University of Virginia Library

IV. The First Board of Visitors

The Act establishing the University of Virginia, after accepting the conveyance of the lands and other property belonging to Central College, laid down with minuteness the necessary prescriptions for the number of Visitors, their appointment, their powers and duties, the courses to be taught, and the number, salaries, and accommodations of the professors. Substantially, the Act followed the recommendations of the Rockfish Gap Report in every particular, and it will, therefore, not be requisite to add to the synopsis of that Report which has been given. The most vital provision of the original bill for the creation of a university was retained: the annuity was again fixed at fifteen thousand dollars. Among the characteristic features of the subsequent government of the institution which were not foreshadowed in the Act was the chairmanship of the Faculty, and the great power which its incumbent was to exercise in the management of its affairs. The Board of Visitors were authorized in a general way "to direct and do all matters and things which to them shall seem most expedient for promoting the purposes" of the new seat of learning, and it was

under this clause that this unique method of administration came into existence.

The first Board of Visitors, -which, as the Act required, was appointed by the Governor, -consisted of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John H. Cocke, Joseph C. Cabell, Chapman Johnson, James Breckinridge, and Robert B. Taylor. The Board of Central College, it will be recollected, embraced only five members, and all of these, with the exception of David Watson, were transferred to the new Board. Of the three new additions, two were lawyers of the highest standing for learning, probity, and astuteness, and the third a citizen equally conspicuous for ability and public services There seems to have been no undertaking to divide the membership among the different sections of the State, but the homes of several were notwithstanding widely dispersed: Taylor resided in Norfolk, Johnson in Staunton, and Breckinridge in Botetourt county. There was not a single Visitor from the region of country lying west of the Alleghany Mountains, -the reason for which, quite probably, was that, in those times of stage coach and private carriage, there was small prospect of even a rare attendance at the sessions of the Board of a member who had to traverse the long road from the valley of the Kanawha or the Monongahela. Johnson and Breckinridge were also, in their homes, remote from Charlottesville, but both were constantly passing through on their way to Richmond to be present at the sessions of the General Assembly or the terms of the Supreme Court. The original plan of Jefferson was to ask for the appointment of men who resided within convenient reach of the University; but this was modified by the action of the Governor and Council, who thought it wise to select only a majority of the Board from the neighboring

region and the remainder from the other parts of the State. This had a tendency to diminish the chance of sectional carping; and it also conferred on the institution the distinction of being governed by a larger number of influential public men than could be found within the bounds of any single group of counties. The line of exclusion seems to have been drawn in the first appointments sharply against judges and members of Congress; but in the course of time this rule was entirely abandoned as to the latter at least.

The last meeting of the Visitors of Central College was held on the 26th of February, 1819. They had been impowered by the University Act of January 25 to perform their former functions until superseded by the coming together of the new Board. The proceedings of this meeting were far from being merely nominal, in anticipation of the early extinction of the old Board; at least three of its members belonged to the new; and they perhaps felt that they were an expiring body only in law and not in fact. Jefferson was present, and through his influence, no doubt, the necessary measures were adopted to ensure the continuation of the building, since upon this he had always laid the primary stress. It was resolved (1) that the funds of the University remaining after the payment of current expenses, should be applied to the erection of additional pavilions and hotels; (2) that workmen for this purpose should be contracted with at once before the season had advanced too far to secure the services of the number required; (3) that the funds in hand, or in prospect, would justify entrance into engagements for the building of at least two more pavilions, one hotel, and as many additional dormitories as the amount left over would allow; (4) that Alexander Garrett should be retained as the treasurer,

with the authority to act as bursar also; and that he should receive from the State the annuity payable for the present year (1819).

Central College, as a working corporation, came to an end on March 29, 1819, when the new Board, with a full attendance of members, convened for the first time. The transition was merely nominal; there was nothing radical in the spirit of the change; it continued to be the same institution, under the same guiding and controlling hand. Its aims were the same, and so were its principles. Jefferson now felt more confident of the successful consummation of his long matured plans for a really great seat of learning; and this was perhaps the only alteration in his outlook for the institution on the broader stage of operation upon which it had entered. Even the social customs of the old Board were to be those of the new so far as his hospitable instincts could bring it about. "It has been our usual course," he wrote to General Taylor, when inviting him to Monticello, "for the gentlemen of Central College to come here the day before the appointed meeting, which gives us an opportunity of talking over our business at leisure, of making up our views on it, and even of committing it to paper in form, so that our resort to the College, where there is no accommodation, is a mere legal ceremony for signing only."

The officers chosen by the Board at their first memorable session were Thomas Jefferson, rector, Peter Minor, secretary, Alexander Garrett, bursar, and Arthur S. Brockenbrough, proctor. Jefferson and Cocke were reappointed members of the committee of superintendence. The Board promptly adopted the recommendations of the Visitors of Central College at their last meeting; namely, that all but necessary current expenditures

should, in the beginning, be restricted to building, and that as little as possible should be reserved for the engagement of professors, until a sufficient number of pavilions, hotels, and dormitories had been provided to accommodate them and the pupils expected.

At this time, there was a considerable body of land, laid off in two lots and owned by John M. Perry, lying between the tracts, -one of forty-seven acres, the other of one hundred and fifty-three, -which had been acquired by Central College, and transferred to the infant university. The Board, on March 29, instructed the committee of superintendence to purchase this intervening area on the condition of a deferred payment; and it was due to this complication, perhaps, that it was not until January 25, 1820, one year later, that Perry conveyed the first lot of forty-eight acres; and not until May 9, 1825, more than five years afterwards, that he signed the deed to the remaining lot of one hundred and thirty-two acres. The first lot was improved with a dwelling house and curtilages, and its value was estimated as high as $7,231.00. The second lot was assessed at $6,600.00. The payment, even in instalments, of these large sums imposed on the resources of the University an irksome burden for several years. The acquisition, however, was rendered compulsory by the fact that the springs which supplied its cisterns were situated a little without the observatory tract owned by it, whilst the communicating pipes had been run entirely within the boundaries of Perry's property before reaching the actual site of the University itself. At any time, the owner of that property could order the removal of the pipes and thus cut off the natural reservoir from use. Jefferson had long been aware of this possibility, but until the institution was incorporated, was lacking in the means to remove

it. One of the first provisions of the new Board, under his inspiration, was to arrange for this purchase, which, when accomplished, put an end to the risk of future interference.

An additional section of land, -presumably situated between the present Staunton Road and a parallel line running west and east in front of the north portico of the Rotunda, aggregating about eight acres, -was bought in 1824, from Daniel A. Piper.[38] These four parcels of land increased to the extent of one hundred and eighty-four acres the domain already in the possession of the University. Another addition was made in 1824: a small parcel was bought of Mrs. Garner. This also was probably situated on the present Staunton Road, and if so, lay west of the present Gothic Chapel.