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Virginia Review of Asian Studies: 20 (2018) 1-33 ISSN: 2169-6306 Wang: Jefferson and Confucian Education

CONFUCIAN EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES: THE ORIGIN OF THOMAS JEFFERSON’S TRANSFORMATION OF THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Dave Wang1 Director. Academy of Confucianism in the World Northwestern University Modern College at Xian China

Confucius is regarded as one of the greatest teachers in Chinese history, one whose educational principles have influenced schools and pupils over many centuries across the world. With this paper, I will examine how these Confucian principles were introduced to the United States and subsequently aided the development of the country’s modern school system. Thomas Jefferson, one of the nation’s Founding Fathers and earliest presidents, was at the forefront of this Confucius-led transformation. Jefferson sought to apply two of Confucius’ core educational principles, meritocracy and universal education, to what was, in his time, an unstandardized and European-centric school system emphasizing the Classics.

Jefferson espoused the concept of universal education as early as 1779 in his Bill for More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Jefferson was ahead of his time, but his vision would eventually be achieved by the twentieth century as the nation approached a universal education system. In recognition of his pioneering efforts, Jefferson would become regarded as both “a founding father of public education” 2 and the “founding father of democratic education.”3

This paper aims to discuss the process through which Jefferson introduced Confucian ideals to the United States following the American Revolution. It begins with a survey of Confucian educational principles, then examines how Jefferson was influenced by such principles.

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Dr. Dave Wang is Manager of Queens Library at Laurelton, New York and an Adjunct Professor of St. Johns University. Since 1998 he hasfocused on the study of cultural relations between the United States and China. He has been invited to deliver lectures and speeches on the topic worldwide, including, Beijing, Changchun, Lisbon, London, New York, Rome, Singapore, Tokyo and Xian. He is the author of over 30 articles on the influence of traditional Chinese culture on the founders of the United States. His most recent publication is “AJourney of Adopting the Confucian Merit System: From Benjamin Franklin to the Pendleton Act of 1883, Virginia Review of Asian Studies vol.19, 2017 pp.28-62

2 James Carpenter, Thomas Jefferson and the Ideology of Democratic Schooling, Democracy & Education, vol 21, no- 2, 2013, p.1.3 Johann Neem, Is Jefferson a Founding father of Democratic Education? Democracy & Education, Vol 22,,No. 2, 2013, p.1.

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Confucius Education Principles

Confucius (551–478 BCE) was a teacher and philosopher during a tumultuous period of Chinese history known as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476/403 BCE)4. This period was marked by a series of political, economic, and educational transformations as the country developed from a slave-ownership to feudal society. Three aristocratic families fought for control of Confucius’ native state, a territory named Lu on the Shandong peninsula in eastern China, was a product of the "Spring and Autumn Period. In the context of this instability, Confucius began to appreciate the role of education in building a stable society; as such, he labored to use education as a tool to restore peace and prosperity.

Education is priority for a nation

Confucius believed that education should be one of a nation’s foremost priorities: effective political governance should rely on not only strong laws and moral leaders, but also a cultivated constituency. He cautioned that the former techniques might allow a ruler to garner a favorable reputation, but would be ineffective. The leaders who wished to improve society and build lasting culture must instead “start from the lessons of the school.”5

Confucius viewed moral education as the means through which one could improve one’s life and contribute to society.6 He believed that one of the primary functions of education was instilling 4 The Spring and Autumn period (春秋时代) was from approximately 771 to 476 BC. The period's name derives from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of Chinese history between 722 and 479 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius. 5 Friedrich Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East: Volume 28, Part 4 Clarendon Press, January 1, 1885 P.82.6 子路曰。衞君待子而爲政、子將奚先子曰。必也正名乎。子路曰。有是哉。子之迂也奚其正子曰。野哉、由也君子於其所不知、蓋闕如也。名不正、則言不訓。言不訓、則事不成。事不成、則禮樂不興。禮樂不興、則刑罰不中。刑罰不中、則民無所措手足。故君子名之必可言也、言之必可行也。君子於其言、無所苟而已矣。Zi Lu said: “The ruler of Wei is anticipating your assistance in the administration of his state. What will be your top priority?” Confucius said, “There must be a correction of terminology.”Zi Lu said, “Are you serious? Why is this so important?” Confucius said, “You are really simple, aren't you? A noble man is cautious about jumping to conclusions about that which he does not know.”

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culture and virtue in future statesmen and government officials. Through preparing righteous leaders and citizens, a strong education system would lead to peace and prosperity: as Confucius alludes, “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”7 Confucius’ view of education was likely inspired by the tumultuous era in which he lived, one marked by conflict and disorder.

Confucius considered educational quality to be important not only at the individual level, but also at the familial and national level. He states in Great Learning 《大学》, one of his four Classics, that good education fortifies self-cultivation, harmony within a family, prosperity of the nation, and development of the world.8 His educational principles, edited into Analects by his disciples emphasized the importance of obtaining a moral education; in his canonical《诗经》Book of Songs, the first and perhaps most revered of his texts, Confucius discusses the process of cultivating strong moral character.9

Universal Education: The First Principle of Confucian Education

“If terminology is not corrected, then what is said cannot be followed. If what is said cannot be followed, then work cannot be accomplished. If work cannot be accomplished, then ritual and music cannot be developed. If ritual and music cannot be developed, then criminal punishments will not be appropriate. If criminal punishments are not appropriate, the people cannot make a move. Therefore, the noble man needs to have his terminology applicable to real language, and his speech must accord with his actions. The speech of the noble man cannot be indefinite.”7 知者不惑，仁者不忧，勇者不惧。(Confucian Analects, Translated by James Legge ,1893, chapter 19)8古之欲明明德于天下者，先治其国；欲治其国者，先齐其家；欲齐其家者，先修其身；欲修其身者，先正其心；欲正其心者，先诚其意；欲诚其意者，先致其知，致知在格物。物格而后知至，知至而后意诚，意诚而后心正，心正而后身修，身修而后家齐，家齐而后国治，国治而后天下平。 “From ancient times, those who want to promote great virtue to the world, first need to govern their states; in order to govern their states, they need to first manage their family; in order to manage their family, they need to first improve themselves; in order to improve oneself, they need to regulate their mind; in order to regulate their mind, one needs to maintain sincere intention; in order to maintain sincere intention, one needs to exhaust one's knowledge; in order to exhaust one's knowledge, one needs to study the essence of the physical world. Study the physical world, learn everything you can learn, be sincere with your intentions and regulate your mind; with your mind at the right place, you'll be able to improve yourself. After you improve yourself, you can manage your family, after your family is managed, you can govern your states and bring justice and virtue to the World.”9 The Classic of Poetry, also Shijing translated variously as the Book of Songs, Book of Odes, or simply known as the Odes or Poetry ( 詩) is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. It is one of the "Five Classics" compiled by Confucius.

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For most of Chinese history prior to Confucius, education had been restricted to the aristocratic elite. For example, under the Zhou Dynasty (1046-250 BCE)10, only politically distinguished families could afford schools located in government offices and taught by officials. General education was a privilege for the nobility rather than a right for the commoner, and few teachers existed outside of bureaucratic circles.

Confucius rejected the ruling class’ monopoly on education by proposing that it be transformed into a public good. He emphasized the importance of educational equity in individual and societal development; such a system represented a radical shift from the political ideology, which held education as an aristocratic privilege. Confucius took a democratic approach to education, believing that effective teaching should address the differences in individual talents and abilities.11

Although there would be significant barriers to implementing such a system on a broader scale, Confucius set an important precedent when he declared his teaching “open to everyone, without distinction.”12 It is of great significance in the world education for it opened the path for common people to receive education.

