THE BEGINNINGS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN
THE
NORTHWEST TERRITORY
By THOMAS N. HOOVER
Rufus Putman never attended a
university; but fathered the
first institution for higher learning in
the Northwest Territory.
He seldom if ever went to school; but
contributed much to the
cause of education. His mother, when
Rufus was still a small
boy, inflicted upon him an undesirable,
domineering, illiterate
step-father, who required the lad to
work all day, and denied him
a candle, that he might study at night.
In spite of such handi-
caps, Putnam became educated. He was
outstanding as a civil
engineer, serving with distinction in
the Revolutionary War, and
later as surveyor-general of the United
States.1
Putnam, at the close of the
Revolutionary War, was most
interested in the vast region west of
the mountains. He was
chairman of the Newburgh meeting, which
on June 16, 1783,
petitioned Congress, in the name of the
two hundred eighty-eight
Revolutionary officers present, for
grants of lands within the
limits of the present State of Ohio.2 He sent the petition to
General Washington, to be presented by
him to Congress. With
the petition, Putnam sent a letter, in
which he stressed the need
for settling the western region. He
urged the construction of
forts, the survey of lands into
townships, the sale and settlement
of the land, and the support of schools
and churches, "to banish
forever the idea of our western
territory falling under the domin-
ion of any European power."3 Washington, with his own letter
of endorsement, transmitted the petition
and the Putnam letter
to Congress.
A year later, in 1784, Putnam again
wrote to Washington,
"The settlement of the Ohio
country, sir, engrosses many of my
1 For a brief biographical sketch of
Rufus Putnam see Dictionary of American
Biography (New York, 1928-1937), XV, 284-5.
2 A copy of the petition and names of signers is included in William Parker
Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, Life,
Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh
Cutler,LL.D. (Cincinnati,
1888), I, 159-67.
3 Ibid., I, 167-72.
(244)
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 245
thoughts, and much of my time. ... we
are growing quite im-
patient; and the general inquiry now is,
when are we going to
the Ohio?"4
Putnam's suggestions were incorporated
in the famous Ordi-
nance of 1785.
On the night of January 9, 1786, Rufus
Putman had a guest
at his Rutland, Massachusetts, home. He
was Benjamin Tupper,
another native of Massachusetts,
Revolutionary officer, and like
Putnam, a civil engineer. Tupper had
been in charge of surveying
the first seven ranges, and, like
Putnam, was much interested in
the region west of the mountains.
Together these men drew up
a document called the
"Information" dated January 10, 1786,
and signed by Putnam and Tupper.5
This was to inform persons interested in
the Ohio country
that a meeting would be held at the
Bunch of Grapes Tavern in
Boston, on the first day of March, 1786,
for the purpose of form-
ing an association to be known as the
Ohio Company. Delegates
were to be chosen at meetings held on
the fifteenth of February.
Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Winthrop
Sargent, John Mills,
Manasseh Cutler, John Patterson,
Jelaliel Woodbridge, Thomas
Cushing, Crocker Sampson, and Abram
Williams attended the
meeting, formed the stock company, and
planned for another
meeting a year later, for a report on
the sales of stock.6
At the meeting in March, 1787, it was
reported that two
hundred fifty shares, at $1000 per share
had been sold. Generals
Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Putman and Rev.
Manasseh Cutler
were selected as directors of the
company. Parsons was sent as
the representative of the company to New
York, to present a
memorial to Congress, for the purchase
of a tract of land of the
public domain in the Ohio country.7
He appeared before the
Congress on May 9, and presented the
memorial. This was
referred to a committee of five members,
James Madison and
Edward Carrington of Virginia; Rufus
King and Nathan Dane
of Massachusetts; and Egbert Benson of
New York.8
4 Ibid., I, 174-6.
5 Ibid., I, 179-80.
6 For the organization of the company, ibid.,
I, 180-90.
7 Ibid., I, 191-2.
8 Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington, D. C., 1904-
), XXXII,
276.
246
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Two days later, began a period of no
quorum, which con-
tinued till July 4. The committee,
however, had considered the
Parsons memorial, and made its report,
signed by the five mem-
bers, on July 10. This report "Resolved,
that the Treasury Board
be authorised and empowered to contract
with Samuel Holden
Parsons Esq. or any other Agent or
Agents, duly authorised, by
the Company stiled [sic] and
known by the name of the Associ-
ation for the purchase of Lands on the
N. West side of Ohio
River. . . ." The report further
recommended that, in each
township, lot sixteen be reserved for
schools, twenty-nine for the
purposes of religion, and eight, eleven,
and twenty-six reserved
for Congress, and "four complete
Townships to be given per-
petually for the purposes of an
University, be laid off by the
Company, as near the centre as may be,
so that the same shall
be of good land to be applied to the
intended object by the
Legislature of the State."9
In the summer of 1787, Manasseh Cutler
was assigned the
task of trying to contract with Congress
for the purchase of land
for the company. Cutler was born in
Connecticut in 1742. He
was a graduate of Yale in 1765. He was a
minister of the
Gospel, lawyer, doctor, teacher, and
shrewd politician from the
little village of Ipswich,
Massachusetts. On the 24th of June
he set out from his home on his long
trip to New York with his
one-horse, two-wheeled gig. He arrived
at New York on the
afternoon of July 5. On the next day he
appeared before Con-
gress and "delivered my petition
for purchasing lands for the
Ohio Company, and proposed terms and
conditions of purchase.
