emselves published as cowards in the councils of their mother country, and courts ofEurope; armed troops sent amongst them, to enforce submission to these violences; andactual hostilities commenced against them. No alternative was presented, but resistanceor unconditional submision. Between these there could be no hesitation. They closed inthe appeal to arms." In the spring of 1775, Jefferson was appointed as a delegate to the SecondContinental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A shy and quiet man, he wasregarded as a superior writer and was named to a five-person committee (also includingBenjamin Franklin) in charge of drafting a formal statement of the reasons for thecolonies’ potential break with Britain. In just a few days, Jefferson wrote the first draft ofthe document that became known as the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration ofIndependence listed the grievances against George III and offered statements ofdemocratic values. Inspired by writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson returned toVirginia in October 1776 and began his efforts to reform the state’s legal code in order tobring it more in line with the revolutionary principles of equality, especially in the areasof distribution of property and education. Jefferson also caused controversy with hisstrong proclamations of religious freedom and the separation between church and state. As the Revolutionary War drew to a close, Jefferson was called upon to serve as adelegate to the Continental Congress in December 1782, during which he drafted thepolicy regarding the entrance of the Western territories into the new United States, whichbecame known as the Northwest Territory. Soon after, he agreed to succeed BenjaminFranklin as the American minister to France, moving to Paris in 1784. Jefferson was fortunate enough to leave France in late 1789, just before Pariserupted into mob violence. Upon his return to America, he took office as the firstsec...
