History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 43

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 43

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religion by continuing his relation to it." His res- ignation was accepted hy the Overseers who stated that " they are not apprehensive the University is in so unfortunate a state as he has represented."

In 1780 the original Stoughton Hall, which was situ- ated at right angles to Massachusetts and Harvard, near the present site of the University, had to be demol- ished on account of its decay ; but, with the increased number of students another dormitory was needed. This, the present Stoughton, was erected in 1805 at the expense of the college. The corporation then pe- titioned the Legislature for assistance to repair Massa- chusetts and other buildings, and, in 1806, permission was granted to them to raise $30,000 by lottery. From the proceeds of this lottery ($29,000) a new hall was built, at the cost of $24,000, and, on its comple- tion in 1813, it was called after Sir Matthew Hol- worthy, to whom the college was indebted for the largest single benefaction it had received in the sev- enteenth century (£1000 sterling). In 1806, John Quincy Adams was appointed first Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory.

Signs of a more liberal spirit in religion were now rapidly multiplying in New England, and its effect was soon felt at Harvard. The election of James Bowdoin to the Corporation in 1792 may now be looked upon as an entering wedge, for he was the first lay Fellow (excepting previous Treasurers, Professors or Tutors) ever admitted to that body. Experience in his case suggested that a modification of the member- ship of the Board of Overseers would be desirable. The limitation of the original charter to the ministers and magistrates of Cambridge and five neighboring towns deprived the College of the services of suitable men; while the admission of the State Senate, by the Constitution of 1780, created a considerable number of Overseers whose knowledge of and interest in the College were slight or perfunctory, whose term was brief and uncertain, and whose time was fully oc- cupied with politics and legislation. In March, 1810, therefore, an amendment was passed to the following effect : "The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Coun- cil, the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President of the College, for the time being, with fifteen ministers of Congregational Churches, and fifteen laymen, all in- habitants within the State, to be elected as provided in the act," were constituted "the Board of Overseers of Harvard College." The fifteen laymen were to be elected by the rest of the Board, which thus perpet- uated itself. The Legislature carefully respected the ancient privileges of the College, by providing that this act should not take effect until it had been ac- cepted by the Corporation and Overseers, which they did. In July, 1810, President Webber died, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, pastor of the new South Church in Boston.

Political partisanship then ran high, and, in 1812, the Senate complained that it had been deprived by

1 President Leverett had fitted for the ministry, but had had no parish.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the recent act of some of its privileges, and a bill to repeal it was introduced. The Corporation testified that the College had been benefited by the change, but the act was repealed and the previous one re- stored. The Corporation insisted that since the act of 1810 had become valid only by their consent and that of the Overseers, it could not be annulled with- out their approval. The Overseers waived all opin- ion as to the act of 1812 until the Supreme Court should pass upon it. They organized according to the act of 1810, and another Board organized accord- ing to the Constitution of 1780; the latter body, how- ever, exercised the functions of de facto Overseers until February, 1814, when, a change of parties in the control of the State Government having taken place, the act of 1810 was restored, and approved, and it remained in vigor for nearly forty years.

The Presidency of Kirkland witnessed the expan- sion of Harvard from a College into a University, by the creation of several departments, or schools, in addition to the Academic department. Of these-the Medical School, the Divinity School, and the Law School-some account will be given later. Five pro- fessorships were founded, or for the first time filled, during Kirkland's term. The College received its las, subsidy from the State, which, in 1814, appropri- ated a bank tax amounting to $10,000 annually for ten years " for the encouragement of literature, piety, morality, and the useful arts and sciences," with the restriction that a fourth part of this annual sum should go " towards the partial or total reduction of the tuition fees of such students, not exceeding one- half the whole number of any class, who may apply therefor, according to the judgment of the Corpora- tion." Of the unencumbered moneys, upwards of $21,400 were devoted to the building of the Medical School. In 1815 University Hall was completed at an expense of $65,000, partly paid from the unappro- priated funds of the College, and partly from the bank tax. An act of February 12. 1814, increased the value of property exempt from taxation which the College might hold in Massachusetts, to the value of $12,000 per annum, in addition to what it was then authorized to hold.

