USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Federal Period 1783-1860, Volume II > Part 30
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Seven days after incorporation the trustees organized and then, and also at other meetings, proceeded to lay plans for the institution. Senator Hawkins and Doctor McCorkle were appointed to secure information regarding the administration of the colleges and universities in the United States. Lawyers were appointed in each judicial district to collect arrears, from which over $7,000 were realized. In 1791 the legislature was asked for a donation and after a powerful appeal by Davie, $10,000 were given-the only direct appropriation from the state treasury in the ante-bellum period. For a loca- tion various places were considered. Choice was finally fixed
1
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on New Hope Chapel, the present Chapel Hill, because of its convenience, it being the meeting point of roads from the coast to the mountains and from Petersburg, Virginia, to the heart of the piedmont region. Another consideration in its favor was the donation of approximately 1,380 acres of land by twelve citizens of the vicinity. On October 12, 1793, the cor- nerstone of the first building (Old East) was laid and on Jan- uary 15, 1795, the University was formally opened with one building and a president's residence, a faculty of one (Dr. David Ker) and no students. By the end of the academic year a tutor in mathematics had been added and there were forty- one students.
A notable feature of the early years was the curriculum. A plan of instruction adopted by the trustees in 1795 through the influence of Davie provided for professorships of moral and political philosophy (including history), rhetoric and belles lettres, natural philosophy and chemistry, as well as languages (Latin, Greek and English), and mathematics. Thus the natural and social sciences and literature were given an equality with the classics and mathematics. In fact a diploma, though not a degree, was offered those students who took the full course with the exception of the classics. The object of instruction was avowedly to make "citizens capable of comprehending, improving, and defending the principles of government, citizens, who from the highest possible im- pulse, a just sense of their own and the general happiness, would be induced to practice the duties of social morality." Later, after Davie left the state in 1805, there was a reaction toward the classics and only one diploma was offered, that which carried a degree, for which Latin and Greek were prerequisites; but never were these languages required through the entire four years of college work. Science vindi- cated its recognition-especially Geology in which Olmsted and Mitchell attained distinction. The ideal of public service overshadowed general culture prior to 1860. Among the alumni were one president of the United States (Polk), and one vice president (King), seven cabinet officers (Eaton, Branch, Mason, Graham, Dobbin, Thompson, and Badger), eight senators (Branch, Brown, Graham, Haywood, Mangum
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of North Carolina, and Nicholson of Tennessee, Benton of Missouri, and King of Alabama), forty-one members of the national House of Representatives, thirteen governors of North Carolina, three of Florida, two of Tennessee, one of Mississippi, and one of New Mexico, and numerous state judges and members of the state legislature.
Another characteristic of the institution was its relation to politics and religion. The prevalence of skepticism in the faculty and student body was as notable as the scarcity of ministers in the board of trustees, yet the teaching force was recruited largely from the Presbyterian clergy. Also, the public men most keenly interested in the institution were mainly federalists. Consequently the republican leaders fre- quently attacked it as a source of aristocracy and undemo- cratic ideals. It is not surprising, therefore, that the state was laggard in its financial support. Endowment which en- abled the institution to exist was derived from arrears and escheats, from benefactions, notably that of Benjamin Smith, who gave warrants for 20,000 acres in Tennessee, and of Charles Gerard, who also left over 13,000 acres in Tennessee. The escheats, derived from the unclaimed warrants for mili- tary service, proved a godsend; through them the institution fell heir to over 100,000 acres west of the mountains, from which approximately $200,000 were realized.
Among the early presidents two stand out in pre-eminence, Joseph Caldwell and David L. Swain. The former during his administration (1804-1835) really perfected the organization of the institution, ably defended its right to exist, procured scientific equipment, secured the services of Olmsted and Mitchell, and as an advocate of public schools and internal improvements did much to ally the university with the forces of progress beyond its walls. Swain retired from politics to accept the presidency in 1835. He gave the institution greater popularity, emphasized the idea of service to the public by organizing the North Carolina Historical Society in 1843, establishing a department of law in 1845 and a chair of agri- cultural chemistry in 1854. By 1860 the enrollment of students reached 430 and the faculty numbered 18.
