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Liberal Education Imperiled3 2 9in a letter to Thomas Cooper, that the proposal for a University of Virginiadoes not offer a permanent seat to any denomination, but instead supportsreligious pluralism. 46 The competition not only preserves the independenceof each sect, but also the independence of human beings in the communitywho may not, out of personal conviction, subscribe to a particular sect. Religionshould become a field of study and inquiry like any other subject. 47 Thisdoes not mean that Jefferson was indifferent to religion, or believed it was ofno value.In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Jefferson held (in article 3) that“religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government andthe happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of education shall foreverbe encouraged.” Religion might be included in education, but as we noted inhis development of the University of Virginia, religious freedom is necessaryfor the discovery of a rational truth. A unifying truth must be sought freelyin the “anvil of debate.” 48 This would allow the truth to flourish. We mightsay that religion and philosophy (knowledge) are the North and South Polesof morality. The separation of church and state in politics corresponds to theseparation of religion and education at college. The separation would encouragea “rational religious commitment” and make for a more “enlightenedfoundation for morality.” 49Several colleges noted the potential problems associated with religiouscontrol of colleges in terms of the potential effects it would have on thecitizens. One aim was to offer an education that bolstered republican government.Therefore, most colleges founded between 1776 and 1800 wererepublican in nature. The characteristics of such republicanism were a loveof “liberty, industry, orderliness…piety, sobriety, and temperance.” 50 JamesBowdoin noted of his college that instruction in religion generally, morality,46It should be noted that Jefferson personally believed that the overall trend would be toward auniveralist religion. See Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, 26 June 1822, in Writings,1458–59; and Jefferson to Cooper, 2 November 1822, in Writings, 1464.47Malone, Jefferson and His Time, 393. See also Marsden, Soul of the American University, 74.48See Benjamin R. Barber, “The Compromised Republic,” in The Moral Foundations of the AmericanRepublic, ed. Robert H. Horowitz (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 50–51. InQuery 14 on Religion in the Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson details a law put forth by revisorsin the state, and he explains that at least initially, the teachings of Bible and Testament should not beimmediately proffered. Especially where the young teen is concerned, Jefferson would rather studentsspend time in history and ancient languages: see The Portable Thomas Jefferson, 197–98.49Jaffa, American Conservatism and the American Founding, 54.50Hyman Kuritz, “Benjamin Rush: His Theory of Republican Education,” History of Education Quarterly7 (Winter 1967): 437.