[85] He was then elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for Albemarle County in September 1776, when finalizing the state constitution was a priority.[86][87]
For nearly three years, he assisted with the constitution and was especially proud of his Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which prohibited state support of religious institutions or enforcement of religious doctrine.[88] The bill failed to pass, as did his legislation to disestablish the Anglican Church, but both were later revived by James Madison.[89]
In 1778, Jefferson was given the task of revising the state's laws. He drafted 126 bills in three years, including laws to streamline the judicial system. He proposed statutes that provided for general education, which he considered the basis of "republican government".[86] Jefferson also was concerned that Virginia's powerful landed gentry were becoming a hereditary aristocracy and he took the lead in abolishing what he called "feudal and unnatural distinctions."[90] He targeted laws such as entail and primogeniture by which a deceased landowner's oldest son was vested with all land ownership and power.[90] [g]
Jefferson was elected governor for one-year terms in 1779 and 1780.