Autograph letter signed by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to Samuel Williams. Monticello, Virginia, 20 May 1824. 1 page, with integral address panel. Visible 8 1/4 x 7 in. Matted and framed to 24 1/8 x 15 3/8 in. 

A fine autograph letter signed by Thomas Jefferson from Monticello regarding the construction and furnishing of the University of Virginia. 

Jefferson began considering a public university in Virginia as early as 1800, when, as Vice President, he wrote a letter to British scientist Joseph Priestley: "We wish to establish in the upper country of Virginia, and more centrally for the State, A University on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to the your of other States to come and drink of the cup of knowledge and fraternize with us." He had become disillusioned with Virginia's existing university, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg of which Jefferson was an alumnus, due to its religious affiliations and repression of the sciences. 

The first cornerstone was laid on land that had once been owned by James Monroe, and the university received its charter from the Commonwealth of Virginia on 25 January 1819. 

In this letter from May 1824, Jefferson writes to Samuel Williams in London, who was acting as an intermediary to Thomas Appleton, concerning "several successive commissions for articles" for the University of Virginia.

On November 8th of the same year, the University hosted its first inaugural banquet in the Dome Room of the unfinished rotunda. Jefferson was present as well as James Madison and the Marquis de Lafayette, who toasted Jefferson as "the Father of the University of Virginia." Jefferson was deeply moved by the sobriquet and chose this for his grave's epitaph, rather than his many political positions, including President of the United States. 

The university opened to students the following year with the first classes meeting on 7 March 1825. While most universities of the day only offered degrees in medicine, law, and religion, the University of Virginia became the first in the United States to offer diverse specializations such as astronomy, architecture, botany, philosophy, and political science. 

The letter reads in full: "The construction of the University of Virginia, in which we have been some time engaged, having occasioned us to charge Mr Appleton of Leghorn with several successive commissions for articles we want, I have been indebted to him for the advantage of passing our remittances and letters thro' you. and I have found the passages you have been so good as to give them so safe and expeditious, that I am induced to repeat the liberty by asking your transmission of the inclosed; a liberty indeed which must be from time to time renewed, as we shall have repeated remittances and communications to make him for a year or two to come, postages Etc. will of course find their place in the accts. of remittances. I must therefore ask your indulgence for the present trouble, adding assurances of my thankfulness as well as of my great esteem and respect." 

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[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe]

Not examined out of the frame. Light toning with occasional