_George Wythe_, _Richard Henry Lee_, _Thomas Jefferson_, _Benjamin Harrison_, _Thomas Nelson, Jr._ _Francis Lightfoot Lee_, _Carter Braxton_. NORTH CAROLINA. _William Hooper_, _Joseph Hewes_, _John Penn_. SOUTH CAROLINA. _Edward Rutledge_, _Thomas Heywood, Jr._ _Thomas Lynch, Jr._ _Arthur Middleton_. GEORGIA. _Button Gwinnett_, _Lyman Hall_, _George Walton_. BIOGRAPHY. THOMAS JEFFERSON. When the Great Ruler of the universe resolved to set his people free from Egyptian bondage, he raised up able and mighty men, to effect his glorious purposes. These he endowed with wisdom to plan, and energy to execute his noble designs. There is a most striking similarity between the history of the Israelites, bursting the chains of slavery riveted upon them by Pharaoh; and that of the American colonies, in disenthralling themselves, by the aid of Heaven, from the oppressions of the British king. Like Moses, Washington led his countrymen through the wilderness of the revolution, and planted them, when the journey was terminated, upon the promised land of freedom and independence. Like Moses, he placed his trust in the God of Hosts, and like him, he was aided and sustained by a band of sages and heroes, unrivalled in the history of the world. In the front of this band stood THOMAS JEFFERSON, who was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 24th of April, 1743. His ancestors were highly respectable, and among the early emigrants to the Old Dominion. They were true republicans, in affluent circumstances, and exercised an influence that radiated to a considerable extent. Thomas was the son of Peter Jefferson, a man much esteemed in public and private life. The feelings imbibed from him by this son, were conspicuous at an early age, and decidedly of a liberal character. From his childhood, the mind of Thomas Jefferson assumed a high elevation, and took a broad and expansive view of men and things. He was educated at the college of William and Mary, at Williamsburg; and was always found at the head of his class. For assiduity and untiring industry in the exploration of the fields of science, he had no superior. He analyzed every subject that came under his investigation, closely and carefully; passing through the opening avenues of literature with an astonishing celerity. His mind became enraptured with the history of classic Greece and republican Rome, and, in early youth, his political opinions appear to have been distinctly formed, and opposed to every kind of government, tinctured with a shade of monarchy or aristocracy.