II
AMERICAN COLONIAL COLLEGES1
DURING the period of a little over a century and a half
that elapsed between the founding of Virginia and the
American Revolution, nine colleges were founded in the Eng-
lish Continental colonies for higher education. All these
colleges are in existence today; and six of them—Harvard,
Yale, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania,
and Brown—have developed into universities. They are the
ancestors, direct or indirect, of all the institutions of higher
learning in the United States ; with the important exception
of those that are under the control of the Roman Catholic
Church; and even these have to some extent conformed to
the pattern set by our earliest colonial colleges. From time
to time since the Revolution, new streams of influences from
England, France, and Germany have affected American
higher education; and the addition of professional schools
1A summary of the dates of founding, etc., of these nine colleges may be
useful. “Collegiate Instruction” means the beginning of instruction leading to
the Bachelor of Arts degree, as distinct from instruction of secondary-school
grade.
Collegiate First First
Instruction Degrees Charter
Harvard ................. |
Founded ...1636 |
Opened 1638 |
Begins 1638 |
Conferred 1642 |
Granted 1650 |
William and Mary......... |
..1693 |
1695 |
1724? |
1772? |
1693 |
Yale ..................... |
...1701 |
1702 |
1702 |
1702 |
1701 |
New Jersey (Princeton)... . |
...1746 |
1747 |
1747 |
1748 |
1746 |
Philadelphia (U. of Penna.). |
...1749 |
1751 |
1754 |
1757 |
1755 |
King’s (Columbia)......... |
..1754 |
1754 |
1754 |
1758 |
1754 |
Rhode Island (Brown)..... |
..1764 |
1765 |
1765 |
1769 |
1765 |
Queen’s (Rutgers)......... |
..1766 |
1771 |
1772 |
1774 |
1770 |
Dartmouth ............... |
..1769 |
1770 |
1770 |
1771 |
1769 |
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