Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:58:12.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

In the Irish Tradition: Pre-Revolutionary Academies in America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Elizabeth Nybakken
Elizabeth Nybakken*
Affiliation:
Mississippi State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the mid-eighteenth century, the American colonies could boast of only six colleges—Harvard and Yale in New England; William and Mary in Virginia; and the three fledgling institutions in the middle colonies, King's College (Columbia), the College of New Jersey (Princeton), and the College of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania). With the exception of William and Mary, these institutions were located on the northeastern seacoast, enrolled mostly local students, followed a scholastic course of study within a regentship system, and had few graduates. The number of college-educated males in the colonial population in the early 1760s is estimated at only one per thousand.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 37 , Issue 2: Special Issue on Education in Early America , Summer 1997 , pp. 163 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by the History of Education Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Erenberg, Phyllis, “Change and Continuity: Values in American Higher Education, 1750–1800” (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1974), 2. Harvard and Yale supplied the largest number of graduates. For instance, in the three years from 1760 to 1762, Harvard had 113 graduates; Yale, 104; Princeton, 46; Columbia, 19; the University of Pennsylvania, 27. The curriculum of these colleges is described in Herbst, Jurgen, “The First Three American Colleges: Schools of the Reformation,” Perspectives in American History 8 (1974): 7–52, and Robson, David W., Educating Republicans: The College in the Era of the American Revolution, 1750–1800 (Westport, Conn., 1985). The College of Philadelphia was the exception. It drew from a wider area and followed the pedagogy and curriculum of the more progressive Scottish universities. The other colleges began to institute some reforms after the late 1760s. Google Scholar

2 Meyer, Donald H., The Democratic Enlightenment (New York, 1976), provides the most systematic focus on the practicality of the Scots-Irish Enlightenment in America. May, Henry F., The Enlightenment in America (New York, 1976), nicely illuminates the evolution of the Enlightenment in America. Google Scholar

3 Broderick, Francis L., “Pulpit, Physics, and Politics: The Curriculum of the College of New Jersey, 1746–1794,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 6 (Jan. 1949): 45–46; Bailyn, Bernard, Education in the Forming of American Society: Needs and Opportunities for Study (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960), 63–66. The grounds for rejecting English academies as the prototype are found in Humphrey, David C., “Colonial Colleges and English Dissenting Academies: A Study in Transatlantic Culture,” History of Education Quarterly 12 (summer 1972): 184–97. Sloan, Douglas, The Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal (New York, 1971), 65–68, explains the similarities between the English and Irish academies by the fact that masters in both had studied under the same professors in Leyden in the seventeenth century and Scotland in the eighteenth century. They were “cousins in origin and form.” The importance of the Presbyterian academies is noted by Cremin, Lawrence A., American Education: The Colonial Experience, 1607–1783 (New York, 1970), 324–25. Sloan, , College Ideal, has provided the most complete survey of them to date, but a full scale study is sorely needed as Howard Miller notes in “Education in Early America: Documents and Directions,” History of Education Quarterly 14 (fall 1979): 379–90. Before 1760, nearly 80 percent of the 165 Presbyterian clergymen whose place of birth can be determined were of Irish descent, so it is little wonder that Irish rather than Scottish Presbyterians conducted these schools. Webster, Richard, History of the Presbyterian Church in America from Its Origin until the Year 1769 (Philadelphia, 1857), 679 ff. Sloan, , College Ideal, “Appendix,” lists sixty-four academies in existence before 1800. With some quibbles on the masters and the dates of founding, I find this list to be extremely accurate. My figures are based on only those schools in operation before 1775, located from Pennsylvania southward, and under masters who were probably trained in the Irish tradition. Sloan includes thirty-three of those. At least thirteen more can be documented. Google Scholar

4 Some never did attend the Scottish universities, for the Synod of Ulster did not require a university degree until 1730. Records of the General Synod of Ulster from 1691–1820, 3 vols. (Belfast, 1890–97), 1: 155. Later schoolmasters were often educated under these Irish-trained divines.Google Scholar

