Ohio History Journal

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ENGLAND IN DE-

NOMINATIONAL COLLEGES IN THE

NORTHWEST, 1830-1860

 

BY E. KIDD LOCKARD

 

By the third decade of the nineteenth century, New England

had come to regard the Northwest as a boundless meadow spir-

itually "whitening for harvest." The West itself, cognizant of its

latent possibilities in secular as well as in ecclesiastical affairs,

felt the increasing necessity for college-bred churchmen.¹ The

need rose to such proportions that both parties felt that the only

feasible solution was educating ministers near the fields in which

they were to labor.² In their evangelistic enthusiasm the denomi-

nations, aided by New England, competed with one another in

establishing colleges. Such a policy could result only in a heedless

and an often disastrous duplication of effort.

Occasionally a westerner warned against the mushroom

growth of colleges and their subsequent abandonment "to the

cold charity of a speculating world."3 This was, however, a voice

crying in the wilderness; despite the varied nature of the popula-

tion, the lack of material development of the section, and the

difficulty in securing charters, the multiplication continued un-

abated.⁴   Within two brief decades the number of institutions,

 

1 American Quarterly Register (Andover, Boston, 1827-43), 1 (1828-29), 63-5;

ibid., II (1829). 12-4: ibid., V (1833), 331.

2 Ibid., VII (1836), 366-8 ibid., XI (1838). 212-3; Philander Chase, Remi-

niscences (n. p., n. d.), 208-9. Edward N. Kirk, An Address before the Society for

Poromotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at the West (Boston, 1851), 1;

Edwin      Hall, A  Discourse Delivered at the Ninth Anniversary of the Society for the

Promotionof Collegiate and Theological Education at the West (New York, 1853), 21-4.

3 Western Monthly Magazine (Cincinnati, 1833-37), V (1836), 222; American

Annuls of Education (Boston, 1826-39), VI (1836), 376; Caleb Atwater, A History of the

State of Ohio, Natural and Civil (Cincinnati,c1838),285-6.

4 American Quarterly Register, II (1829),75; Western Monthly Magazine, I

(1833), 197; ibid., V (1836). 225; Cincinnati Mirror and Western Gazette (Cincinnti,

1831-33), I (1832), 31; Charles F. Thwing. A History of Higher Education in America

(New York, 1906), 215-7; Edward A. Miller, "The History of Educational Legislation

in Ohio from 1808 to 1850," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly (Columbus,

1887--), XXVII (1919), 179-90.

 

I

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2      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

most of which were denominational in character, leaped from

thirty-two in 1840 to one hundred and two, twenty years later.5

Not content with securing inspiration alone from New Eng-

land, the Northwest looked to her as a source of nourishment

for the new-born colleges. Prompted by a missionary zeal and

schooled in the Puritan philosophy of general education, New

Englanders contributed obligingly to the scanty schoolroom of

the younger section.⁶ Thus, an enterprising clique of Yale theo-

logical students, organizing itself into the Yale Band, helped lay

the foundations for one of the first western colleges.⁷ Another

group, larger in numbers but essentially of New England stock,

isolated itself in an unbroken forest of northern Ohio and there,

attempting to live an ordered life of simplicity, gave birth to

Oberlin College and Colony.⁸ After a decade of progress, the

leader of Oberlin, with a band of followers accompanying him,

again set out on a ten-day trek, this time to Michigan, where, for

a second time, his efforts were instrumental in transforming a

wooded tract into a successful campus.⁹

Finding New England in a receptive mood, the struggling

institutions flooded her with appeals, particularly in the lean years

following 1837. Their situation became so critical that, should

the East have failed to lend a helping hand, all that had been done

would have become, "impotent to exert the controlling influence

of Christian science, civilization, and holiness over the infinitude

of depraved mind" which was then "bursting forth, and rolling in

from abroad."10  Vigorous competition from     sister colleges faced

those sent eastward to beg contributions; occasionally the agents

did not scruple to take advantage of their fellows. The institu-

tions themselves realized the probable effect of such conflict and

 

5 Sixth Census of the United States, 1840, 79-102; Eighth Census of the United

States, 1860, 505.

6 Edward Beecher, The Question at Issue (Boston, 1850), 15; N. Porter, The Edu-

cational Systems of the Puritans and Jesuits Compared (New York, 1852), 44-9; Pro-

ceedings of a Public Meeting in Behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate

and Theological Education at the West (New York, 1845), 4-7.

