USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 15
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The people of the northern counties organized independent companies to meet these Tory invaders, and the conflicts which occurred between these parties were among the fiercest that had ever been witnessed on this Continent. Many a tale of heroic daring and of fearless devotion to the cause of liberty is told of these banded patriots, who loved their homes and liberty more than their lives. The cedar swamps and the pine forests on the northeastern borders of this State witnessed many scenes of sacri- fice, of suffering, and of death, in the cause of American inde- pendence, that are unsurpassed in the annals of our country.
Peace having been restored to the country, the Articles of Confederation, and with them the Continental Congress, expired on the 4th of March, 1789, and the Constitution of the United States became the organic law of the nation.
Congress gave its attention to the organization of the national government, and the inhabitants of the several States, relieved from the excitement of public affairs, devoted themselves to the development of the resources of the country. Roads were opened between widely-separated settlements, churches were organized, schools were established, factories were erected, trade and commerce were extended, and the people, speedily recover- ing from the effects of the war, became prosperous and happy.
During the eight years of the war, from 1775 to 1783, New
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Jersey furnished ten thousand seven hundred and twenty-six soldiers to the army. This, however, was the smallest part of the contribution of the inhabitants to the cause of liberty. The State several times became the public highway of marching armies. It was almost the permanent camping-ground for divisions of the Continental troops, was in constant fear of in- vasion, and was frequently overran by detachments of the enemy. The main body of Washington's army encamped three winters on its highlands, and drew upon the inhabitants for sup- plies, until almost every family was reduced to extreme destitu- tion, having barely enough to sustain life.
In addition to this drain upon their resources, the State was preyed upon by associations of Tories, freebooters, and robbers, who inflicted the most barbarous cruelties upon all the in- habitants, disregarding public or social position, age, and sex. Movable property was carried away, dwellings were sacked, vil- lages were burned, men were shot down in the fields and on the highways, young girls and aged women were outraged in their own homes and murdered in cold blood.
The inhabitants of the northern part of the State for years could not enjoy an hour of exemption from the fear of these marauding hordes. The frequent incursions of the enemy kept the State militia almost constantly under arms, so that there was scarcely time or laborers to sow the fields or gather the harvests. The State might therefore with propriety have been regarded as the battle-field of the nation, rather than as a source of supplies for the army.
Though the war had absorbed the strength of the people, there was nevertheless kept alive amid scenes of carnage a desire to cultivate the arts of peace. As soon, therefore, as the war ended many unfinished enterprises, suddenly arrested by the call to arms, were resumed. The institutions of learning at Prince- ton and New Brunswick are conspicuous illustrations of this fact. The college at Princeton, called Nassau Hall, was founded by the Presbyterians at Elizabethtown in 1746, and removed to Princeton in 1757. It ranks among the first literary institutions of the age. The edifice is 176 feet long, 50 feet wide and four stories high. At this place is also a Presbyterian theological seminary, founded about the year 1813.
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Queen's College at New Brunswick was chartered by George III. in 1770 ; the name was in 1825 changed to Rutger's College, which name it now bears. The charter was granted to " such Protestants as had adopted the constitution of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands." The Dutch Reformed Church held a convention in New York in 1771, and resolved to estab- lish a theological seminary at New Brunswick. This was the first institution of the kind in America.
The struggle for American liberty which had already begun, and the war for independence that so speedily followed, de- manded the whole strength of the people. All civil projects were deferred until the war should be brought to an end. The Theological Seminary was not formally opened until the year 1784. The building is of dark-red freestone, and situated on an eminence. The two institutions were partially united, and pro- vided with an able corps of instructors. From that time they grew in strength and influence, and are now among the most successful schools in the country.
