Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:27:23.832Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Colonial Colleges and English Dissenting Academies: A Study in Transatlantic Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

David C. Humphrey
David C. Humphrey*
Affiliation:
History at Carnegie-Mellon University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Students of early American culture often seek its sources in the experiences of England's religious and political dissenters. One example is the thesis that England's dissenting academies stimulated Colonial colleges to become, as John Brubacher and Willis Rudy express it, “broader and more modern in outlook.” Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker calls the academies' influence “a matter of profound moment in the history of American education,” while Richard Hofstadter, Lawrence Cremin, Brooke Hindle, and Francis Broderick emphasize the academies' “direct and strong” impact on college curricula. Usually this influence is defined in terms of promoting the study of modern science and mathematics, although the academies also added new subjects like English composition, English literature, modern languages, and modern history, modified traditional subjects like Latin and ethics, and adopted new teaching methods like free discussion and the use of the vernacular.

Type
Discussion I
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , Summer 1972 , pp. 184 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by New York University 

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

Notes

1. Brubacher, John S. and Rudy, Willis, Higher Education in Transition: A History of American Colleges and Universities, 1636–1968, rev. ed. (New York, 1968), pp. 15–16.Google Scholar

2. Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson, Princeton, 1746–1896 (Princeton, N.J., 1946), pp. 80–89; Hofstadter, Richard and Metzger, Walter P., The Development of Academic Freedom in the United States (New York, 1955), pp. 75–77; Cremin, Lawrence A., American Education: The Colonial Experience, 1607–1783 (New York, Evanston, Ill., and London, 1970), pp. 265, 323–24, 402, 460, 510–11; Hindle, Brooke, The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America, 1735–1789 (Chapel Hill, N.G., 1956), p. 86; Broderick, Francis L., “Pulpit, Physics, and Politics: The Curriculum of the College of New Jersey, 1746–1794,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d sen, 6 (January 1949), 45–48. Other works which emphasize the influence of the dissenting academies include: Bailyn, Bernard, Education in the Forming of American Society: Needs and Opportunities for Study (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960), pp. 63–66; Boorstin, Daniel J., The Americans: The Colonial Experience (New York, 1958), pp. 183–84; McCormick, Richard P., Rutgers: A Bicentennial History (New Brunswick, N.J., 1966), p. 7; Pryde, George S., The Scottish Universities and the Colleges of Colonial America (Glasgow, 1957), pp. 3, 29; Sizer, Theodore R., ed., The Age of the Academies (New York, 1964), pp. 7–8; Schmidt, George P., Princeton and Rutgers: The Two Colonial Colleges of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J., 1964), p. 34; Sloan, Douglas, The Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal (New York, 1971), pp. 64–70.Google Scholar

3. See Ashley Smith, J. W., The Birth of Modern Education: The Contribution of the Dissenting Academies, 1660–1800 (London, 1954), pp. 237–65, for a summary of the academies’ curricular achievements.Google Scholar

4. Humphrey, David C., “King's College in the City of New York, 1754–1776“ (Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1968), pp. 446–47.Google Scholar

5. Johnson, Samuel, to William Samuel Johnson, end of June, 1754, Herbert, and Schneider, Carol, eds., Samuel Johnson, President of King's College: His Career and Writings (New York, 1929), I: 191; Duché, Jacob Jr., to William Smith, July 31, 1755, No. 32, Smith MSS, Hawks Papers, Church Historical Society; Humphrey, “King's College,” pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

6. Ibid., pp. 34, 57–58, 76–78; Berkeley, George, to Samuel Johnson, August 23, 1749, Schneider, Schneider and, eds., Samuel Johnson, I: 134–35; Johnson, Samuel, to George Berkeley [Jr.], December 10, 1756, ibid., II: 338.Google Scholar

7. “Catalogue of Books Read by Samuel Johnson,” ibid., I: 509, 515, 522–24; Johnson, Samuel, to Cadwallader Colden, June 7, [1747], ibid., II: 299; Humphrey, “King's College,” pp. 399–401; Pryde, Scottish Universities and Colonial Colleges, pp. 16–25.Google Scholar

8. “Autobiography,” Schneider, Schneider and, eds., Samuel Johnson, I: 7–8.Google Scholar

9. Tucker, Louis L., Puritan Protagonist: President Thomas Clap of Yale College (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1962), pp. 83, 94, 96–97, 101.Google Scholar

10. “A True and Just State of the Case between the Reverend Dr. Johnson and the Governors of King's College,” enclosed in Johnson, Samuel, to William Samuel Johnson, January 31, 1763, Schneider, Schneider and, eds., Samuel Johnson, IV: 94; Johnson, Samuel, to Thomas Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury, May 20, 1761, ibid., I: 308.Google Scholar

