UVa professor and alumnus Larry Sabato jokingly threatened to eschew his Times-Dispatch subscription if Thomas Jefferson was not named the greatest Virginian in one of the two centuries in which he was eligible. Or at least the editors hope he was joking.

To end all speculation, after much discussion it was decided that Albemarle's favorite son would not make the cut. The cases for George Washington and James Madison were too compelling to overcome in the 18th century. And much the same happened with the individuals who will be announced next Sunday as the greatest and most influential people of the 19th century. Yet Jefferson does merit a tip-of-the-hat for an all-time impressive Virginia life.

Participants in the survey in almost equal numbers identified Jefferson (1743-1826) and Madison (1751-1836) as the most influential Virginian of the 18th century. In both the 18th century and the 19th century, Jefferson held important public offices, wrote memorable state papers, created important institutions, and designed notable buildings.

Overall estimates of his significance and influence are therefore, in some instances, based on his whole life, showing the artificiality of centuries as markers of historical time.

The list of offices he held during the 18th century is impressive: justice of the peace, colonel of militia, member of the House of Burgesses, member of the House of Delegates, member of the Continental Congress, governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state in the Washington administration, vice president of the United States, and president of the American Philosophical Society.The list of important state papers that he composed during the century is also impressive. He wrote a very important pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, that was one of the most influential statements of American rights before the American Revolution.

Jefferson was the lead drafter of the Declaration of Independence, prepared the bulk of a proposal for a comprehensive revisal of the state's laws, including the Act for Establishing Religious Liberty, wrote Notes on the State of Virginia, and composed important reports on commerce and patent law and coinage.

In the 19th century, Jefferson served two terms as president of the United States and was the founder of the University of Virginia. In 1803 he approved the purchase of the Louisiana territory from France, and he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific Ocean to explore the center and the western portions of the continent. Those events permanently and profoundly altered the course of American history.

Historians John Deal and Marianne E. Julienne both nominated Jefferson for the greatest Virginian of the 19th century, and historian Bland Whitley nominated him as the most influential because of the consequences of Jefferson's achievements. In Deal's words, Jefferson was a great president and deserves credit for "creating the University of Virginia, and especially for the Louisiana Purchase.

The Louisiana Purchase gave the U.S. room to grow and the natural resources that would later make it a world power. People should also understand that it created economic and political issues related to slavery that would result in the Civil War. For these reasons too, Jefferson could be the most influential.

Thomas Jefferson was the most versatile Virginia statesmen of all time, and among American politicians one of the finest prose stylists ever. He was also one of the country's finest and most influential architects. He designed the state Capitol, the first buildings of the University of Virginia, several courthouses and private residences, and of course, his two main residences, Monticello and Poplar Forest.

Archivist and historian Trenton Hizer wrote, "The breadth of his range from agriculture to politics to science to architecture is impressive." Mayor L. Douglas Wilder agreed. "His expertise in architecture, language, literature, and culture," Wilder wrote, "influenced so much of what made Virginia that new place where people could see a new beginning," achievements that "clearly made Thomas Jefferson the most influential Virginian during the 18th century."

Historian Kevin Hayes called Jefferson "one of the great thinkers of his day" and wrote that he "extended the Enlightenment into the realms of government and religion."

Ben Campell focused on the writings and the ideas they contained. Jefferson's words, Campbell wrote, "had more power than any words since Moses and Jesus. They went around the world, and as late as the latter part of the 20th century continued to foment revolution." Historian Charles Hobson concurred. "His words have echoed again and again down through the ages as an effective means to keep our political, social, and economic practices in rough conformity to those ideals."

Historian Cynthia Kierner calls attention pointedly to Jefferson's influence, which she characterized as "both good and bad." His words "inspired champions of human rights and liberty ranging from Frederick Douglass to Ho Chi Minh. As a Virginia planter and politician (who also happened to have authored the Declaration), he also made it fairly easy for racist or apathetic whites to justify or to trivialize the institution of slavery."

When Jefferson said, in effect, that slavery, though evil, was a problem that could not be solved, Kierner noted, "his words carried additional weight because he had gone on record as a proponent of the notion that 'all men are created equal.'"

Jefferson's legacy is a mixed one, as Kierner pointed out. He wrote some memorable and inspiring anti-slavery language, but he held a great many people in slavery throughout his life and did virtually nothing when in office to abolish or ameliorate the institution, and in his private writings he discouraged anti-slavery activity.

Whether Jefferson was the father of the children of Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman he owned, has been a subject of argument for more than 200 years. That debate by itself casts a shadow over the splendid words and deeds of a man known for many things but for none so much as his writings on the subject of liberty.

Jefferson could not compete with Washington in the contest for the title "greatest" -- no one could. Jefferson almost ties Madison in the category of "influential," but the shear historical magnitude and significance of the document that is the U.S. Constitution breaks the deadlock on Madison's behalf.

Let the discussion begin. -- Brent Tarter and Cordel Faulk