7 J. M. Sturtevant, Jr., Julian M. Sturtevant: An Autobiography (New York, 1896).

135-6, 166.

8 James H. Fairchild, Oberlin: The Colony and the College, 1833-1883 (Oberlin.

1883), 9-10.

9 Andrew C. McLaughlin, History of Higher Education in Michigan (Washington,

1891), 138.

10 Address of Lyman Beecher, July 11, 1842, in Charles Beecher, ed., Autobiography,

(Correspondence, Etc., of Lyman Beecher (New York, 1864-65), II, 453,

• 2
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW            ENGLAND                    3

confusion on the minds of their benefactors. Accordingly their

representatives met in 1842 to discuss their pressing problems.

There soon followed the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate

and Theological Education at the West.             Its object was to har-

monize the multiplicity of appeals so that the distressed institu-

tions might receive financial aid as long as their exigencies should

require.11

The management of the society, which was entirely in eastern

hands, earmarked the funds to be distributed for the support of

instructors and for the purchase of books and apparatus. In the

beginning it designated four colleges: Western Reserve at Hudson,

Illinois at Jacksonville. Wabash at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and

Marietta, and Lane Seminary at Cincinnati as its proteges. The

directors killed an early attempt to extend aid to academies and

schools of lower ranking, but soon afterwards began lending sup-

port to additional colleges without denominational preference. By

arbitrarily refusing to assume the debts with which the colleges

were afflicted it forced them to look to their own section for a

substantial portion of their funds.¹²        It justified its efforts in the

East by pointing to the persistent need of an educated ministry,

to the necessity of checking the growth of Catholicism, and to the

desirability of providing the West with the most efficacious and

"practicable discipline of the intellectual powers."¹³ Through its

activity the society sustained life for nine northwestern colleges;

some of them       it actually   rescued    from   the oblivion    of bank-

ruptcy.l⁴

 

11 Report of the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education

at the West, 1844 (New York 1844-59), 5-6; ibid., 1845, 6-7; Proceedings at the Quar-

ter-Century Anniversary of Society of Education at West (New York, 1868), 38-53.

12 Report of Soc. of Ed. at West, 1845, 17-8; ibid., 1846, 40; ibid., 1847, 10-9; ibid.,

18₄8, 7-8.

13 Nathan S. S. Beman, Collegiate and Theological Education at the West (New

York, 1847), 13-22; John Todd, Plain Letters Addressed to a Parishioner in Behalf

of the Soc. of Ed. at the West (New York, 1848), 12-3; Albert J. Barnes, Plea in

Behalf of Western Colleges (Philadelphia, 1846), 3; J. B. Condit, Education at the

West in its Claims on the Church (New York, 1849), 13-29; Mark Hopkins, An Ad-

dress Delivered in Boston, May 26, 1852, before the Soc. of Ed. at West (Boston

1852), 6.

14 J. M. Sturtevant, An Address in Behalf of the Soc. of Ed. at West (New York,

1853), 3-4. Of the institutions aided between 1844 and 1859 nine were in the Old

Northwest: Western Reserve, 1844-48; Illinois, 1844-57; Wabash, 1844-59; Marietta,

1844-59; Lane, 1844-49; Wittenberg, 1847-56; Knox, 1848-55; Beloit, 1848-59; Heidelberg,

1854-59 (all dates inclusive). Other institutions to the westward were also aided,

including ones in Iowa. Missouri, and Oregon. See Reports of Soc. of Ed. at West,

1844-59.

