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UNTIL the founding of
Princeton there were in the American colonies of Great Britain only
three colleges where a young man could receive a good classical and
scientific education. Two of these were in New England; Harvard had been
established at Cambridge near Boston in 1636 under a charter from the
General Court; Yale, beginning in 1701, moving about from place to
place, was finally located at New Haven in 1718; William and Mary
College, in Virginia, had been chartered by the crown in 1693. The
middle colonies were practically destitute of the means of higher
education.
The desire for a college
which would offer a comprehensive course of study was particularly
strong among the Presbyterians of this section, so that they might not
only educate their sons but-also in this way procure suitable candidates
for the ministry of their church, for which they were dependent on New
England or the old country. For this purpose William and Mary was not
only too far away in the days when the stage coach was the speediest
method of travel; it was too largely under Episcopalian influence to
suit the orthodox Calvinists of that day of denominational suspicion and
exclusiveness. Harvard and Yale were both satisfactory on the score of
orthodoxy but the distance was too great for the boys of Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and even of New York. There was great
need of a college where "religion and sound learning should receive
equal attention." The Presbyterians did not wish a theological seminary,
but a school of high moral and religious tone. Religion without
learning, they said, produces fanaticism; learning without religion
produces skepticism. They desired the purest Christian doctrine and the
best secular scholarship, both classical and scientific. At that time
there was a faction in the Presbyterian church who laid the emphasis for
ministerial qualification on religious experience. Rev. William Tennent
and his two sons had opposed a rule of the synod providing that young
men applying for licensure, not being graduates of college, should
undergo an examination on the arts and sciences before the synod.
Against this rule the Tennents protested and for this protest the synod,
by a stretch of authority, censured them. Thereupon the members of three
Presbyteries from the vicinity of New York withdrew and formed a
separate synod. The members of the new Synod did not all agree with the
Tennents on the question of education; they thought the Philadelphia men
had gone too far in condemning the Tennents for their opinion. Believing
in education as well as in ecclesiastical justice they determined, if
possible, to establish a college. The partisans of fervid piety had been
alienated from Yale by the expulsion of David Brainerd from that
college. Brainerd was a religious enthusiast of rare spirit, warm heart
and strong mind. He could not endure the cold-blooded manner of some of
the New Englanders. In a moment of passion he told one of the tutors
that that learned gentleman "had no more of the grace of God than a
chair." Although he publicly confessed his fault he was promptly
expelled. His expulsion was regarded as too severe a punishment and
served to strengthen the determination of the New York men to establish
a college where religion should not be discounted.
The Philadelphia men had
tried to establish a school at New London, Pennsylvania, but it amounted
to little and after a struggling existence became what is now Newark
Academy, Delaware. Over in East Jersey Jonathan Dickinson opened a
private school at Elizabeth where he did his best to prepare young men
for the ministry. Aaron Burr had a classical school at Newark, N. J.
These were private schools and did not meet the large need. Dickinson
and Burr consulted with two others, John Pierson and Ebenezer Pemberton,
as to the best way to establish a good college without any further
makeshifts. Pemberton was the man to whom the Scotch society for
propagating Christian knowledge sent money for work among the Indians.
These four men, not as representatives of the Synod, but on their own
account, tried to obtain a charter for a college in New Jersey. Lewis
Morris, Governor of the Province, refused to grant one in 1745. Why he
refused is not stated. But his honour had a hearty dislike for
dissenters, as he regarded these Presbyterians. The British Government
had instructed the Provincial Governors that religious and educational
matters were under control of the Bishop of London, and no schoolmaster
was to be permitted to keep school in the province without his
permission. The rule was not always en-forced, but the Governor found it
convenient to observe it in this instance. Thwarted as they were in
their good enterprise the ministers did not abandon all hope. Perhaps
they felt that a college was predestinated. They waited and watched. One
fancies that they did not lament sorely when Governor Morris died on the
21st May, 1746. It was not until the 22d October, however, that they
renewed their application to John Hamilton, who, as President of the
Provincial council, held the government until King George should appoint
a new Governor. The council promptly granted the application, an action
which does not surprise us when we learn that four of the councillors
were Presbyterians.
The charter conferred
upon twelve trustees the right to conduct such a college as they
de-sired, at the same time securing the liberties and privileges of
other Christian denominations whose members might care to patronize it.
Although the charter was granted in October, 1746, the college was not
advertised until February, 1747, the trustees making ready their plans
in the interval. When all was ready the school of Jonathan Dickinson, at
Elizabeth, was made the foundation of the new college and he became its
first president. The advertisement announced that students would be
admitted the fourth week of May, 1747, and the college started on its
career. The first commencement was to have been held in May, 1748. But
in October, 1747, the president died. Whether the trustees took any
immediate steps to appoint his successor does not appear, but the
students of the college went over to Newark and there completed their
course under the care of Aaron Burr, one of the applicants for the
charter.
