Thomas Jefferson Papers

Jefferson’s Account and Attendance Record in the General Assembly for October 1781, [10–22 December 1781]

Jefferson’s Account and Attendance Record in the General Assembly for October 1781

[10-22 December 1781]

1781 [The Commonwealth of Virginia to] Thomas Jefferson [Dr.] Dec. Travelling to & from the Assembly 150 miles @ 2d

300 [℔. Tobo.]

To 13. days attendance from Dec. 10th. to 22d inclusive 650

Entries in TJ’s hand in record of accounts and attendance of the members of the General Assembly, 1781–1782 (Vi).

TJ was more precise in giving the dates of his attendance than the other members from Albemarle (Isaac Davis, James Marks, and Thomas Walker) who entered their accounts on this page, but he appears to have erred in writing “@ 2d.” The record of his colleagues makes clear that the mode of reckoning is in pounds of tobacco: 2 lbs. per mile for coming and going, and 50 lbs. for each day of attendance. On 10 Dec. TJ also signed the oath prescribed for state officers; the original as subscribed by members of this Assembly is in Vi; the text is the same as that in the Revisal of the Laws, Bill No. 98, printed above, Vol. 2: 589, which was drafted by TJ in 1779. TJ, of course, had already taken the oath of fidelity and the oath of office as governor as prescribed by the Act of 1779 (Hening, description begins William W. Hening, The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia description ends x, 22–3).

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