• 3
 

4      OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Vital also to the growing wants of the Northwest was the

part played by the American Education Society. To the indi-

vidual students it obligated itself in a manner comparable to that

assumed toward distressed colleges by the Society for the Pro-

motion of Collegiate and Theological Education. Unlike the other,

however, the American Education Society showered its benefits

in the East as well as in the West. Initiated under eastern aus-

pices in 1815, within fifteen years, the society had extended its

branches into the Northwest.15

The avowed object of the movement was to render aid to

prospective but impecunious candidates for the ministry. Pre-

requisites for consideration by the society included profession of

religion for at least six months and the study of Latin or Greek

for a like period. Recipients, who represented various denomina-

tions, pledged themselves to a seven years' period of preparation

in college and seminary. The society restricted yearly allowances

to $48 for the preparatory years, but increased it to $75 for the

regular college and theological training.  To supplement their

allotments the young men were expected to engage two or three

hours daily in "productive labor" which would at the same time

"promote vigorous health."16

The society attempted to furnish clothing to some of the

students through appeals to its patrons for handkerchiefs, cravats,

socks, flannel, and "cloths suitable to be made up into coats and

pantaloons."17 In the beginning it adopted a policy of outright

gifts. After a few years, however, the directors, fearful "lest the

beneficiaries whose wants were regularly supplied gratuitously,

would fall far below the activity and usefulness of those who

were obliged to struggle through difficulties," required each to

give his note for one-half of the amount received.18 Later, they

made the entire sum repayable. Nevertheless, the obligation might

be cancelled in case of sickness, entrance into missionary service,

or "settlement with a people in depressed circumstances."19

15 The History of the American Education Society (Boston, 1836), 31-4; American

Quarterly  Register, II  (1829), 124-5, 2??3-4.

16 The History of the American Education Society, 16-9, 22; American Quarterly

Register, I  (1827), 11-2; ibid., V                           (1833), 257.

17 American       Quarterly Register, I           (1827). 14-6.

18 The Historyof the American Education  Society,  37-8.

19 Ibid., 20, 48.

• 4
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW      ENGLAND                5

 

While these two societies--one directly, the other indirectly--

furnished relief to denominational colleges in the Northwest, they

did not monopolize the field. Some of the churches launched

associations which rendered beneficent service to particular insti-

tutions. Other philanthropic-minded individuals in New England

contributed to educational advancement generally, and at least

implicitly to college education, by sending teachers into the West.

Typical of these organized groups, was the Ladies' Society for

the Promotion of Education at the West, which endeavored to

send into the section "competent female teachers, of unquestionable

piety, belonging to Congregational churches in New England."20

The rising colleges which dotted the western landscape fur-

ther reflected the New England influence through their imitation

of the eastern curriculum.21  They took refuge essentially in the

serene waters of classicism, steering clear for the most part of the

practical and highly controversial. Complaining of the excessive

attention given to the languages, a western periodical accounted

for the time spent by the average student: "Months and quarters

pass, and he is now dividing his attention between Latin and

Greek. He rises early, and sits late. Amid the busy hum of the

day school room, and the silence that surrounds the night lamp,

he may be seen bending over his Latin or Greek Reader, or

grammar."22

The instructors, according to the same writer, knew no more

of the pronunciation of Greek and Latin than did the students.

They pretended, however, "to excel the fisherwomen of Athens."23

Some of the few ripples which disturbed the customary placidity

of classical waters arose from the variations in enunciation. In

at least one institution the question became so critical that the

faculty referred it to the trustees.  On second thought they re-

scinded the order declaring that they themselves possessed the

 

20 History of the Formation of the Ladies' Society for the Promotion of Education

at the West (Boston, 1846), 18. See also: Memorial Volume of Denison University,

1831-1906 (Granville, 0., 1907), 3; G. W. Knight and J. R. Commons, The History of

Higher Education in Ohio (Washington, 1891), 196.

21 Yale College Catalogue, 1830 (New Haven, 1830) 24-5; Henry Howe, Historical

Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1848), 95; Logan Esarey, A History of Indiana

(Indianapolis, 1918), II, 993-5.

22 Western Literary Journal (Cincinnati, 1844-45), I (1845), 205.

23 Ibid.

• 5
 

6       OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

"entire control over the pronunciation of the Greek and Latin

Languages."24

Like the classics, mathematics, which comprised a substantial

part of the curriculum, aimed primarily at disciplinary purposes.

Educators encouraged such studies, believing they aided in making

decisions and expressing one's self easily.       Philosophy--moral,

intellectual and natural--together with English, rhetoric and ex-

pression, found its place on the typical curriculum. To supply a

trained ministry, the colleges maintained theological departments

which required candidates to pursue a regular collegiate course

before entering upon specialized study.²⁵      Some institutions fos-

tered instruction in natural science but undernourishment stunted

its growth before 1860. Its association with irreligion, no doubt,

contributed much to the languishing condition. Others experi-

mented with agricultural, medical, post graduate and scientific

training, but the majority followed, for the most part, the pattern

of genuine classical education.²6

In order to achieve their aims the colleges had to adopt the

expedient of providing preparatory classes. Arising from the

absence of the counterpart of the modern high school, the need

was so great that even in 1853 when Antioch opened its doors,

only six of two hundred applicants had the necessary background

for entrance into freshman studies.       Ordinarily, the course ex-

tended over a period of two years with instruction in languages,

geography, arithmetic and declamation.²⁷ Those who did not

take this training could enter by examinations patterned after that

of the better eastern schools.²⁸

The western colleges, arising from the realities of the times,

did not escape the slavery question. One of the first to encounter

 

