The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind, with Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy

We hope you’ll join us for this special evening with Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy as he discusses his latest book, The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind. The book offers a twin biography of Thomas Jefferson in retirement and what would become the University of Virginia.

Jefferson was already renowned as a statesman when he turned his attention to the founding of an institution of higher learning. As O’Shaughnessy recounts, the former president oversaw every aspect of the creation of what would become the University of Virginia. Jefferson regarded the university as one of the three greatest achievements in his life, alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. However, historians often treat this period as an epilogue to Jefferson’s career.

And just as Jefferson’s proclamation that “all men are created equal” was tainted by the ongoing institution of slavery, so too was his university. O’Shaughnessy addresses this tragic conflict in Jefferson’s conception of the university and society, showing how Jefferson’s loftier aspirations for the university were not fully realized. Nevertheless, his remarkable vision in founding the university remains vital to any consideration of the role of education in the success of the democratic experiment.

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About the Author

Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy is Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. His previous books include An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean and The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire, winner of the George Washington Book Prize.

Presented in Partnership by

American Philosophical Society

The Library Company of Philadelphia

Monticello