There is, indeed, nothing
superior to them in the range of political disquisition. They not only
embrace, illustrate and enforce everything which political philosophy,
the love of liberty, and the spirit of free inquiry had antecedently
produced, but they add new and striking views of their own, and apply
the whole, with irresistible force, in support of the cause which had
drawn them together.
Mr. Adams was a constant attendant on the deliberations of this body,
and bore an active part in its important measures. He was of the
committee to state the rights of the colonies, and of that, also, which
reported the Address to the King.
As it was in the continental congress, fellow-citizens, that those whose
deaths have given rise to this occasion were first brought together, and
called on to unite their industry and their ability in the service of
the country, let us now turn to the other of these distinguished men,
and take a brief notice of his life up to the period when he appeared
within the walls of congress.
Thomas Jefferson descended from ancestors who had been settled in
Virginia for some generations, was born near the spot on which he died,
in the county of Albemarle, on the 2d of April, (old style,) 1743.
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