University of Virginia Library

XI. The Fight for Appropriations

From what sources were obtained the voluminous
funds that were necessary to carry through the elaborate
and expensive programme of building which has been
described? It will be recalled that, before the College

was converted into a University, the only means of collecting
money consisted of the subscription list. Had the
University, like the College, been compelled to depend
upon this alone, it would have had a very precarious outlook
from the start. The General Assembly foresaw
that, in incorporating the institution, it would be imperative
to afford it a definite measure of support. The sumto
be appropriated annually for its benefit, namely fifteen
thousand dollars, was not enough in itself for the erection
of the buildings, but it would at least be sufficient to pay
the salaries of the professors, and at a pinch, be used
as interest upon a loan negotiated to embrace the remaining
cost of construction. The annuity, small as it was,
was granted somewhat grudgingly, and there were to be
times in a future not at all remote when a warning threat
of discontinuing it was to be heard.

There was one man who never for a moment was satisfied
with fifteen thousand dollars as the annual limit to
the State's assistance; that man was Jefferson. The
petition for aid which he wished to submit to the General
Assembly while Central College was still in existence,
seemed to him more imperative than ever after it had
been merged in the University. He was clearly aware,
that, should he not succeed in obtaining the appropriation
of very large sums by the Commonwealth, in addition
to the annuity, he would not be able to complete the
buildings in the splendid form upon which he had set his
aspiration in the beginning. He, and his staunch coadjutor,
Cabell, and their few unwavering supporters in
the Legislature, never suffered any sort of set back, however
staggering, to balk them long in their crusade.
How deeply Cabell's heart was enlisted in it is revealed
in one of his letters to Jefferson: "I returned (to Richmond)
over stormy rivers and frozen roads," he wrote,

"to rejoin the band of steadfast patriots engaged in the
holy cause of the University"! The holy cause of the
University! That was the view which both of them
took in their unceasing fight for appropriations; and, as
we shall see, neither of them,—as, for instance, in opposing
the transplantation of the College of William and
Mary,—allowed any sentimental scruples to palsy the
resolute energy of their purpose.

There was in the avidity with which Jefferson fixed his
eyes on the Literary Fund,—the only source from which
more of the State's money could be got,—something that
would appear pathetically ludicrous but for its unselfish
and disinterested spirit. That Fund was barred to the
University beyond the annuity by numerous influences
which could be broken down only with painful difficulty;
among them were (1) the disposition of the General Assembly
to restrict all large appropriations from this
fund to the use of the elementary public schools, such as
they were; (2) the sour feeling against Jefferson himself,
which lingered among his political foes of the past;
(3) the impression among the friends of the College of
William and Mary that the waxing of the University
would be accompanied by the proportionate waning of
the College; (4) the jealousy and rivalry of small institutions
like Hampden-Sidney College and Washington
College; (5) the belief among the several denominations
that the University was friendly to irregligious tendencies;
and finally, (6) the provincial indifference to the
claims of literature and education, which was then so
much abroad in Virginia. As these hostile influences existed
in the State at large, they were, of course, reflected
in a concentrated form in the popular representation in
the General Assembly. It was Cabell who had to ride
down this powerful array, for it was he, and not Jefferson,

who, under the roof of the capitol, was brought face
to face with it in its most threatening shape. "The
University," wrote General B. J. S. Cabell, who was a
member of the Legislature during these years, "had the
warm support of a number of enlightened men in both
Houses, but he it was whose generous enthusiasm and
burning zeal always called and marshalled the forces
to battle. It was remarkable that, though promptly
opposed and sometimes beaten in the vote, with what elasticity
he would rise again in a few days, and return to the
charge stronger than ever; and a session rarely passed
without his having obtained a signal victory for the
University. It is no disparagement to the memory of
his patriotic colleagues to say that he was the Ajax Telemon
of that sacred war. I know several of his enlightened
compeers, devoted patriots, men of exalted worth
and talents, who delighted to honor him as their leader
in that great work."

Among the most conspicuous and indefatigable of
these "compeers" was William F. Gordon, a delegate in
the House, and afterwards a representative in Congress,
the author of the Sub-Treasury Scheme, and as a member
of the Convention of 1829–30,—in itself a badge of civic
distinction,—the proposer of the plan that settled the
vehement controversy between the East and West that
was so near to the verge of breaking up that great body.
He had been in the first rank of those who strove to establish
the University on the site of Central College; and
he stood always at Cabell's elbow, whenever, as General
Cabell expressed it, "a charge" was to be made for an
appropriation. Chapman Johnson, William C. Rives,
George Loyall, General Breckinridge, General Blackburn,
R. M. T. Hunter, and Philip Doddridge, were
some of the other high-minded and public-spirited men,

who, either in the Senate or the House, could, like Gordon
himself, be always relied upon to use their influence
with their colleagues to ensure the passage of any measure
that was favorable to the interests of the University.

