Trinity Church conveyed a large and valuable tract of this grant, lying on the west side of Broadway between Barclay and Murray Streets, to the governors of the college. The college was duly organized in 1754, the trustees in the year previous having called Rev. Samuel Johnson to be its first president. The government of the college was vested, by authority of the charter, in the president of the college; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the first lord commissioner for trade and plantations; the eldest councilor of the provinces; the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature; the secretary; the Attorney-General; the Treasurer; the Speaker of the General Assembly; the mayor of New York City; the rector of Trinity Church; the senior minister of the Protestant Dutch Reformed Church; the ministers of the Lutheran, French, and Presbyterian Churches; and twenty-four citizens of New York City,-a body sufficiently varied in character to control the college and at the same time represent all the interests of the people. The funds for the support of the new college were raised in several ways: By State assistance, by private donations, by lotteries, and by tuition. Provisions were early made by the General Assembly for a lottery to raise funds for the erection of buildings, a site having been chosen near Barclay Street, west of Broadway. It was not, however, until May, 1760, that the buildings were erected, and the remainder of the property was subsequently leased for a term of years. The sum of £3,282 was realized from the lottery; six thousand pounds were obtained by the agent, Dr. Jay, in England; the King gave four hundred pounds; and over ten thousand pounds were contributed by others. In 1767 a grant of twenty-nine thousand acres of land was made by the Government, but this was unfortunately located in that part of the territory afterward ceded to Vermont and was lost to the college. The college was supported by private donations, aided by the colony, and its control was more or less subjected to the colony; yet it could not be claimed as a State institution, as the term is used in its modern sense. King's College was closed in 1776 on account of the turbulent times, and was prepared for the use of the American army as a hospital.1 During its career it had given an impulse to education which enabled the work to be readily revived at the close of the war. In its early years the Government had granted to it the sum of £6,943, equal to $17,358, in current exchange, raised by lotteries and taxes, and lands valued at $83,647, making in all over one hundred thousand dollars, a liberal sum in those days, for the establishment of the new college. 1 Hist. Rec., 40. COLUMBIA COLLEGE. After the close of the Revolutionary War, King's College was in a deplorable condition. Many of the board of governors were either dead or missing, the libraries were scattered, the apparatus was destroyed, and a complete disorganization existed. The entire income of the college in 1784 was but one thousand two hundred pounds.1 With this income the board of regents began to build the university. In 1784 the governors of the college addressed a petition to the State Legislature, then in session, asking a revision of the charter of King's College.2 At the beginning of this session of the Legislature Governor George Clinton made the following reference to the higher education, which was the beginning of the organization of New York's present magnificent school system: "Neglect of education of youth is one of the evils consequent on war. Perhaps there is scarce anything more worthy your attention than the revival and encouragement of seminaries of learning." 3 Earlier in the session, and before the petition of the governors of King's College had been presented, a bill was introduced and became a law on the first day of May, 1784. This was entitled, "An act granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an university within this State." 4 The principal provisions of this act are, in brief, as follows: A board of regents was created, vested with power to hold and possess the rights, privileges, and franchises provided by the act, and were to have power to make rules for the government and support of the university, to elect a president and professors of King's College. The regents could possess estates, real and personal, equal to forty thousand bushels of wheat, and they were empowered to found schools and colleges in the State where they deemed it advisable, and to endow the same. The board of regents consisted of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, mayor of the City of New York, mayor of Albany, Speaker of the Assembly, President of the Senate, Attorney-General, Secretary of State, and twenty-four other persons elected by the Legislature. In addition to this number each religious denomination had the right to elect one regent. This shows the early attempt to unite the church and state in educational matters. The property of King's College was given into their charge, to be applied solely to the use of Columbia College as the regents might direct. The regents were likewise empowered to grant degrees, and finally in Section X, we read: "The college heretofore known as King's College shall be known and called Columbia College." Thus we find a full organization with one college and a small income as the beginning of the University of the State of New York. During 1 Moore's History of Columbia College, 68. 2 Hist. Rec., 40. 3 Ibid., 41. 4 Laws of 1784, Chap. LI, p. 69. the second session of the Legislature of 1784, the above act was, owing to dissatisfaction, amended in some particulars. These amendments pertained chiefly to administration, but among other things they provided for an increase in the number of regents. The arrangement provided by this legislation lasted for three years only; at the end of this period of trial it was felt that there was need of a reform. A committee was appointed to consider the measure in relation to the university, and especially to Columbia College. Mr. Duane, as chairman of the committee, reported that the previous acts of the Legislature were considered defective, and recommended changes in regard to the functions of the regents and also in the action toward academies. The report was adopted, and a subsequent committee presented a bill for the action of the Legislature. The act repealed all former acts and made the number of regents twenty-one, including the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor as members in virtue of their offices.1 The other regents were appointed by the Legislature, and the board of regents chose their own officers, viz, chancellor, vice-chancellor, secretary, and ireasurer.2 The law states as follows: "The regents are authorized and required by themselves or their committees to visit and inspect all the colleges and academies in the State, examine into the condition and system of education and discipline therein