Background
While Jefferson had been away serving in Congress, the Virginia Convention of 1776, meeting in Williamsburg, had hammered out a state constitution. Jefferson wanted desperately to be involved in the debate, believing that state governments were the crucial locus of power. He drafted a state constitution and sent it to the convention. Crucially, Jefferson was keen to curb and check the power of the new executive branch of government. His mistrust of the executive—whom he referred to in his draft constitution as the "Administrator"—likely stemmed from the Patriots' long battle with the Crown.
Henry served three terms, during which time the General Assembly in October 1776 gave wide but temporary powers to the governor and local justices of the peace to impress "rogues and vagabonds" into military service for Virginia. In May 1777 the assembly levied quotas on county militias for men to serve one-year enlistments in the Continental army, to be filled through a draft lottery to be held in February 1778. Such policies were unpopular, however, and the assembly eventually abandoned conscription and instead offered monetary rewards for enlistments. In the meantime, a British expeditionary force, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, landed in Georgia on December 23, 1778, and captured Savannah six days later.
In May 1779, less than a month before Jefferson took office, a fleet of about thirty British ships sailed from New York to Portsmouth, burning Suffolk and destroying or capturing massive amounts of property. That included between 500 and 1,500 enslaved African Americans, who either were taken or left voluntarily when the British withdrew two weeks later.
First Term (1779–1780)
Jefferson soon moved his family to the Governor's Palace, in Williamsburg, even though the General Assembly on June 18 passed "An act for the removal of the seat of government," under the capital would be moved upriver to Richmond. More centrally located, that city also would be better protected from British warships. After lengthy debate, Jefferson threw his support behind the move, which was completed by April 18, 1780. It not only made military sense but, Jefferson hoped, would offer him an opportunity to influence the new capital's architecture. (He did, in fact, design the new State Capitol, in 1786.)
As governor, Jefferson maintained friendly relations with the General Assembly and the Council of State, which included Page and James Madison, who became a lifelong ally. While still largely lacking in power, Jefferson helped convince the assembly, in 1779, to create two executive departments—the Board of Trade and the Board of War—to assist him in matters of finance and defense.
Robert Honyman, a Hanover County physician, noted in his diary that the "lower class of people execrate their leaders, who have led them on by fine promises to utter ruin." As British naval blockades made shortages more acute, some formerly ardent Patriots began to wonder whether independence was more important than peace.
Second Term (June 1780–January 1781)
In fact, the British came directly to Virginia. In October 1780 Brigadier General Alexander Leslie landed 2,200 British troops at Portsmouth and Hampton, and within days they were on the march to Williamsburg. Jefferson attempted to counter Leslie by calling out the militia, but he seemed resigned to act only defensively. As he wrote to George Washington, on October 26, 1780, he worried that sending militia units eastward might lead to "dangerous convulsions"—i.e., Loyalist uprisings—in the western part of the state. The next day Jefferson wrote to the Virginia delegates in Congress of a "very dangerous Insurrection" discovered in Pittsylvania County and a line of unrest that stretched through Montgomery County all the way to the James River. Fortunately, General Leslie soon returned to South Carolina to set up winter camp.
Jefferson personally directed the removal of public stores and records across the James River to Manchester and left the capital that morning. British soldiers plundered Jefferson's townhouse and much of the rest of the city, burning buildings, freeing enslaved African Americans, and blowing up a powder magazine and arms foundry at nearby Westham. Isaac Jefferson, then a Jefferson family slave, later recalled that the explosion sounded "like an earthquake." Arnold soon retreated back down the James, later blaming Jefferson for the damage he had wrought because the governor had not responded to his offer to pay half price for merchandise or to accept hostages in exchange for lenience.
Second Term (January–May 1781)
General Washington wrote to Jefferson from New York on February 21, informing the governor that the state's militia would be too weak to fend off further attacks, and that for that reason he had dispatched French forces under Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, to Virginia's aid. Lafayette responded to this new mission with a letter to Jefferson expressing "the Most Ardent Zeal to do Any thing in My Power Which May promote the Wishes of Your Excellency."
