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The Founding Fathers and the Vision of a National University

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Albert Castel
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Extract

In January, 1787, readers of the American Museum found in the magazine an article entitled “Address to the People of the United States,” written by Dr. Benjamin Rush, the prominent Philadelphia physician, philanthropist, and patriot. The first statement which met their eyes was: “There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of American Revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution.”

Type
Research Article
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , December 1964 , pp. 280 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © 1964, University of Pittsburgh Press 

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References

Notes

1. Good, H. G., “Who First Proposed a National University?” School and Society, III (March 11, 1916), 387–91. A copy of Rush's “Address” may be found in the Appendix to G. Brown Goode, “The Origin of the National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States,” Papers of the American Historical Association, IV (April, 1890), 82–5. Shortly prior to 1787 a plan of the Chevalier Quesney de Beaurepaire to establish an American version of the French Academy at Richmond, with branches in other cities, received a certain amount of publicity and support, and conceivably might have influenced Rush. See Herbert Baxter Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia (Washington, D. C., 1888), 21–30.Google Scholar

2. Jefferson to Dr. iJoseph Priestly, Jan. 18, 1800, Leicester Ford, Paul (ed.), The Works of Thomas Jefferson (12 vols., New York, 1905), IX, 96; H. G. Good, A History of American Education (New York, 1956), 95–104.Google Scholar

3. Jefferson to J. Bannister, Jr., October 15, 1785, Boyd, Julian P. (ed.), The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (20 vols., Princeton, 1953), VIII, 636–7. In 1785 the Georgia Legislature went so far as to declare aliens any citizen of the state who before sixteen spent three or more years in Europe for purposes of education.Google Scholar

4. Farrand, Max (ed.), The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (3 vols., New Haven, 1911), II, 324; ibid., III, 122, 609.Google Scholar

5. Philadelphia Federal Gazette, October 29, 1788; Butterfield, L. H. (ed.), Letters of Benjamin Rush (2 vols., Princeton, 1951), 491–5. See also Goode, “National Scientific and Educational Institutions,” op. cit., 79–82.Google Scholar

6. Richardson, James D. (comp.), A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (11 vols., Washington, D. C., 1897–1909), I, 58.Google Scholar

7. Ibid., 60–1.Google Scholar

8. Washington to John Adams, November 15, 1794, Fitzpatrick, John C. (ed.), The Writings of George Washington (39 vols., Washington, D. C., 1940), XXXIV, 33.Google Scholar

9. Jefferson to D'Ivernois, February 6, 1795, Ford (ed.), Works of Jefferson, VIII, 163–6.Google Scholar

10. Washington to Jefferson, March 15, 1795, Fitzpatrick, (ed.), Writings of Washington XXXIV, 146–9.Google Scholar

11. Washington to Commissioners of the District of Columbia, January 28, 1795, ibid., 106–8.Google Scholar

12. Ibid., XXXV, 305.Google Scholar

13. Ibid., XXXIV, 141–2 f.n.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., p. 199.Google Scholar

15. Hamilton to Washington, September 4, 1796, Lodge, H. C. (ed.), The Works of Alexander Hamilton (15 vols., New York and London, 1904), X, 190.Google Scholar

16. Richardson, (comp.) Messages of the Presidents I, 212.Google Scholar

17. Fitzpatrick, (ed.), Writings of Washington XXXV, 248, 292, 304–5.Google Scholar

18. Brant, Irving, James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787–1800 (Indianapolis and New York, 1950), 447. See also Washington to Edmund Randolph, December 15, 1794, requesting Randolph's and Madison's aid in getting national university established, in Fitzpatrick (ed.), Writings of Washington, XXXIV, 59.Google Scholar

19. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 194.Google Scholar

20. Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1796–97), p. 1600.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., 1601, 1694–5.Google Scholar

22. Brant, , Madison: Father of the Constitution 447–8.Google Scholar

23. Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1796–97), 1711.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., 1697–8.Google Scholar

25. Ibid., 1700–2.Google Scholar

26. Ibid., 1702, 1704–9.Google Scholar

27. Ibid., 1697–8, 1700.Google Scholar

28. Ibid., 1699, 1710.Google Scholar

29. Ibid., 1704, 1711.Google Scholar

30. Washington to St. George Tucker, May 30, 1797, Fitzpatrick, (ed.), Writings of Washington XXXV, 458.Google Scholar

31. Ibid., XXXVII, 279–81.Google Scholar

32. A convenient survey of these writings is to be found in Allen Oscar Hansen, Liberalism and American Education in the Eighteenth Century (New York, 1926), passim.Google Scholar

33. Annals of Congress, 9th Cong., 1 Sess. (1805–1806), p. 302. In 1806 Blodget published a book in Washington entitled Economica. In it, page 22, he related that in 1775, while at Boston, Washington had advocated the establishment of a national university in the nation's future capital, which he predicted would be located on the Potomac. Some writers have accepted this story as being authentic, but almost certainly it is a falsehood invented by Blodget to advance the cause of the national university, which in turn appears to have been linked to his District of Columbia real estate speculations. See Good, “Who First Proposed a National University?” loc. cit., 391, who quotes B. H. Latrobe's statement that Blodget was one of “the adventurers and swindlers whom the establishment of the city brought hither.”Google Scholar