. . . As Congress was now engaged in
settling the form of gov-
ernment for the territory; for which a
bill had been prepared,
and a copy sent to me, with leave to
make remarks and propose
amendments, I returned the bill with my
observations."10
On July 9, Cutler attended the Committee
at Congress cham-
ber, debated on "terms but were so
wide apart that there appears
little prospect of closing a
contract." Cutler then took a short
trip to Philadelphia, where many of his
friends were attending
9 Ibid., XXXII, 312.
10 Cutler's diary of this period, Cutler, Cutler, I, 208-42.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 247
the Constitutional Convention. On his
return to New York,
the 17th of July, he found that the
Ordinance had been passed
on July 13 and all of his suggestions
had been incorporated in
the final document.
On July 23 conditions of a contract were
submitted to Cutler
but were not acceptable. Although Cutler
was anxious to make
a contract with Congress, he appeared to
be absolutely indifferent.
He played a shrewd game. He accepted
invitations where they
would do most good. He spent an evening (closeted) with
Colonel William Duer. The final bit of
politics that he played
was that the President of Congress,
Arthur St. Clair, should be
the first governor of the Territory.11
This proposal was accept-
able to Cutler and on the 27th of July,
the contract was agreed
upon. In this contract was the following
provision: "and also
reserving out of the said tract so to be
granted, two complete
townships to be given perpetually for
the purposes of an univer-
sity, to be laid off by the said parties
of the second part [The
Ohio Company], their heirs or assigns,
as near the center [of
the Ohio Company's purchase] as may be,
so the same shall be
of good land, to be applied to the
intended object in such manner
as the Legislature of the State wherein
the said townships shall
fall, or may be situated, shall or may
think proper to direct."12
This contract was signed on October 27,
1787.13 Thus Con-
gress set aside two townships, 46,080
acres of land, for the support
of the first university in the Northwest
Territory, and sixteen
years before there was the State of
Ohio, bequeathed to the
future State the guardianship of the
university.
But two townships of land would not make
a university.
The Northwest Territory must be settled,
Indian wars must be
fought, a Greenville Treaty must be
signed before it would be
safe to venture into the interior of the
company's purchase.
On May 16, 1789, the directors of the
company ordered
Putnam and Cutler "to make such
further application [to Con-
gress] as they shall judge expedient
respecting an establishment
11 Ibid., I, 295-6.
12 A
copy of the contract, in W. E. Peters, Legal History of Ohio University
(Cincinnati, 1910), 43-8.
13 Cutler, Cutler, I, 326.
248
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
of instructors in the University and
procuring a charter for that
Seminary."14
As early as 1790, the directors of the
company took steps
to have the two townships for the
university definitely located.
Indian wars however checked this
movement for five years.
On January 10, 1795, the directors of
the company
Resolved, that the committee appointed
by a resolution of the 9th
of Nov., 1790, for the purpose of
designating the two townships reserved
for the benefit of an university be
requested to be ready to go up the great
Hockhocking with the directors as soon
as the season will permit, for the
completion of the business for which
they were appointed and that the
Superintendent [Putnam] furnish a
surveyor and a suitable number of
hands for the occasion, also fifteen men
as a guard and hands in the above
resolution, and that a suitable number
of canoes or boats be provided for
the purpose of transporting the
necessary provision.
Resolved that for caring [carrying] the
above business into effect it
will be necessary that there be provided
for [by] the Ohio Company eight
hundred pounds of good salt pork called
Middleings, also twelve hundred
of flour and hard bread, three bushels
of beans and forty gallons of
whiskey.15
Thus supplied, Rufus Putnam and his men
rowed down the
Ohio, up the great Hockhocking and
located the two university
townships, 8 and 9 in Range 14.16
But Rufus Putman would not let the
project die. Two
townships of land in themselves would
not be a university. Early
in 1799 Putman wrote to Cutler informing
him of the location of
the two townships which would ultimately
bring to the support
of the university more than $5,000 per
year. He further sug-
gested that someone should be authorized
to erect buildings,
appoint officers, and get the university
going.17
Cutler replied on July 15, as follows:
So far as I have had opportunity, I have
consulted the charters of
public seminaries in Europe and America.