Meritocracy: The Second Principle of Confucian Education

One of the earliest examples of administrative meritocracy can be traced to the Ancient Chinese civil service examination system.13 The Chinese civil service examination system was used in

10 The Zhou Dynasty (周朝 ) was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty. The Zhou dynasty was the longest dynasty in Chinese history.11 Marsha Elaine Covington, Great teachers on teaching adults : comparison of philosophy and practice from antiquity to the present, A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education, Montana State University, © Copyright by Marsha Elaine Covington (1997)

12 Colin Power, The Power of Education: Education for All, Development, Globalisation and UNESCO (Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects), Springer 2014, p.185.13 Michael Kazin, Rebecca Edwards and Adam Rothman, The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History Volume 2. Princeton University Press, 2010, p.142. One of the oldest examples of a merit-based civil service system existed in the imperial bureaucracy of China. Chung Tan and Yinzheng Geng, India and China: twenty centuries of civilization interaction and vibrations, University of Michigan Press, 2005, p. 128. China not only produced the world's first "bureaucracy", but also the world's first "meritocracy." Melvin Konner, Unsettled: anthropology of the Jews, Viking Compass, 2003, p. 217. China is the world's oldest meritocracy. Konner, Melvin,

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Han dynasty stone tablet dated 175AD, originally displayed at the Imperial Confucian Academy at Luoyang. It contains the text of one of the books of the Confucian canon.


imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. Confucius had advocated for the use of these examinations because they enabled the selection of statesmen based on merit rather than inheritance,14 thereby cementing education as the key for social mobility.15 The civil service

examination system became institutionalized during the Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) as a way for the government to maintain power over a large, sprawling empire overseen by a complex network of officials.16

The following Han Dynasty (206 BC-220AD) adopted Confucianism as the basis of its political philosophy. The Han Dynasty expanded upon their Qin predecessors by further dividing the civil service exams into three levels: local, provincial, and national. To prepare for these exams, young men rigorously studied music, archery, horsemanship,

arithmetic, and rituals; these disciplines would later also encompass military strategy, law, taxation, geography, and the Confucian classics.

The ideals embodied by the civil service exam spread from China to British India during the seventeenth century, before eventually venturing into continental Europe and the United States.17 The British East India Company was the first European institution that used civil service-style exams to promote its employees. The concept of meritocracy, which reached intellectuals in the West during the Enlightenment, offered an attractive alternative to the traditional European aristocratic regime. Voltaire (1694-1778), one of the great leaders of the Enlightenment, and Francois Quesnay (1694-1774) wrote favorably of the idea; Quesnay advocated for an economic and political system modeled after that of the Chinese, and Voltaire even went so far as to claim that the Chinese had “perfected moral science.”18

Unsettled: anthropology of the Jews, Viking Compass, 2003, p. 217. 14 Thomas J Sienkewicz, Encyclopedia of the Ancient World, Salem Press, 2003, p. 43415 Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper, Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, p. 51.16 Ibid.

17 Michael Kazin, Rebecca Edwards and Adam Rothman,, The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History Volume 2. Princeton University Press, 2010 p.142.18 Schwarz, Bill, The Expansion of England: Race, Ethnicity and Cultural History. Psychology Pres, 1996, p.229

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Confucian Curriculum

The Confucian curriculum was well-structured and progressive to facilitate the synthesis of a variety of subjects. The curriculum was broad and holistic, integrating six skills consisting of Li (礼, Rites), Yue (乐, Music), She (射, Archery), Yu (御, chariot driving), Shu (书, Calligraphy),

and Shu (数, Mathematics). Confucius considered these arts to be interconnected, mutually reinforcing, and practice-oriented, and imparted them through a nine-year program that “systematically introduced students to a values-centered, rounded, and comprehensive curriculum.” According to the program, students would first train their “learning aspirations” and ability to analyze texts, before developing the ability to work effectively with others. In later years, students would engage in ongoing dialogues with teachers and peers.19

Education in Colonial North America

In American colonies during the eighteenth century, the education patterns followed the examples set by British tradition. Children were primarily educated in their homes, though some towns might have also offered “dame schools provided by a woman of the town.” Formal schools, while uncommon, were not unheard of—the Boston Latin School was founded in 1635, while the Mather School opened in Massachusetts in 1639.20 These academies, typically supported by wealthy parents, would often teach the classics in Greek and Latin. The goal of most education was to provide basic literacy, especially for the purpose of reading the Bible.

In the New England colonies, it was commonplace for wealthy colonists to hire tutors for their sons. Alternatively, such boys might have been sent to regional schools for the social elite.21 The Southern colonies followed similar patterns, whereby families assumed the responsibilities of educating their own children and sometimes collaborated to set up communal “field schools.”

19 Charlene Tan, Confucianism and Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Educational Theories and Philosophies, Online Publication, Nov 2017 http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-226 20 The Mather School is marking 375 years of public education; NYPD's Bratton, an alumnus, to speak at assembly | Dorchester Reporter". www.dotnews.com. Retrieved 2017-02-14.21 Kevein R. G. Gutzman, Thomas Jefferson Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2017, p.198.

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http://www.dotnews.com/2014/mather-school-marking-375-years-public-education-nypd-s-bratton-alumnu

http://www.dotnews.com/2014/mather-school-marking-375-years-public-education-nypd-s-bratton-alumnu

http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-226

http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-226


There were only about ten grammar schools in Georgia by 1770, most of which were taught by ministers; local newspapers also showed advertisements for private teachers.22

The colonial education system often drew from British influences. Most schoolbooks from the period were either imported from England or based on English texts: for example, The New England Primer, one of the most widespread educational texts, was reprinted from the English Protestant Tutor. Furthermore, pupils who continued formal education would typically attend Latin Grammar Schools, which were described as “direct copies” of their European counterparts.23

Thomas Jefferson’s Educational Revolution

Thomas Jefferson had long been unsatisfied with the state of the colonial education system. He would often lament to his fellow Founding Father, John Adams, that the post-revolutionary youths “acquired all learning in their mothers’ wombs.” 24 The current system was inadequate at imparting upon youths the foundation necessary for serious academic and intellectual pursuits. Jefferson saw a preponderance of petty academics sprouting upon across the nation, “where one or two men, possessing Latin, and sometimes Greek, a knowledge of the globes, and the first six books of Euclid, imagine and communicate this as the sum of science.”25

Jefferson believed that the independence won through the American Revolution would be short-lived unless the citizens of the new nation could be “enlightened to a certain degree” such that they could be “safe depositories of their own [liberties].” 26 As such, Jefferson believed that educational reform was necessary; he committed to transforming the schooling system within his home state of Virginia, and eventually the entire nation. However, any proposals for improving education were daunting, especially for a fledgling nation in the wake of a prolonged domestic

22 Arthur, Linda L. (2000). "A New Look at Schooling and Literacy: The Colony of Georgia". Georgia Historical Quarterly, 84 (4): 563–588.23 John E. Wise, The History of Education: An Analysis Survey From the Age of Homer to the Present, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1964, P.34624 Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, July 5, 1814.25 Ibid.26 Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805

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war for independence. The diversity of the new nation from both a cultural and geographical perspective compounded the difficulties of establishing an effective and unified school system.27

Jefferson began to develop his thoughts on the American education system when he served in the Virginia legislature in 1779. By 1820, he had formulated his views through four bills proposed to the General Assembly of Virginia (1779); a Bill for Establishing a System of Public Education (1817); his Rockfish Gap Report (1818); and in a series of letters to correspondents that included Peter Carr, John Banister and John Adams. The consistent theme of all of Jefferson’s works and musings was to promote educational equality and improve quality across the nation.

The promotion of educational equity and improvement of educationalquality in ChinaThe promotion of educational equity and improvement of educationalquality in ChinaThe promotion of educational equity and improvement of educational27 Benjamin Justice, A Window to the Past: What an Easy Contest Reveals about Early American Education, American Educator, Summer 2015, p.33.

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quality in ChinaThe promotion of educational equity and improvement of educationalquality in ChinaIn 1779, Jefferson submitted the Bill for More General Diffusion of Knowledge to the Virginia State Legislature. This bill proposed a novel education system that would provide three years of general education for all “free children,” regardless of gender. In 1781, Jefferson further documented his educational plan in the Notes on the State of Virginia, in which he expressed his belief that all children should receive an education. Some scholars have noted that these notes were “the most important scientific and political book written by an American before 1785.” 28

Jefferson’s proposals typically followed several key themes. In particular, he believed that basic education should be available for all; that the talented should be able to pursue higher education through public support; and that education was critical for the individual and public good. Below, we consider Jefferson’s principles in greater depth.