During the summer of
1747, the newly appointed governor of the province, Jonathan Belcher,
arrived in New Jersey, having had an experience of twenty years as
governor of two New England provinces, during which time he had shown a
marked interest in Harvard College, where he had graduated in 1699. The
trustees of the new college of New Jersey were, therefore, hopeful of
his favour. Soon after his arrival they applied for a new charter, some
doubt having been cast upon the validity of the first one, which had
been granted by the president of the council without the assent of the
Assembly or the Crown. Before they should fix upon a permanent location
for the college or expend money upon buildings, the trustees wished to
secure a perfectly valid charter. Governor Belcher met them more than
half way and granted them a new charter for which he also secured the
sanction of the Crown. It could not be got ready in time for the
graduation of the first class in May, 1748. Lest the degrees of the
graduates should not be valid under the old charter it was decided, at
the request of the governor himself, who wished to be present at the
first commencement, to pot- pone it, and- it was not until the 14th of
September, 1748, that it was finally approved; and that is why the
commencement exercises of Princeton were held in the fall rather than in
the spring for more than sixty years.
The new charter provided
that the governor of the province should be ex-officio president of the
Board of Trustees. To this proviso the clergymen objected, lest
difficulties might arise under governors not in full sympathy with the
other trustees, and, as Jonathan Edwards wrote to a friend in Scotland,
"Might be men of no religion or Deists." On this point, however,
Governor Belcher was firm and to this day, the charter having been
confirmed by the legislature in 1780, the governor of the State is
president of the Board. The college, however, is not a State institution
endowed by public funds and is altogether independent of State control.
Princeton had been
selected for the site of the college as early as 1747. No buildings had
been erected, however, and in the meantime the school of Rev. Aaron
Burr, at Newark, acted under the charter, he being chosen first
president upon its being granted. The first commencement was held at
Newark, November 9, 1748, there being six graduates, one of whom,
Richard Stockton, was afterwards a trustee of the college and a
colleague of Witherspoon in the Continental Congress. Some of the
trustees thought New Brunswick a more desirable location than Princeton
and tried to induce the citizens to grant land for the buildings and the
president's house. The commencement of 1749 was held there with the
design of interesting the people. They seemed indifferent. The trustees
in 1750 voted that "a proposal be made to the towns of Brunswick and
Princeton to try what sum of money they can raise for building of the
college by the next meeting, that the trustees may be better able to
judge in which of these places to fix the place of the college." Again
the next spring they offer to locate the college in the town on the
Passaic if the citizens will guarantee a thousand pounds, ten acres of
land near the college and two hundred acres of woodland not more than
three miles away. The woodland was wanted to supply the college with
fire-wood. The people of Princeton had bestirred themselves and came
forward with an offer. The treasurer was instructed to view the land at
Princeton as well as that which had at last been offered by the New
Brunswick folk. The latter, however, were unable to make a definite
offer. Despite the preference of the trustees for that place the energy
of the Princetonians in raising money and obtaining land was such that
finally in January, 1753, it was agreed to accept the offer of
Princeton, "when Mr. Randolph has given a deed for a certain tract of
land." No better situation could have been chosen. Princeton lay near
the centre of the province of New Jersey on the main coach road midway
between New York and Philadelphia. It stands on high ground overlooking
a beautiful stretch of country. Sufficiently in touch with the traffic
and news of the day it was sufficiently remote to secure the desirable
quiet of college life.
Money was needed for the
erection of suitable buildings. Mr. Nathanael Fitz Randolph, who had
given the land, also gave twenty pounds and promised to obtain
subscriptions from his friends. Governor Belcher wrote to some wealthy
men of New England who contributed various sums. There were not more
than a thousand pounds in the treasury. People of New York and
Philadelphia interested themselves. When the necessary amount could not
be obtained in America Rev. Gilbert Tennent and Rev. Samuel Davies, as
has been already told, went " home " to Great Britain armed with letters
of Governor Belcher and others as well as with a very earnest address
from the Synod of New York. Other letters were sent to individual
clergymen in the three kingdoms. The generous response of the people at
"home" enabled the trustees to proceed at once with the building for the
college and the President's house which were so far completed in
September of 1756 that President Burr arranged to have the commencement
exercises held at Princeton on the 28th. His own presence was wanting,
for on the 24th he died. Good old Governor Belcher, also, had passed
away on the 31st of August. So appreciative were the trustees of his
kindness that they had proposed to name the new building Belcher Hall.
