This was one of the obstacles that he had to overcome in his fight for the University of Virginia. Princeton was then sectarian--William and Mary was controlled by the Episcopal Church. The result of all this thought and desire exists for us today in the University of Virginia--the first real University in America.
Thomas Nelson Page says, "No stranger story of self sacrifice and devotion to a high ideal in the face of trials, which to lesser genius might have appeared insurmountable, and of disappointments which to less courage must have proved fatal, has ever been written than that which recounts the devotion of the last twenty years of the life of Thomas Jefferson to the establishment of a great university." The corner stone of Central College, which was afterwards enlarged to the University of Virginia, was laid in 1816 by President Monroe, in the presence of Jefferson and Madison, ex-presidents.
Not only did Jefferson see the need for this school, and work to carry it through, but he actually drew the plans for the buildings, modelling them after those of ancient Greece and Rome.
Page says, to quote from the same author--and, if you want to read an interesting book, read his "Old Dominion"--"If any pile of buildings in the world is fitted by its beauty to be the abode of philosophy it is this. * * * * The University has excelled in scholastic results any similar institution in the country. She has a larger representation in Congress than any other, a larger representation on the bench and a larger representation in the medical departments of both army and navy. This has been accomplished on an income less than that of many second rate colleges."
This result, and the high standard prevailing in the University today, have more than justified Jefferson for all his labor. His constant refrain was, "We are working for posterity."
The project was in his brain five years before he began work on it. One of his proudest titles is "Father of the University of Virginia."
Jefferson's writings consist mostly of letters and addresses, besides "A Summary View of the Rights of British America," written before the Revolution, circulated in England, and attributed to Burke, and the well known and valuable "Notes on Virginia."