ABSTRACT
In reading Jefferson's writings pertaining to education, one is struck by the frequency of appeals or allusions to usefulness at all levels and in all aspects. He writes in 'Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge', 'The general objects of this law are to provide an education adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every one, and directed to their freedom and happiness'. The sentiment, a staple of Jefferson's philosophy of education, expresses pithily Jefferson's liberal eudemonism as well as what might be called the principle of accommodation. Structural economy was set in place to accommodate economy of content, which too was to be useful. To Priestley, he limns 'the sciences which seem useful & practicable for us'. 'Agriculture justly claims to be the chief of arts', writes Lord Kames, 'it enjoys beside the signal pre-eminence of combining deep philosophy with useful practice'. Architecture was a measure of the state of refinement of American culture.
