Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald
7 February 1788
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a7s12.html
At the time Thomas Jefferson wrote this letter, he had
been serving as the American minister to France for over
two years. Jefferson negotiated a treaty in 1788 which
was designed to govern the activities of American diplomats
in France and French diplomats in the United States. Jefferson
refers to this first treaty ratified by Congress under
the new Constitution in the first paragraph of this letter.
Jefferson believed that one reason for the financial problems
of the fledgling government was the lack of power of the
national government under the Articles of Confederation,
so he approved of the Federal Convention of 1787. In the
second paragraph of this letter, however, Jefferson discusses
what he vehemently opposed in the newly revised Constitution:
the absence of a bill of rights and the failure to limit
the number of terms a president could serve. As controversy
raged in Congress between Federalists and Anti-Federalists,
Jefferson expresses his hope that nine states would adopt
the Constitution, but that four would hold out until a
bill of rights was added.
I wish with all my soul that the nine first Conventions may accept the new Constitution, because this will secure to us the good it contains, which I think great and important. But I equally wish that the four latest conventions, whichever they be, may refuse to accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed. This would probably command the offer of such a declaration, and thus give to the whole fabric, perhaps as much perfection as any one of that kind ever had. By a declaration of rights I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
1. What does Jefferson mean by a declaration
of rights?
2. Thomas Jefferson was known as a political
radical. How does his opposition to the new Constitution
without a bill of rights demonstrate his radicalism?
3. Generate your own list of 3 -5 basic
rights as a student. Should these rights be established
before or after an educational system is created, and
why?
4. Both Federalists and Anti-Federalists
used Jefferson’s correspondence to claim that he
supported their views. How might this letter be used by
both sides to prove their case?
5. Is Jefferson being honest in the following
statement in the letter considering his political career:
"I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage,
with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining
on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked,
than to occupy the most splendid post which any human
power can give?"
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