and make an annual report of the same to the Legislature."3 They also have full control of the literature fund, which is annually distributed and appropriated to the different academies and seminaries of learning, exclusive of colleges, according to the number of students passing satisfactory examinations in the classics and higher branches of learning. The regents of the university and the trustees of Columbia College were made two separate bodies. The charter granted in 1754 was ratified and the number of trustees in control was limited to twenty-four, in whom were vested all the powers of the governors of the college. Am ple provision was made in this bill for the establishment and government of academies. Since this act the board of regents has been divested of the charge of Columbia College and has had no control of its internal affairs. From the time of reorganization in 1787 the regents of the University of New York have exercised a supervisory control over the corporations created by them or by the Legislature, while Columbia College, although nominally under the supervision of the regents, has had, as in case of the other great institutions of learning in the State, an almost independent existence. 1 Laws of 1787, 10th session, p. 156. 2 New York Code, 1882, Chap. XV, p. 1114. 3 Ibid., sec. 15, p. 1115. Ibid., sec. 23, p. 1116. The Legislature continued to assist Columbia College in small ways for some years after the separation. In 1792 an act to encourage literature provided for the payment of £7,900 to the college for certain specified objects, and at the same time granted an annuity of seven hundred and fifty pounds for a term of five years.1 Columbia College shared with Union College in a land grant from the State in 1801, located at Lake George, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point. A more valuable grant followed in 1814, that of twenty acres of land formerly belonging to Dr. Hosack and purchased from him by the State at a cost of $74,268.75. Dr. Hosack attempted to establish a botanical garden subservient to the purposes of medicine, agriculture, and the arts. He purchased the land and erected buildings, but was unable to carry out his plans. The land when purchased was three miles and a half outside the city of New York, but is now in the center of wealth and population and is very valuable. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and between Forty-seventh and Fifty-first Streets. One other act of 1819 granted to Columbia College the sum of ten thousand dollars. A medical school was early established in connection with Columbia College, which received assistance from the Colonial Assembly and the State Legislature. The corporation of the city of New York granted three thousand pounds, while the State Legislature assisted to the extent of forty-five thousand dollars by means of lotteries, chiefly after this school was united with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. THE LITERATURE FUND. One of the substantial aids to the success of the school system of New York is what is termed the Literature Fund. By an act of May 10, 1784, the board of commissioners of the land. office was created and empowered to lay out the unappropriated land into townships ten miles square. In each township a lot of three hundred acres was reserved for the use of a minister of the Gospel, and six hundred and ninety acres for a school or schools. By an act of May 5, 1786, entitled "An act for the speedy sale of unappropriated lands within this State, and for other purposes therein mentioned," the surveyor-general was authorized "to lay out the waste and unappropriated lands" of the State into townships ten miles square, and these townships into lots of six hundred and forty acres each. The act further provided "That in every township so laid out, or to be laid out as aforesaid, the surveyor-general shall mark one lot on the map "Gospel and Schools," and one other lot for "Promoting Literature," which lots shall be as nearly central in every township as may be; and the lots so marked shall not be sold, but the lot marked "Gos2 Hist. Rec., 80. 1 Greenleaf, II, 479. pel and Schools" shall be reserved for and applied to the promoting the Gospel and a public school or schools in such townships; and the lot marked for "Promoting Literature," shall be reserved to the people of this State to be hereafter applied by the Legislature for promoting literature in this State." Of these two provisions the former furnished the basis of local school funds, the latter of the literature fund, which is still held by the State. But the lands reserved for the support of schools were for many years unproductive, and the board of regents was without funds for successful compliance with the law in performing its duties. In the report of 1788 the board of regents lamented this condition of affairs and their inability to make an improvement, unless the Legislature would support them by appropriate acts. They claim: "As the education of youth and culture of learning are connected with the improvement of useful arts, and nourish both the disposition and abilities requisite for the defence of freedom and rational government, so they have been esteemed in every civilized country as the objects of the highest importance. In our State it was evidently intended that the university should possess and exercise a general superintendence over all literary establishments which might be found among us, and that it should direct the system in such a manner as would conduce to the harmony and interest of the whole. * * * Our attention would naturally extend, not only to subsisting literary corporations, but to the erection of academies in every part of the State; and it is obvious that the most important purposes might be attained by affording timely assistance to infant seminaries, which would otherwise languish for a time and perhaps finally perish."2 Therefore, as the university is not provided with funds for the payment of the expenses immediately arising from the duties which the legislature has prescribed, the regents suggest that certain lands be made available for its support. LAND GRANTS. A plea for necessary assistance was again urged by the regents in the following year. As the result of their petition the Legislature passed an act on March 31, 1790, entitled "An act for the further encouragement of literature," which, after stating that it is the duty of a free people to promote and patronize science and literature, and that Columbia College and the incorporated academies under the charge of the regents are deficient in funds, notwithstanding the contributions of individuals, provided for the rental and lease of lands and the application of a sum of money without delay for the "advancement of science and literature in the said colleges and the respective academies." It was further provided that certain lands of Crown Point, Ticon 1 Chap. 67, Laws of 1786; Greenleaf, I, 282. 2 Regents' Report, 1788. |