24 George Franklin Smythe, Kenyon College, Its First Century (New Haven, 1924),

169.

25 American Quarterly Register, I (1828), 89-98; Western Reserve College Catalogue,

1831 (Hudson, 1831), 7; ibid., 1835, 9: ibid., 1837, 10-1.

26 Esarey, History of Indiana, II, 995-1000; Knight, Higher Ed. in Ohio, 158-60;

Western Reserve College Catalogue, 1849 (Hudson, 1849), 21; ibid., 1854 (1855),

18. ibid., 1855 (1856), 17. M'Kendree College Catalogue, 1850 (Lebanon, I1l., 1850). 23.

27 Western Reserve College Catalogue, 1835, 9 ibid., 1843, 19; Dedication of Antioch

College . . . with other Proceedings (Boston, 1854), 138-5; B. A. Hinsdale, Horace

Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States (New York, 1898),

251-2.

28 See Appendix A for a comparison of Yale and Western Reserve entrance re-

quirements.

• 6
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW       ENGLAND                7

difficulties--a result of New England antipathy for the slavery

system--was Lane Seminary in 1834. Becoming interested in the

issue, Lane students held a series of debates and subsequently took

steps to improve the condition of the Cincinnati blacks. Like a

bolt from a clear sky, the trustees forbade further discussion of

the subject either in public or private. The rebellious students,

comprising four-fifths of the whole, walked out in a body. Later

they migrated to Oberlin which promised to receive applicants

irrespective of color. There was, however, lengthy discussion on

the part of the Oberlin colonists before they finally agreed to

coeducation for blacks and whites. Soon any misgivings, that

may have existed, vanished. Oberlin became an outpost of anti-

slavery thought as well as a retreat for the education of Negroes.

Although few colored people actually enrolled at Oberlin, the

nation focused its eyes on the liberal Ohio college which had indi-

cated its willingness to admit them.²⁹

In Western Reserve College the slavery issue developed into

a contest between abolitionists and colonizationists. With the

triumph of the more moderate group, Reserve, if not proslavery,

was at least only moderately antislavery. While her doors were

open to the blacks, the prevailing attitude was such that the more

aggressive students sought greener pastures at Oberlin as the

Lane exiles were doing.³⁰

Illinois College, unlike most of the other institutions in the

Northwest, was an antislavery thorn in the side of a proslavery

district. Antislavery sentiment was expected, if only for the

leadership of the first president, Edward Beecher of the famous

Beecher tribe. In theory, an advocate of gradual abolition, in

practice, he soon appeared in the camp of those favoring im-

mediate emancipation, objecting only to the unfortunate conse-

quences of popular agitation.31 His associate and successor as

president, Julian M. Sturtevant, was more cautious. In referring

 

29      Fairchild, Oberlin, 50-77.

30         Carroll Cutler, A History of Western Reserve College during its First Half

Century, 1826-1876 (Cleveland, 1876), 24-31, 43.

31   Charles H. Rammelkamp, "Illinois College and the Anti-Slavery Movement,"

Illinois State Historical Society Transactions (Springfield, 1900--), no. 13 (1908), 194-5;

id., "The Reverberations of the Slavery Conflict in a Pioneer College," Mississippi

Valley Historical Review (Cedar Rapids, 1914--), XIV (1928), 449.