Those in our own country are
generally more modern, and the best
adapted to the purpose intended; but
none appear to me to accord with a plan
so liberal and extensive as I think
ought to be the foundation of the
Constitution of this University. The
14 A. B. Hulbert, ed., Records of the
Ohio Company (Marietta, O., 1917), I, 107.
15 Ibid., II, 233-4.
16 Ibid., II, 183.
17 Cutler, Cutler, II, 18-9.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 249
Constitution ought to be composed of
mere principles as clear and few as
may be.18
On August 7, 1799, Putman replied to
Cutler:
We are totally destitute of any copy of
an incorporating act or charter
of a College, or even an Academy; but
this is not my principal reason for
applying to you. It is a subject I know
you have long thought of, there-
fore, I request of you not only the form
but the substance. I want you to
make out one in detail, or procure it
done for us, and forward it by mail
to me as soon as it is ready.19
Cutler complied with the request of
Putnam and on June
30, 18OO, sent a model charter, with a
letter of explanation. The
charter contained a preamble and ten
sections. The preamble
stated that "Institutions for the
liberal education of Youth are
essential to the progress of Arts and
Sciences; important to
Morals and Religion; friendly to the
peace, order and prosperity
of Society; and honorable to the
government which patronizes
them."
Cutler proposed the name, American
University; a Board
of Trustees of eleven members who should
elect a president and
other officers of the university,
approve the giving of degrees,
prescribe the duties of the faculty, and
require quarterly exam-
inations of the students. Cutler urged the importance of this
as a part of the constitution
"since it is so apt to be neglected by
the Government, and so often opposed and
resisted by the stu-
dents." He was opposed to any large
buildings for
with regard to erecting public buildings
for the University, I can not
so fully express my mind to you as I
could wish. At present, I should not
think it best to erect any considerable
public buildings. It will be necessary,
in the first instance, to open a Latin
school, for I conceive it improbable that
any youth can be found in the country
qualified for admission as the stu-
dents of a college. Or if a Freshman
class can be formed, it must be small.
A building of two stories, pretty large
on the ground, in the form of a school
house, may answer every purpose for some
years. I feel an aversion to
large buildings for the residence of
students, where there are regular fami-
lies in which they can reside. Chambers
in colleges are too often made the
secret nurseries of every vice and the
cages of unclean birds. It must
require time to mature plans for large
buildings, I will endeavor to attend
to the matter, and give my idea of
Public Buildings.20
18 Ibid., II,
20-1.
19 Ibid., II, 21-2.
20 For
text of the recommended charter and Cutler's letter, see ibid., II,
22-31.
250
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Putnam replied to Cutler on August 2, 18OO, with a letter
of appreciation for the model charter.
He differed from Cutler
on the question of buildings. He thought
there would be plenty
of students ready for college by the
time buildings might be
constructed. "Indeed," he
wrote, "I am more apprehensive that
we shall not be able in due time to
erect the proper buildings and
support the expense of officers, than
that we shall want students,
although for several years the number
may be small."21
At the same time Putnam was writing
Cutler regarding a
model charter, he was laying plans for a
Board of Trustees. On
November 20, 18OO, he worte to Paul Fearing as
follows:
With respect to the University, in my
opinion nothing local should
influence our minds in naming the
trustees as it respects counties. The nearer
they live to the spot and one another,
the more easily will they be con-
veaned [sic] and the less
expensive, and for this reason I would by no
means appoint more than eleven in the
first instance. There can be no need
of more for transacting the business
until the University is opened and
besides we know not what characters may
come forward as promoters of
the institution or what additional
donations may be made. We ought there-
fore to leave a wide door open to admit
such characters as partners in the
trust. I think it not improbable that
some worthy characters may soon settle
in the University townships and is it
not possible that some worthy, able,
public spirited gentlemen in Adams and
Ross County, may make donations
to the institution whom it might be
thought proper to appoint trustees.22
In the letter Putnam suggested names of
persons who might
constitute the first Board.
