Page 73 - JM Book 9/2020

Monday, July 1, 1776
Jefferson rose at five o’clock and ate his usual breakfast of cold biscuits and hot tea.
When he heard the noise outside his window, he realized that it was market day. This was the day farmers brought their vegetables,
fruits and meats to the city to sell. Monday was always the busiest and noisiest day of the week.
After he finished dressing, he stood at the window and watched the people and wagons travel along the cobblestone street.
A wagon loaded with watermelons and corn pulled by an old white horse passed outside his window. A farmer and small boy were seated on the wagon bench. Just ahead he could see a small cart, but Jefferson was not able to determine what it was carrying. Slowly moving towards his window was another wagon. As it approached he saw that a young man drove it with a woman sitting beside him. The wagon was loaded with large baskets filled with an assortment of vegetables.
Market day in Philadelphia was a lot busier than Jefferson was used to seeing in Williamsburg, when he lived there as a student at the College of William and Mary and as a member of the House of Burgesses. Even though Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia, it was still a small, quiet town. Nothing compared to the size and noise of Philadelphia.
There were things about Williamsburg and Philadelphia that he enjoyed, but he preferred the tranquility of his home on top of the mountain in Virginia that he had named Monticello.
He checked to make certain his copy of the Virginia Resolution was inside his leather case, along with a copy of the declaration. At exactly twenty minutes before nine, he left to walk to the Pennsylvania State House.
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