The governor had been a warm admirer of King William III, and requested
the trustees to call it Nassau Hall in honour of the king's house. Thus
it came to pass that the colours of the house of Nassau, orange and
black, are the colours of Princeton College.
There was no delay in
choosing another president. Before electing any one, however, the
trustees decided that "the salary of the president shall be two hundred
pounds proclamation money of the province, together with the use of the
president's house and improved lands with liberty of getting his
fire-wood on land belonging to the corporation." They then elected
Jonathan Edwards, the famous New England preacher and theologian. There
was some delay in getting him released from his charge at Stockbridge,
so that he did not arrive at Princeton until early in February, 1765.
The fatality that seems to have pursued the other presidents overtook
him. He died of the smallpox on March 22d. The next president, Samuel
Davies, held his office less than two years. In September, 1761, Rev.
Samuel Finley was introduced to the Board of Trustees, beginning his
administration without any further ceremony. Dr. Finley added to the
reputation of the college, which became more largely patronized by
students and more generously favoured by friends. The funds increased
considerably; there were offers of money for the support of poor
students; a Virginia gentleman gave a hundred pounds towards maintaining
a professor of Divinity, to which chair Rev. John Blair was appointed.
Through Richard Stockton, one of the trustees, a petition for a grant of
land was presented to the Crown, but it was re-fused, it was suspected,
through the influence of the Episcopalians. The president's salary had
been increased from time to time until in 1766 it was four hundred
pounds. In September of that year, Dr. Finley having died in July,
before proceeding to the election of his successor, the trustees fixed
the salary at two hundred and fifty pounds with the usual perquisites,
and on the following day elected John Witherspoon. I have already stated
that he declined the first offer. It may be well to give here more fully
the reasons for his declination.
The college had been
founded by individual members of the New York Synod after the separation
of that body from the Philadelphia Synod. The members of the latter
Synod had held aloof from the enterprise. In 1757 there was a reunion of
the two Synods, upon which the Philadelphia Presbyterians and their
friends asked for a share in the government of the college. From
gentlemen of Philadelphia and Lewistown, Pennsylvania, had come offers
of money upon satisfactory assurances involving this question. Upon the
death of Dr. Finley it was hoped that these new friends might have a
voice in suggesting or electing the president, but the Board of Trustees
proceeded without them. It was represented to Witherspoon that the
Presbyterians of America were at logger heads over Nassau Hall, and he
had no desire to leave the disturbed church of Scotland, where he was a
growing power, for a new land and church torn by dissensions, the nature
of which he did not fully understand, and in which he might be the
greatest sufferer. His own feelings were conservative; he had no
sympathy with those who preferred emotional piety to educated,
reasonable orthodoxy and without indicating his reason in his letter he
simply declined to become entangled in the strife of parties in the
American church. His reasons, however, were confided to his friends and
some of these learned that there was real unanimity and peace in the
American church, that the affairs and prospects of the college were
prosperous and all his fears groundless. His regrets at his hasty
declination soon became known and the trustees gladly re=elected him. In
the mean-time, however, Rev. Samuel Blair, a graduate of the college in
176o, who had also been a tutor, had been elected president, but with
the understanding that he should not enter upon his duties for a year,
there being strong hopes of persuading the Paisley pastor to accept. As
soon as he learned that Witherspoon might reconsider he withdrew.
Witherspoon's election was unanimous, all the friends of the college in
both factions agreeing that his advent would settle many vexed
questions. There was no man in America above the suspicion of belonging
to one or the other party. No such charge could be brought against him.
The college had been in
existence twenty years. From a position which placed it little above a
classical school it had now risen to a rank among the best educational
institutions in the land. Its curriculum was almost as good as that of
Witherspoon's alma mater, the University of Edinburgh, although the
faculty was not so large nor the equipment so extensive. There was no
divinity school. Few precedents hampered the new president. No principal
of a European university had as full liberty as he. The college was
controlled neither by the government nor by the church, directly, but by
an independent board of trustees, self-governing, self-perpetuating.
Among the trustees were not only Presbyterians who were in a majority,
but also Episcopalians, Independents and a Quaker. Supported by a
reunited church, governed by such a body of representative men, a very
promising future was before the college.
