In a letter to Alexander Hamilton on 1 September 1796, President George Washington explained his thoughts on the need for a national university:
. . . I mean Education generally as one of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our Citizens, but particularly the establishment of a University; where the youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish of Erudition in the Arts, Sciences, and Belle Letters; and where those who were disposed to run a political course, might not only be instructed in the theory and principles, but (this Seminary being at the Seat of the General Government) where the Legislature would be in Session half the year, and the interests and politics of the Nation of course would be discussed, they would lay the surest foundation for the practical part also. -.
But that which would render...