On December 18, 1799, the newly
established Territorial
legislature passed an act providing that
Rufus Putnam, Benjamin
Ives Gilman and Jonathan Stone be
requested to lay off in the
most suitable. place within the
townships, a town plat to contain
a square for the colleges, lots suitable
for house lots, and gardens
for president, professors, and tutors,
bordering on or encircled
by spacious commons. They were likewise
requested to lay out
a plan for a town. Putman was in charge
of the work and
selected sections 9, 1O, 15, 16, and 22
in township 9 for the
college campus. He also laid out the streets for the town
of
21 Ibid., II, 31-2.
22 Paul Fearing was delegate to Congress from the Northwest Territory, 1801
and 1802. Paul Fearing MSS. (in Marietta
College Library), V, 58.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 251
Athens. These plats were approved by the
Territorial legislature
on December 6, 1800.23
In the last session of the Territorial
legislature held before
Ohio became a state, on January 9, 1802, the Assembly
passed
an act providing for the university. It
followed somewhat closely
the model charter from the pen of
Manasseh Cutler. The follow-
ing were the main provisions of the act:
Whereas institutions for the liberal
education of youth, are essential
to the progress of arts and sciences,
important to morality, virtue and
religion; friendly to the peace, order
and prosperity of society, and honorable
to the government that encourages and
patronizes them--and whereas the
Congress of the United States did make a
grant of two townships of
land, within the purchase made by the
Ohio Company of Associates, for
the encouragement and support of an
university therein; and whereas the
interference of the legislature is
rendered necessary, to point out and direct
the mode in which the same shall be
brought into operation, that the benefits
of the grant may be applied to the
purposes designed:
Therefore,
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the legislative
council and house of repre-
sentatives in General Assembly, and it
is hereby enacted by the authority
of the same, that there shall be an
University instituted and established in
the town of Athens, . . . by the name
and style of the 'American Western
University,' for the instruction of
youth in all the various branches of the
liberal arts and sciences, for the
promotion of good education, virtue, religion
and morality, and for the conferring of
all degrees and literary honors
granted in similar institutions.
Sec. 2. That there shall be and forever
remain in the said University,
a body politic and corporate, by the
name and style of 'The President and
trustees of the American Western
University,' which body politic and
corporate shall consist of the president
ex-officio, and not more than seven-
teen nor less than eleven trustees, to
be appointed as herein after is provided.
Sec. 3. That the Hon. Rufus Putnam,
Joseph Gilman, Return Jona-
than Meigs, Jr. and Paul Fearing,
Esquires, the Reverend Daniel Story,
Griffin Greene, Robert Oliver, Ebenezer
Sproat, Dudley Woodbridge and
Isaac Pierce, Esquire, together with the
president of the said University,
for the time being, to be chosen as
herein after directed, be, and hereby are
created a body politic and corporate, by
the name of 'The President and
trustees of the American Western
University,' and that they and their
successors, and such others as shall be
and remain a body politic and
corporate, in law, by that name forever.
The trustees were to elect a president,
secretary, professors,
23 Peters, Legal History of Ohio University, 75-8.
252
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
treasurer, etc., and prescribe their
duties. Seven members would
constitute a quorum. They were to fix
salaries, make rules, sus-
pend officers and fill vacancies
temporarily.
The faculty was to fix the course of
study, make rules, and
hold quarterly examination of students.
Other provisions were
for the administration of the two
townships for the purpose
designated by the Congress of the United
States.
The final provision was "That the
Hon. Rufus Putnam,
Esquire, shall be, and he is hereby
authorized and empowered,
to fix the time and place for holding
the first meeting of the
said corporation, of which he shall give
notice in writing to each
member, at least fourteen days previous
to such meeting."24
Rufus Putnam called the trustees to meet
at the home of
Stephen Pierce, inholder, on May 21, 1802.25
The year after Ohio became a state, on
February 18,
1804,
the General Assembly of the State passed an act "Estab-
lishing an University in the Town of
Athens."26
The preamble was the exact language of
the first six lines of
the preamble in the act of January 9, 1802.
The name was changed from the American
Western, to
"Ohio University." The
trustees were to be the governor of the
State, the president of the university
and from ten to fifteen
members. The original trustees, named in
the act, were Elijah
Backus, Rufus Putman, Dudley Woodbridge,
Benjamin Tappan,
Bezaleel Wells, Nathaniel Massie, Daniel
Symmes, Daniel Story.
Samuel Carpenter, Rev. James Kilbourne,
Griffin Greene, Sr., and
Joseph Darlington. The powers and duties
of the corporation
were similar to those under the former
law. Public examinations
were to be held quarterly. Further provisions
pertained to the
administration of the two townships and
construction of a build-
ing. The governor of the State was
required to notify the
trustees of the first meeting of the
Board.
Thus the infant institution, conceived
by the founding fathers,
financed by a grant of land from the
Federal Government and
24 For the Act of Jan. 9, 1802, see ibid., 76-99.
25 Fearing MSS., IV, 291.
26 For the Act of Feb. 18, 1804, see
Ohio Laws, Statutes, etc., Acts, 2
.Assemb.,
1804, 193-206.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 253
by that government bequeathed to the
State, was accepted by the
State of Ohio. So proud was Ohio of this
first institution for
higher learning in the Northwest
Territory, that it gave its own
name, Ohio, to the young university.