The number of students in the College at the present time, is one hundred and sixty-one. The faculty are Rev. William Henry Campbell, D.D., LL.D. (President) ; Theodore Freling- huysen, Professor of Biblical Literature. Evidences of Chris- tianity and Moral Philosophy ; George H. Cook, LL. D. (Vice- President), Professor of Chemistry, Natural History, and Agriculture ; Rev. De Witt Ten Broeck Reiley, A.M., Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, and Rector of the Grammar School; Rev. Theodore Sandford Doolittle, D.D., Collegiate Church Professor of Rhetoric, Logic, and Mental Philosophy ; Rev. Jacob Cooper, D.D., D.C.L., Professor of the Greek Language and Literature ; John Conover Smock, A. M., Professor of Mining and Metallurgy ; George W. Atherton, A.M., Voorhees Professor of History, Political Economy, and Constitutional Law, and Military Superintendent ; Rev. Carl Meyer, D.D., Professor of Modern Languages; Francis Cuyler Van Dyck, A. M., Professor of Analytical Chemistry ; Edward A. Bowser, M.L., C.E., Professor of Mathematics and Engineer- ing; Isaac Edgar Hasbrouck, A.M., Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Graphics ; Charles G. Rockwood, Jr., A.M.,
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Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, and Instructor in Natural Philosophy ; Henry Prentiss Armsby, Assistant to the Professor of Chemistry ; George W. Atherton, A.M., Librarian ; Isaac Edgar Hasbrouck, Assistant Librarian.
The College has two departments, Classical and Scientific. The latter has been designated by the Legislature, "The State College for the benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts." This branch is in accordance with an act of Congress of July 5th, 1862, donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agricul- ture and the mechanic arts. The grant of land and scrip thereby made was accepted on the part of the State of New Jersey, by Legislative enactment, approved March 21st, 1863, appointing the Governor and such other person as he might select, com- missioners to receive from the Secretary of the Interior at Washington, or other officer of the United States, the land scrip to which the State of New Jersey is or may be entitled under such act of Congress, to hold the same until provision be made by law for the sale thereof and investment of the proceeds in accordance with said act of Congress. By act approved April 13th, 1864, in addition to the Governor, the State Treasurer, Attorney-General, Secretary of State, and Comptroller were made commissioners to sell and assign said scrip in accordance with the act of Congress, and on the 4th day of April, 1864, the act was approved devoting the interest wholly and exclusively to the maintenance of that department of Rutger's College known as Rutger's Scientific School.
The fund, amounting to $116,000, is invested in the bonds of the State, from which is derived an annual interest of $6,960, which .is disbursed for the maintenance of Rutger's Scientific School.
The faculty of the Scientific School is as follows: Rev. Wil- liam H. Campbell, D.D., President ; Professor George H. Cook, Chemistry, Natural History, and Agriculture ; Professor T. S. Doolittle, Rhetoric and Mental Philosophy ; Professor J. C. Smock, Mining and Metallurgy ; Professor G. W. Atherton, History, Political Economy, and Constitutional Law, and Mili- tary Superintendent; Professor C. Mayer, Modern Languages ;
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Professor F. C. Van Dyck, Analytical Chemistry ; Professor E. A. Bowser, Mathematics and Engineering ; Professor I. E. Has- brouck, Mathematics and Draughting ; Professor C. G. Rock- wood, Natural Philosophy.
The number of students at the present time is forty.
The farm contains ninety-nine acres, and was originally an old-style farm, with perhaps one-third upland, naturally drained and easily cultivated, but poor ; one-third in pasture, and land too wet to be cultivated, poor, sour, and unproductive ; and the remaining third also wet, but uncleared, having been used to furnish fuel for the farm-house, and to eke out by the sale of wood a family support, which the ordinary produce of the culti- vated land did not yield.
The land has now all been cleared and brought under cultiva- tion, and is highly productive under the scientific plans adopted by the faculty.
The faculty of the Theological Seminary are: Rev. Samuel M. Woodbridge, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Government ; Rev. John De Witt, D.D., Thomas De Witt, Professors of Biblical Literature ; Rev. David D. Demarest, D.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology and Sacred Rhetoric ; Rev. Abra- ham B. Vanzandt, D.D., LL.D., James Suydam, Professors of Didactic and Polemic Theology. -
The number of students at the present time is forty-three.
Returning again to Princeton College, we remark, that the College estate comprises a campus and group of buildings, at the centre of which stands Nassau Hall, in a line with the Chapel and Dickinson Hall at the east, and with Reunion Hall, the Gymnasium, and the Observatory at the west; Philosophical and Geological Halls forming sides of a square at the north, and east, and west Colleges, with the two Literary Halls, completing a square at the south. The President's and Professor's houses are conveniently placed in different parts of the campus.
