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The Pioneering Colleges: The New American College,Governance, Curriculum, and Faculty, 1790-1869

Les Goodchild, Santa Clara University

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The Pioneering CollegesClass 3

Governance structure of the colleges

Public

Private

Theory of lay governance Churches

The Dartmouth College Decision of 1819

The Yale Report of 1828

The New Colleges of the WestWomen, Blacks,Catholics

Small Group Discussions

Going to Mills College for Class 5

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What accounts for the Americancollege development in this era?

Frederick Rudolphs (1962)Designation of theCollegiate Way for the

new American colleges ofthe Republic Old-Time College

Antebellum College

Multipurpose College

Pioneering Colleges

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How historians wrote

The Old-Time Collegecollege historians in the1930s and 1940s described the 19th century interms of what last century was likefocused oncollege foundings

The Antebellum Collegeby the 1950s and1960s college historians used the Civil War as ademarker, following mainline Americanhistoriansfocused on democratic curriculum

The Multipurpose Collegethe colleges offeredmany studies based on the local needs of thecommunityfocused on the mission of thecolleges

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Three schools of interpretationfor these colleges

The Traditional Viewthe Old-Time College Frederick Rudolphs The American College and University (1962) followed

the idea of Tewksbruy (1932) that 700 colleges had been founded afterthe Revolution and before the Civil War. Most failonly 250 survive,an 81% failure rate.

These colleges were founded aslocal agents of the religiousdenominations to bring religionto the community.

Richard Hofstadter (1955) calledthis the Great Retrogressionwhere schools of theenlightenment becamebastions of educational,

political, and ideologicalconservatism

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Three schools of interpretationfor these colleges

The Revisionist Viewthe Antebellum College Colin Burkes The American Collegiate Populations: A Test of

the Traditional View (1982) revised the number of collegefoundingsclaiming that many were not colleges at all.

He claims not that many foundedand of those 249surviveonly a 17% failure rate

Natalie Naylors The Antebellum College Movement(1973) notes that these colleges contributed to thedemocratization of higher education by expanding

postsecondary opportunities to local areas, therebyimproving the quality of education there.

Earle Rosss (1942) Democracys Colleges offered sciencesand engineering studies that broadened the utility ofthese schools.

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Three schools of interpretationfor these colleges

The Multipurpose CollegeInnovationist View Roger Geigers The American College in the Nineteenth

Century (1995/2000) points to the variety of collegeofferings at the schools in the west from 1850 to 1890:

from brick laying (trades)leading to the peoples collegeand land-grant colleges, such as Iowa State College (1862)

for classical studies for womenleading to Troy FemaleSeminary (1822)

from classical studies for the professions of divinity,medicine, and law

Yet another view is possible

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A fourth school of interpretation

The Pioneering Colleges of 19th Century Goodchilds Western College Expansion, 1818-1945:

Churches and Evangelization, States and Boosterismoffers a new geographical interpretation combining other

aspects of the previous three interpretative schools. D. W. Meinigs The Shaping of America

(1986/1993/1998) points to the geographical aspects ofdevelopment that rise of towns across theAppalachians and wagon trails west created the

demand for higher education Stanfords William Cowley in 1950s called this era one

of renaissance because of the use of various types ofcurricula

Douglas Sloans The Scottish Enlightenment and the

American College Ideal (1971) noted that as early as 1760brought science into the American college curriculum

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Governance in the NewRepublic: States and Colleges

College Governance ShiftsYale from 1792 to mid-1800s 7alumni replaced representativesfrom the General Assembly College of Philadelphia becomes

the University of Pennsylvania in1789, only governor left on board Kings College to ColumbiaCollege in 1783 legislators off theboard Massachusetts legislature

reorganized Harvards governancestructure in 1810 and 1812. With theloss of state funding in 1823, collegebecomes independent William and Mary Collegebecomes a state university throughefforts of Jefferson in 1779

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Governance Changes

Increase in lay governance

New lay members of community

Trustees are elected or appointed

Terms created for being on governing boards

Rise of denominational collegesprivate charters Public collegesnew state universities in New York,

Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, and Vermont

Yale CollegeBoard of Trustees has no faculty on it andgrowing polarization of faculty from president andtrustees occurringleading to growing denominationalorientation

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The Dartmouth College Caseof 1819

College Governance Shiftfrom Public to Private

Dartmouth College case of 1819offers a new governance model forcolleges Dartmouth College chartered bythe Crown on December 13, 1769and founded by Eleazar Wheelock Wheelock dies and wills that hisson John Wheelock become thepresident, but then he dismissed bytrustees after 10 years due to powerstruggle over who would appointfaculty Trustees appoint Francis Brownpresident

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The Dartmouth College Caseof 1819

John Wheelock goes to New Hampshire Legislature(Democrats) and asks for them to create DartmouthUniversity (John keeps College records and seal)

University trustees take over buildings Now the old College trustees (all Federalists) sue in state

court to gain records, seal, and buildings College trustees lose in state Supreme Court (controlledby Federalists)

College trustees move to appeal decision to the U.S.Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall (mostFederalist court)

Daniel Webster, an alum, defends the College trusteeshis famous defense at the end of the trail Marshall sides with the College trustees and his decision

creates the law on corporations and private corporations,justices vote 5 to 1 in favor

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The Dartmouth College Caseof 1819

Marshall sides with College trustees and Webster

Marshall contends that Dartmouth was not a civil orpublic institution nor was its property public. Rather heclaimed it was a private eleemosynary (i.e., supported by

charity) institution. Its object was to benefit the publicnot a public institution under public control.

