University of Virginia Library

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

By an act of January 12, 1803, of the Legislature of Virginia, certain
citizens of Albemarle County were incorporated under the style
of "Trustees of Albemarle Academy," and were empowered to take
such steps as seemed practicable to raise the funds necessary for
erecting buildings and putting the Academy into operation. Albemarle
Academy was destined never to exist except on paper, but under
the guidance of Thomas Jefferson, who was elected to the board of
trustees on March 23, 1814, a process of development was begun
leading first to the organization of Central College, and afterwards
to that of the University of Virginia. On August 19, 1814, the committee
of the trustees appointed to select a site, reported that it
would be desirable to locate the Academy in the vicinity of the town
of Charlottesville, distant not more than one-half mile therefrom.

By an act of February 14, 1816, the Legislature authorized the
establishment of "Central College, in the County of Albemarle, at
the place which has been, or shall be, selected by the trustees of Albemarle
Academy, and in lieu of such Academy." All rights and
claims of Albemarle Academy were, by the same act, vested in Central
College. The board of visitors of the college consisted of six
members, of whom Jefferson was the only one who had been a member
of the Academy board. The other five members were James
Madison, James Monroe, Joseph Carrington Cabell, David Watson,
and John H. Cocke.

On May 5, 1817, Jefferson was elected Rector of the board, and,
on the same day, the board authorized the purchase of a farm of
about two hundred acres lying one mile west of Charlottesville as a
site for the College. This tract now forms a part of the grounds of
the University of Virginia.

The cornerstone of Central College was laid on October 6, 1817,
in the presence of Thomas Jefferson, Rector, and of James Madison
and James Monroe—the latter then President of the United States.
This building, located on what is known as the West Lawn of the
University, is now utilized as the Colonnade Club.

Jefferson's plan was to erect a distinct building, a pavilion for
each individual professor—buildings to be arranged around a rectangular
lawn. Each pavilion was to contain "a school room and
apartments for the accommodation of the professor;" and one-story
dormitories for the students were to be erected adjacent to the pavilions.
Jefferson drew most of the sketches for the buildings with
his own hands, basing them upon designs by Palladio; and his ideas

of architectural effect and grouping were carried out in detail when
Central College was merged into the University of Virginia.

The prime object in Jefferson's mind, while Rector of the board
of visitors of Central College, was to get the college well under way,
and then have it adopted by the Legislature as the State University.
Accordingly, in the first report of the visitors to the Legislature, of
date January 6, 1818, it is recommended that a state university be
established on the site of Central College.

By an act of February 21, 1818, the Legislature authorized the
appointment by the Governor of a board of twenty four members, to
be known as the "Board of Commissioners of the University." It
was the duty of this board to meet on August 1, 1818, at the Tavern
in Rockfish Gap, on the Blue Ridge Mountains, and report upon the
following points regarding the organization of a state university:

1. A proper site for the projected university.

2. A plan for the building thereof.

3. The branches of learning which should be taught therein.

4. The number and description of professorships; and

5. Such general provisions as might properly be enacted by the
Legislature for the better organizing and governing of the University.

Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were present at the meeting of
the Commissioners, and their able and elaborate report to the Legislature
(indicating much careful thought) had probably been prepared
by Jefferson before the meeting was held. This report, recommending,
among other things, the site of Central College as the most advantageous
one for the University, was forwarded in duplicate to
the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate on August
4, 1818. On January 25, 1819, the Legislature adopted a formal act
"for establishing an University," and this date must be reckoned as
the year of the origin of the University, although the institution was
not opened to students until March 7, 1825.

Although Jefferson's was the dominant spirit and the shaping
hand in the whole movement for the establishment of a state university,
it should be stated that but for the influence and efforts of
Joseph Carrington Cabell, the close personal friend of Jefferson, the
acts of February 21, 1818, and January 25, 1819, would probably have
failed of adoption by the Legislature.

The act of January 25, 1819, establishing the University, is as
follows:

"1. Be it declared by the General Assembly of Virginia. That the
conveyance of the lands and other property appertaining to the
Central College in the County of Albemarle, which has been executed

by the proctor thereof, under authority of the subscribers and
founders, to the President and Directors of the Literary Fund, is
hereby accepted, for the use and on the conditions in the said deed
of conveyance expressed.

"2. And be it enacted, That there shall be established, on the site
provided for the said College, an University, to be called the University
of Virginia; that it shall be under the government of seven
visitors to be appointed forthwith by the Governor, with the advice
of Council, notifying thereof the persons so appointed, and prescribing
to them a day for their first meeting at the said University, with
supplementary instructions for procuring a meeting subsequently,
in the event of failure at the time first appointed.

"3. The said visitors, or so many of them as, being a majority,
shall attend, shall appoint a rector, of their own body, to preside at
their meetings, and a secretary to record, attest, and preserve their
proceedings, and shall proceed to examine into the state of the property
conveyed as aforesaid; shall make an inventory of the same,
specifying the items whereof it consists; shall notice the buildings
and other improvements already made, and those which are in progress;
shall take measures for their completion, and for the addition
of such others, from time to time as may be necessary.