5 This short summary of the experience of Presbyterians in Ireland is drawn from many sources, the briefest of which is Barkley, John M., A Short History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast, 1960), and the most popular of which is Leyburn, James G., The Scotch-Irish: A Social History (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1962). The best short account of the way in which the Irish bishops worked against Dissenters is in Beckett, J. C., “The Government and the Church of Ireland under William III and Anne,” Irish Historical Studies 2 (Mar. 1941): 280–302. Google Scholar

6 Scott, William Robert, Francis Hutcheson: His Life, Teaching, and Position in the History of Philosophy (Cambridge, Eng., 1900), 7; Armstrong, James, Ordination Service of James Martineau with an Appendix Containing the Summary History of the Presbyterian Churches in the City of Dublin, by Rev. James Armstrong (Dublin, 1829), 59. Google Scholar

7 Irwin, Clark H., A History of Presbyterianism in Dublin and in the South and West of Ireland (London, 1890), 33; Witherow, Thomas, Historical and Literary Memorials of Presbyterianism in Ireland, 1st ser. (Belfast, 1879), 324 (first quotation), 153, 187; Armstrong, , Presbyterian Churches in Dublin, 59–60, 70. Records of Ulster, 1: 22, 32 (second quotation). Google Scholar

8 Scott, , Hutcheson, 8 (quotation); Witherow, , Historical and Literary Memorials, 1st ser., 149; ibid., 2d ser. (Belfast, 1880), 58, 114, 173; Armstrong, , Presbyterian Churches in Dublin, 77; Belfast Newsletter, Nov. [?] 1752; Scott, , Hutcheson, 22–24. Apparently, John Alexander succeeded Hutcheson at the Dublin Academy. Witherow, , Historical and Literary Memorials, 1st ser., 350; “An Account of the Dissenting Academies from the Restoration of Charles the Second,” 62, Dr. Williams Library, London, Eng. Google Scholar

9 Moore, James, “The Two Systems of Francis Hutcheson: On the Origins of the Scottish Enlightenment,” in Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment, ed. Stewart, M. A. (Oxford, Eng., 1990), 47, 54.Google Scholar

10 After Molesworth's death in 1725, Lord Cartaret (later, Lord Granville), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, continued the Dublin Circle. It included Edward Synge, admirer of John Locke; deist John Toland; John Leland, author of English Deists; poet Samuel Boyse; idealist George Berkeley; essayist Jonathan Swift; and William King, author of De Origine Mali. Scott, , Hutcheson, 25–59; Robbins, Caroline, The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman: Studies in the Transmission, Development, and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought from the Restoration of Charles II until the War with the Thirteen Colonies (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), esp. chs. 4 and 5; Moore, , “Two Systems,” 44–47; Barnard, T. C., “The Hartlib Circle and the Origins of the Dublin Philosophical Society,” Irish Historical Studies 19 (Mar. 1974): 56–71; Simms, J. G., “John Toland (1670–1722), a Donegal Heretic,” Irish Historical Studies 16 (Mar. 1969): 304–20. Google Scholar

11 Canny, Nicholas, Kingdom and Colony: Ireland in the Atlantic World, 1560–1800 (Baltimore, Md., 1988), 122; Robbins, , Commonwealthman, 134–76. The most clear, concise, and directed argument for this position is found in Robbins, Caroline, “‘When It Is That Colonies May Turn Independent:’ An Analysis of the Environment and Politics of Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746),” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 11 (Apr. 1954): 214–51. Google Scholar

12 Hutcheson continued to tinker with his perpetual “work-in-progress,” A System of Moral Philosophy, after he removed to the University of Glasgow and circulated it among his Irish friends for comment, but did not complete it before his death in 1746. See Scott, , Hutcheson, 21–55; Moore, , “Two Systems,” 41–52; Robbins, , Commonwealthman, 167–76; V. M. Hope, , Virtue by Consensus: The Moral Philosophy of Hutcheson, Hume, and Adam Smith (Oxford, Eng., 1989), 2–23. Google Scholar

