- Nov 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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Also the whole of his Slaves amounting to 57 in number.
These slaves worked along side borrowed slaves from surrounding farms and free blacks and whites. Together they did the brunt of the building of the "Academic Village". Jefferson and a majority of the visitors had ambivalent views on slavery. We know Jefferson had an urge to include freeing slaves in the Declaration of Independence but was removed by his peers; however, he himself still owned slaves. This ambivalent attitude continued at the University after it's construction, by allowing free blacks to work in facilities and still owning some slaves that worked in facilities. Another interesting point to make is that UVA allowed faculty to bring personal slaves to grounds yet forbid students to bring their own slaves onto grounds, because of Jefferson's view that,"slavery raised the young in habits of tyranny".
https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Slavery_at_the_University_of_Virginia
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To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences which advance the arts
I knew that Jefferson was a brilliant inventor from the inventions showcased at Monticello like his spherical sundial, the Great clock, and his advancement of the swivel chair which all in his time were very impressive achievements. This drive for innovation is why I believe this part of the report is included. By "enlightening" people to math and science they can think critically to the point where they can modify contemporary products to further suit their needs and possibly others needs as well. Through this education the students will be able to administer "comforts of human life", just like TJ did when he supposedly created macaroni and cheese. One thing that blew my mind while researching Thomas Jefferson's inventions was that TJ invented a cylindrical cypher wheel that was extremely complex and required the opener to input the exact combination as the person who closed it. This beautiful invention was shown in the movie "Da Vinci Code" and was opened by the "brilliant" Nicholas Cage.
https://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/great-clock
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To understand his duties to his neighbours, & country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either.
I am currently in the Engagement: What is an engaged Citizen? In this class we look at the duties we give to governments and the responsibilities we have as citizens to represent ourselves in our government. We also learn the ethical issues about parts of the responsibilities we have as citizens. The knowledge I've learned from this class and the questions we have contemplated have taught me a great deal about the duties individuals have within a government to maintain peace and prosperity. Overall the class is very enlightening, so I can see why Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders of UVA made this an, "...object of primary education." Without the knowledge gained through courses that teach this material individuals may not be aware of certain tasks and actions required of us within a democratic society.
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- Oct 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business. To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express & preserve his ideas, his contracts & accounts in writing. To improve by reading, his morals and faculties. To understand his duties to his neighbours, & country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either. To know his rights; to exercise with order & justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciaries of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence with candor & judgment. And, in general, to observe with intelligence & faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed. To instruct the mass of our citizens in these their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens, being then the objects of education in the primary schools, whether private or public, in them should be taught reading, writing & numerical arithmetic, the elements of mensuration (useful in so many callings) and the outlines of geography and history, and this brings us to the point at which are to commence the higher branches of education, of which the legislature require the development: those for example which are to form the statesmen, legislators & judges, on whom public prosperity, & individual happiness are so much to depend. To expound the principles & structure of government, the laws which regulate the intercourse of nations, those formed municipally for our own government, and a sound spirit of legislation, which banishing all arbitrary & unnecessary restraint on individual action shall leave us free to do whatever does not violate the equal rights of another. To harmonize & promote the interests of agriculture, manufactures & commerce and by well informed views of political economy to give a free scope to the public industry. To develope the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds cultivate their morals, & instil into them the precepts of virtue & order. To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences which advance the arts & administer to the health, the subsistence & comforts of human life: And generally to form them to habits of reflection, and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others & of happiness within themselves.
The parts of this excerpt that stand out to me is that the Board only refers to their students at him or his, as to infer that the University will only allow entrance to white males for the entirety of its existence. Luckily there has been a historical turn around where we know accept and practice equality among races and genders, and to that end the University has accepted students of both genders and all races with the first African American in 1950 and the first class of women in 1970. It also seems worth noting that there were "free persons of color" that were leaders and contributors within their communities, yet would still be denied entrance into the University on the bases of their skin color.
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Three places were proposed, to wit Lexington in the County of Rockbridge, Staunton in the County of Augusta, and the Central college in the County of Albemarle
During the Civil War each of these 3 cities contributed to the Confederacy's war efforts in a lot of ways. This document seems to foreshadow this involvement, because these three locations where proposed due to their "centrality to the white population" which seemed to be a very influential factor in considering the location for the new University.
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