statesmen, legislators & judges, on whom public prosperity, & individual happiness are so much to depend
This statement is very interesting as it focuses on the workers of society as a fundamental key to "individual happiness". I believe this opposes sentiments of our own time where people believe they can generate their own happiness. This shows how much more the people from this time were concerned with society and how much each individual person depended on it. I think that this relates to one of the goals of the liberal arts education; to become a better citizen and engage more with society in order to give back after all we have been given.