13 Mathew, W. M., “The Origins and Occupations of Glasgow Students, 1740–1839,” Past and Present 33 (Apr. 1966): 75–76; Scott, , Hutcheson, 62; Graham, Henry Grey, The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century (1899; London, 1906), 455–56. Records of Ulster, 2: 155; Witherow, , Historical and Literary Memorials, 2d ser., 173. The biographies of ministers featured by Armstrong in Presbyterian Churches in Dublin and in the first and second series of Witherow, Historical and Literary Memorials, provide many examples of men who received their advanced schooling privately and in Irish academies, as well as at universities abroad. See also, Bailie, W. D., “William Steel Dickinson, D.D. (1744–1824),” Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, no. 6 (1976): 3. Google Scholar

14 Graham, , Social Life of Scotland, 462; “Laws Enacted by the University,” in University of Edinburgh, Charters, Statutes, and Acts of the Town Council and the Senates , ed. Morgan, Alexander (Edinburgh, 1937), 227 (first quotation); “Plan of Education in the University of Glasgow, 1759,” MS Division, Library of Congress (second quotation); “Minutes of the Faculty,” 17 Aug. 1720 to 28 June 1727, Archives, University of Glasgow. Craig, John, “Diary,” Presbyterian Historical Foundation, Montreat, N.C. (third quotation); Francis Hutcheson to Walter Scott, 12 May 1743, Scottish Records Office, GD 157/2241 (fourth quotation). Google Scholar

15 Wodrow, Thomas to Kenrick, Samuel, 15 Nov. 1750, Wodrow-Kenrick Correspondence, #24.157, Dr. Williams Library (quotation); Graham, , Social Life of Scotland, 455–56. Google Scholar

16 Dickinson, R. J., Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718–1775 (London, 1966), 20. Unless otherwise noted, all of the tutors, masters, and professors identified in this essay had studied either in the Irish academies and Scottish universities or under mentors who had attended these institutions.Google Scholar

17 For instance, we know that John Creigh joined the classical academy at Pequea in 1761 to teach math, handwriting, and declamation to between twenty and thirty boys, but what that entailed is unclear. Sellers, Charles Coleman, Dickinson College: A History (Middletown, Conn., 1973), 37. Magaw grafted a classical school onto his academy in Lancaster. Weber, Samuel Edwin, The Charity School Movement in Colonial Pennsylvania (1905; reprint, New York, 1969), esp. 33, 45; Klett, Guy S., ed., Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in America (Philadelphia, 1976), 247–48, 252, 255–57, 260–61, 345, 358, 374; “Minutes of the German Free Schools,” 10 Aug. and 10 Dec. 1754, 14 June 1755, Rev. William Smith Papers, vol. 6, microfilm, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Webster, Richard, “Glances at the Past, No. VII,” Webster Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society; Aitken's General American Register for the Year 1773 (Philadelphia, 1773), 22. Google Scholar

18 Mills, Scott A., History of West Nottingham Academy, 1744–1981 (Lanham, Md., 1985), 10; Tennent, Mary A., A Light in Darkness: The Story of William Tennent, Sr., and the Log College (Greensboro, N.C., 1971), 33–35; Rowe, G. S., Thomas McKean: The Shaping of an American Republicanism (Boulder, Colo., 1978), 5–6; McKean, Thomas, “Biographical Sketch of Thomas McKean, 1814,” Papers of Thomas McKean, vol. 4, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; “Memoirs of the Rev. Dr. James Latta, Late Pastor of the Congregation of Chestnut Level in the County of Lancaster,” The Christian's Magazine on a New Plan 3 (1810): 353; Beam, Jacob Newton, “Dr. Robert Smith's Academy at Pequea, Pennsylvania,” Journal of Presbyterian History 8 (Dec. 1915): 150–53; Rush, Benjamin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush: His “Travels through Life” Together with His Commonplace Book for 1789–1813, ed. Corner, George W. (Princeton, N.J., 1948), 28–29, 32–34. Google Scholar