11. Fleming, Donald, Science and Technology in Providence, 1760–1914 (Providence, R.I., 1952), pp. 21–22; Manning, James, to Thomas Llewelyn, November 8, 1783, Guild, Reuben A., ed., Early History of Brown University, Including the Life, Times, and Correspondence of President Manning, 1756–1791 (Providence, 1897), p. 369.Google Scholar

12. Hans, Nicholas, New Trends in Education in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1951), p. 54.Google Scholar

13. Ibid., pp. 47–54; Metzger, Hofstadter and, Development of Academic Freedom, p. 75; Schmidt, Princeton and Rutgers, p. 34.Google Scholar

14. Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, pp. 69–70; Sloan, Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal, pp. 23–32.Google Scholar

15. Thomas, G. W., “A Study of the Development towards the Principles and Practice of Modern Education as shown in the Dissenting Academies in England“ (M.A. thesis, University of London, 1949). The quotation is a summary of Thomas's position by Ashley, J. W., Smith in The Birth of Modern Education, p. 265.Google Scholar

16. For discussions of the relationship of Scottish universities and Colonial colleges, see Sloan, Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal, chaps. 1–4; and Pryde, Scottish Universities and Colleges of Colonial America. Google Scholar

17. The five letters, four of them transcripts of letters No. 154–157 in the Doddridge Correspondence, vol. 4, Library of New College, London, can be found in the Aaron Burr Collection (1716–1757), Manuscript Division, Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

18. Smith, Caleb, Diligence in the Work of God, and, Activity during Life … (New York, 1758), p. 22.Google Scholar

19. Burr, Aaron, A Sermon Preached at The Ordination of the Reverend Mr. David Bostwick, at Jamaica, on Long-Island, October 9th, 1745 (New York, 1745), p. 6.Google Scholar

20. Broderick, , “Pulpit, Physics, and Politics,“ p. 47.Google Scholar

21. Burr to Doddridge, [October 8, 1749], vol. 4, No. 156, Doddridge Correspondence, transcript in Aaron Burr Collection (1716–1757), Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

22. Broderick, , “Pulpit, Physics, and Politics,“ pp. 50, 54, 61; “Journal of Rev. Samuel Davies, From July 2, 1753, to February 13, 1755,” in Foote, William H., Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical (Philadelphia, 1850), I: 248.Google Scholar

23. Warch, Richard, “Yale College: 1701–1740“ (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1968), pp. 231–32, 242–45; Dexter, Franklin B., ed., The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles … (New York, 1901), II: 337.Google Scholar

24. Smith, , Diligence in the Work of God, p. 27.Google Scholar

25. Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, pp. 130–40; [Belknap, Jeremy, Memoirs of the Lives, Characters and Writings of … Dr. Isaac Watts and Dr. Philip Doddridge (Boston, 1793), pp. 196–207; Tucker, , Puritan Protagonist, pp. 83–84; Clap, Thomas, The Annals or History of Yale-College … (New Haven, 1766), p. 81; Broderick, , “Pulpit, Physics, and Politics,“ p. 50; Humphrey, , King's College, pp. 446–44; Cheyney, Edward P., History of the University of Pennsylvania, 1740–1940 (Philadelphia, 1940), p. 83.Google Scholar

26. Burr to Doddridge, [October 8, 1749], vol. 4, No. 156, Doddridge Correspondence, transcript in Aaron Burr Collection (1716–1757), Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

27. General Catalogue of Princeton University, 1746–1906 (Princeton, N.J., 1908), pp. 12–15, 48; Minutes of the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, meetings from November 9, 1748 through September 29, 1756, typescripts, University Archives, Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

28. Dexter, , ed., Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, II: 337.Google Scholar

29. Extensive selections from Manning's correspondence with English Baptist leaders can be found in Guild, Early History of Brown. Google Scholar

30. Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, pp. 206–10; Lee, Sidney, ed., Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1897), I: 56–57.Google Scholar

31. Manning to Ryland, June 1, 1771, Guild, Early History of Brown, p. 172; “Ryland's Memoranda and Hints for Professor Manning, at Rhode Island,” ibid., p. 244.Google Scholar

32. Manning to Samuel Stennett, November 13, 1772, ibid., p. 193.Google Scholar

33. Manning to Ryland, June 1, 1771, ibid., pp. 171–72.Google Scholar

34. Burr to Doddridge, April, 1748, vol. 4, No. 154, Doddridge Correspondence, transcript in Aaron Burr Collection (1716–1757), Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

