His reformatory spirit did not stop with these radical measures. He
found another danger in the conservatism and aristocratic tendencies of
the established church of the State. In his judgment the whole body of
law and custom inherited from England must be thoroughly exterminated,
to the end that English influence might be driven from the land. In his
judgment English institutions had been cunningly devised in the interest
of monarchy. Their purpose, he believed, was to create and maintain
distinctions in society, and to perpetuate and strengthen an
aristocratic caste as the ally and support of the crown. So long as they
existed there was constant danger of relapse from the high purposes of
the rebellion. In Jefferson's regard, they were inconsistent with the
principles of the revolution now proclaimed, and sooner or later would
be found its open or secret enemies.

For these reforms the old aristocracy of his State denounced him as a
Jacobin, and the established church denounced him as an infidel.

Jefferson continued to serve in the House of Delegates during the years
1777 and 1778, and in addition to the measures already named, he secured
laws to establish elementary and collegiate education in the State, and
to prohibit the further importation of slaves into Virginia. He also
sought to inaugurate a system of gradual emancipation; but slavery was
already so thoroughly engrafted on the social system of the people, that
even Jefferson, Wythe, and Mason could not dislodge it. Jefferson, in
1821, referring to his failure in this regard, said: "it was found that
the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it,
even to this day; yet the day is not distant, when it must bear and
adopt it, or worse will, follow. Nothing is more certainly written in
the book of fate than that these people are to be free."

On retiring from the Legislature he was elected governor of the State.
The period of his service in this position was unfortunate for his fame.
He was essentially a civilian, neither having, nor pretending to have,
military skill or knowledge. The war had now been transferred to the
Southern States. Cornwallis had overrun Georgia and South Carolina,
defeated Gates at Camden, and was pushing north for the desolation of
Virginia. The State had already become impoverished by its liberal
contributions of money, men, and arms to the general cause, and was now
powerless for its own defence. The hated Be