College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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College of William and Mary FOUNDATION. The College of William and Mary is in its antecedents the oldest of American colleges; in actual operation it is second only to Har- vard. The project of a college for Virginia was agitated as early as 1617, three years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. An Indian massacre put a stop to this enterprise, but after many years the original intention was finally consummated in the college established at Middle Planta- tion (now Williamsburg) in 1693, and named in honor of the ruling monarchs, King William and Queen Mary. PRIORITIES. It is the only College that received its charter direct from the Crown of England, and the only one that received its coat of arms from the College of Heralds in Lon- don. It was the first College in the United States to have a full Faculty of Professors (1729) ; the first to adopt the Lecture Sys- tem (1758) ; the first to establish the Elec- tive and Honor Systems (1779) ; the first to wiiU ' n its scope into that of a University ( 1779) ; the first to establish Chairs of Mu- nicipal and Constitutional Law ( 1779) , Mod- em Languages (1779), Political Economy (1779), History (1803) ; the first to organ- ize a Greek Letter Intercollegiate Frater- nity, the Phi Beta Kappa Society; and the first to award gold medals as Collegiate prizes, donated by Lord Botetourt in 1 71. MAKING OF THE UNION. The alumni of the College exerted more influence on the making of the Union than the alumni of any other institution. Rich- ard Bland was the first to anonunce in a pamphlet that American was no ])art of the Kingdom of England, and was only united ■ Wth it by the common ,ie of the Crown ( 1766) . Dabney Carr was the patron of the resolutions for the appointment of com- mittees of intercolonial correspondence (1773). Peyton Randolph was the first president of the Continental Congress (1774). Thomas Jefferson wrote the Dec- laration of Independence (1776). John Ty- ler, Sr., carried through the Virginia Ivegis- lature the proposition for the convention at Annapolis (1786). Edmund Randolph open- ed the proceedings at Philadelphia by sub- mitting the Virginia plan (1787). Geo. Washington, though not an alumnus, re- ceived from the College his first public office of surveyor, and his last as Chancellor of the Institution. DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. Of the seven Presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler were educated at William and Mary. To these men is to be ascribed the annexation of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and most of the western territory, thus treb- ling the original area of the Union. The most illustrious of the chief Justices, John Marshall, was an alumnus, and so was the most distinguished commander of the Fed- eral army down to 1861, General Winfield Scott. In the period from 1789 to 1861 the College furnished sixteen out of twenty- seven senators from Virginia, three out of four speakers of the House of Representa- tives from Virginia, two out of the three min- isters plenipotentiary to England, four out of the six ministers to France; and John James Beckley, first Librarian of Con- gress, and first clerk of the House of Rep- resentatives was a William and Mary man. HISTORY FROM 1783-1865. By the results of the Revolutionary war the College was left with little property but its lands, amounting to about 20.000 acres in different parts of the State. These were sold and an endowment fund was realized of about $150,000, by means of which, with fees, the College was supported till 1861. During the war the main College building was burned by some disorderly Federal troops, and most of the Endo ' nient Fund was lost. PRESENT STATE. For many years after the war the College was in a very crippled condition, but in 1888 the State formed a connection with it, and it is now in a more prosperous condition than it ever was. The Endowment Fund has been raised from about $20,000, all that remained after the war, to $134,000, yielding an interest of $5,700. The College receives in addition the annual sum of $35,- 000 from the State of Virginia, on condition of its keeping up, in connection with the regular Collegiate Course, a course of Nor- mal Instruction and Training. All the old buildings have been restored, and there have been added an Infirmary, a Dormitory, a Gymnasium, and a Science Hall. The Col- lege is also equipped with electric lights and artesian well water. The largest at- tendance in the annals of the Institution, at any time before the late war, was about 140, but the attendance this session is near- ly double this figure. The faculty consists of a President, eight full Professors, one Adjunct Professor, one Physical Director, one Principal of tlw Mo lel School, and eight instructors. It has classes in Amcr:- ran Ilistorv. Political Economy. Civil Gov- erniiient. English Literature. General His- tory. Latin, ' Greek, Mathematics, Modern l angiuiges. Education. Natural Science, Chemistrj ' , Biology. Drawing. JIanual Arts, Psychologj-. Logic, and Ethics.