Education: the Vehicle for Instilling or Strengthening Virtue

Like Confucius, Jefferson viewed education as a vehicle for instilling and strengthening moral character.29 Jefferson sought to reduce the role of the national government in its citizens’ lives, but an effective system of limited governance would require an educational system that cultivated positive virtues and character. The education system would effectively replace the government’s role in establishing order by imparting the knowledge and moral aptitude necessary for self-governance. Jefferson stressed the importance of education in cultivating moral virtues and protecting against the “germ of corruption.”30

28 Fawn M. Brodie, Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 1974, P.151.29 James Carpenter, The Complexity of Thomas Jefferson A Response to “’The Diffusion of Light’: Jefferson’s Philosophy of Education” in Democracy & Education, vol 22,2014 no- 130 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia. Edited by William Peden, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1954.

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As Jefferson noted in his Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia, education enabled citizens “to form…habits of reflection and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others and of happiness within themselves”: 31

"[In a republic, according to Montesquieu in Spirit of the Laws, IV, ch.5,] 'virtue may be defined as the love of the laws and of our country. As such love requires a constant preference of public to private interest, it is the source of all private virtue; for they are nothing more than this very preference itself... Now a government is like everything else: to preserve it we must love it... Everything, therefore, depends on establishing this love in a republic; and to inspire it ought to be the principal business of education; but the surest way of instilling it into children is for parents to set them an example.'32".

Jefferson Promoted Universal Education and Merit System

From 1779 until his death in 1826, Jefferson would repeatedly emphasize the importance of universal education and meritocracy. He maintained that all citizens, regardless of wealth, should have the same right to basic general education. To provide education to the poor and uneducated, Jefferson proposed a system of public schools subsidized through tax revenues. He believed that such a system would provide each citizen with “an education proportioned to the conditions and pursuits of his life.”33 Basic learning would be important in allowing each man to judge and vote intelligently on matters of regional and national importance.34

During Jefferson’s stay in Paris between 1781 and 1785, he corresponded with George Washington about his first education bill, which had made limited progress in the Virginia legislature since its introduction in 1779. Jefferson would repeatedly express the importance of a universal education system, once telling Washington, “It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction.”35

The Founders' ConstitutionVolume 1, Chapter 18, Document 16http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s16.htmlThe University of Chicago Press31G. C. Lee, ed., Crusade against ignorance: Thomas Jefferson on education (5th Ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press., 1967, p.11832 Thomas Jefferson: copied into his Commonplace Book33 Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 7 September 1814 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-07-02-046234 Thomas Jefferson to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805.

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The general objective of Jefferson's educational scheme was to provide instruction adapted to each student’s skills and ability to learn. Most students would receive a practical education that provides basic literacy and understanding of society. This basic system of education would ensure that citizens were educated enough to fulfill their needs and be sufficient for political participation. After graduating from

general education, students would be expected to pursue vocations: girls would learn homemaking from their mothers, while boys would learn trade skills from their fathers or through apprenticeships.36

For pupils who demonstrated evidence of belonging to the “learned class,” however, elementary education would serve as the foundation for further study. These boys, to whom “nature endowed with genius and virtue," would require more advanced preparation to qualify them for their varied pursuits and duties in a republican society.37 Jefferson expressed his desire for a merit system in which the “highest degrees of education” would be “given to the [highest] degrees of genius.”38 A secondary education system would be implemented to ensure that the talented and virtuous, and not simply the wealthy and wellborn, would have opportunities to become statesmen. Jefferson summarized this part of his plan in his Notes on the State of Virginia, written in 1781:

"By... [selecting] the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use if not sought for and cultivated."39

In the early 1800s, Jefferson discussed a more elaborate educational proposal with John Adams. Jefferson described three tiers of students within his proposed scheme: the first consisted of students who developed basic literacy and arithmetic skills, the second of pupils who would 35 Thomas Jefferson, To George Washington, Paris Jan. 4. 1785 http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-09-02-0135 36 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia with Related Documents ed.by Davide Waldstreicher, Bedford/St. Martin’s Boston and New York, 2002, p.182-185.37 Jeff Sparagana, The Educational Theory of Thomas Jefferson, http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Jefferson.html 38Thomas Jefferson, From Thomas Jefferson to Mann Page, 30 August 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-28-02-0347. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 28, 1 January 1794 – 29 February 1796, ed. John Catanzariti. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, pp. 440–441.]39 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, p.182.

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''Notes on The State of Virginia'', published by Wilson & Blackwell: Trenton: 1803.

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receive higher education at the public expense, and the third of the brightest pupils who would learn “all the useful sciences” in universities.40 Jefferson expanded his idea further in A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge:

And whereas it is generally true that that people will be happiest whose laws are best, and are best administered, and that laws will be wisely formed, and honestly administered, in proportion as those who form and administer them are wise and honest; whence it becomes expedient for promoting the publick happiness that those persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens, and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or other accidental condition or circumstance; but the indigence of the greater number disabling them from so educating, at their own expence, those of their children whom nature hath fitly formed and disposed to become useful instruments for the public, it is better that such should be sought for and educated at the common expence of all, than that the happiness of all should be confided to the weak or wicked:41

Jefferson ultimately hoped to replace the aristocracy of wealth with a “natural aristocracy” based on virtue and talent. In his autobiography, Jefferson charged that the former brought “more harm and danger than benefit to society,” and reasoned that the latter was “essential to a well-ordered republic.”42 He believed that replacing the monopoly of education opportunities was crucial for the “development of…a free society for people to have open minds,” and sought to establish an accompanying merit system that rewarded intellectual ability rather than birthright.43

40 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 28 Oct. 1813, The Founders' Constitution Volume 1, Chapter 15, Document 61. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s61.htmlThe University of Chicago PressThe Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Edited by Lester J. Cappon. 2 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1959.41 A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, 18 June 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0132-0004-0079. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2, 1777 – 18 June 1779, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp. 526–535.]42 Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in The Founders' Constitution, Volume 1, Chapter 15, Document 20http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s20.htmlThe University of Chicago PressThe Works of Thomas Jefferson. Collected and edited by Paul Leicester Ford. Federal Edition. 12 vols. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904--5.43 Dustin Hornbeck, Seeking Civic Virtue: Two Views of the Philosophy and History of Federalism in U.S. Education, in Journal of Thought, Fall-Winter 2017 P.62.

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Jefferson wanted to replace the heritage aristocracies that had existed in the European tradition with the natural aristocracies that would form out of ability. On the one hand, he introduced a universal education system, and on other hand, he planned to choose students according to their talents. Jefferson rather than advocated universal K-12 education, but sought to identify the best students at several levels and provides additional education to just the "most promising subjects."44 Jefferson believed that merit would surface unless it was stifled by a system of class and privilege upheld by law.45

Jefferson’s Curriculum: European Classics, History, Modern Language and Science

Jefferson recommended a curriculum with specific focus on Roman and Greek literature, which likely reflected his affinity for the subjects stemming from his own childhood education. Many of Jefferson’s contemporaries would have begun learning the classical languages by age eight; Jefferson himself started school when he was five, and was studying Latin, Greek, and French around age nine. He would later continue his studies of history, science, and philosophy at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg.

Drawing from his own experiences, Jefferson further prescribed a curriculum emphasizing science, history, and other practical skillsets. He also proposed that public school students learn the secular sciences rather than the Bible. While seemingly controversial, this suggestion was not unique: during this time, Benjamin Franklin had also expressed a desire to transform the “narrow, humanistic-religious-philosophical” American educational system into a modern structure focused on languages and sciences.46

Jefferson found value in providing the strongest students with a generalist education before having them specialize in any particular field. He noted that the subjects of American education should further include “classical knowledge, modern languages, chiefly French, Spanish, and

44 . National Park Service, Thomas Jefferson's Plan for the University of Virginia: Lessons from the Lawn, "Reading 1: Education as the Keystone to the New Democracy," www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/92uva/92facts1.htm (last checked February 20, 2006)45 Willard Sterne Randall, Thomas Jefferson: A Life, A John Macrace Boook, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1993, P.288.46 William K. Medlin, The History of Educational Ideas in the West, The Center for Applied Research in Education, Inc, New York, 1964, P.108.

