Regarding Terry Meyers's query about William Ludwell Lee's will: In the context of a proposed free school for indigent people seeking a rudimentary education, and followed by " the elements of Mathematics and Geography are to be taught and such other branches of useful knowledge," I think that Lee was just saying that they should be taught to read and write, and that as a good patriot he is saying "American" rather than "English." That is, we're talking about teaching the basic "three Rs," nothing more complex or sophisticated than that.
My two cent worth. Jeff Looney
J. Jefferson Looney (he/him/his)
Daniel P. Jordan Editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello
Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.
Post Office Box 316
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
(434)984-7526
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Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2022 13:26:37 +0000
From: "Meyers, Terry L" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: "the American language" at the Lee Free School?
Some years ago I came across an article about W&M's possibly overseeing a free school in James City County (Earl G. Swem, “The Lee Free School and the College of William and Mary, “ William and Mary Quarterly, 16:2[1959], 207-213). Though that never came to pass, the charge for such a school had come from the July 1802 will of William Ludwell Lee (1775-1803); see below.
For a long while, I thought that Lee might have had in mind a school for Black children, a kind of successor to the Bray School. I was wrong.
My query today is why he would have had the pupils, presumably all native speakers, instructed in “the American language.”
Any ideas as to what Lee was getting at? (I don’t suppose he was trying to wean speakers away from a British accent.)
Thanks in advance.
Transcribed from a copy of Lee’s will at Rockefeller Library, Colonial Williamsburg:
Item: my will and desire is that all my Negro Slaves may on the first day of January next be emancipated, that those who have arrived at the age of puberty and who desire it may be allowed to settle on such part of my hot water Lands as my executors may designate, where I wish comfortable Houses to be built for them at the expense of my estate with a sufficiency of Indian Corn to be allowed from the same for their support for one year, and that they be allowed to retain such tenements and settlements for ten years free from any rent or charge whatsoever. I give to Joe a Blacksmith all the tools in my Blacksmith’s shop with the use of the shop free from rent for his natural life— all those under the age of eighteen years I request my executors to remove to some one of the united States north of the Potomac where they may receive such an Education as may be suited to their several capacities at the expense of my estate—by which they may be enabled to acquire an honest and comfortable support. convinced of the importance of education and of the advantages which may be derived from a general diffusal of useful information among the mass of Society in Governments—depending on their support on popular opinion and being desirous of affording some assistance towards the attainment of so desirable an end, I give, devise, and bequeath to the President, Masters, and Professors of William and Mary College and their successors office forever five hundred winchester bushels of Indian corn, which is to be paid them annually on the twenty fifth day of December for the use and benefit of a free school to be established in the centre of James City County regard being had to its present limits where the American language with the elements of Mathematics and Geography are to be taught and such other branches of useful knowledge as a majority of the Trustees of the time being may think proper. This institution is intended solely for the benefit of such persons whose indigent situation forbids their acquiring even the rudiments of an education— One thousand acres of the Hot water tract of Land is by my desire to stand pledged forever, for the full and complete execution of this cause [?] the bounds of which are to be designated by clear and obvious marks [?] within twelve callendar [sic] months after my decease.
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Terry L.. Meyers, Chancellor Professor of English, Emeritus, The College of William and Mary, in Virginia, Williamsburg 23187
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