The Congress of the United States had
given a "Local Habi-
tation," the State of Ohio had
given a "name," but even so, until
46,080 acres of land would bring in some
cash, Ohio University
would be principally "Airy Nothingness."
Ohio's first governor, Edward Tiffin,
called the first meet-
ing of the trustees of Ohio University
to be held at the home of
Dr. Eliphaz Perkins in Athens on the
first Monday in June, 1804.
Attending the meeting were Rufus Putman,
Elijah Backus, Dud-
ley Woodbridge, Daniel Story, Samuel
Carpenter and James
Kilbourne. Tiffin presided. Woodbridge
was made secretary
and Perkins treasurer. Provision was
made for surveying the
lands and laying out roads, in the
college townships. For several
years the main task of the trustees was
that of leasing the lands
and getting an income.27
At the meeting on April 3, 1806, when
the treasurer was
called upon for his report, the
condition of the treasury showed
"not one cent."28 At
this meeting, however, the first steps were
taken for a building. Jacob Lindly,
Rufus Putnam, and William
Skinner were the members of the
committee in charge of having
an academy building constructed. Putnam,
Buell and Wood-
bridge were to draft a set of rules for
the university.
On Christmas day, 1806, the trustees
approved the plan
for an academy building presented by
Rev. Jacob Lindly. In
due time the building was completed, a
two-story, two-room,
brick structure, 24 by 30 feet, built by
Jehiel Gregory at a cost
of $500. It was ready for occupancy in
June, 1808.29
It fell to the lot of Rufus Putnam to
select a preceptor.
His choice was Rev. Jacob Lindly,
graduate of Princeton in
1800, Presbyterian minister at Waterford, Ohio, in 1803 and
since 1805 a member of the Board of
Trustees.
On March II, 1808, Putnam wrote
the Presbyterian congre-
27 Board of Trustees of Ohio University,
Records, I, 1-7.
28 Ibid., I, 8.
29 Ibid., I, 10-28.
254
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
gation of Waterford for the release of
Lindly. The letter in
part follows:
The Trustees of the Ohio University take
the earliest opportunity to
inform you that they have invited your
Reverend Pastor to the office of
Preceptor of the Athens Academy which
they expect will be ready for the
reception of students next June.
We sincerely sympathize with you in your
fealing [sic] on the ocation
[sic] and hope through the blessing of Divine Providence you
may shortly
obtain another Pastor and teacher in
whom you will be as happily united.30
Putman had reason to suspect that the
good Presbyterians
of Waterford would be unwilling that
their pastor should leave
them for Ohio University. He therefore
wrote the Ohio Presby-
tery, as follows:
The trustees of the Ohio University (by
their Committee appointed
and Authorized for that Purpos [sic])
beg leave to inform your Reverend
and honorable body, that they have made
Choise [sic] of the Reverend
Jacob Lindly of Waterford, to fill the
office of Preceptor of the Athens
Academy. They doubt not of your
approbation of their choise, and solicit
your consent that Mr. Lindly have leave
to resign his charge at Waterford
and take upon him the more immediate
government of the Ohio University,
which first opens in the Athens Academy,
and will be ready for the reception
of students in June next.
The committee of Trustees have writen [sic]
to the Church and Con-
gregation of Waterford on the subject of
Mr. Lindly's leaving them. We
understand they mean to oppose Mr.
Lindly's removal and that an agent is
appointed for that purpose to attend the
Presbytery. This opposition was
expected, and is always to be expected
from every people on a like ocation.
It has been the general if not the
uniform practice in similar ocations to
select from among the Setled [sic] Clergy
a character suitable to fill such
an important office: the objections of
their people being no sufficient bar
to their removal when a more enlarged
Sphier [sic] of usefulness in pro-
moting the general good appeared to call
for them. That it is of the utmost
importance to place at the head of such
an institution (and especially the
Ohio University) a gentleman of an
established character, one acquainted
with the genius and maners [sic] of
the people around him, and one in
whom those who have children to educate
place confidence, all will admit.
But if the objections of Waterford be
admitted as a sufficient bar,
their [sic] remains no
probability of obtaining such a character because if
it is right that the objections of
Waterford should prevale [sic]: so ought
the objections of every other society
who have a settled minister to bar his
removal. Besides as their [sic] is
no settled minister in the County of
30 Putnam MSS. (in the Marietta College
Library), II, no. 33.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 255
Athens, nor are any of the settlements
able (separately) to support stated
preaching, therefore it has appeared of
very great importance to the
Trustees, to place a minister at the
head of the institution who would as time
and opportunity presented, preach to the
people: it is therefore to be hoped
Mr. Lindly (by the blessing of God) may
serve the cause of religion by
preaching in Athens and its vicinity as
much as he would, should he remain
at Waterford.
