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nydus/Notes on the State of VirginiaPublic

Thomas Jefferson compiles these notes in response to inquiries from a foreign official regarding the geography and state of Virginia. The text provides detailed descriptions of the region's boundaries, dimensions, and physical landscape as understood in the late eighteenth century.

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Table of Contents

I America.

inftance known of an Indian begging his life when in the power of his ene- mies : on the contrary, that he courts death by every poffrble infult and pro- vocation. His reafoning then would have been reverfed thus. " Since tbc prefent Indian of North America is brave, and authors tell us, that the an- cellors of thofe of South Ameica were brave alfo; it muft followj that the cowardice of their dcfcendants is the efFe£l of fubjugation and ill treatment.'* For he obferves, ib. § 27, that " los obrages los aniquillan por la inhumani- dad con que fe les trata."

religious enthufiafm with us r that he is afFetSionate to his children, careful of them, and indulgent in the extreme: that his affeftions comprehend his other con- nexions, weakening, as with us, from cir- cle to circle, as they recede from the cen- tre: that his friendfhips are ftrong and faithful to the uttermofl*' extremity: that his fenfibility is keen, even the warriors weeping moft bitterly on the lofs of their children, though in general they endea- vour to appear fuperior to human events:

that his vivacity and aftivity of mind is equal to ours in the fam^ fituation; hence his eagernefs for hunting, and for games

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