34. Woodress, James, A Yankee's Odyssey: The Life of Joel Barlow (Philadelphia and New York, 1958), 240–1.Google Scholar

35. Burr Todd, Charles, Life and Letters of Joel Barlow (New York, 1886), 208–9. Baldwin as a Representative had supported Madison's bill in 1796.Google Scholar

36. Barlow's Prospectus was reprinted in the Washington National Intelligencer of August 1, and November 24, 1806.Google Scholar

37. Adams, , Jefferson and the University of Virginia 49–52.Google Scholar

38. Woodress, , A Yankee's Odyssey 241–2; Frederick B. Tolles, George Logan of Philadelphia (New York, 1953), 270–1; Jefferson to Barlow, February 24, 1806, Ford (ed.), Works of Jefferson, X, 232.Google Scholar

39. Tolles, Logan, 271–2.Google Scholar

40. Annals of Congress, Ninth Cong., 1st Sess. (1805–1806), 144, 161, 163, 198.Google Scholar

41. Washington National Intelligencer, August 1, November 24, 1806.Google Scholar

42. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 397–8.Google Scholar

43. Washington National Intelligencer, December 12, 1806. The letter was signed “Franklin,” but it is probably safe to assume that Logan was the author.Google Scholar

44. Tolles, Logan, 272.Google Scholar

45. Jefferson to Barlow, December 10, 1807, Ford, (ed.), Works of Jefferson, X, 529–30.Google Scholar

46. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 470.Google Scholar

47. Annals of Congress, 11th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1810–11), 387, 976–7.Google Scholar

48. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 533; Henry Adams, History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison (9 vols., New York, 1904), IX, 143.Google Scholar

49. Annals of Congress, 14th Cong., 1st Sess. (1815–16), 1031, 1364, 1454.Google Scholar

50. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 561.Google Scholar

51. Annals of Congress, 14th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1816–18), 234, 257–60.Google Scholar

52. Ibid., 268, 1063–4. In saying that “constitutional scruples” were not one of the factors causing the refusal of Congress to enact his bill, Wilde was referring to the fact that Congress had recently passed the Bonus Bill with its internal improvements program, a matter with far less sanction in the Constitution than a national university. Madison vetoed the Bonus Bill on constitutional grounds, but remained convinced to the end that a national university was constitutional. Like Jefferson, Madison after leaving the presidency turned his interest to the establishment of the University of Virginia.Google Scholar

53. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents I, 587. See also Monroe to Madison, November 24, 1817, Hamilton, S. M. (ed.), The Writings of James Monroe (7 vols., New York and London, 1902), VI, 32–3, in which Monroe states that the “period is perhaps favorable” to the establishment of a national university by means of a constitutional amendment. In view of what had just happened to Wilde's bill, one finds this statement rather inexplicable.Google Scholar

54. Goode, , “National Scientific and Educational Institutions,” op. cit., 29–32. George Washington University claims, both formally and through its name, to be the offspring of Washington's idea of a national university, but at best the claim is only a sentimental one. American University, with even less justification, advances a similar claim.Google Scholar

55. Adams, Brooks, “The Heritage of Henry Adams,” in Adams, Henry, The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (New York, 1919), 10–13, 17, 20–1.Google Scholar

56. Francis Adams, Charles (ed.), Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848 (12 vols., Philadelphia, 1874–7), VIII, 58; Richardson (comp.), Messages of the Presidents, II, 877–9, 881–2.Google Scholar

57. Adams, (ed.), Memoirs of Adams VIII, 58–64. Interestingly enough, although Clay had doubts about the constitutionality of the national university he had none whatsoever about internal improvements. In this he was the opposite of Madison-who, to say the least, knew more about the Constitution than he did.Google Scholar

58. Ibid., 62–3.Google Scholar

59. Washington Gazette, December 9, 1825, quoting the Richmond Enquirer.Google Scholar

60. Ibid., December 15, 1825. See also ibid., December 13, 27, 1825; Washington National Intelligencer, December 15, 1825; Flagg Bemis, Samuel, Quincy Adams, John and the Union (New York, 1956), pp. 75–6.Google Scholar

61. Adams, (ed.), Memoirs of Adams VIII, 64.Google Scholar

62. Adams, B., “Heritage of Henry Adams,” Adams, H., Democratic Dogma, 10.Google Scholar

63. Bemis, , Adams and the Union 503–23.Google Scholar

64. Goode, , “National Scientific and Educational Institutions,” op. cit., 68.Google Scholar

65. Richardson, (comp.), Messages of the Presidents VI, 4208.Google Scholar

66. Helderman, Leonard C., George Washington, Patron of Learning (New York, 1932), 68–88.Google Scholar

67. Wesley, Edgar B., Proposed: The University of the United States (Minneapolis, 1936), 3.Google Scholar

68. “Aristides,” in Philadelphia Aurora, quoted in Boston Independent Chronicle, January 16, 1797.Google Scholar

69. Honeywell, Roy J., The Educational Work of Thomas Jefferson (Cambridge, Mass., 1931), 159; Leonard W. Levy, Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), 142–57.Google Scholar