Reverend and honored gentlemen
If the agent from Waterford appear as we
expect we hope it will prevent
the necessity of a delay for the purpose
of citeing [sic] the people of Water-
ford to appear as in ordinary cases.
Again as it is not an ordinary removal
of a Minister from one Con-
gregation to another, may not we presume
to hope that the Presbytery will
consider the application as not coming
within the ordinary prescribed rules
of delay, as in Common Cases, and
therefore come to a decision at their
present session.31
The Reverend Jacob was given his release
from the Water-
ford Church, and was transferred to
Athens, to assume the duties
of preceptor of the academy, and
president pro tem. of the Board
of Trustees of Ohio University, at an
annual salary of $500.00.
On June 1, 1808, the academy opened its
doors to first
students, with an offering of
arithmetic, English grammar, Latin
and Greek languages, geography,
mathematics, logic, rhetoric,
natural and moral philosophy. The students were to pay $2.00
each quarter, to recite six days per
week, to be examined quarterly
by the trustees, and to appear once a
year in a public exhibition.
Three of the trustees were to dig and
stone a well and "direct
the apparatus proper for drawing water
from the same, erect a
Necessary and clear the College green
reserving suitable trees
for shade." The requests of William Weir for two acres
of land
for a brewery and of Jacob Wolfe for
land for a tanyard were
rejected. Joel Abbot was paid $87.00 for
building the "Neces-
sary" and Alexander Stedman $43.00
for the well (this did not
include the rope).32
A resolution of May 16, 1809, provided that
payments to
the university might be made in hemp at
$6.00 per cwt.: steers
three years old and not over eight at
$2.50 per cwt. the hide and
31 Ibid., II, no. 5.
32 Trustees, Records, I, 69.
256
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
tallow to be included; barrows and
spayed sows weighing alive
not less than 250 pounds at $3.00 per
cwt.
The rules of Princeton were adopted
temporarily as the
rules for Ohio University, but in March,
1812,
the trustees
adopted the following:
No student shall possess or exhibit any
indecent picture; nor purchase,
nor read in the University any lacivious
[sic] impious or irreligious book
or ballad, nor sing or repeat verses of
like character; and if any student
shall be convicted thereof or of lying,
profaneness, drunkenness, theft, un-
cleanliness, playing at unlawful games
or other gross immoralities, he shall
be punished according to the nature and
heinousness of the offense by ad-
monition public reprehension, or
expulsion from the University.
If any student shall quarrel with,
insult or abuse a fellow student or
any person whatever he shall be punished
according to the nature of his
fault.
No student shall keep by him, nor bring
nor cause to be brought into
the University, on any occasion any
spiritous or fermented liquors without
the expressed permission of the
President.
No student shall go to a Tavern,
Alehouse, Beerhouse, or any place
of like kind for the purpose of
entertainment or amusement without special
permission from some one of the faculty;
nor shall he, on any occasion, keep
company with a person whose character is
notoriously bad under penalty of
admonition, and if the practice be
continued of expulsion.
It is required of the students to treat
all persons whatsoever with
modesty, civility and due respect; but
more especially, to exhibit at all times
the most respectful deportment to the
officers of the University, and if any
student shall wistfully [sic] disobey
any officer of the University, or shall
either in speech or action manifest
disrespect towards the President, he shall
be admonished and make due
acknowledgement to the offended party, or be
suspended, as the Faculty may decide.
If any student shall refuse to appear
personally before the President
or any other officier [sic] of
the University when required to do he shall be
punished for contempt of authority: and
the most prompt and implicit
obedience shall be yielded by each
student to the lawful commands of the
President of the Institution.
Any student remaining in University or
in town, in time of vacation
shall be subject to all the laws
respecting decent and orderly conduct; and
shall be under the control of such officiers
of the University as may reside
there during vacation.
No hallowing, whistling, jumping nor any
other boisterous or tumultu-
ous noise shall be permitted in any of
the apartments of the University,
under such penalty as the nature of the
offense may require.
No student shall disguise himself by
wearing women's apparel, or in
OHIO HISTORY
CONFERENCE, 1941 257
any other way
whatever under such penalty as the President and any two
trustees may see
cause to inflict.
If any meeting or
combination of students shall at any time take place,
either for resisting
the authority of the University, interfering in its govern-
ment or for
concealing or executing any evil or disorderly design, every stu-
dent herein
concerned, or in any manner engage, shall be considered guilty
of the offense
thereby intended; and the faculty are empowered and directed
to destroy all such
combinations and associations as soon as discovered and
to inflict a suitable
punishment therefore.
