One of Jeffersons most lasting reforms as a legislator
was to introduce a workable balance of powers into the governmental
structure. By establishing separate executive, judicial and legislative wings,
Jefferson created a model later adopted in the Constitution of
the United States (See
the Constitution SparkNote). Though Jefferson was
always more comfortable in a legislative position, his political
skills repeatedly thrust him into executive roles. On the strength
of his impressive record in the Virginia Assembly, Jefferson was
catapulted from legislator to chief executive when his colleagues
elected him to a one-year term as governor on June 1, 1779.
Partly by Jeffersons own design, the executive was granted
few powers in the overall structure of the Virginia government.
Thus, upon promotion, Jeffersons hands were tied by virtue of
his own decree. Such limitations were all the more frustrating
in the face of the difficult war at hand.
The first years of the war had not gone entirely favorably
for the Americans. Initially, they were sorely outnumbered by
British forces. On the brink of defeat, George Washingtons brilliant
crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 rallied
the cause. The 1778 entry of the French into the war on behalf
of the Americans also provided a much-needed military boost. But
when the long winter of 1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania depleted Washingtons
forces severely, he turned to Virginia to call up reserve forces.
Most of the early fighting had been done in Canada, New England,
and New York, and when Jefferson assumed his governorship Virginia
was still largely untouched by warfare. Still, Jefferson was hard-pressed
when ordered to recruit within Virginia. The domestic force had
already been thinned out by then-Governor Patrick Henrys ambitious
foray into the Great Lakes region, where a task force of troops
attempted to secure a hold on lands that had been claimed by Britain
under the Quebec Act.
Under Jefferson, these efforts were redoubled. A secret
expedition led by George Rogers Clark set out to re-conquer the
disputed territory for keeps. Retreat came only in 1780 when Jefferson promised
to cede the newly secured territory to the United States. Out
of these lands, the present-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
and Wisconsin were formed.
Closer to home, Virginia suffered a setback when the British made
a successful blockade of Chesapeake Bay in 1779, limiting trade
severely and essentially paralyzing the economy. In an effort to
revive flagging finances, Jefferson began a severe flurry of loyalist confiscations,
claiming land and property of all citizens suspected of maintaining
an alliance with British interests.
To combat the impending coastal threat, Jefferson made
good on his long-standing plan to move the capital inland from
Williamsburg to Richmond, where it remains to this day. While
this change was ostensibly made to weaken the tactical advantage
of Britains blockade, it also permanently altered the balance of
power within Virginia, transferring significant political influence
from the Tidewater aristocracy to the Piedmont frontiersmen in
line with Jeffersons democratic agenda.
Toward the close of 1779, the British navy landed at Charleston, South
Carolina, which they quickly seized. The southern wing of the
continental army was left in shambles, and support for the loyalist
cause began to mount. Sensing a positive swing in momentum, the
British army began to push north through Georgia and the Carolinas.
In the midst of this threat, Jefferson was elected to
a second one-year term as governor in the spring of 1780. Attempting
to improve Virginias defenses, he called for the creation of an
autonomous state army. However, his weak executive claim was rejected
by the council of state, which distrusted this move toward a stronger
centralization of government power. Again, this was partly by
his own doing, and to his own philosophy, by which he viewed the
establishment of a temporary dictator in time of emergency as fundamentally
against the principles of democracy.
Because of this intensely democratic streak, when British
forces led by turncoat Benedict Arnold and Lord Cornwallis entered
the Virginia interior in January of 1781, Jefferson and company
were particularly powerless to defend themselves. Many of their
ablest fighters had been sent elsewhere in the service of Washington.
Due to the continued decentralization of government power , only
a disorganized and inexperienced force remained to fight for the
home cause. Thus, the British arrived unchecked at Richmond, and
considerable damage was done to the area before Jefferson and his
family were able to escape.
With the focus of the war shifting more squarely to
the southern states, the Americans shifted its emphasis accordingly.
Washington sent French reinforcements under the command of Marquis
de Lafayette to help defend Virginia. Jefferson made fast friends
with Lafayette, and the two maintained a transatlantic friendship throughout
their lives. But while Jefferson was at home in the company of
military masterminds, he himself was ill-equipped to negotiate
the perils of war. Recognizing this fact, he stepped down as governor
in June 1781 at the conclusion of his second term, out of deference
to the sitting commander of the state militia, General Thomas Nelson.
Jeffersons nearest brush with war came mere days later,
when British troops under Banastre Tarleton attacked Charlottesville.
Jefferson, who was staying at one of his outlying estates, was warned
of the attack just in time, and was able to disperse family and
visitors to various shelters. He himself fled to safety just as
the approaching British arrived within sight.
American fortunes took a dramatic swing for the better
in the late summer and early autumn of 1781, as a force including
three French troops to every American moved into Virginia waters
and launched an amphibious assault upon the British forces stationed there.
In unexpectedly swift fashion, Lord Cornwallis was brought to
his knees by the onslaught, resulting in the British surrender at
Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The United States, with ample help
from several European allies, had made its case for true independence,
turning back the most powerful imperial force of the eighteenth
century.
Unhappily, Jefferson shared no large part of the glory
at the time. In fact, he was roundly criticized in Virginia for
his fumbling administration and for the near-debacles that had
almost led to his capture. A formal inquiry into his conduct as
governor ensued, and although he was later cleared of all suspicion,
the resulting stain on his integrity was significant. Jefferson,
convinced that the inquiry had been precipitated by a jealous Patrick
Henry, cut all ties with his former ally and resolved to be forever
done with the trials of public office.
Thus, at the age of thirty-eight, Jefferson retired to
Monticello with the intention of leaving political life permanently
behind. Many of his smaller estates had been left in disarray
by the ravages of war, and his crops and livestock had been uniformly
destroyed. Among the ample property that had been stolen was a
group of thirty slaves. So, with reputation tarnished and remaining
holdings in shambles, Jefferson set out to attend to the care of
his personal fortunes, which had been neglected so severely in
his devotion to the cause of revolution.
