Jefferson Discusses The Spirit Of Laws

Thomas Jefferson(1743-1826),one of the fathers of the United States,the main drafter of the Declaration of Independence,is also a US statesman,thinker,historian,and enlightenment thinker.Notes on the State of Virginia is the work of Jefferson's early years,started in November 1780,interrupted for some time due to wartime affairs and basically shaped in 1781.Its French version was published in Paris in 1789 but only issued in a small range,until the 1787 Constitutional Council,the English version of Notes on the State of Virginia was officially released in the United States.Since it was written and formally published when both states governments and the federal government of America were setting up constitutions,the book has recorded the tremendous changes on the constitutional thoughts during that period of time.In the early days of the revolution,to get rid of the British Empire's corruption and crisis,the United States intended to adopt the British constitutionalism so that states in American began reforming their own internal affairs with inherited political concepts respectively and drawing up state constitutions.During the late period of the revolution,however,Americans relocated their revolutionary principles and realized itself as a constitutional federal,which was a new national government quite different from the United Kingdom.Notes on the State of Virginia is also a good perspective and information for us to understand this change.In the Notes on the State of Virginia,Jefferson discusses the political systems and ideas of this period,focusing on the spirit of law in Virginia and even the whole America in a unique way of thinking,similar to that of the Spirit of Law authored by Montesquieu,where he expounded the issues of politics and law based on a thorough understanding of nature and society.This paper,by explaining the writing context and text itself of the Notes on the State of Virginia,attempts to explore Jefferson's understanding of the constitutional system and republicanism of the Unites States.What's more,the paper will discuss the statue of this work both in Jefferson's thoughts by the virtue of observing the changes in his thoughts before and after the revolution,and in the history of American thoughts based on the historical background it occurred.This paper is divided into three parts:The first part concerns the writing background of the Note on the State of Virginia(hereinafter referred to as Notes),including historical background and writing process.For one thing,the mention of its historical background of the Notes demonstrates the changes of American constitutional system and regime.For another,the involvement of its writing process tells a long and winding story about its writing and releasing as well as Jefferson's expectations to its value and influence.The second part explains the relationship between the Notes and the spirit of law.The Notes has seen Jefferson not only elaborate but also prepose the information about the geography,population,economy,religions and regimes of Virginia and others before politics and law,and discuss the relations between them respectively.Virginia is a very important State during the revolution.It's also very important between the thirteen State.Jefferson discusses the spirit of laws in Viginia,is also a discussion of spirit of laws in the United States.The third part refers to the relation of the Notes and Jefferson's thought heritage.First of all,connected with his view of political,economic and racial issues in the late period,this part will pay attention to Jefferson's thought changes,and then position and evaluate the Notes' status in his thoughts.Next,based on the historical context,the differences in system design between the Notes and Federal Constitution issued in 1787 will be studied to understand the status and effect of the Notes on the history of American thoughts.