In 1820 an effort was made towards the further lib- eralizing of the membership of the Board of Over- seers, hy declaring eligible to election the ministers of any Christian Church, irrespective of denomina- tion. The Corporation and Overseers approved this reform, and a committee of delegates of the people of the Commonwealth, assembled to propose amend- ments to the Constitution, presented through its chairman, Daniel Webster, a favorable report. But when this amendment was submitted to a popular vote, the people of Massachusetts defeated it by 21,123 votes in the negative, to 8020 in the affirma- tive. All clergymen who did not belong to Congre- gational Churches still remained, therefore, under the ban.

Kirkland's administration was early successful, in part owing to his energy and wisdom, and in part owing to the remarkable body of men who, as mem- bers of the Corporation, assisted him with their coun- sel and support. 1 Previously to this time "the duties of President," says Quincy, " were limited to per- forming devotional services morning and evening in the chapel ; expounding some portion of Scripture, or delivering some religious discourse, 'at least once a month ;' presiding at meetings of the Corporation and Immediate Government [College Faculty ]; acting as recording officer of each of these bodies; and exe- cuting such duties as were specifically assigned to him, usually as chairman of a committee. The gen- eral superintendence of the seminary, the distribution of its studies, the appointment of Tutors in case of any sudden vacancy, and in short all the executive powers relative to discipline and instruction, when not exercised by the Corporation itself, were carried into effect by the President, Professors and Tutors, constituting a board denominated 'the Immediate Government.' In this hoard the President always stood in the relation of primus inter pares, without other authority than that of a double vote, in case of an equivote." In 1811 and 1812 the Corporation granted to the President larger powers ; authorizing him " from time to time to make such regulations re- specting the instruction and the government of the students as he shall think reasonable and expedient, which regulations shall have the force of laws till the same be disallowed by the Corporation and Over- seers; " hut he could not alter any punishment or mode of inflicting the same. Dr. Kirkland used this enlarged authority very sparingly, and, so far as the records show, he never exercised it without con- sulting the Faculty; but, during the latter part of his administration he was embarrassed by discontent which manifested itself hoth inside and outside of the Faculty, and sprang from various causes.

In the first place, the old quarrel concerning who was eligible to be a Fellow was revived. In 1806, on the resignation of Professor Pearson and the election of Chief Justice Parsons to the Corporation, that body contained, for the first time in its history, no member of the Faculty; and as successive vacancies were filled by non-resident Fellows, the Faculty be- gan to surmise that a precedent had been established against the election of any of their number in the future. In 1823 they protested against the disposition "to degrade them to the rank of ministerial officers, and to subject them to the discretionary government of an individual," and they attributed the unsatisfac- tory condition which they thought existed in the College to the fact that they had no representative in the Corporation. Learning the details of the con-

1 From among the Fellows at this time (1810-30), I would mention Theophilus Parsons, John Lowell, John Phillips, Christopher Gore, William Prescott, Harrison Gray Otis, Joseph Story, Nathaniel Bow- ditch, William Ellery Channing and Charles Lowell.

CAMBRIDGE.

troversy which had raged concerning Fellows a hun- dred years before, they "came to the conclusion that residence was originally a qualification for fellowship, and that, conformably to the Charter, the Corporation ought to consist of Fellows-that is, of resident officers of the College." The death of the Hon. John Phil- lips (1823) gave them the opportunity they desired, and they presented a memorial to the Corporation, setting forth their claims. This thrust a dilemma upon the Corporation : if it elected a meuiber of the Faculty, the memorialists would infer that their claim was recognized as just, and the non-resident Fellows would thereby seem to have no legal right to their office; but if, on the other hand, a non-resident were chosen to succeed Phillips, the memorialists would urge that the policy of excluding the Faculty from representation was to be persisted in. The Cor- poration laid their difficulties before the petitioners, who immediately addressed the Overseers. The lat- ter, after deliberation, resolved, that it did not appear that the resident instructors had any exclusive right to be chosen 'members of the Corporation ; that non- resident Fellows did not therefor forfeit their offices ; and that it was not expedient to express any opinion on the subject of future elections. The Hon. Charles Jackson, a non-resident, was soon afterwards nomi- nated, and, some explanations having passed between the Corporation and Overseers, he was confirmed. Thus was finally settled a dispute that had been settled in the same way a century before.

