Describe the connections between political economy, ideology, and early republic schooling. Evaluate classical liberalism's impact on democracy and recognize its limitations regarding marginalized groups. Examine Jefferson's educational proposals in relation to the political and ideological context of his era. Explore diverse perspectives on democracy as both a form of government and an ideal of inclusive decision-making. Examine potential conflicts between meritocracy and democracy, especially concerning representative merit definitions. Critically analyze Jefferson's proposals for public schooling funding and control in Virginia, comparing them with contemporary systems.

1. Instructor: MR. VATH VARY
Tel: 017 47 111 7
Email: varyvath@gmail.com
CH 2:
Liberty and
Literacy: The
Jeffersonian Ideal
Course Title:
Foundations of Education
402

2. - Introduction: why Jefferson?
- Political economy of the Jeffersonian Era
- Ideology of the Jeffersonian Era
- Jefferson’s Plan for Popular Education
- Educational Method and “Faculty
Psychology”
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3. Learning objectives
 Describe the connections between political economy, ideology, and
early republic schooling.
 Evaluate classical liberalism's impact on democracy and recognize
its limitations regarding marginalized groups.
 Examine Jefferson's educational proposals in relation to the
political and ideological context of his era.
 Explore diverse perspectives on democracy as both a form of
government and an ideal of inclusive decision-making.
 Examine potential conflicts between meritocracy and democracy,
especially concerning representative merit definitions.
 Critically analyze Jefferson's proposals for public schooling
funding and control in Virginia, comparing them with
contemporary systems.

4. VATH VARY

5. Jefferson, became a 3rd U.S. President in 1800
• born in 1743, the son of a relatively prosperous
landowner and farmer in western Virginia.
 was arguably the single most prominent American
liberal during the era of the Revolution and the early
republic.
 Democracy where human reason is celebrated–yet some
persons are not fully human, and thus do not merit full
access to the life of the mind.
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• Why do Jefferson’s social and
educational ideals continue to
intrigue people today?

6.  The new nation could be divided into three
regions:
a) New England
 became the center of fishing, shipping and mercantile
b) Middle Atlantic states:
 characterized by rich farmland, navigable rivers and
excellent ports.
c) Southern states:
 rich agricultural areas known first for tobacco, rice and
indigo
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7. A second conception of regional
differences was to divide the country
into the port areas:
 The port-served areas had better and
cheaper transportation and more
rapid communication.
 They tended to be easier places to live,
more cosmopolitan, and more urban. It
was in those areas that commerce and
trade thrived.
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8. A third division was between the
settled lands and the “frontier.”
 The frontier was constantly moving west.
 Jefferson argued, the West would enable Americans to
escape the fate of Europe, with its remnants of feudal
distinction.
 He based his vision of free, independent yeoman
farmers as the backbone of the new republic in part on
the availability and promise of land to the west.
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9.  Nature of transportation and communication
in Jefferson’s era ensured that speed, distance
and time were experienced in ways drastically
different than they are today.
 Knowing this helps explain some of Jefferson’s
political and educational ideas, especially his
democratic localism—the belief that local
communities should be self-governing, ruled as little as
possible by state and national governments.
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10. Family:
the community regulated and
reinforced many of the activities of
the family
Marriage:
was sanctioned by the community
and was conceived as a contract
designed to specify mutual
responsibilities an rewards.
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11.  Jefferson lived under three kinds of
government:
 Separate colonies under the authority of the
British crown.
 Confederation of States: from Revolution
until 1789. Most power was reserved to the
states’ governments.
 In 1789 the present Constitution, which
greatly increased the authority of the
national government, was adopted.
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12.  Despite differences, all three forms of government
shared key features:
 First, they were founded on the notion of Englishmen's
historical rights to representation, though debates persisted
on its implementation. Certain groups, like women, African
Americans, and Native Americans, were consistently
excluded from political influence.
 They also agreed that male citizens' civil liberties could
only be restricted for significant state reasons, subject to
debate.
 Finally, they recognized the importance of
education for White men, with ultimate authority
often delegated to parents and local communities by
colonial and state governments during Jefferson's
era.
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13.  For Jefferson and his political allies, the
Revolution was the most significant
political event.
 They viewed the pre-revolutionary
era as containing remnants of
feudalism, including special
privileges for the aristocracy, a strong
church-state connection, limited
intellectual freedom, and civil
restrictions.
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14.  The political economy of Jefferson's era, characterized by
remnants of feudalism and a divide between liberal and
conservative ideologies, provides a crucial societal
context for understanding early American education.
 Jefferson and his allies represented classical
liberalism, advocating for change and challenging
established European traditions,
 while their conservative opponents sought to
preserve existing values and privileges.
 This ideological clash was epitomized in debates
such as that between Thomas Paine and Edmund
Burke, where Paine championed citizen rights over
hereditary property rights defended by Burke.
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15.  Feudalism, a European System Post-Romarchy, was
an economic, military, political and religious system that
developed in Europe during the centuries after the
collapse of the Roman Empire.
 Money was not absent, goods and services were bartered.
 Military class provided protection in exchange for nobles'
land and peasant's agricultural production.
 Religious class owned land through the church, provided
spiritual solace, and exercised significant political and
economic power.
 Stations in life were assigned by heredity, with nobility and
clergy as the "first estate" and peasants as the "third
estate.“
 Resistance to feudalism was seen as resisting God's will.
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16.  The feudal system slowly disintegrated until its
collapse in the 16th and 17th centuries.
 Feudal System's Decline and Impact:
 Provided order and stability for a "closed" society.
 Difficult to accommodate new ideas, inventions, or trade.
 Ending came with Renaissances of 12th and 14th
centuries.
 Ideas from Byzantine and Arab worlds stimulated
European thinkers.
 Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton challenged
church cosmology with scientific explanations.
 Challenges grounded in scientific reason, different from
religious revelation.
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17. Feudalism's Decline and the Rise of Nation-
State:
 Feudalism's decline in the 15th century was largely due to the
establishment of the nation-state under a king.
 The British and French kings required larger standing armies
and increased taxes for their national control.
 Rebellions occurred in England and France in the 17th and
18th centuries, respectively.
 The American Revolution is seen as an extension of the
unfinished English revolutions of the 17th century.
 Rebellions were justified against "God's appointed" rulers,
leading to the development of "liberalism.“
 Contributors to liberalism development included Milton,
Locke in England, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Condorcet,
Rousseau in France, and Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison
in the U.S.
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18. Classical
Liberalism in
Jeffersonian
America
Classical liberalism,
distinct from modern
liberalism, is associated
with classical Athenian
ideals.
Classical liberalism
was NOT recited like
a catechism or
subjected to an oath
of allegiance
Six central ideas: faith
in reason, natural law,
republican virtue,
progress, nationalism,
and freedom.