19 Trustees from the synod supervised the New London Academy from 1743 until 1754 and an independent Board of Trustees supervised it when it moved to Newark, Delaware. Carlisle Academy in western Pennsylvania operated under trustees appointed by the local Presbyterian church from 1752 until 1779. Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 198, 212, 219, 221, 236, 238, 240; “Announcement of the Trustees of New Ark Academy,” Pennsylvania Gazette, 10 Jan. 1771; Sellers, , Dickinson College, 4, 31.Google Scholar

20 Aitken's General American Register for the Year 1774 (Philadelphia, 1774), 7 (quotation). Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 Sept. 1742; Irwin, Nathaniel, “Memoirs of the Presbyterian Church of Nashaminy,” Presbyterian Historical Society; Miller, Samuel, Memoirs of the Rev. John Rogers, D.D. (New York, 1813), 22–23; Miller, Samuel, A Brief Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century, 2 vols. (New York, 1803), 2: 199–200. Webster, , “Glances at the Past, No. IV,” Webster Papers. Google Scholar

21 Mills, , West Nottingham Academy, 5–37; Turner, J. D. Edmiston, “Reverend Samuel Blair, 1712–1751,” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 29 (Dec. 1951): 230–33; Webster, , “Glances at the Past, No. V,” Webster Papers. Pennsylvania Gazette, 11 Jan. 1770; Sellers, , Dickinson College, 3–4, 26, 32–35. Google Scholar

22 Bean, , “Smith's Academy,” 146–51.Google Scholar

23 The best short account of this academy is Munroe, John A., The University of Delaware: A History (Newark, Del., 1986), 9–32. See also, Ingersoll, Elizabeth Nybakken, “Francis Alison: American Philosophe, 1705–1779” (Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1974), 470–84, 512–31; Pears, Thomas C. Jr., “Colonial Education among Presbyterians,” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 30 (June 1952): 115–26, and 30 (Sept. 1952): 165–74; Pears, Thomas C. Jr., “Francis Alison: Colonial Educator,” Delaware Notes 17, 1 (1944): 9–22. Google Scholar

24 Wilson, Matthew to Glassford, Hugh, Robert Wallace, Alexander McBeath, Curators of the Academy of New-Ark, 21 November 1780, Charles Thompson Papers, Library of Congress (first quotation); “Memorial and Humble Address … Academy of New Ark … Jamaica,” Pennsylvania Packet, 15 June 1772; Francis Alison to Ezra Stiles, 22 Oct. 1773, Stiles Papers, Beinecke Library, Yale University. Adam Boyd noted that it cost him £70 to send his son to the College of Philadelphia for just a year and a half. He had spent only £80 for four years at the local academies. Samuel Boyd Accounts, in Boyd, James A., “Records of the … Forks of the Brandywine Presbyterian Church, 1741–1758,” Presbyterian Historical Society. Jones, Robert Strettell, “Narrative of the Difference between Dr. Alison, vice provost of the College of Philadelphia and Robert Strettell Jones, late student in the senior class of the said College,” Robert Jones Papers, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pa. (second quotation). Thomas Penn to William Allen, 16 Apr. 1768, Penn Papers, Thomas Penn Letterbooks, IX, 242–44, Historical Society of Pennsylvania (third quotation); Alison to Stiles, 30 Oct. 1776, 22 Oct. 1773, Stiles Papers; Wilson to Glassford et al., 21 Nov. 1780, Charles Thompson Papers; “The Memorial and Humble Address of the Rev. Mr. John Ewing and Hugh Williamson … Academy of Newark … Great Britain and Ireland,” New Ark Academy Folder, Delaware Archives, Dover. Google Scholar

