that body Jefferson was inaugurated March 4, 1801. His frugal administration increased the popularity of his party, which continued to remain in power twenty-four years. After having served two terms he again retired to his farm, a poor man, considerably burdened with debt. Congress purchased his library, which their committee valued at $23,000, although its cost had been nearly double that sum. Mr. Bacon, who had charge of the removal, says that there were sixteen wagon loads, each wagon being required to carry at least 3,000 pounds. The remainder of his life he spent in endeavoring to introduce schools and colleges, and in general, the New England system of local government into his native State. After witnessing the establishment of the University of Virginia, he died July 4, 1826, upon the same day that John Adams passed away. In politics Jefferson was considered by the Federalists as a theorist. Speaking of his administration, Gouverneur Morris says: “There is just now so much philosophy among our rulers that we must not be surprised at the charge of pusillanimity.” In religion he was very bitter against the Calvinists, and held Unitarian views.
WHAT IS MICA—WHERE OBTAINED?
Aurora, Neb.