About this time also the impression spread that the "discipline, instruction and morals" of the College needed correction. The Overseers accordingly ap- pointed a committee of seven, of which Joseph Story was chairman, to investigate. In May, 1824, they recommended various changes, the principal being that the President should be accorded larger author- ity and should be relieved, as far as possible, from merely ministerial duties; that Professors and Tutors should be divided into separate departments, each department to have at its head a Professor who should superintend its studies and instructors, "with the privilege of recommending its instructors to the Cor- poration for appointment; " that a board of three persons, presided over by a Professor, should look after the discipline of each College Hall, a similar board to superintend students who lodged outside of the College, but no extreme punishment to be in- flieted without the President's cognizance and ap- proval ; that there be two classes of studies-those necessary for a degree and those which students might elect; that each class of students should be subdivided into sections for recitations, which should be " more searching than at present ; " that students should take notes at lectures, and pass an annual ex- amination ; that students should be admitted who did not wish a degree, but did wish " to pursue particular studies to qualify them for scientific and mechanical employment and the active business of life;" that

fines should be abolished, and records of conduct kept and sent quarterly to students' parents .; that some officer should "visit, every evening, the room of every student;" that no student under sixteen years of age should be admitted ; that the expense of edu- cation should be reduced; and that the visitatorial authority of the Overseers should be more efficient, the President and Professors to report to them at a meeting every winter. This recommendation met with strong opposition, led by the Rev. Andrews Norton; but at last (June 10, 1825) the Corporation passed a new code of laws, in which the " Immediate Government " was authorized to call itself the " Fac- ulty of the University," with power to act by com- mittees ; the President was relieved of his ministerial duties, was charged with executing the measures of the Faculty, but was not granted visitatorial power nor independent negative; departments were created ; students were classified according to proficiency ; the salaries of President and Professors were made to de- pend, in a measure, on the number of students ; per- sons not candidates for a degree were admitted to special study ; examinations were made more frequent and vigorous; fines were abolished and a scheme of punishment-the various penalties of which were caution, warning, solemn admonition, official notice to parents, rustication and expulsion-were adopted.

A third difficulty arose during this decade from the state of the College finances. The institution had expanded rapidly, but in so doing its expenditures had exceeded its revenues. More power had been al- lowed to President Kirkland in the disposal of the income, and he had favored the passage of a law by which a Tutor, after six years of satisfactory service, should be promoted to a professorship, with an in- creased salary. The price of tuition was raised, one quarter, to fifty-five dollars per annum, and lest this should diminish the number of students the Corpora- tion undertook to "assist meritorious students when unable to pay the additional tuition." Professors' salaries were also augmeuted. The grant from the Legislature of $10,000 for ten years served, while it lasted, to maintain this more expensive system, al- though a large part of the grant was devoted, as has been said, to the erection of the Medical School and to other purposes. When this grant ceased, the number of students fel! off. Already clamors for retrench- ment had been heard, but the Corporation hoped that the Legislature would continue its subsidies. When, however, it became evident (in 1824) that the Legis- lature would do no more, economy had to be rigidly practiced. The Treasurer's report for the year ending June 30, 1825, showed an excess of expenses over income of more than $4000, while there were but about 200 students, as compared with upwards of 300 in 1824. A committee of the Corporation made a thorough examination of the Treasurer's books for the past seventeen years, and found no evidence of misuse; they then proposed measures for retrench-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ment, such as the union of professorships and the imposition of more work on instructors. The Presi- dent was asked to discharge his secretary, whose duties were transferred to the steward. Beneficiary aid to students from the unappropriated funds of the College was cut off, and the interest on appropriated funds was reduced from six to five and one-half per cent. The Treasurer was required to suhmit every month to the Overseers a statement of his expendi- tures, and he was authorized to make no payments without the sanction of that Board. By these reforms the annual deficit of the College was wiped out, and " a foundation was laid for a prosperous state of its finances " (1828).

