In the epitaph of Jefferson, written by himself, there is no mention
of his having been Governor of Virginia, Plenipotentiary to France,
Secretary of State, Vice President and President of the United States.
But the inscription does mention that he was the "Author of the
Declaration of American Independence; of the Statute of Virginia for
Religious Freedom; and Father of the University of Virginia."
These were the three things which, in his own opinion, constituted his
most enduring title to fame, and it is to be observed that freedom was
the fruit of all three. By the first he contributed to the emancipation
of the American colonies from British rule; by the second he broke the
chains of sectarian bigotry that had fettered his native State; and by
the third he gave that State and her sisters the chance to strike the
shackles of ignorance from the minds of their sons.
Free Government, free faith, free thought--these were the treasures
which Thomas Jefferson bequeathed to his country and his State; and who,
it may well be asked, has ever left a nobler legacy to mankind?
His was a mind that thrilled with that active, aggressive and innovating
spirit which has done so much to jostle men out of their accustomed
grooves and make them think for themselves.
No one appreciated more than he the fact that the light of experience,
as revealed in the history of the race, should be the guide of mankind.
But, for that very reason, he did not slavishly worship the past, well
knowing that history points not only to the wisdom of sages and the
virtues of saints, but also to the villainy of knaves and the stupidity
of fools.
The condition of life is change; the cessation of change is death.
History is movement, not stagnation; and Jefferson emphatically believed
in progress.
The fact that a dogma in politics, theology or educational theory had
been accepted by his ancestors did not make it necessarily true in his
eyes. "Let well enough alone" was no maxim of his. Onward and upward was
ever his aim.
His interests were wide and intense, ranging from Anglo-Saxon roots to
architectural designs, from fiddling to philosophy, from potatoes to
politics, from rice to religion. In all these things, and in many more
besides, he took the keenest interest; but in nothing, perhaps, did he
display throughout his life a more unfaltering zeal than in the cause of
education.
"A system of general instruction," said he in 1818, "which shall reach
every description of our citizens, from the richest to the poorest, as
it was the earliest, so it will be the latest of all the public concerns
in which I shall permit myself to take an interest."
From first to last Jefferson's aim was to establish, in organic union
and harmonious co-operation, a system of educational institutions
consisting of (1) primary schools, to be supported by local taxation;
(2) grammar schools, classical academies or local colleges; and (3) a
State University, as roof and spire of the whole edifice.
He did not succeed in realizing the whole of his scheme, but he did
finally succeed in inducing the Legislature to pass an act in the
year 1819 by which the State accepted the gift of Central College
(a corporation based upon private subscriptions due to Jefferson's
efforts), and converted it into the University of Virginia.
This action was taken on the report of a commission previously
appointed, which had met at Rockfish Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains--a
commission composed probably of more eminent men than had ever before
presided over the birth of a university. Three of these men, who met
together in that unpretentious inn, were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
and James Monroe (then President of the United States).
Yet it was remarked by the lookers-on that Mr. Jefferson was the
principal object of regard both to the members and spectators; that he
seemed to be the chief mover of the body--the soul that animated it;
and some who were present, struck by their manifestations of deference,
conceived a more exalted idea of him on this simple and unpretending
occasion than they had ever previously entertained.--R. H. Dabney.