erated for benevolence, if to be admired
for talents, if to be esteemed for patriotism, if to be beloved for
philanthropy, can gratify the human mind, you must have the pleasing
consolation to know that you have not lived in vain. And I flatter
myself that it will not be ranked among the least grateful occurrences
of your life to be assured, that, so long as I retain my memory, you
will be recollected with respect, veneration, and affection by your
sincere friend, George Washington."

There remains another Virginian, the symbol of the Revolutionary age,
the author of words more widely known around the globe than any other
words penned by an American. "Thomas Jefferson," writes the latest of
his successors in the Presidency, "was not a man of the people, but he
was a man of such singular insight that he saw that all the roots of
generous power come from the people." On his father's side Jefferson
came from sound yeoman stock, in which Welsh blood ran. His mother was
a Virginia Randolph. Born in Albemarle County, near the "little
mountain"--Monticello--where he built a mansion for his bride and where
he lies buried, the tall, strong, red-haired, gray-eyed, gifted boy was
reputed the best shot, the best rider, the best fiddle-player in the
county. He studied hard at William and Mary over his Greek, Latin,
French, Italian, and Spanish, but he also frequented the best society of
the little capital. He learned to call himself a Deist and to theorize
about ideal commonwealths. There was already in him that latent
radicalism which made him strike down, as soon as he had the power, two
of the fundamental principles of the society into which he was born, the
principle of entailed property and that of church establishment.

Such was the youth of twenty-two who was thrilled in 1765 by the Stamp
Act. In the ten years of passionate discussion which followed, two
things became clear: first, that there had long existed among the
colonists very radical theoretical notions of political freedom; and
second, that there was everywhere a spirit of practical conservatism.
Jefferson illustrates the union of these two tendencies.

He took his seat in the Continental Congress in June, 1775. He was
only thirty-two, but he had already written, in the summer of 1774, "A
Summary View of the Rights of British America" which had been published
in England by Burke, himself a judge of good writing and sound politics.
Jefferson had also prepared in 177