25 Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 157, 211–12. In the Synod of Philadelphia and New York, this Examination Act was still in existence in 1776. The New Side Synod of New York (1745–1758) dropped this option in 1750, after Princeton began issuing degrees, and required a college degree “except in Cases extraordinary.” Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 275, 278.Google Scholar

26 A favorable response greeted the synodical pleas for financial support from New England, Ireland, and Scotland, but a war between England and Spain precluded collections and then the revivals of the Great Awakening split the synod into the Synod of Philadelphia and the Synod of New York until 1758. Records of the Presbytery of Donegal, 22 June, 4 Nov. 1743, 3 Apr. 1744, Presbyterian Historical Society; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 157, 197, 211; Pennsylvania Gazette, 24 Nov. 1743; “Accounts of the New London Academy, 1743–1748,” Francis Alison Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society.Google Scholar

27 “The Memorial and Humble Address… of the Academy of Newark… Jamaica,” Pennsylvania Packet, 15 June 1772; Pennsylvania Gazette, 24 Nov. 1743; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 197–98, 210–14; Minutes of New Castle Presbytery, IV, 107, Presbyterian Historical Society; Good, James I., “Early Attempted Union of Presbyterians with Dutch and German Reformed,” Journal of Presbyterian History 3 (Sept. 1905): 124–25, 128, 132–33. Pennsylvania Gazette, 10 Oct., 10 Jan. 1771; Pennsylvania Packet, 15 June 1772; John Evans to John Ewing, 30 Sept. 1771, Dreer Collection, Letters of Members of the Old Congress, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Princeton required each class to give “tokens of respect and subjection” to the class above it, but did not rank students according to social status as was the case at Harvard and Yale. Blair, Samuel, An Account of the College of New Jersey (n.p., 1764), 23–24; Dexter, Franklin B., “On Some Social Distinctions at Harvard and Yale before the Revolution,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, n.s., 9 (1895): 34–59; Pryde, George S., The Scottish Universities and the Colleges of Colonial America (Glasgow, 1957), 9–10. Google Scholar

28 Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 210–12, 542, 553; Sprague, William B., Annals of the American Pulpit, 9 vols. (New York, 1858), 3: 360–61.Google Scholar

29 Alison received the prestigious Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow in 1756 for success in spreading “useful knowledge” in America. Minutes of the Faculty [University of Glasgow], 26 June 1756, 91; Minutes of the University [of Glasgow], 1730–1742, 5 June 1732, 27: 18, University of Glasgow Archives. A copy of Alison's degree is on file at the Presbyterian Historical Society. Letter to Rev. Thomas Clap, President of Yale, Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 213 (quotation). William Thomson had been educated in Ireland and was tutoring at the New London Academy when his brother Charles arrived to complete his studies and teach until 1749. Charles went on to tutor at the Latin School in the Academy of Philadelphia in 1751. John Steel was a probationer when he arrived in 1743 and tutored until 1752 when he opened his own school in Carlisle. Paul Jackson tutored until 1752 when he also went to Philadelphia and later became Master of the Latin School. When the Academy moved to the home of Alexander McDowell in 1752, alumnus John Ewing tutored from 1751 to 1754, followed by alumnus Matthew Wilson from 1754 to 1760. Massey, Pauline Stewart, “Who Was Charles Thomson?” (master's thesis, Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, 1962), 15–28; Minutes of the Trustees of the College, Academy, and Charitable Schools of Philadelphia, vol. 1, 17 Dec. 1750, 21 Apr. 1752, 10 Feb. 1756, 12 Apr. 1756, 8 Nov. 1757, 9 May 1758, Office of the President, University of Pennsylvania; “John Ewing,” in Princetonians, 1748–1768: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. McLachlan, James (Princeton, N.J., 1976), 96; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 238, 240; Pennsylvania Gazette, 30 May 1754; Sellers, , Dickinson College, 17–20; Records of Ulster, 2: 244; Rev. Neil, Edward D., “Matthew Wilson, D.D. of Lewes, Delaware,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8, 1 (1884): 45–55. Google Scholar