The number of pupils had
increased until in 1766 there were about a hundred and twenty, almost as
many as there had been at the University of Edinburgh when Witherspoon
matriculated there twenty-five years before. The curriculum offered what
seems to us a very narrow range of study. During the first three years
the Latin and Greek classics were thoroughly read. Orations were
delivered by the students, both in Latin and English, public speaking
being an art highly prized. Mathematics and the sciences, as much of
them as were known, were pursued until the senior year, which appears to
have been devoted to criticism and review, with more attention to
original composition. How far the educational ideas of Princeton's
faculty at that time approximates those of the present day may be seen
in the account of Princeton written by one of the tutors in 1766, who
tells us that " in the instruction of youth care is taken to cherish a
spirit of liberty and free inquiry; and not only to permit but even to
encourage their right of private judgment without presuming to dictate
with an air of infallibility, or demanding an implicit assent to the
decisions of the preceptor." Each class recited twice a day and "always
had free access to their teachers." The day must have been long,
beginning at six with morning prayers, at which a student might be
chosen to read a portion of the Scriptures in the original and to
translate it. Except for an hour in the morning, two at noon and three
in the evening, the boys were kept at work upon their studies. College
athletics there were none; no class matches, no intercollegiate games.
Handball was the most exhilarating sport. All students were required to
board in the college, the table being supplied by the steward, who also
furnished fire-wood and candles. The delightful club life so
characteristic of Princeton to-day was unknown. Freshmen were required
to run upon errands for the boys of the three upper classes, and
otherwise be at their service, until, early in Witherspoon's
administration the custom was broken up by the trustees. A democratic
spirit prevailed in the college, patronized, as it was most largely, by
boys from every rank of colonial life, into which few of the class
distinctions of the old country had been intro-duced. Penalties for
breaches of college discipline were not the undreaded disorder marks of
a later era, but fines of money which must be paid in full by the
culprit before he could obtain his degree. The fines, however, were
discontinued early in Witherspoon's connection with the college, except
where injury had been done to the property. Suspension or expulsion were
extreme forms of punishment seldom inflicted. NO cuts were allowed from
prayers or recitation, and the president alone could grant leave of
absence. Evening prayers were made the occasion for instruction in
psalmody. No instrumental music profaned the walls of Nassau Hall's
chapel, the voices of men and boys rising in full volume as they sang
the paraphrases of the psalms, the leader catching the note from his
tuning fork. Even on Sunday work must be done. Disputations on the
subject of natural and revealed religion were given publicly in the
chapel, the citizens of the town being privileged to attend, "in order
to habituate the boys early to face an assembly, as also for other
important and religious ends." As there was no church in the town the
citizens attended the services in the chapel, where some of them were
assigned pews for which they paid a rental.
Examinations were oral,
conducted in the presence of the trustees and such visitors as chose to
attend, by the president and tutors, and "any other gentlemen of
education who shall choose to be present." It is plain that no "shenanigaging"
was possible in such an examination. Although the laws required every
candidate for a bachelor's degree to reside two whole years in the
college, any person might present himself for examination, and, if
deemed worthy, receive a degree upon payment of eight pounds tuition for
two years and the customary fees of graduation. Commencement day in
September began the long term uninterrupted by vacations. Orations and
disputations were given by those who had graduated a few weeks before.
No Christmas or Easter recesses broke the routine, for these were popish
feasts not observed by strict Presbyterians. A short vacation in the
spring and another in the fall, neither exceeding two or three weeks,
was all the rest given teachers or students.
Every student was
required to pay two shillings sixpence quarterly for the rent of the
library, a rule providing that no student might have the key of the
library, that being in charge of one of the officers of the college. The
total expenses averaged about twenty-five pounds, four for tuition,
fifteen for board, three for laundry, two for fire-wood and candles, one
for room rent, with six shillings for contingent expenses.
What pranks the students
played the minutes of the trustees up to 1768 do not record. It was
found necessary to lock the door of the cupola and place the key in the
charge of the steward whose duty it was to ring the bell, and who must
permit nobody else to go up. Is it un-likely that even as early as 1766,
as in 1876, the boys occasionally rang the bell at night or stole the
clapper? There were laws forbidding various offenses, trivial and
serious, which might disturb the peace of the Hall or the campus, and
occasionally some luckless lad was obliged to pay a fine, which he did
with good grace, but there were no expulsions. Several students
neglected to pay their fees, which led to a law requiring them all to
give bond in the full amount before they could enter college. This rule
was found too hard and was amended so that the sophomores paid thirty
shillings, the juniors forty, entrance money. A senior in arrears could
not receive his degree until all arrears were paid in full.
This brief sketch of the
history of the college and its student life gives us some idea of the
work which lay before the new president. He faced the task of bringing
together in support of the college two parties in the church, formally
united but still jealous and watchful of each other. The endowment
amounted to less than three thousand pounds, only a small part of that
drawing interest. But the college stood high in the public favour,
attracting students from New England in the North and the Carolinas in
the South, as well as from the immediate neighbour-hood of New Jersey. |
