Thomas Jefferson – Bill 79 of 1779
The More General Diffusion of Knowledge
By Melissa Wallace
Introduction
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He was a man before his time in many ways. He believed in universal education and proposed Bill 79 of 1779-The More General Diffusion of Knowledge. He challenged the elitist view that education was a privilege and not a right. The bill was defeated. Jefferson proposed other bills but they were also defeated. He died before Virginia opened its first free public primary school in 1851.Historical contextsThe Revolutionary War had been going on since 1777. On June 1, 1779, Jefferson was elected governor of Virginia for a one-year term. On June 18 of the same year, Jefferson submitted a Report of the Committee of Revisors to the Virginia House. The report included Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom, a bill for reforming the legal code, a bill for the General Diffusion of Knowledge, and measures for the expansion of suffrage and the abolition of feudal land inheritance laws. Only the measures for the expansion of suffrage and the abolition of feudal land inheritance laws passed the house.About Thomas Jefferson
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be” (as cited in Padover, 1939, p. 89). Thomas Jefferson believed in universal education. He believed education was necessary to keep our democracy working and should be a prerequisite to vote. Jefferson realized that the responsibility of self-government could be assumed successfully only by an enlightened people. Jefferson submitted Bill 79 within a few days of being elected the governor of Virginia. The Bill proposed three years of free elementary education for white boys and girls. They were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic and history. The Bill did not provide schooling for blacks or for Native Americans. Only boys were allowed to continue their schooling after the three years. Girls were not encouraged to continue their education. They were to stay home and learn the “domestic arts” from their mothers. He wanted to mainly finance the schools through a locally imposed tax. After three years, he felt that schooling should be privately funded. Only the brightest students would be supported by taxes in order to continue their education through college. The rich Virginia planters, who did not want to pay taxes to educate the poor, defeated the Bill. Jefferson continued his work toward a public education system, but did not live to see it happen. However, he was the founder of the University of Virginia.Links
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/jefflaw1.htm
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VAGuide/education.html