30 Massey, , “Who Was Charles Thompson?” 23; Rush Autobiography, 21 (first quotation), 28–35; Webster, , “Glances at the Past, No. V,” Webster Papers. Pennsylvania Gazette, 30 May 1754; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 240 (second quotation); Sellers, , Dickinson College, 4; Mills, , West Nottingham Academy; Beam, , “Smith's Academy,” 146–51; Smith, J. and Cope, Gilbert, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Philadelphia, 1881), 302; Sprague, , Annals of the American Pulpit, 3: 96. Google Scholar

31 Maclean, John, History of the College of New Jersey from Its Origin in 1748 to the Commencement of 1854, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1877), 1: 114; Minutes of the Trustees … Philadelphia, I, 10 Dec. 1754; William Smith to Richard Peters, 22 Feb. 1755, Richard Peters Papers, vol. 4, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. “Diary of Archibald Simpson, 1748–50 and 1750–82,” 411–12, microfilm, Presbyterian Historical Foundation, Montreat, N.C.; “Ewing” in Princetonians, 1748–1768 , ed. McLachlan, , 96; “Alexander McWhorter,” in ibid., 195; “William Hanna,” in ibid., 224; “Benjamin Rush,” in ibid., 319; “Samuel Stanhope Smith,” in Princetonians, 1769–1775: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Harrison, Richard A. (Princeton, N.J., 1980), 42. Pennsylvania Gazette, 2 June 1752, 30 May 1754; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 238, 240; Pennsylvania Chronicle, 20 June, 11 July, 1 Aug., 5 Sept. 1768; Pennsylvania Journal, 9 May 1769; Maclean, , College of New Jersey, 198; Montgomery, Thomas H., A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A.D., 1770: Including Biographical Sketches of the Trustees, Faculty, the First Alumni, and Others, Appendix F, “List of Scholars Entered at the Academy and College” (Philadelphia, 1900), 530–54; Turner, William L., Appendix: Recipients of Degrees at the College and Academy of Philadelphia, 1757–1776, “The College, Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia: The Development of a Colonial Institution of Learning, 1740–1779” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1952). Google Scholar

32 Beam, , “Smith's Academy,” 151. We know nothing of the style or content of the teaching of William Tennent, Sr., at Neshaminy because no one who attended the school mentioned anything about his studies there.Google Scholar

33 Finley, Samuel to Green, Jacob, 26 Apr. 1759, cited in Mills, , West Nottingham Academy, 12; Rush Autobiography, 31 (first quotation). The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D., 2 vols., ed. Dexter, Franklin B. (New York, 1803), 2: 342 (second quotation); Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, 20 June 1752, Penn Papers, Official Correspondence, 5: 255, Historical Society of Pennsylvania (third quotation). Google Scholar

34 Wilson, Matthew, “Memorial to Dr. Alison,” Pennsylvania Journal, 9 Apr. 1780 (first and second quotations); Alison to Stiles, 17 May 1759, Stiles Papers (third quotation).Google Scholar

35 Alison, to Stiles, , 7 May, 20 Oct. 1768, Stiles Papers (first quotation); Hutcheson to ?, 16 Apr. 1746, in Scott, , Hutcheson, 136; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 212, 248 (second quotation); List of Books in the Library at Newark 1771, McDowell Papers.Google Scholar

