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By Root 1950 0

himself under for the assistance he has received from every Class, and in every instance. He presents his thanks in the most serious and affectionate manner to the General Officers, as well for their counsel on many interesting occasions, as for their Ardor in promoting the success of the plans he had adopted. To the Commandants of Regiments and Corps, and to the other Officers for their great zeal and attention, in carrying his orders promptly into execution. To the Staff, for their alacrity and exactness in performing the Duties of their several Departments. And to the Non Commissioned Officers and private Soldiers, for their extraordinary patience in suffering, as well as their invincible fortitude in Action. To the various branches of the Army the General takes this last and solemn opportunity of professing his inviolable attachment and friendship. He wishes more than bare professions were in his power, that he were really able to be useful to them all in future life. He flatters himself however, they will do him the justice to believe, that whatever could with propriety be attempted by him has been done, and being now to conclude these his last public Orders, to take his ultimate leave in a short time of the military character, and to bid a final adieu to the Armies he has so long had the honor to Command, he can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers to the God of Armies. May ample justice be done them here, and may the choicest of heaven’s favours, both here and hereafter, attend those who, under the devine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others; with these wishes, and this benediction, the Commander in Chief is about to retire from Service. The Curtain of seperation will soon be drawn, and the military scene to him will be closed for ever.

POLITICAL REFORMERS

Thomas Jefferson: Excerpts from Notes on the States of Virginia (1784)

Query XIII (excerpt)

The constitution of the State and its several characters? PAGE 263

Query XIV (excerpt)

The administration of justice and the description of the laws? PAGE 275

Query XVII (excerpt)

The different religions received into that State? PAGE 287

Query XVII I (excerpt)

The particular customs and manners that may happen to be received in that State? PAGE 291

Query XIX (excerpt)

The present state of manufactures, commerce, interior and exterior trade? PAGE 293

James Madison: A Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments (June 20, 1785) PAGE 294

Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (January 16, 1786) PAGE 301

After writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson spent most of the Revolutionary War back in Virginia. There, at the fall 1776 session of the state legislature, he first met James Madison, eight years his junior and equally dedicated to many of the projects for reform that Jefferson tried to incorporate in a revised code of Virginia laws that he drafted in the late 1770s. In 1780, while Jefferson was serving as governor, Madison began an extended term as a congressional delegate. Three years later, when the term-limits provision of the Articles of Confederation sent Madison back to Virginia, the widowed Jefferson briefly served in Congress, then sailed to Europe as the new American minister to France. In Europe, Jefferson arranged for the private publication of his only book, Notes on the State of Virginia, which he originally began to compile as a set of answers to queries about America from a French diplomat. Meanwhile Madison was elected to the Virginia assembly, where he quickly took a leading role. Among his projects was persuading the assembly to take up the revised legislative code that Jefferson had drafted back in the 1770s.

Jefferson used his Notes on Virginia to discuss some of his favorite ideas and projects for reform, including the need to revise the state’s hastily drafted constitution of 1776; to encourage gradual emancipation of its hundreds of thousands of African-American slaves; to promote