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21. Fundamental Tenets of Classical
Ideology
Classical Liberal Ideology: Shift from
Hierarchy to Individualism
• Shifted from feudal hierarchy to individualism.
• Advocated for individual control over economic destinies
through merchant capitalism.
• Rejected state religion, advocating for individual freedom
of worship and separation of church and state.
• Denied the "divine right of kings," promoting
representative government or republicanism.
• For revolutionary Americans, classical liberal ideology
incorporated capitalism and republicanism.
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22. A. Faith in reason
a. A better guide than tradition, custom and dogmatic
faith
b. Mind as “blank slate”
c. Humankind capable of great feats
d. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton
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23. B. Natural law
a.“Universe is a machine”
b.Understanding yields control
c. Science replaces theology as guide to
action
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24. C. Republican Virtue
a.Perfectibility of the individual
b.Duties to God and to nature
c. The work ethic Men’s virtues/ Women’s
virtues
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25. D. Progress
a.Continual individual and societal
progress toward perfection
b.Changing the world to what ought to be
c. Revolution as an option
d.Commitment to social meliorism
e.Education as the vehicle
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26. E. Nationalism
a.Allegiance to a nation, not a state
b.A new national identity
c. Uneasy balance between national
government and local self- determination
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27. F. Freedom
a. “Negative freedom”
b. Intellectual Free from external coercion of
church and state
c. Political Representative government
d. Civic Freedom to “live as one pleases” Bill
of Rights
e. Economic “Laissez-faire” economy The
Wealth of Nations
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28. VATH VARY
Jefferson’s Plan
for Popular
Education
Education was not
only crucial in
Jefferson’s political
theory, it was also an
important means for
the pursuit of
happiness, for he
understood
happiness to include
the pursuit of
knowledge.
He wrote several bills
on education,
including the Bill for
the More General
Diffusion of
Knowledge, the Bill
for Amending the
Constitution of the
College of William
and Mary, and the Bill
for Establishing a
Public Library.
Jefferson proposed
four interrelated
parts of his
proposed
educational
structure:
elementary schools,
grammar schools,
the university, and
lifelong learning.

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30. Foundation of entire education structure
Decentralized districts
Three years of free education
Screening for future leaders
Preparing citizens for effective
functioning
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31. Boarding schools
Languages, advanced curriculum
Developing local leadership
Preparation for university
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32. Common education from grammar
schools
allowed for advanced instruction
Specialization in a “science”
Preparation for leadership—law,
government, the professions
Education for meritocracy
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33. Lifelong learning as the
culmination of educational aims
Jefferson’s support of public
libraries “Knowledge is power;
knowledge is safety;
 knowledge is happiness”
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34.  The mind is made up of distinct ‘faculties’, like
muscles these faculties had to be exercised for
development.
 Jefferson conceived the mind as an empty vessel to
be ‘filled’ with useful facts.
 Faculty psychology held that developed faculties,
with minds appropriately exercised and filled, could
‘transfer’, this training and understanding to any
situation in life—that is, the student would be able to
generalize from school experience to life experience.
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35.  Political economy and ideology
influenced early education processes,
inside and outside of schools
 Jefferson’s thinking reveals the
tensions in classical liberalism
 Admirable ideals versus the “dominant
ideology”
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