35. Burr to Doddridge, October 8, [1749], No. 155, ibid.Google Scholar

36. Burr to Doddridge, [October 8, 1749], No. 156, ibid.Google Scholar

37. Burr to Doddridge, [September 20, 1750], No. 157, ibid.; Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, p. 144.Google Scholar

38. Davis, Arthur Paul, Isaac Watts: His Life and Works (New York, 1943), pp. 10–14, 100.Google Scholar

39. Maclean, John, History of the College of New Jersey, from its Origin in 1746 to the Commencement of 1854 (Philadelphia, 1877), I: 140–42; Morgan, Edmund, The Gentle Puritan: A Life of Ezra Stiles, 1727–1795 (New Haven and London, 1962), pp. 51, 52. All three of Watts’ works, A Brief Scheme of Ontology; or, The Science of Being in General …, Logick: or, The Right Use of Reason, and The Knowledge of the Heavens and the Earth Made Easy: or, The First Principles of Geography and Astronomy …, can be found in Jennings, David and Doddridge, Philip, eds., The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts … (London, 1810), V.Google Scholar

40. [Davies, Samuel and Tennent, Gilbert], A General Account of the Rise and State of the College, Lately established In the Province of New-Jersey … (New York, 1752), p. 6.Google Scholar

41. The Improvement of the Mind: or A Supplement to the Art of Logick …, Works of Isaac Watts, V: 247; Burr to Doddridge, [September 20, 1750], vol. 4, No. 157, Doddridge Correspondence, transcript in Aaron Burr Collection (1716–1757), Princeton University Library.Google Scholar

42. Maclean, , History of the College of New Jersey, I: 140–42; [Blair, Samuel, An Account of the College of New-Jersey (Woodbridge, N.J., 1764), p. 28. Blair graduated from Princeton in 1760 and was a tutor there from 1761 to 1764.Google Scholar

43. The Improvement of the Mind. The Second Part …, Works of Isaac Watts, V: 322.Google Scholar

44. Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, pp. 140–42; [Belknap], Memoirs of Watts and Doddridge, pp. 200–1; Collins, Varnum L., Princeton (New York, 1914), p. 296.Google Scholar

45. Morgan, , Gentle Puritan, pp. 50–56; Tucker, , Puritan Protagonist, p. 84n; Morison, Samuel Eliot, Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636–1936 (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), pp. 89–90; Guild, Early History of Brown, pp. 246, 355. Watts sent copies of his own and other writings to Harvard and Yale, gave Yale two large globes, and corresponded with President Edward Holyoke of Harvard and Rector Elisha Williams of Yale. See Warch, “Yale College,” pp. 161–64; Pratt, Anne S., Isaac Watts and His Gifts of Books to Yale College (New Haven, 1938); and Watts’ letters reprinted in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2d ser., 9 (February 1895), 331–410, and 12 (February 1898), 149–52.Google Scholar

46. The influence of the academies on Benjamin Franklin's thinking has been suggested but not documented. In “Where Did Benjamin Franklin Get the Idea for His Academy?,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 58 (1934), 86–94, Owen, Eugene, contends that Franklin got the idea for an English language academy through conversations with and letters from George Whitefield, who in turn got the idea primarily from chatting with Philip Doddridge. Unfortunately, as Owen admits, there is no record of what was said in any of the conversations, nor proof that Whitefield wrote any letters. Cremin, Lawrence, apparently accepting Owen's argument, also points to Doddridge's influence on Franklin. Cremin, American Education, pp. 265, 402, 641. Most studies of Franklin do not credit the academies with shaping his educational thinking. For example, see Tyack, David, “Education as Artifact: Benjamin Franklin and Instruction of ‘A Rising People,’” History of Education Quarterly, 6, no. 1 (1966), pp. 3–15, and O'Neill, John J., “An Analysis of Franklin's Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania as a Selection of Eighteenth Century Cultural Values” (Ed.D. diss., Harvard University, 1960).Google Scholar

47. Morison, Samuel Eliot, “Charles Morton,“ Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Collections, 33 (Boston, 1940), xvi–xxiii; Hornberger, Theodore, “The Compendium Physicae: An Introduction,” ibid., pp. xxxi, xxxvi-xl; Shipton, Clifford K., Sibley's Harvard Graduates (Boston, 1942), VI: 480–82.Google Scholar

48. Morison, , “Charles Morton,“ pp. x–xiv; Smith, Ashley, Birth of Modern Education, pp. 56, 58.Google Scholar

49. Bailyn, , Education in the Forming of American Society, p. 65.Google Scholar

50. Tucker, , Puritan Protagonist, p. 97, 97n; Morgan, , Gentle Puritan, pp. 54–56.Google Scholar

51. Schneider, Schneider and, eds., Samuel Johnson, II: 317–20.Google Scholar