To me this is interesting in multiple ways. The first being the more apparent one that Jefferson was obviously violating the equal rights of others by participating in and perpetuating slavery. The other reason that I find this interesting is because it highlights Jefferson’s strong Anti-Federalist beliefs by stating that there should be limited restrictions on people other than to protect others. Jefferson was one of the main actors in the political debate of the time regarding how large of a role the federal government should play in The United States. Jefferson believed in the rights of individuals and state governments over the power of a large federal government, and he brought those political beliefs into the founding of the University of Virginia. It could also be argued that this is the root of student self-governance as we know it now.

The report clearly states before this that the centrality to the white population was an important factor in deciding where The University was going to be located. However, it is interesting that this was even more of a factor than the resources that each location would provide. While I’m sure that they did not want to be bound to choosing a location based solely on the financial incentives a location would provide them, it seems like they would have been more concerned with the financial incentives than the centrality to the white population. This really underlines how important it was during the conception of The University that this was a white institution.

It’s interesting that from its very conception, UVA begins outsourcing for various aspects of its operation. This aspect of the university has remained unchanged, as the dining functions of UVA are still outsourced to another company. This is common practice among universities now, but I wonder if it was common then, or if UVA was a pioneer in this field.

It is interesting to see how dedicated the founders of the University were to ensuring that UVA was a place where a thorough education would be provided. The fact that it was put into law that certain sciences would be taught served to ensure that everything would be taught at the university, not just what conformed with mainstream beliefs at the time. At this point in history, the vast majority of those who would be learning at UVA would subscribe to some form of Christianity, but the fact that certain sciences are ensured to be taught means that the beliefs of these students will not dictate what is and is not said at the university.