With characteristic promptness and singleness of purpose,
Jefferson began the fight for the appropriations of
large sums to the University only three days after its incorporation.
Would it not be possible, he inquired of
William C. Rives in January, 1819, to induce the General
Assembly to turn over to the institution all that portion
of the annual reservation for the charity schools which
remained derelict because not accepted by them? "I
mean so much of the last year's $45,000 as has not been
called for, or so much of this year's $65,000 as shall not
be called for. These unclaimed dividends might enable
us to complete our buildings and procure apparatus and
library, which, once done, the institution might be maintained
in action by a moderate annual sum. Could it
have any ill effect to try this proposal with the Legislature?"
Cabell, and very probably Rives also, disapproved
of this course, because it would revive the popular
impression that the University was covertly seeking to
absorb the entire income of the Literary Fund. This
alone would make certain its defeat. The interests which
had striven to divert the location of the University from
Charlottesville were still sore and angry over their discomfiture.
"They will seize upon every occasion,"
wrote Cabell in February, "and avail themselves of
every pretext to keep it down." "Better," he urged "to
put off to another session the petition for a special appropriation."
But Jefferson was not disposed to accept this
advice. "We should go on in our duty," he said sturdily,
"and hope the same from them, and leave on them
the blame of failure." And it was not until Cabell

pointed out to him that the income from the Literary
Fund was, for the time being, exhausted, and that the
Assembly would refuse to create a special fund, that he
desisted.

By January 22, 1820,—the Legislature, in the meanwhile,
having been in session during several weeks without
making the appropriation so eagerly desired and
expected,—Jefferson began to grow impatient and reproachful.
"Kentucky," he said "has a University with
fourteen professors, and two hundred students, though
the State was planted after Virginia. If our Legislature
does not heartily push our University, we must send our
children for education to Kentucky or Cambridge. If,
however, we are to go a-begging anywhere for our education,
I would rather it should be to Kentucky than any
other State, because she has more of the flavor of the old
cask than any other. All the States but our own are
sensible that knowledge is power, and we are sinking
into the barbarism of our Indian aborigines, and expect,
like them, to oppose by ignorance the overwhelming mass
of light and science by which we shall be surrounded.
It is a comfort that I shall not live to see it."

About a month later,—perhaps, under the influence of
Jefferson's temporary dejection of mind,—Cabell was
inclined to make an effort to obtain that portion of the
income of the Literary Fund which remained unappropriated
after there had been paid out the regular annuities
to the University and the public schools. It seems
that this surplus had now swelled to forty thousand dollars.
Nothing of practical value, however, was done by
the State for the institution until February 24, 1820, when
the General Assembly impowered the Board of Visitors
to borrow sixty thousand dollars for the purpose of finishing
the group of buildings. Security for the payment

of the interest, and for the redemption of the principal,
was to be created by the pledge of a definite proportion
of the annuity. In March, forty thousand dollars of the
authorized loan was obtained from the President and
Directors of the Literary Fund. The Visitors, at their
meeting in April, decided to apply one-half of this amount
to the liquidation of the University debt, and the other
half to the completion of such buildings as were already
in the process of construction; and should there remain
a surplus, this surplus, together with all the annuity for
1821,—except the portion needed to pay the interest
on the loan,—was to be expended in the erection of additional
pavilions and dormitories. And the Visitors further
determined to borrow of the Literary Fund the additional
twenty thousand dollars which the General Assembly
had allowed.

Jefferson very correctly thought that the loan of the
sixty thousand dollars should have been an appropriation
for the benefit of education, and as such should not have
been accompanied by a proviso as to interest and redemption.
He soon began to swing the club which he was
always to find so effective. Now, he was fully aware of
the fact that the public expected the lectures to begin at
an early day, and that the members of the Assembly were
responsive to the popular desire. What was more likely
to make an impression on them than the warning that,
unless they were liberal in their grants of money to the
institution, there would be but a slim prospect of its
throwing open its doors within any limit of time that
could then be reasonably predicted? He was shrewd
enough to recognize that it would be short-sighted to
admit students while the buildings were only partly completed,
for if it were known that the University was obtaining
an income from this source, the members of the

Assembly would be more inclined than they were then to
be apathetic to his insistent calls for financial assistance.

We catch the tone of a cold but polite rebuke in the
report of the Visitors for October 3, 1820, which was
written by him and reflected his attitude of mind: "If
the Legislature shall be of opinion that the annuity
already apportioned to the establishment and maintenance
of an institution for instruction in all the useful
sciences, is its proper part of the whole (Literary) Fund,
the Visitors will faithfully see that it shall be punctually
applied to the remaining engagements for the buildings,
and to the reimbursement of the extra sum lately received
from the General Fund; that, during the term of its application
to these objects, due care shall be taken to preserve
the buildings erected from rain or roguery; and at
the end of that term, they will provide for opening the
institution in the partial degree to which its present annuity
shall be adequate. If, on the other hand, the Legislature
shall be of the opinion that the sums so advanced
in the name of a loan from the General Fund of education
were legitimately applicable to the purposes of a university;
that its early commencement will promote the
public good (1) by offering to our youth, now ready and
panting for it, an early and near resource for instruction,
and (2) by arresting the heavy tribute we are annually
paying to other States and countries for the article
of education, and shall think proper to liberate the present
annuity from its charges,—the Visitors trust it will
be in their power, by the autumn of 1821, to engage and
bring in place that portion of the professors designated
by law to which the present annuity might be found competent;
or by the same epoch, to carry into full execution
the whole object of the law, if an enlargement be made of

its participation in the General Fund adequate to the full
establishment contemplated by the law."