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Italian; Mathematics, Natural philosophy, Natural history, Civil history, and Ethics.”47 He explained his rationale for developing such a broad knowledge base to his friend, W.C. Rives: "Nothing can be sounder than your view of the importance of laying a broad foundation in other branches of knowledge whereon to raise the superstructure of any particular science... Science is more important in a republic than in any other government.”48

Jefferson’s ideal curriculum incorporated European classical influences while simultaneously emphasizing the development of modern skills necessary to foster the development of the fledgling nation.

Jefferson’s Educational Reform were based on Confucian Educational Principles

In developing his educational principles, Jefferson was significantly influenced by the “experience of other ages and countries”; in his mind, ideas were “like fire…not to be confined in one country or on one continent.”49 Although he was influenced by his own European upbringing, Jefferson recognized the flaws of the old system and opposed sending promising American youth to study overseas. Jefferson perceived a European education as detrimental to one’s knowledge, morals, health, habits, and happiness.50 He stated:

Let us view the disadvantages of sending a youth to Europe. To enumerate them all would require a volume. I will select a few. If he goes to England he learns drinking, horse-racing and boxing. These are the peculiarities of English education. The following circumstances are common to education in that and the other countries of Europe. He acquires a fondness for European luxury and dissipation and a contempt for the simplicity of his own country; he is fascinated with the

47 Thomas Jefferson to John Banister, Jr., 15 October 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-08-02-0499. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 8, 25 February–31 October 1785, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953, pp. 635–638.]48 Robert A. Gross, Mary Kelley ed., A history of the book in America. Volume 2, An extensive republic: print, culture, and society in the new nation, 1790-1840, Chapel Hill : published in association with the American Antiquarian Society by The University of North Carolina Press, ©2010, p. 25049 D. H. Myer, The Uniqueness of the American Enlightenment, in American Quarterly, Vol.28, No. 2, Summer 1976, p.23.50 From Thomas Jefferson to John Banister, Jr., 15 October 1785, Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-08-02-0499. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 8, 25 February–31 October 1785, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953, pp. 635–638.]

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privileges of the European aristocrats, and sees with abhorrence the lovely equality which the poor enjoys with the rich in his own country: he contracts a partiality for aristocracy or monarchy; he forms foreign friendships which will never be useful to him, and loses the season of life for forming in his own country those friendships which of all others are the most faithful and permanent: he is led by the strongest of all the human passions into a spirit for female intrigue destructive of his own and others happiness, or a passion for whores destructive of his health, and in both cases learns to consider fidelity to the marriage bed as an ungentlemanly practice and inconsistent with happiness: he recollects the voluptuary dress and arts of the European women and pities and despises the chaste affections and simplicity of those of his own country; he retains thro’ life a fond recollection and a hankering after those places which were the scenes of his first pleasures and of his first connections; he returns to his own country, a foreigner, unacquainted with the practices of domestic œconomy necessary to preserve him from ruin; speaking and writing his native tongue as a foreigner, and therefore unqualified to obtain those distinctions which eloquence of the pen and tongue ensures in a free country;51

Several other Founding Fathers corroborated Jefferson’s distaste of the European system. For instance, Franklin also scorned European luxury52 and claimed that a European upbringing would make an American “suspect to [his] own people.”53

Although China was physically remote to the fledgling nation, Chinese cultural forces loomed large in the minds of the Founding Fathers. It is likely that Jefferson sought some guidance from the principles of Confucian education when he considered reforms to the American system. Like Confucius, Jefferson sought to distinguish between laborers and the learned aristocracy by merit rather than birth or inherited wealth.54 Also similar to Confucius, Jefferson believed that an ignorant citizenry would eventually succumb to tyranny. Jefferson proposed a democratic, merit-based system in which education was provided equitably based on an individual talent; by creating an educational system with high standards, Jefferson hoped to strengthen the foundations of democracy within his new nation. Scholars have identified similarities between

51 Ibid. 52 D. H. Myer, The Uniqueness of the American Enlightenment, in American Quarterly, Vol.28, No. 2, Summer 1976, p.173.53 Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to Present, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000, P.40854 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 28 Oct. 1813, The Founders' Constitution Volume 1, Chapter 15, Document 61. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s61.htmlThe University of Chicago PressThe Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Edited by Lester J. Cappon. 2 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1959.

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Jefferson’s proposed system and the Chinese civil service examinations, describing the former as the “keystone of the arch of our government.” 55

Jefferson was also inspired by Enlightenment philosophies, which were themselves influenced by Confucianism. For example, during the Enlightenment period, European scholars discovered that the Chinese had already virtually abolished hereditary aristocracy. French and British anti-monarchists would draw from this precedent in their own quest to abolish hereditary privilege, thereby leveraging Confucianism to promote the rebirth of European democracy.56

Jefferson served as an American diplomat in Paris from 1785 to 1789, which represented one of the centers of the Enlightenment during a period in which it was in full force. Jefferson agreed with the prevailing admiration of Confucius by several leading European intellectuals, including Voltaire. Jefferson was especially drawn to Voltaire and Confucianism; in 1814, Jefferson’s personal library contained a set of Voltaire’s complete works, as well as 8 books related to China.57

In a letter to Adams, Jefferson conveyed his admiration for a meritocratic government system:

I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. the grounds of this are virtue & talents. formerly bodily powers gave place among the aristoi. but since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as well as the strong with missile death, bodily strength, like beauty, good humor, politeness and other accomplishments, has become but an auxiliary ground of distinction. there is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents; for with these it would belong to the first class. the natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature, for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. and indeed it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of the society. 58

The impact of Confucian educational principles was also evident through Jefferson’s praise of Chinese government for its ability to provide “the most effectually for a pure selection of these natural aristoi into the offices of government.”59 Jefferson’s sentiment echoed those of

55 Herrlee Glessner Creel, Confucius: The Man and the Myth, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1951, p.5.56 Ibid., p.98.57 Catalogue of the library of Thomas Jefferson https://www.loc.gov/item/52060000/ 58 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 28 Oct. 1813, The Founders' Constitution Volume 1, Chapter 15, Document 61. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s61.htmlThe University of Chicago PressThe Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Edited by Lester J. Cappon. 2 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1959.59 Ibid.

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https://www.loc.gov/item/52060000/


Enlightenment intellectuals, who admired how the Chinese government was managed by a “group of highly educated scholars” rather than by an inefficient feudal aristocracy.60 These intellectuals were further impressed by what they perceived as checks and balances within the Chinese government, wherein the Chinese emperor was “limited by [the Confucian] political philosophy that the people are the most important element in the state, the sovereign [the least].”61

The late Professor Herrlee G. Creel (1905-1994), a distinguished scholar on Confucius, compared the thoughts of Thomas Jefferson with those of Confucius. According to Dr. Creel, both men "were alike in their impatience with metaphysics, in their concern for the poor as against the rich, in their insistence on basic human equality, in their belief in the essential decency of all men (including savages), and in their appeal not to authority by to 'the head and heart of every honest man."62 Dr. Creel also pointed out, "Jefferson's statement that 'the whole art of government consists in the art of being honest' is amazingly like Analects 12.17, and other such examples could be cited."63

Jefferson’s approval of Confucian educational principles was also based on his knowledge about China, as demonstrated through the various Chinese influences within his life. In addition to owning several books on Chinese culture at a time when China remained a distant entity, Jefferson had also drawn from Chinese architecture when designing the grounds of his Virginian home, Monticello. Jefferson had also once included a poem from the Confucian classics in his journal, demonstrating his familiarity with the scholarly works. Therefore, although limited direct records exist of the extent to which Jefferson studied Confucianism, there is enough piecemeal evidence to indicate that he was influenced by Chinese cultural works.”64

