assachusetts;
James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, a very conspicuous member of the general
convention of 1787; Robert H. Harrison, then chief justice of Maryland,
who during a large portion of the war for independence had been one of
Washington's most loved confidential secretaries; John Blair, one of the
judges of the court of appeals in Virginia; and John Rutledge, the bold,
outspoken patriot of South Carolina. Harrison declined, and James
Iredell, of North Carolina, was substituted.

The office of secretary of state remained to be filled. To that
important post the president invited Thomas Jefferson, whose long and
varied experience in public affairs at home and abroad thoroughly
qualified him for the duties of that office. He was then the minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at the French court, having
succeeded Doctor Franklin. He had obtained leave to return home for a
few months. He sailed from Havre to England late in September, and
embarked from Cowes for America. He landed at Norfolk on the
twenty-third of November; and on his way to Monticello, his beautiful
seat near Charlottesville in Virginia, he received a letter from
Washington, dated the thirteenth of October, in which he was invited to
a seat in the cabinet as secretary of state. "In the selection of
characters," the president said, "to fill the important offices of
government, I was naturally led to contemplate the talents and
disposition which I knew you to possess and entertain for the service of
your country; and without being able to consult your inclination, or to
derive any knowledge of your intentions from your letters either to
myself or to any of your friends, I was determined, as well by motives
of private regard as a conviction of public propriety, to nominate you
for the department of state, which, under its present organization,
involves many of the most interesting objects of the executive
authority."

Mr. Jefferson, who had become enamored with the leaders and the
principles of the French revolution then just inaugurated by the
destruction of the Bastile and other acts, preferred to remain in
Europe; but, yielding to the wishes of the president, he signified his
willingness to accept the office. He was fearful that he would not be
equal to the requirements of the station; but, he said, "my chief
comfort will be to work under your eye, my only shelter the authority of
your name, and the wisdom of measures to be dictated by you and