In the midst of this crisis, Jefferson could do little. He had nominal authority over the 50,000 troops in the state and could order them out, but he had little power to enforce such calls. Indeed, in the face of the worst military crisis Virginia had experienced in the war, many citizens simply ignored or resisted Patriot authorities. Many refused to turn out when the governor called on the militia or deserted before their terms of service were over. Rather than enforce unpopular demands on their time, many militia officers either ignored orders or resigned their commissions. Many also refused to carry out orders to execute a new draft for Continental soldiers that had been reinstituted late in 1780. When others did carry out those orders, riots and uprisings broke out in a number of counties, even as the British roamed the state. Hundreds of Virginians went so far as to seek out the British to surrender themselves and obtain "paroles" that would exempt them from any further fighting on the Patriot side.
Many Virginians blamed Jefferson for the chaos, sensing him to be overwhelmed by the task at hand. Earlier in the year, the diarist Robert Honyman had noted that the governor and the Council of State were "universally and heavily censured for their neglect and supineness" in the face of the British invasions.
Jefferson's Flight (May–June 1781)
But Jefferson was uninterested in continuing to lead. Despite being eligible, he made it clear he would not seek a third term, and even appealed to Washington to return home to help defend the state as Virginia's "dernier [i.e., last] resort in distress." Though it is not clear what role Jefferson expected the general to assume, some legislators hoped he might take over for Jefferson as a kind of "dictator."
He did not go to Staunton, however. Rather than rejoin the assembly and resume, even on a temporary basis, his responsibilities as the state's chief executive, Jefferson followed his family to Poplar Forest, in Bedford County. As a result, the state had no elected governor in the middle of one of its worst wartime crises.
Legacy
On June 12, the General Assembly, meeting in Staunton, elected General Thomas Nelson governor and subsequently gave him the powers that Jefferson had himself asked for: to call out the militia, seize supplies, arrest or replace militia officers, and detain and try Loyalists. (William Fleming, as senior member present of the Council of State, had served as acting governor from June 4 to 12.) Also on June 12, the assembly resolved, probably at the instigation of Patrick Henry and George Nicholas, of Williamsburg, "That at the next session of Assembly an inquiry be made into the conduct of the Executive of this State for the last twelve months." A committee was appointed to look into the matter but it had not reported when the body adjourned on June 23.
Jefferson may have made an error of judgment in not responding immediately to initial reports of Arnold's raid on Richmond, and his decision not to seek reelection as governor at such a critical moment will always reflect badly on him. But Jefferson had often insisted that someone with more military experience than he ought to have been in charge, especially after Virginia itself was invaded. Moreover, Jefferson's powers as governor, by design, had been severely limited and the General Assembly also had been slow in responding to the challenges of wartime. Even in the face of military crisis, the members bent only to the will of the people. Jefferson's reputation, meanwhile, proved to be a casualty of war.
Time Line
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June 29, 1776 - The Virginia Convention adopts a new constitution that transforms Virginia into an independent republic with the House of Delegates holding most of the governmental power.
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October 1776 - The General Assembly gives the governor and Council of State temporary power to impress "rogues and vagabonds" into military service for Virginia.
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May 1777 - The General Assembly levies quotas on county militias for men to serve one-year enlistments in the Continental army to be filled through a draft lottery in February 1778.
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December 23, 1778 - British general Sir Henry Clinton lands in Georgia.
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December 28, 1778 - British troops under Sir Henry Clinton capture Savannah, Georgia.
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May 1779 - A fleet of about thirty British ships sail from New York to Portsmouth, burning Suffolk, and destroying or capturing massive amounts of property.
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June 1, 1779 - The General Assembly elects Thomas Jefferson to succeed Patrick Henry as governor. His term begins the next day.
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June 18, 1779 - The General Assembly passes "An act for the removal of the seat of government," which calls for the transfer of the state capital from Williamsburg to Richmond.