Nassau Hall, as North College, so styled by Governor Belcher, in honor of the Protestant House of Nassau, was built in the year 1756, and at that time was the largest public edifice in the Colonies. During the Revolutionary War it was occupied alter- nately by the British and American troops as a barrack and hos-
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pital, and in 1783, when the Continental Congress was obliged to leave Philadelphia, the sessions of that body were held within its walls.
The combustible part of the building has been twice destroyed by fire, in 1802 and 1855, and rebuilt in each instance by gen- erous friends of the College in different parts of the country. As restored, it is substantially the same structure as when first erected, with the addition of the towers at the extremities, and the central projection in the rear.
Nassau Hall, as at first constructed, afforded all the public rooms of the College, the prayer-hall, recitation rooms, literary halls, lodgings, and refectory ; but with the growing wants of the College, other buildings have been erected for these purposes, and it now serves as a students' dormitory, with the exception of the central room, formerly the Chapel, which has been en- larged and furnished as the College Library.
The Philosophical and Geological Halls were erected in the year 1803, in order to furnish enlarged accommodations for the instruction of the students.
East and West Colleges were erected respectively in the years 1833 and 1836 to supply additional dormitories then needed. Each building affords room for sixty-four occupants.
The Literary Halls, called the American Whig and Cliosophic Societies, were erected by their respective members in the year 1838. They are Grecian buildings modeled in the columns after the Ionic temple on the Ilissus, and in other respects cor- responding to the temple of Dionysius in the Peninsula of Teos.
The Chapel, a small cruciform structure in the Byzantine style, was erected in the year 1847. It affords sittings for about four hundred students, with pews in the transepts for the fami- lies of the Professors. The Chapel in 1870 was renovated and enlarged by an extension of the nave to provide for the increas- ing number of students ; and an excellent new organ for the use of the College choir has lately been presented to the College by Henry Clews, Esq., of New York.
The Astronomical Observatory (called Halsted Observatory), was erected by General N. Norris Halsted, of Newark, N. J., at an expense of $60,000, and consists of a central octagonal tower
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supporting a revolving dome, and communicating on both sides with smaller towers, intended to contain the library and offices for the use of the observer.
It is in contemplation to place in the observatory a telescope, as large as any yet constructed, and also to erect a transit build- ing, and provide a complete astronomical apparatus.
A legacy of $2,500 has been left by the Rev. Cortlandt Van Rennsselaer, D.D., to be applied to uses connected with the observatory.
The gymnasium was erected in 1869, at a cost of $38,000, and was the gift of Messrs. Robert Bonner and Henry G. Marquand, both of New York City. It comprises on the first floor six bowling alleys and five bath rooms; and on the second floor a large hall for gymnastic exercises, overlooked by the visitors' gallery, running along the front of the building.
The gymnasium is provided with a complete apparatus, selected by experienced instructors in physical culture.
Reunion Hall, the corner-stone of which was laid by the General Assembly in May, 1870, is intended to be a permanent memorial of the reunion of the Old and New School divisions of the Presbyterian Church, erected by means of the joint con- tributions of both bodies. The building when completed will cost $45,000, and afford new and more commodious lodging for the accommodation of sixty-four additional students.
Dickinson Hall, so styled in honor of the Reverend Jonathan Dickinson, first President of the College, is the recent donation of his lineal descendant, John C. Green, Esq., of New York City. It is devoted exclusively to purposes of instruction, con- taining Lecture and Recitation rooms for all the classes, and affording accommodations for nearly every department in the Faculty. The first story comprises the Chemical Lecture room and Laboratory, and the two Mathematical rooms; the second story, the two Classical rooms, the Philological and Philosophical rooms; and the third story, smaller Recitation rooms, with a large Examination Hall.
Total number of students in Academic Department, 425 ; in Scientific Department, 47; making in all, 472.
The Governor is ex-officio President of the Board of Trustees,
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and in his absence, the President of the College is President of the Board.