• 7
 

8      OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

to his stand taken in 1837, he later declared: "I went too far

against slavery to win the favor of its advocates, and not far

enough to gain the approbation of its assailants."32 More active

than either of these men was Professor Jonathan B. Turner who

was not only an abolitionist, but who was also implicated in the

movements of the Underground Railway. Despite the iconoclasm

of the faculty, the college as a whole attempted to avoid offending

the sensibilities of its local patrons.33

When the question at last involved a challenge to freedom of

speech and press as a consequence of the Alton disturbances of

1837, most of the faculty took definite positions. Particularly in

the minds of the slavery element the institution unduly exerted

itself.³⁴ Later, disappointed proslavery factions gave rise to a

rumored conspiracy of Missouri slaveholders who supposedly

planned to kidnap one of the teachers and destroy the college. An

anonymous writer, admonishing the threatened instructor, declared

that "a little poison, or a hemp cord . . . or a messenger of lead, or

a bowie knife" would suffice if kidnapping should fail.³⁵ Although

the college had in the meanwhile lost some students of proslavery

families, it had left the imprint of antislavery on others.³⁶

With the increasing agitation over the slavery question,

Illinois College again forged into the limelight. Antislavery sen-

timent flowed from the college literary societies, oratorical festi-

vals and commencement addresses. In accordance with the pre-

vailing sentiment, a meticulous professor deleted from a festival

declamation the writer's approval of Buchanan's election as an

omen of future peacefulness. The injured orator pleaded in vain

for his right to include personal sentiment.    Not permitted to

deliver his oration but determined to acquaint the public with his

beliefs, he distributed a broadside on the night of the meeting.

The college summarily dismissed him for what it regarded as an

 

32 Sturtevant, Autobiography, 223.

33 Rammelkamp, "Reverberations," loc. cit., 447; J. B. Turner, The Three Grea

Races of Men (Springfield, 1861), iv.

34 Rammelkamp, "Illinois College," loc. cit., 196-200; Edward Beecher, Narrative

of Riots at Alton: in Connection with the Death of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy (Alton,

Ill., 1838), 37; William S. Lincoln, Alton Trials (New York, 1838), 35-7.

35 Anonymous letter to Professor J. B. Turner, Sept. 10, 1842, in Rammelkamp,

"Illinois  College,"  loc. cit., 202.

36 William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik, Herndon's Lincoln (Chicago, New

York, San Francisco, 18??9), ??, ??-8.

• 8
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ENGLAND                  9

 

unwarranted liberty. His ejection was a call to action for the

opponents of the college. Some Democratic newspapers in par-

ticular made it an occasion for vicious attacks:

The Illinois College has sailed under false colors ever since its inaugu-

ration. It has by false pretense preyed upon a portion of the people of the

state of Illinois. It has by deception and false pretense drawn largely upon

the purse of the community.... Let the Illinois College at Jacksonville be

known as the fountain and hot-bed of ultra abolitionism. ... To the people

of Illinois we say, beware of what you do .... Remember that while you

contribute one dollar to this institution, you are accountable to your country

and to your conscience, for you are aiding to spread the most dangerous

influence that our government has to encounter.37

While the college drew much attention to itself by its aggres-

sive stand, one might easily over-emphasize its significance in ex-

pressing antislavery principles. Located as it was in a proslavery

settlement, the school found supersensitive critics always ready to

attack it, frequently to the point of exaggeration. Nevertheless,

it aided in molding public opinion against slavery.38

True to the New England tradition, the colleges, while com-

monly denying sectarianism, nevertheless insisted on religious

training for their students.³⁹ Daily study, the authorities believed,

was needed in order to make "the wise and good" the "constant

companions" of the students.40 Eureka College in Illinois being

seeped in this belief, prescribed daily Bible study dealing with its

"historical, geographical, chronological, ethical and literary" as-

pects. Exercises during the allotted time consisted of reading

part of the Scriptures, explanatory lectures and examinations on

previous work.⁴¹ Similarly Hanover College in Indiana required

extensive study in which proficiency was tested. Attendance was

obligatory also at prayers, at Bible or catechetical exercises on

Sunday morning, and two Sunday worship periods.⁴² Knox

 

37 Illinois State Register, April 16, 1857, in Rammelkamp, "Reverberations," loc. cit.,

153-4; on general situation see ibid., 450-4.

38 Rammelkamp, Illinois College: A Centennial History, 1829-1929 (New Haven,

1928), 117.

39 Yale College Catalogue, 1830, 27; Beloit College Catalogue, 1849 (Beloit, 1849).

13; Eureka College Catalogue, 1857 (Peoria, Ill., 1857), 17.

40 Thomas E. Thomas, An Address on the Occasion of the Author's Inauguration

as President of Hanover College, Indiana (Cincinnati, 1850).

