A Brief History of American Higher Education: Part One — Colonial Colleges (2024)

NB: Many details were culledfrom the respective linked web pages and assembled here to create an overview.

The history of highereducation in the United States is older than the Republic itself. Colonistsestablished our early colleges initially to train clergy and then to preparelawyers and teachers. It was very much a vocational enterprise.

There are nine institutionstypically referred to as the Colonial Colleges. They include seven of the eight “Ivies” (The eighth Ivy,Cornell, was founded in 1865). Rutgers and William and Mary round out theColonial Colleges and are now public institutions.

Ten other U.S. colleges anduniversities were also founded before the American Revolution, but charteredafter independence. Some were established as colleges and others as academiesthat later became colleges.

Early curricula embracedthe classical trivium and quadrivium of European models along with heavy dosesof Greek, Latin, history, ethics, and sometimes Hebrew. There were no organizedathletics, but there were numerous literary societies in which students engagedin debate and discussion, activities that were scarce in early collegiateclassrooms. One such society was Phi Beta Kappa,which was established at the College of William and Mary on 5 December 1776. Ithas become America’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society.

JohnHarvard was a British clergymanwho immigrated to New England in 1637 and died the following year oftuberculosis. On his deathbed, he bequeathed half of his estate (~$170,000today) and his considerable library to the newly founded college, which wasrenamed to honor its first significant benefactor. From these humblebeginnings, our oldest college has become one of the world’s leading research universities.Among Harvard’sfaculty and alumni are 161 Nobel Laureates;48 Pulitzer Prize and 18 Fields Medal winners; 375 Rhodes Scholars; 255Marshall Scholars; and 8 U.S. Presidents. John Winthrop who joined theirfaculty in 1738 was the first to teach legitimate science laboratories.

Williamand Mary, the alma mater of ThomasJefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler (George Washington also received hissurveyor’s certification there), established graduate programs in Law andMedicine in 1779. The law school is the oldest in the nation. The campus alsoboasts the oldest building in American higher education, which was designed bythe preëminent British architect, Christopher Wren, and constructed in 1695. Dueto financial hardships following the Civil War, William and Mary closed in1882. In one of higher education’s greatest second acts, it reopened in 1888with support from the Commonwealth of Virginia and became wholly public in1906.

Yale was founded to train Congregational ministers, and its originalcurriculum was restricted to ancient languages and theology. Jeremiah Dummerwas a leading proponent and supporter of the fledgling Collegiate School. Accountsdiffer as to whether he or Cotton Mather contacted Elihu Yale, president of theEast India Company requesting support. Yale contributed 417 books along withgoods that sold for £562. The University adopted Yale’s name in recognition ofthe gift. In an American Heritage article, John Steele Gordon claims that Dummer was the more deserving ofrecognition, but that the trustees could not bring themselves to name theinstitution Dummer College. Yale’s faculty and alumni comprise 65 Nobellaureates, 78 MacArthur fellows, 252 Rhodes Scholars, 123 Marshall Scholars,and 5 U.S. presidents.

PrincetonUniversity was initially founded by“New Light” Presbyterians who had been expelled by the Synod of Philadelphia aspart of a schism resulting from the Great Awakening. It was tied to disputesover the Westminster Confession, the authority of itinerant ministers, and the trainingof clergy. Although there was no formal connection, many early supporters ofPrinceton were affiliated with William Tennant’s Log College, the first theological seminary for Presbyterians in NorthAmerica. John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declarationof Independence, was president of Princeton from 1768 to 1794. He led theuniversity to play an important role in the American Revolution, includinghosting the Continental Congress in 1783. Alumni include 2 U.S. presidents andthree current members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

ColumbiaUniversity was established by GeorgeII of Great Britain as an Anglican response to the founding of PresbyterianPrinceton. It was renamed following the American Revolution, and two of itsearly trustees were alumni, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Columbia’s alumniand faculty include 7 founding fathers, 125 Pulitzer Prize winners (elevated bythe Journalism School), 122 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 4U.S. Presidents.

Benjamin Franklin founded theCollege of Philadelphia (later known as the University ofPennsylvania) in 1749, with a purpose and plan he outlined in Proposals Relating to theEducation of Youth in Pensilvania:

The Idea of what is true Merit,should also be often presented to Youth, explain'd and impress'd on theirMinds, as consisting in an Inclination join'd with an Ability to serve Mankind, one's Country, Friends and Family;which Ability is (with the Blessing of God) to beacquir'd or greatly encreas'd by true Learning; andshould indeed be the great Aim and End of all Learning (p.30).

In 1755, William Smithbecame the first academic to hold the title of Provost in the U.S. At Penn,Smith introduced the first modern systematic course of study and degreerequirements. He later became the first president of Washington College. Penn’salumni and trustees have included 8 signers of the Declaration ofIndependence, 7 signers of the U.S. Constitution, 80 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (co-founded by Franklin and JohnBartram), and 2 U.S. presidents.

Although historicallyconnected to the Baptist Church, Brown University was the first North American institution to accept studentsindependent of religious affiliation. One of the three petitioners proposingthe establishment of Brown was William Ellery who would later become a signerof the Declaration of Independence.The university is named for the Brown family, major philanthropicsupporters, who included slave traders and abolitionists. It is a complexhistory with which the university continues to wrestle. Brown alumni andfaculty include 8 Nobel laureates, 57 Rhodes Scholars, 52 Gates CambridgeScholars, and 15 MacArthur Fellows.

RutgersUniversity was founded as Queen’sCollege in honor of Queen Charlotte of Great Britain. In 1825, it was renamed inhonor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War hero and significantbenefactor of the college. In 1864, Rutgers was made the land-grant college ofNew Jersey. It became a public institution in 1945. In addition to its originalhome in New Brunswick, Rutgers has campuses in Newark and Camden.

DartmouthCollege was founded byCongregational minister, Eleazar Wheelock, Wheelock had tutored Samson Occom, aPresbyterian minister who became the first Native American to publish inEnglish. This success led Wheelock to establish a school in Connecticut fornative students. He secured a charter, with significant help from Occom, toestablish Dartmouth to educate Native Americans. The college is named for LordDartmouth, head of the College’s original British Board of Trustees whoinitially opposed the enrollment of non-native students; even so, most ofDartmouth’s students were the sons of colonists. In 1970, Dartmouth establisheda program dedicated to native recruitment. Since then, over 700 indigenousstudents have graduated from the college.

In the years immediatelyfollowing the Revolution, many Founding Fathers played critical roles in theleadership and development of America’s colleges and universities. The creationof the Republic was one of the great experiments of the Enlightenment, and ourfounders knew that higher education would would be essential in preparing thenext generation of leaders to sustain and develop the new nation.