THOMAS Jefferson, the principal drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, sat down in 1775 to compose a letter to a Scottish professor who had been an influential mentor to him whilst a young student at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Born near Arbroath in 1734, that Scot’s name was William Small. His effect on Jefferson was extraordinary, the depth of which is often overlooked in history.

Jefferson finished his thoughtful letter to his intellectual mentor, and decided to accompany it with three dozen bottles of wine for Small who had moved from Virginia to Birmingham in England. He promised Small another three dozen bottles to be sent later. The wine was some of Jefferson’s finest, having come from the Madeira Islands and kept in his personal cellar for eight years.

Jefferson wrote to Small expressing “my constant wishes for your happiness.” He also seemed anxious about how the revolutionary sentiment in America that he fully endorsed would impact on his friendship with Small. He respectfully wrote in the letter, “I shall still hope that amidst public dissension private friendship may be preserved inviolate, and among the warmest you can ever possess is that of your obliged humble servant.”

The letter and generous gift represent a window into how Jefferson revered and felt deep gratitude for his Scottish instructor.

William Small was an exceptional scholar while growing up in Scotland. He was formally educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen where he focused on the sciences, mathematics, and natural philosophy. He was surrounded by and immersed in the revolutionary ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment.

After his formal education, he was afforded a remarkable path to use his skills, talents, and knowledge as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at the College of William and Mary 3,500 miles away from his home in Scotland. He seized the opportunity. It was right at this time that a bright 16-year-old Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, began his studies at William and Mary. Jefferson’s intellectual passions and aptitudes were in the same subjects that Small taught.

From the outset, Small recognized in Jefferson an intense hunger for learning. He nurtured and cultivated his pupil, and Jefferson eagerly gravitated to Small. While Small had been focused on the sciences, he was also able to effectively link these pursuits with moral philosophy. When a position at the college in philosophy became vacant, he jumped at it.

Small introduced the writings of John Locke, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and others to the impressionable Jefferson. These writers and Small’s skill as a teacher had a profound inspirational impact on Jefferson. In fact, these philosophies impacted the core thrust of the Declaration of Independence, and Jefferson’s philosophy throughout his life.

The natural rights Jefferson penned in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence state: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those lines were directly influenced by Locke who wrote that "life, liberty, and property" are among the fundamental natural rights. It was Small who cultivated and refined those ideas in Jefferson.

Because Small was from the Arbroath area and educated at Aberdeen, he would have been very familiar with the Declaration of Arbroath signed at Arbroath Abbey in 1320. Central to that Scottish declaration was the principle of contract between king and people. Small would have raised Arbroath with Jefferson, and it too very likely influenced Jefferson’s thinking around Independence and politics more generally.

Jefferson’s letter to his friend with the three dozen bottles of fine Madeira wine and the forthcoming bottles, had an unhappy ending. In those times news travelling slowly, especially international news. The letter and gifts did arrive, but sadly, unbeknownst to Jefferson, Small had passed away months before the arrival.

We do not know when Jefferson learned of Small’s death. We can have no doubt that when the revolutionary leader put inked quill to paper at the Graff House in Philadelphia in July of 1776, he would have pondered his friend. He would have hoped that the document both honoured his memory and the substance of what he had learned from his enlightened guide.

Jefferson had many moral contradictions, but the brilliance of the Declaration of Independence is a testament to his aspirational prose. It also serves as an historical marker conveying the admiration of a student for his tutor, and the effectiveness of his Scottish teacher in motivating a world-altering pursuit for human liberty, equality, and justice – a quest, while having made much progress, still has global ground to cover.

Ian Houston has spent his career in Washington, DC as an advocate for diplomacy, trade, global poverty alleviation, intercultural dialogue, and as a non-profit leader. He currently serves as President of the Scottish Business Network (SBN) in the US and SBN Ambassador in Washington, DC. He serves on the board of the Robert Burns Ellisland Museum and Farm in Auldgirth and is the author of “Under Candle Bright.” His views do not necessarily reflect the views of SBN or Ellisland.