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        〃THE SPIRIT OF 1776〃




        _To Thomas Lomax_

        _Monticello; Mar。 12; 1799_




        DEAR SIR;  Your welcome favor of last month came to my hands

in Philadelphia。  So long a time has elapsed since we have been

separated by events; that it was like a letter from the dead; and

recalled to my memory very dear recollections。  My subsequent journey

through life has offered nothing which; in comparison with those; is

not cheerless & dreary。  It is a rich comfort sometimes to look back

on them。




        I take the liberty of enclosing a letter to mr。 Baylor; open;

because I solicit your perusal of it。  It will; at the same time;

furnish the apology for my not answering you from Philadelphia。  You

ask for any communication I may be able to make; which may administer

comfort to you。  I can give that which is solid。  The spirit of 1776

is not dead。  It has only been slumbering。  The body of the American

people is substantially republican。  But their virtuous feelings have

been played on by some fact with more fiction; they have been the

dupes of artful man;oeuvres; & made for a moment to be willing

instruments in forging chains for themselves。  But time & truth have

dissipated the delusion; & opened their eyes。  They see now that

France has sincerely wished peace; & their seducers have wished war;

as well for the loaves & fishes which arise out of war expences; as

for the chance of changing the constitution; while the people should

have time to contemplate nothing but the levies of men and money。

Pennsylvania; Jersey & N York are coming majestically round to the

true principles。  In Pensylva; 13。 out of 22。 counties had already

petitioned on the alien & sedition laws。  Jersey & N Y had begun the

same movement; and tho' the rising of Congress stops that channel for

the expression of their sentiment; the sentiment is going on rapidly;

& before their next meeting those three States will be solidly

embodied in sentiment with the six Southern & Western ones。  The

atrocious proceedings of France towards this country; had well nigh

destroyed its liberties。  The Anglomen and monocrats had so artfully

confounded the cause of France with that of freedom; that both went

down in the same scale。  I sincerely join you in abjuring all

political connection with every foreign power; and tho I cordially

wish well to the progress of liberty in all nations; and would

forever give it the weight of our countenance; yet they are not to be

touched without contamination from their other bad principles。

Commerce with all nations; alliance with none; should be our motto。




        Accept assurances of the constant & unaltered affection of;

dear Sir; your sincere friend and servant。







        FREEDOM OF MIND




        _To William Green Munford_

        _Monticello; June 18; 1799_




        DEAR SIR  I have to acknolege the reciept of your favor of

May 14 in which you mention that you have finished the 6。 first books

of Euclid; plane trigonometry; surveying & algebra and ask whether I

think a further pursuit of that branch of science would be useful to

you。  There are some propositions in the latter books of Euclid; &

some of Archimedes; which are useful; & I have no doubt you have been

made acquainted with them。  Trigonometry; so far as this; is most

valuable to every man。  There is scarcely a day in which he will not

resort to it for some of the purposes of common life。  The science of

calculation also is indispensible as far as the extraction of the

square & cube roots; algebra as far as the quadratic equation & the

use of logarithms are often of value in ordinary cases: but all

beyond these is but a luxury; a delicious luxury indeed; but not to

be indulged in by one who is to have a profession to follow for his

subsistence。  In this light I view the conic sections; curves of the

higher orders; perhaps even spherical trigonometry; algebraical

operations beyond the 2d dimension; and fluxions。  There are other

branches of science however worth the attention of every man。

Astronomy; botany; chemistry; natural philosophy; natural history;

anatomy。  Not indeed to be a proficient in them; but to possess their

general principles & outlines; so as that we may be able to amuse and

inform ourselves further in any of them as we proceed through life &

have occasion for them。  Some knowledge of them is necessary for our

character as well as comfort。  The general elements of astronomy & of

natural philosophy are best acquired at an academy where we can have

the benefit of the instruments & apparatus usually provided there:

but the others may well be acquired from books alone as far as our

purposes require。  I have indulged myself in these observations to

you; because the evidence cannot be unuseful to you of a person who

has often had occasion to consider which of his acquisitions in

science have been really useful to him in life; and which of them

have been merely a matter of luxury。




        I am among those who think well of the human character

generally。  I consider man as formed for society; and endowed by

nature with those dispositions which fit him for society。  I believe

also; with Condorcet; as mentioned in your letter; that his mind is

perfectible to a degree of which we cannot as yet form any

conception。  It is impossible for a man who takes a survey of what is

already known; not to see what an immensity in every branch of

science yet remains to be discovered; & that too of articles to which

our faculties seem adequate。  In geometry & calculation we know a

great deal。  Yet there are some desiderata。  In anatomy great

progress has been made; but much is still to be acquired。  In natural

history we possess knowlege; but we want a great deal。  In chemistry

we are not yet sure of the first elements。  Our natural philosophy is

in a very infantine state; perhaps for great advances in it; a

further progress in chemistry is necessary。  Surgery is well

advanced; but prodigiously short of what may be。  The state of

medecine is worse than that of total ignorance。  Could we divest

ourselves of every thing we suppose we know in it; we should start

from a higher ground & with fairer prospects。  From Hippocrates to

Brown we have had nothing but a succession of hypothetical systems

each having it's day of vogue; like the fashions & fancies of caps &

gowns; & yielding in turn to the next caprice。  Yet the human frame;

which is to be the subject of suffering & torture under these learned

modes; does not change。  We have a few medecines; as the bark; opium;

mercury; which in a few well defined diseases are of unquestionable

virtue: but the residuary list of the materia medica; long as it is;

contains but the charlataneries of the art; and of the diseases of

doubtful form; physicians have ever had a false knowlege; worse than

ignorance。  Yet surely the list of unequivocal diseases & remedies is

capable of enlargement; and it is still more certain that in the

other branches of science; great fields are yet to be explored to

which our faculties are equal; & that to an extent of which we cannot

fix the limits。  I join you therefore in branding as cowardly the

idea that the human mind is incapable of further advances。  This is

precisely the doctrine which the present despots of the earth are

inculcating; & their friends here re…echoing; & applying especially

to religion & politics; ‘that it is not probable that any thing

better will be discovered than what was known to our fathers。' We are

to look backwards then & not forwards for the improvement of science;

& to find it amidst feudal barbarisms and the fires of Spital…fields。

But thank heaven the American mind is already too much opened; to

listen to these impostures; and while the art of printing is left to

us; science can never be retrograde; what is once acquired of real

knowlege can never be lost。  To preserve the freedo

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