The students objected to the ordinance, referred to above, by which they were classified in sections ac- cording to proficiency, and their discontent was the cause of so frequent disorders, that the President advised that the obnoxious law be rescinded ; and this was done (1827) in all departments except that of Modern Languages. Shortly afterward President Kirkland, who had previously suffered a stroke of paralysis, presented his resignation. He went out of office with the personal good-will even of those who had most strenuously opposed some of his innova- tions. Looking back upon his administration after more than sixty years, we can give it the praise it merits. Kirkland was the first President to show, by his acts, that he recognized the distinction between a college and a university ; he showed that he believed that Harvard should and could fulfil the duties of a university ; and he devoted all his energy towards her expansion. He was instrumental in the erection of Holworthy, the original Medical School, University and Divinity Hall; and he saw the addition of five professorships (Eliot, Rumford, Royall, Smith and Dane) to the endowed foundations of the College.

His successor, Josiah Quincy (1829-45), pursued, in general, the expansive policy already laid down. The number of students increased steadily, the aver- age of the graduating class being fifty-six, besides the members of the schools. The finances were correspond- ingly prosperous. In August, 1840, the capital of the University was estimated at $646,235.17, of which, however, only $156,000 could be applied to the unre- served use of the College. In 1832 a Law School building was completed at the expense of Nathan Dane; and in 1839 the Library built from a legacy of Christopher Gore, at a cost of $73,000, was dedicated. In the latter year also William Cranch Bond trans- ferred his whole apparatus to Cambridge, was ap- pointed Astronomical Observer to the University, and was installed in snitahle buildings, for which a foun- dation was laid by subscription. The religious tend- ency at this time was towards liberalism. Unitarian doctrines of what now seems a mild type had spread throughout Massachusetts and were supposed to have their nursery at Harvard; but so conservative and timorous was the majority at the College that when

Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered an address before the Divinity students (July 15, 1838), the College au- thorities and the public were alarmed at the boldness of his ideas, which some did not hesitate to say were subversive of religion and morals. Even the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., felt obliged to declare that the prevalence of some of Emerson's statements "would tend to overthrow the authority and influence of Christianity."1 In 1834 the Legislature passed an act entitling clergymen of any denomination to stand as candidates for Overseers, but this did not go into operation until 1843.

The most important academic event during Quincy's term was the celebration, ou the 8th of September, 1836, of the two hundredth anniversary of the found- ing of Harvard. A pavilion of white canvas was erected in the College grounds, near the present site of the Library, covering nearly 18,000 square feet, being 150 feet long and 120 feet broad; and supported in the centre by a pillar 65 feet high, and on the sides by 44 shorter pillars. Evergreens and flowers decorated the pillars; blue and white streamers "ra- diated from the centre to the sides of the tent," which were erected on sloping ground, so that "the tables rose one above another in the form of an amphi- theatre." The entrances to the College Halls were also decorated, and arches, bearing the names of Har- vard, Dunster and Chauncy, were erected over the three principal entrances to the grounds. On the morning of the celebration a white banner, on which was emblazoned the device of the first College seal, was raised over the pavilion. A vast concourse of graduates and sight-seeers thronged the town. At ten o'clock a procession was formed in front of the University, under the chief marshalship of Robert C. Winthrop; Samuel Emery, of the Class of 1774, headed the line of grad- uates, the oldest living graduate, Judge Wingate (Class of 1759), being unable to attend. The proces- sion marched to the Congregational Church, where Dr. Ripley "offered a solemn and fervent prayer;" then was sung "Fair Harvard," an ode written for the occasion by the Rev. Samuel T. Gilman (class of 1819); after which "President Quincy commanded, during two hours, the attention of the audience." The services over, the procession moved to the pavil- ion, where 1500 persons partook of dinner. Edward Everett, the President of the day in the absence of H. G. Otis, began the speech-making, and was fol- lowed by ex-Pres. Kirkland, Dr. Palfrey, Justice Story, Dr. J. C. Warren, Chief Justice Shaw, Governor Levi Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Leverett Saltonstall, Josiah Quincy, Jr., Robert C. Winthrop and other distinguished speakers, until eight o'clock in the evening, when the assembly was "adjourned to meet at this place on the 8th of September, 1936." The yard and buildings were then " brilliantly illuminated by the students, at the expense of the Corporation.

1 J. E. Cabot's " Memoir of Emerson, " p. 332.

CAMBRIDGE.

The name of each of the College halls appeared in letters of light, together with the dates of their erec- tion, and appropriate mottoes."