Around the University centered the first efforts for higher
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education. By 1830 a second movement was under way, which resulted in the organization of denominational colleges. Its genesis is found in a number of conditions. On account of sectionalism and poor transportation the University did not reach all sections of the state. This was particularly true of
JOSEPH CALDWELL President of the University
the region just east of the mountains and beyond. Hence in 1820, at a public meeting in Lincolnton, it was decided to estab- lish a Western College "somewhere southwest of the Yadkin River" because "the more western counties of the state are distant from Chapel Hill, which renders it inconvenient for their youth to prosecute their education there." A charter was granted by the legislature in 1820. Subscriptions for
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nearly $60,000 were taken, but when the trustees decided to build at Lincolnton they found it impossible to collect more than twenty per cent. Then in 1824 the trustees decided to locate the college in Mecklenburg County and released all subscribers from their obligations. With this action the history of the institution ends, for it was never organized.
There was also a feeling that higher education as it existed did not reach the masses, and that a new type of institution was needed which would directly influence economic condi- tions. Hence Robert Potter in January, 1827, introduced a bill in the legislature for a political college, to be located in Wake County, which the state should endow with $220,000. Its faculty should consist of a president and four professors, who should teach agriculture, the art of war, political econ- omy, and morality. Its students, apportioned among the counties according to taxes, should be educated as apprentices at public expense for three years, and on completion of their college course should be assigned to such duties at the ex- pense of the school as the trustees should require. Thus, it was hoped, the college and its alumni would improve agricul- ture, put a new spirit in the militia, and create a better type of citizenship. The bill failed, but it illustrates a conviction that not only more education but a new type of school was needed.
The most effective cause of the new movement for higher education was religion. Against the University there was much prejudice on account of alleged skepticism and free thought among its founders and early faculty. The great revival which swept the state from 1800 to 1811 was followed by smaller waves of evangelism. This deepened the religious consciousness; and it in turn created a demand for institu- tions sound in religious doctrine, in which candidates for the ministry and also the sons of religious people could be trained without danger of compromising their faith. Moreover the strongest organization through which people were bound to one another and could be reached was the church. It was therefore natural that the demand for more educational facilities should express itself through church organizations.
Leadership was taken by the Baptists. One phase of the
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division in the denomination between 1821 and 1830 was the advisability of an educated ministry and the need of schools. At the first session of the Baptist State Convention in 1830 it was reported that an educational fund of $11,406 had been accumulated, and the convention authorized the instruction of
.
SAMUEL WAIT First President, Wake Forest College
young men in private schools. At the second session a plan for a Baptist Literary Institute was adopted, to be located on the lands of Dr. Calvin Jones in Wake County, with a manual labor feature. Its purpose, according to the "Board of Man- agers," was to "enable young ministers to obtain an educa- tion at moderate terms, and to train up youth in general to a knowledge of science and practical Agriculture." To this end
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each student was to labor with his hands three hours a day and furnish himself with "an axe and a hoe, a pair of sheets and a pair of towels." Thus were united the practical, the moral, and the intellectual. In 1833 application was made to the legislature for a charter. The bill for incorporation was in- troduced by Hon. William H. Battle. It met bitter opposition from the Primitive Baptists, led by Joshua Lawrence. There was also deep prejudice against the bill on the theory that the incorporation of trustees chosen by a religious body would violate that principle of the state constitution which forbade the establishment of one religious society in preference to an- other. On the same ground there was opposition to the Greens- boro Manual Labor School, whose trustees in the original bill were to be elected by the Presbytery of Orange. Finally the charter was granted with the casting vote of the Speaker of the Senate, William D. Mosely. Singular features of the charter were its limitation to twenty years, the self-perpetu- ating board of trustees, the property restriction to $50,000, and the absence of any exemption of property held from taxation. The school was opened in February, 1834, with Dr. Samuel Wait as president and only teacher, and twenty-five students. The hall of instruction and dormitories were the carriage house and cabins of the Jones plantation. The following year an additional teacher was employed, also two tutors in 1836. In 1838 the school was reorganized, the faculty was increased, the manual labor plan was dropped, and a new charter under the name of Wake Forest College was secured, with power to confer degrees, to hold property to the value of $200,000, ex- empt from taxation; but the duration of the new charter was also limited, fifty years being the period. Most of the faculty were from the North, graduates of Brown University and Columbian College. In 1838, also, the first college building was completed. In 1841 a loan from the State Literary Fund was obtained. This debt and others were repaid during the pre- siding of Washington Manly Wingate, whose administration was begun in 1854 and lasted until 1879.
