This dissertation posits that in the five decades following the American Revolution, there was a movement among the elite of Virginia's rising generation to envision a future different from the path that would ultimately take the state toward the retrenchment of slavery and even secession. This younger generation, claiming the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, demonstrated that the liberal side of the Enlightenment had a life in Virginia that went beyond the Founders' generation, and that the Enlightenment in the South offered possibilities for social and political reform. The primary types of reform animating liberal elite reformers in this generation were those requiring state action organized through the political process, and they included such reforms as the promotion of internal improvements, public education, the gradual abolition of slavery, and the democratization of the state itself. Although these reformers did not succeed in fundamentally changing the trajectory of Virginia's future, they attempted to offer an alternative, while at the same time confronting their own ambivalences and the realities of a society that was becoming more overtly proslavery.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation posits that in the five decades following the American Revolution, there was a movement among the elite of Virginia's rising generation to envision a future different from the path that would ultimately take the state toward the retrenchment of slavery and even secession. This younger generation, claiming the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, demonstrated that the liberal side of the Enlightenment had a life in Virginia that went beyond the Founders' generation, and that the Enlightenment in the South offered possibilities for social and political reform. The primary types of reform animating liberal elite reformers in this generation were those requiring state action organized through the political process, and they included such reforms as the promotion of internal improvements, public education, the gradual abolition of slavery, and the democratization of the state itself. Although these reformers did not succeed in fundamentally changing the trajectory of Virginia's future, they attempted to offer an alternative, while at the same time confronting their own ambivalences and the realities of a society that was becoming more overtly proslavery.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Morris, Scott Taylor"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["David T Konig"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-04-23T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-04-23T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:13:40Z","subjects":["antislavery","Enlightenment","Jefferson","reform","Virginia"],"languages":["English (en)"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/K7930R8R"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.7936/K7930R8R","href":"https://doi.org/10.7936/K7930R8R","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1253","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["David T Konig"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Morris, Scott Taylor"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-05-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["antislavery","Enlightenment","Jefferson","reform","Virginia"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English (en)"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1253"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/K7930R8R"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation posits that in the five decades following the American Revolution, there was a movement among the elite of Virginia's rising generation to envision a future different from the path that would ultimately take the state toward the retrenchment of slavery and even secession. This younger generation, claiming the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, demonstrated that the liberal side of the Enlightenment had a life in Virginia that went beyond the Founders' generation, and that the Enlightenment in the South offered possibilities for social and political reform. The primary types of reform animating liberal elite reformers in this generation were those requiring state action organized through the political process, and they included such reforms as the promotion of internal improvements, public education, the gradual abolition of slavery, and the democratization of the state itself. Although these reformers did not succeed in fundamentally changing the trajectory of Virginia's future, they attempted to offer an alternative, while at the same time confronting their own ambivalences and the realities of a society that was becoming more overtly proslavery.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Southern Enlightenment: Reform and Progress in Jefferson's Virginia"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["David T Konig"],"dc:creator":["Morris, Scott Taylor"],"dc:date.available":["2016-05-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation posits that in the five decades following the American Revolution, there was a movement among the elite of Virginia's rising generation to envision a future different from the path that would ultimately take the state toward the retrenchment of slavery and even secession. This younger generation, claiming the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, demonstrated that the liberal side of the Enlightenment had a life in Virginia that went beyond the Founders' generation, and that the Enlightenment in the South offered possibilities for social and political reform. The primary types of reform animating liberal elite reformers in this generation were those requiring state action organized through the political process, and they included such reforms as the promotion of internal improvements, public education, the gradual abolition of slavery, and the democratization of the state itself. Although these reformers did not succeed in fundamentally changing the trajectory of Virginia's future, they attempted to offer an alternative, while at the same time confronting their own ambivalences and the realities of a society that was becoming more overtly proslavery.
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