VCC Magazine Summer 2019

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer 2019 12 A stately marble bust of Virginia’s second Speaker of the House of Delegates, George Wythe, overlooks the Old House Chamber in the Virginia State Capitol. A larger-than-life statue of Wythe’s law student and surrogate son, Thomas Jefferson, rises in the Capitol Extension Plaza. Jefferson stands tall due in no small part to the inspiration that he received from his beloved mentor, senior Founding Father Wythe. While Jefferson was a genius, many of the ideas for which he is given credit weren’t original to him. I began to realize this while researching a biography, Jefferson’s Godfather, about Wythe and his lifelong relationship with Jefferson. It became apparent that Wythe’s reformist, scholarly mind was very much behind the three lifetime achievements that Jefferson asked to be engraved on his tombstone: author of the Declaration of Independence, author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. Why Should We Care? One might ask: Why should we care about this long-dead leader, Wythe, sometimes called America’s “Forgotten Founding Father”? It is important to revisit his legacy today, as his life and ideals are as relevant in the 21st century as they were in the 18th, at the birth of our great nation. Wythe held up a light in the darkness of America’s early development, when the young country gravely needed ethical leadership and good direction following its radical divorce from England. Wythe taught and lived the ideal of the honorable public servant— one who works selflessly for the good of state and nation. He was the “only honest lawyer I ever knew,” quipped one clergyman. His principled character was a model for younger American leaders and for what we nostalgically refer to today as “The Virginia Way.” Described as the “Godfather of the Declaration of Independence” by the late United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Wythe signed the Declaration, helped organize its legal brief, and informed Jefferson’s noble preamble. Later, he played a key role in rescuing the Federal Constitution from failure during its ratification rounds in Virginia. America’s First Leadership School for Statesmen Except for a handful of Founding Fathers, the nation faced a severe leadership shortage at its beginning. Few Americans had a college education, and even fewer had been exposed to the ideals of a democratic republic, as modeled in ancient Greek and Roman history. The only government that Americans and their ancestors had known for generations was rule by King and Parliament, and most were at a loss as to how to proceed. Into the leadership void stepped George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson. In 1779, Jefferson, Virginia’s wartime governor, appointed Wythe, America’s foremost expert on law and government, as the nation’s first professor of law. Quickly, Wythe turned his law school at the College of William & Mary into the country’s first leadership training program for future statesmen. Not content simply to teach his students a trade, a profession, Wythe gave them a first-class liberal arts education, to become well- rounded individuals. Then, he asked more of them: that they leave his classroom to become ethical future leaders of the governments and judiciaries in their states and nation. At his death in 1806, his former students were virtually running America and Virginia. President Thomas Jefferson, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, rising statesman Henry Clay, and scores of other Wythe-taught leaders stood at the helm. George Wythe remains unquestionably the most influential teacher in American history, judged by student achievement in high public office. Honoring George Wythe on January 16 Perhaps Virginia’s General Assembly members can give Mr. Wythe a long-overdue salute on National Religious Freedom Day, January 16. His pupil Jefferson is always given full credit for writing Virginia’s religious freedom law, passed by the legislature on January 16, 1786, and later incorporated into the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Jefferson wrote the final draft, but the proposed reform was most definitely the work of a team, not an individual. In 1777, five prominent Virginia leaders were tasked with revising the state’s legal code, outdated with old laws from the Colonial period. Through attrition, the five-man committee became a committee of two—Wythe and Jefferson. For two years, they slogged through hundreds of documents. During this time, 1777-78, Wythe also served as Speaker of the House of Delegates. In 1779, Wythe and Jefferson reported a package of 126 new and revised laws to the General Assembly, including the measure for religious freedom. Wythe had a dog in the fight for religious liberty: old Virginia laws on the books persecuted his Quaker ancestors in draconian ways, including death, for the open practice of their faith. Jefferson came from a traditional background defined by Virginia’s established religion, the Anglican Church. It is unlikely that he had ever thought of the concept of religious freedom before coming toWilliamsburg as a young student and hearing the views of older reformers like his mentor. In summary,Wythe’s story is about the Power of One—the ability of just one individual to change the course of history for the better. America could benefit from more leaders today like this excellent Founding Father. Suzanne Munson lectures on the Wythe-Jefferson legacy at University of Virginia, William & Mary, and University of Richmond OSHER affiliates, the Chautauqua Institution in New York, and various civic and professional organizations. She is the author of the George Wythe biography, Jefferson’s Godfather: The Man Behind the Man, available on Amazon. Contact suzmunson01@gmail.com . The Amazing Legacy of Speaker of the House George Wythe By Suzanne Munson V