The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University

by Andrew O'Shaughnessy, Edward L. Ayers (Foreword)

Already renowned as a statesman, Thomas Jefferson in his retirement from government turned his attention to the founding of an institution of higher learning. Never merely a patron, the former president oversaw every aspect of the creation of what would become the University of Virginia. Along with the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, he regarded it as one of the three greatest achievements in his life. Nonetheless, historians often treat this period as an epilogue to Jefferson’s career. In The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind, Andrew O’Shaughnessy offers a twin biography of Jefferson in retirement and of the University of Virginia in its earliest years. He reveals how Jefferson’s vision anticipated the modern university and profoundly influenced the development of American higher education. The University of Virginia was the most visible apex of what was a much broader educational vision that distinguishes Jefferson as one of the earliest advocates of a public education system. Just as Jefferson’s proclamation that "all men are created equal" was tainted by the ongoing institution of slavery, however, so was his university. O’Shaughnessy addresses this tragic conflict in Jefferson’s conception of the university and society, showing how Jefferson’s loftier aspirations for the university were not fully realized. Nevertheless, his remarkable vision in founding the university remains vital to any consideration of the role of education in the success of the democratic experiment.

368 pages, Hardcover

Published September 28, 2021

About the author

Andrew O’Shaughnessy is the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Centre for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, and Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Originally from Britain, he lectured at the University of Oxford before moving to the US, where he currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reviews

[Richard Stuhan · Rating 5 out of 5]



Although there are many books and articles about Thomas Jefferson — especially now that he has become the target of historical revisionists — the scholarship tends to end with the expiration of Jefferson’s second term as President in 1809. Many people believe that, when he left office, Jefferson retired to a life as a gentleman farmer at his Monticello estate outside Charlottesville, Virginia. But Andrew O’Shaughessy debunks that myth in his just released book titled “The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind” — a phrase taken from Jefferson’s own writings.

O’Shaughnessy is Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and Director of the International Center for Jefferson Studies. Although the author’s position would naturally cause the reader to suspect bias, O’Shaughnessy provides a balanced portrait of this brilliant but flawed man. He reports that, far from resting on his laurels, Jefferson became a fierce advocate of educational reform during his post-presidential years. In particular, Jefferson struggled against formidable odds during that time to found the University of Virginia. That’s why the book is subtitled, “Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of A University.” While one might dismiss the significance of this development in the life of a man who had earlier served as President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Ambassador to France, Jefferson himself identified the creation of UVa as one of the three accomplishments for which he wished to be remembered on his tombstone — along with the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.

Full Disclosure No. 1: I am myself an alumnus of the illustrious University of Virginia, and that experience certainly colors my review of this book. Full Disclosure No. 2: I know the author, although not well enough for it to have affected my views on this marvelous tome.

While the University of Virginia traces its founding to 1819 and officially opened for classes in 1825 — a year before Jefferson’s death at the age of 82 — it was only part of Jefferson’s much broader educational vision. Dating back to his Revolutionary War days, Jefferson was convinced that public education was the key to preserving the ideals that the Revolution had established. Over the years, he made numerous proposals for reforming the educational system from the elementary school level and up. But time and again, he encountered a legislature unwilling to fund his proposals.

After his second term as President had run its course, Jefferson focused his energies on establishing a publicly funded university. There were at the time a handful of colleges in Virginia — most notably, William & Mary, Jefferson’s alma mater. But those colleges collectively admitted only a couple hundred students. Jefferson’s vision was to go beyond the limited course of instruction offered at these colleges and offer a curriculum that was encyclopedic. His school would be not just another college, but a university. Virginia’s budget at the time did not permit funding of multiple universities, and there was competition between and among Leesburg, Staunton, Williamsburg, Richmond, and Charlottesville as to where the state’s flagship school was to be located. But taking advantage of his celebrity and engaging in back room maneuvering, Jefferson ultimately persuaded the legislature to choose Charlottesville as the site of THE University of Virginia.

Jefferson had many objectives for his university, but two were of primary importance. First, he wanted the school to be non-sectarian. Virtually all colleges at the time were church-funded and administered — particularly by the Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians. But Jefferson was a stickler for the separation of church and state, and he was determined to avoid any religious influence on the curriculum. Toward that end, Jefferson refused to hire clergy as faculty, made no provision for a theology department, and would not agree to the construction of a chapel on campus. These decisions posed obstacles to the recruitment of students in the early days, as parents recoiled at sending their children to what they deemed an “atheist” school and the legislature balked at funding such an institution.

Second, Jefferson wanted the university to be “republican.” Most colleges at the time — concentrated in the northeast — were run by administrators who considered themselves “federalists” — i.e., devotees of Alexander Hamilton’s belief in a strong central government. Jefferson feared that the federalist colleges were departing from the Revolution’s democratic ideals and inching back toward monarchy. He saw the University of Virginia as a means of countering that trend. Toward that end, Jefferson entrusted each department in the university with substantial autonomy and appointed no university president; indeed, it was not until nearly a hundred years later that UVa appointed its first president.

