Notes on the State of Virginia

Queries XIII and XIV deal with the structure of law and government in Virginia. In Query XIII, Jefferson outlines the history of Virginia’s constitution. He quotes the entirety of the 1651 convention establishing the rights of the Jamestown colonists—a document that has never been published in print before now.

Jefferson then critiques what he regards as “defects” in the Virginia constitution, derived from the 1651 charter. These defects are due to the fact that the constitution was the first ever created in the United States and was made by people with little experience of government. Jefferson advocates for corrections to the constitution’s weaknesses. Here Jefferson shows his qualities as a critic as well as his experience in law and government. Particularly notable is his preference for separation of powers instead of concentrating all power in one branch of government; he equates such centralized power to despotism (120).

This section bears witness to Jefferson’s philosophy of government. The original constitution was established when Virginia was a colony under the rule of the British parliament. Writing on the eve of Virginia’s independence and representing the values of the Age of Enlightenment, Jefferson believes that the state’s body of laws should be amended to reflect more democratic ideals.