The Presbyterians were also alive to the need of a college. Certain ministers of the denomination had been interested in the attempt to establish a western college. That institu-
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tion failing to materialize, a new effort was made based en- tirely on religious needs. In 1835 the Presbytery of Concord adopted the following resolution, submitted by Rev. Robert Hall Morrison: "Resolved, That this Presbytery, deeply im- pressed with the importance of securing the means of educa-
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ROBERT HALL MORRISON First President, Davidson College
tion to young men, within our bounds, of hopeful piety and talents, preparatory to the gospel ministry, undertake (in humble reliance upon the blessing of God) the establishment of a Manual Labor School; and that a committee of the Pres- bytery be appointed to report at the next meeting of the Pres- bytery the best measures for its accomplishment and the most favorable places for its location." Overtures were made to the
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Presbyteries of Morganton (N. C.) and Bethel (S. C.), which agreed to co-operate. Subscriptions amounting to $30,000 were taken. A farm of 496 acres in Mecklenburg County was purchased, and the school was named Davidson College in honor of General William L. Davidson, who lost his life at the battle of Cowan's Ford during the Revolution. Buildings were erected and the institution was opened in March 1837, with a president, Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, one professor, and a tutor. The manual labor feature, as previously noted, was not successful and was abandoned in 1841.
The institution had three characteristics of note. One was its relation to the Presbyterian Church. According to its charter, granted by the legislature in December 1835, the trustees were chosen from the presbyteries supporting the college. By the constitution of the college the trustees must be "members in full communion of the Presbyterian Church" and the teachers were required to take the following vow: "I do sincerely believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ment to be the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. I do sincerely adopt the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, as faithfully exhibiting the doctrines taught in the Holy Scrip-
ture. * I do solemnly engage not to teach anything that is opposed to any doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith, nor to oppose any of the fundamental principles of the Presbyterian Church Government, while I continue a teacher or professor of this Institution."
No less interesting were the finances of the college. In order to raise funds four hundred scholarships of $100 each were offered for sale, each entitling the purchaser to tuition for twenty years. Thus 8,000 years of tuition were offered for $40.000. While some immediate financial relief was se- cured, the scholarships in the long run proved a liability ; they were farmed out by the purchasers, thus depriving the college of tuition fees. Greater assistance than scholarships was the legacy of Maxwell Chambers in 1854, amounting to $250,000. As the charter of the college limited its holdings to $200,000, the excess was not received but went to the next of kin. This Vol. II-24
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was the largest benefaction to any college in the state prior to 1860 and placed Davidson on a sound financial basis.
Finally, the work of the college was notable for its em- phasis on the classics and mathematics. Little heed was given to the current demands for educational reform, the intellectual outlook was conservative, and for this reason the number of students did not increase with the increase of resources.