No servant shall be
employed in the University unless by the President
at a stipulated
salary and with the concurrence of the faculty, by whom the
duties of such
servants shall be pointed out. Should any such servant be
found to violate any
of the laws of the Institution, be negligent in duty, or
otherwise misbehaved,
he shall be immediately dismissed.
Should any student or
students destroy, trespass or in any manner
wantingly [sic] injure
the property of any person in the town or elsewhere
or in any manner by
improper conduct, disturb the quiet of any private fam-
ily, or should fail
to deport himself or themselves decently and orderly in
any private family
where he or they may be permitted to board; the parties
so offending, shall
be dealt with according to the nature, quality and degree
of the offense; and
any unlawful combination, to prevent the execution of
the civil law, shall
meet a severe and exemplary punishment.
In every dismission
from the University the person shall receive a
certificate, signed
by the President, specifying the cause and reasons thereof,
and the student's
standing as a scholar.
Whenever and so
often, as it may be necessary or expedient for any
or the whole of the
students to board in private families, care should be
had, that none be
permitted to board at improper or disorderly houses; and
in no case, shall a
student be allowed to board in a tavern without special
leave of the
President.33
In March, 1812, Rufus
Putnam was called upon to
draft a
plan for a college
edifice. Putnam prepared a plan for a group
of three buildings.
The first to be constructed was called the col-
lege edifice, erected
near the center of the campus. Putnam found
the need of help from
an architect. He secured the services of
Benjamin Corp of
Marietta, whose fee for his services was $6.00.
Corp was also
employed to oversee the construction of the build-
ing. The final plans
provided for a building 82 feet long and
55 feet wide. It was
begun in 1816 and completed in 1818 at a
total cost of
$17,806. This seemed to the trustees far more than
sixty-five billions
seem to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
33 Ibid., II,
29-32.
258
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
In 1814, a committee headed by Putnam
petitioned the State
legislature for a lottery for raising
funds to meet the cost of the
college edifice. In 1817 Jacob Lindly went to Columbus, the
new capital of the State, and lobbied
through the lottery bill and
collected his expense account of
$60. The trustees, however,
did not resort to the lottery, but
instead solicited subscriptions
and thus raised the funds for paying off
the indebtedness. Rufus
Putman was first on the list with a
contribution of $200. A Mr.
Patterson, of Pittsburgh, gave $20 because the
university had
not resorted to gambling in the form of
a lottery for raising the
funds.
Manasseh Cutler, very much disgruntled because the
building had not been named Cutler Hall,
grudgingly gave $20.
Undoubtedly there was some great
rejoicing in heaven in August,
1914,
when the trustees gave the name, Manasseh
Cutler Hall, to
the first building for higher education
in the Northwest Territory.
A course of study leading to a
bachelor's degree was pre-
scribed in 1812. The first
students to complete the course were
John Hunter, of Zanesville, and Thomas
Ewing, of Athens
County. They were the members of the
graduating class of
1815.34
In 1817, the university expanded. In
addition to the presi-
dent there was now a faculty member,
Joseph Dana, professor
of languages -- salary, $250 a year.
Dana continued in the service
of the university till his retirement in
1835.
In 1819 the course of study was revised
as follows:
The Freshman Class--Lucians Dialogues,
the Georgics and Eclogues
of Virgil, Sallust, the Odes and Epodes
of Horace, Writing Latin exercises,
Latin and Greek Prosody, English
Grammar, English Composition, Declama-
tion, Geography, Arithmetic.
Sophomore--Horace, Cicero, Xenophon,
Homer's Iliad, Composition
in Latin exercises, Rhetoric, English
Composition, Declamation, Geometry.
Junior--Tacitus, Terence, Collectanea
Gracca Majora, Latin and Greek
Antiquities, Latin and Greek
Composition, English Composition Rhetoric,
Criticism, History and Chronology, Moral
Philosophy, Algebra, Law of
Nature and Nations--Grotius, de Veritate
Religionis Christianae.
Senior Class--Classical department
discretionary with the faculty--
Natural Philosophy, Moral Philosophy,
Metaphysics, Logic, Astronomy,
34 Ibid., II, 60.
OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941 259
English Composition, Criticism of the
best Writers, Declamation, Law of
Nations and Nature.
Each student was required to submit
English compositions
every two weeks to the faculty and two
long themes each year
to the trustees. Some additional rules and regulations were
adopted for the moral welfare of the
young men attending the
university. Students guilty of profane
cursing or swearing, riot-
ing, keeping company with lewd or
infamous persons or gam-
bling or any other known immorality
should be punished.
Students were examined orally twice each
year by the mem-
bers of the Board of Trustees. Seniors
were examined by the
trustees on all the work of their
four-year course. Commence-
ments were held about the middle of
September each year.