These words, respectful as they are, barely veil Jefferson's
contempt for the niggard spirit of the General
Assembly; and they also put forward something broader
than a hint for a larger share of the income of the Literary
Fund. The public suspicion that he was really
aiming to divert most of that income to the University
was not altogether without foundation. "One hundred
and thirty-five thousand dollars," he remarked a few
weeks later, "had been appropriated, in the course of
three years, to the primary schools. How many children
had been instructed during that time?" "I should
be glad to know," he adds, "if that sum has educated one
hundred and thirty-five poor children. I doubt it much.
And if it has, it has cost us one thousand dollars apiece for
what might have been done with thirty dollars. Divide
the income of the Fund, amounting to sixty thousand dollars,
between the University and the primary schools, and
there would be an ample sum for both."

Again he bitterly reproaches his native State for its
apathy to education. "The little we have, we import
like beggars from other States, or import their beggars
to bestow on us their miserable crumbs. And what is
wanted to restore us to our station among our equals?
Not more money from the people. Enough has been
raised by them and appropriated to this very object. It
is that it should be employed understandingly, and for
their great good."

When the session of the General Assembly for
1820–21 opened, Jefferson was as fixed as ever in his
resolution to obtain a large appropriation from the State
for the benefit of the University. Cabell informed him

that the condition of the Literary Fund was, at this time,
so parched that its revenue would, perhaps, not be sufficient
to pay the annuities; and if a surplus should be
proven to exist, it would be so small that it would afford
but a few crumbs to the numerous mouths now wide open
to receive them. He soothed Jefferson's impatient
spirit by suggesting that, just so soon as the first loan to
the University had been put "on the proper basis for
managing it," a petition should be sent to the Legislature
for authority to borrow the further sum of fifty thousand
dollars.

Cabell was now suffering from an alarming weakness
of the heart, and he became so dejected, in consequence,
that he determined to resign his seat in the Senate; he
declared that he could not, without risk of bringing himselve
"to the grave," expose his person to the rigor of
the long rides from courthouse to courthouse in order
to address his constituents. Jefferson received this entirely
rational announcement with a Spartan's remonstrance.
"I know well your devotion to your country
and your foresight of the awful scenes coming on her
sooner or later. With this foresight, what service can
we ever render her equal to this? What object of our
lives can we propose so important? What interest of
our own which ought not to be postponed to this?
Health, time, labor, on what in the single life which nature
has given us can be better bestowed than on this immortal
boon to our country? The exceptions and mortifications
are temporary; the benefit, eternal. If any member
of our College of Visitors could justifiably withdraw
from this sacred duty, it would be myself, who quadragenis
stependis jam dudum peractis, have neither vigor
of body nor mind left to keep the field. But I will die
in the last ditch. Do not think of deserting us, but view

the sacrifices which seem to stand in your way as the
lesser duties, and such as ought to be postponed to this
greatest of all. Continue with us in these holy labors
until, having seen their accomplishment, we may say with
old Simeon, nunc dimittis Domine."

This appeal to friendship, duty, and patriotism, which
reflected the sturdy and resolute spirit of the writer, was
irresistible, and Cabell, in spite of his declining health,
decided to retain his seat. With renewed energy and
fidelity, he took up again the great work of cooperation;
and so successful was he during this session (1820–21),
that on February 24, the General Assembly authorized
the President and Directors of the Literary Fund to
make a second loan of sixty thousand dollars to the
Board of Visitors for the purpose of completing the buildings,
and thus enabling the University to throw open its
doors at an earlier day than had, for some time, been anticipated.
Jefferson, it will be recollected, had, during
some years, been inclined to disparage the usefulness of
the College of William and Mary,—perhaps, because
it was still a rival to be counted with. This feeling, on
his part, was aggravated at this time by the opposition
which the friends of that institution raised to the passage
of the Act of February 24,—a fact which should
be borne in mind when we come, at a later stage, to describe
the rather ruthless way in which he endeavored to
deprive the College of its endowment fund after he had
used his powerful influence to frustrate its purpose of removing
from Williamsburg to Richmond, a step, at that
time, apparently imperative, if it was to continue to exist
at all. Cabell happened to be seated in the Senate chamber,
just above the hall of the House of Delegates, when
the Loan bill passed the latter body; and his first intimation
of its success was obtained from the tumultuous clapping

of hands with which the upshot of the voting was received
by its supporters.