Last of the more important denominational colleges to be established was Trinity. As Methodism in North Carolina had its origin in a wave of evangelism which rose in Virginia, the churches in the state were not grouped into a separate ad- ministrative unit until 1838, when the North Carolina Con- ference was organized. Long after that date many churches within the bounds of the state were under the jurisdiction of the Virginia, the South Carolina, and the Holston conferences. Educational ties were with Randolph-Macon College of Virginia. But in the academy movement Methodist impulses were prominent. One institution of lasting importance was Union Institute in Randolph County. It was organized in 1838 by Reverend Brantley York, a peripatetic teacher and a local minister of the Methodist Church. In 1842 his place was taken by Braxton Craven, also a local minister of the same church, under whose leadership the institution in 1851 was re- chartered as Normal College, with the purpose of preparing teachers for the common schools. The college was permitted to license teachers. In 1852 the privilege of granting degrees was conferred, the governor of North Carolina became ex officio president of the Board of Trustees, the superintendent of common schools ex officio its secretary, and a loan of $10.000 from the Literary Fund was also authorized. As a training school for teachers the institution did not prosper; teaching was not really a profession, many teachers left before completing the course, and Calvin H. Wiley, the superin- tendent of common schools, favored institutes in each county rather than normal schools as the best means of teacher train- ing. Hence in 1856 the curriculum was refashioned into that of a college of arts. For moral and financial support Presi- dent Craven turned to the North Carolina Conference and in 1856 formal relations between that body and Randolph-Macon
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were severed and an agreement was made with Normal College by which its trustees should be elected by the Conference, sub- ject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, a visiting com- mittee should be appointed by the Conference, and the trustees should raise $20,000 for the college with the approval of the
BRAXTON CRAVEN First President, Trinity College
Conference. In 1859 the institution was rechartered as Trinity College, all relations with the state being severed. Thus within twenty years an academy expanded first into a college for teachers, then into an institution of liberal arts allied with the Methodist Church. In 1860 there were a faculty of six and an enrollment of 194.
Such were the origins of the larger male colleges. Three
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others were chartered before 1860; Floral College at Maxton, in 1847, under Presbyterian influence; Catawba College at Newton, in 1851, under the auspices of the Reformed Classis of North Carolina; and North Carolina College at Mount Pleas- ant, projected by the Lutheran Synod in 1859.
Increasing interest in education was also manifested in the foundation of institutions for women; some were academies, others took the name of institute, nine assumed the name of
SALEM FEMALE ACADEMY
college. The oldest was Salem Female Academy, organized in 1802 by the Moravians. Greensboro Female College was the second institution for women chartered as a college in the South (1836), but instruction was not begun until 1846. Saint Mary's School, founded by Rev. Aldert Smedes in 1842, was widely patronized by the Episcopalians. The Baptists, through the Chowan and Portsmouth associations, established Chowan Baptist Female Institute in 1848 and the Baptist State Convention was sponsor for Oxford Female College, established in 1851. The Presbytery of Concord established Statesville Female College in 1857. Private schools for
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young women attracted considerable capital and enterprise; every section of the state and many of the larger towns had one or more seminaries or female colleges; Greensboro two (including Greensboro Female College), Warrenton two, Murfreesboro two, and Charlotte, Raleigh, Oxford, Asheville and Goldsboro, each had one. Governor Ellis in 1860 made the following survey of the increase of denominational and private institutions :
1840
1860
Number of Male Colleges 3
6
Number of Female Colleges 1 1 13
Students in Male Colleges 158 900
Students in Female Colleges 125
1,500
Thus, principally between 1830 and 1860, the outlook for higher education underwent distinct improvement, while the number of academies increased rather than diminished with the advent of common schools.
1 Apparently he included seminaries, academies, and other institu- tions for women.
CHAPTER XIX
THE PRESS, LITERATURE, PROFESSIONAL AND MORAL ORGANIZATIONS
The general awakening in matters social and economic was accompanied by an expansion of the press. In it there are two distinct periods for which the year 1820 may be taken for the dividing line.
At the close of the Revolution there was no newspaper in the state, all publications having collapsed in 1778. But in August 1783, Robert Keith, an immigrant from Pennsylva- nia, issued at Newbern the first number of the North Caro- lina Gazette or Impartial Intelligencer and Weekly Adver- tiser. About 1793 he was succeeded by Francis Xavier Mar- tin, a French refugee, more widely known for his "History of North Carolina" and his compilations of statute law. The paper is said to have been printed at irregular intervals, when news enough to fill it or make it interesting had reached Newbern. In default of modern methods of distribution, he filled his saddle bags with the numbers and peddled them about the country. In the meantime another immigrant, Abraham Hodge, of New York, established a press at New- bern; in 1785 he became state printer, an office which he held until 1800. In 1786 Hodge, in partnership with one Blanchard, established at Fayetteville the State Gazette of North Caro- lina. Henry Wills soon succeeded Blanchard and in 1788 the paper was removed to Edenton. Hodge proved to be a verit- able promoter of newspapers. In 1793, with the co-operation of Wills, he established at Halifax the North Carolina Jour- nal. In 1796 Hodge and his nephew, William Boylan, founded another paper, the North Carolina Minerva and Fayetteville Gazette, which in 1799 was removed to Raleigh and as the
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Raleigh Minerva became the leading organ of the federal- ists. In the meantime another paper had been begun at Fayetteville in 1789, the North Carolina Chronicle or Fay- etteville Gazette; it was printed by George Roulstone for John Sibley and Company, the price of subscription being three hard dollars per annum for fifty-two papers.
