Jefferson's Education by Alan Taylor (Review)
I have long enjoyed learning about how the Enlightenment formed the philosophies of the Founders. Dr. Carl J. Richard’s excellent book, The Founders and the Classics is the best book I’ve read on the subject, and I was excited when I stumbled across Dr. Alan Shaw Taylor’s recent book entitled, Jefferson’s Education. Unfortunately, my excitement at the title of the book caused me to hastily read the book’s description.
A more apt name would have been Jefferson’s University, as the focus was far less on how Jefferson’s own education shaped him and far more on how the University of Virginia came into existence and grew into the esteemed institution it is. This mistake is my own, but it forms my review of the book. I find Thomas Jefferson endlessly interesting and have read more books about him than any other subject. This book is a good one for people who read deeply about Jefferson and his era. It’s also a good book for people who have a connection to the University of Virginia. In some ways, the book is a love letter to the institution. For readers outside of these camps, there are probably other books I would steer you towards when making your next selection.
Regardless of your interest level in the University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson, there are a few points I found particularly noteworthy:
The Founders “rejected the traditional notion of society as held together by a hierarchy with a monarch at the top” and everyone else below. Jefferson argued that “individuals would naturally cooperate because of their instinctual sociability.” I spent meaningful time considering whether this statement was truer in the 1700s than it is today. I suspect that it is not that we are less instinctually sociable but there are far more barriers that impede connection and subsequent cooperation.
An interesting element that is often overlooked in the revolutionary era is the belief that separated the patriots from the loyalists. Virginia elite, John Randolph, scoffed at the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that “all men are born free and equal.” Randolph responded, “I can never assent to [the Declaration] for the best of all reasons, because it is not true.” As part of the elite, the colonial system gave Randolph and other wealthy families a particularly hierarchical perspective.
The portions covering college life at William & Mary in the early 1800s is a strong reminder that it is shortsighted to paint today’s youth as somehow more outlandish or immature than youth of old. The good and the bad existed in abundance throughout all generations. Just as today, when there is parental indulgence and an absence of discipline, misconduct reigns. As John Randolph observed, the next generation is marked by “a petulant arrogance” and “listless indifference…They early assume airs of manhood; and these premature men remain children for the rest of their lives.”
The chapter on slavery highlights the paradoxical nature that the slave-owning founders often had. There was a deep and abiding desire for the abolition of slavery yet no gumption or courage to impose a change on slaveholders or to sacrifice their self-interest in keeping slaves.
Thomas Jefferson had a clear vision for what he wanted the University of Virginia to be. In the classical sense of the words, Jefferson wanted a republican university that provided a strong liberal education. He wanted his institution to “be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. for here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” It took many years and struggles for the university to realize Jefferson’s vision, but Taylor charts out its path in an engaging manner. For readers with an interest in this subject, Jefferson’s Education is a book worth reading.
