consent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation." Navy Jefferson included discussion on America's potential naval capacity because of its extensive natural resources. The section would be used by the Federalist William Loughton Smith to embarrass Republican anti-navalists during debate in 1796 over whether to continue the construction of the original six frigates of the United States Navy. Smith claimed that others believed that commerce required a navy to protect it, and he read a lengthy extract from Jefferson's Notes to prove that the country could support a much larger navy than the Federalists wanted to build. That occasioned Republican accusations that Smith had taken Jefferson out of context or claims that Jefferson was mistaken in his understanding. Climate Jefferson's observations on the climate of Virginia in Chapter 7 noted the recent climate change, which included warming: A change in our climate however is taking place very sensibly. Both heats and colds are become much more moderate within the memory even of the middle-aged. Snows are less frequent and less deep. They do not often lie, below the mountains, more than one, two, or three days, and very rarely a week. They are remembered to have been formerly frequent, deep, and of long continuance. The elderly inform me the earth used to be covered with snow about three months in every year. The rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze over in the course of the winter, scarcely ever do so now. This change has produced an unfortunate fluctuation between heat and cold, in the spring of the year, which is very fatal to fruits. From the year 1741 to 1769, an interval of twenty-eight years, there was no instance of fruit killed by the frost in the neighbourhood of Monticello. An intense cold, produced by constant snows, kept the buds locked up till the sun could obtain, in the spring of the year, so fixed an ascendency as to dissolve those snows, and protect the buds, during their development, from every danger of returning cold. The accumulated snows of the winter remaining to be dissolved all together in the spring, produced those overflowings of our rivers, so frequent then, and so rare now. Influence Jefferson's work inspired others by his reflections on the nature of society, human rights, and government. Supporters of abolition considered his thoughts on blacks and slavery to be obstacles to achieving equal rights for