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October 1779 - The General Assembly authorizes the governor and Council of State to send up to 1,500 militia members to aid Patriot fighters in South Carolina.
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May 12, 1780 - The city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrenders to British forces under Sir Henry Clinton.
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June 2, 1780 - The General Assembly reelects Thomas Jefferson for a second one-year term as governor.
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June 15, 1780 - In a letter to William Preston, Thomas Jefferson worries about military threats to Virginia from all directions.
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October 1780 - British general Alexander Leslie lands 2,200 British troops at Portsmouth and Hampton. Within a few days they are on the march to Williamsburg.
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October 1780 - The General Assembly reinstitutes a draft to aid in recruiting soldiers for the Continental army.
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October 26, 1780 - In a letter to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson worries about moving his militia east to meet British threats because of the possibility of Loyalist uprisings.
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October 27, 1780 - Thomas Jefferson writes to Virginia members of Congress about a Loyalist insurrection discovered in Pittsylvania County.
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January 1781 - A British force commanded by Benedict Arnold lands at the Byrd family estate of Westover, in Charles City County. Arnold's wife is a first cousin of Mary Willing Byrd.
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January 5, 1781 - A British force commanded by Benedict Arnold arrives in Richmond, plundering much of the city, freeing enslaved African Americans, and blowing up a powder magazine and arms foundry at nearby Westham.
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February 17, 1781 - In a letter to Horatio Gates, Thomas Jefferson complains that Congress has not adequately supported the war effort in Virginia.
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February 21, 1781 - In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, George Washington informs the governor that he has dispatched troops under the Marquis de Lafayette to help fight the British in Virginia.
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March 15, 1781 - The British defeat the Americans at the Battle of Guilford Court House, in North Carolina.
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March 16, 1781 - French troops under the Marquis de Lafayette arrive in Virginia.
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March 26, 1781 - British troops under William Phillips arrive in Portsmouth to reinforce Benedict Arnold.
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Mid-April 1781 - British troops begin moving up the James River.
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Mid-May 1781 - The British general Charles Cornwallis arrives from North Carolina and meets William Phillips and Benedict Arnold in Petersburg.
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May 28, 1781 - Thomas Jefferson writes to the Speaker of the House of Delegates that current laws "seem scarcely coercive enough for a state of war."
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May 28, 1781 - Thomas Jefferson writes George Washington, asking him to return to Virginia and help defend the state from British invasion.
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May 29, 1781 - Meeting in Charlottesville, the General Assembly schedules a vote for governor on June 2, the last day of Thomas Jefferson's term.
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June 4, 1781 - Jack Jouett, riding forty hard miles from Louisa County, arrives in Charlottesville, warning Thomas Jefferson and the General Assembly of a British raid on the city.
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June 4–12, 1781 - In Thomas Jefferson's absence, William Fleming, as senior member present of the Council of State, serves as acting governor.
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June 5, 1781 - Governor Thomas Jefferson retreats to the Poplar Forest site with his family to avoid capture by the British. While he is there, he works on portions of Notes on the State of Virginia.
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June 12, 1781 - The General Assembly, meeting in Staunton, elects Thomas Nelson Jr. governor. A committee is established to investigate the actions of Thomas Jefferson at the end of his term.
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October 19, 1781 - After an extensive military campaign fought on land and sea over nine months, General Charles Cornwallis, marquess of Cornwallis, surrenders his surrounded army to the combined American and French forces after their siege of Yorktown.
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December 12, 1781 - The General Assembly exonerates Thomas Jefferson from charges of cowardice as governor, instead thanking him for his service.
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May 20, 1782 - Thomas Jefferson writes to James Monroe that he will retire from public service.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
McDonnell, M. A. Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia. (2016, November 21). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Jefferson_Thomas_as_Governor_of_Virginia.
- MLA Citation:
McDonnell, Michael A. "Thomas Jefferson as Governor of Virginia." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 21 Nov. 2016. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: February 22, 2016 | Last modified: November 21, 2016