41 Eureka College Catalogue, 1857, 17.

42 Hanover College Catalogue, 1854 (Indianapolis, 1854), 18.

• 9
 

10     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

College at Galesburg, Illinois, likewise held daily devotional exer-

cises and lectures on various moral and religious subjects.43 At

sunrise every morning a bell called Asbury-DePauw students to

community prayers.44 Twice each day Western Reserve College

officials conducted devotions in the college chapel.⁴⁵ Antioch was

among the most liberal; her students were expected to attend

services twice on Sunday, but they might be excused if there was

no church in the town in which they could "conscientiously wor-

ship."46

To promote the influence of religion, the last day of Febru-

ary, which had been set aside in 1823 as the annual concert of

prayer for colleges, was observed in many western colleges.⁴⁷ Re-

vivals also were held in the schools as they were in those of New

England. Their exponents rejoiced that these were comparatively

free from the "distortions of such scenes" as frequently occurred

where there was "less culture of character, and less of the sim-

plicity of unperverted moral sentiment."48 They were regarded

with favor not only as a means of rescuing "from death unto life,"

but also as a recruiting ground for the ministry.49

The protected student life proclaimed by the colleges savored

also of Puritan New England. Some of them deliberately sought

locations which would preclude association with contaminating

influences. Knox, among others, was successful in securing such

a site "free from the rivalships of an active commercial interest,

commercial luxuries, and commercial vices," which, it was pointed

out, were characteristic of towns in which the rapid growth of

wealth obstructed college discipline "by violent temptations to

vicious amusements."⁵⁰ The trustees of Franklin College also

 

43 Martha F. Webster, Seventy-Five Significant Years. The Story of Knox College,

1837-1912 (Galesburg, Ill., 1912), 72.

44 William W. Sweet, Indiana Asbury-DePauw University, 1837-1937 (New York,

c1937), 89.

45 Western Reserve Catalogue, 1831, 7-8.

46 Dedication of Antioch, 140.

47 American Quarterly Register, V (1833), 268-9.

48 Lyman Whiting, An Address before the Society for the Promotion of Collegiate

and Theological Education at the West (Boston, 1855), 12.

⁴⁹ Report of Soc. of Ed. at West, 1847, 19-20; ibid., 1848, 32-7; ibid., 1849, 28-30;

ibid., 1852, 31-7; Baptist Advocate (Cincinnati, 1835), II (1836), 142.

50 G. W. Gale, A Brief History of Knox College, Situated in Galesburg, Knox

County, Illinois; with Sketches of the First Settlement of the Town (Cincinnati,

1845), 8.

• 10
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ENGLAND                     11

 

regarded it as of great moment that their school was situated at

a distance from the "haunts of dissipation."51

Bishop Chase, the father of both Kenyon and Jubilee colleges,

was prompted in part to set his schools in the wilderness in order

to "prevent the evils which otherwise often the best of collegiate

laws" could not cure.⁵² Endeavoring to put his ideals into prac-

tice, Chase initiated a further reform, while the Kenyon buildings

were under construction, by denying the workers a small glass of

liquor three times daily. He justified himself at length:

Rude behavior, neglect of duty, profane language, quarrelling with each

other, injuries to their families at home, and in the rearing of large and

elevated buildings some fatal accidents would most likely follow, as the

legitimate consequence of the use of ardent spirits. And then the solemn

question occurred, who would be answerable to God for the commission of

all this sin, if he who had it in his power did not bear a large share in

preventing it?53

Motivated by similar considerations the Oberlin students oc-

casionally forsook their studies for a day to help a temperance

man "raise" his house after his neighbors had refused to assist

without the support of the bottle.54 Going a step farther, the

Oberlin officials even prohibited the use of tobacco.⁵⁵ President

Horace Mann of Antioch also opposed the influence of nicotine

and admonished his students: "It is not mere smoke, young men,

which you see floating off in cloudy spirals, it is part of your

souls; when your nerves become impregnated with tobacco, they

can no longer execute your will."56

Adopting a paternalistic system of supervision, the colleges

disciplined the students, as the regulations of one declared, for

the "greatest good of the greatest number." To promote this

ideal the authorities were under obligation to suspend any indi-

vidual who played cards, danced, drank, or indulged in "other

 

51 Philanthropist (Cincinnati, 1836-46), II (1837), 3.

52 Laura C. Smith, The Life of Philander Chase, First Bishop of Ohio and Illinois,

Founder of Kenyon and Jubilee Colleges (New York, 1903), 336.

