PREFACE.

ON one of the dark days of 1778, when the people of the United States were engaged in a portentous struggle with the British Crown, Thomas Jefferson arose in the Assembly of Virginia, and presented to his colleagues a carefully framed bill, designed to establish in Virginia public schools, and academies or colleges, and a university. He was a man of fair complexion. His hair was of a brownish cast. He stood about six feet two and

a half inches in height. He might have been taken for a highly cultured Scotchman. Indeed not less than three of his instructors had been Scotchmen. In the year 1776 he had draughted the Declaration of American Independence, and had pledged his life, his fortune, and his honor to the maintenance of the principles which it contained. But as he stood before the Assembly, he realized that, however great might be the sacrifices made by the people of a republic to secure to their posterity the blessing of civil liberty, they must ultimately fail in doing so, unless they made suitable provision for the public education of their youth. The importance of a good public-school system to a republic he laid before his colleagues with an earnestness that spoke eloquently of his devotion to the interests of civil liberty. Years afterwards, when he was the American Minister to France, alluding to his educational bill in a letter to Washington, he wrote, under date of January 4th, 1786: "I never saw

one received with more enthusiasm than that was, in the year 1778, by the House of Delegates, who ordered it printed. And it seemed afterwards, that nothing but the extreme distress of our resources prevented its being carried into execution, even during the war."

Jefferson during his long life filled many public positions. He was a member of the Legislature, and, during a critical period in the history of Virginia, the governor of his State. Before the Declaration of Independence, and again at a later period, he was a member of the Continental Congress. He lived at a time when the principles of government were studied to a very remarkable extent in America and in France. For a number of years, during the momentous period which ushered in the great French Revolution which ultimately convulsed the nations of Europe, he was the American Minister to France. For about four years he was Secretary of State, during the formative period of the government of the United States when Washington was President. For four years Jefferson was the Vice-President, and for eight years the President, of the United States. It is found by letters of Jefferson's, which were written to correspondents in different parts of the world, that his belief in the importance of public schools to republics was not a mere inspiration of a moment, but that during a long life he was animated with the same earnest, consistent, and noble desire to serve the cause of civil liberty in all parts of the world by helping in the great work of securing to youth the intelligence which he believed was the only safe basis for republican institutions.

I have been greatly aided, in writing this book, by facilities for study which I have enjoyed in the Astor Library, of New York. Often have I felt deeply grateful to the Astor family as I have thought of the magnificent

treasure-house of books that they have thrown open to the public. Although I have, while collecting material for this book, been shown kindly courtesy in the library of the British Museum, and have visited I hardly know how many collections of books in State Capitols and in universities, I have, I think, seldom if ever visited a better managed library than is the one founded by the Astors. To its superintendent, Mr. Robbins Little, I take pleasure in expressing in this public manner my appreciation of the facilities of research which I have enjoyed within its walls. To the librarian, Mr. Frederick Saunders, who has given to the world a number of books -among which is the beautiful volume entitled "Evenings with the Sacred Poets,"-I desire to express my gratitude for kindly favors. Indeed, to every one of the gentlemen connected with that library I feel indebted for kindly courtesy.

In respect to the source from whence I have obtained the letters quoted in this volume, I will say that, as a rule, almost every one of them can be seen in one or the other of the following volumes:

"Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson," edited by his grandson, T. J. Randolph, in the year 1829. "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson," " Published by the Order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original Manuscripts Deposited in the Department of State,” in Washington, D. C., in the year 1854. "The 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 Published in Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1856, by J. W. Randolph.

Although Jefferson held some views in respect to the education of youth which are scarcely, if at all, mentioned in this volume,-such as the importance of young people being taught anatomy or physiology, and such as the kind of instruction which American young women should receive,—and although comparatively little is said of his earnest wish to see the United States government found a great university in the city of Washington, such as Washington and Madison may be said to have advised, in a peculiarly impressive manner, their country to establish, and in short, although this volume does not claim to do full justice to Jefferson's 'patriotic labors in behalf of public education, yet it gives an idea of how one of the most distinguished of American statesmen regarded the value of public, unsectarian schools to the people of the United States. It also gives an idea of what, in the best, and in the truest, sense of the term, "Jeffersonian principles" demand that American statesmanship shall do in respect to duly cherishing the interests of learning in all parts of the Republic of the United States.

THOMAS JEFFERSON'S VIEWS

ON

PUBLIC EDUCATION.

I.

AN ADMONITION TO FRIENDS OF CIVIL LIBERTY.

IT is, one may well believe, not too much to say that every land has had at times well-meaning friends of civil liberty. In lands afflicted with a despotic form of government there have sometimes arisen men who by the heroism with which they have made sacrifices to secure to their fellow-citizens a well-ordered form of self-government have given eloquent proof of the sincerity of their patriotism. Their wish to emancipate the land of their birth and of their love from the bondage of a heartless despotism has been most noble-has been indeed worthy of the highest praise ;-but, sadly often, after having taken part in revolutions in which rivers of blood have flowed and in which uncounted treasure has been expended, they have not only failed to secure the priceless blessing of self-government, but they have with anguish seen even their efforts to secure to their country a well-ordered republican form of government result in bringing upon their countrymen a more terrible form of despotism than that from which they had sought deliverance even at the awful cost of revolution. These patriots, from Jefferson's point