"4. In the said University shall be taught the Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew languages; French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Anglo-Saxon;
the different branches of Mathematics, pure and physical;
natural philosophy; the principles of agriculture; chemistry; mineralogy,
including geology; botany; zoölogy; anatomy, medicine; civil
government; political economy; the law of nature and nations; municipal
law; history; ideology; general grammar; ethics; rhetoric;
and belles lettres; which branches of science shall be so distributed,
and under so many professors, not exceeding ten, as the visitors
shall think proper and expedient.

"5. Each professor shall be allowed the use of the apartments
and accommodations provided for him, and those first employed
such standing salary as the visitors shall think proper and sufficient,
and their successors such standing salary, not exceeding one thousand
dollars, as the visitors shall think proper and sufficient, with such
tuition fees from each student, as the visitors shall from time to
time establish.

"6. The said visitors shall be charged with the erection, preservation,
and repair of the buildings, the care of the grounds and appurtenances,
and of the interests of the University generally; they
shall have power to appoint a bursar, employ a proctor, and all other
necessary agents; to appoint and remove professors, two-thirds of
the whole number of visitors voting for the removal; to prescribe
their duties and the course of education, in conformity with the law;

to establish rules for the government and discipline of the students,
not contrary to the laws of the land; to regulate tuition fees, and the
rent of the dormitories occupied; to prescribe and control the duties
and proceedings of all officers, servants, and others, with respect to
the buildings, lands, appurtenances, and other property, and interests
of the University; to draw from the literary funds such monies as
are by law charged on it for this institution; and, in general, to direct
and do all matters and things which, not being inconsistent
with the laws of the land, to them shall seem most expedient for
promoting the purposes of said institution; which several functions
they shall be free to exercise in the form of by-laws, resolutions, orders,
instructions or otherwise, as they shall deem proper.

"7. They shall have two stated meetings in every year, to-wit, on
the first Mondays of April and October; and occasional meetings at
such other times as they shall appoint, or on a special call, with
such notice as themselves shall prescribe by a general rule; which
meetings shall be at the University; a majority of them constituting
a quorum for business, and on the death, resignation of a member, or
failure to act for the space of one year, or on his removal out of
the Commonwealth, or by the Governor, with the advice of Council,
the Governor with the like advice shall appoint a successor.

"8. The said rector and visitors shall be a body corporate, under
the style and title of `The Rector and Visitors of the University
of Virginia,' with the right, as such, to use a common seal; they shall
have capacity to plead and be impleaded in all courts of justice, and,
in all cases interesting to the University, which may be subjects of
legal cognizance and jurisdiction; which pleas shall not abate by the
determination of their office, but shall stand revived in the name of
their successors; and they shall be capable in law, and in trust for
the University, of receiving subscriptions and donations, real and
personal, as well as from bodies corporate or persons associated, as
from private individuals.

"9. And the said rector and visitors shall, at all times, conform
to such laws as the legislature may, from time to time, think proper
to enact for their government; and the said University shall in all
things, and at all times, be subject to the control of the legislature.
And the said rector and visitors of the University of Virginia shall
be, and they are hereby required to make report annually to the
president and directors of the literary fund (to be laid before the legislature
at the next succeeding session), embracing a full account of
the disbursements, the funds on hand, and a general statement of
the condition of said University.

"10. The said board of visitors, or a majority thereof, by nomination
of the board, shall, once in every year at least, visit the said
University; enquire into the proceedings and practices thereat; examine

the progress of the students, and give to those who excel in
every branch of science, there taught, such honorary marks and testimonials
of approbation as may encourage and incite to industry
and emulation.

"11. On every twenty-ninth day of February, or, if that be Sunday,
then on the next, or earliest day thereafter on which a meeting
can be effected, the Governor and Council shall be in session, and
shall appoint visitors of the said University, either the same or
others at their discretion, to serve until the twenty-ninth day of
February next ensuing, duly and timely notifying to them their appointment,
and prescribing a day for their first meeting at the University;
after which, their meetings, stated and occasional, shall be
as hereinbefore provided: Provided, that nothing in this act contained
shall suspend the proceedings of the visitors of the said Central
College of Albemarle; but for the purpose of expediting any objects
of said institution, they shall be authorized, under the control
of the Governor and Council, to continue the exercise of their
functions, and fulfill those of their successors, until the first actual
meeting of their said successors.

"12. And be it further enacted, That the additional sum of twenty
thousand dollars shall be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to the
education of the poor, out of the revenue of the literary fund, in
the aid of the sum heretofore appropriated to that object, and to be
paid in the same manner and upon the same conditions in all respects
as is prescribed by the fourth section of the act, entitled `An act
appropriating part of the revenue of the literary fund, and for other
purposes, passed the twenty-first day of February, eighteen hundred
and eighteen.'

"13. This act shall commence and be in force from and after
the passing thereof." (Revised Code, 1819, ch. 34, p. 90.)

The first Board of Visitors consisted of four members of the old
board of Central College—namely, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
Joseph Carrington Cabell, and John H. Cocke; the additional
appointees were James Breckenridge, Chapman Johnson, and Robert
Taylor. The board met for the first time on March 29, 1819.
and elected Thomas Jefferson Rector. Henceforth, until his death
in 1826, Jefferson was the dominating and directing power of the
University, not only evolving the entire system of education introduced,
but actually devising, to the minutest detail, every feature of
construction and administration.