The Faculty are Rev. James McCosh, D.D., LL.D., President ; Robert Lenox, Professor of Biblical Instruction ; Stephen Alex- ander, LL. D., Professor of Astronomy ; Rev. Lyman H. Atwater, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Logic, and Moral and Political Science ; Arnold Guyot, Ph.D., LL.D., Blair Professor of Geology and Physical Geography ; Rev. John T. Duffield, D. D., Dod Professor of Mathematics; J. Stillwell Schanck, M.D., LL.D., Professor of Chemistry ; Rev. Henry C. Cameron, Ph. D., D.D., Professor of Greek; Rev. Charles W. Shields, D.D., Professor of History, and of the Harmony of Science and Re- vealed Religion ; William A. Packard, Ph. D., Professor of Latin and the Science of Language; General Joseph Karge, Ph. D., Woodhull Professor of Continental Languages and Literature ; Cyrus F. Brackett, M.D., Henry Professor of Physics; Henry B. Cornwall, A.M., E.M., Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Mineralogy ; Rev. George Macloskie, LL. D., Professor of Natural History ; Rev. James O. Murray, LL. D., Holmes Pro- fessor of Belles-Lettres, English Language and Literature ; Charles McMillan, C.E., Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics; Edward D. Lindsay, A.B., Professor of Architecture and Applied Art ; Rev. Theodore W. Hunt, A.M., Adjunct Professor of Rhetoric and English Language ; William H. Burr, C.E., Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering ; S. G. Peabody, Associate Professor of Elocution ; J. H. Condit, A.M., Tutor in Mathematics; Henry N. Van Dyke, A.M., Tutor in Mathematics; David Scott, Jr., A.M., Tutor in Latin and Greek; Samuel R. Winans, A.B., Tutor in Greek ; John P. Coyle, A.B., Tutor in Latin ; Henry A. Todd, A.B., Tutor in Modern Languages; Rev. James C. Moffat, D.D., Lecturer on Greek Literature.
The Faculty of the Theological Seminary are, Charles Hodge, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Exegetical, Didactic and Polemic Theology ; Alexander T. McGill, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical, Homiletic and Pastoral Theology; William Henry Green, D.D., Professor of Oriental and Old Testament Literature ; James C. Moffat, D.D., Helena Professor of Church
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History ; Casper Wistar Hodge, D.D., Professor of New Testa- ment Literature and Biblical Greek; Charles A. Aiken, D.D., Archibald Alexander Professor of Christian Ethics, Apologetics, and Librarian ; James F. McCurdy, A.M., L. P. Stone Tutor · of Hebrew.
The elegant library edifice is the gift of James Lenox, LL.D., of New York; it now contains upwards of 27,000 volumes, chiefly theological ; it contains the valuable library of Dr. Addison Alexander, presented by Messrs. R. L. and A. Stuart, and a gift of $10,000 from the last named gentleman.
The present number of students is 114.
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CHAPTER XXVI.
1776-1875.
Organization of the Council and Assembly-Great Seal of the State-Council of Safety-Kidnapping-Confiscation of prop- erty-Relief of soldiers and their families-Punishment for Treason-Rivington's Gazette-United States Senators and Representatives Chosen-Purchase from the Indians-Gover- nors.
A S stated in a previous chapter, the first Constitution of the State of New Jersey was adopted by the Provincial Congress at Burlington, on the 2d of July, 1776. In accordance with its provisions, the members of the first Legislature were chosen on the second Tuesday of August, 1776, after which time they were . elected on the second Tuesday in October of each year.
The members thus chosen assembled according to the provi- sions of the Constitution, on the second Tuesday after the elec- tion, which was the 27th of August. Their first meeting was held at Princeton.
This Constitution received the general sanction of the people, it being so much superior to that by which they had previously been governed under the administration of Lord Cornbury, in 1702; they, therefore, strictly observed and enforced its provi- sions.
Two days after the opening of the session, both Houses of the Legislature, the Council and Assembly, were organized. John Stevens was chosen Vice-President of the Council, and John Cleves Symmes Secretary ; John Hart was elected Speaker of the House, and Jonathan Deare, Clerk. On the 31st of August, the two Houses, having met in joint ballot, elected William Living- ston Governor of the State. A committee was appointed to devise a public seal, and until that could be made, it was ordered that the private seal of Governor Livingston should be used as the great seal of the Commonwealth.
