Auction Date:2011 May 11 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS as president signed “Th: Jefferson,” one page, 8 x 9.75, February 18, 1804. Jefferson writes to Dr. Casper Wistar, in full: “Having recieved [sic] the inclosed [sic] essay on public education from it’s [sic] author, the revd Mr. Knox, &, as I presume with a view that it should be communicated to the Philosophical society, I take the liberty of putting it under cover to you for that purpose, and to present you my salutations & respect.” In very good condition, with a couple trivial pinholes of paper loss along intersecting folds, one of the three vertical folds passing through the first letter of the signature, scattered light foxing and toning, light brushing to a couple words of text, and some scattered wrinkling and creasing. All writing is clear and bold.
Our nation’s third president consistently emphasized the importance of education in any democratic society, and that idea is clearly present here. For Jefferson, education for all was a crucial part of the success of the ‘experiment’ undertaken in 1776. He often expressed his faith in the common man and his ability to elect wise and virtuous leaders—if that man were educated to do so. Jefferson endorsed John Adams’ 1778 work, Defence of the Constitutions, that children ‘of every rank and class of people, down to the lowest and the poorest,’ should be ‘educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.’ He also echoed Aristotle’s ideal that universal public education should prepare a citizen to rule, not just to be ruled, as well as a trans-denominational approach set forth by evangelical Presbyterian clergyman Samuel Knox of Baltimore, whose essay is mentioned here by Jefferson. Knox had maintained that public schools should bring children of different social backgrounds together to promote social unity through a bond of personal friendship. A brief yet important letter from one of the nation’s earliest and strongest proponents of a strong education.
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5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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