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Quote by Thomas Jefferson

“I have been long sensible that while I was endeavoring to render our country the greatest of all services, that of regenerating the public education, and placing our rising generation on the level of our sister states (which they have proudly held heretofore), I was discharging the odious function of a physician pouring medicine down the throat of a patient insensible of needing it.”

Book:Early History of the University of Virginia: As Contained in the Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, Hitherto Unpublished; with an Appendix, Consisting of Mr. Jefferson's Bill for a Complete System of Education and Other Illustrative Documents; and an Introduction, Comprising a Brief Historical Sketch of the University, and a Biographical Notice of Joseph C. Cabell

Work

Early History of the University of Virginia: As Contained in the Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, Hitherto Unpublished; with an Appendix, Consisting of Mr. Jefferson's Bill for a Complete System of Education and Other Illustrative Documents; and an Introduction, Comprising a Brief Historical Sketch of the University, and a Biographical Notice of Joseph C. Cabell

This volume presents a curated selection of correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, much of which had not been made public before. The letters offer insight into the planning, establishment, and initial growth of the University of Virginia. The book also includes an appendix featuring Jefferson's proposed bill for a comprehensive educational system along with other supporting documents. An introductory section provides a brief historical overview of the university's early years and a biographical sketch of Joseph C. Cabell, a key figure in the institution's founding. The work serves as a primary source for understanding the intellectual and administrative efforts behind the university's creation. more

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, a distinguished politician, philosopher, architect, and scientist. He was born on April 13, 1743, and died on July 4, 1826. Jefferson advocated for democracy and freedom in politics and was one of the main authors of the Declaration of Independence. His political ideas had a profound impact on the founding and development of the United States. more

“While the business of education in Europe consists in lectures upon the ruins of Palmyra and the antiquities of Herculaneum , or in disputes about Hebrew points, Greek particles, or the accent and quantity of the Roman language, the youth of America will be employed in acquiring those branches of knowledge which increase the conveniences of life.”

“Education is here placed among the articles of public care, not that it would be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal, but a public institution can alone supply those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country, and some of them to its preservation.”

Country Hands Would Be Care Education Equal Ordinary Concern Institutions Improvement Circles Manage Branches Enterprise Articles Preservation Private Enterprise

Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson

Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson

“Experience teaches, that men are often so much governed by what they are accustomed to see and practice, that the simplest and most obvious improvements . . . are adopted with hesitation, reluctance, and slow gradations.”

Men Education Teach Practice Obvious Improvement Accustomed Adopted Simplest Hesitation Reluctance

Book:Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder

Source: Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder

“It will be remembered, that a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is solemnly enjoined by most of the state constitutions, and particularly by our own, as a necessary safeguard against the danger of degeneracy, to which republics are liable, as well as other governments, though in a less degree than others.”

Wells States Government Education Principles Danger Degrees Constitution Fundamentals Remembered Republic Liable Fundamental Principles Recurrence

Book:The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution

Source: The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution

“The infant periods of most nations are buried in silence or veiled in fable; and the world perhaps has lost but little which it needs regret. The origin and outset of the American Republic contain lessons of which posterity ought not to be deprived: and happily there never was a case in which every interesting incident could be so accurately preserved.”