Letter to Henry Lee by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Reprinted from The U.S. Constitution, A Reader, Published by Hillsdale College

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In his later years, Jefferson answered hundreds of letters, including, in this instance, a query about the Declaration of Independence, explaining that it drew upon a long political and philosophical tradition and reflected principles widely understood by Americans of the founding era.

May 8, 1825

Dear Sir:

…That George Mason was the author of the bill of rights, and of the constitution founded on it, the evidence of the day established fully in my mind. Of the paper you mention, purporting to be instructions to the Virginia delegation in Congress, I have no recollection. If it were anything more than a project of some private hand, that is to say, had any such instructions been ever given by the convention, they would appear in the journals, which we possess entire.
But with respect to our rights, and the acts of the British government contravening those rights, there was but one opinion on this side of the water.  All American whigs thought alike on these subjects. When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification.   This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc. The historical documents which you mention as in your possession, ought all to be found, and I am persuaded you will find, to be corroborative of the facts and principles advanced in that Declaration. Be pleased to accept assurances of my great esteem and respect.


  1. Thomas Jefferson, “To Henry Lee,” May 8, 1825, in Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Works of Thomas Jefferson, “Federal Edition,” Vol. 10 (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5), 342-43.

    Reprinted from the U.S Constitution, A Reader, published by Hillsdale College

     

     

1 reply
  1. DHBirren
    DHBirren says:

    There lies a problem with your dissection of Jefferson’s letter regarding the Declaration’s origin, and that problem is your Catholic bias. You chopped up Jefferson’s thoughts, you lifted the word “Creator” from elsewhere in the Declaration but did not appear in the letter to Lee, and you omitted Jefferson’s reference to “Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc.” as the “harmonizing sentiments of [his] day.” Whatever entity is behind “our Creator,” Jefferson did not credit it in the letter, unless he relegated it to the “et cetera” catchall. According to his letter, neither the Bible nor God were sources for the Declaration; “Creator” to Jefferson, a Deist if anything, was a force that set the cosmos in motion and that’s all.

    Thank you.

    Reply

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