36 Wilson, , “Memorial to Alison” (quotation). Student notes from the College of Philadelphia and the Newark Academy attest to this format. See Key, Philip B., “Compend of Metaphysics,” Key, Philip B., Commonplace Book, Maryland Historical Society; Yeates, Jasper, “A Brief Compend of Metaphysics,” Rare Book Room, University of Pennsylvania; Yeates, Jasper, “Compend of Logic in Four Parts” and “Compend of Ethics”; John, Andrew, and Allen, James, “Book of Ethics”; Jones, Samuel, “Book of Metaphysics,” all in University of Pennsylvania Archives; Mifflin, Thomas, “Book of Metaphysics,” Misc. Ms., Thomas Mifflin Papers, Library of Congress. See also McDowell Papers. McDowell had also been trained as a physician at Edinburgh. Johns, J. H., A History of Rock Presbyterian Church in Cecil County, Maryland (Oxford, Pa., 1872), 8; Jones, Peter, ed., Philosophy and Science in the Scottish Enlightenment (Edinburgh, 1988). Google Scholar

37 Wilson, , “Memorial to Alison.” For a sample of the titles of disputations at Newark Academy, see Pennsylvania Gazette, 14 Oct. 1772, 11 Oct. 1775; Pennsylvania Packet, 24 Oct. 1774; Alexander McDowell Papers, Delaware Archives. Alison, , “On the First Principles of Knowledge—Exegesis,” and “Plan for the Latin Class,” Alison Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society; “Philosophical Questions Reduced to a System,” Society Miscellaneous Collection, Alison folder, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Google Scholar

38 Yeates, Jasper, “Moral Philosophy,” ms. notes, book I, ch. 1, n.p., Rare Book Room, University of Pennsylvania Library (quotation). See also Kinnersley, William, “Moral Philosophy,” University of Pennsylvania Archives, and Jones, Samuel, “Moral Philosophy,” Rare Book Room, University of Pennsylvania Library; John Ewing to Hanna Ewing, 5 July 1774, Ewing Letters, Rare Book Room, University of Pennsylvania Library; Minutes of the Presbyterian Church, 211. The fact that Alison used this work so early suggests that he probably had studied under Hutcheson in Dublin, although he might have obtained a copy from Hutcheson while at the University of Glasgow and translated it for his own presentations. Google Scholar

39 “Announcement of the Trustees of New Ark Academy,” Pennsylvania Gazette, 10 Jan. 1771 (quotation); Alison to Stiles, 7 May 1768, 22 Oct. 1773, Stiles Papers; John to Hanna Ewing, 5 July 1774, Ewing Letters. Some of the tutors were Patrick Alison (1761–63), Davis, John (1763–64), Rankin, John, Thompson, William, Gregg, Andrew, Currie, Daniel, McClean, James, and Branton, John. Rectors were James Davidson (1764–68), Thomas Read (1768–72), and Davidson, Robert (1772–76). James Davidson was a graduate of an Irish academy and the University of Glasgow and had not studied under Alison. New Ark Academy Receipt Book, Dr. John McKinley Papers, folder I, Historical Society of Delaware; Biographical Notes on Thomas Read and the Old Drawyers Church, Thomas Read Papers, Presbyterian Historical Society; Hancock, Harold, The Delaware Loyalists (Wilmington, Del., 1940), 52; Robert Davidson to the Honorable Board of Trustees of Newark Academy, 3 June 1783, Gratz Collection, Presbyterian Moderators, Robert Davidson folder, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; McDowell Papers; Trustees Minutes … College … Philadelphia, 15 June, 4 Nov. 1771, 19 May, 4 Aug. 1772; Aitken's General American Register for the Year 1774, 8; Trustees Minutes of New Ark Academy, 22 June 1785, University of Delaware Archives; Notice of Davis's death, Pennsylvania Journal, 3 Feb. 1773.Google Scholar

40 Wilson, , “Memorial to Alison” (quotation). The classic work on the influence of the College of New Jersey is Come, Donald Robert, “The Influence of Princeton on Higher Education in the South before 1825,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 2 (Oct. 1945): 359–96.Google Scholar

41 For an account of the increased numbers of chartered colleges, as well as an assessment of their founding and functions, see Robson, , Educating Republicans. Google Scholar