Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-06-19
Thou,ss Jefferson.

We have repeatedly stated that Thomas JEFF
ferson was an advocate Of american doctrines,
as nop understood and maintained, and that
in he proposed to remove any existing barrier
to the naturalization OF foreigners except on
the occasion Of his election over Mr.. Adams,
his competitor, in the contest with whom, all
the naturalized foreigners in the country had
voted for Mr.. Jefferson, and in difference TO
their wishes, he sanctioned a change in the
then existing term Of probation, which was
fourteen years. Mr.. Jefferson was by no means
free from that partisan feeling which prompted
such a tribute of gratitude to his supporters,
and this change in the naturalization laws,
made under his auspices, is no proof that it
was the result of his sober judgment and calm
consideration. 1t was a sacrifice to the de-
mands of the foreign party. J
To place Mr.. Jefferson's views on those
American principles which underlie the organi-
cation Of the present American party in their
proper light, we have only to advert TO his
ow i writings, contained in his published works.
| We invite the attention of our readers to the
9th volume of Mr.. Jeffersons writings, page
453, where will be found petition, drawn up
by him and sent to theN General Assembly OF
Virginia in 1897, by the people of Albemarle
and other counties We have examined the
petition, and present portion of it to-day in
the very words used by Mr.. Jefferson, and re-
corded in the volume above cited, as follows:
, ,kx.sf 10 h
icisdoo, of the t,co Houses of assembly, achether
the safely of the citizens Of this Commonwealth
in their persons, their property, their laos and
government does not require that the capacity to
act in the important office Of a juror grand or
petty, cip;L or criminal should Be restrained in
future to- native citizens Of the United States, or
such as ,Dere citizens at the date Of the treaty Of
peace in which closed revolutionary aca,, and
sOhether the ignorance of our lars, and Natural
parsiality to the countries of their birth, are not
reasonable caaSss for declaring this TO be one OF
the rights incomn,enicabte in future 10 adopted
citizensn
Does not this proposition, of Mr.. Jefferson,
go Ear beyond the aims and purposes Of the
present American partys
Was Thomas Jefferson opposed to "cipil and
religious libertyp" Who viii assert that the
author of the act entitled I" An act for sstab-
fishing religious freedom, passed an the As
sembJy Of Virgiaia in the beginning Of the
gear 1885," was opposed to " civil and reli-
gious lberty2" And yet eleven years after he
had draughted the above named act, he wrote
the petition from which we have made the
above extract. And upon what ground did
Mr.. Jefferson place his proposition to exclude
foreigners from discharging "the important
office of juror, grand or petty, civil or crimi-
nal2" He placed it on the ground of their
Ignorance Of our laws and natural Partially
| to the countries of their birth" This is pre-
cisely the ground which the American party
of the present day assumes. Are we not au-
thorized to declare, that we, as disciples OF
Jefferson, are justified in our course by his de-
liberate opinionsg