In 1772, he married a young widow
in good circumstances, and this enabled him to add alike to his income
and to his patrimony. About the time of the meeting of the Colonial
Convention, called in 1775, to choose delegates for the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, at which Patrick Henry was present, the
youthful Jefferson, now known as an able political writer, wrote his
"Summary View of the Rights of British America"--a trenchant protest
against English taxation of the Colonies, which had considerable
influence in creating public feeling favorable to American Independence.
The effect of this notable utterance was, later on, vastly increased
by the draft he prepared of the Declaration of Independence, the latter
immortal document being somewhat of a transcript of views set forth
by Jefferson in his former paper, as well as of ideas expressed by the
English philosopher, John Locke, in his "Theory of Government," and
by Rousseau, in his "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men;"
though the circumstances of the Colonies at this time were of course
different; while to England and the European nations the Declaration was
a startling revelation of the attitude now assumed by the great leaders
of the movement for separation as well as for freedom and independence.
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