After Lindly had collected $500 for his
services on the build-
ing committee in connection with the
construction of the college
edifice, he was retired from the
presidency in 1822 and was de-
moted to a professorship. In 1826 it was
found necessary to
elect one of the three faculty members
to be dropped because of
lack of cash. When the votes were
counted, it was found that
Rev. Jacob Lindly was the one elected to
be dropped. He con-
tinued a member of the Board of
Trustees, and attended a meeting
of the board in 1837, from Waterford. He
moved to Mississippi
from this board meeting and charged the
mileage, $57, to the
university. Next year he was expelled
from the Board. But
in 1853 he was given the D.D. degree.
The last chapter on
Lindly was the naming of a fine
dormitory for him, but misspell-
ing his name.
Rufus Putnam at last was unable to make
the trip from
Marietta to Athens to attend the
meetings of the Board. In the
trustee's Records of September 11, 1822, is the following:
The Board will doubtless hear with much
pleasure that a valuable
donation of books consisting of one
entire set of Dobson's Encyclopedia35 has
been made to this institution by the
honorable Rufus Putnam of Marietta,
such munificence in this aged benefactor
of the human race cannot but in-
spire our gratitude and prompt us to its
natural and obvious expressions--
35 Encyclopaedia; or a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences
and Miscellaneous Literature,
published in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson, 1798, in 18
large volumes, with three
supplementary volumes published in 1803.
260
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
your committee therefore recommended the
adoption of the following reso-
lutions:
1st, That the thanks of this board be
tendered to the Hon. Rufus
Putnam for his highly esteemed donation
to the University of Ohio.
2nd, that the secretary of the Board be
directed to transmit to him a
copy of this Resolution.36
Ripe in years and rich in
accomplishments, Rufus Putnam,
at the age of 86, passed to his reward.
James Irvine, professor of mathematics,
was made president.
Because of ill health he was absent most
of the two years of
his term. He resigned in 1824 and was
followed by a real uni-
versity president, Robert G. Wilson, who
served from 1824
to 1839, when he in turn was succeeded
by William Holmes
McGuffey.
Just before Wilson came, the trustees in
resolutions drawn
up at their annual meeting, with almost
prophetic vision saw the
Ohio University of future years.
Our finances are in a deranged state--ur
treasury is exhausted--we
are in debt. But although these objects
cannot be realized at once we should
never lose sight of them. We should
approach them as speedily as possible
and we should even now commence a system
of measures bearing upon them.
We have gone too far to draw back. The
work is too important to pause.
We are debtors to public confidence. We
are debtors to the rising genera-
tion. We are debtors to posterity. Under
these claims we should move
forward with inflexible firmness, resolved
that nothing shall be wanting on
our part to secure to the Present and
perpetuate to future generations the
blessings of Education.37
36 Trustees, Records, II, 122.
37 Ibid., II, 131-2.
THE BEGINNINGS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN
THE
NORTHWEST TERRITORY
By THOMAS N. HOOVER
Rufus Putman never attended a
university; but fathered the
first institution for higher learning in
the Northwest Territory.
He seldom if ever went to school; but
contributed much to the
cause of education. His mother, when
Rufus was still a small
boy, inflicted upon him an undesirable,
domineering, illiterate
step-father, who required the lad to
work all day, and denied him
a candle, that he might study at night.
In spite of such handi-
caps, Putnam became educated. He was
outstanding as a civil
engineer, serving with distinction in
the Revolutionary War, and
later as surveyor-general of the United
States.1
Putnam, at the close of the
Revolutionary War, was most
interested in the vast region west of
the mountains. He was
chairman of the Newburgh meeting, which
on June 16, 1783,
petitioned Congress, in the name of the
two hundred eighty-eight
Revolutionary officers present, for
grants of lands within the
limits of the present State of Ohio.2 He sent the petition to
General Washington, to be presented by
him to Congress. With
the petition, Putnam sent a letter, in
which he stressed the need
for settling the western region. He
urged the construction of
forts, the survey of lands into
townships, the sale and settlement
of the land, and the support of schools
and churches, "to banish
forever the idea of our western
territory falling under the domin-
ion of any European power."3 Washington, with his own letter
of endorsement, transmitted the petition
and the Putnam letter
to Congress.
A year later, in 1784, Putnam again
wrote to Washington,
"The settlement of the Ohio
country, sir, engrosses many of my
1 For a brief biographical sketch of
Rufus Putnam see Dictionary of American
Biography (New York, 1928-1937), XV, 284-5.
2 A copy of the petition and names of signers is included in William Parker
Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler, Life,
Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh
Cutler,LL.D. (Cincinnati,
1888), I, 159-67.
3 Ibid., I, 167-72.
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