Wilmington also was a center of journalistic activities. There three papers were published before 1800: the Wil- mington Chronicle and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser, Hall's Wilmington Gazette, and another whose title is not known. Nor were the western counties unresponsive to the desire for news. Early in 1786 the North Carolina Gazette was established at Hillsboro. The printer was Robert Fer- guson, and the editor, Thomas Davis. At Salisbury the North Carolina Mercury and Salisbury Advertiser was estab- lished by Francis Cowpee, and near the opening of the nine- teenth century a weekly paper whose title is unknown was issued at Lincolnton. With the exception of the Minerva, little is known of these early publications. Only partial files exist, and of some no copies are extant.
By far the most important of the early papers was the Raleigh Register, founded in 1799 as the organ of the repub- licans by Joseph Gales. As a collector of news and as an agency of propaganda, it outclassed all competitors for many years. Leading in the political revolt of 1800, it was conser- vative toward the later revolt in the 'twenties, and became the leading spokesman of the whig party. Publication was practically continuous from 1799 until the year 1885. In 1808 the Raleigh Star was begun by Dr. Calvin Jones and Thomas Henderson; the firm was succeeded by that of Bell and Law- rence, then by Bell and Lemay, and in 1835 Lemay became sole editor. In December, 1852, the paper was suspended, its last editor being W. C. Doub. In politics the Star was orig- inally neutral, but was mildly whig in its later days .. In 1810 the following papers were published in North Carolina: Fed- eralist-the Wilmington Gazette, the Raleigh Minerva, Caro- lina Federal Republican (Newbern), Edenton Gazette, Fay- etteville Intelligencer; Republican-Raleigh Register, True
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Republican (Newbern), Elizabeth City Gazette; Neutral-the Raleigh Star and the North Carolina Journal (Halifax).
With the year 1820 a new epoch opens. There was pro- found and increasing discontent with the existing political organization, national and state. Discontent of the western counties with the system of representation was also intense. Here lay the opportunity for the foundation of new papers. Editorials and state affairs became more prominent. The early editors were chary in regard to state news, inclinations toward violent language were restrained, dignity and decorum characterized their editorial columns. But with the new period a new type of editorial appeared. It burned with con- viction, broke the bounds of sedate constraint, and faced any situation uncompromisingly. The new note was struck by the Western Carolinian. It was founded by Samuel Bing- ham in 1820, and associated with him in the same year was Philo White of New York, who became sole editor in 1823. Constitutional reform, condemnation of the caucus, state as well as federal, the need of public schools, preference of Jack- son over Crawford-these were the dominating features of the paper, which was published at Salisbury. When Mr. White left the state in 1830, the Western Carolinian was taken over by Burton Craig and H. Jefferson Jones, the former assum- ing entire control in 1831. Mr. Craig was a radical advocate of states' rights, an admirer of Calhoun, and approved of the nullification movement. To counteract this influence, Hamil- ton C. Jones in 1832 founded the Carolina Watchman, also published at Salisbury. There was a veritable war of words between the two papers. In 1833 Mr. Craig sold the Western Carolinian to John Beard, and thereafter little difference ex- isted between the policies of the two papers. The Western Carolinian was suspended in 1844, but the Carolina Watch- man. under the editorship of John Joseph Bruner, lived until recent years. Other papers active in the cause of social and political progress were the Fayetteville Observer and the Greensboro Patriot. The former was founded in 1817, and was edited from 1825 to 1865 by Edward J. Hale. It was widely respected for its sanity and its sense of public spirit. In politics it was whig. The Patriot was established in 1825
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