State cannot change the charter of an institution withoutthe consent of its trustees

Marshall defines nature of a corporation in the United

States in this case

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The Dartmouth College Caseof 1819: Interpretations

Two Schools of Legal Interpretation John Whitehead (1986) claims the Dartmouth Decision

had little effect; recognition of private versus publichigher education did not come until after the Civil War States paid little attention to the law

States still fund private colleges, including Harvard Seen as a fight over the religious orientation of the

president Jurgen Herbst (1976/1982) claims Dartmouth Decision

was the outcome of a long stream of such decisions. It isthe magna carta of private higher education.

Marshall wished to protect colleges from legislativeinterference Creates a private institution without direct

denominational controland spawns private collegesacross the country

Creates a decision for rights of private corporations

doing business under the Constitution

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The Yale Report of 1828:Faculty and Curriculum

http://www.yale.edu/about/video.html

http://www.yale.edu/about/video.htmlhttp://www.yale.edu/about/video.html

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What should be taught in thecollege curriculum?

After the Revolution,the colleges and theprofessors began

changing theircurricula

YaleEzra Stilesteaches the sciences

William and MaryJefferson dropsdivinity and Hebrew

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William and Mary

Jefferson establishes an American curricula

Center for new learningdropping religionfrom the curriculumto a secular orientation

Professorships in public administration,modern languages, medical sciences, naturalhistory, moral philosophy, natural law,international law, and the fine arts

Modern languages center on studies inFrench because of Frances help in theRevolution in 1779

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University of Virginia

Jefferson creates an American state universitywith the founding of the University of Virginiain 1825

8 different schools formedancientlanguages, modern languages, mathematics,natural philosophy, natural history, anatomyand medicine, moral philosophy, and law

Earned degrees with written and oral

examinations Curricula influences other southern colleges

and state universities over the next 50 years

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Reactions to CurricularDevelopments

In 1828, President Jeremiah Day and ProfessorJames Kingsley publish the Yale Report inopposition to these new modelled forms:

What is the appropriate object of a college? . . .its object isto LAY THE FOUNDATION OF A SUPERIOREDUCATION: and this is done at the a period of lifewhen a substitute must be provided forparentalsuperintendence. . . . The two great points to be gained inintellectual culture, are disciplineand thefurniture of the

mind expanding its powers, and storing in withknowledge. . . . A commanding object, therefore, in acollegiate course, should be, to call into daily andvigorous exercise the faculties of the student.

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Importance of the Yale Report

The Yale Report influenced colleges anduniversities for more than a century The Yale Report upheld the liberal arts tradition of

instruction in Greek and Latin as a way to form

educated citizens and prepare them for professionaleducation (in divinity, medicine, and law)

Review of the 1824 Yale curriculum

Yale had the largest enrollment of all the colleges

Great geographical distribution of students

Greatest number of alumni of any college

Of the 75 colleges by 1840, 36 had presidents whograduated from Yale

The last college to require Latin of all undergraduates

finally dropped it in 1972

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Three Schools of Interpretation

The Conservative Interpretationthe Report isa reaction to curricular developments and is anattempt to bolster an ancient language basedliberal arts curriculum (Rudy, 1960; Schmidt,

1957) The Liberal Interpretation--the Report is an

open-minded and liberal defense of the classicallanguages (Hall, 1982; Pak, 2008; Solan, 1971)

The Utilitarian Interpretationthe Reportsupports liberal education as a preparation forthe professions

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Pioneering Colleges of the West

Moving beyond the former colonies, new states to thewest and south encouraged the founding of colleges onthe frontier beginning the Americanization process:

Catholic colleges with Georgetown in 1789, St. LouisUniversity in 1818, the University of Notre Dame in1842, and Santa Clara University in 1851

Womens colleges with Troy Female Seminary in 1822,Georgia Female College in 1836, and Mount HolyokeCollege in 1837

African Americans with Avery College in 1849,Lincoln University in 1854, and WilberforceUniversity in 1856

Oberlin College allowed coeducation and AfricanAmerican students to enroll in 1834 , thus becoming

the quintessential American college

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Oberlins American Mandate

In their 1839 statement, Oberlin College facultyset the standard for American higher education.Their proclamation called for:. . .the hearty recognition of equal human rights s

belonging to all whom God has made in his won image; adeep sympathy with the oppressed of every color, inevery clime; and a consecration of life to the well-being ofsuffering humanity& finally this paramount principle,that the cultivation of moral feelings is the first object in

education, Gospel love to God & man, the first of allacquisitions and more precious than all other disciplines.

The American college of this era createdmissions fully integrating both religious andeducational aims.

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References

Geiger, R. (2000) The American college in the nineteenth century.Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Kelly, B. M. (1974). Yale: A history. New Haven, CT: YaleUniversity Press.

Pak, M. S. (2008). The Yale Report of 1828: A new readingand new implications. History of Education Quarterly 48(1),30-58.

Rudolf, F. (1962). The American college and university: Ahistory. New York: Vintage Books.

Stites, F. N. (1972). Private interest and public gain: TheDartmouth College case, 1819. Amherst, MA: University of

Massachusetts Press.

Whitehead, J. S. (1973). The separation of college and state:Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale, 1776-1876.

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.