Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/90

 JEFFERSON

JEFFERSON

ing domestic cloth. He had on his farm full- blooded merino sheep which he had imported from Spain, and improved hogs from Calcutta; and the broad lawns of Monticello were planted with rare trees, shrubs and fruits obtained in Europe. Monticello, with its extensive mansion containing spacious rooms with sixty beds — and seldom were they unused — was the Mecca of statesmen and scholars. Madison, Munroe, Web- ster, Lafayette, Cabell, Cooke, Dupont, de Nemours, George Ticknor and a host of others had slept under his roof and consulted with him on the great university he was planning. The result of these consultations and his own unceas- ing industry resulted in what is described by George Ticknor in a letter to Prescott, the histo- rian, aftervisitingthecompletedstructure, as: " a mass of buildings more beautiful than anything architectural in New England, and more appro- priate to a university than could be found in the world." William T. Harris, commissioner of education, writes: "Jefferson's university is more and more copied or appreciated in the re- gulations and practical details of colleges and universities, north and south." Jefferson him- self wrote the deed for the land, struck the first peg to mark its foundation and with a twelve- inch rule laid out the outlines of its walls. He made the drawings and specifications for mate- rial and attended to every detail of its construc-

tion. The University was

incorporated in 1819, and was opened for students in 1824, In selecting the first faculty the chairs were filled by instructors of foreign birth and education except the chair of law and politics and that of ethics; both of these chairs Rector Jefferson insisted should be held by Americans. In 1826, in response to an invitation to be present at the national capital to celebrate the fiftieth aimiversary of American independence, he wrote: " All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with sad- dles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred ready to ride them legitimately by the grace of God." On Jan. 10, 1816, referring to the movement made in New England, to send mis- sionaries to the South, one to every one thou- sand souls — he wrote: " The sway of the priests in New England is indeed formidable. No mind above mediocrity dares there to develope itself. If it does, they excite against it the public opin- ion which they command, and by little but in- cessant teasing persecutions drive it from among

them. The present emigrations to the Western country are real fiiglits from persecution, religious and political." Jefferson received the honorary degree of LL.D. from William and Mary college in 1782, from Yale in 1786, from Harvard and Brown in 1787, and from the College of New Jer- sey in 1791. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; president of the American Philosophical Society; and rector of the University of Virginia from its foundation to the time of his death. Financial distress fell upon Jefferson at the time of the embargo bill, which he signed, and which ruined the business of tobacco planting in Virginia. His enforced absence from home as a political servant of the people, on a small salary during the best years of his life, added to his losses, which he further augmented by endorsing a twenty thousand dol- lar note for a friend. To meet the demands of his creditors he sold his library to congress in 1814 for §23,000, said to have been less than one fourth its real value. The Tammany society of New York city raised for him in 1826 the sum of $8500, to which the city of Philadelphia added 15000 and Baltimore $3000. At his death the sale of his estate fully discharged his debts, but left his widowed daughter, Mrs. Randolph, and her children, without a home or means of sup- port. The states of South Carolina and Vir- ginia, upon learning of her necessities, promptly voted her $10,000 each, which enabled her to edu- cate her children and live comfortably the ten years which she survived her illustrious father. Jefferson is the author of: Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774); The Declara- tion of American Independence (1776); Notes on Virginia (1781); Manual of Parliamentary Prac- tice for the Use of the Senate (1797); Life of Captain Leicis (1814), and luimerous political and philosophical pamplilets. His works, chiefly let- ters, were publislied by his gi'andson, Tliomas. Jefferson Randolph, in 1829; a complete edition of his works in nine volumes was edited by Henry A. Washington by order of congress in 1853, and his writings were collected and edited! in ten volumes by Paul Leicester Ford in 1892., See also biographies by Randall, Tucker, Parton and Schouler. He was buried on his own estate at Monticello, the grave being originally marked by a stone on which was inscribed the following inscription written by himself: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declara- tion of American Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." By order of con- gress, a square massive granite pillar replaced the stone. This became disfigured from the contin- ued demand of relic linnters, and the legislature of Virginia erected a shaft ten feet high upon which