The Breckenridge family is a powerful political family dating back to the nation's founding. Various members have held public positions, including in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and, most notably, a Vice President--John C. Breckenridge. John Breckenridge was the youngest VP in our history to date, and he was expelled from the Senate in 1861 after joining the Confederacy. It is interesting how UVA's connection to slavery manifests in its founding documents. UVA was in fact a hot spot of proslavery ideology (which was nurtured by many professors) throughout the pre-Civil War period, and when the war broke out, the campus was left mostly deserted as students rushed to join the Confederate Army.

This excerpt rings with special urgency in these times. The upper echelons of the federal government are lacking in "able counsellors to administer the affairs of our Country," and that is apparent across party lines. Jefferson intended UVA students to be at the political vanguard, and we ought to answer the call. This passage further reinforces the critical importance of a high-quality education for young people. We have a responsibility to serve our country, and it starts here.

It is fascinating how the language of the Constitution was written into this document: it shows how people in those days were quick to evoke Republican rhetoric in their discourse, even when it may not have been necessary. It seems a stretch to ban divinity professors because of the Constitution's limits on religious inequality. The Report's writers may have devised this section of the document in good faith, but to my eyes they cherry-pick constitutional principles to make a statement. There are ways in which the University could have provided for a religion professor without offending the freedom of religion. It could have, for example, proposed several professors from multiple faiths, which would have promoted religious egalitarianism. But I suppose that's wishful thinking given the time this document was written; America was still a fragile democracy at that point, without much leeway for positions that could be made out to be anti-republican. It is amidst that early aura of democratic over-sensitivity that statements like this one were made.

It's interesting how the Classics were so critical to formal education in those days. Boys learned Greek and Latin early on in their academic careers, which carried on throughout college if they attended. Knowledge of the Classics was seen as the mark of a well-educated person. What's changed since then? We don't study Greek and Latin as intently as we used to--I barely even knew UVA offered Greek or Latin, not to mention Hebrew. Students nowadays tend to focus on subjects they think lend themselves best to their career goals. They don't seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and I think the founders of the University would be ashamed if they knew we had forgotten the Classics.