During Quincy's term the old Congregational Church, which stood near where Dane Hall now stands, was taken down (1833); the land belonging to it was added to the College enclosure, and the new church (now the First Unitarian) was erected. Four professorships were founded by private benefactors iu the University, viz .: Natural History (Fisher), His- tory (McLean), Eloquence (Parkman), Astronomy and Mathematics (Parkman). A fund was also subscribed for the purchase of books for the new Library. President Quincy resigned in August, 1845, leaving behind him the reputation of having been "the Great Organizer of the University." He was succeeded by the Hon. Edward Everett, whose varied achievements in politics and literature had qualified him, it was thought, to direct the rapidly expanding University. But after three years of service he resigned, having found that the innumerable petty duties which were then thrust upon the President, from the oversight of "the spots on the carpet in a pew of the Chapel to the reception of the King's son on an occasion of ceremony," were "more than his flesh and blood could stand." Yet, during his brief term, he furthered the interests of Harvard. College House (1846), the Ob- servatory (1846) and the Lawrence Scientific School (1848) were added during his administration, and one professorsbip, that of Anatomy (Parkman), was founded. The resources of Harvard were still quite inadequate to its needs, and in 1849 the State was petitioned for an appropriation; but to no purpose. The annual income from funds applicable to the Col- lege was but $26,633, whereas the expenses amounted to more than $40,000, so that the deficiency had to be made up from the tuition fee of the students, which was then (1848) $75.1 Some persons interested in the College objected strongly to the efforts to convert it into a University-this title had been formally adopted by Pres. Everett-declaring that the real purpose of the institution should be to furnish a solid literary education, and not to provide mere smatterings in many departments. One critic condemned the rage for extravagance in buildings; the new Library, he said, had cost $73,000, while the fund for supply- ing it with books was only $21,000; whence he in- ferred that the Corporation set a value of seventy- three on stone and mortar and of only twenty-one on books. He protested also against increasing the cost of education, especially since Cambridge was an expensive place to live in.2

At this time the constitution of the Board of Over- seers became again the object of much discussion. Many alumni favored the complete separation of the College from the State, and proposed a new system of

election, whereby the Overseers should be a represen- tative instead of an ex officio body. The full Board numbered eighty-three members-far too many for the speedy and efficient transaction of business. In 1850 a Committee of the Legislature investigated the Col- lege, and reported that it failed "to answer the just expectations of the people of the State," owing to the fact that its organization and instruction were adapted to the conditions of a quarter of a century before. The next year an act was passed remodeling the Board of Overseers, which was to consist of "the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth, the Secretary of the Board of Education, and the President and Treasurer of Har- vard College, for the time being, together with thirty other persons." Those thirty other persons were to be elected by the General Court, none of whose mem- bers was eligible; they were to be divided into three classes of ten each, the first class to go out of office on the day of the next annual meeting of the General Court, " and so on in rotation, to be determined by lot." After the Board should be wholly renewed in this manner, it was to be divided into six classes of five each, each class to serve six years from the date of its election. No person was eligible for re-election for more than one term immediately succeeding that for which he was first elected. This was a great step in advance; the number of Overseers was reduced within reasonable limits, and the number of its ex officio members was now only five (not counting the President and Treasurer). But the pernicious in- fluence of politics was still felt in the election of the Overseers by the Legislature. Party intrigues and preferences, which should have no weight in an in- stitution consecrated to Truth,-which has never been the chief concern of politicians,-often determined the success or defeat of candidates, who were nomi- nated in party caucuses at the State House. A bill was therefore introduced in the Senate in 1854, to take the election out of the Legislature and to entrust it to the alumni of the College, but this bill was not enacted. Earlier than this, in 1851, the State poli- ticians thought to improve matters by tampering with the organization of the Corporation. They proposed to increase that Board to fifteen members, to be elected by the Legislature, in three classes of five each, one class to go ont every two years. Fortunately, this proposal, which would not only have introduced poli- tics into the Corporation, but also have made that body unstable and transitory, was not adopted. The scheme of 1854, by which State interference was to be abolished, depended on the raising of a fond of $200,000, the income from which, iu sums of $100, was to be devoted to the assistance of one hundred worthy students.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 43

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034