53 Chase, Reminiscences, 518, 561-3.

54 Fairchild, Oberlin, 44-5.

55 Ibid., 263.

56 Gabriel Compayre, Horace Mann and the Public School in the United States

(New York, 1907), 108-9.

57 Wabash College Catalogue, 1857 (Cincinnati, 1857), 17.

58 M'Kendree College Catalogue, 1850, 22.

• 11
 

12     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

vices."⁵⁷ In another institution those who associated with "low,

vulgar, or immoral company" or who were habituated to "idle-

ness, profanity, or other sinful conduct" were subject to dis-

missal.58  As a part of the general surveillance, Jubilee College

exercised a close scrutiny over the students' general reading.59

Asbury-DePauw forbade them from keeping or hiring a horse and

carriage for recreation or amusement.60 Alton in 1833 required

her students to live in the same buildings and eat at a common table

with the professors and their families.⁶¹ Some of the institutions

advised parents to deposit their children's money with faculty mem-

bers. On this question the catalogue of Hanover explained: "As a

general rule, the more money is allowed to a young man beyond

what is strictly necessary, the less likely he is to reflect honor upon

his parents and instructors."62

In order to attract the largest possible clientele through re-

ducing expenses for students, Lane in 1833 dispensed with tea,

coffee, and articles of luxury, choosing to live on "principles of

Christian simplicity and economy."⁶³ At Western Reserve the

students could eat in the boarding house for seventy-five cents

weekly. Part of this small sum could be paid for in farm pro-

duce. Those who chose could prepare their own meals in their

rooms at half the regular price.⁶⁴ As a further inducement many

of the western colleges conducted manual labor departments pro-

viding farms and shops where their students might earn part of

their expenses. Under this system the young people worked from

two to three hours each day at a wage ranging from three to

twelve cents hourly.⁶⁵

Always with an eye toward their own perpetuation the de-

nominational colleges of the West appropriated the best that New

England had to offer and modified it to their own needs. If they

59 Roma Louise Shively, Jubilee: A Pioneer College (Elmwood, Ill., c1936), 39.

60 Sweet, Indiana Asbury-DePauw University, 85-7.

61 Second Anniversary of the General Convention of Western Baptists at Cincinnati

Commencing November 4, 1835. Proceedings (Cincinnati, 1835), 45.

62 Hanover College Catalogue, 1854, 19.

63 American Quarterly Register, V (1833), 331.

64 Western Reserve College Catalogue, 1831, 8.

65 American Annuals of Education, IV (1884), 479-80; Western Reserve College Cata-

logue, 1835, 10-11;  J. M. Peck. A Gazetteer of Illinois (Philadelphia, 1837), 69; S. A.

Mitchell, Illinois in 1837 (Philadelphia, 1837), 61; Samuel Chase, Review of Jubilee

College (n. p., n. d., but about 1843), 24-5; J. W. Bailey, Knox College, by Whom

Founded and Endowed (Chicago, 1860), 37.

• 12
 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW         ENGLAND                 13

seem to have relied too heavily in their program     of higher educa-

tion on the helping hand of the East, it was not for lack of initi-

ative. Rather, it was an expediency arising from the preoccupa-

tion of the West with its material development. The ones that

failed to make the necessary adjustment, perished, while the others

struggled on in the midst of poverty, discouragement and dis-

appointment.

 

APPENDIX A

Entrance Requirements

Yale:

Examinations in Cicero, Virgil, Sallust, Greek Testament, Graeca

Minora, Latin grammar, arithmetic, English grammar, and geography.

Candidates to be fourteen years of age and present testimonials of good

moral character.66

Western Reserve:

Knowledge of Cooper's or Adams' Latin grammar and the making of

Latin, Virgil's Aeneid and Bucolics, eight selected orations of Cicero,

"vulgar arithmetic," elements of geography, grammatical knowledge of Eng-

lish, Valpy's or Buttman's Greek grammar, Greek Delectus, Graeca Minora

with a part of Neilson's Greek exercises.

Candidates to present testimonials of good moral character and enter a

probation period of six months.67

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

66 Yale College Catalogue, 1830, 23

67 Western Reserve College Catalogue, 1831, 6.

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