the Church in Virginia; which was followed by the "Act for establishing
religious freedom." This act, it is well known, was always held by Mr.
Jefferson to be one of his best efforts in the cause of liberty, to
which he was devoted: and it is certainly the strongest legal barrier
that could be erected against a connection between Church and State,
so fatal in its tendency to the purity of both. 4. An elaborate paper
concerning a Money Unit, prepared in the year 1784, and which laid the
foundation of the system adopted by Congress, for a coinage and money of
account. For other particulars, not here noted, the Reader is referred
to the volume itself.


The termination of the Memoir, at the date mentioned, by the Author, may
be explained by the laborious tasks assumed or not declined by him, on
his return to private life; which, with his great age, did not permit
him to reduce his materials into a state proper to be embodied in such a
work.

The other volumes contain, I. Letters from 1775, to his death, addressed
to a very great variety of individuals; and comprising a range of
information, and, in many instances, regular essays, on subjects of
History, Politics, Science, Morals, and Religion. The letters to him
are omitted, except in a very few instances, where it was supposed their
publication would be generally acceptable, from the important character
of the communication, or the general interest in the views of the
writer; or where the whole or a part of a letter had been filed for the
better understanding of the answer.

In these cases, such letters are inserted in the body of the work, or
in an appendix, as their importance, and connection with the subject