60 Derk Bodde, CHINESE IDEAS IN THE WEST Prepared by Professor for the Committee on Asiatic Studies in American Education Reprinted with permission in China: A Teaching Workbook, Asia for Educators, Columbia University, http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/html/state/ideas.pdf 61孟子, 盡心章句下（十四）孟子曰：民為貴，社稷次之，君為輕。 The Works of Mencius, Book 7, Part 2 http://nothingistic.org/library/mencius/mencius54.html62 Herrlee G. Creel, Confucius: The Man and the Myth, John Day, 1949, p.98. 63 Edward L. Shaughnessy, Confucius and the University of Chicago: Of Myths and Men, June 2010 http://cccp.uchicago.edu/downloads/Confucius_and_the_University_of_Chicago.pdf 64“In the Book of Poetry, it is said, “Profound was king Wen. With how bright and unceasing a feeling of reverence did he regard his resting places!” As a sovereign, he rested in benevolence. As a minister, he rested in reverence. As a son, he rested in filial piety. As a father, he rested in kindness. In communication with his subjects, he rested in good faith. 《詩》云：“瞻彼淇澳，菉竹猗猗。有斐君子，如切如磋，如琢如磨。瑟兮僩兮，赫兮喧兮。有斐君子，終不可諠兮！

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http://cccp.uchicago.edu/downloads/Confucius_and_the_University_of_Chicago.pdf

http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/html/state/ideas.pdf


As Jefferson worked to refine his educational plan, he also searched for manuscripts on China in numerous Paris bookstores. He also sent James Madison a copy of Conquista de la China por el Tartaro por Palafox,65 a book describing topics such as Chinese culture, religion, and mannerisms. Jefferson’s gift to Madison provides further evidence that the former had significant familiarity with China.

Jefferson must have found that the Manchu, who occupied China, expressed their respect for Chinese merit system and the officials selected by the system recorded by the book, the Manchu (Tartars) “kept up the Dignity of Calao* and Mandorin; but none at∣tain thereto, but by Merit and Electi∣on; and these ought all to be persons of high Reputation and Merit, of which the Tartars would be first well satisfied and informed.”66

In the meantime, the Chinese intellectual power must be left very deep impression on Jefferson when he pushed his educational revolution. In the book he read that in 1647 “there were above three hundred Scholars who took the degree of Doctor, in the City of Nanking, as heretofore they did at Peking; and above 600. Others were admitted as Licentiates, besides a great number of those who took the degree of Bachelor. It is not in Europe only, that there is such store of Doctors and Bachelors.”67

Summary

65 Douglas L. Wilson and Lucia Stanton ed., Jefferson Abroad, The Modern Library, New York, 1999, P.27.Jefferson bought was 1732 French edition. The book was written in Spanish by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (June 26, 1600 – October 1, 1659), a Spanish politician, administrator, and Catholic clergyman in 17th century Spain and viceregal Mexico. His Historia de la conquista de la China por el Tartaro (History of the Conquest of China by the Tartars) reported on the conquest of the Ming China by the Manchus, based on reports that reached Mexico by the way of the Philippines. The work was first published in Spanish in Paris in 1670; a French translation appeared the same year. An English translation, whose full title was The History of the Conquest of China by the Tartars together with an Account of Several Remarkable things, Concerning the Religion, Manners, and Customs of Both Nation's, but especially the Latter, appeared in London in 1676. Palafox's work, based on hearsay, was generally less informed than De bello tartarico, an eyewitness account by the Chinese-speaking Jesuit Martino Martini66 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, The history of the conquest of China by the Tartars together with an account of several remarkable things concerning the religion, manners, and customes of both nations, but especially the latter 1600-1659, p.482. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A54677.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext 67 Ibid, pp.503-504.

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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A54677.0001.001/1:4?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A54677.0001.001?id=DLPS2;lvl=1;note=inline;rgn=div1;view=trgt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martino_Martini

http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~283291~120756:The-history-of-the-conquest-of-Chin



http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k574970

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchu_people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Ming_Dynasty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain


Jefferson’s educational revolution was ultimately idealistic for its time; Confucian educational principles were not widely acknowledged or accepted within the fledgling nation, and several of Jefferson’s contemporaries considered him part of “the dissenting tradition in American education.” 68 Jefferson was regarded as a “visionary and a dreamer,” 69 and his 1779 Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge was deemed too foreign for the Virginia House of Delegates.

Jefferson dreamed of creating an “aristocracy of worth and genius” 70 through a merit system that would replace the European monarchial tradition. He believed that only a well-educated populace would be able to maintain the hard-won independence that he had helped achieve from England. In thinking about the curricula of his education system, Jefferson designed holistic syllabi that drew from Roman and Greek classics, history, and science; he believed that by combining the Confucian educational principles with traditional European literature and modern scientific knowledge, he could cultivate productive future generations of United States citizens.

While Jefferson himself experienced little success to show for his efforts, his vision for American education eventually became a reality in the 1850s. Jefferson was influential as the starting point of this gradual movement, and later generations would build upon the foundation he set. For example, scholars, such as Dustin Hornbeck, have acknowledged the role of Horace Mann, the first superintendent of public schools in Massachusetts, in carrying on Jefferson’s efforts to transform American education.71

However, although Jefferson’s specific vision of education was ahead of its time, his general sentiments were consistent with the political and ideological climate within America. Many of the new nation’s intellectual elite rejected the “luxury and corruption” of the Old World and sought to drive “rapid improvement in all of the arts that embellish human nature.” 72

Jefferson’s educational principles were part of a broader ideological shift that replaced the historic Western emphasis on birthright with systems of merit-based succession. His efforts 68 Perry L. Glanzer, The Dissenting Tradition in American Education, in American Educational History Journal, Vol. 35, Number 2, 2008, p.393..69 Richard Hofstadter, “About the Anti-Intellectualism in American Life”, in Heinz-D. Fischer, ed., The Puliter Prize Archive, Part C: Nonfiction Literature Vol. 9, General Nonfiction Award 1962 – 1993, January 1, 1995, P.27.70 Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. MW 1:54.71 Dustin Hornbeck, Seeking Civic Virtue: Two Views of the Philosophy and History of Federalism in U.S. Education, in Journal of Thought, Fall-Winter 2017 p.62.72 Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009, p.545

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contributed the emergence of a “[distinct] American character with new sets of values,”73 one that was further removed from its European roots and was prepared to craft its own national identity.

73 John E. Wise, The History of Education: An Analysis Survey From the Age of Homer to the Present, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1964, P.350,

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Appendix One

A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, 18 June 1779

Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes; And whereas it is generally true that that people will be happiest whose laws are best, and are best administered, and that laws will be wisely formed, and honestly administered, in proportion as those who form and administer them are wise and honest; whence it becomes expedient for promoting the publick happiness that those persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens, and that they should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or other accidental condition or circumstance; but the indigence of the greater number disabling them from so educating, at their own expence, those of their children whom nature hath fitly formed and disposed to become useful instruments for the public, it is better that such should be sought for and educated at the common expence of all, than that the happiness of all should be confided to the weak or wicked:

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, that in every county within this commonwealth, there shall be chosen annually, by the electors qualified to vote for Delegates, three of the most honest and able men of their county, to be called the Aldermen of the county; and that the election of the said Aldermen shall be held at the same time and place, before the same persons, and notified and conducted in the same manner as by law is directed for the annual election of Delegates for the county.

The person before whom such election is holden shall certify to the court of the said county the names of the Aldermen chosen, in order that the same may be entered of record, and shall give notice of their election to the said Aldermen within a fortnight after such election.

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The said Aldermen on the first Monday in October, if it be fair, and if not, then on the next fair day, excluding Sunday, shall meet at the court-house of their county, and proceed to divide their said county into hundreds, bounding the same by water courses, mountains, or limits, to be run and marked, if they think necessary, by the county surveyor, and at the county expence, regulating the size of the said hundreds, according to the best of their discretion, so as that they may contain a convenient number of children to make up a school, and be of such convenient size that all the children within each hundred may daily attend the school to be established therein, distinguishing each hundred by a particular name; which division, with the names of the several hundreds, shall be returned to the court of the county and be entered of record, and shall remain unaltered until the increase or decrease of inhabitants shall render an alteration necessary, in the opinion of any succeeding Aldermen, and also in the opinion of the court of the county.

