Ohio History Journal

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MIAMI UNIVERSITY, CALVINISM, AND THE ANTI-

MIAMI UNIVERSITY, CALVINISM, AND THE ANTI-

SLAVERY MOVEMENT 1

 

By JAMES H. RODABAUGH

 

Miami University is a daughter of the Old Northwest. Its

origins may be traced to the land grant made by Congress to John

Cleves Symmes in 1787. According to the contract, among the

lands of the Symmes Purchase one township was to be reserved

for an "academy or college." After years of controversy and

litigation during which Symmes sold the reserved lands, Congress,

in 1803, granted in trust to the state of Ohio another township

in lieu of that within the purchase. By authorization of the legis-

lature of Ohio, the present college township was set aside. On

February 17, 1809, an act was passed establishing the Miami

University. After years of political controversy over the location

of the university itself, during which time a small endowment

was built up from the leasing of the lands, the institution was

opened in the fall of 1824.

At that time Robert Hamilton Bishop, a Scotsman well-

known in the West as a preacher and teacher, became president.

Small hope had been held by some for the little college buried in

the wilderness, but Bishop, who foresaw the growth of Ohio

and the Middle West, assumed his position with optimism for

the institution's future. It began to thrive immediately, and by

the late 1830's was the leading university west of the Alleghenies.

During these years new buildings were constructed, the endow-

ment was increased by the leasing of the college lands, and the

number of students, reaching 250 in 1839, was greater than in

any other western school and compared favorably with the great

universities of the country.

Although a state institution, Miami University was virtually a

Presbyterian stronghold during the first fifty years of its exis-

 

1 This address was delivered before the Mississippi Valley Historical Association,

April 29, 1938.

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