I have been planning what I would shew you: a flower here, a tree there; yonder a grove, near it a fountain; on this side a hill, on that a river. indeed madam I know nothing so charming as our own country. the learned say it is a new creation; and I believe them; not for their reasons, but...

in America, on the other hand, the society of your husband, the fond cares for the children, the arrangements of the house, the improvements of the grounds fill every moment with a healthy & an useful activity.

by varying too the articles of culture, we multiply the chances for making something, & disarm the seasons in a proportionable degree of their calamitous effects.

when I shall be again be permitted to withdraw to that scene of quiet of retirement abstracted from which I know no happiness in this world.

no society is so precious as that of one’s own family.

say ‘there were 10. states present. 6. voted unanimously for it, 3. against it, and one was divided: and seven votes being requisite to decide the proposition affirmatively, it was lost. the voice of a single individual of the state which was divided, or of one of those which were of the negative...

That after the year 1800 of the christian æra, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty.

The General assembly shall not have power ... to permit the introduction of any more slaves to reside in this state, or the continuance of slavery beyond the generation which shall be living on the 31st. day of December 1800; all persons born after that day being hereby declared free.

The bill reported by the revisors does not itself contain this proposition; but an amendment containing it was prepared, to be offered to the legislature whenever the bill should be taken up, and further directing, that they should continue with their parents to a certain age, then be brought up,...

From Jefferson’s Second Draft No person hereafter coming into this country shall be held in slavery under any pretext whatever. From Jefferson’s Third Draft No person hereafter coming into this country shall be held within the same in slavery under any pretext whatever.