s with circumstantial
notices of his earliest life; and is continued to his arrival in New
York, in March, 1790, when he entered on the duties of the Department of
State, of which he had been just appointed Secretary.

From the aspect of the Memoir, it may be presumed that parts of it, at
least, had been written for his own and his family's use only; and in a
style without the finish of his revising pen. There is, however, no part
of it, minute and personal as it may be, which the Reader would wish
to have been passed over by the Editor; whilst not a few parts of that
description will, by some, be regarded with a particular interest.

The contents of the Memoir, succeeding the biographical pages, may be
designated as follows:

I. General facts and anecdotes relating to the origin and early stages
of the contest with Great Britain.

II. Historical circumstances relating to the Confederation of the
States.

III. Facts and anecdotes, local and general, preliminary to the
Declaration of Independence.

IV. An exact account of the circumstances attending that memorable act,
in its preparation and its progress through Congress; with a copy
from the original draught, _in the hand-writing of the Author;_ and a
parallel column, in the same hand, showing the alterations made in the
draught by Congress.

The Memoir will be considered not a little enriched by the Debates in
Congress, on the great question of Independence, as they were taken down
by Mr. Jefferson at the time, and which, though in a compressed form,
present the substance of what passed on that memorable occasion.
This portion of the work derives peculiar value from its perfect
authenticity, being all in the hand-writing of that distinguished member
of the body; from the certainty that this is the first disclosure to the
world of those Debates; and from the probability, or rather certainty,
that a like knowledge of them is not to be expected from any other
source. The same remarks are applicable to the Debates in the same
Congress, preserved in the same manner, on two of the original Articles
of Confederation. The first is the Article fixing the rate of assessing
the quotas of supply to the common Treasury: the second is the Article
which declares, "that in determining questions, each Colony shall have
one vote." The Debates on both are not only interesting in themselves,
but curious, also, in relation to like discussions of the same subjects
on subsequent occ