Jefferson's Principles and their Impact on Education Jefferson's radical beliefs in the inherent moral and developmental capacities of humans, and in their capacities to take part to participatory democracy, in turn reinforced his enduring commitment to an education that would be accessible to all. Jefferson was well aware that democracy could only work properly when the people were both virtuous and enlightened. From these notions that people were naturally virtuous but not

977; see also Documents of American History, Henry S. Cummager, editor (NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948), p. 179 Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, pp. 103-104, to the Rev. Samuel Millar on January 23, 1808 Thomas Jefferson, the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert E. Bergh, ed. (Washington, D.C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the

3. Jefferson was one of the proponents of the notion that the most effective government is that which governs least. As such, the former president was definitely in favor of circumscribing the role of the federal government, particularly in the daily affairs of the people who elect its specific individuals to power. In this speech, Jefferson made certain to mention the fact that the government he was presiding over would

1). While modern observers may relate the role played in the history of the United States only on his presidency of the Confederate states, in reality, a more balanced view of the man would also include the fact that Davis had a significant role in the development of the early nation and his contributions were responsible for increasing both the size and the character of the country. In this

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. From these humble beginnings the first born son of Thomas, an uneducated farmer, and Nancy Hanks, Lincoln would grow to become the 16th President of the United States. In 1997 William Riding Jr. And Stuart B. McIver asked a group of 719 professors, elected officials, historians, attorneys, authors and other professionals to rate the presidents.

inaugural speech in 1981, his first term of being President of the United States, Ronald Reagan famously stated with bold irony, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." While mismanaged government agencies and bloated bureaucracies are problematic, government itself is not a "problem," and should not be perceived as such by one who has been elected to its highest office. Dismantling government institutions that