Thomas Jefferson's legacy as a founding father is marred by revelations about his relationship with enslaved Sally Hemings, highlighting the contradiction between his ideals and reality. In 1825, he founded the University of Virginia, envisioning it as a hub of enlightenment. However, the challenge lay not in hiring European scholars but in dealing with a student body from the plantation aristocracy, who were more interested in gambling and brawling than academics. This lack of serious engagement with learning underscores a larger conflict in Jefferson's vision for the new nation.
"The students at the University of Virginia tended to be, like Jefferson himself, plantation gentry with the hauteur intrinsic to the slave-owing class. They had little appetite for..."
"Suffused with a good-old-boy ethos, they prized manly belligerence while regarding the studious with contempt. These strapping young men would have their slaves carry their books..."
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