July 3, 1776

When Thomas Jefferson found out he had been reappointed to the Virginia delegation in the Continental Congress, he was frustrated. He ranked fourth out of fifth in the vote count, as can be seen in how the news was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette. In a letter written before the Congress voted for independence, Jefferson complained that being next-to-last gave him “some alarm.” He worried that being 300 miles from Williamsburg left him “open to secret assassination without a possibility of self-defence.” Thinking that Virginians had lost faith in him, he wrote: “If any doubt has arisen as to me, my country will have my political creed in the form of a ‘Declaration &c.’ which I was lately directed to draw. This will give decisive proof that my own sentiment concurred with the vote they instructed us to give.”

In reality, Jefferson had received fewer votes to return to the Congress because he had told his friends that he wanted to withdraw to be with his wife, Martha, who was in poor health. However, Jefferson’s personal letter shows his pride in the Declaration of Independence in the days before it was finalized and published.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
Printed by Hall and Sellers

Williamsburg, June 22.
[...]
Yesterday the Hon. Convention made choice of the following gentlemen to represent this dominion in General Congress, for one year, viz. George Wythe, Thomas Nelson, jun. Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Esquires.