" Other measures
included the abolition of capital punishment, save for murder and
treason, and an embargo placed on the importation of slaves, though
Jefferson failed in his larger design of freeing all slaves, as he
desired, hoping that this would be done throughout the entire country,
while also beneficently extending to them white aid and protection.
In 1779, Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry in the governorship of
Virginia. This was the period when the English were prosecuting their
campaigns in the South, checked by General Nathaniel Greene--when
South Carolina was being overrun by Cornwallis, and Virginia itself
was invaded by expeditions from New York under Philips and Arnold. As
Jefferson had no military abilities, indeed, was a recluse rather than a
man of action, the administration of his native Province, while able and
efficient, was lacking in the notable incident which the then crisis of
affairs would naturally call forth. Even his own Virginia homestead was
at this time raided by the English cavalry officer, Colonel Tarleton,
and much of his property was either desolated or stolen. This occasioned
bitter resentment against the English in Jefferson's mind; while the
serious illness and early death of his loved wife, which occurred just
then, led him to surrender office and return for a time to the seclusion
of his home.
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