Jefferson’s model for a university heavily influenced the development of higher education in America for the next two hundred years. O’Shaughnessy notes that many of Jefferson’s innovations are now so widely accepted that it is easy to forget how innovative they were at the time. For example, in lieu of recruiting students from the immediate neighborhood — 82% of the students at Harvard at the time came from Massachusetts, mostly Boston — who would attend classes in a single large building, Jefferson cast a wider net and invited students to learn in the “academical village” that he designed and helped construct. Professors received free housing in “pavilions” where they had living quarters on the second story and classrooms at ground level. Students lived in dormitory rooms situated between pavilions. In the center was an expansive lawn. The underlying idea was decidedly “republican” — professors and students would come together in a community of learning.

But the innovations did not end with the structure of the school. Jefferson — who not only designed the campus, but also established the curriculum and recruited the faculty — was also an innovator in: (1) using lectures, rather than recitations, as the primary method of instruction; (2) testing students via written examinations rather than orally; (3) emphasizing instruction in science, mathematics, law, and medicine instead of the classical courses (Greek, Latin, etc.) that were the norm at the time; (4) establishing individual departments in the school corresponding to the disciplines offered, with each department enjoying substantial autonomy; and (5) allowing students to take electives instead of following a prescribed course of study in lock-step with other students.

These innovations profoundly influenced the course of higher education in America in the years that followed. The University of Michigan, the University of Texas, Florida State University, MIT, and Johns Hopkins University were all founded by men who trained at UVa. Other colleges and universities — e.g., Harvard in the second half of the 19th century — adopted the Virginia approach.

While the author properly credits Jefferson for his efforts and achievements in establishing the University of Virginia, O’Shaughnessy does not shy away from the slavery issue. Jefferson denounced slavery as an institution multiple times during his pubic career; but his actions were starkly at odds with his words. It is the single greatest paradox of Jefferson’s life that the statesman who famously declared that “all men are created equal” and was obsessed with freedom himself profited from slave labor. At no point does the author try to justify Jefferson’s use of enslaved people. While the historical evidence suggests that Jefferson was unusually benevolent (by the standards of the time) to the enslaved people who worked at Monticello, O’Shaughnessy gives Jefferson no credit for whatever kindnesses he showed toward his workers. But he does try to explain what accounts for this blemish in an otherwise commendable career.

First and foremost, no matter how laudatory it might have been for Jefferson to advocate abolition, such a course would have been politically suicidal. Voters in the north were already skeptical of Jefferson as a southerner and a republican. His election to national office required not only that he win the southern states, but win them decisively. That never would have happened if Jefferson had become an abolitionist.

Second, Jefferson could not afford to release his slaves — at least not without compensation. (Even those who advocated abolition at the time anticipated that compensatory payments would be made to slave holders.) He spent nearly two decades in public service. During that time, Jefferson received only a modest salary and was himself responsible for all his expenses — e.g., his house in Paris and the elaborate parties he was required to host as ambassador. He made substantial contributions to his university and continued to entertain those who came to visit in his post-presidential years. Moreover, during all this time, he was not able to manage his plantation. At the time of his death, Jefferson was about $2.5 million (by today’s dollars) in debt. Everything he owned — including his library, his furniture, Monticello itself, and his slaves — was sold to meet the demands of his creditors.

Third, Jefferson did not have the option of freeing his enslaved workforce and hiring them back as free laborers. A Virginia statue enacted in 1806 required any free slave to leave the state within one year of emancipation.

Fourth, Jefferson did not believe that African-Americans had the intellectual or emotional capacity to survive and flourish as free men and women. Even when he was denouncing slavery, Jefferson was quick to add that he considered enslaved persons to be inferior. Hateful as that belief might be, it was the prevailing view at the time — even among many persons who were anti-slavery — and was embedded in the Constitution. That viewpoint continued for decades after Jefferson’s death. Indeed, even the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, subscribed to that thinking.

Fifth and finally, Jefferson feared that there would be race riots if enslaved persons were to be emancipated. Like many other people at the time, Jefferson did not believe that blacks and white could live together in harmony. If emancipation were to occur, the most widely held belief was that blacks would be shipped to another location, probably in Africa — a proposal known as “colonization.” This continued to be the prevailing view right up until the Civil War and, again, was embraced by Lincoln.

In the end, O’Shaughnessy has written a fair and balanced book about an often neglected chapter in the life of Thomas Jefferson. He extols Jefferson’s vision in establishing the University of Virginia in the last years of his life without excusing his embrace of slavery. The book provides an interesting account of 19th century American education and an insightful look at the founding of one of America’s premier universities. It is a delightful read that I cannot recommend too highly.

Rick Stuhan

[Mgb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a lovely and thorough job of describing Jefferson’s retirement, the primary part of this being the founding of the University of Virginia. The difficulties Jefferson had with both religion and slavery are covered well. I do wish that a little more time was spent on the presence and use of slavery in the building and early years of the university. Were parts of the original design meant to be used by slaves? And perhaps a little more on the encroachment of religion at the university? What did Jefferson know and when? Weirdly, I found myself wanting some diagrams and tables to organize some of the information included in the book. Overall, very informative.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible portrayal of Thomas Jefferson, his vision and the early years of the University of Virginia. Absolutely worth the read.