The electors aforesaid residing within every hundred shall meet on the third Monday in October after the first election of Aldermen, at such place, within their hundred, as the said Aldermen shall direct, notice thereof being previously given to them by such person residing within the hundred as the said Aldermen shall require who is hereby enjoined to obey such requisition, on pain of being punished by amercement and imprisonment. The electors being so assembled shall choose the most convenient place within their hundred for building a school-house. If two or more places, having a greater number of votes than any others, shall yet be equal between themselves, the Aldermen, or such of them as are not of the same hundred, on information thereof, shall decide between them. The said Aldermen shall forthwith proceed to have a school-house built at the said place, and shall see that the same be kept in repair, and, when necessary, that it be rebuilt; but whenever they shall think necessary that it be rebuilt, they shall give notice as before directed, to the electors of the hundred to meet at the said school-house, on such day as they shall appoint, to determine by vote, in the manner before directed, whether it shall be rebuilt at the same, or what other place in the hundred.

At every of these schools shall be taught reading, writing, and common arithmetick, and the books which shall be used therein for instructing the children to read shall be such as will at the same time make them acquainted with Græcian, Roman, English, and American history. At these schools all the free children, male and female, resident within the respective hundred, shall be intitled to receive tuition gratis, for the term of three years, and as much longer, at their private expence, as their parents, guardians or friends, shall think proper.

Over every ten of these schools (or such other number nearest thereto, as the number of hundreds in the county will admit, without fractional divisions) an overseer shall be appointed annually by the Aldermen at their first meeting, eminent for his learning, integrity, and fidelity to the

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commonwealth, whose business and duty it shall be, from time to time, to appoint a teacher to each school, who shall give assurance of fidelity to the commonwealth, and to remove him as he shall see cause; to visit every school once in every half year at the least; to examine the schollars; see that any general plan of reading and instruction recommended by the visiters of William and Mary College shall be observed; and to superintend the conduct of the teacher in every thing relative to his school.

Every teacher shall receive a salary of by the year, which, with the expences of building and repairing the schoolhouses, shall be provided in such manner as other county expences are by law directed to be provided and shall also have his diet, lodging, and washing found him, to be levied in like manner, save only that such levy shall be on the inhabitants of each hundred for the board of their own teacher only.

And in order that grammar schools may be rendered convenient to the youth in every part of the commonwealth, Be it farther enacted, that on the first Monday in November, after the first appointment of overseers for the hundred schools, if fair, and if not, then on the next fair day, excluding Sunday, after the hour of one in the afternoon, the said overseers appointed for the schools in the counties of Princess Ann, Norfolk, Nansemond and Isle-of-Wight, shall meet at Nansemond court house; those for the counties of Southampton, Sussex, Surry and Prince George, shall meet at Sussex court-house; those for the counties of Brunswick, Mecklenburg and Lunenburg, shall meet at Lunenburg court-house; those for the counties of Dinwiddie, Amelia and Chesterfield, shall meet at Chesterfield court-house; those for the counties of Powhatan, Cumberland, Goochland, Henrico and Hanover, shall meet at Henrico court-house; those for the counties of Prince Edward, Charlotte and Halifax, shall meet at Charlotte court-house; those for the counties of Henry, Pittsylvania and Bedford, shall meet at Pittsylvania court-house; those for the counties of Buckingham, Amherst, Albemarle and Fluvanna, shall meet at Albemarle courthouse; those for the counties of Botetourt, Rockbridge, Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky, shall meet at Botetourt courthouse; those for the counties of Augusta, Rockingham and Greenbrier, shall meet at Augusta court-house; those for the counties of Accomack and Northampton, shall meet at Accomack court-house; those for the counties of Elizabeth City, Warwick, York, Gloucester, James City, Charles City and New-Kent, shall meet at James City court-house; those for the counties of Middlesex, Essex, King and Queen, King William and Caroline, shall meet at King and Queen court-house; those for the counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland, shall meet at Richmond court-house; those for the counties of King George, Stafford, Spot-sylvania, Prince William and Fairfax, shall meet at Spotsylvania court-house; those for the counties of Loudoun and Fauquier, shall meet at

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Loudoun court-house; those for the counties of Culpeper, Orange and Louisa, shall meet at Orange court-house; those for the counties of Shenandoah and Frederick, shall meet at Frederick court-house; those for the counties of Hampshire and Berkeley, shall meet at Berkeley court-house; and those for the counties of Yohogania, Monongalia and Ohio, shall meet at Monongalia courthouse; and shall fix on such place in some one of the counties in their district as shall be most proper for situating a grammar school-house, endeavouring that the situation be as central as may be to the inhabitants of the said counties, that it be furnished with good water, convenient to plentiful supplies of provision and fuel, and more than all things that it be healthy. And if a majority of the overseers present should not concur in their choice of any one place proposed, the method of determining shall be as follows: If two places only were proposed, and the votes be divided, they shall decide between them by fair and equal lot; if more than two places were proposed, the question shall be put on those two which on the first division had the greater number of votes; or if no two places had a greater number of votes than the others, as where the votes shall have been equal between one or both of them and some other or others, then it shall be decided by fair and equal lot (unless it can be agreed by a majority of votes) which of the places having equal numbers shall be thrown out of the competition, so that the question shall be put on the remaining two, and if on this ultimate question the votes shall be equally divided, it shall then be decided finally by lot.

The said overseers having determined the place at which the grammar school for their district shall be built, shall forthwith (unless they can otherwise agree with the proprietors of the circumjacent lands as to location and price) make application to the clerk of the county in which the said house is to be situated, who shall thereupon issue a writ, in the nature of a writ of ad quod damnum, directed to the sheriff of the said county commanding him to summon and impannel twelve fit persons to meet at the place, so destined for the grammar school house, on a certain day, to be named in the said writ, not less than five, nor more than ten, days from the date thereof; and also to give notice of the same to the proprietors and tenants of the lands to be viewed, if they be to be found within the county, and if not, then to their agents therein if any they have. Which freeholders shall be charged by the said sheriff impartially, and to the best of their skill and judgment to view the lands round about the said place, and to locate and circumscribe, by certain metes and bounds, one hundred acres thereof, having regard therein principally to the benefit and convenience of the said school, but respecting in some measure also the convenience of the said proprietors, and to value and appraise the same in so many several and distinct parcels as shall be owned or held by several and distinct owners or tenants, and according to their respective interests and estates therein. And after such location and appraisement so made, the said sheriff shall forthwith return the same under the hands and seals

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of the said jurors, together with the writ, to the clerk’s office of the said county and the right and property of the said proprietors and tenants in the said lands so circumscribed shall be immediately devested and be transferred to the commonwealth for the use of the said grammar school, in full and absolute dominion, any want of consent or disability to consent in the said owners or tenants notwithstanding. But it shall not be lawful for the said overseers so to situate the said grammar schoolhouse, nor to the said jurors so to locate the said lands, as to include the mansion-house of the proprietor of the lands, nor the offices, curtilage, or garden, thereunto immediately belonging.

The said overseers shall forthwith proceed to have a house of brick or stone, for the said grammar school, with necessary offices, built on the said lands, which grammar school-house shall contain a room for the school, a hall to dine in, four rooms for a master and usher, and ten or twelve lodging rooms for the scholars.

To each of the said grammar schools shall be allowed out of the public treasury, the sum of pounds, out of which shall be paid by the Treasurer, on warrant from the Auditors, to the proprietors or tenants of the lands located, the value of their several interests as fixed by the jury, and the balance thereof shall be delivered to the said overseers to defray the expence of the said buildings.

In these grammar schools shall be taught the Latin and Greek languages, English grammar, geography, and the higher part of numerical arithmetick, to wit, vulgar and decimal fractions, and the extraction of the square and cube roots.

