JEFFERSON, THOMAS, was born April 2, 1743, at Shadwell, now in the county of Albemarle, in Virginia. He was educated at the college of William and Mary, at Williamsburg, then the capital of the colony, where, under Dr. Small, a native of Scotland, who was pro fessor of mathematics in the college, he studied mathematics, ethics, and other branches of knowledge, and in addition to his general acquire ments, he made himself well acquainted with the beet Greek and Latin writers, and to the end of his long life retained his ability to read them. Mr. Jefferson studied law under Mr. Wythe, then a lawyer of eminence. He made his first appearance at the bar o'f the General Court in 1767, at tho age of twenty-four, about two years after the misunderstanding between Great Britain and the colonies had com menced. He practised for seven or eight yearn in the General Court, and was gradually rising to the first rank as an accurate and able lawyer, when he was called away to more important duties by the political events that preceded the American Revolution. In 1769 he was elected a member of the House of Burgesses for the county of Albemarle. In the session of this spring the house unanimously came to resolutions in opposition to those which had been lately passed in England by both houses of parliament on the affairs of Massachusetts. This measure, which was accompanied with the declaration that the right of laying taxes in Virginia was exclusively vested in its own legislature, and others of a like tendency, induced the governor, Lord Botetonrt, abruptly to dissolve the assembly. The next day the members met at the Raleigh Tavern, and entered into articles of agreement, drawn up by Washington, by which they bound themselves not to import or purchase certain specified kinds of British merchan dise, till the Act of parliament for raising a revenue in America was repealed ; and they recommended this agreement to be adopted by their constituents. Eighty-eight members signed the agreement, among whom were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and others, who afterwards took a distinguished part in public affairs.
In 1773, on the meeting of the Virginia Assembly in the spring, Mr. Jefferson was an active member in organising the Standing'Com mittee of Correspondence and Inquiry, the main objects of which were to procure early intelligence of the proceedings of the British Parlia ment, and to maintain a constant communication among all the colonies.
On the dissolution of the assembly, in May 1774, by the governor, Lord Dunmore, eighty-nine members met at the Raleigh Tavern, and, among other things, recommended the Committee of Correspondence to com municate with the committees in the other colonies " on the expe diency of appointing deputies for the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress, at such place annually as should be thought most convenient," to consult on their common interests. It was also forthwith agreed that the members who might be elected under the writs at that time issuing in the colony of Virginia should meet in convention at Williamsburg on the let of August following, in order to appoint delegates to the congress, if such general congress should be approved by the other colonies. The Convention did meet, and thus formed the first popular assembly in Virginia uncontrolled by governor or council. Mr. Jefferson, who was one of the deputies, prepared instructions for the delegates who might be sent to the con gress. Being prevented by illness from attending on this occasion, his instructions were laid on the table for perusal, and were generally approved, but thought too bold iu the existing state of affairs. Still the convention printed them, in the form of a pamphlet, under the title of A Summary View of the Rights of British America.' Tho convention drew up another set of instructions, which, though not so strong as Mr. Jefferson's, expressed with great clearness the points at issue between the colonies and the mother-country, and the grievauces of which the colonies had to complain. The General Congress, con sisting of fifty-five members, met at Philadelphia, September 4, 1774. The disputes which had broken out between Lord Dunmore and the Assembly of Virginia were continually increased by fresh causes of mutual irritation ; and the governor at last thought it necessary to remove himself and his family into a British ship of war which was lying at York in York River.