The Monroe doctrine, as it is called, was first broached by Jefferson. In a letter of August 4, 1820, to William Short, he said: “The day is not far distant, when we may formally require a meridian through the ocean which separates the two hemispheres on the hither side of which no European gun shall ever be heard, nor an American on the other;” and he spoke of “the essential policy of interdicting in the seas and territories of both Americas the ferocious and sanguinary contests of Europe.” Later, when applied to by Monroe himself, in October, 1823, Jefferson wrote to him: “Our first and fundamental maxim should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe. Our second, never to suffer Europe to meddle in cisatlantic affairs.” The whole letter, a long one, deserves to be read as the first exposition of what has since become a famous doctrine. The darling object of Mr. Jefferson’s last years was the founding of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. For this purpose he gave $1000; many of his neighbors in Albemarle County joined him with gifts; and through Jefferson’s influence, the legislature appropriated considerable sums. But money was the least of Jefferson’s endowment of the University. He gave of the maturity of his judgment and a great part of his time. He was made regent. He drew the plans for the buildings, and overlooked their construction, riding to the University grounds almost every day, a distance of four miles, and back, and watching with paternal solicitude the laying of every brick and stone. His design was the perhaps over-ambitious one of displaying in the University buildings the various leading styles of architecture; and certain practical inconveniences, such as the entire absence of closets from the houses of the professors, marred the result. Some offense also was given to the more religious people of Virginia, by the selection of a Unitarian as the first professor. However, Jefferson’s enthusiasm, ingenuity, and thoroughness carried the scheme through with success; and the University still stands as a monument to its founder. It should be recorded, moreover, that under Jefferson’s regency the University of Virginia adopted certain reforms, which even Harvard, the most progressive of eastern universities, did not attain till more than half a century later. These were, an elective system of studies; the abolition of rules and penalties for the preservation of order, and the abolition of compulsory attendance at religious services.