Thomas Jefferson was a towering figure of the Revolution so he was naturally a focus of our Rhodes Class Reunion in Charlottesville. A visit to Monticello was a highlight of our get together. We learned much about Jefferson, including the unusual role that Patrick Henry
played in the crisis that threatened the fledgling republic in the last years of the John Adams Presidency. John Ragosta, a historian at Monticello, related the drama of the reaction to the Alien and Sedition acts, passed by Adams . In short Henry came out of retirement at the urging of George Washington to curb the increasing radicalization of Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans. Washington's plan worked. Henry had a moderating influence on Jefferson that lingered to make the Jefferson who won the Presidency in 1800 a more balanced and temperate leader.
We followed the visit to Monticello with a Saturday visit to the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson after he stepped down as President. The degree to which Jefferson planned all aspects of the University, the first secular University in America, is extraordinary. He designed the campus layout, badgered the state for the funding, developed the curriculum, donated the books for the Library, shepherded all phases of construction, and was the first Chancellor. He deeply believed in the power of education and felt it the critical building block of democracy. He was a truly remarkable man- not without flaws, but with uncommon vision.
Once we get to a place with more wifi bandwidth, I will add more pictures and comment on the special nature of this reunion of scholars and spouses who have built such deep bonds in the more than 50 years since we "came down" from Oxford. We are in Durham NC now enroute to Charlotte, NC. There we will take a three day break from our Airstream to fly to Colorado Springs for the annual Board meeting of the Dakota Foundation, a family foundation started by our almost lifetime friend and fellow Rhodes Scholar, Bart Holaday.
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