that they would never divulge
it during his lifetime, a pledge they all religiously kept, and in
later years they told no one but the writer and a few other trusted
friends who have not, and never will, betray them. But the writer
advised them to carefully preserve all the facts and histories we are
now writing and to tell some of their families and let them publish
them at some future time, as much of the information is of public
interest.

As to Jefferson's being an absolute unbeliever, his critics were
mistaken. He held to the doctrine that the mind and the reason are the
only guides we have to judge of the authenticity and credibility of
all things, natural and divine, and this appears to have been the
chief basis on which Jefferson's critics based their charges against
him. But while these harsh criticisms in some measure misled Mr. Lemen
he never lost his great love for Jefferson and to the latest day of
his life he always mentioned his name with tenderness and affection. I
had hoped to complete this history in one chapter, but there appear to
be notes and materials enough for another. By oversight the notes of
Mr. Lemen's war record were not given me, but he honorably served an
enlistment of {p.35} two years under Washington, and returned to his
regiment at the siege of Yorktown and served until the surrender of
Cornwallis, but did not re-enlist.

CHAPTER II.

At their last meeting at Annapolis, Maryland, on May 2, 1784, when the
final terms in their agreement as to Mr. Lemen's mission in Illinois
were made, both he and Jefferson agreed that sooner or later, there
would be a great contest to try to fasten slavery on the Northwestern
Territory, and this prophesy was fully verified in spite of the fact
that Congress, at a later period, passed the Ordinance of 1787 forever
forbidding slavery; two contests arose in Illinois, the first to
confirm the territory and the second to confirm the state to freedom.

[17]From 1803 for several successive congresses Gen. William Henry
Harrison, then governor of the Northwestern Territory, with his
legislative council petitioned that body to repeal the anti-slavery
clause in the Ordinance of 1787 and to establish slavery in the
territory, but without avail, and finally recognizing that the
influence of Rev. James Lemen, Sr., was paramount with the people of
Illinois, he made persistent overtures for his approval of his
pro-slavery petitions, but he declined to act and prom