(1775), the people of Virginia
sent men to the city of Richmond to hold a meeting in old St. John's
Church. They met to see what should be done about defending those
rights which the king of England had refused to grant the Americans.

One of the speakers at that meeting was a famous Virginian named
Patrick Henry. When he got up to speak he looked very pale, but his
eyes shone like coals of fire. He made a great speech. He said, "We
must fight! I repeat it, sir,--we must _fight!_" The other Virginians
agreed with Patrick Henry, and George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson, with other noted men who were present at the meeting,
began at once to make ready to fight.

[Illustration: "WE MUST FIGHT!"]

186. Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence; how
it was sent through the country.--Shortly after this the great war
began. In a little over a year from the time when the first battle
was fought, Congress asked Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and
some others to write the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson
really wrote almost every word of it. He was called the "Pen of the
Revolution"; for he could write quite as well as Patrick Henry could
speak.

The Declaration was printed and carried by men mounted on fast horses
all over the United States. When men heard it, they rang the church
bells and sent up cheer after cheer. General Washington had the
Declaration read to all the soldiers in his army, and if powder had
not been so scarce, they would have fired off every gun for joy.

[Illustration: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]

187. Jefferson is chosen President of the United States; what he said
about New Orleans.--A number of years after the war was over
Jefferson was chosen President of the United States; while he was
President he did something for the country which will never be
forgotten.

Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, with the lower part of the
Mississippi River, then belonged to the French; for at that time the
United States only reached west as far as the Mississippi River. Now
as New Orleans stands near the mouth of that river, the French could
say, if they chose, what vessels should go out to sea, and what should
come in. So far, then, as that part of America was concerned, we were
like a man who owns a house while another man owns one of the doors
to it. The man who has the door could say to the owner of the house,
I shall stand here on the steps, and you must pay me so man