Thomas Jefferson Papers

Joseph C. Cabell to Thomas Jefferson, 26 January 1824

From Joseph C. Cabell

Richmond. Jan: 26. 1824.

Dear Sir,

I thank you sincerely for your three letters of 19th 22d & 23d inst all of which I have shewn to our friends in the senate. The University Bill is now before the Senate & will be acted on in a day or two. I confess I differ with you as to its importance & character. We do not here care in the least for the Proviso giving to the Genl Assembly the power of revocation. You know the University is at all times & in all things subject to the controul of the Genl Assembly. The Annuity cannot be revoked but by the concurrent vote of both Houses, and the Senate will never concur in any such measure. The provisos are mere surplusage, consented to by our friends to furnish an excuse to wavering men to come over to us. We would gladly take in the back interest if we could. It is doubtful whether the bill does not now do it. But I believe we shall be compelled in the Senate to take away all doubt & give it up. We have gained a great Victory, in taking away the surplus from the Colleges. The bill is worth $10,800, per annum to the University. The word “income” is more extensive than “revenue.” We shall have the income from Fines &c to aid the surplus revenue in satisfying our appropriation. Am I right in supposing that $50,000 payable in 10 annual installments for the purchase of books & apparatus, with a power to the Visitors to anticipate the money, for those purposes & for those purposes only, would be a good measure next to be adopted. I am thinking of it. We can get no more money for building this year. I write in haste. I have been confined to my bed a week & to my room a fortnight, by an excruciating rheumatic affection of my head, contracted by sleeping near a damp wall. This is the reason that I have left altogether to Col: Randolph to inform you of our proceedings. As soon as the bill passes I will send you a copy.

Faithfully yours

Joseph C. Cabell

RC (ViU: TJP-PC); at foot of text: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Feb. 1824 and so recorded in SJL.

On the following day the General Assembly passed the university bill, “An act concerning the University of Virginia.” The statute freed the university from its interest payments on previous loans from the Literary Fund. In so doing, it took away the surplus from the colleges by dedicating to these debt repayments “any surplus revenue, or uninvested income, belonging to the Literary Fund,” money that might otherwise have gone to the state’s colleges. It also bolstered the security of the university’s allocation with guaranteed access to money paid into the fund from “escheats, confiscations, forfeitures, derelict personal property, fines and pecuniary penalties” (income from fines &c) (Acts of Assembly [1823–24 sess.], 9–10 [27 Jan. 1824]; see also editorial note at Cabell to TJ, 29 Dec. 1823).

Index Entries

  • An act concerning the University of Virginia (1824) search
  • Cabell, Joseph Carrington; and funding for University of Virginia search
  • Cabell, Joseph Carrington; health of search
  • Cabell, Joseph Carrington; letters from search
  • Cabell, Joseph Carrington; on Va. General Assembly search
  • health; rheumatism search
  • Literary Fund; and aid for Va. academies and colleges search
  • Literary Fund; and annuity for University of Virginia search
  • Literary Fund; and loans for University of Virginia search
  • Literary Fund; funds of search
  • Randolph, Thomas Mann (1768–1828) (TJ’s son-in-law; Martha Jefferson Randolph’s husband); as Va. legislator search
  • rheumatism; J. C. Cabell’s search
  • scientific instruments; for University of Virginia search
  • Virginia, University of; Administration and Financial Affairs; funding for search
  • Virginia, University of; Board of Visitors; and funds of University of Virginia search
  • Virginia, University of; Books and Library; funding for search
  • Virginia, University of; Establishment; and General Assembly search
  • Virginia, University of; Faculty and Curriculum; scientific instruments for search
  • Virginia; General Assembly search
  • Virginia; Senate of search