University of Georgia - Pandora Yearbook (Athens, GA)

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Collegiate building.” I was considerably puzzled to guess what an electric conductor in 1804 was supposed to be, especially when capital letters were used ; but have learned since that it was simply what we now call lightning-rod. Old College was originally intended to serve as a dormitory and accommodate “eighty students, with its appropriate number of officers.” The building was ample for the purpose of lodging the students and officers for fifteen years after its completion. The President was the only officer of instruction until 1808, when Wm. H. Jones was appointed professor of languages, with a salary of $500. In 1804, Addin Lewis was appointed tutor, with $800 a year, probably replacing Mr. Jones. A year later, Monsieur Petit, of Savannah, was made professor of the French language, with $400 a year. With the aid of a microscope it can be seen approximately from the accompanying chart what the attendance upon the College was during these years. The building committee of the Trustees reports, November, 1805, that the western half of the College is finished. At their meeting in May, the Board “ resolve unanimously that the present Collegiate building at Athens be hereafter denominated and known by the name of Franklin College.” This name now no longer remains attached to one building of the University, but designates the group of schools or departments of the institution which give instruction leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. President Meigs was a Yankee from top to toe, and by his hustling spirit and industrious habits gave great satisfaction during the first years of his administration. But the latter part of his incumbency is in contrast with the success of his earlier years. The decline of the fortunes of the institution has been laid to the score of political friction. Too much importance should not be given this theory in accounting for the unpopularity, for other influences unknown to us now, may have been at work, and then, again, the President was of the dominant party in the State, and so his political friends were very probably more numerous than his foes. Meigs was a Jeffersonian Democrat of the extreme type, while North Georgia happened to have a large number, though not a majority, of Federalists in its population. Heated discussions arose and personal remarks were indulged in, which resulted in unpleasant relations between the President and his neighbors, spreading to such an extent as to cut down the attendance upon the College. This matter had for several years been noticed by the Senatus Academicus, and in 1810 that body, yielding to popular sentiment it seems, accepted what was probably a forced resignation of the President. Meigs was retained in connection with the University as “professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and chemistry” until, in August, 1811, he was dismissed from this office. In February, 1812, he published a card in the Athens newspaper offering private instruction and board to young persons. But during the year he removed from Athens, and some years later obtained a government position in the Northwest Territory. Upon the resignation of Meigs from the presidency, the Senatus elected Dr. Henry —15—

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the body to such an extent that the question had to be postponed for a year. In November, 1800, with more than $4,000 ou hand, the Senatus decided to erect a wing of the University to accommodate a hundred students, in Greene County, and Professor Josiah Meigs, of Yale College, was elected first professor, with a salary of $1,500. Mr. Meigs arrived in Georgia a few months after his election, and the Senatus, in June, 1801, elected him President of the University upon the recommendation of Mr. Baldwin, who resigned the office. Mr. Baldwin had been a tutor in Yale when Mr. Meigs was a student there, and it was he who induced the new President to move South. It is quite plain that the early spirit and temper of the University, and its organization as well, was drawn from Yale College, which furnished the first two Presidents. At the meeting of the Senatus Academicus at which occurred Meigs’ promotion, the motion of the previous meeting which selected Greene County as the site of a wing of the University was reconsidered. After seven ballots, Jackson County, which then embraced what is now Clarke, was successful in obtaining within its borders the location of the highest department of the University, which was then considered to include all county schools in the State supported by public money. A committee was appointed to select a site within tho favored county. The tablet in the wall of the old college informs the reader that “The site of this Building was chosen on the VI day of July, 1801, in the XXVI year of the independence of the United States of America, by George Walton, Abraham Baldwin, John Milledge, John Twiggs and Hugh Lawson, a Committee of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia, and for the benefit of the Institution the adjacent land was on that day given by John Milledge.” Tho committee reported to the Board in November the selection of the site and the donation made by Governor Milledge. A resolution was passed to authorize the President to apply to the legislature for a loan of $5,000, and by further resolutions a code of laws for the University was adopted. Two years later the Senatus asked permission of the legislature to sell a tract of 5,000 acres of land because $6,000 was “absolutely and immediately necessary to complete the building of the University.” When completed, it was, in President Meigs’ opinion, one of the handsomest college edifices in the United States. Tho work of building was very slow, laborious and expensive. Four or five years were spent in the erection of the old college, notwithstanding the offorts of the President and the Trustees to push the work. Lime and nails had to be hauled from Augusta, and the cost of these articles alone amounted to some $2,000. No good clay for the brickmaking could be found within four miles of the building. Athens was then on the very border of civilization, only twelve miles from the Cherokee territory ; so labor was very dear. Tho outside walls of the College were not finished until November, 1803. In that year the number of students was “between thirty and forty-five.” The fact that in 1804 the building was insured shows the business alertness of the Trustees. At the same time the President was “empowered and authorized to procure one or more Electric Conductors for the —14—

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Kollock, of Savannah, to the office, but that gentleman decided to decline the honor. A year later the Reverend John Brown, of South Carolina, preached the commencement sermon at Athens, and, within the week, was elected President of the University, taking the oath of office at once. The finances of the University had for several years been in a somewhat embarrassing state, necessitating a reduction of salaries; but the war with Great Britain caused such a depression that the President’s pay was cut to $1,000 from $2,000, and that of the two professors to $600 and $700. The Georgia Democrats supported the war, and patriotism was at rather a high pitch in the State during this period. The Embargo, a Democratic measure which preceded hostilities, was very popular at Athens. Upon the anniversary of the Demosthenian Society, February 22, 1809, “each member of the Society appeared in a complete suit of homespun, agreeably to a resolution to that effect.” But the war prevented exports, as well as imports, and in 1812 the price of cotton, which had become in the last fifteen years the staple of the hill country, fell to the starvation figure of twelve cents a pound. The period of Dr. Brown’s presidency is, for financial and other reasons, a dark one for the University and a dim one in its annals. The President left very little impression of his personality upon the College. He apparently was noted for his piety, and not at all for his ability. A glimpse is all that we may obtain to show that confusion and insubordination were rife during his administration. Toward the close of the War of 1812, the times brightened in the State, but the University did not feel the improvement. The attendance declined from a few to a vory few ; the President’s assistants were no better qualified than he himself, and the Board of Trustees, as well as every one else, became thoroughly dissatisfied. President Brown and Professor Green tendered their resignations, which were accepted, in July, 1816. Upon the minutes of the Trustees, I find under November 18, 1816: “Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Board that the resignations of all the officers of Franklin College shall be made to this Board, which was read and unanimously agreed to.” During Brown’s term of office the whole University had fallen into a sad state of apathy. —16—