On the 13th of September, a message was received from the
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Governor by his private Secretary, Mr. Pettit, informing the House that his Excellency was in the Council Chamber, and desired the immediate attendance of the House ; whereupon they proceeded to wait upon his Excellency, at which time he deliv- ered his first address, stating clearly and forcibly the questions at issue in the war between England and America, strongly en- dorsing the action of the Continental Congress and the Declara- tion of Independence, and closed with the following beautiful exhortation :
"Let us then, as it is our indispensable duty, make it our invariable aim to exhibit to our constituents the brightest exam- ples of a disinterested love for the common weal. Let us, both by precept and example, encourage the spirit of economy, industry and patriotism, and that public integrity and righteous- ness that cannot fail to exalt a nation, setting our faces at the same time like a flint against the dissoluteness of manners and political corruption that will ever be the reproach of any people. May the foundation of our infant State be laid in virtue and the fear of God, and the superstructure will rise glorious and endure for ages. Then may we humbly expect the blessing of the Most High, who divides to the nations their inheritance, and separates the sons of Adam .* In fine, gentlemen, while we are applauded by the whole impartial world, for demolishing the old fabric, rotten and ruinous as it was, let us unitedly strive to approve ourselves master builders, by giving beauty, strength and stability to the new."
The House in Committee of the Whole resolved that an address be sent to the Governor in answer to his speech, and Messrs. John Mehelm of Hunterdon, Peter Tallman of Burling- ton, Samuel Dick of Salem, Charles Coxe of Hunterdon, and Robert F. Price of Gloucester, were appointed a committee to prepare the address, and on Friday, September 20th, Mr. Dick, from the committee appointed to prepare an address to his Excellency, brought in a draught of the same, which was read and ordered a second reading, and on Saturday the 21st, the draught was read a second time, and referred to a Committee of
* Deut. xxxii, 8.
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the whole House; whereupon the House resolved itself into Committee of the Whole upon said address. The Committee having gone through the address, and after having made several amendments to the same, the Committee rose, and the House resumed its business. The address was then reported to the House, whereupon the same was ordered to be sent to his Excellency the Governor.
At the same session the salary of the Governor was fixed at £500 ; John De Hart was appointed Chief-Justice of the State, with a salary of £150 per annum; Samuel Tucker, Second Justice of the Supreme Court, salary £100 ; Francis Hopkinson, Third Justice, salary £100; William Patterson, Attorney- General, salary £20; Richard Smith, Treasurer, salary £40 per annum.
The Clerk of the Circuit Courts, at the rate of £20 per annum ; Clerk of the Council, ten shillings per day; Doorkeeper of Council, four shillings per day ; Clerk of the House, ten shil- lings per day, and four pence per sheet, ninety words to the sheet ; Justices of the Supreme Court, ten pounds for each time they attend during the continuance of the act; Members of Council, eight shillings per day, when in attendance ; Delegates in Congress, twenty shillings per day, when in attendance ; Ser- geant-at-Arms of the House, three shillings per day ; Doorkeeper, four shillings per day ; Speaker of the House, eight shillings per day.
October 3d, a resolution was adopted to engage Francis Hop- kinson to employ proper persons at Philadelphia to prepare a silver seal, which is to be round, of two and a half inches diam- eter, and three-eighths of an inch thick ; and that the arms shall be three ploughs in an escutcheon, the supporters Liberty and Ceres, and the crest a horse's head ; these words to be engraved in large letters round the arms, viz. : The Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.
Bowes Reed was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court.
On the 2d of December, 1776, the House adjourned to meet at Trenton on the 18th day of February, 1777.
The second session of the Legislature was opened at Trenton, October 28th, 1777. It was at this time that all the terrors of
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the first British invasion chilled the heart of every patriot in the land. The enemy had already established himself in New York, and the American army was slowly retiring southward from the Hudson. In this hour of gloom, when the American cause was meeting with defeat and disaster in every field, the Legislature of New Jersey gave its full attention to the organization of the militia of the State, and to recruiting for the Continental army the full quota of troops required by Congress. A bill was passed providing for the raising of four battalions.
William Livingston was reelected Governor, after which the Houses adjourned to meet at Princeton, on Monday, November 23d. The salary of the Governor was increased to one thousand pounds per annum.
On the 12th of December they adjourned to meet at Trenton on the 11th day of February, 1778, and on the 4th of April the Houses adjourned to meet at Princeton on the 6th, at ten o'clock.
The retreat of Washington's army through the State, and the rapid advance of the enemy, brought the session of the Legisla- ture of 1776 to a sudden end. Provisions for the support of the government were hastily made, and on the 2d of December both Houses adjourned to meet again on the 18th of January, 1777.
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