A visiter from each county constituting the district shall be appointed, by the overseers, for the county, in the month of October annually, either from their own body or from their county at large, which visiters or the greater part of them, meeting together at the said grammar school on the first Monday in November, if fair, and if not, then on the next fair day, excluding Sunday, shall have power to choose their own Rector, who shall call and preside at future meetings, to employ from time to time a master, and if necessary, an usher, for the said school, to remove them at their will, and to settle the price of tuition to be paid by the scholars. They shall also visit the school twice in every year at the least, either together or separately at their discretion, examine the scholars, and see that any general plan of instruction recommended by the visiters of William and Mary College shall be observed. The said masters and ushers, before they enter on the execution of their office, shall give assurance of fidelity to the commonwealth.

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A steward shall be employed, and removed at will by the master, on such wages as the visiters shall direct; which steward shall see to the procuring provisions, fuel, servants for cooking, waiting, house cleaning, washing, mending, and gardening on the most reasonable terms; the expence of which, together with the steward’s wages, shall be divided equally among all the scholars boarding either on the public or private expence. And the part of those who are on private expence, and also the price of their tuitions due to the master or usher, shall be paid quarterly by the respective scholars, their parents, or guardians, and shall be recoverable, if withheld, together with costs, on motion in any Court of Record, ten days notice thereof being previously given to the party, and a jury impannelled to try the issue joined, or enquire of the damages. The said steward shall also, under the direction of the visiters, see that the houses be kept in repair, and necessary enclosures be made and repaired, the accounts for which, shall, from time to time, be submitted to the Auditors, and on their warrant paid by the Treasurer.

Every overseer of the hundred schools shall, in the month of September annually, after the most diligent and impartial examination and enquiry, appoint from among the boys who shall have been two years at the least at some one of the schools under his superintendance, and whose parents are too poor to give them farther education, some one of the best and most promising genius and disposition, to proceed to the grammar school of his district; which appointment shall be made in the court-house of the county, on the court day for that month if fair, and if not, then on the next fair day, excluding Sunday, in the presence of the Aldermen, or two of them at the least, assembled on the bench for that purpose, the said overseer being previously sworn by them to make such appointment, without favor or affection, according to the best of his skill and judgment, and being interrogated by the said Aldermen, either on their own motion, or on suggestions from the parents, guardians, friends, or teachers of the children, competitors for such appointment; which teachers shall attend for the information of the Aldermen. On which interregatories the said Aldermen, if they be not satisfied with the appointment proposed, shall have right to negative it; whereupon the said visiter may proceed to make a new appointment, and the said Aldermen again to interrogate and negative, and so toties quoties until an appointment be approved.

Every boy so appointed shall be authorised to proceed to the grammar school of his district, there to be educated and boarded during such time as is hereafter limited; and his quota of the expences of the house together with a compensation to the master or usher for his tuition, at the rate of twenty dollars by the year, shall be paid by the Treasurer quarterly on warrant from the Auditors.

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A visitation shall be held, for the purpose of probation, annually at the said grammar school on the last Monday in September, if fair, and if not, then on the next fair day, excluding Sunday, at which one third of the boys sent thither by appointment of the said overseers, and who shall have been there one year only, shall be discontinued as public foundationers, being those who, on the most diligent examination and enquiry, shall be thought to be of the least promising genius and disposition; and of those who shall have been there two years, all shall be discontinued, save one only the best in genius and disposition, who shall be at liberty to continue there four years longer on the public foundation, and shall thence forward be deemed a senior.

The visiters for the districts which, or any part of which, be southward and westward of James river, as known by that name, or by the names of Fluvanna and Jackson’s river, in every other year, to wit, at the probation meetings held in the years, distinguished in the Christian computation by odd numbers, and the visiters for all the other districts at their said meetings to be held in those years, distinguished by even numbers, after diligent examination and enquiry as before directed, shall chuse one among the said seniors, of the best learning and most hopeful genius and disposition, who shall be authorised by them to proceed to William and Mary College, there to be educated, boarded, and clothed, three years; the expence of which annually shall be paid by the Treasurer on warrant from the Auditors.

ReportReport of the Committee of Revisors Appointed by the General Assembly of Virginia in MDCCLXXVI, Richmond, 1784, p. 53–5. Surprisingly, no MS copy of this famous Bill has been found and no memoranda or scraps of notes such as TJ left respecting other Bills.

The Acts pertaining to the College of William and Mary fell within Pendleton’s share of the revision, but, as TJ explained in his Autobiography, “We thought that … a systematical plan of general education should be proposed, and I was requested to undertake it. I accordingly prepared three Bills for the Revisal, proposing three distinct grades of education, reaching all classes. 1. Elementary schools for all children generally, rich and poor. 2. Colleges for a middle degree of instruction, calculated for the common purposes of life, and such as would be desirable for all who were in easy circumstances. And 3d. an ultimate grade for teaching the sciences generally, and in their highest degree” (Ford,Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, “Letterpress Edition,” N.Y., 1892–1899I, 66). Within a decade after the work of the Committee of Revisors was begun, TJ regarded the Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge as the most important one in the Report (TJ to George Wythe, 13 Aug. 1786). The exalted declaration of purpose in the preamble remains one of the classic statements of the responsibility of the state in matters of education. But what was new and distinctively Jeffersonian in the Bill was not its advocacy of public education, for in this respect it in fact

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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0132-0004-0079


https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-10-02-0162


envisaged a combined system of public and private education; and, indeed, public education was already in practice and had been for some generations in the systems of common schools of New England. But what was new in the Bill and what stamped its author as a constructive statesman of far-seeing vision was the object of seeking out men of genius and virtue and of rendering them “by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.” This implied the establishment of a ruling élite that would promote public happiness by wisely forming and honestly administering the laws; but, though this never became and possibly could not become an explicit object of any democratic society, the important thing about TJ’s Bill was that those “whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue … should be called to that charge without regard to wealth, birth or other accidental condition or circumstance.” The Bill recognized natural gradations and disparities among men; it saw nothing dangerous or inimical to the liberties of the people in accepting and making use of such a natural aristocracy of virtue and talent; and its unique and revolutionary feature, never yet put into practice by any people, was that, in order to permit such a natural aristocracy to flourish freely, it would remove all economic, social, or other barriers that would interfere with nature’s distribution of genius or virtue. (See TJ’s account of this Bill in Notes on Virginia, Ford,Paul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, “Letterpress Edition,” N.Y., 1892–1899III, 251–5; see also R. J. Honeywell, Educational Work of Thomas Jefferson, Cambridge, Mass., 1931.) A highly interesting contemporary comment on the Bill is that by William Wirt: “Among other wise and highly patriotic bills which are proposed, there is one for the more general diffusion of knowledge. After a preamble, in which the importance of the subject to the republic is most ably and eloquently announced, the bill proposes a simple and beautiful scheme, whereby science (like justice under the institutions of our Alfred) would have been ‘carried to every man’s door.’ Genius, instead of having to break its way through the thick opposing clouds of native obscurity, indigence and ignorance, was to be sought for through every family in the commonwealth; the sacred spark, wherever it was detected, was to be tenderly cherished, fed and fanned into a flame; its innate properties and tendencies were to be developed and examined, and then cautiously and judiciously invested with all the auxiliary energy and radiance of which its character was susceptible. What a plan was here to give stability and solid glory to the republic! If you ask me why it has never been adopted, I answer, that as a foreigner, I can perceive no possible reason for it, except that the comprehensive views and generous patriotism which produced the bill, have not prevailed throughout the country, nor presided in the body on whose vote the adoption of the bill depended. I have new reason to remark it, almost every day, that there is throughout Virginia, a most deplorable destitution of public spirit, of the noble pride and love of country. Unless the body of the people can be awakened from this fatal apathy; unless their thoughts and their feelings can be urged beyond the narrow confines of their own private

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affairs; unless they can be strongly inspired with the public zeal, the amor patriœ of the ancient republics, the national embellishment, and the national grandeur of this opulent state, must be reserved for very distant ages” (William Wirt, Letters of a British Spy, 10th edn., N.Y., 1832, p. 231–2; originally published in 1803).

TJ apparently finished the Bill late in the autumn of 1778, for on 18 Dec. 1778 he wrote to Pendleton about it (his letter is missing, but see Pendleton’s reply under date of 11 May 1779). On 15 Dec. 1778 leave was given by the House for the presentation of a Bill “for the more general diffusion of knowledge,” and Richard Parker and George Mason were ordered to prepare it; the Bill was presented by Parker on the next day, whereupon the House “Ordered, That the public printer do forthwith print and forward four copies of the said act to each county within this Commonwealth” (JHDJournal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia (cited by session and date of publication), Oct. 1778, 1827 edn., p. 117, 120). It is very doubtful whether this order to print the Bill was actually executed; if it was, no copy of it has been found (see Edmund Pendleton to TJ, 11 May 1779 and notes thereon). The Bill was again presented on 12 June 1780, but no further action was taken until, on 31 Oct. 1785, Madison brought it up along with other bills of the Report of the Committee of Revisors. It was considered by the House 6 Dec., was amended 20 Dec., and on 21 Dec. was actually passed by the House under a new title, “An act, directing the mode of appointing aldermen.” But, on being referred to the Senate, the Bill died (JHDJournal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia (cited by session and date of publication), May 1780, 1827 edn., p. 14, 44; same, Oct. 1785, 1828 edn., p. 12–15, 74–5, 100, 101). Madison reported a year later, when TJ’s Bill was again considered, that the system was carefully considered but not adopted because of the cost involved (Madison to TJ, 4 Dec. 1786; see also Madison to TJ, 22 Jan. 1786).

Madison did not bring in Bill No. 79 with the others reported on 1 Nov. 1786 but it was brought up two weeks later, and, as Madison reported to TJ, it “went through two readings by a small majority and was not pushed to a third one” (Madison to TJ, 15 Feb. 1787; JHDJournal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia (cited by session and date of publication), Oct. 1786, 1828 edn., p. 44). The plan for establishing public schools was not carried to completion until 1796 when the Assembly passed an “Act to Establish Public Schools” (Shepherd,Samuel Shepherd, The Statutes at Large of Virginia, from October Session 1792, to December Session 1806, Inclusive … (New Series,) Being a Continuation of HeningII, 3–5) which retained some of the phraseology of TJ’s Bill, especially that providing for the election of aldermen. However, the 1796 Act provided only for primary schools, and the determination of

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the expediency of establishing such schools was left entirely to the aldermen of each county, borough, or corporation.

A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, 18 June 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified February 1, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0132-0004-0079. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2, 1777 – 18 June 1779, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp. 526–535.]

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Appendix Two:

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 14 AND 19, 146--49, 164—65

1784

Another object of the revisal is, to diffuse knowledge more generally through the mass of the people. This bill proposes to lay off every county into small districts of five or six miles square, called hundreds, and in each of them to establish a school for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. The tutor to be supported by the hundred, and every person in it entitled to send their children three years gratis, and as much longer as they please, paying for it. These schools to be under a visitor, who is annually to chuse the boy, of best genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to give them further education, and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools, of which twenty are proposed to be erected in different parts of the country, for teaching Greek, Latin, geography, and the higher branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in any one year, trial is to be made at the grammar schools one or two years, and the best genius of the whole selected, and continued six years, and the residue dismissed. By this means twenty of the best geniusses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and be instructed, at the public expence, so far as the grammar schools go. At the end of six years instruction, one half are to be discontinued (from among whom the grammar schools will probably be supplied with future masters); and the other half, who are to be chosen for the superiority of their parts and disposition, are to be sent and continued three years in the study of such sciences as they shall chuse, at William and Mary college, the plan of which is proposed to be enlarged, as will be hereafter explained, and extended to all the useful sciences. The ultimate result of the whole scheme of education would be the teaching all children of the state reading, writing, and common arithmetic: turning out ten annually of superior genius, well taught in Greek, Latin, geography, and the higher branches of arithmetic: turning out ten others annually, of still superior parts, who, to those branches of learning, shall have added such of the sciences as their genius shall have led them to: the furnishing to the wealthier part of the people convenient schools, at which their children may be educated, at their own expence.--The general objects of this law are to provide an education adapted to the years, to the

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capacity, and the condition of every one, and directed to their freedom and happiness. Specific details were not proper for the law. These must be the business of the visitors entrusted with its execution. The first stage of this education being the schools of the hundreds, wherein the great mass of the people will receive their instruction, the principal foundations of future order will be laid here. Instead therefore of putting the Bible and Testament into the hands of the children, at an age when their judgments are not sufficiently matured for religious enquiries, their memories may here be stored with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European and American history. The first elements of morality too may be instilled into their minds; such as, when further developed as their judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to work out their own greatest happiness, by shewing them that it does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.--Those whom either the wealth of their parents or the adoption of the state shall destine to higher degrees of learning, will go on to the grammar schools, which constitute the next stage, there to be instructed in the languages. The learning Greek and Latin, I am told, is going into disuse in Europe. I know not what their manners and occupations may call for: but it would be very ill-judged in us to follow their example in this instance. There is a certain period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen years of age, when the mind, like the body, is not yet firm enough for laborious and close operations. If applied to such, it falls an early victim to premature exertion; exhibiting indeed at first, in these young and tender subjects, the flattering appearance of their being men while they are yet children, but ending in reducing them to be children when they should be men. The memory is then most susceptible and tenacious of impressions; and the learning of languages being chiefly a work of memory, it seems precisely fitted to the powers of this period, which is long enough too for acquiring the most useful languages antient and modern. I do not pretend that language is science. It is only an instrument for the attainment of science. But that time is not lost which is employed in providing tools for future operation: more especially as in this case the books put into the hands of the youth for this purpose may be such as will at the same time impress their minds with useful facts and good principles. If this period be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind becomes lethargic and impotent, as would the body it inhabits if unexercised during the same time. The sympathy between body and mind during their rise, progress and decline, is too strict and obvious to endanger our being misled while we reason from the one to the other.--As soon as they are of sufficient age, it is supposed they will be sent on from the grammar schools to the university, which constitutes our third and last stage, there to study those sciences which may be adapted to their views.--By that part of our plan which

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prescribes the selection of the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the state of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated.--But of all the views of this law none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where they will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to be chiefly historical. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate, and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe their minds must be improved to a certain degree. This indeed is not all that is necessary, though it be essentially necessary. An amendment of our constitution must here come in aid of the public education. The influence over government must be shared among all the people. If every individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting the whole mass will exceed any private resources of wealth: and public ones cannot be provided but by levies on the people. In this case every man would have to pay his own price. The government of Great-Britain has been corrupted, because but one man in ten has a right to vote for members of parliament. The sellers of the government therefore get nine-tenths of their price clear. It has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right of suffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people: but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension of that right to such numbers as would bid defiance to the means of corruption.

Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to begin a public library and gallery, by laying out a certain sum annually in books, paintings, and statues.

. . . . .

We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our exterior commerce has suffered very much from the beginning of the present contest. During this time we have manufactured within our families the most necessary articles of cloathing. Those of cotton will bear some comparison with the same kinds of manufacture in Europe; but those of wool, flax and hemp

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are very coarse, unsightly, and unpleasant: and such is our attachment to agriculture, and such our preference for foreign manufactures, that be it wise or unwise, our people will certainly return as soon as they can, to the raising raw materials, and exchanging them for finer manufactures than they are able to execute themselves.

The political oeconomists of Europe have established it as a principle that every state should endeavour to manufacture for itself: and this principle, like many others, we transfer to America, without calculating the difference of circumstance which should often produce a difference of result. In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture must therefore be resorted to of necessity not of choice, to support the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity of land courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens should be employed in its improvement, or that one half should be called off from that to exercise manufactures and handicraft arts for the other? Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phaenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandman, for their subsistance, depend for it on the casualties and caprice of customers. Dependance begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances: but, generally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good-enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labour then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our workshops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic

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in vigour. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.

The Founders' ConstitutionVolume 1, Chapter 18, Document 16http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s16.htmlThe University of Chicago Press

Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. Edited by William Peden. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1954.

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